eived in Vienna, in 1870, at
the Imperial Opera House. In 1874, she was invited to join the Royal
Opera House at Berlin, as leading prima donna, by the express desire of
Emperor William and the Empress Augusta. Here she remained four years.

In 1877 she appeared at the Theatre de la Monnaie, Brussels, and in 1878
she returned to America. During the spring seasons of 1878 to 1880, she
sang on alternate nights with Nilsson, at Her Majesty's in London. She
made a brilliant record both in Europe and America, as a leading star of
Her Majesty's Opera Company during the seasons of 1881-2-3-4-5-6, but of
late years has not been heard in opera.

Mapleson gives Miss Hauk credit for being one of the most capricious of
prima donnas, and declares that he generally received three or four
notes a day from her containing complaints or requests. She married in
1876 Chevalier Hesse von Wartegg, who has written some interesting books
on Tunis and Algiers.

CHAPTER VI.

PRIMA DONNAS OF THE SEVENTIES.

The decade beginning with the year 1860 was remarkably prolific in
singers, producing not only the prima donnas whose careers we have
reviewed in the previous chapters, but also some of the finest
contralto, tenor, and baritone singers of the latter part of the
century. With each decade we find the American singer more in evidence.
We have had Clara Louise Kellogg and Minnie Hauk, the sopranos, Adelaide
Phillips, contralto, and Annie Louise Cary, and the number increases as
we proceed, until we find American singers standing on an artistic
equality with the best that the world can produce.

The decade of 1870 opens with a prima donna from the American
continent,--a singer who has held her place in public estimation for
nearly thirty years, Madame Albani. While she was not such a marvellous
colorature singer as Patti or Gerster, she combined so many excellent
qualities that she is justly entitled to a position among the great
singers of the century. As one critic expressed his opinion, she was
"beautiful, tuneful, birdlike, innocent, and ladylike," to which might
be added, "always reliable."

Madame Albani's family name was Marie Louise Cecilia Emma Lajeunesse,
and she was born, in 1850, of French-Canadian parents at Chambly, near
Montreal. Her father was a professor of the harp, so she began life in a
musical atmosphere. When she was five years of age the family moved to
Montreal, and she was placed in the convent of the Sacre