Leonora Braham

Leonora Braham (February 3 1853 – November 23 1931), born Leonora Lucy Abraham, was an English opera singer and actress primarily known as the creator of principal soprano roles in the Gilbert & Sullivan comic operas.

Life and career

Braham was born into a Jewish family in Bloomsbury, London.

Early career

Braham's first professional stage appearance was at St. George's Hall, London, in 1870, in a revival of Gilbert and Clay's "Ages Ago". Mr. and Mrs. Thomas German Reed, the producers, starred with Braham. [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/B/BrahamLeonora.htm Stone, David. "Leonora Braham"] , "Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company"] Braham received encouraging notices. [ [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/StGeorgesHallLanghamPlaceLondon.htm Includes a quote about Braham from a review of "Ages Ago".] ] She continued performing for the German Reeds for several years, but moved to Montreal with her first husband, Frederick E. Lucy Barnes, in 1878. In 1879, she played the title role in Gilbert and Clay's "Princess Toto" in New York and then in Boston. In 1880 she was engaged in Alfred Cellier's "The Sultan of Mocha", playing the role of Dolly, in New York. Her husband committed suicide in 1880 North America. [ [http://www.musicweb-international.com/garlands/158.htm Information about Braham's first husband] ]

Principal D'Oyly Carte soprano

When she returned to England, Braham briefly rejoined the German Reeds. She was soon chosen to create the title role in "Patience" at the Opera Comique with the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in 1881, in which she again received excellent notices. [ [http://www.savoyoperas.org.uk/patience/pat3.html review of "Patience"] ] She remained the company's principal soprano through 1887, creating the roles of Phyllis in "Iolanthe" (1882), Princess Ida in "Princess Ida" (1884). She was initially cast to sing the role of Lady Psyche in the latter opera, but was promoted during the rehearsal period, when the original choice for the part, American Lillian Russell, had a disagreement with W. S. Gilbert and was dismissed. Braham, generally regarded as a light lyric soprano, nevertheless received good notices in the demanding role. [http://pinafore.www3.50megs.com/l-braham.html Profile of Braham] , "Memories of the D'Oyly Carte" website] She also created the roles of Yum-Yum in "The Mikado" (1885—perhaps her best-known role), and Rose Maybud in "Ruddigore" (1887). Braham also played Aline in "The Sorcerer" in the 1884–85 revival.

Braham's struggles with alcoholism are portrayed in the 1999 biographical film "Topsy-Turvy", and during the run of "The Mikado" she was threatened with dismissal for this reason. During the summer of 1886, she secretly married J. Duncan Young, previously a principal tenor with the company, and Carte soon had another reason to dismiss the actress. In early 1887, shortly into the run of "Ruddigore", Braham finally informed Carte that she was pregnant with her second child. This was not acceptable, particularly as the chorus sings to her prim and proper character in "Ruddigore", Rose Maybud, "Rose, all glowing with virgin blushes, say – Is anybody going to marry you today?" She shortly left the Savoy, and Geraldine Ulmar was hastily called back from America to assume the role. [ [http://math.boisestate.edu/gas/whowaswho/Y-Z/YoungJDuncan.htm Information about Braham's second husband, J. Duncan Young] ] Braham created more of the Gilbert and Sullivan heroines than any other soprano, and she was the only English soprano to create such roles. [Ainger, p. 445]

Peripatetic performer

Braham, her husband and children traveled to Australia later in 1887, appearing there in a number of operas including "Princess Ida", "H.M.S. Pinafore", "The Mikado", "Patience", and "Iolanthe" with J. C. Williamson's opera company (along with other ex-D'Oyly Carte players such as Alice Barnett) and in Alfred Cellier's "Dorothy", in the title role. [ [http://www.hat-archive.com/theatre_in_melbourne_1888.htm Information about some performances of Braham in Australia] ] The Argus of Melbourne wrote of her first Australian performance, that she was "Petite in form, animated and graceful in bearing, displaying colloquial tones of sonorous quality and polite inflexion, and having a singing voice both sweet and full, and of high soprano range. Miss Braham got through an arduous first appearance with complete success." She performed again in England from 1888 to 1890, in London and in the provinces, in works other than Gilbert and Sullivan.

In 1890, and then again in 1891-92, Braham and her family (including two children under the age of four), together with other D'Oyly Carte regulars, including R. Scott Fishe, went to South America with the Edwin Cleary Opera Company, entertaining audiences in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Valparaiso, Lima, Rio de Janeiro and other cities. Braham played Yum-Yum in "The Mikado", Mabel in "The Pirates of Penzance", Aline in "The Sorcerer", the title roles in "Patience", "Dorothy", "Erminie" and "Pepita", and in "Billie Taylor". [Lamb, p. 30] Braham received generally good notices. "The Standard" said of her Dorothy in Buenos Aires, "if her portrayal of the wayward English heiress is not perfect, then I say emphatically there is no perfection in this imperfect world." [Lamb, p. 33] The company was shipwrecked off the west coast of South America in the middle of the tour, losing most of their possessions (but no lives were lost), and Braham's husband injured his arm. [Lamb, p. 41] Even after this experience, Braham and family soon braved the dangers of ocean travel to tour for two years in South Africa, performing in the Gilbert and Sullivan operas and other light operas.

In 1895 Braham was engaged at Daly's Theatre in London in the Edwardian musical comedy "An Artist's Model". She again rejoined D'Oyly Carte in 1896, playing Julia Jellicoe in a tour of the last Savoy opera, "The Grand Duke". During part of this tour, she also played Phoebe in "The Yeomen of the Guard" and Yum-Yum in "The Mikado". This was her last engagement with the D'Oyly Carte organisation.

Later career and retirement

Braham continued to perform, from 1897 to 1912, in London, the British provinces, and New York. On Broadway, she played Donna Adelina Gonzales in "Because She Loved Him So" at Hoyt's Theatre in 1899. [ [http://www.ibdb.com/production.asp?ID=404573 Information from the IBDB database] ]

She continued to be interested in Gilbert and Sullivan during her retirement, writing of her G&S experiences in "Happy Wanderings of a Savoyard," published in "The Gilbert & Sullivan Journal" in October 1926. Together with Jessie Bond and Sybil Grey, she participated in March 1930 at the Gilbert & Sullivan Society in a 45th anniversary reunion of original "Three Little Maids from School." Braham faced poverty during her last years, when her husband was confined to a mental hospital.

Braham died in London at the age of 78.

Notes

References

*
*cite book|last=Ayre|first=Leslie|year=1972|title=The Gilbert & Sullivan Companion|location=London|publisher=W.H. Allen & Co Ltd Introduction by Martyn Green.
*A detailed account of Braham's life and career is contained in a series of articles by Robert Binder in "The Palace Peeper", the newsletter of the New York branch of the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, running from October 1982 to April 1983.
*Lamb, Andrew. "Comic Opera Goes Latin-American, 1890-92: Part 2" in "The Gaiety", Winter 2006, pp. 29-47.

External links

* [http://pinafore.www3.50megs.com/l-braham-p.html Braham photos]