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Her fame increased every year, with the development of her genius and artistic knowledge, and it may be asserted that no singer, with the exception of Grisi, ever held such a place for a long period of years in the estimate of the English public.
All the better, little Miss Donne, all the better for you that you have never been made to see, and perhaps you never will now. I hope not. But I tell you that in Paris, or in London, or Berlin, or Petersburg you may have the voice and talent of Malibran, Grisi and Patti all in one, but if you are not "protected" you will never get any further than leading chorus-girl, and perhaps not so far!
In "Student and Singer" Charles Santley writes of the occasion: "I had been singing at the Crystal Palace concert in the afternoon, and after dining there I went up to the theatre to see a little of the performance. I felt very sorry for Grisi that she had been induced to appear again; it was a sad sight for any one who had known her in her prime, and even long past it."
It is not among the cardboard glades of the King's Theatre, nor, indeed, behind any footlights, but in a real and twilit garden that Grisi, gimp-waisted sylphid, here skips for posterity. To her right, the roses on the trellis are not paper roses one guesses them quite fragrant. And that is a real lake in the distance; and those delicate pale trees around it, they too are quite real.
The persistent fair one finally overcame his evasions by asking, "But if you were out at sea, and should be shipwrecked " "Ah!" said the composer, impulsively, "I would leave all the rest and save 'Norma'"! With Pasta were associated Giulia Grisi in the rôle of Adalgiza, and Donzelli in Pollio.
Prior to crossing the ocean a series of "farewell performances" was given. The operas in which she appeared included "Norma," "Lucrezia Borgia," "Don Pasquale," "Gli Ugonotti," "La Favorita." The first was "Norma," Mme. Grisi performing Norma; Mlle.
"But," one critic justly remarks, "in passionate feeling, energy, power of voice, and grandeur of style, a comparison may be established. In certain characters Grisi has left no one to fill her place. In not one of these parts has anybody created an impression since she sang them.
To cite the names of Rubini, Lablache, Tamburini, Malibran, Grisi, Persiani, is to give the highest idea of Italian singing. But although Chopin was more devoted and more happy in his Polish friendships, he had beloved as well as loving friends of all nationalities Germans, English, and even Russians. That as a good Pole he hated the Russians as a nation may be taken for granted.
And, in singing, Rubini was his idol Rubini who triumphed in the role of Othello, giving the suspicion air in a manner no one could equal. It intoxicated him to hear this tenor with Tamburini, Lablache, and Madame Grisi; while Nourrit's song, Ce Rameau qui donne la Puissance et l'Immortalite in Robert le Diable made his flesh creep. It yielded a glimpse of life with all its dreams satisfied.
Carlotta Grisi stands alone as having with youth any degree of talent above mediocrity; the same can hardly be said of Mademoiselle Fitzjames, and Madame Dupont; Noblet is past that age which is indispensable in exciting interest as a dancer, notwithstanding she has still considerable ability, and there are not any others who are worth mentioning amongst the females.
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