Dame Nellie Melba was the Kylie Minogue of her time, an opera singer from Richmond, Melbourne, who became a global superstar in the early 20th century.
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The prima donna is immortalised on our $100 note (if you've seen one of those around lately), yet she seems to have a lost a bit of currency and is now seen by some as a bit musty, fusty and boring.
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But when we made an episode about her (or two, as it turns out) on ABC history podcast The Dead Can't Sue, we discovered that her life was filled with drama and tragedy worthy of the best operas.
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It's no wonder a dessert, snack and an exit strategy all bear her name.
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'Colonial gem'
Melba, whose real name was Helen Porter Mitchell, was born in 1861, the eldest of 10 surviving children.
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She played instruments and sang from an early age, under her mother's influence.
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Her father was a building contractor whose fortunes were on the rise, but as a conservative presbyterian, he was opposed to music as a career for his daughter.
However, singing at church events or for charity was acceptable, so in 1869, eight-year-old Melba had her first public performance.
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The 700-strong audience demanded three encores from the kid.
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Historian Leigh Boucher, co-host of The Dead Can't Sue, says: "She already had a reputation as this growing colonial gem."
At the same time, Melba was also a tomboy, which led her father to pack her off to a boarding school for young women.
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She ended up getting booted out for misbehaviour," Boucher says.
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Melba did end up with a well-rounded education, including in music, at Presbyterian Ladies College.
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Her cheekiness continued; in one instance she dressed up as a nun and solicited donations for a fake charity.
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she → continue → charity
But Melba's joyful adolescence well and truly ended after her mother and a beloved sister died in 1880.
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After that, her father moved the family to Mackay in Queensland to run a sugar mill, and Melba, being the eldest daughter, had to run the household.
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Melba gets hitched and finally makes her debut
Happily, Mackay was not, as she might've assumed, an uncultured colonial outpost and Melba slotted right into the town's thriving amateur music scene.
The 21-year-old also met Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong, a son of an Irish baronet who had been sent to the colonies for being a troublemaker.
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who → hitch → colonies
After a whirlwind romance, they married in 1882 and had a son shortly after.
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Conflict quickly arose between them.
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"This is a young woman who has a controlling, dour, respectable father, and she's been swept up by this man with aristocratic heritage who's a bit wild," Boucher says.
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"But it turned out that she probably made the mistake I think many people have made … of trying to escape the rule of a patriarch and then ending up choosing another one instead."
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people → turn → one
Melba found herself raising a child, mostly on her own, and rarely getting to perform.
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She decided to return to Melbourne, ostensibly to raise her son alongside her family.
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Once in Melbourne, she worked with a new vocal coach to train her in the bel canto style, which was popular in Europe's concert halls.
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which → work → halls
In 1884, Melba made her professional debut at Melbourne Town Hall and it was a raging success.
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"In Australian history, it was one of the most momentous debuts you could possibly imagine," Boucher says.
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Melba leaves Melbourne
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Melba's father finally appeared to support her ambitions.
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He had financed her singing classes and brought her to Europe where he was working, giving her a chance to pursue her operatic career.
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he → finance → career
But Melba's husband also went along.
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"On the trip to London, Charles began to try and exert a lot of control over her.
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There are stories about her turning up at breakfast [on the boat over] with bruises on her face," Boucher says.
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It's no wonder that on her arrival in London in 1886, abused by her husband, hampered by nerves and without the right clothes or accent, Melba flopped her pivotal audition at Covent Garden.
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Melba → abuse → Garden
Undeterred, Melba travelled to Paris and became the student of German opera singer and teacher Mathilde Marchesi.
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She looked after her son and was barely scraping by.
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"But Mathilde Marchesi identified Nellie as having a singular talent," Boucher says.
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Marchesi was a maternal figure to the young singer; she improved her vocal technique but also taught her European etiquette and encouraged her to take on her stage name.
"Together they came up with this identity that both harked back to her roots — Melba being Melbourne — but nonetheless, had an air of sophistication …
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Melba → improve → sophistication
it was not really a rebranding, I think, but a rebirth.
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Melba debuted as an opera singer in Brussels in 1887 and picked up roles across Europe, making a name for herself playing mad women.
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Melba → debut → women
"She quickly became renowned as having a possibly once-in-a-generation voice … by 1890 she had broken through at London's Covent Garden, wiping the memory of that failed audition away."
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she → have → audition
She also began an affair with Philippe, the Duke of Orleans, a dashing heir to the French throne.
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Eventually, after Charles used the adultery as grounds for divorce and essentially abducted their son to Texas where he had relocated, the marriage was over.
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marriage → use → Texas
…and 23 more, not listed.
The Aporia