Theoretically the uses of poverty are many, tending to the development
of varied virtues. As a matter of fact, poverty is the mother of much
meanness and many crimes. The struggle for mere existence among the
poor is so keen that it absorbs their mental and physical vitality.
So it is that he or she who passes from the twilight of penury into
the sunlight of prosperity must be rarely gifted. Such an individual
is Adelina Patti, whose fame as a great singer is not only yet
undimmed, but bids fair to last as long as music itself. Patti was
born in Madrid, Spain, February 19, 1843, her mother being a prima
donna at the Grand theater. In 1844 the family came to this country,
the father being appointed one of the managers of the then Italian
opera house on Chambers street, New York. Little Adelina received
her preliminary musical training from her half-brother, Ettore
Barilli. Owing to the financial stresses in which her parents then
were, she, although only seven years of age, was allowed to make her
début in concert at Tripler’s hall, New York, on which occasion her
undeveloped but phenomenal voice attracted general attention. In 1859
she made her début in grand opera at the Academy of Music, New York,
when she appeared in Lucia di Lammermoor. Her audience gave her a
most cordial welcome. But, as it turned out, her struggles were only
beginning. As far as the mere cultivation of her voice was concerned,
her natural gifts were of such a nature that she had no difficulty
in overcoming the technical obstacles of her art, but the spirit of
jealousy and suspicion which success usually arouses in the breasts
of the unknown, prevented her talents from being duly recognized, or,
to put it in another way, she was so belittled by her rivals that she
had to individually satisfy every great city in America that she had
not been overrated. Patti was deeply wounded by these unlooked-for
conditions, but nevertheless she bravely faced the sneers and unkind
criticisms and overcame them, and for many years has occupied a place
in the estimation of the public, which probably no other prima donna
in the history of civilization has attained. Twice during her career
she has been threatened with the total loss of her voice, but happily
the “nightingale in her throat” is as yet unsilenced. To the end of
her days she will reap the reward of the self-denial and persistent
attention to duty and art which she gave them during the years of
her childhood. She has been as successful abroad as she has in this
country. In grand opera she has assumed nearly all existing prominent
rôles. For some years past she made her home abroad. In 1881, Patti
revisited the United States, when she received $5,000 per night, which
is said to be the largest amount ever paid to a singer or actor for
one performance. Married three times, her last husband was Baron Rolf
Cedarstrom. She is the owner of a castle at Craig-y-Nos, Wales. During
her last and most recent visit to this country, the American public
gave her ample proof that she still occupies a warm place in its
affection.