Lucy Isabelle Marsh<br /><br />"The Last Rose of Summer"<br /><br />Victor 45183<br /><br />1914<br /><br />'Tis the last rose of summer left blooming alone.<br />All her lovely companions are faded and gone.<br /><br />No flower of her kindred, no rosebud is nigh,<br />To reflect back her blushes and give sigh for sigh.<br /><br />I’ll not leave thee, thou lone one,<br /> To pine on the stem;<br />Since the lovely are sleeping,<br /> Go sleep thou with them.<br />Thus kindly I scatter<br /> Thy leaves o’er the bed<br />Where thy mates of the garden<br /> Lie scentless and dead.<br /><br />So soon may I follow,<br /> When friendships decay,<br />And from Love’s shining circle<br /> The gems drop away!<br />When true hearts lie withered,<br /> And fond ones are flown,<br />Oh! who would inhabit<br /> This bleak world alone?<br /><br />Lucy Isabelle Marsh was born on April 10, 1878.<br /><br />The soprano's first records were made for Columbia in 1908. She recorded only a few titles for that company.<br /><br />She soon became closely associated with Victor Talking Machine Company. She made Victor discs as a solo artist and worked in duos, trios, quartets, and larger ensembles.<br /><br />Her name is on many of Victor’s mid-priced purple-label releases and blue-label releases. These labels were designed to indicate a higher class of recordings than those on Victor's black label releases.<br /><br />Purple and blue label releases had a lower status than Victor's Red Seal label. <br /><br />She recorded only two Red Seal releases—duets with tenor John McCormack. <br /><br />Her recording of “Italian Street Song” on Victor 60031 sold well.<br /><br />She also recorded under the pseudonym Anna Howard.<br /><br />Marsh died on January 20, 1956, at age 77.
