found such as has perhaps at no time been equalled:  Malibran-Garcia, Pasta, Schroder-Devrient, Rubini, Lablache, and Santini.  Nor had the Academic, with Nourrit, Levasseur, Derivis, Madame Damoreau-Cinti, and Madame Dorus, to shrink from a comparison.  Imagine the treat it must have been to be present at the concert which took place at the Italian Opera on December 25, 1831, and the performers at which comprised artists such as Malibran, Rubini, Lablache, Santini, Madame Raimbaux, Madame Schroder-Devrient, Madame Casadory, Herz, and De Beriot!

Chopin was so full of admiration for what he had heard at the three operatic establishments that he wrote to his master Elsner:—­

It is only here that one can learn what singing is.  I believe that not Pasta, but Malibran-Garcia is now the greatest singer in Europe.  Prince Valentin Radziwill is quite enraptured by her, and we often wish you were here, for you would be charmed with her singing.

The following extracts from a letter to his friend Woyciechowski contain some more of Chopin’s criticism:—­

As regards the opera, I must tell you that I never heard so fine a performance as I did last week, when the “Barber of Seville” was given at the Italian Opera, with Lablache, Rubini, and Malibran-Garcia in the principal parts.  Of “Othello” there is likewise an excellent rendering in prospect, further also of “L’Italiana in Algeri.”  Paris has in this respect never offered so much as now.  You can have no idea of Lablache.  People say that Pasta’s voice has somewhat failed, but I never heard in all my life such heavenly singing as hers.  Malibran embraces with her wonderful voice a compass of three octaves; her singing is quite unique in its way, enchanting!  Rubini, an excellent tenor, makes endless roulades, often too many colorature, vibrates and trills continually, for which he is rewarded with the greatest applause.  His mezza voce is incomparable.  A Schroder-Devrient is now making her appearance, but she does not produce such a furore here as in Germany.  Signora Malibran personated Othello, Schroder-Devrient Desdemona.  Malibran is little, the German lady taller.  One thought sometimes that Desdemona was going to strangle Othello.  It was a very expensive performance; I paid twenty-four francs for my seat, and did so because I wished to see Malibran play the part of the Moor, which she did not do particularly well.  The orchestra was excellent, but the mise en scene in the Italian Opera is nothing compared with that of the French Academie Royale...Madame Damoreau-Cinti sings also very beautifully; I prefer her singing to that of Malibran.  The latter astonishes one, but Cinti charms.  She sings the chromatic scales and colorature almost more perfectly than the famous flute-player Tulou plays them.  It is hardly possible to find a more finished execution.  In Nourrit, the first tenor of the Grand Opera, [Footnote:  It may perhaps not be superfluous to point out that Academie Royale