Anna Bishop

Anna Bishop (9 January 1810 – 18 March 1884) was an English operatic soprano. She sang in many countries on every continent, and was the most widely travelled singer of the 19th century. She was married to the composer Henry Bishop but abandoned him for the French harpist, composer and entrepreneur Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. She and Bochsa were said to have been the inspiration for Trilby and Svengali in George du Maurier's 1894 novel Trilby.

Ann Rivière was born in London, daughter of a singing master. Her father was descended from a Huguenot family that had fled to England in the 17th century. She studied piano under Ignaz Moscheles, then continued her studies at the Royal Academy of Music under Henry Bishop. She made her London debut on 20 April 1831. Bishop's wife Sarah née Lyon died in June 1831, and Ann Rivière married him a month later, on 9 July; she was 21 and he 44. She was thereafter known professionally as Anna Bishop. They had three children: Rose (born 4 February 1833) and twins Augustus and Johanna (born 9 November 1837).

Anna Bishop sang at the Royal Philharmonic Society and many other venues. Her voice was a high soprano, said to be of brilliant quality. On 28 March 1834 she was the principal soprano in the first English performance of Luigi Cherubini's Requiem in C. In 1838 she participated in the chorus at the Coronation of Queen Victoria. In 1839 she appeared at the Italian Opera House in London alongside the singers Giulia Grisi, Manuel Garcia, Fanny Tacchinardi Persiani, Giovanni Battista Rubini, Antonio Tamburini, Pauline Viardot and Luigi Lablache; and the pianists Sigismond Thalberg and Theodor Döhler.

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