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668 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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HEADS OR TAILS. Under this title, an exc...
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LES DIAMANS I>E LA COURONNE. In announci...
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OTELLO. The performance of Otello on Sat...
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The second grand concert yesterday turne...
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.
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Transcript
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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.
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Douche The Second. The Processes Of The ...
be a very vicious part of the treatment , I stepped over that rark of the process , and solaced myself with the never-ending delights of the Malvern Hills . The cool crisp morning air—the hills mist-crowned with sunlight bathing their sides and hollows—and the prospect of a breakfast stimulating one ' s imagination , together make up a sensation which of itself is a cure . After breakfast there was more climbing the hills ; then a theoretical bath ( which I never took ) with preludes of water-drinkings , which I also disregarded , reserving all my stomachal power for the two o ' clock dinner . After dinner , a little rest , and half an hour ' s sleep prepared me for another -walk , on coming in from which the bath was very welcome . This bath was either a sitting-bath or trunk-bath , and if I was very much jaded , a simple cold--water foot-bath , which I recommend to all walkers as a simple and effective refreshment . A hearty tea , and bed at half-past nine o ' clock , conclude this " strange , eventful history . " Such is a very brief account of the processes I went through . I leave aside all question of compress , bandages , dry packings , & c , and , what is more , I leave aside all rhapsodies about the Malvern Hills—all descriptions of donkey rides and picnics—of wanderings into space , with hard-boiled eggs and strawberries as provender , and the Reverend W . Maggies , of Bungay , as a " guide , " and the Reverend ' s Sister as " philosopher and friend "—I spare you passages of the picturesque which I have no time to write , and , as a farewell , advise you ( if jaded by a London season ) to try the Watercure at Malvern . VlVIAH .
668 The Leader. [Saturday,
668 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Heads Or Tails. Under This Title, An Exc...
HEADS OR TAILS . Under this title , an excellently constructed little comedy , adapted froni the French , has been produced at the Olympic Theatke . As to the plot , we must be permitted to take our usual course , and not forestall the interest it excites , by saying a word about it . We refer our readers for the story of the play to the theatre ; assuring them , beforehand , that they will find their / time very pleasantly occupied if they devote it for an hour or so to Heads or Tails . As to the acting of the play , however , -we may say a word or two of very sincere approval . Mr . Wigan , in the part of Harold Dyecaster ^ ¦ who trusts everything to chance , and solves all his mental difficulties by tossing up a halfpenny , was really admirable . His acting was finished , easy , and delightfully natural . He made a character of the part , without once slipping into exaggeration from beginning to end—amused his audience always by thoroughly legitimate means—and so managed his bye-play as to occupy his proper place in the scene , yet never to interfere with the other actors . The heartiest praise is due also to Mr . Emery , who acted the part of an irritable old gentleman with really original humour , and thorough truth to nature . His bell-ringing scene was onqof the most genuine pieces of comic acting we ever saw on any stage . Mrs . Wigan had a capital servant ' s part , and performed it with a quaint truth and quiet humour which some othe ladies now on the stage whom we might mention , would do well to imitate . Strangely enough , the only conventional acting in the play , was the acting of Mr . Robson ! He had the part of a muddle-headed dupe to perform—a low-comedy part ; and pure low-comedy 5 s not his forte . He sneezed and talked through his nose ( being supposed to have caught cold in a shower of rain ) incessantly and comically enough—but he did not act , in the true sense of the word ; and he disappointed us the more , because we had seen him at his best , earlier in the evening , in a farce ( taken , of course , from the French ) called PERFECT CONFIDENCE . Here Mr . Kobson was excellent , for here he had a part suited to his peculiar and unique talent—the combination of the serious with tho comic . Perfect Confidence is impersonated by Mr . Easy , who believes devoutly in his wife , who is ( theoretically ) quite incapable of being jealous of her , but who dc © 3 nevertheless actually become jealous of her , after witnessing one apparently suspicious interview between the lady and a young -visitor at the house . Ports of Mr . Robson ' s acting—especially the serious parts were really wonderful , in tho character of Mr . Easy . The first jealous suspicion—the frantic attempt to conceal it—the changes from hope to despair—from suspicion to certainty—from assumed calmness to real agony of mind—wero given with extraordinary force and startling truth to nature . Thore was exaggeration here and there , but it was exaggeration in giving the comic side of tho character . The serious side—as to voice , gesture , and expression—was presented with an absolute and mai'vollous truth which cannot bo too highly praised . Since the days of Plot and Passion , Mr . llobson ' e performance in Per / act Confidence is tho finest thing ho hns done .
Les Diamans I>E La Couronne. In Announci...
LES DIAMANS I > E LA COURONNE . In announcing the production of this opera at tho St . James ' s Theatkb last week , wo ventured to predict that it would bo the crowning aueoeaa of tho season , and tho event haa proved that wo wore right . The theatre waa crowded from floor to ceiling . Every available foot of space about tho
talls was invaded by extra chairs—every bench in the ° " slips" had its occupant . Only give the public a chance of hearing a delightful singer in an opera which is fall of the loveliest melodies from beginning to end , and people -will crowd into any theatre you choose to open until the place overflows with them . Madame Cabel lias added another leaf to her laurels by her performance of La Catarina . As a piece of acting it is charming- — vocally , it is the best rendering of the part that we have heard . Even Madame Thillon ( for whom the music was composed , and who sang it some years ago , with immense success , at the Princess ' s Theatre ) is
equalled , and in some cases surpassed , as the heroine of this delightful opera , by Madame Cabel . The new " Catarina" sings the charming air Oui Monseigneur II faut Partir , and the difficult solo of the second act , more perfectly than any of her predecessors that we have heard , either in England or France . Her execution of the solo , especially , was so admirable that the theatre rang again , after she had ended , with some of the heartiest applause we have ever heard in it . If Les Diamans de la Couronne had only been produced at the beginning of the season instead of the end , what magnificent nightly tributes might have flowed into the treasury of the St . James ' s Theatre ! ¦ W .
Otello. The Performance Of Otello On Sat...
OTELLO . The performance of Otello on Saturday last was a striking contrast to the performance of the same opera in the early part of the season . This marked difference is to be attributed to the change in the Desdemona , for on both occasions the Otello and Iago were represented by Tamberlik and Ronconi , with a power and finish not easily surpassed * Lablache lends a massive grandeur of aspect and voice , and an imposing dignity of presence to his traditional Elmiro ; but the success of this not usually attractive opera on the one occasion , and its comparative failure on the other belong to the merits and defects of the respective Desdemonas . Mademoiselle Sofie Cruvelli ' s daring impulse and ambitious exaggeration of style , made up of splendid inequalities , were not sufficient to atone for a certain harshness unsoftened by womanly tenderness , and untempered by the repose of self-subduing art . Madame Pauline " Viardot Garcia resumes the
character m which she first won the -welcome of a public still glowing . with the remembrance of all that beauty and genius which in life -were called Malibran . It wars , if we mistake not , as Desdemona that Pauline Grarcia first appeared before an English audience , who were content to find that the mantle and the lute of the lamented had become the heritage of the sister . Still there was some unripeness about that debut . There was power and passion , but not the complete self-possession of art . Now we have no- hesitation in pronouncing Madame Yiardot ' s Desde . mona a creation of true genius , sustained by inspiring and consummate art . In her singing she proves what can be done , in spite of natural deficiencies by devoted study and cultivation , and all that constitutes her impersonation , as it is called , is subtle and delicate in the extreme . Her attitudes
are ever noble and sculpturesque , although she doe 3 not in the last act ( as Alfred de Musset says poor Malibran should have done ) think more of how to hold the lyre than of the passionate melancholy of a fatal presentiment . Nothing could be more satisfying to the most exacting taste than her delivery of the Willow Song ; it seemed to well up from the heart . We must not forget to say how completely Tamberlik realises , in spite of the imbecile Italian librettist , the Othello of Shakspeare—we mean in presence and bearing as well as in the large and impassioned nobleness of hi 3 singing . Not less does Ronconi realise the Iago of the drama : the incarnation of catlike cruelty , disguised in deadly pleasantry ; all that is most in contrast to the noblehearted Moor . The great duo in the second act " carried away ' ^ the house , " as usual . Tamberlik ' s exquisite singing of the gondolier ' s
air' Ncssun mnggior doloro Cho recordarsi del tempo felico Nella miscria , " might well have suggested , to George Sand her last sympathetic little Artstory , Adriani , which is founded on those words , like a fantasia in music on a " naotif" from Otello .
The Second Grand Concert Yesterday Turne...
The second grand concert yesterday turned out , wo regret to say , a chapter of accidents and disasters . A placard at the doors announced that Madtime Grisi was unable to appear on account of a very severe hoarseness . The rosult was that the public who filled the house ( wo believe it is the " religious public" who draw afino distinction between operas and concerts , that compose tho audience at these monster concerts ) , took their seats rather with a sullen determination to make a row than for tho sake of hearing the very excellent music sot down in tho programme . When Mtirio nppcarod .
to take his part in tho Stabat Mater , ho was received with shouts and hisses , and cries of " Whore is Grisi P" from tho " religious public" in tho pit and boxes . Signor Mario was sot down for other music ; but in consequence , we flupposo , of tho conduct of the audience , declined to ro-appear . When Tamberlik cumo forward , in a trio , he was wolcoinod by the humane , generous , and indulgent public , witU shrieks of " Mario 1 " which , resulted in his throwing up his music altogether . A gentleman , apparently well broken in for tho work , then camo forward with elaborate stagey polite
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15071854/page/20/
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