Pauline Lucca was a prominent 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...

tic soprano, born in the Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

n capital of Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

.

As a child she showed a remarkable talent for singing and at eight years old became a voice student of M. Walter. Not too long after her parents lost all their property, forcing her to abandon her studies. She continued her education as a young teenager with Otto Uschmann and Richard Lewy in Vienna, but was too poor to continue her studies and so joined the chorus of the Vienna State Opera

Vienna State Opera

The Vienna State Opera is an opera house – and opera company – with a history dating back to the mid-19th century. It is located in the centre of Vienna, Austria. It was originally called the Vienna Court Opera . In 1920, with the replacement of the Habsburg Monarchy by the First Austrian...

 in 1856.

In 1859 she made her début at Olmütz as Elvira in Ernani. She then sang for a while in 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...

 and in 1861, having attracted the attention of Meyerbeer

Giacomo Meyerbeer

Giacomo Meyerbeer was a noted German opera composer, and the first great exponent of "grand opera." At his peak in the 1830s and 1840s, he was the most famous and successful composer of opera in Europe, yet he is rarely performed today.-Early years:He was born to a Jewish family in Tasdorf , near...

, obtained an engagement at the Berlin State Opera

Berlin State Opera

The Staatsoper Unter den Linden is a German opera company. Its permanent home is the opera house on the Unter den Linden boulevard in the Mitte district of Berlin, which also hosts the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra.-Early years:...

, where her success was absolute for years. In 1863 Lucca made her first appearance in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, which country, as well as France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 and Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

, she subsequently visited often. Meyerbeer and 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...

 considered her unequaled, and the latter was so struck by her interpretation of the part of Zerlina in Fra Diavolo that he gave her the pen with which he had written the opera.

Lucca had a notorious rivalry with soprano Mathilde Mallinger

Mathilde Mallinger

Mathilde Mallinger was a famous Croatian lyric soprano opera singer.-Biography:Born as Mathilde Lichtenegger in Zagreb, the daughter of composer and teacher Vatroslav Lichtenegger, she studied singing with Giovanni Battista Gordigiani at the Prague Conservatory and with Richard Loewy in Vienna...

 while in Berlin. The conflict between the two extended among their fans as well, with supporters of Mallinger and supporters of Lucca heckling one another. The tension came to a climax on 27 January 1872 in a performance of Mozart's The Marriage of Figaro

The Marriage of Figaro

Le nozze di Figaro, ossia la folle giornata , K. 492, is an opera buffa composed in 1786 in four acts by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, with Italian libretto by Lorenzo Da Ponte, based on a stage comedy by Pierre Beaumarchais, La folle journée, ou le Mariage de Figaro .Although the play by...

in which Mallinger sang the Countess and Lucca portrayed Cherubino. During the performance supporters of Mallinger booed Lucca so severely that she was prevented from singing her aria. So upset by this event, Lucca broke her contract with the opera house and left the German capital to tour the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 for two years where she was received enthusiastically; spending the summer months of 1872 and 1873 in Kingston, Rhode Island

Tavern Hall Preservation Society

The Tavern Hall Preservation Society is a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to the preservation and upkeep of the Elisha Reynolds House in Kingston, Rhode Island...

. From 1874 to 1889 she was a member of the Vienna State Opera.