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HARRIET MARTINEAU IN 1859.
* * * * *
IX.
MADAME MALIBRAN.
(BORN 1808--DIED 1836.)
HER CAREER AS A SINGER--KINDNESS OF HEART.
Marie Felicita Garcia, who died at the early age of twenty-eight, was
one of the greatest singers the world has ever known. Born at Paris in
1808, according to some biographers at Turin, she was the daughter of
Manuel Garcia, the famous Spanish tenor singer, by whom she was so
thoroughly trained that she made her first public appearance in London
March 25, 1826, and achieved a remarkable and instant success.
She sang with wonderful acceptance in different parts of England, and in
the Autumn of the same year came to America as prima donna of an opera
company under the management of her father. In New York her success was
without precedent. In the memory of many aged people there she still
holds her place as the Queen of Song.
In the following year she married Eugene Malibran, an elderly French
merchant, under whose name she was ever afterwards known.
Returning to Europe, she made her first appearance in Paris January 14,
1828, where she added other jewels to the singer's crown.
We can not follow her throughout her brilliant career, but must hasten
on to the closing scenes of her life.
In May, 1836, she fell from her horse and was seriously injured. Not
considering the matter in its true aspect, she kept her engagements
during the Summer, and in September appeared in England, at the
Manchester Musical Festival, though warned by her physician to desist.
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