Pauline Lucca

Born in Vienna, she showed a remarkable talent for singing from childhood and at eight years old became a voice student of M. Walter.

She then sang for a while in Prague and in 1861, having attracted the attention of Meyerbeer, obtained an engagement at the Berlin State Opera, where her success was absolute for years.

Meyerbeer and Auber considered her unequaled, and the latter was so struck by her interpretation of the part of Zerlina in Fra Diavolo that he gave her the pen with which he had written the opera.

The tension came to a climax on 27 January 1872 in a performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro in which Mallinger sang the Countess and Lucca portrayed Cherubino.

So upset by this event, Lucca broke her contract with the opera house and left the German capital to tour the United States for two years where she was received enthusiastically, especially in New York City.