ALBANI, EMMA, 1847-1930
MUS 10

[30K] Emma Albani. 1892.

Emma Albani fonds.  - 1862-1930.  - 63 cm of textual records.  - 74 photographs.  - 19 negatives.

Biographical sketch
Born in Chambly, near Montréal, soprano Emma Albani began her career in 1869 in Messina, Italy, where she had initial success in Bellini's La Sonnambula.  Two years later, she conquered the London public at the famous Covet Garden theatre.  This marked the beginning of an international career which continued for four decades.  In 1911 she retired from the stage to her home in Kensington, Great Britain, where she wrote her memoirs and worked as a teacher. 

Scope and content
The fonds contains records pertaining to the international career of the soprano Emma Albani:  correspondence sent and received by Albani, with such celebrated figures as Charles Gounod, Ambroise Thomas, Hans Richter, Joseph Joachim and Sir Arthur Sullivan; correspondence from Ernest Gye, Albani's husband; document signed by the King and Prince of Wales declaring Albani the "Dame Commander of the Civil Division of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire"; salary accounts; concert programmes from the Royal Italian Opera in Covent Garden; posters; press clippings; photographs, mainly of Emma Albani (a few items signed by Liszt, Brahms and Gounod); autographed books (Dvorak, Sir Edward Elgar, Sullivan, etc.); microfilm of correspondence sent by Emma Albani to Éva Gauthier. 

Immediate source of acquisition:  records acquired at auctions and from various antiquarians between 1970 and 1993. 

Restrictions:  none. 

Finding aids:  inventory; provisional description. 

Associated material:  the researcher may also consult material at the Société d'histoire de la seigneurie de Chambly and the Emma Albani fonds (MG 29 D 32) at the National Archives of Canada.