Angelica Catalani, an Italian singer, born at Sinigaglia about 1785, died in Paris, June 13, 1849. When only seven years old she attracted general attention by the remarkable power and purity of her voice. People went in such numbers to the convent of St. Lucia, near Pome, where she received her education, to hear her, that the police had to check the pressure of the crowd. In 1802 she made her debut in opera in Rome with marked success, and afterward fulfilled engagements in the principal cities of Italy. She next appeared in Italian opera in Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, and London, where her singing created the greatest enthusiasm. In 1815 she returned from England to Paris, where for about four years she was connected with the management of the Italian opera in cooperation with her husband, M. de Valabregue, formerly a captain in the French army. In this enterprise she was not successful. Her clear, powerful voice electrified the English, especially in "God save the King;" but her influence over continental audiences was not so great. She sang in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Russia, returning also occasionally to her native country, and afterward again made her appearance in Paris, but without meeting with great success.

In 1830 she withdrew from the stage, and devoted herself at Florence to the education of her three children, and established a free singing school for girls. In June, 1849, during the revolution in Tuscany, she went to Paris with her daughters, but almost immediately after her arrival she fell a victim to the cholera. She had amassed a large fortune.