13 Facts About Rosina Palmer

Rosina Martha Hosanah Palmer was an Australian opera singer.

Musicologist Therese Radic wrote that although she was gifted, Palmer was constrained by her social position as a married woman, as was typical of her contemporaries.

Rosina Palmer Martha Carandini was born on 27 August 1844 in Hobart.

Rosina Palmer was the eldest of the five daughters of Jerome Carandini, Marquis of Sarzano, and Marie Carandini.

Rosina Palmer appeared in the opera Norma as Adalgisa when she was fourteen, in which her mother played the title character.

Rosina Palmer's husband was a cashier who later worked as an accountant in the Bank of Australasia.

Rosina Palmer initially had no interest pursuing a career in music and only appeared at charity concerts, but joined her mother's concert company on an extended tour of Australia, New Zealand, India and the United States as "circumstances [rendered] it necessary".

When Rosina Palmer and her husband moved to Melbourne in 1866, she continued her career as a singer, but did concerts in major cities instead of tours and was an oratorio singer.

Rosina Palmer sang solo parts with low pay in the Melbourne Philharmonic Society and the Liedertafels, as they it was considered improper for a married woman to appear on an opera stage.

Rosina Palmer later became a successful singing teacher and was praised by celebrities she sang with, such as Charles Santley.

Rosina Palmer's husband died 28 June 1928, before she died herself on 16 June 1932 in South Yarra.

One of her daughters, Emmeline Ida Louise Rosina Palmer, married Gilbert Wilson and moved to Brisbane in 1882.

Rosina Palmer became a soprano and was held in high esteem as "one of Brisbane's leading singers and [singing] teachers" at the height of her career.