A queen of song who profoundly impressed her age was Giuditta Pasta,
born near Milan in 1798, of Hebrew parentage. For her Bellini wrote "La
Sonnambula" and "Norma," Donizetti his "Anna Bolena," Pacini his
"Niobe," and she was the star of Rossini's leading operas of the time.
Her voice, a mezzo-soprano, at first unequal, weak, of slender range and
lacking flexibility, acquired, through her wonderful genius and industry
a range of two octaves and a half, reaching D in altissimo, together
with a sweetness, a fluency, and a chaste, expressive style. Although
below medium height, in impassioned moments she seemed to rise to
queenly stature. Both acting and singing were governed by ripe judgment,
profound sensibility and noble simplicity. She died at Lake Como in
1865.
So many queens of song have reigned from the beginning of the
nineteenth century to the present time that only a few brilliant names
may here be mentioned. Among these Henrietta Sontag was the greatest
German singer of the first half of the century.
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