Úrsula Deville

She was born in the city of Matanzas. Her father, who owned a music store, was concerned with providing his five children with a careful artistic education, among whom Úrsula stood out for her singing abilities, which she studied with the Spanish master Antonio Cortadellas, established in that city.

She began performing as an amateur around 1840 and three years later received a tribute at the Philharmonic Society of Santa Cecilia, where she was crowned.

Married to Spanish pianist José Miró (1815-1878), together they founded an opera company with which they toured the island, developing a meritorious professional career that had its culminating moments in 1850, with the inauguration of the Teatro Principal of Puerto Príncipe (Camagüey), in which Úrsula starred in Norma and the presentation of the first opera season in the recently founded Teatro de la Reina (Santiago de Cuba), in 1851.

In 1854 both artists traveled to Europe, where they met and became acquainted with composer Meyerbeer. Upon their return to Cuba, the soprano already felt her faculties diminishing and dedicated herself to teaching singing classes.

La Deville, who was also related through the maternal line to the famous Matanzas violinist José White, died in the city of Marianao, Havana, on August 4, 1914.

Mexican researcher, settled in Matanzas, Mireya Cabrera Galán, has published an excellent biographical work on this figure, titled Úrsula Deville: Pasión y canto (1994), from which the preceding data have been taken.

Source: Viva la Voz.net