Parepa-Rosa, Euphrosyne

1836-1874

Well-known soprano-singer; born at Edinburgh. Her father was a native of Bucharest and her mother, a vocalist, was a sister of Edwin Seguin, the famous bass. She studied with her mother, and when her father died went on the stage, making her debut as Amina, at Malta, when only sixteen. She then sang with great success in Italy and Spain and went to London in 1857, where she first appeared as Elvira in I Puritani. In 1865 she visited Germany and late the same year came to America on a concert tour with Carl Rosa. Captain de Wolfe Carvell, whom she had married in 1863, died at Lima, Peru, in 1865, and, on her second trip to the United States in 1867, she married Mr. Rosa. She and her husband remained here for four years, during which the Parepa-Rosa Opera Company was formed. In 1871 she returned to England, but after visiting Egypt she came back to America, where she sang in Italian Opera. In 1873 she made her second trip to Egypt, returning to London to sing Elsa in a performance of Lohengrin. But she was taken ill suddenly and died Jan. 21, 1874. Her voice was sweet, clear and strong, her tone mellow and her register was two and a half octaves. She was successful in both English and Italian opera, singing in Zampa, Victorine, La Reine Topase, Helvellyn, and The Bohemian Girl, and as Satanella, Dinorah, and the Zerlinas. Not having much dramatic ability, she was better as an oratorio and concert-singer, in which capacity she constantly appeared, prominent occasions being the Handel Festivals in London in 1862 and 1865 and the Peace Jubilee at Boston in 1869.