nding expression which gave her such dignity on the stage.
She is without a wrinkle, and appears to be no more than forty. Her
breadth of chest is still remarkable: it is this which endowed her
with the finest voice that ever sang. Her speaking voice and dramatic
air are still charming, and not in the least impaired."

Is Christine Nilsson still alive? I think so. She was born August 20,
1843. In Clara Louise Kellogg's very entertaining, but not always
trustworthy, "Memoirs" there is an interesting reference to this
singer in her later career. Dates, unfortunately, are not furnished.
"I was present," declares Mme. Kellogg, "on the night ... when she
practically murdered the high register of her voice. She had five
upper notes the quality of which was unlike any other I ever heard and
that possessed a peculiar charm. The tragedy happened during a
performance of _The Magic Flute_ in London.... Nilsson was the Queen
of the Night, one of her most successful early roles. The second aria
in _The Magic Flute_ is more famous and less difficult than the first
aria, and also, more effective. Nilsson knew well the ineffectiveness
of the ending of the first aria in the two weakest notes of a
soprano's voice, A natural and B flat. I never could understand why a
master like Mozart should have chosen to use them as he did. There is
no climax to the song. One has to climb up hard and fast and then stop
short in the middle. It is an appalling thing to do and that night
Nilsson took those two notes at the last in _chest tones_. 'Great
heavens!' I gasped, 'what is she doing? What is the woman thinking
of!' Of course I knew she was doing it to get volume and vibration and
to give that trying climax some character. But to say that it was a
fatal attempt is to put it mildly. She absolutely killed a certain
quality in her voice there and then and she _never recovered it_. Even
that night she had to cut out the second great aria. Her beautiful
high notes were gone forever." As I have said, the date of this
incident, which, so far as I know, is not recorded elsewhere, is not
mentioned, but Christine Nilsson sang in New York in the early
Eighties and continued to sing until 1891, the year of her final
appearance in London.

Adelina Patti, born the same year as Nilsson but six months before
(February 10, 1843; according to some records, which by no means go
undisputed, a quartet of famous singers came into the world this year.
The other two wer