Musical Notes
by Pamela Sherwood
I’ve always loved stories in which music--whether classical,
traditional, or contemporary--plays a major role. So when the time came to write my second
historical romance, A Song at Twilight,
I had no hesitation about making my heroine--established as musically talented
in my first book--a professional singer, and having her love story play out
against the glamorous backdrop of the Victorian music world.
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| The Savoy |
While researching my setting, I was amazed to learn how
prevalent music was as entertainment in Victorian society. For the upper
classes, the opera---usually a Verdi or Wagner production--remained a popular
place to see and be seen, while the wildly popular Gilbert and Sullivan
operettas, staged at the Savoy Theatre, appealed to all strata of society. For
the working and lower classes, there were music halls, burlesques, and even
performances at the local pubs.
Almost every social occasion, from the simplest to the
grandest, was marked by music. Bands and orchestras were routinely hired to
play at balls and dances. Society hostesses engaged professional singers or
talented amateurs to perform at their soirees. And learning how to play an
instrument--most often the piano--was considered a necessary part of a young
middle- or upper-class lady’s education, and schoolchildren of all classes were
taught to sing. Choirs and oratorio societies flourished, as did the sheet
music trade, and most towns could boast at least one brass band.
 |
| Nellie Melba |
More fascinating discoveries came to light when, while
trying to plot a believable career arc for my heroine, I looked into the lives
of two famous singers of the time, Jenny Lind (1820-1887) and Nellie Melba
(1861-1931). I knew only bits and pieces
about Lind: that she’d been nicknamed the “Swedish Nightingale,” that Hans
Christian Andersen had nursed an unrequited passion for her, and that she’d
toured America as an act promoted heavily by P. T. Barnum (whose advance
publicity made Lind a star even before she arrived in America, creating a
phenomenon known as “Lind mania”). What I didn’t know was that Lind’s career
had almost ended before it had begun when she suffered vocal damage at 18 as a
young opera singer and had to be carefully retrained by the famed singer Manuel
Garcia, who taught her a much sounder technique. Nor did I know that she’d had
close relationships--possibly love affairs--with Felix Mendelssohn and Frédéric
Chopin. Or that, after two successful years on the London operatic stage, she
announced her early retirement from opera at 29, for reasons that remain a
mystery to this day.
 |
| Jenny Lind |
Lind still continued to sing at concert halls in Europe and,
later, America. She negotiated a high price for the concerts she gave while
touring with Barnum in 1850, donating most of the proceeds to her favorite
charities, which included the endowment of free schools in her native Sweden.
In 1852, she married the German composer and pianist Otto Goldschmidt. The
couple settled in England and had three children. Lind continued to give
concerts, though she retired as a performer in 1883. Appointed professor of singing at the Royal
College of Music (founded in 1882), she instructed her pupils not only in vocal
studies but diction, deportment, piano, and at least one foreign language.
Melba’s life was no less colorful. Australian by birth, she
studied music in Melbourne and achieved some modest success at amateur
concerts. After a brief unsuccessful marriage to an abusive husband, she moved
to Europe with the intent of pursuing a singing career. Failing to catch on in
London, she went to Paris, where she found a dedicated teacher and advocate in
Mathilde Marchesi and ultimately professional success. In 1889, after a
triumphant performance in Romeo et
Juliette, Melba was acknowledged as a star in London as well. During the
1890s, she established herself as the foremost lyric soprano at Covent Garden.
 |
| Melba toast |
International success also proved within Melba’s grasp when
she sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York during the 1893-1894 season. Despite
New Yorkers’ snobbery against professional singers, Melba’s talent and
determination eventually earned her the same phenomenal success in America that
she enjoyed in London and Paris. So celebrated was Melba that Auguste
Escoffier, the great French chief created no less than four dishes in her
honor: Peach Melba, a concoction of peaches, vanilla ice cream, and raspberry
sauce; Melba sauce, made from pureed raspberries and currants; Melba Toast,
thinly sliced dry toast, often topped with cheese or paté; and Melba Garniture,
tomatoes stuffed with chicken, truffles, and mushrooms in a velouté sauce.
In later years, Melba embarked on a series of highly
profitable tours of her native Australia and taught at the Melbourne
Conservatorium, passing on many of her techniques to promising young singers.
During the First World War she devoted herself to fund-raising for various war
charities, and was created a Dame of the British Empire for her efforts. She
officially retired from Covent Garden in 1926, but continued to perform until
her death in 1931.
Whew! Compared to Lind and Melba, my heroine’s life--despite
a doomed early romance--is quite tame! However, Sophie’s career trajectory is
not dissimilar: like both of her historical counterparts, she benefits from supportive
teachers who help her voice to develop properly. And who guide her steps as she
makes the transition from gifted amateur to seasoned professional, first
touring concert halls, then accepting a role that suits her (in this case,
Cherubino in Le Nozze di Figaro) for
her operatic debut. And like Lind and
Melba, Sophie commits wholeheartedly to her music, understanding the dedication
that a singer’s work requires, even as love comes knocking at her door, in
hopes of a second chance . . .
Thank you for hosting me today at History Undressed!
Leave a comment for your chance to win one print copy
of A Song at Twilight! (US or Canada
only).
BLURB
Late in England’s
Victorian age, the world is changing–new freedoms, new ideas, and perhaps a
chance for an old love to be new again…
A love too strong to
let go …
Aspiring singer Sophie Tresilian had the world at her
feet–fame, fortune, and true love–until the man of her dreams broke her heart.
Now she’s the toast of Europe, desired by countless men but unwilling to commit
to any of them. Then Robin Pendarvis walks back into her life …
Four years ago, Robin had hoped to make Sophie his bride,
but secrets from his past forced him to let her go. Seeing her again revives
all the old pain–and all the old passion. It might be against every rule, but
somehow, some way, he will bring them together again…
AUTHOR BIO AND
LINKS
Pamela Sherwood grew up
in a family of teachers and taught college-level literature and writing courses
for several years before turning to writing full time. She holds a doctorate in
English literature, specializing in the Romantic and Victorian periods, eras
that continue to fascinate her and provide her with countless opportunities for
virtual time travel. She lives in Southern California where she continues to
write the kind of books she loves to read.
Website: www.pamelasherwood.com
Twitter: twitter.com/#!/pamela_sherwood
3 comments:
Sounds like a good book. I enjoyed your blog post.
catbooks72(at)gmail(dot)com
Interesting post about music and the composers.
Your book sounds really good and i have added it to my TBR list.
JWIsley(at)aol(dot)com
Micky, glad you enjoyed the post. I had fun researching and writing it!
Joye, the importance of music to the Victorians really intrigued me. Hope you enjoy the book!
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