Musical letters from Abroad

urn:iso:std:iso:639:ed-3:eng

118-9

text excerpt

We have been favored with an opportunity to hear another very excellent singer, in Mad. de la Grange. She is a French lady, and a true artist. [...] Of her a very competent critic has said, in one of the papers, “She has never been equaled by any of her predecessors.” While we might be willing to admit the truth of this remark in regard to some particular points of excellence, we do not acknowledge it as a general truth; and it must be credited to the favorable disposition of the newspaper critic. She has a voice rich in tone, extensive in compass, and of great flexibility. Her lower register is very fine, having more power than that of Sontag; indeed this is true of her whole compass, and in this particular she may be compared to Jenny Lind. With respect to quality and purity of tone, we think the latter lady may have the preference in the higher register, but elsewhere the voice of De la Grange is superior. In her lesson in the “Barber,” of Rossini, she ran up with apparent ease to the thrice-marked small g; and in her songs in the Zauberflöte she touched the thrice-marked small f with the ease and accuracy of a pianoforte. She sings with a freedom, openness, frankness of voice (so to speak) that we have scarcely ever heard equaled, and never excelled. She is, perhaps, thirty years of age, and of most interesting personal appearance, good figure, large and bewitching eyes, easy, graceful, and elegant in every movement and gesticulation. We have been delighted with her singing; but yet not more so than with that of Sontag or of Jenny Lind.

excerpt from 'Musical letters from abroad' pp. 118-9 (285 words)

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