A mezzo-soprano who took the public by storm in the early sixties was Zelia Trebelli, or, as she was more widely known, after her marriage, Madame Trebelli-Bettini. No member of Merelli's Italian troupe was gifted with so brilliant a voice and so much executive power. Her appearances in the opera houses in Germany were a series of triumphs, public and critics alike being carried away by her voice, with its brilliancy and flexibility, and her control over it. Her early triumph was the result of long preparation, for her musical education began when she was six years old, and her vocal training ten years later. It was not until after five years of close application to study that she made her debut in Madrid, playing Rosina in "Il Barbiere," with Mario as Count Almaviva. For many years Trebelli-Bettini remained one of the best of the galaxy of opera singers which the operatic stage has displayed during the last half of the century. In 1884 she made a tour in the United States with Mr. Abbey's troupe. She was born in Paris in 1838, and died in 1892. Her proper name was Zelia Gilbert, which expanded and Frenchified into Gillebert and reversed gives Trebelli(g), the Italian name which has for some years appeared to be necessary for all those who wish to succeed in opera. When Gounod's "Faust" received its first performance in England, in 1863, the cast included Tietiens, as Marguerite; Trebelli, as Siebel; Giuglini, as Faust; Gassier, as Mephistopheles; and Charles Santley, as Valentine. Since the days of Alboni there has been no contralto singer to whom the adjective "great" could be so fitly applied as to Sofia Scalchi. She was born in Turin, and her parents were both singers. She made her debut in 1866 at Mantua, in the part of Ulrica (Un Ballo in Maschera), when she was only sixteen years of age. Her first appearance in London took place two years later, and from that time she remained a favorite in England, where she sang in the memorable season of "Cenerentola," and every season afterwards for more than twenty-five years. Madame Scalchi is well known in America, where she first appeared under Mapleson's management in 1882. She had been singing in Rio Janeiro, and reached New York after a stormy voyage of twenty two days, which left her in such an exhausted condition that she was incapacitated for a month, and her illness played havoc with Mapleson's managements. [Illustration: _Sofia Scalchi._]