Nellie Melba Suggest updates
Helen Porter Mitchell (Dame Nellie Melba).
Born Richmond, NSW, 19 May 1861.
Died Sydney, 23 February 1931.
Australian soprano.
Melba (whose stage name derives from the city of Melbourne) was one of the singers who dominated the operatic world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, maintaining a voice of remarkable purity and agility to the end of her career. After initial study in Melbourne, she moved to France, to train under Mathilde Marchesi, one of the most noted teachers of her time.
Melba's debut in Brussels came in 1887, and though she sang the following year at Covent Garden (Lucia) her period of great success at that house began the following year (Juliette). Her early roles also included Gilda and Violetta, and she soon added heavier lyric parts including Marguerite, Mimì, Elsa, Aïda and Desdemona.
For over thirty years, until her retirement in 1926, Melba divided most of her time between Covent Garden and the New York Met, though she appeared at most of the great houses.
Melba sang Nedda in the London premiere of Pagliacci (1893), and created the title roles in Elaine (Bemberg - Covent Garden, 1892) and Hélène (Saint-Saëns - Monte Carlo, 1904).
Melba's fame
Many may have enjoyed the dessert comprising peaches, raspberry sauce and vanilla ice cream without considering why it is called Peach Melba. This confection was created and so named in her honour by the French chef Auguste Escoffier at the Savoy Hotel, London, around 1890.
Melba and Scotland
Melba's ancestry was Scottish - her father came from Forfar, her mother from Dundee, and they emigrated to Australia shortly before she was born.
Melba never sang complete operas in Scotland, but made several concert tours, beginning in 1897 and 1899. The last visits were in 1922 and 1926 (when she added Kirkcaldy to the city itinerary).
During her December 1922 visit to Dundee, Melba gave a concert in the then new Caird Hall, where hers is the first signature in the Hall's Autograph Book.
