Lucy Charlotte Benson (1 March 1860 – 14 October 1943) was an Australian organist, musician and theatrical entrepreneur. She was a conductor, when all the rest in Tasmania were men.
Lucy Charlotte Benson | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Lucy Charlotte Westbrook 1 March 1860 Hobart, Tasmania, Australia |
| Died | 14 October 1943 Sandy Bay, Tasmania, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Known for | singing |
| Spouse | William Benson |
| Children | six |
Life
editBenson was born in Hobart in 1860. She was the first child of Fanny (born Lempriere) was a gifted singer and William Westbrook who was an auctioneer. She had a private education.[1] As a child she was the organist in three and later four different churches.[2]
She was the lead in H.M.S. Pinafore, eighteen months after Gilbert and Sullivan first published it.[1] The other actors included her aunt Emily Dobson and William Benson. She was involved in producing most of the Gilbert and Sullivan operettas. She married William Benson, who also sang, in the Hobart suburb of Bellerive in 1881.[2]
In 1905 she and her choir were given a civic reception in Hobart when they returned from Ballarat having won the championship of the Commonwealth. The choir included eight of her relatives.[1] She had won the gold medal.[2]
In 1926 she directed the comic opera The Toreador or How Sammy Gigg Won the Bullfight. Benson was a leading contributor to nearly every musical occasion in Tasmania for most of her life. She was an accomplished singer who had performed for the Duke and Duchess of York but she was an also a very well regarded teacher of voice production.[1]
Death and legacy
editBenson was still a church organist when she was 83.[3] She died in 1943 in the Hobart suburb of Sandy Bay. She is considered to be the first woman who was a conductor in Tasmania[2] and the probably the first in Australia to conduct opera.[1] The medal she won in 1903 is part of the collection of Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery.[4]
References
edit- ^ a b c d e Large, Diana, "Lucy Charlotte Benson (1860–1943)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 2024-08-06
- ^ a b c d Walters, Jessica (2022-04-05). "The Lady Conductor and the Score of 'The Toreador'". Libraries Tasmania. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
- ^ "Lucy Charlotte Benson - University of Tasmania". heritage.utas.edu.au. Retrieved 2024-08-06.
- ^ "Donations and acquisitions" (PDF). Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery annual report 2018-19. 2019 – via Tasmania Museum and Art Gallery.