Acclaimed French soprano Régine Crespin, the elegant and luminous performer who sang at the world's top opera venues, had died at the age of 80.

Crespin, who died at a Paris hospital on Thursday, is the second internationally renowned diva the opera world lost this week, after the death of U.S. soprano Beverly Sills on Monday.

Régine Crespin, seen here in 1964, began her voice training late, at the age of 16, but her talent was quickly recognized.
(Richard Chowen/Evening Standard/Getty)

According to Crespin's personal secretary, Mireille Gaucher, liver cancer was the cause of the singer's death, after previous battles with cancer in the late 1970s and again in the mid-1980s.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy praised Crespin as "a great French voice" and portrayed her as an ambassador of French culture to the world.

Born in Marseilles in southern France, Crespin began her voice training late: Her first lessons came at the age of 16. However, her talent was quickly recognized and she moved to Paris for further studies.

Crespin made her opera debut in 1948, with early performances including appearances in Massenet's Werther, Bizet's Carmen and Wagner's Lohengrin and Tannhauser.

She took to the international stage a decade later, winning wide acclaim at Germany's famed Bayreuth Festival for her turn in Parsifal. Crespin made her debut at New York's Metropolitan Opera in 1962.

She would go on to become a regular performer at the Met for 25 years, in addition to singing at top venues in Paris, Vienna, Milan, Berlin and London.

Crespin was hailed for her portrayal of Wagner's operas and those of other German and French composers, winning renown for her sensuality, her powerhouse voice, her warm and nuanced singing as well as her seemingly effortless ability to sing some difficult roles.

From 1976 until just after her retirement in the early 1990s, Crespin also taught at France's National High Conservatory for Music.

She won new praise as an instructor for captivating her students with her musical insights, her behind-the-scenes stories about her own romantic liaisons and insider tales of other opera stars.

With files from the Associated Press