The Press. — London, England, 1854-03-04 00:00:00

lir 212 for a climax are marked with extraordinary skill and ingenuity ; and his endless variety in . forms , has enabled him to be constant in his surprises. Eyery body is aware that he wrote for Berlin an occasional o pera called The Camp of Siksia, in honour of Frederick the Great. This opera he subsequently arranged for Vienna, under the title of Vtelka, for Jenny Lind and Staudigl. The manager of the P russ i a n Opera Comique was extre mel y desirous of producing The Camp of Silesia for Mme. Ugalde, but Meyerbeer, being of opinion that the interest of the work was centered in Germany only, declined to allow it to be produced. Scribe, however, supplying him with the libretto of L'Etoile du Nord, he contem plated for a moment the embodiment of The Camp of Silesia music in the new piece. Gradually aban doning this notion, he eventually only retained the overture, the gipsy rondo with tamborine accom paniment in the first act, a portion of the military couplets and finale of the second act, and the trio for voice and two flutes warbled by Lind at the London concerts so frequently. Thus the propor tions of The Northern Star are those of an original work, as there are no less than twenty-six pieces, twenty of which are new. The overture opens with a solemn and stately march, with rich modulations, a theme of deliciously dreamy interest being interwoven, ear-haunting ever afterwards, inasmuch as it is reiterated with consum mate skill during the opera, the subject of which being military enables Meyerbeer, in a brilliant final movement of the overture, to resort to a military band behind the scenes to increase the sonority of the ordinary orchestra, over which manoeuvres, with infinite tact and animation, M. Tilmant. In the introduction the hearer is soon satisfied that it is Meyerbeer who is in the field. A tenor air for the pastrycook, who afterwards becomes a general, and couplets for the belligerent Catherine, who subse quently is crowned Empress, a drinking chorus to "Finland" (for Scribe cuts Saardam for no earthly reason, unless it be that Jullien began his Pietro it Grande in Holland), and a quaint air for Prascovia (Mlle. Lefebvre), "Ah ! que j'ai peur," complete an effective introduction. The entrance of a band of savage Cossacks has suggested the composition of an air for the bass (badly sung by Hermann-Leon), " En fants de l'Ukraine," of singular wildness. The rondo by which the Cossacks are induced to quit the village is one of the most charming of inspirations. Its effect upon the public as sung by Mlle. Duprez was elec trical. A dramatic duet between Peter and Catherine, with the vocal trumpet phrases of the latter, and a duo of lamentation for two sopranos, in which one mocks the grief of the other, are both replete with interest and liveliness. The finale of the first act consists of a prayer and barcarolle, sung by Catherine, whose voice is heard, in charming cadenzas, dying in the distance, as the boat with the soldiers is rowed off. The second act is still more interesting and powerful in the musical pieces. The couplets for the glorification fist of cavalry and then of infantry overflow with militia' , and melodious comicality, and exci , e the utmost enthusiasm. A broad chorus of conspirators (against the Czar), a quintet of sur passing beauty, in which are intermingled a trio, and a duo for vivandieres of startling piquancy and origin ality, lead to a massive and imposing finale, three marches, with separate bands, being associated with a picturesque power that only a Meyerbeer could conceive. The instrumentation throughout this act exhibits novel combinations as delightful for the ears of the tyro as they are instructive for the study of the professor. The phrases are well voiced with all their originality; and that is the highest success a composer can achieve. The colossal climax arrived at by Meyerbeer is accomplished by the most inge nious gradations. In the last act, after a romance for Peter of surpassing beauty, there are a comic trio and a buffo duo preparatory to Catherine's mad scene, which is the trio for voice and two flutes; and then, in the finale, the composer, to restore the reason of the heroine, resumes the themes of the first act. If the composer has contrived to maintain the furore of the audience to the last moment, he has to thank himself. The poet has nearly swamped him, as the coronation of the Em press in the presence of an Empress also sprung from the people was perilous for the Parisian pro pensities for ridicule. That the Etoile du Nord may gain in dramatic interest with a better cast than that of the Opera Comique can be readily granted. The characters of Catherine and Peter have yet to be "created." Mlle. Duprez is too weak for the part of Catherine. A Viardot in the second and last acts would perhaps upset the theory that the Russian Empress cannot be made an interesting heroine. And the same remarks will apply to the part of Peter, which is played with energy, but without intelligence, by Battaille. Still, the constancy of the rehearsals gave the chic to the opera, and it established how a body of mediocrities as principals may be drilled to produce a most satisfactory result—a fact that must not be lost sight of by the Royal Italian Opera authorities here when they mount the opera even with their great resources. THE PRESS.. MR. ELLA'S MUSICAL WINTER EVENINGS. WHAT Mr. Ella terms his first music winter even ing took place last Thursday week, in the presence of a very numerous auditory, and the performance highly satisfactory. The quartette selected were Haydn's No. 80, and Spohr's in E minor, No. 45 ; and the programme was varied by the introduction of Beethoven's trio in E flat, No. 70, for pianoforte, violin, and violoncello ; and Mentlelssolin's air and variations concertante for pianoforte and violoncello. The performers on stringed instruments were Messrs. Molique, Goffrie, Hill, and Pistil; and Mr. Halle was the pianist. In consequence of the length which our notice of the Etoile du Nord has run we are compelled to post pone our notice of Mr. Henry Leslie's oratorio and Mr. Lucas's first musical evening until next week. lortign art, Xittraturt, k. THE ABBE DE LAMENNAIS, the well-known author of " Les Paroles d'un Croyant," expired on Sunday morning at his residence in the Rue du Grand Chan tier, aged seventy. Every attempt made to induce him to conform to the last duties of religion proved ineffectual, as he refused to the end to receive the minister of any religious persuasion. According to his will, his body is not to be carried into any place of religious worship, but to be taken directly from the house in which he died to the burial-place of Pere la Chaise. The funeral took place on Wednesday. It is said that M. de Lamennais in his will disinherits all his relations who took any part in suppressing the insurrection of June, 1848. After the revolution of February, M. de Lamennais was successively member of the Constituent and of the Legislative Assembly, being elected each time for the depart ment of the Seine. He was also nominated in the first of these assemblies to the committee appointed to draw up the Constitution of 1848, but refused to take any part in the labours of that body. He almost merited the title of " silent member," as he never spoke but once during the whole of the time he was a representative of the people, and that was to ear nestly entreat the house to let him be included in the prosecution instituted against the responsible editor of the journal the People Constitiutnt, of which he was the chief editor, on the occasion of the re establishment of the caution-money on journals. On the same occasion he spoke strongly against the dic tatorship of General Cavaignac, and against any fiscal regulations whatever on the press. Although M. de Lamennais was so peculiar in his religious opinions as to regret revolution, he leaves a brother in Brit tany who is the head of a Christian community re sembling that of the Freres Chritiens. THE PROPOSED COPYRIGHT TREATY between Great Britain and the United States will shortly come on for discussion in the American Senate. It is stated that Mr. Everett, the American Secretary of State, proposes a clause limiting the benefit of the treaty to such British works as shall be reprinted in America by their authors. DIRECT TELEGRAPHIC COMMITNICATIONS have been opened from Paris to Bavaria, by which the French capital is directly connected with Darmstadt, Frank fort on-the-Maine, Stutgard, Berlin, Stettin, Vienna, Munich, Weimar, Dantzic, Bremen, Dresden, Leipsic, Konigsberg, Orsova, and Semlin. THE pleadings in the great and long-protracted cause of Aguado and Veron were brought to a con clusion on the 24th ult. The Government counsel summed up against Dr. Veron, who will, therefore, in all probability, have to disgorge the large sum he appropriated to himself out of the purchase-money of the Constitutionnel. Judgment was postponed for a week. THE editors of all the Paris newspapers have been summoned to the Ministry of the Interior, and told that they must not speak about the movement of troops for the East, nor of any manifestations which might have been made in the departments on the an niversary of Feb. 24. Even the Palace balls are pro hibited topics. The Indlpendance Belge was stopped because it gave an account of the late fancy ball at the Tuileries. The description was highly flattering to all the parties concerned, but being contrary to orders subjected the paper to seizure. Fortunately the English papers, being written in a foreign language, escape the annoyance to which their Belgian contem poraries are exposed. THE premium for the best plan of a monument to the memory of Senors Mendizabal, Arguelles, and Calatrava, has been adjudicated by the Madrid com mittee formed for that purpose to Don Federico Aparici, who was last year a pupil of the School of Architecture. It is in the Greek style, and consists of a cylindrical body surmounted by the statne of Liberty, and around the ball of which cilindre are the three sarcophagi. AN UNPUBLISHED TREATISE BY LEIBNITZ in refu tation of Spinoza has recently been brought to light. The discoverer, M. Foucher de Caren, during some researches in the Hanoverian Library, lighted upon SATURDAY, a Latin manuscript entirely written in the hand of Leibnitz ; and from this version has published one in French under the title of " Refutation inedite de Spinoza, per Leibnitz." A SWEDISH PRINTER, HERR FAHLGREN, has in vented a new kind of alphabet types for the blind. The whole number is only seven, and they resemble runes, but by change of place, &c., they represent twenty-eight letters. THE shareholders of the New York Crystal Palace are out of pocket 125,000 dollars by the speculation. MR. SAMUEL OWEN, an Englishman, to whom Sweden owes the first introduction of steam-boats in that country, has lately died in Stockholm. He went over to Sweden as a simple workman, but by his in dustry and mechanical talents raised himself to the position of owner of a large machine establishment. He lived to a good old age, eighty years. A SOCIETY FOR IMPROVING THE DWELLINGS OF THE WORKING CLASSES has been formed in Paris on a large scale in connection with a committee in London. Its capital is to be 480,0001., of which 120,0001. is to be raised in the first instance by an issue of 30,000 shares of 41. each, the company, in consideration of that expenditure, receiving a subvention from the Government of 00,000/. The first buildings are to consist of lodgings for single men, to contain 1,800 beds, and of dwellings for about MO families. Ulti mately it is contemplated to extend the system to some of the principal provincial towns. THE GREAT EXHIBITION CHANDELIER, which at tracted so much admiration at the Crystal Palace in 1851, perished in the conflagration at Apsley Pellatt's glassworks on Monday night. Nothing but a few half•melted drops and its framework remain. The value of the article was estimated at 3,000/. THE LORD PROVOST OF EDINBURGH has been re cently in London, where he has bad interviews with the Earl of Aberdeen, the Chancellor of the Exche quer, and the President of the Board of Trade, on the subject of a grant for a Scottish National Museum. His lordship pressed the claim of Scotland to such a grant very strongly upon those members of the Go vernment. The Highland S ciety are also about to send a deputation to London on the same subject. SATURDAY being the last day on which the public would be admitted before the final opening of the Sydenham Crystal Palace, the place was visited by a very large number of persons, anxious to avail them selves of the last opportunity for some months of seeing what is already a very remarkable display. The public are now excluded except "on business," in order not to impede the rapid completion of the structure and its innumerable appurtenances. Obituarg. JOHN MARTIN, the celebrated painter, died a few days since. This artist was a Northumbrian by birth, having first seen the light at Haydon-bridge. His brother, the " Natural Philosopher," was born at Tow-house, near Haltwhistle ; while his equally notorious relative, the incendiary of York Minster, was born at High-house, near Hexham. His parent age was humble, his lather having taught the small sword and single-stick at the Chancellor's Head in Newcastle ; but the deceased artist overcame the difficulties of his early position in life in a manner peculiar to great geniuses, and stood for a great num ber of years at the head f the historical painters of the age. Martin was a Knight of the Order of Leo pold of Austria. DR. Ric:mums, Rector of Exeter College, in Ox ford University, who has long been in a declining state of health, expired on Monday last at Bonchurch, in the Isle of Wight. The deceased was a man of very amiable character, and universally beloved and respected. In the university he was marked by the soundness of his judgment, his general affability, and the discretion he displayed on several trying occasions. As head of his college he was indefatiga ble in his care of its discipline as well as its interests ; and both at Bisphy and at Kidlington, where his paro chial duties were exercised, he leaves behind him the character of a most exemplary clergyman. Dr. Richards was the son of the Rev. Joseph Richards, of Tamerton, Devonshire. He entered as a com moner of Exeter College in October, 1815, being then seventeen years of age. He was elected fellow of his college, and became tutor and sub-rector. In 1835 he left college, having taken the rectory of Bisphy, Herts, whence he was recalled to be rector in 1838, select preacher in 1853, and a delegate of accounts in the university. In 1828 he filled the office of Public Examiner, and was one of the chap lains of his Royal Highness Prince Albert. THE total number of acres of hops under cultivation in England and Wales in the year 1853 was 49,387}, the duty on the produce of which amounted to 277,824 i., and of this 37,951 lbs. were exported to foreign countries. During the same year there were 42,315 cwt. of foreign hops im• ported into, and 1,695 cwt. exported from, the United Kingdom.