Carlotta Patti (30 October 1835 – 27 June 1889) was an Italian operatic soprano who performed mostly in concerts. She was known for her extensive vocal range, reaching G♯ in altissimo. While not able to achieve her younger sister Adelina Patti's level of acclaim, Carlotta nonetheless received top billing in concerts in the United States, Great Britain, and Australia.[1][2]
Early life and family
Carlotta Patti was born to Salvatore Patti [it], a Sicilian tenor,[3] and his wife Caterina Barili [it], a soprano,[4] in Florence, Italy, on 30 October 1835.[5][a] After learning the basics of music from her mother, she studied the piano with Henri Herz before concentrating on a vocal career.[1][3]
Patti had unequal leg length.[b] Due to this condition she avoided operatic performances and preferred to sing on the concert stage.[5] Her lack of success in opera has been attributed to her physical disability.[1][2][8] Family friend and conductor Luigi Arditi lamented that, without that "fatal limitation [...] she would have been equally renowned with her sister."[9]
Her younger sister Adelina Patti was a famed soprano[1] whose second husband was tenor Ernesto Nicolini.[10] Their older sister Amalia, also a soprano, married pianist and impresario Maurice Strakosch.[4] Her brother Carlo (1842–1873) was a violinist[11] who married actress Effie Germon.[12] Through her mother's first marriage to Francesco Barili, a Roman musician,[3] Carlotta also had four half-siblings: Ettore, Antonio, Nicolo, and Clotilda.[13] Antonio, a music teacher, also taught Carlotta.[3]
Patti performed at the 1879 dedication of Central Music Hall in Chicago.[27] In December 1879, Patti was reported to be drunk during a performance in Leavenworth, Kansas, though she denied this, with her manager saying she had a cold.[28] She sued the Post-Dispatch for publishing an allegedly libelous article from the Leavenworth Times, asking for US$25,000 (equivalent to $817,500 in 2023) in damages,[29][30] and later abandoned the suit.[31]
Following her marriage to Ernest de Munck in 1879, she retired from public life and focused on teaching. Patti died of cancer in her home at Rue Pierre Charron, Paris, on 27 June 1889.[1]
^While various sources list her birth year as 1840[6] and 1842,[2] current scholarship has confirmed her birth date as 30 October 1835.[5][1]
^This limp occurred naturally.[7] However, it has been reported that Patti's physical disability was due to a fall, rumored to be caused by her mother[8] or her younger sister Adelina.[7]
^Referred to as Signor Scola, his name was Carlo Scola.[16]
^His name was frequently given simply as "Ulmann",[20] though his full name was Bernard Ulmann.[21]
^"Foreign News: Marriage of Carlotta Patti to Ernest De Munck Arrest of German Socialists at Boulogne, France British Forces in Close Pursuit of King Cetewayo A Band of Sicilian Brigands Captured After a Fight Particulars of the Recent Riots in Santiago de Chile The British Isles". San Francisco Chronicle. 4 September 1879. p. 2. ProQuest365509183.
^Ahlquist, Karen (1998). "Mrs. Potiphar at the Opera: Satire, Idealism, and Cultural Authority in Post-Civil War New York". In Saffle, Michael (ed.). Music and Culture in America, 1861–1918. Garland Publishing. p. 34.
^Stevenson, Robert (2004). "Teresa Carreño (1853-1917) Remembered on Her 150th Anniversary". Revista de Música Latinoamericana. 25 (2): 163–179. ProQuest222849702 – via ProQuest.
^"Mme. Patti's Wrongs: The Atrocious Story Published in Leavenworth–Cards from Mme. Patti and Her Manager". Courier Journal. 6 December 1879. p. 4. ProQuest1118675974.
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