Elsa Stralia

Elsa Stralia
Born Elsie Mary Fischer
1 March 1881
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
Died 31 August 1945 (aged 64)
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Spouse(s) William Mountford Moses
Adolph Theodor Christensen

Elsa Stralia (1 March 1881 – 31 August 1945) was an Australian soprano with an international reputation in Europe and America. She was born Elsie Mary Fischer.

Biography

After appearing in Sydney, she studied in Milan and London. She made her Covent Garden, London debut as Donna Elvira in Mozart's Don Giovanni in 1913, under the professional name of Elsa Stralia (after Australia, like Florence Austral). She appeared at Covent Garden, and in Milan, Paris, South Africa and New York. She toured in South Africa, and in a number of American cities, once singing "The Star-Spangled Banner" while dressed as the Statue of Liberty. She recorded for the Columbia Graphophone Company, and toured Australasia in 1925 and 1934.

Personal

She was born in Adelaide, to Hugo and Annie Fischer. The family moved to Melbourne in 1899, where she was convent-educated. She married William Mountford Moses in 1908 in Sydney. She divorced him and married Adolph Theodor Christensen in Sydney in 1935. They lived in Patea, New Zealand until he died in 1943. She then moved to Melbourne where she died, childless, at Belgrave. Her estate was used to establish a scholarship for young Australian female singers. Ms Stralia was the Godmother of Elsa Margaret Druce of Childers Street, North Adelaide.

References