Lucy Arbell

Lucy Arbell (née Georgette Gall, Georgette Wallace) (Le Vésinet, 8 June 1878 – Bougival, 21 May 1947), was a French mezzo-soprano whose operatic career was mainly centred in Paris and who was particularly associated with the composer Jules Massenet.

Life and career
The father of Georgette was Edmond Richard Wallace (1840-1887), son of Sir Richard Wallace.

Arbell made her stage debut as Dalila at the Paris Opéra on 23 October 1903. She also sang there Amneris in Aida, Madalena in Rigoletto, Uta in Sigurd, Fricka in Die Walküre and Thérèse.

She had a close relationship with the late operas of Massenet, creating roles in Ariane (Perséphone), Thérèse (title role), Bacchus (Queen Amahelli), Don Quichotte (Dulcinée) in Monte-Carlo and Paris, Roma (Postumia), and Panurge (Colombe). She may have been a talented actor, but her voice was considered by some critics to be mediocre; the roles created for her included extensive passages of declamation, something not usually seen in the operas of the period. The critic Rodney Milnes describes Arbell as "gold-digging": her blatant exploitation of the composer's honourable affections caused his wife considerable distress and even strained Massenet's devotion (or infatuation as Milnes characterises it). After the composer's death in 1912, Arbell pursued his widow and publishers through the law courts, seeking to secure herself a monopoly of the leading roles in several of his late operas.

At the Opéra-Comique she sang Charlotte (Werther) up to the 1920s, but fell into oblivion after Massenet's death. As a singer she is described as having a strong, vibrant 'mezzo-contralto' and a vivacious personality.