Désirée Artôt de Padilla
(Marguerite-Joséphine-Désirée Montagney Artôt)
21st July 1835-3rd April 1907
Belguim Soprano
Initially a mezzo –Soprano. She studied with Pauline Viardot and Francesco Lamperti in London and Paris. She appeared in concerts in Belgium, the Netherlands in 1857 at a State Concert in England. Meyerbeer engaged her for the Paris Opéra, where she made her debut on 5 February 1858 as Fidès in his ‘Le prophete” .She abandoned the French repertoire and went to sing in Italy in 1859. She also sang in Berlin that year, at the opening of the Victoria Theatre with Lorini’s Italian company. She was highly successful in The Barber of Saville , La Cenerentola , Il Trovatore and other roles there. In London in 1859-60 and again in 1863 at Her Majestys Theatre in La Fille du regiment , La traviata and Norma ( Adalgisa) She returned to England in 1864, where she sang at Covent Garden and 1866, in Gounod's ‘Faust” and other roles. In 1868 she visited Russia with a touring Italian company. After Artôt's marriage to Mariano Padilla y Ramos she was often known as Désirée Artôt de Padilla or Désirée Artôt-Padilla. Artôt appeared with Padilla in Italian opera in Germany, Austria, Poland, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Russia, and Finland.She appeared in Moscow in 1868-70 and again in 1875-76, and in Saint Petersburg in 1871–72 and 1876–77.She retired in 1884, but on 22 March 1887 she and Padilla appeared in a scene from Don Giovanni in a celebration of the Emperor's birthday at the Imperial Palace in Berlin; it was also the centenary year of Don Giovanni. She became a singing teacher in Berlin until 1889, before moving to Paris.