Cultivate vour voice, and you will have a great career. Vogt directed this concert at which Nellie Mitchell was solo organist, performing Batiste's Andante in G, and "playing people out" with Scotson Clarke's Marche aux Flambeaux. Melba herself stated in London that she did not begin to study singing earnestly until after her marriage. The union turned out unhappily, and there was a long separation, followed ultimately by a divorce. There was one son, George.
Four or five concerts were rapidly given in the big old-fashioned playhouse, and the season was more or less of a failure. The young unknown soprano was warmly praised by the Press, and that her talents were recognised was shown by the fact that the Sydney Liedertafel committee and the Sydney Philharmonic committee adopted the unusual course of sending miles to Melbourne to invite her for Christmas engagements.
Mrs Armstrong's first experiences in London were discouraging. Signor Alberto Randegger the famous teacher was dubious as to her chances of success and Sir Arthur Sullivan was unable at the moment to do more than promise her the role of Yum-Yum if she cared to wait a year for it! William Ganz, confident in the newcomer's voice and style introduced her at the Chevalier Emil Bach's pupils' concert at Prince's Hall, and this little success was followed by another at the dinner of the Royal General Theatrical Fund Sir Augustus Harris in the chair when she made a veritable sensation in the Gounod-Bach Ave Maria.
Ganz then arranged an interview with Can Rosa, who rather fortunately as it all turned out, forgot to keep the appointment, and the future Melba left for Paris, and entered the Marchesi Academy. Madame Marchesi heard her sing, and—wept with joy and enthusiasm. There was only one slight 'break" in the long-extended compass the great teacher declared, and only 10 months later, on October 15, , the soprano appeared as Gilda at the Theatre de la Monnaie Brussels under her stage-name as "Madame Melba".
Press and public were delighted several critics pronouncing the voice the best since Patti. There was an exception however in the case of the Athenaeum critic who remarked 'But we do not for one moment imagine that Madame Melba will ever hold the highest position in her profession.
Covent Garden was in festival guise on the occasion and the diva sang Mimi which she had "created" on the same stage in to the Rodolfo of John McCormack. Melba's debut at the Paris Opera was as Ophelia in to the Hamlet of the French baritone Lassalle; in she visited Petrograd, at the invitation of the Czar, with Jean and Edouard de Reszke the great Polish tenor and basso, who usually sang with her in Romeo and Juliet ; and in , and later, she triumphed in two seasons at La Scala, and toured all Italy.
Besides the usual lyric repertoire in Italian opera, the singer appeared as Elsa at Covent Garden. In America she made the mistake of essaying the heavy dramatic role of Brunnhilde in Siegfried —the one and only failure of her long career. She created Nedda in I Pagliacci for Landon; appeared at the Handel Festival in and in created the name part in Saint-Saens' opera, Helene, which was written especially for her.
One of the greatest events in Melba's life, and so referred to by her in the London Press, was her return to Australia in , after an absence of 16 years. Opening in Melbourne on September 27, and in Sydney on October 11, the diva with the all conquering air and the voice of youthful charm carried all before her. In September, , Melba was again in this country, where she remained until February, , touring with Andrew Black the English baritone and Una Bourne pianist , and then resumed at Covent Garden, making her second appearance there in May as Desdemona to Zenatello's Othello.
The overwhelming Australian support at high prices never faltered; and at her farewell in August the great singer reappeared with the Royal Philharmonic Society of Sydney under Joseph Bradley after an interval of 24 years. In partnership with J. Williamson, theatrical manager, and with her old friend, John Lemmone, to scour Europe in search of artists, she brought to achievement one of her cherished ambitions—a star opera season in Australia.
In Sydney this wonderful season opened in September, , at Her Majesty's Theatre, where 52 performances were given, with a night return season near the close of the year. The almost immediate declaration of war against Germany stirred the great singer's patriotism to its depths.
She at once returned to her own country, and devoted nearly five years to raising huge funds for Red Cross and other war purposes, chiefly in Australia, but also in New Zealand and Canada, and part of her time in America. John of Jerusalem. These quotations are merely her principal war successes. Her departure was at the cabled request of King George to sing at the peace celebrations of On her arrival in London she opened the May season of Italian opera at Covent Garden, and sang occasionally throughout starring also as Juliet on the closing night in July.
One can guess her fright at the news, and the tears which followed it. From her first appearance on stage, a flattering murmur welcomed her. Her pretty appearance, her natural distinction, her grace and elegance won her instant favour. In spite of the fears which at first choked her, the voice, pure and limpid, with an adorable timbre and perfect accuracy, emerges with the greatest ease.
The articulation is precise, and there is hardly a moment when an unusual syllable reveals, in an accent which is light but not without grace, her Australian origins. We know that Madame Melba is an Australian and that in Brussels, in recent times, she sang in Italian in the midst of her fellow performers who sang in French. The whole of the Book Scene was performed not only with the great skill of a singer with rare taste and with great certainty of bearing, but with real dramatic purpose and with highly intelligent stage movement.
It continued through to the third act, during the beautiful trio with Hamlet and the Queen, where the replies were given with a rare assurance and in an accent touching and stamped with broken-hearted sadness. South Melbourne : Macmillan, After studying singing in her home town she travelled to Paris in Her talent was recognised by the influential Mathilde Marchesi who became her teacher and ardent supporter.
This marked the beginning of an auspicious international career. Throughout her career, Melba worked with prominent musicians and composers including, Enrico Caruso, Giacomo Puccini and Giuseppe Verdi. Melba remained a loyal Australian and Melbourne was always her home. She returned to her beloved country for several triumphant concert tours and eventually collaborated with J. Habitually she addressed her in correspondence as 'Mother', and repeatedly stated that Marchesi had been her only teacher.
Certainly Marchesi had transformed the girl. She was an immediate hit as Gilda in Rigoletto , a daughterly role for a year-old; she went against custom and appeared in plaits. It was not a conspicuous success; although she later sang her favourite role of Gilda, she seemed to make little headway, and on being offered a secondary part by the management in another opera, packed her bags and returned to Brussels. However she had found an ally at Covent Garden in the influential Lady de Grey, who wrote begging her to return.
Melba was fortunate in that the greater part of her career coincided with Covent Garden's golden age, even though its architect, the impresario Sir Augustus Harris, had initially engaged her reluctantly. Harris mounted spectacular productions involving hundreds, broadened the repertoire and widened the audience while still drawing the aristocracy; the Royal Opera's extraordinary social status Melba found exhilarating.
Even though some of her greatest triumphs occurred elsewhere, most notably at La Scala in and repeatedly in New York, it was to Covent Garden that Melba returned season after season, maintaining a permanent dressing room to which she alone held the key.
There she reigned supreme: her eclipse by the ageing Patti in was temporary. A powerful figure behind the scenes, Melba effectively blocked a number of rivals. Assisted materially by her friend Lady de Grey, Melba moved freely in high society.
It was remarked that she carried herself as if to the manner born. When she appeared in distant places, she was mobbed much as pop-singers are today. Meanwhile friendly advice from Alfred de Rothschild strengthened her financial position. Shortly after the turn of the century she bought a house in Great Cumberland Place, London, to be her home for more than twenty years, employing French workmen to remodel it in the style of Versailles.
Although Charles Armstrong had sailed with Melba to Europe, he joined the army to keep himself occupied and occasionally visited his wife and baby in Paris. The pair were glimpsed together in London, Paris, Brussels, St Petersburg, and Vienna where they indiscreetly shared a box at the Opera. The papers got hold of the story, and almost immediately Charles Armstrong filed a petition for divorce on the grounds of adultery.
The case was eventually quietly dropped; diplomatic pressure may have been brought to bear. The scandal was enough to send the duke off on a two-year safari in Africa, and to impress upon a bereft Melba both the importance of discretion and an increased sense of solitariness.
Armstrong, having spirited their son away to America, divorced her in Texas in Melba's circle increasingly included Australians and she kept effective contact with her family. Melba's train journey was a royal progress southwards to Melbourne, where thousands turned out to greet her. A contingent from P. For newly federated Australia, Melba represented glamour, success, and international acceptance: Melbourne in particular felt that she had made the place famous.
Unfortunately, a week after she sailed for Europe in March , John Ezra Norton penned an open letter in Truth which accused her of wilfulness, miserliness, parasitism and drunkenness.
Norton made it plain that he would welcome a legal challenge and kept up the attack, but Melba, safely ensconced once more in London society, chose to ignore him. Unfounded stories of her fondness for the bottle continued to circulate for years afterwards.
Although she was entering her forties, Melba was at the peak of her career. It was probably her finest hour. Shortly after that American tour she contracted pneumonia and, although she fulfilled her engagement at Covent Garden, found it necessary to go to Australia for a holiday.
While she was away Luisa Tetrazzini, ten years younger, gave a season at Covent Garden and quickly became a sensation; however, once Melba returned she held her ground, even though on occasion she irksomely had to alternate roles.
Tetrazzini's success was even greater in America, where she settled; although no longer challenged, Melba had been made aware of the precarious nature of her primacy, and henceforth became increasingly concerned to develop her links with her homeland. In she embarked on a 'sentimental tour' of Australia: she covered 10, miles 16, km , appearing in many remote towns.
The further she toured, the deeper seemed the adulation: there were banquets, speeches, even small crowds at wayside stations as Melba progressed with an entourage consisting of her manager, a maid and a valet, together with two baby grand pianos.
She would arrive a full twenty-four hours before a performance, and to sustain the excitement give her concert without an interval. On this visit she also began to promote what she regarded as the correct way of singing, essentially the Marchesi method as modified by herself.
She bought a property at Coldstream near Lilydale, Victoria, and called in the architect and engineer John Grainger, father of Percy , to build Coombe Cottage. Increasingly it became the centre of her operations; nearly half of her remaining years would be spent in Australia. She returned in to head the celebrated Melba- Williamson Opera Company; Williamson's arranged the venues, Lemmone and she engaged the artists.
In England once more, she continued to command an extraordinary following: no fewer than seven kings and queens attended one gala performance at Covent Garden in To go back to Europe was difficult, but she did make three wartime concert tours of North America where she excited pro-allied sentiment, and also applied herself to raising funds for war charities at home, most notably by her spirited auctioneering of flags at the conclusion of her concerts.
When in two Austrian teachers one of them Mme Wiedermann- Pinschof resigned from the Albert Street Conservatorium to follow George Marshall-Hall back to the University of Melbourne, Melba's response to what she saw as enemy action was to offer Fritz Hart her full support.
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