Update for: JUNE 2009                        
            

             19th Century - Operatic Biography         

                                                                                                      Visitors since 1999 - Hit Counter
                                                      Catherine  Hayes
                                                     The Hibernian (Irish) Prima Donna    ©

        Basil Walsh 

            Foreword by conductor, Richard Bonynge 

 

(372 page Biography, with photos and a chronology of her travels and performances)      

 

FOR SALE (WINTER/SPRING) 2009/10

CATHERINE HAYES UNIQUE HISTORIC COLLECTION 
OF MEMORABILIA

The Collection includes original items such as, operatic programs (La Scala, Milan, etc.), letters, images/photos, sheet music, biographical research newspaper material and facsimile documents relating to this distinguished nineteenth-century Irish soprano, her career, performance reviews and travels in Europe, Britain, Ireland, America, Canada, Chile, Peru, Australia, India and elsewhere.


                                                                                   BASIL WALSH, AUTHOR and WRITER
                                                     Music/Opera Biographies and 19th century operatic performance history
                                                                                    Palm Beach, Florida
                                                  TO RECEIVE A CATALOGUE of SALE ITEMS- CONTACT: -  basilwalsh@msn.com    
                                                     
                                                                                                                                   Available: Winter 2009                     

__________________________________

 

Welcome to the Catherine Hayes web site - Ireland's First Great International Prima Donna!

The book "Catherine Hayes: The Hibernian Prima Donna," 'by Basil Walsh, is published by Irish Academic Press, with distribution in Europe, North America, Australia and New Zealand. 


 This is a remarkable story of a unique young Irishwoman who traveled the globe during the 19th century, singing opera and songs with great passion and success everywhere. Perhaps her greatest moment came in Buckingham Palace, London in 1849... after an evening of singing Italian operatic arias for Queen Victoria and 500 guests she responded to the Queen's request for an encore by singing the beautiful Irish song, "Kathleen Mavourneen." The Queen was so impressed, that she recorded her comments on the Irish Prima Donna's performance for posterity in her diary the next day. The Queen was very complimentary!


Read what the critics in Europe and America said about the Biography

Daily Express - London:  " A rags to riches tale... Hayes was the "Madonna" of her day, she was the 19th-century operatic equivalent of the world's most famous pop star... Catherine Hayes had it all, a voice that captivated her public, financial rewards and a man she loved... then tragedy"

Classical Music Magazine - London:   "Basil Walsh has drawn on letters, theatrical memorabilia and newspaper reviews to build a picture of her career... his affectionate portrait offers fascinating glimpses into the social and musical world of 150 years ago..."

OperaNow - London: "Thanks to Basil Walsh's extensively researched biography... Catherine Hayes is at last receiving the historical and musical recognition she deserves"

Donizetti Society Newsletter - London:   " A long overdue study of a fascinating Irish artist, a famous Lucia and Linda, a beautiful angelic redhead soprano who took Italy by storm, a great star.  A fine and exhaustive biography by Basil Walsh... immaculate presentation, indexed, chronology, repertoire..."

The World of Hibernia Magazine - New York:   " Thank you Mr. Walsh for extending our horizons with this delightful story... Basil Walsh has worked hard to inform us of this enigmatic woman, her fabulous voice, her devoted family loyalty and her charitable nature, he gives facts, meticulous footnotes and rare illustrations, which all together create a vivid picture of Catherine Hayes"

Sunday Independent - Dublin "In the absence of recording evidence [Catherine Hayes' 'time was long before gramophone records were invented] it is impossible to assess the merit of operatic voices of the past with the result that we rely on their biographers which isn't 'always satisfactory. However, in the case of Basil Walsh, a Dublin author living in Florida, such is his detailed research in numerous countries that one is left in no doubt that his subject, the diva Catherine Hayes, enjoyed a glittering career..."

The Sunday Tribune - Dublin:   "Catherine Hayes packed a great deal into her four decades at a time when travel was difficult and dangerous... We are greatly indebted to Basil Walsh for this magnificent, entertaining and beautifully illustrated book. It makes excellent reading" 

The Dublin Historical Record:   "Basil Walsh has performed a great service to Irish operatic history with this excellently researched volume... It also has a most valuable chronology of her [Catherine Hayes'] performances and travels throughout the world which further services the student of this fascinating woman who deserves to be better known to her compatriots."

                                                                              _____________________________________________

                                                                                                
                                                                                  Catherine Hayes performed before Queen Victoria and 500 guests 
                                                                                                     in Buckingham Palace, London in 1849.

 

                                                                                                
                                                                                          Catherine Hayes and British tenor Sims Reeves at La Scala, 
                                                                                             Milan in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor in 1846.


                                                                              
                                                                               The Royal Italian Opera, London where Catherine made her debut in April 1849

                                                                                                        

The Biography contains, 35 illustrations, a chronology of the Prima Donna's operatic and concert performances, her travels around the Globe to 15 countries, including, France, Italy, Britain, Ireland, America (45 cities), Canada, Peru, Chile, Hawaii, Australia, India, Singapore, Java, etc., during the middle of the 19th century. Her relationships with leading singers, composers and personalities of the times. Her romantic encounters in Europe, America and Australia and her successes which included phenomenal earnings and the great tragedy she experienced in her final years.

                                      Visit the Limerick Civic Trust Catherine Hayes Web site:                 

                                                                                             www.catherinehayes.ie
 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  
 

    To place an order for the book...  

  "Catherine Hayes: The Hibernian Prima Donna"

by Basil Walsh 
                   (ISBN No. 0 7165 2662 X)                

Click on: (enter - Catherine Hayes; author, Basil Walsh)  

  In Association with Amazon.com    

OR:

    NORTH AMERICA:  ISBS,  Portland, Oregon and Elsewhere, at, marketing@isbs.com   - 1 800 944 6190

Irish Books & Media,  Minneapolis, MN at:   irishbooks@aol.com   -  612 871 3505

EUROPE: (Irish Academic Press, Dublin) www.iap.ie
  or any major bookseller.

ENGLAND/UK:  contact:  any Waterstone's bookshops in any city in the UK

_____________________________

       Film/TV Options available on the Catherine Hayes biography:

Contact Basil Walsh - basilwalsh@msn.com (Webmaster)

   

                                                          Basil Walsh of Palm Beach, Florida, is a published author and writer on 19th century opera.  

BASIL WALSH -  has contributed to various magazines, encyclopedias and journals in Europe and America including Opera Quarterly (Oxford University Press),  OPERA magazine (UK), The Princess Grace of Monaco Irish Database, History Ireland, Visitor Magazine, Dublin, The Donizetti Society of London Newsletter and the Victorian Web.  In 2000 he was also invited to contribute to the Royal Irish Academy's forthcoming multi-volume Dictionary of Irish Biography. He has also contributed to the forthcoming, Encyclopedia of Music in Ireland and to the multi-volume, Encyclopedia, Ireland and the Americas,  recently published by ABC-CLIO of Santa Barbara, California. He is a contributor for 2009 to GROVE music publications (Oxford University Press).

                                                                                                   _____________________

His latest work was published in October 2007.  See below for details.  

                                                                                                  

              Biography: "Michael W. Balfe: A Unique Victorian Composer"  by Basil Walsh 
has recently been published by Irish Academic Press in association with the Arts Council of Ireland, 
for Balfe's bicentennial year 2008.

Click on:  www.britishandirishworld.com
              Irish classical music pioneers musicians who made a difference - 
CLICK on -      

                                                                                      http://basilwalsh.wordpress.com/

 

This page was last updated June 2009 © BW/1999-2009