Bernard Rolt papers and photographs mainly relating to Dame Nellie Melba

MLMSS 12133/Box 1X
R 2436

fonds

1897-1926

Textual Records, Manuscript Notated Music, Graphic Materials, Photographs, Ephemera

9677568

0.30 metres of textual material (1 outsize box), includes photographs
1 music program - silk - 41 x 31 cm

Bernard Rolt was born on 18 November 1871 in London and studied at the Guildhall School and in Paris. He worked as a composer and lyricist of parlour songs, as well as contributing to various operettas and musicals, and composing one of his own, Sylvia's Lovers (1919). He was a close friend of Dame Nellie Melba and wrote a piece in her honour, Valse Melba (1908). Melba mentioned Rolt in her memoirs and bequeathed a sum of money to him in her will. Rolt died on 29 September 1937 in Montreux, Switzerland.

References:
UK Register of Births, Marriages and Deaths from British Consulates, 1810-1968. Accessed 3 April 2024. https://www.ancestrylibrary.com.au/discoveryui-content/view/16826:60911

Wikipedia. "Bernard Rolt". Accessed 3 April 2024. https://ca.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Rolt

Melba, Nellie. Melodies and Memories, 1925, p.152

By descent to Bernard Rolt's great nephew, Antony Francis Rolt and Max Rolt-Bianco, the son of Antony Francis Rolt.

TEXTUAL ITEMS
2 letters and 1 note from Nellie to Bernard; 1 on notepaper from The Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, USA; 1 on notepaper from Coombe Cottage, Coldstream, Victoria, Australia, dated New Year's Eve; 1 on a personalised print card, undated.

1 program from the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, for the Farewell Appearance of Dame Nellie Melba in Opera at Covent Garden, 8 June 1926.

NOTATED MUSIC
2 copies of a manuscript score (incomplete) for Let's Divorce by Bernard Rolt, dated 8 March 1920. One copy missing piece no. 17; the other copy missing pieces 9, 10, 16, 17 and 18.

1 printed score by Chappell & Co., London, for the song Mister Nightingale by Bernard Rolt, dated 1910.

PHOTOGRAPHIC PRINTS
1 studio portrait of Nellie Melba from Faust inscribed "Wishing Bernard a Happy Easter, 1919".

1 studio portrait of Bernard annotated on mount "Bernard Rolt, Uncle of JBR" by Swaine photography studios, Southsea.

3 cabinet cards of Nellie Melba by the Reutlinger photography studios, Paris; two of her costumed as Marguerite from Faust and one of her costumed as Ophelia from Hamlet. One inscribed "To Bernard Rolt from Nellie Melba". Dated from copies found elsewhere as 1897.

1 studio portrait of Nellie Melba from Faust printed as a postcard.

1 photographic print of a group of 14 men and women, probably including Nellie Melba and Bernard Rolt, annotated on verso "Hinchingbrooke, June 24th - 26th 1899 ; R.V."

PROGRAM
1 program on silk for the Gala performance at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden, London, on 11 June 1907 for the visit of the King and Queen of Denmark, including excerpts from Madama Butterfly; La bohème; Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg.

English, German

Access via appointment - Applies to R 2436

Out of copyright:
Please acknowledge:: Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales

Date range taken from information on textual items, photographs and copies of images found online with dated inscriptions.