Emeline Carter

Miss Emeline Carter lived on Cambridge Street back in the day. Emeline Carter was the daughter of Mrs Mary Carter, who was both a resident and landlord on Cambridge Street - owning 46-52 Cambridge Street and 81 Cambridge on the other side. (As an aside, it is interesting looking at how Mrs Carter changed her principal place of residence through the years but that is for a separate post)

The Carter's landholdings in Paddington at the turn of the century when it was quite the respectable place to live suggest they were relatively well off.  This evidently gave them the means to send their daughter to Paris for two years to learn singing at one of the world's top schools.  Emeline studied under Madame Mathilde Marchesi.  Madame Marchesi was a renowned teacher of singing who operated a school on the Rue Jouffroy in Paris.  She was well known in Australia due to her instruction of Dame Nellie Melba. If you are that way inclined you can learn more about Marchesi here.

Emeline Carter returned to Sydney in 1903 and gave a series of concerts.  Her debut, at the Town Hall, was on 20 August 1903 and the advertisements set a high benchmark for the young soprano (the one below from the 8 August SMH).

The reviews were mixed.  You can find the SMH review of 21 August 1903 on Trove.  It is quite long so I'll provide some excerpts ...

"The interest of a debutante's concert may be due entirely to the rare quality of her own performance, though such occasions are unfortunately few and far between, yet it should always be possible for a young singer to ensure an enjoyable evening's entertainment. This can be done, as it was done by Miss Emeline Carter at the Town Hall last night, by introducing new music, by keeping the general standard of selection to a good level, and by engaging competent artistic support. The young soprano must be congratulated upon the result in this way achieved."

"As regards, the singer herself, she showed in the long excerpt from "La Sonnambula" the well known fact that a naturally fine voice must be the first basis of success, and that two years at the Marchesi School in Paris, even with the hardest study, can only carry the student up to a certain point."

"Miss Emeline Carter made her success, however, in Guy d'Hardelot's "Invocation". This captivating piece of music was charmingly given by the singer, whose French was pronounced with exquisite clearness. This delightful ensemble was encored with enthusiasm and the soprano also responded to plenteous floral presentations after Amina's scena."

Despite the SMH reviewer predicting the new soprano's domain of "light comic opera numbers, ballads and such pieces of general sentiment" it doesn't appear as though Emeline developed her singing career, giving only a handful of concerts before switching to focus on teaching. Through to 1909, Miss Carter gave singing and voice lessons both in the city and at her residence at 52 Cambridge Street Paddington as attested by the following SMH advert.