Beginning her musical career as a pianist, Amelita Galli-Curci (1882–1963) was to become one of the greatest coloratura sopranos of the century. Encouraged to sing by Pietro Mascagni, the Milanese soprano performed throughout the opera houses of Italy and South America before the First World War. Her début with the Chicago Opera Company in 1916 caused a sensation and immediately established her reputation throughout the United States. In 1921 Galli­Curci joined the Metropolitan Opera where she became the company’s star attraction. Volume I of her complete acoustic recordings (made exclusively for the Victor Company) spans the years 1916–20, and includes arias from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, Donizetti’s Don Pasquale and Lucia di Lammermoor, Bellini’s I Puritani and La Sonnambula, and Verdi’s Rigoletto and La Traviata, as well as the soprano’s sparkling rendition of Valverde’s Clavelitos.