RUBINI, Fanny Jervis [JERVIS, Fanny] (b Lucca, Italy, c1847; d Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, 30 December 1915)

This chapter presents a biography of mid- to late-19th-century Victorian vocalist Fanny Jervis Rubini. 'Former Great Tenor Dead', trumpeted the New York Times on 8 May 1905. Her brother, Edoardo Rubini Swynfen Jervis, had been first tenor at St Petersburg and Paris. He had taught music to the English princesses and to a long line of star vocalists, from Lucca, Marimon, Volpini, Cotgoni and Campanini to Joseph Maas. However, 'Edoardo' is responsible for much of the mythology surrounding the family, so a quick glance at his pretensions won't hurt. From Paris Fanny headed on to London, where she and one of her brothers mounted a concert at the Hanover Square Rooms, to Baden for the concert season, singing alongside Csillag, delle Sedie and Campanini, and to Italy where, it was said, she had been signed to appear in Mignon.