Emily Soldene

Emily Soldene (30 September 1838 – 8 April 1912) was an English singer, actress, director, theatre manager, novelist and journalist of the late Victorian era and the Edwardian period. She was one of the most famous singers of comic opera in the late nineteenth century, as well as an important director of theatre companies and later a celebrated gossip columnist.

Soldene was born in Clerkenwell, London. Her mother was Priscilla Swain Fuller (1812–1900), and although she was apparently the product of a bigamous marriage, she was raised as the daughter of Edward Fuller Solden (1805–1873). In 1859 she married law clerk John Powell (1834?–1881) and gave birth to her first child before she began to study singing in 1861 with William Howard Glover.

Soldene made her first public appearance in a concert given by Glover in 1862. She began to appear in classical music concerts at St James's Hall in London soon afterwards, but in 1865 she auditioned for Charles Morton at the Canterbury Music Hall. He became a friend and mentor to her, and she then turned from classical music to music hall, appearing steadily at the Oxford Music Hall and elsewhere under the name of Miss Fitz-Henry.

As English-language versions of French opéra bouffe first arrived in Britain, Soldene soon became the leading proponent of Jacques Offenbach and Hervé, combining her comedic and vocal talents. According to The Times, "Soldene was a fine and a highly-trained Singer. Exeter Hall loved her in oratorio no less than the Canterbury, the Oxford or the Alhambra [loved her] in more worldly work; but it was in opéra-bouffe that her voice, her vivacity, and her magnetism first found their perfect material." She created the title role in The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein in 1867 for the touring company of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. In 1870, at the Lyceum Theatre, she played Marguerite in Little Faust (Le petit Faust) and took over title role in Chilpéric. The next year, she toured as Chilpéric in the provinces. For Charles Morton, in 1871 at the Islington Philharmonic, she first appeared as Drogan in the long-running production of Geneviève de Brabant (also directing the production), which became her favourite role. Now widely popular, she starred at the Gaiety Theatre, London in 1872 in another production of Geneviève de Brabant and as Mlle. Lange in La fille de Madame Angot in 1873. Soldene was also, for several years, a principal boy in British Christmas pantomimes.

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