The Press. — London, England, 1856-12-27 00:00:00

1242 Colonel John Jacobs, C.B. Smith and Elden-7'h' Ballot. Sir A. H. Elton, Bart. Ri It way. PERIODICALS. The National Magazine. Great Worti of London. Bogue.—Puinam's Monthly. Sampson Low.—Deane's li lustraltd Almnnack for 1837. Deane. usit. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. EVERY visitor to the great metropolis, be he a foreigner or a provincial, loiters in Bow-street to gaze upon a blackened mass of ruins of an edifice which he is told was once the great temple of the drama, and of lyric art. Since the fatal night when Covent-garden Theatre was destroyed by a fire, the origin of which cannot by any stretch of the imagi nation be ascribed to accident, speculation has been rife as to the future disposal of the valuable site. At one period it was given out that St. Paul's, Covent garden, was to be pulled down, and a new church was to be erected on the foundations of the burnt theatre. It was stated that Mr. Gye was in treaty for Devonshire house, and that if he succeeded in the purchase of that mansion an exchange was to be effected with the Government for Burlington-house, where the new Royal Italian Opera-house would be built. The occupation of the Lyceum Theatre it was palpable could not extend beyond a single season. The renting of Drury lane Theatrci for the ensuing campaign can clearly only be provisional. There was then anxious speculation as to the future of a lyric company which had been brought together and perfected in the execution of the great lyric works, so as completely to extinguish the rivality of the most tamed continental opera houses. All doubts and mis• givings are at an end. The indomitable energy of Mr. Gye has overcome all obstacles. There will be a new Royal Italian Opera-house, and it will be in the same locality as that which was inaugurated by the opening performance of 1847. The agreement with the Duke of Bedford, who has acted with infinite liberality, has been signed and sealed. The ground rent has been materially reduced, and the materials of the ald theatre have been placed at the disposal of the new lessee. A magnificent temple of art will be erected, one that in grandeur and extent cannot be surpassed by any other European theatre. Ad vantage will be taken of the immense space occupied by the existing ruins to enlarge and improve the approaches. With the erection of the theatre itself it is contemplated to combine other means of attrac tion and of con-equent profit. And the operatic sub scribers, and the general body of operatic frequenters, are to be materially benefited, not only in a pecu niary point of view, but by novel arrangements for their comfort and accommodation. One of the original arrangements of the Royal Italian Opera house, in 18&h, was to break up a monopoly in the disposal of boxes and stalls, which has proved one of the greatest banes to musical undertakings in this country. If Mr. Gye can insure a reduction of prices by throwing himself on the support of the public at large, he will in teed achieve an act, the tendency of which will place Operatic art on a more solid basis than it has hitherto enjoyed. In the meanwhile Mr. Gya has concluded his negotiations with the Crystal Palace Company for the next sea. son, and has thus secured himself, having Risteri as a grand resource for his forthcoming campaign at Drury-lane Theatre. Whilst the season is progres sing the working for the new establishment will be gradually going on. THE PRESS. an entente cordiale anywhere. The Yankee compo sitions, " My Mary Ann " and "Bobbing Around," were infinitely more successful: Jullien's arrange ment of these airs was peculiarly piquant. Miss Catherine Hayes's singing of the Irish ballads pleased, but the engagement must have proved onerous and unrernunerative. The two new singers, Mme. Poma and Miss Juliana May (the latter from America), were sorry successors to Miss Hayes. The American tenor, Mr. Millard, alias Signor Millardi, would have gratified his hearers more with his i out. What's in a name? In this instance, the Italian adaptation annoyed the sturdy auditories: There were the Mendelssohn and Beethoven nights, and pretty Miss Arabella Goddard with her nimble angers; and the stately Miss Dolby and the vigorous violinist M. Sainton ecstasied their listeners. There have been the ordinary annual pronunciamentos in respect to Jullien's concerts. The masses are told how wonderfully classic are their tastes, and how Jullien has been and is their great instructor. Yet there are amateurs, who have followed these promenade exhibitions from the com mencement, who persist that the status quo is un disturbed, and that public taste has been in no way improved. The Alpha of the Jullien concerts is a row, and the Omega is a Bal Masque. What varia tion has there been in the annual " imeute " and the "orgie "? The Sacred Harmonic Society inaugurated its season with a noble performance of Handel's Solo • mon, and has subsequently given two grand inter pretations of The Messiah. In the Solomon, the fine vocalisation of Mme. Rudersdorff and Miss Dolby attracted special notice, and some promising quali ties in Mr. Montem Smith, a new tenor, were recog nised. Costa's delicate handling of Handel's score found admirers amongst the connoisseurs. In The Messiah, at the first performance, there was the painful spectacle of a break down of a debutante, who had been placed in a false position at a provin• cial festival, a fact recorded at the time in THE PRESS. The unfortunate vocalist left the orchestra to be replaced by the once Infant Sappho, Miss Louisa Vinning, who gained glory by her improvised effort. In the second performance, Mme. Clara Novello, the queen of sopranos, reappeared. Miss Dolby and Mr. Sims Reeves, singing their best, were included in the cast on both occasions. Herr Formes was the basso on one occasion and Mr. Thomas at the last performance. If the latter had a better method he might take a higher position. Mr. Hullah opened his campaign at St. Martin's Lane with a bold effort in trying his raw recruits in the gigantic Israel in Egypt, who, however, redeemed their lost laurels in The Messiah. There is one very praiseworthy policy pursued by Mr. Hullab. He seems always ready to afford rising talent a chance of being heard. Miss Palmer, the contralto, :s decidedly making way; and Mr. G. Calkin, the new tenor, if rather eccentric in style and quality of voice, displayed declamatory powers, as regards distinct pro nunciation, worthy of eulogium. The London Sacred Harmonic Society has also had its annual Christmas rendering of The Messiah, under Mr. Surman's direotion. What a wonderful work is this oratorio, that it can outlive all kinds of performances—good, bad, and indifferent—that it survives the screamings of all singers, that with or without an orchestra, and despite of all organic vicissitudes, the master mind's colossal conceptions are ever fresh and attrac tive. And what a new and exciting impetus has been given to the interest in The Messiah by the grand undertaking of the Sacred Harmonic Scciety to give the public a festival at the Crystal Palace next May, to be conducted by Costa, with an executive of 2,300 performers. And to add to the sensations already created by this gigantic assemblage of vocalists and instrumentalists, to interpret Handel's works, the discovery has been made of the scores from which the immortal com poser conducted his works. Amongst the recent musical meetings must he recorded those of Miss Dolby, Mme. Oury's piano forte sittings, Mr. Charles Salaman's amateur choral performances, and those of Mr. Henry Leslie's well disciplined choir at the Hanover-square Rooms. Lct a word be given for the subscriptions to the monument of the late Sir Henry Bishop, before the list is closed at Exeter-hall by Mr. R. Bowley, the treasurer. The Glee Club has accorded the prize of twenty guineas to Mr. G. W. Martin, for his composition, "All hail, lovely Queen of Night." All lovers of rising lyric ability will be glad to learn that the young and piquant Piccolomini has had a real success at the Italian Opera in Paris in the Travieta. The opera itself does not please, although strengthened in the cast by Mario and Graziani ; and the qualities recognised in the new prima donna are precisely those which were awarded to her in London—namely, freshness and sponta neity as an actress. Belart, a Spanish tenor of note, is now in Paris, engaged at the Italian Opera, where he is expected shortly to make his debut. SATURDAY, Mr. Lumley has made a valuable addition to Her Majesty's Theatre by the engagement of Mine. Penco, who is now the prima donna in Madrid. An amateur thus writes of her from that capital : Nothing to my mind spoils one's judgment of singing (pruprement dit) like hearing nothing but Verdi, only Verdi, always Verdi; and perhaps that is the reason why Fraschini has rather won on me as a tenor de force; but he certainly sings the Trovatore with great energy. But the nice artiste is Penco. Her debut was not as triumphant as it might have been, because this public could not understand her all at once. Her singing and acting are too nuancies for them; but she gradually gained ground, and her first representation in the Trovatore was a triumph to satisfy anyone. She sings the fourth act as well as you could wish ; and in that phrase of the " Aliserere " which. I have always heard sung with sobs in , stead of notes, she manages to give the sob between the notes; also her rendering of the last phrase is amongst the finest things I know on the stage. MUSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. THE first indications of musical vitality in town, after the autumn festivals a:e over, and after the " Bohemian " minstrels (by " Bohemian " is meant that cosmopolite class of artists, vocal and instru. mental, who begin their wanderings after the close of the regular subscription season) have ceased to scour the provinces of the United Kingdom, are the Promenade Concerts of Jullien, and the opening of the choral societies. These performances, with a stray soiree here and there, a couple of capital con• certs of the Amateur Musical Society, conducted by that clever composer, Mr. Leslie, constitute the principal items of attraction up to Christmas. Jullien this year has not been up to the mark, or rather has not attained in his new quarters at Her Majesty's Theatre the crashing climax of his former days. Was the siege of Sebastopol Jullien's roaring ap them? Have the Surrey-gardens' drum de monstrations, and the suavities of the Zouaves (improvised in London), diminished Jullien's attrac bon in the western hemisphere? It is not easy to account for the fact, but the potage d la Jullien in the Haymarket was but sorry stuff, after the strongly spiced plats of the anc i ent cu i s i ne. The " French Quadrille" did not take : perhaps that was Palmers ices fault, for the Premier has an abstract hatred of I THE THEATRES. LAST night all the theatres reopened with their Christmas novelties, and to-day the morning papers are full of puffs of every kind, in laudation of the various performances. Upon no occasion are the " holiday" notices of theatrical productions to be relied upon, as it is, in the first place, the rule to praise every thing, hard and fast ; and, it, the second, the praise is in most. places laid on awkwardly, as the regular critic can see but one or two pieces, and everybody connected with the establishment is sent to "do" some theatre or other. Curious things are " done," as well as the theatres, sometimes, as when a raw Irish or Scotch reporter is intrusted with the critical duty, and in his honest zeal he reviews The Stranger, or Jane Shore, as a new piece. Other " green hands" begin their notices of a pantomime with a reference to Thesms, and a slight history of the drama. But all is forgiven and forgotten in the mass of " holiday notices ;'' and we merely refer to them to show that we have no means before us, at present, of knowing which of the Christmas novel ties is worth seeing. Puffing, as we have intimated, is the order of the night in reference to all theatrical matters. An original piece is the only exception. This does sometimes receive what would be fair criticism, if similar measure were given elsewhere, but which be. comes coldness and unfairness in the presence of the adulation lavished upon anything else. But a spectacle, or a ballet, or a translation of any kind, is sure to receive from the papers a shower of laudatory adjectives, which, next day, the manager, probably winking, transfers to the playbill as " Opinions of the Press." If there were a theme in England, or audiences who were capable of compre hending it, this sort of thing might do mischief. But at present it does no great harm, beyond propagating a general tone of insincerity. The reason of its harmlessness is that there is no longer an intellectual class of playgoer. The changes in London, the aggregation of suburbs, and our social habits, have excluded the real play goer from the theatre, and the audiences are now composed of two classes only, neither of which knows or cares much about the goodness or badness of what it sees and hears. These are, first, the men about town, who lounge in, after a late dinner, to look at some pretty — or oftener ugly—lady in whom they are interested, and who obtained her engagement on the under standing that she had friends who took boxes or stalls; and, secondly, the lower orders, who simply go to be amused, and who are much better pleased by Mr. Wright's sitting down in some tar and talking some slang than they could be by the best acting or the neatest dialogue. To these two classes the theatre is chiefly given up, while the people who used to form the theatrical audience—that is, the upper portion of the middle classes—reside in the suburbs, and are too wearied with their offices, their :canting houses, and their shops at nightfall to care to come again into town. Now and then they visit in force with all their families to see a pantomime or a spectacle ; but the educated, judicious audience which they would form is no longer to be found. The only theatre to which this class goes is Sadler's Wells, a house which is situated among a most respectable and intelligent population; and the pre-