Fanny Simonsen

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File:Fanny Simonsen.png

File:Martin Simonsen.png

File:Jules Simonsen.png

Born Françoise De Haes or Dehaes, Fanny Simonsen was a French lyric soprano, who claimed aristocratic parentage and had studied under Manuel Garcia II.{{cite thesis |volume=2 |title=Lineages in Vocal Pedagogy in Australia |author=Beth Mary Williams |year=2002 |publisher=University of Melbourne (Downloads/72741_WilliamsVol%202.pdf)}} She had on occasion shared the Paris stage with Madame Carvalho, and played prima donna roles in Brussels and the great French provincial cities. She married the eminent Danish violinist Martin Simonsen, and for nine years restricted her appearances to the concert stage in Europe and California.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5769679 |title=The Opera |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 June 1867 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}

The Simonsens arrived in Melbourne from Germany in August 1865 by the mail steamer Northam{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article166666425 |title=Passengers |work=The Sydney Mail |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 August 1865 |access-date=28 May 2020 |page=9 |via=Trove }} after a successful tour of China and India,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155040415 |title=The News of the Day |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 August 1865 |access-date=28 May 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }} and held a series of seven concerts at St George's Hall, Bourke Street, Melbourne, from Saturday 19 August 1865,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244465960 |title=No title |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 August 1865 |access-date=28 May 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} with a different program every night.

In June 1866 Mme Simonsen joined Lyster's Grand Opera Company as prima donna, commencing with Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article207608917 |title=Victoria |work=The Adelaide Express |location=South Australia |date=27 June 1866 |access-date=30 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

This was followed by Meyerbeer's Les Huguenots (as Marguerite de Valois), the Australian première of L'Africaine (alternately with Lucy Escott, playing Selika), perhaps her most celebrated role{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article212727410 |title=Madame Fanny Simonsen |work=The Lorgnette |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 January 1890 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }} This article has a photograph.) and Roberto il diavolo, perhaps their most popular production{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199057493 |title=Provincial. |work=Bell's Life in Victoria and Sporting Chronicle |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 January 1867 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} (as Isabel/Isabelle).

In 1867 she played the name part in Maritana (Wallace), Amina in La Sonnambula (Bellini) and Auber's comic operas The Crown Diamonds as Catarina and Masaniello as Elvira.

Despite Lyster's alternation of loss-making grand opera productions with crowd-pleasing comic offerings, his attention to detail and the quality of his orchestra and ensemble and stars Simonsen and Lucy Escott, Henry Squires and Armes Beaumont, he was failing in a business sense due to the public demand for novelty. Accordingly, he announced his intention to withdraw from Melbourne, which compounded the problem.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article155032761 |title=The Opera |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=17 June 1867 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}

After the troupe's tour of country Victoria — Ballarat Geelong and Bendigo — and before they crossed over to Adelaide, the Simonsens made their own farewell tour{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5782046 |title=The Farewell of the Simonsens |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 October 1867 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }}

and returned to San Francisco; Geraldine Warden was Lyster's new soprano.

They returned to Melbourne by the Marpesia in July 1869 and held a short series of concerts at the Academy of Music (Princess's Theatre on Spring Street), and the goldfield towns, supported by Rebecca Nordt (soprano), Arthur R. Moule (tenor) and Harcourt Lee (bass and pianist).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197310894 |title=The Simonsens' Entertainment |work=Mount Alexander Mail |location=Victoria, Australia |date=31 August 1869 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

:In January 1868 Lyster brought to Melbourne (fresh from South America): Vitali, Devoti, Bertolini, and the magnificent basso profundo D'Antoni/De Antoni.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60622608 |title=The Late Mr W. S. Lyster |work=The Australasian Sketcher with Pen and Pencil |location=Victoria, Australia |date=4 December 1880 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=327 |via=Trove }} prima donna is Signora Ida Vitali and her husband, baritone Giuseppe Bertolini; second prima donna, Marinette Colombo ; tenor, Signor Ugo De Voti; basso, Signor Pietro d'Antoni.

:Lyster took a company to San Francisco in the Alexander Duthie in August 1868;{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article13171865 |title=Clearances — August 28 |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=29 August 1868 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }} it was a failure from the start: Antoni died on the voyage there; Kitts' voice failed, the weather was foul and fear of earthquake kept many away. Escott and Squires left Lyster's company while in America, as did Beaumont, and the rest returned via New Zealand.){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244915705 |title=Theatrical Gossip |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 June 1869 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

Far from quitting the Melbourne musical scene, in 1869 Lyster formed a partnership with John Washington Smith, previously of Lenton & Smith,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article196727601 |title=Victorian Notes |work=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=17 June 1869 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} to establish, in January 1870, an Italian Opera Company with Lucia Baratti, Lucy Chambers, Mariano Neri (tenor), Enrico Dondi (basso).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article189327254 |title=The New Opera Company |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=24 January 1870 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} Simonsen and Beaumont were among their first recruits.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244912969 |title=Theatrical Gossip |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=14 August 1869 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

Another prominent member of the company was Signor Leandro Coy, whose family contributed much to Melbourne's music scene.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article205407141 |title=Melbourne and Music |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 June 1952 |access-date=28 May 2020 |page=11 |via=Trove }}

:In later years Lyster suffered from a chronic illness, and despite a trip to Europe for treatment died on 27 November 1880.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197748206 |title=Death of Mr. W. S. Lyster |work=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=29 November 1880 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }}

Simonsen's first appearance for this season was as Lucia in Lucia di Lammermoor on 10 February 1870, followed by Un Ballo in Maschera, Maritana, Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Martha (as Lady Harriet) and others.

In May 1871 the Simonsens had a farewell tour of the major towns of Victoria and South Australia, having announced their leaving the country.

On 19 August 1871 the Simonsen troupe, consisting of Rebecca Nordt, her husband{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244909453 |title=Family Notices |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=17 December 1869 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} Arthur Moule (tenor), Edward Farley (baritone), Barry O'Neil (comic singer), Henry King (pianist) held a concert at the Lyceum Theatre prior to leaving for Europe.

The programme included Offenbach's The Rose of Auvergne, or, Spoiling the Broth and the first act of Verdi's Il Trovatore.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87905821 |title=The Opera |work=The Bendigo Advertiser |location=Victoria, Australia |date=12 August 1871 |access-date=31 May 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} Their farewell tour included New Zealand, and dragged on to September 1872.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article60865356 |title=Clearances September 7. |work=Empire |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=9 September 1872 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

The Simonsens returned to Melbourne aboard the Norfolk in January 1876 and staged a couple of concerts at the Town Hall which were very well received{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article7431095 |title=The Simonsen Concerts |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 February 1876 |access-date=2 June 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }} by the few who attended. They also performed at the Metropolitan Liedertafel, held that same week.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article219430472 |title=The Stage |work=The Weekly Times |location=Victoria, Australia |date=5 February 1876 |access-date=2 June 2020 |page=13 |via=Trove }} They assembled an opera company of some 40 or 50 singers to tour Victoria and New Zealand; they had brought with them a full wardrobe and scores for a hundred operas, some new to the colonies.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244279804 |title=Topics of the Day |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 January 1876 |access-date=2 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

She appeared at Melbourne's new Opera House (on Bourke Street) for Lyster in February 1876, alternating with Ilma De Murska, who appeared in Lucia and Sonnambula while Simonsen had The Grand Duchess of Gerolstein and Maritana.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article71567854 |title=A New Nightingale |work=North Melbourne Advertiser |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 February 1876 |access-date=2 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} In March the Simonsens' Royal English Opera Company, of around 40 performers left for a tour of New Zealand. In Dunedin they played The Hermit's Bell and Lecocq's La fille de Madame Angot, and were received well despite having no recognised names apart from Simonsen. At Christchurch they performed Martha and at Wellington Lucia di Lammermoor, Martha, La Sonnambula and Auber's Carlo Broschi. The highly successful tour concluded at Invercargill in November 1876. The pianist, C. B. Foster (1853–1894), was praised.

The Simonsen Opera Company (or Royal English and Opera Bouffe Company) embarked on a tour of south-western Victoria and across the border to Mount Gambier and another extended tour of Tasmania.

In May 1877, after a year of frustration in not being able to hire a hall in Melbourne, Martin Simonsen announced his taking over the lease of St George's Hall to establish it as an English Opera House.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198308320 |title=News of the Day |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 May 1877 |access-date=4 June 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }} While noting the unsuitability of the hall for opera — its lack of depth, so most of the audience were too close to the tiny stage, and insufficient volume for decent acoustics — the first offerings, Balfe's opera Satanella, in which Minna Fischer made her Melbourne debut, and Flotow's Martha were well received.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197419478 |title=Amusements |work=The Leader (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 June 1877 |access-date=4 June 2020 |page=18 |via=Trove }} The first season concluded with

The Hermit's Bell, Maritana, Giroflé-Girofla, The Bohemian Girl and The Grand Duchess, with smaller audiences.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article221765767 |title=The Stage |work=The Weekly Times |location=Victoria, Australia |date=30 June 1877 |access-date=4 June 2020 |page=13 |via=Trove }}

For the 1878 season the Simonsens leased the Prince of Wales Opera House,a much more suitable venue, also on Bourke Street. Works included Die Fledermaus, The Hermit's Bell, Satanella, The Bohemian Girl, The Grand Duohess, Giroflé-Girofla, Maritana and Der Freischütz.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200542948 |title=Theatrical and Musical |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 March 1878 |access-date=4 June 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }} Camille Dubois and C. H. Taylor joined Amy Sherwin, Minna Fischer and the rest of the cast. This was Armes Beaumont's last appearance before leaving for Europe and Fanny Simonsen's second announcement of her retirement.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197286011 |title=Amusements |work=The Leader (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 June 1878 |access-date=4 June 2020 |page=18 |via=Trove }}

Simonsen's daughters Leonora and Martina made their stage debut at the Mechanics' Institute, Ballarat, in December 1879.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article232149643 |title=Mechanics' Institute |work=The Ballarat Courier |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 December 1879 |access-date=5 June 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }}

In September 1880 Martina joined her mother's Royal English & Italian Opera Company of some 50 members, which included Martin Simonsen as conductor, Carrie Godfrey, Eugenie Dehaes,{{efn|A niece? The coincidence of her and Madame Simonsen's birth surnames was not remarked on by contemporary newspapers.}} tenors Pietro Paladini and Gaetano Bianchi, and basses Ernest St Clair and Tom Riccardi.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article142171908 |title=Communicated |work=The Australasian |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 October 1880 |access-date=1 June 2020 |page=18 |via=Trove }}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article126454696 |title=The Late Signor Riccardi |work=The Sunday Times (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=13 April 1913 |access-date=16 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }}

"Frances Saville", whose status as Simonsen's third daughter was not revealed, joined the company in 1882 for a 10-week season at the Gaiety Theatre, Sydney in 1882, when one critic commented on the daughters' German accent.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article162032209 |title=Music and Drama. |work=The Sydney Mail and New South Wales Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=27 May 1882 |access-date=11 June 2020 |page=849 |via=Trove }}

They played at the Theatre Royal, Adelaide, in August and September to good and appreciative houses for ten different works, Un Ballo perhaps making the greatest impression.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208266158 |title=Theatre Royal |work=The Express and Telegraph |location=South Australia |date=1 September 1882 |access-date=11 June 2020 |page=2 |via=Trove }} A feature was the company's first staging of Von Suppé's Boccaccia,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197775666 |title=Theatre Royal |work=The Evening Journal (Adelaide) |location=South Australia |date=23 September 1882 |access-date=12 June 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }} translated from the German by Dexter Smith.{{efn|Dexter Smith (c. 1838 Salem – 1910 Boston, Mass.) was composer of "Put Me in My Little Bed" etc.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article116052253 |title=Musical Gossip |work=The Evening News (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=12 February 1910 |access-date=12 June 2020 |page=13 |via=Trove }}}}

The newly-reopened Theatre Royal, Hobart, followed in October, and again Boccaccio was a "hit".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208267271 |title=Advertising |work=The Express and Telegraph |location=South Australia |date=25 September 1882 |access-date=12 June 2020 |page=1 |via=Trove }} Fanny Simonsen finally quit the stage on 22 September 1884,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article110307515 |title=Our Illustration |work=The Bega Gazette and Eden District or Southern Coast Advertiser |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 January 1885 |access-date=14 June 2020 |page=1 (Supplement)|via=Trove }} but continued to give singing lessons at her home in St Kilda.

Martin Simonsen continued concert management, bringing out the New Royal Italian Opera Company in 1886, whose stars included the bassos Tomaso De Alba and Attilio Buzzi and baritones Warwick Gainor and Achille Rebottaro and his sister Alice Rebottaro.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11583108 |title=The Opera |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=16 December 1886 |access-date=14 June 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }}

In 1888 he brought out a troupe known as the "Spanish Students{{efn|"Spanish Students" refers to an artistic tradition where the performers emulate impoverished students, wearing a three-cornered hat bearing a spoon, in readiness for a free bowl of soup.}} and Spanish Dancers", whose premiere on 8 September 1888 was described by a newspaper critic as a failure: the large and expectant audience was treated to a concert of mostly unfamiliar tunes and songs in a language which, though performed superbly, was unintelligible to most. The dancers were described as heavy-hoofed and immodestly dressed, an affront to the audience's sense of decency. The critique concluded with "Indeed, most of them appeared to be glad when it was over."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article6901078 |title=Opera House |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=10 September 1888 |access-date=16 June 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }} Around the same time Martin Simonsen had in Sydney an Italian troupe starring Lilian Tree and Giuseppe Pimazzoni, which had to be disbanded due to personal difficulties. His losses were substantial, and in February 1889 he filed for insolvency, his chief debtor being his wife.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198065309 |title=Amusements |work=Leader. |location=Victoria, Australia |date=9 February 1889 |access-date=17 June 2020 |page=27 |via=Trove }}

In 1891 husband and wife imported the Italian Opera Company, which opened with Il Trovatore at the Alexandra Theatre on 8 August. This was poorly attended and the tour cancelled; another financial blow. Inclement weather and the depressed economic climate were blamed, but a more likely cause was the opera's refined artistry and lack of well-known stars, as more prosaic entertainments nearby were doing well.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article140710018 |title=The Opera |work=The Australasian |location=Victoria, Australia |date=26 September 1891 |access-date=15 June 2020 |page=23 |via=Trove }}

Henry Bracy, in conjunction with Johnny Solomon, took over many of the Simonsen artists to form his own company.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120291566 |title=Reminiscences of the Stage |work=The Referee (Sydney) |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=22 August 1917 |access-date=17 June 2020 |page=14 |via=Trove }}

The Simonsens brought several Italian opera troupes to Australia which lost them a great deal of money. They also lost money on their Spanish Students scheme.

Mme Simonsen brought in a little money as a singing tutor at their Carlisle Street, St Kilda, home.

She died aged 61, as the result of an apoplectic fit shortly before midnight on 19 September 1896. She had a similar seizure some eleven years earlier but otherwise had enjoyed good health.

In her last moments she requested that the score of Faust should be buried with her, which was carried out at the St Kilda Cemetery on 20 September 1896.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9169300 |title=Death of Madame Simonsen |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=21 September 1896 |access-date=27 May 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}

After Mme Simonsen's death Mr Simonsen lived as a boarder with a Mrs Goulding (another source{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203356854 |title=To the Editor of "The Age" |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=2 December 1933 |access-date=30 May 2020 |page=8 |via=Trove }} says Mr. and Mrs. Dunning) at 588 Elizabeth Street, Melbourne. Three years later, nearly deaf and blind and suffering from rheumatism,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article203358327 |title=To the Editor of "The Age" |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=25 November 1933 |access-date=30 May 2020 |page=6 |via=Trove }} he died in his upstairs room of a self-inflicted pistol shot.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article188667317 |title=Suicide of Mr M. Simonsen |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=29 November 1899 |access-date=27 May 2020 |page=9 |via=Trove }}

A list of Fanny Simonsen's pupils includes Ada Crossley, Lillie Crowle, Ada Prull, Flora Graupner, Julia Simmons, Muriel Walsh, Jeanne Ramsay, Emilie Lambert and her own children: Frances Simonsen (known as "Frances Saville", see below), Martina Simonsen and Jules Simonsen, and presumably her granddaughter Frances Alda, whom she brought up from the age of five.

Crossley was arguably her most important pupil — she would travel from her country home to St Kilda twice weekly for lessons, until Simonsen agreed to take her as a boarder, a situation which lasted two or three years. Crossley recognised the benefit she gained by living in the musical home after Madame Simonsen's death by contributing £50 towards her headstone.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article3780350 |title=An Interesting Family |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=7 May 1926 |access-date=27 May 2020 |page=14 |via=Trove }}

Martin Simonsen composed for solo violin:

• Victoria Galop
• Melbourne Polka{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article200543292 |title=Mr Simonsen's |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=13 April 1878 |access-date=4 June 2020 |page=5 |via=Trove }}
• Remembrances of Germany Oberland or Souvenir d'Allemagne
• Life on the Ocean fantasia on English and Irish airs{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article112874387 |title=Concert at the Theatre Royal |work=The Ballarat Star |location=Victoria, Australia |date=22 April 1867 |access-date=5 June 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }}

Martin Simonsen (30 January 1830 – 28 November 1899) married Françoise Geanine "Fanny" De Haes (c. 1835 – 19 September 1896).

Their eleven children, of whom two, perhaps three, were born before arriving in Australia, included:

• Eldest daughter Leonora Martina "Leo" Simonsen (1859 – 27 December 1884) was born in Monte Video. Of undoubted musical ability, she made her operatic debut with that of her sister Martine at the Melbourne Town Hall on 10 July 1880, and toured America with her father. She was a rising prima donna on 18 October 1876 when she married David Davis (born c. 1852) at the synagogue, Christchurch, New Zealand.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article199831829 |title=New Zealand |work=The Ballarat Star |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 October 1876 |access-date=3 June 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} She returned to Australia in July 1879, followed a month later by her husband. A year later she divorced him on the grounds of cruelty and adultery (he was suffering from "a certain illness", presumably syphilis).{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article244689505 |title=Divorce Court |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=18 September 1880 |access-date=29 May 2020 |page=3 |via=Trove }} They had two children:

:*A child, name and gender not yet found, was born on 8 September 1877.

:*Frances Jane "Fanny" Davis (31 May 1879 – 18 September 1952) was born in New Zealand, renamed Frances "Francie" Adler after her mother's remarriage, and grew up with grandmother Simonsen after her mother's death. She sang with the "Gay Parisienne" Company,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article9403927 |title=News and Notes |work=The Mercury (Hobart) |location=Tasmania, Australia |date=28 August 1897 |access-date=16 June 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }} then by 1903 had, at the instigation of Madame Marchesi, adopted Frances Alda as her stage name,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article197958245 |title=Amusements |work=The Leader (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=28 November 1903 |access-date=16 June 2020 |page=22 |via=Trove }} and 1883 as her year of birth. A famous racehorse, F.J.A., was named for her.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article247716146 |title=Australians at the "Met" |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=15 January 1949 |access-date=30 May 2020 |page=9 |via=Trove }} She sang at "The Met" 1908–9, married Giulio Gatti-Casazza, divorced 1941, became a US citizen, married mining/advertising executive Ray VirDen (3 December 1895, Wheeler, Indiana – 27 November 1955) on 14 April 1941.

:In 1883 she left with her children for San Francisco where on 3 January 1884 she married again, to Herman Adler.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article198558586 |title=Family Notices |work=The Age |location=Victoria, Australia |date=19 February 1884 |access-date=29 May 2020 |page=1 |via=Trove }} She died of peritonitis at her home in San Francisco. Her father, who was in New York when she took ill, was present when she died, aged 25.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article208850430 |title=Death of Miss Leonora Simonsen |work=The Lorgnette |location=Victoria, Australia |date=27 February 1885 |access-date=28 May 2020 |page=4 |via=Trove }}

• Martina Simonsen (c. 1861 – 4 April 1953) married George Schreiber on 30 April 1886.
• Third daughter Fanny Simonsen (6 January 1865 – 8 November 1935) married theatrical manager John Saville Smith on 18 July 1881 and adopted the stage name Frances Saville. She divorced him in September 1887,{{cite news|work=The New Zealand Herald |volume=XXXIV |issue=8051 |title=News |date=12 September 1887 }} married Max Rown (1850 – 15 September 1917) on 16 March 1888. In 1891 she left for Paris for coaching (unnecessarily in the opinion of at least one critic){{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120294591 |title=The Australian Stage |work=The Referee |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=7 November 1917 |access-date=29 May 2020 |page=14 |via=Trove }} by Melba's tutor, Mathilde Marchesi. She was for a time the prima donna of the Grand Opera House, Brussels, and also gained recognition in London, Paris, Vienna, St Petersburg, and New York. She retired in California and never returned to Australia.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17218674 |title=Music and Drama |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=30 November 1935 |access-date=28 May 2020 |page=12 |via=Trove }}
• Jules Simonsen (2 April 1867 – ) was a tenor vocalist on the Rickards circuit, then left for San Francisco, where he had a "chequered career".{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article120297446 |title=The Simonsen Family |work=The Referee |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=11 July 1917 |access-date=30 May 2020 |page=14 |via=Trove }}
• Hermann Martin Simonsen (2 March 1869 – c. March 1952), usually written "Herman", married (Lillian) Beatrice Webb on 4 October 1900. He was a wholesale jeweller in Melbourne,{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article245603425 |title=New Zealand's New Law |work=The Herald (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=20 April 1920 |access-date=29 May 2020 |page=9 |via=Trove }} found bankrupt in 1932. Died at Deepdene, Victoria.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23172296 |title=Advertising |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=3 April 1952 |access-date=30 May 2020 |page=14 |via=Trove }}
• Fourth son Albert Martin Simonsen (26 January 1871 – 9 January 1915) married Maud Whyte on 11 July 1900
• Youngest daughter Florence Martin "Florrie" Simonsen ( – c. 27 August 1913) married Arthur Turrall (c. 1863 – 19 November 1903) on 12 June 1895, home "Abbotsford", Cotham Road, Kew, Victoria. Arthur committed suicide by poison.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article10585293 |title=The Kew Tragedy |work=The Argus (Melbourne) |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 December 1903 |access-date=29 May 2020 |page=7 |via=Trove }}
• Martin Simonsen (10 December 1878 – 14 August 1953) married Marriette Evelyn "Cis" Courgeau (?) (died 16 June 1912). He married again, to Ida
• William Simonsen, stage name Louis Saville, also a singer, married with children, joined the British army and was at the Front in 1917.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article130057995 |title=The Ladies Letter |work=Melbourne Punch |location=Victoria, Australia |date=1 March 1917 |access-date=16 June 2020 |page=32 |via=Trove }}

several sons were at the front in WWI. More information is needed.

They had a home "Cambo", on Carlisle Street, St Kilda, Victoria.

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist}}

• Neill, Roger. [https://www.musicwebinternational.com/2023/07/the-simonsens-of-st-kilda-a-family-of-singers-per-diem-projects/ The Simonsens of St. Kilda – A Family of Singers] (2023)

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Category:Australian operatic sopranos

Category:1830s births

Category:1896 deaths

Category:French sopranos

Category:French emigrants to Australia

Category:People from the Colony of Victoria

Category:19th-century Australian singers

Category:19th-century French singers

Category:People from St Kilda, Victoria