Carlotta Patti (c. 1840 – 27 June 1889) was a nineteenth-century Italian operatic soprano and older sister to famed soprano

Adelina Patti Adelina Patti (19 February 184327 September 1919) was an Italian 19th-century opera singer, earning huge fees at the height of her career in the music capitals of Europe and America. She first sang in public as a child in 1851, and gave her la ...

. Various sources list her birth year as 1835, 1840, and 1842. Born Florence, Italy into a musical family, Patti studied the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

in her youth before following her younger sister's inclination toward singing. As a child, Carlotta developed a handicap which caused a noticeable limp in her walk. Due to this condition she mostly avoided

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a libr ...

tic performances and preferred to sing on the

concert A concert is a live music performance in front of an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, choir, or band. Concerts are held in a wide variet ...

stage. Carlotta studied voice with Hermine Küchenmeister-Rudersdorf. While not able to achieve her sister's level of acclaim, Carlotta nonetheless received top billing in concerts in the

United States of America The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It i ...

, and Australia. She was known for her extensive

vocal range Vocal range is the range of pitches that a human voice can phonate. A common application is within the context of singing, where it is used as a defining characteristic for classifying singing voices into voice types. It is also a topic of st ...

, reportedly being able to reach a G sharp in

altissimo Altissimo (Italian for ''very high'') is the uppermost register on woodwind instruments. For clarinets, which overblow on odd harmonics, the altissimo notes are those based on the fifth, seventh, and higher harmonics. For other woodwinds, the alt ...

. She often sang songs such as ''

Der Hölle Rache kocht in meinem Herzen "" ("Hell's vengeance boils in my heart"), commonly abbreviated "", is an aria sung by the Queen of the Night, a coloratura soprano part, in the second act of Mozart's opera ''The Magic Flute'' ('). It depicts a fit of vengeful rage in which the ...

'' that highlighted this extensive range. She made several concert tours with the French baritone

Jules Lefort Jules Lefort (27 January 1822 – 7 September 1898), was a French lyrical singer of the Victorian era who in a career that spanned three decades regularly sang in the salons of wealthy and aristocratic patrons and in fashionable concert rooms ...

. Carlotta Patti died of cancer in Paris on 27 June 1889.

References

Year of birth uncertain 1889 deaths Musicians from Florence Burials at Montmartre Cemetery Italian operatic sopranos Deaths from stomach cancer {{Italy-opera-singer-stub