Great Singers, Second Series - Malibran To Titiens by George T. (George Titus) Ferris
page 36 of 185 (19%)
page 36 of 185 (19%)
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attachment. On the day of her marriage she distributed a thousand francs
among the poor, and her friends showered costly gifts on her, among them being an agraffe of pearls from the Queen of France. During the season of 1835 Mme. Malibran appeared for Mr. Bunn at Drury Lane and Covent Garden in twenty-six performances, for which she received £3,463. Among other operas she appeared in Balfe's new work, "The Maid of Artois," which, in spite of its beautiful melody, has never kept its hold on the stage. Her _Leonora_ in Beethoven's "Fidelio" was considered by many the peer of Mme. Schrôder-Devrient's grand performance. Her labors during this season were gigantic. She would rise at 5 a.m., and practice for several hours, rehearsing before a mirror and inventing attitudes. It was in this way that she conceived the "stage-business" which produced such an electric impression in "Gli Orazi," when the news of her lover's death is announced to the heroine. "While the rehearsals of 'The Maid of Artois' were going on from day to day--and Mme. Malibran's rehearsals were not so many hours of sauntering indifference--she would, immediately after they were finished, dart to one or two concerts, and perhaps conclude the day by singing at an evening party. She pursued the same course during her performance of that arduous character," thus wrote one of the critics of the time, for the interest which Malibran excited was so great that the public loved to hear of all the details of her remarkable career. Shortly after her marriage in the spring of 1836, Mme. de Bériot was thrown from her horse while attending a hunting-party in England, and sustained serious internal injury, which she neglected to provide against by medical treatment, concealing it even from her husband. Indeed, she sang on the same evening, and her prodigious facility in _tours de force_ was the subject of special comment, for she seemed |
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