Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/889

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872

PATTI— PATTISOX.

and other leading Conservative newspapers, and has published manv pamphlets.

PATTI, Adelina Mabia Clo- BiNDA, a popular operatic singer, daughter of Salvatori Patti, is of Italian extraction, and was born at Madrid, April 9, 1843. After a course of professional training under her brother-in-law, Maurice Strakosch, she appeared at New York, Nov. 24, 1859, and reports of her fame reached these shores, where a much more brilliant success awaited her. She made her first appearance in London at the Italian Opera House, Covent Garden, in the part of Amina, in '* La Sonnam- bula," May 14, 1861, and so favour- able was the impression ci^ated, that she became at once the prime favourite of the day. Whatever diversity of opinion may exist among critics as to the quality and management of her high soprano voice, the music-loving public were spell-bound by her combined at- tractions of person, manner, and artistic skill. Her versatility, too, was such that she was acknowledged to possess equal facility in the illus- ti*ation of impassioned tenderness, and in the assumption of the sprightly graces of comedy. To Amina succeeded her equally suc- cessful performance of Lucia, in Donizetti's opera, but she gave still greater reason for approbation by her representation of Violetta in the rather questionable opera of

  • ' La Traviato,'* to which she im-

parted a purity with which it had never before been invested. Her Zerlina was also much admired, while in Martha — insignificant as the opera is — she displayed so ori- ginal a vein of arch-comedy as to give an unwonted interest to the performance. It was, however, as Eosina, in *' II Barbiere di Siviglia," that her comic powers first shone forth in full splendour. MdUe. Patti, with laudable ambition, at- tempted, in the simimer of 1863, the diflScult part of Ninetta, in "La

[ Gazza Ladra," and her spirited ren- dering of the character fully sus- I tained her high reputation, which I was increased by her admirable I performance, botii as Norina, in ! " Don Pasquale," and as Adina, in "L'Elisire d'Amore." Undaunted by the success of rival celebrities who had preceded her, she, in 1801, took the part of Margherita, in Gounod's "Faust," and her per- formance was pronounced by some critics to be superior to that <^ every other representative of the character. She achieved a fresh success in the part of Juliet, in Gounod's "Eomeo and Juliet,** which proved the great attraction of the operatic season of 1867. MdUe. Patti has been equaUy suc- cessful on the Continent of Europe. In May, 1868, she was married, at the Roman Catholic Church, CIs^ ham, to M. Louis S^bastien Henri de Koger de Cahuzac, Marquis de Caux, from whom she was recently divorced. In the early part of 1870 she visited Russia, where she met with a most enthusiastic welcome, receiving from the Emperor Alex- ander the Order of Merit, and the appointment of First Singer at the Imperial Court. She has since achieved fresh successes both in Europe and America.

PATTI, Cablotta, sister of Ade- lina Patti, was for some time the leading vocalist in the United States. Her voice is described as " the highest soprano ever known," reaching to G sharp in alt. ; her powers of execution are con^dered extraordinary, and her style is essentially Italian. Owing to a physical disability, she has refrained from exhibiting her powers on the stage, but has achieved great suc- cess at concerts. In 1871 die gave a series of concerts at Lima, in Peru.

PATTISON. Thb Rbv. Makk, B.D., was born at Hornby, York- shire, in 1813, and educated at Oriel College, Oxford. He was elected a Fellow of Lincoln CoUege in tlmt