From the 1890s, Melba played a wide range of parts at Covent Garden, mostly in the lyric soprano repertoire, but with some heavier roles also. She sang the title roles in Herman Bemberg's "Elaine" and Arthur Goring Thomas's "Esmeralda". Her Italian parts included Gilda in "Rigoletto", the title role in "Aida", Desdemona in "Otello", Luisa in Mascagni's "I Rantzau", Nedda in "Pagliacci", Rosina in "The Barber of Seville", Violetta in "La traviata", and Mimì in "La bohème". In the French repertoire, she sang Juliette in "Roméo et Juliette", Marguerite in "Faust", Marguerite de Valois in "Les Huguenots", the title role in Saint-Saëns's "Hélène", which was written for her, and Micaëla in "Carmen".