Marcella Stengel Sembrich.
Marcella Stengel Sembrich is one of the several prima donnas to whom the American music-loving public has remained loyal for many years. As an artist she ranks with the foremost singers of to-day, while her domestic life is of an ideal nature. As a rule, the law of compensation takes greatly where it gives freely, and so the woman of talent who devotes herself to the service of the public is apt to be the loser as far as home life is concerned. In Mme. Sembrich’s case it is otherwise, however, and her social popularity, too, is no less than is her vogue on the operatic stage. The songstress was born at Lemberg, Galatia, February 18, 1858. Her early musical education was obtained in the Conservatory of Lemberg, after which she studied at Vienna and Milan. Her marvelous vocal gifts assured the success of her début as Elvira, in I Puritani, at the Royal theater, Athens. After a season spent on the continent in opera she, in 1883, came to this country under the management of Henry Abbey. Her reception here was of the warmest nature, and from that time on she has been a constant favorite with the American public. She has made a number of tours in the United States and has been uniformly successful in connection therewith. In 1877 she married Prof. Wilhelm Stengel, who had formerly been her teacher at Lemberg.