The Resume

(February 10, 1843-September 27, 1919)
Born in Madrid, Spain
Coloratura soprano
Signature roles included Rosina in ‘The Barber of Seville,’ Violetta in ‘La Traviata,’ Gilda in ‘Rigoletto,’ Zerlina in ‘Don Giovanni’ and Leonora in ‘Il Trovatore’
Great-grand aunt (and namesake) of Broadway actress/singer Patti LuPone

Why she might be annoying:

She allegedly trained her parrot to squawk ‘Cash, cash,’ whenever the opera promoter Colonel Mapleson walked into her room.
She demanded top billing and the right to skip rehearsals.
Her repertoire became increasingly conservative as she aged, with her concerts relying on familiar, sentimental, none-too-demanding popular tunes.
When she made her first gramophone recordings and listened to the playback, she exclaimed, ‘My God! What a voice, what an artist!’

Why she might not be annoying:

Giuseppe Verdi proclaimed her the greatest singer he had ever heard.
In her prime, she was paid $5,000 in gold for each concert.
She performed ‘Home, Sweet, Home’ for Abraham Lincoln at the White House and Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle.
She came out of retirement to perform at a benefit concert for the Red Cross during World War I (1914).
She inspired the barbershop quartet standard ‘Sweet Adeline.’ (Or, too be more precise, she inspired the song’s new title after it initially flopped as ‘Sweet Rosalie.’)

Credit: C. Fishel

Featured in the following Annoying Collections:

• C. Fishel's Profiles [Series 61]
• I Died in 1919 (Ranked: 76)
• My Spouse is at Least Ten Years Younger than Me
• Opera Singers and Composers
• Profiles 37501-37750 (Ranked: 37685)

Year In Review:

In 2023, Out of 3 Votes: 100% Annoying
In 2022, Out of 1 Votes: 0% Annoying
In 2021, Out of 9 Votes: 88.89% Annoying
In 2020, Out of 16 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2019, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2018, Out of 14 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2017, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying
In 2016, Out of 12 Votes: 50.0% Annoying