d not command
language sufficiently glowing to express their admiration.

"What exquisite quality of sound, what purity of intonation, what
precision in the scales!" wrote the critic of the "Revue et Gazette
Musicale." "What _finesse_ in the manner of the breaks of the voice!
What amplitude and mastery of voice she exhibits in the 'Brindisi'; what
incomparable clearness and accuracy in the air from 'L'ltaliana' and the
duo from 'Il Barbiere!' There is no instrument capable of rendering with
more certain and more faultless intonation the groups of rapid notes
which Rossini wrote, and which Alboni sings with the same facility and
same celerity. The only fault the critic has in his power to charge
the wondrous artist with is, that, when she repeats a morceau, we hear
exactly the same traits, the same turns, the same fioriture, which was
never the case with Malibran or Cinti-Damoreau."

"This vocal scale," says Scudo, speaking of her voice, "is divided into
three parts or registers, which follow in complete order. The first
register commences at F in the base, and reaches F in the _medium_. This
is the true body of the voice, whose admirable timbre characterizes and
colors all the rest. The second extends from G in the _medium_ to F on
the fifth line; and the upper part, which forms the third register, is
no more than an elegant superfluity of Nature. It is necessary next
to understand with what incredible skill the artist manages this
instrument; it is the pearly, light, and florid vocalization of
Persiani joined to the resonance, pomp, and amplitude of Pisaroni. No
words can convey an idea of the exquisite purity of this voice, always
mellow, always equable, which vibrates without effort, and each note of
which expands itself like the bud of a rose--sheds a balm on the ear,
as some exquisite fruit perfumes the palate. No scream, no affected
dramatic contortion of sound, attacks the sense of hearing, under the
pretense of softening the feelings."

"But that which we admire above all in the artist," observes Fiorentino,
"is the pervading soul, the sentiment, the perfect taste, the inimitable
method. Then, what body in the voice! What largeness! What simplicity of
style! What facility of vocalization! What genius in the contrasts! What
color in the phrases! What charm! What expression! Mlle. Alboni sings as
she smiles--without effort, without fatigue, without audible and broken
respiration. Here is art in its fidelity! her