19 May: Dame Nellie Melba

This date in 1861 was the birthdate of Nellie Melba, Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century.

1. Her name at birth was Helen Porter Mitchell. Melba grew up in the country estate of Lilydale, near Melbourne. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town. Nellie was her family's nickname for her.
2. According to one story, at the age of ten she met a fortune teller, who looked at her palms and said, "I see you everywhere in great halls, crowded with people. And you are always the centre of attraction—the one at whom all eyes are directed."
3. At 21, she married an Irish immigrant called Charles Armstrong. They moved to Queensland and had a son, George. However, the rural life didn't suit her at all, so she left her family and went to London to pursue a musical career.
4. It wasn't working out, so she moved again, this time to Paris where she studied with the renowned teacher Mathilde Marchesi. On hearing Nellie sing, Marchesi said to her husband, “J’ai trouvé une étoile!” ("I've found a star!").
5. She went back to London and made her Covent Garden début in May 1888, in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. Her fame spread across Europe and to America, debuting at the Metropolitan Opera in New York in 1893.
6. Despite being one of the most famous opera singers ever, her repertoire was small; in her whole career she sang no more than 25 roles and was closely identified with only ten.
7. She was a bit of a diva. The door of her dressing room at Covent Garden had a sign that admonished: 'SILENCE! SILENCE!"
8. She was the first Australian to appear on the cover of Time magazine, in April 1927.
9. She died in 1931, from a blood infection contracted after a facelift operation. She left strict instructions about her funeral: She'd had a photograph taken of her portraying Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, and after her death she was made up to look like the photo, her bed strewn with frangipani. She was buried at Lilydale Cemetery under a monument on which are her reported last words: "Addio! Senzor Rancor"—"Farewell, without bitterness."
10. The Australian $100 note features her image.

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