Al Merito distinto della Signora Francesca Festa Maffei che con grandissima lode ha esequita la parate di primo Soprano nel Teatro Comunale di Bologna l'autunno dell'anno MDCCCXXVI

Bologno: Dalla Tipografia Cardinali e Frulli, 1826. Broadside folio.  425 x 313 mm., [16 ¼ x 12 ¼ inches].  Printed on a half sheet; previously folded, with a little dust soiling at foot of the broadside but in very good condition.
Broadside published the year she retired from the stage, celebrating her talent as a singer and confirming her position in the early 19th century opera performances.
Francesca Maffei [1778-1836] was born in Naples, studying with the castrati Giuseppe Aprile in Naples and the great Gasparo Pacchierotti in Rome before making her debut at Naples Teatro Nuovo in 1799.  "She sang at La Scala between 1805 (truncated) and 1824, creating Fiorilla in Rossini's Il turco in Italia [1814].  Her roles included Donna Anna, Cenerentola and Desdemona in Rossini's Othello, which she sang at the Teatro S. Benedetto in Venice [1818].
In addition to appearing in opera house in Naples, Milan, Rome, Venice, Padua, and Turin, she sang leading roles in opera houses in Paris, Munich, and Saint Petersburg, where she died in 1836.  She was a contemporary and friend of other successful opera stars including Rosa Paulina Morolli, Teresa Trombetta, Marietta Schira, and Brigida Lorenzani. 
See The Grove Book of Opera Singers, (2nd edition) for biographical information on Maffei's life and work. (1221) . (Inventory #: 1221)