Marjorie Lawrence

Marjorie Florence Lawrence CBE (17 February 1907 – 13 January 1979) was an Australian dramatic soprano, particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas.

Her life story was told in the 1955 film Interrupted Melody, in which she was portrayed by Eleanor Parker, who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Lawrence.

[1] Lawrence attended local schools, joined the choir at St Pauls Church of England and was a soloist by age ten.

Lawrence failed to gain a place at the Royal South Street competitions in Ballarat but went on to win the Sun Aria at Geelong in 1928.

[1] On 25 February 1933, she made her first appearance at the Opera Garnier in Paris, singing Ortrud in Lohengrin,[1] and in the same year she sang in the world premiere of Joseph Canteloube's Vercingétorix.

Lawrence's physicality and beauty made her popular with audiences – she performed the "Dance of the Seven Veils" in Richard Strauss's Salome[1] more convincingly than most other sopranos.

[3] Lawrence returned to Australia periodically from 1939, where English critic Neville Cardus wrote of the "'unselfconscious pathos' and 'intimate poetry' in her performances, of the 'superb range' of her powerful voice, 'rich in vocal splendour' throughout".

[1] A performance as Amneris in Giuseppe Verdi's Aida in Paris in 1946 was well received as were concert appearances of Richard Strauss's Elektra in December 1947 with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Artur Rodziński, but Lawrence left the stage, and instead began to work as a teacher.

[1] Lawrence died, aged 71, of heart failure on 13 January 1979 at St Vincent's Hospital, Little Rock, Arkansas, and was buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Hot Springs, where she had made her home for many years.