Nellie Melba, soprano

She was born at "Doonside" in 1861, Richmond (now an inner suburb of Melbourne) into a musical family, attending Presbyterian Ladies' College (a prestigious private school) where her musical talent emerged. The cottage is located at the current juncture of Maroondah Highway and Melba Highway (named in her honour). In Emma Eames' memoirs, Melba is an unnamed wicked force who frustrated opportunity after opportunity for Eames. Titta Ruffo, Rosa Ponselle, John McCormack, Luisa Tetrazzini, Frances Alda, and others also spoke vocally of their unpleasant experiences with Melba. Despite the hatred Melba inspired in her colleagues, Melba occasionally did help the careers of younger singers. The baritone John Brownlee was one, and it was Brownlee who accompanied Melba on her last commercial recordings in 1926, where her voice sounds as astonishingly preserved as ever. Melba also "discovered" a lyric soprano named Stella Power whom she thought sounded a lot like herself; Power was dubbed "the little Melba," but Power lacked Melba's ambition, soon married and had a child, and that was that.

Melba's official "farewell" to Covent Garden in 1926 was recorded. She died of septicaemia in 1931, aged 69, and was given a state funeral from Scots' Church, Melbourne, which her father had built and where as a teenager she had sung in the choir. She was buried in Lilydale, near Coldstream.

A recording from "Faust" by Gounod . Link

Thanks to Bassocantante.com for the recording.