Diary of Marie Bashkirtseff
CZENUKFR

Sunday, 3 April 1881

Patti has never sung with more brilliance than last night — her voice had such breadth, such freshness, such radiance!
The Bolero from Les Vêpres Siciliennes was encored. My God — what a beautiful voice I had! And supple without ever having taken lessons; I vocalised, I made trills... and what a range! And then it was powerful, dramatic, gripping — the low notes, and then the passage up... it sent a chill down one's spine.
And now — nothing. Not even enough to speak with.
Shall I not recover? I am still young — perhaps I might...
Patti does not move one — but she can make one weep with astonishment; she is a veritable display of fireworks.
Yesterday I was positively seized at the moment when she launched a stream of notes — so pure, so high, of such delicacy!...

Monday, 4 April 1881

Bojidar helps me sort all my correspondence alphabetically, since I keep the least note. We spend the evening together — Dina, myself, Alexis, and Bojidar. The ladies were occupied with M. de Saint-Aignan, who wishes to buy the villa.

Tuesday, 5 April 1881

A surprise! M. Bashkirtseff has arrived. I was fetched from the studio and found him in the dining room with Maman, who was lavishing every affection on him. Dina and Saint-Amand delighted by the spectacle of this conjugal happiness. We go out together — M., Mme, and the baby — to shops for Monsieur, then to the Bois, and briefly to the Karageorgevitches'.
He has no doubt come to fetch Maman — but I know nothing yet; we are still too unsettled.

Notes

The Bolero from Les Vêpres Siciliennes (Verdi, 1855): the soprano aria "Mercè, dilette amiche" — one of the showpieces of the Italian operatic repertoire, famous for its elaborate coloratura passage. ↩
M. Bashkirtseff: Marie's father, from whom the family had been estranged. His appearance in Paris is unexpected and clearly fraught with complicated emotions — Maman's excess of tenderness hints at the complexity. ↩