Another Mexican-inspired Google Doodle two weeks in a row? 

Audiences today will never know the voice of Ángela Peralta, so we can only imagine what it took for her to become known as the “Mexican Nightingale” on an international scale. Born in Mexico City in 1845, she was commemorated with a Google Doodle on what would have been her 175th birthday, on July 6.

The opera singer, pianist, harpist, and composer garnered fame in Europe for being one of the most critically-acclaimed performers from a young age until her death in 1883. 

Once her talent was made clear, she began studying music and until age 15, when she made her debut at one of Mexico’s premier opera houses at the time — the Gran Teatro Nacional.

Afterwards, she was encouraged to further her studies and talent in Italy, where she solidified herself as one of the greats of the time. When Peralta performed the Lucia di Lammermoor in Milan, Italy, the crowd is said to have been so enamored with her performance they erupted into a standing ovation, which prompted 23 returns to the stage. 

From 1865 onwards, Peralta’s career erupted. She toured Europe, Mexico, Cuba, and New York, and ultimately made a grand return to Mexico City in 1871. The city marked her homecoming with a performance at the Gran Teatro Nacional. 

Her life was also not without some controversy. Her husband died in 1877, and she later fell in love with lawyer and manager, Julián Monitel y Duarte, and began an affair. Considering the time period, this didn’t sit well with her fans in Mexico, and some regular attendees boycotted her performances. 

However, Peralta fought back. After partially redeeming herself in the public’s eye with a stellar performance in Linda di Chamounix, she vowed never to perform in Mexico City again, and continued her relationship with Duarte. 

While Mexico City was the top performing venue in Mexico at the time, the situation presented a unique opportunity for Peralta to demonstrate her talents in other parts of the country, to the north.

She founded an opera company, and her troup traveled to the Mexican states of Sonora, Baja California, and Sinaloa. Peralta’s tour of Northwest Mexico began in Guaymas Sonora, through the Baja California coast, and proceeded to Mazatlan Mexico in Sinaloa in 1883. 

It was here, in the coastal city of Mazatlán, that Peralta Passed away. 

Days before she was set to perform in the city, Peralta, as well as most of her troup, contracted a wave of  Yellow Fever and died shortly thereafter. She was 38 years old. An opera house named after the singer now stands to mark her final visit, where she would have demonstrated her talent, preserving her history. 

It was common at the time for talented individuals from Mexico or the United States to remain in Europe to tour and grow their fame. It was not taken lightly in Mexico that Peralta decided to perform across her home country, in small towns, and less-revered performance halls. 

While the gramophone was invented after her death her voice could never be recorded for modern listeners to hear, her compositions and arrangements she is said to have sung are available to listen on YouTube. 

Google previously celebrated Mexican Artist Pedro Linares López with a doodle on June 29.