The Black Swan at Home and Abroad: or, A Biographical Sketch of Miss Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, the American VocalistAnonymous
General
The Black Swan at Home and Abroad: or, A Biographical Sketch of Miss Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield, the American Vocalist
Anonymous
Greenfield, Elizabeth Taylor, approximately 1819-1876
The concerts of this warbler have been well attended and very
satisfactory. She comes before the public under many disadvantages, and
the fact, that nevertheless she pleases, is certainly an indication of
merit. Among these disadvantages, we note her colour; her undertaking to
execute alone a programme of ten or eleven pieces, and such of them as
the public see fit to encore; a certain want of tact in the conduct of
her concerts; and the barely tolerable support given her by her
accompanyist.
Notwithstanding all these drawbacks, "the Swan" took everybody by
surprise. Her compass is extraordinary; her musical education,
evidently, very limited. But her execution certainly equalled that of
many white performers of pretensions, and in some pieces drew out a
hearty encore. She was dressed in very good taste, with only a slight
display of ribbon. On her next appearance before the public, she should
exert her feminine privilege, and insist on being led out like a lady,
by her accompanyist, and not like a ghost he was afraid of.
Troy Daily Budget, Saturday, Jan. 17, 1852.
We were not able to attend in season to hear the first part, and can
therefore only give our impressions of the second. The Swan's voice is
certainly one of great sweetness and power, especially in the lower
register, but in the upper notes it dwindles into a thinness that is
anything but agreeable. This was specially observable in her cadenzas,
of which, she is rather lavish. Her enunciation is not so good as we had
been led to suppose. There is a certain flatness at times in her
utterance which betrays her _origin_, which essentially mars her
performances. This we noticed particularly in "Sound the Trumpet," by
_Hamel_, the bill says--a composer we never have had the pleasure of
hearing of before. We suppose Handel was intended.
The next piece purports to be "_Saut a la France_" from the opera of the
"_File_ du Regiment." What kind of a file this was, we were rather
dubious--but it certainly suggested rat-tails and three corners. In
hearing it, however, we recognised the celebrated "_Salut a la France_,"
which the Swan gave with very good effect.
'Do not Mingle' was tamely rendered. That style of music is evidently
not her _rôle_, and we wonder at her attempting to execute that
exquisite _morçeau_. It is one of those gems to which none but a
finished artist can do justice.
The next piece, "O Native Scenes," was admirably done. We cannot say so
much of the "Banks of Guadalquiver." The time was too slow, thereby
destroying much of the spirit which should be infused into it. Perhaps
the delicious tones of Madam Bishop in this song, who has made it
peculiarly her own, and whose notes still linger in our memory, may have
instituted unfavourable comparisons.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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