Polish soprano Marcella Sembrich was born in Wisniewczyk, Galicia in 1858. Her real name was Prakseda Marcelin Kochanska. As a child, Sembrich learned how to play the violin and piano from her father. She mastered these instruments sufficiently to perform on them in public, but her real success came only after she decided to study voice. Famed composer and pianist Franz Liszt encouraged her in her decision to take vocal lessons. Sembrich’s operatic debut came in 1877 in Athens in Bellini’s I Puritani. Soon afterwards she began to sing regularly in Russia, Paris, Spain, and Berlin. Her American debut occurred at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City at the second performance of the company’s first season. The Met remained her main opera house from 1898 until her retirement from opera in 1909. Sembrich was most famous for her coloratura roles and possessed a secure high range. She made numerous early acoustic recordings.