Melba - An Unconventional Biography (Paperback)

V t i v i ut --y . A, MEBB AN UNCONVENTIONAL BIOGRAPHY BY PERCY COLSON Les dieux sont de nos jours les matt res souverains Mais, Seigneur, notre gloire est dans nos propres mains. RACINE GRAYSON GRAYSON CURZON STREET MAYFAIR LONDON, t First Published by, fy yteft 6 Grayson Ltd, 1932 Printed in Great Britain by Northumberland Press Ltd. DE 19 A TRIBUTE TO THE GREAT COUNTRY WHICH GAVE BIRTH TO MELBA AND ESPECIALLY TO THE CITIZENS OF THE CITY FROM WHICH SHE TOOK HER NAME PREFACE THE life of a famous singer offers perhaps, less scope to the biographer for the accomplishment of his fell purpose than that of any other brand of celebrity especially in the case of one who has but recently died. If he tells the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth he is apt to give offence. If he suppresses any of it, he will be roughly handled by those of the singers friends who require truth, not only in the inward parts, but shouted upon the housetops. And the critics will chide him for his sins of omission. If, on the other hand, he confines himself to a tedious record of artistic triumphs, news paper criticisms, and letters, and to presenting a wholly flattering portrait of his subject, no one will read his book. It is infinitely easier to write about people who have been dead for a hundred years or so. There are none still living who care a tinkers curse what you say about them, and the very period in which they lived lends them a certain interest. Then, too, the writer can and invariably does call the resources of fiction to his aid. Great singers are, generally speaking, not particularly interesting people. They are, as a rule, entirely concentrated on themselves and their voices, and thecareful lives which they are obliged to lead in order to preserve those voices, combined with the strenuous work which their career entails, leaves them but little time for anything else. Melba, however, appears to me to offer an excep ix PREFACE tion to the general rule. To begin with, she had a distinct personality. Then, too, she lived through, and saw the end of an epoch the brilliant and prosperous period which ended on August 4, 1914. And she was a leading artistic personality during that epoch. Again, she was the last of what one may perhaps call the legendary prima donnas, for the days of the worship of great artistes or for any kind of hero-worship are, I think, definitely past. They have lost their mystery it has been taken away from them by the gramophone, the wireless, and the too efficient modern Press Agent. The curiosity which induces a crowd of shop-girls and errand-boys to stare at a film star is a very different feeling from that which fills the Albert Hall with an hysterical audience come to worship a Patti or a Kreisler. Opera, at the present time, is in the melting-pot. Music-lovers are tiring of the old gods, and so far no new ones worthy of their homage have dawned on the horizon. So I hope that some account of Melbas musical career, the milieu in which she moved, and of opera and opera singers in general will not be entirely without interest. I must acknowledge my obligation to two books now out of print Melba a Biography by Agnes Murphy 1909, and Melbas own Melodies and Memories 1922 also to Chapters of Opera by H. E. Krehbiel Musical Reminiscences by Lord Mount-Edgcumbe 1747 Covent Garden and the Royal Opera by Richard Northcutt and I have quoted some anecdotesfrom my own reminiscences, I Hope They Wont Mind. My thanks are due to Lady Juliet Duff, Madame Blanche Marchesi, Madame Zelie de Lussan, Lord Richard Nevill, Colonel Eustace Blois, Mr. Percy Pitt, Mr. Percy Eales, Mr. Thomas Cochran, Mr. Hugo Wortham, and Mr. Beverley Nichols, for valuable help. I have tried to avoid saying anything that could PREFACE possibly give offence to anybody, but if I have inadvertently done so, I herewith apologize...