she
produces great effect, but not in the same way as Paganini.
Perhaps the cause lies in this, that hers is a smaller genre.
She seems to exhale the perfume of a fresh bouquet of flowers
over the parterre, and, now caresses, now plays with her
voice; but she rarely moves to tears. Radziwill, on the other
hand, thinks that she sings and acts the last scene of
Desdemona in Othello in such a manner that nobody can refrain
from weeping. To-day I asked her if she would sing us
sometime this scene in costume (she is said to be an
excellent actress); she answered me that it was true that she
had often seen tears in the eyes of the audience, but that
acting excited her too much, and she had resolved to appear
as rarely as possible on the stage. You have but to come here
if you wish to rest from your rustic cares. Miss Sontag will
sing you something, and you will awake to life again and will
gather new strength for your labours.

Mdlle. Sontag was indeed a unique artist. In power and fulness of voice,
in impassioned expression, in dazzling virtuosity, and in grandeur of
style, she might be inferior to Malibran, Catalani, and Pasta; but in
clearness and sweetness of voice, in purity of intonation, in airiness,
neatness, and elegance of execution, and in exquisiteness of taste, she
was unsurpassed. Now, these were qualities particularly congenial to
Chopin; he admired them enthusiastically in the eminent vocalist,
and appreciated similar qualities in the pleasing pianist Mdlle. de
Belleville. Indeed, we shall see in the sequel that unless an artist
possessed these qualities Chopin had but little sympathy to bestow upon
him. He was, however, not slow to discover in these distinguished lady
artists a shortcoming in a direction where he himself was exceedingly
strong--namely, in subtlety and intensity of feeling. Chopin's
opinion of Mdlle. Sontag coincides on the whole with those of other
contemporaries; nevertheless, his account contributes some details which
add a page to her biography, and a few touches to her portraiture. It
is to be regretted that the arrival of Titus Woyciechowski in Warsaw
put for a time an end to Chopin's correspondence with him, otherwise we
should, no doubt, have got some more information about Mdlle. Sontag and
other artists.

While so many stars were shining, Chopin's light seems to have been
under an eclipse. Not only did he not give a concert, but he