MADAME BETTY BROOKE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1000, 15 December 1910, Page 6

MADAME BETTY BROOKE.

. A SUCCESSFUL ' N.Z. SOPRANO. Among the passengers on board tlio Uliniaroa, which arrived in Wellington yesterday,, was Mrs. C. M. Brooke, of Ckristcliurch, better known as Madame Betty Brooke, a New Zealand singer who has' got 011. remarkably well at Home. She : has sung, in distinguished company in London and elsewhere on the other side of . the world, is. a. prime favourite in Melbourne and Sydney, but though she'has left enduring memories of her singing in 'various New Zealand towns, she has never been heard in Wellington. It is to be sincerely honed that Madame Betty will .be beard here before .she leaves again for Australia, and .the.'Old .Country,- She has been ' a pupil of Madame-Mathilde Marchesi, in Paris, of Sighor. Visetti, in London, and of.Signor de Giorgio ;'sho is a finished; and accomplished sifiger, and' has annjared* in London' under. - auspices,. which- -iilsist upon artistic excellence as'a condition of patronage.. . . , ;. Jtadanie Betty is, moreover, a vivacious and entertaining "conversationalist, ■ • in fact litis as much to her personal charm as to; her singing that she owes her success in .the. Old Country.. The path of musical glory which many New Zealanders have essayed' to traverse has, in most cases,, bjftn one off thorns; 'trials and tribulations ; and the ..bitterness of disappointment have been, the lot of quite a number of whom great, things have been prophesied. ' .Not' so with Madame Betty; who, -in a manner-of speaking, stepped -on to 'soft-velvet, without any trouble at allr-largely-by pure good fortune, iof coutse—and lias been "on. velvet" ever since. All 'this, and a great deal more, Madame enlarged;, upon' during the,}courso,qf a..conversation with/a. representative^| of.; The; Domixion ,on board the. Uliniaroa yesterday. . , . ' "When I left New Zealand," she. began, "it was my intention to have a holiday, and'.' not to" do professional work.- But after a saloon concert on board tho' Marama, -on rout© to . Vancouver, an English ,lady .engaged "in© for ono of; her subsequently led -to an' engagement with the Hunstanton Choral.:. Society (England). Aiterthat, engagements came from all quarters." ' I 'sailg at tho .'Hungry* Club dinner in' New York, ■ aiul'scored' a, great success. Later 'on I' went to Germany, where I met Heri George Gohler, Herr Gustavo Schneck, Fra.u Hedmondt,; and studied German lieder, .with Fraulein. Spaerling. .- An engagement at tho Irish Soci6tj ; .'s concert in London led to ail invitation from. Mr. Alfred P. Graves, tho ■ well-known _ authority on Irish minstrelsy, to sing at ,one of'his lectures... On that, occasion I sang 'Irish Grasses.' .-/Engagements,.'.for. 'afternoons' came'in very I had oppbrr tunities ot, becoming. acquainted with most of. the' composers whose names are familiar-to music-lovers. At one of the Saturday evening ooncerts at..the Albert Hall I sang in company with Madame Blanche Marchesi, Madam« Ada.Crossley, Mr. Walter ICirby—who was here with Melba—and other .well-known- people. Altogether, I've had a. good time," and here .Madame. Brtty heaved a' pleased little sigh of contentment. -