Constance Balfour

Constance L. Balfour (born Constance Lell Loucks; 1880 – January 28, 1965) was an American soprano singer, based in California.

Constance Balfour
Constance Balfour, from a 1918 publication.
Born
Constance Lell Loucks

1880
Michigan
DiedJanuary 28, 1965
San Luis Obispo, California
NationalityAmerican
Other namesConstance Balfour Hitchen (after second marriage)
Occupationsinger
Constance Balfour, from a 1915 publication.

Early life

Balfour was born in Michigan and lived in Lincoln, Nebraska[1][2] and in Houston, Texas as a young woman.[3][4] She studied voice in Paris, Berlin, and London, and toured Italy, Germany, and South Africa as well, giving concerts.[5][6]

Career

In 1909 and 1910, Balfour headed the Constance Balfour Concert Company, a small touring group.[7][8] She toured the East Coast of the United States in 1918-1919.[9] During that time, she appeared in the summer "Stadium concerts" in New York City.[10] During World War I she sang at a concert for sailors at Pelham Bay Naval Station,[11] for soldiers at Fort Totten on Long Island,[12] and at war relief concerts for Liberty Loans and the American Red Cross.[13][14]

She returned to California by the end of 1919.[15] On Christmas Day 1919, she sang at the first outdoor concert given by the Los Angeles Symphony Orchestra.[16] She sang for the Santa Monica Bay Woman's Club in 1920, accompanied by composer Charles T. Ferry,[17] and at the Easter sunrise service in Eagle Rock, Los Angeles.[18][19] She sang a program of songs by Ralph Cox for the MacDowell Club in Los Angeles, with the composer accompanying her on piano.[20] She sang songs by women composers, including Grace Adele Freebey,[21] Helen Lukens Gant,[22] Gertrude Ross,[23] Josephine Johnston,[24] and Bessie Bartlett Frankel.[25] She also gave voice lessons, from a studio at Blanchard Hall in Los Angeles.[26]

Balfour sang on radio in 1923.[27] She toured Europe and studied in Italy and France from 1924 to 1927, while her teenaged daughter was there to study music and rest.[28][29] In 1931 she gave a concert series in Los Angeles.[30]

Personal life

Constance Loucks was married to fellow singer Henry Balfour, also billed as Henri Le Bonti, when the couple appeared together in Los Angeles in 1907[31] and in 1910.[32] They were divorced, apparently amicably, by 1915, saying "“Why should we dislike each other? We sincerely admire one another as man and woman, as fellow beings and as artists".[33] She was married to Albert Hitchen later in life. She died in 1965, aged 84 years, at her home in San Luis Obispo, California.[34]

Her daughter Eveline Alberta Balfour (1907-1993), a pianist and singer, was in headlines as a teenager in 1924, when she went missing for a few days and was rumored to be kidnapped.[35][36][37] She was found in an altered mental state, "victim of adolescent breakdown," according to the Los Angeles Times.[38] Soon after, she and her mother went to Paris for a few years.[28] She married a French man, Andre Gaudet, in 1927;[39] she was later known as Yvonne Doray[40] and Yvonne Barishaw.[41]

gollark: "ybot will get back to you within 6 to 8 business weeks."
gollark: Why does "ybot" need a "hwid"?
gollark: It should be, its training data also includes DL papers, but nooooo...
gollark: It isn't really self-aware.
gollark: What? I did ages ago.

References
  1. "Choir Gives Musical" Lincoln Nebraska State Journal (November 29, 1901): 3. via NewspaperArchive.com
  2. "Gutzmer Studio" Sunday Journal and Star (September 5, 1937): 25. via NewspaperArchive.com
  3. "Constance Balfour Was Highly Praised" The Houston Post (April 10, 1918): 8. via Newspapers.com
  4. "Concert Daughters of the Covenant" The Houston Post (February 21, 1909): 39. via Newspapers.com
  5. "Advertisement" Musical Monitor (August 1915): 528.
  6. "The Balfour Concert Company" The Neodesha Daily Sun (December 6, 1909): 2. via Newspapers.com
  7. "Tonight" The Chickasha Daily Express (November 26, 1909): 8. via Newspapers.com
  8. "Great Singer Will Appear in Paducah" News-Democrat (March 5, 1910): 5. via Newspapers.com
  9. "Constance Balfour Engaged by Theater" Los Angeles Herald (June 10, 1919): 24. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
  10. "Constance Balfour in Stadium Debut" Musical America (July 12, 1918): 14.
  11. "Delights Pelham Sailors" Musical America (July 27, 1918): 19.
  12. "Trio of Artists Brings Musical Cheer to Fort Totten Troops" Musical America (June 8, 1918): 38.
  13. "Constance Balfour, Soprano, Winning Recognition in East" Musical America (June 8, 1918): 33.
  14. "Open Red Cross Building" Musical America (June 8, 1918): 43.
  15. "Miss Balfour to be Soloist at Belvedere" Morning Press (August 31, 1919): 5. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
  16. "Tandler's Outdoor Concert" Musical America (January 17, 1920): 44.
  17. "Constance Balfour Sings for Club" Musical Courier (February 19, 1920): 42.
  18. "Easter Sunrise Services" Musical Courier (May 6, 1920): 54.
  19. "Los Angeles Enjoys Concerts at Dawn" Musical America (April 17, 1920): 14.
  20. "Ralph Cox Popular in Los Angeles" Musical Courier (May 27, 1920): 47.
  21. "Notes" Musical Courier (December 21, 1922): 12.
  22. "Cadman Club in Fine Program" The Los Angeles Times (March 18, 1928): 67. via Newspapers.com
  23. "Ross Giving Composition Recitals" Musical Courier (December 7, 1922): 48.
  24. "Society" The Los Angeles Times (February 16, 1916): 18. via Newspapers.com
  25. "Los Angeles the Scene of State M. T. Convention" Musical Courier (August 3, 1922): 38.
  26. "Notes" Musical Courier (October 2, 1919): 33.
  27. "Boredom Hosts Routed by KHJ" The Los Angeles Times (March 14, 1923): 21. via Newspapers.com
  28. "Singer to Live in Rome and Paris" The Los Angeles Times (September 14, 1924): 32. via Newspapers.com
  29. "Constance Balfour Resumes High Place" The Los Angeles Times (December 25, 1927): 53. via Newspapers.com
  30. "Soprano Begins Concert Series" The Los Angeles Times (October 25, 1931): 39. via Newspapers.com
  31. Genevra Johnstone-Bishop, "The Musical World" Los Angeles Herald (December 6, 1907): 6. via Newspapers.com
  32. Florence Beard Lawrence, "Musical" The Los Angeles Times (October 11, 1910): 5. via Newspapers.com
  33. "L. A. Singers in Unique Pact" Los Angeles Herald (December 22, 1915): 1. via California Digital Newspaper Collection
  34. "Constance Balfour, Opera Star, Dies" Oakland Tribune (January 29, 1965): 23. via Newspapers.com
  35. "Missing Daughter of Singer; Search for Girl Extended" The Los Angeles Times (January 5, 1924): 23. via Newspapers.com
  36. "Missing Girl is Thought Kidnaped" Lincoln Journal Star (January 14, 1924): 2. via Newspapers.com
  37. "Police Drop Quiz in Adventure of Eveline Balfour" The Los Angeles Times (January 10, 1924): 30. via Newspapers.com
  38. "Girl Composer, 16, Loses Mind" The Los Angeles Times (January 7, 1924): 1. via Newspapers.com
  39. Juana Neal Levy, "Society" The Los Angeles Times (March 11, 1927): 22. via Newspapers.com
  40. "Contest Winner Sings" The Los Angeles Times (August 4, 1935): 44. via Newspapers.com
  41. "Opera Singer Constance Balfour Dies" The Los Angeles Times (January 29, 1965): 40. via Newspapers.com
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