Stella Power (soprano) - The Piper of Love (McDonald & Carew) (1922)

Stella Power sings 'The Piper of Love,' with piano by Madame Adami, recorded in Recording Room No. 1 at Hayes on 12 December 1922.
From Wikipedia: Tertia Stella Power (27 June 1896 - 16 January 1977) was an Australian coloratura soprano, a protégée of Nellie Melba. She has been referred to as the 'Little Melba.'
Power was born in Camperdown, Victoria...The family was closely identified with the Catholic faith.
She was educated at a convent, where her vocal talents were recognised, and she won a scholarship to Nellie Melba's Conservatorium singing school in Albert Street, East Melbourne, where she became a favorite of Melba, and according to one account, was dubbed 'the Little Melba' by Melba herself. Another has her given that cognomen while appearing at The Auditorium, Melbourne under the management of the Tait brothers, for her light soprano voice and wide range (B below middle-C to F and G in alt).
In 1917 she received an invitation from Melba, who was in America, to join her there. Her farewell concert at the Melbourne Town Hall on 26 November was well-attended and enthusiastic, and she arrived in San Francisco accompanied by her teacher Mary Campbell, a month later. Melba was there to meet them. She made her American debut in Philadelphia, then sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, followed by a tour with violinists Eugène Ysaÿe and Mischa Elman. Her tour ended in Los Angeles, to sing with Melba. While in America, she was recorded by Thomas A. Edison, Inc., and on a later tour of England she was recorded by His Master's Voice.
Melba returned to Melbourne in June 1918, shortly after Power...Power was the chief attraction of a concert at The Auditorium, applauded by public and critics alike. In August 1918 she had a second farewell concert at The Auditorium, again rapturously applauded, but critics found more interest in John Amadio's flute and the vocal contributions of Norman Bradshaw, Dorothy Murdoch and Frederick Mewton than Power's 'birdlike top notes and dainty trills.' Though it was billed as a farewell concert, she did not leave Melbourne for another year. She married William O'Rourke on 17 December 1918 and the couple left for a honeymoon in Cremorne, Sydney. She gave a series of Sydney concerts before taking a holiday in the Northern Rivers region. She had another farewell concert, at the Melbourne Town Hall-another triumph...then left for London via New York.
Her London debut was on 23 November 1919, when she appeared at the Royal Albert Hall with Landon Ronald's orchestra... Power remained in England for three years, touring provincial cities, at times sharing the stage with Jean Gerardy, Lauri Kennedy, John McCormack, Wilhelm Backhaus, and Jan Kubelík. She appeared at the Queen's Hall 24 times for Henry Wood, and the Albert Hall 49 times. She sang for Georg Schnéevoigt and the Society Konsert Föreningen in Stockholm, and the Christiania Philharmonic Orchestra and Bergen Philharmonic Society in Norway. She also sang with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the US. She returned to Melbourne in April 1923...
In 1926 she returned to America on a ten-year contract to Paramount Pictures to sing in picture theatres, touring for 45 weeks a year and performing four or five shows every day...Power returned to Melbourne in August 1934, ostensibly for a six-month break. Others assumed the ten-year contract was ended. She made many appearances for the Australian Broadcasting Commission, many accompanied by the flautist C. Richard Chugg.
In 1937 she gave live concerts on ABC radio 3AR with fellow-Melburnian Frederick Collier. Radio work for the ABC continued... With the outbreak of war she retired, 'to take care of her family' said one biographer...
Power died at a private hospital on Charmain Road, Cheltenham, Victoria. She was buried at the Cheltenham Memorial Cemetery.
I transferred this side from HMV E 285.