Rosina Buckman

{{Short description|New Zealand singer (1881–1948)}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2022}} {{Infobox person | name = Rosina Buckman | image = Singer Rosina Buckman (cropped).jpg | alt =  | caption = Buckman in the 1920s | birth_date = {{Birth date|1881|03|16|df=y}} | birth_place = Blenheim, New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|1948|12|31|1881|03|16|df=y}} | death_place = Battersea General Hospital, London, England | other_names = | occupation = Opera singer | years_active = 1903–1930s | known_for = one of New Zealand's first international opera stars | spouse = {{marriage|Maurice d'Oisly|24 December 1919}} | notable_works = }} '''Rosina Buckman''' (16 March 1881 – 31 December 1948) was a New Zealand soprano who became a prima donna during World War I and later a professor of singing at the Royal Academy of Music. She was born in Blenheim, grew up mostly in the North Island and went to England when still a teenager to get a formal singing education from Charles Swinnerton Heap. After Heap's death, she moved to the Birmingham School of Music. Graduating in 1903, she could immediately sustain herself from singing engagements but fell ill and returned to New Zealand the following year. She advanced her career in the country of her birth and had her operatic debut in 1905. Also performing in Australia, she worked for the dominant soprano, Nellie Melba. Encouraged by Melba to apply her talent in England, Buckman moved in 1912. From 1914, she performed alongside Melba, who called her New Zealand's "Queen of Song". Her breakthrough came after she joined the Beecham Opera Company in 1915. She had a broad repertoire but is most noted for her lead performances in ''Madama Butterfly'' and ''Tristan und Isolde''. She toured widely and in 1922, Buckman, her tenor-husband Maurice d'Oisly, a pianist and a cellist embarked on a tour of New Zealand and Australia with 110 performances during a ten-month period. She continued performing into the 1920s, and recorded prolifically. From the 1930s, she concentrated on teaching.

==Early life== Buckman was born in 1881 in Blenheim Central, New Zealand, to John and Henrietta Buckman (née Chuck).<ref>{{cite news |title=Birth |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MEX18810317.2.10 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=The Marlborough Express |volume =XVI |issue=64 |date=17 March 1881 |page=2}}</ref> She was the second of their eight children; she had five sisters and two brothers. Her mother was a singer and organist. Her father was a carpenter by trade. Her paternal grandfather, Samuel Buckman, had a fine singing voice. After her birth, her grandfather rode {{convert|50|mile}} from his farm to Blenheim and requested that the baby girl be named Rosina, his sister, who also was a good singer. When she was just 18 months, her parents realised that she would become a singer as her "baby sounds were tuneful and sweet".<ref name="Petticoat Pioneers">{{cite book |last=Macgregor |first=Miriam Florence |title=Petticoat Pioneers: North Island Women of the Colonial Era, Book 2 |publisher=Reed Publishing |year=1975 |isbn=9780589009274 |location=Auckland |pages=14–20 |oclc=861526105}}</ref> Her mother taught her music from a young age.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /> In 1885, the family moved to Petone.<ref>{{Cite book |editor-last1=Macdonald |editor-first1=Charlotte |editor-last2=Penfold |editor-first2=Merimeri |editor-last3=Williams |editor-first3=Bridget |title=The Book of New Zealand women : Ko kui ma te kaupapa |date=1991 |publisher=Bridget Williams Books |last1=Morrison |first1=Anne |isbn=0-908912-04-8 |location=Wellington, New Zealand |page=105 |chapter=Rosina Buckman |oclc=28180678}}</ref> When Buckman was seven, the family moved to Waikanae where her father joined the flax trade. Aged nine, the children were playing on a bed and one of her sisters landed on top of her; the doctors predicted she would not survive the night. She spent eight months in Wellington Hospital and recovered after four operations. Next, the family moved to Foxton. A drop in the value of flax fibre caused a moved to Ōtaki and then Palmerston North, where Buckman attended Campbell Street School (which later became Central Normal School).<ref name="eerie legacy" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Local and general |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MH19220615.2.8 |access-date=10 March 2022 |work=Manawatū Herald |volume =XLIV |issue=2441 |date=15 June 1922 |page=2}}</ref> In 1898, the family moved to Āpiti in the Manawatū where her father took up dairy farming.<ref name="eerie legacy" /> On the farm, Buckman would often go into the bush and imitate the birds' song. One day, a young man followed the singing and saw Buckman. Years later, by now a member of parliament, he went backstage after one of her London concerts and introduced himself.<ref name="Petticoat Pioneers" />

Buckman took singing lessons in Palmerston North, {{convert|60|km}} away from Āpiti.<ref name="eerie legacy">{{cite news |title=Opera star's eerie legacy |url= https://www.pressreader.com/new-zealand/manawatu-standard/20120121/281565172639560 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Manawatū Standard |date=21 January 2012 |via=PressReader}}</ref> Her teacher was James Grace, who was the choirmaster for the St Paul's Methodist Church in Palmerston North. It was Grace who, realising Buckman's immense talent, persuaded her to move to England. Grace made the arrangements for Buckman to study in Birmingham under Charles Swinnerton Heap, and Grace and his wife accompanied her to England.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /><ref name="eerie legacy" /> The Graces were friends with Buckman's parents and they were travelling to England so that their two sons could receive training as piano tuners.<ref name="Petticoat Pioneers" /> Buckman did not have Heap long as her tutor as he died in June 1900; she moved to the school of music that belonged to the Birmingham and Midland Institute{{efn|This is today part of the Birmingham School of Music.}} and studied under George Breedon.<ref name="DNZB Buckman">{{DNZB|last=Downes |first=Peter |id=3b55 |title=Buckman, Rosina |access-date=5 March 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Allen|first=Gordon C. |title=Dr. Charles Swinnerton Heap, Composer, Organist, Composer and Conductor|journal=Journal of Swinnerton Family History |volume=15 |issue=1|year=2012 |publisher=Swinnerton Family Society |pages=11–12|url= http://www.swinnerton.org/Saga/Volume15/No_1_Mar2012.pdf |accessdate=5 March 2022}}</ref> A fellow student from the school of music described her as "pleasant, but not inclined to mix freely".<ref name="DNZB Buckman" />

==Operatic career== [[File:Resize master fd642164017c63b18cfbe39448549501.jpg|thumb|Buckman started her operatic career at the Palmerston North Opera House in 1905]] Buckman graduated from the school of music in mid-1903 and could immediately support herself from roles in concerts. Her income ceased soon after when she fell ill and she accepted her parents' offer to pay for a fare to New Zealand.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /> She took the SS ''Ortona'' from London (departed 29 January 1904) to Sydney.<ref>{{cite news |title=Amusements |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19040225.2.75.7 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume =XLI |issue=12506 |date=25 February 1904 |page=8}}</ref> She arrived in New Zealand in early March 1904.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Untitled |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19040302.2.19 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=Manawatū Standard |volume =XL |issue=7780 |date=2 March 1904 |page=4}}</ref> By 28 March 1904, she gave her first concert in Auckland alongside the American baritone Hamilton Hodges; also involved was Clarice Buckman, her younger sister (then aged 12).{{efn|Her sister would also become a professional singer. After her marriage, she was known as Mrs David Niven.<ref name="eerie legacy" />}} Subsequent concerts were in New Plymouth (30 March), Palmerston North (31 March), and Wellington (1 April).<ref>{{cite news |title=Musical and dramatic |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19040319.2.59.35 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume =XLI |issue=12526 |date=19 March 1904 |page=4 (Supplement)}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Miss Rosina Buckman's concert |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19040328.2.63 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume =XLI |issue=12533 |date=28 March 1904 |page=6}}</ref> Buckman performed in her first opera on 20 September 1905 in Palmerston North{{efn|The ''Dictionary of New Zealand Biographies'' incorrectly records that her first operatic performance was on 25 September 1905 in Wellington but the same cast gave two performances in Palmerston North in the previous week.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" />}} when she took the role of La Zara in Alfred Hill's ''A Moorish Maid'', after the opera had previously performed a season in Auckland.<ref>{{cite news |title=A Moorish Maid |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19050918.2.31 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Manawatū Standard |volume =XLI |issue=8094 |date=18 September 1905 |page=5}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Opera House |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MS19050918.2.2.3 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Manawatū Standard |volume =XLI |issue=8094 |date=18 September 1905 |page=1}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=A Moorish Maid |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FS19050920.2.16 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Feilding Star |volume =XXVII |issue=49 |date=20 September 1905 |page=2}}</ref> Hill also wrote the popular Māori song "Waiata poi" and he is said to have written it for Buckman.<ref name="eerie legacy" /> Her reputation increased and in 1910, J. C. Williamson—the Australian impresario—included her in an opera company that was to tour both New Zealand and Australia. Buckman took the roles of Suzuki in ''Madama Butterfly'', and initially Mercedes and later Micaela in ''Carmen''. Within a year, her reputation resulted in an invitation from Nellie Melba to join her Melba Opera Company; Melba was at the time the most prominent Australian operatic soprano. Both Melba and her lead tenor, John McCormack, encouraged Buckman to continue her career in England based on the high quality of her singing. Buckman arrived in England during 1912.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /><ref>{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand and the Western Pacific, 1941 |last=Scholefield |first=Guy |authorlink=Guy Scholefield |year=1941 |edition=4th |location=Masterton |page=93}}</ref>

In England, she soon obtained work and, among other roles, sang in a concert conducted by Thomas Beecham. After auditioning at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, she gained supporting roles in a series of Richard Wagner operas from early 1914. From spring 1914, she took the role of Musetta in ''La bohème'', alongside Melba who sang as Mimi. Roles in three other operas followed before the Royal Opera House closed when World War I broke out. Beecham was also affected by the closure of the Royal Opera House as it was his primary venue for mounting operas. In 1915, he founded his own opera company—Beecham Opera Company—and picked those who in his opinion were the best British singers, but gave Buckman the role of a principal dramatic soprano. Working for the Beecham Opera Company, Buckman's career blossomed and she became a prima donna. She was versatile and performed the repertoire that was standard at the time. The lead roles in which she was regarded as most successful were as Madame Butterfly and as Isolde of ''Tristan und Isolde''. On one occasion, she kept performing Isolde when an air raid was sounded. The theatre's manager eventually forced the performers off the stage; it added to Buckman's profile that she had kept going.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /><ref>{{cite news |title=Table talk |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/OW19171219.2.146.2 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Otago Witness |issue=3327 |date=19 December 1917 |page=55}}</ref> During the war, she started recording and she produced an extensive catalogue covering arias, duets, ballads and concert songs.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /> Some of her recordings are held by SOUNZ, the Centre for New Zealand Music Trust.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rosina Buckman: Madam Butterfly |url= https://sounz.org.nz/resources/405?locale=en |publisher=SOUNZ |access-date=6 March 2022}}</ref> A 1924 recording of ''Madama Butterfly'' was the first full recording of an opera in English.<ref>{{cite web |title=Rosina Buckman (3) and Nora d'Argel (1 of 2) |date= January 1995 |url= https://natlib.govt.nz/records/36996470 |publisher=National Library of New Zealand |access-date=11 March 2022}}</ref> The Royal Opera House reopened in May 1919 and Buckman alternated with Melba performing as Mimì, the leading role in Giacomo Puccini's ''La bohème''.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /> Melba wrote about Buckman:<ref name="Petticoat Pioneers" /> <blockquote>God has blessed her with a heavenly voice which with intelligence, experience and study has carried her through the bitter struggle of beginning to success and fame. New Zealand may well be proud of her Queen of Song.</blockquote>

On 24 December 1919 at St Mark's, Hamilton Terrace, London, Buckman married the leading tenor of the Beecham Opera Company, Maurice d'Oisly.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-content/view/7421935:1623 |title=Marriage certificate – Rosina Buckman in the London, England, Church of England marriages and banns, 1754–1936 |publisher=Ancestry.com Operations |year=2010 |access-date=11 March 2022 |url-access=subscription}}</ref> It was not until the following February that this became known.<ref>{{cite news |title=About people |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ST19200202.2.38 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=The Southland Times |issue=18730 |date=2 February 1920 |page=5}}</ref> They performed together and separately. The Beecham Opera Company was succeeded in December 1921 by the British National Opera Company and Buckman and d'Oisly sang regularly for them.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /> In 1922, Buckman, d'Oisly, pianist Percy Kahn and cellist Adelina Leon travelled on the SS ''Ionic'' to an Australasian tour of 110 concerts. They attracted huge audiences and in New Zealand, Buckman's homecoming was celebrated. At the Wellington concerts, ticket queues formed from 7 am each morning.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /><ref name="eerie legacy" /> They arrived in Wellington on 15 May and on the following day, a civic reception was held for her at the Wellington Town Hall, presided by Robert Wright (mayor of Wellington). Speakers other than the mayor were the prime minister William Massey, former prime minister Joseph Ward, Thomas Forsyth (who spoke on behalf of Wellington City Council), and the musician Robert Parker.<ref>{{cite news |title=Rosina Buckman |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19220515.2.108 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=The Evening Post |volume =CIII |issue=112 |date=15 May 1922 |page=8}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Rosina Buckman |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/EP19220516.2.161 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=The Evening Post |volume =CIII |issue=113 |date=16 May 1922 |page=11}}</ref> After a tour in New Zealand, they performed in Australia and then undertook another tour of New Zealand. They left Auckland on the RMS ''Niagara'' on 6 March 1923 for the United States.<ref>{{cite news |title=Adieu to New Zealand |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/AS19230306.2.83 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Auckland Star |volume =LIV |issue=55 |date=6 March 1923 |page=6}}</ref>

Buckman reduced the number of her performances from here on. From the 1930s, she taught at the Royal Academy of Music<ref name="DNZB Buckman" /> where she was made a professor of singing in 1937.<ref>{{cite news |title=Professorship at Royal Academy of Music |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/MT19370716.2.122 |access-date=6 March 2022 |work=Manawatū Times |volume =62 |issue=167 |date=16 July 1937 |page=11}}</ref>

In April 1940, Buckman made a brief return to the stage when she appeared in a matinée gala at His Majesty's Theatre in London, in aid of comforts for New Zealand troops in World War II. All the artists and authors involved in the performance, organised by actor Shayle Gardner, were born in New Zealand, and included David Low, Warwick Braithwaite, Hector Bolitho, Hugh Walpole, and Merton Hodge.<ref>{{cite news |title=New Zealand matinee |date=24 March 1940 |work=The Observer |page=3}}</ref>

==Private life== Buckman and d'Oisly lived west of Cemaes in Wales. Their house was sold during World War II and taken over by the Royal Air Force; the area is now occupied by the Wylfa nuclear power station.<ref name="eerie legacy" /> She also owned a farm near Piopio in New Zealand, purchased during her 1922–23 tour, that was managed by one of her brothers. She told reporters about the rationale for buying the land: "Well, it was so that I could feel that although I have to live so far away, I actually do own a bit of New Zealand! I may do some stock-raising there later on – I don't know; the main thing is that I now have a real 'stake' in my own country."<ref>{{cite news |title=A prima donna's tour |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/NZH19230307.2.140 |access-date=7 March 2022 |work=The New Zealand Herald |volume =LX |issue=18342 |date=7 March 1923 |page=11}}</ref> She never returned to New Zealand, though.<ref name="DNZB Buckman" />

Because of her childhood injuries, the marriage remained childless.<ref name="eerie legacy" /> After a serious illness, she died on 31 December 1948{{efn|Note that contemporary sources mostly recorded 30 December but later sources, including the 1951 edition of ''Who's Who in New Zealand'', state 31 December.<ref name="1951 Scholefield" />}} at Battersea General Hospital in London,<ref>{{cite news |title=Death in Britain : Miss Rosina Buckman |url= https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/ODT19490103.2.53 |access-date=5 March 2022 |work=Otago Daily Times |issue=26969 |date=3 January 1949 |page=5}}</ref> and her funeral took place at St Marylebone Parish Church on 5 January 1949.<ref>{{cite news |title=Today's arrangements |work=The Times |date=5 January 1949 |page=5 |issue=51271}}</ref> Her husband survived her only by a few months; he died on 12 July 1949 aged 67.<ref name="1951 Scholefield">{{cite book |title=Who's Who in New Zealand, 1951 |last=Scholefield |first=Guy |authorlink=Guy Scholefield |year=1951 |edition=5th |publisher=A.H. & A.W. Reed |location=Wellington |page=259}}</ref>

==Footnotes== {{Notelist}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Rosina Buckman}} *[http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/B/BuckmanRosina/BuckmanRosina/en Entry in the 1966 ''Encyclopedia of New Zealand''] *[https://www.rnz.co.nz/concert/programmes/upbeat/audio/2018787308/rosina-buckman-tours-again Rosina Buckman tours again], RNZ programme, 11 March 2021

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buckman, Rosina}} Category:1881 births Category:1948 deaths Category:20th-century New Zealand women opera singers Category:New Zealand operatic sopranos Category:Academics of the Royal Academy of Music Category:People from Blenheim, New Zealand Category:New Zealand music educators Category:New Zealand women music educators Category:Alumni of the Birmingham School of Music