The London season of 1839 was remarkable for the production of "Lucrezia
Borgia." The character of the "Borgia woman" afforded a sphere in which
our prima donna's talents shone with peculiar luster. The impassioned
tenderness of her _Desdemona_, the soft sweetness of "love in its
melancholy and in its regrets" of _Anna Bolena_, the fiery ardor and
vehemence of _Norma_, had been powerfully expressed by her, but the
mixture of savage cruelty and maternal intensity characteristic of
_Lucretia_ was embodied with a splendor of color and a subtilty of
ideal which deservedly raised her estimate as a tragedienne higher than
before. Without passing into unnecessary detail, it is enough to state
that Mme. Grisi was constantly before the publics of London and Paris
in her well-established characters for successive years, with an
ever-growing reputation. In 1847 the memorable operatic schism occurred
which led to the formation of the Royal Italian Opera at Convent Garden.
The principal members of the company who seceded from Her Majesty's
Theatre were Mmes. Grisi and Persiani, Signor Mario, and Signor
Tamburini. The new establishment was also strengthened by the accession
of several new performers, among whom was Mlle. Alboni, the great
contralto. "Her Majesty's" secured the possession of Jenny Lind, who
became the great support of the old house, as Grisi was of the new
one. The appearance of Mme. Grisi as the Assyrian Queen and Alboni as
_Arsace_ thronged the vast theatre to the very doors, and produced
a great excitement on the opening night. The subject of our sketch
remained faithful to this theatre to the very last, and was on its
boards when she took her farewell of the English public. The change
broke up the celebrated quartet. It struggled on in the shape of a trio
for some time without Lablache, and was finally diminished to Grisi and
Mario, who continued to sing the _duo concertante_ in "Don Pasquale," as
none others could. They were still the "rose and nightingale" whom Heine
immortalizes in his "Lutetia," "the rose the nightingale among flowers,