Sara Elizabeth Flower (21 October 1820–20 August 1865)Essex County Record Office (Chelmsford), Baptismal Records, Grays. was a British-born contralto singer who became Australia's first opera star. She began a musical career in London in the 1840s before emigrating to Australia in 1849. In 1852, she appeared in Sydney in the first production in Australia of Bellini's opera Norma.A. V. Beedell, Terminal Silence: Sara Flower and the Diva Enigma. Explorations of Voice and the Maternal in Operatic Experience in Colonial Australian History ca. 1850–1865 in 2 vols., Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, 2000, 2 vols
Life Sara Elizabeth Flower was born in the English market town of Grays, Essex, situated on the River Thames at the edge of the Tilbury marshes. In 1821, Grays had a population of 742, supporting six public houses.New British Traveller (1784), in Laurie Leeham, 'From Stocks to Docks' Essex Countryside August 1967 pp.53+; William White 1848, History, Gazetteer, & Directory of the County of; Essex; Essex Directory , p. 294. Flower's maternal grandfather, Daniel Granger, owned The Rising Sun public house. The nearby Belmont Castle was a strong influence on regional music.Alice Diehl 1897, Musical Memories, London; ; The True Story of My Life. An Autobiography , London.
Family Flower's father was William Lewis Flower (c.1800-1847), recorded in the Essex Directory in 1823 as a draper, grocer, and Phoenix Fire & Life agent. To claim the status of a gentleman, he later stated he had "no occupation" once his daughter gained admittance to the Royal Academy of Music in 1841.Royal Academy of Music, Register. She had been admitted, 21 October 1841 upon the recommendation of the Academy's founder, John Fane Lord Burghersh, later 11th earl of Westmoreland, soldier, diplomat and amateur opera composer.
Robert Flower (c.1779-1832), Flower's uncle, was a foreman of the local brickworks in 1824. He was described as a yeoman in local parish records from 1817, and likely came from an earlier lineage of tenant farmers or small proprietors. This drop in social status was likely caused by changes brought about by the enclosure movement after the Napoleonic Wars.Essex County Record Office. Grays Parish, baptism records for his many children, almost all of whom pre-deceased him. For conditions for the remnants of the yeomanry - the English tenant farmers of the 1820s and 30s - see William Cobbett for a contemporary account in his Rural Rides of 1830.
Her mother, Ruth Flower, was the daughter of local Grays publican, Daniel Granger. Little is known about her, though she may have been the prototype for the mother of a fictional opera singer whose sad fate stood prophetically foretold in Alice Diehl's first published novel, Garden of Eden.The concert pianist Alice Diehl was the author of at least 41 novels. She also wrote two works of autobiography: Musical Memories, London, , and The True Story of My Life. An Autobiography , London. She grew up in the same area, in nearby Averley, granddaughter of the local Doctor, Charles Lewis Vidal (1782-1862), and her autobiographical works show that she and her family were social associates of the Flowers of Grays, either through a local music making a circle at Belmont Castle where Diehl's mother was a favourite, or perhaps kinship. The 'Alice Diehl' entry in 'Thurrock Heritage - Factfiles' particularly in relation to the identification of 1882 as the publication date of Diehl's first novel, considered by this source to have been Garden of Eden provides some support for the proposition. [www.thurrock.gov.uk/heritage] The British Library's copy is dated 1907, possibly the Library's accession date.
Flower had a brother, believed to be George Flower (died 16 July 1890), manager of the Commercial Bank in Muswellbrook c. 1867–1890, whose earlier occupation is not known.
Flower had an older sister named Elizabeth, a soprano who also pursued a singing career. During the 1840s, the sisters gained recognition for their performances as a duo, often appearing in concerts in London. They sang to much acclaim, and Sara especially was noted for her remarkable voice. In 1847, Elizabeth married a prominent lawyer called Timms Augustine Sargood and subsequently withdrew from public life. Nevertheless, the couple hosted a musical circle in the 1860s at their home in London's Bloomsbury district (Gordon Square). Guests included concert pianist Diehl, whom Elizabeth recounted in two autobiographical works.
Sara and Elizabeth were frequently mistaken for Sarah Fuller Flower Adams and Eliza Flower, the daughters of the political writer Benjamin Flower who were also known for their talents as a poet and a composer, respectively. This confusion persisted throughout Sara's life and even after her death.The Australian Monthly Magazine vol. I, no.1, September 1865 in a short obituary commented, 'We believe she was sister to Eliza Flower, composer of that beautiful English sacred glee — 'Now pray we for our country', and we trust that those who can afford it will see to it that posterity shall not look in vain for the resting place of one who certainly was among the pioneers of opera in Australia.'; in other words that she was the poet Sarah Fuller Flower Adams, who had written the words for the enduring hymn 'Nearer my God to Thee', set to music by her sister Eliza Flower. Although there is no evidence establishing a connection between the two families, there were notable similarities in their economic, social, and regional backgrounds.
Education and training From late October 1841, Flower trained at the Royal Academy of Music (R.A.M) under Domenico Crivelli (1794–1857). Crivelli was educated by his father, singer Gaetano Crivelli (1774–1836),See Grove 1961, vol. 2, p. 536 for these life dates in techniques of Italian castrati. Crivelli's knowledge of the exploitation of falsetto may account for Flower's protean ability to cross the entire range of the operatic singing voice. In Bellini's Norma, her range spread from the dramatic soprano of Norma to the mezzo of Analgias, in addition to the tenor role of Pollioni.
Early career Flower first came to public notice within London's Psalmody MovementPart of a wider musical/social phenomenon broadly constructed around the philosophical idealism of Johann Heinrich Pestalozzi modified, however by the utilitarianism of Jeremy Bentham. See Rachel Cowgill and Peter Holman Music in the British Provinces 1690-1914 (Ashgate, 2007; Bernarr Rainbow 1970, The Choral Revival in the Anglican Church (1839–1872). (London, Barrie & Jenkins) of the 1830s and 40s. The movement was associated with such names as Sarah Ann Glover, John Hullah, and John Curwen. It had solid Independent or Congregationalist non-conformist religious leanings and powerful utilitarian sociology. On 4 November 1839, The Musical World noted that Flower and her sister had both appeared at a lecture by Charles Henry Purday (1799–1885) at the Hoxton National School Room in inner North London. Purday was known for his theories on "The Proper Object of Music."The title of the lecture is an echo of the title of the 1824 Quarterly Musical Magazine [QMMR] article on a work of 1807 by Guillaume André Villoteau, following Pestalozzi, extolling music as a pleasure unique in its moral effect; able 'to elevate and ennoble the soul by purifying and strengthening the mind'. (QMMRvol.vi, pp.39-40). Purday himself was a well-known singer, lecturer, editor and composer of popular songs and hymns, also conductor of psalmody to the Scottish Church in Crown Street, Covent Garden, and composer of the popular hymn, 'Lead Kindly Light'. Grove 1961, vol. 6, p. 1022
London circles believed Flower connected with John Hullah's classes in London's Exeter Hall.Sydney Morning Herald 'Contributions from Home', No. 18', 18 February 1851, p.4f They also believed Flower was associated with "Music for the Million," the singing school of Joseph Mainzer (1801–1851),Musical Times 1 October 1844, p. 39. which had been modelled on the monitorial method of Guillaume Louis Bocquillon Wilhem [1781–1842] and his 'Orphéon' choral fests.Wilhem was Musical director-general of music in the municipal schools of Paris. Based upon a plan of 'Mutual Instruction', he developed a huge music education organization (Orphéon) throughout France. (See Grove 1961, vol. 9, pp.298-99) These fests included teaching, often illiterate, working people to sight-sing from notation sheets as a non-conformist socio-religious project to revitalize music education in the Anglican Church.Bernarr Rainbow 1970, The Choral Revival in the Anglican Church (1839-1872). (London, Barrie & Jenkins)
Contrary to conjecture around deeper links to non-conformism or the Psalmody Movement, a post-1847 Flower family memorial plaque on the walls of the Grays parish church of St Peter and St Paul does not suggest any strong non-conformist link, nor does her R.A.M. career under the dictatorial rule of its president, John Fane, Lord Burghersh (1784–1859).Later 11th earl of Westmorland; soldier, diplomat and amateur opera composer, generally considered to have been the found of the R.A.M. in 1839. His works, all within the genre of Italian opera, were often rehearsed by R.A.M. students. Flower probably had the perfect alto voice for his project, and probably for her teaching master, Domenico Crivelli.
British professional career Around 4 November 1839, she assisted C. H. Purday in presenting a lecture titled "The Proper Object of Music" at the Hoxton National School Room, London. On 29 October 1841, the Royal Academy of Music, London admitted Flower as a student of singing.
Her operatic debut was on 7 January 1843 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, as the peasant Pippo in Macready's concert version of Rossini's La gazza ladra, starring Sabilla Novello as Annette. From 17 April 1843 Flower performed in Rossini's Tancredi at the Princess's Theatre, appearing in the titular role. Flower would continue working at the Princess's Theatre, reprising the role of Pippo in a production of La gazza Iadra in 17 July 1843 with a full orchestra alongside Emma Albertazzi as Annette. She played Adina in Donizetti's L'elisir d'amore, from 11 October 1843, with Paul Bedford as Dulcamara and Rebecca Isaacs as Floretta. She would make a few appearances on the concert stage before leaving for Italy to continue her studies.
Upon her return to London, she made a series of appearances at the Princess's Theatre: as Bertha in Edward Loder's Night Dancers alongside Emma Albertazzi as Giselle from 28 October 1846; as Ernestine in George Rodwell's Seven Maids of Munich from 19 December 1846; in Donizetti's Anna Bolena as Smeaton on 12 January 1847, starring Louisa Bassano in the lead role; in Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream as Oberon from 23 April 1847; and as Donna Olympia in Loder's The Young Guard, starring Anna Thillon from 20 January 1848. Flower also participated in several concerts at the Surrey Zoological Gardens, Louis-Antoine Jullien's Concerts Monstre on 24 July 1848 and 28 September 1848.
Around this time, she was a corps musicale member attending the ninth General Theatrical Fund reunion held at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate Street, chaired by Sir Edward Bulwer-Lytton and supported by Charles Dickens.
Flower emigrated to Australia on the migrant ship Clifton, which left London on 14 November 1849.
Life in Australia
Clifton was the largest of three emigrant ships chartered by John Dunmore Lang, weighing 867 tons and commanded by E. W. Beasley. The ship arrived in Port Phillip from London with some 200 emigrants, mostly from Evangelical churches. Lang was one of the 20-some-odd cabin passengers and it is assumed that Flower travelled in steerage.