Lucy Escott

Lucy Escott (4 January 1829–26 November 1895) was an American soprano and actor-manager who found success in her native country but who had an even greater success in Europe and the United Kingdom. She spent eight years in Australia with the opera company of W. S. Lyster.

Following her marriage, the couple moved to Providence, Rhode Island, and then to Albany, New York, where Lucy Eastcott sang at St Paul's Church alongside tenor Henry Squires. Eastcott and Squires sang together again in concert at Tripler's Hall in New York City. While in Italy, her surname also became adjusted to Escott. Other roles at this time included Battista's Esmeralda, Maritana, Aeolia in The Mountain Sylph and Amina in La sonnambula. When J. W. Wallack made a guest appearance Escott played one of the witches in his Macbeth. She sang Galatea in Acis and Galatea, Adina in L'elisir d'amore and sang Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor once more. These roles stamped her reputation, and after singing in the principal cities of the United Kingdom she visited the United States, and was enthusiastically received by her countrymen as a leading vocalist in the companies of Maurice Strakosch and Max Maretzek. and in September that year she took her now-named Escott English Opera Company to the United States for a three month season at Burton's Theatre in New York. However, William Evans Burton broke the contract after a week, and although he was after successfully sued for $4,000, Escott and her company were forced to tour in concerts and smaller opera houses in America for a year. towards the end of 1860, where it remained for about eight years, giving performances of the operas of Italian, German, French and English composers, including Don Giovanni in 1861, and La favorite and Les Huguenots in 1862. Eastcott became an immense favourite in Melbourne. Light or heavy, Italian or English, operas were all the same to her, and one of her most memorable triumphs was on the night of her benefit, when she took the part of Azucena in Il trovatore and electrified the house by her splendid singing and acting, to say nothing of the compass of her voice. the tour was a failure from the start and Escott and Squires left Lyster's company while in America.

Later years Lucy Escott and Henry Squires married in 1870 after having retired from the stage. As her husband Richard Eastcott was still alive in America a divorce must have been finalised. They eventually took up residence in Paris, where Lucy Escott devoted herself to the study of painting and sculpture with as much energy as she had previously infused into her operatic work; and the married life of the two vocalists was an ideally perfect one. Lucy Eastcott died of pneumonia supervening on an attack of quinsy on 26 November 1895, and was cremated according to her wishes and was buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery. On her death, Squires returned to his native Bennington, Vermont, where he died in 1907.

Notable performances