in
Germany, Formes was very anxious to sing at court, and Niemann succeeded
in securing for him the opportunity. According to Niemann's ideas of
art, Formes sang atrociously, bellowing and shouting in stentorian
tones. Niemann was in an agony throughout the performance, thinking of
his responsibility; but, to his surprise, when the song was over, the
old Emperor William I. applauded loudly, and seemed highly delighted,
and demanded an encore. He probably thought what a fine dragoon officer
Formes would have made, shouting commands with his great voice.

At about the same time there flourished another tenor of high rank,
whose career was confined almost entirely to Germany, Joseph Alois
Tichatschek. He was born in 1807, at Ober Weckelsdorf, in Bohemia, and
became a chorus singer in 1830, rising in his profession until, in 1837,
he made his debut as a soloist at Dresden. In 1841 he sang for a few
nights in London, at Drury Lane, during a season of German opera; also
at Liverpool and Manchester, and was described as "young, prepossessing,
and a good actor; his voice is excellent, and his style, though not
wanting in cultivation, is more indebted to nature than to art." He was
also said to have proved himself "the hit of the season." Tichatschek
died in 1886.

A singer who was much more widely known, and who belonged to the time of
Grisi, Mario, Lablache, and the great operatic representations of those
days, was Georgio Ronconi, the baritone. He had a reputation extending
throughout Europe and into America, and he owes his celebrity rather to
histrionic powers than to his voice, for we are told by Chorley that
"there are few instances of a voice so limited in compass (hardly
exceeding an octave), so inferior in quality, so weak, so habitually out
of tune. The low stature, the features unmarked and commonplace, when
silent, promising nothing to an audience, yet which could express a
dignity of bearing, a tragic passion not to be exceeded, or an
exuberance of the wildest, quaintest, most whimsical, most spontaneous
comedy. These things we have seen, and have forgotten personal
insignificance, vocal power beyond mediocrity, every disqualification,
in the spell of strong, real sensibility." It was one of the many cases
in which dramatic talent has made up for lack of voice.

Ronconi sang for many years in London, in all the great comic operas. He
retired in 1874, and became a teacher of singing. He died in 1890.

In 1849 t