This was her first appearance in public, and the pieces which she sang were "Casta Diva," and a selection from Auber's "Crown Diamonds." Her success in this concert was so great, that when the family returned to New York, she was placed under Signor Errani to begin her operatic education. She made rapid progress, and after several essays at the private theatre of Mr. Leonard Jones, she made a successful debut at the Academy of Music, singing the part of Amina in "La Sonnambula," and becoming at once a popular singer. This was in 1868, and later in the same year she made her debut in London. Under the management of Maurice Strakosch she made a tour through Holland and Russia, and was also well received in Vienna, in 1870, at the Imperial Opera House. In 1874, she was invited to join the Royal Opera House at Berlin, as leading prima donna, by the express desire of Emperor William and the Empress Augusta. Here she remained four years. In 1877 she appeared at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels, and in 1878 she returned to America. During the spring seasons of 1878 to 1880, she sang on alternate nights with Nilsson, at Her Majesty's in London. She made a brilliant record both in Europe and America, as a leading star of Her Majesty's Opera Company during the seasons of 1881-2-3-4-5-6, but of late years has not been heard in opera. Mapleson gives Miss Hauk credit for being one of the most capricious of prima donnas, and declares that he generally received three or four notes a day from her containing complaints or requests. She married in 1876 Chevalier Hesse von Wartegg, who has written some interesting books on Tunis and Algiers. CHAPTER VI. PRIMA DONNAS OF THE SEVENTIES. The decade beginning with the year 1860 was remarkably prolific in singers, producing not only the prima donnas whose careers we have reviewed in the previous chapters, but also some of the finest contralto, tenor, and baritone singers of the latter part of the century. With each decade we find the American singer more in evidence. We have had Clara Louise Kellogg and Minnie Hauk, the sopranos, Adelaide Phillips, contralto, and Annie Louise Cary, and the number increases as we proceed, until we find American singers standing on an artistic equality with the best that the world can produce. The decade of 1870 opens with a prima donna from the American continent,--a singer who has held her place in public estimation for nearly thirty years, Madame Albani. While she was not such a marvellous colorature singer as Patti or Gerster, she combined so many excellent qualities that she is justly entitled to a position among the great singers of the century. As one critic expressed his opinion, she was "beautiful, tuneful, birdlike, innocent, and ladylike," to which might be added, "always reliable."