Carlotta Patti

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.

Early life and family Carlotta Patti was born to , a Sicilian tenor, and his wife , a soprano, Due to this condition she avoided operatic performances and preferred to sing on the concert stage.

Her younger sister Adelina Patti was a famed soprano Her brother Carlo (1842–1873) was a violinist who married actress Effie Germon. Through her mother's first marriage to Francesco Barili, a Roman musician,

Career

The Patti family moved to the United States in 1848. Patti made her debut in January 1861 at the Academy of Music in New York City. Her impresarios included Bernard Ulmann and Maurice Strakosch. In 1866, she toured, organized by Ulmann, with Jules Lefort, violinist Henri Vieuxtemps, cellist Alexandre Batta, and pianist Eugène Ketterer. She toured Europe in 1867. In 1868, she again toured with Lefort, Vieuxtemps, Jean-François Berthelier, and Félix Godefroid. She performed in Rossini's The Barber of Seville and Don Pasquale in Buenos Aires in 1870. In 1873, she performed in Paris with Lefort. 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. She sued the Post-Dispatch for publishing an allegedly libelous article from the Leavenworth Times, asking for in damages, and later abandoned the suit.

In 1882, Patti studied voice with Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf. Patti’s students included American composer, pianist and singer Anna Ware Poole. Retirement and death 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.

Voice Patti had a clear soprano voice with a range of C4 to G♯ in altissimo. Her high range was praised, particularly in its performance of the Queen of the Night aria from Mozart's The Magic Flute.