Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-10-27
"a $4,000 SELL
Miss Nilsson in the Coal RegiOns.--A
Particularly Severe Article.

Particularly Severe Article.
Miss Nilsson has been giving a concert at
Scranton, Pa, and the people there seem
not only to be diSgusted with her 'tricks
and her manners" but are also disposed to
deny that she can sing. Under the head of
"A $1,000 SELL the Scranton Republican
has a slashing criticism of two columns
so, from which we have carefully selected
the following passages:
The first exploit of Miss Nilsson after her
arrival in this city was not calculated to i'm
press respectable people favOrably as to her
delicacy as female. She made her debut
in the billiard room of the Wyoming House,
short time after dinner, and there demon
strated her ability with the cue by beating
Brignoli, and her contempt for the rules
which govern respectable ladies in our
midst.
At the concert, after some preliminary
! pieces had been performed, screeches of the
prima donna were heard behind the scenes.
| The object of this perhaps was to prepare
| the audience for glimpse of the heaven
they were about to enjoy. The moment
| she appeared on the stage there was faint
! effort at applause, but her conduct silenced
| it soon. After surveying the audience with
! an air Of hauteur and superciiOusness, she
| commenced an examination Of the stage,
with a sneer upon her lips and a slight ele
vdtion of her nasal organ, and then flung
look of contempt at the audience, so if they
| had been the cause of her displeasure.
| What this cause was We know not. 1t was
the opinion of some that it sprang from
there being no carpet on the stage, and her
not over dainty s0leS took offence at the
/ bare boards which the manager, in his bar
barity, had neglected TO cover with purple
and scarlet for her reception. Be this as it
NAV, it was not the audience, and to charge
! them with the indignity was as silly as it
was ignorant and unlady like.
Her face Is somewhat pale, her cheek
| bones prominent, her eyes rather small, but
indicating boldness; her lips thin, and indi-
cative of ill-temper and curlishness, her
movements bold, firm, and decided, and q
toss of her head that speaks of pride, self
esteem, and haughtiness. From what We
heard we are not willing to accord to her
talents other than of quite an or
binary character; there are an hundred in
dividuals before the public at the present
time who have qualities in a far higher de-
gree of perfection than she gives any evi-
dence Of. Those who have had the pleas
ure of seeing our own prima donna, Miss
! kellogg will be slow TO accord her any SUI
periOrity.
The recent appearance of the Richings
| Troupe here will enable many of our read
ers to draw a comparison between the vo-
cal and dramatic powers OF Miss Nilsson
and Mrs. Caroline Richings Bernard, and
we are of opinion that the latter will not
suffer much by the contrast. She is an
artistic of no such capabilities as Parepa-
Rosa or Madame La Grange. She
has been compared with the former
but there is about as much aptness in the
comparison as there would be in comparing
the roar of the ocean and the ripple Of q
brook. Newspaper writers have dwelt upon
her ethereal character aud the ideaiity and
spirituality of her nature, and compared
her musical interpretations to the
picture of a placid lake but hel
nature is too gross to be ethereal, and she
is not capable of any such effects. There
are not twenty persons who would go tC
the Opera House to hear her sing again, nc
matter on what terms. When Mr.. Dickson
went into the green room and made the re
quest in the name of the audience tha
she sing one English song, her re
sponse was that the audience was ''tOC
cold" If so, it was her own silly conduc
upon her first appearance that froze them
Brignoli, though gifted with splendit
voice, is fitting counterpart to the Subjec
, we have just had under consideration. II
be disagreeable, however, with him is natu
raj.