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PLANCON AS RAMFIS IN AIDA 318

PREFACE.

It has been the desire of the author to give, in a book of modest
dimensions, as complete a record as possible of the "Famous Singers"
from the establishment of Italian Opera down to the present day. The
majority are opera singers, but in a few cases oratorio and concert
singers of exceptional celebrity have been mentioned also.

To give complete biographical sketches of all singers of renown would
require a work of several large volumes, and all that can be attempted
here is to give a mere "bird's-eye view" of those whose names exist as
singers of international repute.

For much information concerning the earlier celebrities the author is
indebted to Clayton's "Queens of Song," "Great Singers" by Ferris, and
"The Prima Donna" by Sutherland Edwards, in which interesting volumes
much will be found at length which is greatly condensed in this little
volume. To Maurice Strakosch's "Souvenirs d'un Impresario," and to
"Mapleson's Memoirs," the writer owes something also in the way of
anecdote and fact concerning many singers of the latter half of this
century.

As it is impossible to give biographical sketches of more than a
comparatively small number of singers who have achieved renown, the work
is supplemented by a chronological table which is more comprehensive. No
such table can, however, be perfect. For singers of the past the
following authorities have been used: "Grove's Dictionary of Music and
Musicians," C. Egerton Lowe's "Chronological Cyclopaedia of Musicians
and Musical Events," James D. Brown's "Biographical Dictionary of
Musicians," and "A Hundred Years of Music in America."

Concerning singers of later times, who have risen to fame since those
works were compiled, such items have been used as could be found in the
newspapers and magazines of their day, and the information is of
necessity imperfect. It is nevertheless hoped that the table may be of
some use as carrying the history of famous singers some years beyond
anything hitherto published in book form, and it has been the desire of
the author to make the book interesting alike to student and amateur.

FAMOUS SINGERS OF TO-DAY AND YESTERDAY.

CHAPTER I.

FROM 1600 TO 1800 A. D.

The year 1600 marked the beginning of a new era in musical history, for
in that year the first public performance of regular opera took place in
Florence, when the