The Press. — London, England, 1857-09-26 00:00:00

948 better sung by Miss Louisa Pyne ; and then, as a coup de grace, cane Rode'f variations to spoil the epigrammatic point of the original spoken finale, wherein Cutarina, pointing to the jewels, assures her lover of the truth of her affection, " these" (the diamonds) being "alone false." Now, every singer who made these interpolations is equally deserving of marked censure; it speaks little for their head and heart to have consented to such profanation. Auber's work is a veritable gem ; the music is as precious as the pearls and as dazzling as the dia monds which form the subject of the plot. The voice parts are exquisitely charming, the orchestra tion is most piquant and fascinating, and yet even the masterly inspirations of the composer did not suffice for the offensive egotism of the singers whom we have named. Again, the general execu tion of the work was of really more than average ability ; and as for the vocalisation of Miss Louisa Pyne, there is nothing now in musical Europe to surpass it in precision and brilliancy. She is the veritable queen of the florid school, both in compass and flexibility. Her style of echoing Pratten's flute phrases was perfect ; her voice is as fresh as when she left England, and the Americans have not been able to spoil her elegant execution and graceful phrasing. There was veritable enthusiasm. The Crown Diamonds was originally brought out at the Opera Cumique, in Paris, and the first English adaptation was made for the Princess's Theatre, under Mr. Maddox's management, May 2, 1844. Mme. Thillon, Miss Grant, Weiss, Allen, Gardner, Paul Bedford, S. Jones, were in the cast. At Drury Lane, Miss Rainforth was the original Catarina, but Mme. Thillon afterwards resumed the part she had " created" in Paris ; Miss Poole being the Diana, Weiss, Harrison, Donald King, Borrani, and S. Jones enacting the other characters. Miss Poole, in this version, bad also an introduced ballad by Britiley Richards, " The harem of the heart is hope." The cast of the Lyceum would have been stronger with Wuiss in his old part as the Count de Campo (mayor), Mr. G. honey not baying voice enough for it. Miss Susan Pyne sang Diana with neatness, and acted unaffectedly. In the nocturne and bolero, the voices of the sisters blended beautifully. Mr. A. SL Albyn has a ringing tenor voice for concerted pieces ; bis Don Sebastian was therefore useful. The roughness of Hamilton Braham's style accom modated itself to the coiner's music. It' the inter polated music was all left out, the performance of The Crown Diamonds would satisfy the most fas tidious ; as it stands, it is an insult to Auber, and derogatory to the artistic character of the singers wbo introduce the airs. For The Huguenots silence perhaps would be the most charitable proceeding, wishing, as we sincerely do, every success to the hazardous undertaking of Miss Louisa Pyne and Mr. Harrison; but what can be stated of the judgmer_t which prompted such a selection, and of the awful massacre of Meyerheer's music ? It may be remembered that Mr. Frank Romer " adapted" the masterpiece for the Surrey Theatre. Costa was permitted by the composer, when The Huguenots was produced for the first time in England, at the Royal Italian Opera in 1848, to make the cuts ne:essary to reduce the performance within the limits of the patience of an English auditory. The opera was hurriedly brought out at the eleventh hour by command of the Queen, and some excisions were made which Costa will doubt less restore when the work is reproduced at the new Royal Italian Opera-house, Covent-garden, now in course of erection. Mr. Frank Romer adopted Mr. Costa's cuts, and then began his own, first changing nearly all the masterly recitatives into spoken dialogue, and then remosing all portions of the concerted pieces which the " Surrey " choralists could not sing. As the orchestra was limited, the original instrumentation was changed in divers ac companiments. What the result of all this was may be imagined. At the Lyceum there is a most im portant advantage in the execution. In the first place, Mr. Mellon, who under Costa's eye has ac quired such invaluable practice and experience, is the conductor, and lie is by far the best English wielder or a baton. He has the aid of Dando, Hill, Carrodus, Thirwall, Watson, N. Mori, Trust, Glan ville, F. l'ratten, Barret, P. S. Prstten, Jarrett, Horton, &c.—all members of Costa's band—besides O. Collins, Kretitzer, Hutchins, (Lc., also able execu tors; so that Mr. Mellon is well armed. Secondly, the chorus is entirely selected from the Royal Italian Opera ; and as the chorus is such an important elcment in The Huguenots, two most salient features were liberally secured by the management. Mellon and his orchestral and choral phalanx "pulled" the opera through, leaving the field of battle with all the honours of war. But the principal vocalists! What a sad exhibition of incompetency ! What an intolerable infliction was it to listen to every bar, with a feeling that the intention of the com poser was utterly defeated ! NVe recall to mind the original cast in Paris in 1836, with Mme. Dorus Gras, Mlle. Flecheuk, Mlle. Falcon, Nourrit, Levasseur, Wartel, Dupont, Massol, _Prevost, Etc. THE PRE S S, SEPTEMBER 26,1857. The Royal Italian Opera cast included Mme . Castel lan, Mme. Viardot, Mine. Alboni, Mario, Marini, Tainburini, &c. The only artists in the Lyceum adaptation who were up to the mark were W e iss's Marcel, better sung than acted, St. Albyn's Huguenot Soldier, and Wallworth's " Leader of the Night Watch." Miss Marian Prescott's Queen, Mme. Corelli's•Page, Augustus Braham's Raoul, and Hama - ton Braham's St. Brig, defy description. Mine. Caradori, with a powerful organ, is a most freezing actress. and her execution is rough and unfinished. Mr. Ferdinand Glover, who made his debut in Nevers, has a continental accent; he is, we believe, a native of Ireland, and has a baritone voice, which may be turned to good account, but his cadenza in the solo, when Nevers arrives to conduct his bride to her home, was out of all character with Meyer beer's peculiar forms. " Its ne chantent plus," sing the three Protestants in the cloisters with despair. in that marvellous finale, Marcel's declara tion of faith. Alas ! if the principals had never sung at all, Meyerbeer's soli would at least have been saved from desecration. All honour to the chorus and band for saving the opera from utter annihilation. THE NORWICH FESTIVAL. (From our own Correspondent.) [Concluded from ottr last.] THE programmes of the three evening concerts on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were concocted on the ordinary principles of such entertainments, the specialities of each leading singer being consulted infinitely more than the consideration how to form a connected whole—a scheme fairly balanced to display variety in the schools of music. As regards native composers, Mr. Howard Glover's Tam o' Shanter on Tuesday, and gleanings from Mr. Pierson's Faust on Thursday, were the essential features, with madri gals by Pearsall, and ballads by Frank Mori, Balfe, Desanges, Weiss, Miss Macirone, Pierson, Shield, &c. &c. Mr. Glover's cantata was executed in a superior manner to previous performances thereof, and the work gained by the amelioration. The quaintness of the conception of setting such a poem is undeniable, and it indicates a self-reliance which may be turned to good account. Its principal feature is a consistency in form more perhaps than originality of idea; but it is no ordinary faculty to be endowed with the former accomplishment, the possession of which, in fact, may lead to more matured composi tions. The cantata made a decidedly good impres sion on the auditory. The tenor solos were right well sung by Mr. Miranda, the promising pupil of the composer—so well, indeed, that his future will be watched with touch interest. If Mr. Pierson's treatment of the second part of Goethe's " Faust" be music, then is "chaos come again." Anything more ugly, uncouth, and dreary is only to be found in his Jerusalem. Mr. Pierson seems to aim at the unin telligible in his setting of the wild mysticism of Goethe's second portion of " Faust." The adapta tion to the stage of Hamburg, in 1854, of this jargon was the incentive to Mr. Pierson to compose music equally as senseless. A crowded audience, according to the programme, attended the poem and music at Hamburg. The effect was here ponderous and somniferous. It was a mistake altogether. Mr. Pierson is no doubt sincere in his convictions, and he appears to be undismayed by failure; but the festival committee, from town clanship, were not justified in making a second experiment. Can the judgment of Mr. Pierson be relied upon for a moment, when it is found that he composes music to Moore's " Evening Melodies," already set to a Russian melody, which is of world wide popularity, and has perhaps brought more tears into the eyes of the exile and wanderer than any other ballad? Miss Macirone's song, "The Recall," for originality and grace must be quoted as the best specimen of native composition at the festival. It was well sung by Mme. Novello, who distinguished herself throughout the meeting, by not only singing the pieces allotted to her, but came to the rescue of a German prima donna who broke down, and of a new Italian prima donna assoluta who could not read at sight. Curiously enough, Mozart was the composer in both instances. The mention of this fact milst be accompanied with the strange spectacle of the engagement of a singer of whose antecedents everybody was in ignorance, and who was announced. to take the soprano parts in The Seasons and The Messiah, besides the due proportion in the miscel laneous selections. The first hitch was in the " Sola, sole," from Don Giovanni, in which Mlle. Leonhardi was to have sung the Donna Anna part. Mr. Benedict, in apologising for the substitution of Mme. Novello for the new-corner in this se , tetto, vaguely alluded to some " confusion " which had t , iken place in the parts. On Wednesday, in the Requiem, the " 're decet," given by Mlle. Leonhardi, caused a shrewd suspicion that there would be a continuation of the "confusion in the parts ; " and the Firielio scene in the evening corroborated the evidence of incapacity, proved in the " Mi tradi." On Thursday morning the bubble burst. Printed notices were in St. Andrew's-hall, signifying that in consequence of " serious indisposition "--no, the usual formula was not employed ; but, in conse quence of Mlle. Leonhardi's inability to master the English language, Mrs. Weiss would sing the pieces in The Seasons and The Messiah. But this most un precedented and curious apology could not have been the truth, for the lady sang Moore's " Evening Bells" to Mr. Pierson's music, she sang on Thursday night also in English in Mr. Pierson's Faust, and she sang likewise in "choice Italian" in Mozart's " Porgi amor ' " which was redemanded, being the crowning singularity of this little festival episode. Mlle. Ptccolomini, Signor Giuglini, and Signor Belletti sang at the two first concerts, but lel on the Thursday, to act on Friday and Saturday at Her Majesty's Theatre, The little lady pleased her audiences by her lively acting in the orchestra. When she really sang well, she obtained little applause ; when she sang as bad as bad could be, as in the duet from the Martini, she was vehemently applauded and encored. What inducement, then, can there be for this impulsive artiste to improve her style of singing, when she finds listniers so lament ably besotted to accept the bad and to pass over the good vocalisation ? Giuglini made a decided impres sion, as he will always do, by his refinement of method and exquisite sentiment. Belletti's " Taran tella " was, as usual, an uproarious hit. His singing in the Requiem was superb. Gardoni's " and the serenades from Fra Diavolo and Don Pasquale, ecstasied the public, the ladies especially. On Friday morning, The Messiah was the closing oratorio, Mme. Novello, Mrs. Weiss, Mr. Lockey, Mr. Miranda, Signor Gardoni, and Mr. Weiss being the efficiently principal singers. The choralists sang with exciting energy on Friday, and their voices were as fresh as if they had not been subjected to a hard week's work. There was not a place vacant in the hall, and the flower-show of the bonnets quite eclipsed the glories of the regular exhibition of Thursday at the Corn Exchange. The following are the financial returns : Gallery Half- Five- Guinea Guinea Shilling Seats. Seats. Places. Cash. Tuesday Evening ..114 .. 884 .. 60 .. X 576 14 0 Wednesday Morning 2)1 .. 781 .. 38 .. 611 1 0 Ditto Evening 56 .. 836 .. 70 .. 494 6 0 Thursday Morning..l2l 921 .. 42 .. 598 1 0 Ditto Eveninv 69 .. 582 .. 58 .. 377 19 0 Friday Morning 224 .. 1124 .. 128 .. 829 4 0 Total 783 .. 5128 .. 366 .. 3487 5 0 At the last festival, in 1854, the attendance of patrons was 540, and the general company 5,399—in 1852 870 patrons and 5,748 general company. The fancy-dress hall in the picturesque St. An drew's-hall terminated the twelfth triennial festival on Friday night. These meetings have now been in exist ence thirty-three years, and were conducted for five successive gatherings by Sir George Smart, once by Spohr (1839), once by Professor Taylor (1842), and since that period by Benedict, the present conductor. The arrangem 'tits of the interior and exterior of the hall were greatly improved this year. The facilities for ingress and egress were ameliorated materially. The orchestral platform improved the conveyance of sound throughou% the vast hall. The name of the chorus -master, Mr. J. F. Hill, deserves a special record. Mr. Harcourt was the efficient organist, and Mr. Bray was the leader of rehearsals. In the admi nistrative arrangements, Mr. Roger Kerrison and Mr. J. B. Morgan were the honorary secretaries of the committees, in which the Earl of Albemarle, Mr. Long, Mr. F. H. Gurney, Dr. Copetnan, Mr. Steward, and Mr. Blake were active members. The retirement of Mr. Simpson, who was for years one of the honorary secretaries, was a matter of infinite regret; but his enthusiasm for the festival remained unabated. The weight of the business tell therefore tnis time on Mr. Roger Ken icon, the most polite, attentive, good-tempered, and zealous of secretaries — qualities invaluable in such a position. The absence of some leading families in the counties was noticed with regret. Neither the lord lieute nant nor the bishop showed on this occasion. From Tuesday there was a renewal of the glorious sunshine which has been so long con tinued this remarkable summer. The toilettes were charming, and the East-Anglian fair main tained their supremacy for beauty. May the festivals prosper, and may the promoters thereof bear in mind that to insure permanent success they must sacrifice local influences to the exclusive con sideration of art progress.