He wrote: "Never did
mortal woman sing as she sang that simple song that begins:
'Angels, Angels, bright and fair,
Take, O take me to thy care!'"
I saw Nilsson and Parepa introduced there, who were to sail on the
same steamer in a few days. Nilsson made the banjo fashionable in New
York society, accompanying herself charmingly. All the famous opera
singers regarded the house of Dr. Doremus a place where they were
thoroughly at home, and always welcome. Ole Bull was for many years
his most devoted friend. Dr. Doremus writes:
I recall that once when I was dining with Ole Bull, at the
house of a friend, our host said: 'Doctor, I don't think much
of Ole Bull's fiddling; you know what I mean--I don't think
much of his fiddling as compared with his great heart.'
Mr. Edwin Booth, once walking with me, dropped my arm and exclaimed
with a dramatic gesture: "Ole Bull wasn't a man--he was a god!"
The last time I had the privilege of listening to Ole Bull's witchery
with his violin, he gave an hour to Norwegian folk-songs, his wife at
the piano. She played with finish, feeling, and restraint. She first
went through the air, then he joined in with his violin with
indescribable charm.
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