DE MURSKA'S OPERATIC FAREWELL.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4827, 11 September 1876, Page 2

DE MURSKA'S OPERATIC FAREWELL.

It must not be forgotten that to-night Mdlle; lima De Murska, the most gifted and wonderful musical artiste that has ever visited the Southern Hemisphere, takes her final farewell of Wellington in a brilliant programme of selections and operatic scenes. The probabilities of listening to such a superb singer again for a long time are very remote. A Melbourne paper remarked on the occasion of her Bnal farewell there :—" We part from the greatest cantatrice who has ever visited our shores with almost, if not quite, a personal regret, bordering on sorrow. We part with her— It may be for years. And it may be for ever. ' Most probably for ever,' at least as far as the vast majority of ua are concerned; "and under the circumstances, her departure from ua may be regarded by ua in the nature of a retirement" by the great songstress from that public position which she more than adorns. Mdlle. De Murska is a

star which appeared ' above our horizon, and shone in bur sphere as a comet, ' for a brief period, and now disappears never, perhaps, to appear again, or only to recur at a a very distant date. The remoteness of our continent from the refinement and culture o£ the old world deters most great artists from favoring us with even a flying visit; and when we have the good fortune to find in our midst, if only for a few evenings, ■ a De Murska or a Kistori, we feel a, kind of personal obligation to them for their visit, and regard them with a genuine gratitude. Which of us shall readily forget .the few rapturous evenings spent in listening to the almost superhuman strains of: lima De Murska? Her memory will cling to many of us through life, as the re"collection" of" Pasta " and Malibran, and Adelaide Kemble, and Catherine Hayes, has survived, years and years of varied and distracting life in the bosoms of millions." We shall be sorrry to lose the De Murska Company, for taken all round a finer set of vocal aud instrumental artists have never visited Wellington. None have approached. Signoc Susini as a basso, nor Signor Eosnati as a tenor; whilst Maestro Ilia has surpassed every violinist and pianist who has been heard here. Our only regret is that the company could not have appeared in full opera, for the delightful operatic scenes we have witnessed-convey some idea of the exquisite performances we have lost. Mddle De Murska and her com« pany leave to-morrow for Christchurch, to play a short farewell season previous to quitting New Zealand for Tasmania.