Emma Lucy Gates Bowen

"Music was a universal experience."

"We are part of music and music is part of us. Not all feel and sense this to the highest, yet all are touched by it as we pass this life."

"My whole soul seems to be brought out when I sing."

"Miss Gates is the equal of the greatest prima donnas this country has produced."

"Often compared to Galli-Curci, the reigning prima donna of opera, she was praised for her flawless agility, purity of intonation, and dazzling style, all demonstrating a lyric charm and sensuous beauty of tone."

"Critics also praised her beauty, her stage presence, and her natural theatrical ability."

"In this venture, she was very successful. There was a time, in fact, when she sold more records than any other singer of her type."

"He evidently was an enthusiastic supporter of his wife's career."

"Her voice has been described as a sweet, clear, high soprano, but without the consistently strong magnitude and volume of some of her contemporaries."