According to the Reserve Bank of Australia website Dame Nellie Melba was born Helen Porter Mitchell on 19 May 1861 at Richmond, Melbourne. Her portrait and biography are featured because her picture appears on the $100 Australian banknote.
Contribution To The Music World
Dame Nellie Melba was a world-renowned soprano singer who even had a permanent dressing room at Covent Garden.
- This kind of privilege came to her after a successful debut in Paris, 1988.
- She subsequently established herself as Covent Garden's prima donna, and the 'Queen of Song.'
- “Her most famous operatic role was that of Mimi in Puccini's La Bohème.” RBA Website
A Leader In Technological Experimentation
Her voice was remarkable and noted for its
- evenness, range, and “pure silvery timbre.”
- pure trill was internationally recognised as outstanding; this helped her to become very confident.
She was a leading singer in the field of sound recording, and between 1904 and 1926 she made almost 200 recordings. In 1920, she became the first artist of international standing to participate in direct radio broadcasts.
Her Special Talent : The Trill
Jonathan Woolf talks about her voice and the confidence with which she held the interest of her audience. He says, “Her colouration is splendid, voice production easy and fluent, her trill often of evenness and magnificence; a certain flatness of pitch at the top of her range has occasionally been cited but contemporary evidence is that her intonation was impeccable; her legato is of an elevated distinction....” Music Web International.com
Her Contribution to the War Effort
Melba made the decision to be based in Australia during the First World War. From here she could
- contribute greatly to the war effort because she was a wealthy woman in her own right.
- be courageous and generous working tirelessly to raise funds for war charities.
- travelled to give wartime concerts in North America.
Her Contribution To Social Justice and Feminist Issues
Melba used her riches, her talents and her privileged position well. She ensured that her methods would be handed down to younger generations. Because of her own struggles to receive a music education, and because she could understand the plight of aspiring young women, she established a singing school at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Albert Street. The Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music is its contemporary name.
Dame Nellie Melba
- provided her services free of charge.
- often traveled from Lilydale to teach her 'Melba's Girls'.
Acknowledgement For Her Contributions
- In 1902, Melba made a triumphant home-coming. This was grand and involved a concert tour of all Australian States and New Zealand. Her reception was wildly enthusiastic.
- For her services to the war effort, Melba was dubbed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1918.
- In 1928 she received the Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire.
Fondly Remembered
- Melba gave a number of supposedly final performances and this caused the humorous saying “More Finales Than Dame Nellie Melba” to become a part of Australian idiom.
- Her final Covent Garden performance was in 1926. In Australia, her final and emotional concerts took place in 1928.
- In the intervening year, she sang at the opening of Parliament House in Canberra.
- Culinary dishes, fruits such as the Melba Peach, flowers and plants were named in her honour
- Melba died in Sydney on 23 February 1931 and was buried at the Lilydale Cemetery in Victoria.
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