Camille
D'Arville (June 21, 1863 —
September 9, 1932), born Cornelia "Neeltye" Dykstra, was
a Dutch-born light opera singer and a vaudeville performer. She was a member of The Bostonians. (Her
surname is also found as Darville, d'Arville, and D'arville.) Neeltye Dykstra was from the province of Overijssel the daughter of Cornelius Dykstra, a merchant.
She studied music in Amsterdam, where she made her concert debut at age 14, and
pursued further training in Vienna. She changed her name to Camille D'Arville
soon after her opera debut in London. In London D'Arville was associated with
the Gaiety Theatre; she
appeared in the shows La Vie, Chilperic, Rip Van Winkle, Falka, Mynheer
Jan, Carina, and Cymbria, among others. She moved
to the United States in 1888. Her stage appearances included roles in The Queen's Mate (1888), Venus (1893), Oscar Hammerstein I's Santa Maria (1896), The
Belle of London Town (1907), A Daughter of the Revolution, The Bohemian Girl, Robin Hood, Madeleine, The
Highwayman, and The Mascotte. She
was associated with the Bostonians light opera company for some of these shows.
She was known for "cavalier" parts, in which female characters were disguised
in masculine hat, tunic, boots, and tights for part of the show. She wears a
military costume which is charmingly becoming to her, also a short curly blond
wig," one reviewer noted. In 1894, she headed the Camille D'Arville Light
Opera Company She retired from the stage after 1908, though she had
announced an intention to retire after her second marriage as early as 1900,
writing "I believe that any other woman who pursues a profession after her
marriage makes a miserable failure of it." Later in life, she worked
behind the scenes with the Reginald Travers Company, as a financial patron and
artistic advisor. She also purchased a large prune ranch near Los Gatos, California, in
1913. During World War I she was
president of Stage Women's War Relief branch
in San Francisco. She
was also president of the San Francisco Light Opera Company.