e is the model and example
which every one who would become an artist should copy."

"It is such a pleasure to hear real singing," wrote Hector Berlioz. "It
is so rare; and voices at once beautiful, natural, expressive, flexible,
and _in time_, are so very uncommon! The voice of Mlle. Alboni possesses
these excellent qualities in the highest degree of perfection. It is
a magnificent contralto of immense range (two octaves and six notes,
nearly three octaves, from low E to C in alt), the quality perfect
throughout, even in the lowest notes of the lowest register, which
are generally so disastrous to the majority of singers, who fancy they
possess a contralto, and the emission of which resembles nearly always
a rattle, hideous in such cases and revolting to the ear. Mlle.
Alboni's vocalization is wonderfully easy, and few sopranos possess such
facility. The registers of her voice are so perfectly united, that in
her scales you do not feel sensible of the passage from one to another;
the tone is unctuous, caressing, velvety, melancholy, like that of
all pure sopranos, though less somber than that of Pisaroni, and
incomparably more pure and limpid. As the notes are produced without
effort, the voice yields itself to every shade of intensity, and
thus Mlle. Alboni can sing from the most mysterious piano to the most
brilliant forte. And this alone is what I call singing humanly, that
is to say, in a fashion which declares the presence of a human heart,
a human soul, a human intelligence. Singers not possessed of these
indispensable qualities should in my judgment be ranked in the category
of mechanical instruments. Mlle. Alboni is an artist entirely devoted to
her art, and has not up to this moment been tempted to make a trade
of it; she has never heretofore given a thought to what her delicious
notes--precious pearls, which she lavishes with such happy bounty--might
bring her in per annum. Different from the majority of contemporary
singers, money questions are the last with which she occupies herself;
her demands have hitherto been extremely modest. Added to this, the
sincerity and trustworthiness of her character, which amounts almost to
singularity, are acknowledged by all who have any dealings with her."

After the greatness of the artist had fairly-been made known to the
public, the excitement in Paris was extraordinary. At some of the later
concerts more than a thousand applications for admission had to be
refused, an