Moody, Fanny

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Moody, Fanny

Moody, Fanny, English soprano; b. Redruth, Cornwall, Nov. 23, 1866; d. Dundrum, County Dublin, July 21, 1945. She studied with Charlotte Sainton-Dolby, making her debut in a memorial concert for her teacher at Prince’s Hall in London (1885). She made her operatic debut as Arline in The Bohemian Girl with the Carl Rosa Opera Co. in Liverpool (1887), and subsequently was the company’s principal soprano until 1898; she married the Irish bass and impresario Charles Manners (1890), with whom she founded the Moody-Manners Opera Co. (1898), and thereafter toured widely with it until it was disbanded (1916). Among her best roles were Gounod’s Marguerite and Juliet, Verdi’s Leonora, and Santuzza.

—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis Mclntire