Listen free for 30 days
Listen with offer
-
Nellie
- Narrated by: Jennifer Ness
- Length: 9 hrs and 28 mins
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to wishlist failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
£0.00 for first 30 days
Nellie
Buy Now for £13.99
No valid payment method on file.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
Summary
The tumultuous life of internationally renowned opera singer, and one of the first global celebrities, Dame Nellie Melba.
Nellie Melba is remembered as a squarish, late middle-aged woman dressed in furs and large hats, an imperious Dame whose voice ruled the world for three decades and inspired a peach and raspberry dessert. But to succeed she had to battle social expectations and misogyny that would have preferred she stay a housewife in outback Queensland rather than parade herself on stage. She endured the violence of a bad marriage, was denied by scandal a true love with the would-be king of France and suffered the loss for more than decade of her only son, stolen by his angry, vengeful father.
Despite these obstacles, she built and maintained a career as an opera singer and businesswoman on three continents that made her one of the first international superstars. Award-winning biographer Robert Wainwright presents a very different portrait of this great diva, one which celebrates both her musical contributions and her rich and colourful personal life.
Listeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"[A] rounded portrait...the Melba that emerges is not only a prodigious talent but a trailblazing, fiercely independent and determined woman.” (Sydney Morning Herald)