{{Short description|19th-century Franco-Italian opera singer}} '''Adelina''', sometimes '''Adelaide''' or '''Adele''',<ref name="Marek2016">{{cite book|author=Dan H. Marek|title=Alto: The Voice of Bel Canto|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=200UDQAAQBAJ&pg=PA151|date=20 October 2016|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4422-3589-2|pages=151–}}</ref> '''Catalani''' (fl. 1818–1832)<ref name="Marek2016"/> was a Franco-Italian soprano. She is remembered today largely for the circumstances surrounding her performance of the lead soprano role in Gaetano Donizetti's first staged opera, ''Enrico di Borgogna'', in 1818.<ref name="Osborne1994">{{cite book|author=Charles Osborne|title=The bel canto operas of Rossini, Donizetti, and Bellini|url=https://archive.org/details/belcantooperasof0000osbo|url-access=registration|date=1 April 1994|publisher=Amadeus Press|isbn=978-0-931340-71-0}}</ref>
Catalani was known variously as ''la cognate della famosa''<ref name="Harmonicon">{{cite book|title=The Harmonicon|url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_vV0PAAAAYAAJ|year=1828|publisher=W. Pinnock|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_vV0PAAAAYAAJ/page/n218 213]–}}</ref> and ''la Catalani juniore'' to distinguish her from the far better-known Angelica Catalani,<ref name="Opera Rara">Liner notes to [http://www.opera-rara.com/a-hundred-years-of-italian-opera-1820-1830.html ''A Hundred Years of Italian Opera 1810–1820''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170108112925/http://www.opera-rara.com/a-hundred-years-of-italian-opera-1820-1830.html |date=2017-01-08 }}, Opera Rara</ref> of whom she has been described as a sister-in-law in various sources.<ref>{{cite book|title=Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-N0qAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA82|year=1819|publisher=Breitkopf und Härtel|pages=82–}}</ref><ref name="Taruskin2000">{{cite book|author=Richard Taruskin|title=Defining Russia Musically: Historical and Hermeneutical Essays|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MQzvqUGhNxAC&pg=PA188|year=2000|publisher=Princeton University Press|isbn=0-691-07065-2|pages=188–}}</ref> François-Joseph Fétis claimed that she was French originally, and gave her birthplace as Toulouse. He goes on to state that she had a pretty voice which she developed without difficulty before being married and taken in hand by Catalani's brother, with whom she moved to Italy.<ref name="Fétis1828">{{cite book|author=François-Joseph Fétis|title=Revue musicale|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FjUuAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA569|year=1828|publisher=Au Bureau du Journal|pages=569–}}</ref> At the time of her engagement to sing ''Enrico di Borgogna'', she was known only as a singer of ''accademie'', or chamber music recitals; consequently, her performance in Donizetti's opera was to be her stage debut. The composer was pleased with her voice, describing it in a letter to his teacher Giovanni Simone Mayr as a "''gran bella voce''", a "fine, large voice", and indicating that he planned to rewrite her part to better suit her sound.<ref name="Opera Rara"/>
''Enrico di Borgogna'' was premiered on November 14, 1818, at the Teatro San Luca in Venice; in the event, the entire opera was not performed. Catalani fainted from stage fright at the end of the first act, and as a result some of her music in the second act had to be omitted; furthermore her place in the finale of the opera was taken by another singer.<ref name="Osborne1994"/> Catalani's indisposition was noted by the critic of the ''Nuovo Osservatore Veneziano'', who spoke of the way the work was "maltreated" by its cast but gave favorable considerations to Donizetti's talent.<ref name="Ashbrook1983">{{cite book|author=William Ashbrook|title=Donizetti and His Operas|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tbrEchf3PuIC|date=29 July 1983|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-27663-4}}</ref> In the event, the soprano recovered sufficiently to essay the complete opera on December 15 and 16.<ref name="Opera Rara"/>
Catalani had a secondary career performing in many theaters;<ref name="Marek2016"/> she is known to have sung in Odessa as a member of Luigi Buonavoglia's company,<ref name="Taruskin2000"/> and appeared in Saint Petersburg as well.<ref name="Mongrédien2008">{{cite book|author=Jean Mongrédien|title=Le Théâtre-Italien de Paris 1801–1831: chronologie et documents|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpMOAQAAMAAJ|year=2008|publisher=Symétrie|isbn=978-2-914373-37-1}}</ref> In 1828 she made her debut at the Théâtre Italien as Isabella in Gioacchino Rossini's ''L'italiana in Algeri'', a performance which met with less-than-favorable reception.<ref name="Harmonicon"/> Fétis, in his review of the evening, suggests that she appeared stricken with stage fright, and says that she sang with "timidity"; he calls audience reaction to her performance cold and indifferent, and describes the evening as the worst he had ever spent at that theater.<ref name="Fétis1828"/> Her performance of Amenaide in Rossini's ''Tancredi'' in the same house the following year was better-received.<ref>{{cite book|title=Revue musicale|url=https://archive.org/details/revuemusicale02unkngoog|year=1829|publisher=F. J. Fétis.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/revuemusicale02unkngoog/page/n406 43]–}}</ref> 1831 found Catalani singing in Naples.<ref>{{cite book|title=Teatri, arti e letteratura|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2McqAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA162|year=1831|publisher=Tip. Government della Volpe al Sassi|pages=162–}}</ref> She is listed on the roster of La Scala as late as 1832 – she sang the role of Elena in the premiere of ''Elena e Malvina'' by Francesco Schira on November 17<ref name="Parsons1992">{{cite book|author=Charles H. Parsons|title=Opera premieres: an index of casts|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xiQKAQAAMAAJ|date=November 1992|publisher=Edwin Mellen Press|isbn=9780889464131 }}</ref> – but disappears from the record thereafter.<ref name="Marek2016"/>
==References== {{reflist|35em}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Catalani, Adelina}} Category:19th-century French women opera singers Category:19th-century Italian women opera singers Category:French operatic sopranos Category:Italian operatic sopranos Category:Musicians from Toulouse Category:Year of birth unknown Category:Year of death unknown