Emma Albani

Dame Emma Albani
Born	Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse 1 November 1847(1847-11-01) Chambly, Quebec
Died	3 April 1930(1930-04-03) (aged 82) London, England, UK
Occupation	Operatic soprano

Dame Emma Albani DBE (1 November 1847 – 3 April 1930) was a leading soprano of the 19th century and early 20th century, and the first Canadian singer to become an international star.^[1] Her repertoire focused on the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and Wagner. She performed across Europe and North America.

Childhood

Emma Albani at age 5

Albani was born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse in Chambly, Quebec, to the professional musician Joseph Lajeunesse and his wife, Mélina Mignault.^[2] Her date of birth is usually given as 1 November 1847, but other authors have placed her birth in 1848 or 1850, and Albani's memoir puts her birth in 1852.^[3] She began her musical studies with her mother, and at age five her father took over her musical lessons.^[4] Her father was a proficient musician who was skilled with the violin, harp, piano and organ. He kept her on a strong practice regimen, with as much as four hours a day of lessons on the harp and piano.

The family moved to Plattsburgh, New York in 1852.^[5] In 1856 after the death of her mother, she continued her education in a Montreal convent-school, run by the Dames du Sacré-Coeur where her father had obtained the position of Music Master. This afforded her a better education than she might otherwise receive, and additional musical instruction. On 24 August 1860 she and Adelina Patti were soloists in the world premiere of Charles Wugk Sabatier's Cantata in Montreal which was performed in honour of the visit of the Prince of Wales. However, she was ultimately unable to finance a musical education in Quebec, where singing and acting were considered unsavoury careers for a woman, and her family moved to Albany, New York in 1865. There she became a popular singer, an organist and teacher of singing and saved enough money to continue her studies. ^[6]

Emma Albani in costume for the role of Violetta in La Traviata

In 1868, she travelled to Paris, where she studied with Gilbert-Louis Duprez at the Paris Conservatoire. She spent six months in Paris, training with Duprez. She then travelled to Italy, where she studied Italian opera singing with Francesco Lamperti.^[7] Under the guidance of her elocution instructor, Signor Delorenzi, she changed her name to the simpler Emma Albani, which sounded more European. In 1870 she made her debut at Messina in La Sonnambula using the surname Albani.

Operatic career

Development in Italy

Her funds began to run low, and although her training was not yet complete she began to look for work to help support her schooling. She found a position in Messina, and her operatic debut was on 30 March 1870, in Messina, playing Amina in Vincenzo Bellini's La Sonnambula. Her debut performance was very well received. She later recalled:

I was literally loaded with flowers, presents, and poetry, the detached sheets of which were sent fluttering down in every direction on the heads of the audience; and among the numberless bouquets of every shape was a basket in which was concealed a live dove. They had painted it red, and the dear little bird rose and flew all over the theatre.

—Emma Albani, on her debut performance^[4]

Emma Albani, in her 1870 role as Amina

She returned to Milan after her contract in Messina had expired, to resume her instruction by Lamperti. Additional work offers began to pour in. She soon accepted a role in Rigoletto being performed in Cento. Further roles followed in Florence and Malta, with parts in La sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor, Roberto il diavolo, Il barbiere di Siviglia and L'Africaine.^[4] After spending the winter of 1870-1871 performing in Malta,^[8] she auditioned for Frederick Gye, the manager of Covent Garden in London.^[9] He was impressed by her talent and signed her to a five-year contract. She was scheduled to make her London debut in the spring of 1872. Before her London contract began she returned to Italy to resume her studies with Lamperti. She made one last performance in Florence, giving renditions of La Sonnambula and Lucia di Lammermoor before returning to London.

Move to London's Covent Garden

Albani arrived in London in the spring, and made her professional debut on 2 April 1872 as Amina in La sonnambula.^[10] Critics and audience members alike were impressed with her strong performance in the role, and her admirers presented her with gifts of flowers and jewellery. At Covent Garden she developed an interest in oratorio after being introduced to it by Sir Julius Benedict and Josiah Pittman, who encouraged her to explore it. Her first opportunity to present a piece came in October 1872, when she performed "Angels, ever bright and fair" from Handel's Theodora at the Norwich Festival. She also found time and opportunity to travel to Paris, where she performed at the Salle Ventadour during the off season.

Her second season in London included performances in the roles of Ophelia in Ambroise Thomas' Hamlet and the Countess in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro. During the off time after the second season she travelled to Moscow, performing in La sonnambula, Rigoletto, Hamlet and Lucia di Lammermoor, then she went to St. Petersburg, where the Tsar viewed her performances. Her reception in Russia was extremely positive.

Albani as Elisabeth in Tannhäuser.

In her third season in London, she performed in mostly the same roles she had in her first two seasons: La sonnambula, Lucia di Lammermoor, Linda di Chamounix and Martha.^[11] The competition in the opera world of London was very stiff, and it was common for performers to be possessive of their roles. Continuing to perform the same roles was not unusual for a singer like Albani.^[10] After her third season, Queen Victoria requested a private performance from Albani, who travelled to Windsor Castle in July 1874 to perform the aria "Caro nome" from Rigoletto, the folk ballad "Robin Adair", the Bach/Gounod "Ave Maria", and the popular song "Home, Sweet Home". The Queen was suitably impressed by her performance and would call Albani back to perform other pieces, by composers such as Brahms, Grieg, Handel and Mendelssohn, as well as traditional French and Scottish tunes. In the fall of 1874, she undertook of a tour of the United States, visiting New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Chicago and Albany.^[12] On her tour of America, she was accompanied by Ernest Gye, the son of Frederick Gye. She learned the role of Elsa in Wagner's Lohengrin in two weeks, performing it in New York. The opera was performed in Italian, which was also the custom at Covent Garden.^[13]

She returned to London for her fourth season at Covent Garden in 1875. After the season, she performed at the Norwich Festival, where she sang in Mendelssohn's "Hymn of Praise" Symphony and Julius Benedict's oratorio The Legend of St. Cecilia. In her fifth season in London (1876) she performed the role of Elisabeth in the London premiere of Wagner's Tannhäuser.^[11] Afterward she went to Paris and sang at the Théâtre des Italiens, where she was well received, and gave a special performance for Patrice de Mac-Mahon, duc de Magenta. Albani married Ernest Gye on 6 August 1878. She quickly became pregnant, but continued to tour and perform until shortly before the birth of her son Frederick Ernest Gye on 4 June 1879. He was to be the couple's only child. She did not return to the stage until the spring of 1880, when she sang in Ferdinand Hérold's Le Pré aux clercs at Covent Garden.^{[citation needed]}

Caricature from Punch, 17 September 1881: "MADAME ALBANI. A Thing of Beauty is a Gye for ever!"

Throughout the 1880s, Albani toured Europe and North America, garnering praise wherever she travelled.^[14] In 1881, Albani was invited to perform in Lohengrin, which was being given at the Berlin Royal Opera. She agreed to appear in the role of Elsa, which she had previously sung in Italian, and relearned the part in German. The performance was attended by the German Emperor, Kaiser Wilhelm I. The reception was very positive, earning three curtain calls. In 1882, the Kaiser awarded her the title of Hofkammersängerin.^[15]

In 1883, she gave three recitals in Montreal. More than ten thousand people showed up to greet her upon her arrival, and poet Louis-Honoré Fréchette composed a poem in her honour which he read at a reception.^[15] Her first operatic performance in Canada came on 13 February 1883 in Toronto, at the Grand Opera House where she performed in Lucia di Lammermoor.^[16] On 15 July 1884 in London she sang the role of Brunehild in Ernest Reyer's opera Sigurd^[17] and the role of Juliette in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette in the same season.^[15]

She retired to Scotland for the summer, and in the fall toured Belgium and the Netherlands. In 1886, she met Franz Liszt in London, who praised her performance in his sacred cantata The Legend of St. Elisabeth.^{[citation needed]}

Albani as Desdemona.

Albani made her debut at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City on 20 November 1891 as Valentine in Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots. She performed the role 8 more times and appeared a total of 29 times that season: twice as Desdemona in the company's first ever performances of Verdi's Otello, as well as a gala performance of Act IV on 9 December (both with the Met on tour in Chicago); three times as Gilda in Rigoletto; once as Violetta in Act I of Verdi's La traviata (on a double bill with Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana, in which Emma Eames's sang Santuzza); twice as Elsa in Lohengrin; once as Margeurite in Gounod's Faust; four times as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni; four times as Eva in Wagner's Die Meistersinger; and once as Senta in Der fliegende Holländer. All the operas in which she appeared were performed in Italian. As the season progressed some critics remarked on the wear and tear that was becoming evident in her voice, but praised her artistry and experience. Of her last performance at the Met on 31 March 1892 The New York Times wrote: "The Senta of Mlle. Albani was not vocally perfect, yet it had so many excellences that her hearers must have been inclined to forgive the departures from the pitch which seem to have become an inseparable accompaniment of her singing of late. She did much to atone for them by the intelligence of her work and by the dramatic earnestness with which she imbued all her singing. She earned a fair share of the honors of the evening."^[18][19][20]

Even in Albani's final season at Covent Garden in 1896, she continued to receive strongly positive reviews. The greatest triumph of her career came on 26 June 1896, when she sang Isolde in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, with Jean de Reszke in his first London Tristan, Louise Meisslinger as Brangäne, David Bispham as Kurwenal, Edouard de Reszke as King Marke, and Luigi Mancinelli conducting. There were a total of four performances, all of which sold out despite the higher than normal ticket prices, and the opera was sung in German. On 24 July she sang Valentine in Les Huguenots. There had been no announcement, and few people would have realized, it was the last time they were to hear her in opera. Her career at Covent Garden had lasted for twenty-four years.^[21][22]

Post Covent Garden

Emma Albani in 1899

After retiring from Covent Garden in 1896, Albani departed for a tour of her native Canada, performing in venues across the country. In 1898, she toured Australia.^[14] She also was active in oratorio in Britain.^[23] On the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albani travelled to London and sang the solo role at her final service. In spring 1908, the veteran Albani toured the English provinces as part of a company containing two budding talents: 10-year-old pianist Marie Novello, who two years later would become one of Theodor Leschetizky's last students, and John McCormack, who only months before had made his own Covent Garden debut.^[24] Albani gave her last public performance on 14 October 1911.^[25] That same year she released a book, Forty Years of Song.^[26] The book was effectively a memoir, recounting stories of her youth, travels and career, and impressions of fellow performers and the royalty she met over her life, as well as providing some useful advice on singing.^[27]

She and her husband retired to Kensington. Poor investments resulted in the loss of much of their wealth, and Albani was forced to give musical lessons to earn income. Her husband died in 1925, compounding the situation, but benefit concerts arranged by friends provided sufficient income for Albani. She died in London on 3 April 1930.^[28]

Emma Albani

Honours and legacy

Albani received the gold medal of the Royal Philharmonic Society in 1897, often known as the "Beethoven Medal".^[29]

Madame Selitsky, the prima donna who performs in L. M. Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables (1908) was inspired by Albani. Montgomery later wrote a profile of the singer for Courageous Women (1934), a non-fiction work.

In 1925, Albani was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire by King George V.

The Canadian Commission for landmarks and historic monuments mounted a plaque at her birthplace in 1939, which was replaced with a stele in 1977.^[29]

Several streets and places have been named after her in her native Quebec. Two streets in Montreal have thus been named. The first was dedicated in 1912, but was later removed when the road was merged with another street. The second, avenue Albani was so named in 1969.^[30]

Canada Post commissioned a postage stamp honoring her on the 50th anniversary of her death. The stamp was designed by artist Huntley Brown and released on 4 July 1980. 11,700,000 stamps were printed.^[31]

She is depicted in a stained-glass mural in the Place-des-Arts metro station in Montreal.^{[citation needed]}

References

1. ^ "Emma Albani, soprano and voice teacher (1847-1930)". Collections Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/m2-1054-e.html. 
2. ^ Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Foundation, Toronto. 2011. http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0000110 
3. ^ Robin Elliott (2005). "Constructions of Identity in the Life Stories of Emma Albani and Glenn Gould". Journal of Canadian Studies 39 (2): 105–126. doi:10.1353/jcs.2006.0017. http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/journal_of_canadian_studies/v039/39.2elliott.html. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} "Emma Albani - Childhood and Education". Collections Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/m2-1054.1-e.html. 
5. ^ "Early Training and Performances". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1SEC890850. 
6. ^ Morgan, Henry James Types of Canadian women and of women who are or have been connected with Canada: (Toronto, 1903) [1]
7. ^ "Obituary: Dame Emma Albani". The Musical Times 71 (1047): 463. May 1930. JSTOR 916813. 
8. ^ "Studies in Europe and Opera Debut". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1SEC890851. 
9. ^ Gabriella Dideriksen; Matthew Ringel (Summer 1995). "Frederick Gye and "The Dreadful Business of Opera Management"". 19th-Century Music 19 (1): 3–30. doi:10.1525/ncm.1995.19.1.02a00010. JSTOR 746717. 
10. ^ ^{a b} "Emma Albani - Early Career". Collections Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/m2-1054.2-e.html. 
11. ^ ^{a b} "Covent Garden". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1SEC890852. 
12. ^ "Emma Albani - Concert Tours". Collections Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/m2-1054.3-e.html. 
13. ^ John Rosselli. "Albani [married name Gye], Dame Emma [née Marie Louise Cécile Emma Lajeunesse] (1847–1930), singer". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/30362?_fromAuth=1. 
14. ^ ^{a b} "Emma Albani - Later Career". Collections Canada. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/gramophone/m2-1054.4-e.html. 
15. ^ ^{a b c} "1878-1885: Canadian Performances". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1SEC890853. 
16. ^ Gilles Potvin (Spring 1980). "The Canadian Opera Career of Emma Albani". Aria 3 (1). http://www.scena.org/lsm/sm6-2/emma-en.html. 
17. ^ The Times review 16 July 1884
18. ^ Der Fliegende Holländer (31 March 1892) at the MetOpera Database (includes a copy of The New York Times review).
19. ^ Emma Albani at the MetOpera Database.
20. ^ "Great Canadian Wagner Singers". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/feature-thering-singers.html. 
21. ^ Harold Rosenthal (1958), Two Centuries of Opera at Covent Garden, pp. 271–272. London: Putnam. OCLC 593682 and 503687870.
22. ^ The New Grove Dictionary of Opera 1: 49. London: Macmillan (1992). ISBN 9781561592289.
23. ^ P. G. Hurst, "The Record Collector", Gramophone (June 1942), p. 12.
24. ^ Biography of John McCormack at mccormacksociety.co.uk
25. ^ Herman Klein (May 1921). "The Jubilee of the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Choral Society. II. The Period of Experiment and Non-Success (Continued)". The Musical Times (Musical Times Publications Ltd.) 62 (939): 313–320. doi:10.2307/910562. JSTOR 910562. 
26. ^ "Books Received". The Musical Times 52 (824): 663. October 1911. JSTOR 906535. 
27. ^ "Reviewed Work: Forty Years of Song by Emma Albani". The Musical Times 52 (825): 725. November 1911. JSTOR 906456. 
28. ^ "Albani, Emma". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1ARTU0000033. 
29. ^ ^{a b} "Honours and Dedications". Encyclopedia of Music in Canada. http://thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=U1SEC890857. 
30. ^ "Avenue Albani". Commission de toponymie du Québec. http://www.toponymie.gouv.qc.ca/CT/toposweb/fiche.aspx?no_seq=212983. Retrieved 29 May 2011. 
31. ^ "Emma Albani". Famous Canadian Women. http://www.famouscanadianwomen.com/stamps/albani.htm. 

Further reading

• Emma Albani, Forty Years of Song (London, Mills and Boon, 1911).
• Brian Busby, Character Parts: Who's Really Who in CanLit (Toronto: Vintage Canada, 2004). ISBN 0-676-97579-8
• Cheryl MacDonald, Emma Albani: Victorian Diva (Toronto, Dundurn, 1984). ISBN 0-919670-75-X, ISBN 0-919670-74-1
• Stephen Willis, "Archives of Emma Albani at the National Library of Canada", National Library News, Vol. 25, no. 12 (December 1993).

External links

• Biography at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online
• Pictures of Emma Albani
• Emma Albani's photograph in the Royal Collection.
• Theater "Vittorio Emanuele" of Messina, the Theater of Emma Albani's debut

Persondata
Name	Albani, Emma
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 November 1847
Place of birth	Chambly, Quebec
Date of death	3 April 1930
Place of death