Mary Ellen Christian

Summarize Timeline Fact Check

Christian was born in Quebec, of English parents,^[a] who returned to London three years later. She joined the choir of the Woolwich Dockyard Anglican church, and took singing lessons from a Miss Whomes, daughter of the church organist, who prepared her for entry to the (London) Royal Academy of Music,^[2] where she studied music and singing under Manuel Garcia, and she won the Westmorland Scholarship and the Cipriani Potter Exhibition. Her rich contralto voice (D in bass to B in alt) was praised in The Times. Jenny Lind and her husband Otto Goldschmidt were among her admirers.^[2]

Following a concert at St James's Hall, London, she lost her voice due to congestion of the lungs, and on medical advice she left for Australia in 1871, settling in Melbourne. She made her tentative debut at a grand benefit concert for Saurin Lyster at the Melbourne Town Hall on 26 August 1871.^[3]

She joined the Melbourne Philharmonic Society in 1872, and was a principal vocalist in the Society's 138th concert, presenting Mendelssohn's St Paul at the Town Hall on 10 December 1872.^[4] Those two performed together again, in the Intercolonial Music Festival or Exhibition of 1872–73^[5] and in Robert Sparrow Smythe's "Exhibition Concert Company" whose members included Mrs Smythe, Miss Christian, Samuel Lamble (basso), F. H. Du Boulay^[6] (concertina) and C. Huenerbein (piano)

Christian toured with the petite violinist Jenny Claus in 1872, and with Arabella Goddard in 1873. Then, contracted to Robert Sparrow Smythe, she sang in various quartets, generally with the tenor Armes Beaumont, either Rosina Palmer or Frances Saville for soprano, and one or other of various baritones or basses. In 1874 at Manly Beach, New South Wales, she gave birth to Smythe's son Robert Christian Holmes Smythe.^[7] Perhaps Christian hoped he would marry her, but Smythe, who may have been already married,^[8] and had three children by "Mrs Smythe" (soprano Amelia Elizabeth Bailey (1843–1932)),^[9] eventually had an Australian marriage with Bailey in 1881.^[10][11] Robert Christian Holmes Smythe died on 15 December 1900 of wounds received in the Second Boer War.^[12]

In December 1876 she was appointed teacher at the Presbyterian Ladies' College in East Melbourne,^[13] and it was in this period that she was, famously, Helen Mitchell (Nellie Melba)'s singing teacher.^[b] In 1879 she made a return visit to London, where she was welcomed,^[16] and despite intentions of a relaxing holiday, fell into the cycle of concerts and private engagements. She was however forced to cut it short by a recurrence of her old breathing problems,^[17] and returned to Melbourne by the RMS Orient in May 1880.^[18] Through the round of private parties in London she had entré to Melbourne social circles, including those of the Marquess of Normanby (Governor of Victoria from 1879 to 1884), a boost to her list of private students. She appears not to have resumed teaching duties at the Presbyterian Ladies' College, but was associated with Oberwyl Ladies' College, St Kilda, 1885–1887, and Tintern Ladies' College, Hawthorn, 1890–1892.

In December 1884, her sister Emily Christian (–) arrived from Stuttgart, where she had been studying piano.^[19] In February 1889 Madame Christian, with her sister as accompanist, sang at Madeline Schiller's farewell concert at the Town Hall.^[20] Christian had sung at Schiller's earlier visit to Australia.^[21]

She toured with Charles Santley 1889–1890, notably at the opening of the Sydney Town Hall, supported by the orchestra of Roberto Hazon.^[22]

Around 1890 she joined the Catholic church,^[23] of which Santley was an adherent,^[24] and after some years of poor health and financial difficulties, announced her retirement. After a farewell concert at the Melbourne Town Hall,^[25] she left for Sydney and joined the staff of St Vincent's College, Potts Point, controlled by the Sisters of Charity. She joined the Order, taking the name Sister Mary Paul of the Cross, and in 1905 she founded the Garcia School of Music, named for her old teacher, in Challis Avenue, next to St Vincent's Convent.

Singers known to have received training from Christian include Kathleen Bourke,^[14] Molly de Gunst, Gertrude Concannon, Ella Caspers, Kate Rooney, Carrie Lanceley,^[c] Zillah Harrison, and Eugene Boland and, notably, Helen Mitchell (better known as Nellie Melba).^[27][28]