Miriam Licette (Soprano) (Over, Cheshire, England 1885 – Reading, Berkshire, England 1969)

She been descended from an English-French family and spent her childhood in Chester, Hong Kong and Singapore. She was first noticed by Dame Nellie Melba, who advised her to go to Parisfor further study with her own teacher, Mathilde Marchesi. She perfected her vocal technique under Jean de Reszke in Paris as well as by Sabattini in Milan. She made her debut in 1911 in Rome in the title role of Madama Butterfly and then sang in Genoa. Till 1914 she lived in Italy. During the First World War she was the real prima donna of the Beecham Opera in London. With the ensemble of the Beecham Opera she sang at Covent Garden in the 1919-1920 season as Eurydice in "Orpheus" (with Clara Butt as Orpheus), Jaroslawna in ‘’Prince Igor’’. At the Covent Garden in 1920, she sang in the opening season the part of Mimi in ‘’La Bohème’’. As a member of theBritish National Opera in 1917 she appeared among other things as Gräfin in "Figaros Hochzeit"and Constance in "Entführung aus dem Serail". In the 1928-1929 season she appeared again at the Covent Garden. In 1935 she sang on the English broadcasting company BBC in a performance of P. Hindemith’s opera ‘’Cardillac’’. She retired to teach singing.

Chronology of some appearances

1911 Roma Opera
1917 London British National Opera
1919-1920 London Covent Garden

RECORDINGS FOR SALE

Columbia, London 1927

Complete Pagliacci (Leoncavallo) with Mullings, Williams, Nash and  Noble 1927

Columbia, London 1924-02-07

Otello (Verdi): Could I but die now (Venga la morte) with Frank Mullings L1562 AX294
Don Giovanni (Mozart): Mi tradi 9911 AX 4903
Don Giovanni (Mozart): Batti, batti 9911 AX 4902
Otello (Verdi): Stilled by the gathering darkness (Giа nella notte densa) with Frank Mullings L1562 AX296