2-970-169 - /Heritage Images

Mademoiselle Piccolomini, of Her Majesty's Theatre, 1856. 'Descended from one of the most ancient and most illustrious patrician families of Rome this gifted girl, urged on by an invincible impulse - with that confidence of success which is so often the companion of real genius - cast aside all the prerogatives of her high station, and, despite the tears and the entreaties of her noble relations of the houses of the Piccolomini and the Amalfi...[took to the stage]...Rank, position, fortune, family traditions...were of no avail against the mighty tide of song that surged within the gentle breast of this girl of seventeen summers...[she has appeared in] Donizetti's opera of "Polinto"...the whole audience simultaneously rose and thundered forth their applause...After the first act the people lost all control over their feelings; they continued applauding...and showering bouquets at her feet'. From "Illustrated London News", 1856.