Sarah Edith Wynne (Eos Cymru) (11 March 1842 – 24 January 1897) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...

operatic

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical female singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hz to "high A" (A5) = 880&n ...

and concert singer.

Early life

Wynne was born in

Holywell Holywell may refer to: * Holywell, Flintshire, Wales * Holywell, Swords, Ireland * Holywell, Bedfordshire, England * Holywell, Cambridgeshire, England * Holywell, Cornwall, England * Holywell, Dorset, England * Holywell, Eastbourne, East Susse ...

, Flintshire, the third daughter of Robert Wynne and Harriet Davies Wynne. Her father was a tailor. She toured in Wales at age 12 as a singer. She studied singing with Richard Scarisbrick in Liverpool and Pinsuti at the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, where she was Westmoreland Scholar from 1863 to 1864. She subsequently studied with Romani and Vannuccini in

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico an ...

. Her brothers Robert, Richard, and Llew Wynne, and her older sister Kate Wynne Matthison, were also singers. Actress

Edith Wynne Matthison Edith Wynne Matthison (November 23, 1875 – September 23, 1955) was an Anglo-American stage actress who also appeared in two silent films. Biography She was born on November 23, 1875, in England, the daughter of Kate Wynne Matthison and Henry M ...

was her niece and namesake.

Career

Her first appearances were in provincial concert halls and theatres. She made her London debut in June 1862 at concerts organized by Ellis Roberts, and sang soon after, on 4 July 1862 at St. James's Hall, in John Thomas's Welsh concert. Wynne sang in the United States with the Janet and John Patey 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 skill ...

in 1871-1872, and at the

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

Handel Festival of 1874. She also appeared in opera at

The Crystal Palace The Crystal Palace was a cast iron and plate glass structure, originally built in Hyde Park, London, Hyde Park, London, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. The exhibition took place from 1 May to 15 October 1851, and more than 14,000 exhibit ...

between 1869 and 1871 as Arline in

Wallace Wallace may refer to: People * Clan Wallace in Scotland * Wallace (given name) * Wallace (surname) * Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back * Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...

's ''

Maritana ''Maritana'' is a three-act opera including both spoken dialogue and some recitatives, composed by William Vincent Wallace, with a libretto by Edward Fitzball (1792–1873). The opera is based on the 1844 French play ''Don César de Bazan'' by ...

'' and as Lady Edith in Randegger's ''Rival Beauties'', but she was chiefly noted for her singing of

art song An art song is a Western vocal music composition, usually written for one voice with piano accompaniment, and usually in the classical art music tradition. By extension, the term "art song" is used to refer to the collective genre of such songs ...

and ballads, and her appearances at the Reid Concerts in Edinburgh. After her marriage in 1875 she increasingly devoted herself to teaching

oratorio An oratorio () is a large musical composition for orchestra, choir, and soloists. Like most operas, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an instrumental ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias. However, opera is mus ...

and ballad singing. She last sang in London in 1894.

Personal life

She married a Cambridge-educated Armenian

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, Aviet Agabeg, in 1875. They had two daughters, Isabel Myfanwy, who became a musician in adulthood, and Gwladys Edith Victoria, who died soon after birth in 1878. Sarah Edith Wynne Agabeg died at her home in London on 24 January 1897, aged 54 years, and was buried in

Hampstead Cemetery Hampstead Cemetery is a historic cemetery in West Hampstead, London, located at the upper extremity of the NW6 district. Despite the name, the cemetery is three-quarters of a mile from Hampstead Village, and bears a different postcode. It is j ...

References

External links

Portraits of Sarah Edith Wynne
in the

National Portrait Gallery (London) The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London housing a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. It was arguably the first national public gallery dedicated to portraits in the world when it ...

. * *Eryl Wyn Rowlands
"Sarah Edith Wynne"
at the ''Gathering the Jewels'' website *

George Grove Sir George Grove (13 August 182028 May 1900) was an English engineer and writer on music, known as the founding editor of ''Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians''. Grove was trained as a civil engineer, and successful in that profession, ...

(ed.), "Wynne, Sarah Edith", ''A Dictionary of Music and Musicians (A.D. 1450-1889)'', Macmillan & Co, 1900, Vol. 4, p. 818. {{DEFAULTSORT:Wynne, Sarah Edith 1842 births 1897 deaths Alumni of the Royal Academy of Music People from Holywell, Flintshire Welsh operatic sopranos 19th-century Welsh women singers 19th-century British women opera singers