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Nellie - The Life and Loves of Dame Nellie Melba
by Robert Wainwright
Published by Allen and Unwin
ISBN 9781760878252
Well, what a book, what a story of Australia's most famous opera singer, Australia's first superstar!
An interesting, fascinating biography, of a great woman who followed her dreams.
Her father was a successful businessman in Victoria during he mid-late 1800's, but was a strict, straight-laced Scotsman. He did not approve of his daughter, Nellie's desire to sing on stage in public. Although music was part of their family life, he was of the firm belief she should be a wife and mother, according to the story.
Nellie married a minor Irish aristocrat, who had spent most of his formative years in England and some time in Queensland. Hw had his own wilful beliefs of what a wife's role should be. This cruel, nasty, wife beating, sad soul, missed out on having a glorious life with his highly talented wife - talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face...
We could all learn from this incredible lady, Dame Nellie Melba. She went against the tide of social expectations of the time, with sheer belief in herself and her talent, with more than the desire to follow her dream.
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Nellie Melba went onto socialise with the aristocracy and the Royals of Great Britain and Europe and had a scandalous affair with a French aristocrat-in-exile, and later Pretender, to the French throne, who was several years younger than she, much to the disdain of his family.
The author tells this story of Helen Armstrong, nee Mitchell, who became Nellie Melba, so well. He takes the reader on the journey in a sympathetic, yet no-holds-barred, way. It includes her early years in Australia, where her public performances were enjoyed by the locals. But they thought she would never be good enough to sing on the international stage, let alone make it as an international operatic diva.
She was trusting. She believed that her misogynist husband would honour his pledge to return their son to his English boarding school and to Nellie, after a year visiting his relatives in America.
Whether or not you enjoy opera, this is a book that should be read, to know about the woman, who was Dame Nellie. Not only to read about her performances in the great operatic theatres of the world, such as La Monnaie in Belgium, Palais Garnier in Paris, Covent Garden in London, La Scala in Milan, the Metropolitan in New York and many others, but the adulation she received after these performances. Plus her private audiences with Queen Victoria. It is about Dame Nellie, the person, the sensitive woman, her loves, her struggles and her triumphs.
I found her story so well told, that I read half the book in two days ... that should be enough of a recommendation to click one of the links below and get your copy.
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