Why today's Google Doodle celebrates Amanda Aldridge, the pioneering British opera singer and composer

 





Under the pseudonym Montague Ring, Aldridge was an Afro-British opera performer and teacher. Today's Google Doodle honors Amanda Aldridge, a British composer, teacher, and opera soprano.

 

On this day in 1911, Aldridge performed a piano recital at Queens Small Hall, the original home of the BBC Symphony and London Philharmonic Orchestras, London's pre-war major musical venue.

 

Here's everything you should know about her.

 

Under the pseudonym Montague Ring, Aldridge was an Afro-British opera performer and teacher.

 

She was born in London on March 10, 1866, to Ira Frederick Aldridge, an African American actor who appeared in Shakespeare plays, and Amanda Brandt, a Swedish actress.


Luranah Aldridge, an operatic contralto, was one of her sisters and came close to becoming the first artist of African descent to appear at Bayreuth Opera House. However, due to illness, she was forced to withdraw.

 

Aldridge went on to study voice at the Royal College of Music under Jenny Lind and George Henschel before pursuing a career as a vocalist at the Royal Conservatory of Music in London.

 

A throat injury caused by laryngitis cut short her career, but she was able to build a name for herself as a teacher, pianist, and composer.

 

Among her noteworthy students were lyric tenor Roland Hayes and composer Lawrence Benjamin Brown.


Who was Amanda Christina?

Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge, sometimes known as Amanda Ira Aldridge, was a British opera singer and instructor who wrote love songs, suites, sambas, and light symphonic compositions under the pseudonym Montague Ring. She was born on March 10, 1866 and died on March 9, 1956.

 

Amanda Aldridge was born in Upper Norwood, London, on March 10, 1866, the third child of African American actor Ira Frederick Aldridge and his Swedish second wife, Amanda Brandt.

 

Rachael and Luranah were her sisters, and Ira Daniel and Ira Frederick were her brothers.

 

At the Royal College of Music in London, Aldridge studied voice under Jenny Lind and George Henschel, as well as harmony and counterpoint with Frederick Bridge and Francis Edward Gladstone.


Amanda Christina Elizabeth Aldridge, sometimes known as Amanda Ira Aldridge, was a British opera singer and instructor who wrote love songs, suites, sambas, and light symphonic compositions under the pseudonym Montague Ring. She was born on March 10, 1866, and died on March 9, 1956.

 

Amanda Aldridge was born in Upper Norwood, London, on March 10, 1866, the third child of African American actor Ira Frederick Aldridge and his Swedish second wife, Amanda Brandt.

 

Rachael and Luranah were her sisters, and Ira Daniel and Ira Frederick were her brothers.

 

At the Royal College of Music in London, Aldridge studied voice under Jenny Lind and George Henschel, as well as harmony and counterpoint with Frederick Bridge and Francis Edward Gladstone.


When her sister, opera singer Luranah Aldridge, became ill, she took care of her, declining an offer to attend the second Pan-African Congress from W. E. B. Du Bois in 1921 with a note explaining: "As you know, my sister is extremely helpless." I'm only able to leave for a few minutes at a time.

 

Muriel Smith sang Montague Ring's "Little Southern Love Song" on the British show Music for You, where Aldridge made her first television appearance at the age of 88. She died in London on March 9, 1956, a day before her 90th birthday, after a brief illness.















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