cantante tones heard amid this Saturnalian din, determined to sing his music in the falsetto, and so he commenced in the voice of a soprano sfogato.  The audience were so amazed that they laid aside their implements of musical torture, and began to listen with amazement, which quickly changed to delight.  Taniburini’s falsetto was of such purity, so flexible and precise in florid execution, that he was soon applauded enthusiastically.  The cream of the joke, though, was yet to come.  The poor prima donna was so enraged and disgusted by the horse-play of the audience that she fled from the theatre, and the poor manager was at his wit’s end, for the humor of the people was such that it was but a short step between rude humor and destructive rage.  Tamburini solved the problem ingeniously, for he donned the fugitive’s satin dress, clapped her bonnet over his wig, and appeared on the stage with a mincing step, just as the rioters, impatient at the delay, were about to carry the orchestral barricade by storm.  Never was seen so unique a soprano, such enormous hands and feet.  He courtesied, one hand on his heart, and pretended to wipe away tears of gratitude with the other at the clamorous reception he got.  He sang the soprano score admirably, burlesquing it, of course, but with marvelous expression and far greater powers of execution than the prima donna herself could have shown.  The difficult problem to solve, however, was the duet singing.  But this Tamburini, too, accomplished, singing the part of Elisa in falsetto, and that of the Count in his own natural tones.  This wonderful exhibition of artistic resources carried the opera to a triumphant close, amid the wild cheers of the audience, and probably saved the manager the loss of no little property.

But, greatest of all, perhaps the most wonderful artist among men that ever appeared in opera, was Lablache.  Position and training did much for him, but an all-bounteous Nature had done more, for never in her most lavish moods did she more richly endow an artistic organization.  Luigi Lablache was born at Naples, December 6, 1794, of mixed Irish and French parentage, and probably this strain of Hibernian blood was partly responsible for the rich drollery of his comic humor.  Young Lablache was placed betimes in the Conservatorio della San Sebastiano, and studied the elements of music thoroughly, as his instruction covered not merely singing, but the piano, the violin, and violoncello.  It is believed that, had his vocal endowments not been so great, he could have become a leading virtuoso on any instrument he might have selected.  Having at length completed his musical education, he was engaged at the age of eighteen as buffo at the San Carlino theatre at Naples.  Shortly after his debut, Lablache married Teresa Pinotti, the daughter of an eminent actor, and found in this auspicious union the most wholesome and powerful influence of his life.  The young wife recognized the great