Charlotte Sainton-Dolby

Charlotte Sainton-Dolby
By Henry Hering, c.1860

Charlotte Sainton-Dolby (1821-1885) was an English contralto, teacher, and composer. As a student at the Royal Academy of Music, she was awarded a King’s Scholarship and was one of the founder-members of the Royal Society of Female Musicians. She made her solo début at the Philharmonic Society concert in April 1842, a performance that impressed Felix Mendelssohn so much that he secured her an engagement at the Leipzig Gewandhaus Concerts in winter 1845. Additionally, he dedicated the English edition of his Six Songs, Op. 57 to Sainton-Dolby and wrote the contralto part of Elijah for her voice. After a successful run of concerts in Leipzig, Sainton-Dolby toured France and the Netherlands before returning to Britain, where she was in demand as a ballad and oratorio singer.

During the 1850s, she began publishing numerous simple ballads and arrangements. Around 1870, she retired from public performance and focused on composing and teaching. Her Tutor for English Singers was published in 1872, the same year she opened a Vocal Academy. Students in her academy performed her works frequently in London, including her ambitious cantatas. The Royal Academy of Music founded a scholarship in her memory.