Giuseppina Pasqua

Giuseppina Pasqua began as a soprano at thirteen, studying under Ulisse Corticelli in Perugia and making her debut at the Teatro Morlacchi there in 1868 as Oscar in Un ballo in maschera. She retrained as a mezzo-soprano with Luigia Abbadia in Milan, and sang leading roles across Italy, Spain and Portugal, with nearly twenty years at the Teatro Real in Madrid, where her Carmen was much admired. She created Éboli in the Italian Don Carlo of 1884, and Verdi later wrote Mistress Quickly for her, dedicating an aria of it to her. She married the baritone Astorre Giacomelli.