nasal or guttural sounds, to manage
her respiration skillfully, and to seize the delicate shades of
vocalization. In fioriture and vocal effects her taste was faultless,
and she had an agreeable manner of uniting her tones by the happiest
transitions, and diminishing with insensible gradations. She excelled
in the effects of vocal embroidery, and her passion for ornamentation
tempted her to disregard the dramatic situation in order to give way
to a torrent of splendid fioriture, which dazzled the audience without
always satisfying them.

The characters expressing placidity, softness, and feminine grace, like
_Lucia, Amina,_ and _Zerli-na_, involving the sentimental rather than
the passionate, were best fitted to Mme. Persiani's powers as artist.
She belonged to the same school as Sontag, not only in character
of voice, but in all her sympathies and affinities; yet she was not
incapable of a high order of tragic emotion, as her performance of the
mad scene of "Lucia di Lammermoor" gave ample proof, but this form of
artistic expression was not spontaneous and unforced. It was only well
accomplished under high pressure. Escudin said of her, "It is not only
the nature of her voice which limits her--it is also the expression
of her acting, we had almost said the ensemble of her physical
organization. She knows her own powers perfectly. She is not ambitious,
she knows exactly what will suit her, and is aware precisely of the
nature of her talent." Although she attained a high reputation in some
of Mozart's characters, as, for example, _Zerlina_, the Mozart music was
not well fitted to her voice and tastes. The brilliancy and flexibility
of her organ and her airy style were far more suited to the modern
Italian than to the severe German school.

A charming compliment was paid by Malibran, who knew how to do such
things with infinite taste and delicacy, to Persiani, when the latter
lady was singing at Naples in 1835: while the representative of
_Lucia_ was changing her costume between the acts, a lady entered her
dressing-room, and complimented her in warmest terms on the excellence
of her singing. The visitor then took the long golden tresses floating
over Persiani's shoulders, and asked, "Is it all your own?" On being
laughingly answered in the affirmative, Malibran, for it was she, said,
"Allow me, signora, since I have no wreath of flowers to offer you, to
twine you one with your own beautiful hair." Mme. Persiani's artist