Madame Anna Sang With a Broken Heart

Men wept unashamedly, women swooned and young gentlemen about town threw kisses and flowers when Madame Anna Bishop, the toast of three continents and perhaps the most widely travelled opera singer of the 19th century, sang.

With her wistful Home Sweet Home, her heartrending My Bud in Heaven, and the carefree Dashing White Sergeant, she captivated legions from London to Melbourne to San Francisco for half a century.

When, finally, this famous lady of song visited Victoria in 1873, the old Theatre Royal was packed for 10 glittering nights. No one in the audiences had an inkling as to what she was really thinking—that outpost Victoria meant the sorrow of a lifetime

That’s next week in the Chronicles.

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PHOTO: Mme. Ana Bishop, the toast of three continents. —Wikipedia