A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Pasta, Judith
PASTA, JUDITH.
Was born in 1798, at Como, near Milan, of a Jewish family. At the age of fifteen, she was admitted as a pupil to the Conservatorio of Milan, then under the direction of Asioé. Her voice was naturally hard and unequal, and she had great difficulty in satisfying the master of vocalisation. She made her debut in 1815, upon the second rate theatres, such as those of Brescia, Parma, and Leghorn; from that period till 1822, she struggled through the apprenticeship of her profession without any presage of her future celebrity. At that period, during the congress, she obtained a brilliant success at Verona. She then went to Paris, where she excited vast enthusiasm, and laid the foundation of a reputation never surpassed by any dramatic singer. Not that she ever attained very great perfection in her vocalisation, or her method of throwing out her voice; but she had the most wonderful gift of assimilating herself to every character; there was in her accents something so penetrating, so indescribably touching, that she possessed unlimited command over the feelings of her audience. She gave the deepest study to her art, and every representation seemed to mark a progress. She first appeared in the character of Desdemona, in London, in March, 1824. This was always one of her finest parts; and some years afterwards furnished a subject for comparison with Madame Malibran, with whom it was also a favourite rôle. If the latter, in her vocal execution and the pure feeling of music, had an incontestable advantage, nobody could deny to Madame Pasta a higher conception, more unity, and, in a word, a truer expression of the unfortunate Venetian.
In 1829, Madame Pasta purchased a beautiful country-seat near lake Como; and after passing her summers there for some years, she at length appeared to give up the stage, having lived quietly for three years in this agreeable retreat. When in 1840 she accepted proposals from the Russian court, to go to St. Petersburg, the emoluments given her for that season were fixed at forty thousand dollars.
Madame Pasta has received more praise, and awakened more enthusiasm, than any actress of the age. Bellini wrote Norma and the Sonnambula expressly for her; in the latter, it was surprising to see her admirable in a simplicity so very different from the stately parts in which She generally excelled. Her Anna Bolena exhibits an energy and dignity which have served as a model to all subsequent actresses.