Sara Flower
Encyclopedia
Sara Elizabeth Flower (c.1820 _ 1865) was a British-born contralto
singer now almost forgotten to history who became Australia's first operatic diva. She began a very promising musical career in London in the 1840s but decamped to Australia late in 1849 for reasons that were, and still remain, obscure, since at the time she was considered England's answer to the great Italian contralto Marietta Alboni
, then in London, and her professional future seemed secure. Very soon after her arrival in Melbourne early in 1850 on board a migrant ship she began her career as the Australian vocal phenomenon of the era. In 1852, fifty years before the triumphal return of Nellie Melba
to Melbourne in1902, she displayed her remarkable capacities in Sydney in the first production in Australia of Bellini
's iconic work, Norma
, still considered a serious challenge by any aspirant to 'diva' status. Flower was, by definition then, Australia's first diva.
and situated on the edge of the Tilbury
marshes. In 1821 it had a population of 742, supporting six public house
s. Flower's maternal grandfather, Daniel Granger, had the Rising Sun public house. However, close by, overlooking the Thames, the 18th century Belmont Castle
exerted considerable influence upon the social and cultural life of the wider region, more specifically, it was the focus of an influential musical circle of metropolitan status.
Sara's father, William Lewis Flower (c.1800-1847), was recorded in the Essex Directory in 1823 as a draper
, grocer, and agent for Phoenix Fire & Life. In 1841, upon the entry of his daughter Sara to the Royal Academy of Music
, he could declare that he had 'no occupation', hence, the status of gentleman. His elder brother, Robert Flower (1779?-1832), was by 1824 foreman of the local brickworks but had been described in the parish records in 1817 as a yeoman
, which suggests an earlier lineage of tenant farmers or small proprietors, and also a drop in social status. With the enclosure
movement after the Napoleonic Wars
, conditions for this socio-economic group were particularly difficult, which probably explains Robert's change of occupation.
Her mother, Ruth Flower, was the daughter of Grays publican
, Daniel Granger. Nothing more is known of her, except for the possibility that she may have been the prototype in Alice Diehl's first published novel Garden of Eden for the mother of a fictional opera singer whose sad fate she prophetically foretells.
Sara was not the only professional singer in the family. Her elder sister, the soprano Elizabeth Flower, also became a public singer, and both sisters had considerable London and regional concert careers in the 1840s, performing, often as a duo, to much acclaim, especially for Sara, with her startling voice. In 1847, Elizabeth married a prominent lawyer, Timms Augustine Sargood and withdrew from public life. However, in the 1860s at their home in London's Bloomsbury
district (Gordon Square
), she and her husband were the hosts of quite an elevated musical circle in which Alice Diehl took part and which she recalled in her two autobiographical works already cited.
These two musical daughters of William Lewis Flower were frequently confused with the two very talented daughters of political writer Benjamin Flower
, Sarah Fuller Flower Adams
and Eliza Flower
, acclaimed as poet and composer respectively. It was a confusion which followed Sara to the grave and beyond. It is not impossible, considering their similar economic, social, and regional backgrounds, that there may indeed have been a blood connection between the two families although none has ever been established.
(1912–1953) and the Norwegian Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad
(1895–1962): Ferrier's because of the voice's warmth, delicacy, and the immediacy of its emotional affect; Flagstad's because of its all-encompassing power, penetration and versatility, and, as with Ferrier, the simplicity and directness of its production. All three, although trained broadly within the Italian bel canto
vocal 'method', were quintessentially northern European voices which goes some way to support what must otherwise be a wholly subjective, speculative proposition. There follows here, however, a selection of 19th-century attempts at describing Flower's voice and vocal affect derived from British and Australian newspaper reports of the period:-
Volume; melody; compass; resonance; sonorousness; simplicity; cultivation; powerful; exquisite; flexible; rich; full; distinct; nervous; rare; delicious; sweet; mellow; liquid; welling; gushing; wonderful; expressive; clear; enchanting; perfect; delightful; wonderful; extraordinary; thrilling; electrifying; melancholy; noble; pure; magnificent; splendid; glorious; astonishing; commanding; great; masterly; force of expression; sensation; harmony; charm; liveliness; ease; heart-pathos; depth of feeling; emotional power; tenderness; a host in itself; divine; beyond praise; heaven; a treasure; the great contralto.
When she made her debut in opera in London, 'anonymously', at Drury Lane
on 7 January 1843, as an all-but non-singing Felix (Pippo) to Sabilla Novello's Annette (the youngest daughter of music publisher Vincent Novello
) in a hybrid Macready
production of Rossini's opera La gazza ladra
(The Thieving Magpie) 'little more than a melodrama with a few airs interspersed', at her first musical entry — a phrase of recitative
introducing the duet 'Ebben per mia' with Annette:
'her notes were so exceedingly full and rich, her articulation so admirable, rare qualities in an English singer of recitative, that the audience were literally taken by surprise, and uttered loud and continuous applause, which was frequently reiterated as the very superior quality of her voice was exhibited in the course of the duet'.
The reviewer described her voice then as 'a mezzo soprano of singular volume, with some excellent contralto notes, which she touches with firmness'. She was probably not yet 23 at this time. Unusually though, he went beyond his own critical autonomy to call, not upon an actual description of the voice, but upon the reaction (authority) of an audience. It was an audience which cried out spontaneously over a few bars of recitative, the least 'carrying', and often, from an audience's point of view, the least pleasurable form of operatic singing. It was often resented by audiences and 'got over' as a chore. It is music's compromise with language, whereby an audience is momentarily deprived of its jouissance
. However, Rossini's biographer, Stendhal' remarked of recitative:
A good voice can render the most dismally mediocre of arias in fine style, the singer being nothing more than a sublime barrel-organ; but a recitative taxes the resources of the human soul.
Contemporary London comment before the advent of the great operatic contralto Marietta Alboni (ca1823-1894) associated Flower's voice with that of Marietta Brambilla (1807-1875) as possessing a 'contralto voice of [...] delicious voluptuous quality'. Six years later in Australia, in a rare attempt by a non-specialist journalist to come to grips with the aural phenomenon, Flower's voice was described as being
like one of those boy-voices that one meets with once in one's life and remembers for ever after, so clear, so full, and nervous, and of such volume and compass.
A voice then, at once masculine and feminine, a voice defying category, even transgressive. Perhaps not surprisingly, the item which produced the response was the duet 'Lasciami; non t'ascolto' from Rossini's opera Tancredi
sung by Flower as Tancredi with the young Sydney soprano Marie Carandini
as the faithful but abjured Amenaide. It begins with a powerful, and passionate declamatory recitative for Rossini's feminized, masculine hero Tancredi.
Education and Training
From late October 1841, Flower was trained, or at least, 'finished' at the Royal Academy of Music (R.A.M) under Domenico Crivelli
(1794–1857), who, via his teacher-father, the singer Gaetano Crivelli
(1774–1836), presumably passed on some of the 'secrets' of the 'golden age' of Italian castrati, among which, almost certainly, the exploitation of falsetto, technical skills which probably account for Flower's protean ability to cross the entire range of the operatic singing voice, as in Bellini's Norma, from the dramatic soprano of Norma. through the mezzo of Adalgisa; and, not least, the tenor role of Pollioni. She also performed baritone roles and could delight provincial colonial audiences with her 'remarkable' yodeling songs.
Early Career
Flower first came to public notice, however, within the Psalmody Movement
of the 1830s and 40s in London when, on 4 November 1839, the Musical World noted that Sara and her sister Elizabeth had both appeared at a lecture given at the Hoxton National School Room in inner North London by Henry Charles Purday (1799–1885), engaged, presumably, in order to demonstrate the argument of Purday's lecture, entitled, 'The Proper Object of Music'. The Movement in Britain was associated with such names as Sarah Ann Glover
, John Hullah and John Curwen
. It had strong Independent, or Congregationalist non-conformist religious leanings, and a powerful utilitarian sociology. Flower was also believed to be connected with John Hullah's extraordinarily successful singing classes in London's Exeter Hall
, and possibly with 'Music for the Million', the singing school of Joseph Mainzer (1801–1851). It had been modeled, essentially, along the lines of the very structured monitorial method of Guillaume Louis Bocquillon Wilhem [1781-1842] and his 'Orphéon' choral fests) as a means of teaching large masses of often illiterate working people to sight-sing from notation sheets. While it was socially rather than musically motivated, and was largely a non-conformist socio-religious project, it had the effect in the long term of revitalizing musical education in the wider sphere, not least, within the established Anglican Church itself.
If the Purday/Hullah connections suggest Flower's links with non-conformism and/or the Psalmody Movement
, it might also suggest a pathway to a musical career, consistent with parental anxiety about the snares of a more public profile, as a teacher within the Movement rather than as a professional, let alone operatic, soloist. However a post-1847 Flower family memorial plaque on the walls of the Grays parish church of St Peter and St Paul does not suggest any powerful non-conformist link. Nor does her R.A.M. career under the dictatorial rule of its President, John Fane, Lord Burghersh (1784-1859).
Dates for theatrical roles are for first performances only.
— London - Hoxton National School Room – assists at C.H. Purday's lectures on 'The Proper Object of Music'.
Contralto
Contralto is the deepest female classical singing voice, with the lowest tessitura, falling between tenor and mezzo-soprano. It typically ranges between the F below middle C to the second G above middle C , although at the extremes some voices can reach the E below middle C or the second B above...
singer now almost forgotten to history who became Australia's first operatic diva. She began a very promising musical career in London in the 1840s but decamped to Australia late in 1849 for reasons that were, and still remain, obscure, since at the time she was considered England's answer to the great Italian contralto Marietta Alboni
Marietta Alboni
Marietta Alboni was a renowned Italian contralto opera singer. Together with the charismatic Maria Malibran, she was considered the greatest deeper-voiced female singer of the nineteenth century.-Biography:...
, then in London, and her professional future seemed secure. Very soon after her arrival in Melbourne early in 1850 on board a migrant ship she began her career as the Australian vocal phenomenon of the era. In 1852, fifty years before the triumphal return of Nellie Melba
Nellie Melba
Dame Nellie Melba GBE , born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, was an Australian operatic soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian Era and the early 20th century...
to Melbourne in1902, she displayed her remarkable capacities in Sydney in the first production in Australia of Bellini
Vincenzo Bellini
Vincenzo Salvatore Carmelo Francesco Bellini was an Italian opera composer. His greatest works are I Capuleti ed i Montecchi , La sonnambula , Norma , Beatrice di Tenda , and I puritani...
's iconic work, Norma
Norma (opera)
Norma is a tragedia lirica or opera in two acts by Vincenzo Bellini with libretto by Felice Romani after Norma, ossia L'infanticidio by Alexandre Soumet. First produced at La Scala on December 26, 1831, it is generally regarded as an example of the supreme height of the bel canto tradition...
, still considered a serious challenge by any aspirant to 'diva' status. Flower was, by definition then, Australia's first diva.
Origins
Sara Flower was born in Grays, Essex, an English market town on the River ThamesRiver Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
and situated on the edge of the Tilbury
Tilbury
Tilbury is a town in the borough of Thurrock, Essex, England. As a settlement it is of relatively recent existence, although it has important historical connections, being the location of a 16th century fort and an ancient cross-river ferry...
marshes. In 1821 it had a population of 742, supporting six public house
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s. Flower's maternal grandfather, Daniel Granger, had the Rising Sun public house. However, close by, overlooking the Thames, the 18th century Belmont Castle
Belmont Castle, England
Belmont Castle was a neo-Gothic mansion near Grays in the English county of Essex. Built circa 1795 to designs by the little-known Thomas Jeffery, and surrounded by extensive pleasure grounds, it was the most prominent building in the parish, but was demolished in 1943 to make way for a chalk quarry...
exerted considerable influence upon the social and cultural life of the wider region, more specifically, it was the focus of an influential musical circle of metropolitan status.
Sara's father, William Lewis Flower (c.1800-1847), was recorded in the Essex Directory in 1823 as a draper
Draper
Draper is the now largely obsolete term for a wholesaler, or especially retailer, of cloth, mainly for clothing, or one who works in a draper's shop. A draper may additionally operate as a cloth merchant or a haberdasher. The drapers were an important trade guild...
, grocer, and agent for Phoenix Fire & Life. In 1841, upon the entry of his daughter Sara to the Royal Academy of Music
Royal Academy of Music
The Royal Academy of Music in London, England, is a conservatoire, Britain's oldest degree-granting music school and a constituent college of the University of London since 1999. The Academy was founded by Lord Burghersh in 1822 with the help and ideas of the French harpist and composer Nicolas...
, he could declare that he had 'no occupation', hence, the status of gentleman. His elder brother, Robert Flower (1779?-1832), was by 1824 foreman of the local brickworks but had been described in the parish records in 1817 as a yeoman
Yeoman
Yeoman refers chiefly to a free man owning his own farm, especially from the Elizabethan era to the 17th century. Work requiring a great deal of effort or labor, such as would be done by a yeoman farmer, came to be described as "yeoman's work"...
, which suggests an earlier lineage of tenant farmers or small proprietors, and also a drop in social status. With the enclosure
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
movement after the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, conditions for this socio-economic group were particularly difficult, which probably explains Robert's change of occupation.
Her mother, Ruth Flower, was the daughter of Grays publican
Public house
A public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
, Daniel Granger. Nothing more is known of her, except for the possibility that she may have been the prototype in Alice Diehl's first published novel Garden of Eden for the mother of a fictional opera singer whose sad fate she prophetically foretells.
Sara was not the only professional singer in the family. Her elder sister, the soprano Elizabeth Flower, also became a public singer, and both sisters had considerable London and regional concert careers in the 1840s, performing, often as a duo, to much acclaim, especially for Sara, with her startling voice. In 1847, Elizabeth married a prominent lawyer, Timms Augustine Sargood and withdrew from public life. However, in the 1860s at their home in London's Bloomsbury
Bloomsbury
-Places:* Bloomsbury is an area in central London.* Bloomsbury , related local government unit* Bloomsbury, New Jersey, New Jersey, USA* Bloomsbury , listed on the NRHP in Maryland...
district (Gordon Square
Gordon Square
Gordon Square is in Bloomsbury, in the London Borough of Camden, London, England . It was developed by Thomas Cubitt in the 1820s, as one of a pair with Tavistock Square, which is a block away and has the same dimensions...
), she and her husband were the hosts of quite an elevated musical circle in which Alice Diehl took part and which she recalled in her two autobiographical works already cited.
These two musical daughters of William Lewis Flower were frequently confused with the two very talented daughters of political writer Benjamin Flower
Benjamin Flower
Benjamin Flower was an English radical journalist and political writer, a vocal opponent of his country's involvement in the early stages of the Napoleonic Wars.-Life:...
, Sarah Fuller Flower Adams
Sarah Fuller Flower Adams
Sarah Fuller Flower Adams was an English poet.-Biography:Sarah Fuller Flower was born at High Street, Old Harlow, Essex, younger daughter of Benjamin Flower, editor and the sister of composer Eliza Flower....
and Eliza Flower
Eliza Flower
Eliza Flower was a British musician and composer. In addition to her own work, Flower became known for her friendships including those with William Johnson Fox, Robert Browning, John Stuart Mill and Harriet Taylor.-Biography:...
, acclaimed as poet and composer respectively. It was a confusion which followed Sara to the grave and beyond. It is not impossible, considering their similar economic, social, and regional backgrounds, that there may indeed have been a blood connection between the two families although none has ever been established.
Voice
Sara Flower's having died before the development of sound-recording technologies there are therefore no recordings of her voice, but from contemporary reports of its compass and affect it can be imagined perhaps as something of a cross between the English contralto Kathleen FerrierKathleen Ferrier
Kathleen Mary Ferrier CBE was an English contralto who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar...
(1912–1953) and the Norwegian Wagnerian soprano Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Flagstad
Kirsten Målfrid Flagstad was a Norwegian opera singer and a highly regarded Wagnerian soprano...
(1895–1962): Ferrier's because of the voice's warmth, delicacy, and the immediacy of its emotional affect; Flagstad's because of its all-encompassing power, penetration and versatility, and, as with Ferrier, the simplicity and directness of its production. All three, although trained broadly within the Italian bel canto
Bel canto
Bel canto , along with a number of similar constructions , is an Italian opera term...
vocal 'method', were quintessentially northern European voices which goes some way to support what must otherwise be a wholly subjective, speculative proposition. There follows here, however, a selection of 19th-century attempts at describing Flower's voice and vocal affect derived from British and Australian newspaper reports of the period:-
Volume; melody; compass; resonance; sonorousness; simplicity; cultivation; powerful; exquisite; flexible; rich; full; distinct; nervous; rare; delicious; sweet; mellow; liquid; welling; gushing; wonderful; expressive; clear; enchanting; perfect; delightful; wonderful; extraordinary; thrilling; electrifying; melancholy; noble; pure; magnificent; splendid; glorious; astonishing; commanding; great; masterly; force of expression; sensation; harmony; charm; liveliness; ease; heart-pathos; depth of feeling; emotional power; tenderness; a host in itself; divine; beyond praise; heaven; a treasure; the great contralto.
When she made her debut in opera in London, 'anonymously', at Drury Lane
Drury Lane
Drury Lane is a street on the eastern boundary of the Covent Garden area of London, running between Aldwych and High Holborn. The northern part is in the borough of Camden and the southern part in the City of Westminster....
on 7 January 1843, as an all-but non-singing Felix (Pippo) to Sabilla Novello's Annette (the youngest daughter of music publisher Vincent Novello
Vincent Novello
Vincent Novello , English musician, son of an Italian who married an English wife, was born in London....
) in a hybrid Macready
Macready
Macready is a surname, and may refer to:* George Macready , American screen actor* Nevil Macready , British Army officer* John Macready , American gymnast and motivational speaker...
production of Rossini's opera La gazza ladra
La gazza ladra
La gazza ladra is a melodramma or opera semiseria in two acts by Gioachino Rossini. The libretto was by Giovanni Gherardini after La pie voleuse by JMT Badouin d'Aubigny and Louis-Charles Caigniez....
(The Thieving Magpie) 'little more than a melodrama with a few airs interspersed', at her first musical entry — a phrase of recitative
Recitative
Recitative , also known by its Italian name "recitativo" , is a style of delivery in which a singer is allowed to adopt the rhythms of ordinary speech...
introducing the duet 'Ebben per mia' with Annette:
'her notes were so exceedingly full and rich, her articulation so admirable, rare qualities in an English singer of recitative, that the audience were literally taken by surprise, and uttered loud and continuous applause, which was frequently reiterated as the very superior quality of her voice was exhibited in the course of the duet'.
The reviewer described her voice then as 'a mezzo soprano of singular volume, with some excellent contralto notes, which she touches with firmness'. She was probably not yet 23 at this time. Unusually though, he went beyond his own critical autonomy to call, not upon an actual description of the voice, but upon the reaction (authority) of an audience. It was an audience which cried out spontaneously over a few bars of recitative, the least 'carrying', and often, from an audience's point of view, the least pleasurable form of operatic singing. It was often resented by audiences and 'got over' as a chore. It is music's compromise with language, whereby an audience is momentarily deprived of its jouissance
Jouissance
The term jouissance, in French, denotes "pleasure" or "enjoyment." The term has a sexual connotation lacking in the English word "enjoyment", and is therefore left untranslated in English editions of the works of Jacques Lacan. In his Seminar "The Ethics of Psychoanalysis" Lacan develops his...
. However, Rossini's biographer, Stendhal' remarked of recitative:
A good voice can render the most dismally mediocre of arias in fine style, the singer being nothing more than a sublime barrel-organ; but a recitative taxes the resources of the human soul.
Contemporary London comment before the advent of the great operatic contralto Marietta Alboni (ca1823-1894) associated Flower's voice with that of Marietta Brambilla (1807-1875) as possessing a 'contralto voice of [...] delicious voluptuous quality'. Six years later in Australia, in a rare attempt by a non-specialist journalist to come to grips with the aural phenomenon, Flower's voice was described as being
like one of those boy-voices that one meets with once in one's life and remembers for ever after, so clear, so full, and nervous, and of such volume and compass.
A voice then, at once masculine and feminine, a voice defying category, even transgressive. Perhaps not surprisingly, the item which produced the response was the duet 'Lasciami; non t'ascolto' from Rossini's opera Tancredi
Tancredi
Tancredi is a melodramma eroico in two acts by composer Gioachino Rossini and librettist Gaetano Rossi, based on Voltaire's play Tancrède...
sung by Flower as Tancredi with the young Sydney soprano Marie Carandini
Marie Carandini
Marie Carandini, née Burgess, was an English-born Australian opera singer.-Early life:Carandini was born in Brixton, London, the daughter of James and Martha Medwin Burgess and was brought by her parents to Van Diemen's Land in 1833...
as the faithful but abjured Amenaide. It begins with a powerful, and passionate declamatory recitative for Rossini's feminized, masculine hero Tancredi.
Education and Training
From late October 1841, Flower was trained, or at least, 'finished' at the Royal Academy of Music (R.A.M) under Domenico Crivelli
Domenico Crivelli
Domenico Francesco Maria Crivelli , often referred to simply as Signor Crivelli was an Italian born English opera singer and singing teacher....
(1794–1857), who, via his teacher-father, the singer Gaetano Crivelli
Gaetano Crivelli
Gaetano Crivelli was a famous Italian tenor.Although he was born not actually in Bergamo but in neighbouring Brescia, Crivelli can be regarded as one of the founders of that remarkable Bergamo tenor school which, beginning with Giacomo David and proceeding through such singers as Giovanni David,...
(1774–1836), presumably passed on some of the 'secrets' of the 'golden age' of Italian castrati, among which, almost certainly, the exploitation of falsetto, technical skills which probably account for Flower's protean ability to cross the entire range of the operatic singing voice, as in Bellini's Norma, from the dramatic soprano of Norma. through the mezzo of Adalgisa; and, not least, the tenor role of Pollioni. She also performed baritone roles and could delight provincial colonial audiences with her 'remarkable' yodeling songs.
Early Career
Flower first came to public notice, however, within the Psalmody Movement
Psalmody Movement
The Psalmody Movement is a general term often used to cover a remarkable period of mass musical education in Britain having its roots in the dissenting congregational church singing organisations of late 18th century in regional Scotland and Northern England, which, by the mid-19th century, had...
of the 1830s and 40s in London when, on 4 November 1839, the Musical World noted that Sara and her sister Elizabeth had both appeared at a lecture given at the Hoxton National School Room in inner North London by Henry Charles Purday (1799–1885), engaged, presumably, in order to demonstrate the argument of Purday's lecture, entitled, 'The Proper Object of Music'. The Movement in Britain was associated with such names as Sarah Ann Glover
Sarah Ann Glover
Sarah Ann Glover was an English music educator who invented the Norwich sol-fa system.-Life and career:Glover was born in The Close, Norwich. Her father became Curate of St Laurence's Church, Norwich in 1811, and she developed her learning system to aid teachers with a cappella singing...
, John Hullah and John Curwen
John Curwen
Reverend John Curwen was an English Congregationalist minister, and founder of the Tonic sol-fa system of music education. He was educated at Wymondley College and University College London.-Tonic sol-fa:...
. It had strong Independent, or Congregationalist non-conformist religious leanings, and a powerful utilitarian sociology. Flower was also believed to be connected with John Hullah's extraordinarily successful singing classes in London's Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall
Exeter Hall was a hall on the north side of The Strand, London, England. It was erected between 1829 and 1831 on the site of Exeter Exchange, to designs by John Peter Gandy, the brother of the visionary architect Joseph Michael Gandy...
, and possibly with 'Music for the Million', the singing school of Joseph Mainzer (1801–1851). It had been modeled, essentially, along the lines of the very structured monitorial method of Guillaume Louis Bocquillon Wilhem [1781-1842] and his 'Orphéon' choral fests) as a means of teaching large masses of often illiterate working people to sight-sing from notation sheets. While it was socially rather than musically motivated, and was largely a non-conformist socio-religious project, it had the effect in the long term of revitalizing musical education in the wider sphere, not least, within the established Anglican Church itself.
If the Purday/Hullah connections suggest Flower's links with non-conformism and/or the Psalmody Movement
Psalmody Movement
The Psalmody Movement is a general term often used to cover a remarkable period of mass musical education in Britain having its roots in the dissenting congregational church singing organisations of late 18th century in regional Scotland and Northern England, which, by the mid-19th century, had...
, it might also suggest a pathway to a musical career, consistent with parental anxiety about the snares of a more public profile, as a teacher within the Movement rather than as a professional, let alone operatic, soloist. However a post-1847 Flower family memorial plaque on the walls of the Grays parish church of St Peter and St Paul does not suggest any powerful non-conformist link. Nor does her R.A.M. career under the dictatorial rule of its President, John Fane, Lord Burghersh (1784-1859).
British Professional Career - 1843-48
SF = Sara FlowerDates for theatrical roles are for first performances only.
— London - Hoxton National School Room – assists at C.H. Purday's lectures on 'The Proper Object of Music'.
- 21 October 1841 — London - aged 21, recommended by Lord Burghersh to Royal Academy of Music examination. Admitted 29 Oct. to study singing.
- 7 January 1843 — London - Theatre Royal Drury Lane - La gazza ladra (Rossini) - SF's operatic debut as Felix (Pippo) under Macready's management with Sabilla Novello as Annette.
- 17 April 1843 — London - Princess's Theatre (PT) - Tancredi (Rossini) - SF as Tancredi.
- 17 July 1843 — London PT La gazza ladra (Rossini) 'with the whole of the music' - Emma AlbertazziEmma AlbertazziEmma Albertazzi was an English stage contralto.Born Emma Howson, she was the daughter of Francis Howson, an English music professor. She was a pupil of Michael Costa with whom she began studying at the age of 14 in London. She debuted in 1829 at Argyle Rooms, London...
as Annette - SF as Felix (Pippo). - 11 October 1843 — London PT - L'elisir d'amore - SF as Adina (first time) - Mr Barker as Nemorino - Paul Bedford as Dulcamara, Rebecca Isaacs as Floretta. — London - Ancient Concerts, dir. earl of Cawdor, leaders Mssrs Cramer and Loder, cond. Sir H. R. Bishop: Miss SF, 'O Salutaris' (Cherubini).
- 5 March 1845 — London Lyceum – SF's last recorded London appearance till 28 Oct. 1846, when she is reported to have been studying in Italy.
- 28 October 1846 – London PT – Night Dancers (Edward LoderEdward LoderEdward James Loder was an English composer and conductor. His best remembered work is the 1855 opera Raymond and Agnes.-Biography:...
) - Emma Albertazzi as Giselle, SF as Bertha. Cited as her first public performance since SF's return from Italy. - 19 December 1846 - London PT – Seven Maids of Munich (George H.B. Rodwell) - SF as Ernestine.
- 12 January 1847 - London - PT – Anna Bolena (Donizetti) - Louisa BassanoLouisa BassanoLouisa Bassano was an English opera singer.She was the second daughter of Clemente Bassano and elder sister of the photographer Alexander Bassano. She toured with the pianist Franz Liszt during his visit to the British Isles in 1840-1841...
as Anna Bolena, SF as Smeaton. - 23 April 1847 - London PT - Midsummer Night's Dream (Shakespeare) - SF as Oberon.
- 20 January 1848 - Lond. PTL The Young Guard (Edward Loder) - Anna ThillonAnna ThillonAnna Thillon was an operatic singing sensation in the United States, based in San Francisco, California and then New York, New York. She performed in that city's first professional season.In London at the Princess's Theatre in 1848, Jan...
, SF as Donna Olympia. - 24 July 1848 – London - Surrey Zoological Gardens [SZG] - Concerts Monstre - Louis Antoine Jullien - first appearance of SF.
- 28 September 1848 – London – SZG - possibly last SF appearance in London before departure for Australia late 1849 per Clifton.
External references
- 'Cowgill, Rachel and Peter Holman 2007, Music in the British Provinces 1690-1914 (Ashgate)' http://books.google.com.au/books
- 'Thurrock Heritage - Factfiles [Alice Diehl]' www.thurrock.gov.uk/heritage