, but a magnificent revenge was in
store for her. Among the parts she sang at this chrysalis period were
_Cherubino_ in the "Nozze di Figaro," _Servilia_ in "La Clemenza di
Tito," and the _role_ of the pretended shrew in Ferrari's "Il Shaglio
Fortunato." Mme. Pasta found herself at the end of the season a dire
failure. But she had the searching self-insight which stamps the highest
forms of genius, and she determined to correct her faults, and develop
her great but latent powers. Suddenly she disappeared from the view of
the operatic world, and buried herself in a retired Italian city,
where she studied with intelligent and tireless zeal under M. Scappa,
a _maestro_ noted for his power of kindling the material of genius.
Occasionally she tested herself in public. An English nobleman who heard
her casually at this time said: "Other singers find themselves endowed
with a voice and leave everything to chance. This woman leaves nothing
to chance, and her success is therefore certain." She subjected herself
to a course of severe and incessant study to subdue her voice. To
equalize it was impossible. There was a portion of the scale which
differed from the rest in quality, and remained to the last "under a
veil," to use the Italian term. Some of her notes were always out of
time, especially at the beginning of a performance, until the vocalizing
machinery became warmed and mellowed by passion and excitement. Out
of these uncouth and rebellious materials she had to compose her
instrument, and then to give it flexibility. Chor-ley, in speaking of
these difficulties, says: "The volubility and brilliancy, when acquired,
gained a character of their own from the resisting peculiarities of her
organ. There were a breadth, an expressiveness in her _roulades_, an
evenness and solidity in her shake, which imparted to every passage a
significance beyond the reach of more spontaneous singers." But,
after all, the true secret of her greatness was in the intellect and
imagination which lay behind the voice, and made every tone quiver with
dramatic sensibility.

The lyric Siddons of her age was now on the verge of making her real
_debut_. When she reappeared in Venice, in 1819, she made a great
impression, which was strengthened by her subsequent performances
in Rome, Milan, and Trieste, during that and the following year. The
fastidious Parisians recognized her power in the autumn of 1821, when
she sang at the Theatre Italien; and at Veron