Clara Louise Kellogg was born in Sumterville, South Carolina to a musical family, particularly in her mother, father, and maternal grandmother. In her biography, Kellogg claims that her first musical efforts occurred at the age of ten months, when she attempted to sing in mimesis of her “negro mammy.” The family relocated to Birmingham, Connecticut, where Kellogg continued to demonstrate her interest and talent in singing and playing the piano. After her father, a “dignified scholar,” failed and moved the family to New York in 1857, Kellogg was discovered by Colonel Henry G. Stebbins of the Academy of Music. Though originally trained as a musician, Kellogg devoted herself to vocal lessons for four years, studying under Millet of the Conservatory of Paris and later under Manzocchi, Rivarde, Errani, and Muzio. Drawn to the stage, Kellogg performed for soldiers at West Point before making her debut in opera (Kellogg 1-10). The Civil War had a characteristic impact on Kellogg’s career, and she writes, “It has always been a matter of secret pride with me that, in my small way, I did something for the Union too. I heard that our patriotic and inartistic Daughter of the Regiment caused several lads to enlist” (Kellogg 58).
Linking Kellogg to the Pfaff’s scene, Albert Parry calls her "the diva" and describes her as "an American prima donna then at the sunset of her career but prosperous enough to be kind to the young art-gentry of New York and to go to Italy for her winters” (92). Kellogg also frequented Maria’s, "a New York restaurant popular among the "Bohemians" of the 1890s (92). Parry describes Kellogg’s gossip sessions in which she told “droll stories” about Ada Clare’s lover, Louis Gottschalk, and his “innumerable conquests of silly females…Madame said she had no dealings with Louis except professionally. The voluptuaries at Maria’s winked at each other behind Madame’s broad back" (92).
Making her first appearance as Gilda in “Rigoletto” at the Academy of Music in 1861, Kellogg gained widespread attention in 1864 as Marguerite in Gounod’s “Faust.” Harriet Prescott Spofford contrasts Kellogg during her first performance, “a girl of seventeen, slight and pale, so nervous that she could hardly mover her rigid lips, so frightened that she could hardly command her young voice,” to her several years later “before a house crowded from floor to ceiling with the best culture of the British empire, with dukes and duchesses flinging her their flowers,… sure of herself and of her audience, mistress of her art and of the stage…” (359-60). She made her first trip to London in 1867, where she continued to gain repute before returning to the U.S. the following year. Appletons' Cyclopædia describes her as “the first American to win musical recognition for her country from the Old World” (506). Over the course of several European tours, Kellogg was gifted $250,000 worth of jewels by “royal personages and others” (Clara Kellogg’s Will.”) Kellogg organized two successful opera companies and would appear in forty-five operas throughout her life, first as a high soprano and later in lower, richer tones (Grant & Fiske, eds. 506).
In 1887 Kellogg married Carl Strakosch, her manager of several years who was seventeen years her junior (“Carl Strakosch Dead.”). The two settled in New Hartford, Connecticut, although Kellogg continued to perform until the year before her death. Kellogg suffered a nervous breakdown at the age of seventy-four (“Clara Louise Kellogg Ill.”), died shortly after in 1916, and was buried in New Hartford. According to a New York Times announcement of her funeral, “Many persons prominent in the musical world were present from New York, Boston, and elsewhere” (“Clara Louise Kellogg Buried.”)
References & Biographical Resources "Clara Kellog's Will." The New York Times. 01 Jun. 1916. Left Her Entire Estate to Husband-Its Value Not Indicated Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New-York Saturday Press. 24 Mar. 1866: 4, 5. Figaro mentions that Kellogg's benefit was postponed and announces that it has been rescheduled (5). [pages:5] Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 14 Oct. 1865: 168-169. Figaro wonders why Bennett at the Herald doesn't renew his previous year's attacks on Kellogg in light of his recent criticism of several other popular female performers (169). [pages:169] Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton."New York Saturday Press. 17 Oct. 1865: 152-153. Figaro reports that Bennett's treatment of Kellogg has been one of his biggest recent mistakes (152). [pages:152] Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 19 Aug. 1865: 40-41. Figaro lists Miss Kellogg under Maretzek's soprano singers.Figaro claims he is surprised that Maretzek will have anything to do with Kellogg after her treatment by Bennett and the Herald last year (41). [pages:41] Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 21 Oct. 1865: 184-185. Figaro reports that Kellogg had to sing the part of Mdlle. Parepa during Bateman's Wednesday concert at the Academy of Music (185). [pages:185] Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New York Saturday Press. 23 Sep. 1865: 120-121. Figaro reports that Kellogg will star in Faust, the opening opera of Maretzek's season (121). [pages:121] Figaro [Clapp, Henry Jr.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton."New York Saturday Press. 30 Sep. 1865: 136-137. Figaro discusses the "attacks" madeupon her in the Herald and her reception by the audience during the opera's opening this week.He argues that the Herald's discusssion of her singing created a more sympathetic and welcoming audience and that she should have the Herald defame her more frequently as it works to her advantage (136-137).Figaro reviews her performance as Marghertia in Faust (137). [pages:136-137] Kellogg, Clara Louise. Memoirs of an American Prima Donna. New York : G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913. [pages:FP (ill.),12(ill.),14(ill.),20(ill.),28(ill.),56(ill.),72(ill.),74(ill.),82(ill.),88(ill.)134(ill.),230(ill.)252(ill.),292(ill.)] Parry, Albert. Garrets and Pretenders: A History of Bohemianism in America. New York: Covici, Friede, 1933. Parry describes her as "the diva," "an American prima donna then at the sunset of her career but prosperous enough to be kind to the young art-gentry of New York and to go to Italy for her winters.She was the link between Pfaff's and Maria's," a New York restaurant popular among the "Bohemians" of the 1890s (92).Parry continues that "She remembered the fascinatingly drooping eyelids of Gottschalk, Ada's gay deceiver.She told at Maria's droll stories of his unnumerable conquests of silly females.The frequenters of Maria's gasped at this long-ago deviltry.They pressed Madame Kellogg for more details, forgetting to be discreet.But Madame primly assured them that she herself had had a good guardian in the person of her mother who warned her against Gottschalk.Madame said she had no dealings with Louis except professionally.The voluptuaires at Maria's winked at each other behind Madame's broad back" (92). [pages:92] Personne [Wilkins, Edward G. P.]. "Dramatic Feuilleton." New-York Saturday Press. 21 Apr. 1860: 3. Personne mentions rehearsals for her at the opera; she is also referred to as "La Kelloggini" (3). [pages:3] Spofford, Harriet Prescott. "Clara Louise Kellogg." Our Famous Women: An Authorized Record of The Lives and Deeds of Distinguished American Women of Our Times. Hartford, Conn. : A. D. Worthington, 1884. 359-385. [pages:359-385] Whitman, Walt. "Letter to Ellen M. O'Connor, November 15, 1863." Walt Whitman: The Correspondence. Ed. Edwin Haviland Miller. New York: New York University Press, 1961. 182-184. Whitman mentions that he has been to the opera several times, and that Miss Kellogg is good. [pages:183] Wilson, James Grant and John Fiske, eds. Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Volume III, Grinnwell-Lockwood. New York: D. Appleton & Co., 1888. Kellogg debut as Gilda in Rigoletto" in 1864 at the Academy of music in New York; however, she did not gain fame until 1864 as Marguerite in Gounod's "Faust." [pages:506] "“Carl Strakosch Dead.”." The New York Times. 24 Oct. 1916: 13. Husband of Late Clara Louise Kellog Expires Suddenly. "“Clara Louise Kellogg Buried.”." The New York Times. The New York Times, 1916. “Clara Louise Kellogg Buried.” "“Clara Louise Kellogg Ill.”." The New York Times. 09 May 1916. Once Famous Prima Donna Suffers a Nervous Breakdown at 74