On the contrary, nature has
manifestly not been bountiful to her in this respect. Her voice--the mere
organ--may have been in her earlier years exceeded in quality by many
other vocalists. But what is it now? Perfect in intonation; its lower
tones forcible; the middle voice firm and full; the upper interval sweet
and rich beyond comparison.
But how comes this? How has this moderately-good organ been brought to
such perfection? By a process not very prevalent amongst English
singers--practice the most constant, study the most unwearied. Punch will
bet a wager with any sporting dilettante that Miss Kemble has sung _more_
while learning her art, than many old stagers while professing and
practising it.
She seems, then,--as far as one may judge of that kind of perfection--a
perfect mistress of her voice; she can do what she likes with it, she can
sustain a note in any part of the soprano compass--swell, diminish, and
keep it exactly to the same pitch for an incredible space of time. She can
burst forth a torrent of sound expressive of our strongest passions,
without losing an atom of tone, and she can diminish it to a whisper, in
_sotto voce_, as distinct as it is thrilling and true intonation.
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