La transparencia de las Conferencias sectoriales

The initiative of Prof. Erik Chisholm of the SACM together with the Rhodesian Music Societies made it possible for the UCT Opera Company, as it was now known, to undertake a tour of Southern Rhodesia between 4 and 21 February 1953. There were eighteen performances in four towns: Umtali, Salisbury, Gwelo and Bulawayo. Five operas were performed, in all of which Nellie du Toit sang the leading role: Lauretta in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi, Serpina in Pergolesi’s La serva padrona and Susanna in Wolf-Ferrari’s Il segreto di Susanna. In Menotti’s double-bill The Telephone and The Medium she sang Lucy and Monica respectively (Programme 1953).

Her co-artists were, among others, Noreen Berry, Jeanette Schatz, Ernest Dennis and producer Gregorio Fiasconaro. Prof. Erik Chisholm conducted a small orchestral ensemble. Désirée Talbot comments that “everyone sang almost every night.

It was tough but wonderful training because you simply had to learn a superb technique on which you could rely come hell or high water”(Talbot 1978: 37-38). Nellie du Toit experienced the tour as “hot and stressful” (Du Toit 2001c).

Again the press spoke highly about Du Toit’s performances and of the productions in general. The critic T.Y.L. (1953) of the Umtali Post comments on her fine soprano voice of great sweetness and power and said that she showed versatility as an actress. He furthermore mentioned her beautiful upper register and the joy of listening to her pianissimo passages. For the critic N.C. (1953) from the Umtali Post Du Toit once more was “her usual commendable best”. She showed her customary technical skill, and “her voice spun a pattern of lyrical charm that would be difficult for any critic to unravel”. The Salisbury critic M.B.C. (1953) comments on her charming performance and the remarkable power of her voice. He classified her acting as first rate. Patrick Quirke (1953) also mentions Nellie du Toit’s beautiful voice and that she sang with artistry and feeling.

3.2 GREAT BRITAIN: 1953–1954

After her return from Rhodesia, Du Toit prepared for her trip to England where she planned to further her studies in singing. The fact that few opportunities were available in South Africa for young musicians except in teaching, made Du Toit opt for broadening her experience overseas where she would be exposed to healthy competition and would have to work hard to prove her abilities. To achieve this goal, auditions were unavoidable (Bender 1954).

On 8 March 1953, shortly before leaving South Africa, Du Toit gave a recital in Pretoria of a selection of lieder and operatic arias. Judith Brent-Wessels accompanied her on the piano (Alexina 1953). On 15 March 1953 Nellie du Toit boarded the “Zuiderkruis” in Cape Town on her way to England (Talbot 1978: 38)1. Since she did not have a bursary she practically went “on her own steam” and left with one hundred pounds in her pocket. Her parents also supported her (Du Toit 2001a).

1 _{A dinner Menu from the Zuiderkruis, dated 31 March and signed by passengers wishing her well, possibly indicates the last day}

New singing teacher, auditions and competition

On her arrival in London Du Toit immediately had to seek employment other than singing to earn a living and subsequently for six months worked for The Reader’s Digest. In the meantime, the South African soprano Emma Renzi2 introduced Du Toit to the Russian soprano Oda Slobotskaya who in turn introduced Du Toit to another Russian singer, Tatiana Makushina, who worked with Du Toit on repertoire and roles. Du Toit was also coached by Geoffrey Parsons and by Bryan Balkwill, répétiteur and associate conductor from Glyndebourne (Du Toit 2001c). In this period Du Toit auditioned for the Arts Council of Great Britain3. She was accepted as first lyrical soprano in the newly formed “Grand Opera Group” of the Arts Council of Great Britain, whose tours of England, Scotland and Wales would commence in November 1953. Du Toit was to sing the roles of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and Clorinda in Rossini’s La cenerentola (Unidentified author 1953a).

While in England, Du Toit took the opportunity to participate in an international singing competition in Lausanne, Switzerland in 1953. This effort was a golden opportunity to compare herself with other young singers. However, she did not make it into the final rounds. While in Switzerland she also auditioned for the conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler in Zurich (Du Toit 2002d).

South African fellow students

In London Du Toit at first lived at No. 36 Queensborough Terrace, Bayswater Road4. She shared lodgings with fellow South Africans, the pianists Laura Searle and Ian Smith who would be her piano accompanists in certain stages of her singing career (Du Toit 2001c). Later Nellie du Toit shared a house with Noreen Berry at No. 9 Hammersmith Terrace, a house equipped with two grand pianos. The actor Michael Redgrave also lived in the same street which overlooked the Thames (Du Toit 2001b). The South African composer Hubert du Plessis, who was studying with the composer and pianist Howard Ferguson at that time, also met Du Toit at Ferguson’s home in London (Du Plessis 2001).

2 _{See Appendix X.}

3 _{The Arts Council of Great Britain is an organization incorporated in the Royal Charter in 1948 to take the place of the wartime}

Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts and to administer the subsidies granted by the state to artistic enterprises (Raynor 1980: 646).

4 _{Now the Byron Hotel, 36/38 Queensborough Terrace. The composer Sir William Sterndale Bennet (1816-1875) lived there}

During that time Du Toit made the acquaintance of the South African pianist Hennie Joubert5, who had come to London from South Africa in the middle of 1953 to further his piano studies. This is when their close musical collaboration started. When he was rehearsing his piano concertos, Nellie du Toit would play the accompanying orchestral part on the piano (Du Toit 1998). He in turn accompanied her when she needed a pianist for auditions. Joubert would later become Du Toit’s long-standing and much valued accompanist. In fact, according to Jacobs (1994: 3-4), meeting and accompanying Nellie du Toit laid the seeds for his decision to become an accompanist.

Du Toit’s versatility at the piano stood her in good stead, as she could study all her repertoire by herself without the need of a coach. Furthermore, the ability to accompany her singing students in the teaching studio would, in later years, become an invaluable asset.

Opera tour

Nellie du Toit’s six-month tour contract (Du Toit 2001a) with the “Grand Opera Group” of the British Arts Council stretched from November 1953 to April 1954. It commenced with a fourteen-week tour of England, Scotland and Wales in the fall of 1953. According to an article by Anna Bender in Rooi Rose of December 1955, Du Toit on these tours performed about five evenings per week in about sixty different towns.

The tour programme consisted of extracts (arias, duets and ensembles) from various operas sung to piano accompaniment. The Australian pianist Geoffrey Parsons, was the accompanist and Bryan Balkwill acted as second coach and accompanist6. Du Toit’s singing colleagues on this tour included the mezzo-soprano Patricia Kern, (the sister of Terence Kern, who would later become a conductor in South Africa) and the tenor Dermot Troy.

From a few newspaper clippings in Du Toit’s journal of press clippings, it can be seen that the company performed all over Great Britain in excerpts from favourite operas such as Puccini’s La bohème, Madama Butterfly and Verdi’s Il trovatore.

5 _{Hendrik Johannes (Hennie) Joubert (1926-1986) studied music, with piano and organ, at the University of Stellenbosch. He}

continued his studies in Zurich (1947-1951) and London (1953-1954). Joubert lectured at the Universities of Potchefstroom and Stellenbosch (1951-1953), was Head of the Dutch Reformed Church Music School in Heidelberg (Transvaal) and vice-director of the Pretoria Conservatoire of Music from 1960 to 1964. He then became piano lecturer at the Academy of Music of the University of Pretoria. An examiner for UNISA since 1959, he became Director of Music Exams at UNISA in 1967, a post which he held until his death at the age of sixty in a motor accident. Apart from performing as piano and organ soloist he specialised as accompanist, working with South African singers such as Mimi Coertse, Hanlie van Niekerk, Emma Renzi, Joyce Barker as well as singers from abroad. He was music critic for the Pretoria daily Hoofstad after 1967 (Malan [ed.] 1984a: 58-60).

According to The Berwick Journal (Unidentified author 1953b) there were also ensembles by Mozart, Donizetti, Rossini and Smetana, all acted in costume. Du Toit also sang the role of Fiordiligi in Mozart’s Così fan tutte and the role of Clorinda in Rossini’s La cenerentola. In general, this opera tour was met with much acclaim from the critics.

Nellie du Toit’s last concert in Great Britain must have been in early April 1954. A programme of sports and entertainment from the Carnarvon Castle (voyage No. 135) from Southampton to Cape Town, dated 15 April 1954, indicated Nellie du Toit’s return to South Africa around that time after a sojourn of over a year in England. The reason for her return to her fatherland was that she didn’t consider making a career in England and had no financial backing for a longer stay.