Mme. Schreder-Devrient"s first appearance in England was under the management of Mr. Monck Mason, who had leased the King"s Theatre in pursuance of a somewhat daring enterprise. A musical and theatrical enthusiast, and himself a composer, though without any experience in the practical knowledge of management, he projected novel and daring improvements, and aspired to produce opera on the most extensive and complete scale. He engaged an enormous company--not only of Italian and German, but of French singers--and gave performances in all three languages. Schroder-Devrient sang in all her favorite operas, and also _Desdemona_, in Italian. Donzelli was the _Otello_, and the performance made a strong impression on the critics, if not on the public. "We know not," wrote one, "how to say enough of Mme. Schreder-Devrient without appearing extravagant, and yet the most extravagant eulogy we could pen would not come up to our idea of her excellence. She is a woman of first-rate genius; her acting skillful, various, impa.s.sioned, her singing pure, scientific, and enthusiastic. Her whole soul is wrapped in her subject, yet she never for a moment oversteps the modesty of nature." It was during this season that Mr. Chorley first heard her.
He writes in his "Musical Recollections" a vivid description of her appearance in "Fidelio": "She was a pale woman. Her face, a thoroughly German one, though plain, was pleasing from the intensity of expression which her large features and deep, tender eyes conveyed. She had profuse fair hair, the value of which she thoroughly understood, delighting in moments of great emotion to fling it loose with the wild vehemence of a Maenad. Her figure was superb, though full, and she rejoiced in its display." He also speaks of "the inherent expressiveness of her voice which made it more attractive on the stage than a more faultless organ."
Mme. Schroder-Devrient met a warm social welcome in London from the family of the great pianist, Moscheles, to whom she was known of old.
Mme. Moscheles writes in her diary: "Our interesting guests at dinner were the Haizingers, he the admirable tenor singer of whom the German opera company here may well be proud, she pretty and agreeable as ever; we had, too, our great Schroder and our greater Mendelssohn. The conversation, of course, was animated, and the two ladies were in such spirits that they not only told anecdotes, but accompanied them with dramatic gestures; Schroder, when telling us how he (the hero of her anecdote) drew his sword, flourished her knife in a threatening manner toward Haizinger, and Mendelssohn whispered to me, "I wonder what John [the footman] thinks of such an English vivacity? To see the brandishing of knives, and not know what it is all about! Only think!"" A comic episode which occurred during the first performance of "Fidelio" is also related by the same authority: "In that deeply tragic scene where Mme. Schroder (_Fidelio_) has to give Haizinger (_Florestan_) a piece of bread which she has kept hidden for him three days in the folds of her dress, he does not respond to the action. She whispers to him with a rather coa.r.s.e epithet: "Why don"t you take it? Do you want it b.u.t.tered?"
All this time, the audience, ignorant of the by-play, was solely intent on the pathetic situation." This is but one of many instances which could be adduced from the annals of the stage showing how the exhibition of the greatest dramatic pa.s.sion is consistent with the existence of a jocose, almost cynical, humor on the part of the actors.
III.
In the following year (1833), Mme. Schroder-Devrient sang under Mr.
Bunn at the Covent Garden Theatre, appearing in several of Weber"s and Mozart"s masterpieces. She was becoming more and more of a favorite with the English public. The next season she devoted herself again to the stage of Germany, where she was on the whole best understood and appreciated, her faults more uniformly ignored. She appeared in twelve operas by native composers in Berlin, and thence went to Vienna and St.
Petersburg. She proceeded to Italy in 1835, where she sang for eighteen months in the princ.i.p.al cities and theatres of that country, and succeeded in evoking from the critical Italians as warm a welcome as she had commanded elsewhere. In one city the people were so enthusiastic that they unharnessed her horses, and drew her carriage home from the theatre after her closing performance. Although she never entirely mastered the Italian school, she yet displayed so much intelligence, knowledge, and faculty in her art-work, that all catholic lovers of music recognized her great talents. She appeared again in Vienna in 1836, with Mme. Tadolini, Genaro, and Galli, singing in "L"Elisir d"Amore," and works of a similar cast, operas unsuited, one would think, to the peculiar _cachet_ of her genius, but her ability in comic and romantic operas, though never so striking as in grand tragedy, seemed to develop with practice.
Her last English engagement was in 1837, opening the season with a performance of "Fidelio" in English. The whole performance was lamentably inferior to that at the Opera-House in 1832. "Norma" was produced, Schroder-Devrient being seconded by Wilson, Giubilei, and Miss Betts. She was either very ill advised or overconfident, for her "ma.s.sy"
style of singing was totally at variance with the light beauty of Bellini"s music. Her conception of the character, however, was in the grandest style of histrionic art. "The sibyls of Michael Angelo are not more grand," exclaimed one critic; "but the vocalization of Pasta and Grisi is wholly foreign to her." During this engagement, Mme.
Schroder-Devrient was often unable to perform, from serious illness.
From England she went to the Lower Rhine.
In 1839 she was at Dresden with Herr Tichatschek, one of the first tenors of Germany, a handsome man, with a powerful, sweet, and extensive voice. In June, 1841, she gave a performance at Berlin, to a.s.sist the Parisian subscription for a monument to Cherubini. The opera was "Les Deux Journees," in which she took her favorite part of _Constance_. The same year she sang at Dresden with the utmost success, in a new _role_ in Goethe"s "Ta.s.so," in which she was said to surpa.s.s her _Fidelio_. For several years Mme. Schroder-Devrient resided in perfect seclusion in the little town of Rochlitz, and appeared to have forgotten all her stage ambition. Suddenly, however, she made her reappearance at Dresden in the _role_ of _Romeo_ in Bellini"s "I Montecchi ed i Capuletti." She had lost a good deal of her vocal power and skill, yet her audiences seemed to be moved by the same magic glamour as of old, in consequence of her magnificent acting. Among other works in which she performed during this closing operatic season of her life was Gluck"s "Iphigenie en Aulis,"
which was especially revived for her. Johanna Wagner, the sister of the great composer, was also in the cast, and a great enthusiasm was created by a general stage presentation of almost unparalleled completeness for that time.
Mme. Devrient retired permanently from the stage in the year 1849, having ama.s.sed a considerable fortune by her professional efforts. She made a second matrimonial venture with a rich Livonian proprietor named Bock, with whom she retired to his estate. Her retirement occasioned profound regret throughout Germany, where she was justly looked on as one of the very greatest artists, if, indeed, even this reservation could be made, who had ever shone on their lyric stage. The Emperor Francis I. paid Mme. Schroder a compliment which had never before been paid to a German singer. He ordered her portrait to be painted in all her princ.i.p.al characters, and placed in the collection of the Imperial Museum. Six years after her farewell from the stage, an Italian critic, Scudo, heard her sing in a private house in Paris, and speaks very disparagingly of her delivery of the melodies of Schubert in a weak, thin voice. She, like Malibran, possessed one of those voices which needed incessant work and practice to keep it in good order, though she did not possess the consummate musical knowledge and skill of Malibran.
She was a woman of great intelligence and keen observation; an artist of the most pa.s.sionate ardor and impetuosity, always restrained, however, by a well-studied control and reserve; in a word, a great lyric tragedienne rather than a great singer in the exact sense of that word.
She must be cla.s.sed with that group of dramatic singers who were the interpreters of the school of music which arose in Germany after the death of Mozart, and which found its most characteristic type in Carl Maria von Weber, for Beethoven, who on one side belongs to this school, rather belonged to the world, like Shakespeare in the drama, than to a single nationality. Mme. Schroder-De-vrient died February 9, 1860, at Cologne, and the following year her marble bust was placed in the Opera-House at Berlin.
GIULIA GRISI.
The Childhood of a Great Artist.--Giulietta Grisi"s Early Musical Training.--Giuditta Grisi"s Pride in the Talents of her Young Sister.--Her Italian _Debut_ and Success.--She escapes from a Managerial Taskmaster and takes Refuge in Paris.--Impression made on French Audiences.--Production of Bellini"s "Puritani."--Appearance before the London Public.--Character of Grisi"s Singing and Acting.--Anecdotes of the Prima Donna.--Marriage of Mlle. Grisi.--Her Connection with Other Distinguished Singers.--Rubini, his Character as an Artist, and Incidents of his Life.--Tamburini, another Member of the First Great "Puritani" Quartet.--Lablache, the King of Operatic Ba.s.sos.--His Career as an Artist.--His Wonderful Genius as Singer and Actor.--Advent of Mario on the Stage.--His Intimate a.s.sociation with Mme. Grisi as Woman and Artist.--Incidents of Mario"s Life and Character as an Artist.--Grisi"s Long Hold on the Stage for more than a Quarter Century.--Her American Tour.--Final Retirement from her Profession.--The Elements of her Greatness as a G.o.ddess of Song.
I.
A quarter of a century is a long reign for any queen, a brilliant one for an opera queen in these modern days, when the "wear and tear" of stage-life is so exacting. For so long a time lasted the supremacy of Mme. Grisi, and it was justified by a remarkable combination of qualities, great physical loveliness, a n.o.ble voice, and dramatic impulse, which, if not precisely inventive, was yet large and sympathetic. A celebrated English critic sums up her great qualities and her defects thus: "As an artist calculated to engage, and retain the average public, without trick or affectation, and to satisfy by her balance of charming attributes--by the a.s.surance, moreover, that she was giving the best she knew how to give--she satisfied even those who had received much deeper pleasure and had been impressed with much deeper emotion in the performances of others. I have never tired of Mme. Grisi during five-and-twenty years; but I have never been in her case under one of those spells of intense enjoyment and sensation which make an epoch in life, and which leave a print on memory never to be effaced by any later attraction, never to be forgotten so long as life and power to receive shall endure."
Giulietta Grisi was the younger daughter of M. Gaetano Grisi, an Italian officer of engineers, in the service of Napoleon, and was born at Milan, July 2, 1812. Her mother"s sister was the once celebrated Gra.s.sini, who, as the contemporary of Mrs. Billington and Mme. Mara, had shared the admiration of Europe with these great singers. Thence probably she and her sister Giuditta, ten years her elder, inherited their gift of song.
Giuditta was for a good while regarded as a prodigy by her friends, and acquired an excellent rank on the concert and operatic stage, but she was so far outshone by her more gifted sister, that her name is now only one of the traditions of that throng of talented and hard-working artists who have contributed much to the stability of the lyric stage, without adding to it any resplendent l.u.s.ter. Delicate health prevented the little Giulia from receiving any early musical training, but her own secret ambition caused her to learn the piano-forte, by her own efforts; and her enthusiastic attention, and attempt to imitate, while her sister was practicing _solfeggi_, clearly indicated the bent of her tastes. She soon astonished her family by the fluency and correctness with which she repeated the most difficult pa.s.sages; and Giuditta, who appreciated these evidences of vocal and mimetic talent, would listen with delight to the lively efforts of her young sister, and then, clasping her fondly in her arms, prophesy that she would be "the glory of her race." "Thou shalt be more than thy sister, my Giuliettina," she would exclaim. "Thou shalt be more than thy aunt! It is Giuditta tells thee so--believe it." The only defect in Giulia"s voice--certainly a serious one--was a chronic hoa.r.s.eness, which seemed a bar to her advancement as a vocalist.
Her parents resolved that Giulia should have regular lessons in singing; and she entered the Conservatory of her native town, where her sister had also obtained her musical training. The early talent she developed, under the direction of the composer Marliani, was remarkable. That she might continue her studies uninterruptedly, she was sent to Bologna, to her uncle, Colonel Ragani, husband of Gra.s.sini, by whom she was put under the care of the learned Giacomo Guglielmi, son of the celebrated composer, who during three years devoted himself entirely to her musical education. Gradually the lovely quality of her voice began to be manifest, and its original blemishes disappeared, her tones acquiring depth, power, and richness.
Giuditta was deeply interested in her young sister"s budding talents, and finally took her from the Conservatory, and placed her under the tuition of Fillippo Celli, where she remained for three months, till the _maestro_ was obliged to go to Rome to produce a new opera. Giulia Grisi was remarkably apt and receptive, and gifted with great musical intelligence, and she profited by her masters in an exceptional degree.
Industry cooperated with talent to so advance her attainments that her sister Giuditta succeeded in the year 1828 in securing her _debut_ in Rossini"s "Elmira," at Bologna. The part was a small one, but the youth, loveliness, and freshness of voice displayed by the young singer secured for her a decided triumph. Rossini, who was then at Bologna, was delighted with Giulia Grisi, and predicted a great career for her, and Giuditta shed tears of joy over her beloved _protegee_. The director of the theatre engaged her immediately for the carnival season, and in 1829 she appeared as prima donna in many operas, among which were "Il Barbiere," "Towaldo e Dorliska," and "La Sposa di Provincia," the latter of which was expressly written for her by Millotatti.
Our young singer, like many another brilliant cantatrice, in the very dawn of her great career fell into the nets of a shrewd and unprincipled operatic speculator. Signor Lanari, an _impressario_ of Florence, recognized the future success of the inexperienced young girl, and decoyed her into an engagement for six years on terms shamefully low, for Giulia"s modesty did not appreciate her own remarkable powers.
Alone and without competent advisers, she fell an easy prey to the sharp-witted farmer of other people"s genius. Among the operas which she sung in at this early period under Lanari"s management were Bellini"s "I Montecchi ed i Capuletti," which the composer had just written for her sister Giuditta at Venice; "Il Barbiere," and "Giulietta e Romeo,"
written by Vaccai. She was p.r.o.nounced by the Italians the most fascinating _Juliet_ ever seen on the stage. At Bologna her triumph was no less great, and she became the general topic of discussion and admiration. Lanari was so profiting by his stroke of sharp business that he was making a little fortune, and he now transferred his musical property for a large consideration to Signor Crevelli, the director of La Scala at Milan. Here Julia Grisi met Pasta, whom she worshiped as a model of all that was grand and n.o.ble in the lyric art. Pasta declared, "I can honestly return to you the compliments paid me by your aunt, and say that I believe you are worthy to succeed us." Here she enjoyed the advantage of studying the great lyric tragedienne, with whom she occasionally performed: not a look, a tone, a gesture of her great model escaped her. She was given the part of _Jane Seymour_ in Donizetti"s "Anna Bolena," which she looked and acted to perfection, Pasta personating the unfortunate Queen. Madame Pasta, struck with the genius displayed by her young rival, exclaimed: "_Tu iras loin! tu prendras ma place! tu seras Pasta!_" Bellini, who was then in Milan, engaged in the composition of his "Norma," overwhelmed her with applause and congratulations, intermingled with allusions to the part he had in contemplation for her--that of _Adalgiza_.
In November, 1831, there was a strenuous rivalry between the two theatres of Milan, La Scala and the Carcano. The vocal company at the latter comprised Pasta, Lina Koser (now Mme. Balfe), Elisa Orlandi, Eugenie Martinet, and other ladies; Kubini, Mariani, and Galli being the leading male singers. The composers were Bellini, Donizetti, and Majocchi. At the Scala, which was still under the direction of Crivelli, then a very old man, were Giulietta Grisi, Amalia Schutz, and Pisaroni, with Mari, Bonfigli, Pocchini, Anbaldi, etc. To this company Giuditta Grisi was added, and a new opera by Coccia, ent.i.tled "Enrico di Montfort," was produced, in which both the sisters appeared. The company at the Scala received an accession from the rival theatre, the great Pasta, and soon afterward Donzelli, who ranked among the foremost tenors of the age.
Bellini had just completed "Norma," and it was to be produced at the Scala. The part of the Druid priestess had been expressly written for Pasta. This Bellini considered his masterpiece. It is related that a beautiful Parisienne attempted to extract from his reluctant lips his preference among his own works. The persistent fair one finally overcame his evasions by asking, "But if you were out at sea, and should be shipwrecked--" "Ah!" said the composer, impulsively, "I would leave all the rest and save "Norma""! With Pasta were a.s.sociated Giulia Grisi in the _role_ of _Adalgiza_, and Donzelli in _Pollio_. The singers rehea.r.s.ed their parts _con amore_, and displayed so much intelligence and enthusiasm that Bellini was quite delighted. The first performance just escaped being a failure in spite of the anxious efforts of the singers. Donzelli"s suave and charming execution, even "Casta Diva,"
delivered by Pasta in her most magnificent style, failed to move the cold audience. Pasta, at the end of the first act, declared the new opera _a fiasco_. The second act was also coldly received till the great duet between _Norma_ and _Adalgiza_, which was heartily applauded. This unsealed the pent-up appreciation of the audience, and thenceforward "Norma" was received with thunders of applause for forty nights.
Encouraged by Pasta, Giulia Grisi declared that she, too, would become a great tragedienne. "How I should love to play _Norma!_" she exclaimed to Bellini one night behind the scenes. "Wait twenty years, and we shall see." "I will play _Norma_ in spite of you, and in less than twenty years!" she retorted. The young man smiled incredulously, and muttered, "_A poco! a poco!_" But Grisi kept her word.
Her genius was now fully appreciated, and she had obtained one of those triumphs which form the basis of a great renown. With astonishing ease she pa.s.sed from _Semiramide_ to _Anna Bolena_, then to _Desdemona_, to _Donna Anna_, to _Elena_ in the "Donna del Lago."
The young artiste had learned her true value, and was aware of the injury she was suffering from remaining in the service to which she had foolishly bound herself: she was now twenty-four, and time was pa.s.sing away. Her father"s repeated endeavors to obtain more reasonable terms for his daughter from Lanari proved fruitless. He urged that his daughter, having entered into the contract without his knowledge, and while she was a minor, it was illegal. "Then, if you knew absolutely nothing of the matter, and it was altogether without your cognizance,"
retorted Lanari, imperturbably, "how did it happen that her salary was always paid to you?"
But the high-spirited Giulietta had now become too conscious of her own value to remain hampered by a contract which in its essence was fraudulent. She determined to break her bonds by flight to Paris, where her sister Giuditta and her aunt Mme. Gra.s.sini-Ragani were then domiciled. She confided her proposed escapade to her father and her old teacher Marliani, who a.s.sisted her to procure pa.s.sports for herself and maid. Her journey was long and tedious, but, spurred by fear and eagerness, she disdained fatigue for seven days of post-riding over bad roads and through mountain-gorges choked with snow, till she threw herself into the arms of her loving friends in the French capital.
II.
An engagement was procured for her without difficulty at the Opera, which was then controlled by the triumvirate, Rossini, Robert, and Severini. Rossini remembered the beautiful _debutante_ for whom he had predicted a splendid future, and secured a definite engagement for her at the Favart to replace Mme. Malibran. That this young and comparatively inexperienced girl, with a reputation hardly known out of Italy, should have been chosen to take the place of the great Malibran, was alike flattering testimony to her own rising genius and Rossini"s penetration. She appeared first before a French audience in "_Semiramide_," and at once became a favorite. During the season of six months she succeeded in establishing her place as one of the most brilliant singers of the age. She sang in cooperation with many of the foremost artists whose names are among the great traditions of the art.
In "Don Giovanni," Rubini and Tamburini appeared with her; in "Anna Bolena," Mme. Tadolini, Santini, and Rubini. Even in Pasta"s own great characters, where Mlle. Grisi was measured against the greatest lyric tragedienne of the age, the critics, keen to probe the weak spot of new aspirants, found points of favorable comparison in Grisi"s favor. During this year, 1832, both Giuditta and Giulia Grisi retired from the stage, the former to marry an Italian gentleman of wealth, and the latter to devote a period to rest and study.
When Giulia reappeared on the French stage the following year, a wonderful improvement in the breadth and finish of her art was noticed.
She had so improved her leisure that she had eradicated certain minor faults of vocal delivery, and stood confessed a symmetrical and splendidly equipped artist. Her performances during the year 1833 in Paris embraced a great variety of characters, and in different styles of music, in all of which she was the recipient of the most cordial admiration.
The production of Bellini"s last opera, "I Puritani," in 1834, was one of the great musical events of the age, not solely in virtue of the beauty of the work, but on account of the very remarkable quartet which embodied the princ.i.p.al characters--Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and La-blache. This quartet continued in its perfection for many years, with the after-subst.i.tution of Mario for Rubini, and was one of the most notable and interesting facts in the history of operatic music.
Bellini"s extraordinary skill in writing music for the voice was never more noticeably shown than in this opera. In conducting the rehearsals, he compelled the singers to execute after his style. It is recorded that, while Rubini was rehearsing the tenor part, the composer cried out in a rage: "You put no life into the music. Show some feeling. Don"t you know what love is?" Then, changing his voice: "Don"t you know your voice is a gold-mine that has never been explored? You are an excellent artist, but that is not enough. You must forget yourself and try to represent _Gualtiero_. Let"s try again." Rubini, stung by the reproach, then sang magnificently. "I Puritan!" made a great _furore_ in Paris, and the composer received the Cross of the Legion of Honor, an honor then less rarely bestowed than it was in after-years. He did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his widening reputation, but died while composing a new opera for the San Carlo, Naples. In the delirium of his death-bed, he fancied he was at the Favart, conducting a performance of "I Puritani." Mlle. Grisi"s first appearance before the London public occurred during the spring of the same year, and her great personal loveliness and magnificent voice as _Ninetta_, in "La Gazza Ladra,"
instantly enslaved the English operatic world, a worship which lasted unbroken for many years. Her _Desdemona_ in "Otello," which shortly followed her first opera, was supported by Rubini as _Otello_, Tamburini as _Iago_, and Ivanhoff as _Rodriguez_. It may be doubted whether any singer ever leaped into such instant and exalted favor in London, where the audiences are habitually cold.
Her appearance as _Norma_ in December, 1834, stamped this henceforth as her greatest performance. "In this character, Grisi," says a writer in the "Musical World," "is not to be approached, for all those attributes which have given her her best distinction are displayed therein in their fullest splendor. Her singing may be rivaled, but hardly her embodiment of ungovernable and vindictive emotion. There are certain parts in the lyric drama of Italy this fine artiste has made her own: this is one of the most striking, and we have a faith in its unreachable superiority--in its completeness as a whole--that is not to be disturbed. Her delivery of "Casta Diva" is a transcendent effort of vocalization. In the scene where she discovers the treachery of _Pollio_, and discharges upon his guilty head a torrent of withering and indignant reproof, she exhibits a power, bordering on the sublime, which belongs exclusively to her, giving to the character of the insulted priestess a dramatic importance which would be remarkable even if entirely separated from the vocal preeminence with which it is allied.
But, in all its aspects, the performance is as near perfection as rare and exalted genius can make it, and the singing of the actress and the acting of the singer are alike conspicuous for excellence and power.
Whether in depicting the quiet repose of love, the agony of abused confidence, the infuriate resentment of jealousy, or the influence of feminine piety, there is always the best reason for admiration, accompanied in the more tragic moments with that sentiment of awe which greatness of conception and vigor of execution could alone suggest."
Mr. Chorley writes, in his "Musical Reminiscences": "Though naturally enough in some respects inexperienced on her first appearance in England, Giulia Grisi was not incomplete. And what a soprano voice was hers! rich, sweet; equal throughout its compa.s.s of two octaves (from C to C), without a break or a note which had to be managed. Her voice subdued the audience ere "Dipiacer" was done.... In 1834 she commanded an exactness of execution not always kept up by her during the after-years of her reign. Her shake was clear and rapid; her scales were certain; every interval was taken without hesitation by her. Nor has any woman ever more thoroughly commanded every gradation of force than she--in those early days especially; not using the contrast of loud and soft too violently, but capable of any required violence, of any advisable delicacy. In the singing of certain slow movements pianissimo, such as the girl"s prayer on the road to execution, in "La Gazza," or as the cantabile in the last scene of "Anna Bolena" (which we know as "Home, Sweet Home"), the clear, penetrating beauty of her reduced tones (different in quality from the whispering semi-ventriloquism which was one of Mlle. Lind"s most favorite effects) was so unique as to reconcile the ear to a certain shallowness of expression in her rendering of the words and the situation.
"At that time the beauty of sound was more remarkable (in such pa.s.sages as I have just spoken of) than the depth of feeling. When the pa.s.sion of the actress was roused--as in "La Gazza," during the scene with her deserter father--with the villainous magistrate, or in the prison with her lover, or on her trial before sentence was pa.s.sed--her glorious notes, produced without difficulty or stint, rang through the house like a clarion, and were truer in their vehemence to the emotion of the scene than were those wonderfully subdued sounds, in the penetrating tenuity of which there might be more or less artifice. From the first, the vigor always went more closely home to the heart than the tenderness in her singing; and her acting and her vocal delivery--though the beauty of her face and voice, the mouth that never distorted itself, the sounds that never wavered, might well mislead an audience--were to be resisted by none."
Henceforward, Mlle. Grisi alternated between London and Paris for many years, her great fame growing with the ripening years. Of course, she, like other beautiful singers, was the object of pa.s.sionate addresses, and the ardent letters sent to her hotel and dressing-room at the theatre occasioned her much annoyance. Many unpleasant episodes occurred, of which the following is an ill.u.s.tration, as showing the persecution to which stage celebrities are often subjected: While she was in her stage-box at the Paris Opera one night, in the winter of 1836, she observed an unfortunate admirer, who had pursued her for months, lying in ambuscade near the door, as if awaiting her exit. M.
Robert, one of the managers, requested the intruder to retire, and, as the admonition was unheeded, Colonel Ragani, Grisi"s uncle, somewhat sternly remonstrated with him. The reckless lover drew a sword from a cane, and would have run Colonel Ragani through, had it not been for the coolness of a gentleman pa.s.sing in the lobby, who seized and disarmed the amorous maniac, who was a young author of some repute, named Dupuzet. Anecdotes of a similar kind might be enumerated, for Grisi"s womanly fascinations made havoc among that large cla.s.s who become easily enamored of the G.o.ddesses of the theatre.
Like all the greatest singers, Grisi was lavishly generous. She had often been known to sing in five concerts in one day for charitable purposes. At one of the great York festivals in England, she refused, as a matter of professional pride, to sing for less than had been given to Malibran, but, to show that there was nothing ign.o.ble in her persistence, she donated all the money received to the poor. She rendered so many services to the Westminster Hospital that she was made an honorary governor of that inst.i.tution, and in manifold ways proved that the goodness of her heart was no whit less than the splendor of her artistic genius.
The marriage of Mlle. Grisi, in the spring of 1830, to M. Auguste Gerard de Melcy, a French gentleman of fortune, did not deprive the stage of one of its greatest ornaments, for after a short retirement at the beautiful chateau of Vaucresson, which she had recently purchased, she again resumed the operatic career which had so many fascinations for one of her temperament, as well as substantial rewards. Her first appearance in London after her marriage was with Rubini and Tamburini in the opera of "Semiramide," speedily followed by a performance of _Donna Anna_, in "Don Giovanni." The excitement of the public in its eager antic.i.p.ation of the latter opera was wrought to the highest pitch. A great throng pressed against both entrances of the theatre for hours before the opening of the doors, and many ladies were severely bruised or fainted in the crush. It was estimated that more than four thousand persons were present on this occasion. The cast was a magnificent one. Mme. Grisi was supported by Mmes. Persiani and Albertazzi, and Tamburini, Lablache, and Rubini. This was hailed as one of the great gala nights in the musical records of London, and it is said that only a few years ago old connoisseurs still talked of it as something incomparable, in spite of the gifted singers who had since ill.u.s.trated the lyric art. Mme. Pasta, who occupied a stage box, led the applause whenever her beautiful young rival appeared, and Grisi, her eyes glowing with happy tears, went to Pasta"s box to thank the queen of lyric tragedy for her cordial homage.
"Don Giovanni" was performed with the same cast in January, 1838, at the Theatre Italiens. About an hour after the close of the performance the building was discovered to be on fire, and it was soon reduced to a heap of glowing ashes. Severini, one of the directors, leaped from an upper story, and was instantly dashed to pieces, and Robert narrowly saved himself by aid of a rope ladder. Rossini, who had an apartment in the opera-house, was absent, but the whole of his musical library, valued at two hundred thousand francs, was destroyed, with many rare ma.n.u.scripts, which no effort or expense could replace.
III.
Mme. Grisi, more than any other prima donna who ever lived, was habitually a.s.sociated in her professional life with the greatest singers of the other s.e.x. Among those names which are inseparable from hers, are those of Rubini, Tamburini, Lablache, and, _par excellence_, that of Mario. Any satisfactory sketch of her life and artistic surroundings would be incomplete without something more than a pa.s.sing notice of these shining lights of the lyric art. Giambattista Rubini, without a shred of dramatic genius, raised himself to the very first place in contemporary estimation by sheer genius as a singer, for his musical skill was something more than the outcome of mere knowledge and experience, and in this respect he bears a close a.n.a.logy to Malibran.
Rubini"s countenance was mean, his figure awkward, and lacking in all dignity of carriage; he had no conception of taste, character, or picturesque effect. As stolid as a wooden block in all that appertains to impersonation of character, his vocal organ was so incomparable in range and quality, his musical equipment and skill so great, that his memory is one of the greatest traditions of the lyric art.