The following is extracted from Volume I of the 1986 edition of South African Music Encyclopedia (J.P. Malan, ISBN 0 86965 586 8)
ELIZABETH JACOBA (BETSY) DE LA PORTE, mezzo-soprano, born 16 June 1901 in Wolmaransstad, died 18 August 1977 in Johannesburg
A pupil of Madame Hodgson Palmer, Betsy de la Porte won the University of South Africa's overseas scholarship in 1924, entitling her to three years' study at the Royal College of Music. She entered the College in 1925, obtained the ARCM and LRAM in the following year, and later became the recipient of an operatic bursary for a further two years. While still a student, she started singing in public in London and the counties, making her first appearance in the Royal Covent Garden international opera season in 1928.
On the completion of her studies in London, Betsy de la Porte went to the Munich Academy, where for two years she studied operatic roles under Anna Bahr-Mildenburg, and was awarded the Munich State Opera Siploma for operatic roles and stagecraft. After her return to England in 1930, she sang for six years in opera seasons at Covent Garden and for two seasons in the Glyndebourne Festival. She also distinguished herself in operatic roles at the Old Vic and Sadler's Wells, in addition to singing at concerts, in oratorios and for broadcasting.
After her marriage to Mr WJC Tomlinson in 1935, Betsy de la Porte returned to South Africa, where she became known as a concert and radio recitalist and as an opera singer. Her invaluable service to South African music since 1936 needs to be mentioned with due appreciation - with unusual generosity she placed her musical and vocal talents at the disposal of South African composers (of whom WH Bell should be named), by regularly including a number of their songs in her recital and broadcast programmes, locally as well as overseas. The beneficient effects of this selfless policy on South African composers and their work as well as on the reaction of the public, have ensured Betsy de la Porte of the high esteem of all who foster South African music.
Revisiting England in 1947, she accepted an invitation from Benjamin Britten to join his newly formed English Opera Group. At theGlyndebourne Festival she created the role of Mrs Herring in his new comic opera Albert Herring, later appearing in the same role at the Scheveningen and Amsterdam Festivals, and at the International Music Festival in Lucerne. In 1954 she and Arnold van Wyk represented South Africa at the festival of the International Society for Contemporary Music, held in Israel. On this occasion, she sang Van Wyk's song cycle Van Liefde en Verlatenheid (Of Love and Desolation). After the festival she broadcast it on BBC3 and also in Belgium, Holland and Norway.
In the fourteen years between 1956 and 1970 Betsy de la Porte was highly regarded as a singing teacher and as a connoisseur of the vocal art. Among those who were trained by her have been Jan Schutte, Sarie Lamprecht, Rita Roberts, Doris Brasch, Elizabeth Heyns, Peggy Haddon, Anne Hamblin, Isolde Traut and Margaret Rodseth. Apart from her sympathetic and knowledgeable treatment of voices, she commanded an exceptionally broad repertoire which continually drew prominent singers to her studio for assistance in compiling programmes and in polishing their repertoires. She also owned a large library of solo vocal music, to which she continually added representative items. It contains a variety of mss. of South African vocal music.
In recognition of her services to music in South Africa, she was awarded the Medal of Honour of the Suid-Afrikaanse Akademie vir Wetenskap en Kuns (South African Academy for Science and Art) in 1958, the first singer to be honoured in this way. Her daughter, Elizabeth de la Porte, won the overseas bursary of UNISA for pianoforte playing in 1960 and used it for harpsichord study at the RCM and the Tonkunstakademie in Vienna. Since then two long-playing records of her playing have been made.
