Frances Alda

Frances Alda (31 May 1879– 18 September 1952) was a New Zealand-born, Australian-raised operatic soprano. She achieved fame during the first three decades of the 20th century due to her outstanding singing voice, fine technique and colourful personality, as well as her frequent onstage partnerships at the New York Metropolitan Opera with Enrico Caruso.

Career

Alda was born Fanny Jane Davis in Christchurch, New Zealand in 1879. Her father David, wanted her mother, Leonore (née Simonsen), to settle down. But Leonore, a promising singer from a musical family, had other ideas and in September 1880 divorced her husband to resume her singing career. Fanny spent her early years traveling with her mother on her operatic tours. After false starts in Australasia, she took Fanny and her younger brother to San Francisco in 1883. Leonore Davis remarried but died of peritonitis in San Francisco on 29 December 1884, shortly after remarrying, to Herman Adler. After her mother's death, Alda was sent to live with her maternal grandparents, Martin and Fanny Simonsen, in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.