The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-04-20
THE NILSSON CONCERN,

Assembly Hall last evening were altogeth
er ahead of anything seen in Richmond
during the past season. 10 an assemblage
vast and crowded with the elite Of th,
city,--its brave and fair,--beauty every.
where appealed to the eye in its finest
dress, as if to establish harmony of con-
ditions with those splendid strains soon tc
entrance the ear.
Miss Nilsson fully sustained her great
reputation. She has fine presence, fea.
lures expressive and wonderfully obedient
to every varying phase Of thought and feel
ing. Her voice performs miracles Of skill
attesting the perfection of training anc
vast natural resources Of her own.
OF her associates, we think Miss Cary
decidedly the most popular with the ap.
precative portion of the audience. Hei
magnificent person and splendid perform.
ance won the highest praise from dscrimi-
mating critics. Alone, without the over
shadowing greatness of Miss Nilsson to
prejudice her claims, Miss Gary would ap.
pear star of the first magnitude.
We wish Miss Nilsson and her associates
had been able to sing in better hail.
We wish further that people who attend
concerts would elect musical director to
indicate where the encore should come in,
and how long il should last, establish rea-
sonable maximum at least, with compe-
tent police force to regulate it,
Without assuming any special or supe-
rior knowledge of musical criticism, we
risk the assertion that Max Strakosch
would have made his concert immensely
more popular, and greatly increased the
pleasure of an overwhelming majority of
his listeners, by selecting more popular
pieces in his programme.
Great artistic power is shown as conclu-
clusively in singing "Dxie" or "Annie
Laurie" "The Star-Spangled Banner" or
"Sweet Home" as in the sublimest crea-
tions Of the great masters And in the
enjoyment of music there is so much
in association. These musical gymnastics
are wonderful as the feats of the aero
bats, but they should be only exception
al in concerts, for mixed popular audi
ences, who do not pay their money to wit>
ness feats Of skill, but to be delighted with
melodies which they can understand and
enjoy.
OF course this will not suit the snobs
who affect contempt of everything home
grown and common. With what delight
we should have listened to some of those
simple songs which she used to sing when
a bare-footed peasant girl with her brother
on his tramps as a wandering musician.
To her credit, be it said, she never conceals
this phase of her early history, but refers
to it with the utmost freedom.
NILSSON was born in 1s43, in peasants
home, in little Swedish hamlet near the
town of Veccio. At first her parents employed
her to gather fagots from neighboring forest;
but her brother, who was q wandering violinist
or minstrel, inspired in her desire to initiate
him. Soon she was proficient enough to &C.
company him in his daily tramps, and on one
occasion, she played so well, or rather with so
much zeal, at a village festival, that she at
tracted the attention Of q stranger, who ques-
toned her, was charmed with her pretty face
she was only twelve-her self-possession, and
her talent which if not great then, was extra
ordinary in one SO young as the Swedish
nj mir Tho fnok har IA q lad
of Gottenbourg, an old musicene, who had
sung in the theatre.
The lady likewise questioned the brave little
girl, was delighted with her responses, and
concluded by proposing to give her an educa-
tion and bear the expense of her support. The
matter was soon arranged with the girls pa
rents, and she was placed in a comfortable
home at Gottenbourg. From Gottenbourg she
was taken to Stockholm, later, she was taken
to Paris. Once in Paris she entered an English
family, and was placed under the instruction
of Wartel, who disciplined her voice, and
when she was twenty one, concluded tLat she
had learned all that he could teach. She made
her debut at the Theatre Lyrique in the role of
Violetta, in La Traviata. Mistress of her voice,
she has yet to learn what is called defamation
or dromatic elocution, and, in fact,
all the mimic sciences which is necessary to
make great acress.
This too, Christina Nilsson patiently studied,
aided by her great natural intelligence and
strong will, at the rehearsals for her first en-
gagement. When she appeared upon the
scene, fshe obtained at once great success
and excited an immense curiosity" Earnest
Faydeau said: "She was so pretty She sang
30 well Who was she? And where did she
come from 2 Evidently not from the Conser-
vatoire. Nobody could tell. The same even-
ing she was famous"
The day after debut she quilted the English
family with whom she had lived in somewhat
embarrassed circumstances during six years,
and installed herself with friend, an atfable
and sedate person, who held the place of a
mother, and always accompanied her. From
this moment the biography of Christina Nils
son is wholly in the splendor of the theatrical
world.
We have received The Oolonist, devoted
to the interests of the Warm Spring Man.