ABSTRACT

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century singer Marie Monbelli. 'Madame Monbelli' had a short, highly successful, and extremely odd musical life of just half a dozen years as a public vocalist. Effectively, her career came between two high-society marriages, the stories of which would make up, into a novel or a movie. In May of 1869, Mme Monbelli arrived in London, by the Parisian mega-critic Jules Janin, and triumphed all over again. She made her first appearance at the Philharmonic Society, alongside Gardoni, with her inevitable 'Una voce' and 'created a sensation'. 'Her voice is a genuine soprano of rich and mellow quality and her execution is as fluent as her phrasing is natural and expressive'. At the end of the London season of 1871, Marie was engaged by the impresario Ullman as prima donna for an extensive concert tour in Europe, and specifically in Germany.