In 1861 Mlle. Titiens made an engagement with Mr. Mapleson, under whose control she remained till her career was cut short by death.  Associated with her under this first season of the Mapleson regime were Mme. Alboni, the contralto, and Signor Giuglini, the tenor.  Her performance in the “Trovatore” drew forth more applause than ever.  “Titiens is the most superb Leonora without a single exception that the Anglo-Italian stage has ever witnessed,” wrote an admiring critic.  Among other brilliant successes of the season was her performance for the first time of Amelia in Verdi’s “Un Ballo in Maschera,” which was a masterpiece of vocalization and dramatic fire.  The great German cantatrice was now accepted as the legitimate successor of Pasta, Malibran, and Grisi, and numerous comparisons were made between her and the last-named great singer.  No artists could be more unlike in some respects.  Titiens lacked the adroitness, the fluent melting grace, the suavity, of the other.  “But,” one critic justly remarks, “in passionate feeling, energy, power of voice, and grandeur of style, a comparison may be established.  In certain characters Grisi has left no one to fill her place.  These will be found mostly in Rossini’s operas, such as Semiramide, Ninetta, Desdemona, Pamira (’L’Assedio di Corinto’), Elene, etc., to which we may add Elvira in ‘I Puritani,’ written expressly for her.  In not one of these parts has anybody created an impression since she sang them.  They all belong to the repertoire of pure Italian song, of which Giulietta Grisi was undoubtedly the greatest mistress since Pasta.  That Mlle. Titiens could not contend with her on her own Ausonian soil no one will deny.  Her means, her compass, her instincts, all forbade.  There is, however, one exception—­Norma, in which the German singer may challenge comparison with the Italian, and in which she occasionally surpasses her.  In the French and German repertoire the younger artist has a decided advantage over the elder, in possessing a voice of such extent as to be enabled to execute the music of the composers without alteration of any kind.  Everybody knows that Mlle. Titiens has not only one of the most magnificent and powerful voices ever heard, but also one of the most extraordinary in compass.  To sing the music of Donna Anna, Fidelio, Valentine, etc., without transposition or change, and to sing it with power and effect, is granted to few artists.  Mlle. Titiens is one of these great rarities, and, therefore, without any great stretch of compliment, we may assert that, putting aside the Rossinian repertoire, she is destined to wear the mantle of Grisi.”