Countries | United States of America
Melba made her operatic debut in America on December 4, 1893 at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York.
From that time, most years until 1905, she divided her time between Europe opera season and that of America.
During World War I she sometimes toured twice in the one year. The tours left from Australia and were in support of the war effort in Canada and later America.
While in America Melba took the time to travel extensively both with opera companies and on concert tours.
Following are some of the highlights of those tours.
On December 4, 1893 Melba made her American debut at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York in Lucia di Lammermoor.
The World Fair was held in Chicago that year, so Nellie went to Chicago for operatic and stage appearances. Nellie, with other well-known singers from Europe. Melba sang, sang Lucia di Lammermoor, Romeo et Juliette, Aida, Tannhauser, Lohengrin and I Pagliacci. (1)
Melba’s second seven-month long American tour began in November 1894. The Metropolitan Opera was the main centre, but the tour included visits to Boston, Washington Baltimore, Buffalo, Providence, New Naven and Chicago.
Her operatic roles included Elaine, Les Huguenots, Tannhauser, Lakme, Otello, Lohengrin and Semiramide.
Melba was welcomed back to New York in late 1895, when the Metropolitan Opera staged a series of brilliant productions attended by the formidable, fashionable world of New York Society. The first production of Manon in New York was causing much interest. The composer, Jules Massenet, was anxiously waiting for news of its reception.
On Christmas Day Nellie sang in St. Patrick’s Cathedral at the morning service. Archbishop Corrigan found time to write and thank her on the same day.
Manon was produced on January 27, 1896 and was well received. Nellie wrote to M. Massenet, recounting the success of his opera.
Melba’s 1896/97 tour of the United States began with a series of concerts in Boston and other east coast towns. The Metropolitan Opera season opened with Faust, Romeo et Juliette and Wagner’s Siegfried. The latter almost destroyed her voice.
She had sung in Tannhauser and Lohengrin with reasonable success, although her voice was not really suited to the roles. Madame Marchesi had implored her not to study or perform the role of Brunhilde in Wagner’s Seigfried.
From the moment the curtain went up and she began to sing she knew that Marchesi was right. That one performance nearly ruined her voice and it took months to recover. Melba’s voice had recovered after treatment but she was not able to sing until July.
The 1897/98 tour of the United States covered the country from coast to coast. Nellie visited California for the first time.
It was all quite new to her and fascinating; she was to return to the coast many times, always with pleasure. The tour was notable for the use of a Private Car hired from the Pullman Railway Company.
This luxurious ‘caravan’ could be hooked on to a chosen train or put into a siding for a night of rest. Nellie was delighted with her movable home which made the long tour much less arduous. Her name was blazoned on the side of the car to the interest of people waiting at the stations as the long train passed by. The Barber of Seville received tumultuous acclaim from the Metropolitan audience, in spite of the outbreak of the Spanish-American war at this time.
At the Academy of music in Philadelphia Melba appeared for the first time in the role of Mimi in La Boheme, the opera which was to become identified with Melba and in which she had been so carefully rehearsed by its composer, Giacomo Puccini. (3)
In late 1900 she set off for another coast to coast tour of America. It was while on tour, in February 1901 that Queen Victoria died at Osborne. (4)
Melba returned to America in October 1903, in a tour which included a visit to Canada. (5)
Towards the end of 1904 Melba again returned to America. It was very cold when they arrived in New York, the excessive central heating inside affected her throat and it was feared that she was contracting pneumonia. Melba made one appearance at the Metropolitan Opera in December, then collapsed with laryngitis and pneumonia.
It was decided to cancel all her engagements from December to March. The drastic step was modified when she recovered enough to resume the concert tour. Her son George joined the party in a private car.
In 1906 Melba accepted an engagement to sing at the Manhattan Opera House, New York; but although the establishment of the new home of opera necessarily meant certain competition with the Metropolitan.
It is doubtful if any singer ever entered on a more difficult task than that which Melba cheerfully set herself when she agreed to link her reputation with the fortunes of the new Manhattan Opera-House of New York in its first season.
The older house, the Metropolitan, where in previous years she had sung all her favourite rôles, and, with the support of irreproachable casts, had become a strongly established artistic and social institution, backed by a subscription list of $400,000 (£80,000), stands in the very heart of the theatre district; its directors included some of the most influential financial magnates of New York
On the other hand, the new opera-house—the Manhattan—had practically no subscription list. (6)
However, Melba need not have worried as The Manhattan opened with a packed house for La Traviata which received thunderous applause and good notices, and it was followed by a successful performance of Rigoletto. Melba attended a performance Parsifal at the Metropolitan, she was generously place in a box. The Manhattan staged La Boheme, this caused another legal battle, ‘the music was possessed by the Metropolitan’.
While in New York, Melba made several recordings for the Victor Talking Machine Company, an undertaking she found, difficult and unsatisfactory. (7)
August 1915, Melba began her tour in Los Angeles and continued in San Francisco. After extensive touring in America and Canada, Melba arrived back in San Francisco, ending her tour in March with the Mardi Gras Ball. On the morning of 8 March 1916, Melba’s party left for Australia in the Wilhelmina. (8)
Melba gave all the proceeds from her concerts in Australia and Canada to charity, and she needed the engagements in America to provide her income.
Later that year, Melba returned there for an extended tour. This time, she began hiring motor cars for parts of her journeys and she was delighted by the excellent roads which covered most of the country. (9)
When America entered World War I, Melba’s 1917 tour included concerts at army. Her huge new audiences was unaccustomed to classical music or opera. Undeterred melba adapted her program to the audience, and soon had them captivated.
October 1917 Melba, directed by Cleofonte Campanini, and the Chicago Opera Company began its tour in October.
However, while at Fort Worth Texas on 25 October 1917, Melba was painfully injured when a row of lights at the back of the stage struck her.
The accident upset her nerves for some time. However, her performances did not suffer.
At the end of the opera tour Melba set off on her long concert tour. The tour followed the usual long list of towns. There was extra commitment in Boston. $10,000 was added to the Halifax relief fund, as a result of a concert given by the Boston Symphony Orchestra, under Dr Karl Muck, with Madame Melba and Fritz Kreisler as soloists.
On 1 January, 1918, Melba read in a newspaper that she has been made a Dame of the British Empire. A new award, it had been created to recognize outstanding service to the community by women. Melba was proud and delighted.
At Bangor, East Maine, Melba opened the auditorium to the public for her rehearsal – 3,000 people heard her sing the entire program, plus encores.
The ‘Sunshine Division’ under the command of General Frank S. Strong, at Cape Kearney, gave Melba a military welcome. It was estimated that over 15,000 young soldiers made up most of the audience. It was an open air sound-shell.
It had been a gruelling tour. When they arrived at Pasadena, she was exhausted and decided to go into the Sanatorium for a complete rest.
A few days rest was enough for her, she moved onto Santa Barbara. Melba was intrigued by the new motion pictures. She toured a studio, but wanted to meet Charlie Chaplin, who proved to be an even more interesting character than she had imagined.
They talked for hours. Chaplin commented to Nellie:
‘Madame, would you have me forget my penny public, for where would I be without them?’ (10)
Melba returned to London in March 1919, via the United States. (11)
The Auckland Star of June 12, 1918 reported that Melba had in California appeared in 20 performances of opera and 30 concerts plus at the concert at Camp Kearney.
References:
(1) P. Vestey, Melba A Family Memoir, Pamela Vestey, Coldstream 2000, pg 84.
(2) P. Vestey, op. cit. pgs 93 to 95.
(3) P. Vestey, op. cit. pgs 98 and 99.
(4) ) P. Vestey, op. cit. page 115.
(5) A. Murphy Melba A biography, 1909. pgs 250 and 251.
(6) P. Vestey, op. cit. page 128.
(7) P. Vestey, op. cit. pg 153.
(8) P. Vestey, op. cit. pg 157.
(9) P. Vestey, op. cit. pgs 160 to 164.
(10) P. Vestey, op. cit. page 168).
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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]