592 Madame Pasta. 



spicuous and attractive than was cvor intended by Rossini, who employed all 

 his talents in giving power to the Otello of his opera. 



Of the numerous parts in which Madame Pasta appeared during the dif- 

 ferent opera-seasons which brought her to our island, we cannot speak at 

 length ; but, as brief chroniclers of the past, we may be permitted to offer a 

 few passing remarks. In Rossini's " Tancredi," (the chief male character of 

 which Pasta assumed for the first time in England on the 18th of May, 1824,) 

 the "Tu che accendi" and the " Di tanti palpiti," by which the million will 

 best recollect her ; but the deep yet subdued feeling of her acting and the 

 chaste but emphatic expression, exquisite taste, and profound science of her 

 singing throughout the opera were such, that the impression of them must be 

 felt, in order to be properly comprehended. In the " Semiramide" of the same 

 composer, she was perhaps more successful, on the whole, than in either of 

 the pieces yet mentioned. The fascinating grace, majestic dignity, and deeply 

 pathetic expression of Pasta's Queen of Babylon even had it 'been merely 

 acting can never be forgotten ; but, besides that, her singing is of the most 

 exalted kind. We instance particularly two scenes, in which her talents are 

 better displayed than in others, her quarrel with Assur, in which that beau- 

 tiful duet occurs " Quella ri cordate 



Natte di morle" 



and that grand scena in which the ghost of Ninus appears. The Queen's 

 offended and scornful dignity in the former scene, and the daughter's absorb- 

 ing affection subdued by superstitious terror in the other, were portrayed with 

 a force and truth that only another Pasta can exhibit. 



Zingarelli's " Romeo e Giuletta" was chosen by Madame Pasta for her 

 benefit at the close of her first season. The interest of the opera is condensed 

 in two scenes, that in which the lovers plight their vows, and the closing 

 scene in the cemetery ; and in both of these the representative of Romeo acts 

 and sings with an intense and absorbing feeling, that none .besides Pasta has 

 ever exhibited on the opera-stage. The deep tenderness of the lover in the 

 scene, which contains the duet with Giuletta, " Dunque, mio bene, tu mia 

 sarai" could scarcely be listened to with unmoistened eye, so touchingly 

 tender was it in every respect ; but her grandest atchievement was, beyond 

 all question, the " Ombra adorata" of the desperate and death-devoted Romeo 

 over the tomb of his Juliet. The perfect abandonment of the grief- worn 

 lover is portrayed in a way, that very few English representatives of the son 

 of Montague have ever equalled. 



Her "Nina" and "Medea" are the characters, by which Madame Pasta 

 will live in the records of song ; and to these characters we shall confine our 

 few remaining observations. Paesiello's Nina is essentially a poetical opera, 

 one of the most imaginative productions, that has ever issued from the 

 Italian school: it is a great but only a just compliment to Pasta, to say that 

 she did full justice to the composer's conceptions, which so much remind us 

 of our own Ophelia. The mad and care-crazed wretchedness in the earlier 

 parts of the play require a dramatic power that none in our time except Pasta, 

 has been able to command ; and on her return to reason, when she gives 

 herself wholly to joy unmingled, deep-drawn pleasure, the effect to well- 

 constituted minds must be very striking. In short, if there is any character 

 in which she has excelled, more than in any other, in the delineation of the 

 more tender passions of female humanity, we should say, that Nina was her 

 HP plus ultra. 



The " Medea" is a very different character, and affords abundant scope for 

 the exhibition of the darker passions of the female sex jealousy and revenge. 

 Her interview with Jason before his marriage, her interruption of the nuptials 

 of Jason and Creusa, her incantation scene, and her scene with Jason's 

 children, have an appalling and terrific interest, that can never be effaced from 

 the memory of any one who has once beheld her in this character. 



We might extend our observations ; but our space will not permit us. 

 Long may Madame Pasta live to enjoy the fruits of her genius and enviable 

 attainments. 



