Dame Nellie Melba DBE 1861-1931

Melba made her first commercial recordings in 1904, though there had been attempts to capture her voice during performances in New York in 1901. For the HMV and Victor companies she cut around 160 sides, mostly by the primitive acoustic process. Her 1926 electrical discs include the remarkable ‘live’ recordings of her Covent Garden Farewell.

In 1907 what started as a private visit to her homeland inevitably climaxed with a series of concerts in Sydney and Melbourne. Touring Australia at the same time was the English contralto Clara Butt, whom Melba had so controversially advised to ‘sing ’em muck!’

Two years later Melba was back. She sang in the capital cities, of course, but also undertook what she called a ‘sentimental tour’, a gruelling 10,000-mile trek that took her to dozens of towns across outback Australia. She sang for adoring crowds at affordable prices. ‘I never had a more appreciative audience,’ she reminisced. ‘From outlying stations they came, from remote homes in the wildness of the bush, in carts, trucks, and often enough on foot, over distances of hundreds of miles. At every stopping place the village halls were packed, and at each place I arrived they gave me a reception of which even royalty could not have complained.’

It was during this visit that Melba purchased and developed a property at Coldstream, in the countryside near Melbourne. John Grainger, Percy’s father, extended the farmstead for her and she christened it ‘Coombe Cottage’. Its isolation made it an ideal and much needed haven. Nevertheless, she loved entertaining and Coombe was often crowded with guests. The picturesque house and its grounds are still lovingly maintained, just as they were when the diva was in residence.

In 1911 Melba sang for the first time in grand opera in her homeland. In partnership with J.C. Williamson’s she created an international company with a repertoire of 12 operas, including two Australian premieres, Saint-Saëns’ Samson and Delilah and Puccini’s Tosca. The principal tenor was a sensational young Irishman, John McCormack. Melba was deeply committed to the enterprise. She said, ‘All my ambitions, my heart, my brain – if I have any! – have been centred on this project.’ She sank a significant amount of her own money into the venture and shared the costs and risks. She sang six different roles, giving three performances a week. Overseas she would sing usually only once a week.