Gertrude Johnson
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Gertrude Emily Johnson (13 September 1894 – 28 March 1973) was an Australian
coloratura Coloratura ( , , ; , from ''colorata'', the past participle of the verb ''colorare'', 'to color') is a passage of music holding elaboration to a melody. The elaboration usually takes the form of runs, trills, wide leaps or other virtuoso ma ...
soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...
and founder of the National Theatre Movement in
Melbourne Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung language, Boonwurrung/ or ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city of the States and territories of Australia, Australian state of Victori ...
.


Early life

Johnson was born in 1894 at
Prahran Prahran ( , also colloquially or ), is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km south-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Stonnington local government area. Prahran recorded a population ...
, Melbourne. She was the second child of George and Emily Johnson. George was a professor of music and both parents had been born in Victoria. Gertrude was educated at Presentation College Windsor. On the advice of
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 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 twentieth century, and was the f ...
, Johnson enrolled at the age of 17 in the
University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...
Conservatorium of Music as a student of Anne Williams. In 1915, she followed Williams to Melba's new women's singing school at the Albert Street Conservatorium,
East Melbourne East Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. East Melbourne recorded a population of 4,896 at the 2021 ce ...
(later the Melba Memorial Conservatorium). Johnson was accepted into Melba's classes, and the relationship developed to the point where Melba gave Johnson her own personal
cadenza In music, a cadenza, (from , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist(s), usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing virtuosic display ...
s, a valuable professional asset. The director of Albert Street,
Fritz Hart Fritz Bennicke Hart (11 February 1874 – 9 July 1949) was an English composer, conductor, teacher and unpublished novelist, who spent considerable periods in Australia and Hawaii. Early life Hart was born in Brockley, originally in the English ...
, had a particular interest in
Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...
ian
opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
and was responsible for introducing Johnson to what was to be the core of her repertoire.


Singing career

Through introductions from Melba, Johnson begun touring
outback The Outback is a remote, vast, sparsely populated area of Australia. The Outback is more remote than Australian bush, the bush. While often envisaged as being arid, the Outback regions extend from the northern to southern Australian coastli ...
Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
and
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
in 1917 with Count Ercole Filippini's troupe, and in 1919 to Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide and New Zealand with the Rigo Grand Opera Company. By 1921 she had sailed to
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
and started singing with the
British National Opera Company The British National Opera Company presented opera in English in London and on tour in the British provinces between 1922 and 1929. It was founded in December 1921 by singers and instrumentalists from Sir Thomas Beecham's Beecham Opera Company ( ...
. Soon she was singing roles such as Micaela in ''
Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first performed by the O ...
'', Marguerite in ''
Faust Faust ( , ) is the protagonist of a classic German folklore, German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a deal with the Devil at a ...
'' and the Princess in
Holst Gustav Theodore Holst (born Gustavus Theodore von Holst; 21 September 1874 – 25 May 1934) was an English composer, arranger and teacher. Best known for his orchestral suite ''The Planets'', he composed many other works across a range ...
's '' The Perfect Fool'' at Convent Garden. She also had an extensive recording career with
Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...
. Miss Johnson sang on the initial BBC radio broadcast of live opera performances.


National Theatre Movement

Johnson returned to Melbourne in 1935, a woman of independent means, and retired from singing. Distressed at the lack of training opportunities in Australia for upcoming artists, she founded the National Theatre Movement (NTM). Included was an opera,
drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...
and
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
school in the 1930s. The composer Edith Mary Harrhy was involved from the start and in the 1940s she became the musical director. The company grew rapidly, and protected from international competition during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
, managed to produce 15 operas through this period. After the war the company continued to tour nationally, and in 1954 gave a
Royal Command Performance A Royal Command Performance is any performance by actors or musicians that occurs at the direction or request of a reigning monarch of the United Kingdom. Although English monarchs have long sponsored their own theatrical companies and commis ...
at Melbourne's Princess Theatre in front of Queen
Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...
. The success of the performance and subsequent season led to the founding of the
Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust The Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust (AETT) is an Australian theatre and performing arts company based in Sydney established in 1954. It is today especially known for its music scholarship program. History The Australian Elizabethan Theatre ...
, which in turn ironically led to the decline of the NTM as a performing company. In an effort to stem the decline, a building fund for the National Theatre was established. Two fires in premises occupied by the NTM sapped morale, until finally a permanent home was found in the former Victory Cinema in St Kilda. The new premises finally opened in 1974.


Honours

In 1951 Gertrude Johnson was appointed an Officer of the
Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
for her work as Director of the National Theatre. In 2005 she was inducted into the
Victorian Honour Roll of Women The Victorian Honour Roll of Women was established in 2001 to recognise the achievements of women from the Australian state of Victoria. It was launched by The Hon. Joan Kirner AC as a joint initiative of the Centenary of Federation Victoria Comm ...
posthumously.


Death

Gertrude Johnson died on 28 March 1973 at Malvern. Her estate, valued at $117,000, was put towards scholarships for students at the National Theatre schools and continues today. From 2008 a new opera school opened in Melbourne (The Opera Studio/Gertrude Opera) now Australian Contemporary Opera Company (ACOCo) under
Linda Thompson Linda Diane Thompson (born May 23, 1950) is an American songwriter, former actress and beauty pageant winner. Thompson began her acting career as a " Hee Haw Honey" on the American television variety show ''Hee Haw''. She was also a girlfrien ...
with the aims of continuing Miss Johnson's work. (Her own National Opera School merged with the Victorian College of the Arts in 1980). From 2009 a Scholarship called "The Gertrude Johnson Fellowship" has been awarded to a student at Gertrude Opera Studio continuing her legacy. She was such a charismatic and inspirational character that she has become the central character in a novel. ''Vissi d’arte '' was written by Joanna Stephen-Ward and the character Harriet Shaw is based on Gertrude Johnson, although Gertrude was a far kinder person than Harriet Shaw. The rest of the characters are fictional. Vissi d'arte is set in Melbourne and many of the scenes take place in The National Theatre in St Kilda.


References


Sources

*''National'' Treasure (1994)
Frank van Straten Frank Van Straten (born 14 May 1936) was an Australian performing arts historian, author and former director of the Performing Arts Museum. He died on 19 April 2024. Van Straten was the first archivist of the Performing Arts Museum (now Austra ...
*''Opera and Ballet in Australia'' (1977) by
John Cargher Pinchas Cargher AM, known professionally as John Cargher (24 January 191930 April 2008), was a British-born Australian music and ballet journalist and radio broadcaster. He was born in the Cockney area of London to a Jewish rabbinical family, b ...
*''Two Hundred Years of Opera'' in Australia by John Cargher


External links


Entry in the Australian Dictionary of Biography

Gertrude Johnson Collection
in the Performing Arts Collection, the Arts Centre, Melbourne (correspondence, music books, objects, photographs, programmes etc.) {{DEFAULTSORT:Johnson, Gertrude 1894 births 1973 deaths Australian operatic sopranos Singers from Melbourne Australian Officers of the Order of the British Empire 20th-century Australian women opera singers People from Prahran, Victoria