Adelina Patti Suggest updates
Born Madrid, 19 February 1843.
Died Craig-y-Nos Castle, Wales, 27 September 1919.
Spanish-born Italian soprano.
Adelina Patti enjoyed a stupendous international career as one of the leading sopranos of her day, notorious for the enormous fees she was able to command.
She was the child of two singers. Her debut was in 1850, in New York, where she studied singing and piano. She first appeared on the operatic stage in New York as Lucia in 1859. Her breakthrough came with her Covent Garden debut (Amina 1861).
Her operatic career was centred on London and Paris, and she only worked occasionally in the USA and Italy. She gave the first London performances of Aïda and Roméo et Juliette. However her main repertoire centred on earlier composers - Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini, Meyerbeer and Verdi.
Patti does not appear to have sung in opera in Scotland. However, after retiring from the stress of performing in the theatre, she did tour on a number of occasions in highly remunerative concert parties and was seen by many Scots.
Money for value
The ticket prices for such concerts reflected her reputation. The price charged for tickets to these events, with no apparent difficulty in selling, ranged from the cheapest benches at 5/- to the most comfortable stalls at a Guinea each.
By comparison, most concert promoters at the time reserved 5/- as the price demanded for the most expensive seats.
