Along with her near contemporaries Jenny Lind and Thérèse Tietjens, Patti remains one of the most famous sopranos in history, owing to the purity and beauty of her lyrical voice and the unmatched quality of her bel canto technique.

[2] Verdi's admiration for Patti's talent was shared by numerous music critics and social commentators of her era.

[4] Patti sang professionally from childhood, and developed into a coloratura soprano with perfectly equalized vocal registers and a surprisingly warm, satiny tone.

Patti learned how to sing and gained understanding of voice technique from her brother-in-law Maurice Strakosch, who was a musician and impresario.

[5] Adelina Patti made her operatic debut at age 16 on 24 November 1859 in the title role of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor at the Academy of Music, New York.

On 24 August 1860, she and Emma Albani were soloists in the world premiere of Charles Wugk Sabatier's Cantata in Montreal which was performed in honour of the visit of the Prince of Wales.

She sang not only in England and the United States, but also as far afield in mainland Europe as Russia, and in South America as well, inspiring audience frenzy and critical superlatives wherever she went.

In Russia, she made highly prolific friendships with the top eschelons of Russian aristocracy, musicians, writers and intellectuals such Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Anton Rubinstein, Alexander Serov and Vladimir Stasov.

This friendship was to last for decades and Ilovaysky's cousin Stepan, the stalmeister of Tsar Alexander III even travelled to Wales to meet Adelina during the first half of the 1880s.

Typically, her recital programmes during the 1890s featured an array of familiar, often sentimental, not-too-demanding popular tunes of the day, which were sure to appeal to her adoring fans.

But during her mature prime in the 1870s and '80s, Patti had been a more enterprising singer, proving to be an effective actress in those lyric roles that required the summoning forth of deep emotions, such as Gilda in Rigoletto, Leonora in Il trovatore, the title part in Semiramide, Zerlina in Don Giovanni and Violetta in La traviata.

Many years earlier, Patti had experienced an amusing encounter in Paris with the bel canto-opera composer Gioachino Rossini, who was a staunch upholder of traditional Italian singing values.

In his memoirs, the famous opera promoter "Colonel" Mapleson recalled Patti's stubborn personality and sharp business sense.

She invested wisely large sums of money, and unlike some of her extravagant former colleagues, such as the star tenor Giovanni Mario, who died in poverty, she saw out her days amid luxurious surroundings.

In 1893, Patti created the title role of Gabriella in a now-forgotten opera by Emilio Pizzi at its world premiere in Boston.

Ten years later, she undertook one final singing tour of the United States; however, it turned out to be a critical, financial and personal failure, owing to the deterioration of her voice through age and wear-and-tear.

From then on she restricted herself to the occasional concert here or there, or to private performances mounted at a little theatre she had built in her impressive residence, Craig-y-Nos Castle in Wales.

She last sang in public on 24 October 1914, taking part in a Red Cross concert at London's Royal Albert Hall that had been organised to aid victims of World War I.

Nonetheless, the limpid purity of her tone and the smoothness of her legato line remained uniquely impressive, compensating to some extent for the weakening of her breath control.

[3] The records also display a lively singing personality as well as a surprisingly strong chest voice and a mellow timbre.

Patti's recorded legacy included a number of songs and arias from the following operas: Le Nozze di Figaro, Don Giovanni, Faust, Martha, Norma, Mignon and La sonnambula.

Patti's piano accompanist, Landon Ronald, wrote of his first recording session with the diva, "When the little (gramophone) trumpet gave forth the beautiful tones, she went into ecstasies!

Patti's last marriage, in 1899, was to Baron Rolf Cederström (1870–1947), a priggish, but handsome, Swedish aristocrat many years her junior.

In her retirement, Patti, now officially Baroness Cederström, settled in the Swansea Valley in Wales, where she purchased Craig-y-Nos Castle.

She died at Craig-y-Nos and eight months later was buried at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris to be close to her father and favourite composer, Rossini, in accordance with the wishes in her will.