Week of April 9, 2007

Chapter Ten: In Which I Am Rescued and Hear Adelina Patti :

Chapter 10 opens with Hitty still trapped in the horsehair sofa where Little Thankful stuffed her. She is tired of being in such a small space and is very uncomfortable but that was less hard to bear than the humiliation she suffered at Thankful’s hands. Hitty admits that she did not feel Little Thankful had benefited greatly from all the hymns, texts, and other religious instructions she had received if she could abandon Hitty at the first shade of criticism. Hitty has no doubt that Little Thankful explained away her disappearance to her grandparents and received the first wax doll she fancied. I am sure Thankful must have come up with some big fat story and probably cried and carried on so that her grandparents would feel sorry for her. She was a little girl used to getting her own way.

Hitty’s thought: “True worth counts for little. It is a hard world for those of us who are not able to keep our complexions.” I think that holds true for today, too.

Hitty tries to make herself feel better by repeating all the hymns and texts she could remember, especially those dealing with the changefulness of human affections. I have to say I do that on occasion.
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Imagine Hitty’s hopefulness when she hears children in the attic. Just to hear their voices and know they are nearby. But, of course, when they go back downstairs, Hitty is even lonelier. Finally one day, after spending years trapped in the sofa, the joy of having one of the children put their hand around her.

She was adopted by Clarissa Pryce and spent some of the pleasantest years of her life. It was less adventurous, but Hitty was to learn a lot as she became Clarissa’s desk companion at the little dame school she attended.

Fortunately for Hitty, Clarissa was very kind and gentle. She was very skillful with a needle and Hitty found her wardrobe being replenished right away. Even though the Pryces were Quakers, Clarissa’s mother let Hitty keep her coral beads as long as Clarissa did not draw attention to them too frequently and the neck of her dress was high enough to keep them from being too conspicuous. I can’t imagine Hitty being without her coral beads. The beads must always remind her of the wonderful time she was having exploring Bombay and shopping with the Prebles. The Captain was kind enough to buy Hitty the beads.
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Clarissa, being older than Phoebe or Thankful, seems better able to take care of Hitty. She even makes her a roombox to live in.
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I enjoyed chapter 10…the minimal drama involving no real tragedy appealed to me. I always love the portrayal of childhood wonderment and excitement regarding a new experience.
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Rachel Field took a little bit of artistic license with the story of Adelina Patti. The basics are true--Adelina sang in Philadelphia in 1860, but it was a private performance for the Prince of Wales. At that time Adelina was only 17 years old (born in February 1843), and so was a little younger than Clarissa's older sister Ruth, not older. And Rachel was correct that Adelina had been in New York City prior to singing in Philadelphia.

In this chapter Hitty was grateful that she finally had an owner who was a bit of a stay-at-home type who would sew for her and decorate a house for her. It was a surprise that shy, quiet little Clarissa, would defy her parents and go to the concert. She had quite a bit of spunk after all, and Hitty seems to admire spunk!

Clarissa was probably named for Rachel Field's paternal grandmother, Clarissa Laflin Field, whom Rachel never knew, but must have heard stories about from family members.
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Poor Clarissa Pryce you want to scold and then hug her. I wonder why the mom and dad wouldn’t let them go to the opera, but mom and dad ended up at the opera. I think I would not wash my hand after Adelina touched it....hee hee... has anyone had some one famous shake your hand and then you say I'll never wash it again....
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That did seem a bit out of character for the mom and dad to attend the opera. It just goes to show that everyone succumbs to temptation, and may be part of the reason Clarissa wasn't severely scolded for HER escapade!
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Adelina Patti:
Adelina Patti (February 10, 1843 - September 27, 1919) was one of the most highly regarded opera singers of the 19th century. Giuseppe Verdi was not alone in calling her the greatest singer he ever heard.

Patti was born Adela Juana Maria Patti to Italian parents working in Madrid, Spain. Her father was Sicilian and so Patti was born a subject of the King of the Two Sicilies. She later carried a French passport, as her two first husbands were French. Like many great singers, she came from a singing family. Both her parents, tenor Salvatore Patti and soprano Caterina Barilli, were singers. Her sisters Carlotta and Amalia were also singers. In her childhood the family moved to New York City. Patti grew up in The Bronx, where her family's home is still standing. Patti sang professionally from childhood, and developed into a coloratura soprano. It is believed that Patti learned much of her singing technique from her brother in law Maurice Strakosch, although later in life Patti, like many famous singers, claimed that she was entirely self-taught.

Adelina Patti made her operatic début, in the title rôle of Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor, at the Academy of Music, New York, at age 16 in 1859.

In 1861, at the age of eighteen, she was invited to Covent Garden, to take the soprano role of Amina in Bellini's La Sonnambula. She had such success that she bought a house in Clapham and, using London as a base, went on to conquer the continent, performing Amina in Paris and Vienna in subsequent years with equal éclat.

In 1862 she sang Bishop's Home, Sweet Home at the White House for Abraham and Mary Lincoln, who were mourning for their son Willie, who had died of typhoid. The Lincolns were moved to tears and requested an encore. This song would became associated with Adelina Patti and she performed it many times as an encore by popular request.

Patti's career was success after success. She sang in the United States, all over Europe, including very much Russia and in South America, inspiring popular frenzy and critical raves wherever she went. Her girlish good looks made her an appealing stage presence. In her prime she reportedly had a beautiful soprano voice of birdlike purity, and she excelled in both soubrette roles like Zerlina in Don Giovanni, Rosina in Barber of Seville and famous coloratura parts like Lucia di Lammermoor and La Sonnambula, as well as lyric roles in Gounod's Faust and Romeo et Juliette.

Patti was known as a somewhat unadventurous singer, whose concert programs invariably consisted of the same old tunes, especially "Home Sweet Home", sung to adoring audiences. However, she was an effective actress in lyric roles that called for deep emotions, like Gilda in Rigoletto, Leonora in Il Trovatore, Semiramide, and Violetta in La Traviata. As her voice matured, she took on heavier parts in operas like L'Africaine, Les Huguenots, and Aïda. Overall, though perhaps unadventurous and old-fashioned, (she sang no Verismo parts at all) her repertoire was quite large and varied.

What made Patti great was not just her voice, but her shrewd business acumen. In her prime, she demanded to be paid $5000 a night, in gold, before the performance. No money, no Patti. Her contracts stipulated that her name be top-billed and larger than any other name in the cast. Her contracts also said that while she was "free to attend all rehearsals, she was not obligated to attend any." The famous impresario, "Colonel" Mapleson in his memoirs recalls Patti's stubborn personality and sharp business sense. She reportedly had a parrot whom she had trained to shriek, "CASH! CASH!" whenever Mapleson walked in the room. But she could get away with it because she filled the houses. Patti was a winning investment.

Although Patti ruthlessly squeezed every last dollar that she could from impresarios, she was known to be generous to the less fortunate and it was said that no one wrote Patti asking for help without getting some.
It was unfortunate that like many sopranos Patti did not know when to stop. Her last tour to the United States, in 1903, was a critical and personal failure. From then on she restricted herself to the occasional concert here or there, or to private performances at the little theater she built in her home at Craig-y-Nos.
Patti made a few phonograph recordings when she was in her 60s, at which time by all accounts her voice was past her prime but still impressive.

Patti's personal life was not as successful as her professional life, although it was not as disastrous as that of many operatic singers. She is thought by some to have had a dalliance with the tenor Mario, who is said to have bragged at Patti's first wedding that he had already "made love to her many times".
Patti married three times: first, in 1868, to Henri de Roger de Cahusac, marquis de Caux (1826-1889). That marriage ended in a lot of bitterness (and a large payment of money to the Marquis).
She then lived with the tenor Ernesto Nicolini for many years until, following Caux' death, she was able to marry him; that marriage lasted until his death and was seemingly happy, but Nicolini cut Patti out of his will, suggesting some tension in the last years.

Patti's last marriage, in 1899, was to a priggish, but handsome, Swedish Baron many years her junior, who severely curtailed Patti's social life. He became Patti's sole legatee and, some time later, married a woman, this time, much younger than he. Their only daughter thus became Adelina Patti's sole heir.
Patti had no children, but was close to her nieces and nephews. It is noteworthy that her great-grand niece and namesake is the Tony Award-winning Broadway actress and singer Patti LuPone.
In her retirement, Adelina Patti, baroness Cederström, settled in the Swansea valley in south Wales, where she purchased Craig-y-Nos Castle. In 1918, she presented the Winter Garden building from her Craig-y-Nos estate to the city of Swansea. It was re-erected and renamed the Patti Pavilion. She died at Craig-y-Nos and was buried at the Père Lachaise cemetery in Paris.

1878 - The purchase of Craig y Nos Castle “In October 1878, Patti acquired a Welsh estate located midway on the main road between the towns of Swansea and Brecon. It was thereafter a source of much pleasure. The Welsh estate afforded a refuge she had long sought while also offering Nicolini such outdoor activities as fishing and hunting. Patti named the Victorian country house Craig y Nos. Craig y Nos was in a picturesque setting in a valley surrounded by steep high hills and noted for its pure air and springs effective for curing throat ailments. Initially what Patti purchased for 3,500 pounds was a tall, solid, gray-stone building designed by T.H. Wyatt, with about seventeen adjoining acres. Later she added extensively to the structure and bought hundreds of acres with an expenditure estimated at 100,000 pounds. Local gossip charged that Patti had obtained some of the added acreage by getting a reluctant seller tipsy.”

Furbelow: A gathered strip or pleated border; showy ornaments or trimmings.
Furbelows have nothing to do with fur. The word came into English in the early eighteenth century from the French word falbala for a flounce, decoration or trimming on a woman’s petticoat or dress. Though similar words occur in other European languages — such as the German falbel or Spanish farfala — nobody seems to know where it comes from. It has been suggested that it might originate in the Latin faluppa for a valueless thing. Almost from its first appearance in English, its plural has had the sense of something ostentatious or showy. These days it hardly ever turns up at all, but when it does it usually forms part of the set phrase frills and furbelows.

Leghorn: A hat made of leghorn straw, namely a fine plaited straw made from an Italian wheat.

The most romantic-looking hat of the 1850s was a leghorn straw with a very wide brim dipping down at the back and slightly at the front and a high or low crown, trimmed with a lace or tulle veil, ribbons or flowers, or possibly all three; it appears to have been more popular in France and Germany, but was certainly adopted with slight variations in England and America for children's wear.

Fichu: A variation of the shawl, the fichu, served another purpose as well. With fashionable necklines becoming lower, the fichu, a small triangle of fabric (usually lawn or lace) could be tucked around the neck and down into the bodice of the gown for both warmth and modesty. The fichu was usually white, though women in mourning used black as well.

Lawn: Cotton plain weave. Word derived from Laon, a city in France, where linen lawn was manufactured extensively. Light weight, sheer, soft, washable. It is crispier than voile but not as crisp as organdy. Made with fine high count yarns, silky feel. Made with either carded or combed yarns. Comes in white or may be dyed or printed. When made with combed yarns with a soft feel and slight lustre it is called nainsook. Used in underwear, dresses, blouses, night wear, curtains, lingerie, collars, cuffs, infant wear, shirtings, handkerchiefs.

Hitty’s Travels Thus Far:

Chapter 1: In Maine with the Preble family;
Chapter 2: To Portland, Maine;
Aboard ship bound for the South Seas on a whaling expedition;
Chapter 6: Lost on a South Sea Island;
Chapter 8: Rescued at sea and arrival in Bombay, India;
Traveling back and forth across India with the snake charmer;
Chapter 9: A new home with a missionary family in India;
On board ship with Little Thankful and headed to Philadelphia in America
to live with Little Thankful’s grandparents;
Chapter 10: A new family, the Pryces, in Philadelphia.

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