The greatest voice

Frances Alda’s flamboyant life was the only thing that was bigger than the voice that made her one of the greatest opera singers of the twentieth century.
A lyric soprano, she was called one of the greatest voices of the century.
She sang with the biggest names to take to a stage and truly embodied the word diva.
But she did not start there. She was born Fanny Jane Davis in 1879 in Christchurch to David and Leonore.
Leonore herself was from a musical family and wanted to continue her singing career, divorcing David the year after Alda’s birth. She took her and her younger brother to San Francisco and remarried but died of peritonitis in 1884 and the two children went to Leonore’s parents in Melbourne.
Young Fanny Jane began her singing career in Melbourne in light operas and pantomime but with few opportunities she moved to Europe and changed her name to Frances Jeanne.
There she learned her trade before debuting as Manon in Massenet’s “Manon” at the Paris Opera-Comique in 1904. In 1906 she stood in at Covent Garden for the other great Australasian soprano of the day, Nellie Melba.
She caught the eye of conductor Arturo Toscanini and Giulo Gatti-Casazza who she would later marry.
When they took over the New York Metropolitan Opera, Frances went with them.
The relationship was turbulent but Frances did well in New York although the pair separated in 1928.
She also recorded prolifically, both opera and more popular ballads and early on saw the possibility of using radio to bring opera music to large audiences.
Frances was a proud and patriotic Kiwi and during a tour home in 1927 she heard traditional Māori music and went on to record several songs.
Even though Australia tried to claim her, she wasn’t having any of it, giving interviews where she said she hated it, while New Zealand had many virtues.
Larger than life, she had flaming red hair and a temper to match along with being skilled as her own manager and was considered a shrewd businesswoman used to dealing with unscrupulous concert promoters.
Frances retired in 1928 but continued to do recordings and some vaudeville performances and adored travelling. She married Ray Vir Den in 1941.
Frances Alda died in Venice on holiday in 1952 at the age of 83 and is buried in All Saints Cemetery in New York.​