The New York herald., 1870-07-24
Christlne Nilsson.

Out Of the dulness and darkness and clouds
of weakly managed italian opera we are
about to be rejoiced with a glimmer Of light.
The second Swedish Nightingale, the counter
part in voice, in person, in power to impress
the popular heart which Jenny Lind possessed,
Mile. Christine Nilsson, is to make her
first appearance here in the second week Of
September. After some managerial diplomacy
and fabulous outlay the enterprise of Mr..
Max Strakosch has secured this happy result.
The career of Nilsson is not unknown to us.
Her success in London saved the broken
fortunes Of Mapleson at Her Majesty's
Theatre, just as Jenny Lind stepped in provi-
dentially many years before to stand between
Mr.. Lumley and threatened ruin. The similarity
In the career Of Nilsson and Lind Is not con-
fined to the fact that they are the gifted chill
dren of the same nation and are both possessed
of the most marvellous voices Of our day.
There Is another point of contact in their
history. They both rose from the sweet
humility Of what is called lowly life, and they
burst upon the world suddenly, like meteors,
huoutuS VuciI tdtCuIo Otbu, uoH1iiuS ehO
world with their briliancy. In purity Of charac-
ter, in the beauty of youthful womanhood,
in the tenderness of charity and the simplicity
of their young, fresh Northern natures, there
is wonderful likeness between the Jenny
Lind at that time, when the whole world
welcomed her with storm Of popular applause
and crowned her with jewels Of popular affec-
ton, and the blonde, gentle, blue-eyed Scan
dinavian songstress, Nilsson, who to-day
accepts, with all the meekness of modest
nature, the appreciation which all Europe has
bestowed upon her.
Christine Nilsson is young, fair, beautiful In
feature, delicate and graceful in form. Her
physique is well calculated for the impersona-
ton of those characters in which she has made
her grandest impressions-violetta and Mar
guerite. What a contrast between the lost
one of Verdi's lyric story and the simple
maiden Of Goethe and Gounod, beset by the
wiles of man and demon! Yet Nilsson, they
say, in the character of La Traviata, imparts
a grace, dignity, an elegance to the imper-
sonation of the fallen one that deprives the
story Of all the vulgarity and glare of vice
which has so frequently invested the ''Dame
aux Camellias," both on the dramatic and
lyric stage, with gross coloring not palatable
to sensitive people. Mile. Nilsson avoids all
this. Her own pure nature suggests that
error must not necessarily be coupled with
coarseness, and thus she intertwlnes the
misery and despair Of misguided love, with
delicate fbres, into the irretrievable mistake
of an ill-trairsd youthful nature.
In ,M..".rguerite Nilsson has taken even the
most tardy critics by storm. She is admitted
to be the most perfect embodiment Of Goethe s
Gretchen on the stage. We judge, indeed,
that she is the greatest lyric artistic of our day,
and we expect to be able to pronounce that
judgment when we have an opportunity of
hearing her in this city not many weeks hence.
Apart from her wonderful voice-the most
wonderful now extant-and her exquisite dra-
matte faculty to render each character she
assumes with captivating simplicity, there is
q charm in the personal character of the
| young Swede that has endeared her in re-
markable degree to the public wherever she
! is known. Gentle, reserved, pure above all
reproach, dignified and truly womanly, she is
an honor to her profession, and sheds lustre
| upon the gifted sisterhood of song at whose
head she probably stands to-day, notwith-
standing the success OF some of her much flat
tered and much honored rivals.
We regard the engagement of Mile. Nilsson
for an American season as something to con-
gratulate the public upon. Nor can we fail
to recognize the spirit Of manager Strakosch,
who embarked in an enterprise involving so
large an expense and exhibiting so much
managerial pluck.