"I am well satisfied with my singing-master. With regard to my weak points especially, he is excellent. I think it very fortunate for me that there exists a Garcia. And I believe him also to be a very good man. If he takes but little notice of us apart from his lessons, well—that cannot be helped; but I am very much pleased, nay, enchanted, with him as a teacher."
And again to Herr Forsberg:—
PARIS,, February 1, 1842.
"Garcia's method is the best of our time, and the one which all here are striving to follow."
In a still later letter she writes:—
PARIS,, March 7, 1842.
"To-day, four years ago, I made my début in 'Der Freischütz.'
"My singing is getting on quite satisfactorily now. I rejoice heartily in my voice,—it is clear and sonorous, with more firmness, and much greater agility. A great, great deal still remains to be done; but the worst is over. Garcia is satisfied with me."
The teaching she now received was evidently the exact thing she needed; for of the management of the breath, the emission of the voice, the blending of its registers, and other technical details upon which even the most perfect singers must depend in great measure for success, she knew nothing.
We have seen Jenny Lind's opinion of her master: what of Garcia's opinion of his pupil? During my own lessons with him he would often speak of the Swedish Nightingale, and hold her up as an example in the most embarrassing way. Among other things he remarked that he had never heard her sing even a hair's-breadth out of tune, so perfect was her natural ear. Moreover, when she made a mistake, he only had to point it out once, explain the cause of the error, and show how it could be rectified: the fault would never be repeated.