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Nellie Melba

Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 1861 – 23 February 1931) was an Australian operatic lyric coloratura soprano. She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th century, and was the first Australian to achieve international recognition as a classical musician. She took the pseudonym "Melba" from Melbourne, her home town.

Melba studied singing in Melbourne and made a modest success in performances there. After a brief and unsuccessful marriage, she moved to Europe in search of a singing career. Failing to find engagements in London in 1886, she studied in Paris and soon made a great success there and in Brussels. Returning to London she quickly established herself as the leading lyric soprano at Covent Garden from 1888. She soon achieved further success in Paris and elsewhere in Europe, and later at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, debuting there in 1893. Her repertoire was small; in her whole career she sang no more than 25 roles and was closely identified with only ten. She was known for her performances in French and Italian opera, but sang little German opera.

During the First World War, Melba raised large sums for war charities. She returned to Australia frequently during the 20th century, singing in opera and concerts, and had a house built for her near Melbourne. She was active in the teaching of singing at the Melbourne Conservatorium. Melba continued to sing until the last months of her life and made a large number of "farewell" appearances. Her death, in Australia, was news across the English-speaking world, and her funeral was a major national event. The Australian $100 note features her image.

Early years
Melba was born in Richmond, Victoria, the eldest of seven children of the builder David Mitchell and his wife Isabella Ann née Dow (1833–1881). Mitchell emigrated from Forfarshire, Scotland, to Australia in 1852, married Isabella in 1856 and became a successful builder. Melba was taught to play the piano and first sang in public around age six. She was educated at a local boarding school and then at the Presbyterian Ladies' College. She studied singing with Mary Ellen Christian (a former pupil of Manuel García) and Pietro Cecchi, an Italian tenor, who was a respected teacher in Melbourne. In her teens, Melba continued to perform in amateur concerts in and around Melbourne, and she played the organ at church. Her father encouraged her in her musical studies, but he strongly disapproved of her taking up singing as a career. Melba's mother died suddenly in 1881 at Richmond.

Melba's father moved the family to Mackay, Queensland, where he built a new sugar mill. Melba soon became popular in Mackay society for her singing and piano-playing. On 22 December 1882 in Brisbane, she married Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong (1858–1948), the youngest son of Sir Andrew Armstrong. They had one child, a son, George, born on 16 October 1883. The marriage was not a success; Charles reportedly beat his wife more than once. The couple separated after just over a year, and Melba returned to Melbourne determined to pursue a singing career, debuting professionally in concerts in 1884. She was often accompanied in concert, and some of her concerts were organised, at times throughout her career by the flautist John Lemmone, who became a "lifelong friend and counsellor". On the strength of local success, she travelled to London in search of an opportunity. Her debut at the Princes' Hall in 1886 made little impression, and she sought work unsuccessfully from Sir Arthur Sullivan, Carl Rosa and Augustus Harris. She then went to Paris to study with the leading teacher Mathilde Marchesi, who instantly recognised the young singer's potential: she exclaimed, "J'ai enfin une étoile!" ("I have a star at last!"). Melba made such rapid progress that she was allowed to sing the "Mad Scene" from Ambroise Thomas's Hamlet at a matinée musicale in Marchesi's house in December the same year, in the presence of the composer.

The young singer's talent was so evident that, after less than a year with Marchesi, the impresario Maurice Strakosch gave her a ten-year contract at 1000 francs annually. After she had signed, she received a far better offer of 3000 francs per month from the Théâtre de la Monnaie, Brussels, but Strakosch would not release her and obtained an injunction preventing her from accepting it. She was in despair when the matter was resolved by Strakosch's sudden death. She made her operatic debut four days later as Gilda in Rigoletto at La Monnaie on 12 October 1887. The critic Herman Klein described her Gilda as "an instant triumph of the most emphatic kind ... followed ... a few nights later with an equal success as Violetta in La traviata." It was at this time, on Marchesi's advice, that she adopted the stage name of "Melba", a contraction of the name of her home city.

London, Paris and New York debuts

Melba made her Covent Garden début in May 1888, in the title role in Lucia di Lammermoor. She received a friendly but not excited reception. The Musical Times wrote, "Madame Melba is a fluent vocalist, and a quite respectable representative of light soprano parts; but she lacks the personal charm necessary to a great figure on the lyric stage." She was offended when Augustus Harris, then in charge at Covent Garden, offered her only the small role of the page Oscar in Un ballo in maschera for the next season. She left England vowing never to return. The following year, she performed at the Opéra in Paris, in the role of Ophélie in Hamlet; The Times described this as "a brilliant success", and said, "Madame Melba has a voice of great flexibility ... her acting is expressive and striking."

Melba had a strong supporter in London, Lady de Grey, whose views carried weight at Covent Garden. Melba was persuaded to return, and Harris cast her in Roméo et Juliette (June 1889) co-starring with Jean de Reszke. She later recalled, "I date my success in London quite distinctly from the great night of 15 June 1889." After this, she returned to Paris as Ophélie, Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor, Gilda in Rigoletto, Marguerite in Faust, and Juliette. In French operas her pronunciation was poor, but the composer Delibes said that he did not care whether she sang in French, Italian, German, English or Chinese, as long as she sang.

In the early 1890s, Melba embarked on an affair with Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans. They were seen frequently together in London, which excited some gossip, but far more suspicion arose when Melba travelled across Europe to St Petersburg to sing for Tsar Nicholas II: the Duke followed closely behind her, and they were spotted together in Paris, Brussels, Vienna and St Petersburg. Armstrong filed divorce proceedings on the grounds of Melba's adultery, naming the Duke as co-respondent; he was eventually persuaded to drop the case, but the Duke decided that a two-year African safari (without Melba) would be appropriate. He and Melba did not resume their relationship. In the first years of the decade, Melba appeared in the leading European opera houses, including Milan, Berlin and Vienna.

Melba sang the role of Nedda in Pagliacci at Covent Garden in 1893, soon after its Italian premiere. The composer was present, and said that the role had never been so well played before. In December of that year, Melba sang at the Metropolitan Opera in New York for the first time. As at her Covent Garden debut, she appeared as Lucia di Lammermoor, and as at Covent Garden, it was less than a triumph. The New York Times praised her performance – "one of the loveliest voices that ever issued from a human throat ... simply delicious in its fullness, richness and purity" – but the work was out of fashion, and the performances were poorly attended. Her performance in Roméo et Juliette, later in the season, was a triumph and established her as the leading prima donna of the time in succession to Adelina Patti. She had at first been nonplussed by the impenetrable snobbery at the Metropolitan; the author Peter Conrad has written, "In London she hobnobbed with royalty; in New York she was a singing menial." Assured of critical success, she set herself to achieve social recognition, and succeeded.

From the 1890s, Melba played a wide range of parts at Covent Garden, mostly in the lyric soprano repertoire, but with some heavier roles also. She sang the title roles in Herman Bemberg's Elaine and Arthur Goring Thomas's Esmeralda. Her Italian parts included Gilda in Rigoletto, the title role in Aida, Desdemona in Otello, Luisa in Mascagni's I Rantzau, Nedda in Pagliacci, Rosina in The Barber of Seville, Violetta in La traviata, and Mimì in La bohème. In the French repertoire, she sang Juliette in Roméo et Juliette, Marguerite in Faust, Marguerite de Valois in Les Huguenots, the title role in Saint-Saëns's Hélène, which was written for her, and Micaëla in Carmen.

Some writers expressed surprise at Melba's playing the last of these roles, since it was merely a supporting part in the opera. She played it on many occasions, saying in her memoirs, "Why on earth a prima donna should not sing secondary rôles I could not see then and am no nearer seeing to-day. I hate the artistic snobbery of it." She sang the role opposite the Carmens of Emma Calvé, Zélie de Lussan and Maria Gay. Marguerite de Valois, too, is not the leading female role in Les Huguenots, but Melba was willing to undertake it as seconda donna to Emma Albani. She was generous in support of singers who did not rival her in her favoured roles, but was, as her biographer J. B. Steane put it, "pathologically critical" of other lyric sopranos.

Melba was not known as a Wagner singer, although she occasionally sang Elsa in Lohengrin and Elisabeth in Tannhäuser. She received a certain amount of praise in these roles, although Klein found her unsuited to them, and Bernard Shaw thought she sang with great skill but played artificially and without sensibility. In 1896 at the Metropolitan, she attempted the role of Brünnhilde in Siegfried, in which she was not a success. Her most frequent role in that house was Marguerite in Gounod's Faust, which she had studied under the supervision of the composer. She never essayed any of Mozart's operas, for which some thought her voice ideally suited. Her repertoire across her entire career amounted to no more than 25 roles, of which, The Times obituarist wrote, "only some 10 parts are those which will be remembered as her own."

Melba's marriage to Armstrong was finally terminated when, having emigrated to the United States with their son, he divorced her in Texas in 1900.

Twentieth century
By now established as a leading star in Britain and America, Melba made her first return visit to Australia in 1902–03 for a concert tour, also touring in New Zealand. The profits were unprecedented; she returned for four more tours during her career. In Britain, Melba campaigned on behalf of Puccini's La bohème. She had first sung the part of Mimì in 1899, having studied it with the composer. She argued strongly for further productions of the work in the face of the distaste expressed by the Covent Garden management at this "new and plebeian opera". She was vindicated by the public enthusiasm for the piece, which was bolstered in 1902 when Enrico Caruso joined her in the first of many Covent Garden performances together. She sang Mimì for Oscar Hammerstein I at his opera house in New York, in 1907, giving the enterprise a needed boost. After her initial successes in Brussels and Paris in the 1880s, Melba sang infrequently on the European continent; only the English-speaking countries welcomed her wholeheartedly.

She performed 26 times at the Royal Albert Hall in London between 1898 and 1926. Although she called Covent Garden "my artistic home", her appearances there became less frequent in the 20th century. One reason for this was that she did not get on well with Sir Thomas Beecham, who was in control of the opera house for much of the period from 1910 until her retirement. She said, "I dislike Beecham and his methods", and he thought that while she had "nearly all the attributes inseparable from great artistry ... she was wanting in a genuine spiritual refinement." Another factor in her reduced appearances at Covent Garden was the appearance on the scene of Luisa Tetrazzini, a soprano ten years her junior, who became a great success in London and later in New York in roles previously associated with Melba. A third reason was her decision to spend more time in Australia. In 1909 she undertook what she called a "sentimental tour" of Australia, covering 10,000 miles (16,000 km) and including many remote towns. In 1911 in partnership with the J. C. Williamson company, she appeared in an operatic season. Her attitude to her tour concerts and the audiences attending was summed up in the advice that Clara Butt said Melba gave her apropos of a planned Australian tour: "Sing 'em muck; it's all they can understand." To another colleague and compatriot, Peter Dawson, she described his home city of Adelaide as "that city of the three P's – Parsons, Pubs and Prostitutes."

In 1909, Melba bought property at Coldstream, a small town near Melbourne, and in 1912 she had a home built there (extending an existing cottage) that she named Coombe Cottage after a house she had rented near London. She also set up a music school in Richmond, which she later merged into the Melbourne Conservatorium. She was in Australia when the First World War broke out, and she threw herself into fund-raising for war charities, raising £100,000. In recognition of this, she was created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in March 1918, "for services in organising patriotic work".

After the war, Melba made a triumphant return to the Royal Opera House, in a performance of La bohème conducted by Beecham, which re-opened the house after four years of closure. The Times wrote, "Probably no season at Covent Garden has ever started with quite the thrill of enthusiasm which passed through the house." In her many concerts, however, her repertoire was regarded as trite and predictable. After one of them The Musical Times wrote: "The real musical interest of the afternoon, however, was supposed to centre in the "Jewel Song" from Faust, Puccini's "Addio", Lieurance's "By the waters of Minnetonka", and Tosti's "Good-bye", and in the encores, thoughtfully announced beforehand – "Home, sweet Home" and "Annie Laurie." Look again at the last batch of head-lines. "The Diva to go home." By all means. Why not? As the Diva has melodiously declared (only too often), there's no place like it. "And teach 100 girls herself." If the Dame can give those hundred girls her own beautiful voice, well and good, but for heaven's sake let a musician be called in to attend to their repertoire. We cannot lightly face the prospect of a hundred débutantes let loose on us a year hence full to the epiglottis with "Minnetonkas", "Jewel Songs", and "Home, sweet Homes"."

In 1922, Melba returned to Australia, where she sang at the immensely successful "Concerts for the People" in Melbourne and Sydney, with low ticket prices, attracting 70,000 people. In 1924 for another Williamson opera season, she caused resentment among local singers by importing an entire chorus from Naples. In 1926 she made her farewell appearance at Covent Garden, singing in scenes from Roméo et Juliette, Otello, and La bohème. She is well remembered in Australia for her seemingly endless series of "farewell" appearances, including stage performances in the mid-1920s and concerts in Sydney on 7 August 1928, Melbourne on 27 September 1928 and Geelong in November 1928. From this, she is remembered in the vernacular Australian expression "more farewells than Dame Nellie Melba".

In 1929 she returned for the last time to Europe and then visited Egypt, where she contracted a fever that she never entirely shook off. Her last performance was in London at a charity concert on 10 June 1930. She returned to Australia but died in St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney, in 1931, aged 69, of septicaemia which had developed after facial surgery in Europe some time before. She was given an elaborate funeral from Scots' Church, Melbourne, which her father had built and where as a teenager she had sung in the choir. The funeral motorcade was over a kilometre long, and her death made front-page headlines in Australia, the United Kingdom, New Zealand, and Europe. Billboards in many countries said simply "Melba is dead". Part of the event was filmed for posterity. Melba was buried in the cemetery at Lilydale, near Coldstream. Her headstone, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens, bears the farewell words of Mimì in La bohème: "Addio, senza rancor" (Farewell, without bitterness).

Teacher and patron
Despite the antipathy Melba inspired in some of her peers, she helped the careers of younger singers. She taught for many years at the Conservatorium in Melbourne and looked for a "new Melba". She published a book about her methods, which were based on those of Marchesi. The book opens: "It is easy to sing well, and very difficult to sing badly! How many students are really prepared to accept that statement? Few, if any. They smile, and say: "It may be easy for you, but not for me." And they seem to think that there the matter ends. But if they only knew it, on their understanding and acceptance of that axiom depends half their success. Let me say the same in other words: In order to sing well, it is necessary to sing easily."

Others also benefited from Melba's praise and interest. She passed her own cadenzas on to a young Gertrude Johnson, a valuable professional asset. In 1924, Melba brought the new star Toti Dal Monte, fresh from triumphs in Milan and Paris but still unheard in England or the United States, to Australia as a principal of the Melba-Williamson Grand Opera Company. After sharing the Covent Garden stage in a 1923 night of operatic extracts with another Australian soprano, Florence Austral (who, as a dramatic soprano, posed no threat to Melba, a lyric soprano), Melba was effusive with her praise, describing the younger woman as "one of the wonder-voices of the world". She similarly described the American contralto Louise Homer as possessing "the world's most beautiful voice". She gave financial assistance to the Australian painter Hugh Ramsay, living in poverty in Paris and also helped him to forge connections in the artistic world. The Australian baritone John Brownlee and tenor Browning Mummery were both protégés: both sang with her in her 1926 Covent Garden farewell (recorded by HMV), and Brownlee sang with her on two of her last commercial recordings later that year (a session arranged by her in part to promote Brownlee).

Recordings and broadcasts
Melba's first recordings were made around 1895, recorded on cylinders at the Bettini Phonograph Lab in New York. A reporter from Phonoscope magazine was impressed: "The next cylinder was labelled 'Melba' and was truly wonderful, the phonograph reproducing her wonderful voice in a marvellous manner, especially the high notes which soared away above the staff and were rich and clear." Melba was less impressed: "'Never again,' I said to myself as I listened to the scratching, screeching result. 'Don't tell me I sing like that, or I shall go away and live on a desert island.'" The recordings never reached the general public – destroyed on Melba's orders, it is suspected – and Melba would not venture into a recording studio for another eight years. Melba can be heard singing on several Mapleson Cylinders, early attempts at live recording, made by the Metropolitan Opera House librarian Lionel Mapleson in the auditorium there during performances. These cylinders are often poor in quality, but they preserve something of the quality of the young Melba's voice and performance that is sometimes lacking from her commercial recordings.

Melba made numerous gramophone (phonograph) records of her voice in England and America between 1904 (when she was in her 40s) and 1926 for the Gramophone & Typewriter Company and the Victor Talking Machine Company. Most of these recordings, consisting of operatic arias, duets and ensemble pieces and songs, have been re-released on CD. The poor audio fidelity of the Melba recordings reflects the limitations of the early days of commercial sound recording. Melba's acoustical recordings (especially those made after her initial 1904 session) fail to capture vital overtones to the voice, leaving it without the body and warmth it possessed – albeit to a limited degree – in life. Despite this, they still reveal Melba to have had an almost seamlessly pure lyric soprano voice with effortless coloratura, a smooth legato and accurate intonation. Melba had perfect pitch; the critic Michael Aspinall says of her complete London recordings issued on LP, that there are only two lapses from pitch in the entire set. Like Patti, and unlike the more vibrant-voiced Tetrazzini, Melba's exceptional purity of tone was probably one of the principal reasons why British audiences, with their strong choral and sacred music traditions, idolised her.

Melba's farewell to Covent Garden on 8 June 1926 was recorded by HMV, as well as broadcast. The programme included Act 2 of Roméo et Juliette (not recorded because the tenor Charles Hackett was not under contract to HMV), followed by the opening of Act 4 of Otello (Desdemona's "Willow Song" and "Ave Maria") and Acts 3 and 4 of La bohème (with Aurora Rettore, Browning Mummery, John Brownlee and others). The conductor was Vincenzo Bellezza. At the conclusion Lord Stanley of Alderley made a formal address and Melba gave an emotional farewell speech. In a pioneering venture, eleven sides (78rpm) were recorded via a landline to Gloucester House (London), though in the event only three of these were published. The full series (including both speeches) was included in a 1976 HMV reissue.

As was the case in many of her performances, most of Melba's recordings were made at "French Pitch" (A=435 Hz), rather than the British early 20th century standard of A=452 Hz, or the modern standard of A=440 Hz. This, and the technical inadequacies of the early recording process (discs were frequently recorded faster or slower than the supposed standard of 78rpm, whilst the conditions of the cramped recording studios – kept very warm to keep the wax at the necessary softness when cutting – would wreak havoc with instrumental tuning during recording sessions), means that playing her recordings back in the speed and pitch she made them at is not always a simple matter.

On 15 June 1920, Melba was heard in a pioneering radio broadcast from Guglielmo Marconi's New Street Works factory in Chelmsford, singing two arias and her famous trill. She was the first artist of international renown to participate in direct radio broadcasts. Radio enthusiasts across the country heard her, and the broadcast was reportedly heard from as far away as New York. People listening on the radio barely heard a few scratches of the trill and two arias she sang. Further radio broadcasts would include her Covent Garden farewell performance, and a 1927 "Empire Broadcast" (broadcast throughout the British Empire, by radio stations AWA and 2FC, Sydney, on Monday 5 September 1927; it was relayed by the BBC London on Sunday 4 September).

Honours, memorials and legacy
Melba was appointed Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 1918 New Year Honours, along with May Whitty the first stage performer to receive this order, for her charity work during World War I, and was elevated to Dame Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire in 1927. She was the first Australian to appear on the cover of Time magazine, in April 1927. A stained glass window commemorating Melba was erected in 1962 in the Musicians' Memorial Chapel of the church of St Sepulchre-without-Newgate, London. She is one of only two singers – the other being Adelina Patti – with a marble bust on the grand staircase of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.

A blue plaque commemorates Melba at Coombe House, Devey Close in Coombe, Kingston upon Thames, where she lived in 1906. She was inducted onto the Victorian Honour Roll of Women in 2001. Melba was closely associated with the Melbourne Conservatorium, and this institution was renamed the Melba Memorial Conservatorium of Music in her honour in 1956. The music hall at the University of Melbourne is known as Melba Hall. The Canberra suburb of Melba is named after her.

The Australian $100 note features the image of her face, and her likeness has also appeared on an Australian stamp. Sydney Town Hall has a marble relief bearing the inscription "Remember Melba", unveiled during a World War II charity concert in memory of Melba and her First World War charity work and patriotic concerts. A tunnel on Melbourne's EastLink freeway is named in her honour. Streets named after her include Melba Avenue in San Francisco and Avenue Nellie Melba / Nellie Melbalaan in the Brussels municipality of Anderlecht.

Melba's home in Marian, Queensland, during her brief cohabitation with her husband was relocated from the Marian Mill (where it was due to be demolished) to a riverbank setting along the main Eungella Road in Edward Lloyd Park, where, under the name Melba House, it was restored and now operates as a Melba museum and the Pioneer Valley Visitor Information Centre. Her home Coombe Cottage in Coldstream, Victoria, passed to her granddaughter Pamela, Lady Vestey (1918–2011). It is now owned by Lady Vestey's sons, Sam (3rd Baron Vestey) and Mark, who reside in the United Kingdom. The house was designed by John Harry Grainger, father of the composer Percy Grainger, and a close friend of Melba's father David Mitchell.

Melba's name is associated with four foods, all of which were created in her honour by the French chef Auguste Escoffier:
 * Peach Melba, a dessert made of peaches, raspberry sauce, and vanilla ice cream
 * Melba sauce, a sweet purée of raspberries and red currant
 * Melba toast, a crisp dry toast
 * Melba Garniture, chicken, truffles and mushrooms stuffed into tomatoes with velouté sauce.

Melba planted a variety of poplar tree known as Populus × canadensis "Aurea", or golden poplar, on the Central Lawn in Melbourne Botanic Gardens on 11 April 1903, which has become known as "Melba's poplar". On 19 May 2011 Google celebrated her 150th birthday with a Google Doodle.

Books, films and television
Melba's autobiography, Melodies and Memories, was published in 1925, largely ghost-written by her secretary Beverley Nichols. Nichols later complained that Melba did not cooperate in the process of writing or by reviewing what he wrote. Full-length biographies devoted to her include those by Agnes G. Murphy (1909), John Hetherington (1967), Thérèse Radic (1986) and Ann Blainey (2009).

A novel Evensong by Nichols (1932) was based on aspects of Melba's life, drawing an unflattering portrait. The 1934 motion picture adaptation of Evensong, starring Evelyn Laye as the character based on Melba, was for a time banned in Australia. Melba appears in the 1946 novel Lucinda Brayford by Martin Boyd. She is depicted as singing at a garden party thrown by the mother of the eponymous heroine, when she is described as having the "loveliest voice in the world".

In 1946–1947 Crawford Productions produced a radio series on Melba starring Glenda Raymond, who became one of the foundation singers of the Australian Opera (later Opera Australia) in 1956. In 1953 a biopic titled Melba was released by Horizon Pictures and directed by Lewis Milestone. Melba was played by the soprano Patrice Munsel. In 1987 the Australian Broadcasting Corporation produced a mini-series, Melba, starring Linda Cropper miming to the singing voice of Yvonne Kenny. Melba was portrayed by Kiri Te Kanawa in episode 3 of season 4 of the British ITV television show Downton Abbey (2013), performing at the abbey as a guest of Lord and Lady Grantham. Rupert Christiansen, writing in The Telegraph, bemoaned the casting and the fact checking.

Melba appears in a pivotal scene in the 2014 novel Tell by Frances Itani.

title: Nellie Melba


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Talk:Nellie Melba

Farewells
--- In 1946–1948 the ABC produced a popular radio series on Melba starring Glenda Raymond. --- ???

The booklet that comes with the 2003 CD "Glenda Raymond Soprano", from Australian Heritage states (on page 8) that the radio series was produced in 1946-1947 by Crawford Productions. The series was broadcast on 3DB a Melbourne based commercial radio station.

Booklet can be downloaded here. http://www.buywell.com/booklets/4726892.pdf

An engaging an interesting article? perhaps. Scholarly? maybe. Accurate? can not be sure. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 211.29.232.147 (talk) 11:47, 6 February 2011 (UTC)

Comments 2003-2006
I just want to compliment this page to whomever wrote it. I've rarely run across such a scholarly job on Wikipedia. It was engaging and interesting without being POV. Thanks! 68.42.59.219 23:41, 2 December 2006 (UTC)M

I don't think this article is terribly accurate (for example, Melba never had a grandson, did not move to Qld. in 1880, and was not generally regarded as temperamental (quite the opposite, actually, by some); her family were extremely proud of her and accepted her marriage failure philosophically), nor does the article adequately sum up Melba's astonishing achievements and her significance. Melba certainly could be vain and imperious, but other aspects of her personality, such her immense (often financial) generosity and self-awareness, need to be recorded too. The article seems to be generally negative and forgets the positive side. Almost nothing is said of the particular achievements of Melba's career, one which certainly extended well beyond England and Australia alone. I wonder whether any recordings of Nellie Melba exist? I'll see what I can find.--Robert Merkel 22:06 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Yes, certainly they do. She recorded for HMV and Victor Talking Machine Company. -- Infrogmation 22:41 28 Jun 2003 (UTC)

Cheapo CD label Naxos have reissued quite a few of her recordings - it's an ongoing series, I think. Interesting listening. I might upload a snippet of her (eventually) if nobody else does. --Camembert

Is it worth noting, with respect to her recordings, that the recording techniques of the day were particularly maladept at recording the soprano voice, and that this needs to be borne in mind by modern listeners when they hear her recordings?

more 'farewells' or more 'comebacks'?
The Australian Broadcast Corporation's [page] says: She had a farewell tour that lasted four years, which, of course, is the origin of the phrase, "More farewells than Dame Nellie". The page here talks about "More comebacks". Are both right? Jon Pincus (jon_near_seattle@hotmail.com) 05:10, 18 December 2005 (UTC)

 * Both are in use, I think. --Robert Merkel 00:13, 3 December 2006 (UTC)

 * In relation to "comebacks". In senses such as this, "comeback: is not an Australian expression (it is an American expression).
 * It has never been "comebacks" and never will be "comebacks" for the simple reason that she never really retired; and, thus, from this was never able to resume an abandoned career (i.e., she could never "come back" from anything from which she had never departed in the first place).
 * It is very plainly clear that she was milking the finances and sympathies of her audiences by representing her performances as if they were "farewell" performances.
 * Also, there is the plain fact that the expression was always used in Australian English the context of someone, say, leaving, then returning, "Just one more thing…", then leaving, then appearing once more, "Oh, and another thing…". Once the individual had finally left, one of those present would remark of "He/she makes more farewells than Nellie Melba".
 * I have changed the text of the article in accordance with this (I suspect that, if such a "comeback" statement has ever been uttered, it has been by someone such as Dennis Cometti in some extraordinary circumstance. It is not an Australian expression).Lindsay658 08:26, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

'Ruthlessness' - Citations required
This section contains several alleged "quotes" and completely unreferenced and anecdotal allegations about Melba's relationships with her colleagues. They may well be true, but they must have proper citations from reliable, verifiable, published sources. If they are not available online, then they must be referenced to the book or article in which they appear, with full bibliographic information including the exact page number. I have added Citation needed in the places where this is required.Voceditenore 16:16, 5 November 2007 (UTC)

Discussion of her voice
There is nothing in this article about Melba's voice. I do not have texts on her to use as a reference, but listening to her one is impressed at the purity of the voice and almost total lack of vibrato, unless she wanted to produce it, and all her recordings were made late in her career. --CloudSurfer (talk) 00:02, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

 * Checking the web further reveals this article which has numerous references that could be accessed by someone with a good library nearby. Sadly, my nearest good library is a couple of thousand km away. --CloudSurfer (talk) 02:27, 25 March 2008 (UTC)

Hot sausage
As a (much-needed indeed) minor contribution to the appalling dearth of sourced material in this article, I believe the hot sausage story was told in an interview by Peter Dawson, though whether he was the originator of it I don't know. I heard the story told by him in person in a speech recording in a BBC Radio 4 broadcast around about 1980. I hesitate to meddle with Australian national property but please can we have some authority for all these many biographical and anecdotal statements? Ta, Eebahgum (talk) 00:02, 20 October 2009 (UTC)
 * I see similar requests have been standing for a long time.Eebahgum (talk) 00:04, 20 October 2009 (UTC)

Legends and anecdotes
Surely the story about Florence Austral, and Melba's complimenting of her, is not relevant to the point being made? I thought (perhaps wrongly) that both Austral and Stralia were connected with Melba's touring troupe, weren't they? So she would naturally be nice about them. A very notable follower of the fashion for taking a stage-name from a place is Marie Brema, who took hers from her father's birthplace, Bremen. Eebahgum (talk) 23:56, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

Possible new external link
Hi, I moderate Culture Victoria. We have the Dame Nellie Melba story in CV which includes images, video, and audio from collections of The Arts Centre, Melbourne. I've had a look at the guidelines for adding external links and thought that a link to CV would be relevant and appropriate. Please let me know what you think.--Eleworth (talk) 05:42, 10 December 2009 (UTC)
 * Hi, thanks for suggesting this. I've checked the link and added to the article. It's very useful. Voceditenore (talk) 07:44, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Tag trimming, etc.
I've trimmed the See also section. It was full of articles that were already linked in the article text. I've also reduced the tag overkill in this article. The one at the top is superfluous if almost every section has one, ditto the tag in the References sections. The remaining five tags on the sections plus the multiple tags in the text itself are more than enough. Voceditenore (talk) 07:44, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

150th birthday
Today is Melba's 150th birthday. If anyone has the time and inclination, it would be nice to take this article to the next step. In addition to the referencing issues, it has very little information about the roles she played and other accomplishments in her peak years. Best regards, -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:52, 19 May 2011 (UTC)

 * It's a mess, really. For example, it reads as if she was married at birth to Charles Armstrong.  The first and only mention of him is his being cuckolded - nothing about who he was, when and where they met, when and where they married, where they lived after marriage, when they divorced, his subsequent fate, etc etc.  He seems always to have been a part of her life, until they divorced.  I'm sure this info used to be there, but where it's gone now ......  I'll be giving it some attention soon.  --   Jack of Oz   [your turn]  06:03, 21 May 2011 (UTC)

User:Tim riley is currently working on the article off-line. Once he makes his version live, we can all review. Best regards! -- Ssilvers (talk) 23:47, 25 May 2011 (UTC)
 * Done. Pray review and amend ad lib. Tim riley (talk) 10:44, 27 May 2011 (UTC)

Audio
There are two files with voice of Nellie Melba. You can add it to the approriate place in the article. -- Andrew Krizhanovsky (talk) 16:48, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

 * That's splendid! Thank you so much for digging them out. Would it be imposing too much to ask if you would be so kind as to add them to the Melba article? I'd do it myself, but I've got in a tangle with sound files when I've tried in other articles. Sorry to be a nuisance. Tim riley (talk) 16:52, 19 February 2012 (UTC)

 * I've put them in. See if you like the position.  -- Ssilvers (talk) 16:41, 23 February 2012 (UTC)

Old masters discovered in 2008
I don’t see any mention of the masters recently (2008) discovered in Germany of the sessions she made in her London home in 1904. --  Jack of Oz   [Talk]  23:29, 2 April 2013 (UTC)

 * Jack, would you kindly add a brief mention of this to the article if appropriate? -- Ssilvers (talk) 22:51, 5 April 2013 (UTC)

Why was she called "Melba"?
Dumb question, where did the name "Melba" come from? She was born Helen "Nellie" Porter Mitchell, mother's maiden name Dow, she married Charles Nesbitt Frederick Armstrong, so where did "Melba" come from? TiffaF (talk) 21:02, 24 September 2014 (UTC)
 * No dumb questions, just dumb answers. Here's mine: she chose her pseudonym as a reference to her hometown Melbourne, Victoria, and as June Bronhill refers to Broken Hill, New South Wales. Doug butler (talk) 22:15, 24 September 2014 (UTC)
 * On closer inspection I find the sentence "It was at this time, on Marchesi's advice, that she adopted the stage name of "Melba", a contraction of the name of her home city." and a footnote mentioning Bronhill also. But I've made mention at the intro, where it doesn't look too bad, and a nice online reference. Let's see if the experts allow it to remain, Doug butler (talk) 22:47, 24 September 2014 (UTC)

 * Looks OK to me, but the cite should be in the body, not the lead. Fixed. -- Ssilvers (talk) 02:05, 25 September 2014 (UTC)

John Lemmone
It is a pity there is no reference to the virtuoso flute player John Amadio who accompanied her in many performances and later became her manager and friend. "He was her lifelong friend and counsellor, was with her to the last. According to Melba's biographer Thérèse Radic, it was widely presumed that the pair were also lovers, though neither ever admitted it."

Gderrin (talk) 08:50, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

 * Hmm, you citation refers to John Lemmone, not John Amadio. Anyway, be bold! Put it in. -- Michael Bednarek (talk) 09:11, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

 * I added something on Lemmone. -- Ssilvers (talk) 20:54, 19 January 2015 (UTC)

Thanks Michael - I meant "It is a pity there is no reference to the virtuoso flute player John Lemmone...."

Gderrin (talk) 22:08, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

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Madamoiselle Charbonnet-Kellerman
Pianist Alice Charbonnet-Kellermann Taught Young Nellie Mitchell/Melba piano during turbulent year 1882

--unsigned message from User:Tradimus.

 * That does not seem noteworthy with respect to Melba's article, since Melba was not a professional pianist, unless there was more to the relationship. But it could be mentioned in Charbonnet-Kellerman's article if it was important to her life or career. -- Ssilvers (talk) 17:23, 22 April 2022 (UTC)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Talk:Nellie Melba


text:
Alkoxy group

In chemistry, the alkoxy group is an alkyl group which is singularly bonded to oxygen; thus R\sO. Denoted usually with apostrophe('). The range of alkoxy groups is vast, the simplest being methoxy (CH3O\s). An ethoxy group (CH3CH2O\s) is found in the organic compound ethyl phenyl ether (C6H5OCH2CH3, also known as ethoxybenzene).

Related to alkoxy groups are aryloxy groups, which have an aryl group singularly bonded to oxygen such as the phenoxy group (C6H5O\s).

An alkoxy or aryloxy group bonded to an alkyl or aryl (R\sO\sR') is an ether. If bonded to H it is an alcohol.

An alkoxide can refer to salts of alcohols, and they are ionic compounds containing an alkoxide ions RO-; it is a derivative of an alcohol where the hydrogen of the –OH group is replaced by a metal, for example sodium salt of ethanol (CH3CH2OH) is sodium ethoxide, containing ethoxide anions CH3CH2O- and sodium cations Na+.

title: Alkoxy group


text:
Hustler (magazine)

Hustler is a monthly adult-targeted magazine published by Larry Flynt Publications (LFP) in the United States. Introduced in 1974, it was a step forward from the Hustler Newsletter, originally conceived by founder Larry Flynt as cheap advertising for his strip club businesses at the time. The magazine grew from an uncertain start to a peak circulation of around 3 million in the early 1980s; it has since dropped to approximately 500,000. Hustler was among the first major US-based magazines to feature graphic photos of female genitalia and simulated sex acts, in contrast with relatively modest publications such as Playboy. In the 1990s, Hustler, like several of its competitors, began featuring depictions of sexual penetration and oral sex.

Today, Hustler is still considered more explicit (and more self-consciously lowbrow) than such well-known competitors as Playboy and Penthouse. Hustler frequently depicts hardcore themes, such as the use of sex toys, penetration, oral sex and group sex.

Larry Flynt Publications also licenses the Hustler brand to the Hustler Casino in Gardena, California, which was owned directly by Flynt as an individual through his holding company El Dorado Enterprises. Other enterprises include licensing the Hustler name to the Hustler Club chain of bars and clubs and the Hustler Hollywood store chain that sells adult-oriented videos, clothing, magazines and sex toys. The chain's flagship store, formerly located on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, was torn down in 2016. Both licensed enterprises are operated by LFP's partner, Deja Vu.

Founding
The business first began in Cincinnati, where Larry Flynt and his brother, Jimmy Flynt, opened up a store in 1969. Jimmy wrote the check for $5,000 to pay for the club in Cincinnati, and he was listed on the masthead for volume 1, number 1 of the magazine in July 1974. However, Larry fired his brother in 2009, after which Jimmy began developing his own business, Jimmy Flynt's Sexy Gifts Stand. An old member of Hustler magazine has described the relationship, saying, "Larry is the show, and Jimmy makes it go".

Publisher
Hustler is officially published by LFP, Inc, which also produces pornographic films. The abbreviation "L.F.P." originally stood for "Larry Flynt Publications."

A Canadian version of Hustler is published by a Quebec-based firm. This magazine is not owned by Larry Flynt but is licensed to publish material from the American version. In general, Canadian Hustler imitates the appearance and tone of its American counterpart, with Canadian content added. In 1999, the magazine created a minor controversy in Canada by inviting readers to submit sexually explicit stories about Sheila Copps, a left-leaning member of the Liberal cabinet. There have also been Australian, British and South African versions of the magazine.

During a bookstore signing in July 2011, Flynt stated that less than five percent of his income comes from the print magazine; he also speculated that the print magazine would not be around in two to three years.

Regular features
One feature of Hustler is the "Asshole of the Month" column. In every monthly issue of the magazine, a public figure is selected for severe criticism as that month's "asshole". An illustration depicting the criticized person's head emerging from the anus of a cartoon donkey is shown alongside the article. After Flynt's imprisonment in 1977 and his alleged conversion to evangelical Christianity, he promised to reform "Asshole of the Month". However, as of 2024, reform in the feature has yet to be seen.

The centerfold pictorial is the "Hustler Honey". Occasionally the models are pornographic actresses appearing under a pseudonym; in the mid-80's, actresses and strippers appeared under their more familiar names. Hustler ran the comic strip feature "Honey Hooker" in the 1970s. With each installment, Honey would have graphic sexual encounters with any male (or female) she ran across. She might be in American colonial times one month and in a Super Bowl locker room the next. This feature was designed to compete against Little Annie Fanny in Playboy and Wicked Wanda in Penthouse. Unlike Fanny and Wanda, Honey Hooker was explicitly portrayed as being a prostitute, keeping with the seamier and less romantic aspects of sexuality in Hustler.

The Beaver Hunt section of the magazine contains explicit nudes of amateur models submitted by readers.

Another Hustler feature that was heavily criticized was the "Chester the Molester" cartoon. Each month's issue depicted Chester, a cartoon middle-aged pedophile, joyfully raping or molesting young girls. After increasing criticism, the cartoon became "Chester and Hester", featuring Hester, an unattractive middle-aged woman who was either Chester's wife or girlfriend. Following Flynt's alleged religious conversion, he introduced "Chester the Protector", a reincarnation of the molester character who served as a hero to protect young girls from rape and seduction.

The regular feature "Ads We'd Like to See" recreates advertisements of everyday products in a sexualized or violent way. For example, an advertisement in the 1980 issue called 'Doer's Lite Label', a parody of Dewar's Lite Label Whiskey, featured Kenneth Bianchi, the Hillside Strangler. Listed as his greatest accomplishment was Cindy Lee Hudspeth, whom he actually raped and murdered in 1978. He is quoted as saying "You gotta treat 'em rough…". This section was highly criticized for admiring men who had committed sexualized crimes against women.

In addition to its regular features, Hustler occasionally published special features and issues. Examples include the "All Meat" issue from 1978, in which the cover spread depicted a naked woman being fed into a meat grinder upside down. In 1977, the magazine's front page read "First-Time Ever Scratch 'N' Sniff Centerfold".

Controversy and criticism
In 1984, conservative academic Judith Reisman received a grant from the Department of Justice to complete a study at American University concerning the cartoons of Playboy, Penthouse, and Hustler, specifically the sexual depictions of minors in these cartoons. She finished the study in 1986 and found that, on average, the number of times per issue that Hustler referred to children, crime, and violence was 46.

Reisman published a nearly 1,600-page report of her findings condemning the sexual depictions of children in pornographic magazines, but her work was met with criticism from her peers. An American University professor, Myra Sadker, said that she was "very dismayed about the quality of office management and the nature of the research that was going on." Many fellow academics have disputed the neutrality of the research. Avedon Carol, a sex crime researcher and author, said that Reisman's study was a "scientific disaster, riddled with researcher bias."

Hustler 's chief cartoon artist Dwaine Tinsley was arrested on May 18, 1989, after being accused by his 18-year-old daughter Allison of molesting her since she was thirteen years old. According to court records, he allegedly told his coworkers, "You can't write about this stuff all the time if you don't experience it." Tinsley was found guilty of five counts of child molestation and sentenced to six years in prison although he only spent 23 months behind bars. Tinsley was the artist behind the magazine's regular "Chester the Molester" series, which was printed in the magazine from 1976 to 1989.

In a 2012 issue of Hustler, S.E. Cupp, a conservative commentator, was photoshopped and depicted as explicitly performing oral sex. The article describes Cupp as a "lovely young lady who read too much Ayn Rand in high school and ended up joining the dark side... But her hotness is diminished when she espouses dumb ideas like defunding Planned Parenthood." Despite having a disclaimer that the photo was not real, the photograph horrified Cupp, knowing that "this photo will be out there forever." Flynt's response was that the photoshopped image was meant to be satirical: "I'm able to publish this because of the Supreme Court case I won in 1984, Flynt V. Falwell." Cupp did not pursue either Flynt or the magazine because of "free speech". Cupp ultimately chose to "express a little gratitude for Hustler," saying: "I’m completely serious here—there is an accompanying sidebar to this story, in which they lay out why they did this to me. It’s under a hundred words, and in that paragraph they say, ‘S.E. Cupp, she’s lovely, she’s smart, she’s fine, but she happens to be a crazy conservative who is pro-life and wants to defund Planned Parenthood. And for that, she deserves a phallus in her mouth.’ That is essentially what they're saying, and I have to commend that as being incredibly honest.”

Lawsuits and litigation
The magazine has had many lawsuits since the 1980s, including claims of defamation and enforcement of sexual violence and behavior. However, there have not been any lawsuits against the magazine or incorporation as of 2016.

In Douglass v. Hustler Magazine Inc. 769 F.2d 1128 (1985), actress Robyn Douglass sued Hustler for defamation and unlawfully placing her under a false light. Douglass posed nude for freelance photographer Augustin Gregory, believing that her photos would appear in an issue of Playboy Magazine. However, Gregory was hired to Hustler and Douglass's photos were published in the 1981 January issue without Douglass's consent. She brought the case to the United States District Court from the North District of Illinois on the basis that the magazine had defamed her name and likeness. The court cases ended in favoring Douglass since the magazine had violated her right of publicity, awarding her $600,000.

In Keeton v. Hustler Magazine, Inc., 465 U.S. 770 (1984) United States supreme court case, Kathy Keeton, vice chairman of Penthouse, sued Hustler for defamation. Keeton brought the case to New Hampshire due its generous six-year statute of limitations for libel and the state believed it was able to support taking jurisdiction due to the magazine's content. The magazine sold up to 15,000 issues since 1975, containing a cartoon where Keeton had received a venereal disease from Robert Guccione, a publisher of Penthouse. Keeton was awarded $2 million for the defamation damages.

At some point between 1974 and 1983, Hustler began mailing the latest issue of the magazine, uninvited and for free, to all of the offices of Members of the United States Congress. Attempts to block the monthly mailings proved unsuccessful after a court ruled in Hustler 's favor in United States Postal Service v. Hustler Magazine, Inc. (1986), contending that the publishers had the right to mail the magazine, as the defendants did not “threaten the unique privacy interests that attach in the home.” The practice continues as of April 2014.

Hustler Magazine, Inc. v. Falwell, 485 U.S. 46 (1988), is a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the First and Fourteenth Amendments prohibit public figures from recovering damages for the tort of intentional infliction of emotional distress (IIED), if the emotional distress was caused by a caricature, parody, or satire of the public figure that a reasonable person would not have interpreted as factual.

In Herceg v. Hustler 484 U.S. 811 (1989), a family attempted to sue Hustler for the suicide of their fourteen-year-old boy on the basis that its illustrations stimulated violence. Within the magazine's contents was the article "Orgasm of Death", demonstrating practices of erotic asphyxia via photographs in order to heighten sexual pleasure in men. However, Hustler placed disclaimers on the photographs of "Do Not Attempt" to prevent the audience from mimicking the photos. The court case ended in favoring the magazine; the court agreed that the depictions were not forcing readers to perform these erotic or dangerous activities.

Related magazines
LFP, Inc. publishes several other magazines that use the Hustler brand:

 * Hustler's Taboo, specializing in fetishistic material, such as the depiction of sexual bondage and urolagnia
 * Barely Legal, a primarily softcore magazine focusing on models between 18 and 23
 * Asian Fever, focusing on Asian models
 * Hustler XXX, a more generic hardcore offering
 * Chic, an upscale gentleman's magazine featuring nude layouts with lifestyle articles

Websites
In 1995, the company launched Hustler.com. Larry Flynt Productions operates Hustler.com and a number of related sites wherein it sells pictures and videos with content similar to that in its magazines. The site was targeted by Anonymous in Operation Payback in October 2010.

Erotic Movie Awards
During the Golden Age of Porn, and prior to getting into the movie business themselves, Hustler was one of two magazines that announced awards for adult sex films, the other being Adam Film World. They were discontinued in the late 1980s.

The awards were based on fan ballots printed in the publication. In announcing its third annual awards, the magazine said, "Hustler's erotic-movie awards are intended to reward excellence in the erotic-film industry and thereby encourage the fast-buck makers of mediocrity to clean up their act or go out of business."

 * 1979 (3rd annual) recipients: Best Film – Sex World, Best Actress – Sharon Thorpe in Sex World, Best Actor – John Leslie in Sensual Encounters of Every Kind, Best Director – Anthony Spinelli for Sex World, Best Sex Scene – Harry Reems and Maria Lynn in Butterflies, Most Accomplished Fellatio Artist – Carol Connors in The Erotic Adventures of Candy, Most Accomplished Cunnilinguist – John Leslie in The Other Side of Julie
 * 1983 (7th annual) recipients: Best Film – The Dancers, Best Actress – Annette Haven in Peaches and Cream, Best Actor – John Leslie in Nothing To Hide, Best Director – Anthony Spinelli for The Dancers, Best Sex Scene – Jamie Gillis and Veronica Hart in Wanda Whips Wall Street, Most Accomplished Fellatio Artist – Annie Sprinkle in Deep Inside Annie Sprinkle, Most Accomplished Cunnilinguist – Annette Haven in Peaches and Cream
 * 1986 (10th annual) recipients: Best Film – New Wave Hookers, Best Actress – Colleen Brennan in Trinity Brown, Best Actor – Jerry Butler in Snake Eyes, Best Director – Gregory Dark for New Wave Hookers, Best Sex Scene – Traci Lords and Tom Byron in Sister Dearest, Most Accomplished Fellatio Artist – Ginger Lynn in Bedtime Tales, Most Accomplished Cunnilinguist – Danielle in Hostage Girls, Most Disappointing Film – Debbie Does Dallas III

title: Hustler (magazine)


text:
Missus dominicus

A missus dominicus (plural missi dominici), Latin for "envoy[s] of the lord [ruler]" or palace inspector, also known in Dutch as Zendgraaf (German: Sendgraf), meaning "sent Graf", was an official commissioned by the Frankish king or Holy Roman Emperor to supervise the administration, mainly of justice, in parts of his dominions too remote for frequent personal visits. As such, the missus performed important intermediary functions between royal and local administrations. There are superficial points of comparison with the original Roman corrector, except that the missus was sent out on a regular basis. Four points made the missi effective as instruments of the centralized monarchy: the personal character of the missus, yearly change, isolation from local interests and the free choice of the king.

Reign of Charlemagne
Based on Merovingian ad hoc arrangements, using the form missus regis (the "king's envoy") and sending a layman and an ecclesiastic in pairs, the use of missi dominici was fully exploited by Charlemagne (ruling 768—814), who made them a regular part of his administration, "a highly intelligent and plausible innovation in Carolingian government", Norman F. Cantor observes, "and a tribute to the administrative skill of the ecclesiastics, such as Alcuin and Einhard". The missi were at first chosen from Charlemagne's personal, most trusted entourage, of whatever social degree. Soon they were selected only from the secular and ecclesiastical nobility: the entry for 802 in the so-called Lorsch Annals (794–803) states that instead of relying on "poorer vassals", Charlemagne "chose from the kingdom archbishops and bishops and abbots, with dukes and counts, who now had no need to receive gifts from the innocent, and sent them throughout his kingdom, so that they might administer justice to the churches, to widows, orphans and the poor, and to all the people." Presumably the same year the capitulary usually known as the Capitulare missorum generale was issued, which gives a detailed account of their duties and responsibilities. They were to execute justice, to ensure respect for the king, to control the government of the military dukes and administrative counts (then still royal officials), to receive their oath of allegiance, to let the king's will be known, at times by distributing capitularies around the empire, and to supervise the clergy of their assigned region. In short, they were the direct representatives of the king or Holy Roman Emperor. The inhabitants of the district they administered had to provide for their subsistence, and at times they led the host to battle. The missi were protected by a triple wergeld and resistance to them was punishable by death. In addition special instructions were given to various missi, and many of these have been preserved.

As missi became a conventional part of court machinery, missus ad hoc came to signify missi sent out for some particular purpose. The districts placed under the ordinary missi, which it was their duty to visit for a month at a time, four times a year, were called missatici or legationes (a term illustrating the analogy with a papal legate); the missatica (singular missaticum) avoided division along the lines of the existing dioceses or provinces. The missi were not permanent officials, but were generally selected from the ranks of officials at the court, and during the reign of Charlemagne high-standing personages undertook this work. They were sent out collegially, usually in twos, an ecclesiastic and a layman, and were generally complete strangers to the district which they administered, to deter them from putting out local roots and acting on their own initiative, as the counts were doing. In addition extraordinary missi represented the emperor on special occasions, and at times beyond the limits of his dominions. Even under the strong rule of Charlemagne it was difficult to find men to discharge these duties impartially, and after his death in 814 it became almost impossible.

Reigns of Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald
Under Charlemagne's surviving legitimate son, Louis the Pious (ruling 813–840),the process of disintegration was hastened. Once the king associated the choice of missi with the assembly of nobles, the nobles interfered in the appointment of the missi. The missi were later selected from the district in which their duties lay, which led to their association with local hereditary filiations and in general a focus upon their own interests rather than that of the king. The 825 list of missi reveals that the circuits of the missatica now corresponded with provinces, strengthening local powers. The duties of missi, who gradually increased in number, became merged in the ordinary work of the bishops and counts, and under the emperor Charles the Bald (ruling 843–877), who was repeatedly pressured by bishops to send out missi, they took control of associations for the preservation of the peace. Louis the German (ruling 843–876) is not known to have sent out missi. About the end of the ninth century, with the implosion of Carolingian power, the missi disappeared from France and during the 10th century from Italy.

The missi were the last attempt to preserve centralised control in the Holy Roman Empire. In the course of the ninth century, the forces which were making for feudalism tended to produce inherited fiefdoms as the only way to ensure stability, especially in the face of renewed external aggression in the form of Viking attacks, to which the impaired central power was demonstrated to be impotent.

Sources and external links

 * Capitulare missorum generale ("General Capitulary of the Missi"), Spring 802, ed. G. Pertz, MGH Cap. 1, no. 33; ed. Boretius, no. 60, p. 147; tr. H.R. Loyn and J. Percival, The Reign of Charlemagne. London, 1975. pp. 73–9; tr. D.C. Munro, "General Capitulary of the Missi (802) [no. 5]". In Translations and Reprints from the Original Sources of European history. Vol. 6. Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1900. pp. 16–8. Available online
 * Capitularia missorum speciale, ed. G. Pertz, MGH Cap. 1, no. 34; tr. H.R. Loyn and J. Percival, The Reign of Charlemagne. London, 1975. pp. 79–82.
 * Lorsch Annals, ed. G. Pertz, MGH Scriptores 1. entry for 802, pp. 38–9.
 * Catholic Encyclopaedia (passim)

title: Missus dominicus


text:
University of Salford

The University of Salford is a public research university in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, 1 mi west of Manchester city centre. The Royal Technical Institute, Salford, which opened in 1896, became a College of Advanced Technology in 1956 and gained university status in 1967, following the Robbins Report into higher education.

It has students and is in 160 acre of parkland on the banks of the River Irwell.

Origins of the Royal Technical Institute

The university's origins can be traced to the opening in 1896 of the Royal Technical Institute, Salford, a merger of Salford Working Men's College (founded in 1858) and Pendleton Mechanics' Institute (founded in 1850). The Royal Technical Institute received royal letters after the then-Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary) officiated at its opening ceremony, an event commemorated in the university's Redbrick Peel Building and which allowed 'Royal' to be appended to the name of the institute.

At the start of the 20th century, mechanical engineering, chemical works, textiles and construction dominated the industrial scene in Salford. This heavily influenced the choice of subjects offered in the nine departments initially opened. These were Engineering, Electrical Engineering & Applied Physics, Mathematics, Chemistry, Building, Dyeing, Spinning & Weaving, Domestic, and Art. Some 1,240 students registered for the first session in these departments. There were originally 19 members of staff.

In 1921 the institute was renamed the Royal Technical College, Salford. In 1958 the institution split into two organisations: the remaining Royal Technical College and a breakaway institution, Peel Park Technical College. This changed its name first in 1961 to Salford Technical College, before becoming the Salford College of Technology in 1970, and finally University College Salford in 1992.

Royal College of Advanced Technology
The Royal Technical College became a CAT in 1956, and became known as the Royal College of Advanced Technology. In 1963, the government completed an inquiry into the state of higher education in the United Kingdom and produced the Robbins Report, which paved the way for the Royal College of Advanced Technology (and other Colleges of Advanced Technology) to assume university status by Royal Charter.

University status
The Royal College of Advanced Technology became the University of Salford on 10 February 1967, when Queen Elizabeth II handed over the institution's Royal Charter. A multistorey chemistry tower was built in the 1960s between the Peel Building and the Salford Library, Museum and Art Gallery, but it was pulled down in the 1980s due to the damage it was causing to the foundations of these nearby buildings. The first Vice-Chancellor was Clifford Whitworth, after whom the university's main library is named. The first Chancellor was Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who remained the university's chancellor until 1991. Prince Philip took a keen interest in the university and he visited the university's award-winning acoustics laboratories in 2008. The breakaway University College Salford merged with the University of Salford in 1996, to form a single institution.

In 2012, the University of Salford announced a partnership with the UK's biggest arms company, (BAE Systems), and four other universities in northwestern England (Liverpool, Manchester, UCLAN and Lancaster) in order to work on the Gamma Programme, which aims to develop "autonomous systems". On 5 September 2016, Salford was represented for the third time on University Challenge and faced the Open University. The all male team, who sported the poet John Cooper Clarke as a mascot lost 210 to 115 points.

Campus and facilities

The main Peel Park campus is less than 1.5 mi from Manchester city centre on the banks of the River Irwell, adjacent to Peel Park, possibly the first public park in the world, which opened on 22 August 1846. A former president of the Students' Union described Salford in 2007 as "a relaxed campus close to Manchester, but cheaper and greener." Salford Crescent railway station is adjacent to the campus, and high frequency bus services operate to Manchester, Salford and Bolton and Liverpool. There are other university facilities within a mile of the main campus, namely the Frederick Road and Adelphi campuses. Most of the university administration buildings are along Salford Crescent, opposite the Peel Campus. The Salford Museum and Art Gallery, said to be the first unconditionally free public library in England, is located on the Peel Park Campus.

MediaCityUK
In October 2010 the university opened a learning, teaching and research space at MediaCityUK. They will study in 39 undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

Major investment projects
The university embarked on a £150 million programme of investment in 2004, to deliver new buildings and carry out major refurbishment projects. These included:
 * £22m Mary Seacole Building, opened in 2006, the purpose-built five-storey facility for the College of Health and Social Care.
 * £10m Lady Hale Building for the Salford Law School which opened in February 2008. The whole building acts as its own night storage heating and cooling system thanks to a "Termodeck" system.
 * £10m Innovation Forum Building
 * Joule Physics Laboratory provides a suite of new, purpose-built physics teaching laboratories and is named after James Prescott Joule, whose former home is situated opposite the Peel Building.
 * Opened in October 2011 - A new building for the university's College of Arts, Media & Social Sciences designed by 3XN Architects on the MediaCityUK site in Salford Quays - which will be home to five BBC departments.

In summer 2013 construction work started on the £55 million New Adelphi building. The building opened in September 2016 and houses music, performance, art, design and architecture students. Facilities include a 350 capacity theatre with flexible seating to suit a range of events, 140sqm studio theatre, 2 large TV acting studios, 36 dedicated rehearsal rooms, 6 industry-standard recording studios, 12 amplified performance spaces (music ensemble rooms), 2 dance studios, 3 floors of dedicated wood, metal, textiles, print and plastics workshops, 7 photographic studios, 14 instrumental tuition rooms, a double-height 100 sq m band-room/live room and a suite of flexible performance and studio spaces. It also features a small gallery space.

An extension to the existing Newton Building, which houses the School of Computing, Science and Engineering, was awarded planning permission in May 2016. The £16 million project, known as the Engineering Showcase, was due to feature exhibition space to display engineering solutions, research/demonstration spaces, open-plan collaborative learning spaces, informal and formal presentation spaces, a café and 'maker-space'. Plans for the extension were put on hold in favour of a wider campus redesign, with the possibility of a brand new building to house teaching and laboratory facilities for a range of disciplines in Science, Engineering and Environment. An autonomous vehicle research centre was built in place of the proposed extension.

In July 2020 work started on a £65 million new engineering building to replace the aging Newton building, as of the time of writing, the new building is still being completed with work to move the equipment to the new building being carried out over the summer of 2022 with an anticipated opening date in September/October 2022.

Library
The Library was opened in 1971 by Prince Philip, the then chancellor of the university. It was renamed the Clifford Whitworth Library in 1984 following the death of the university's first vice-chancellor, Clifford Whitworth. A two-storey extension was added to the left of the building in the 1990s and was further extended in the 2000s into the top floor of Lady Hale Building via a link bridge. Between 2016 and 2018 the Clifford Whitworth Library went under a major £6.2 million refurbishment.

Facilities
Peel Hall has seating for nearly 400 people, hosts many musical performances and is the main venue for the midday recitals. The hall is housed in the Peel Building, a red brick and terracotta Victorian building on the Peel Park Campus.

The university's Robert Powell Theatre, named after the Salford-born actor, mostly stages live performances of modern works and participatory work for younger audiences.

At the heart of the Peel Park Campus, the Chapman Gallery hosts a wide range of modern and contemporary art exhibitions that showcase the work of up and coming artists, university staff, students and the community of Salford.

The Tom Husband Leisure Centre is on the Peel Park Campus and adjacent to the Students' Union. It contains a gym, 25m swimming pool, sauna and spa, squash courts, climbing wall, and a multi-use sports hall.

The Adelphi Studio Theatre is a small theatre venue based in the School of Music, Media and Performance's Adelphi Building.

Chancellors

 * Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1967–1991)
 * Sarah, Duchess of York (1992–1995)
 * Sir Walter Bodmer (1995–2006)
 * Sir Martin Harris (2007–2009)
 * Irene Zubaida Khan (2009–2014)
 * Jackie Kay (2014–2021)
 * Lucy Meacock (2022-Current)

Vice-Chancellors

 * Clifford Whitworth (1967–74)
 * John Harold Horlock (1974–81)
 * Sir John Michael Ashworth (1981–89)
 * Thomas Mutrie Husband (1990–97)
 * Michael Harloe (1997–2009)
 * Martin Hall (2009–14)
 * Helen Marshall (2015–2023)
 * Nic Beech (2023-Current)

Research and development centres
The United National Institute for Prosthetics and Orthotics Development is located in the university's Prosthetics and Orthotics division of its School of Health, Sport and Rehabilitation Sciences. It is the only prosthetics and orthotics higher education provider in England.

The KidsCan Children's Cancer Research Centre is in the university's John Armstrong Welsh Laboratories at the Centre for Biochemistry, Drug Design and Cancer Research. It was established in 2002 to develop treatments with fewer side effects for children and young adults.

Academic profile
The university was organised into seven schools:
 * School of Arts and Media
 * Salford Business School
 * School of Health Sciences
 * School of Health and Society
 * NB — The university's Schools of Health Sciences and Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Sciences have strong links with teaching NHS hospitals in the north-west of England and maintain a presence at the Salford Royal Hospital.
 * School of Computing, Science and Engineering
 * School of Environment and Life Sciences
 * School of the Built Environment

After a series of mergers, in 2018 and 2019, the university is now organised into four schools:

 * School of Arts, Media and Creative Technology
 * School of Science, Engineering and Environment
 * School of Health and Society
 * Salford Business School

International students come from China, India, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Cyprus, Greece, Nigeria, the Republic of Ireland, Romania, Malaysia and Bulgaria. Previously, with its three colleges, 12 schools, nearly 20,000 students, and over 2,500 staff, Salford had a turnover of some £156m in 2006/07. A report from social and economic impact report published in 2019, sets the turnover to £180.5m in 2019,

The university is a founding member of the Northern Consortium of universities.

In October 2008 it was announced that compulsory redundancies were likely at the university, as part of a plan to save £12.5 million over three years. A notice by the university registrar said that Salford needed to invest £300 million in university estate and £40 million in moving the arts and media faculty to the "MediaCityUK" site at Salford Quays, where the BBC is to establish its northern headquarters. The notice went on to say that these additional costs came in the context of a number of pressures: salary bills that had "exceeded the university's expectations"; a "serious problem" with student retention; the "credit crunch"; and three "seriously underperforming" schools. Affected schools include the School of Nursing, Salford Business School and the School of Community Health Sciences and Social Care.

Teaching quality and rankings
In the 2018 Guardian University League Tables, the University of Salford placed 99th, down from 83rd in 2017. The Times newspaper ranked Salford 105th out of 123 UK institutions in 2015, from 84th of 114 in 2010. Salford Business School profiled in top 32 business schools of UK.

Student life
University House on the Peel Park Campus is home to the University of Salford Students' Union (USSU). As well as representing students, the union plays host to a number of services, including shops and a bar.

The Two Cities Boat Race is an annual boat race that has been running since 1972. It is now an established event in the sporting and social calendar of Salford and Manchester. The event is also significant for the amount of work put in by volunteers from both universities, to help with event set-up, stewarding, and programme selling, raising money for many different charities. In 2007 the recipient of the proceeds was SPARKS, a charity that supports medical research for children.

In 1971–72, the University Rugby League club won the UAU Championship, beating Sheffield University in the final at The Willows, then home of Salford Rugby League Club.

Accommodation
There are five self-catered halls of residence:

 * Peel Park Quarter
 * Eddie Colman and John Lester Courts
 * Bramall Court
 * iQ Salford, Seaford Road
 * Sanctuary Students - Tramways, Seaford Road

Peel Park Quarter encompasses nine buildings of flats owned by Campus Living Villages, comprising a total of 1,367 rooms. There are six variations of rooms, including wheelchair accessible en-suite rooms. This complex opened for students in summer 2015.

Eddie Colman and John Lester Courts are two blocks of flats containing 755 rooms in total, and each flat is shared between two, three or four people. The flats are the closest accommodation to Salford Shopping City in Pendleton – colloquially referred to as the Precinct. Eddie Colman and John Lester Courts were sold by the University of Salford to Campus Living Villages in December 2008. These became CLV's first British properties. Eddie Colman was a resident of nearby Archie Street, the model for the television series Coronation Street, and was a player for Manchester United. He was killed in the Munich Disaster of 6 February 1958 along with seven other players.

Constantine Court was the only en suite university-owned accommodation, which consisted of 80 rooms in seven houses. This accommodation was in the centre of the main university campus, close to the Students' Union shop, a bank and Salford Crescent railway station. Adjacent Horlock Court comprised 168 rooms in 14 houses.

Bramall Court contains flats close to the Adelphi Campus. The flats are shared between two, three or four. Bramall Court is now owned by Campus Living Villages.

Castle Irwell Student Village was the largest area of accommodation, housing up to 1,600 students, and is on the site of the old Manchester Racecourse. Castle Irwell was a popular choice for first years, due to the cheap rent, however Castle Irwell is no longer in use and has been superseded by the on-campus Peel Park Quarter. In 2016 the main building on the Castle Irwell site, known as 'the pav', was burned down in an arson attack. Shortly after, demolition of the burnt and other derelict buildings on site commenced and completely cleared by early 2017.

iQ Salford, Seaford Road is owned and run by iQ Student Accommodation. This accommodation site consists of a square of houses around a central reception, lounge, and laundry building, with an independent gym. Each house contains six flats, which are typically shared by six people with en suite bathrooms. The site also has deluxe rooms available for an extra cost. This accommodation is very close to Castle Irwell. The site includes purpose-built SPAR, Subway and Greggs shops.

Tramways, Seaford Road is independently run by Sanctuary Students. Its name originates from the old tram depot, run by Manchester Corporation Tramways, that was located on the same site.

Sports
The university currently has 35 sports clubs ranging from football to ultimate (originally known as ultimate Frisbee). Each year, Salford and Chester University take part in a varsity challenge. This began in 2016 at Chester's campus. In 2016, 19 sports were involved and Chester won 12-7 overall. The following year took place at Salford, and with an overall score of 12–8, Salford took the trophy.

Student body
At Salford there is still a difference in the degrees obtained by White students and those obtained by BAME students. The reported gap for 2017/2018 for first and 2.1 class degree level is 15% between white and BAME students as published in a university report. The students' union believe that the Black attainment gap is a result of institutional and systemic failures within the institution, including a lack of diversity within teaching, inadequate support services and covert racism and microagressions towards BME students. The university intend to respond by creating an 'inclusive environment'. To date this has involved surveying students and signing up to the Race Equality Charter. This is crucial, as The university has 10% more BAME students than the national average at both undergraduate and postgraduate level. As of 9 August 2018, BAME staff representation (13%) does not match the BAME student population representation. Whilst there have been a 2% increase in BAME lecturers being hired, there is an 8% decrease in promotion to senior lecturer level and a 3% increase at Professorial level. The university report states that '...it is important that we consider the pipeline for BAME academics to address this decrease.'. In October 2019, the university hosted a two-week festival on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion, with the theme, 'belonging at Salford'. As part of this, a one-day symposium featured keynote speaker, Nicola Rollock, a leading figures with a vision for equality, diversity and inclusion. There were presentations on the BAME Attainment Gap, a panel discussion of BAME women in HE, and networking opportunities for academics and students.

Representation of female staff is 51% compared to 56% undergraduate students. The number of staff who are LGBT is 4% and is equivalent to the number of students who report as being LGBT, however it is worth noting that 49% of students didn't report their sexuality. There is an underrepresentation of disabled staff (4%) compared to undergraduate students (21%).

title: University of Salford