Editing Frances Alda

{{Short description|New Zealand opera singer (1879–1952)}}
{{EngvarB|date=October 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2016}}
{{Infobox person 
| name =Frances Alda 
| image =File:Frances Alda and dog.jpg 
| caption = Alda circa 1920| birth_name =Fanny Jane Davis 
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1879|5|31}} 
| birth_place =[[Christchurch]], [[New Zealand]] 
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1952|9|18|1879|5|31}} 
| death_place =[[Venice]], [[Italy]] 
| death_cause = 
| other_names = 
| known_for = 
| education = 
| occupation = 
| spouse ={{plainlist|
* {{Marriage|[[Giulio Gatti-Casazza]]<br>|4 April 1910|1928|end=divorced}}
* {{Marriage|[[d:Q42737805|Miner Raymond VirDen]]<br>|14 April 1941|<!--Year omitted per Template:Marriage instructions-->}}
}}
| partner = 
| children = 
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}}
[[File:Frances Alda 1909.jpg|thumb|Frances Alda relaxing away from the stage, 1909]]

'''Frances Davis Alda''' (born '''Fanny Jane Davis'''; 31 May 1879 – 18 September 1952) was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic [[lyric soprano]]. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique and colourful personality, as well as her frequent onstage partnerships at the [[Metropolitan Opera]], [[New York City|New York]], with [[Enrico Caruso]].<ref name=obit/>

==Career==
Alda was born '''Fanny Jane Davis''' in [[Christchurch]], [[New Zealand]], on 31 May 1879 to David Davis and Leonore Simonsen.<ref group="n">Alda amended her birth year to 1883 to make herself more appealing to operatic managers. This incorrect year is often recorded as her actual year of birth.</ref>

Leonore, a promising singer from a musical family, in September 1880 divorced David and resumed her singing career. Fanny spent her early years traveling with her mother on her operatic tours. After false starts in [[Australasia]], she took Fanny and her younger brother to [[San Francisco]], [[California]] in 1883. Leonore Davis remarried but died of [[peritonitis]] in San Francisco on 29 December 1884, shortly after remarrying, to Herman Adler. After her mother's death, Alda was sent to live with her maternal grandparents, Martin and [[Fanny Simonsen]], in [[Melbourne]], [[Victoria (Australia)|Victoria]], [[Australia]].<ref name=nzwomen>{{cite book|title=The book of New Zealand women|author=Charlotte Macdonald|year=1992|publisher=Williams|location=Wellington, NZ|isbn=0-908912-04-8|edition=First}}</ref>
[[File:Topics, 1920-10-20 - DPLA - 7dbffb7dd2ebb9dbeb6d8632080b6c57 (page 19) (cropped).jpg|left|thumb|1920 newspaper advertisement for an Alda concert at the [[Old National Centre|Murat Theater]] in [[Indianapolis]], USA.]]
She sang in productions of [[Gilbert and Sullivan]] in Melbourne before leaving Australia for Europe at the age of 22 in order to undertake additional study and pursue an international singing career like her future soprano rival [[Nellie Melba]]. After receiving lessons in Paris from the renowned teacher [[Mathilde Marchesi]], who gave her her stage name, Alda made her debut at the [[Opéra-Comique]] in 1904 in [[Jules Massenet]]'s ''[[Manon]]''. She appeared at the [[Royal Opera House]] [[Covent Garden]] in 1906, and at [[La Scala]], Milan, during the 1906-08 seasons.

In 1908, the former La Scala impresario [[Giulio Gatti-Casazza]] became director of the [[Metropolitan Opera]]. On 7 December 1908 Alda made her debut there. On 4 April 1910, Alda and Gatti-Casazza married. According to ''American Art News'' (New York, 19 March 1910), [[Adolfo Müller-Ury]] was painting Alda just before her marriage. It was in New York that Alda furthered her career, appearing to acclaim in such famous operas as ''[[Martha (opera)|Martha]]'', ''[[Manon Lescaut (Puccini)|Manon Lescaut]]'', ''[[Otello]]'', ''[[Faust (opera)|Faust]]'', ''[[Mefistofele]]'' and ''[[La bohème]]''. She began recording for the [[Victor Talking Machine Company]] in 1908 and several of her records became best-sellers.<ref>{{cite book|last=Whitburn|first=Joel|author-link=Joel Whitburn|title=Pop Memories 1890-1954|year=1986|publisher=Record Research, Inc.|location=Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin|isbn=0-89820-083-0|page=[https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/21 21]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/joelwpopmemories00whit/page/21}}</ref> She created the title roles in [[Victor Herbert]]'s ''[[Madeleine (opera)|Madeleine]]'' and [[Henry Kimball Hadley|Henry Hadley]]'s ''[[Cleopatra's Night]]'' as well as Roxane in [[Walter Damrosch]]'s ''[[Cyrano (Damrosch)|Cyrano]]''. She also sang regularly with [[Enrico Caruso]].

Alda toured Australia and New Zealand in 1927, saying in an interview she loathed the former.<ref>{{Cite news|date=1927-11-14|title="I LOATHE AUSTRALIA."|pages=5|work=Cairns Post (Qld. : 1909 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article40581839|access-date=2020-09-08}}</ref> She and Gatti-Casazza separated the following year and then divorced. In 1929, she left the Met but continued to give concerts, make radio broadcasts and appear in vaudeville. Alda's 1937 autobiography was titled ''Men, Women, & Tenors''.

On 14 April 1941 in [[Charleston, South Carolina]], she married [[Manhattan]] advertising executive Ray Vir Den; he was a decade younger than she.<ref>{{cite news |title=Mme. Frances Alda Wed To Ray Vir Den. Former Opera. Singer Bride Of New York Advertising Man |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1941/04/15/archives/mme-frances-alda-wed-to-ray-vir-den-former-opera-singer-bride-of.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=15 April 1941 }}</ref>

She had an affluent retirement in [[Long Island]], and spent much time travelling . She died of a stroke on 18 September 1952 in [[Venice]], [[Italy]], aged 73.<ref name=obit>{{cite news |title=Frances Alda Dies. Former Met Star. 21 Years Before Retiring in 1929. Sang 40 Roles. A Gatti-Casazza Protege. Came to U.S. With Milanese Impresario in 1908. Stricken by Brain Hemorrhage |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1952/09/19/archives/fraies-aldadie-fopr-met-star-21-years-before-retiring-in-1929-sang.html |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 19, 1952 }}</ref>
{{Listen
|filename=Frances Alda, O mio babbino caro (Gianni Schicchi).ogg
|title="O mio babbino caro"
|description="[[O mio babbino caro]]" from [[Giacomo Puccini]]'s [[Gianni Schicchi]], sung by Frances Alda in 1919.
}}
{{Listen
|filename=Frances Alda, Ancora un passo (Madama Butterfly).ogg
|title="Ancora un passo"
|description=A 1913 recording of "Ancora un passo" from [[Giacomo Puccini]]'s ''[[Madama Butterfly]]''.
}}
She is buried in All Saints Episcopal Church Cemetery in [[Great Neck, Long Island]].<ref>Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14000 Famous Persons by Scott Wilson</ref>
{{clearleft}}
==Notes==
{{reflist|group=n}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/alda.html Profile of Frances Alda, "New Zealand's most famous daughter"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081016091936/http://www.nzedge.com/heroes/alda.html |date=16 October 2008 }}
* [http://www.smh.com.au/news/arts/better-the-diva-you-know/2006/04/09/1144521208165.html?page=fullpage Melba versus Alda]
* [http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/3891352 Madame Frances Alda. Does Not Seem to Like Australia]
* [http://memory.loc.gov/service/pnp/cph/3c00000/3c03000/3c03100/3c03196v.jpg Photo from the Library of Congress's George Grantham Bain Collection]
* {{YouTube|n-AQfBTsJF8|Caruso and Alda singing Verdi}}
* {{YouTube|jCZKC2GncqA|Historical recording in 1912 with Caruso}}
* {{YouTube|3FMBykLILN4|Vitaphone Short Film, 1927 - Alda sings the Ave Maria from Verdi's ''Otello''}} 
* [https://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/103560 Frances Alda recordings] at the [[Discography of American Historical Recordings]].
* [https://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/2007.11/frances-alda Frances Alda] from National Portrait Gallery (Australia)

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alda, Frances}}
[[Category:1879 births]]
[[Category:1952 deaths]]
[[Category:Australian operatic sopranos]]
[[Category:Victor Records artists]]
[[Category:19th-century New Zealand women singers]]
[[Category:Musicians from Christchurch]]
[[Category:20th-century Australian women opera singers]]
[[Category:Singers from Melbourne]]
[[Category:Australian people of French descent]]
[[Category:Australian people of Danish descent]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the United States]]
[[Category:New Zealand emigrants]]
[[Category:Immigrants to the Colony of Victoria]]