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Leader (1850-1860), 20th November 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1255, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      DBTJBY LANE THEATBE . The Crown Diamonds of Auber , Wallace ' s Montana ® nd Balfe ' s Rose o / Castille , have been the attractions , of the last week ; Martha having been withdrawn * for the present at least . The admirable ensemble secured for tliese operas by the exertions of . the management , the artists , and the band , continue to 3 raV very good houses in spite of the usual flatness « f theatrical " business" immediately preceding Christmas , and of the depreciatory exertions of a few grumblers . Apropos of the illegitimate embroidery of Auber ' s score , about which such a fuss has been made in certain quarters , it ought to be h this is valid

      iemembered—althoug hardly a excuse for the original offenders , or even those who , perhaps xnore thoughtlessly than deliberately , follow in their footsteps—that Signor Mario has , season after season , imported , all uncensured , an air by another composer into Donizetti ' s Lucrezia Borgia . Madame Grisi has done the same by Rossini in his Otello . But outraged taste that could bolt the camel at Co vent < Jarden and in the Haymarket , was choked by a gnat in Drury Lane . It were interesting , though certainly unprofitable , to inquire why full vials of indignation have been reserved for the Pyne and Harrison management / while the older and still more

      eminent offenders above mentioned have not even been sprinkled . The decorative sinner who first twisted extraneous ballads , and , we believe , Rode ' s Air too , into the fabric of the Crown Diamonds , anight , we fancy , be detected by any musical archseologist who would be at the pains , in the person of the artist who first arranged the work for the Princess ' s Theatre . It is said that all arrangements for the removal of this company to the Covent Garden Opera-house are in a state of forwardness . The programme for the season there will be headed by Mr . Balfe ' s new opera , and will comprise , we believe , Donizetti ' s Figlia del Eeggimento , and Verdi ' s masterpiece , II Trovatore . These two latter works may possibly be given on the Drury Lane stage before Christmas , but it would be premature to make such an announcement authoritatively .

      HAYBIARKET THEATRE . My Mother ' s Maid , who was- some months since in Madame Celeste ' s service at the Adelphi as Our Lady ' s Maid , was last night introduced to the public by Mr . Buckstone . The incidents represented are the impediments opposed to the lawful matrimony of the hero by his mother ' s domestic , with . whom he has previously indulged in au indiscreet flirtation , and the timely discomfiture of the Abigail by the discovery of her connexion with a policeman . The principal parts were sustained with boundless vivacity by Mr . and Mrs . Charles Mathews , whose exertions were rewarded with freq , uent bursts of genuine laughter .

      OLYMPIC THEATRE . The judicious curtailment of the Jicd Vial , after the well-founded dissentient criticism of its first audience , having enabled it to enjoy a moderate run , it has been withdrawn without dishonour ; and Mr . J . M . Morton ' s Thumping Legacy now heads the bill . This piece , originally produced during Mr . Macready ' s management of Drury Lane , with JVlr . Kecley as the principal character , is one of its talented author ' s happiest efforts ; but has been so long upon the shelf that its plot may not be remembered by many of our readers . The hero , Jetry Ominous ( Robson ) , a cockney chemist and druggist , but , in point of fact , an oHshpot of the noble

      Cor-Leoni , and the mise en scene was fully up to the Olympic mark , which is now a high one . MONSIEUR JUXLIEN ' S CONCERTS . The first " Mendelssohn night , " on Monday last , attracted such a crowd that the management were under the painful necessity of turning hundreds from their doors even before the commencement of the entertainment . No further proof can be needed that the taste for classical music so industriously cultivated—to his credit , be it said—by Monsieur Jullien has now taken as firm , a hold of a large and influential class of amateurs as has that for lighter music of the million . The selection of the evening

      was—Symphony in A major . Concerto ( pianoforte ) in G minor—Miss Arabella Goduard . Scena soprano . " Infelice "—Miss Stabbach . Concerto ( violin )—M . Wieniawski . Wedding March ( Midsummer Night ' s Dream ) . The execution of the Symphony by the excellent band now under Monsieur Jullieu ' s command was such as to leave nothing to be desired even by the most fastidious of connoisseurs . The famous andante was encored , and the concluding movement received the warmest plaudits . The masterly performance t

      of the Concerto by Miss Goddard created a perfec furore . M . Wieniawski . displayed taste and talent in the violin solo , for which We are free to confess we had before failed to give him due credit , and was honoured by a unanimous " recal . " In the scena , " Infelice , " Miss Stabbach fully answered the demands of the composer for talent of the first class . The " Wedding March" met with its usual success , and was encored . The entire concert received from an audience of more than average discrimination an amount of approbation which must have been highly satisfactory to all the artists engaged in it , and which fully warranted the announcement of its repetition last night .

      THE CRYSTAL PALACE . However much of gratification it may afford our order—thankless , and too often fruitless , though the task—to warn the public against the devastation of joint-stock property often committed by those King Logs and King Storks whom the supineness of shareholders permits year after year to devour their substanceunder the name of Directors , it gives us yet more when we may conscientiously congratulate a proprietary upon the energy and fidelity of their administrators . Each successive visit of ours to the Crystal Palace lends strength , we are pleased to say , to our young belief that the affairs of the society and

      are now in conscientious and painstaking hands , have seen their worst days . We are not without hopes , as we have before said , that ere long the further stimulus of competition will yet improve their aspect ; but even without its assistance , it is now clear to those who examine the concern without prejudice , that the directors are making sound progress , and in the right way . No such unprejudiced observer can miss seeing that further important changes are still necessary and politic ; but as we believe they are under consideration , we may as well for the present leave the finding of fault for the more pleasant , and , in this case , equally easy task , of finding something to speak well of .

      PROPOSED NEW CRYSTAL PALACE AT' MDSWELI .-HILL . This project is beginning to be much talked of . Opinions jw-o and con . are warmly expressed in mercantile and speculative circles . Those who venture upon the former are at present , of course , in the minority . For , in the first place , objecting is ever the easier game . Objectors are rarely asked for proofs , and their safe , deceitful generalities are allowed to pass counterfeit as good currency . Projectors , on the other hand , are always examined , cross-examined , and re-examined , and are often asked to bring success and completion in evidence of feasibility . Secondly , in this particular case , the very name of Crystal Palace is so associated with memories of bygone prodigality and loss , and so ineradicable by present industry and integrity are the

      blots upon the escutcheon of its management , that the burnt children , " who are weak enough to dread competition , find no difficulty in enlisting in lively condemnation and ridicule of any new scheme of the kind all the indolent who care to have no opinion . They are joined * , by all the incredulous , and unimaginative , and hard-headed , who argue triumphantly , from a Capel-court point of view , that no second concern of the kind can answer while the stock of the first is below par . If to this phalanx we add the million timorous partisans of immobility and the few retrogressives whom the onward press of the age has left standing like lonely pillars on their beloved ancient ways , we can at once account for a loud , strong , and , at first sight , imposing majority in opposition . So convinced , however , are we of its feasibility , that we take our stand

      ayes . In our former notice we stated our opinion that the success of this project would mainly depend on the natural charms and accessibility of the proposed site . Desirous alike of investigating these points for ourselves and of being hereafter able to speak upon them with some degree of confidence , we have been at the pains to take such a survey with reference to its alleged capabilities as was competent to an unprofessional eye . The property offering for the purpose Jays on the left of the Great Northern line , between the new station at Muswell-hill and . that at Colney-hatch . It is , we should say , within ten or twelve minutes' railway ride of King ' s-cross by a

      through train . The distance by existing highways is six and a half miles from Xangham church , and will be considerably reduced by a road in contemplation from Crouch-end to Highgate-archway . We are induced to go into details , because in our former remarks we took occasion , relying upon our imperfect recollection , to question the alleged beauty and extent of the landscape . We are glad , as in honour bound , being now better informed , to confess our error . The land of which it is proposed to form a park , is a , chain of undulating land well timbered , principally with oak . It rises to a lofty ridge , 193 feet above the level of the Great Northern rails ,

      and overhanging the pretty hamlets between Crouchend and Hampstead . The middle distance is broken , by the Higligate hill and spire , and the horizon of a beautiful panorama is for / ned by the Kentish , hills that bound the Thames valley from Shooter ' s-liill to Erith and the heights of the Lea valley from Wanstead , by Highbeacb , towards Niizing . We went so far us to deride the comparison between this landscape and that seen from the Sydenham terraces ; but liere again we are obliged to concede that the natural and ever-present water lends charms which the grandly beautiful but fleeting play of the fountains at the Crystal Palace cannot supply . that the sitis

      The Gorilla" is now the vogue at Sydenham , and to see him is certainly worth the journey and the cost . This most wonderful , most manlike , and therefore most horrible of apes , whoso great peculiarities are his having four hands , and apparently a most minute brain , came to this country half putrid , though pickled in alcohol . He has , however , been so often and so scientifically described during the last week , that we need not vex the reader with another paraphrase of the very interesting lecture upon him delivered daily between one and four o ' clock by Mr . A . D . 13 artlett , the talented manager of the Natural History Department . The series of Saturday Winter Concerts has commenced . At the first ,

      To conclude . It cannot be denied e a charming one . It is on old observation that Londoners arc not half aware of the beauties that immediately environ them , and we wore never more convinced of this than on our visit to Tottenham Wood , We shall continue to wntch the progress of this project with interest , niul have much more to say about it . Pioneers as wo would be of progress , it is part of our duty , which we may wot shirk , to seek and to point out new objects of public interest , nnd new grooves for public thought . Wo would bo in the front rank , not with the enmp followers . There may bo slinking safety nnd some spoil in the rear , but with the peril of the front there is greater honour . sx . mahtin ' s hall .

      on Saturday lust , was performed , tor the first tune in London , a successful seronnta by M . Costa , culled 'The Dream , " composed on tlie occasion of the Princess Royal ' s , marriage , and played before the Court at Buckingham Pulace . Tiio soloists of the dixy were Miss Stabbach and Mr . Montein Smith , and an efficient chorus performed tlio beautiful glees " Sleep , gentle livdy" of Bishop , iuk 1 " I saw lovely riiillis" of Penrsull . A show of prize birds is announced for tho 22 nd , 23 rd , and 24 th hist ., and the numerous class who pursue the iiuioecnt recreation

      This handsome musiu-room has been completely redecorated , its ceiling richly painted in the Tudor tastb , and its orchestra advantageously rearranged . It was lnst night opened for the winter season with Mendelssohn ' s " St . Paul , " performed by tho Upper Singing School , conducted by Mr . John Iliilinh . Tho choruses " Stone him to death ! " " Hise up , arise ! " " Sleepers , awnko ! " " How lovely arc the messengers ! " and" O , bw ye gracious ! " wore beautiful y rendered . Tho soprano soloist , ^ ladtto . Mime do Villars , < md tho contralto , M « "Ille « ohroI . ( th | latter a Ml >« tnnte ) , sang most comnioudably , and cave much sutislnetion to the connoisseurs present . Mr . SftiU y , he bail * b m artist of much promise .

      of bird-keeping and taming nro preparing o thoir puts in groat force . Amatowrs from all parts arc expected to rally round Mr . lvldtl of Hammersmith , a wull . known expert , wlip hns a " happy family" of tamo animals some three or four hundred in number . Wo understand that a talking canary is expoctod to be 9110 of the inoat prominent features of tho show , ami ia looked for with extreme interest by tho fancy . " Wo shall next -week , apace permitting , allude to , mul perhaps publish , the Company ' s official programme of contemplated amusements and now traffic arrangements *

      sican house Geronimo , is suddenly summoned to Corsica , to receive " a thumping legacy , " bequeathed to him by a deceased uncle , liobsou ' s satisfaction at this may be conceived , and also his bewilderment upon the discovery that his undo is not dead , but has sent for him to impose upon him the duty , esteemed sacred in tho island , of currying out a vendetta , and of being killed , or killing a member of a rival family , the Leoni . Our poor in . veiglod chemist finds himself opposed to a chcuauxde-frise of stilettos ; for his cousin lioaetta ( Miss Herbert ) has one ready for him if ho proceeds to execute the will of her murderous old father ; the doomed Leoni challenges him to mortal combat on

      his own account , and one Bambozetci , another lover of lioaetta , is no loss ferociously inclined . Tho shrewdness , howevor , which characterises tho gonuino Londoner , stands his friend . Ho stirs up a foud between thoso last-named worthies , and , casting to tho winds all thought of tho family honour and of the fair JRoaetta , whose hand had buen promised to him as tho prico of blood , delivers himself , with a pleasant sonso of security , into the hands of tho . French soldiery . It is needless to say that Mr . Itobson kopt * tho house in a roar . The pusillanimous head of tho family , old Filippo Geronimo , was very ably supported by Mr ; G . Cooko , as was tho bloodthirsty Bamhoxatti by Mr . I ] . Wigan . Miss Herbert and Mr . Gordon wore efficient as lioaetta and

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      Untitled Article

      No . 452 , Novbmbeb 20 ^ 1858 . ] -T H E _ jL E ^ A D E B . 1256

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1858, page 1255, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2269/page/15/