The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1854-06-30
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DEATH OF MApAME soNTac

inc telegraph brings the sad news of the decease
OF Madame Henriette sontaa, the Countess Rossi.
which took place in the city of Mexico on the 18th
OF this month, after short illness of cholera.
Henriette Sontage life may almost be said to have
oegun on the stage, for her parents were acfors
ana she was born in 1905 at the city of Coblentz or
me hhlne; during her fathers engagement there =
at sne early age of FIVE years she was made to play
eniiorens parts ia the theatre and at once disnIay
60 the germs of the talent that has since been 81
u.ueiy developed. As she grew up a rare disposi.
on ior music began TO manifest ITSELF and after be-
uig TOT some Time species of infant phenome.
non IN mere drecnatic parts she was nlacad In
proper hands to be trained for the opera,;r s,oe =.
I|' ia Io@|' sne made her first appearance ss A prime
uonha at Berlin, and at once her pure fresh Yo;ca
SI1as SKILL ner beauty, her grace and her very
oecided dramatic talent won for her The bichest 81
Sor OF the court the critics the copnoisaenrs .nd
s1 poSpe generally of that capitol From that date
Hane. Sonfag was the rage of Europe-annIau5aJ
r,ans. so. and courted in every city. Beset by
managers Tor engagements and bv suitors for b.yy ~
hand, and having scarce a riva, mil .I1a ioI hei
Inoe vi niie. darcia-the great Malibranrryvho
~ snaIeu Win ner the musical honors OF Eurone and
aaay ecnpseo her as she would have done every
But to be second to Malbran vas o,o-,- .,,.,.L
and the honors of Mile Sontag were scsrcar a.
minished by the fame of her rival. II was ~ ,L VI
year 1880, when these honors were highest. when
her voice was at perfection and her beaDty ot ;,
height, that Mile. Sontag accepted the hand of
Count Rossi, Italian diplomat and Quilted ,ha
stage to the grief OF all the dettanti and the cb
grin OF the noble and fashionable gentlemen who
had followed her triunphs rivals of the fortunate
count. As the wife of the Sandman ambassador
at St Petersburg, she was welcomed by the imperi
al circle who had SO enjoyed her success as an ar
tlst, and tor years no lady in the court was more
esteemed and beloved and flattered than the dauqh
ter OF the poor German actor. She became the
mother OF large family of children, whom it was
ner pride to bring up and educate with every ad
vantage that wealth and society could afford
For nineteen years the Countess Rossi remained
in private life but, about five years ago. the pecu
MARY embarrassments of her husband induced her
to employ again on the stage the talents that had
won her fame and fortune in former days She
made her ''rentree" at her Majesty's Theatre
London, in May, 1S49, in the opera of "Linda di
Chamounix,' and although past the age of forty
her beauty was not diminished, and if her vsice
had lost in power, it had gained by careful nurture
in all the better qualities that most to be prized
by artists She never in her girlhood created great
er enthusiasm than she did at this and subsequent
engagements in London, as well as in Paris and
other European capitals The surprising success
OF Jenny Lind in America induced her to try her
fortunes there and she arrived in New York in the
autumn of 1852. Her triumphs in the concert room
and in the opera in every considerable town in the
United States too recent to require any detailed
reference
Last fall she proceeded to the South and after
successful engagement at New Orleans went to the
the people overlowed at an exhibition of vocal and
dramatic skill such as had been known in that
city. Her series of triumphs there was Interrupt
ted by an attack of The cholera, whose fatal term
nation came to us on Monday night over the tele-
graph wires, with all the characteristic celerity of
bad news She had contemplated early return
to the United States, and her agent is now in Eu-
rope engaging artists who assist her in the
production of English operas in the northern cities
AS artist, trained to the highest perfection of
vocal skill and the most conscientious Interpretation
of the works of the composers Madam Sontag has
not been surpassed. With less power and inspira-
ton than Jenny Lind, and less genius than Mali
bran, she excelled the former and nearly equalled
the latter in executive skill and in versatility of tai
ent. She was almost effective in the tragic Lu.
crezia Borgia" as she was in the rollcking Marie
of La File du Regiment Her "Amia,' her
Linda" her "Zerlina," her Rosina," her +" No
rina," her Lucia and a score of other repre-
sentations, were the finest seen in America -
and opposite many of them were in style, they
have rarely been excelled in Europe
As woman wife, and a mother Madam Son.
tags reputation has always been unblemished. In
her death, society has lost an ornament, and true
art one OF its most intelligent and conscientious
taries -Phila. Bulletin.