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Adelina Patti

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Adelina Patti

Adela Juana Maria Patti, commonly known as Adelina Patti (19 February 1843 – 27 September 1919) was a Spanish-Italian opera singer. At the height of her career, she was earning huge fees performing in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her last performance before an audience in 1914. Along with her near contemporaries Jenny Lind and Christina Nilsson, Patti remains one of the most famous sopranos in history, owing to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the unmatched quality of her bel canto technique.

The composer Giuseppe Verdi, writing in 1877, described her as being perhaps the finest singer who had ever lived and a "stupendous artist". Verdi's admiration for Patti's talent was shared by numerous music critics and social commentators of her era.

She was born Adela Juana Maria Patti, in Madrid, the youngest child of tenor Salvatore Patti (1800–1869) and soprano Caterina Barilli (died 1870). Her Italian parents were working in Spain, at the time of her birth. Because her father came from Sicily, Patti was born a subject of the King of the Two Sicilies. She later carried a French passport, as her first two husbands were French.

Her sisters Amalia and Carlotta Patti were also singers. Her brother Carlo Patti was a violinist who married actress Effie Germon. In her childhood, the family moved to New York City. Patti grew up in the Wakefield section of the Bronx, where her family's home remains standing. Patti sang professionally from childhood, and developed into a coloratura soprano with perfectly equalized vocal registers and a surprisingly warm, satiny tone. Patti learned how to sing and gained understanding of voice technique from her brother-in-law Maurice Strakosch, who was a musician and impresario.

Adelina Patti made her operatic debut at age 16 on 24 November 1859 in the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Academy of Music, New York. On 24 August 1860, she and Emma Albani were soloists in the world premiere of Charles Wugk Sabatier's Cantata in Montreal which was performed in honour of the visit of the Prince of Wales. In 1861, at the age of 18, she was invited to Covent Garden, to perform the role of Amina in Bellini's La sonnambula. She had such remarkable success at Covent Garden that season, she bought a house in Clapham and, using London as a base, went on to conquer the European continent, performing Amina in Paris and Vienna in subsequent years with equal success.

During an 1862 American tour, she sang John Howard Payne's song "Home! Sweet Home!" at the White House for President Abraham Lincoln and wife, Mary Todd Lincoln. The Lincolns were mourning the death of their son Willie, who had died of typhoid. Moved to tears, the Lincolns requested an encore of the song. Henceforth, it would become associated with Adelina Patti, and she performed it many times as a bonus item at the end of recitals and concerts.

Patti’s career was marked by sustained professional success. She performed extensively in England and the United States, as well as in mainland Europe, including Russia, and in South America. Her appearances were widely attended and received significant attention from audiences and critics. In addition to her vocal abilities, her youthful appearance contributed to her stage presence and public reputation.

In 1869-1870 she engaged in tours through the Europe and Russia. Concerts in Moscow and Saint Petersburg were very successful and Patti repeated her Russian trips throughout the 1870s. In Russia, she made highly prolific friendships with the top echelons of Russian aristocracy, musicians, writers and intellectuals such Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Anton Rubinstein, Alexander Serov and Vladimir Stasov. In St. Petersburg, during seasons 1874-75s, Patti met Ernesto Nicolini (in future her second husband) for the first time. At that time she also became acquainted with prominent Russian historian Dmitry Ilovaysky and with his family. This friendship was to last for decades and Ilovaysky's cousin Stepan, the stalmeister of Tsar Alexander III even travelled to Wales to meet Adelina during the first half of the 1880s. Patti was also a teacher of Ilovaysky's daughter Varvara.

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