Nellie Melba

Nellie Melba, Dame Helen Porter Armstrong actually, nee Mitchell, GBE ( born May 19, 1861 in Richmond, now part of Melbourne, † February 23, 1931 in Sydney) was an Australian opera singer of Scottish origin. The artist name is a nod to their hometown of Melbourne.

Life

After initial studies in her hometown of Melbourne Melba is the final touch in 1886 brought vocally Mathilde Marchesi in Paris. On October 12, 1887 Melba made ​​his successful debut at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, initially as Gilda in Verdi's Rigoletto and a few days later as Violetta in Verdi's La Traviata. On the advice of Marchesi she lay down then to the stage name of " Melba ". May 1888 was her debut as Lucia di Lammermoor at the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the real beginning of their international career. After she had initially given guest performances, among others in Paris and St. Petersburg, it was limited soon on the three most important opera houses in the world: La Scala, the Metropolitan Opera in New York and again the Royal Opera House Covent Garden, where they connected more than 20 years remained. There she sang the title role in Herman Bembergs Elaine, Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in Aida, Desdemona in Otello, Luisa in Mascagni's I Rantzau, Nedda in I Pagliacci, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Violetta in La Traviata and Mimi in La Bohème. From the French repertoire, she sang Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette, Marguerite in Faust, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots, Micaela in Carmen and the title role in the opera Hélène, the Saint- Saens had written especially for her.

Until 1926, she celebrated worldwide success as a coloratura soprano with an unusually large vocal range (b- f '' '), especially in operatic roles of Giuseppe Verdi (the one with her ​​yet rehearsed even the Gilda, Aida and Desdemona ), Gioacchino Rossini ( Rosina, Semiramide ), Gaetano Donizetti ( Lucia ), Charles Gounod ( Marguerite ), Giacomo Puccini ( Mimi ), Ruggero Leoncavallo ( Nedda ) and Richard Wagner ( Elsa, Elisabeth ).

In her time she was considered as the first prima donna of the world. 1918 Nellie Melba from the British Crown appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE ), thus making it a lady in the British peerage, 1927, she was awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire ( GBE).

Peach Melba

1892-1893 Melba lived at the Savoy Hotel in London. After a premiere of the opera Lohengrin in 1892 was of the chef Auguste Escoffier a special dessert created: A skinned peach and two scoops of vanilla ice cream, covered with a raspberry veil represent the pose of the mythical swan from the first act dar. This pleased the artist so good that they gave permission henceforth to call the court Peach Melba. Also the Melba toast is named after her.

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