On this page
-
Text (5)
-
1100 THE LEADER. CSatttrday ^
-
WEDNESDAY EVENING CONCERTS. The third of...
-
THE THEATRES IN PARIS. THE "FEEBLE" AT T...
-
PENCIL NOTES. Although the election of J...
-
.1* 11 O T 0 O II A P TT Y. |kMC()NI> AK...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
1100 The Leader. Csatttrday ^
1100 THE LEADER . CSatttrday ^
Wednesday Evening Concerts. The Third Of...
WEDNESDAY EVENING CONCERTS . The third of a series of weekly concerts , under this title , was given at Exeter Hall , last Wednesday . As the entertainment ? are professedly of a popular character , and the rates of admission are low , we had . not expected to find that portion of the nrasic which is of a higher class performed in the style in which it was given l > y the -orchestra , which numbers about seventy performers , is conducted by Mr . Benedict , and is in every respect excellent . l
The execution of Mozart's Symphony in G minor might have peased the most fastidious , but the audience generally were not fastidious ; and although the Symphony and the piano-forte concerto of Beethoven in O minor , which followed , were well received , and the latter warmly applauded , all enthusiasm was reserved for some weak songs in the second and miscellaneous" part . Mademoiselle Clauss p layed as she only can play ; the difficulties of the concerto ( and there are passages of immense difficulty ) were surmounted with the finest ease ; the execution of the whole was masterly ; but it is in a slow movement that the genius of Wilhelmine Clauss is felt , and in the beautiful " Largo" the delicate lingering touch , and a sort of airy tenderness peculiar to herself , were irresistibly enchanting . " Batti , batti , " "II mio tesoro , " and " Vedrai carino , " were very creditably sung by Miss Birch , Mr . Augustus Braham , and Miss B . Isaacs . " Hush , ye pretty warbling choir , " by Miss
Alleyne , and the overture to JSuryanthe , by the band , concluded tne first part , when Mr . Benedict retired in favour of Herr Meyer Lutz , as conductor . A miscellaneous collection of songs , & c , followed . Mr . Augustus Braham sang " Oft in the stilly night , " with so much genuine taste , that he was encored ; he substituted " The Bay of Biscay , " which was received with an Exeter-hall storm of applause . He possesses a remarkably powerful tenor voice , rich in quality , and extremely sweet in the upper notes . He sings without affectation , and with perfect ease , and was deservedly successful . The march from Le Prophete , vociferously encored ; songs by Miss Thirlwall , Miss Cicely Nott , and many others , with . Mozart ' s overture , Clemenza di Tito , concluded the programme , which , although somewhat of a medley , was well suited to the audience , and very well executed .
The Theatres In Paris. The "Feeble" At T...
THE THEATRES IN PARIS . THE " FEEBLE" AT THE PORTE ST . MAETHNT . When you go to take your place in the morning at the little pigeon-liole on the stairs in the entrance hall of the Porte St . Martin Theatre , and find a queue waiting there , as though the performance was going to commence ; and when , after much struggling , you reach the aforesaid pigeonhole , and on asking for a stalle d'orchestre , with a pleasant expression of anticipative enjoyment , for that evening , are received with derisive laughter by the people you have pushed through , and told every place is gone for the next five days , you may be sure there is " unprecedented attraction ! " And so there is ; for the newfcviry piece , Les Sept Merveilles du Monde , in twenty tableaux , by Messrs . d'Ennery and Grange , has turned Paris mad .
The fairy pieces at this house have always formed epochs in the French dramatic world . The play-goers talk now of the gorgeous beauties of the Peau d'Ane , and La 13 die aux Clieveux ( V Or , and La CJiatfe Blanche , and La Biche au Bois ; but nothing has ever been done to compare , in elaborate splendour of tmse en scene , with the present spectacle . The piece itself is very bad ; and playing from seven until after midnight Ringularly wearisome , looking to the story ; but the groupings , the effects , and , above all , the singularly beautiful costumes and iravestisscmentsmoyen d ( je , angolic , demoniacal , lunar , mythological , animal , vegetable-, and mechanical—keep the audience fixed in their placen until the final descent of the curtain .
The plot is commonplace enough , and not of the newest . Prince Fortwnio has fallen in love with a sylph , named Miranda , who is the eighth wonder of the world . To endow her with mortal attributes ho must subdue the other seven : these are the Temple of Diana , the Pyramids of Egypt , the Temple of Jupiter , the Hanging Gardens of Babylon , the Lighthouse of Alexandria , the Colossus of . ' Rhodes , and the Mausoleum ; and each is represented by a spirit . There is of course an opposing influence , a stupid rival , a , silly princess , and a good genius ; and the plots and counterplots of all these characters form the action , about which there must of necessity bo a certain sameness in each venture ; but it must be regarded as a mere vehicle for the effects , and nothing more . Of these the most striking is the plague of flies , in Ifyypt , which thin Wonder calls up to deter the . Prince from his object . An enormous number of children appear in every conceivable entomological dross—beetles , dragon / lies ,
wasps , motliH , and blue-bottles—and produce a strange effect by always keeping their backs to the audience , as we : ire familiar with them pinned out in a collection . A fight between a hugo humble-bee , in a suit of fine hairy fabric , like a guardsman ' s bearskin , and a daddy-long-legs , who , being on . stilts , takes " the stage in three _ HtrideH , in admirably managed . Then there is also a congress of the pnnciiml lighthoiiHeH of the world , to assist , the 1 * 1 Hire d'Alcxandrie . ^ Their drowses are most artistically marine , and each carries a model of the lighthouse represented as a nI . uI )' , with the lights shining in the lantern ; tlie only dark one being tho Lantern of Diogenes at St . Cloud , played by Colbron , who iH capitally mirliUms
dressed out with galotte , maearoonH , ' , goufl ' reH , and other popular productions off he St . Cloud fAte days . A dialogue between the lighthouses of Calais and Dover is happily introduced . In the Temple of Jupitor , the gods arc introduced in extreme poverty , nobody now believing in them , and Love being the only one who wlainH Ins position . Ho \ H a " fast" Cupid , speaking Lorotto slang ; and when the Prince arrives , and Jupiter tries to repulse him , Love lights liin worn-out thunderbolt , with Juh cigar ; but ft miserable squib without a bang is all the result . The Bceno of hell , to which Diana drives the intruders from the moon , iH a very grand " Hoi ; " and a wild dance of girl-furies is one of the best ballet affairs that has been Been sinco the Pas dan Poumards . Tho hist tableau
represents the spirits of the Seven Wonders flying ni the air , with verylittle support , by means of some fine steel mechanism , such as the wizards used in the ethereal suspension , and the hippodrome people in the car of Industry and the Arts . The effect is excellent . The most fabulous-sums are reported to have been expended on the getting up of the piece ; but its vogue will repay any outlay . No theatre in England has shown such rich costumes except the Lyceum , at which house , also , the scenery is superior ; for there is nothing in the Sept Merveilles thatcan stand by the side of "William Beverley ' s masterpieces , in the way of painting and setting . The transformations , too , are clumsily managed , and all evidently borrowed from our pantomimes , except one , where all the living bridal party are changed into chairs , toilet table , clocks , and chiffoniers , to furnish a bare room . The decep - tion here is complete , and most elaborate .
The best character in the piece is Prince Broccoh , the stupid rival , admirably played by Gil-Perez , whose St . Gaudens , in theDame auxCamSlias , may yet be in the recollection of some of our readers . Beyond this , none of the parts are of much importance , and most of _ them might even be rendered less prominent with advantage . The p iece , however , is a great success : and when , in addition to the attractions noticed , we may see a grand dancing festival in the Babylonian Gardens ; a banquet of husbands and wives of every nation in the world in the Mausoleum ; a storm at sea , with the destruction of the mighty Colossus of Rhodes ; a review of the
rival armies of Greeks and Trojans , represented by nearly two hundred infants ; a scene in the interior of the moon , with a grand meeting of " lunatics ; " and a general melee of lights , 'flowers , fountains , spangles , legs , and all manner of other attractions , it may readily be imagined that th * e rush for places is not overstated . The Sept Merveilles is recommended to " travellers On the continent , " if it be only to see how far lavish outlay , ingenious disposition of groups and properties , and faultless taste m colour , costume , and detail , can be carried . The greatest wonder of all is , however , that the Parisian dramatists could not furnish a piece of proportionate excellence . Brown .
Pencil Notes. Although The Election Of J...
PENCIL NOTES . Although the election of John Dverett Millais as an Associate of the Academy does not affect our opinion of his powers { that was avo-wed , when to see genius in his pictures was to incur the scorn of all who looked through Eoyal Academy spectacles ) , we feel an interest in this act which forbids our silence on the occasion . The act , precisely as it is honourable to the Royal Academy , confers honour on Millais . Undoubtedly so ; and he , who has manfully stood his ground against severer criticism than has crushed numbers of promising men before him , will feel the honour , we are sure . We hope our readers , both those who hold with us in opinion concerning Millais , and those who do not , will give us credit for a better motive than the mere feeling of triumph , when we say , that tins choice of the lioyal Academy has afforded us real delight .
Mr . Jennings , the printseller , of Cheapside , is seldom without a good picture to make his gallery worth a visit . Now it is a Boddington , and now a Pyne . For some weeks there was the best sunset over a corn field , by the best of the Williamses , that wo ever saw from that accomplished hand . A stone cabin , dropped into a perfect nest of foliage , is there still . The picture is by Green , one of the New Water Colour Society men , and one of the ablest , though he does not exhibit half enough . A card from Mr . Jennings , bearing the name of Landseer , took
us to Cheapside the other day , and we there saw two finished crayon drawings executed with inimitable force and facility . They are called "Free Trade" and " Protection , " the one representing a well-fed drayhorse , the other a beaten racer . In the last we have , as groom and jockey , Lord Derby and Mr . Disraeli . But the joke is too feeble to stand against so much art as Landseer brings to boar upon it ; . He will find a lighter style than that " come handier , " if lie he desirous of emulating G-ilray .
There is also at Jennings ' s a picture by Le Jeune , one of liifl most ambitious subjects , the " Parable ' of the Lilies , " It was in the Royal Acadomy , last season , or the last but one . The lilies are obvious . We are not ; impressed with any other fact about the work , except that it is painted with the mild prettiness for which Lo Jeune is so extensively unknown . Tho National Gallery re-openH -with an important change in the disposition of the . pictures , which are now brought to an angle suiting tho eye , and , in effect , into better lights . The idea is taken from the new arrangement of paintings at the Louvre . We have not yet had timo to go and judge of the result ., but wo speak from good report . ¦ *
Henry Cole has published hifl observations on the expediency of carrying out the proposals of the Commissioners for the "Exhibition of 1851 , for the promotion , rather by the public themselves than by Government , of institutions of science and art . Wo will notice these observations more fully next week . Q > -
.1* 11 O T 0 O Ii A P Tt Y. |Kmc()Ni> Ak...
. 1 * 11 O T 0 O II A P TT Y . | kMC () NI > AKTUJIjK . I . Ni kim'k , latterly the fellow-labourer of' Daguerro , ia fairly to be oroditcd with . the practical invention of hoKography , or that ; branch of it at leas '' which takes its name from the bettor known of tho two experimental ints--the Daguerreotype—called , the " dry process , " to distinguish it from tho process of solutions , discovered by Fox Talbot . Niopco gave to his 'invention the name of ' . ll ' eliograpky , a name rotainod by us us preferable to thai , which w <> are accustomed , to hoar—Photoyraphy . Before the timo of Ni < W . o many important , experiments had been made on the aotion <> j the violet rays on tho Halts of nilvor , tho details of which uxporimonte w » 'J be found in Hunt ' s volume — an indispensable guide to tho practical student of holiography . in the present paper we give a nkot « U ot tlJ » progressive series of dincovories , and of the jwrt developed by JN » opca > . Dagucrro , and Talbot in recent timeo .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12111853/page/20/
-