d 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.

MARIETTA ALBONI.

The Greatest of Contraltos.--Marietta Alboni's Early
Surroundings.--Rossini's Interest in her Career.--First Appearance on
the Operatic Stage.--Excitement produced in Germany by her Singing.--Her
Independence of Character.--Her Great Success in London.--Description
of her Voice and Person.--Concerts in Taris.--The Verdicts of the Great
French Critics.--Hector Berlioz on Alboni's Singing.--She appears in
Opera in Paris.--Strange Indifference of the Audience quickly turned to
Enthusiasm.--She competes favorably in London with Grisi, Persiani,
and Viardot.--Takes the Place of Jenny Lind as Prima Donna at Her
Majesty's.--She extends her Voice into the Soprano Register.--Performs
_Fides_ in "Le Prophete."--Visit to America.--Retires from the Stage.

I.

There was a time early in the century when the voice of Rosamunda
Pisaroni was believed to be the most perfect and delightful, not only
of all contraltos of the age, but to have reached the absolute ideal of
what this voice should be. She even for a time disputed the supremacy
of Henrietta Sontag as the idol of the Paris public, though the latter
great singer possessed the purest of soprano voices, and won no less
by he