Niemann, of course, is fifty-eight years old, but
many of the younger German singers too often have their bad
quarter-hours; and even Lilli Lehmann--whom I would rather hear for my
own pleasure than any other singer now on the stage--emits
occasionally a disagreeable guttural sound. Nothing of the sort in
Mme. Patti, whom Niemann no doubt is right in pronouncing the most
perfect vocalist, not only of this period, but of all times. I, for my
part, have never cared much for the _bel canto_ as such, because it is
so often wasted on trashy compositions. Yet, when I heard Mme. Patti
for the first time in New York, I could not help indulging in the
following rhapsody: "The ordinary epithets applicable to a voice, such
as sweet, sympathetic, flexible, expressive, sound almost too
commonplace to be applied to Patti's voice at its best, as it was when
she sang the _valse_ Ombra Leggiera from 'Dinora,' and 'Home, Sweet
Home.' Her voice has a natural sensuous charm like a Cremona violin,
which it is a pleasure to listen to, irrespective of what she happens
to be singing. It is a pleasure, too, to hear under what perfect
control she has it; how, without changing the quality of the sound,
she passes from a high to a low note, from piano to forte, gradually
or suddenly, and all without the least sense of effort.
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