ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century Victorian vocalist Rosina Penco. One of the outstanding prime donne of the mid-19th century, Rosina Penco was put on a level alongside Maria Malibran and Angiolina Bosio by the excellent journalist and historian Francesco Regli. From 1853, while maintaining her maiden name professionally, she would be Signora Rosina Elena, wife (as Regli confirms) of Nicolò Elena, a lad of good Ligurian breed. From Scandinavia, she moved on to join Freyberg's Italian opera company at Berlin's Königstädter Theater, sharing the prima donna roles with Claudina Fiorentini. The next stop in Rosina's career of undiluted smiles, in autumn 1851, was the Teatro Pergola in Florence – her first appearances on home soil. During 1853, she continued to Genoa, where she sang in Mosè, I puritani and Roberto il diavolo and introduced Litta's Edita di Lorno, thence to Livorno, where she 'canta deliziosamente' in the role of Semiramide before giving her now famous Trovatore.
