[6] There, she studied under composer Pauline Viardot and the wealthy Comtesse de Trobriand, who offered her a space to perform.

[7] Her first career performance was in Paris at the Théâtre des Italiens for Lucia di Lammermoor; it was there she took the Italian stage name of Marie Litta.

[11] After about four years in Europe and after signing a deal with the Max Strakosch Opera Company, she returned to the United States and performed for them.

[17] In 1880, about two years into her return, she left Strakosch's company and formed her own, which included pianist Nellie Bangs Skelton.

[21] Despite Litta's fame and personal success, the troupe was unsuccessful, and Tagliapietra had gone into debt, failing to pay his fellow performers.

[22] In May 1883, she became violently ill while singing to miners of the Great Lakes town of Escanaba, Michigan.

[18] The monument's service was attended by David Davis, then a United States senator from Illinois, who offered a tribute: "to Litta the artist ... whose eminence is our local legacy".