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Dame Nellie Melba, GBE ( 19 May 1861 – 23 February 1931 ), born '''Helen Porter Mitchell''', was an Australia n Opera Soprano , the first Australian to achieve international recognition in the form. She and Dame May Whitty both became the first entertainers to become a DBE in 1918. FAMILY She was born at "Doonside" in Richmond (now an inner suburb of Melbourne ) into a musical family, attending Presbyterian Ladies' College (a prestigious private school) where her musical talent emerged. She moved with her father David Mitchell to Queensland in 1880. MARRIAGE She married Charles Nisbett Frederick Armstrong, the son of a baronet, and had one son. Although on paper the marriage lasted almost twenty years, in practice it was over within two. Melba was a free spirit; motherhood and social conventions did not suit her, although later in life she was close to her son and grandson. Her mother in law, keen not to lose a grandson, helped Melba with introductions during her early career. PROFESSIONAL CAREER In 1886, she travelled to Europe with her family in an attempt to begin a musical career. With no success in London , she continued to Paris where a prominent music teacher, Madame Mathilde Marchesi , agreed to tutor her. Her first starring role was at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels and she returned to London to Lady de Grey's patronage, ensuring her success with the aristocratic audience at Covent Garden. Thus began a professional career in Australia and England that saw her as the Prima Donna at the Royal Opera House , Covent Garden through to the 1920s. She was feted by royalty and always earned at least one shilling per performance more than any other singer. Before the War, Melba nights were social events and the audience blazed with jewels. Melba also sang in New York at The Met and Chicago, and famously, at Oscar Hammerstein 's opera house, drawing the Met audiences to his new theatre, even though Caruso was singing at the Met. It was also Marchesi who persuaded her to adopt a suitable stage name. 'Melba' was chosen as a contraction of the name of her native city.As was the case of Florence Mary Wilson, named ; (both named after Australia), and June Mary Gough, named June Bronhill (after Broken Hill ). Melba visited New Zealand in February 1903 after her tour of Australia. She arrived in Invercargill from Hobart and was welcomed by Sir Joseph and Lady Ward.(''Otago Daily Times'', February 17 , p.6.). After giving one concert in Dunedin she travelled to Christchurch. She was interviewed on the train. (''The Press'', February 20, p.5). The Wellington concert was on Monday February 23 and reviewed the following day (''Evening Post'', February 24 , p. 5.). COLDSTREAM In 1909, she bought a cottage at Coldstream , a small town 50 km east of Melbourne. The cottage is located at the current juncture of Maroondah Highway and Melba Highway (named in her honour). She also set up a music school in Richmond, which she later merged into the Melbourne Conservatorium . AWARDS She was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order Of The British Empire in 1918 for her charity work during World War I, and was elevated to Dame Grand Cross in 1927. She and Dame May Whitty were the first entertainers to be awarded the honour of Dame Commander Of The British Empire (DBE). RUTHLESSNESS Despite the Angel ic voice for which she was admired, she was also known for her demanding, temperamental '' Diva '' Persona ; often she would make last minute decisions before a performance, and often would deliberately upstage other sopranos during their performances, grabbing the attention for herself. She felt that the three words "I am Melba" were sufficient to explain her every wish or whim. She tolerated no rivals. The Tenor John McCormack , on the night of his London debut, attempted to take a bow with her on stage, but she pushed him back forcefully. "In this house, no one takes a bow with Melba." If a singer's greatness can be gauged by how detested she was by colleagues, then Melba would undoubtedly be the greatest singer of all time. In Emma Eames ' memoirs, Melba is an unnamed wicked force who frustrated opportunity after opportunity for Eames. Titta Ruffo , Rosa Ponselle , John McCormack , Luisa Tetrazzini , Frances Alda , and others also spoke of their unpleasant experiences with Melba. Emma Eames later in life averred that Melba had a beautiful voice, but of her portrayal of Marguerite in Faust , Eames quipped that "She would have hung the jewels off her nose if she could!" Some Poetic Justice occurred when Enrico Caruso , during a performance of '' La Bohème '', as a joke, pressed a hot sausage into her hand that he'd hidden in his pocket as he sang "''''"("What a cold little hand, let me warm it") Melba described Florence Austral's voice as "One of the wonder voices of the World", hardly the remark of a diva so ungenerous to her colleagues. She was from a previous generation to Caruso and his colleagues above. She found Caruso coarse and uncultivated. Tetrazzini was simply outsung by Melba and the Covent Garden audiences decided, not Melba. Her colleagues of the earlier days, such as the great de Reszke brothers, a tenor and a baritone, did not complain of such treatment. On the recording of her Covent Garden farewell, in tears, she even thanks the "dear Stagehands". PATRONAGE OF OTHERS Despite the hatred Melba may have inspired in her colleagues, Melba was respected and did help the careers of younger singers. She taught for many years at the Conservatorium in Melbourne and looked for a "new Melba". Melba passed her own personal Cadenza s onto a young Gertrude Johnson , a valuable professional asset. The Australian baritone John Brownlee was helped by her, and it was Brownlee who accompanied Melba on her last commercial recordings in 1926, where her voice sounds as astonishingly preserved as ever. The Australian tenor Browning Mummery sang with Melba in her Covent Garden farewells also. Melba also "discovered" a lyric soprano named Stella Power whom she thought sounded a lot like herself. In early 1918 Miss Stella Power participated in a "Melba Concert" with Nellie Melba at the Isis Theatre where she was well received. Power was dubbed "the little Melba", but Power lacked Melba's ambition, soon married and had a child, and retired. SOLITARY RADIO PERFORMANCE In 1920 she appeared on a pioneering radio broadcast from Guglielmo Marconi 's factory in Chelmsford, England . However, she realized that people listening on the radio could hear her for free, so in typical Melba fashion, she never made another radio appearance. This may have been because there was so little artistic control over a radio performance and because the transmission quality was even worse than a recording. RECORDING Melba's official "farewell" to Covent Garden in 1926 was recorded. Her voice still sounds remarkably fresh, and at the end of the evening she makes a tearful speech to the audience. Some recordings of her voice were made in the early 20th century, and have been re-released on CD for contemporary audiences. The audio fidelity of the recordings reflects the limitations of the early days of commercial Sound Recording . However, even these early recordings show an almost seamless pure voice, with effortless coloratura, legato and perfect pitch. They give an idea of the voice which people described as silvery and disembodied, with the notes forming in the theatre as if by magic and floating up through the theatre. "FAREWELLS" She then left for Europe and later developed a fever in Egypt which she never quite shook off. She is also well remembered in Australia for her seemingly endless series of "farewell" tours between her last stage performances in the mid 1920s and her final, last concerts in Australia in Sydney on 7 August 1928, Melbourne on 27 September 1928 and Geelong in November 1928. From this, she is remembered in the vernacular Australian expression "more farewells than Nellie Melba". DEATH She returned to Australia but died of Septicaemia , in St. Vincent's Hospital, Sydney in 1931 aged 69, and was given a State Funeral from Scots' Church, Melbourne , which her father had built and where as a teenager she had sung in the choir. She was buried in Lilydale , near Coldstream. Her headstone has Mimi's farewell words "" (Farewell, without bitterness). The funeral motorcade was over a kilometre long, and her death made front-page headlines in the UK and Europe. LEGACY Melba was closely associated with the Melbourne Conservatorium, and this institution was renamed to the Melba Memorial Conservatorium Of Music in her honour in 1956. Her name is associated with two foods, a dessert (the Peach Melba ), and Melba Toast , both of which were created by the French chef Auguste Escoffier . The music hall at the University Of Melbourne is known as Melba Hall. The Australian 100-dollar note features her image. Sydney Town Hall has a marble relief bearing the inscription "Remember Melba". Melba, the last of the 19th century tradition of bel canto sopranos, is one of only two singers with a marble bust in the foyer of Covent Garden. The other is Adelina Patti . NOTES SEE ALSO
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