Travel tips for opera lovers – Craig y nos and Adelina Patti

She was born in Madrid in 1843. Her mother and father were Italian opera singers who toured and stayed in the Spanish capital for long periods of time. Adelina is a child prodigy. She sings opera arias heard from her mother even before she can speak.

Her father Salvatore Patti, gets an offer from a friend to sing in New York and is immediately asked to take over the job as manager of the opera company. The family moves to the United States, the business develops slowly and the family suffers from financial problems.
At the age of 10, she sets out on a tour of the United States with the piano virtuoso Strakosch, her aunt’s husband. The guest performances become a great success and solve the family’s financial problems.

At the age of 13, the child prodigy takes leave of the stage and seriously prepares for her stage career. At the age of 16 the time has come and she starts her career as an opera singer. Adelina Patti does not dwell on supporting roles. Already at a young age her self-confidence is great and she chooses for her opera debut in New York, the role of Lucia di Lammermoor. Her performance hits like a bomb. The mad scene becomes a triumph and the audience is at her feet.

Patti’s reputation spreads to London. In the new season she arrives in the English capital with Strakosch, her aunt’s husband. At the first performance, the American is coolly greeted by the audience. Patti is all of 1.50 meters tall and the audience is surprised to see a little girl singing the Amina of “Sonnambula”. Already after the first aria the cheering knows no bounds.

For 30 years the world has been at Adelina Patti’s feet. She tours tirelessly through the opera houses and concert halls of Europe and America and is celebrated everywhere. The great composers such as Verdi, Tchaikovsky, Rossini and Gounod praise the uniqueness of her voice and musicality. Berlioz is even said to have fallen unhappily in love with her.

After a divorce, she was made fun of by the gossip press of Europe and she decided to retire to Wales with her husband and she bought the castle in Craig y nos. She died in 1919 in Craig y nos and was buried according to her wishes in the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.