said to have made her début at Vienna, Feb. 24, 1821, in 'Così fan tutte.' Early in 1824 Sontag and she came into contact with Beethoven in studying the soprano and contralto parts of his Mass in D and Choral Symphony. No efforts or representations could induce the master to alter the extreme range of their parts. 'I remember once saying to him,' writes Unger, 'that he did not know how to write for voices, since my part in the Symphony had one note too high for my voice.' His answer was, 'Learn away, and the note will soon come.' On the day of performance, May 7, the note did come; the excitement of the audience was enormous, and it was then, at the close of the Symphony, that the happy idea occurred to Unger of turning the deaf Beethoven round to the room, in order that he might see the applause which he could not hear, and of which he was therefore unaware. After this she took an engagement from Barbaja in Italy, and sung there for many years, during which Donizetti wrote for her 'Parisina,' 'Belisario,' and 'Maria di Rudenz'; Bellini, 'La Straniera'; Mercadante, 'Le due illustre Rivali'; Pacini, 'Niobe,' etc., etc. In October 1833 she sang in Paris at the Théâtre Italien for one season only. It was perhaps on this occasion that Rossini is said to have spoken of her as possessing 'the ardour of the South, the energy of the North, brazen lungs, a silver voice, and a golden talent.' She then returned to Italy, but in 1840 married M. Sabatier, a Florentine gentleman, and retired from the stage. In 1869 she was in London, and at one of the Saturday Concerts at the Crystal Palace confirmed to the writer of this article the anecdote above related of her turning Beethoven round. Her dramatic ability and intelligence, says Fétis, were great; she was large, good-looking, and attractive; the lower and middle parts of her voice were broad and fine, but in her upper notes there was much harshness, especially when they were at all forced. She died at her villa of 'La Concezione,' near Florence, March 23, 1877. Mad. Regan Schimon was one of her principal pupils.
UNISON. Simultaneous occurrence of two sounds of the same pitch. Passages in octaves are sometimes marked Unis., but this is not strictly correct.
UNITED STATES. The means and opportunities presented in the United States for musical study and improvement have been, within the past two decades, largely amplified and greatly strengthened. It is now possible for students to find institutions where nothing necessary for a thorough musical education is omitted from the curriculum. It is the purpose of this article to indicate the extent and importance of these means, without, however, attempting to name all of the establishments in the Union where the instruction is in the hands of competent professors, or which have been recognised as worthy of patronage.
I. At Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, music is an 'elective' study. The instruction, which is purely theoretical, embraces a course of three years. The degrees of Master of Arts and Doctor of Philosophy are conferred on worthy graduates. John K. Paine [vol. ii. p. 632] has been in charge of this department since 1862—at first instructor, raised to a full professorship in 1876. The Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, includes a College of Music, established 1872, with a faculty of thirteen professors and instructors, Eben Tourjée, dean [see p. 154]. Instruction is both theoretical and practical, and is carried to the point that admits of the bestowal of the degree of Bachelor of Music, after a three years' course. Both sexes are admitted to the College. At Boston are several private schools, liberally patronised, with pupils from all parts of the Union. The largest, the New England Conservatory of Music, established in 1867, is under the direction of Eben Tourjée. This school has a staff of instructors in every branch, numbering 90, and had in the year 1883–4, 1971 pupils, with a valuable library and other resources in full. The establishment also includes dormitories and dining-rooms for 400 girl pupils. Over 33,000 pupils have been registered here since the opening of the institution. The Boston Conservatory of Music, also established in 1867, is under the care of Julius Eichberg. It has for several years enjoyed a high reputation for the thoroughness of its violin school. At each establishment the class system is rigidly adhered to, and instruction, beginning at the rudiments, is carried to a high point in both theory and practice.
In the public schools of the city of Boston instruction in music forms a part of each day's exercises. The schools are divided into three grades, Primary, Grammar, and High. In the lowest grade the pupils, five to eight years of age, are taught the major scales as far as four sharps and four flats, to fill measures in rhythm, and the signs and characters in common use; the vocal exercises consist of songs in unison, taught by rote. This work is reviewed in the lower classes of the next grade, which include children from eight to eleven years, and instruction is continued by written exercises in transposition and vocal exercises in three- and four-part harmony. In the higher classes of the grammar schools—pupils of from eleven to fourteen years—the triads and their inversions are learned; the written exercises include transpositions of themes; and the vocal exercises consist of songs and chorales in four-part harmony, all of greater difficulty than those set before the lower classes. With very few exceptions the sexes are separated. When, as has sometimes happened, there have been found boys with tenor and bass voices, a wider range in the selection of exercises for practice and songs has been possible. Diplomas are awarded, on graduation, to all who reach a given standard at a written examination. Still greater advance is made in the High Schools, the graduates being from eighteen to nineteen years old. The exercises are increased in difficulty, and the lessons include some of the principles of
