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John Lemmone (22 June 1861 – 16 August 1949; also seen as John Lemmoné) was an Australian
flute The flute is a family of classical music instrument in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, meaning they make sound by vibrating a column of air. However, unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is a reedles ...
player and composer who was largely self-taught and who at the age of 12, paid for his first flute with gold he had panned himself on the goldfields at Ballarat. He had an international career as a soloist, and accompanied well-known singers such as
Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her l ...
,
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th centur ...
and
Amy Sherwin Frances Amy Lillian Sherwin (23 March 1855 – 20 September 1935), the 'Tasmanian Nightingale', was an Australian soprano singer. Biography She was born at Forest Home, Huonville, Tasmania on 23 March 1855. She was taught singing by her mot ...
, the pianist
Ignacy Jan Paderewski Ignacy Jan Paderewski (;  – 29 June 1941) was a Polish pianist and composer who became a spokesman for Polish independence. In 1919, he was the new nation's Prime Minister and foreign minister during which he signed the Treaty of Versaill ...
, and the violinist
Pablo de Sarasate Pablo Martín Melitón de Sarasate y Navascués (; 10 March 1844 – 20 September 1908), commonly known as Pablo de Sarasate, was a Spanish (Navarrese) violin virtuoso, composer and conductor of the Romantic period. His best known works includ ...
. Later in his career he became Nellie Melba's manager.


Early life

Lemmone was born in
Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. Within months of Vi ...
to a
Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...
immigrant, John Lemon (originally Lamoni) and his English-born wife Mary. It was a musical family and the boy learned
tin whistle The tin whistle, also called the penny whistle, is a simple six-holed woodwind instrument. It is a type of fipple flute, putting it in the same class as the recorder, Native American flute, and other woodwind instruments that meet such criteria ...
before progressing to
fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross ...
, playing in the local Golden City drum and fife band. By the age of 12 he had found enough gold on the Ballarat goldfields to buy his own flute. The next year, the family moved to
Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
and as a teenager, Lemmone performed with a number of Melbourne theatre orchestras, including as principal flute with Lyster's Royal Italian Opera Company. In 1884 he made his debut as a soloist in a benefit concert for the local musician Carl Elsässer, who had suffered a stroke. A young singer by the name of Helen Mitchell (later
Nellie Melba Dame Nellie Melba (born Helen Porter Mitchell; 19 May 186123 February 1931) was an Australian operatic dramatic coloratura soprano (three octaves). She became one of the most famous singers of the late Victorian era and the early 20th centur ...
), who was later to form a close professional association with Lemmone, sang at the same concert.


International career

In 1887 and 1889, having changed his name, Lemmone toured Australia and Asia with soprano
Amy Sherwin Frances Amy Lillian Sherwin (23 March 1855 – 20 September 1935), the 'Tasmanian Nightingale', was an Australian soprano singer. Biography She was born at Forest Home, Huonville, Tasmania on 23 March 1855. She was taught singing by her mot ...
. He married Isabella Stewart in 1889 and over the next few years he again toured, with singers
Janet Patey Janet Monach Patey (''née'' Whytock; 1 May 1842 – 28 February 1894) was an English concert and oratorio contralto. She was born Janet Monach Whytock in London in 1842. She had a fine alto voice, which developed into a contralto, and she stud ...
,
Allan James Foley Allan James Foley (7 August 1837 – 10 October 1899), distinguished 19th century Irish bass opera singer, was born at Cahir, Tipperary. In accordance with the prevailing preference for Italian artists, he changed the spelling (but not the ...
and
Charles Santley Sir Charles Santley (28 February 1834 – 22 September 1922) was an English opera and oratorio singer with a ''bravura''From the Italian verb ''bravare'', to show off. A florid, ostentatious style or a passage of music requiring technical ski ...
, and violinist Pablo de Sarasate. Lemmone renewed his acquaintance with Nellie Melba in London in 1894. By this time, Melba was very well known in Europe, having sung at
Covent Garden Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
in 1888 and the
Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is opera ...
in 1893, and his contact with her further advanced his career. He accompanied her with flute
obbligato In Western classical music, ''obbligato'' (, also spelled ''obligato'') usually describes a musical line that is in some way indispensable in performance. Its opposite is the marking ''ad libitum''. It can also be used, more specifically, to indic ...
s at fashionable social gatherings and at Queen's Hall, London. He also performed with Adelina Patti in
Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no governm ...
, toured with her and in 1896 with Amy Sherwin in South Africa. When he returned to Australia in 1897, he changed career path and began work as a manager for international artists, including pianists
Mark Hambourg Mark Hambourg (russian: Марк Михайлович Гамбург, 1 June 1879 – 26 August 1960) was a Russian British concert pianist. Life Mark Hambourg was the eldest son of the pianist Michael Hambourg (1855–1916), a pupil o ...
and Paderewski as well as Melba. He also selected internationally known performers for the 1911 J. C. Williamson opera season. He continued to perform, however. At a reception held for him after his return from Europe, he performed so well that a critique in ''
The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...
'' reported: ''... the varying moods of the dreamy undulating motions of the Nautch girl's dance or the swirling rhythm of the Hungarian dance, the piquant action of the mazurka, the majestic sweep of a Russian hymn, the delightful trill of the nightingale, and the restless fluttering of the butterfly in a garden of roses are delineated by Mr Lemmone with a sweetness of expression and accuracy of tone, even in the most difficult bravura passages, that cannot fail to charm the hearer.'' Lemmone continued to perform as a soloist and even as late as 1938 performed on radio. However, management was his principal career and during the years of the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
he organised concerts in both Australia and England to raise money for the war effort, although taking no fee. His wife Isabella having died on 11 June 1943, Lemmone remarried on 28 September of the same year. In 1949 he died at
Darlinghurst Darlinghurst is an inner-city, eastern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Darlinghurst is located immediately east of the Sydney central business district (CBD) and Hyde Park, within the local government area of the City of Sydney. ...
in Sydney, aged 88 years.


Radcliff flute

Like John Amadio after him, Lemmone played a Radcliff flute that sounded like a Boehm flute but which had a different fingering system. When he died, his flute came into the possession of his friend and onetime student, the flautist and educator Victor McMahon. In turn, McMahon gave the flute to the
National Film and Sound Archive The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), known as ScreenSound Australia from 1999 to 2004, is Australia's audiovisual archive, responsible for developing, preserving, maintaining, promoting and providing access to a national co ...
in 1986. It is now held at the
Arts Centre Melbourne Arts Centre Melbourne, originally known as the Victorian Arts Centre and briefly called the Arts Centre, is a performing arts centre consisting of a complex of theatres and concert halls in the Melbourne Arts Precinct, located in the central ...
, Performing Arts Collection.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lemmone, John Australian classical flautists Australian accompanists Australian people of Greek descent Australian people of English descent People from Ballarat 1861 births 1949 deaths