Letter from Anna Seward to Mrs Cotton, 27 October 1785

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89

text excerpt

It was at Manchester that I beheld, for the first time, the new-risen star of the harmonic world, Mara. Her fires are very dazzling, it must be confessed. She has, however, some harsh notes in the lower part of her voice, when she throws it out fortissimo; and the excursive cadences she uses are too gay ornaments for the mourning robes of Handel’s solemn songs. 

Her Italian pathetic songs are enchanting;—her bravura ones stupendous;—but those violent efforts, though miraculously successful, were as unpleasing to my ear, as they were visibly painful to the Syren who hazarded them. Ah! it was not tones in such supernatural altitudes that made Ulysses struggle in his voluntary chains.

Certainly, however, Mara is a glorious singer. It is the false taste of the multitude which tempts her to aim at astonishing her audience, rather than affecting their passions.

excerpt from 'Letter from Anna Seward to Mrs Cotton, 27 October 1785' pp. 89 (149 words)

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