{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} [[File:Rebecca Isaacs Singer Portrait.jpg|thumb|right|Rebecca Isaacs as Marie in ''The Daughter of the Regiment'']] '''Rebecca Isaacs''' (26 June 1828–21 April 1877) was an operatic soprano of the mid-19th century who was the Directress of Operas at the Strand Theatre and who created the role of Leila in ''Satanella'' at the Royal Opera House in 1858. [[File:Rebecca Isaacs Grave Brookwood.jpg|thumb|140px|right|Isaac's grave in Brookwood Cemetery]]
Born in London, she was the daughter of the Jewish actor and singer John Isaacs (1791-1830), who trained her for the stage.<ref>[http://androom.home.xs4all.nl/biography/p019544.htm Rebecca Isaacs Isaacs Obituary Page]</ref> She first appeared in ''The Barn Burners'' at the City Theatre in London in 1835 and in 1836 was in the burletta ''Riquet with the Tuft'' at the Olympic Theatre.<ref name=Palgrave>William Rubinstein, Michael A. Jolles and Hilary L. Rubinstein (editors), [https://books.google.com/books?id=_T_HCg17ufIC&dq=rebecca+isaacs+palgrave&pg=PA456 ''The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History'', Palgrave MacMillan (2011)] - Google Books p456</ref> In 1838 she played the central role of the young chimney sweep in Richard Brinsley Peake's ''The Climbing Boy: A Comic Drama''.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=vwmFDAAAQBAJ&dq=rebecca+Isaacs+1877&pg=PA149 Anne Varty, ''Children and Theatre in Victorian Britain'', Palgrave MacMillan (2008) p149] - Google Books</ref>
She toured with the Distin family and sung under the name 'Miss Zuchelli' in 1838. With a voice "of great compass and sweetness", she acted at Drury Lane taking the leading roles in English operas during 1846, and was Directress of Operas at the Strand Theatre from 1852 to 1853, and again in 1855. She played in ''The Mountain Sylph'' at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden in 1852.<ref name=Palgrave/>
She was the first Leila in ''Satanella'' at Covent Garden in 1858. In 1860 she appeared at the Pavilion Theatre as Amina in ''La sonnambula'', as Cinderella in ''La Cenerentola'' by Rossini, as Marie, the lead role in ''The Daughter of the Regiment'', and as Lucia in ''Lucia di Lammermoor''.<ref>[http://www.elta-project.org/browse.html?type=person&id=2370 Rebecca Isaacs on the East London Theatre Archive - the University of East London]</ref> She often appeared in concerts and operas with Sims Reeves.<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/8231-isaacs-rebecca Rebecca Isaacs] on the Jewish Encyclopedia</ref>
Her husband was Thomas Roberts (c1831-1876), a non-Jewish dental surgeon and acting manager of the Princess's Theatre.<ref name=Palgrave/><ref name=Clarke>Clarke, John M. ''London's Necropolis: A Guide to Brookwood Cemetery'', Sutton Publishing (2004), p. 213 {{ISBN|0-7509-3513-8}}</ref>
She is buried in the Actors' Acre in Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey with her husband, her infant son Alfred Roberts who died aged three weeks, her daughter Florence Mosely (1857-1925) and her grandson George Henry Mosely (1887-1969).
The National Portrait Gallery in London holds two portraits of Isaacs in its collection.<ref>[http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp55598/rebecca-isaacs-later-roberts?search=sas&sText=rebecca+isaacs Rebecca Isaacs] on the National Portrait Gallery, London website</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Isaacs, Rebecca}} Category:1828 births Category:1877 deaths Category:Jewish opera singers Category:Burials at Brookwood Cemetery Category:19th-century British women opera singers Category:English operatic sopranos Category:Singers from London