87Italian International Divas in 19th-Century London

By the early 19th century, Italian-language opera was firmly established in London and continued to attract audiences with its cosmopolitan prestige, de spite the steady rise of English-language opera.As the century progressed, sopranos such as Giuditta Pasta, who performed regularly in London and brought several Rossini and Bellini roles to English audiences, Giulia Grisi and Adelina Patti, all achieved the status of world-famous divas.Their fame was greatly aided by techno logical advances that facilitated touring, as well as the rise of print culture and the impact of photography, which helped to turn singers into celebrities through ad vance publicity and the circulation of singers' cartes de visite.This article focuses on the reception of Italian female singers in nineteenth-century London and dis cusses the extent to which they came to define the age of international touring star dom, while also shaping notions of 'Italianità'.On the prestigious London stages they rivalled other foreign opera divas, such as Sweden's Jenny Lind and Spain's Maria Malibran.Like that of the international Italian theatre actresses who defined the 19th-century 'gilded stage', the success of Italian opera in England was largely due to the appeal of seeing famous female singers competing in popular leading roles.