1838: The Start Of A Career

No one on the planet will enjoy this as much as I do, I'm sure, but here it is: Emma's first public performance, in Bristol, in 1838:

The Bristol Mercury reviewed the concert, remarking that "A young lady, named Miss Floyd, made a very promising debut; she possesses a voice of more than ordinary sweetness and flexibility, and of great compass, and, judging from the manner in which, under all the disadvantages of of a first appearance, she executed some very difficult passages in the music assigned to her, we should say she will prove a valuable acquisition to the musical profession."

Emma, lead vocalist, at age 15, in Bristol.

Within a year, she will be under the tutelage of one T. Machlin, the musical impresario of Bristol, who will -- by 1840, I think -- have handed her off to Thomas Welsh, in London.