United States or Bouvet Island ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
After a while, when she had grown stronger, she would study hard to make up for the years she had lost, perhaps go abroad to work under the great voice builders and coaches there. And "some day," perhaps, rumor would tell him of a new contralto whom people loved to hear sing. . . . It was a little childish, no doubt, and rather overdone. But he did not think of that. He was not listening.
The subject of talk was the opera company which was then at the Theatre Royal. Mr. Bartell D'Arcy, the tenor, a dark-complexioned young man with a smart moustache, praised very highly the leading contralto of the company but Miss Furlong thought she had a rather vulgar style of production.
The people, too, had such Englishy faces and such queer little eccentricities of dress; the young lady that sang contralto in the choir wore a scarf like a man's on her hat. The cathedral isn't much, architecturally, I suppose, but it affected me very solemnly, and I couldn't help feeling that it was as much a part of British power and grandeur as the citadel itself.
And then a very low contralto voice, indescribably sweet, and with an audacious ripple of laughter running through it, swept all her scruples into the rubbish heap. There was no doubting the sincerity of the speaker. "It was so nice of you not to run away, Miss Tennant." As she spoke, Mrs. Durward shook hands cordially.
Born in New Jersey in the year 1858. Contralto hum! La Scala hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw yes! Retired from operatic stage ha! Living in London quite so! Your majesty, as I understand, became entangled with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and is now desirous of getting those letters back." "Precisely so. But how " "Was there a secret marriage?" "None."
Another convincing proof of her power was that she dared to restore the beautiful aria "In si barbara," which had been hitherto suppressed for lack of a contralto of sufficient greatness to give it full effect.
Kate Seton's eyes wore a responsive twinkle, but she did not turn. "You're a bit of a joke, Hel," she replied, in the slow musical fashion of a deep contralto voice. "But I'm not a joke," protested the other, with pretended severity. "And I won't be called 'Hel, just because my name's Helen.
Within, a group of peasants was gathered about the inn table. There were some young girls seated among the blouses; one of them, for the hour that we had sat waiting for Fend l'Air to be captured and harnessed, had been singing songs of questionable taste in a voice of such contralto sweetness as to have touched the heart of a bishop.
For the quavering tones were no longer a rich contralto. They were a throaty baritone. And the accent was Teutonic. "Bruce!" observed Top-Sergeant Mahan next morning, "I've always said a man who kicks a dog is more of a cur than the dog is. But you'll never know how near I came to kicking you yesterday, when I caught you mangling that filthy spy.
And, playing a soft prelude, her rich contralto rippled forth in a tender, passionate, melancholy melody, so sweet and heart-penetrating that the practical Macfarlane sat as one in a dream, Duprez forgot to finish making the cigarette he was daintily manipulating between his fingers, and Lorimer had much ado to keep tears from his eyes.
Word Of The Day