Elizabeth Austin was an English opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 singer and actress who achieved particular fame in America, where between 1828 and 1835, she was considered the reigning prima donna

Prima donna

Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...

 of the day. Critics at the time compared her to Maria Malibran

Maria Malibran

The mezzo-soprano Maria Malibran , was one of the most famous opera singers of the 19th century. Malibran was known for her stormy personality and dramatic intensity, becoming a legendary figure after her death at age 28...

 and commented on the remarkable purity and sweetness of her voice, which extended to nearly three octaves. Although trained in England, she was considered a supreme representative of the florid Italian singing style.

Her performances in Dublin in 1821 led to engagements at the English Opera House and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

Theatre Royal, Drury Lane

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a West End theatre in Covent Garden, in the City of Westminster, a borough of London. The building faces Catherine Street and backs onto Drury Lane. The building standing today is the most recent in a line of four theatres at the same location dating back to 1663,...

 where she debuted on November 23, 1822. Austin made her American debut on December 10, 1827 as Rosetta in Thomas Arne’s Love in a Village at the Chestnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia. She sang the same role for her New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 debut at the Park Theatre on January 2, 1828. Following her performances there, one New York critic described her voice as "liquid tones coming as softly on the sense of hearing as snow upon the waters, or dew upon the flowers".

During the next seven years, guided by her manager (and lover), F.H.F. Berkeley, she toured the eastern half of the United States extensively, appearing in both operas and concerts. She starred in several American premieres, including Arne's Artaxerxes

Artaxerxes (opera)

Artaxerxes is an opera in three acts composed by Thomas Arne set to an English adaptation of Metastasio's 1729 libretto Artaserse. The first English opera seria, Artaxerxes premiered on 2 February 1762 at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden and continued to be regularly performed until the late 1830s...

and the English versions of Auber

Daniel Auber

Daniel François Esprit Auber was a French composer.-Biography:The son of a Paris print-seller, Auber was born in Caen in Normandy. Though his father expected him to continue in the print-selling business, he also allowed his son to learn how to play several musical instruments...

's Fra Diavolo

Fra Diavolo (opera)

Fra Diavolo, ou L'hôtellerie de Terracine is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer Daniel Auber, from a libretto by Auber's regular collaborator Eugène Scribe...

and Boieldieu

François-Adrien Boïeldieu

François-Adrien Boieldieu was a French composer, mainly of operas, often called "the French Mozart".-Biography:...

's The White Lady

La Dame blanche

La dame blanche is an opéra comique in three acts by the French composer François-Adrien Boieldieu. The libretto was written by Eugène Scribe and is based on episodes from no less than five of the works by Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott, including his novels The Monastery, Guy Mannering, and The...

and The Caliph of Baghdad.

Following the arrival in America of the Scottish soprano Mary Anne Paton Wood in late 1833, Austin's popularity began to wane. Her last performance was on May 8, 1835 at the Bowery Theater

Bowery

Bowery may refer to:Streets:* The Bowery, a thoroughfare in Manhattan, New York City* Bowery Street is a street on Coney Island in Brooklyn, N.Y.In popular culture:* Bowery Amphitheatre, a building on the Bowery in New York City...

 in New York as Diana Vernon in Isaac Pocock

Isaac Pocock

Isaac Pocock was an English dramatist and painter of portraits and historical subjects . He wrote melodramas, farces and light operatic comedies, many of his works being adapted for stage from existing novels...

's Rob Roy Macgregor. Shortly afterwards, she returned to England and retired from the stage.