Melba on the world stage

‘I am sure you will be glad to know that I have conquered another country …’ 

Nellie Melba, 1900

Dame Nellie Melba was born Helen Porter Mitchell in Melbourne in 1861. She married Charles Armstrong in Mackay, Queensland in 1882 and gave birth to their son, George, the following year. After studying singing in Paris with Mathilde Marchesi, she adopted the stage name of Melba in honour of her home city and made her professional operatic debut as Gilda in Rigoletto in Brussels in 1887. With it came her first real taste of fame.

By the early 1890s she was the reigning prima donna at London’s Covent Garden and had conquered other major opera houses of Europe including the Paris Opéra and La Scala in Milan. She also sang regularly in New York. Melba performed with other leading opera singers of the day and worked directly with composers such as Charles Gounod, Jules Massenet, Giacomo Puccini and Camille Saint-Saëns.

‘One of the drawbacks of Fame is that one can never escape from it.’ 

Nellie Melba, 1925

As an international star, Melba’s professional life and social circle brought her into contact with members of royalty, high society and the artistic elite. She was dressed by leading French couturiers and honoured by the creation of the dessert Pêche Melba by chef Auguste Escoffier. Melba’s fame grew beyond the opera stage and she became a celebrity of the Western world.

Fame for Melba, however, also came at a cost. She regularly experienced frenzied fan behaviour and occasionally endured threats to her own safety. Her affair during the early 1890s with Philippe, the Duc d’Orléans, ended due to the risk of public scandal when Charles Armstrong petitioned for divorce. She also lost custody of her 10-year-old son and it was not until George turned 21 that they were reunited.