oldrags:Adelina Patti by James Sant, ca 1886, National Portrait Gallery, LondonThe Italian opera
oldrags: Adelina Patti by James Sant, ca 1886, National Portrait Gallery, London The Italian opera singer Adelina Patti, the last of the line of great coloratura sopranos, made her London debut on 14 May 1861 at the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden, as Amina in Bellini’s La Sonnambula. In this and other roles, particularly that of Rosina in The Barber of Seville, she delighted audiences throughout Europe and in North and South America. Her public career lasted nearly sixty years and is virtually without parallel. -- source link