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Marvelous Melba: The Extraordinary Life of a Great Diva
Author(s): Ann Blainey (Author)
- Publisher: Ivan R Dee, Inc
- Publication Date: 16 Mar. 2009
- Language: English
- Print length: 400 pages
- ISBN-10: 1566638097
- ISBN-13: 9781566638098
Book Description
“Nobody sings like Melba, and nobody ever will,” proclaimed the impresario Oscar Hammerstein in 1908. Like many others of his time, he considered her the world’s greatest singer. The wild acclaim showered on her by American fans led to the coining of the word “Melbamania.” Year after year she toured America on the “Melba” train, bringing opera and concerts to out-of-the-way cities and towns; thanks to the new gramophone, she could also be heard in the remotest locales. Ann Blainey’s beguiling life of Nellie Melba tells the story of a woman who-in an era when no woman was prime minister, chief justice, head of a church or financial firm, or a universal film star-became perhaps the most famous woman in the world. Ms. Blainey’s Marvelous Melba punctures many of the myths surrounding Melba’s life and career, and offers a new portrait of the great diva.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Lasting value to opera history as a whole. Midwest Book Review
About the Author
Ann Blainey, who lives in Melbourne, Australia, has also written Fanny and Adelaide, a biography of the Kemble sisters, and two literary biographies.
