Ernestine Cobern Beyer

Born with a coloratura soprano voice, Beyer progressed, with her mother as teacher and accompanist, from simple songs in English to operatic arias in French, Italian, and German.

In 1912, at age 18, Ernestine married David Stewart Beyer, a safety engineer at Liberty Mutual Insurance Company in Boston, Massachusetts.

[1] The New York Journal American wrote: "Maria Conde took the public by surprise when she soared into tonal altitudes beyond the normal range of coloratura sopranos."

(Decades later, Child Life editor Ernest Frawley would make a similar comment about Beyer's poetry: “I believe you stand a good chance of becoming the greatest children's poet of the day.")

Managed by impresario Aaron Richmond, Beyer realized that the combination of the demands of family life and frequent colds hindered her operatic career.