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Leader (1850-1860), 30th July 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 887

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      have compensation , or otherwise to pro mote the Cl ' your petitioners as in duty bound will ever pray , &c . Sec . [ Sljncd Vy the Members of the Compensation Committee . ' ] ¦ .. ¦ ' .

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      promised in his programme is concerned , it as a positive misfortune to the public that it aviII not be able to hear the " Vepres Siciliennes , ' as it is performed at Drury-lane , after this evening . I Ins opera , wlii-ch was written for the Academie Irnperiale of Paris , where it was played for the first time ml 85 5 , is certainly Verdi ' s masterpiece . It contains a large number of those great choral pieces in winch the chosen composer of modern Italy displays not only his vigour—which at times becomes mere violence—but also his great knowledge of using- large masses with becoming dramatic effect . The most remarkable pieces in the work are in the first act , the introductory chorus ,

      representation of by far the most important work OnWedneBday S ^^^^ V ^ ^ ^ Siciliennes" was given at this house for the first timefn England , with great success . Mademoiselle Titiens , Signor Mongini , and Signor Fagotti , paitioiarly' diftinguished themselves . The opera was produced with great magnificence , and , ii . it had been possible to Taxing it out earlier in the season , it is certain that the management would have derived considerable pecuniary profit from - it- As it is , Mr . Smith is entitled to great credit for keep , ing good faith with his subscribers , in so far as the

      Helen ' s cavatina ( Mademoiselle Titiens ) , the quartet without accompaniment , and the duet between Guy de Mont fort ( Fagotti ) and Arrigo ( Mongini ) ; in the second , ' the air winch Procida ( Vialetta ) sings on his return to Sicily ( with choral accompaniment ) , the duet between the duchess Helen and Arrigo , and the very beautiful barcarole , the most " popular motive in the opera , which forms the chief subject in the finale ; in the third act , the whole of the dance music , which is far more brilliant than a composer of such a sombre genius as Verdi could have been expected to write , and the finale , which is . admirably fourththe tenorairand

      worked up , and , in the , ' s , above all , the duet between Arrigo and Helen . The fifth act contains a Sicilienne , in which many vocalists have been already heard in England , and which Mademoiselle Titiens sings with great effect ; and a charming romance for the tenor , also well known as " X-a brise soufile . " Several of the most remarkaole pieces wero encored , and Mademoiselle Titiens , Signor Mongini , and the other principal singers were recalled at the end of each act . In the divertissement of the fourth season Mademoiselles 13 oschetti and Morlacchi gained much applause , and certainly danced most gracefully .

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      The novelties of the musical season of 185 'J have been worthily crowned by the long expected and most successful production of Meyerbeer ' s , so-called " Comic , " opera , "jDinorah , " otherwise " II Pellegrinaggio di PloermeJ , " called , on its native stage at tho Paris Opora ^ Coxniquo , " £ e Pardon do Ploiirmel . " The house was on Tuesday crowded with habituisns to its aristocratic portions—and in the galleries mid pit with amateurs and professionals , all anxious to witness a now triumph of tho ronowned composer , of which they made pretty sure ; and curious to observe his treatment of a subject pretty . well known to differ considerably from thoso he had previously handled . with such eminent results . On the

      neither head wero thoy disappointed . IFrom beginning to tho end of the oporn tho genius of the master was fully and warmly recognised . HJs superb overture , played , notwithstanding an amount of eccentric difficulty obvious to the least orudite , in superb stylo , was encored ; and himself thrice summoned— clothed in a customary suit of black and cliflldenco—before the curtain . AH wero charmed again , aud not a fow surprised to find that he who had been stimulated to magnificent fervour by such romantic subjects as "The Prophot" and "Tho Huguonots" and the " Kobort , " had stooped to wreathe appropriate wild flowers of music round a simply pastoral story . : Tho "Pardon" of tho title , which means an nnnual villago festival of a semi-secular , sorai-roligious character , ig supposed to havo taken place just a -year before tho period of tho action , and tho anjuivorsary roturns on tho day of the denouement . On the first occasion an unhappy aflUlr occurred . JDinora / t ( Madame Miolan-Cavvalho ) , tho bello of PloUrmol , and a peasant-heiress , was that day to have been married td ono Hoel ( Signor Grazlanl ) , when a sudden storm causod tho destruction of ho * horltago and hor sudden abandonment by her inorconnry lover . Tho latter then turned hie attention

      to the acquisition of property by other means , and having consulted a wizard , obtained a receipt for the discovery of a . hidden treasure . The . first item of the prescription was a year of solitary wandering ; and this is supposed to have been just accomplished at the opening of the opera , whenZfoeZ returns toPlocrmel , and finds . Dinorali a maniac , devoted to _ a pet goat - , the wizard dead ; and himself sole depositary of the secret and the charm , _ These events are supposed to be narrated in the overture . The habitual interpreters of prograinrnesymphohies would , no doubt , have read the characters without the key furnished by the avvertimento of the libretto ; but we were glad to avail ourselves of the information therein conveyed , and have now no objection to acquiesce in the interpretation . In this overture , which may be characterised as a pastoral certainllavished the

      symphony , Meyerbeer has y resources of his art and the flowers of his fancy . While it abounds with delicacies and intricacies for the connoisseur , it appeals to the sentiment of the tasteful and Unlearned by the introduction of unseen voices and of the most melodious and touching themes that occur in the body of the opera . Its execution , though more aplomb may and will , of course , be acquired , was entirely satisfactory , and , considering that the work has been rehearsed fewer weeks here than it was months before presentation in Paris , little short of marvellous ; and this must have been no less gratifying to the enterprising manager of the theatre than to Mr . Costa , who shared with the maestro-the odoriferous shower of-highbred approval from the private boxes , and the pitiless pelting storm of applause from the cloud-capped towers of the crowded galleries .

      The rising curtain discovers the sylvan hut of Correntino , a double-distilled Breton bumpkin , before which a group of peasants , clad in the quaint costume of that most old-fashioned province , sang an extremely simple rustic chorus , which might be , or perhaps is , in fact , constructed on an indigenous theme . As their voices died away , a white goat was seen somewhat nervously to trot round the corner of the second-wing P . S ., and Dinorah , the new M aria , descended the stage . Her goat is now the mad girl ' s all : her first recitative is ¦ addressed to it ; and , in fancy nursing it'as she sits on a stone , she sings that affecting ; Berceuse , * ' Si Carina , " with whose graces and delicious accompaniment all our And

      musical readers are already well acquainted . now appears Correntino ( Signor Gardorii )* the ultrastupid , ghost-fearing , comic man of the drama , whose main business is to be catspaw for Hoel in the unhallowed business of treasure-seeking . Entering to a singularly wild tune which he is supposed to play on the " cornemuse " ( a horrid continental variety of bagpipe ) , Ms first scena is one long-drawn attempt to be -jolly under the influence of abject terror , lightened , however , by an admirable country song ^ given while he sits down to an inspiring basm ot bread and milk . The object of his fears is the goblin Lady of the Meads ; and when poor Dinorah breaks in upon him , and the wind puts out his

      candle , his sensations are considerably heightened , and find . vent in ludicrous efforts of song . He fails , in his fright and in the darkness , to recognise the maiden , and she , by her wanderings , innocently adds fuel to the fi . ro of his delusion . Mistaking Him for her fniililoss lover , she forces him to pipe to her while she slugs ; and here in a broken melody , in triple time , accompanied Arpeggiatoby the clarionet , Mad a mo Miolan triumphed over an extreme difficulty . Sho then forces him to dance a measure ¦ with her , nnd at last loaves him half dead with terror and exhaustion to an interview with his evil genius , Hotil ( Grazjani ) , who , his year of probation being ovor , sooks the site of his , treasure ession at

      with a view to , talcing immediate poss . He oneo recognises in Correntino an appropriate tool , and resolves to make of him tho sacrifice required as a last condition of obtaining tho " Open Sesamo . " Tho better to shape him to his ends lie sends him out for liquor , and while waiting indulges in a desperately long scona showing the oscillation of his feohngs botweon avarice and remorse , The air , " Dell ' oro ! doll ' oro , " is a flno one , and might , to our thinking , have been vory feelingly rendorcd , oepecially by so precious a vocalist as Signor Grasjiani , who has himself been out in the motallic rain * but the gifted pot of tho managers was hardly , wo apprehend , for tho moment , in the vein . But when Correntino comes back from tho publichouse , and the pair fall to drinking , both artists oxorted themselves most camniondably to carry on a mortally long scone . It being the ovo of tho anniversary of tho " Pardon , " old mouiorlos aro roused in Hoel . Dinorah will riso before him , and the thought of her lost reason and blighted heart chequers his bright anticipations , and spoils tho gusto with which he . would detail to his accomplice the wizard ' s scheme for tho attainmont of the burled hoard . A serios of grmul imc tedious recitatives , which here take the placo of iuo dialogue glvon on the French stage , ixrv dovotoU to

      the illustration of these points , and lead to an admirable buffo duet , in which Signor Gardoni fully maintained the high comic and vocal quality he h ad already displayed , and ( i > iMoraA having returned ) to a delicious trio . This ¦ g lowing melody , interspersed and accompanied by the tinkling obligate of the goat-bell , to which Dinorah listens in childish ecstasy ; the instrumental whistling of the wind , the moody demonstrations by Hoel , and the spasmodic terror-fits ox Correntino , formed a masterly finale to the first act , and brought down the curtain amidst universal

      expressions of delight . In the the opening of Act II ., we have the chorus of peasants again , in a moonlit wood , with a characteristic drinking song ; and Madame Didiee , as a goatherd , who , reminding her fellows of their poor little playmate of the year before , gives a song o ; i the thorny path of love . The party have -haraly retired when the love - lorn' maid appears , still m search of her lost Hoel . Her first air in this act is a plaintive allusion to her own condition ; her next the famous " Ombra leggera , " wherein she addresses a fitful moonbeam that has broken throu-g a the trees above her . This beautiful morceau Mdme . Miolan gave with that perfect ease and finish , ior the Comiqueand

      which she is renowned at Opera :, was of course encored . The scene now changes to a wild and torrent - cloven glen , where tnicfc darkness is pierced by occasional lightning . Hither Hoel brings his intended tool and victim , and here , having placed in his hand a divining rod , he leaves him . Idiot-like , the creature interrupts our sensations , and defers the impending climax , by a ludicrous exposition of his utter cowardice ( most ably rendered by Signor Gardoni ) ; but is presently joined by the heroine . This time they recognise each other and their respective pursuits . &he adds caution to the fear that saturates him by the announcement that whoso first lays hands on tne

      buried money must die ; within a year . On tne reentrance of his master , therefore , the unhappy wight is anythine but plastic . The ensuing scene between these worthies is , though scientific , like many other pieces in the opera , extremely long , yet it is lit up by passages of extreme beauty , among which the comic duo , "Ilfurbo , lo so , " where each indicates his appreciation of the other ' s characteristics , must fc > especially instanced . The-business in hand , however seeins to hang fire ; for on Dinorah ' s reappearanc she repeats her solemn warning , and just saves Correntino from being- hurled by his patron into the gorge in quest of the crock of gold . 2 S midnight strikes ; and futile . attempts of the ungrateful dolt substitute in the enter

      to enlist the maiden as his - prise brings on the finale of Act II . This elaborate work is no less remarkable for lyric than for dramatic effect . Resisting the . blandishments oi Correntino , and pursuing , the Avhile , her own fitiul train of ideas , the poor rhaniac descries her goat in the background . Amid the howling of the storm and the roaring of the waters ( illustrated by the orchestra with wonderful appropriateness ) sho dashes into the gloom after her treasure . It is seen to cross a wooden bridge that spans the torrent . She pursues it . The frail structure givos way . A shriek pierces the elemental discord . Hoi'l ana Correntino rush too late , as it would seem , to her aid , and the curtain falls . . Now an oniracte , introducing a delightful Horn smyphony , loads us to smooth water . The scene ot Act III . " is eminently pastoral . Signor Taghufico , as a huntsman , enters first , and gives sound eflect to an admirable hunting song . Then Neri Baraldi , as a reaper , sings a harvest song , the sharpening ot has seytho , the while , being imitated " to nature bysome instrument in the band ; and IJuheo and Marai again , as un-named goatherds , exerted themselves loyally in a lay a propos of . ¦ th eir wait . AU have hoard of the last-night ' s storm , and an the oonutj-Paternosterofler

      ful harmonies of tho well-known " , up thanks for their own safety . For tsmomont theu ? joy is dushed by tho thought of B " ''™*/ . I hcn foi some one thinks sho has perished , but wl en Hoel enters with her , helpless , bu Ing , » h « arms , all aro at ease once more . . Ho , "c linyo seen , had run to save her-a projecting ^ "f ^ J ^ J arrested her full , and his strong »«» in ' Wffi tho rescue . In a noblo and touching roolody . & « vindicate nssal , " ho announces a W . }» ?^§ frightM events of tho evo have wrough } in him , ttna ssisim ! it # Bho nSS he fbllow-viWers around her , as they woto ontho day-of her abandonment . Her Hod is beside or i ljor hand is i » his . The boll of the chapel tinldos is the ,, it did . The procession to tlio Virgin ' s So ff ai prepared . The events of a year have luroly boon but ono long , heavy , dreamy uight i tho day has brought joy with waking , and sho is hereoU again . In a lovely duo , " Di tutto or mi mmmonto , " tho lovors ronow their troth an unseen choir shags the " Avo Maria , " whloh tho concovt-glvoru have al-

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      : No . 488 . T . ^ mn THE LE ADER . 887

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1859, page 887, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2305/page/11/