dvance.

In April, 1850, she made her first Parisian appearance at the Theatre
Italien in Paris, under Mr. Lumley's management, as _Elvira_ to Mr. Sims
Reeves's _Ernani_, and the French critics were highly eulogistic over
this fresh candidate for lyric honors. She did not highly strike
the perfect key-note of her genius till she appeared as _Leonora_ in
"Fidelio," at Her Majesty's Theatre, in London, on May 20, 1851, Sims
Reeves being the _Florestan_. Her improvement since her first London
engagement had been marvelous. Though scarcely twenty, Mlle. Cruvelli
had become a great actress, and her physical beauty had flowered
into striking loveliness, though of a lofty and antique type. Her
sculpturesque face and figure, her great dramatic passion, and the
brilliancy of her voice produced a profound sensation in London. Her
_Leonora_ was a symmetrical and noble performance, raised to tragic
heights by dramatic genius, and elaborated with a vocal excellence which
would bear comparison with the most notable representations of that
great _role_: "From the shuddering expression given to the words, 'How
cold it is in this subterranean vault!' spoken on entering _Florestan's_
dungeon," said one critic, "to the joyous and energetic duet, in
which the reunited pair gave vent to their rapturous feelings, all was
inimitable. Each transition of feeling was faithfully conveyed, and the
suspicion, growing by degrees into certainty, that the wretched prisoner
is _Florestan_, was depicted with heart-searching truth. The internal
struggle was perfectly expressed."

"With Mlle. Cruvelli," says this writer, "_Fidelio_ is governed
throughout by one purpose, to which everything is rendered subservient.
Determination to discover and liberate her husband is the mainspring not
only of all her actions, and the theme of all her soliloquies, but,
even when others likely to annunce her design in any way are acting or
speaking, we read in the anxious gaze, the breathless anxiety, the head
bent to catch the slightest word, a continuation of the same train of
thought and an ever-living ardor in the pursuit of the one cherished
object. In such positions as these, where one gifted artist follows
nature with so delicate an appreciation of its most subtile truths,
it is not easy for a character occupying the background of the stage
picture to maintain (although by gesture only) a constant commentary
upon the words of others without becoming intrusive or at