Returning to London later she
taught singing at two guineas a lesson. Upon fear being expressed that
her price, double that of other teachers, would limit her class, she
said her pupils having her voice as a model could learn in half the time
required for those who had only the tinkling of a piano to imitate.
Though she believed singing should be taught by a singer, a tenderness
for her own experience made her insist that the best way to begin the
musical education was by having the pupil learn to play the violin. When
she heard a songstress extolled for rapid vocalization she would ask:
"Can she sing six plain notes?" This question might afford young singers
food for reflection. Madame Mara passed her declining years teaching
singing near her native place, and died at Reval, in 1833. Two years
earlier, on her eighty-third birthday, Goethe offered her a poetic
tribute.
At a London farewell concert given by Madame Mara in 1802, she was
assisted by Mrs. Elizabeth Billington, who has been ranked first among
English-born queens of song.
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