A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Bishop, Ann

BISHOP, Ann, better known as Mme. Anna Bishop, was the daughter of a singing master named Rivière, and was born in London in 1814. She studied the pianoforte under Moscheles, and in 1824 became a student at the Royal Academy of Music. Here she remained until her marriage with Sir Henry Bishop in 1831. In this year she appeared as a singer at the Philharmonic and other concerts. [See vol. i. 57 b.] In 1839 she went on a tour in the provinces with Bochsa the harpist, and shortly after their return to London eloped with him to the continent. Almost all the remainder of her life was spent in travelling. Before her return to England in 1846 she had been singing for more than two years at the San Carlo in Naples. In 1847 she went to America, and remained there for some years. In 1855, while on a tour in Australia, Bochsa died, and Mme. Bishop returned by way of South America to New York, where she married a certain Schulz. Shortly afterwards she visited England, singing at the Crystal Palace in '58, and giving a farewell concert on Aug. 17, '59. Another considerable period was now passed in various parts of America. In 1865 she sailed from California for the Sandwich Islands, and in the following year suffered considerable loss in a wreck between Honolulu and China. India and Australia were next visited, and after a final visit to London she settled down in New York, where she died of apoplexy in March 1884. Her voice was a high soprano of brilliant but unsympathetic quality. (Dict. of Nat. Biog.)

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