f Emilio del Cavalieri, late in the sixteenth
century, and roused enthusiasm by her splendid interpretation for Jacopo
Peri's "Eurydice," the first opera presented to the public. She was
called "Euterpe" by her Italian contemporaries because her superb voice,
artistic skill, musical fire and intelligence fitted her to be the muse
of music. Her memory has been too little honored.

When Lully was giving opera to France he secured the co-operation of
Marthe le Rochois, a gifted student of declamation and song at the
Paris Academie Royale de Musique, for whose establishment he had
obtained letters patent in 1672. So great was his confidence in her
judgment that he consulted her in all that pertained to his work. Her
greatest public triumph was in his "Armide." This earliest French queen
of song is described as a brunette, with mediocre figure and plain face,
who had wonderful magnetism and sparkling black eyes that mirrored the
changeful sentiments of an impassioned soul. Her acting and
voice-control were pronounced remarkable. Her superior powers, unspoiled
simplicity, frankness and generosity are extolled by that quaint
historian of the opera, Dury de Noinville. On her retirement from the
stage, in 1697, the king awarded her a pension of 1,000 livres in token
of appreciation, and to this the Duc de Sully added 500 livres. She died
in Paris in the seventieth year of her age, her home having long been
the resort of eminent artists and literary people.

Katherine Tofts, who made her debut in Clayton's "Arsinoe, Queen of
Cyprus," about 1702, was the first dramatic songstress of English birth,
and is described by Colley Cibber as a beautiful woman with a clear,
silvery-toned, flexible soprano. Her professional career brought her
fortune as well as fame, but was short-lived. In the height of her bloom
her reason gave way, and although judicious treatment restored it for a
time, she did not return to the stage. As the wife of Mr. Joseph Smith,
art connoisseur and collector of rare books and prints, she went to
Venice, where her husband was British Consul, and lived in much state
until, her malady returning, it became necessary to seclude her.
Wandering through the garden of her home she fancied herself the queen
of former days. Steele, in the "Tattler," attributes her disorder to her
stage habit of absorbing herself in imaginary great personages.

While Mrs. Tofts reigned in Clayton's opera, Signora Francesca Margarita
de l'Ep