Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 8: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
History
Great Men and Famous Women, Vol. 8: A series of pen and pencil sketches of the lives of more than 200 of the most prominent personages in History
Biography
Although it is not the custom to bestow titles or honorific
distinctions upon artists of the fair sex, yet, in lieu of these, to
such an extent have presents been showered upon Adelina Patti, that
the jewels which she has been presented with from time to time are
said to be of the enormous value of _£_100,000. In the year 1885, when
she appeared in New York as Violetta, the diamonds she wore on that
occasion were estimated to be worth _£_60,000. One of the handsomest
lockets in her possession is a present from Her Majesty, Queen
Victoria, and a splendid solitaire ring which she is in the habit of
wearing was given to her by the Baroness Burdett-Coutts. Of no less
than twenty-three valuable bracelets, one of the most costly is that
presented by the committee of the Birmingham festival. A magnificent
comb, set with twenty-three large diamonds, is the gift of the Empress
Eugénie. The emperors of Germany, Austria, and Russia have vied with
each other in sending her jewels of the rarest value.
When singing in Italy, King Victor Emmanuel each night visited the
opera for the purpose of hearing her; and at Florence, where the
enthusiastic Italians applauded to the very echo, Mario, prince of
Italian tenors, leaned from his box to crown her with a laurel wreath.
A similar honor was bestowed upon her by the Duke of Alba at Madrid,
who presented her with a laurel crown. At the opera house in that city
numbers of bouquets and poems were to be seen whirling through the air
attached to the necks of birds. Queen Isabella of Spain, gave a large
amethyst brooch surrounded by forty enormous pearls, and the Jockey
Club of Paris presented her with twelve laurel crowns. The citizens of
San Francisco, upon the occasion of her last visit, presented her with
a five-pointed star formed of thirty large brilliants, and from the
Queen of Portugal she received a massive locket containing Her
Majesty's portrait, enriched by an enormous oriental pearl encrusted
in brilliants; and even at the present time scarcely a day passes
without the "Diva" receiving some acknowledgment in recognition of her
transcendent powers.
Adelina Patti's first husband was Henri, Marquis de Caux, an equerry
to the Empress Eugénie, from whom she was separated and subsequently
divorced; and, on June 10, 1886, she married Ernesto Nicolini, the
famous tenor singer.
In appearance, Patti is still youthful, and really seems destined to
rival the celebrated French beauty, Ninon de l'Enclos, who was so
beautiful at sixty that the grandsons of the men who loved her in her
youth adored her with equal ardor. Patti's figure is still slim and
rounded, and not a wrinkle as yet is to be seen on her cheeks, or a
line about her eyes, which are as clear and bright as ever, and which,
when she speaks to you, look you straight in the face with her old
winning smile.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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