2-970-103 - /Heritage Images

Prime Donne at Her Majesty's Theatre: Albertini, Alboni and Piccolomini, 1856. Italian opera singers. 'Marietta Alboni, is a popular favourite of the English public [and is] gifted with a contralto voice of incomparable power and beauty, approaching in depth to the pitch of the tenor...she has matured her powers, enlarged the compass of her voice without impairing its quality, and extended her range of characters...Of Signora Piccolomini...it is sufficient to add that her department of the stage is light and elegant comedy. Her voice is a pure soprano...which combines sweetness and brilliancy in a remarkable degree...Madame Albertini...belongs to...the large dramatic school, and her proper branch of the stage is the opera seria, to which she is peculiarly fitted, by her face and figure, the quality of her voice, and her power of expressing the stronger passions with breadth and energy'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.