Opera Singer. A leading soprano of late 19th and early 20th century Europe, she sang 58 roles from 56 operas and gave the world premiere performances of around a dozen pieces including Giacomo Puccini's "Tosca" and Pietro Mascagni's "Iris". Born Hariclea Haricli to a family of Greek nobility, she was raised in Braila and later in Turnu Magurele, singing in her community but apparently giving no early promise of her future eminence. Around 1884 she studied at the Conservatory in Iasi and had some local appearances, then at age 26 went to Paris for further training and, according to legend, to escape a bad marriage. Madame Darclee made her debut at the Paris Opera as Marguerite from Charles Gounod's "Faust" in an 1888 performance that is said to have deeply moved the composer, and received her major break the next year at the same house when she replaced Adelina Patti as Juliette from Gounod's "Romeo and Juliette". After 1890 she concentrated her career in Italy, and was to take-on a massive variety of roles from the light coloratura (Gilda in Verdi's "Rigoletto", Ophelia from Ambrose Thomas' "Hamlet") to the lyric (Violetta from Verdi's "La Traviata", Mimi in Puccini's "La Boheme", the title character of Massenet's "Manon") to much heavier fare such as the leads of Verdi's "Aida" and Georges Bizet's "Carmen", and The Marschalin in Richard Strauss' "Der Rosenkavalier"; she even assumed some Wagnerian parts including Elisabeth in "Tannhauser" and "Lohengrin"'s Elsa. According to reports of the time, she earned all of her honors with her vocal prowess as her acting talent was minimal and her stage manner, despite her good looks, cold and off-putting. She made her La Scala Milano bow in 1890 as Chimene from Massenrt's "Le Cid" and on January 20, 1892, that theatre was to see her create the title character in Alfredo Catalani's "La Wally". At the Teatro Costanzi in Rome, she premiered Mascagni's "Iris" on January 22, 1898, and Puccini's "Tosca" on January 14, 1900. Madame Darclee toured extensively in Spain, Portugal, Russia, and South America, singing several local premieres; her final performance was in 1918 as Juliette at Milan's Teatro Lirico. She was honored in her native land with a postage stamp in 1964 and a biennial international vocal competition was instituted in her honor at Braila in 1997. Her recorded legacy was small: five sides cut for Fonotipia in 1905, which are very difficult to find.