MELBA, THE WOMAN.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 17430, 15 April 1922, Page 9

MELBA, THE WOMAN.

(sracuixT urßiraw m "*ra hubs.")

(By A. O. Stephens.)

Melba, moot famons of Australian women, is singing with all her art and heart in Sydney. I have sought answers to the question, "Why is Melba P" ami have found these. Melba is so dark; her mother waa Isabella Dow from Dundee, a Dhu from the hill by the dark-flowing river. Dark-brown, hair, with ruddy Mitchell tones in it, <] [ark-brown eyes with goHen Mitchell flecks in them; her father was a red-Mitchell—dark hair, hazel e;pes, red beard; her nine brothers and sisters were fair and ruddy; she was born at Meltourne, named Helen Poirter Mitchell. "Melba" is a tribute to her birthplace when she decided the question of » singer's name for her Brussels debut in ojiera. (She came third in a family of ten; her height is sft fiin; when she w«ts 21 she weighed 9 stone.) Melba is so Scotch ; the Mitchells are "verra Scotch," but not as old Scotch a* the black Dows of prehistoric an* tiquity who fought the red strangers till they mirried them and settled down to build Scotland. She lias i airhaired ener/jjy and dark-haired endurance—the grand combination. 'liere is a story of a Dow who went to is pa iii and brought back a Spanish wif e—Melba'a great-grandmother; and Melba ciiugs to that great-grandmother, with ail her tradition of castanets and mantillas and passionate romance. And still Melba is with all a . ticotcliwoiaan's virtuee deeply . implanted; -.she feels Bcotch; 'she reacts Scotch. Sha likes a tidy hoose and kists full of linen: she does not like the short frocks of fashion; a woman should be clouce and decent —let the opera be Spanish as it pleases. Melba'is bo Australian; she thinks Australian, she acts Australian, she taiks Australian—with the Australian voice-tones and cadences that are not English tones or Boston-English toiaes. After being very wellborn she was very well brought, up. -She lived between the good air of Melbourne and the better air of Lilydale; a country girl city graces; coming from the horse-riding and bush-roaming of her father's station to the discipline of the; Presbyterian Ladies' College at East Melbourne.

She was healthy and strong; she grow happy and stronger. . She ab- ; sorbed, the Australian mind—the Australian -way iof looking at things—not quite iike any other way in the world. has not quenched hor pride of Australia. Melba is. so strong. David' Mitchell, her father, had a back like a wall ana a chest like a cask j he lived till 89 and rode horseback till 85. Melba has that back and that - chest—an opera singer needs them. A strong body is fundamental to the career open to talent.. "JiinyusJ jinyusl'' preached Charles lleade, "take care of your •; carkusl". But. so much genius haß : no ..carcase tfi take feare r of; And Melba .is so, actU e;; dsco uplee,'' as the French . ?fty ; she moves from dsep •reservoirs oir. energy. Indeed, she is richly i endowed. v.Melba. i/ so young—much youngier tndn. "the years of her triumph: She has more . lCirVous - electricity, than she can very we'll nj»nag&; besides being a lier art id so. escape. She has rto spe.nl herself to . save Qer&slf. , is almost too richly widowed; she is lucky to have a Dow to hold her Mitchell, -t I «an: conceive dubious ancestral debates, long controversial obllcolloqujes, many times during the stiife i and strain of making Melba's .career. She recuperates wonSirfullyi^"-Ji little

»«st, afiiOT the hardest battle—and" liHe is herK own- Woman again, fit for other-M^s;oV-; BOiright; to the extent of lier poitrsrE;; her sense of ; rectitude is psychologically; the ' thing ablaut ;he*. - There i 8 her apex of effort, Jer point' <if perfection ; there her '«lements' are toanimous; Heir Mitchell watots; pnt straight, and laer I'ow ■wants Bverything tucked in. - • ■- Dovjd Mitchell', was a boilder; <he i .mult niuch iif earjy Meilbbumfij^many of the impcrt,;iiiit buOdings in later M!elbouriiej Stili-standing. Coming a yoiith to the gold-diggings he saw Melencampment of tents, foresaw the bricks a;tid mortar, began to build, and kept' on, building. , And' never.was one. stone r«ated or one brick, laid on aiipther but lie ha<l that stone in. place, pliimbj exactly' as he could. compass it. His buildings were incidental j J he - bttilded himself into Melbourne. ' ■ Ihere are people, like; that, who wiint iverytmbg ilidght—not hit-or-miss or more^r-les«^want r . the' of 'the world, .with the -pattern;-in their; mindtf—and it and that parries .thein. Presently I:hey stop Worrying anjl stfil tliey are worried and un®§y—'.'it sSji't ri©kt,V . .- Oavid -ftKlicKeU; was.; like that, and Ms daug»t6r xaTjiike;:that.> If a girl comes W her witli. a singing voice badly trained Meife- is displeased' with a personal displeiisure. • It is so Wrong; it la. spCh a Waste. . The girls without singing voii'es can lobk after themselves, but ringing is Melba's job, she fe-an artist in singing, and'she wants Ml the singing voices.in the world to ,express themselves at their fall-value When, they don't, the world-patten goes awry. Mclba is sorry for the girl, because she doesn't know any better—and vexecj with ,aer teacher, because teach-ers-ought know better j but behind the sorrow and: vexktion is lthe sense is such & .WaatCjt worid-pattsm of singing voices ought to be worked out according to the plan ia Melba's mind. Now we i 1 re ab>ohe root'of Melba's work in the world—the root which nosers into ."There is only one way for pip to Sing that note—of that phraise that song; and I;wiH^sing it that way and work till I get it'V-|4 the correspondence ; of her public perfoi-m----ance with the parformance her public performance ooght to be. - . • ...j °^ er «oik is perfection of the details, the s.Urroundings of a perfoifmanoß. if there is one person who ought to-be-tucked into the hall oa aiconclrtnight, and who isn't tupiked, in, or is tucked in so badly that his l foot or his S sl ? r i objection is Bracking out, jS -little, bit ,out of order. » • I fondly imagine that the Mitchisll look® after the performance-buildina— n ' 0 ?^ 8 s^v of f e ctitude, and the Dpw lookft after the with a Woman s sense of rectitude. I nht the imagination to Melba. From her batteiy of smiles she chose her B p smile, her dowie Dow smile and gave,a. wom«vn s answer. ' ■' "Maybe." ' ..... : '