Regina Isabel Luisa Pacini Quintero (January 6, 1871, Lisbon,

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

– September 18, 1965,

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires ( or ; ), officially the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires ( es, link=no, Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires), is the capital and primate city of Argentina. The city is located on the western shore of the Río de la Plata, on South ...

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

) was a lyric soprano who married the Argentine politician

Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Máximo Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear Pacheco (4 October 1868 – 23 March 1942), was an Argentine lawyer and politician, who served as president of Argentina between from 1922 to 1928. His period of government coincided precisely with the en ...

and became

First Lady of Argentina First Lady or First Gentleman of Argentina ( es, Primera dama o Primer caballero de Argentina), also known as First Lady or First Gentleman of the Argentine Nation ( es, Primera dama o Primer caballero de la Nación Argentina), is the unofficial an ...

.''

La Nación ''La Nación'' () is an Argentine daily newspaper. As the country's leading conservative newspaper, ''La Nación''s main competitor is the more liberal '' Clarín''. It is regarded as a newspaper of record for Argentina. Its motto is: "''La Na ...

'' (9 January 2005)
"Regina Pacini & Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear: el dandy y la diva del canto"
/ref>

Biography

Born the daughter of the Italian baritone Pietro Andrea Giorgi-Pacini and Spanish Felisa Quintero in Lisbon, during the regency of her father's Teatro San Carlos in Lisbon. As soprano was a major exponent of the bel canto era, such as ''Lucia di Lammermoor'', ''I Puritani'', ''Rigoletto'', ''Manon'' and Rosina in ''The Barber of Seville''. Shestudied in Paris with

Mathilde Marchesi Mathilde Marchesi (née Graumann; 24 March 1821 – 17 November 1913) was a German mezzo-soprano, a singing teacher, and a proponent of the bel canto vocal method. Biography Marchesi was born in Frankfurt. Her father's last name was Graumann; ...

and debuted in 1888 as Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula in Lisbon theater where she continued to sing, with great success until 1904. In 1889 she sang at

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Palermo and

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The

Teatro Real The Teatro Real (Royal Theatre) is an opera house in Madrid, Spain. Located at the Plaza de Oriente, opposite the Royal Palace, and known colloquially as ''El Real'', it is considered the top institution of the performing and musical arts in the ...

was introduced in 1890, again with ''La Sonnambula'', returning regularly until 1905 is presented in 1893 at the Liceo in Barcelona and in 1894/95 appears in Warsaw and St. Petersburg. In 1899 she debuted at the Teatro Solis in Montevideo and Buenos Aires Politeama Theatre where she met Dr. Marcelo Torcuato de Alvear, future president of Argentina (1922-1928), who followed her around from performance to performance in different theaters in the world for a number of years until she finally accepted his marriage proposal. In Covent Garden London shared deals with Enrico Caruso. With the new century comes in different Italian theaters (Rome, Florence, the San Carlo in Naples and La Scala in Milan). In 1907, at the height of her career, she married Dr. Alvear, retiring from acting and became a major benefactor. During World War I the couple lived in Paris and his actions earned him the Legion of Honor by the French government. In 1938, Alvear founded the Casa del Teatro in Buenos Aires, a haven for actors, with 45 rooms, two small museums and the headquarters of the Regina Theatre named in his honor.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pacini, Regina 1871 births 1965 deaths Recipients of the Legion of Honour 19th-century Portuguese women opera singers Portuguese operatic sopranos Burials at La Recoleta Cemetery First Ladies and Gentlemen of Argentina 20th-century Portuguese women opera singers Portuguese emigrants to Argentina Portuguese people of Italian descent Portuguese people of Spanish descent Singers from Lisbon