CARADORI, Anna Giovanna [ZANYNGA, Anna] (b Pest, c 1812; d 49 Great Ormond Street, Holborn, London, 18 December 1889)

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century vocalist Anna Giovanna Caradori. The history of the soprano who called herself 'Madame Caradori' has never been fully put on paper, and some of it seems to have now disappeared beyond finding. But what part of it has survived to the present has been warped almost beyond recognition. Anna Caradori made her British stage debut on 22 August 1853 in the role of Agathe in Der Freischütz, and The Times reported: 'Madame Caradori, who played Agathe, is a German singer of repute. She has filled the post of prima donna in Italy, Germany and even the capital of Turkey. Her singing of the "Casta diva" was one of those specimens of highly-finished vocalism that is rarely met with beyond the precincts of the great opera houses'.