Opera Scotland

Caroline Hatchard Suggest updates

Born Portsmouth, 12 October 1883.

Died London, 7 January 1970

English soprano.

Spelling forms of her first name vary - Caroline in contemporary reviews, Carolyn in Opera's obituary (April 1970).

She had an important career from the Edwardian era through to the twenties, working with the major British opera companies, especially Covent Garden, Denhof and Beecham. Her concert repertoire was extensive, and she was accepted as one of the leading lyric sopranos of the era, with a career covering the entire country. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music, making her Queen's Hall debut in a 1904 Prom concert. She was still appearing there in 1928.

Her Covent Garden debut, in 1907, was as the Dew Fairy in Hansel and Gretel, and other early roles included Flora Bervoix and the Naiad in Gluck's Armide. In the 1908 Ring cycles, conducted by Richter, she sang Woglinde, Woodbird and Second Norn. She repeated those parts in the various cycles performed by the Denhof company in Edinburgh, Glasgow and elsewhere, and returned to the Covent Garden Ring in 1924, this time as Second Norn and the lower Rhinemaiden role of Wellgunde. The inclusion of Second Norn, usually a mezzo role, among high coloratura parts, indicates a richness of tone supported by reports from the time.

Under Beecham's direction, from 1910, she sang additional high coloratura parts, including Olympia and Queen of Night as well as Sophie in Der Rosenkavalier and heavier lyric roles such as Antonia, Rosalinde and Eva.