Florence Austral

Florence Ausral was one of the world's greatest Wagnerian sopranos. Her debut at Covent Garden as Brunnhilde in Die Walkure -- a role which remained her most famous -- was described by one historian as a 'feat unparalleled in operatic history'. Her overwhelming voice, in the great Scandinavian tradition was captured on many HMV recordings. Tragically, she was struck by multiple sclerosis at the height of her career and finally forced to abandon the operatic stage for the concert hall. Her marriage to the Australian flautist John Amadio was fraught with fire and controversy and this biography reveals a woman passionate and yet capable of great self-control. She died in 1968.