On this page
-
Text (5)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
Untitled Article
JReggimento the part of Maria might have been written for Mademoiselle Piccolomtni ; at all events , she makes it all her own by the perfect truth , naturalness , and sympathy of her acting . The archness and espieghrie of the soldiers ' darling , the guileless , enjoyment of the life of the camp and the march , the affection for her comrades , are not less real and intense than the irrepressible "burst of sorrow at the parting from her brothers in arms , so touchingly expressed in the air Convien partii \ than the fretful beating against the bars of the aristocratic drawing-room , and the escape into freedom again at the last . Signor Belletti , a most finished singer and effective actor , made his first appearance this season as the Sergeant ; the new tenor , Signor Stecchi Bottardi , whether spell-bound by the fascinations of Maria , or daunted by the success of Giuglini , did . not succeed in convincing the audience that he was an acquisition to Her Majesty ' s Theatre .
The Traviata , on Thursday evening , drew , as may be supposed , an immense audience . Long before the doors were opened , every approach was besieged by enthusiasts , and we noticed with intere st a fair sprinkling of clergymen among 1 the crowd . So much for the effort of all the howling proprieties and all the autumnal denunciations ! It is evident that some pious people are not even content with hearing the Traviata in the diluted form of a vocal festival and an unknown tongue without access to the -words . "We never heard such a rustlingof leaves at the Opera as oh Thursday at all the most favourite episodes in the story- We once heard Ronconi say that two-thirds of the pit never took their eyes off the book of the opera while lie was acting the Barbiere , and we are inclined to believe that the clergymen ( whether from pangs of conscience or an imperfect acquaintance with the story , we know not ) saw very little of Madlle . Piccolo 3 « ni on Thursday . The naughty opera has never created a deeper sensation than on this occasion . The performance was almost unexceptionable : the orchestra wonderfully improved in delicacy and discretion , the chorus steady , and Signor Beneventaso , when he -was not
made unsteady in the legs by applause ( which maddens him like a red flag ) , quite agreeable as the heaviest of fathers . Signor Giuglini lias decidedly increased his reputation by his performance of Alfredo ; he sang with infinitely greater vigour and energy than inthe Favorite , and with equal feeling arid elegance . We felt remorseful at having suggested defects in his Fernando which we could not perceive in his Alfredo . His chest voice was particularly well delivered , and his action was , for the most part , ea-sy and refined . Mademoiselle Piccolomini surpassed herself ; in the first act , the wayward and capricious insouciance , the fitful , lurking tenderness , and the outward abandonment to the hurrying stream of pleasure without love ( for to her love is a presentiment of despair ); in the second , act , the almost submissive and imploring Belf-sacrifice in the interview with the father , the suppressed anguish in the parting from Alfredo , and the resigned humility when he insults her publicly ; in the third act , the startling " make up" of that fresh , young face , now haggard , sunken , ghastly with consumption ; with the deathly languor Of the listless , drooping arms , and the deserted misery of the appealing eyes ; the wild despair of the last cry for life , when love has made life precious , all too late :
Gran Dio—morir si giovane ! and the sudden silence of that troubled spirit ; in all these situations Madlle PrccoLOMiNi enchanted and moved the audience in an extraordinary degree . Art so consummate , set in so fair a frame of youth and beauty , is not often seen . The exclamation , Gran Dio— -morir si giovane ! to which we have referred , thrilled through the audience , making "the whole world kin , " and giving an uncomfortable sensation in the throat to some of the toughest and coldest dilettanti . Between the acts the nioral of the opera was occasionally discussed , and whilst by some it was argued that the unwholesomenesa of the atmosphere , and the vita indegna of the heroine of the story , might have easily been got rid of by converting the Traviata into a sempstress , oxa " beggar maid , "
axiA . Alfredo into a fashionable Cophetua , and that in any case the hospitalpathos was a little overdone , others insisted that the FillePerdue , or the " liost One , " as the libretto says , was a proper subject for the drama , and that the moral of the Traviata was at least in favour of virtuous and moral society , seeing that Violetta is dashed to pieces on the rocks in a desperate attempt to snatch herself from the devouring sea of infamy , and that she is purified by passion and redeemed by death . We are not concerned to talce part in this discusaibn here ; but we may note with , natural complacency the intelligent and truly English cotrtpromise which throws back the Traviata a century or two , the result of this compromise being a startling combination of gentlemen in the costume of Charles II ., stage footmen of the present ( and every other ) day , and ladies of the latest fashion , with an occasional individual whose costume is a cross between Jimmy Bos well , and Captain Macheath .
The Traviata is given again this evening . On Tuesday next , / Puritani , for the debut of Madlle . Ortolani , who brings her latest laurels from Madrid . Signor Giuglini will be the Arturo , and report says he is an admirable one ; but Ave are surprised that Mr . Lumi . ev should have failed to understand that the proper tenor to sing with Madlle . Ortolani must be Signor Becoafico . At all events , Her Majesty's Theatre has fairly struck into a vein of inexhaustible success .
Untitled Article
THE BOTJFEES PARISIENS AT THE ST . JAMES'S THEATRE . A typographical error in a contemporary has converted theBoufFes Parisiens into the Bouffes Parisiens , thereby suggesting to the uninitiated public that the French company , announced "by Mr . Mitchell , is nothing less tha , n a troupe of Bouffes , which would indeed be a surprising dramatic family . We may as well tell our readers what these Bouffes Parisiens really are . They are a select cornpaniy of eccentric comedians , of and from Paris , unique and admirable after their kind , who perform the wildest and most extravagant farces , interspersed with the gayest , the prettiest , and most piquante music . At their little box of a theatre in the Champs Elysees , and subsequently at the Theatre Cobite ( about the sizetif the Soho Theatre ) , in the Passage Choiseul , they were the rage of the French metropolis . And no wonder , for anything more irresistibly amusing , more delightfully perfect in its way , than their buffooneries , is not to be conceived . There is not an indifferent actor in the troupe . The singing is , after its own fashion , excellent , and the compact little orchestra is conducted by a first-rate musician , M . Offenbach , a . gentleman in whom the nicest artistic sense is combined with rare skill as a composer and conductor .
The evident zest and spirit with Avhich each member of this little band of brothers works , is as remarkable as the completeness of the general effect . We can only see one difficulty in the acclimatization of the Bouffes in the colder and denser atmosphere of London . They are essentially and individually of Paris Parisian . To enjoy their fun and frolic one must not only be thoroughly at home in the French language , but in French , and , still more , in Paris life , and manners , and slang . Ignorance of the language , we are aware , does not keep ' an audience away , rather the reverse . Two-thiids of Madame Kistori ' s audience were sublimely ignorant of the language of Dante and Alfikri , and only caught the sense of the words by flashes ; but the select few understood and admired , arid the fashionable many were leavened by the select few . In the case of the Bouffes , too , there is quite enough in the mere pantomime of the actors , and in the sparkling and sprightly music , to send the world of fashion andjthe general public in crowds to the theatre again and again , and we are disposed to congratulate the enterprising and energetic Mr . MiTCHEi / r .. very heartily on this new proof of his courage and ability as a caterer of all the delicacies of the soason . We havo often wished that instead of two Italian Operas we had the company from the Salle Ventadouk . established at the Lyceum .
Untitled Article
Mr . Gye announces the return of Madame Ristori to the I . 1 TOEDM in June . The renowned Italian tragedienne , whoso success in Paris shows no symptoms ot decrease , will appear this season in the new drama , written expressly for her by the distinguished Florentine poet and patriot , Montaniclli , and in an Italian version o Macbeth , in which , however , the Lady Macbeth will bo the principal character . The appearance of Madame Ristort , in a part consecrated ly tuc traditions of Mrs . Sjcddons , cannot fail to excite great interest among her multitude of admirers in England .
Untitled Article
disadvantage is put out of sight , and nothing remains to !* , » . * i — effect of a . masterly picture . You see a type of ^ SLrt' 2 ? & >* distinctxon in every look and gesture , and in the most trvii ™ iv . where the dignity of the deceived husband is most compromised « L i uatl 01 M still supenor to the duper , and the nobleness of his manner command ^ is As a singer , too , Ronconi astonishes and delights the audience bvU 8 pect - over an ungrateful and impossible voice , harsh , grating , and refracto ^ ^ subdued to the expression of the most various emotions by the conkim ? , ^ ' , of the singer Think of the poor effect of the most beautiful ^ ffwS ?^" is . a voice and nothing more , and you cannot fail to appreciate theimm re superiority of such a dramatic artist as Ronconi . Madame Eosln ? nse by many degrees the best Duchesse de Chevreme we have ever hearr £ » £ ii be that the part is dramatically and vocally an ungrateful one or that TRr , r Jfc ^ P ^ Si ^ overwhelming in this opera , we kaow not , ' certaialv SHLuuiure
never seen an adequate representative or . the Duchesse . He Ch Madame RosaDevries may not entirely satisfy our conception © f tW ™" ' trious and intriguing beauty of the seventeenth century as she is iesorihivT the enthusiastic and . eclectic pen of M . Victor Cousin- ^ tcciM rl 7 £ aL 1 plus charmant -visage , de grands yeux bUus , de fins et abondans cheveux dW ' ; chutain , lejrtus beau sein , et dans toute sa personne un piquant m € lanqe de d'T et de vivacite , de grace , et de passwrc—but she possesses , at least , those amtf and abundant charms which the posthumous lover describes as M teristic of the illustrious women of the age of Richelieu At all nlT Madame Devries displays a voice of considerable power and hit sings with unfailing correctness of intonation , and extorts a tribute f applause from one of the coldest audiences we have ever witnessed Afari moiselle Didiek sang the airs for the contralto with singular eleffaiipP ^ sweetness , but with a . certain languor ( on the evening we were n »< SK which may have been either distaste or indisposition . Sienor N * t Baraldi is a very pleasing light tenor , with a fresh young voice of no eroft power , but well trained and agreeable ; and his acting is easy and natural TJip orchestra at this house maintains its undisputed supremacy ; in theperfornianrp of the overture , and in all the accompaniments , it left absolu tely nothing to be
On Monday the universal Trovatore was revived for the rentreeoi Mario who has had the most brilliant success in Paris this winter iu the part of Manrico . Mario returns in good voice , and in the last two acts of the opeia he justifies the common saying among Opera-goers , that , after all , Mario , when in health and good temper , is still , far aiid away , the first of tenors . ' There is a virility in his voice , and a . distinction in his method of singing which no other tenor equals or resembles . What a pity it is that the bouquet of such a voice should be faded , and that the falsetto should now occupy so large a place in its once noble range of tone ! Grisi is still the superb and admirable
artist ; Graykani has made the music allotted to" the Contede Lima his own , and Madlle . Didieb is a very fair reduced copy of Madame Viardot , whose noble , picturesque , and romantic impersonation of Azucena she imitates not unsuccessfully , and sings like a miniature Alboni .
ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA . Maria di Rohan ia unquestionably one of the feeblest of operas , utterly unworthy of the composer of Jjiicia , La Favorita , and Lucrezia Borgia . The libretto is borrowed from a very striking and effective French drama , but the drama is too much for the music , and the plot is too artificially constructed for the operatic stage . Your Chorus is not very clever at carrying on the interest of a P } ece by means of recitative , working up to the denouement , as if it were a besieged city , by a series of parallels , while the leading personages are piling up tno agony in the centre of the scene . The overture is the most dreary and uncomfortable infliction of sound and fury , signifying nothing , that can be imagined . ' * P ™ > Pretentious , incoherent , utterly devoid of consistency or continuity , as it the composer had been struck with a sudden sterilityand had fagged up a
, pasticcio of fragmentary reminiscences in a state of impotent exasperation , vy itn two or three exceptions , there is not a note worth remembering from tne ilrst bar to the last , and we cannot wonder that this opera , in spite of the genius of a great artist , should be unable to take a settled rank in the repertory , it mmply serves the purpose of introducing Ronconi at the beginning of a season in one of his finest displays of acting . Uonconi ' s performance of Chevrame is known to be unsurpassably fine , and tlio spectator must go back to the daye of Edmund Kuan to find its equal in force and passionate intensity . It ia an almost unique example of what a true artist fit Tl * % X ? ° S bnoU 8 natu « M difficulties . Against every imaginable disadvantage of face , figure , and voice Ronconi has to contend , and such is the transmuting and transforming power of accomplished art , that every
Untitled Article
404 , THE LEADER . fNo . 370 . Sat ^ V
Untitled Article
The sale of tickets for tlio Crystal Palace Handel Festival is rapidly progressing . The- scats in the four central blocks of the Great Transept were all disposed of more than ten days sinco , and the applications for the other reserved stalls havo been exceedingly numerous . The Lower Hall , Exeter Hall , is now open for the sale of seats , and is thronged daily by applicants . Tlio price oi a stall for a singlo oratorio is one guinea , or two guineas and a half for the series ' of three performances .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), April 25, 1857, page 404, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2190/page/20/
-