*GREAT 19TH CENTURY OPERA CONTRALTO SOFIA SCALCHI 1883 ALBUMEN PHOTO*

Description

She was an brilliant contralto, one of the greatest singers of her generation and sang at the Met, Covent Garden, and major European opera houses.  A rare original albumen photo circa 1883 of the legendary 19th century Italian opera star Sofia Scalchi. Light wear otherwise good. See Sofia Scalchi's extraordinary biography below.
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From Wikipedia:
Sofia Scalchi
(November 29, 1850 – August 22, 1922) was an Italian
operatic
contralto
who could also sing in the
mezzo-soprano
range. Her career was international, and she appeared at leading theatres in both Europe and America.
Born in
Turin
in 1850, Scalchi studied voice with Augusta Boccabadati. In 1866, she made her stage debut in
Mantua
as Ulrica in
Giuseppe Verdi
's
Un ballo in maschera
.
Her first major international success came at the
Royal Opera House
,
Covent Garden
, where on November 5, 1868, she made her London debut as Azucena in
Il trovatore
, also by Verdi. She appeared with the Covent Garden company thereafter until 1890, performing most of the standard lower-pitched female operatic roles. These included Urbain, Amneris and Arsarce, among others. Meanwhile, in 1882-83, she toured the United States for the first time, singing on that occasion with
Mapleson
's company.
Scalchi helped to make history when she sang in the newly constructed
New York City
Metropolitan Opera
's first ever staged work,
Charles Gounod
's
Faust
, which inaugurated the theatre on October 22, 1883. She returned to Mapleson's troupe a year later but went back to the Metropolitan in 1891, where she would spend five further seasons.
Scalchi created no significant new operatic roles during her long stint at Covent Garden. She did, however, take part in a number of important American premieres, including those of Verdi's last two masterpieces,
Otello
and
Falstaff
. She appeared, too, in the initial American productions of
Amilcare Ponchielli
's
La Gioconda
and
Umberto Giordano
's
Andrea Chénier
. Scalchi retired from the Met in 1896 and formed her own private company of singers a year later, which then undertook a final American tour.
Commentators praised Scalchi during her prime for the strength, wide range and remarkable agility of her voice, although she was said to have possessed distinct breaks between each of her registers. She never made any
gramophone
records. Her death occurred in
Rome
in 1922.
Personal life
In 1875–76 she wed Count Luigi Alberto Lolli, an aristocrat from
Ferrara
, thus becoming the Countess Lolli. After her marriage, she was often addressed privately and billed publicly on theatrical posters or programs as "Sofia Scalchi-Lolli."