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1028 ¦ _ THE LEADE R. [Saturday-,
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A gbeat dramatic event has taken place t...
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The new two-act drama afc the Olympic Th...
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Qn the departure of that excellent actor...
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Romantic School Oe Music I.Iszt Os M...
for the rendering of feeling . Piccini appeared to have the advantage , and to carry general opinion with him , but Gliick had planted the standard of a principle which , was destined to be triumphant . In tie mean time Rossini appeared like a meteor , and won all sympathies , especially those of the elegant world , to the old form of opera . Then , at a moment when the melodic and declamatory style stood in opposition , came Meyerbeer and combined the two ; without rejecting melody , he gave declamation an important share in the merit of his works . Wagner has gone a step further , and so far from making melody an object , he rather rejoices when the melodic mottves , which are treated by him In a declamatory and specially dramatic manner , are denied the name of melodies .
This is Liszt ' s point of view , which , in the historic scheme he sets forth , fves to Meyerbeer a far higher significance than I am disposed to grant , ut for the present you may content yourself with Liszt's ingenious history , and the position which , according to him , Wagner is to fill in the history of art . In some future letter I may be able to say more of Wagner .
1028 ¦ _ The Leade R. [Saturday-,
1028 ¦ _ THE LEADE R . [ Saturday-,
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Che 5 tri 0 *
A Gbeat Dramatic Event Has Taken Place T...
A gbeat dramatic event has taken place this week—Mr . Joaix A . Hebaud has appealed to the poetic sympathies of Portman Market . On Monday evening last was produced at the Marylebone Theatre , in five acts , Y ID EN A :
OR , THE MOTHER 6 TRAGEDY . A LEGEND OF EARI . Y BRITAIN . The poetry by Mr . Herand , the scenery by Mr . Shalflers , the properties by Mr . ^ ii ghtfoot , the music by Mr . Cohen , the costumes by Mr . Uooinbes , the maenffiery by ' Mr * . Mathews , the incidental statues by Mr . Patten , the two principal characters by Mr . William WaUack and Mrs . William Wallaek , the original story by fcreoffrey of Monraoutb , the original drama founded upon the original story in the year 1561 , by Lord Buckhurst , Lord Dorset , and Thomas jSTorton . For further preliminary information , not compressible within the limits of the present notice , see bill of the performance , and book of the play . Throughout the forenoon of Monday the attitude of the neighbourhood was singularly composed . Liisson-grove and Church-street tore the prospect of the approaching dramatic solemnity with stolid resignation . Towards evening , however , symptoms of national convulsion began to be apparent . Groups of cpsterinongers formed to discuss Early British topics in the neighbourhood of the theatre— -the memory of Geoffrey of Monrnouth was drunk in solemn silence at innumerable bars—and Mr . Heraud's
autographs were in prodigious request . Soon , a stream of male and female Poets poured continuously into Church-street amid the cheers of the local population—the Drama ' s patrons rushed , in fustian jacket clad , to the gallery door—^ he small tradesman cast his apron to the winds * and sprang joyous from the counter to the pit . The breeze waSfponi . the Nor ' -J ^ or - West—the night was starlight—tbe atmosphere frosty—^ the hour seven o ' clock—^• • whien the curtain rose , and Videna began . At ten minutes past eleven , Mr . Heraud was bowing from , a private box ; Mr . Wallack was too ill with excessive acting to appear before the curtain ; the male and female poets were clapping ; their hands , the costermongers ¦ we re whistling with the tragic passion of Terror , and the small tradesmen in the pit were languishing with the other tragic passion of Pity . Videna was played out . And what was Videna like ? More like King Lear than we
could previously have thought possible . Iving Gorbudoc ( husband of Queen Videna ) falls down on his knees and curses his disobedient child . King Grqrbudoc ' s intellect is unsettled . King G-orbudoc is very forlorn , and has nobody to take pity on him but his " fool . " In these respects he seems to bear some distant resemblance to King Lear . In other respects , however , he is original—especially , in the matter of hard dying . We nave seen ( with tears ) many stage deaths , but King Grorbudoo , as impersonated by Mr . Wallack , has a jersistent vitality in him that exceeds all our former experience . The manneor of this sturdy monarch ' s death' —by drinking from a poisoned well—suggests a word of reference to the story of the p lay , so far as we could iinderstand it from Mr . Heraud ' s not very intelligible method of dramatically relating Geoffrey of Monmouth's narrative . Two brothers are
rivals for p-ower , and rivala for the affections of one lady . They fight , and one kills tno other . The survivor himself tells his parents that he is a fratricide , t > ut ho does not add that he has poisoned all the wells to help him in defeating his brother ' s army . His father curses him , goes out , drinks at one of the poisoned wells , and dies , His mother kills him , appoints a respectable successor to the crown , and dies also . If any Frenchman , writing in plain prose , and intent only on telling am interesting story-, had taken such a subject as this for a drama , critical gentlemen ot " sterling" principles and " healthy" propensities would havobeen ready enough to cry : Fie upon ifc | MorbM I Morbid I But when a drarqa , founded on the same horrible subject , is called a Tragedy—when the story is badly told—when the dialogue is not in prose , but in long tirades of fierce blank verse—thon the critical gentlemen aforesaid smile upon it quite complacently , and call it the fi . no , sterling , moral , old English drama—the right sort of thing for putting
down youw x rench horrors—the legitimate attraction of the English stage—¦ and bo forth . Wo will answer for it , that the small minority of moral protestors against the Corskan Brothers will be also the small minority whoso voices will applaud Videna as ain irreproachable play , "with no taint of ** Melodrama hanging about it at all . Of the poetry of the tragedy we will say nothing critical . We heard hero and there some good linos mixed up with a considerable quantity of hazardous eloquence ( to use the mildest possible term ) in the more ambitious passages . But we hnvc not read Videna , and on the subject of Mr . Heraud s poetry wo will modestly and impartially hold our tongues . As to the play , at bus been carefully got up . Tug scone-jpainting is always good in inteutLon , and frequently good also in execution . Xho acting is the loudest wo have heard for some time ; out the audience applauded it , and ¦ wo are willing ( modestly aud impartially again ) to consider that our cars ¦ we re too sensitive , and that Mr . William Wallack , and hia company , know
better than we do what will please the public of Portman Market . Having arrived by this time at as mild and diffident an expression of opinion as can be expected from any critics , and having no means of reporting on the aspect of Lisson-grove the morning after the play , we will lay aside the pen here , sink back m the easy chair , and , in silence and solitude " meditate" Videna for the rest of the day .
The New Two-Act Drama Afc The Olympic Th...
The new two-act drama afc the Olympic Theatre , is adapted from Le Deposilaire , and is presented to the English public under the title of
THE TRUSTEE . The story of this play is founded on so original and so happy an idea , is told with such exquisite skill , and excites such intense interest and suspense , from first to last , that we should be defrauding our readers of a genuine dramatic treat , if we even so much as hinted at the nature of the plot . We will only venture to say that it has the rare merit of being perfectly natural , perfectly original , and perfectly irresistible in its power of enchaining the sympathy anil exciting the expectation of the audience . No one previously unacquainted with the nature of the story in the French original , could possibly giiess how The Trustee will end , until the author chooses to show thein . This is a hazardous assertion ; but when our readers see the play , they will find that we have not made it on insufficient grounds . While paying out tribute to the dramatic excellence of the piece , we must not orget to add that it is also worally irreproachable . The most pitiless
perseeutor of French literature , on tbe hi g hest Puritan principles , may go to the * > lympic and behold the moyJ amazing of theatrical prodigies—a Prench play with which it would be impossible for him to find any fault . The acting was worthy of the drama . Mr . Wigan played the principal character nobly . The part—thp , t of an old man—was full of temptations to exaggeration , by " vvhich an inferior actor would have allowed himself to be led astray . Mr . Wigan never once forgot himself- ? -or , in other words , never once forgot what was due to his Art . He was rigidly and admirably true to nature from first to last ; The simple pathos , the quiet , fearful power of tlie performance at the end of the first act , and throughout the grand and arduous s « ene which solves the mystery of the story , in the second , thoroughly and honourably earned the unanimous applause which called Mr . Wigan before the curtain at the end of the play . Nor must the other actors be forgotten . They contributed all that could be desired from them
towards tie complete representation of the drama . Mr . F . Vinirig showed that he thoroughly understood his part , as a French nobleman of the old , graceful , gallant , highly-cultivated , and utterly heartless school . Mr . . Emery ' s quaint humour of look and gesture , and easy , hearty manner of speaking his dialogue , made quite a character of the " rough and ready' * cavalry officer ; and Miss Maskell , in a small , but by no means easy , part , cted with such good taste and intelligence as materially aided the effect on the audience of many of the best scenes in the play . We hope that the production of The Trvstee is the prelude to the appearance of other dramas of high and genuine interest on the stage of the Olympic . With such a company as Mr . W ^ gan's , farces and little comedies , however amusing , should never form the staple of tlie evening ' s entertainment . The sense of humour in an audience is aii excellent thing t »> address , but there are higher senses still to which really good actors may appeal with far more advantage to themselves and to their heai'ers—the sense of pathos and the sense of beauty .
Qn The Departure Of That Excellent Actor...
Qn the departure of that excellent actor , Mr . Morris Barnett , the manager of the Aj > Et , PHi' Theatre has endeavoured to supply play-goers with a fresh attraction in the shape of a four-act play , from the pen of Mr . Torn Parry ,
called-r-THE SUMMER STORM . We have not much to say about this drama . If the playbills had not told us that irt was " New and Original , " we should have ventured to describe it as an old story , very carelessly and vaguely related . We are afraid that our readers will hardly believe us when we inform them that there is actually another Adelphi felon at large in this ! NeV play !—who is obliged to secure the silence , by money , or murder , of another Adblpki accomplice ! I Of course , our old , old friend the " felon , " and his old , old friend the " accomplice , are located , for the time being , in a rural district of England . Of course , this circumstance authorises the introduction of that startling novelty which we never remember to have seen before in the whole course of our lives on the English stage—a country-dance of happy peasants . Of course , thea * e are u Aa > EiiWii effects'" capitally produced—a burning : hayrick , to end a perfectly incomprehensible first act with something taut everybody can understand—a sliding floor ( wonderfully managed by the carpenter , and turned to the least possible dramatic account by the play-writer ) , which precipitates a gentleman into unfathomable lower regions—and a " chalk-J > it , " into which several important characters of the drama come to soliloquize . Profusion of soliloquy is indeed t he special characteristic of " the Summer Storm , throughout . Mr . Leigh Murray suffered
particularly from this peculiarity , and boro his affliction admirably . In the course of the three first acts , ho had only two scenes in -which he enjoyed the happiness of talking to any purpose with anybody but himself . The only " parts" in the play which afford opportunities for good acting are the comic parts . Three of them are admirably performed . Mrs . Kceley was delightfully hearty and natural in the character of Bessy Busyby . Mr . Eogcra acted the country lout Simon Poat , with the quaintest truth and humour ; and Mr . Keoley , ais the IJirdcatcher , was , in . one wordperfect . Never was this admirable actor shown to greater advantage , as a
master of his art , than in the third act of tbe Suuuner SCorm . His representation of stolid , cunning , conceited drunkenness , is too subtle and delicate in its truth and humour to bo described—our readers must go and sco it . Let thorn imagine Koel < sy drunk jillover—a drunken slouch in h \ a shoulders , a drunlcen lamgour in his logs , a drunken stare in his eyes , a drunken composure in his utterance , and , above all , an unutterable overflowing of drunkenness in every lino of hia mouth—lot thorn imagine this , nnd they will take o « U' word for it , that dull as the play is , it is ¦ well worth sitting through for the boery Birdeatcher ' a sako !
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28101854/page/20/
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