Emma Albani

A cabinet card portrait of the Canadian soprano Emma Albani (1847-1930).

Born Marie-Louise-Emma-Cécile Lajeunesse in Chambly, Quebec, her father, Joseph Lajeunesse, was a professional musician. She began her musical studies with her father at the age of four, then was in a convent between 1858 and 1865 (her mother having died in 1856). She and her family moved to Albany, New York, where she became a popular singer. By 1868 she had raised enough money to study in Europe. She studied in Paris under the retired tenor Gilbert-Louis Duprez before leaving for Italy. At this point she changed her last name from Lajeunesse to Albani.

She made her operatic debut on 30 March 1870 at Messina, playing Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula. She was immediately invited to Malta to appear for the winter season, where she appeared in La Sonnambula, Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, Meyerbeer's Roberto il Diavolo and L'Africaine, and Rossini's Il Barbiere di Siviglia.

The following year, Frederick Gye, the manager of London’s Covent Garden, signed Emma to a 5-year contract. She made her London debut on 2 April 1872 as Amina. During the 1872-73 London season she appeared as Ophélia in Hamlet and as the Countess in Le Nozze di Figaro, both to great acclaim. Tours to Russia and America soon followed.

During the American tour she was accompanied by Frederick Gye’s son, Ernest, and the two fell in love. They were married at the Bavarian chapel, London, on 6 August 1878, and the following year Emma gave birth to a son, who was christened Frederick-Ernest Gye.

She joined the Abbey-Graw touring company in 1889, making her official debut at the Metropolitan Opera as Gilda in Rigoletto on 23 December 1891. During the 1891-92 season, she appeared in Faust, Don Giovanni (as Donna Elvira), Les Huguenots (as Valentine), and The Flying Dutchman.

Her last operatic performance was at Covent Garden as Valentine in Les Huguenots on 24 July 1896, but she continued to appear in concerts, visiting Canada in 1901, 1903, and 1906. Her last public performance was at the Albert Hall in London on 14 October 1911.

In 1925, Emma Albani was made a Dame Commander of the British Empire, but in the same year Ernest died and she began to sink into poverty. Benefit concerts raised enough money for her to live comfortably until her death on 3 April 1930. She was buried next to her husband in London’s Brompton Cemetery.

Photographed by the London Stereoscopic Company.