Adelina PattiAdelina Maria Patti
Operatic Singer
1843 – 1919 A.D.

Adelina Patti, an operatic singer of Italian parentage, born in Madrid, Spain. The daughter of opera singers, she was brought up in New York, where she was trained by Strakosch, and where her wonderful voice, when she was only in her seventh year, saved her family from poverty.

In November, 1859, she made her début in New York as Lucia, and in May, 1861, in London as Amina in La Somnambula, after which she was acknowledged one of the greatest artists of her day. Her success in all the European capitals was tremendous, partly because of her personal grace and charm as an actress, but mostly due to her voice, an unusually high soprano, of rich bell-like quality, and remarkable evenness of tone.

She frequently sang in New York where she was a great favorite, and in 1903 made an American concert tour, which showed that her vocal powers were only slightly impaired.

In 1868 she married the Marquix of Caux from whom she was divorced; in 1886 she married the tenor Niccolini, after whose death in 1898 she married Baron Cedarstrom.

She acquired a large fortune, and made her residence in her magnificent castle at Craig-y-Nos, Wales.

Adelina Patti was the first operatic singer in the world to be made a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor and European potentates vied with each other in bestowing upon her jewels, decorations and social distinctions.

Alexandre Dumas once said to her: “Being a man and a Christian, I love to listen to your singing; but if I were a bird I would die of envy.

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Reference: Famous Women; An Outline of Feminine Achievement Through the Ages With Life Stories of Five Hundred Noted Women By Joseph Adelman. Copyright, 1926 by Ellis M. Lonow Company.