Catherine Tofts or Katherine Tofts (died 1756) was the first English singer who sang

Italian opera Italian opera is both the art of opera in Italy and opera in the Italian language. Opera was born in Italy around the year 1600 and Italian opera has continued to play a dominant role in the history of the form until the present day. Many famous ...

in England.

Life

About 1704, the competition between Tofts and

Margherita de l'Épine Margherita is an Italian feminine given name. It also is a surname. As a word, in Italian it means " daisy". Given name As a name, it may refer to: *Margherita Aldobrandini (1588–1646), Duchess consort of Parma *Margherita de' Medici (1612� ...

was in earnest. Perhaps to illustrate the famed rivalry,

Marco Ricci Marco Ricci (6 June 1676 – 21 January 1730) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. Early years He was born at Belluno and received his first instruction in art from his uncle, Sebastiano Ricci, likely in Milan in 1694–6.Giacometti, Mar ...

painted L'Épine with her back to Tofts, in the composition ''Rehearsal of an opera'' (c.1709) .

Jonathon Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet, and Anglican cleric who became Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, ...

has a short poem about Mrs Tofts in his "works" which talks of her beauty. It is thought however that the verse was written by

Alexander Pope Alexander Pope (21 May 1688 O.S. – 30 May 1744) was an English poet, translator, and satirist of the Enlightenment era who is considered one of the most prominent English poets of the early 18th century. An exponent of Augustan literature, ...

. Tofts quit the stage in 1709 and married

Joseph Smith Joseph Smith Jr. (December 23, 1805June 27, 1844) was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. When he was 24, Smith published the Book of Mormon. By the time of his death, 14 years later, he ...

, English consul at Venice. They had a son but he died when still a child and Catherine became mentally ill. She died in 1756 and her husband married again the following year.Stuart L. Morrison, ‘Smith, Joseph (1673/4?–1770)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200
accessed 9 May 2015
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Life

References

See also