18 Facts About Fanny Ronalds

Mary Frances "Fanny" Ronalds was an American socialite and amateur singer who is best known for her long affair with the composer Arthur Sullivan in London in the last decades of the nineteenth century and for her musical salons.

Fanny Ronalds was accepted into royal social circles and was a popular hostess.

Fanny Ronalds was much admired as a singer and became famously associated with one of Sullivan's most popular songs, "The Lost Chord".

At one magnificent ball that she gave in the early 1860s, Fanny Ronalds famously appeared dressed "as Music, in a white satin gown embroidered with bars from Verdi's Un ballo in maschera", wearing a harp-shaped, illuminated crown.

Fanny Ronalds developed a relationship with the wealthy Leonard Jerome, a notorious womanizer, but somehow maintained a friendship with his wife and daughters, including Jennie Churchill, who remembered Ronalds singing them to sleep.

Related searches

Fanny Ronalds often visited their home in Newport, Rhode Island, and when Mrs Jerome moved to Paris with her daughters, Ronalds followed, taking her younger children.

Fanny Ronalds soon met Arthur Sullivan during one of his visits to Paris.

In 1868, in the French courts, Fanny Ronalds obtained a legal separation from her husband, giving her control over their children.

Fanny Ronalds had continued to maintain her friendship with Jennie Jerome, who became Lady Randolph Churchill in 1874.

Fanny Ronalds later became friendly with Queen Victoria and Queen Alexandra.

Fanny Ronalds was still married, but even had she been divorced, Sullivan would not have been willing to face the social stigma of marrying a divorcee.

The 1999 biographical film Topsy-Turvy depicts Sullivan and Fanny Ronalds discussing an abortion at around the time of the production of The Mikado.

Fanny Ronalds often performed Sullivan's songs at her famous Sunday soirees.

Fanny Ronalds became particularly associated with one of his most popular songs, "The Lost Chord", which he composed in 1877 as he watched over his dying brother.

Fanny Ronalds became its most famous interpreter, singing it both in private and in public, often with Sullivan himself accompanying her.

Fanny Ronalds was active in charitable work for the Red Cross and received the Royal Red Cross among other honors.

When Fanny Ronalds died in 1916, at the age of 76, a copy of the manuscript of "The Lost Chord" was buried with her, at her request.

Fanny Ronalds was survived by her children, Pierre Lorillard Ronalds, Jr.