Mary Alice Seymour

Lady Mary Alice Seymour (, Ives; after first marriage, Seymour; after second marriage, Fonda; pen and stage name, Octavia Hensel; October 21, 1837 – May 12, 1897) was a 19th-century American musician, author, elocutionist, and critic. She was referred to as "Octavia Hensel" in the music world, where she was an internationally known music critic. As a critic, Seymour was renowned. Her musical nature, her superior education, her thorough knowledge of the laws of theory and familiarity with the works of the great composers of the classic, romantic and Wagnerian schools, and the later schools of harmony, gave her a point of vantage above the ordinary. She was one of the original staff writers on the Musical Courier, having been its correspondent from Vienna and other European centers.

Mr. Seymour died January 5, 1874, and their only child, soon after. Widowed, Seymour returned to her father's home from where she published Life and letters of Louis Moreau Gottschalk (Boston, 1870), rushed into print after Gottschalk's death the year before. The father's loss of property during the American Civil War and his feeble health led her to go to Europe for study to become a vocal teacher.

While abroad, she studied in a Catholic convent and embraced Catholicism. She also studied under the best European teachers. the Archdukes and Archduchesses, children of the Archduke of Austria, Archduke Karl Salvator of Austria, and his wife, Princess Marie Immaculate of Naples. It was not long before the Empress conferred on her the title of Lady Alice Seymour. and is buried in that city's Cave Hill Cemetery. Her effects were auctioned off in a private sale.

Selected works Cedar Grove series Whitsuntide at Cedar Grove, 1859 Christmas holidays at Cedar Grove, 1866 The Ruthvens of Cedar Grove; or, The Whitsuntide holidays, 1882 Easter holidays at Cedar Grove, 1884 The Holly Cross, 1863 Life and letters of Louis Moreau Gottschalk, 1870 The Rheingold trilogy; a guide through the trilogy of Richard Wagner, 1884 Imperia; a story from the court of Austria, 1892 Music in Kentucky, 1894 The cross in tradition, history, and art, 1897