The Highland weekly news. [volume] (Hillsborough [Hillsboro], Highland County, Ohio) 1853-1886, 1871-01-12
Christine Nilsson. b.

The fair Swede has been captivating
Chicago. We clip these notes of praise
from the Tribune:
The prelude to Handel's sweet melody
gives US an opportunity to study her per-
| soaneL a little. And this is a matter of no
small import. The first glance shows the
golden hair, oval face, blonde complexion,
and deep-set, light blue eyes of the Scandi-
navian type. Her entrance upon the stage
| has shown a graceful, easy, yet dignified
! gait, and her presence behind the foot
! lights a perfect ease of manner, and this
ease of manner, and gracefuness, and
semi i-haughtiness of carriage, tend to
! heighten her personal beauty, which is a
beauty from within, rather than from fea-
ture. The second glance reveals that she
is in the maturity of her power. She has
the charm of Juvenile freshness, com bined
with artless simplicity, and absence of
conventionality. Her simple, bright face,
the shapeliness and vigor of youth in her
person, her clear, innocent eyes, her win
ming smile, giving constant change of ex-
preston to her face her artless, unstud-
led manner-in word, her naturalness,
Joined to and pervaded by the most lady
Hike refinement-her youthful freedom
tempered by culture and inbred feeling,
word. And all these qualities, even
down to the graceful motion of the body,
and the easy, unaffected gestures, play no
unimportant part in the great success
which she has already achieved. And if
these qualities are so fascinating in the
thin, fragmentary slices of music which
make up concert, what must they be in
opera, where demands are made for the
display of feeling and emotion, and she
must display, not Christine Nilsson, but
stVioletta," or "Gretchen," or 4Ophelia"
before you. Of course, the concert num-
bers call for expression, but to expect an
artist to display the same amount of dr.
matte power in one aria, detached from Il
great work, and stripped from all acceso-
ries to produce effect on the minds of lis
teners, is prepOsterous. The singing of
these d7idS is but vocalism, after all; and
taken from their proper setting and pre-
sented detached they are quite as welcome
to US with the fascination of Nilsson as
the fascination of Violetta or Lucia. She
stands before us the embodiment of health,
of youth, of freshness, of innocence and
goodness.
What is the secret of her remarkable
success? It is not in the range of her
voice, for others have an equal, and some
q RT0dJ6Ts range ~ 4S uOb III u0L C46Cu"
tion, for others have more surprising de-
tails of flexibility, although every one of
her runs, and trills, and staecai is grace
full and elegant. 1t is not in her brilli-
ancy, for we have heard more brilliant
singers. It seems to us that the irresisti-
BILE fascination of the artist grows out of
the sympathy which springs from a good
soul, and the perfect originality, natural
ness and purity of her voice, which have
not been injured in culture. Her voice is
absolutely pure in every tone to the high
est. 1t is voice by itself, and her man
ner Is a manner by itself It is like no
other voice, and no comparison can there
fore be made with other voices. Its pure,
natural quality is tempered by perfect re-
finement, which gives it an elegance which
is unstudied: 1t is full of the sentiment of
poetry. Her manner is as original as her
voice. She never seems to be singing to
the audience. Sometimes she sings to the
individual. more often to herself The
audience is lost sight of, and that is the
truest token of art. And behind all this
is certain suggestiveness in her style of
power In reserve, which makes one long
to hear her in opera, where she can have
full scope for her great ability.