OBITUARY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXV, Issue 16549, 13 May 1914, Page 10

OBITUARY.

MADAME NORDIC A. A FAMOUS SINGER. By Telegraph—Press Association —Copyright. BATAVIA, May 11. Tito death is announced of Madame Nordica, the famous prima donna, aged fifty-five years. __ The news of the death of Madame Nordica, the popular prima donna, who gave successful concerts in Christchurch in October last, when she appeared in conjunction with M. Paul Dufault, the eminent tenor vocalist, will bo received with very keen regret hv a wide circle of tho music-loving public, who were charmed’ equally by her personality and musical attainments. Few women of the operatic stage had so.many interests aside from their professional life as Madame Lillian Nordica. In New York she maintained a Girls’ Club, where girls with no money, but good voices, were given the best musical training. When niadame left on her Australasian tour there were oyer a. hundred girls receiving instruction paid' for by their benefactress, from Madame Gardner-Bartlet, one of tho best-known teachers in New York. There was. one gift which Madame Nordica received recently, and which she was said to have prized abovo her jewels and the offerings of kings. It was only a small gold button, but no homage ever paid to her glorious voice, her queenly presence, her eternal (-harm, lind for her the significance contained in tins little token, which was a tribute to her womanhood. The button was the gift of the College Equal Suffrage League, presented to the diva in appreciation of the service rendered tho women of California chi ring their suffrage campaign, when Madame Nordica stood on the seat of an automobile in tlie open air and pleaded for the fianchiso for women, and then sang for the cause she advocated, with all her heart and soul, sending her voice out over tho heads of thousands who stood under a panoply of stars to hear her message. No gem. no laurel, over meant to her what, in mute thanks, the dark blue letters on tho small gold button spelled and' made her one with all womankind, sli 3 frequently declared. The late Madame Nordica was born at Farmington. United States, and was educated at the Boston Conservatoire of Music and in Italy. She spent six months at Bayreuth, when she studied Die roles of Wagnerian opera under Madame Wagner, and she made the Wagnerian operas her specialty, in which she achieved great triumphs wherever she appeared'. Her special roles were those of Elsa, from “Lohengrin,” and Bnuinhilde, from “Dio Gotterdammer.mg.” Madame Nordica. was a very woman in her love of home. She was a simple American country girl when her voice was discovered. Lillian Norton was her real name. Once when the great Tietjens was visiting Now York, .she was asked to hear the little .girl sing, and was so delighted with her voice, that, she advised her to go to Europe to study. This she did, and when a student in Italy, conforming to the ideas of tho time, her game was altered to suit foreign tastes. Her teacher suggested Nordica • because it means from tho north. The stage was never contemplated, 1 >eoa.uso her family deemed that such a career would he a disgrace. It was never thought that she would become one of the foremost operatic, artists. Her talent was soon recognised, for when in Italy she was sent to appear bofere an exacting St Petersburg audience, and her advance was very rapid. In 1894, unusual distinction was awarded Madame Nordica in the form of an invitation from Frau Cosima Wagner to create the role of Elsa in “Lohengrin,” at Bayreuth, and she also had the honour of being the first Isolde and Elsa to he heard at the Prinz-Regenten Theatre in Munich. In 18fio, she effected what was virtually a renaissance of Wagner in America. and the memorable November night of that year when she sang Isolde at the. New York Metropolitan Opera House, will never bo forgotten. The famous diamond tiara presented to her on that occasion, and which was a voluntary contribution from her admirers all over the country, was a significant memento of her artistic success. Madame Nordica was at the time of her death at the zenith of her powers, and it remained for her to achieve within the last few years two of her most memorable successes in a career fraught with successes. Tll October, 1910, she sang the rolo of Isolde, for the first time, at the Paris Grand Opera, and sang it 111 French, with the result that Paris capitulated unreservedly and welcomed the American prima donna with a rapturous enthusiasm, which will probably become historic in the annals of musicdom. In May, 1911, she again sang Isolde, this time in German, at the Berlin Royal Opera, by the special invitation of the German Emperor. Her superb voice and the breadth and nobility of her art created a profound impression, and her triumph was a memorable one. confirming her right to the title of being the “.Greatest Wagnerian Singer in tho World.” Shortly before the conclusion of her Australasian tour Nordica lifid a. complete nervous breakdown, and her medical adviser ordered her to take an entire rest for some time. This necessitated the cancellation of her Australian engagements. At tho beginning of the year she sailed for Java, aboard the Tasman, still suffering from her recent breakdown. The vessel came to grief at Bramble Bay. Torres Strait, and the passengers suffered severely from exposure. She contracted pneumonia, and when she ultimately left for the East, she was still in a weak state of health. ( ALEXANDER CROW. Mr Alexander Crow, eldest son of j Mr J. Crow, of Dunedin, and brother of Mr W. Crow, private secretary to the Postmaster-General, Mr J. Crow, chief clerk in the Dunedin telegraph office, and of Mr G. Crew, manager of the D.1.C., Dunedin, died at his home in Dunedin on Monday morning. After holding for many years .responsible positions with the New ' Zealand | Clothing Factory, Dunedin, the Kaia- | poi Woollen Company, Christchurch, and Messrs Sargood, Son and Ewen, I Wellington, Mr crow three years, ago was offered and accepted the position nf mann'cer cf tho woollen department of Messrs Farmer and Company, Ltd., Svdnoy. , ~ , . . ‘His health breaking down during . tho excessive heat of last summer, Mr Crow returned to New Zealand in January in the hope- of receiving benefit from tho change. For many years ho 1 took an active part in various plulantlnopic organisations m the different 1 centres in which lie resided throughout - the dominion, particularly m the St John Ambulance Association and ,u connection with Ambulance and Hos- 1 pital Saturday. Mr Crow who was hkhlv esteemed by all who knew linn, leaves behind Inin a large circle of 1 relatives and friends both in New Zea- 1 land and Australia. L<