Anna Russell , the prima donna of operatic parody who claimed to have begun her career as '' leading soprano of the Ellis Island Opera Company , '' who said she learned to play the French horn from an article in the Encyclopaedia Britannica , and who gave indelibly grating performances of a song she identified as Blotz 's '' Schlumpf '' to demonstrate what it is like to sing with '' no voice but great art , '' died on Wednesday in Bateman 's Bay , New South Wales , Australia .