Nellie Melba - WikiHQ

thumb|right|Melba, c. 1907

Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early twentieth century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.

Melba studied singing in Melbourne and made a modest success in performances there. After a brief and unsuccessful marriage, she moved to Europe in search of a singing career. Failing to find engagements in London, England, in 1886, she studied in Paris, France, and soon made a great success there and in Brussels, Belgium. Returning to London, she quickly established herself as the leading lyric soprano at Covent Garden from 1888. She soon achieved further success in Paris and elsewhere in Europe, and later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City, debuting there in 1893. Her repertoire was small; in her whole career she sang no more than 25 roles and was closely identified with only 10. She was known for her performances in French and Italian opera, but sang little German opera.

During the First World War, Melba raised large sums for war charities. She returned to Australia frequently during the 20th century, singing in opera and concerts, and had a house built for her near Melbourne. She was active in the teaching of singing at the Melbourne Conservatorium. Melba continued to sing until the last months of her life and made a large number of "farewell" appearances. Her death, in Australia, was news across the English-speaking world, and her funeral was a major national event. The Australian $100 note features her image.

Life and career

thumb|upright|left|Melba, drawn by Frank Haviland

Early years

Melba was born in Richmond, Victoria, the eldest of seven children of the builder David Mitchell and his wife Isabella Ann née Dow (1833–1881). Melba was taught to play the piano and first sang in public around age six. She was educated at a local boarding school and then at the Presbyterian Ladies' College. She studied singing with Mary Ellen Christian (a former pupil of Manuel García) and Pietro Cecchi, an Italian tenor, who was a respected teacher in Melbourne. In her teens, Melba continued to perform in amateur concerts in and around Melbourne, and she played the organ at church. Her father encouraged her in her musical studies, but he strongly disapproved of her taking up singing as a career. Melba's mother died suddenly in 1881 at Richmond.

Melba's father moved the family to Mackay, Queensland, where he built a new sugar mill. Melba soon became popular in Mackay society for her singing and piano-playing. On 22 December 1882 in Brisbane, she married Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong (1858–1948), the youngest son of Sir Andrew Armstrong. They had one child, a son, George, born on 16 October 1883. The marriage was not a success; Charles reportedly beat his wife more than once. On the strength of local success, she travelled to London in search of an opportunity.

thumb|left|upright|[[Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans|Philippe, Duke of Orléans]]

In the early 1890s, Melba embarked on an affair with Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans, pretender to the throne of France. They were seen frequently together in London, which excited some gossip, but far more suspicion arose when Melba travelled across Europe to St Petersburg to sing for Tsar Nicholas II: the Duke followed closely behind her, and they were spotted together in Paris, Brussels, Vienna and St Petersburg. Armstrong filed divorce proceedings on the grounds of Melba's adultery, naming the Duke as co-respondent; he was eventually persuaded to drop the case, and the Duke began a two-year African safari without Melba. He and Melba did not resume their relationship. In the first years of the decade, Melba appeared in the leading European opera houses, including Milan, Berlin and Vienna. In December of that year, Melba sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the first time. As at her Covent Garden debut, she appeared as Lucia di Lammermoor and, as at Covent Garden, it was less than a triumph. The New York Times praised her performance – "one of the loveliest voices that ever issued from a human throat ... simply delicious in its fullness, richness and purity" – but the work was out of fashion, and the performances were poorly attended. Her performance in Roméo et Juliette, later in the season, was a triumph and established her as the leading prima donna of the time in succession to Adelina Patti. and Arthur Thomas's Esmeralda. Her Italian parts included Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in Aida, Desdemona in Otello, Luisa in Mascagni's I Rantzau, Nedda in Pagliacci, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Violetta in La traviata, and Mimì in La bohème. In the French repertoire, she sang Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Marguerite in Faust, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots, the title role in Saint-Saëns's Hélène, which was written for her,

Some writers expressed surprise at Melba's playing the last of these roles, since it was merely a supporting part in the opera. She played it on many occasions, saying in her memoirs, "Why on earth a prima donna should not sing secondary rôles I could not see then and am no nearer seeing to-day. I hate the artistic snobbery of it." Marguerite de Valois, too, is not the leading female role in Les Huguenots, but Melba was willing to undertake it as seconda donna to Emma Albani. and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. She received a certain amount of praise in these roles, although Klein found her unsuited to them, After giving one concert in Dunedin she travelled to Christchurch and gave a concert in Wellington.|group=n The profits were unprecedented; she returned for four more tours during her career. In Britain, Melba campaigned on behalf of Puccini's La bohème. She had first sung the part of Mimì in 1899, having studied it with the composer. She argued strongly for further productions of the work in the face of the distaste expressed by the Covent Garden management at this "new and plebeian opera". Although she called Covent Garden "my artistic home", her appearances there became less frequent in the 20th century. One reason for this was that she did not get on well with Sir Thomas Beecham, who was in control of the opera house for much of the period from 1910 until her retirement. She said, "I dislike Beecham and his methods", and he thought that while she had "nearly all the attributes inseparable from great artistry ... she was wanting in a genuine spiritual refinement." Another factor in her reduced appearances at Covent Garden was the appearance on the scene of Luisa Tetrazzini, a soprano ten years her junior, who became a great success in London and later in New York in roles previously associated with Melba.|group=n To another colleague and compatriot, Peter Dawson, she described his home city of Adelaide as "that city of the three P's – Parsons, Pubs and Prostitutes."

In 1909, Melba bought property at Coldstream, a small town near Melbourne, and in 1912 she had a home built there (extending an existing cottage) that she named Coombe Cottage after a house she had rented near London. She also set up a music school in Richmond, which she later merged into the Melbourne Conservatorium. She was in Australia when the First World War broke out, and she threw herself into fund-raising for war charities, raising £100,000.|group=n

After the war, Melba made a triumphant return to the Royal Opera House, in a performance of La bohème conducted by Beecham, which re-opened the house after four years of closure. The Times wrote, "Probably no season at Covent Garden has ever started with quite the thrill of enthusiasm which passed through the house." In her many concerts, however, her repertoire was regarded as trite and predictable. After one of them The Musical Times wrote:

thumb|upright|left|Melba in 1913

In 1922, Melba returned to Australia, where she sang at the immensely successful "Concerts for the People" in Melbourne and Sydney, with low ticket prices, attracting 70,000 people. In 1926 she made her farewell appearance at Covent Garden, singing in scenes from Roméo et Juliette, Otello, and La bohème. She returned to Australia but died in St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in 1931, aged 69, of septicaemia which had developed after facial surgery in Europe some time before. The funeral motorcade was over a kilometre long, and her death made front-page headlines in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Europe. Billboards in many countries said simply "Melba is dead". Part of the event was filmed for posterity. Melba was buried in the cemetery at Lilydale, near Coldstream. Her headstone, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, bears the farewell words of Mimì in La bohème: "" (Farewell, without bitterness).|

Others also benefited from Melba's praise and interest. She passed her own cadenzas on to a young Gertrude Johnson, a valuable professional asset. In 1924, Melba brought the new star Toti Dal Monte, fresh from triumphs in Milan and Paris but still unheard in England or the United States, to Australia as a principal of the Melba-Williamson Grand Opera Company. After sharing the Covent Garden stage in a 1923 night of operatic extracts with another Australian soprano, Florence Austral (who, as a dramatic soprano, posed no threat to Melba, a lyric soprano), Melba was effusive with her praise, describing the younger woman as "one of the wonder-voices of the world". She similarly described the American contralto Louise Homer as possessing "the world's most beautiful voice". She gave financial assistance to the Australian painter Hugh Ramsay, living in poverty in Paris and also helped him to forge connections in the artistic world. The Australian baritone John Brownlee and tenor Browning Mummery were both protégés: both sang with her in her 1926 Covent Garden farewell (recorded by His Master's Voice), and Brownlee sang with her on two of her last commercial recordings later that year (a session arranged by her in part to promote Brownlee).

Recordings and broadcasts

thumb|upright|Newspaper advertisement

Melba's first recordings were made around 1895, recorded on cylinders at the Bettini Phonograph Lab in New York. A reporter from Phonoscope magazine was impressed: "The next cylinder was labelled 'Melba' and was truly wonderful, the phonograph reproducing her wonderful voice in a marvellous manner, especially the high notes which soared away above the staff and were rich and clear." Melba was less impressed: "'Never again,' I said to myself as I listened to the scratching, screeching result. 'Don't tell me I sing like that, or I shall go away and live on a desert island.'" The recordings never reached the general public – destroyed on Melba's orders, it is suspected – and Melba would not venture into a recording studio for another eight years. Melba can be heard singing on several Mapleson Cylinders, early attempts at live recording, made by the Metropolitan Opera House librarian Lionel Mapleson in the auditorium there during performances. These cylinders are often poor in quality, but they preserve something of the quality of the young Melba's voice and performance that is sometimes lacking from her commercial recordings.

Melba made numerous gramophone (phonograph) records of her voice in England and America between 1904 (when she was in her 40s) and 1926 for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company and the Victor Talking Machine Company. Most of these recordings, consisting of operatic arias, duets and ensemble pieces and songs, have been re-released on CD. The poor audio fidelity of the Melba recordings reflects the limitations of the early days of commercial sound recording. Melba's acoustical recordings (especially those made after her initial 1904 session) fail to capture vital overtones to the voice, leaving it without the body and warmth it possessed – albeit to a limited degree – in life. Despite this, they still reveal Melba to have had an almost seamlessly pure lyric soprano voice with effortless coloratura, a smooth legato and accurate intonation.

thumb|left|[[His Master's Voice (British record label)|His Master's Voice advertisement for Melba recordings (1904)]]

Melba's farewell to Covent Garden on 8 June 1926 was recorded by His Master's Voice, as well as broadcast. The programme included Act 2 of Roméo et Juliette (not recorded because the tenor Charles Hackett was not under contract to His Master's Voice), followed by the opening of Act 4 of Otello (Desdemona's "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria") and Acts 3 and 4 of La bohème (with Aurora Rettore, Browning Mummery, John Brownlee and others). The conductor was Vincenzo Bellezza. At the conclusion Lord Stanley of Alderley made a formal address and Melba gave an emotional farewell speech. In a pioneering venture, eleven sides (78 rpm) were recorded via a landline to Gloucester House (London), though in the event only three of these were published. The full series (including both speeches) was included in a 1976 His Master's Voice reissue.

As was the case in many of her performances, most of Melba's recordings were made at "French Pitch" (A=435 Hz), rather than the British early 20th century standard of A=452 Hz, or the modern standard of A=440 Hz. This, and the technical inadequacies of the early recording process (discs were frequently recorded faster or slower than the supposed standard of 78 rpm, whilst the conditions of the cramped recording studios – kept very warm to keep the wax at the necessary softness when cutting – would wreak havoc with instrumental tuning during recording sessions), means that playing her recordings back in the speed and pitch she made them at is not always a simple matter.

On 15 June 1920, Melba was heard in a pioneering radio broadcast from Guglielmo Marconi's New Street Works factory in Chelmsford, singing two arias and her famous trill. She was the first artist of international renown to participate in direct radio broadcasts. Radio enthusiasts across the country heard her, and the broadcast was reportedly heard from as far away as New York. People listening on the radio barely heard a few scratches of the trill and two arias she sang. Further radio broadcasts would include her Covent Garden farewell performance, and a 1927 "Empire Broadcast" (broadcast throughout the British Empire, by radio stations AWA and 2FC, Sydney, on Monday 5 September 1927; it was relayed by the BBC London on Sunday 4 September).

Honours, memorials and legacy

thumb|upright|Statue of Melba at Waterfront City, [[Melbourne Docklands]]

thumb|upright|Centre portion of Melba's [[Coat of arms|arms, granted in 1920<br />Escutcheon: Azure on a plate between in chief two mascles and in base a nightingale or, with a cross gules at centre.]]

Melba was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours, along with May Whitty the first stage performer to receive this order, for her charity work during World War I, and was elevated to Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1927. A stained-glass window commemorating Melba was erected in 1962 in the Musicians' Memorial Chapel of the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, London. She is one of only two singers – the other being Adelina Patti – with a marble bust on the grand staircase of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

A blue plaque commemorates Melba at Coombe House, Devey Close in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames, where she lived in 1906. She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. Melba was closely associated with the Melbourne Conservatorium, and this institution was renamed the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music in her honour in 1956. The music hall at the University of Melbourne is known as Melba Hall. The Canberra suburb of Melba is named after her.

The Australian $100 note features the image of her face, and her likeness has also appeared on an Australian stamp. A tunnel on Melbourne's EastLink freeway is named in her honour. Streets named after her include Melba Avenue in San Francisco and Avenue Nellie Melba / Nellie Melbalaan in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht.

Melba's home in Marian, Queensland, during her brief cohabitation with her husband was relocated from the Marian Mill (where it was due to be demolished) to a riverbank setting along the main Eungella Road in Edward Lloyd Park, where, under the name Melba House, it was restored and now operates as a Melba museum and the Pioneer Valley Visitor Information Centre. Her home Coombe Cottage in Coldstream, Victoria, passed to her granddaughter Pamela, Lady Vestey (1918–2011). It is now owned by Lady Vestey's sons, Sam (3rd Baron Vestey) and Mark, who reside in the United Kingdom.

Melba's name is associated with four foods, all of which were created in her honour by the French chef Auguste Escoffier:

Peach Melba, a dessert made of peaches, raspberry sauce, and vanilla ice cream
Melba sauce, a sweet purée of raspberries and red currant
Melba toast, a crisp dry toast
Melba Garniture, chicken, truffles and mushrooms stuffed into tomatoes with velouté sauce.

Melba planted a variety of poplar tree known as Populus × canadensis "Aurea", or golden poplar, on the Central Lawn in Melbourne Botanic Gardens on 11 April 1903, which has become known as "Melba's poplar". On 19 May 2011, Google celebrated her 150th birthday with a Google Doodle.

Books, films and television

Melba's autobiography, Melodies and Memories, was published in 1925, largely ghost-written by her secretary Beverley Nichols. Full-length biographies devoted to her include those by Agnes G. Murphy (1909), John Hetherington (1967), Thérèse Radic (1986), Ann Blainey (2009), and Richard Davis (2025).

A novel Evensong by Nichols (1932) was based on aspects of Melba's life, drawing an unflattering portrait. Melba appears in the 1946 novel Lucinda Brayford by Martin Boyd. She is depicted as singing at a garden party thrown by the mother of the eponymous heroine, when she is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world".

In 1946–1947 Crawford Productions produced a radio series on Melba starring Glenda Raymond, who became one of the foundation singers of the Australian Opera (later Opera Australia) in 1956. In 1953 a biopic titled Melba was released by Horizon Pictures and directed by Lewis Milestone. Melba was played by the soprano Patrice Munsel. In 1987 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a mini-series, Melba, starring Linda Cropper miming to the singing voice of Yvonne Kenny. Melba was portrayed by Kiri Te Kanawa in episode 3 of season 4 of the British ITV television show Downton Abbey (2013), performing at the abbey as a guest of Lord and Lady Grantham. Rupert Christiansen, writing in The Telegraph, bemoaned the casting and the fact checking.

Melba appears in a pivotal scene in the 2014 novel Tell by Frances Itani.

Notes and references

Notes

References

Sources

(US edition (2009) published as Marvelous Melba: The Extraordinary Life of a Great Diva. Chicago: Ivan R. Dee. )

External links

Links to recordings, images and information about Melba
Melba – link to 1906 recording of the aubade from the opera Le roi d'Ys
1902 portrait Madame Melba, painted by Rupert Bunny
Photo of Melba, her father and niece (1903), Library of Congress
Biography; photo of dress worn by Melba
Melba in Queensland – John Oxley Library blog, State Library of Queensland
Nellie Melba Collection at the Performing Arts Collection, Arts Centre Melbourne
Marconi's experimental radio broadcast with Melba 1920