From: www.bach-cantatas.com

Blanche Marchesi, (de Castrone) 1863-1940,  was an opera singer/teacher (Soprano)

She was the daughter of the distinguished Italian baritone and teacher Salvatore Marchesi de Castrorie (1822-1908) and the famous German mezzo-soprano and pedagogue Mathilde (née Graumann) Marchesi de Castrone (1821-1913). After studying violin, she turned to vocal training with her mother.

She began her career singing in private and charity concerts in Paris, and then appeared in Berlin and Brussels in 1895. On June 19, 1896, she made her London debut in a concert and made England her home. In 1900 she made her operatic debut as Brünnhilde in Die Walkure in Prague, and then returned to England to sing with the Moody-Manners Company. In 1902 she appeared at London's Covent Garden as Elisabeth, Elsa, and Isolde. For the most part, however, she pursued a career on the concert stage. Later she was also active as a teacher. She made her farewell concert appearance in 1938. She published memoir A Singer’s Pilgrimage (London, 1923), and the didactic volume The Singer’s Catechism (London, 1932).
(www.bach-cantatas.com)

Notes: 

Sale

Sold at Sotheby's New York, 30 Nov 2005; Session 1, Sale No. N08134, Lot 69; $132,000 USD (was estimated  30,000—50,000 USD)

Provenance

Blanche Marchesi (commissioned from the artist)
By descent to the present owner (the sitter's grandson)

Exhibited

Oldham, England, Oldham Art Gallery, A Dream of Fair Women, May 1910

• See the year in review  1910