Adelina Maria Patti was perhaps the greatest Italian vocalist of the nineteenth century.
Adelina Maria Patti was considered one of the greatest female vocalists of her time. Her pure, sweet soprano voice and radiant technique made fast fans of all who heard her. Her voice was considered small, but was noted for its wide range, evenness of production, and purity of quality. Besides her voice of exceptional beauty, range, and flexibility, she possessed rare powers as an actress. Adelina achieved great success in comedy and is often remembered for her role in Rossini's "The Barber of Seville".
Born on February 19, 1843, Adela Juana Maria Patti was the daughter of opera singers. Her father, Salvatore Patti, was a tenor, and her mother, Caterina Chiesa Barilli-Patti was a soprano. At the birth of Adelina, her mother lost her voice. This was such a tragedy to the family that they moved from Madrid, Spain, Adenlia's birthplace, to America.
When she was four years old, Adelina showed remarkable musical talent and took piano lessons from her sister, Carlotta, and vocal lessons from her step-brother, Barili and her brother-in-law Strakosch, who had great talent as a singer and had won considerable respect in the music world. These advantages, coupled with her inherited musical taste and ability, helped Adelina achieve the most and long continued training.
At the age of nine, Adelina appeared in concert with Strakosch and was an instant success. A series of concerts followed and Adelina received a share of the profits, giving her $10,000. In this series Strakosch and Ole Bull were instrumentalists. She was the child prima donna.
After several years of success in America, South America, and the West Indies, she made her operatic debut as Lucia in Gaetano Donizetti's "Lucia di Lammermoor" at the New York Academy of Music. After this she went to Europe with Strakosch, but the London manager would not even give her an opportunity to sing. As they were about to return to America, the manager of the Covent Garden Theater gave her permission to sing three times, but without pay. She made her first appearance in Bellini's "˜Sonnambula" and was adored by the public. Her triumph immediate, Adelina's career was to the people of London like a blazing meteor. After this debut, the way was opened to her in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and Russia. When she wasn't touring, Adelina was a regular performer at Covent Gardens, singing many roles in the operas of Gioacchino Rossini, Bellini, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Charles Bounod, and in several of the early operas of Giuseppe Verdi. In fact, Verdi at one time declared her "the greatest singer" he had ever heard.
In 1868, Adelina married Marquis de Caux in London. The marriage only lasted ten years and then the couple divorced. In 1886 Adelina married Signor Nicolini, a fellow opera singer.
Adelina was also a fine actress. Though to small of stature to personate the great characters of the highest style of tragic opera, she did excel in parts requiring archness and the art of flirting. She also met with success in roles of passion and sentiment, as in Donizetti's "Lucia" or Gounod's "Marguerite".
Adelina's farewell performance occurred at the Royal Albert Hall, London, in December 1906, though she continued to make guest appearances occasionally. She retired to Craig-y Nos Castle, which was her estate in Brecknockshire, Wales, until her death on September 27, 1919.
