nd lack of artistic judgment and
knowledge finally led her so far astray in pitch that she lost all
prestige. After seventeen years of retirement, she died of cholera in
1849, in Paris. A few days before she was stricken with the dire
epidemic Jenny Lind sought and received her blessing.

A queen of song who profoundly impressed her age was Giuditta Pasta,
born near Milan in 1798, of Hebrew parentage. For her Bellini wrote "La
Sonnambula" and "Norma," Donizetti his "Anna Bolena," Pacini his
"Niobe," and she was the star of Rossini's leading operas of the time.
Her voice, a mezzo-soprano, at first unequal, weak, of slender range and
lacking flexibility, acquired, through her wonderful genius and industry
a range of two octaves and a half, reaching D in altissimo, together
with a sweetness, a fluency, and a chaste, expressive style. Although
below medium height, in impassioned moments she seemed to rise to
queenly stature. Both acting and singing were governed by ripe judgment,
profound sensibility and noble simplicity. She died at Lake Como in
1865.

So many queens of song have reigned from the beginning of the
nineteenth century to the present time that only a few brilliant names
may here be mentioned. Among these Henrietta Sontag was the greatest
German singer of the first half of the century. A distinguished traveler
tells of having found her when she was eight years old, in 1812, sitting
on a table, where her mother had placed her, and singing the grand aria
of the Queen of the Night from the "Magic Flute," her voice, "pure,
penetrating and of angelic tone," flowing as "unconsciously as a limpid
rill from the mountain side." At fifteen she made her regular debut, and
we are told that she sang "with the volubility of a bird." During her
four years at the Conservatory of Prague she had won the prize in every
class of vocal music, piano and harmony.

Acquitting herself with ease in both German and Italian, and being
exceedingly versatile, she won equal renown in the operas of Weber,
Mozart, Rossini, and Donizetti. Paris, in special, marveled at the
little German who could give satisfaction in Grand Opera. Her voice, a
pure soprano, reached to D in alt., with upper notes like silvery
bell-tones, and its natural pliability was cultivated by taste and
incessant study. She was of medium stature, elegant form, with light
hair, fair complexion and soft, expressive blue eyes that lent an
enchantment to features that were no