Anecdotes of Great Musicians/Anecdote 33
33.—VOICE AGAINST TRUMPET.
It seems strange to read of the human voice exceeding wind instruments in length and loudness of tone; but there are some remarkable instances on record of great endurance on the part of singers. Lablache, the great basso, was noted for his power of tone, his voice being so strong as to dominate over the whole orchestra and chorus combined.
Farinelli, a famous tenor, in a contest with a trumpet player at Rome, not only excelled him in brilliant passages, in force and ornamentations, but when the trumpeter was out of breath and exhausted, Farinelli went on with increased brilliancy and power, apparently with the same breath, until he was silenced by the plaudits of the crowd.
On one occasion when Mrs. Billington, a favorite English singer, was holding forth in London, she was accompanied by a trumpet obligato in part of her solo. As the trumpeter did not play his part with sufficient tone, the leader called to him to play louder. But even then the quantity of tone was not great enough to suit his conductor or to balance Mrs. Billington's voice; so he called out again: "Louder! louder! confound you, play louder!" The enraged foreigner, at what he considered an insult to his instrument, threw down his trumpet, exclaiming: "Loudere, loudere be ver easy do say; but, by gar! I say ver is de vint?"