Edna de Lima (born Edna Burton; 15 July 1879 – 23 April 1968), later known as Edna Burton Van Dyke, was an American lyric soprano singer and translator.
Early life Edna O. Burton was from Lima, Ohio, the daughter of Dr. Enos G. Burton and Emma Jane Brown Burton."Coming of Edna de Lima Eagerly Anticipated" Lima News (November 4, 1917): 18. via Newspapers.comPortrait and Biographical Record of Allen and Van Wert Counties, Ohio (A. W. Bowen 1896): 218. She took her professional name from her hometown."Edna de Lima Wins Favor in the Middle West" Musical Leader (December 6, 1917): 588. She studied voice in Paris with Marcella Sembrich and Jean de Reszke."Edna de Lima to Sing in Chicago" Musical Leader (November 8, 1917): 469.
Career Abroad In 1910, Edna de Lima appeared in the operas Louise, Gli Ugonotti, Faust and La bohème at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in London.J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1910-1919: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Scarecrow Press 2013). Edna de Lima debuted at the Imperial Opera House in Vienna on 24 January 1911 in a tiny role in Meyerbeers Le prophète. After this first performance she returned to Vienna in October of the same year, as a member of the ensemble. She performed in small and large roles across the repertoire of the Imperial Opera House. Six times she sang Mimì in La bohème, four times Micaëla in Carmen, seven times Barbarina in Le nozze di Figaro, once Urbain in Les Huguenots and twenty times Lola in Cavalleria rusticana. The rest were mainly smaller roles like Wellgunde in Der Ring des Nibelungen or one of the flowermaidens in Parsifal, her last performance in Vienna on 22 June 1914.Vienna State Opera (Archive): Performances of Edna de Lima, retrieved on 31 March 2024"American Singers Please in Vienna" Arizona Republic (January 18, 1914): 17. via Newspapers.com She sang a role in Faust again in London in 1923.J. P. Wearing, The London Stage 1920–1929: A Calendar of Productions, Performers, and Personnel (Rowman & Littlefield 2014): 238. In 1925, she traveled to South Africa for a performing tour."Three Liners Sail, Two Arrive" New York Times (November 4, 1925): 14.
In the United States Edna de Lima first sang at New York's Aeolian Hall in 1916."Edna de Lima's Recital" New York Times (October 24, 1916): 13. She made her Chicago concert debut in 1917, when a reviewer declared that "Nature has been bounteous to Mme. de Lima in the bestowal of personal attractiveness and grace of manner in addition to the crystalline purity of her voice.""Edna de Lima in Recital" Music News (March 23, 1917): 18. She was billed as "formerly of the Vienna Opera" when she appeared at the Stadium Concerts in New York in the summer of 1918."Edna de Lima at the Stadium" Musical Courier (July 25, 1918): 39. She performed on a bill with pianist Winifred Byrd, tenor Dan Beddoe, and violinist Michel Gusikoff, for the Globe Music Club later in 1918."Globe Music Club" Musical Courier (October 24, 1918): 8. She translated lyrics for recitalists, including Margaret Matzenauer. During World War I, she sang at concerts for the Liberty Bond Campaign,"Edna de Lima, a Many-Sided Artist" Musical Courier (October 10, 1918): 47. and for the Red Cross."Bass Clef Concert for Red Cross" Norwich Bulletin (May 20, 1918): 10. via Newspapers.com
Personal life Edna Burton married John Wesley Van Dyke, an oil company executive,"Social Paris Grows Dull" New York Times (August 9, 1908): 22. via Newspapers.com in Paris in 1908,"Paris" Musical Courier (August 12, 1908): 13. on the condition that she be allowed to continue her singing career, because "the divine fire of music was in her blood and in her brain"."Oil Millionaire's Wife Clings to Stage Career" Salt Lake Tribune (January 8, 1911): 18. via Newspapers.com She was not mentioned in Van Dyke's obituary in 1939."J. W. Van Dyke, 89, Oil Field Pioneer" New York Times (September 14, 1939): 31. However, "Mrs. Edna Van Dyke" was mentioned as still alive and living in New York City in her sister Elma Burton Baxter's obituary in 1960."Mrs. Elma Baxter" Lima News (January 20, 1960).
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