Dame Nellie Melba's connections with Offaly recalled

MEMBERS of Birr Historical Society were brought on a very inspiring journey by guest speaker, Aidan Doyle, on Monday evening April 14th, in the County Arms Hotel.

Aidan told the story of a young woman, Nellie Melba, who followed her dreams and became one of the most distinguished Australian singers of her generation. She was married to Charles Armstrong who had connections in Gallen, Ferbane. She socialised with the aristocracy and the Royals of Great Britain and Europe. She had an affair with a French aristocrat in exile. Her only son George was taken from her to live in the USA by her husband after they legally separated.

She performed in the great operatic theatres of the world such as Covent Garden, La Scala in Milan, Metropolitan in New York. In London the famous French Chef Auguste Escoffer named a number of dishes after her, including Melba Toast, Peach Melba.

In Australia, there are roads, streets, halls named after her and her face is on the $100 note. This self-made, financially independent woman was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in March 1918, “for services in organising patriotic work” and this honour was elevated to the Grand Cross of the British Empire in 1927.

Aidan, in his talk, brought the audience back in time to 1852 when there was a wave of emigration from Scotland to Australia. Her father David Mitchell, who was the son of Scottish tenant farmers, became a very successful building contractor in Melbourne. Nellie grew up in a musical household, her father played the violin and her mother Isabella sang and played the harmonica.

In 1881, her mother and baby sister died suddenly. Her father moved to Mackay in Queensland to live in a tropical sugar area, 1,500 miles from Melbourne and Nellie’s singing teacher Pietro Cecchi. In 1882, Helen Porter Mitchell (Nellie) married Charles Armstrong, whose family originated in the Scottish/English borders. Some of the family moved to the Kings County Barony of Garycastle.

Charles was boxer, prize fighter, who lived in the heart of the bush. It was not a happy marriage. Nellie experienced domestic violence, her living conditions were very difficult, coping with snakes under the bed, spiders, ticks, loneliness and her piano was damaged with mildew due to six weeks of non-stop rain.

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After her son George Armstrong was born in 1883, Nellie decided to return to Melbourne and this is where Mrs Armstrong found her singing voice – which became her greatest asset.

In Melbourne, Nellie reconnects with Pietro Cecchi, her voice coach. She sings in a number of concerts and the press in Melbourne give her very positive reviews. She is accompanied on the flute by her life long friend John Lemmone. In 1886, her father David Mitchell attended the Colonial and Indian Exhibition in London and Nellie and Charles Armstrong went with him to London.

In July 1886, Nellie and her husband visited the Armstrongs in Gallen, King’s County and she was not impressed with their house. Aidan, captured the attention of the audience when he gave a detailed account of Nellie’s time spent between Gallen and Parsonstown.

She sang at a number of concerts, including the Barracks, home of the Leinster Regiment and at a concert in Cree School, organised by Reverend Nixon. Nellie wrote about her visit to Ireland “in those days, I had been merely ‘Charles wife’ a strange and wild colonial girl who needed a certain amount of explaining in so proud a family as the Armstrongs. Another memory I had was of singing in the open square (Emmet Square) on a drizzly afternoon at a concert in Birr and being well routed in popular favour by the village belle, a strapping lass with red ribbons in her hair”.

The Kings County Chronicle praised her voice in August 1886, predicting, that 10,000 miles from Birr, her memory would last and that all who took part in concerts with her would be justly proud of the connection.

Nellie was still unknown as a singer when she went to London. However, she was well connected through her father in diplomatic circles. It was in Paris in 1887, that Nellie began singing lessons with the celebrated Mathilde Marchesi who recognised her talent and she worked on her to become a star. It was Marchesi who persuaded her to adopt a suitable stage name. She chose ‘Melba’ in honour of the city she grew up in, Melbourne. In 1887, she made her operatic debut in Brussels as Gilda in Verdi’s Rigoletto and she became an overnight success. She went on to become the highest paid singer in the world. In 1900, her marriage to Charles Armstrong ended in divorce.

When World War 1 (1914-1918) broke out, Nellie was in Australia. She quickly began fund-raising for war charities, The Red Cross, wounded soldiers and their families. For this work, she was made a Dame of the British Empire in 1918. She also established a singing school at the Melbourne Conservatorium of Music in Albert Street, providing her services free of charge.

When BBC launched radio in 1920, Melba was the first paid performer. On 15 June, 1920, she sang “Home Sweet Home”. In 1928, her final and emotional concerts took place in Australia.

Aidan, gave the audience a fascinating insight into the life of and career of Dame Nellie Melba. In 1931, while in Europe, she got ill and returned home to Australia where she died from an infection. She had a state funeral of epic proportions and she is buried at the Lilydale Cemetery in Victoria. She put Australia on the map.

Nellie, was also the inspiration for Birr’s popular nightspot for dancing, Melba’s Nightclub in Dooly’s Hotel, which opened in 1987, is named after her.

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