Private Rehearsal of Professor Carnes

     “Barnum has got hold of another wonder, in Professor Carnes, a ballad musician, who possesses a voice which, as far as we know, is quite without parallel. It ranges over a compass of four and a half octaves, nearly all of which was displayed at a private rehearsal given this morning to a few musical ladies and gentlemen. The upper tones were produced by a cultivated falsetto, and are nothing really surprising, nor can they fairly be considered as belonging to a legitimate vocal compass. The imitation of a female voice is, however, very accurate. In the tenor register Carnes sings respectably well, but the great feature of his performance is his bass singing. In such simple songs as ‘Shells of Ocean,’ varied to suit his powers, he will sing from the G above the treble staff to the triple E, ten notes below the lowest line on the bass staff. The singing of the ‘double E’ is considered a good feat for a bass voice, as all musicians know; but this Mr. Carnes actually sings one octave below the double E. This extreme low register he calls his sub-bass. In tone it resembles much the corresponding notes on a harmonium or cabinet organ. Carnes also plays the cornet, manipulating it with the right hand and accompanying himself with the left on the piano-forte or other keyed instrument. He also gives vocal imitations of brass band instruments, and is altogether a vocal wonder. Such a voice, had it been originally trained in a scholarly manner, might have made a fortune for its possessor. As it is, Mr. Carnes, laboring as he does under the disadvantage of blindness, has done considerable with it.”