Butt, (Dame) Clara (Ellen)

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Butt, (Dame) Clara (Ellen) (b Southwick, 1872; d North Stoke, Oxon, 1936). Eng. contralto. Début London (RAH) 1892 (Ursula in Sullivan's The Golden Legend). Sang title-role of Gluck's Orfeo in 1892 at Lyceum with conspicuous success but thereafter pursued career on concert platform except for an Orfeo with Beecham at CG, 1920. Toured British Empire in ballad recitals with husband Kennerley Rumford. First singer of Elgar's Sea Pictures, Norwich 1899, and of the song version of Land of Hope and Glory, 1902. Also sang in his Spirit of England, 1916. DBE 1920.