The characteristics of Mme. Persiani's voice and art have already been
generally described sufficiently to convey some distinct impression of
her personality as a singer, but it is worth while to enter into some
more detailed account of the peculiar qualities which for many years
gave her so great a place on the operatic stage. Her acute soprano,
mounting to E flat _altissimo_, had in it many acrid and piercing notes,
and was utterly without the caressing, honeyed sweetness which, for
example, gave such a sensuous charm to the voice of Mme. Grisi. But she
was an incomparable mistress over the difficulties of vocalization. From
her father, Tacchinardi, who knew every secret of his art, she received
a full bequest of his knowledge. Her voice was developed to its utmost
capacity, and it was said of her that every fiber in her frame seemed
to have a part in her singing; there was nothing left out, nothing kept
back, nothing careless, nothing unfinished. So sedulous was she in the
employment of her vast and varied resources that she frequently rose
to an animation which, if not sympathetic, as warmth kindling warmth,
amounted to that display of conscious power which is resistless.
The perfection with which she wrought up certain scenes, such as the
"Sonnambula" _finale_ and the mad scene in "Lucia," judged from the
standard of musical style, was not surpassed in any of the dazzling
displays of the stage. She had the finest possible sense of accent,
which enabled her to give every phrase its fullest measure.
Groups of notes were divided and expressed by her with all the precision
which the best violinists put into their bowing. The bird-like case with
which she executed the most florid, rapid, and difficult music was so
securely easy and unfailing as to excite something of the same kind of
wonder with which one would watch some matchless display of legerdemain.
Another great musical quality in which she surpassed her contemporaries
was her taste and extraordinary facility in ornament. Always refined and
true in style, she showed a variety and brilliancy in her changes and
cadenzas which made her the envy of other singers. In this form of
accomplishment she was first among Italians, who, again, are first among
the singers of the world. Every passage was finished to perfection; and,
though there were other singers not inferior to her in the use of the
shake or the trill, yet in the attack of intervals distant from each
other, in the climbing up a series of groups of notes, ascending to the
highest in the scale, there was no singer of her own time or since who
could compete with her. Mr. Chorley tells us how convincingly these rare
and remarkable merits impressed themselves on him, "when, after a few
years' absence from our stage, Mme. Persiani reappeared in London, how,
in comparison with her, her younger successors sounded like so many
immature scholars of the second class." On her gala nights the spirit
and splendor of her execution were daring, triumphant, and irresistible,
if we can trust those who heard her in her days of greatness.
Moschcles, in his diary, speaks of the incredible difficulties which
she overcame, and compares her performance with that of a violinist,
while Mendelssohn, who did not love Italian music or the Italian
vocalization, said: "Well, I do like Mme. Persiani dearly. She is such
a thorough artist, and she sings so earnestly, and there is such a
pleasant _bitter_ tone in her voice."
Donizetti met Mme. Persiani again in Vienna in 1842, and composed for
her his charming opera, "Linda di Chamouni," which, with the exception
of the "Favorita" and "Lucia," is generally admitted to be his best.
In this opera our singer made an impression nearly equal to that in
"Lucia," and it remained afterward a great favorite with her, and one in
which she was highly esteemed by the European public.
The transformation of Covent Garden Theatre into a spacious and noble
opera-house in 1847, and the secession of the principal artists from Her
Majesty's Theatre, were the principal themes of musical gossip in the
English capital at that time. The artists who went over to the Royal
Italian Opera were Mines, Grisi and Persiani, Mlle. Alboni (then a
novelty on the English stage), and Signors Mario, Tamburini, Salvi,
Ronconi, Hovere, and Marini. M. Persiani was the director, and Signor
Costa the _chef d'orchestre_. Although the company of singers was a
magnificent combination of musical talent, and the presentation of opera
in every way admirable, the enterprise had a sickly existence for a
time, and it was not until it had passed through various vicissitudes,
and came finally into the hands of the astute Lumley, that the
enterprise was settled on a stable foundation.
From 1850 to 1858 Mme. Persiani sang with her usual brilliant success in
all the principal cities of Europe, receiving, for special performances
in which she was a great favorite, the then remarkable sum of two
hundred pounds per night. Her last appearance in England was in the
spring of 1858, when she performed in "I Puritani," "Don Pasquale,"
"Linda di Chamouni," and "Don Giovanni." In the following winter she
established her residence in Paris, with the view of training pupils for
the stage. Only once did she depart from her resolution of not singing
again in opera. This was when Signor Mario was about to take his benefit
in the spring of 1859. The director of the Theatre Italiens entreated
Persiani to sing _Zerlina_ to the _Don Giovanni_ of Mario, to which she
at last consented. "My career," she said, "began almost in lisping the
divine music of 'Don Giovanni'; it will be appropriately closed by the
interpretation of this _chef-d'ouvre_ of the master of masters, the
immortal Mozart." Mme. Persiani died in June, 1867, and her funeral
was attended by a host of operatic celebrities, who contributed to the
musical exercises of a most impressive funeral. Mme. Persiani, aside
from her having possessed a wonderful executive art in what may be
called the technique of singing, will long be remembered by students
of musical history as having, perhaps, contributed more than any other
singer to making the music of Donizetti popular throughout Europe.