Emma Albani: Victorian Diva

Neal Johnson was Associate Professor of Languages and Literatures at the University of Guelph, Ontario.

This is the story of the remarkable career of Emma Lajeunesse who, born in Chambly, Quebec, in 1847, became the great Madame Albani, Canada’s first international opera star. The soprano, once a favorite of royalty, much admired by Queen Victoria, acclaimed on five continents, sought by Brahms, Gounod, Dvorak and Sir Arthur Sullivan to sing their works, is all but forgotten today, despite the release of a commemorative stamp by Canada Post in 1980 on the 50th anniversary of her death. Cheryl MacDonald’s readable biography is welcome.

The presentation is impressive. The Dundurn Press is to be complimented on an attractive and carefully prepared format: quality printing, a good choice of illustrations, and useful appendices including a bibliography, index, and list of works performed.

The author’s narrative is based on a serious study of available sources. These are not always as complete as one could hope for, and the author is often reduced to speculation, using phrases such as “Emma must have been incredibly tense...”. Quite rightly Ms. MacDonald seeks to set the context of Emma’s career. These efforts are welcome but only partly successful, since it is not really possible in a few lines to give the reader a clear idea of what it was like to grow up in Chambly in 1850, or to arrive young, alone, and poor in Paris in the last years of the Second Empire.

There is a complete absence of technical terms; hymns and operatic arias are both referred to as “songs.” The book is therefore accessible to all potential readers. Personally I would have liked (while still avoiding over-technicality) a better idea of what Emma actually sounded like. Of course we may never know, but there are a few records (made when the voice was well past its prime, to be sure), and I would have liked the author’s analysis of what can be heard. Vague terms such as “an excellent voice,” “a wonderful singer,” and “as always, Emma managed wonderfully” are not very enlightening. In fact, the author demonstrates a lack of excitement about the music sung that is similar to what she describes as “apathy” on Emma’s part. Her roles were after all very different, involving very different vocal challenges. What was her voice type? Her vocal range? Did she have a trill? How did she sing the mad scene from Lucia? What was the size of her voice? And we should be told what had been so special about her teacher Duprez’s high C.

The book is non-controversial, as Emma herself appears to have been (at least compared to her more flamboyant rival prima donna, Adelina Patti). Some biographers would have asked more probing questions about Emma’s husband’s rather dubious role in managing her career, and particularly the family finances.

These are minor quibbles, however. The book is admirably suited to the public for which it is intended. The story is a good one, should be of interest to a wide range of Canadian readers, and has been effectively told.