Grove's dictionary of music and musicians

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276 SCHRODER-DEVEIENT SCHRODER-DBVEIENT
This date was an epoch in the history of music
in Paris. Bouquets—then an extraordinary
manifestation of approval—were showered upon
the triumphant singer. In her subsequent
visits to Paris, 1831 and 1832, she sang in
Italian opera.
In 1832 Schrbder-Devrient was heard at
the King's Theatre in London, engaging with
Mr. Monck Mason to sing teu times monthly
during May, June, and July, for £800 and a
benefit. Ohelard was conductor. '
Fidelio,
'Don Juan,' and Chelard's 'Macbeth' were
repeatedly given, but Chorley {Musical Becollections)
says, ' Fidelio was the solitary success of
a disastrous enterprise. . . . The sensation is
not to be forgotten. The Italians (not very
strong that year) were beaten out of the iield
by the Germans. The intense musical vigour
of Beethoven's opera was felt to be a startling
variety, wrought out as it was in its principal
part, by a vocalist of a class entirely new to
England. This was Madame Schrbder-Devrient.
Within the conditions of her own school she
was a remarkable artist. . . . She was a pale
woman ; her face, a thoroughly German one
though plain, was pleasing, from the intensity
of expression which her large features and deep
tender eyes conveyed. She had profuse fair
hair, the value of which she thoroughly understood,
delighting, in moments ofgreat emotion, to
fling it loose with the wild vehemence of a Maenad.
Her figure was superb though full, and she
rejoiced in its display. Her voice was a strong
soprano, not comparable in quality to some
other German voices of its class . . . but with
an inherent expressiveness of tone which made
it more attractive on the stage than mauy a
more faultless organ. . . . Her tones were delivered
without any care, save to give them due
force. Her execution was bad and heavy.
There was an air of strain and spasm throughout
her performance.'
The Queen of Tears ' ' (so she was styled) was
heard next season in ' Der Freiscliiitz, ' 'Die
Zauberflbte,' 'Euryanthe,' and 'Otello.' The
engagement was to sing for Mr. Bunn at Covent
Garden twenty-four times at £40 a night, and
once for the benefit of the speculators. However
all London was under the spell of Taglioni
and of Fanny Elsler. Malibran in the English
opera; Pasta, Cinti-Damoreau, Rubini, and
Tamburini, in the Italian opera, sang to empty
houses. Again in 1837,after Malibran's death,
Mr. Bunn engaged Schrbder-Devrient at a double
salary. ' Fidelio, ' ' Le Sonnambula, ' and ' Norma
were performed in English. She broke down
in health before the season was over. After a
she resumed her
rest, too short to be beneficial,
work, and was carried home insensible from the
theatre. She was able, however, togive a farewell
performance of ' Fidelio,' with the last act of
the 'Montecchi e Capuletti,' and then discovered
that Bunn had declared himself bankrupt and
could pay her nothing. In his book. The Stage
loth lefore and hehvnk the Cwtaim, Bunn complains
of the singer's attempts at extortion ;
says that she demanded the fourth part of
the proceeds of each night, but on this sum
proving to fall short of the fixed salary, asked
for £100.
From 1837 a gradual decline in power was
observed in Mme. Schrbder-Devrient, though
she continued to delight her audiences all
over Germany in the parts she had identified
herself with. Of Wagner's operas she only
appeared in 'Eienzi' as Adriano Colonna, in
'Der fliegende Hollander' as Senta, and in
'
Tannhauser ' as Venus. Gluck's masterpieces
were among her latest studies. Her last appearance
in Dresden was in his ' Iphigenie in Aulis,'
in 1847 ; her last appearance on any stage took
place at Eiga, where she played Eomeo. Her
concert-singing was greatly admired, and one of
the liveliest passages in Mendelssohn's letters i
describes the furore caused by her impromptu
execution of ' Adelaide ' in her ordinary travelling
dress at the Gewandhaus Concert of Feb.
11, 1841.
She had made a second marriage with Herr von
Dbring, a worthless person, who immediately
seized upon his wife's earnings and pension,
and left her almost destitute, to recover what
she could in a long lawsuit. The marriage was
dissolved at her wish. In 1850 she again married
Herr von Bock, a man of culture, who took her
to his property in Livonia. Passing through
Dresden she was arrested on accoimt of the sympathy
she had shown with the revolution of 1848.
An examination in Berlin resulted in her being
forbidden to return to Saxony ; in the meantime
she was exiled from Russia. Her husband's
exertions and sacrifices secured a reversal of this
sentence. In 1856 she visited some German
towns, singing Lieder in public concerts. Her
interpretations of Beethoven's Adelaide ' ' and
of Schubert's and Schumann's songs were immensely
admired, though by some thought too
dramatic. When at Leipzig her strength succumbed
to a painful illness. She was devotedly
nursed by a sister and a friend at Coburg, and
died Jan. 21, 1860.
Even in her best days her voice was of no
extraordinary compass, but, to the last, the
tones of the middle notes were of exceptionally
fine quality. Mazatti's teaching, with further
instruction from Eadichi and from Miksch (the
Dresden Chorus-master), had not been sufficient
training for the young girl, who had besides
been diSnclined to the drudgery of scale-singing.
The neglect of system and of careful
vocal exercise resulted in faulty execution and
too early loss of the high notes. This might
have been less observable had she kept to such
simple r&les as Pamina and Agathe. But
there seemed a discrepancy between the delicate
1 Lettsr, Feb. 14, 1841.