in London. She made her _début_ in the character of _Desdemona_, a part
which had already been firmly fixed in the notions of the musical public
by the two differing conceptions of Pasta and Sontag. The opera had been
originally written for Mme. Colbran, Rossini's wife, and when it was
revived for Pasta that great lyric tragedienne had embodied in it a
grand, stormy, passionate style, suited to the _genre_ of her genius.
Mme. Sontag, on the other hand, fashioned her impersonation from the
side of delicate sentiment and tenderness, and Malibran had a difficult
task in shaping the conception after an ideal which should escape the
reproach of imitation. Her version was full of electric touches
and rapid alternations of feeling, but at times it bordered on the
sensational and extravagant. Her fiery vehemence was often felt to be
inconsistent with the tenderness of the heroine. The critics, while
admitting the varied and original beauties of her reading, were yet
severe in their condemnation of some of its features. Mme. Malibran,
however, urged that her action was what she would have manifested in the
actual situations. "I remember once," says the Countess De Merlin, "a
friend advised her not to make _Otello_ pursue her so long when he was
about to kill her. Her answer was: 'You are right; it is not elegant, I
admit; but, when once I fairly enter into my character, I never think of
effects, but imagine myself actually the person I represent. I can
assure you that in the last scene of Desdemona I often feel as if I were
really about to be murdered, and act accordingly.' Donzelli used to be
much annoyed by Mme. Malibran not determining beforehand how he was to
seize her; she often gave him a regular chase. Though he was one of the
best-tempered men in the world, I recollect him one evening being
seriously angry. Desdemona had, according to custom, repeatedly escaped
from his grasp; in pursuing her, he stumbled, and slightly wounded
himself with the dagger he brandished. It was the only time I ever saw
him in a passion."