The Glasgow courier. [volume] (Glasgow, Mont.) 1913-current, 1919-10-03
ADELINA PATTI, PRIMA
DONA. PASSES AW

y the prima dona, died this morning {
Craig-y-Nos castle, Penycae, Sout
Wales.
Nine. Adelina Patti reigned for 4
years as queen of singers.
Her marvellous voice thrilled tn
greatest contemporaries of her da,
The elder Dumas, the French drama
$ fist, once said of her:
Being a mar and a Christian
love to listen to your singing: but i
| were a bird l would died of envy"
She has tones so beautiful" sal
one eminent musical critic, "that the,
seemed to gush spontaneously from
the very mountaineering of voca
youth"
Nine. Patti inherited her talent.
Il am a child of the stage" she
has said, "being born during an oper
attic season at Madrid, Spain, in 1s43
My father, Salvatore Patti, a Sicilian
was a good tenor singer. My mother
a Roman, became a famous artist as
Signora Baril-the name of her first
husband"
Dwindling finances sent the Patti
family to New York when Adelina,
whose birth name was Adelia Juana
Maria Patti, was a baby. When she
was seven years old, her parents sud-
denly became destitute.
"In the emergency" the singer said,
my mother considered that | had
extraordinary vocal talent, and hit
upon the idea of bringing me out in
concert. And so l sang and soon won
bread for the family"
The child made her debut at Trip
Ter hall, in New York, singing arias
from the Barber" in 1850. She was
the juvenile prodigy of the day, and
nearly ruined her voice by overwork.
She appeared again at the age of Is.
After a tour through the West Indies.
she withdrew to prepare for the great
er career.
At the age of 16 she appeared in
the Academy of Music, New York, in
her first opera role, Lucia di Lam
mermoor." Her wonderful soprano
reused the audience to the widest en-
thusiasm, and her fame swept the
country. At this time she was earn
ing 500 a week.
She repeated her conquest as Am
in LA Sonnambula," in Covent
Garden, London, in 1861. Her salary
had increased to $3.50 a month.
1t was the beginning of a dazzling
conquest of all Europe. Royalty en-
tertained her and courted her favors.
populace besieged her hotels and
theatres. Men in all stations of life
wooed her, but she brushed them aside
with a laugh and trill. She finally
,apitulated at the age of rs to Henri,
de Caux, equerry to Napol-
III. They separated after a few
year, Nine. Patti finally securing a
in 1885 to marry Signor Err
1esto Nicolini, an Italian singer.
Her first American tour began in
lS8l-her last in 1908. She was
greeted by a magnificent ovation
when she made her first appearance in
opera in the New York Academy of
Music, the scene of her girlish tri-
lmph of 20 years before. She was
It the height of her career, and be-
anne the musical sensation of the
winter. The following year she sang
It the newly opened Metropolitan op-
ra house. Her guaranteed salary ,
vas $4,000 a highland it was paid. I
or Nine. Patti invariably refused to
ppear until the money was in her ]
ossessien.
Nine. Patti held the record as a
OK office star in operate circles. {
she appeared at a matinee in s
1echanic's hall in Boston in 1888, she t
aced an audience which had paid '
$4,000 to hear her. During a single a
our through South America she re- t
elved in salary and bonuses more
nan $3OO,O0O. 1t has been estimated n
she earned more than $4,000, 900 f
uring her singing career. t
She made her final appearance at g
age of IS in London. Her last
avs We're passed in Wales at her S
eautiful castle, "~Craig-y-Nos," with G
third husband, Baron of Cedar il
rom, whom she married in 1899. a n
ear after the death of Nicolini, is
Nine. Patti is reputed to have left a
estate valued at more than So, 0OO.-
10. She was the first operate singer C;
the world to be made a Chevalier S,
the Legion of Honor. She was dec a,
'ated by the z a of Russia with the CT
der of Merit, and was appointed by
m as First Singer of the Court" p.
uropean potentates We'd with each al
her in showering her with Jewels, S,
'corations and social distinctions, 81