Patti, Adelina, Baroness Cederström (1843-1919)

Patti, Adelina, Baroness Cederström

SINGER (ITALY)

BORN 19 Feb 1843, Madrid - DIED 27 Sep 1919, Upper Swansea Valley, Breconshire: Craig-y-nos
BIRTH NAME Patti, Adela Juana Maria
GRAVE LOCATION Paris: Père Lachaise, Rue du Repos 16 (division 04, ligne 01)

Adelina Patti was the last child of Italian tenor Salvatore Patti (1800-1869) and soprano Caterina Barilli (d.1870). Her parents were working in Madrid at the time she was born. Like her, her sisters Amalia and Carlotta Patti would become singers and her brother Carlo was a violinist who married the actress Effie Germon.

As a child she moved with her parents to New York City and she grew up in Wakefield, The Bronx. She sang professionaly from an early age and in 1859 she debuted at the Academy of Music in New York as Lucia in Donizetti´s "Lucia di LAmmermoor". In 1860 she and Emma Albani sang at the world premiere of C.W. Sabatier's Cantata in Montreal and in 1861 she debuted in Covent Garden, London. She was so successful that she settled in Clapham, London and went on to perform in Paris and Vienna.

In 1862 she sang "Home, Sweet Home" at the White House for president Lincoln. In later years she often performed the song as an encore. During the 1860s her voice was sweet and high and by 1878 her lower notes had become fuller. In later years she became more conservative and carefully selected material that suited her voice. During the most successfull part of her career she demanded high fees and her name had to be toop of the bill and larger printed than other names of the cast. In 1868 she sang together with Marietta Alboni at Rossini's funeral.

In 1868 she married Henri de Roger de Cahusac, Marquess of Caux (1826-1889) but the marriage failed. They separated in 1877 and divorced in 1885. She had lived for several years with the French tenor Ernesto Nicolini (1834-1898) at Craig-y-Nos, a large Victorian house in Wales that she had bought in 1878. She married Nicolini in 1886 and this marriage lasted until his death. He had cut her out of his will, suggesting that there was trouble before he died. In 1899 she married the Swedish Baron Rolf Cederström (1870-1947) and he became her sole heir.

In 1903 her last tour in the USA failed because her voice had detoriated and from then on she only performed occasionally. She lived in Craig-y-Nos where she had a private theatre. Her last public performance was during a concert for the Red Cross in October 1914 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. She died in 1919 and was buried at Père Lachaise in Paris.

Family
• Mother: Barili-Patti, Caterina
• Father: Patti, Salvatore
• Sister: Patti, Carlotta
• Sister: Patti, Amelia

Related persons
• visited Collard, Charles Lukey
• cooperated with Krebs-Brenning, Mary
• employed Strakosch, Maurice
• was admired by Verdi, Giuseppe
• was advised by Visetti, Alberto
• was painted by Winterhalter, Franz Xaver

Images
The grave of Adelina Patti at Père Lachaise, Paris. Picture by Androom (24 Oct 2014)	Adelina Patti painted by Károly Markó.