er came to a grievous close by her sudden death in Mexico in
1854. She was a German, and the early part of her artistic life was
influenced by German ideals, but it is said that only in the music of
Mozart and Weber, which aroused in her strong national emotion, did
she sing dramatically. For the rest she used her light voice, which
had an extraordinary range, brilliancy, and flexibility, very much as
Patti and Melba use their voices to-day--in mere unfeeling vocal
display.

"She had an extensive soprano voice," says Hogarth; "not
remarkable for power, but clear, brilliant, and singularly
flexible; a quality which seems to have led her (unlike most
German singers in general) to cultivate the most florid
style, and even to follow the bad example set by Catalani,
of seeking to convert her voice into an instrument, and to
astonish the public by executing the violin variations on
Rode's air and other things of that stamp."

[Sidenote: _La Grange._]

[Sidenote: _Piccolomini._]

[Sidenote: _Adelina Patti._]

[Sidenote: _Gerster._]

[Sidenote: _Lucca and Nilsson._]

[Sidenote: _Sembrich._]

Madame La Grange had a voice of wide compass, which enabled her to
sing contralto roles as well as soprano, but I have never heard her
dramatic powers praised. As for Piccolomini, read of her where you
will, you shall find that she was "charming." She was lovely to look
upon, and her acting in soubrette parts was fascinating. Until Melba
came Patti was for thirty years peerless as a mere vocalist. She
belongs, as did Piccolomini and Sontag, to the comic _genre_; so did
Sembrich and Gerster, the latter of whom never knew it. I well
remember how indignant she became on one occasion, in her first
American season, at a criticism which I wrote of her _Amina_ in "La
Sonnambula," a performance which remains among my loveliest and most
fragrant recollections. I had made use of Catalani's remark concerning
Sontag: "_Son genre est petit, mais elle est unique dans son genre_,"
and applied it to her style. She almost flew into a passion. "_Mon
genre est grand!_" said she, over and over again, while Dr. Gardini,
her husband, tried to pacify her. "Come to see my _Marguerite_ next
season." Now, Gounod's _Marguerite_ does not quite belong to the
heroic roles, though we can all remember how Lucca thrilled us by her
intensity of action as well as of song, and how Madame Nilsson sent
the blood out of our che