Fanny Moody
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Frances "Fanny" Moody (23 November 1866–21 July 1945) was an operatic soprano of the late Victorian and Edwardian eras, billed as 'The Cornish Nightingale'.[1] In 1898 with her husband, the bass Charles Manners, she formed the Moody-Manners Opera Company, dedicated to presenting opera in English. The Moody-Manners company performed in London, the British provinces, North America and South Africa, with Moody often in the leading soprano roles, from 1898 to 1916.
Moody created leading roles in several operas, including the title roles in Corder's Nordisa (1887) and Pizzi's Rosalba (1902) and Militza in McAlpin's The Cross and the Crescent (1903). In 1892 she appeared at the Olympic Theatre in London as Tatyana in the British premiere of Eugene Onegin, conducted by Henry Wood, with her husband as Gremin.[2][3][4]
Frances Moody was born in Redruth, Cornwall, in 1866, one of thirteen children of Eliza and James Hawke Moody (1823–1887),[5][6] a photographer. In the 1881 Census aged 16 she was listed as an assistant teacher of music to her older sister, Maria. Her youngest sister, Hilda Moody, also had a successful career as a soprano and actress.[7][8] It was said that her father could play any instrument he had ever seen.[1] Her mother Eliza was a pianist, and the whole Moody family were musical.[5]
As a young girl Moody sang at several local amateur concerts in her native Redruth, as well as in Penzance and Falmouth. Her talent was spotted by Mrs. Mary Basset of Tehidy,[6] who in 1881 paid for the 17 year-old Moody to train in London with Charlotte Sainton-Dolby (1821–1885). Moody made her London début at the Steinway Hall in June 1883. In April 1884 she sang with other students at a concert in Newcastle.[1] In 1885 she took part in a concert in London given by Prosper Sainton in memory of his wife, at which Moody sang the soprano part of a cantata composed by Madame Sainton-Dolby.[5]
