A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Catalina, Angelica
CATALINA, ANGELICA,
By marriage Valabrèque, a celebrated singer, was born in 1784, at Sinigaglia, in the Ecclesiastical States, and educated at the convent of St. Lucia, near Rome. Angelica displayed, in her seventh year, such wonderful musical talents, and such multitudes came to hear her, that the magistrates prohibited her singing longer in the convent. But the favour of a cardinal, and the love of the celebrated Bosello, enabled her to cultivate her talents. When fourteen, she appeared in the theatres at Venice and other Italian cities. She was afterwards for five years at Lisbon. Her first concert at Madrid gained her more than 15,000 dollars; and from her concerts in Paris her fame spread all over Europe. In London, she received, the first year, a salary of 72,000 francs, and the next, 96,000 francs; besides the immense sums she obtained from her journeys through the country towns. In 1817, she undertook the direction of the Italian opera in Paris, but left it on the return of Napoleon, and resumed it on the restoration of the king. In 1816, she visited the chief cities of Germany and Italy. She passed the most of her time in travelling and singing throughout Europe, till about 1830, when she retired to an estate in Italy, where she lived very much secluded. She was married to M. Valabrèque, formerly a captain in the French service, by whom she had several children. She was a handsome woman and a good actress. Her voice was wonderful from its flexibility and brilliancy. She died in June, 1849.