The weekly Alaska citizen., 1919-09-29
FAMOUS SINGER
 PASSES BEYOND AT WALES HOME
PATTI PASSES AWAY AT AGE OF SEVENTY SIX; WAS ONE OF WORLDS GREATEST SOPRANOS; FIRST STAGE APPEARANCE AS CHILD OF SEVEN.


 ii. for 70 years the queen of all sing CTS, passed away at her home in South Wales this morning after several months of illness. The end was not unexpected. She was 76 years of age at the time of her death.
 Beginning her stage career at the early age of seven in New York, Mime Patti was one of the operas brightest lights for more than half a century. making her final professional appear ance in London at the age of 65 years During her career it is estimated that she earned $5.OOO.OOO on the stage.
 Mime. Adelina Patti reigned for 40 years as queen of singers.
 Her marvellous voice thrilled the greatest contemporaries of her days. The elder Dumas the French dramat- lst. once said to her:
 Being man and a Chritistian, l love to listen to your singing; but if l were a bird would die of envy"
 She had tones so beautiful" said one eminent musical critic. that they seemed to gush spontaneously from the very fOuntainspring of vocal youth"
 Mime. Patti inherited her talent.
 "i am child of the stage" she had said. being born during an oper atic season at Madrid, Spain, in 1S43 My father Salvatore Patti, a Sicilian was a good tenor singer. My mother. Roman, became a famous artist as Signora Barili- the name of her first ausband."
 Dwindlng finances sent the Patti family 10 New York when Adelina, whose birth name was Adela Juana Maria Patti, was baby When she was seven years old, her parents be- came suddenly 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 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 13 After a tour thru the West Indies, she withdrew to prepare for greater career.
 At the age of 16 she appeared in the Academy of Music, New York in her first opera role. "Luca di Lam- mer!noOr." Her wonderful soprano reused the audience to the widest enthusiasm. and her fame swept the country At this time she was earning $l00 a week
 She repeated her conquest as Amina in La Sonnambula" in Convent Gar den. London, in 1861. Her salary had increased to $750 a month.
 It was beginning of dazzling con, quest of all Europe. Royalty enter, talned her and cOurted her favors. The popuace beseiged her hotels and theatres. Men in all stations of life wOOed her. but she brushed them aside with a laugh and trill She fin. ally capitulated at the age of 25 to Henri. MarCuis de Caux. eQuerry to Napoleon III. They separated after few years. Mime. Patti finally se- curing divorce in 1885 to marry Sig nor Ernesto Nicloini. an Italian
 Her first American tour began in 1881-her last in 1903. She was greet ed by magnificent ovation when she made her first appearance in opera in the New York Academy of Music, the scene of her girlish triumph of 20 years before. She was at the height of her career, and became the musical sensation of the winter. The following year she sang at the newly opened Metropolitan Opera House. Her salary was $5.00O a night, and it was paid. for Mime. Patti invari- ably refused to appear until the money was in her possession.
 Mime. Patti held the record as box office star in operatic circles. When she appeared at matinee concert in Mechanics Hall in Boston 1888, she taced an audience which had paid S1S.90O to hear her. During a single toul thru South America she received in salary and bonuses more than s300.O00 It has been estimated that she earned more than $5,0O0,O0O dur ing her singing career.
 She made her final professional appearance in London at the age of 65. Her last days were passed in Wales at her beautiful castle. Craig y-Nos," with her third husband, Baron of Cederstom, whom she mar ried in 1899. year after the death ,f Nicolini.
 Mime. Patti is reputed to have left m octoto vo1,,nAf ok ,rooca khop nnn