HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF

People say history repeats itself—and musical anecdotes are a perfect example. Of course, that would mean nobody ever recycled old stories and pinned them onto new celebrities… which is a comforting thought. Still, the parallels can be uncanny.

Munsey’s Magazine (December 1893) recorded a “touching incident” from the experiences of Madame Melba, who was “now singing in New York” but had been in Palermo the previous year.

During a performance of Lucia, Melba was changing costumes between acts when a lady entered her dressing-room. After praising her singing, the visitor lifted a few strands of Melba’s hair—loose over her shoulders—and asked, “Is this all your own?”

When satisfied, the woman said: since she had no wreath of flowers to offer, she would make Melba one from her own beautiful hair—and she did so, humming a bar or two of music as she worked.

The twist: the visitor was none other than Christine Nilsson.

That story felt oddly antique to the author, who then found an older version in an English book from years earlier:

In 1835, during Madame Persiani’s second visit to Naples, something nearly identical happened—again during Lucia. Between acts, while Persiani was changing, a lady entered, complimented her, took up her long fair hair, asked if it was truly her own, and when assured, said she had no floral wreath to give—so she would braid one from Persiani’s own tresses.

And she did.

Persiani’s heart pounded with pride—because the woman speaking was Malibran, “the greatest singer of the day.”

Different place, different decade, different diva… same story beat for beat.