Isabel Jay
Isabel Jay (
October 17,
1879-
February 26,
1927) was an
English opera singer and
actress, best known for her performances in
soprano roles of the
Savoy Operas with the
D'Oyly Carte Opera Company.
Early life and D'Oyly Carte years
Born in
Wandsworth,
London, Isabel Emily Jay began to sing in public at the age of twelve. She attended the
Royal Academy of Music where she came to be the first winner of the Gilbert R. Betjemann medal for operatic singing.
On leaving the Academy, in 1897, she joined the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company with a week-long trial at the
Savoy Theatre singing the part of Elsie Maynard in
The Yeomen of the Guard. She immediately became principal
soprano in a D'Oyly Carte touring company, playing the roles of Phyllis in
Iolanthe, Yum-Yum in
The Mikado, Princess Lucilla Chloris in
His Majesty, Aline in
The Sorcerer, and Mabel in
The Pirates of Penzance.
Jay joined the main company at the Savoy in 1898, initially understudying the roles of Gianetta and Casilda in
The Gondoliers, and soon took over the role of The Plaintiff in
Trial by Jury, winning a favourable review in
The Sunday Times. She also was cast in the small role of Aloes in
The Lucky Star in early 1899. She also filled in for Ruth Vincent as Josephine in ''
Pinafore.
Principal soprano
Late in 1899, when Ruth Vincent left the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company — turning down a comparatively minor role in
The Rose of Persia to make way for American soprano Ellen Beach Yaw to sing the lead Sultana Zubeydah — Jay was given the role of Blush-of-Morning. Then, less than two weeks later, when Yaw was released, Jay was promoted to the lead role.
Now the company's leading soprano, she played Mabel in
The Pirates of Penzance (1900), and Patience in the first London revival of
Patience, created the roles of Lady Rose Pippin in
The Emerald Isle (1901) and the Gipsy Woman in
Ib and Little Christina (1901), and played Phyllis in the first London revival of
Iolanthe (1901-1902). She left the company in 1902 to marry the African explorer Henry Cavendish.
West End career
After giving birth to her first daughter in 1903, Jay returned to the stage, taking over the soprano role in a hit production of Lionek Monckton's
A Country Girl. She then starred in one
West End production after another — eleven in all — over a period of seven-and-a-half years, including
The Cingalee (with
Rutland Barrington),
Veronique,
Miss Hook of Holland,
My Mimosa Maid, and
Dear Little Denmark. In 1905 she was invited to sing before
King Edward VII and
Queen Alexandra at
Chatsworth House, where the Queen presented her with a brooch.
Later that year she was hired by Frank Curzon, a theatre manager, who became her mentor. Her first role with Curzon was to star in the long-running production of
The White Chrysanthemum at
The Criterion in 1905. By the end of the following year, Jay had split up with her husband. For the next four years she starred regularly in Curzon's West End productions. Jay and Curzon married in 1910. After starring in the long-running
The Balkan Princess in 1911, Jay formally retired from the stage at only 31 years of age, but reappeared in a play of her own authorship,
The Inevitable, in 1923.
Early death
Jay's health began to deteriorate due to the effects of scarlet fever as a child, and she died, at the age of only 47, in
Monte Carlo in 1927, having been on a cruise with her husband. In recognition of her achievements, the Royal Academy of Music two years later instituted the Isabel Jay Memorial Prize.
Jay made a number of recordings between 1900 and 1906, mostly from her early musical comedies. She also recorded "Poor Wand'ring One" from
Pirates on three occasions, once in 1900 during the Savoy revival, and twice in 1904. One of the 1904 recordings is heard on the Pearl LP and CD sets "The Art of the Savoyard."
* Introduction by
Martyn Green.
*
Isabel Jay at Who Was Who in the D'Oyly Carte
*
Photographs
