The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-02-19
OF ADELINA PATTI THE nfNdoRTAL
 QUEEN OF SONG.

Adelina. Maria. Clorinda Patti, the immortal queen of song and the most famous prima. donna in operatic his- tory, was born in Madrid, Spain, sev- enty-two years ago today, Feb. 19, 1843, and her natal day has won a permanent place in the calendar of musicians. The once incomparable song-bird earned with her voice more than four million dollars, and much of 1t she saved to comfort her in her declining years Mime. Patti and her husband, Baron Cederstrom, a Swe- dish noble, were in Austria at the outbreak of the European war, and for some time they were virtual prisoners in a Carlsbad hotel It was known that Mime. Patti sympathized with the allies, and on several occa- siens, it was reported, threatening crowds gathered about the hotel For several weeks the singer and her husband were detained in the hotel, which had been closed, and rnobs shouted and hooted at them from the outside. In September they were permitted to leave, but their male servants were detained as hostages, and Mime. Patti, after much difficulty made her way to Paris.
 Mime. Patti, although born in Spain had Italian parents. and became an American by adoption. Her father, Salvatore Patti, was a Sicilian of
 
 ed musician. The future prima donna was still a. babe in arms, and engag- ed in developing her lungs by crying very much like an ordinary infant, when the family emigrated to Amer ica.
 Arrived in New York. Salvatore Patti became one of the managers of the old Italian opera house in Cham bera street, one of the cradles of American grand opera. Adelina's s early instruction in music was re- ceiYed from her half brother, Ettore Barilt. The entire family was musi- cal, Mime. Patti's mother, Mime. BariIi, the daughter of a celebrated teacher of singing in Rome, having won much fame on the operatic stage.
 Patti's first public appearance was when. at the age of seven, she sang in concerts in a New York hall. Three-score years ago, when twelve years old, she began her active musi- cal career by making a tour of the West Indies. in the company of Gott- schalk, the pianist. In 1859 she made her first appearance as an | operatic singer in New York, in the Italian opera Lucia di Hammer moor" Two years later she began her conquest of Europe at the Italian 1 Opera House in Covent Garden, Lon- don In 1862 she went to Paris and
 
 the title role in verdi's La Jeann 1 d'Arc.''
 1 Everywhere she scored successes and the musical world soon crowned her queen of song. From 1881 to 1884 she toured North America, re- ceiving s5.000 per night, and later l she received the same remuneration ! on a, tour Of South America.
 Baron Cederstron, the young and handsome Swedish nobIeman, wor I the heart and hand of the famous singer about fifteen years ago. He l was the third of Patti's husbands Her first spouse was the Marquis de Caux, but he was g. spendthrift, and squandered his wife's earnings SC freely that she divorced him. Hel second marriage was the outcome ol a purely love affair with Ernestc Niccoini, the great Italian tenor, ant | the couple were models of domestic l devotion Patti was deeply grieveC when Signor Niccolini died.