  florence foster jenkins (july 19, 1868november 26, 1944) was an american amateur operatic soprano who was knownâand ridiculedâfor her lack of rhythm, pitch, and tone; her aberrant pronunciation; and her generally poor singing ability. ==early years== born narcissa florence foster in wilkes-barre, pennsylvania, to charles dorrance foster and mary jane hoagland, jenkins received music lessons as a child, and expressed a desire to go abroad to study opera. her wealthy father refused to pay the bill, so she eloped to philadelphia with frank thornton jenkins, a physician. the two were married from 1885 until 1902. after her divorce, jenkins earned a living in philadelphia as a teacher and pianist. in 1908 she began living with the stage actor st. clair bayfield (later her manager), a relationship that would last the rest of her life.peters, brooks, "florence, the nightingale?," june 15, 2006 (also appeared, but in slightly different format, in opera news magazine)  when her father died in 1909 jenkins inherited sufficient funds to begin her long-delayed singing career. she took voice lessons and became involved in the musical social circles of philadelphia and, later, new york city, where she founded and funded the verdi club. she began giving recitals in 1912. her mother's death in 1928 gave her additional resources to pursue her singing career. ==career== from her recordings it is apparent that jenkins had little sense of pitch and rhythm, and was barely capable of sustaining a note. her accompanist can be heard making adjustments to compensate for her tempo variations and rhythmic mistakes. her dubious diction, especially in foreign lang
1868_births 1944_deaths American_sopranos Artistic_incompetence Humor_in_classical_music Musicians_from_Pennsylvania Outsider_musicians People_from_Wilkes-Barre,_Pennsylvania