Talk:Nellie Melba

Farewells

--- In 1946–1948 the ABC produced a popular radio series on Melba starring Glenda Raymond. --- ???

The booklet that comes with the 2003 CD "Glenda Raymond Soprano", from Australian Heritage states (on page 8) that the radio series was produced in 1946-1947 by Crawford Productions. The series was broadcast on 3DB a Melbourne based commercial radio station.

Booklet can be downloaded here. http://www.buywell.com/booklets/4726892.pdf

An engaging an interesting article? perhaps. Scholarly? maybe. Accurate? can not be sure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.29.232.147 (talk) 11:47, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Comments 2003-2006

I just want to compliment this page to whomever wrote it. I've rarely run across such a scholarly job on Wikipedia. It was engaging and interesting without being POV. Thanks! 68.42.59.219 23:41, 2 December 2006 (UTC)M

I don't think this article is terribly accurate (for example, Melba never had a grandson, did not move to Qld. in 1880, and was not generally regarded as temperamental (quite the opposite, actually, by some); her family were extremely proud of her and accepted her marriage failure philosophically), nor does the article adequately sum up Melba's astonishing achievements and her significance. Melba certainly could be vain and imperious, but other aspects of her personality, such her immense (often financial) generosity and self-awareness, need to be recorded too. The article seems to be generally negative and forgets the positive side. Almost nothing is said of the particular achievements of Melba's career, one which certainly extended well beyond England and Australia alone. I wonder whether any recordings of Nellie Melba exist? I'll see what I can find.--Robert Merkel 22:06 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yes, certainly they do. She recorded for HMV and Victor Talking Machine Company. -- Infrogmation 22:41 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Cheapo CD label Naxos have reissued quite a few of her recordings - it's an ongoing series, I think. Interesting listening. I might upload a snippet of her (eventually) if nobody else does. --Camembert

Is it worth noting, with respect to her recordings, that the recording techniques of the day were particularly maladept at recording the soprano voice, and that this needs to be borne in mind by modern listeners when they hear her recordings?

more 'farewells' or more 'comebacks'?

The Australian Broadcast Corporation's [page] says: She had a farewell tour that lasted four years, which, of course, is the origin of the phrase, "More farewells than Dame Nellie". The page here talks about "More comebacks". Are both right? Jon Pincus ([email protected]) 05:10, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

Both are in use, I think. --Robert Merkel 00:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

In relation to "comebacks". In senses such as this, "comeback: is not an Australian expression (it is an American expression).

It has never been "comebacks" and never will be "comebacks" for the simple reason that she never really retired; and, thus, from this was never able to resume an abandoned career (i.e., she could never "come back" from anything from which she had never departed in the first place).

It is very plainly clear that she was milking the finances and sympathies of her audiences by representing her performances as if they were "farewell" performances.

Also, there is the plain fact that the expression was always used in Australian English the context of someone, say, leaving, then returning, "Just one more thing…", then leaving, then appearing once more, "Oh, and another thing…". Once the individual had finally left, one of those present would remark of "He/she makes more farewells than Nellie Melba".

I have changed the text of the article in accordance with this (I suspect that, if such a "comeback" statement has ever been uttered, it has been by someone such as Dennis Cometti in some extraordinary circumstance. It is not an Australian expression).Lindsay658 08:26, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

'Ruthlessness' - Citations required

This section contains several alleged "quotes" and completely unreferenced and anecdotal allegations about Melba's relationships with her colleagues. They may well be true, but they must have proper citations from reliable, verifiable, published sources. If they are not available online, then they must be referenced to the book or article in which they appear, with full bibliographic information including the exact page number. I have added {{Citation needed}} in the places where this is required.Voceditenore 16:16, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Discussion of her voice

There is nothing in this article about Melba's voice. I do not have texts on her to use as a reference, but listening to her one is impressed at the purity of the voice and almost total lack of vibrato, unless she wanted to produce it, and all her recordings were made late in her career. --CloudSurfer (talk) 00:02, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Checking the web further reveals this article which has numerous references that could be accessed by someone with a good library nearby. Sadly, my nearest good library is a couple of thousand km away. --CloudSurfer (talk) 02:27, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Hot sausage

As a (much-needed indeed) minor contribution to the appalling dearth of sourced material in this article, I believe the hot sausage story was told in an interview by Peter Dawson, though whether he was the originator of it I don't know. I heard the story told by him in person in a speech recording in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast around about 1980. I hesitate to meddle with Australian national property but please can we have some authority for all these many biographical and anecdotal statements? Ta, Eebahgum (talk) 00:02, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

I see similar requests have been standing for a long time.Eebahgum (talk) 00:04, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Legends and anecdotes

Surely the story about Florence Austral, and Melba's complimenting of her, is not relevant to the point being made? I thought (perhaps wrongly) that both Austral and Stralia were connected with Melba's touring troupe, weren't they? So she would naturally be nice about them. A very notable follower of the fashion for taking a stage-name from a place is Marie Brema, who took hers from her father's birthplace, Bremen. Eebahgum (talk) 23:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Possible new external link

Hi, I moderate Culture Victoria. We have the Dame Nellie Melba story in CV which includes images, video, and audio from collections of The Arts Centre, Melbourne. I've had a look at the guidelines for adding external links and thought that a link to CV would be relevant and appropriate. Please let me know what you think.--Eleworth (talk) 05:42, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Hi, thanks for suggesting this. I've checked the link and added to the article. It's very useful. Voceditenore (talk) 07:44, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Tag trimming, etc.

I've trimmed the See also section. It was full of articles that were already linked in the article text. I've also reduced the tag overkill in this article. The one at the top is superfluous if almost every section has one, ditto the tag in the References sections. The remaining five tags on the sections plus the multiple tags in the text itself are more than enough. Voceditenore (talk) 07:44, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

150th birthday

Today is Melba's 150th birthday. If anyone has the time and inclination, it would be nice to take this article to the next step. In addition to the referencing issues, it has very little information about the roles she played and other accomplishments in her peak years. Best regards, -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:52, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

It's a mess, really. For example, it reads as if she was married at birth to Charles Armstrong. The first and only mention of him is his being cuckolded - nothing about who he was, when and where they met, when and where they married, where they lived after marriage, when they divorced, his subsequent fate, etc etc. He seems always to have been a part of her life, until they divorced. I'm sure this info used to be there, but where it's gone now ...... I'll be giving it some attention soon. -- Jack of Oz [your turn] 06:03, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

User:Tim riley is currently working on the article off-line. Once he makes his version live, we can all review. Best regards! -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:47, 25 May 2011 (UTC)

Done. Pray review and amend ad lib. Tim riley (talk) 10:44, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Audio

Ah, fors e lui, La traviata, 1907

Sempre libera, La traviata, 1904

There are two files with voice of Nellie Melba. You can add it to the approriate place in the article. -- Andrew Krizhanovsky (talk) 16:48, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

That's splendid! Thank you so much for digging them out. Would it be imposing too much to ask if you would be so kind as to add them to the Melba article? I'd do it myself, but I've got in a tangle with sound files when I've tried in other articles. Sorry to be a nuisance. Tim riley (talk) 16:52, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

I've put them in. See if you like the position. -- Ssilvers (talk) 16:41, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Old masters discovered in 2008

I don’t see any mention of the masters recently (2008) discovered in Germany of the sessions she made in her London home in 1904. [1] [2] -- Jack of Oz ^[Talk] 23:29, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

Jack, would you kindly add a brief mention of this to the article if appropriate? -- Ssilvers (talk) 22:51, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Why was she called "Melba"?

Dumb question, where did the name "Melba" come from? She was born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, mother's maiden name Dow, she married Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong, so where did "Melba" come from? TiffaF (talk) 21:02, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

No dumb questions, just dumb answers. Here's mine: she chose her pseudonym as a reference to her hometown Melbourne, Victoria, and as June Bronhill refers to Broken Hill, New South Wales. Doug butler (talk) 22:15, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

On closer inspection I find the sentence "It was at this time, on Marchesi's advice, that she adopted the stage name of "Melba", a contraction of the name of her home city." and a footnote mentioning Bronhill also. But I've made mention at the intro, where it doesn't look too bad, and a nice online reference. Let's see if the experts allow it to remain, Doug butler (talk) 22:47, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

Looks OK to me, but the cite should be in the body, not the lead. Fixed. -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:05, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

John Lemmone

It is a pity there is no reference to the virtuoso flute player John Amadio who accompanied her in many performances and later became her manager and friend. "He was her lifelong friend and counsellor, was with her to the last. According to Melba's biographer Thérèse Radic, it was widely presumed that the pair were also lovers, though neither ever admitted it."

Gderrin (talk) 08:50, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

References

Hmm, you citation refers to John Lemmone, not John Amadio. Anyway, be bold! Put it in. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 09:11, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

I added something on Lemmone. -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:54, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Michael - I meant "It is a pity there is no reference to the virtuoso flute player John Lemmone...."

Gderrin (talk) 22:08, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

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Madamoiselle Charbonnet-Kellerman

Pianist Alice Charbonnet-Kellermann Taught Young Nellie Mitchell/Melba piano during turbulent year 1882 "CHARBONNET— KELLERMANNDESLOUIS CONCERTS". The Mercury. Vol. LXI, , no. 7, 139. Tasmania, Australia. 11 January 1893. p. 3. Retrieved 23 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) "Charbonnet-Kellerman". Evening News. New South Wales, Australia. 27 October 1894. p. 6. Retrieved 23 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia. "MADAME MELBA'S RECOLLECTIONS". The Brisbane Courier. Vol. LXV, , no. 15, 756. Queensland, Australia. 11 July 1908. p. 12. Retrieved 23 April 2022 – via National Library of Australia.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: extra punctuation (link) --unsigned message from User:Tradimus.

That does not seem noteworthy with respect to Melba's article, since Melba was not a professional pianist, unless there was more to the relationship. But it could be mentioned in Charbonnet-Kellerman's article if it was important to her life or career. -- Ssilvers (talk) 17:23, 22 April 2022 (UTC)