Emma Albertazzi

In 1829 a young Italian, Francesco Albertazzi (died 1857), also began to study with Costa, and the two married in London on 25 November 1829; the bride was 14 years old.

[1] Sources variously report Albertazzi's activities over the next year or so, but she performed in Milan, Italy, in a concert at the Teatro Rè in September 1831.

[1] In July 1832, she appeared as the heroine in Adelina by Pietro Generali at Milan's Teatro della Canobbiana; this was apparently her operatic debut.

[2] During this time, her old singing teacher, Andrea Costa, sued her for 50% of her operatic earnings, based on the contracts that her parents and husband had signed.

At the end of 1840, she rejoined the Théâtre des Italiens and followed the season with touring in Europe, avoiding London where the Costa case continued in the courts and the press.

In 1841–1842, along with her operatic roles, Albertazzi continued to sing in may concerts, including in the première of Rossini's Stabat Mater.

[1] From October 1846, for the world premiere of Loder's opera The Wilis, or The Night Dancers, she sang the role of Giselle.

[1] Albertazzi became ill that spring and died from tuberculous meningitis in September at her home in St John's Wood, London, at the age of 32.

Her upper notes are equally steady and as full as those of a soprano; her great deficiencies are in power and in that animation which distinguishes the children of the south.

[3] However, his near contemporary, dramatic author, Edward Fitzball took a different view: "As Ninetta in La Gazza Ladra, a more beautiful representative ... never presented itself to the tearful eye, or tender heart.