The New York Herald Newspaper, July 24, 1870, Page 8

-—~ ‘MILLE, CHRISTINE NILSSON. Memoir of the Greatest Vocalist the World Ever Produced. THE SWEETEST SWEDISH NIGHTINGALE. 4 PARALLEL. Tne history of art, ike the history of polities, often repeats itself: its law of succession ts exempiified in many ways. Twenty-two years. ago a certain Swedish Nightingale” barst upon the world at a ume when the fortunes of lyric art in this country were at avery lowebb, Two years ago a younger and fresher Swedish mghtingale alighted on English shores at a ime when the prospects of one of our opera houses looked ‘similarly hopeless, In botn fases the voice of the charmer exercised the liveliest eect upon the purse of the despondent manager. Between Jenny Lind and Christine Nilsson the re- Bemblance so fur is noteworthy. Both were Swedes; both were gifted with what the French are wont to term une voix phénomenaie; both owed to this won- erful natural gift their elevation from a humble origin and the attainment of a handsome fortupe; both arrivea in England at a critical moment and changed the whole aspect of affairs; forit 1s the happy attribute of good art that it enriches not merely the posseasor, but all directly conceraed la ts production, A millionaire frequently rises apon the impoverishment of others; a successful states- man, a successful gencral attains fame by the dis- comfitare of his oppouents; but a great arust makes @ fall treasury and a weaithy impresario, In 1847 the then director of Her Majesty's theatro, Mr. Lumiey, bad the best of reasons for blessing the advent of Jenny Lind. Tulngs had gone worse and worse with him, the Opera House was about to close Its doors, when the fair Swedish singer suddenly turned the neads of Londoners and the tde of luck junto Her Majesty’s theatre, In 1867, twenty years later, as deep a gloom seemed settiing upon the for- tunes of the house, and again the kindly North sent rescuer in Christine Nilsson. “When the sky is Garkest,” says the proverb, “dawn is nearest,” Mr. Maplesou had arrived at the mauvais quart @heure which precedes an tmprobable dawn; but it came, nevertheless, and Mr. Maple. son woke one fine morning in Juae to find himself and his new prima - doana and his theatre famous. Tie magic of twenty years before had repeated itself—a siagle look, & sluglo hearing, lad done it all. Old opera-goers recalled Jeany Lind’s appearance and the consequent furore, and predicted a similar excitement in these statder tmes. Younger opera-goers were eager for the antecedents of this wonderful singer who had cap- tivated London at first sight, but of whom they had as yet learued little or nothing. Who was she? Where had she come from? How was it she had pot visited Eagland before? Patti we knew; Luc we knew; but who was this Nilsson, heard of but dholy a3 @cantatrice at the Thédtre Lyrique? “AL precious thiigs, discovered iate, to those who seek them issue forth; but young London was impa- Went at the tardiness of this discovery. Paris had enjoyed this luxury for three years, grumbied the | amateurs, and no entreprencur till now had been prescient enough or patriotic enough to contest the privilege with Paris, And then the question was renewed: What were the new artisi’s ante- codents? CHRISTINE'S YOUTH. The province cf Smoland tn Sweden is famous for a tradition conferring sundry honors and privi- Jeges upon its community. Five cantons which form the southera portion of tis proviace bear the name of Weland, signifying defence. Tnere is a legend im connection with the wars between Sweden and Denmark before the two kingdoms were united, telling of we patriotic deed of a Weiland girl named Blinda, a medieval Judith of the North, All the fighting men of Weland were afield, awaiting the Danes, when a detachment of the army of invaders unexpectedly appeared in Smoland. wlinda, a patrician Swede, left in com- mand of her father’s or husbaud’s castio (the Jegend is vague concerning her retationship to the castellan) proved herself equal to the emergency. Welcoming the invaders, she Julled them into @ false sense of security; and at the close of a banquet, contriving to abstract the aris, gave the signal to a band of deyged Swedish women, who fell upon the Danes an¥ massacred them, from the chiefs downwards, the geveral being undertaken by Bilnda herself, However apocryphal the story, it has received some recognition at the hands of the kings of Sweden. In memory of the good service of Biinda and her women sundry taxes Were xemitted to Weland. Equality of toheritance With the males was conferred upon the females uf the province, and special honors are still accordea toa Weland !acy when she marries or is ouried. In one of tle privileged cautons, at a village three leagues from the small town of Vexie, Onristine Nilsson was born. Her parents were humble in con- ‘aition—peasants laboring upon an tnextensive farm, Before the age of tea the musical ability of mttle Christine asserted itself 1m various meagre ways. The child was known for a singularly sweet volue and for a fair knowledge of the violin, picked up bap-hazard.. Occasionally her parents would send herto the fai's held in the different villages an ‘email towns of the district, where the little maid's beauty and fresh, clear singing earned a few copper pieces, welcome enough to the hard-working coupio at home. Burghers and peasants were generous enoughy| in thety modest way (Smoland betag far from a rich province) to the fair, childish musician with blonde hair, beautiful eyes and an innocent face. The gen- try, (eo, roundabout made inquiries from time to time after Christine, and one or two urged her father and mother to allow her to receive @ proper training in music. The child, however, for long ro- sisted ail attempts to separate her from her parents, though the latter seemed willing to avail themselves: of the offers repeatedly made to them. ‘They had reagon enough to be tempted, for at this period the Nijsson household was very poor. CXris- tine herself was the youngest of seven, and a French ohronicter portrays her as generally wearing the cast-o1 clothes of one of her brothers, French Jeusiletontstes, however, often allow their love of creating au effect to overstep their regard for vera- city. One day, while singing to ber own violin accom- paniment before a crowd of peasants at u fair, a sivoliing Juggler offered her the magnificent sum of twenty riksdaler a year—about twenty-four snil- lings of our money—if she would join hts troupe, Here at ail events was a practical proposal, embrac- ing actnal terms. It would seem, however, that Christine declmed this firet engagement, notwith- standing the liberality of the entrepreneur. What an intereating subject for a painter It would make, mi view of the after-careér of the artist; Christine Nilsson offered her first engagement ! She did not join the man of cups and balls, for we find her at leagth—somewhere about the age of thir- teen or fouriween—domiciled with the Baroness of Lenuusen, a lady once celebrated in her country as a singer under the name of Hille. Valerius. A gen- tleman amateur tamed Tonerielam was the means of persuading Christine to dedicate herselt formally to music, and through his introduction the young girl took up @ position in the Baroneys’ louschold ‘and received her first lessons from her. She was an apt scholar; and in a short time her instructress Judged her Ut to leave Gothenburg, where the Baroness itved, for Stockholm. Here Christine studied under Franz Berwaid, and herve, as one of is pupils, she attracted the notice of royalty. Prom Stockholin her patrons sent her to Paris, where she completed her musical education & \ under Wartel, a very Warwick of his craft, a true Diva-maker. A dozon prtine donne owe thelr celeb. rity to the care and shrewdness of this teacher; but had he trained only @ Christine Nilsson bis fame Would be completo, DEBUT AT THE LYRIQU: “La TRAVIATA.” ‘Three years were devoted by Wartel to the perfec tion of Mile. Nieson’s supple volce and to training her in declamation, in style, in all the arty that be- jong to the lyric stage. An easy task where the Master was #0 abie aud the pupilso gifted, At the end of that time Wartel pronounced her fit to make er acvut, and gaye M. Oaryaibo, the manager of Wie Lyrique, @ bint as to the rising of this bright pactl- cular star. An opera manager is only too glad to secure fresh talent when the warrant of it is undeniable, M. Carvalho took Wartel’s advice. Mile, Nilsson ac- cepted an engagement to appear in ‘Vioietia,” & French translation of ‘La Traviata,” on the 27th of October, 1864, Sho was now oighteen years of age; fur, slender, graceful in carriage, amiable in features; With the light bine eyes of the Scandinavian race, As the curtain rose the audience were aware of an Unaccustomed apparition; a Violetta gentle and dignified rather than passtonate, displaying grace instead of sensuous languors, tnnocence in the place of recklessness, The traits of Mile. Nilason’s per- formance of this character are now of European notoriety; but it was new to the Freuch audience !n 1864. They wero littie prepared for the novel ren- dering, A succession of dark, Southern, warm- blooaed cantatrict had portrayed the Lady of the Camellias a8 an amorous, voluptuous, seductive sort of Circe, @ trifle dissolute, not to say vulgar. Here ‘was a wide departure from the traditional 76la: Vio- letta shorn of her naughtiness, Violetta with fair hair, Ught blue eyes, a calm brow; full of love, but @ love consistent with self-sacrifice; not tho Syba- rite passion of previous Traylatas; something very diferent and much more agreeable tg contemplate. Tt was the idealization of unsanctioned deyotion;, and the spirituels French recognized the subtlety of the conception, and applauded to thé echo. ‘Tho new rendering accorded perfectly with the fresh, clear, beautiful voice, Both were pure, unsirained, unspolled. In both lay that simplicity which ts the highest onteome of art, since 1t proves that in the cultivation offapt the purity of nature is not forgot- ten, nana The Swedish diva has widely Improved on that first performance, with the practice that makes per- fect. But the personation even then was great enough to arouse 9 considerable sensation in Paris. ‘The critics discovered a new genins—at artist whoce dramatic power was worthy of her bright soprano yolce and thorough style, The press buist into oulogium. The stald Moniteur Universel headed the acclamations, “She has transitions," exclaimed the critic of the Montieur, “which resemble the murmurs of the’ infinite; at times her songs fall from patrician lps like phrases lowly ultered by a duchess of the olden time. Her sigh 1s a melody, her breath @ caress. If she interprets Verdi thus how would she sing Mozart “Never has death,” wrote M. Nestor Roqueplan in the Consttiuttonnel, “presented itself in a softer and more touching guiso than under the young features and with the sweet volce of the new singer. The repugnant reality of this agony was, as it were, veiled and idealized under a poetic film. Violetta did not die; she seemed to dissolve in a melodious atmosphere.” With the due allowance made to the fervor of French writers, always. exalted when their sympa- thies are strongly aroused, nobody will contest the justness of the criticism. Later years, Indeed, have verified it in the amplest manner. “DON JUAN—“DIE ZAUBERFLOTE.”? The speculation of the critic of the Moniteur was destined to be ratified. In Verdi Mile. Nilsson had {| matriculated; in Mozart she subsequently took : her lyrical degree. The music of Mozari was, after all, the test-point, and the opportunity of showing how the young Swedish artist could sing the “Don Giovanni” music and the exceptional role of Astra. flammante in “Die Zaubderfiite” was soon afforded. M. Carvalho, the manager of the Lyrique, enjoyed the reputation of making known to the Parisians: from time to time, the beauties of Mozart’s master. pieces, The possession of so excellent a soprano as Mile. Nilason decided him to repeat the experiment with all lavishness in the matter of cast and sceulc accessory, “Don Juan” (at the Lyrique French adaptations of opera are performed) should be his fst casay. The newly-accorded Ilberty of the theatres fa- vored the attempt. Under the ola system of privi- lege certain theatres were Mmited toa certain range ofthe drama. “Don Juan,” forexample, could be played only at the Académie Impériale de la Musique, @ patent house. There it had bsen produced; had been piayea, like Gluck’s ‘“‘Aleeste,”’ some six weeks ‘or two months, and had been quietly sheived sine did. Mozart's glorious music was voted old and exploded, of little value, save to decorate the library of some musical archwologist fond of amassing lyrical anti- quitles, “Lact Darem’ and “Il Mio Dessoro” were dead as the Doges, and abont as interestiag. dn addition to the various obstacles in the way of reviving a taste for Mozart—obstacles arising from Parisian Ignorance and prejudice—there had always been the diMculty of fading a “Queen of Night’ for tae composer's other masterpiece, tho ‘Zauber- nute,” The music of this character is written with | inordinately high notes; the frequent use of the F in ait debars most sopran: from undertaking the rdle, Siogers there have been—like Mile. Carlotta Patti— able to reach these notes with sufficient ease; but ench singers are as often destitute of the dramatic qualifications demanded by the part. M. Carvalho thought he had obtained @ soprano equally competent in the histrionic and vocai re- quirements of the r0le, and determined to produce “Don Juan” tentatively, with “Die Zauberfiste”’ translated into “La Flite Enchantée” in reserve. The result proved that he had not underrated his re- sources. Mile, Nilsson he cast for the part of Donna Elvira; Mme, Miolan-Carvalho, his wife, undertook Zeriina; Mme. Charton-vemeur, Donna Anna; and the parts st Don Idan, Hon Ottavio, Leporetlo were ‘Pea edtlvely assigned to M. Barre, M. Michot and M. Troy. A well selected orchestra seconded this capt- tal ensemble; the-chorus was good; the scenery left nothing to he desired, As a natural consequence, the issue fulfilied the managers most sanguine ex- pectations. Once more Parisian audiences discovered a now delight. So sweet, so tender, so gracious an Elvira they had never realized. Sne moved, clfe émbodi- delight—more likely some knowledge of the Lyrique artst’s excellence borne hitherward by those who had seen her in Paris—crowded Her tre to the roof. ‘The ‘“Praviata’ was the opera yertised—at no time @ favorite with English audi- ences, vu the Character ef the libretto and tts grop- ing into ugholy ways. Still a foreiga language covers @ multtiude of sins, and Verdi's music atones for another multitude, Added to this was the ex- pectation that the new singer would condone all the Tomalning sins, if any more could be found, The theatre was crainmed, It was the story of Paris repeated. Christine Nilison appeared ‘and London capitulated. “One lance,” wrote the Satur Review, quoting Robert Gumann’s remark on Schubert, done glance, and the world shone fresh again.” A mur.nur of adml- ration, harbiager of the interest to be gained, ran through the house at the apparition of the pale, slender, fair-haired divinity who Was such a satire Upon the naughty words sié had to utter, “Grande, svelle graciguse,” a6 the Preach critics had caited her, sho resembled anno whit the Itatian ideai of Violetta. She, that dissipated little personage who lins to sing her conviction that ‘tall the world 1s folly except that which is pleasure 1” Sue, the re- veller, who has to pour out all her soul tn an invi- | tation to drink, and who pursues her rackety, reck- jess career until Boredom, in the shape of old Ger- mont, and Consumption th the slape of mterestin; little coughs over @ dainty baudkerdttel, put ap en: to her, naughty ife| Tue idea was absurd. This was siupiy a graceful gentlowoman, pure in look, reilned fa bearing, as distinct from the protowype of Dumas ls as Enid irom Vivier, as Beawice from Francesca, It was hier voice which opened the door of anew delight; and then tua’ crowded audience recog: nized the beauty of the new conception. A pure soprano sfogato, brigut and tender a3 @ May morn- ing and clear and hmpid as a siream; an luconation faultlessly accurate; Lo sur Th He ewe at forcing, but a natural power whic! le certain notes audible at a distance unattainable by stronger organs; these were the qualities at rst recogniza- le in the impetuous “Libiaino ne? lett cali en came “Ah tors é lui che anta,”’ displaying sympathetic quality of the lower tones, Ane Be ducing so UW un expression of pleasure that quets thus early in the evenlug began to fall, But he singer had her work yet to perform, and the first g¢ bouguct was’ lata upon the table, like a bill, jor further consideration, Later on, the wealth of bouets became onerous, As the opera advanced so did the young singet in the hearts ‘of her hearers. Re‘ined as was lier atyie of acting, gentle as her features, they lent them- selves readily to every variely of emotion; thus tho admiration “which the appearance of Violetta awakened tn the bedroom scene became submerged tn sympathy for her woes soon as the unfortunate lady began to sing. ‘the wail of regret for a Jost past, with. the sorrow suggested in the reed accompaniment, the growth ol weakness in the frame and voice of tie sluger, and then the passiopate burst at dying #0 young, which rang clear and bell-like throughout the house, combined to render the last act memoravie, The artifices of Piccolomin! and Bosio—artiflces which used to give this acl something Of a charnel house character—were leit unemployed by Nilsson. She overstepped neither the modesty of nature nor tue dignity of art. In particular sie abandoned the spasmodic cough and the other dismal indications of hthisae in its last stage, with which otier artists had embellished tne latter end of Vioictta’s career. Jn Nilssoa'’s hand the tragedy was capable of another signification. Violeta dies, but scarcely of consumption, She fades away, a victim to disap- pointed love, to unmanly scorn. ‘The “melodious gether,” in which, according to the French feutiic- toniste, she dissolves, is. the fitting elysium for so sweet singing a spirt. Bulwer in one of bia piars talks of “melody like a bappy soul released;’’ a vision which seems to take bodily presence in this impersonation of Violetta. “Asook, and the world shone fresh again.” Mr. Mapleson found tt so at allevents. The fortunes of Her Majesty suddenly took a new lease; ramor’s thousadd tongues aud the ‘more substantial testi- mony of the Morning papers spread abroad the new singer’s fame; and the theatre was hesleged tor seats for the second performance. Thus was another paralie| atiorded between Nilsson and Jenny Lina. nristing had arrived in the very nick of time for Mr. Mapleson, a8 ber predecessér and compatriot had for Mr. Lumley; and by virtue of her coming defeat turned to victory. Quce more the old opera house reared its head and defled its adversary, Patti Might sparkle and Lucca languish; the ‘Market ment of Mozart's inspired fancy, a. blue-eyed, spirt- tual presence, whom it was Don Juan's blackest my ever to have wronged. And this was the Music accounted dull and obgolete! this the singing which but for a manager’s far-sightedness Parisian Gullards might have foregone. The victory was gained; ‘Don Juan” became a Frenebd autjear by terms of naturalization. Mar- seilles, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Rouen fol- | lowed the example of Paris and mounted the opera. Oniv the accident of birth prevented Mozart being clairaed @ Frenc at once. AS lt was, tho critics were disposed to quarrel with Geriiany for having forestalied them with the composer. In re- venge they triumphed over Sweden In having rob- bed her of the artis ‘The success of ‘Don Juan’’ paved an even way for the attempt which M. Carvalho had in his mind, the production of ‘Die Zauberféte.”” Mounted with great care and possessed of the advantage bestowed. ‘upon it by such @ Queen of Night as Mile. Nilsson, ite reception was a: d the moment Astrafammante f@ppeared upon the stage. ‘It was a revelation,’ wrote one eminent critic of the performance; ‘‘that voice 80 splendid, virginal, correct, flexible, equal throughout tts rare extent,” modulating, thrilling to inaccessible heights.” They were not inuccessibie, since Mile, Nilsson attained them, but the Jicense of criticism must be understood. Certain it; is that the marvellous rendering of Astrafiammante’s two cele- brated airs, unexampled for diMcuity, yet easily couquered by ler exceptional gifts, transiormed a meagre part into “a revelation” and a dull libretto into a triumph, Stupid as 14 “the book’ of the “Magic Plate,’ with its incomprehensibie mysticisin, {ts assumption of Freemasonry intrigue and the aim- lessness of action throughout it; still wore silly a8 it is inthe French adaptation, wherein the German transcendentalism has been botched altogether, the opera at once entered upon a splendid run, "French audiences, Ilvely enough in a general way to a sense of the ridicalous, lost sight of all ludicrousness of dialogue and action in the spell of Christine Nils- son’s volce, She became the talk of Paria, she “gang stars,’ as Mozart said of Mme. Lange, the original Queen of Night; she sang gold and silver a6 well—imto the pocket of the happy manager of the Lyrique, HER FIRST SEASON IN LONDON. The reputation of the new star of the Lyrique, and the curiously long run, nearly 809 nights, of Mozart's fantastic opera achteved through her ge- nius, naturally reacheu the ears of the London man- | agers, at that time straining every nerve in rivalry. | Luektly for Mr. Mapleson he made the best bid for preference, and secured the Swedish prima donna aia dime when he was being distanced in the race by his competitor. In 1867 Mr. Gye was naving It ali hisown way; Mr. Mapleson was beginning to fall in the rear. “At Covent Garden Patt still shone an undimmed star of brightness; Lucca, 4 fresher attraction, offered the stimuins of novelty and vart- ety. At Her Majesty's there was Tietjens, mcompar- ably great in opera of the broad herole cast, but a presence to which the public had been usea for suc- cessive seasons and now demanded’a new excile- ment. Jima de Murskea had been brought forward a scason before, but audiences were vut Inkewarm at the best towards Mile. de Murska, and this year she had, in spite of promises, not appeared. Mougial, Bantley and Trebelil, it 1s true, were stt!! to the fore, but the opera-going ‘multitnds craved 2 spectut sen: sation, and, failing any particular novelty, went where they could eujoy beauty, youth and espicglerte io Lucoa and Patt, * ‘The time was therefore ripe for 4 startling divi “tho hour” had arrived and with the hour woman.” The 10th of Jane wae ndvertised for the | Rew Binger’s Oppearance, ad kOe presentment of enyied not the 'Garden possession of such bright exotics. Jf the South had her passion flower the ‘North had her snowdrop, her violet; and the world, without derogation ty either growth, mighi take its choice. That the season of 1867 declared for Nilsson was uninistakabie. She was the new iuea, the sensation. It remained for alter appearances to solidify the sen- sation into an an aviding sense, GRETCHEN, When Mile. Nilsson rested from her labors in the antumn of 1867 she had earned severai Cn and could bear away from British shores many plea- sant recollections, Am the conquests was the Margarete of Goéthe and Gouuod, verybody has || more or lés8 formed his ideal of Gretchen, either from the original pages, or through the translations of Bulwerand Martin, or yorong: Scheder’s picto- rial art, or through the opera, There is perhaps no ee ns a a) for the opportunity of presenting Nilsson i Mar- guerlte,gone spiteful criti belt he meant no spite, only a coarse form of jocosity—announced of the Lik Bad endid triamph—for Mme. ‘aiho."? The iusinuation being that had failed in the impersonation, and that Mme. Car- valuo, who had formeriy been ideutined with Mar- guerite, would be pleased at her rival's disaster, Now.among ail Christine Nilssou’s triamphs there is none, perhaps, so strikingly illustrative of genius asthis attempt in Paris to personate Marguerite, Herein she was doomed for the first time in her career to encounter a vast opposing farce of preju- dices, and to be defeated by them at first and at last to overcome them. The Parisians did not like her conception of Gretchen, ‘They had formed ‘their own ideal of Gretchen—an ideal of the Boulevards; they had tmagined her as a sort of saucy soubrette, with the manner of & shop girl—a trifle untortunate, permaps, and therefore fa some measure to be pitied; ut to be pitied in the way One may bestow a degree of sentiment upon a girl Of that class who has been victimized by & geufeman anda devil in partne: ship. Any Inderiying formation of character, any toue of sentiment beyond or above this Boulevara appreciation of the Lape person, was notin the French mind, If ttexisted, it was Toreleh, it was German, aod therefore not worth analyzlag or bothering about in any way. The Germans were a jueer, mystical, transcendental race of theorizers; they smoked more than was good for them and ate chou crjute Anordinately; they were tétesy car- réeg, and not @ littié stupid and cloudy, As for them—the French—atcepting a German point of view of @ character .which Gounod, their own Gou- nod, had incorporated and Gailicized, It was not to be thought of. Parisian audiences had seen id guerite dressed and played. a@la francaise, and they were satisfied, and wanted nothing more. In this iumor shey were unprepared for ' Mlle, Nilssou’s new render! ng. She herselt had not de- sired the ordeal; she had begged that the part might be left in the nands of Mme. Carvalho, who had graced tt before, and who was always associated with it, But the manager insisted, aud Christine reluctantly attemptet the task, ie undertook it, however, in her. own fashion, embodying hér own Koowledge of German literature and German nabits; she reauzed her own conception of the artless girl such a8 Goethe created, and Ary Scheffer and Kaulbach depicted. ‘The fatthfaincss: of demeanor, the accuracy . of dress, the fldefity of spirit, were presented as We are accustomed to see them in the bearing’ of Christine Nilsson. 1t was the, same sweet, tender conception which subsequently made her famous in Paris, and has counted among her triumphs in this country. “She is the tmpersonation,” wrote the Paris correspondent of a New York paper at tie time, “of unsuspecting anti aenllel eee sweet, candid, modest ad self-restrat I—but with a tinge, per- haps, of ToAipnolions in “her face and bearing, as if the gentle mirror of her soul already regected the dark shadows of evil gathering about her, and soon to wrap her away in storm and darkness and death,’ Nevertheless this conception offended the French critics at that time, and displeased the audience, They accused Nilsson of duiness, of colduess; sho had no animation, they cried; even her voice had fallen off; and—gravest fautt in a Parisian eye—she was becoming stupid. Something more aler f more saucy, more felon. ip Was whit they tad looked for in Marguerite, ‘it was a triamy Carvalho;” but a signal failure for critic demauded the lustant withdrawal of the opera. kven the Revue des Deux Mondes stooped to blame, It seemed, indeed, ag if the great artist had fatle upon the very issue which shouid have earned her greatest glory. Unaccustomed to such harsh treat- men, lie mignt well, at this pot of her career, have lost heart. Luckily for her, luckily also for the subsequent leasure of Paris, the verdict Was not unanimons, Phcophile Gautier, one of the keenest intellects and Teadiest pens in tie service of dramatic literature, jus- tifled Niisson’s rendering in the the Journul Offeiel, Ernest Feydeau, inthe columns of Revue Nationate, stemmed the tide of- disapprobation; and amon; spectators the English and American components the audience stood by Ohristine. Yo them German lit- erature Was not such @ seated book as tu the Parisians pur, sang; they thus could. appreciate the truthiul- ness of the rendering. There were German. resi- dents also fu Paris, who naturally knew that Nilsson was right and her detractors wrong. Lastly, the eritio. oi Galignant bated bravely tor the Swedish artist, averring that he had seen the part played by every emin stinger in Europe, and not one of tiem could approach Christine Niwsson in spirituality and Joving fidelity to the poet, Tue ude tarned., fhe opposition had nad one ood off it advertised the singer. Asa result, uring the last twenty or thirty nignts of thé engagement every seat im the theatre was se cured at a high premium, Nota box, not a stad, nov standing room even, but was eagerly taken, loug in advance; the audiences were delighted, the critica veered round toa man. Rarely, if ever, has @ fuller conquest been obtained over ignorance and prejudice and national jeatousy. After all, a Parts public's not unaccustomed to re- verse its judgments. It did so in the notorious in- stance of Rossini’s “Guillaume Tell,”’ utterly tavooed at its first performance. Superadded to the pro verbial fokienese of the multitude, there 1s always the hostile force of private ivory aud envy and dislike, which 1s sometimes permitied to SUR gee if a NEW YORK HERALD, SUNDAY, JULY 24, 1870.—TRIPLE SHEET, this moment o dally. Journal before him, wherein “Le Grand Williams’ tg familiar) trodneed). ri rarely seen on the : of a Night of Summer,” with ite fj » Queen Elizabeth and William Shakspeare himself as dra- mais persone mixed in ‘trlcable confusion. Be- fides these two masterworks, Ambroise Thomas had produced at the Grand Opéra “Le Comte de Carmag- nola” (1841) and the “Guertilero” (1842), and was noted Sle pr ry “Cal .” SERRE en inte ieee raquier de la nce," ra ears age, is forgotten even in France, Neither 1h his earlier nor in. bis subsequent con! ions had te colder among French musicologists succeeded in discovering any special aptitade for the lyric drama, ‘The order of his tauale they defined in’ one word: his style was “‘moonshiny.’? “A lessor Gluck,’ tus admirers predicated of “dninitely 89)!" e+ torted his antagonists. cPhe lipretto which served as: grouidwork for M: Thomas had been prepared by MM. Michel Carré and Auguste Barbier. ie iibrettists had taken the privileged liberties with Shakspeare—liverties which might excite an Englishman's amusement) 4 Ger- man’s ire; for Germany holds the great poet.in se- verer tad than ourselves, A Hamlet who sings the celebrated Soliioguy on Deatn in Jerky lines: “Btre ou wetre pas—mystére—mourir, dormir, rever peut-Ctre,’ with curious effects in the accompanl- ment of wood and strlays, 1 not _per- haps 80 outrageous a buriesque as a who} sings a “Baechic Song” ‘(fancy Hamlet ‘‘Bacchic !’) a Polonious who. ia the accom- pitce of Claudius tn the murder, a Laertes modelled on the Tang alany tenor type, or a final tableau Hamlet, having kitled his uncle at the grave of Ophelia, 1s proclaimed King of Denmark in his stead. A ballet, too, in “Hamiet,’? a ballet Walon contains a polka, 18 not the worst freedom ich bas been taken with this tragedy In its day. A hundred and BAY JSAs® 880, the opera of “Ambleto” was pro- duced in London, with an ‘overture composed of “four movements and a jig.!’ On this idea M. Am- broise Thomas! notion 13 certaluly some, advance. ‘The present “Hamiet” opens with the coronation of Claudius, celebrated with a sort of nuptial chorus to the words:— Le déull fait place . Sour de fete, jour dalkteness Nous saluons aved tvrease, © rol, ton hymen glorieux, To which the King replies, and then Hamlet enters in a melancholy mood. For his entree the phrase, “O woman, thy nume 13 frailty,” is musically taraed on the words;— 0 femme, tu Yappelies, Tuconstance et fragilite accompanied by the violoncellos. Hamlet's part is a envédopeé—a character preserved throughout the opera. For the first scene between the Prince and Ophelia the tone is-given from the passage, ‘Doubt that ile Sun is fire,” Uterally enough followed here. Laertes makes hig appearance at phe end of this duet. He is a languishing sort of a body—a dilution of the stage troubador—a Scaudinavian Dunois. And tho chorus of the revellers who tilt the conven- onal goblets with nothing in them, aud sing a hamby-pamby refrain about “aliéyresse,”’ what a parody are they upon the Derce Norsemen ana their Teckless chicf who K ‘asuel, and the swagrering wp-spring rec! id a a druina bis drasnts oh fiveatet owas e kettiedrum and trumpet thy ‘The triumph of his pledge. But then thetusk of Messteurs Barbier and Carré. was not fidelity, They had to operauze the tragedy, to cut, pare, alter, hack every situation to the exigencies of lyric conventionality, And how they and the composér together managed to turn the notable old poinw in the tragedy to musical purpose, would’ have horrified our stern “legitimate” actors. Hamlet's father, for mstance, appears witha porbling id growling of trombones: which doubtless caused M. Sax lively gatisfaction, but which was a spasmodic agony to the audienc ‘The Ghost 1s monotonous to a Tartarean degree; hfs recitative is limited to two notes. Only the pictur- esque setting of the scene and the excellent acting of M. Faure saved this part of the oper: The second act proceeds as im the play, the one bright sun ray aiid Its protound gloom betug the Presence of Ophetia, Ophelia, as Nilsson plays the part, is the prop and maineipy, of the opera. Be- yond the momentary irradiation of her coming and going ail 18 duiness and atrophy. but even in this bright instance Ambroise Thomas has to a large ex- tent missed bis 0} portnnity, He might have done so much more with such a character and such. an ar- fist. This second act contains & duet between QObhelia and the Queen, but a duct which leaves no- fing 1a the memory. She leaves the scene and the icker of brightness diesaway. ‘The duet between Gertrude and Claudius ts dult, dull also the chorus of strolling players, which surely offered opportu- nity for plotureaque color; but tue Composer 18 un- equal tothe demand, ‘hen comes Hamlev’s “Bac- chic” song—"'O yin dissipe tristesse’—a statement, however, which poor Hamlet practically. gives ine lie, It does not dissipate bis éristesse, or M. homas. ‘The scene of Gonz ie play was Inagaiti- cently mounted and acted at the Grand ‘Opera, but here again the music failed, It was sheer noise. The Ir out not to ‘organize, the outward opposition. a world of intrigue and bitter strife is the world behind Tore concrete embodiment of & poet's dream than Margarete. Desdemona 1s a mere ideal; Imogen tay be fair or dark, tall or petite; Miranda might take shape in a dozen forma, 8o widely do dramatic realizations differ. Perhaps the most distivetly de- fined type ts & non-dramatic one—that of Byron’s Haldee; but she bas tho distinctiveness of dreas ratuer than of spirit and feature. Given the Greek adornments, the taaselled headdress and the dark hair, and @ certain resemblance must pervade all effurts at iustration, But Margarete is one and indivisible, Who has not in his mind’s eyo the slender Saxon type, the blonde hatr, flat upon a marble foreiead and talling tn plalty behind; the low stomacher, tho lithe, sup- ple form Hil emerging into womanhood, a3 she crosses th pen of a lover were vo “seo Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt? Her arma across her breast she la! ‘She was more fair (hau words can say, And the ideal has survived. So absolute is Gretchen's Individuality that on the stage it is dificult, to vivify the model with exacti- tude. Operatic singers in particular have felt them- selves restricted to a certain accepted notion at va- Tlance, more or less, with thelr uatural manner, and and when, tired of constraint, they have relapsed into thelr natural manuer, they have strayed fur. ther from the ideal, ‘Tietjens cleaves to the flaxen tresses, and piles & Wig over her own hair which gives her a Watteau appearance, It is a Margarete of laborious simplicity Whom we see—a siately Mar- garete, inclined to embonpoint. Patt for Swears the wig and comes out as a brune Gretchen, black haired and dark eyed; a pretiy specimen of miscegenation; an Taltan girl singing’a French personification of a German ideal, Lucca, who by nationality ig well fitted (as indec ‘ietjeus is) to apprectate Goethe, apparenty frames er concep Hot upoy the lines— io ist 46 siit-und tugendreich, Und etwas schnippiach doch zugleich. Bat then she Insists too strongly upon the schutp- pisch. With her Margarete ty a saucy little person, fully open to @ flirtation and disposed, in the first jneetiug with Faust, only to reculer pour mieux sauter, There is.an air of follow me tf you dare” when she rejects Faust’s arm and ola Hors ts a Gretchen of the Gassen; we almost expect to hear her “chaff? Mepbistopheles in the Berlin. patois; ‘and when the serious interest deepens and on gupervenes on sauciness, she develops more South. ern proclivities than even Putt. Unti Nilsson’s assumption of the part, therefore, a full realization of Gretchen was wauting, but there now entered into competition one itied alike by Nature, by youth and 4 culture to do justice to Goethe’s conception and Gounod’s illustration, The Scandinavian type was near enough to the German to render disguise unnecessary; the slender form gnd young grace needed no disguise; the gentleness Was only natural. 60, when ste crossed the scene, clad in white, with dowacast eyes and clasping her missal, Scheffer’s picture of Margarete suddenly stood realized before the spectators. There was 00 need to write “Tis is Margarete” under the ilustra- tion; there was equally uo compulsion to ada “This ts Margarete with a difference” when she began to ging. The “No Signor’ of her tirat phrase might, barring language, have been the “Bin weder Fréu- lein weder schou” of the orlginal, Aud the truth of the conception was preserved throughout, though the French version wanders from the German text and represents Margarete under various circum: stances for which there ty no warrant in the original, but which are necessary for the composer’s purpose. To give elect to such variations without wander- ing from the one firet alm {s uo small point in an artisVs favor, Take, for example, the soliloquy of Gretchen over the jewels placed for a soul trap by Mephistopheles. How pathetic 1s Goetne-Gretchen's reflection as she stands before the mirror:— Man lobt euch halb mit Erbarmen. Nach golds dringt, Am golde hangt Dooh alles, Ach, wir armen! Contrast this with the burst of grisette gratifica- ton wherewith Gounod’s Marguerite hails ijie span- gles; the delight to which the Italian version gives expression in “# atrano poter.” ‘The one is a poevs unity of imagination, the other & musician's capa. city for creating an effect of contrast, In conflicting reudings like this Christine Nilsson manages a happy compromise, She deals justly with the music, but she does not lose sight of thé poetic purpose,’ Bhe js no grisette suddenly vanquished at the sight of the pretty gewgaws, yet she has to sing delight over them in woman-like fasion, “it was,”’ wrote one English critic of her first appearance in Margherita, “as ifa bird were carolling over a poison berry.’’ Again, the soliloquy wherein Margareve cons over Faust’s love, as she appears at the window, is given by Mile. Nilsson in a calm, happy reverie, rising by subtie gradations into ecstacy when sie conciudes by invoking his presence. There is nothtag in ail this of Southern languors or of French abandon, yet it lacks not fervor, The vein of German senti-. ment runs thrvughout; but the passion, which is not of one nation, but of ail nature, speaks In every sil- very tone aud shines in every eloguent look and gesture. @ PARISIANS OBJECT TO MARGUER, Up to this time Christine Niisson’s F umphs had been earned at tue Theatre L; that estavlisiment she had continued to play, in friendly rivalry to Mme. Miolan-Carvaiho, the singer of an old and famous reputation, and the whe of the manager. There avere not wanting mis- chievous writers who lusinuated a relailoaship of suiall Cordiality between the old and the new prima donna—bdeiween the manager's wife and the star. Actually Do such jealousy existed; but it pleased the Freneh seuidetonistes to imagine it. it enabled them to say wicked little pleasantries from ume to time. A French joke beconies all the more piquant for a sploe of malice and personality. Thus, when "sayst? Was Tevlyed at the Lyrige the scenes! wat lunumerable enemies must a rising artist conquer before his empire is secured ! Victor Hugo, though personally he fas had little to complain of in his careeras a dramatist, knows the meanness: and tue bitterness of the faction fight wich every great Man uiust encounter in that areua, be he author or composer or artist; and on the life to bo there undergone the poct has fixcd his broad, em- hatic mark, ‘God grantime,” he writes in one of is preface: roper repentance for having exposed the virgin obscurity of my name and person to the snares and squalls and tempests of the theatre, and, avove all, to the wretched brolls ofjthe coulisses; for having entered into that most fitful, foggy, stormy atmosphere, where ignorance dogmafizes, where envy hisses, where cabal reigns or crawis, where the probity of talent ts so often unrecoguized, where the Boble candor ot nie is 60 generally displaced, where mediocrity triumphs by reducing superiority to its own level; In short, where there are so many little men for oe great wan, ¥o.1aany nullives for each Talma, so maby myrmidens tor each Aciilles.” NILSSON LEAVES THB-LYRIQUE, Mile. Nilsson’s reputation had by this time grown pe large to be limited by the walis of the Lyrique, he had swelled it in appearances at many concerts and private salons, and now the opera covetad so rare & singer: luaperial art pul in @ claim. Ia a country ike France, Where the State is the patron of national art, a great artist becomes an olyect of Rational importance. it had become, too, a matter of genet oxgingy to secure the Swedish singer, us M. Anbrotse Thomas had just finished his opera of “Bamiet? upon @ libretto adapied from Blake peare’s play. In its original form—-or rataecr through Versions Witch more or iess departed from Shaks- are’s text, bul Were suificlontly ortgiual to satinty Frenen criticism, “Hamlet” was fairly enough Known to Pariw piaygocrs. Alexandre Dumas the elder had hada tarp at it, doing the biank verge ino rhymed alexaudrines, and cipping and trinming the stout English into tnicking French conceits. Like ait his felow dramatists, Dumas had not scrupled to improve Shakspeare where in his Judge ment such process becain ary. The ay pind is never even to this day fully emancipate from: the influence of Voltaire, and Shakspeare con- Unves to be regarded as somewhat barbarous; a9 Tough; 95 wautiug tudt polish which Js ube special boast of French literature, Therefore has to be rhymed; to be divested of bis strong materialistic way of treating things; to be sentimentalized; to be kndcked into classic shape; to be generally bewigged ‘and perfuméd, before the cultured sense of France yn endure him. Jn his barbarous defiant originality @ 1s Much too “shoking.'” A great improvement was introduced into “Ham- let’ in the. shape of a classic urn, containing the ashes of tWe defunct King of Denmark. Over this urn the Parisian Hamjet poses himself Slegani " and delivers some very prettily turned sentiment of the ‘Adliction sore long time 1 bore’ order. ‘This improvement on the unrefined English poct commended itself to French Intelligence as bell true alike to nature aud art—especially the ar of Pére’ la Chaise. When therefore the knowk ‘spread that Ambroise Thomas bad tarned the tragedy into an opera, and that this opera was to be producca at the chiet lyrical house, everybody knew pretty well the nature of 28 asiiees and the sort of artiets who would be require for its interpretation, Peopie knew that the hero of the tragedy was a sombre, melancholy, brooding personage, ‘whose character could only be delineates hrough @ bags voice, and that ms bass! Faure was pre-cminent; to Faure therefore Hamict would fall. They Ynew also that the fair and gentle attr- butes of Uphelia demanded one interpretress—ono whose birth and education, whose ‘natural bias and art training alike suited her to the part. Who so thoroughly fitted to present the sweet Danish lady as the Swedish singer? Alleyes were tustinctively turned to Christine Nilsson, In due time it was known that Ohristine would leave the Piace du Ohitelct for the Rue le Pelletier, and that she would undertake, as everybody had an- ticipated, the first rdie in AM, Thomas’ opera, real concourse assembied to bid her farewell. frough she was but exchanging one theatre for another, though all Paris could st delight In her appearances, the demonstration was as great a8 though she were taking leave of the stage entirely, Tue “Biluets’ by M. Cohen was her valedictory opera—a work which depended entirely upon Nilsson’s grace tn filling the-principal part, and which withered at her departure. “‘M. Cohen,” said one generous critic on the occasion, “présere retirer 8a partition que la tatsser dépouilige dé son (anna Simin.” 10 barsber words he had no —. for it; the opera possessed no vitality beyond Nilsson’s charm. But had it been the dullest work extant the audience were prepared to honor it for the prima donna’s sake; Uius the theatre was crowded, and the demonsivaiion became a frenzy. Such bravos; such @ rain of flowers—garlands principally com- posed of artificial corniiowers (biuets, the namesake of the opera); wreaths and crowns wherein rare jeweis were not wanting; bouquets with a visiting card, mostly crested or coroneted, in the heart.of each, pour prendre conge; postic epigrains, too, attached to the gifts, after the dainty Contineatal manner; in short & thorough ovation. ‘his was Nilsson’s last night at the Lyrique previous to her dévut at the Opera of) the 9th of March, 1868, in the pait of Ophclie, “HAMLET? A representative French composer in the local sense—ihat is to say with oe nee to carry his fame beyond the froutier—M. Ambroise Thomas had underiakea a difficulty which his admirers under estimated, but snent which his opponents were scornful, He had hitherto rested his title to reputation a8 an opera writer on a coupie of lyrical : paraphrases (cynics sald parodies) of foreign worka— on Miguon an adaptation from Goethe, and on “Le Songe d'une Nuit d’Eté,” a wide departure from lbrettists had tarned the situation at the end of this ‘gcene to rojetiiod operatic account; had made Hamlet denounce jus to his face as the mur- Gerer of his brother, re Cail upon the assembled Court to “venger 1a mort du roi parla mort du coupable.” With his own hands he endeavors to tear the crown from the culprit’s dastard head. Here, at all events, is an opening for powerful imasi- Cal treatment, But how has the composer dealt with the situation? Ho gives the,exalted Prince a weak meiopde With which even Faure could do no- bry andante devoid of accent, which breaks suddenly off when the Zaneigian might have ex- anded it into a broad and lofty conesried num- | ~er—and an allegro whose emptiness and inanity not all the big artillery of the.orchestra could hids. Compare this miserable batten 4 of treatident with the finale of the third act of “La Favorita,” where @ similar dramatic situation—a king denounced wud dumbfoundered—fell into the hands of Donizetti, ‘The third act (MM. Barbier and Carré were not partiouley, about transposing the action) opens with ue celebrated solloguy. As well attempt to seta treatise of Sptnora or a thesis of Hegel to music as tals. Music ceases at the (end whére metaphysics begin; yes horg is music calicd upon to express the menial state of one who, in the words of Pascal, “doubts everything, and, doubting even that he doubts, rol incésganuly in a restless circle.’? Wherewith ghail music hone to illustrate this. frame or mind? With hollow sonoriites; with dubious, harmonies; with foggy modulaiton? It 1a not Am- broise Tuomas’ worst fault that he utierly fats 10 realize such subtieties of thought; for what genius could gucceed, and yet remain comprehensibie? Thomas treads on steadier ground in the succeeding trio between Hamlet, Ophelia and the Queen, wheretg an capper, phrase occurs—‘‘Allez dans un cloilre, Ophélie’—and wherein. the answerlug plant of the young gil 1s tender and touching. jut once more, Ophella, betag discarded, out goes the light, The interview between mother and sun— the “Look on this picture and on thal’ scene—is cold and scanty: @ tedious recitative cut into frag- ments occupies the place of @ concentrated and in. epired motif, #’hrases of rigid correctness, learn- edly written, accurately modulated and—wholly estitute of dramatic rien In the fourth act the lifts, for this act is de- yoted to Opheita; the spell of her sweetness aud pa- thos 18 upon it, and the audience forget what defecis may lie in the music, for they hear her voice aud see her. The scene opens with a ballet—peasants are eujoying themselves, holding a mystic féve, when the demented lady enters. On the first night in Paris the fortunes of the opera took a lively and unex- pected turn at this pout, A gloom had graduaily settled on the spectators, as the dull. work dragged wlong and efectless situations followed on each otuer’s heels. But the fourth act opened; the ballet cheered them somewhat, and Ophelia followed, The siep, the look of Christine Nilsson, the frat words. she uttered inthe tender and piteously-sweet voice enobained every sympathy. It is true that even in tuls act, as the critic of the Opinion Nationale says, “on danse plus qwon ne vocalise, on vocalise s gen ne chante.” but Ophelia pervades it, and the udience were more rapt with the mauner than the Matter. Upon the scene of the revels she enters, fan- tastlcally decked with flowers and wispso! siraw; slender and sweet; fair, cven to transparency; with. eyes Volummously bright; the weirdness ofa fay, the beauty of @ virgin. Reason has abandoned mor- tality only to leave the soul more visiblé, She sings— lifting an etherlai volce to the lark. Wild roulades, to which the depth and pathos of love mingle with its gayer memories; laughter, in which tears have a ait; & joy Induitely compassionable, @ pain infin- vely dear. She tears the flowers from her hair, and, distributing them, sings a strange wandering melody of Sweden, penetrating im its beauty, luring and tempting, but: treacherous in {ts loveliness, 03 the voice of a aca nymph. Tho shepherds retreat, apar- veiling; and then she scatters the last of hi aur lands and draws near the fatal stream. With the refrain of her lover's song upon her lips, “Doute de Ja lunilére,”’ but feeble as a far-off echo, she casts herself upon the bosom of the water and floats softly away with the distant chorus of the peasants ag ap unconscious requiem, You know the picture of the “Young. Martyr of the time of Diocletian,” ve fair Christian girl, drowned, but seeming in a peaceful slumber, with corded hands and a hazy aureole above herhead., This picture of Delaroche’s Was reproduced in the opera; and the beauty of it and its unspeakable truth and tenderness smote every heart and hushed every voice, unill the act drop teil and the audience awoke to realize that not Ophelia dead but Nilsson living had wrought the miracle. When Ophelia passes from the opera, duiness once miore asserts its sway. The last act takes place {ut the graveyard, The song of- the Gravediggers lacks character; the romance of Hamlet “Comme une pale fleur,” evaporates in coniused sighs; the chorus of girs lamenting Ophelia is sheer banalité, Des- porate with losi love, Hames is about to fail upon is sword, when his father’s spectre enters and ré- minds hin of his vengetul duty; whereupon the hopeless hero turns the weapon against his. uncle— slays him—and is proclaimed King In‘lus stead. So ends ‘Hamilet,” an @uvre manque, a fatlare but for Ophelia, From absolute ruin Nilason saved the opera; her genius even gave ita fictitious vitality. Pans went over and over again for the sake of the fourth act, and in the beaniy of the one imperson- | Ation lost sight or the dull and ineffective surround- Ings. “It Is a success, desplte.ail,” wrote M. Paul de Saint-Victor, a noted critic; “the Siren attracts the crowd to these stagnant waters, The début of Mile, Nilsson has had the prestigs of an apparition; { co Seuesren at the opera as through the portals of “A woman,” wrote M. Hipp, Prevost, “whose talent, ke her person, {8 ail distinvtton, all purity, ail poetry, has performed a miracle, Without ges: ture, without movement, by the fascination of 100K, the charms of voice, the touching grace of ‘qe @, Shakspeare’s play. So wild a perversion of him, whom sume French critics even to this day persist in styling “Le Grand Wiliama’ (the writer bas at Mie, Nilagon realized the Ophelia of, Shaks- peare untu on unsuspected, perchance, by the | genius of the Djuiself.”” “Tho phyique, voige, the acting of Mile. ‘aspect. of Regent street about a quarter ee Nilsson,” wrote Mr. Aloxia Azevedo, in the Opinton Nationale; ‘the nature, too, of ber special felons, concur Sr, prance an effect whose proportions tt 1s impossible to appreciate without seetng the part Played by a different Ophelia.” Good artists have often marched to prectness, ere now, in the van of a great work. But it is only given: to the rarest genius to vivify dulness, and to convert, & flasco into a reputable success. ' iR SECOND SEASON IN LONDON, } ‘When Mile, Nilsson paid her second visit to Eng- land last year the renown of her Ophella contributed: to the prestige of her reappearance. She was not destined to repeat the entire performance here; but she gave the celebrated sceue of the fourth act at Mr. Benedict's annual concert, and gumed as lavist) encomiums (personally bestowed, apart from the music) as those awarded by the Parisians. In Italian! opera she maintained li Y, rf ledge of wien: — jer own high fame, the know. how the wider spread. But 16 Was speclally In Oratorio that she x juired a new, distincton—a trmmph gained at the Handel Festt- val. bered was held at thé Crystal P; ‘18 and 20, Mife, Nilsson Gand hermes oa ‘ company. The principal singers included Mr. Sims Reeves, iv, Santley, “Mmecs. Lemmens- Sherrington and Sainton-Dolby, Mile, Tietjend and Miss Kellogg; band and chorus numbered 4,u00 excculauis, under the well-tried baton of Gosta.: ‘The secoad day of this celebration was made memo~ rable by the appearance of the Swedish singer, who fairly and easlly carried the first honors of thé day, ‘The selectlon—devoted as a matter of course to Han- del exclusively—had opened with the “Epinicion ort Song of Triumph,” which tncludes the matchless “Dead March;” the magnificent execution of which Ks the orchestra provoked a nacho 3 burst of cheering from the inultitude. “They would fain have: had it repeated, but Mr. Oosta was stern, and the appearance of Mile, Nilsson on the platform allayed the tumult. Her first contribution was the song of the Israclitish woman in ‘Judas Maccabeus?— “From migity kings he vook the epou.” ‘The plau- alts of the crowd turned from redemanding the march to welcome the Swedish favorite, and then Were hushed Into expectation as she commenced the’ song in praise of the Maccabee, Anticipation was soon distanced by surprise at the purity, the AW bitty, the extent of the young siuger’s ste ted ‘the fervor of her dramatic expression, Her English: pronunciation is crisp and clear, every word utt With a distinctness rarely attaimed even by native artists; and as those who had heard her before in opera had only heard her through the medium of a foreign language, the well-pronounced English, vige orously yet elegantly sung, was a new gratification. The animation with witch she gave the Passage ag on the breast-plate as a giant and girt nis warllke harness about bin,’ the force and of her vocalization and the refinement of her phras- ing took captive her hearers’ hearts. Her pure voice, travelled easily and natarally across the large area; there was no straining, yet not a note was lost; her intonation was faultless. If she had been warmly welcomed on beginning the song, it was nothing to the repeated acclamations which pursued her on. leaving the platform, und which were repeated when. she subsequently stepped forward to sing ‘Wise men. flattering.” from tik e. oratorio. This e lorne: equally exacting up singer as the ‘Soy ot Triumph,” but in a ah int degree, It demands a greater display of ten 38, Tore sweetness, an evener balance of parasing. But whatever its exac- tions, they were fulilled by the Swedish artist inj complete measure, and her perfectly articulated shake won rapturous applause. Cnristine Nusson’s part in the commemorative per- formance was short; lor the smgers were many and the diversity large; these exigencies, and not the Will of the audience, limited her share, But enough Was heard at that festival to certify the conviction that a8 an oratorio singer she is uhapproached py. any artist whom recent years have produced, and excelled in ler sphere by none. The earnestness and refnement of styie, which, with the sweet and facile voice, make her @ lyric artist of the first grade,’ are equaily felicitous in opera and oratorio, The Spaupetion, brociaims the rare singer. Jenny had it in enviable measme. The successor of Jel Lind completes the parallel, The development of Christine Niisson as tue first oratorio singer of the a! 18 a certainty which tue will afford. When the opportunity arrives the great choral socteules will Hod the matertal—material of a finished and perfect form—ready to hand. NILSSON IN 1869, Mile, Nilsson now occupies the est pinnacle of her reputation—higiest so far as all previous fame 1s concerned. Waat further triumphs tio future may bring forth 11 1s impossible to Bay; but a wider or mnore solid povularity oun scarcely be attained. low warily she 1s regarded by the English public a3 been proved Py the result of the twa,concerts—- her only oues—of this season. The announcement thot F, two afternoons only during the London sea- son Of 1869 might the Swedish Nightingale be heard ou the concert platform, sufliced io cram St. James? Hall on both occasions. On’ these afternoons the ast two Was that of a demoustration. The block ot carriages extended irom the portico of the hall er Conduit “street and nearly to the Oxford circus. The dvors of St. James’ Hallwere vesieged. Nothing but perfect mani ent on the part of the officiais could have prevented many acontretemps, But this management was happliy irreproachable; the tickets, being for the most part high priced, were accurately numbered, and their ler rigidly preserved; the staif of guides indicat ing the various parts of the hall was ample, so that anything like collision was avoided, and no more serious accident occurred tuan # crushed hat sus- talued by an emluent dignitary of the Church at the second concert. Inside the great hall the display Was memorable; every seat occupied, not standing room even—a massed assemblage, brilliant ta the warinth of summer colors and the variety of morn. ing «iress. The large orchestra area occupied by Mr. Leslie’s cholr, rising in mauy ters behind the talists, made a good background for Lue rIDCt artists—Mile. Nilsson, essrs. RIMS: eevey.and Stantioy, and Mr, Wehil, The appear- ance of the Swedish favorite after a “Sanctus” of Bagi, sung by the choir, was the signal for a burse of applause ‘such as is rarely heard from tho pale- gloved hands of @ matinee audience, Her a aria from iandei’s **Theodora,” *Augels ever bright and fatr,” was delivered with such pure spirit sweetness ag hushed every breath moistenea every eye. In point of purity and devotion it eclipsed ull the previous eiorte of the ards in oratorio, Tiere was something too deep in the emotion it produced to call for an encore; the audience nearly torgot to applaud, fearing to break the spell left by the Jast notes, But in a later con- tribution of the accomplished Swede, the brillant bravura passages of “Leu the bright seraphim,” the andience poured out thet enthusiasm, Mx. ‘Thomas Harper's matchless ovligato alded the effect of tis, and Mile, Nilsson’s clear voice blenaed with the notes of the trumpet in the happiest manner possible. Here a spontaneous encore broke forth, and the air was repeated, even more brilliantly than before. Mile. Nilsson sang at both concerts “With verdure clad,’ an air in the delivery of which sho has mado a Wee reputation, In the secular part of the second matinee she rendered with great ani- mation and fellctty an Tallan scona, composed fox ner by Herr Meyer Lutz, the masio of which is merl- torlous, though quite ad captandum: the singing we need hardty say, Was unexceptionable, an niet happy conjunction produced # warm encore, to whic! Mile. Nilsson responded with that Swedish ballad, la Tyrotenne, to which the name of “Spring avd Autumn” has been given. If any Indication wanted of the enormous popularity of our Swedish, prema donna, it was piforded by the delighted faces and the vociferous Ae Which accom- panied her to and from the platform. Her famo increases, suowball fashion, as it extends; yet a wider empire of admiration ib hardly attain, Fortune has nowise impati or rendered her otherwise than, mie ane and difident. Hey periodical visita to, the Sweden are paid without the silghtest ostentation. At home she takes part in the sing ng atthe villa chureh. “Lam always glad to assigt the poor,’ she remarked stmt on ove occasion when she gave her services tor charity; ‘for I have known poverty by, experience,” Her success in the lytic world is wont to.ascribe to Waitel’s excellence ab a teacher more than toauy inherent merit of ner own. After one of hef earlier triumphs she wrote to this master CB 43 winch he has carcfully preserved, “Che: Maitre,” sue wrote, “je ne veux pas dormir sai yous erciey du bon ¢consell que yous m’avez donni eae jour. Je l’ai suivi, ff mon succes de ce golr-a 6té complét, Eu attendant le plaisir de vous. serrer le main et de vous rem r de vive voix, croyez-moi toujours votre petite éléve aftectionée et dévouce, Christine Nilsson.—Vendreal minuit.”? The CuGn which Mile. Nilsson occupied a short time Paris was simply though elegantly furnished. Her suit of apartments Knipe (as Ubaries. Dickens would say) upon the Tuileries; the salon was fitted with white and gold, the furniture biae gamask. Ona white marble chimney piece stood a bronze and gilt ornament of the Louis Quinze period. Flowers formed the principal decoration of the room, and of these Christine has ample provision when she is playing. She has only the trouble of conveying them from the theatre. Her vocal inspiration ts porter. In this respect she resembles Malibran, who, however,” weakened her porter with water, 'Nisson prefers hers undiluted, } Tn all respects the private character of Onristing Nilsson is a happy complement of the tness her public work. Estimabie by virtue of ner accom- plishments and of the high position her genius hag secured, she ig no less to be admired for the modesty, and genleness with which she wears her honors. She “bears her faculties so meek” that to know her tn pri- vate is to merge admiration of the gilted artist into esteem for the unassuming woman. Rer self-pos- session will be fully tested when she enters upon het English provincial tour—a journey which will assur- edly involve a sacces-ion of ovations. The counties are already strongly interested in her coming. Be« fore she leaves London special appearances at the Crystal Paiace are spoken of, at which her faculties for devotional music will be exemplified. ‘Ine spherg of oratorio bas loug been mpoconpled by such ant artist as Nilsson, and yet the opportunities of exhib« iting how great is her capacity for this style of sings ing have been few, It will be the duty of the comin; me to appoint Nilsson's true place in oratorio, an to approve her as exalted an artist tn the sacred she Is in the secular schools. The exaction of thi latter, too, will be not less stringent, ff, as is likely, the imperium of a uew opera house calls to the arustic throne Christine Nilsson. A QUEL, A Challenge Between Members of the Arion. it appears that a day or two since Don Riv. rdo, a geftleman who has been well known in Arior circles, said something which offended Comte dt Grillo, The latter boing determined to have satis. faction, Mr. Candidus very candidly assented to act as his second, ‘The two combatanis met yesterday afternoon, Victor James belng the second of Dou Shots were fred, and aobody belng burt, the pals shook hands and the whole «air ended ~ —_—