Opera Scotland

Emma Albani Suggest updates

Marie Louise Cécile Lajeunesse (Dame Emma Albani).

Born Chambly, nr Montreal, 1 November 1847.

Died London, 3 April 1930.

Canadian soprano.

Dame Emma Albani was educated at Montreal, then New York.  Her stage name was chosen after the city of Albany, the state capital.

She studied in Paris under the great tenor Gilbert Duprez (1806-1896), who had created Edgardo in Lucia (Naples 1835) before returning to Paris to create two more Donizetti roles in La Favorite and Les Martyrs as well as Benvenuto Cellini for Berlioz.  After a move to Milan she was able to train with Francesco Lamperti (1811-1892), the most influential of Italian voice teachers.  Her debut came in 1870 as Amina at Messina, and it was here she adopted the professional stage name of Albani.

In London, she was brought to Covent Garden by Frederick Gye (who managed the house from 1847 to 1877). and appeared regularly between 1872 and 1896.   She was the first Mignon there, as well as Elsa (1875 UK première),  Elisabeth (1876 UK première),  Senta and Desdemona.   She married Gye's son Ernest, who later became manager of the theatre himself.   She returned to New York in 1890 for appearances at the Met.

Her concert and oratorio career was also extensive, and she created the part of the Blessed Virgin in the Elgar oratorio The Apostles (Birmingham 1903).

In Scotland after the 1875 visit her performances were generally in touring concert parties and oratorio, singing frequently in Edinburgh and Glasgow.   From 1893 she began to venture further north, appearing in Dundee and Aberdeen.   This perhaps coincided with her acquisition of the Mar Lodge estate near Braemar, which became a regular retreat for her.   It also just happened to be a convenient carriage ride from Balmoral, allowing Queen Victoria to drop in for tea as the fancy took her.

Albani continued to sing until 1911, though she left no recordings.  During her final years she was a noted teacher.

Bibl: E Albani: Forty Years of Song (1911).