ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century singer Sophia Messent. In 1846, Miss Messent and her career largely went another way. She was engaged for the English opera season at Drury Lane, along with Anna Bishop, Emma Romer, Elizabeth Rainforth, Elizabeth Poole, and the Misses Collett and Rebecca Isaacs. The press took the liberty of assuming she had, like the last two ladies, been engaged as a 'seconda donna', but she swiftly disabused them. She had been contracted as a 'prima donna'. And she quickly proved it. From 1864, Miss Messent appeared less on the concert bills of the nation, but when she appeared on 20 June 1866 at W T Wrighton's concert, singing his song 'Early Ties', there was a difference in her billing. She was now 'Madame Messent'. In fact, she was not 'Madame Messent' - she was Mrs Chubb.