{{Short description|Australian soprano (1880–1951)}} {{Infobox person | name = Amy Eliza Castles | image = Amy Castles, three-quarters length portrait, seated at piano, facing slightly left. Australian singer LCCN2005694669.jpg | alt = Amy Eliza Castles in 1917 | caption = Amy Eliza Castles in 1917 | birth_name = <!-- only use if different from name --> | birth_date = {{Birth date|1880|07|25|df=y}} | birth_place = Melbourne, Victoria, Australia | death_date = {{Death date and age|1951|11|19|1880|07|25|df=y}} | death_place = Fitzroy, Victoria | other_names = | occupation = dramatic soprano | website = | known_for = }} '''Amy Eliza Castles''' (25 July 1880 – 19 November 1951), was an Australian dramatic soprano.<ref name=":0" />
==Family== The daughter of Joseph Castles (1849-1933), and Mary Ellen Castles (1855-1937), née Fallon, Amy Eliza Castles was born in Melbourne, Australia on 25 July 1880.
Her two sisters, Ethel Margaret "Dolly" Castles (1884–1971) and Eileen Anne Castles (1886–1970) were also highly regarded, talented sopranos.
==Education== She was educated at St Kilian's primary school and St Mary's College.<ref name=":0" /> <!-- Seems that this "Madame Amy Bendigoniana" is an attempt at some of his characteristic "humour" by Ian Warden, and has no basis in fact; and, so, even though it appears in the midst of other verifiable material, and because there is no other refernvr to such a stage name anywhere at any time, it must be considered to be completely bogus ==Stage name== Like other noted Australian sopranos, such as Elsie Mary Fischer (1881-1945) ("Elsa Stralia"), June Mary Gough (1929-2005) ("June Bronhill", after Broken Hill), Vera Honor Hempseed (1890-?) ("Madame Vera Tasma", after Tasmania), Helen Porter Mitchell (1861-1931) ("Nellie Melba", after Melbourne], Dorothy Mabel Thomas (1896-1978) ("Dorothy Canberra"), Florence Ellen Towl (1870-1952) ("Madame Ballara", after Ballarat), and Florence Mary Wilson (1892-1968) ("Florence Austral"), Amy Eliza Castles adopted the stage name "Madame Amy Bendigoniana" (after Bendigo) in honour of Australia.<ref>[http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130828282 Warden, Ian, "Has anyone a recording of soprano Dorothy Canberra?", ''The Canberra Times'', (Wednesday, 10 November 1982), p.21.]</ref> -->
==Career== On 26 March 1910 she sang the title role in the Australian premiere of Giacomo Puccini's ''Madama Butterfly'', at the Theatre Royal in Sydney.<ref name=":0">{{Australian Dictionary of Biography|id2=castles-amy-eliza-5530|title=Castles, Amy Eliza (1880–1951)|first=Thérèse|last=Radic|year=1979|volume=7|accessdate=2 January 2015|author-link=Thérèse Radic}}</ref>
She made her United States début at Carnegie Hall in 1917.<ref>{{cite news |title=Miss Amy Castles Sings. An Australian Soprano Heard in Carnegie Hall |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1917/04/12/102331944.pdf |newspaper=The New York Times |date=April 12, 1917 |access-date=2015-04-18 }}</ref>
Castles never married. She lived with her sister, Dolly Castles, in Camberwell. She died at a hospital in Fitzroy, Victoria, on 19 November 1951. She was buried in Box Hill Cemetery.<ref name=":0" /><ref>[https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20170419151000/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/130469/20170420-0110/www.auspostalhistory.com/articles/470.html Dolly Castles, soprano: Bendigo girl makes good overseas]{{cbignore|bot=medic}}, Australian Postal History, ''...She was born in Bendigo in 1884, she...made her way to America where she appeared as the principal soprano in the first production of the musical The Tik-Tok Man of Oz,...which was shown in Los Angeles on 31 March 1913. She retired from the stage after World War 1, and died in 1971...''</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article211408618 |title=Miss Dolly Castles. A Chatty Interview. |newspaper=The Critic |volume=VIII |issue=412 |location=South Australia |date=30 August 1905 |access-date=13 June 2018 |page=17 |via=National Library of Australia}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Miss._Dolly_Castles,_1907_(8285826381).jpg|title = Format: Postcard, photo mechanical print|date = 19 December 2012}}</ref>
==Further reading== *''A New Melba?: The Tragedy of Amy Castles'', Crossing Press (2006)<ref>{{cite book |title=A New Melba?: The Tragedy of Amy Castles |author=Jeff Brownrigg |year=2006 |publisher=Crossing Press |isbn= 9780957829190 |oclc=76888363 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{Commons category-inline|Amy Eliza Castles}}
{{Portal bar|Biography|Opera}}
{{Authority control}} {{Use dmy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Castles, Amy Eliza}} Category:1880 births Category:1951 deaths Category:Burials at Box Hill Cemetery Category:Australian operatic sopranos Category:Singers from Melbourne Category:20th-century Australian women opera singers