John Weeks Moore

“ Nothing can give an idea of this voice always united, always equal, which vibrates without effort, and of which each note opens like a rosebud. No cry, no pretended dramatic contortion, to bruise and wound your tympanum under the pretext of moving you to tears ! No doubt the admirable voice of Alboni is not without some imperfections ; it counts several notes that are feeble and slightly dull, as sol, la, si, do, notes which serve as the transition between the chest voice, of an unparalleled beauty, and the register of sounds formed above the larynx, commonly called the head tones. ”

“ The first register commences with the F in the bass, and reaches to the same note in the medium ; here lies the real body of Alboni's voice, and the admirable timbre of this register colors and characterizes all the rest. The second register extends from the G of the medium to the F above ; and the remaining compass of a fourth above that, forming the third portion, is but an elegant sumptuosity of nature. One must hear, to conceive with what incredible skill the artist uses this magnificent instrument ! ”

“ Marietta Alboni is about twenty-six years of age, -has great embonpoint, - used to keep her hair clipped short and hanging in her neck, when we heard her two or three years since in Europe-has remarkable self-possession and almost indifference of manner pon the stage, of which Steffanone constantly reminded us, and achieves her glowing triumphs more by the splendor of her voice, and her exquisite management of it, than by any dramatic genius, in which she is deficient. Her voice is the purest, richest, fullest, and sweetest contralto. ”