“ Gifted with a brilliant soprano voice, Adelina Patti began her public career at the age of seven in the concert halls of New York, where in 1859 she also made her first appearance as Lucia in Donizetti’s opera, Lucia di Lammermoor. On the 14th of May 1861 she sang as Amina in Bellini’s opera La Sonnambula at Covent Garden, and from this time she became the leading operatic prima donna, her appearances in London, Paris and the other principal musical centres being a long succession of triumphs, and her roles covering all the great parts in Italian opera. ”