Butt, Dame Clara (Ellen)

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Butt, Dame Clara (Ellen)

Butt, Dame Clara (Ellen), notable English contralto; b. Southwick, Sussex, Feb. 1, 1872; d. North Stoke, Oxfordshire, July 13, 1936. She studied with J.H. Blower at the Royal Coll. of Music in London; later took lessons with Bouhy in Paris and Gerster in Berlin. She made her operatic debut as Ursula in Sullivan’s Golden Legend (London, Dec. 7, 1892); then sang at the music festivals at Hanley and Bristol. She visited the U.S. in 1899 and 1913; in 1913-14 she made a world tour with her husband, R. Kennerley Rumford, a baritone. Several composers wrote works for her, among them Elgar (Sea-Pictures and H. Bedford (Romeo and Juliet). In 1920 she was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.

Bibliography

W. Ponder, C. B.(London, 1928).

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire