Ella Louise Halman (July 18, 1906 – March 20, 1995) was an English opera singer and actress, best known for her performances in the

contralto A contralto () is a type of classical female singing voice whose vocal range is the lowest female voice type. The contralto's vocal range is fairly rare; similar to the mezzo-soprano, and almost identical to that of a countertenor, typically b ...

roles of the

Savoy Operas Savoy opera was a style of comic opera that developed in Victorian England in the late 19th century, with W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan as the original and most successful practitioners. The name is derived from the Savoy Theatre, which impr ...

with the

D'Oyly Carte Opera Company The D'Oyly Carte Opera Company is a professional British light opera company that, from the 1870s until 1982, staged Gilbert and Sullivan's Savoy operas nearly year-round in the UK and sometimes toured in Europe, North America and elsewhere. Th ...

. She married another D'Oyly Carte performer, L. Radley Flynn, in 1940. Halman began her professional singing career on tour with the Carl Rosa Opera Company. After further experience in concert work and teaching, she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorister in 1937. She soon was playing the role of Inez in '' The Gondoliers'' and understudying the larger contralto roles. From 1939 to 1951, she was the company's principal contralto. She and her husband then toured in

Gilbert and Sullivan Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...

productions in America. They retired to Penrith, Cumbria, England, where they became involved with amateur operatic societies. She recorded eight of her roles with D'Oyly Carte.

Life and career

Halman was born in

Ealing Ealing () is a district in West London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. Ealing is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Ealing was histor ...

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...

. At age eighteen, Halman won the

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

County Scholarship in singing, then studied for several years at the

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

School of Music. After touring for three years with the Carl Rosa Opera Company, she completed her studies in London. After some experience in concert work and teaching, she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company as a chorister in 1937. Soon she assumed the role of Inez in '' The Gondoliers'' and, as understudy, began occasionally to play Katisha in ''

The Mikado ''The Mikado; or, The Town of Titipu'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, their ninth of fourteen Gilbert and Sullivan, operatic collaborations. It opened on 14 March 1885, in London, whe ...

'' and the Duchess of Plaza-Toro in ''The Gondoliers''. By 1939, she was also filling in as Ruth in '' The Pirates of Penzance'' and the Queen of the Fairies in ''

Iolanthe ''Iolanthe; or, The Peer and the Peri'' () is a comic opera with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert, first performed in 1882. It is one of the Savoy operas and is the seventh of fourteen operatic collaborations by Gilbert ...

''. On Christmas Day in 1939, Halman became the D'Oyly Carte principal contralto. For the next eleven years, she played Ruth in ''Pirates'', Lady Jane in '' Patience'', Queen of the Fairies in ''Iolanthe'', Katisha in ''The Mikado'', Dame Carruthers in ''

The Yeomen of the Guard ''The Yeomen of the Guard; or, The Merryman and His Maid'', is a Savoy Opera, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It premiered at the Savoy Theatre on 3 October 1888 and ran for 423 performances. This was the eleventh ...

'', the Duchess of Plaza Toro in ''The Gondoliers'', Dame Hannah in ''

Ruddigore ''Ruddigore; or, The Witch's Curse'', originally called ''Ruddygore'', is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It is one of the Savoy Operas and the tenth of fourteen comic operas written tog ...

'', and Little Buttercup in ''

H.M.S. Pinafore ''H.M.S. Pinafore; or, The Lass That Loved a Sailor'' is a comic opera in two acts, with music by Arthur Sullivan and a libretto by W. S. Gilbert. It opened at the Opera Comique in London, on 25 May 1878 and ran for 571 performances, which ...

''. Halman and Flynn left the D'Oyly Carte organisation in 1951 and moved to America, where they toured, along with Martyn Green, in a series of

productions presented by S. M. Chartock. Halman's roles on the 1952 tour included Buttercup, Ruth, the Queen of the Fairies, and Katisha. The Flynns then returned to England, where they settled in Penrith, Cumbria in retirement but were involved with amateur operatic societies, principally the Penrith Savoyards from 1959. In 1975, during the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company's centennial season, Halman was invited to participate in the final performance of ''Trial by Jury'', in which the regular D'Oyly Carte chorus was augmented by fourteen former stars of the company.''The Savoyard'', Vol. 14, No. 2, September 1975 Halman recorded a series of interviews, regarding recollections of her life and career, in the early 1990s with BBC Radio Cumbria. She died in Penrith at the age of 88.

Recordings

Her recordings with D'Oyly Carte, all between 1949 and 1951 when the company was taking advantage of the new LP technology, included Ruth in ''Pirates'', Lady Jane in ''Patience'', Queen of the Fairies in ''Iolanthe'', Katisha in ''The Mikado'', Dame Carruthers in ''Yeomen'', the Duchess of Plaza Toro in ''The Gondoliers'', Dame Hannah in ''Ruddigore'', and Little Buttercup in ''Pinafore''. She also sang Katisha in a 1951 BBC radio broadcast.

References

Sources

* Introduction by Martyn Green.

External links

Ella Halman
at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte

{{DEFAULTSORT:Halman, Ella People from Ealing 1906 births 1995 deaths 20th-century British women opera singers Singers from London