Part 4 (1/2)

Thus was Henriette Sontag, during the first period of her fame Froht hitherto unknown, because it included, as well as admiration, respect for the virtues and conduct of the loveliest woe Then she went to Paris, and Paris set its seal upon her artistic reputation, classing her with all who had hitherto stood at the head of artistic celebrity Yet she had powerful co with Malibran and Pisaroni Here it was her e (which she had been coement) was declared Certainly few men have been so envied as Count Rossi, when he was known to be the husband of the world's idol Society, which was as much attached to the woman as to the artist, seemed to think it an injustice, and felt for the first time inclined to quarrel with the actions of her it had proclaimed faultless in both mind and person

Scribe founded the libretto of the Aht he should be prophetic in the catastrophe he put to his opera, as he has been; for Henriette Sontag, like the Henriette in the play, _has_ returned to the stage

The Countess Rossi, though she had no taste for the publicity of the stage, having gone uncorrupted and unscathed through all its glittering te Countess, therefore, cultivated it as assiduously as the young prima donna; and in Frankfort and in Berlin, where she principally resided, in St

Petersburg, which she visited, her saloon was the resort of all that was renowned in the artistic world That wondrous voice sang on as adress ofall the _repertoire_ of the best masters, as their compositions appeared before the world Her silvery tones now resounded in the halls of palaces; and, instead of a public, she had kings and princes for her guests Yet she was the same simple-minded and unaffected wo only with good and tender e for public charities, and her name was sure, as in former days, to fill the coffers of the institution for which she sang

But this bright destiny, which seee, and which ti the revolution of 1848, from circumstances of an entirely private nature, completely destroyed

Then, with her sweet temper unruffled, her calm, pure mind, undisturbed, the mother and the wife remembered the early days of the prima donna, and how that voice and those talents had achieved fortune and honor The instant her determination hispered, all the theatres of Europe were open to her She chose the Queen's Theatre, in London, and Lu for the season This she accepted; and once more, she stepped on to those boards, where, twenty years previously, she had stood, in all the freshness of her youth, but in the full maturity of her talent To say how the house welcoreeted her with shouts, with the waving of handkerchiefs, with tears--for she had h estate It rose to receive her She stood before the, as in former years, but lovelier, far lovelier So youthful was she when she left the stage, that she had not attained her full stature; she had grown considerably now, her forrace of womanhood There were the same matchless arms and hands, the proverbially beautiful foot That countenance had still the purity of outline of forh and sensitive nature, leave a thoughtful and pensive look upon the features

Her beauty had gained what is allets which had floated in clouds around her girlish face were now braided over that deep, intellectual brow, on which no evil passion or sordid calculation had ever set one wrinkle

Those who had, in youth, witnessed her first appearance, looked at each other's careworn features with astonishhter of the one enshrined in their memories

But the voice, like which none had ever since been heard, soon proclaiained in power, in expression, and in tone What could the happy girl of former days, whose short life had been a series of triuates of Heaven? For _her_ sin, sorrow, shame, misfortune, were undreamed of But since, the woman had shuddered at crime, felt and shared sorrow, often consoled sha, passion, and deep pathos hallowed every note, inspired each gesture The Henriette Sontag had outlived her fanised by perhaps the most critical, because the reatest artist, both as an actress and a singer, ever heard or known

IS IT THE MOTHER, OR THE DAUGHTER?

IN 1850, when Mada reappeared as a vocalist in Paris, after a silence of twenty years, Adolphe Adam, the composer of ”_Le Postillon de Lonjumeau_” and other popularpleasant notice of her, in one of the Paris journals It will be observed that it refers to Mr Lu, but now broken-down Operatic e which has been granted to Mr

Luranted, I will say no more about it, but proceed to exaht us I have said that Luetic--cleverer, perhaps, than you thought hier than you would suspect For the lastto let us hear the Countess Rossi I too believed it--but to-day I airl, whom I heard last Tuesday at the Conservatoire, is not, cannot be, the Countess Rossi Ten years ago, at St Petersburg, I had the honor of both seeing and hearing the Countess Rossi In that lady I perfectly recognised the _cantatrice_ whom I had formerly admired and applauded at the Theatre Italien But the _cantatrice_ whoht cannot be the saer, reat deal more talent Now these are three qualities which would diminish, rather than increase, in the space of twenty years--unless we dated from the cradles of the prima donnas; and certainly the _cantatrice_, whom in 1830 we idolized in the _Barbiere_ and the _Cenerentola_, was already some years removed from infancy

Here is the true history of all this mystery The Countess Rossi has, as it is reported, lost her fortune; but she is still rich in the possession of a daughter--a lovely girl, the very counterpart of her raceful--Gerolden hair; Italian by her voice; French by her iniirl, notwithstanding the high rank to which she was born--notwithstanding her brilliant education--did not hesitate for an instant to sacrifice herself for her fae her at his theatre Iine her sorrohen he refused her! Mr Luht be hereditary in this faer cares most for, is a name--a name which fills at once his house and his h salaries

Overpowered by this unexpected refusal, the young girl sank into a chair--when suddenly, the face of the er was illumined by a brilliant idea ”All may yet be well,We will at once coe _you_, but I will engage your ive her two hundred thousand francs (40,000) for the first season”

”But, sir,” said the young girl, ”my mother is now Countess Rossi It is twenty-two years since she left the stage; and hoe knohether she still possesses the talents which made her once so celebrated?”

”As we cannot tell that, Made or to appear on the stage No; but it is you ill sing in her place”

The affair was at once arranged All was signed and agreed upon, amidst tears of tenderness and ader, could not help joining The Countess Rossi consented to the strictest retirehter--or rather her own The parties were bound to secresy by the most solemn oaths; and this secret has been so well kept that no one has suspected the substitution My instincts, aided by memory, have enabled me to penetrate this

But I confess that I a found it out And then I really felt it a matter of conscience not to reveal to the world such an unexampled and unheard of instance of filial devotion

On her entrance at the _Conservatoire_, Maderace of her ance--that the illusion was co courtesy to the public--the saure Her very music books, like those of her mother, were bound in rich cri myself, was taken in--and, like every one, I too applauded--to the utter destruction of loves; and I should certainly have split the skin of my hands as well, had it not beenbegan to sing, all doubt--if there ever had been any, that I had really guessed the secret--vanished It was the same purity of voice--the same charm of style and execution, which I had so much applauded, and which still echoed both inhad her notes are just as soft and just as clear--but they have ister is infinitely better In a word, this artist unites the qualities of youth and freshness to all the talents of the experienced and finished artist _Rode's variations_ were a series of vocal wonders It was ih; and after all, I think we ies which nature alone can create

SOUVENIRS OF THE OPERA IN EUROPE

BY

JULIE DE MARGUERITTES