Arabella Fields facts for kids

Arabella Fields (born Sarah Arabella Middleton, also known as "Belle Fields, the Black Nightingale") was an amazing African-American singer. She was born on January 31, 1879, and performed until at least 1933. Arabella moved to Europe in 1894 when she was just 15 years old. She is believed to be one of the first Black-American artists to record music in Europe. She even recorded songs by the famous American composer Stephen Foster. Arabella was very talented, speaking five different languages. She became very popular with European audiences by singing German lieder (songs) and even yodeling!

Early Life and Beginnings

Sarah Arabella Middleton was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on January 31, 1879. We don't know much about her early childhood. However, she said that she started performing when she was only 8 years old, back in 1887.

A Star on the Rise

First Steps in Europe (1894–1902)

In the summer of 1894, a 15-year-old Arabella joined a group called the 'San Francisco Minstrels'. This group, with four women and four men, traveled to Europe. They performed for the first time in Berlin, Germany, on August 30, 1894.

After touring Germany for three months, the group traveled through Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland. They arrived in the Russian Empire in late 1895 for a tour of Siberia. During this tour, Arabella married James C. Fields, another member of the group. The 'San Francisco Minstrels' group broke up in mid-1897. After that, Arabella and James formed their own duo called "James and Bella." They toured across Russia and Austria-Hungary.

From 1900 to 1901, the couple toured the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, and France. They called themselves the 'American Jubilee Troubadours'. During this time, newspapers in the Netherlands started calling Arabella the "Black Nightingale." In July 1902, the 'American Jubilee Troubadours' group also broke up. James and Bella went to Berlin, where Arabella decided to leave her husband. She then started working in theaters and cabarets around Germany.

The Black Nightingale (1903–1913)

By 1904, Arabella Fields was performing in many places in Germany, especially in Berlin and Hamburg. She sang arias and lieder. During this time, she met and married Engelhardt Albert Georg Winter, a German show organizer and pianist. He was from Bremen, where they made their home. Winter loved Arabella very much, and they had a child together. However, Arabella reportedly saw the marriage as a way to help her career.

In mid-1905, her new husband organized her next big concert tour. For the next 29 months, Arabella performed in Holland, Germany, and northern Austria. During this tour, she showed European audiences her amazing talent. Besides her American dances, she could sing traditional Lieder songs perfectly in German, English, Russian, French, and Dutch. The tour ended successfully in December 1907. Arabella then went to Berlin to record five songs with Anker Phonogramm Records. Around the same time, she also appeared in three short films. These films are now lost, but their titles were The Whistling Bowery Boy, Hello, My Baby!, and The Song that reached my Heart.

In April 1908, she started another three-year tour, which began in Italy. Over the next 34 months, Arabella performed in Germany, Denmark, Hungary, Austria, Sicily, Romania, Switzerland, and possibly Russia. Her recordings were sold, and her films were shown in local cinemas during this tour. European critics praised Arabella's performances. A highlight of this tour was in late 1910. She performed at Vienna's popular Gartenbau Theater. There, she sang "Nach Zigeuner Art," a song written just for her by the famous Austrian composer Theodor Wottitz. After a few months at home in Hamburg, Arabella started touring again in May 1911. This tour lasted another 33 months and took her across Europe and to a new place, Turkey.

World War I and Beyond (1914–1924)

In February 1914, Arabella returned home to Hamburg. She stayed there for the next 16 months, performing in local places like the Eden Theater. In September 1915, her family moved to Amsterdam, where they lived for four years. Arabella toured the Dutch areas constantly during this time and became very popular there. In December 1915, a Dutch composer wrote the song "My Indian Boy" for her. She also often went back to Germany to perform in the spa town of Wiesbaden until January 1916.

The Winter family returned to Germany in late April 1920. By 1921, her marriage with Winter was very difficult, and they separated. Also, many street protests and high prices in Germany made it hard for Arabella to keep working there. That winter, she left for a two or three-year tour of Eastern Europe. This tour took her across Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, and Yugoslavia until 1924.

New Adventures (1925–1931)

In September 1925, while touring Sweden, Arabella was hired by bandleader Sam Wooding. She joined his Chocolate Kiddies show. This famous show performed the latest Jazz music and introduced the Charleston dance across Germany, Denmark, Czechoslovakia, France, Spain, and the Soviet Union. The show ended in June 1926.

Back in Berlin, Arabella was hired by dancer Louis Douglas to be part of his 'Black Follies' show. This show toured Europe until it broke up in Poland in April 1928. In early 1929, Arabella quietly toured the Netherlands for five months. Then, Douglas hired her again for his 'Louisiana' show. This show was a huge success not only in Europe but also in Egypt and Syria. After almost 25 months of touring, Arabella left the show in August 1931. She went to film Rex Ingram's movie Baroud in Nice and Marrakech. Arabella starred in both the English and French versions of the film.