From 8-year old Hilda’s diary:
Today is Sunday and we had company, but I didn’t have to play the piano or recite because grandmother wanted to show off the new doll and have her sing. Grandmother named the doll “Tetrazzini.” Madame Tetrazzini is in the opera and she sings with a flute to accompany her. I heard about it because Grandmother once made Grandfather take her to the Tivoli Opera House to hear Madame Tetrazzini sing in an opera called “Lucia.” There is a special scene in it called the mad scene and Grandmother was talking about it to the company and Grandfather said in a loud voice, “Lucia isn’t the only one who is mad. There are a few others living in this house.” Everyone laughed but Grandmother didn’t and I know she was angry.
Luisa Tetrazzini was a famous opera singer who made her U.S. debut in San Francisco in January 1905. The town went wild for her, particularly her singing of the mad scene from Lucia di Lammermoor. She was so popular that she returned in the fall of 1905.
San Francisco Chronicle January 18, 1905
San Francisco Chronicle November 6, 1905
Tetrazzini returned to San Francisco several times, including in 1910, but not at the Tivoli Opera House which had been destroyed in the 1906 earthquake and not rebuilt until 1913. She loved San Francisco as much as San Francisco loved her, and she gave a free Christmas Eve concert in 1910 to thank residents for their support and to provide a morale boost to a town still recovering from the devastation of the earthquake and fire. Tetrazzini must have been fresh on their minds because a memorial plaque was unveiled on March 24, 1912, just two weeks before Hilda wrote this entry.
Plaque at Lotta’s fountain courtesy of SAN FRANCISCO HISTORY CENTER, SAN FRANCISCO PUBLIC LIBRARY (according to SFPL digital photos: "Bas. relief portrait of Luisa Tetrazzini by Haig Patigian added to Lotta's Fountain in memory of event in which Tetrazzini sang 'The Last Rose of Summer' beside the fountain Christmas Eve 1910.")
Lotta’s fountain, present day. Plaque at top.