The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1853-10-24

ltc th4t dfls ana Gario are not coiAlus, lSS
US look back a moment on the history OF cur
public amneements during the pa I year or two
and more especially Of those which were I'M
ported from abroad, We may say, in general
terms, that cur imporiations Of these luxuries
began with Jenny Lind. We had Malibran,
Nacready, and good many Others, before, it is
tFue but none of them achieved such success
as TO draw European eyes Gu the field presented
by America. We date from Barnums hesira
from Liverpool. with the fair Jenny under his
charge. This was the beginning Of systematic
attempts on the part of English spectators TO
squeeze The. American lemon. Barnum was
born to be their coadjutor.
Any other man, or set of men, with such q
singer in hand, would have regarded her voice
and her talent as oil their capital, and having
chosen place, q time, and theme suitable for
their deyelope ment, would have left the issue to
the unaided discrimination Of the public Not
SO Baruum. Jenny singing was the last thing
he thought of Her charitable disposition was
the drst card put forward. This judiciously
advertised he turned all the resources of his
ingenious mind TO puff" the amiable eccen-
trcities Of bis fair protfses character. She
was fiery, and yet sweet; impatient, but gen.
tie. nasty but iorgving; terrible in her wrath.
but 5ivinely loyeahle ia her good temper. Such
a romance as was unconsciously wrapped
round the fair Swede was never yet heard out
Of Matilda press novel Then he showed
how Jenny might serve as great adver-
Using medium; and how in this respect, she
was worth miles ofposters and caravans of bell
men. So Jenny advertised hats and singing
masters and it seemed as though every body
was going 10 share in he cornueopia OF blessings
that had been poured out on the land. Last OF
all. when expectation had been wrought up to
The highest pitch, and people slept on Stewards
steps in the hope of seeing her at her window,
The spell was loosed, and she was permitted to
sing. Had her voice been no finer than the
Jingle Of cracked kettle-had she been unable
to sing single bar correctly--she would still
have drawn AS it was, we all know how
people thronged round the ticket Offices, aud
fought desperately for front seats. She went
home with enough money 10 keep her husband
III splendor, and establish lots Of schools in
Sweden. This was the first squeeze. When
the English Spectators saw what a quantity Of
Juice il had produced, they pronounced America
at once to be the proper field FOR their future
exertions.
Catharine Hayes q fair vocalist, with pretty
voice and q pleasant manner, was the next
venture. She failed-whether entirely because
she fell into the hands ofthe Philstnes, or from
an absolute deficiency Of talent, OF from her
dangerous proximity to the Swedish Nightia-
gale, each person will decide for himself 1t
will suffice to say that she found California a
better market than The Atlantic States. Next
followed the great contralto. In her case, there
can be no difficulty in tracing effects TO their
cause. From beginning to end of her career
she was badly managed. Her first concerts in
This city, which ought, at all hazards, to have
been bumpers, fell off TO nothing after week
or two; and thou IA there was little difference
Of opinion among those competent to Judge, with
respect to her extraordinary voice and admira-
bic style. she never afterwards created fur0re
in New York A portion Of this result must be
ascribed. as we said at the time to the inefIi-
cheney Of The singers who accompanied her; bat
the main cause was obviously the want of tact
and skill displayed in bringing her out. She
made little money.
Mde. Sontag came next, heralded by all the
ec,ct Of a European reputation of twenty-five
years standing, and ever SO many armorial
bearings. Intrinsically, her claims to public ia
yor, as one Of the most skilled singers and bril-
liant actresses on the lyric stage, deserved a
successful campaign and all things considered
we doubt whether any positive 1--WE say nothing
of negative) faults have been committed ia her
management. Her success has been unequiyo-
cal; but she has not reaped anything like the
harvest which Jenny Lind carried away with
her Perhaps she has tried TOO much Perhaps
we have seen her too often. Certain it is. that
though every body knows how perfect her rem
dering Of elaborate ornate music. she could no
longer create JurOre,
Shall we 90 on Shall we tell how the Lon
don speculators-still convinced of our com
that Jenny Lind, Catha-
roe Hayes, Alboni, and Sontag should be fol-
lowed by Julien? The fall was great: but
strange to say, pccuniarily speaking, the
last was one of the best operations Of our
musical purveyors, Barnum was hum
bug; so in measure was Ole Bull; there
was humbug in the management of Hayes,
Alboni, and Sontag-they all, managers
artists, singers and all, humbug us to GER
tain extent; but o. all the humbugs that ever
lei in our way, julien is the sublmest. He is
always acting-never natural cannot abide the
truth in any shape-but requires constitutions
ally, to be always deceiving some one to enjoy
peace Of mind Having brought rs abous one
sixth OF bis London orchestra and played Hail
Columbia" and o few waltzes and polkas with
spirit and ensemble, he now pretends that he has
raised the standard OF musical taste in The coun-
try. lie will assure us next that he composed
Yankee DOODLE
lie is the last of our catalogue. What pro-