artists whose names are among the great traditions of the art.  In “Don Giovanni,” Rubini and Tamburini appeared with her; in “Anna Bolena,” Mme. Tadolini, Santini, and Rubini.  Even in Pasta’s own great characters, where Mlle. Grisi was measured against the greatest lyric tragedienne of the age, the critics, keen to probe the weak spot of new aspirants, found points of favorable comparison in Grisi’s favor.  During this year, 1832, both Giuditta and Giulia Grisi retired from the stage, the former to marry an Italian gentleman of wealth, and the latter to devote a period to rest and study.

When Giulia reappeared on the French stage the following year, a wonderful improvement in the breadth and finish of her art was noticed.  She had so improved her leisure that she had eradicated certain minor faults of vocal delivery, and stood confessed a symmetrical and splendidly equipped artist.  Her performances during the year 1833 in Paris embraced a great variety of characters, and in different styles of music, in all of which she was the recipient of the most cordial admiration.

The production of Bellini’s last opera, “I Puritani,” in 1834, was one of the great musical events of the age, not solely in virtue of the beauty of the work, but on account of the very remarkable quartet which embodied the principal characters—­Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and La-blache.  This quartet continued in its perfection for many years, with the after-substitution of Mario for Rubini, and was one of the most notable and interesting facts in the history of operatic music.  Bellini’s extraordinary skill in writing music for the voice was never more noticeably shown than in this opera.  In conducting the rehearsals, he compelled the singers to execute after his style.  It is recorded that, while Rubini was rehearsing the tenor part, the composer cried out in a rage:  “You put no life into the music.  Show some feeling.  Don’t you know what love is?” Then, changing his voice:  “Don’t you know your voice is a gold-mine that has never been explored?  You are an excellent artist, but that is not enough.  You must forget yourself and try to represent Gualtiero.  Let’s try again.”  Rubini, stung by the reproach, then sang magnificently.  “I Puritan!” made a great furore in Paris, and the composer received the Cross of the Legion of Honor, an honor then less rarely bestowed than it was in after-years.  He did not live long to enjoy the fruits of his widening reputation, but died while composing a new opera for the San Carlo, Naples.  In the delirium of his death-bed, he fancied he was at the Favart, conducting a performance of “I Puritani.”  Mlle. Grisi’s first appearance before the London public occurred during the spring of the same year, and her great personal loveliness and magnificent voice as Ninetta, in “La Gazza Ladra,” instantly enslaved the English operatic world, a worship which lasted unbroken for many years.  Her Desdemona in “Otello,” which shortly followed her first opera, was supported by Rubini as Otello, Tamburini as Iago, and Ivanhoff as Rodriguez.  It may be doubted whether any singer ever leaped into such instant and exalted favor in London, where the audiences are habitually cold.