Annie Vitelli (, born Shoreditch, London, England; 1837 (baptised 7 May 1837) – died Moonee Ponds, Victoria, 18 June 1917) was a
New Zealand
New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...
singer and entertainer.
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''Cheap Print and Popular Song in the Nineteenth Century'', edited by Paul Watt, Derek B. Scott, Patrick Spedding, Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2017, Her stage name was Lydia Howarde.
Life
Annie Day was the daughter of a Melbourne merchant, Francis John Day, and his wife, Margaret Tilley.
Vitelli studied music in Melbourne, Australia, where around 1855 she married her teacher, Giovanni Whittle Vitelli (d. 1859). Following her husband's death Annie eloped and married and the singer
Charles Robert Thatcher
Charles Robert Thatcher (1830–1878) was a notable New Zealand singer, entertainer and songwriter.
He was born in Bristol, England in 1830. He was married to singer Annie Vitelli.
Life
In his early twenties Thatcher emigrated to Australi ...
in February 1861 at the St. James' Anglican Church, Geelong, they had two daughters; Annie Matilda (b. Christchurch 28 July 1862), and Charlotte (b. Wellington 5 September 1864).
Vitelli was active as a professional singer from 1859 until 1882, and toured between New Zealand (1862–63, 1863–65 and 1869–70) and Australia with her second spouse, performing in venues from hotels to bars on the
gold fields. While she performed sentimental
ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...
s, her spouse performed satire songs. Vitelli and her husband were regarded highly.
In the 1870s Vitelli took on the stage name ''Lydia Howarde'' opera bouffe and burlesque prima donna.
Vitelli retired in 1882 and worked as a music teacher in Australia.
References
1837 births
English emigrants to New Zealand
People from Shoreditch
1917 deaths
19th-century New Zealand women singers
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