Clytie Hine/Mundy: From Adelaide to top London opera roles and famed singing teacher to the stars in New York
Adelaide University Elder Conservatorium graduate Clytie Hine (later Mundy) would appear in London opera in roles such as the countess in The Marriage of Figaro (above right) and became a renowned singing teacher in New York.
Clytie Hine (later Mundy) was an Adelaide-born and -trained operatic soprano who became a renowned voice teacher in New York to film/stage/opera stars including Alfred Drake, Nanette Fabray, Kathleen Ferrier, Celest Holm, Peter Pears and David Wayne.
Clytie Hine was an only child, born in Adelaide, South Australia, in 1887 to jeweller William Henry Hine and Mary McDonald. At 16, having studied piano privately since seven, she started studies with Bryceson Treharne at Adelaide University’s Elder Conservatorium. Her voice studies were under Frederick Bevan.
She graduated in 1908 with an AMUA (associate in music, University of Adelaide) and the next year travelled to London to study under Medora Henson at the Royal College of Music. On the strength of her performance in Schumann’s Genoveva at the college, she made her professional debut as Freia in Wagner’s Das Reingold at Covent Garden in 1911, with Denhold Opera Company. Hine later sang with Beecham Opera Company in roles such Nedda, Santuzza, Musetta, Elsa, Desdemona, Sophie and the Countess in The Marriage of Figaro.
Hine was soprano soloist in Edward Elgar’s incidental music for the 1915 first production of Algernon Blackwood’s The Starlight Express. While the production was developed, Hine and other soloists were regular visitors at Elgar's home.
In 1914, Hine had married John Mundy, a freelance cellist who worked with London Symphony Orchestra, Albert Hall Orchestra, Beecham Opera Company and elsewhere. They had two children in London: Margaret “Meg”, later an actress and singer, and John Hine Mundy, later a renowned medievalist and history professor at Columbia University, New York.In 1921, the Mundys left for the United States, settling in New York, and the couple became well known for joint recitals featuring early English music. Clytie Mundy also sang in opera in America and beyond while contracted to William Wade Hindshaw and her husband became principal cellist and orchestra manager for the Metropolitan Opera. He also collaborated with Edward eager on composing a musical comedy, The Burglar's Opera.
Clytie Hine Mundy retired from performing in the late 1920s, and became a renowned singing teacher. She maintained a private class of 25 vocal students, a choral class of about 20, two vocal quartet parties, and a women's trio. Among her notable students was Marge Champion, sent to Hine Mundy on composer Richard Rodger’s recommendation.
Tenor Peter Pears had been studying singing under Therese Behr (wife of pianist Artur Schnabel) but transferred to Hine Mundy in 1940. He had almost daily lessons with her and his partner/composed Benjamin Britten would often also attend as accompanist. Pears found Hine Mundy “a wonderful woman to work with, very sympathetic and forthright”.
Hine Mundy became lifelong friends with Pears and Britten. To help secure an American premiere of Britten's opera Peter Grimes in 1946, Hine hosted three private performances of excerpts at her apartment for Serge Koussevitzky (who commissioned the opera), Leonard Bernstein, Ralph Hawkes and others. Pears returned to Hine Mundy for some more lessons in 1948. Britten dedicated his setting of the song “Down by the Sally Gardens” to Clytie Hine Mundy, and his setting of the Scottish lullaby "O can ye sew cushions?" to her daughter Meg. They also named their pet miniature dachsund Clytie after her.
Mundy taught at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia and was musical adviser to the American Theatre Wing. Actors such as Kirk Douglas and John Forsythe studied speech with her. She retired in the late 1950s. In 1970, the Royal College of Music started the annual Clytie Hine Mundy Recital Prize, discontinued after her death in New York in 1983.
