The Press. — London, England, 1856-07-19 00:00:00

of Mr. Lumley's blackest nights. The prima donna, the new tenor, and the new contralto—all failures; and only Belletti, like a triton amongst the minnows, standing gloriously on the bread. Italian sch Jol, and singing superbly. What was particularly annoying in the " execution" of the Lucrezia was, that the two first appearances—the tenor and the contralto—are English. For Charles Braham there is, however, a future, but it must be as a concert singer, for which his physical acquirements are alone adapted. His voice is weak, both in power and compass, and he has not the most remote notion of dramatic singing. As the son of the great Braham, there was some sympathy felt at his mistake, for his manner was modest and unassuming ; the antithesis of which qualities was displayed by Mme. Amadei, whose pre tentious style deprived her hearers of any regret that might otherwise have been felt at her glaring incom petency. Wagner's rock was the choice of a charac var which, like Norma, so long as Grisi is in the field, every artiste in her right senses would leave alone. Jenny Lind even found her Scylla in Norma, and Wagner has touched the Charybdis in Lucrezia. Wagner, it must be emphatically repeated, is not the less a great artiste, who will be of infinite value at Her Majesty's Theatre if she is shown in her own legitimate repertoire, the German operas. The Cor mire everybody ought to see. It has been judi ciously curtailed, and the pantomime of Rosati, Dauty, and Ronzani, combined with the spectacle and groupings, must render the ballet popular. MUSIC HALLS AND LIMITED LIABILITY. THE new Limited Liability Act is to be applied to every possible purpose. Not only Ere our bodily wants to be supplied by combined capital and action, but our intellectual gratifications are to be satisfied by public companies. That amateurs of music, who are but little acquainted with the intricacies of management of those most difficult of all human beings to be managed—namely, the singers and in strumentalists—should make the limited ventures, cannot be wondered at. The investment of a few shares will bring the subscribers in contact with the artistic world, an object of much ambition on the part of pleasure-seekers. The contact is no doubt pleasant enough, whilst it is confined to mere com panionship and patronage; but when it comes to matters of business, then is he indeed to be pitied who has the misfortune to have to rule these unruly artists with their morbid sensibilities, their ever changing caprices, their perpetual whims, their irri tability, their intense selfishness, and their utter recklessness as to the interests of the director or manager engaging them. Two companies are now before the world. One is just hatched, under the title of the St. James's hall Company, and its object is to erect three grand concert-halls of different sizes, an accommodation certainly much wanted in the metropolis, the existing edifices being inadequate. As the proposed site presents entrances both in Regent-street and Piccadilly, and as the object of the company will be only to let the halls, and not to give performances, the project looks well. Owen Jones is to be the architect. What a happy Board it will be not to have the artists under its direction. The second scheme is now in full work ; it is the "Royal Surrey-garchns" (limited), and the wAld beasts and birds have been ejected, only the ben r.pit remaining to remind the visitors of the ra Irs of former days. M. Jullien is the conductor, under whose baton nearly a thousand executants were assembled last Tuesday in the afternoon for the per formance of The Messiah, a magnificent hall having been erected from the designs of Mr. Horace Jones, the architect, in a remarkably brief period. If the plans of the' limited" amateurs had been confined to the creation of a kind of Sacred and Profane Har- monic Society on the south side of the Thames, there might have been a lair prospect of success, although we emphatically deny the possibility of any execu tive committee being able to manage the artistic en gagements. Nothing but a despotic dictatorship is capable of directing an establishment of singers and players. But the Surrey gardens, besides music of the elevated schools, are to supply refreshments on a most superior scale, the Epernay champagne, in fact. being specially imported with the "batteries de cuisine" of a couple of Parisian cooks, especially decorated with the "Cordon Bleu." So that the ardent and hungry amateur who sits al fresco listen ing to the Handelan strains can have his "Mayo naise," his " Rognons sautés," his "Anguilles A la Tatare," his " omelette souffiee," 84c., all the time gazing upon a splendid pictorial exhibition of Cor. stantinople, in which it is difficult to ascertain which is the real water and sky, so admirably has the painter completed the union of art and nature. Be• sides the restaurant, the music-hall, the oratorio, and the panorama, there are caverns, grottos, pro menades, lawns, Swiss chalet s , cascades, waterfalls, aril at night gas illuminations and fireworks. Thus Tivoli, Vauxhall, Cremorne, and Krolls-gardens at Berlin &rein turn laid under contribution to carry out the undertaking, the result of which there is not the slightest difficulty in predicting. It will be found THE PRESS. absurd to combine oratorios and symphonies with outdoor amusements ; and the former will be aban doned for the attractions peculiarly adapted for the summer. The hall, in case of rain, will be an excel lent shelter for the masses, who can hear their pro menade music under cover, and in course of time will be permitted to employ the edifice as a ball-room. For this week's inauguration the committee have been at a vast expense, which it would be impossible to incur permanently, especially as the entrance-money is to be one shilling. The artistes who have sung and played at the morning and evening performances have been Alboni, Mine. Rudersdortf, Mme. Novello, Miss Dolby, Mesdames Sims Reeves and Weiss, Miss Kate Ranoe, M. and Mme. Gassier; Sivori, Fiatti, Miss Arabella Goddard, Bottesini, Herr Rokitansky, Mr. Tennant, Mme. Dreyfus, &c. M. Jullien " went the pace," as it is termed, in conducting the oratorio, which, of course, is new to him, and the steam was put on by overloading the accompaniments with the brass. CONCERTS OF THE WEEK. Mme. Pauline Viardot's matinee musicale in the Dudley Gallery last Wednesday was fully and fashionably attended. This admirable artiste, whose success in the concerts this season has been very re markable, and whose singing of the music of Samuel in Costa's Eli was one of the few things to be remem bered, displayed the versatility of her powers by singing, in French those quaint ancient romances the popularity of which she has revived ; in Italian, Rossini's grand contralto air, " Pensa alla patria," from the Italiana in ; in Spanish, a duo with the guitarist Yradier, a modern composer of note in Ibeiran melodies ; and in German, Schu bert's thrilling " Erllonig," occompanied by M. Halle, the sensation in the latter being so great as to cause its redemand. In addition, Mine. Viardot sung with Mme. Novello a duo from Handel's Rinaldo, "Les Sirenes," also encored, and Meyer beer's duo " Mere Grand." Bazzini, the Italian violinist, assisted in the programme, playing, among other pieces, " La Cadence de Diable, ou le Songe de Tartini," in which Viardot vied with the violin in extraordinary roulades. Mme. Viardot is engaged at Bradford and Gloucester, for the two musical pro vincial festivals this summer. Arthur Napoleon, the Portuguese pianist, is now twelve years of age, and is proving that his abilities as a pianist have not been prematurely forced. At his concert last Monday he played both in the classic and modern romantic schools with immense eff.-Tt, being aided by Herr Ries, violinist ; Miss Louise Christine, harpist; Signor Piatti, violoncello; and Signor Andreoli, pianist. The vocalists were, Mr. and Mrs. Weiss, M. Jules Lefort, Misses Las celles, Heywood, and Messent, Mr. Tennant, and M. Gassier. M. Charles Halle's final pianoforte reciial took place on Thursday, assisted by Mme. Viardot. Mr. Blagrove's last of his interesting series of violin concerts was given on Thursday morning, sup ported by Dr. Sterndale Bennett, pianoforte, M. Sainton, Mr. R. Blagrove, concertina, and Signor Piatti. Signor Bazzini's morning concert was held yester day (Friday), at Willis'?-rooms, with the co operation of Halle, Piatti, Batesini, Mr. John Thomas, harpist, Mme. Viardot, Herr Reichardt, Signor Cimino, Senor Yratlier, Mr. Benedict, Signor Li Calzi, Scc. The tenth concert of the Royal Italian Opera singers at the Crystal Palace took place yesterday. Two more concerts, on the 25th, and Friday, August 1, will terminate this popular series. THE MUSICALFESTIVALS.—T he provincial meetings will be this year at Bradford and at Gloucester, the former beginning on the 20th of August and ending on the 29th, and the latter from the 9th to the 12th September. The St. George's-hall committee, with their active chairman, Mr. S. Smith, have published the outline of their programme, which will include the first performance in Yorkshire of Costa's Eli, of Mendelssohn's Elijah, and Handel's Messiah. There will be a striking novelty in the scheme of the evening concerts, being the production of two MS. cantatas by English com posers, namely, the "Robin Hood " of J. L. Hatton, and " May Day "by Macfarren. The voca lists will be Viardot, Mme.Novello, Mr. and Mrs. Weiss, Mr I Sims Reeves, Miss Sherrington, the piquante Piccolomini, the inimitable Alboni, Mrs. Sunderland, Miss Milner, Miss Fanny Huddart, Herr Reichardt, Mr. Montem Smith, Signor Belletti, Mr. Winn, Herr Formes, Signor Beneventano, &c. Costa will be the conductor, and the band and chorus will muster nearly 350 strong. The Bradford choristers earned such glory at the last meeting in 1853, that they will no doubt strive to outdo their former efforts. The list of stewards for the Gloucester gathering is un usually large, and the arrangements of the committee are in active progress, the organist of the cathedral, Mr. Amott, being the conductor. SATURDAY, ate frama. LYCEUM THEATRE. SYLVIO TELLICO'S " FiIiiNCESCA DA RIMINI." RISTORI. RISTORI terminated her series of performances on Wednesday night, by enacting Francesca in Pellico's five act tragedy, and Adelaide in Count Giraud's one act comedy, I Gelosi Fortunati—characters which she chose for her benefit on the previous Monday morning, when she was properly greeted by one Of the fullest houses of her short season. Whether the story of Francesca, on account of the familiarity with Dante's poem and Lord Byron's translation, was better known to her auditory than the plots of the previous plays in which she had acted, or whe ther it was that an increased acquaintance with Ristori's style rendered her listeners more demon strative, it certainly seemed as if the enthusiasm was greater than at any former occasion. And yet Pellico's play, powerful as it is in some situations, and eloquent in its poetic aspirations, is, upon the whole, a weak one. Dante's Francesca is a sinner, Pellico's Francesca is a saint; the former is con signed with his guilty lover to infernal torments; the latter is destined to the happiness in heaven re fused to her on earth. Pellico makes Francesca the victim of her husband's ill founded jealousy of his brother Paolo. The Italian patriot and poet, it is true, depicts the attachment of Francesca for Paolo, as her first love, before she knew the sovereign, Lan ciotto. At the opening the King bewails his fate, married as he is, and devotedly attached to Fran cesca, that she looks upon him with sorrowful eyes. Her father, Guido, cannot account for this melan choly ; she was all joy and smiles as a child, but as a wife she is all grief and clouds. Francesca rnis. trusts herself, however, and she asks her husband's permission to return to her native city, Ravenna, in expectation of Paolo's return. The love of her child hood's days does return, and step by step do the incidents accumulate, to reach the climax, when Lanciotto kills both wife and brother, guiltless as she is in act, however wrong in feeling. Here there is another part of the Maria Stuarda stamp. It is the sense of fatality which bears down Francesca; her religious sentiments support her in the struggle, but the doom is inevitable. To describe how Ris tori works out her conception would require a length ened analysis of each successive incident. First, there is the deep-rooted sorrow combined with the resolution to perform her duty. She clings to her husband convulsively to strengthen her inward de termination, but the conflict is too much for her, and unfortunately Paolo alludes to his self-denial when he has captured women in the wars. The jealous outbreak of Francesca—a happy notion of the poet, by the way—was given with inconceivable force by the tragedienne. Still she rejects, at first with scorn, Paolo's subsequent impassioned declara tion ; but, like Valentine iu the Hugeunots, she at last avows, "to t'amo," fainting in her father's arms as Paolo departs. Whether Pellicoos star fades by the side of Dante, as to the development of the wife's character—whether the latter has not made the tale more thrilling by rendering Francesca so guilty, is a matter for keen discussion ; but Ristori's delineation will make many converts to Pellico's version. It was the part which made her in one night famous in Paris, and assuredly in no other play are her wondrous powers more superbly displayed. For the two comedies in which Ristori has appeared, La Locandiera of Goldoni, and the I Gelosi Fortu nati, there will never be the same liking, on the part of her admirers, as for her tr.igic assump tions. C ever as her landlady, Mirandolina, and the jealous wife Adelaide, are, the contrast is too violent to be thoroughly agreeable. After grasping daggers, its looks like weakness to be playing with fans. The acting of her colleagues, who in tragedy were really awful visitations to endure, in the two comedies was acceptable enough ; they were easy, natural, and vivacious ; and Signor Bellotti-Bon, who made his first appearance as the proud and poor Marquis in the Locandiera, and as Adelaide's jealous husband in the Gelosi Fortunati, proved that the Italians have an accurate notion of comedy and farce, apart from the buffoonery on their lyric stage. Since Wednesday Mme. Ristori has appeared in Manchester and Liverpool, and, after her present provincial tour, will return to Paris for the winter, to reappear in London at the new Covent-garden Italian Opera house in the ensuing season. Let us hope that her visit to England may be the means of creating some genius to restore the fallen glories of the British drama—the greatest of all dramas. We have the poets, and we have had their adequate in terpreters--surely the sun has not sunk for ever on the race of grand actors and actresses THE AMATEUR PERFORMANCE AT DRURY LANE last Saturday night was a great success. The ama teurs on this occasion had not only considerably im proved their pantomime by the introduction of some new scenes, but they had the wisdom not to trust the success solely to that piece. That lively one-act