Adelina Patti

A carte-de-visite portrait of Adelina Patti (1843-1919), one of the most celebrated opera stars of all time and a consummate actress capable of conveying the subtlest shades of emotion.

The Anglo-Italian performer was renowned for her performances of Lucia in Lucia de Lammamour and Amina in La Sonambula. According to the New York Evening Post (19 November 1886): ‘Of all living singers, she alone can execute the most difficult forms of music with the unerring precision of an instrument, and a beauty of tone which no instrument can rival’. Others described the unique tonal quality of her voice and the ‘vocal gymnastics’ that she effortlessly performed. At the age of 62 she was persuaded out of retirement in Wales to make a number of gramophone recordings, one of the first opera singers to be recorded.

Photographed by William and Daniel Downey of London and Newcastle.