GRISI, PATTI, AND JINNY LIND.

Otago Witness, Issue 2106, 5 July 1894, Page 41

GRISI, PATTI, AND JINNY LIND.

Not e?en by Giulia Grisi or Adelina Patti, the operatic stars of paramount lustre who

respectively preceded and succeeded Jenrjy Lind in the Queenship of SoDg, was the heart of the British public so deeply stirred, or its enthusiasm so potently aroused, as by the unpretentious and somewhat timid young Swedish lady who "came, saw, and conquered " the most unemotional acd fastidious of European audiences just 47 years ago. Her unexpected popularity in London was all the more remarkable because it waa exclusively due to the rare quality of her voice, displayed to the utmost advantage by a highly-fiaished method of production, and an infallible purity of intonation. In other respects she compared unfavourably with the principal prima donna of the day, one of the greatest " aU-rcund " artistes who ever adorned the operatic stage. MADAME GRISI

was a singularly beautiful woman in 1847, an actress of surprising force and versatility, and an accomplished vocalist, gifted by Nature with an organ of great compass and richness, to which art, or rather the assidu v* study of art, had imparted unusual flexibility and power of sustention.

Jenny Lind, on the other hand, was by no means attractive either in face or figure. Her features were irregular and lacked expiession; she was massively rather than gracefully or symmetrically built, and her gestures were for the most part stiff and constrained. Her acting, to ">, was COLD, FORMAL, AND ALTOGETHER LACKING

IN SPONTANEITY, manifestly the outc. me of faithful and painstaking study under sedulous tutorship, but uninformed by any flash of inspiration or impulse of inward emotion.

Moreover, her repertoire!, contrasted with that of Signora Grisi and, in later years, of Madame Patti, was curiously small. According to Mr Julian Marshall, it may be assumed that she only sustained three parts during

HER FIRST SEASON in London, and tbat the total number of her operatic roles was limited to six, or at- the most seven, whereas Grisi achieved conspicuous successes in over 30 " absolute first" parts, and Madame Patti-Nicolinl is known to be " note-perfect "at the present day in no fewer than 47. — Telegraph.