Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa

Euphrosyne Parepa-Rosa (7 May 1836 – 21 January 1874) was a British operatic soprano who established the Carl Rosa Opera Company together with her husband Carl Rosa. Parepa's aristocratic father died soon after her birth, and her mother turned to the stage to support them. Parepa made her operatic debut in 1855 and soon earned enthusiastic reviews in the major London opera houses. In 1867, following the death of her first husband, Parepa married the violinist and conductor Carl Rosa in New York, and they founded an opera company with Parepa as the leading lady. They toured successfully in America for several years. After their return to Britain with ambitious plans for their opera company, Parepa fell ill and died in 1874 at 37 years of age.

Early life and career

Euphrosyne Parepa was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, to the soprano Elisabeth Seguin (b. 1812, sister of basso Arthur Edward Seguin) and the Wallachian boyar Demetrius Parepa, Baron Georgiades de Boyescu of Bucharest. Her father died when Parepa was an infant, leaving her young mother impoverished. Parepa's mother turned to the stage to support her child and herself and trained her daughter in singing.

Parepa-Rosa's operatic début was in Malta in 1855 as Amina in La Sonnambula, followed by engagements in Italy, Spain and Portugal. She gave her first London performance at the Lyceum Theatre, in the role of Elvira in I Puritani, with the Royal Italian Opera company, with whom she spent the 1857 season. The critic of The Observer wrote of this introduction: "Parepa possesses a soprano voice of excellent quality and remarkable compass. She acts and sings well. Her version of "Son vergine vezzosa" elicited applause terminating in a recall, and … [after the finale] she was again called for. … "Qui la voce" … was correctly and brilliantly executed; and the artiste was again summoned back to the stage to receive the homage of the audience."

From 1859 to 1865, she appeared in opera at both Royal Opera House in Covent Garden and at Her Majesty's Theatre, becoming known for such roles as Leonora in Il trovatore, Zerlina in Fra Diavolo and Elvira in La muette de Portici.

Marriages and later years

Her first husband, Army Captain H. de Wolfe Carvelle, died in Peru in 1865, sixteen months after their wedding.

In 1870, the Parepa-Rosa Opera Company returned to Britain and then appeared in Italian opera at Cairo, Egypt, followed by a return to America for another successful tour in 1871–72. She is buried at Highgate cemetery. After her death, Rosa endowed the Parepa-Rosa Scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music in her memory. Her obituary in Illustrated London News stated: "Her voice was a genuine soprano, of extensive compass and fine quality, while her highly-cultivated execution and her general musical knowledge gave her exceptional advantages, both mechanical and intellectual".

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