On 15 May 1946, Camilla Williams made her debut as Cio-Cio San in the New York City Opera’s production of ‘Madame Butterfly’. She was the first black woman to sign a contract with a major US opera company. This month, we take a quick look at eight of the most iconic female singers in opera history.
First up, it’s worth noting that opera was hugely popular from the 1700s to the 1960s. These famous women singers were as popular in their time as Beyonce or Lizzo now. It’s also worth noting that opera singers were seen as disreputable and scandalous in the 1700s, and this social attitude continued into the 1800s. As ever, powerful, financially independent women using their voices had to be cast out in some way.
This month we’re focussing on female popular singers from the 1830 onwards. Maybe we’ll visit the Covent Garden of the 1700s another time…
Jenny Lind (1820-1887)
Known as the Swedish Nightingale, Jenny Lind began singing on stage at the age of 10. By her early twenties her vocal cords had been shredded from overuse. She had to stop singing for three months before starting training again. Lind was rejected by the Opera in Paris: once she became famous she returned the favour by declining their invitations to sing there.
She retired from operatic roles at the age of 29. At which point she went on a concert tour of America with P T Barnum. In the two years she toured the States, she earnt $350,000, the equivalent of $13.5 million in 2023. She retired again and switched to teaching and occasional concerts for charity. No recordings of her voice survive so here’s the highly fictionalised version of her from ‘The Greatest Show’. Sung by Loren Allred, acted by Rebecca Ferguson.
Adelina Patti (1843-1919)
Adelina Patti was described by Verdi, the composer, as being perhaps the finest singer who had ever lived. Born in Madrid to a musical Italian family, she grew up in the Bronx in New York. She made her debut aged sixteen: by age eighteen was such a success at Covent Garden that she moved permenantly to London. On a tour of America, she sang at the White House for Abraham Lincoln.
In her prime, she earnt $5,000 a night, the equivalent of $92,500 a night in 2023. She was also an early adopter of making gramophone records, and a dab hand at billiards.
Nellie Melba (1861-1931)
The Australian operatic star is probably now known best known for being the inspiration for the Peach Melba dessert and the phrase “more farewells than Dame Nellie Melba”. This is perhaps unfair on Helen Porter Mitchell (Melba’s birth name). A summary of her career does suggest someone who loved performing the stereotype of a diva as much as the actual singing though.
Melba made her name in Paris after two failed attempts at a career in Melbourne and London. She then become the leading soprano at Covent Garden and at the Met Opera in New York. She made £10,000 for one American concert alone, the equivalent of $331,687 in 2023.
Melba was gently usurped in London by Luisa Tetrazzini.
Luisa Tetrazzini (1871-1940)
Luisa Tetrazzini was an Italian soprano. She made her stage debut at the age of nineteen, having been trained since she was ten. The lead female singer in a production of ‘L’africaine’ in Florence fell ill, and Tetrazzini stepped in. She built her reputation in Europe and South America before stepping into Nellie Melba’s shoes at Covent Garden in London.
Her career in America stopped and started over contract negotiations. She declared “I will sing in San Francisco if I have to sing there in the streets.” On Christmas Eve in 1910 she sang in the streets of San Francisco to a crowd of between 200,000 and 300,000 people. She could earn $2500 a night during her American concert tours, the equivalent of $79,500 a night in 2023. She also lived into the sound movie era, as this curious newsreel shows.
Marian Anderson (1897-1993)
We’ve written about Marian Anderson before because she was a total powerhouse who sang at the inaugurations of both Eisenhower and Kennedy. In 1930 she left America for Europe, where she faced less prejudice. The composer Sibelius was so struck by her voice that he composed songs for her. Returning to the States in 1935, she was turned away by hotels and restaurants.
Her 1939 free concert at the Lincoln Memorial was attended by an integrated audience of more than 75,000 people. In 1955 she became the first African American singer to perform at the New York Met Opera. A few years earlier, in 1943, she had won $10,000 in a prize (equivalent to $185,000 in 2023). Anderson used it to establish her own award fund to support young singers.
Camilla Williams (1919-2012)
Williams studied singing in the early 1940s, supported by winning that Marian Anderson award in 1943 and 1944. When she was given the contract with the New York City Opera in 1946, she became the first African American woman signed with a major American company. As well as appearing in classical operas she sang Bess in the first recording of the musical ‘Porgy and Bess’. She refused to play Bess on stage as she disliked how Gershwin’s musical portrayed black lives.
She was also the first black singer to have a major role with the Vienna State Opera. In 1963 she sang the ‘Star-Spangled Banner’ before Martin Luther King Jr’s ‘I have a dream’ speech. Marian Anderson, who had been due to sing it, had been delayed by the crowds. Williams moved into teaching voice in the 1970s through to the 1990s.
Watch Camilla Williams singing ‘Summertime’, from ‘Porgy and Bess’, in a 1950s TV special.
Maria Callas (1923-1977)
Maria Callas was born in America to Greek parents. She trained in Greece during World War 2, before time in post-war Italy and America. She was singing Brünnhilde in Venice when the soprano in the next production at the opera house fell ill. Callas had six days to learn the part of Elvira, whilst still singing Brünnhilde. Critics expected a disaster but were stunned by her performance and her switch between styles.
After a controversial career, where often the controversy was really Callas holding her ground against the opera houses, she lived reclusively in Paris until her death. A lot of writing about her is obsessed with her weight loss and her affairs as much as her voice.
Leontyne Price (1927-present)
Marion Anderson had sung at the New York Met Opera as a guest. Leontyne Price was the first African American to be a leading performer on contract with them in 1961. Aged nine, Price was taken on a school trip to hear Anderson sing. It sparked the idea of a career in music, and she studied voice at college. Price made her stage debut in 1952. She also starred as Bess in a revival of ‘Porgy and Bess’ (the role Williams had declined to appear in on stage).
She was also the first black singer to appear in a leading role at La Scala. When she made her first appearance at the Met, the ovation was at least 35 minutes long. She could earn $2,750 a night in 1964, the equivalent of $27,000 in 2023. She has won 13 Grammy awards.
Price came out of her retirement in 2001 to sing at a 9/11 memorial concert at Carnegie Hall.
This is not a comprehensive list of famous women singers in the operatic world – almost every one had their rivals – but it probably covers the most famous. Some may be familiar to you, some may be new.