Diary of Charles Francis Adams, volume 5
1833-12-12
Cloudy and cold today. I went to the Office and read very uninterruptedly for about an hour in the Parliamentary. I thought that I would then amuse myself and accordingly called to see Mr. Davis with whom I had much conversation. I remained so long as to lose my walk. Afternoon quietly at home reading Bacon de Augmentis.
Evening, my Wife never having seen the Opera of the Barber of Seville, and Mr. and Mrs. Wood, good singers being here, I went with her and Miss Julia Gorham to see them and hear them. The piece is a charming one. I have seen it often but never should be tired of it.1 Mrs. Wood is a fine performer though her natural voice is not so pleasing as Mrs. Austin’s. His is a fine man’s voice without any great pathos in it.2 Afterpiece, My Aunt. Returned home early.
For CFA’s delight in Rossini’s music, see vol. 2:60, 277, 321; also, below, entry for 2 Oct. 1835. A different response, following CFA’s acquisition of greater operatic sophistication, is in the entry for 15 March 1836, below.
The voices of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Wood had first been heard in America at the Park Theatre in New York in the September just past. Their success was instantaneous and maintained over the next three seasons during which they dominated the musical scene.
228Mrs. Wood’s voice was hailed by the influential music critic of the Mirror in New York as “one of the most extraordinary ... we ever remember to have heard” and he saluted her as “the first English singer of the day. We say English ... recollecting Malibran.” For Mr. Wood there was praise as “a good actor and a very fair singer.” Odell, Annals N. Y. Stage
, 3:657, 664; 4:63, 109.
Although CFA came, during this first Boston season of the Woods, to sense more fully the extraordinary vocal gifts of Mrs. Wood (see the entries for 19 Dec. 1833; 24 April and 5 May 1834, below), it was when he heard them again during the 1835–1836 theatrical season that his enthusiasm for Mrs. Wood’s singing and for opera reached its fullest expression. During the Woods’ three Boston engagements in that season his Diary shows that he attended sixteen of their performances, especially those of La Sonnambula (see note to entry for 29 Dec. 1835, below). A sheet–music cover of Mrs. Wood in the role of Amina in that opera is reproduced in the present volume; see also p. x–xi, above.
1833-12-13
Cloudy day and cold. Went to the Office as usual and was occupied for some time in reading and writing. One or two persons came in—Mr. Degrand and others on business, but I had on the whole a remarkably quiet time.
Took my usual walk. Afternoon writing a letter to my father, which I was engaged also in copying, a task of considerable fatigue.1 My Wife had some of her friends to tea and pass the evening—Miss Julia Gorham, Miss Carter2 and Miss Sarah Tilden.
I procured Mackintosh’s Progress of Ethical Philosophy from the Athenaeum and was much interested in the charming style which distinguishes it.3 I also find a great subject opened before me, the nature and value of which I had very little idea of until lately. It must be extensively explored before I write again upon any subject.
To JQA, 13–14 Dec. (Adams Papers).
See vol. 4:354.
1833-12-14
Morning at the Office. Received a letter from my father1 with a copy of the report of the Bank Directors and a request to me to touch the elbow of the Editor of the Advocate. I called but he was not at home. The state of political affairs at Washington seems at this moment to be fearful. I do not know how the termination will be, but the Country seems to me in danger.
Walk. Afternoon, continued and finished my letter. Made a little progress in Mackintosh, but this correspondence with my father swallows up vast quantities of my most useful time. Evening, Mr. Brooks was here.
8 Dec. (Adams Papers).