Camilla Urso

She made her debut a year after studying, at a benefit concert for the family of a recently deceased bassoon player in her father's orchestra.

She played a piece by the name of de Beriot's Seventh Air Varie, which according to sources, “she learned at the rate of one page per week, and which she had to repeat forty-seven times at one lesson before her teacher would allow her to leave.”[3] Camilla studied at the Paris Conservatory for three years, admitted in June 1849, and passing her final exam in July 1852.

Camilla competed against seventy-six boys for nine spots open in the violin class in front of an established panel of musicians, including Alard, Auber, Caraffa and Rossini.

Reporting on her appearance at a private soirée, the Evening Post (27 September 1852) wrote: "She handles the violin with as much freedom and ease as a Spanish lady does her fan.

"[7] The Mirror (1 October 1852), reviewing her debut at Metropolitan Hall on 30 September, reported: "Her appearance was singularly prepossessing, her pose firm, correct, yet easy, and her little arm guided the bow with grace and precision.

Even in the fortissimo parts she appeared to have the requisite strength, and the richness and fullness of her notes contrasted strangely with the delicate diminutiveness of this little mistress of the violin.

"[7] Urso was accompanied by an orchestra conducted by Theodore Eisfeld, and the program included the Viotti concerto, Bériot's Air varié, and Alexandre Artôt's Souvenirs de Bellini.