MADAME ANNA BISHOP.

Oamaru Mail, Volume IV, Issue 1322, 17 May 1884, Page 4

MADAME ANNA BISHOP.

Madame Anna Bishop, whose ueath was recently announced in a telegram from New York, was an English vocalist of world-wide celebrity in her day, though almost! forgotten by the present generation- Sho was the daughter of a Mr an artist, and ws* bom in London in 1815. Early in life she evinced musical taste, and entered the Royal Academy of Music, *bow she soon distinguished herself. In IS3I s^c became the second wife of Sir Hsnry Rowley Bishop, the musical composer, who had in the previous year been appointed rou3ic director of the Vanxhall Gardens, efforts being then made to restore that place of entertainment to the high esteem in which it bad originally been held. Madame Bishop quickly obtained a prominent position as a vocalist, though sh>! had at first intended t'i devote her attention to instrumental music. She sang at \ il " x " hall, and at the so-called " oratorios during Lent at the theatres, at which her husband undertook the speculation f*>r ■otae aucceaaive seasons, and she was before long engaged at all the most tmfortant concerts in and not of London, n 1833 she sang as prima donna at the Philharmonic concerts, and at the great musical festivals given in the nthwlnl towns of Gloucester, Worcester, Wk, and Hereford. At first she had chiefly inng the productions of Handel, Mozart, and Beethoven ; bat eventually devoting herself to the Italian school, sho appeared at the Royal Italian Opera House at a concert given there. Her first Continental visit was to Copenhagen in IS3O, and in IStO she visited Stockholm, where, notwithstanding the presence of Jenny Ltnd, Madame Bishop created a complete/ She next visited St. Petersburg, where she achieved an equal success. Proceeding southwards, she afterwards appeared at Novgorod, at Kasan in Tartary (where ■he sang in the Tartar language), at Odessa, and, eventually reaching Vienna, added still further to her laurels. Returning homo through various German cities, she sang at Munich. In 18-13 she visited Italy, and sang at Florence, Venice, &c. t becoming prima donna at Naples, at the theatre of San Carlo. At Roma she undertook the roles of "Amina' in La Sonnambola, and of " Lucia" in Lacia di Lammermoor, and in the Eternal City, aa also at Palermo, she was received with the greatest enthusiasm. She afterwards apocared at several concerts in England, and in 1846 visited the New World, travelling in the United States, Mexico, and California. In l<v>3 she left San Francisco for Sydney, and appeared also at Melbourne and Adelaide. South America was her next destination, and after singing at Valparaiso and other places she returned to England in 18.*$. Having then sung at various concero in this country she gave her farewell one on the 17th of August, 1859, and shortly afterwards sailed for America. Sir Henry Bishop, her first husband, died in 185-3, and she married, secondly, Mr Schulz, of New York.—Times.