81.—MALIBRAN'S GENEROSITY.
That beautiful songstress, Maria Garcia, better known as Madame Malibran, had a varied experience. Her father, a man of fiery temper, was her instructor; after her childhood was passed, she was for some years on the stage with him. Neither her years of childhood nor the time she spent singing in opera with her father were particularly pleasant years, owing to his tyrannical exactions and their fluctuating fortunes. America was the scene of their operatic performances.
Later, when M. Malibran appeared on the scene and posed as a wealthy banker, Maria married him to escape the unpleasant scenes of her early years. But Malibran turned out to be a rascal, to have little money and to be dependent on his wife's exertions. So this great singer was followed by more misfortune. It was not until this marriage was annulled by a French court and she had some time later been married to the great violinist, De Beriot, that her life became one of peace and happiness.
The disposition of this great songstress was one heartily to be admired. Says one biographer: "Living among the sons and daughters of pleasure, her only luxury was the luxury of doing good, and in the midst of wealth her only profusion consisted in beneficence." It is a pleasure to find such words as these spoken concerning a prima donna. The records so many of them leave of their personality speak only of selfishness, avarice, sharp temper, and whimsicality, varied now and then by an ostentatious bit of charity.
As an illustration of Malibran's kind-heartedness we may cite the following incident: Only about a year before her death she was engaged by an Italian professor to sing at a concert he was giving, and at her regular terms of twenty guineas. For some reason the concert was a financial failure. The teacher called on her the next day to explain this, and to see if Malibran would be content with a smaller sum. But no, she declared she must have the full amount.
The Italian slowly counted out twenty pounds and then looked up and asked if that would do.
"No, another sovereign," she said, "my terms are twenty guineas, not pounds."
So he put down another pound, sighing to himself as he did so, "My poor wife and children." Then Malibran took up the money and pretended to depart, but turned around and put it all back in the hands of the astonished professor, saying:—
"I insisted on having the full amount that the sum might be all the larger for your acceptance."