loss. Mlle. Tietiens was born in Hamburg, in 1831, of Hungarian
parents, and first appeared in opera in that city at the age of
eighteen. She sang in London every season from 1859 till 1877, the year
of her death, and was as great an oratorio singer as she was operatic
artist. Mlle. Tietiens was tall, massive, and dignified, and dominated
the stage with her presence. In 1876 she visited the United States, and
made a concert tour, but none could have a full conception of her power
who did not see her in one of her great parts. Like other singers who
have for years maintained their popularity in England, her private life
was most admirable, and her kind and charitable nature endeared her to
the nation.

CHAPTER IV.

PRIMA DONNAS OF THE FIFTIES.

The years immediately following 1850 were rather barren of stars of the
first magnitude in the line of sopranos, although Stockhausen, Faure,
Wachtel, and Nicolini all belong to that period, besides Adelaide
Phillips, the contralto.

The chief soprano of the year 1851 was Madame Nantier-Didier, a native
of the Isle of Bourbon, who had a somewhat successful career in the
chief cities of Europe, but who was considered "a first-rate singer of
the second class." She had a gay, handsome face, a winning mezzo-soprano
voice, and neat execution.

In the following year appeared two singers of high rank, Maria
Piccolomini, and Euphrosine Parepa, more generally known as Madame
Parepa-Rosa.

Piccolomini owed her success chiefly to her clever acting, and her
charming little figure. Her voice was weak and limited, and she was not
sure in her intonation, nor did she excel in execution. She visited the
United States in 1858, and was well received. Her stage career was not
very long, for she retired in 1863, and married the Marchese Gaetani.

Parepa-Rosa was born in Scotland, at Edinburgh. Her father was a
Wallachian boyard, and her mother (Elizabeth Seguin) a singer of some
repute. Parepa's full name was Euphrosine Parepa de Boyesku. She was a
well-educated woman, speaking and writing several languages correctly,
and she had a voice of great power and sweetness, with a range of two
and a half octaves. She was, also, a woman of fine figure and imposing
stage presence. Her reputation was gained, however, more in concert and
oratorio than in opera, but her memory will remain in America as that of
one who did much towards the cultivation of the public taste for opera.

In 1865 she