MADAME ARABELLA GODDARD.

Thames Star, Volume VI, Issue 1862, 21 December 1874, Page 2

MADAME ARABELLA GODDARD.

For the information of those of our readers who were either born in the Colonies, or left the old country before Madame Goddard had risen to the posi; tion of " the greatest living pianiste," we publish the following account of her artistic career abridged from the notice of her farewell concert, which appeared in the London Times:—

Madame Arabella Goddard's farewell concert given last night in St. James's Hall was one of extraordinary interest. No name for the last twenty yean has been more familiar to musical amateurs than that of the lady who has now bid adieu to them for ever. What it might have been hardly necessary to say while she was constantly appearing before them may on such an occasion be stated without reserve. Proficient in every school, Madame Goddard is excelled in none. Her general culture, indeed, is almost without precedent. Not only has she, in the course of, her long and distinguished career, mastered all the important works of the greatest acknowledged composers—from Bach and Handel to Mozart, from Mozart to Beethoven, Hummel, Moscheles, Weber, Mendelssohn, and Sterndale Bennett—but she also acquainted herself, and, through her performances, acquainted the musical public, with those, who, though comparatively ' sidera minora,' were, nevertheless, giants {in their day. Further than this, leaving what is termed' classic * out of the question, there is, now that their author is dead, no one who can perform the fantasias, &c, of Sigismond Thalberg with the same fluency, grace, and irreproachable mechanism as Madame Goddard. The renowned virtuoso himself imparted to her the secret how to play them, and his instructions were the more easily taken advantage of on account of her early studies in Paris under Kalkbrenner, who, as a methodical teacher for young aspirants, never had a rival, and who often boasted, with pride, that he had mad* two pianists, Marie Pleyel and Arabella Goddard— " une Pleyel en herbe," as he was wont to say. " But what is of most interest now that Madame Goddard has resolved to give up public playing is her artistic career in England. This, however, need not be described in detail, from her first achievements, at the concert of the Quartet Association (conducted by Bt> Sainton), when she played from memory the long, elaborate, and, to nineteen pianists out of twenty, almost impracticable sonata of Beethoven in B flat, Op. 106, to her most recent exhibitions in public, she has only to look back to an uninterrupted series of triumphs. At th« Philharmonic Societies—' old* and 'new,' at the Birmingham Festivals, at the Crystal Palace Concerts, and last, not least, at the Monday Popular Concerts, she has been a recognised ' star of the first magnitude.' And justly so; seeing that as an English artist she has, like a veritable champion, maintained the honour of musical England, holding her own against all comers. Even when, a girl of scarcely twenty, she made a tour in Germany, she was the first who ever attempted the great sonata of Beethoven already mentioned, her performance of which was recorded in a long and elaborate article by the celebrated critic Bellstab, one of Beethoven's friends. .... That Madame Goddard is the. most popular artist in this country who has ever had: to trust to fingers, rather than to voice, for popularity is unquestionable; and the fact is the more gratifying to reflect upon because her popularity has been used so largely for good to the art of which she is in her line the most distinguished existing representative. That yesterday evening's concert—the ' Farwell *of so universal a'favorite—should have excited an unusual degree of public interest is not surprising. Never was St. Jameses Hall crowded by a more enthusiastic audience, and never was a concert more thoroughly enjoyed. . . . . "