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A CENTURY OF BALLADS |
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" Malibran made me give my first annual concert. I hesitated to incur the risk it involved, but Malibran and her husband De Beriot said they would pay any loss that might accrue, and they announced the concert in my name. The tickets were numbered and sold by Malibran herself, and I was not allowed to discontinue my lessons to attend to any of the arrangements, all of which were carried out by my two kind friends. The concert proved a great success, and De Beriot gave me £40 as the result. After the season I went to Paris, where I remained a few weeks, and came to terms with Troupenas, the publisher, for the publication of my compositions. When taking leave of Troupenas, before my return to London, he handed me one hundred pounds sterling. It was the balance of the concert money ! They thought that as a young man I might have squandered it had I received the whole amount in a lump sum."
As a slight digression, and I hope a pardonable one, it is interesting to note Benedict's personal opinion of Malibran as a singer. "Her voice," he says, " was of the most extraordinary compass, and of splendid quality throughout. She sang with wonderful dramatic fire and brilliancy. Nothing has ever exceeded the effect she produced in Balfe's Maid of Artois."
Of Benedict's songs many of the most popular |
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