ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century vocalist Miss Charlott Ann Birch. Born in 1815, some four years before the little princess, Miss Birch made her debut on the concert platform in 1836, the year before Victoria's accession to the throne, and, for the first twenty years of the new queen's reign, she remained – with only rare excursions outside the country and/or on to the operatic stage – the outstanding soprano of the British concert and oratorio world, as well as the young Victoria's own personal favourite among native singers. Charlott Ann Birch was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Music in 1831, at the age of sixteen, and her vocal studies were put in the hands of Signor Costa. In 1838, as well as singing the soprano roles which had already become almost her personal property at the Sacred Harmonic Society, she appeared with a whole range of other sacred music groups and choirs.
