excerpt from 'Diary of Mary Berry, 5 April 1802' pp. 182–183 (232 words)
excerpt from 'Diary of Mary Berry, 5 April 1802' pp. 182–183 (232 words)
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In the evening to Madame de Staël. It was a sort of concert. When we arrived, somebody was playing on the pianoforte, and the servant begged we would wait in the outer room till the piece was over. To this we readily consented. The Prince of Orange arriving soon after, the same injunction was put upon him, and we laughingly remonstrated against keeping the Prince of Orange in the antechamber; but the servant stuck to his orders, and the Prince remained very quietly with us, and others who followed till the piece of music was finished, when we all entered together. Garat,* a public singer, allowed to be the first voice in Paris, performed. He first sang an Italian air abominably, with the most violent and forced expression. He has a good and flexible voice, and seems to understand music, but his taste is a thorough French taste. The Chevalier de la Cainea was there too, and sang better than ever. I really began to pity poor Garat, although the greatest coxcomb in appearance that ever was beheld. But one need never pity a Frenchman where self-conceit can bring him off: he is on all such occasions invulnerable. At last they sang a duet together, in which Garat did not spoil the effect of La Cainea’s exquisite singing, and he afterwards gave us two French opera airs with much taste. |
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