Victorian Vocalists

763 Pages·2018·108.155 MB·English

by  Kurt Gänzl

VICTORIAN VOCALISTS
Victorian Vocalists is a masterful and entertaining collection of 100 biographies of mid- to late-19th century
singers and stars.
Kurt Gänzl paints a vivid picture of the Victorian operatic and concert world, revealing the backgrounds,
journeys, successes, failures and even misdemeanours of these singers. This volume is not only an out-
standing reference work for anyone interested in vocalists of the era, but also a compelling, meticulously
researched picture of life in the vast shark tank that was Victorian music.
Kurt Gänzl is one of the most important chroniclers of the world’s history of music and theatre. His
numerous works on the subject include T he Encyclopedia of the Musical Theatre (1994, 2001), T he British
Musical Theatre (1986), The Musical: A Concise History (1997), Gänzl’s Book of the Musical Theatre (1988) and
biographies of such artists as Lydia Thompson (2002), Willie Gill (2002) and Emily Soldene ( In Search of a
Singer , 2007).

VICTORIAN VOCALISTS

Kurt Gänzl
First edition published 2018
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2018 Kurt Gänzl
The right of Kurt Gänzl to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him
in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any
form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented,
including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,
and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing- in- Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Gänzl, Kurt author.
Title: Victorian vocalists / Kurt Gänzl.
Description: First edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2017.
Identifiers: LCCN 2017016188 | ISBN 9781138103177 (hardback) |
ISBN 9781315102962 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Singers–Great Britain–19th century–Biography.
Classification: LCC ML400 .G32 2017 |
DDC 782.1092/241 [B]–dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017016188
ISBN: 978-1-138-10317-7 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-10296-2 (ebk)
Typeset in Bembo
by Out of House Publishing
For BETSY MILLER, who has spent much time in the
Victorian era with me in the last ten years

CONTENTS

List of figures xii

Preface xv

Ada Adini 1

Luigi Fernando Agnesi 3

Augusta Albertini 6

Giulia Amadei 12

Émilie Ambre 16

Mathilde Bauermeister 30

Giovanni Battista Belletti 37

Anna de Belocca 44

Emily Berry Greening 48

Abigail Betts 54

Charlott(e) Ann Birch and Eliza Birch 66

Pasquale Brignoli 82

Susan Bruce 90

vii
Contents
Arthur Byron 93

Enrico Campobello 99

William Candidus 120

Anna Giovanna Caradori 123

Rosalbina Caradori Allan 132

William Castle 151

Emilia Chiomi 156

Giuseppe Ciampi 162

Helen Condell 167

Rosa Csillag 174

Giuseppe de Begnis 182

Catherine Delcy 192

Ilma di Murska 197

Julie Dorus-G ras 204

Maria Louise Durand 213

Lucy Escott 219

Robert Farquharson 224

Rita Favanti 230

Guglielmo Fedor 237

Claudina Fiorentini 241

John James Frazer 249

Thekla Friedländer 257

viii
Contents
Émilie Gaveaux- Sabatier 260

Fanny Gordosa 265

Julia Gould 271

Elizabeth Greenfield 276

Charles Guilmette 279

Edna Hall 286

Laura Harris 290

Adelina Hirlemann 297

Gustav Hölzel 299

Priscilla Horton 304

Eliza Jones 318

Elena Kenneth and Susan Kenneth 321

Florence Lancia 330

Alberto Laurence 347

Luise Liebhart 351

Charles Lockey 361

Charles Lyall 365

Elizabeth Mascall and Mary Mascall 377

Michael Maybrick 382

Joseph Mengis 387

Sophia Messent 394

Mira Miran 400

ix