3-074-868 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Signor Mario, 1883. Engraving of '...the most delightful of Italian opera tenor singers in his old age, with the white beard grown since his retirement, from a photograph taken by Messrs. W. and D. Downey when he last visited London...Giuseppe Mario, to use the adopted name by which he became famous all over Europe, was a Sardinian nobleman, the Marchese di Candia, born at Cagliari in 1810...His exquisite voice and musical talent, which had been early cultivated, became the means of his entering upon a new career, being without money, after two years' special study at the Conservatoire of Paris. On Dec. 2, 1838, he appeared at the Grand Opera in the part of "Roberto il Diavolo," and won great applause, which was increased by his succeeding performances...In 1844 he married Madame Grisi, with whom he lived most happily, and shared her operatic triumphs, until her death in 1869. Although he must have received a very large amount of money for his performances during more than thirty years, his circumstances became embarrassed; and in 1878 a concert was got up for his benefit at St. James's Hall, which produced about £2000. Some of his friends at Rome also procured him the almost sinecure appointment of curator of a small museum of art'. From "Illustrated London News", 1883.