Lella Ricci was an Italian

Italian people

The Italian people are an ethnic group that share a common Italian culture, ancestry and speak the Italian language as a mother tongue. Within Italy, Italians are defined by citizenship, regardless of ancestry or country of residence , and are distinguished from people...

 opera singer.

She was born in Italy as Adelaide Ricci to composer Luigi Ricci and opera singer Ludmila Stolz (1826–1910; the sister of Teresa Stolz

Teresa Stolz

Teresa Stolz was a Bohemian soprano, long resident in Italy, who was associated with significant premieres of the works of Giuseppe Verdi, and may have been his mistress...

). She inherited musical talent and enjoyed a great success in the Theatre Principe Umberto in Florence

Florence

Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....

. Emilio Usiglio

Emilio Usiglio

Emilio Usiglio was an Italian composer and conductor.Usiglio studied music in Parma, first with Giuseppe Barbacini and then with Giovanni Rossi, before continuing his education in Pisa with Carlo Romani and in Florence with Teodulo Mabellini. At the age of 20 he began his operatic career with...

 composed the opera La scommessa for her (the first performance was on July 6, 1870 in Florence). At age 21, Lella Ricci was invited by Bedřich Smetana

Bedrich Smetana

Bedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...

 to Prague

Prague

Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...

 to sing in the comic opera Crispino e la comare

Crispino e la comare

Crispino e la comare is an opera by Luigi Ricci and Federico Ricci with an Italian libretto by Francesco Maria Piave.-Performance history:The premiere took place on 28 February 1850 at the Teatro San Benedetto in Venice....

composed by her father. When in Prague she became pregnant (possibly by Smetana) but to keep her career she chose abortion and died due to internal bleeding. She was interred in Olšany Cemetery

Olšany Cemetery

Olšany Cemetery is the largest graveyard in Prague, Czech Republic, once having as many as two million burials. The cemetery is particularly noted for its many remarkable art nouveau monuments.- History :...

.