Dora Labbette

[7] She made her operatic debut under her own name in Oxford in 1934, in Rameau's Castor et Pollux,[8] which was followed in March 1935 by Gounod's Romeo and Juliet with Heddle Nash for the London and Provincial Opera Society, with John Barbirolli conducting.

[9] Beecham, publicising Covent Garden's autumn 1935 season, announced that it would include "the first appearance in this country of an outstanding Italian soprano, Lisa Perli", singing the role of Mimì in La bohème.

Before very long, though, it was an open secret amongst musical London and the press that the newly discovered singer was in fact Labbette, wearing a blonde wig and using the mock-Italian name "Lisa Perli", after her birthplace, Purley.

[10][11][12][13] When the hoax was revealed, The Gramophone published a short verse which included the lines: In a later interview, Labbette explained that she had found it impossible to break out of the concert and oratorio repertoire into opera.

Labbette made many gramophone records, including the first complete Messiah, conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham, with whom she had an affair lasting thirteen years, which produced a son, Paul.

[18] World War II cut short her London career,[3] and her last operatic performances were on tour with the Carl Rosa Opera Company.