Mary Russell Mitford, Our Village

Performer Name:

 

Performance Venue:

 

Performance Date:

 

Author:

Mitford, Mary Russell

Date Written:

 

Language:

English

Publication Title:

Our Village: Sketches of Rural Character and Scenery

Article Title:

The Visit

Page Numbers:

270-1

Additional Info:

 

Publisher:

Whittaker

Place of Publication:

London

Date Published:

1824

Text:

In-doors the sun-shine is brighter still; for there, in a lofty lightsome room, sits a damsel fair and arch and piquante, one whom Titian or Velasquez should be born again to paint, leaning over an instrument* as [271] sparkling and fanciful as herself, singing pretty French romances, and Scotish Jacobite songs, and all sorts of graceful and airy drolleries picked up I know not where — an English improvvisatrice! a gayer Annot Lyle! whilst her sister, of a higher order of beauty, and with an earnest kindness in her smile that deepens its power, lends to the piano, as her father to the violin, an expression, a sensibility, a spirit, an eloquence, almost human — almost divine! Oh to hear these two instruments accompanying my dear companion (I forgot to say that she is a singer worthy to be so accompanied) in Haydn’s exquisite canzonet, “She never told her love,” — to hear her voice, with all its power, its sweetness, its gush of sound, so sustained and assisted by modulations that rivalled its intensity of expression; to hear at once such poetry, such music, such execution, is a pleasure never to be forgotten, or mixed with meaner things. I seem to hear it still.

Notes:

Collected by:

AE