Countries | Scotland
Throughout the years, Melba made many trips to various parts of Scotland both from pleasure and as part of various UK tours.
Her first appearance in Edinbugh was in 1893:
… Madame Melba is to make her first appearance in Edinburgh early in the new year … Her company will comprise Miss Mearns, a new mezzo soprano, who comes like Madame Melba, from the Antipodes; Mr Albert Cornish, a young English Tenor; Mr Norman Salmond, M. Gorski, the Polish violinist; Mr Frederick Griffiths, the flautist; and Signor Tito Mattei … (1)
Cautious at first to accept any new artist on the recommendations of London and Paris, the provincial audiences soon became Melba’s most loyal admirers, welcoming her back again and again. Nellie gave interviews in each town.
In Scotland there was interest in the fact that her father came from Forfar and her mother from Dundee. In spite of her pride in her Scottish background, Nellie knew little about her ancestors. But she announced that she was delighted to be in the country, which she could hardly see through the mist and the rain on the train window as she travelled from the Glasgow Town Hall to the Edinburgh Music Hall for her concerts. The Edinburgh critics gave her a restrained notice which contrasts with the almost hysterical reviews of the Paris press.(2)
In mid 1901, Melba fulfilled one or two provincial engagements in England before proceeding to Scotland, where she spent part of her holiday at Dunrobin Castle as the guest of the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland.
A charming impression of another Scottish visit, to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Murray Gutherie, in the Isle of Mull, was embodied in Mrs. Crawshay’s little poem:
TO MADAME MELBA.
A Voice in Mull.
Grey tarn set where tall crags tower,
Lost in lonely rugged height,
On thy darkness floats a flower,
Chalice-shaped, mysterious, white.
(Published by permission of Mrs. Crawshey.) (3)
After the war Melba did regular concert tours of Britain which included Scotland – late 1919, she toured Edinburgh, Glasgow and Dundee and included Glasgow and Edinburgh in a tour the following year in November 1920.(4)
While Melba enjoyed touring she was always missing home and her family. In a letter from the North British Hotel (now Balmoral Hotel), in Edinburgh, Scotland, in December 1922. She wrote:
Dearest Evie,
— Sunday in Edinburgh — I wonder if you realize how lonely it is & I am all alone. However, I sang to 5000 people yesterday who gave me a wonderful reception so I am happy.
Tomorrow Dundee, Wednesday Glasgow & then the tour is over. I am singing on Friday for the League of Mercy. I have made it an Australian concert& I am to have the honour of introducing the artists to their Majesties.
I loved the snapshots George sent me, thank him, they made me homesick, the garden looks too lovely.
Love and blessings to you all, Madre.
Melba was thinking of home and past Christmases when she sang at Dundee. This year was rather a lonely Christmas for Nellie, although there were friends whom she gathered round her. (5)
… During the first interval Dame Melba went to the wings to congratulate the young singer on her splendid performance and chaffed her humorously for having a bad cold. It was interesting to note the greetings exchanged between the prima donna and many old friends in the chorus associated with her in the days of her Covent Garden triumphs, and to see her evident pleasure in visiting her old dressing room, where in former days, she entertained her friends …
‘It is really splendid,’ she said, ‘to find artists shouldering the responsibility of a great opera company, and such fine co-operative effort deserves to succeed. For myself, I am taking a box for the whole season, and, if it can be arranged, I shall be delighted to sing at a performance during the last week’; which will be good for opera goers. (6)
The garden fete in Scotland, was held in Fife, for the Fife County Nursing Association 26th & 27th June 1925 was opened by Dame Nellie Melba. The fete raised over £1500.
Melba’s final visit to Scotland was early 1926 as part of her farewell concert tour. It was to begin in Scotland with a concert in Glasgow on January 11, 1926, then to Edinburgh two days later and on to Dundee, Aberdeen and Kirkaldy. (7)
References
(1) Media report published in the The Scotsman, 1892, and published in P. Vestey, Melba A Family Memoir, Pamela Vestey, Coldstream 2000, pg 78.
(2) P. Vestey, Melba A Family Memoir, Pamela Vestey, Coldstream 2000, pg 79)
(3) A. Murphy, Melba A Biography, 1909 pg 166.
(4) P. Vestey, op. cit., pg 175 and 183.
(5) P. Vestey, op. cit., pgs 195 and 196.
(6) Media report published in the The Scotsman, December 28, 1922, and published in P. Vestey, Melba A Family Memoir, Pamela Vestey, Coldstream 2000, pg 197.
(7) P. Vestey, op. cit., pg212.
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Hours of opening:
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Sundays are preferred.
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Nellie Melba Museum
Contact Details:
Sue Thompson: 0475 219 884
Email: [email protected]
Share your info with us:
[email protected]
Our home is the Old Lilydale Court House:
61 Castella Street, Lilydale 3140
Hours of opening:
By Appointment only:
Fridays 1 to 4pm and Saturdays to Mondays 11am to 4pm.
Sundays are preferred.
Closed Public Holidays
Nellie Melba Museum
Contact Details:
Sue Thompson: 0475 219 884
[email protected]
Nellie Melba Museum
Contact Details:
Sue Thompson: 0475 219 884
[email protected]
Our home is the Old Lilydale Court House:
61 Castella Street, Lilydale 3140
Hours of opening:
By appointment only:
Fridays 1 to 4pm and Saturdays to Mondays 11am to 4pm.
Sundays are preferred.
Closed Public Holidays
Share Your Information
with Nellie Melba Museum!
Sue Thompson: 0475 219 884
[email protected]