Melba's Paris Debut: Another White Voice?

Abstract

Melba's debut at the Paris Palais Garnier was in May 1889 in Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet. Later that year she also performed Lucie in the French translation and adaptation of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor. Melba had some keen supporters in the Parisian press, notably Pierre Veron writing for Le Charivari, whose comment A star of the first order is rising on our horizon has been much quoted. However close analysis of her reception shows that despite a uniform respect for the purity and clarity of her voice, in particular its famous crystalline upper register, critics also had severe misgivings about her performance, which related to her bad French pronunciation and enunciation. Although Melba ..