George T. Ferris - Great Singers, Second Series

G >> George T. Ferris >> Great Singers, Second Series

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III.

During the season of 1860 she added fresh laurels to those which she
had already attained, and sang several new parts, among which maybe
mentioned Flotow's pretty ballad opera of "Martha" and Rossini's
"Semiramide." Her performance in the latter work created an almost
indescribable sensation, so great was her singing, so strong and
picturesque the dramatic effects which she produced. One of the
sensations of the season was Titiens's rendering of "Casta Diva," in
"Norma." Though many great vocalists had thrilled the public by their
rendering of this celebrated aria, no one had ever yet given it
the power so to excite the enthusiasm of the public. Mlle. Titiens
performed also in the opera of "Oberon" for the first time, with great
success. But the _piece de resistance_ of the season was Rossini's great
tragic opera. "In Titiens's _Semiramide_," said a critic of the time,
"her intellectuality shines most, from its contrasting with the part she
impersonates--a part which in no wise assists her; but, as in a picture,
shadow renders a light more striking. In the splendid aria, 'Bel
Raggio,' the _solfeggi_ and fioriture that she lavishes on the
audience were executed with such marvelous tone and precision that she
electrified the house. The grand duet with Alboni, 'Giorno d'orrore,'
was exquisitely and nobly impressive from their dramatic interpretation
of the scene."

In 1861 Mlle. Titiens made an engagement with Mr. Mapleson, under whose
control she remained till her career was cut short by death. Associated
with her under this first season of the Mapleson _regime_ were Mme.
Alboni, the contralto, and Signor Giuglini, the tenor. Her performance
in the "Trovatore" drew forth more applause than ever. "Titiens is the
most superb _Leonora_ without a single exception that the Anglo-Italian
stage has ever witnessed," wrote an admiring critic. Among other
brilliant successes of the season was her performance for the first time
of _Amelia_ in Verdi's "Un Ballo in Maschera," which was a masterpiece
of vocalization and dramatic fire. The great German cantatrice was now
accepted as the legitimate successor of Pasta, Malibran, and Grisi,
and numerous comparisons were made between her and the last-named great
singer. No artists could be more unlike in some respects. Titiens lacked
the adroitness, the fluent melting grace, the suavity, of the other.
"But," one critic justly remarks, "in passionate feeling, energy, power
of voice, and grandeur of style, a comparison may be established. In
certain characters Grisi has left no one to fill her place. These will
be found mostly in Rossini's operas, such as _Semiramide, Ninetta,
Desdemona, Pamira_ ('L'Assedio di Corinto'), _Elene_, etc., to which we
may add _Elvira_ in 'I Puritani,' written expressly for her. In not one
of these parts has anybody created an impression since she sang them.
They all belong to the repertoire of pure Italian song, of which
Giulietta Grisi was undoubtedly the greatest mistress since Pasta. That
Mlle. Titiens could not contend with her on her own Ausonian soil no one
will deny. Her means, her compass, her instincts, all forbade. There
is, however, one exception--_Norma_, in which the German singer may
challenge comparison with the Italian, and in which she occasionally
surpasses her. In the French and German repertoire the younger artist
has a decided advantage over the elder, in possessing a voice of such
extent as to be enabled to execute the music of the composers without
alteration of any kind. Everybody knows that Mlle. Titiens has not only
one of the most magnificent and powerful voices ever heard, but also one
of the most extraordinary in compass. To sing the music of _Donna Anna,
Fidelio, Valentine_, etc., without transposition or change, and to sing
it with power and effect, is granted to few artists. Mlle. Titiens is
one of these great rarities, and, therefore, without any great
stretch of compliment, we may assert that, putting aside the Rossinian
repertoire, she is destined to wear the mantle of Grisi."

In no previous season was Mlle. Titiens so popular or so much admired
as during the season of 1862. Her most remarkable performance was
the character of _Alice_, in Meyerbeer's "Robert le Diable." "Mlle.
Titiens's admirable personation of _Alice_," observes the critic of a
leading daily paper, "must raise her to a still higher rank in public
estimation than that she has hitherto so long sustained. Each of the
three acts in which the German soprano was engaged won a separate
triumph for her. We are tired of perpetually expatiating on the splendid
brightness, purity, and clearness of her glorious voice, and on the
absolute certainty of her intonation; but these mere physical requisites
of a great singer are in themselves most uncommon. Irrespectively of the
lady's clever vocalization, and of the strong dramatic impulse which she
evinces, there is an actual sensual gratification in listening to her
superb voice, singing with immovable certainty in perfect tune.
Her German education, combined with long practice in Italian opera,
peculiarly fit Mlle. Titiens for interpreting the music of Meyerbeer,
who is equally a disciple of both schools."

IV.

Mlle. Titiens was such a firmly established favorite of the English
public that, in the line of great tragic characters, no one was held
her equal. The most brilliant favorites who have arisen since her
star ascended to the zenith have been utterly unable to dispute her
preeminence in those parts where height of tragic inspiration is united
with great demands of vocalization. Cherubini's opera of "Medea," a work
which, had never been produced in England, because no soprano could
be found equal to the colossal task of singing a score of almost
unprecedented difficulty in conjunction with the needs of dramatic
passion no less _exigeant_, was brought out expressly to display her
genius. Though this classic masterpiece was not repeated often, and
did not become a favorite with the English public on account of the
old-fashioned austerity of its musical style, Titiens achieved one of
the principal triumphs of her life in embodying the character of the
Colchian sorceress as expressed in song. Pasta's _Medea_, created
by herself musically and dramatically out of the faded and correct
commonplace of Simon Mayer's opera, was fitted with consummate skill to
that eminent artist's idiosyncrasies, and will ever remain one of the
grand traditions of the musical world. To perform such a work as that
of Cherubini required Pasta's tragic genius united with the voice of
a Catalani, made, as it were, of adamant and gold. To such an ideal
equipment of powers, Titiens approached more nearly than any other
singer who had ever assayed the _role_ in more recent times. One of
the noblest operas ever written, it has been relegated to the musical
lumber-room on account of the almost unparalleled difficulties which it
presents.

It is not desirable to catalogue the continued achievements of Mlle.
Titiens season by season in England, which country she had adopted as
her permanent home. She had achieved her place and settled the character
of her fame. Year after year she shone before the musical world of
London, to which all the greatest singers of the world resort to obtain
their final and greatest laurels, without finding her equal in the
highest walks of the lyric stage. As her voice through incessant work
lost something of its primal bloom, Mlle. Titiens confined her
repertory to a few operas such as "Trovatore," "Norma," "Don Giovanni,"
"Semiramide," etc., where dramatic greatness is even more essential than
those dulcet tones so apt to vanish with the passage of youth. As an
oratorio singer, she held a place to the last unequaled in musical
annals.

In 1875 Mlle. Titiens visited America, on a concert and operatic
tour which embraced the principal cities of the country. She was well
received, but failed, through the very conditions and peculiarities of
her genius, to make that marked impression on the public mind which
had sometimes, perhaps, been achieved by artists of more shallow and
meretricious graces. The voice of Mlle. Titiens had begun to show the
friction of years, and though her wonderful skill as a vocalist covered
up such defects in large measure, it was very evident that the greatest
of recent German singers had passed the zenith of her fascination as
a vocalist. But the grand style, the consummate breadth and skill in
phrasing, that gradation of effects by which the intention of a composer
is fully manifested, the truth and nobility of declamation, that repose
and dignity of action by which dramatic purpose reaches its goal
without a taint of violence or extravagance--in a word, all those great
qualities where the artist separates from the mere vocalist were
so finely manifested as to gain the deepest admiration of the
_cognoscenti_, and justify in the American mind the great reputation
associated with the name of Mlle. Titiens. On her return to Europe, she
continued to sing with unimpaired favor in opera, concert, and oratorio,
until she was seized with the fatal illness which carried her off in
1879. Her death was the cause of deep regret among musical circles in
England and on the Continent, for she left no successor in the line
of her greatness. So far as any survey of the field could justify a
judgment, liable at any time to be upset by the sudden apparition of
genius hitherto hampered by unfavorable conditions, Mlle. Titiens was
the last of that race of grand dramatic singers made splendid by
such beacon lights as Pasta, Malibran, Schroeder-Devrient, Grisi, and
Viardot-Garcia.

THE END.

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