1892
Dame Nellie Melba’s dress
The diva
Melba was Australia’s first real superstar. She was the first Australian celebrated as a classical musician, and the first Australian featured on the cover of Time magazine. She was the first Australian to make a name internationally for anything at all.
Having made her debut as Desdemona in Verdi’s Otello in 1892 she returned to the highly dramatic role in 1924, by now a diva of the first order. This dress is made of champagne silk crepe de Chine and edged all of the way around with a band of gold leaf and pearls. The train is interlined with fine wool and lined with cream-coloured Japanese silk. The garment was worn with an accompanying tabard and headdress, and a long-sleeve shift, and was made by Mary E Fisher, theatrical costumier of Bedford Street, London.
Helen Mitchell was born in Richmond, Melbourne, on 19 May 1861. She showed no particular gifts and had an unspectacular early life that was marred by the tragedy of the deaths of her mother and sister. She and her father moved to Mackay in Far North Queensland, where she married Charles Armstrong. The marriage was not happy: her husband was violent.
In 1884 Helen left Mackay for Melbourne to become a singer. She had lessons with Pietro Cecchi and gave a few performances. In 1886, she accompanied her father to Europe where she found a teacher, Mathilde Marchesi, in Paris. Mme Marchesi shook off Helen’s colonial dust and introduced her to composers. She also encouraged her to change her name to ‘Melba’, a contraction of the name of Nellie’s birth city.
Melba made her debut in Brussels in October 1887 as Gilda in Rigoletto. Two years later her performance in Roméo et Juliette at Covent Garden was a massive hit. She later said, ‘I date my success in London quite distinctly from the great night of 15 June 1889.’
Melba never looked back. She appeared at La Scala, at the Metropolitan Opera in New York and repeatedly at Covent Garden. She sang for Queen Victoria, Tsar Alexander III, King Oscar II of Sweden, Emperor Franz Joseph, the president of France and Kaiser Wilhelm II. She was mobbed by fans like a pop singer is today. Her affair with Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans and heir of the Bourbon pretender to the French throne, was breathlessly hinted at by the tabloid media.
Such was Melba’s celebrity that the acclaimed chef Auguste Escoffier at London’s Savoy Hotel created dishes in her honour – peach Melba (peaches, raspberry sauce and vanilla ice-cream) and Melba toast (a thin slice of bread lightly toasted on both sides, cut in half laterally and then returned to the heat).
This magnificent costume gives some idea of the scale of Melba’s stardom.
Melba maintained her connections with Australia. Her 1902 return tour was an unprecedented success and the box office for the Sydney concert was a world record for a singer at that time. Her 1909 tour took her through regional and remote Australia and she was universally adored. During World War I she raised an enormous amount of money for war charities and was honoured for her work by being made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Through the 1920s Melba continued to sing in Europe, the USA and Australia, though not always grand opera. She had a house built for herself in the Yarra Valley, outside of Melbourne, and taught at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music. When asked for advice about doing an Australian tour, Melba told Dame Clara Butt to ‘Sing ’em muck!’ – she was using the word ‘muck’ as a synonym for popular songs.
Melba made over 100 recordings. She gave her last Covent Garden performance in 1926 and undertook her final Australian tour in 1928. On her way back to Europe after that tour she developed a fever in Egypt and never fully recovered her health. She died in Sydney in February 1931.
One cannot underestimate Melba’s importance to Australia in her time, and this cloak of riches is a testament to the brightness of her star. Not only did she love her Australian audiences and heritage, she promoted Australian talent internationally as well. She played up the rugged, straight-talking Australian character overseas and sang the newborn country onto the world stage.