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Out on a limb: Neighborhoods can be a genealogist’s friend or enemy

<p>KINGSTON &#8212; Their faces registered confusion first, then horror.</p><p>As they listened to a recording of Truly Awful Singing, vocal students in the Performing Arts Institute at Wyoming Seminary stole sideways glances at each other. Was this for real? Or was this soprano trying to sound as bad as she could?</p><p>Actually, the historic singer was for real. Florence Foster Jenkins, born in Wilkes-Barre in 1868, loved to perform and seemed to sincerely believe she had a gift for it. When she arranged a concert for herself at Carnegie Hall shortly before her death in 1944, the place sold out, perhaps because people wanted the novelty of hearing arias that have been described as &#8220;murder on the high Cs.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;It was definitely out of pitch, and not a great song choice for her,&#8221; Emma Hastings, 15, of Dallas said, looking dazed as the last notes of the recording faded away.</p><p>A local audience can experience part of the Florence Foster Jenkins story for themselves on Aug. 14, when the Kingston Historical Society presents &#8220;Souvenir&#8221; as a fund-raiser at Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts.</p><p>The two-person show stars Kingston native and award-winning opera singer Christine Donahue as Jenkins, and Tim Smith as her long-time accompanist Cosme McMoon.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve had this conversation with so many people: Did she know how she sounded or did she think she sounded fabulous?&#8221; Donahue mused during a telephone interview. &#8220;There&#8217;s a line in the play about &#8216;what matters the most is the music you hear in your head.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Near the end of &#8220;Souvenir&#8221; Donahue, who is an assistant professor of voice at the University of Central Arkansas, will sing in her own lilting voice, to represent the music that may have danced through Florence Foster Jenkins&#8217; head. Earlier in the show, she will try to approximate the way Jenkins sounded in real life.</p><p>Deliberately singing off-key is not difficult, Donahue said, and it&#8217;s not painful.</p><p>&#8220;If you can sing in tune, you can &#8216;untune&#8217; it,&#8221; she said. &#8220;It&#8217;s actually kind of fun.&#8221;</p><p>Truly, Donahue said, she believes Jenkins had fun singing and people enjoyed hearing her, even if they had to stifle their laughter.</p><p>&#8220;When they&#8217;re stuffing handkerchiefs into their mouths or getting up to leave, she imagines they&#8217;re overwhelmed with emotion at what she&#8217;s doing,&#8221; Donahue said. &#8220;After the concerts they come up and say how lovely her dress was or talk about the emotional aspect of her singing.&#8221;</p><p>The show treats Jenkins with respect, Donahue said, predicting &#8220;people will fall in love with her.&#8221;</p><p>Wyoming Seminary music faculty member Christiane Appenheimer-Vaida, who is looking forward to the Aug. 14 show, recalls listening to recordings of Jenkins&#8217; voice with colleagues at a musical conservatory in Germany during the 1980s.</p><p>&#8220;We all knew who she was; at the end of the day, around midnight, we&#8217;d have a few beers and listen to her,&#8221; Appenheimer-Vaida said, smiling at the memory.</p><p>But, for most of the vocal students who listened to a recording of Jenkins last week, the voice of the would-be diva was a new experience.</p><p>When asked what they would say to a friend who sounded like that, opinion was divided.</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d tell her she was horrible,&#8221; said Santiago Foncillas from New York. &#8220;I&#8217;m an honest person.&#8221;</p><p>Explaining she&#8217;d want to be more gentle, Katelyn Sincavage, 16, of Shavertown said, &#8220;I wouldn&#8217;t want to ruin her self-esteem. I don&#8217;t like to see my friends hurt.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;I&#8217;d try to sugarcoat it,&#8221; 15-year-old Emma Hastings of Dallas agreed.</p><p>Some of the students did see hope for someone like Jenkins.</p><p>&#8220;I thought her voice did have potential,&#8221; Sam Loposky, 16, of Mercer said, suggesting she needed &#8220;the right coaching.&#8221;</p><p>&#8220;Maybe she wasn&#8217;t in her comfort zone,&#8221; Foncillas said, thinking it may have been better for her to sing alto rather than strain to reach high soprano notes.</p><p>&#8220;Maybe, &#8221; Dominic Wright, 16, of Dallas added, &#8220;someone could work with her on &#8216;pitchiness&#8217;. &#8220;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Born to a wealthy family in Wilkes-Barre in 1868, Florence Foster Jenkins became a New York socialite and well-known singer. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_florence.foster.jenkins6.jpg</photo0><caption0>Born to a wealthy family in Wilkes-Barre in 1868, Florence Foster Jenkins became a New York socialite and well-known singer. </caption0><photoCredit0>Library of Congress photo </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_christinedona6.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Christine Donahue </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_christinedona6.jpg</photo1><caption1>Christine Donahue </caption1><photoCredit1>Submitted photo </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL070815florence16.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Students in the Wyoming Seminary Performing Art Institute summer program collapse into laughter while listening to a recording of Florence Foster Jenkins. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/web1_TTL070815florence16.jpg</photo2><caption2>Students in the Wyoming Seminary Performing Art Institute summer program collapse into laughter while listening to a recording of Florence Foster Jenkins. </caption2><photoCredit2>Aimee Dilger|Times Leader </photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p><strong>By Mary Therese Biebel</strong></p><p>mbiebel@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta><p><strong>IF YOU GO</strong></p><p><strong>What:</strong> &#8216;Souvenir&#8217;</p><p><strong>Who:</strong> Starring Christine Donahue as historic singer Florence Foster Jenkins</p><p><strong>When:</strong> 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14</p><p><strong>Where:</strong> Wyoming Seminary&#8217;s Kirby Center for Creative Arts, Sprague Avenue, Kingston</p><p><strong>Tickets:</strong> $20</p><p><strong>Reservations:</strong> Call 570-239-5040 or write to Kingston Historical Society, P.O. Box 1702, Kingston, PA 18704</p></factboxMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Mary Therese Biebel at 570-991-6109 or on Twitter @BiebelMT.</p></shirttailMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><videoMeta><p><table class="mceItemTable" style="border:none;width:98%;"><tbody><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoID:</td><td id="videoid" style="width:50em;font-size:90%;">56c213235f3fa4372b68ef666bb6c05f609e0ecf</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">VideoType:</td><td id="videotype" style="font-size:90%;">BIMVid</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">URL:</td><td id="url" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Embed String:</td><td id="videoembedstring" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Caption:</td><td id="videocaption" style="font-size:90%;">Florence Foster Jenkins, born in Wilkes-Barre in 1868, loved to perform and seemed to sincerely believe she had a gift for it. When she arranged a concert for herself at Carnegie Hall shortly before her death in 1944, the place sold out, perhaps because people wanted the novelty of hearing arias that have been described as &#8220;murder on the high Cs.&#8221; Find the full story here: <a href="https://www.timesleader.com/?p=373173" target="_blank">https://www.timesleader.com/?p=373173</a></td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Credit:</td><td id="videocredit" style="font-size:90%;">Aimee Dilger | Times Leader</td></tr><tr><td style="font-weight:bold;font-size:100%;vertical-align:top;text-align:right;border:none;">Video Position:</td><td id="videoposition" style="font-size:90%;"> </td></tr></tbody></table></p><p style="margin-top:10px;font-size:70%;color:#555;">(use the &#8220;for files&#8230;&#8221; link above to associate attached files with this source)</p></videoMeta></div>

Celebrating a singer so bad she was good