Miriam Licette
Encyclopedia
Miriam Licette was an English operatic soprano whose career spanned 35 years, from the mid-1910s to after World War II
. She was also a singing teacher, and created the Miriam Licette Scholarship.
in 1885. (Her cousin was the champion tennis player Randolph Lycett
.) She spent some of her early years in places like Hong Kong
and Singapore
, as her father was a captain with the Blue Star Shipping Line.
She studied singing at Lowther College in Lytham
. She was first noticed by Dame Nellie Melba
, who advised her to go to Paris for further study with her own teacher, Mathilde Marchesi
. She also studied with Melba herself, Jean de Reszke
, and in Milan with Vincenzo Sabbatini. She made her debut in Rome on 7 November 1911, as Myriam Licette, in the title role of Madama Butterfly
.
Her first appearance as Miriam Licette was in London in 1912, at the Kennington Theatre, with the Royal Carl Rosa Opera. That year she married George Edward Webster Robinson, an opera singer. Her roles at this time included Marguerite in Gounod
's Faust
, Micaela in Bizet
's Carmen
, and Pamina in Mozart
's The Magic Flute
.
On 16 June 1913 she gave birth to her only child, a boy named Maurice Robinson. In May 1915, Sir Thomas Beecham
heard her for the first time, in La traviata
, and immediately signed her for a Proms Concert two weeks later, to sing Tatiana's Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky
's Eugene Onegin
. She became Beecham's favourite singer with his Beecham Opera Company. He signed her to sing Juliet in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
in October, and she also appeared in concert singing operatic arias such as "Ritorna vincitor!" from Verdi
's Aida
. Licette sang at the Proms at least six more times during her career.
On 28 December Miriam Licette appeared as "Good Deeds" in the premiere of Liza Lehmann
's opera Everyman. (Liza Lehmann's grandson Steuart Bedford
played the organ at Licette's memorial service in 1969.) She was heard as Antonia in Offenbach
's The Tales of Hoffmann and Pamina in The Magic Flute. On 14 October 1916, she appeared in a concert of Russian and French music in Manchester at which the flautist V. L. Needham collapsed and died.
The year 1917 saw Licette in Charpentier
's Louise
, and on 4 May as Catherine Glover in the UK premiere of Bizet's The Fair Maid of Perth
. In July she sang Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
, and in November came her first Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail
. In June 1918 she sang Sieglinde in Wagner
's Die Walküre
under Beecham.
She sang at Covent Garden
from 1919 to 1929. In May 1919 she received thirteen curtain calls after the Garden Scene in Faust. She had a similar triumph when she sang this role in Scotland. She also appeared as Mimi in ten performances of Puccini
's La bohème
. On 26 July, she created the role of Princess Yaroslavna in the first performance in English of Borodin
's Prince Igor
. In February 1920 she was Eva in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
, and in April she appeared in a revival of Delius
's A Village Romeo and Juliet
.
At this time, the Beecham Opera Company foundered due to financial problems. She sang Mimi in La bohème at Covent Garden in June 1920, with the composer in attendance. That year, she appeared as Euridice with Dame Clara Butt
in the latter singer's only appearance in grand opera, Gluck
's Orfeo ed Euridice
(sung in French).
In 1922 she joined the British National Opera Company
. Later that year, her divorce from her estranged husband was finalised. In 1924 she added the female title role in Debussy
's Pelléas et Mélisande
to her repertoire. She also appeared in Holst
's Savitri
, and in a Royal Choral Society
concert presentation of Berlioz
's The Damnation of Faust under Sir Hamilton Harty
. She also appeared in 1925 in what would become an annual tradition for the next 15 years – a staging with scenery and costumes of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
's The Song of Hiawatha
, initially with the RCS under Eugene Goossens
. The singers in these performances also included Lilian Stiles-Allen
, Elsie Suddaby
, Harold Williams
, Parry Jones
and Frank Titterton
.
In 1929 she appeared in a performance of Delius's A Mass in Life with Astra Desmond
, Tudor Davies
and Roy Henderson with Sir Thomas Beecham leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra
. She had also sung in this work in 1925, with Walter Widdop
, under the conductor Paul von Klenau
.
On 19 September 1931, her son Maurice died from a streptococcal infection, aged only 18. The following month she sang the Marschallin in Richard Strauss
's Der Rosenkavalier
, with Norman Allin
, under John Barbirolli
. In 1935 she appeared in the British premiere of Hindemith
's opera Cardillac
. In 1944, as part of an ENSA
group, she entertained British troops stationed in the Middle East when aged almost 60.
Mirima Licette retired to teach singing. She died on 11 August 1969, at the Royal Berks Hospital in Reading, Berkshire
, aged 83. The bulk of her estate was used to found the Miriam Licette Scholarship, which is administered by the Musicians' Benevolent Fund
, awardees being permitted to study anywhere in France, with particular emphasis on the interpretation of French mélodie.
under Sir Thomas Beecham (1930); substantial extracts from William Vincent Wallace
's Maritana
; and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
and Nedda in Pagliacci
. A complete discography has been prepared.
Her associate artists in these recordings include Dennis Noble, Heddle Nash
, Muriel Brunskill
, Harold Williams
, Frank Mullings
and Clara Serena; and the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham
, Percy Pitt
, Albert Ketèlbey
, Hamilton Harty
, Hubert Bath
, Felix Weingartner
, Eugene Goossens
, Clarence Raybould
and Stanford Robinson
.
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. She was also a singing teacher, and created the Miriam Licette Scholarship.
Career
She was born as Miriam Lycett in the village of Over, CheshireOver, Cheshire
Over is a former borough and market town that forms the western part of the town of Winsford in the English county of Cheshire. Wharton forms the eastern part, the boundary being the River Weaver.-Ancient Origins:...
in 1885. (Her cousin was the champion tennis player Randolph Lycett
Randolph Lycett
Randolph Lycett was a famous men's doubles tennis player.Lycett was the recognized as one of the dominant players in men's doubles...
.) She spent some of her early years in places like Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
and Singapore
Singapore
Singapore , officially the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the...
, as her father was a captain with the Blue Star Shipping Line.
She studied singing at Lowther College in Lytham
Lytham St Annes
Lytham St Annes is a conurbation in the Fylde district of Lancashire, England. The neighbouring towns of Lytham and St-Anne's-on-the-Sea have grown together and now form a seaside resort...
. She was first noticed by Dame 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...
, who advised her to go to Paris for further study with her own teacher, Mathilde Marchesi
Mathilde Marchesi
Mathilde Marchesi was a German mezzo-soprano, a renowned teacher of singing, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method.-Biography:...
. She also studied with Melba herself, Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke
Jean de Reszke, born Jan Mieczyslaw, , was a Polish tenor. Renowned internationally for the high quality of his singing and the elegance of his bearing, he became the biggest male opera star of the late 19th century....
, and in Milan with Vincenzo Sabbatini. She made her debut in Rome on 7 November 1911, as Myriam Licette, in the title role of Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly
Madama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco...
.
Her first appearance as Miriam Licette was in London in 1912, at the Kennington Theatre, with the Royal Carl Rosa Opera. That year she married George Edward Webster Robinson, an opera singer. Her roles at this time included Marguerite in Gounod
Charles Gounod
Charles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
's Faust
Faust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
, Micaela in Bizet
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet formally Alexandre César Léopold Bizet, was a French composer, mainly of operas. In a career cut short by his early death, he achieved few successes before his final work, Carmen, became one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertory.During a...
's Carmen
Carmen
Carmen is a French opéra comique by Georges Bizet. The libretto is by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée, first published in 1845, itself possibly influenced by the narrative poem The Gypsies by Alexander Pushkin...
, and Pamina in Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
's The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute
The Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue....
.
On 16 June 1913 she gave birth to her only child, a boy named Maurice Robinson. In May 1915, Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
heard her for the first time, in La traviata
La traviata
La traviata is an opera in three acts by Giuseppe Verdi set to an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave. It is based on La dame aux Camélias , a play adapted from the novel by Alexandre Dumas, fils. The title La traviata means literally The Fallen Woman, or perhaps more figuratively, The Woman...
, and immediately signed her for a Proms Concert two weeks later, to sing Tatiana's Letter Scene from Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
's Eugene Onegin
Eugene Onegin (opera)
Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, is an opera in 3 acts , by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The libretto was written by Konstantin Shilovsky and the composer and his brother Modest, and is based on the novel in verse by Alexander Pushkin....
. She became Beecham's favourite singer with his Beecham Opera Company. He signed her to sing Juliet in Gounod's Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette
Roméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
in October, and she also appeared in concert singing operatic arias such as "Ritorna vincitor!" from Verdi
Giuseppe Verdi
Giuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
. Licette sang at the Proms at least six more times during her career.
On 28 December Miriam Licette appeared as "Good Deeds" in the premiere of Liza Lehmann
Liza Lehmann
Liza Lehmann was an English operatic soprano and composer, known for her vocal compositions.-Biography:She was born Elisabetha Nina Mary Frederica Lehmann in London. Her father was the German painter Rudolf Lehmann and her mother was Amelia Chambers, a music teacher, composer and arranger...
's opera Everyman. (Liza Lehmann's grandson Steuart Bedford
Steuart Bedford
Steuart John Rudolf Bedford is a British orchestral and opera conductor. He is the brother of composer David Bedford and a grandson of Liza Lehmann....
played the organ at Licette's memorial service in 1969.) She was heard as Antonia in Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach
Jacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
's The Tales of Hoffmann and Pamina in The Magic Flute. On 14 October 1916, she appeared in a concert of Russian and French music in Manchester at which the flautist V. L. Needham collapsed and died.
The year 1917 saw Licette in Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier
Gustave Charpentier, , born in Dieuze, Moselle on 25 June 1860, died Paris, 18 February 1956) was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.-Life and career:...
's Louise
Louise (opera)
Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists....
, and on 4 May as Catherine Glover in the UK premiere of Bizet's The Fair Maid of Perth
The Fair Maid of Perth
The Fair Maid of Perth is a novel by Sir Walter Scott. Inspired by the strange story of the Battle of the North Inch, it is set in Perth and other parts of Scotland around 1400....
. In July she sang Countess Almaviva in Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro
The Marriage of Figaro
Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
, and in November came her first Constanze in Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail
Die Entführung aus dem Serail is an opera Singspiel in three acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The German libretto is by Christoph Friedrich Bretzner with adaptations by Gottlieb Stephanie...
. In June 1918 she sang Sieglinde in Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
's Die Walküre
Die Walküre
Die Walküre , WWV 86B, is the second of the four operas that form the cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen , by Richard Wagner...
under Beecham.
She sang at Covent Garden
Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St. Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit and vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and the Royal Opera House, which is also known as...
from 1919 to 1929. In May 1919 she received thirteen curtain calls after the Garden Scene in Faust. She had a similar triumph when she sang this role in Scotland. She also appeared as Mimi in ten performances of Puccini
Giacomo Puccini
Giacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
's La bohème
La bohème
La bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
. On 26 July, she created the role of Princess Yaroslavna in the first performance in English of Borodin
Alexander Borodin
Alexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
's Prince Igor
Prince Igor
Prince Igor is an opera in four acts with a prologue. It was composed by Alexander Borodin. The composer adapted the libretto from the East Slavic epic The Lay of Igor's Host, which recounts the campaign of Russian prince Igor Svyatoslavich against the invading Polovtsian tribes in 1185...
. In February 1920 she was Eva in The Mastersingers of Nuremberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
, and in April she appeared in a revival of Delius
Frederick Delius
Frederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
's A Village Romeo and Juliet
A Village Romeo and Juliet
A Village Romeo and Juliet is an opera by Frederick Delius, the fourth of his six operas. The composer himself, with his wife Jelka, wrote the English-language libretto based on the short story Romeo und Julia auf dem Dorfe by the Swiss author Gottfried Keller. The first performance was at the...
.
At this time, the Beecham Opera Company foundered due to financial problems. She sang Mimi in La bohème at Covent Garden in June 1920, with the composer in attendance. That year, she appeared as Euridice with Dame Clara Butt
Clara Butt
Dame Clara Ellen Butt DBE , sometimes called Clara Butt-Rumford after her marriage, was an English contralto with a remarkably imposing voice and a surprisingly agile singing technique. Her main career was as a recitalist and concert singer.-Early life and career:Clara Butt was born in Southwick,...
in the latter singer's only appearance in grand opera, Gluck
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years...
's Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice
Orfeo ed Euridice is an opera composed by Christoph Willibald Gluck based on the myth of Orpheus, set to a libretto by Ranieri de' Calzabigi. It belongs to the genre of the azione teatrale, meaning an opera on a mythological subject with choruses and dancing...
(sung in French).
In 1922 she joined the British National Opera Company
British National Opera Company
The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company , which was disbanded when financial problems over...
. Later that year, her divorce from her estranged husband was finalised. In 1924 she added the female title role in Debussy
Claude Debussy
Claude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
's Pelléas et Mélisande
Pelléas et Mélisande (opera)
Pelléas et Mélisande is an opera in five acts with music by Claude Debussy. The French libretto was adapted from Maurice Maeterlinck's Symbolist play Pelléas et Mélisande...
to her repertoire. She also appeared in Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
's Savitri
Savitri (opera)
Sāvitri is a chamber opera in one act by Gustav Holst, his Opus 25, with the libretto by Holst himself. The story is based on the episode of Savitri and Satyavan from the Mahābhārata, which was also included in Specimens of Old Indian Poetry and Idylls from the Sanskrit...
, and in a Royal Choral Society
Royal Choral Society
The Royal Choral Society is an amateur choir, based in London. Formed soon after the opening of the Royal Albert Hall in 1871, the choir gave its first performance as the Royal Albert Hall Choral Society on 8 May 1872 – the choir's first conductor Charles Gounod included the Hallelujah Chorus from...
concert presentation of Berlioz
Hector Berlioz
Hector Berlioz was a French Romantic composer, best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastique and Grande messe des morts . Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He specified huge orchestral forces for some of his works; as a...
's The Damnation of Faust under Sir Hamilton Harty
Hamilton Harty
Sir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
. She also appeared in 1925 in what would become an annual tradition for the next 15 years – a staging with scenery and costumes of Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor
Samuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
's The Song of Hiawatha
The Song of Hiawatha (Coleridge-Taylor)
The Song of Hiawatha, Op. 30, is a trilogy of cantatas by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, produced between 1898 and 1900. The first part, Hiawatha's Wedding Feast, was particularly famous for many years and it made the composer's name known throughout the world.-Background:In 1898, Coleridge-Taylor was...
, initially with the RCS under Eugene Goossens
Eugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
. The singers in these performances also included Lilian Stiles-Allen
Lilian Stiles-Allen
Lilian Stiles-Allen was a British soprano of the mid 20th century.She was born Lilian Elizabeth Allen, and later added her mother's maiden name....
, Elsie Suddaby
Elsie Suddaby
Elsie Suddaby was a leading British lyric soprano of the years between World War I and World War II. She was born in Leeds.A pupil of Sir Edward Bairstow, she was known as ‘The Lass With The Delicate Air’ .She was principal soprano in the bicentennial St Matthew Passion Elsie Suddaby (1893 -...
, Harold Williams
Harold Williams (baritone)
Harold John Williams MBE was a leading Australian baritone and music teacher. Born in Sydney, he enjoyed a long and successful career in England and his native country, performing in opera, oratorio and concerts and giving radio broadcasts.-Early years:Williams was born on 3 September 1893 at...
, Parry Jones
Parry Jones
Parry Jones may refer to:* Gwynn Parry Jones , Welsh tenor*Rhys Parry Jones, Welsh TV actor-See also:*Love Parry Jones-Parry , British army officer and High Sheriff of Anglesey*Jones Parry...
and Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton
Frank Titterton was a well known British lyric tenor of the mid twentieth century. He was noted for his musicianship.Titterton's career was mainly in the concert hall...
.
In 1929 she appeared in a performance of Delius's A Mass in Life with Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond
Astra Desmond CBE was a British contralto of the early and middle twentieth century.-Early years:Astra Desmond was born Gwendolyn Mary Thompson, in Torquay, England. She was educated at Notting Hill High School and Westfield College, where she was a classical scholar...
, Tudor Davies
Tudor Davies
-Biography:Tudor Davies was born in Cymmer, near Porth, South Wales, on 12 November 1892. He studied in Cardiff and at the Royal College of Music in London. He served as an engineer in the Royal Navy during World War I...
and Roy Henderson with Sir Thomas Beecham leading the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
. She had also sung in this work in 1925, with Walter Widdop
Walter Widdop
Walter Widdop was a British operatic tenor who is best remembered for his Wagnerian performances. His repertoire also encompassed works by Verdi, Leoncavallo, Handel and Bach.-Career:...
, under the conductor Paul von Klenau
Paul von Klenau
Paul August von Klenau was a Danish-born composer who worked primarily in Germany and Austria.Klenau was born and died in Copenhagen...
.
On 19 September 1931, her son Maurice died from a streptococcal infection, aged only 18. The following month she sang the Marschallin in Richard Strauss
Richard Strauss
Richard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
's Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier
Der Rosenkavalier is a comic opera in three acts by Richard Strauss to an original German libretto by Hugo von Hofmannsthal. It is loosely adapted from the novel Les amours du chevalier de Faublas by Louvet de Couvrai and Molière’s comedy Monsieur de Pourceaugnac...
, with Norman Allin
Norman Allin
Norman Allin was a British bass singer of the early and mid twentieth century, and later a teacher of voice...
, under John Barbirolli
John Barbirolli
Sir John Barbirolli, CH was an English conductor and cellist. Born in London, of Italian and French parentage, he grew up in a family of professional musicians. His father and grandfather were violinists...
. In 1935 she appeared in the British premiere of Hindemith
Paul Hindemith
Paul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
's opera Cardillac
Cardillac
Cardillac is an opera by Paul Hindemith in three acts and four scenes. Ferdinand Lion wrote the libretto based on the short story Das Fräulein von Scuderi by E.T.A. Hoffmann.-Performance history:...
. In 1944, as part of an ENSA
ENSA
ENSA may refer to:* ENSA, the Entertainments National Service Association* ENSA * École Nationale des Sciences Appliquées d'Oujda, an engineering school in Morocco* EC-Council Network Security Administrator...
group, she entertained British troops stationed in the Middle East when aged almost 60.
Mirima Licette retired to teach singing. She died on 11 August 1969, at the Royal Berks Hospital in Reading, Berkshire
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, aged 83. The bulk of her estate was used to found the Miriam Licette Scholarship, which is administered by the Musicians' Benevolent Fund
Musicians' Benevolent Fund
The Musicians' Benevolent Fund is a United Kingdom charity offering help and support to working and retired musicians, other professionals in the music industry, and their dependants....
, awardees being permitted to study anywhere in France, with particular emphasis on the interpretation of French mélodie.
Recordings
Her recordings include a complete FaustFaust (opera)
Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1...
under Sir Thomas Beecham (1930); substantial extracts from William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace
William Vincent Wallace was an Irish composer and musician.-Early life:Wallace was born at Colbeck Street, Waterford, Ireland. Both parents were Irish, his father, of County Mayo, was a regimental bandmaster....
's Maritana
Maritana
Maritana is a grand opera in three acts composed by William Vincent Wallace, with a libretto by Edward Fitzball . The opera is based on the play Don César de Bazan by Adolphe d'Ennery and Philippe François Pinel Dumanoir , which was also the source material for Jules Massenet's opéra comique Don...
; and Santuzza in Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana
Cavalleria rusticana is an opera in one act by Pietro Mascagni to an Italian libretto by Giovanni Targioni-Tozzetti and Guido Menasci, adapted from a play written by Giovanni Verga based on his short story. Considered one of the classic verismo operas, it premiered on May 17, 1890 at the Teatro...
and Nedda in Pagliacci
Pagliacci
Pagliacci , sometimes incorrectly rendered with a definite article as I Pagliacci, is an opera consisting of a prologue and two acts written and composed by Ruggero Leoncavallo. It recounts the tragedy of a jealous husband in a commedia dell'arte troupe...
. A complete discography has been prepared.
Her associate artists in these recordings include Dennis Noble, Heddle Nash
Heddle Nash
William Heddle Nash was an English lyric tenor who appeared in opera and oratorio in the middle decades of the twentieth century. He also made numerous recordings that are still available on CD reissues....
, Muriel Brunskill
Muriel Brunskill
Muriel Brunskill was an English contralto of the mid-twentieth century. Her career included concert, operatic and recital performance from the early 1920s until the 1950s...
, Harold Williams
Harold Williams (baritone)
Harold John Williams MBE was a leading Australian baritone and music teacher. Born in Sydney, he enjoyed a long and successful career in England and his native country, performing in opera, oratorio and concerts and giving radio broadcasts.-Early years:Williams was born on 3 September 1893 at...
, Frank Mullings
Frank Mullings
Frank Mullings was a leading English tenor with Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company and its successor, the British National Opera Company, during the 1910s and 1920s...
and Clara Serena; and the conductors Sir Thomas Beecham
Thomas Beecham
Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet CH was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic and the Royal Philharmonic orchestras. He was also closely associated with the Liverpool Philharmonic and Hallé orchestras...
, Percy Pitt
Percy Pitt
Percy Pitt was an English organist and conductor.A native of London, Pitt studied music at the conservatory in Leipzig, also working in Munich with Josef Rheinberger...
, Albert Ketèlbey
Albert Ketèlbey
Albert William Ketèlbey , born Ketelbey, was an English composer, conductor and pianist.-Biography:...
, Hamilton Harty
Hamilton Harty
Sir Hamilton Harty was an Irish and British composer, conductor, pianist and organist. In his capacity as a conductor, he was particularly noted as an interpreter of the music of Berlioz and he was much respected as a piano accompanist of exceptional prowess...
, Hubert Bath
Hubert Bath
Hubert Charles Bath was a British film composer and music director. His credits include Tudor Rose , A Yank at Oxford and Millions Like Us .Bath was born in Barnstaple, Devon in 1883....
, Felix Weingartner
Felix Weingartner
Paul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
, Eugene Goossens
Eugène Aynsley Goossens
Sir Eugene Aynsley Goossens was an English conductor and composer.-Biography:He was born in Camden Town, London, the son of the Belgian conductor and violinist Eugène Goossens and the grandson of the conductor Eugène Goossens...
, Clarence Raybould
Clarence Raybould
Clarence Raybould was born in Birmingham on 28 June 1886, to Robert J Raybould , a printer compositor, and Elen A Raybould , and died in Bideford on 27 March 1972. He was an English conductor, pianist and composer who conducted works ranging from musical comedy and operetta, Gilbert and Sullivan...
and Stanford Robinson
Stanford Robinson
Stanford Robinson OBE was an English conductor and composer, known for his work with the BBC. He remained a member of the BBC's staff until his retirement in 1966, founding or building up the organisation's choral groups, both amateur and professional.Between 1947 and 1950, Robinson was Assistant...
.
Principal roles
Miriam Licette's principal roles were:- CharpentierGustave CharpentierGustave Charpentier, , born in Dieuze, Moselle on 25 June 1860, died Paris, 18 February 1956) was a French composer, best known for his opera Louise.-Life and career:...
: title role in LouiseLouise (opera)Louise is an opera in four acts by Gustave Charpentier to an original French libretto by the composer, with some contributions by Saint-Pol-Roux, a symbolist poet and inspiration of the surrealists.... - GounodCharles GounodCharles-François Gounod was a French composer, known for his Ave Maria as well as his operas Faust and Roméo et Juliette.-Biography:...
: Marguerite in FaustFaust (opera)Faust is a drame lyrique in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré from Carré's play Faust et Marguerite, in turn loosely based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's Faust, Part 1... - Gounod: Juliette in Roméo et JulietteRoméo et JulietteRoméo et Juliette is an opéra in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique , Paris on 27 April 1867...
- MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
: Pamina in The Magic FluteThe Magic FluteThe Magic Flute is an opera in two acts composed in 1791 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart to a German libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. The work is in the form of a Singspiel, a popular form that included both singing and spoken dialogue.... - Mozart: Donna Anna in Don GiovanniDon GiovanniDon Giovanni is an opera in two acts with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and with an Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte. It was premiered by the Prague Italian opera at the Teatro di Praga on October 29, 1787...
- Mozart: Countess Almaviva in The Marriage of FigaroThe Marriage of FigaroLe nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...
- OffenbachJacques OffenbachJacques Offenbach was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted opera The Tales of Hoffmann. He was a powerful influence on later composers of the operetta genre, particularly Johann Strauss, Jr....
: principal soprano in The Tales of Hoffmann - PucciniGiacomo PucciniGiacomo Antonio Domenico Michele Secondo Maria Puccini was an Italian composer whose operas, including La bohème, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, and Turandot, are among the most frequently performed in the standard repertoire...
: Cio-Cio San in Madama ButterflyMadama ButterflyMadama Butterfly is an opera in three acts by Giacomo Puccini, with an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa. Puccini based his opera in part on the short story "Madame Butterfly" by John Luther Long, which was dramatized by David Belasco... - Puccini: Mimi in La bohèmeLa bohèmeLa bohème is an opera in four acts,Puccini called the divisions quadro, a tableau or "image", rather than atto . by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa, based on Scènes de la vie de bohème by Henri Murger...
- VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
: Desdemona in OtelloOtelloOtello is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Arrigo Boito, based on Shakespeare's play Othello. It was Verdi's penultimate opera, and was first performed at the Teatro alla Scala, Milan, on February 5, 1887.... - WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
: Eva in The Mastersingers of NurembergDie Meistersinger von NürnbergDie Meistersinger von Nürnberg is an opera in three acts, written and composed by Richard Wagner. It is among the longest operas still commonly performed today, usually taking around four and a half hours. It was first performed at the Königliches Hof- und National-Theater in Munich, on June 21,...
.