Violet Oppenshaw

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Violet Oppenshaw
Born
Violet Ella Kay

(1888-06-03)3 June 1888
Bayswater, London, U.K.
Died21 June 1975(1975-06-21) (aged 87)
Havant, Hampshire, U.K.
Other namesViolet Webber, Violet Openshaw
OccupationSinger
RelativesHenry Kay (uncle)
Anton Dolin (cousin)

Violet Ella Oppenshaw Webber (3 June 1888 – 21 June 1975), born Violet Ella Kay, was a British contralto singer. Her stage name was sometimes printed as Openshaw.

Early life and education

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Oppenshaw was born in Bayswater, London, the daughter of Alfred Harvey Kay and Emily Jane Kay; her father was a military officer. Cricketer Henry Kay was her uncle, and dancer Anton Dolin was her cousin.[1] She attended the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and studied privately with Helen Armstrong, Pietro Neri-Baraldi, Allen Gill, and Henry Wood.[2][3]

Career

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Oppenshaw was a contralto singer, mainly heard in oratorio performances.[3] She made her London debut in 1907, at Aeolian Hall.[2] and sang at holiday concerts in Wales in 1909.[4] She was a soloist when the Western District Choral Society performed Handel's Messiah at Wormwood Scrubs prison in 1911.[5] "She is apt to get intensity of expression at the cost not only of the rhythm but the tempo of her music," a 1913 Birmingham reviewer said of Oppenshaw. "At present she is inclined to underline her favourite emotional effects a trifle too thickly."[6] The same reviewer in 1914 still found her "over-eager", but concluded that she was "a promising young singer."[7] In 1914 she sang at a London benefit for the Women's Emergency Corps.[8]

Oppenshaw can be heard on dozens of recordings between 1910 and 1917, including a 1917 recording of The Mikado by the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.[9][10] She was a member of the "Zono Minstrels" quartet, white singers performing British-composed "plantation songs" in recordings for the Zonophone label.[11][12]

In 1922, Oppenshaw sang songs by composers Easthope Martin, Landon Ronald, and May Brahe at the Enoch Ballad Concerts in Westminster.[13] She appeared on musical programs in Bournemouth in 1923.[14]

Personal life and legacy

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Oppenshaw married naval officer James Trery Webber in 1914.[15] They had a daughter, Margaret.[16] They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in 1974,[17] and she died in 1975, at the age of 87,[18] at her daughter's home in Havant, Hampshire.[19] The Guildhall School of Music and Drama has a Violet Openshaw Memorial Prize, for the outstanding contralto student at the school.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Dolin, Anton (1938). Ballet Go Round. Joseph. p. 203.
  2. ^ a b International Who's who in Music and Musical Gazetteer. Current Literature Publishing Company. 1918. p. 466.
  3. ^ a b "Today's Women: Violet Oppenshaw". The Buffalo News. 1931-06-03. p. 19. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Pontyberem". The Welshman. 1909-01-01. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  5. ^ "Prisoners Listen to Best Music; Choral Society Sings Handel's Messiah Before Curious Audience". The Victoria Daily Times. 1911-01-17. p. 13. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Theatre Royal: Promenade Concerts". The Birmingham Post. 1913-06-12. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  7. ^ "Theatre Royal: Promenade Concerts". The Birmingham Post. 1914-06-19. p. 6. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  8. ^ "Music in London". The Musical Standard: 292. 24 October 1914.
  9. ^ "Violet Oppenshaw". Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  10. ^ "The Mikado" (advertisement)", The Bystander (April 3, 1918): 33.
  11. ^ Brooks, Tim (2019-11-29). The Blackface Minstrel Show in Mass Media: 20th Century Performances on Radio, Records, Film and Television. McFarland. p. 90. ISBN 978-1-4766-7676-0.
  12. ^ "Violet Oppenshaw". Discogs. Retrieved 2025-10-27.
  13. ^ "Enoch Ballad Concerts". The Era. 1922-11-01. p. 7 – via Internet Archive.
  14. ^ "Winter Gardens (advertisement)". The Daily Echo. 1923-03-10. p. 5. Retrieved 2025-10-27 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ "Webber-Kay" (PDF). The Daily Telegraph. 25 November 1914. p. 1.
  16. ^ 1921 England Census, via Ancestry.
  17. ^ "Diamond Wedding". The Daily Telegraph. 1974-11-21. p. 36. Retrieved 2025-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ "In Memoriam: Violet Openshaw (Mrs. J. T. Webber)". The Daily Telegraph. 1977-06-21. p. 10. Retrieved 2025-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  19. ^ "Violet Ella Webber (Violet Openshaw)". The Daily Telegraph. 1975-06-24. p. 8. Retrieved 2025-10-28 – via Newspapers.com.
  20. ^ "Violet Openshaw Memorial Prize - Charity 325119-55". Charity Commission, UK. Retrieved 2025-10-28.
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