The Press. — London, England, 1857-05-30 00:00:00

538 unexceptionable guide if the author had only restrained his very iusipid attempts to be witty. Oswald's German Reader. London : Routledge. A VOLUME of careful selections from the fit st German authors in poetry and prose. The principal feature of the book is the strict chronological order of authorship followed, so as to ithibit the gradual development of style, thus enabling the pupil " to "master the grammatical and idiomatical pecu " liaritie s " of the language at various periods. The book is worthy the attention of German students. The Reason Why. London . lioulston and Wright. As extract or two will best exhibit the nature of this book : Are umbrellas, with steel frames, dangerous in an electric storm They are dangerous in some degree, because they might convey electricity to the hand, and then transfer it to the body. But, gent rally speaking, when it rains, the rain itself, being a good conductor, relieves the disturbance of electricity by conveying it to the ground. Are iron bedsteads dangerous in electric storms? No, they are sale, because the iron frame, completely surrounding the body, and having a great capacity for con duction, would keep the electricity away from the body. Why is it safe to be in bed during an electric dorm ? Because feathers, hair, wool, cotton, dm, espi:cially when dry, are good insulators or nonconductors. Upwards of 1,300 such questions are asked and answered in a series of lessons, arranged alphabeti cally, beginning with acids and ending with zoology. In general, the answers are simple, tolerably correct, and adapted to any capacity ; but it is by no means an attempt to make science popular. The author endeavours to interpret cause and effect in accord. ance with the progress of discovery. PUBLICATIONS RECEIVED.-MAy 28. BOOKS. Gossip. By Henry Morley. Chapman and Hall. A Winter's Sketch in the South of France, and the Pyrenees. Chapman and Hall. Olive. A Novel. Chapman and Hall. Recollections of a Lifetime, or Men and Things ! have seen. By S. G. Goodrich. Two vols. Sampson and Low• The Practical Angler, or the Art of Trout Fishing' . . _.. A. and C. Black. The City: its Sins and Sorrows. By Thomas Guthrie. HD. A. and C. Black. Caste and Christianity. A Looking•glass for the Times. By Temple Christian Faber. Hardwicke. The Book of Ballads. Edited by Bon Gaultier. W. Black• wood and Son. Greece under the Romans. By George Finlity, L.S.I). IV. Blackwood. Saunders. The Poetical Legends of the Channel Islands. and 01.ley. A German Reading Book, with Notes. G. Rutledge. Martin Doyle's Common Things. V. Routledge The Romany Rye. By George Burrows. Two vols. Murray. China. A General Description of that Empire and its Inhabitants. Two vols. Murray. Helen and Olga. A Russian Tale. By the Author of " Mary Powell." Hall and Virtue. The Pleasures of Home, A Poem in Five Acts. By the Rev. Thomas Campbell, M.A. Saunders and Otley. Poems. By Alastor. Saunders and Otley. Hunters' Panoramic Guide from Niagara to Quebec. China. By Sir Oscar Oliphant. The Decimal System. (Fro ge and Son—Notes on some of the Principal Pictures in the Royal Academy. Smith and Eider—The Scandinavian Question. J.R. Smith—The Gates of the East. Ward and Lock.—Considerations on Divorce. C. J. Stewart. PERIODICALS. The Monthly Review. Hall and Virtue—The Royal Gallery of Art. Colnaghi—Froaer's Magazine. J. W. Parker—Art•Treasure Exhibition. (Part 1.) Kent and Co. MUSIC. Hope. ----- Garcia's New Treatise on the Art of Singing. Cramer and usir. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. GIUGLINI, the new tenor, is the great success of the establishment. The magnificent contralto Alboni, and all the prime donne, including even the lively Piceolomini, hide their diminished heads by the side of Giuglini, who is the reel " draw," as it is termed when audiences rush to a theatre to patronise a favourite. This success of a tenor is rather remark able, as generally it is the soprano voice which takes a public. A contralto always pleases but rarely attracts, and this is another curious tact in operatic events. In the Trova tore, Giuglini has ample scope to develop his powers, and he takes especial care never to attempt anything beyond them. The charm of his voice and style will always be in an adagio, and Verdi has afforded Manrico some excellent opportunities for passion and sentiment. Alboni's Atueena is a strong feature in the cast of this popular work. Next Monday there will be the novelty of a morning operatic performance, with Alboni and THE PRESS. Belletti in the Barbiere, and Piccolomini and Giug lini in the Traviata. Next Tuesday Signor Corsi will make his welcome first appearance in England in Verdi's Aino, with the opening night of Charles Braham as the tenor. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. A YOUNG girl of twenty making her first essay as a prima donna, would of itself be no ordinary event, but when the juvenile aspirant is also the daughter of a most popular composer, then no surprise can be felt at the extraordinary excitement manifested at the Lyceum: on Thursday night, as Mlle. Victoire Balfe tripped on a stage for the first time in her life, costumed as Amina, the sleep walking heroine of Bellini's most melodious opera. The triumph of the debutante was transcendant. It would be difficult to cite a parallel case of enthusiasm, and it may be fairly added that the honours were legitimately gained. The name of Blare was not required; by any other name the " rose would have been as sweet." Yes! Mlle. (why not "Miss," by the way) Balfe has established herself as a vocalist quite of the common order of even leading singers, and as an actress thoroughly capable by her natural attri butes of challenging comparisons with the fixed stars of the operatic world. An artiste more thoroughly trained for her task has never been met with at her age. The tuition she has received has been in the most refined school of singing, and she has neglected no amount of preparation to qualify herse.f for a first-rate vocalist. As an actress she is impulsive and spontaneous; possessing, independently of "la beaute du diable—la jeunesse," a physical appearance calculated to fix the permanent atten tion of her auditory, as she flits about the stage. Her head is small, but well placed on the shoulders; the facial expression is varied, and the figure, albeit fragile, finely formed. Her action is particularly graceful, and, with all the awkwardness from time to time of the novice on the lyric stage, her pantomime is appropriate and dramatic. Her his'xionic gifts were particularly displayed in the finale of the second act, when Amina implores Elvino to believe in her innocence. This and the last scene were the culmina ting points of a deeply interesting performance, for not even the stage•frigbt on her entrance, and the emotions under which she must have laboured throughout the opera, could prevent the recognition of her resources. In short, the question as regards the career of Mlle. Balfe is reduced to one of stamina. Will her physical powers stand the wear and tear of a stage life? There cannot be the slightest doubt that as she is matured in years she will gain in strength, and those persons who had heard her at the rehearsals emphatically proclaimed that she sang with infinitely greater vigour. Her voice is a pure soprano, ascending to D in alt, of sympathetic quality but slightly "veiled," like the organ of Mlle. Lind, whose upper notes and those of Mlle. Belie are often very much alike in bell like or ringing quality. The adagio of the finale was a splendid specimen of sentimental singing, as was the concluding portion of the duo with Elvino in the first act. In depth of feeling, therefore, she manifested the highest qualifications. Pathos and expression are great characteristics at such an early stage—drilling cannot give these to a vocalist, they must be intuitive. In the florid displays there was much ambition exhibited for novel fioriture, and many of the cadenzas were as elegant in conception as they were brilliant in execution. It will be gathered from these observations that the voice is more thrilling than powerful, but that the style is the perfection of art. Some of the most accom plished singing -masters in the world were present, and loudly expressed their admiration at her mar vellous method and proficiency. Her attack has all the steadiness and firmness of a long-experienced singer.. She has a tendency, perhaps, to hurry the time, arising no doubt from agitation, but her Into. nation was nevertheless but rarely impeached. Comparing her Amina with antecedent representa tives, it will maintain a high position by her own idiosyncrasy. It has not the electrical flashes of the two sisters, Malibran and Viardot, it was of course not equal in brilliant singing to that of the gifted Persiani, and it was notsuch a well-conceived and com bined whole as that of Jenny Lind ; but it seized upon the sympa thies of Mlle. Balfe's listeners with undeniable force. She has stamped her individuality on the Amine, and she has now only to follow up Thursday's bran. guration by a second triumph. It is given out that Ninetta, in the Gazza Ladre, will be her next part, and that Mme. Bosio will be the Zerlina in the forthcoming adaptation of Auber's Fra Diavolo. Ninetta will prove a most judicious selection, and so would Dezdemona, if Tamberlik should be in town in time for the Otello. Gardoni, Polonini, and Ronconi, supported the new Angina. It is highly honourable to the artistic character of Ronconi that he undertook the Count, after it had been declined with very ill grace by Graziani. Report adds that Mlle. Marai would not play the Liaa, which was the cause of its falling SATURDAY, into inadequate hands. The two foreign singers we have cited would have evinced better feeling if th ey had acted with the same consideration as lionconi. This &mat artist can always create a part out of the slightest materials, and his acting of the Count was quite a picture in its way. By his admirable by. play he gave great support to the new comer. Th e " Phantom Chorus" was capitally sung, and the orchestral accompaniments were, as usual, inimitably executed —as, for instance, those in the sleep-walkin g scene of the second act. The opera will be repeated next Tuesday. CRYSTAL PALACE CONCERTS. THE fifth programme yesterday afternoon oontained Rossini's Stabat Mater in the first part, Grisi and Mario supporting the soprano and tenor parts. Costa conducted for the first time this season ; and the Gazza Ladra overture was executed under his baton with a vigour which secured a determined encore. In the second portion of the scheme, the singing of Mme. Rosa Devries in Meyerbeer's air " Va Celle," from Robert le Diable, and of Mme. Bosio in " Vedrai carino," from Mozart's Don Giovanni, won the sympathies of the large auditory. Mlle. Parepa, Mlle. D.diee, and Signor Graziani also were included in the programme. The " Market Chorus" from Auber's Mazaniello concluded the concert. An unexpected treat was afforded to the company by the trial of the monster organ, the central portion alone, ; however, being yet completed. Mr. Brown smith presided at the instrument, and astonished the auditory with the " Hallelujah" and " The Horse and His Rider " choruses of Handel. LES BOUFFES PARISIENS. GREAT has been the success of Offenbach's little troupe at the St. James's Theatre, peculiar as the per formances are, with an amount of Parisian slang not generally understood by English audiences. Both in a dramatic and moral point of view, the pieces must be accepted as extravagances essentially calculated to provoke laughter. In the first instance, only a portion of the company appeared, but the reception has been so favourable '..hat the rt mainder from the Theatre des Bouffes, in I'aris, will arrive next week. MUSICAL DOINGS.—Mr. Cusins has commenced a series of pianoforte performances at Willis's-rooms. Miss Stahbach, a pleasing vocalist, has given her annual concert at the Hanover-square Rooms. Rubinstein, the pianist, was summoned to Osborne yesterday, there to remain until the arrival cf the Grand Duke Constantine. COLOGNE CHORAL UNION.—The last evening concert by this distinguished society will be given on Thursday evening next at Exeter-hall. CARDINAL WISEMAN ON THE FINE ARTS. CARDINAL WISEMAN last week delivered at the Marylebone Literary Institution the first of two lectures for which he was announced, "On the manner of collecting and arranging a national gallery of paintir.gs." The Cardinal was attended by a gentleman, apparently a priest, who curried t!ic manu-cript lecture and other papers, which he un folded and laid upon the reading-desk. The greater part of the address was, however, given extempore, without reference to notes, and the Cardinal delivered it with great earnestness, with considerable action, and was at times very eloquent. He commenced by noticing the influence of art on people and on nations, anti adduced several historical instances to show that the successful cultivation of the fine arts had been coincident with the greatest degree of national prosperity and greatness. This connection between the prospects of a nation and the admiration of the fine arts, he said, was illustrated at the present day by the magnifi.rent collection of art treasures a Manchester, the greatest centre of manufacturing industry in the world. Adverting then to the principle which should guide the collection of paintings for a national gallery, he said it hit.l bten admitted by the witnesses examined belore the parliamentary committee on that subject that the collection in the National Gallery of this cotuAry had been guided by no principle whatever. Car. tinal Wiseman then proceeded to state the leading circutn stance3 which had regulated the collections of paint ings on the Continent, and to show that the same principle which guided the formation of those collections are inapplicable to the present condition of this country : In different parts of Italy, and in Spain, it had been the object to collect the finest specimens of the schools of art conneJted especially with each locality, and this local feeling of pride hail served as the guiding principle. But in England, where there has been no distinguished school of painting—where art may, in fact, be considered iu its infancy—there requires altogether a different principle to guide a national collection. Such a collection should comprise all schools of art, and should for the most part