The Press. — London, England, 1856-04-19 00:00:00

APRIL 19, 1856. The Life of the Rev. John Beaumont, M.D. Hamilton and Adams St. Paul and Modern Thought. Macmillan and Co. Tic Dou/oureux. H. Bailliere The Education of the Maws. Oakey Robert Owen's Millennial Gazette. Apparitions. Newton Crosland. E• Wilson. Gabriel. Bessie Rayner Parkes. J. Chapman Review of the New Rules for Promotion in the Indian Army. Lampeto Theology Exemplified in Extracts. Bell and Daldy National Education. Hamilton Memorandum on Suggestive Improvements in the Patent Laws of 18.5 . 2 and 1853. Lord Stanley. Boone Remarks on the Law of Partnership and Limited Liability. E. Wilson Norgate IA Conquete de La Chine. PF.RIODICALS. The Quarterly Review. Oxford Estrays. Putinam's Monthly. Murray J. W. Parker and Son Sampson and Low Vusit. THE ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. ON the 21st of August, 1846, on the day after the season bad ended at Her Majesty's Theatre, great was the sensation created in the musical circles by the publication in the Morning Chronicle of the annexed We are authorised to announce to our readers that the capitalists who have resolved to form an Italian company for Covent-garden Theatre, for the years 1847, 1848, and 1t49, have engaged Mr. Costa as musical director and conductor of the orchestra for that period, and for three years more, in all six years, at his own choice. Mr. Costa, having received full powers to select the band and chorus, has engaged every leading instrumentalist, native and foreign, now in this country, the great majority having transferred their services from the late orchestra of Her Majesty's Theatre, as also the principal choraliats. The Covent Garden band and chorus will be the largest ever collected within the walls of any theatre in this country, and the resident chorus singers are to be considerably re inforced by experienced continental artists. The house is to be decorated and fitted up on a scale of unprece dented splendour, with every comfort and luxury. First rate artists have been secured for the embellishments. The principal vocalists already engaged may be divided into three classes, First : artists of European fame, now in this country. Secondly: artists of European fame, who have visited this country, but are no longer here. Thirdly: artists of European fame, who have never appeared in this country at all. The subordinate parts in operas are to be tilled by thoroughly competent artists. The wise en-scene will be carefully attended to in every de partment. Original operas, composed expressly for this country, are to be produced. The standard repertoire will be principally used for debuts, but many works of continental popularity, never introduced here as yet, will be performed. The main principle of this understanding is to elevate lyrical art, and to place the Italian Opera on a basis 01 efficiency in every branch, never before attained, not only in England, but in Europe. The above prospectus just cited was thus carried out:—On the Ist of December, 1846, Albano was placed in possession of Covent garden Theatre, the day after Jullien's Promenade Concerts had ceased ; and after the whole of the audience part of the interior had been reconstructed, on the 6th of April, 1847, the Royal Italian Opera was opened with Rossini's Semiramide, on the very day announced by the directors. From 1847 to 1855, for nine succes sive seasons, the Royal Italian Opera, entirely de pendent on its own resources, fully realised every pledge contained in the above programme. Not only were the finest works of Rossini, Bellini, and Doni z,tti produced, besides those of Verdi, the composes whose star is now in the ascendant, not only in Italy, but also in France and Germany ; the masterpieces of Mozart, Beethoven, and Cirnarosa were equally given ; and in addition the productions of Weber, Spohr, Auber, Halevy, and Meyerbeer were mounted on the grandest scale. More than this, the claims of musicians of the day were recognised, and works by Gounod, Jullien, and Berlioz ware brought out. The various managements since the formation of the Royal Italian Opera may have made mistakes —perhaps even more might have been effected than the many glorious achievements now on record—but, at all events, it must be admitted by every impartial musical amt.teur that the announcement of August, 1846 , has been most loyally carried out, even at the large pecuniary sacrifices with which the iorld is too we ll acquainted. Whatever may have b v een the difficulties and embarrassments behind the curtain, it will be acknowledged that every direc tor, from the beginning to the end, of Covent-garden Theatre, has felt it to be a point of honour to adhere rigidly to the ori g i na l intentions of the pro. rooters, 'to place the Italian Opera basis of on a . efficiency in every branch, never before obtained, not only ill England, 1856, but in E uro p e ." Th e season o f w'th the advent of peace, promises to secure for the present directors a prosperous return for their zealous exertions in previous years; but on the sth of March, the act of some atrocious incendiary It:- THE PRESS. terminated the Royal Italian Opera's existence within the walls of Covent-garden Theatre, and Albano, who, three times during the reconstruction in 1846-7, had discovered attempts to burn the theatre, at last witnessed the destruction of the beautiful interior after the theatre had been dis graced by the foulest orgies of a Bal Masque. On the sth of March it was the general exclamation, "there is an end of the Royal Italian Opera ;" but yet on Tuesday, the 15th of April, the tenth season was actually commenced with Verdi's Trovatore, in the presence of her Majesty and Prince Albert, and with as full a list of fashionable and distinguished celebrities as the circumscribed limits of the Lyceum theatre could contain. This was a great and re markable effort, for only on the 2nd of April was Mr. Gye enabled to begin the transformation of a dirty, dingy, dilapidated, deserted temple of English lyric art, and he had thus less than a fortnight to make the Lyceum what it now is, an elegant, comfortable, cabinet Italian Opera-house, which will serve its purpose until the plans for the erection of a new edifice can be carried out. So far as the deco rator's designs be concerned, nothing has been disturbed. Madame Vestris's Cupids are still dimly seen on the misty ceiling, and her birds and beasts still cling to the facades of the two tiers of boxes, but Mr. Gye's artists have been unsparing with the recolouring and the regilding. White and gold on a light green ground, with red draperies, predominate, the proscenium being filled up with bold reliefs of Britannia and St. Cecilia, whose charms are vet off by a new chandelier, which penetrates the ceiling and enables the flat Cupids aforesaid to dart glances at the living beauties in the private boxes, of which there are no less than sixty-eight, thanks to Mr. Gye's geometry, which has been also further developed by converting the pit into 220 most comfortable chairs called " orchestra stalls," although they absorb the pit beyond the facade of the ground tier, leaving, of course, but a very limited space for the pittites, a question of accommodation after all, under the ancient regime, principally of importance to those cormorants the libraries and music shopkeepers,—a class which, whilst opera capitalists have been ruined, has always managed to draw large profits from the establishment by the middle system of letting boxes and stalls. It is almost time to notice the performance, for Costa is at his post, after several rounds of applaiise ; but, as so much history of the past has been mixed up in this notice of the opening, can the agreeable fact be omitted that, from first to last, the artists, instrumental as well as vocal, have given up twenty five per cent. on their engagements to keep the Royal Italian Opera undertaking intact, and, more over, the band and chorus will not be reduced in number, as they have consented to perform on alternate weeks? With the weekly concerts which will be commenced next month at the Crystal Palace, a treaty having been signed with the company and Mr. Gye, why should there not be a profitable season? There will be one, for the opera subscription is very large, but the profits will have to go in costumes, operatic scores, dm, which in turn must be capital for the new theatre. Tuesday's performance could only be regarded as a rehearsal. It is true that with the single exception of the sudden dropping of the curtain, just as Tamberlik was in the full force of his cabaletta on behalf of the mother of the " Trovatore," and the rising of the curtain again to enable him to explain further his filial intentions to Leonora, there was no hitch in the, so to speak, improvised opera; but it was evident neither the vocalists nor the instrumentalists were at their ease during the evening. Everybody was feeling his or her way. Hence it was with some very fine points in the general execution the ensemble rather hung fire. There was also another reason to account for the heaviness. Mme. Viardot was re placed as Azucena, the gipsy-mother, by Mme. Didiee, an enormous drawback in the pr?sent cast, despite of the good will and intelligence of the new representa tive. Then Mme. Ney was at sea with her powerful organ in a small house, and she only rallied effectively in the concluding acts, especially in the last one, in which she sang magnificently. The lyric stage is, in the actual epoch, either dependent as it were on old or worn out voices, or else the rising singers are sadly deficient in personal attractions, which go so far to charm audiences. Where is the soprano voice now to be found like that of Mine. Ney? But then her deportment and physical attributes ! Graziani and Tamberlik have returned with the powers of last season, the former with one of the finest barytone voices ever heard, but sadly deficient in style, and the latter as one of the greatest of dramatic tenors. The orchestra will labour under the disadvantage that, whereas the wood, brass, and percussion instru ments must remain in their normal state of twenty one players, the stringed must necessarily be reduced to one-half—that is, eight first and eight second violin, instead of sixteen each; five tenors instead of ten ; five violoncellos, and five double basses, instead of ten each set. To state that the balance of sound can ;be adjusted on this scale with the super- 379 excellence of former seasons, would be absurd ; but Costa, with his consummate skill, will contrive to render the reduction as little palpable as possible. The stringed will have to play more strongly, and the wind must subdue their strength. There are many works in the repertoire which will gain considerably by the small arena, and the colossal masterpieces must slumber until the next season. In the mean while let every honour and credit be assigned to all concerned in the astonishing proof just afforded of zeal and energy by the opening of the Royal Italian Opera, after such a dire catastrophe, within such a short space. MUSICAL DOINGS. Tins has been a busy week for the amateurs ; but the important items may be confined to three facts— first, the appearance of Professor Sterndale Bennett as conductor of the ancient Philharmonic Society ; secondly, the first performance in this country of the celebrated German pianist, Mme. Schumann, better known as Clara Wieck ; and, thirdly, the pro duction of a new oratorio, Jepthah and his Daughter, at St. Martin's-hall. The position which Mr. Bennett holds as the first of English composers se cured him the baton as the successor of Costa and Wagner. As a conductor Mr. Bennett's experience is most limited, and he has yet to win his spurs ; for, making every allowance for nervousness on Monday night, the general execution of the orchestral music must be pronounced to have been coarse. The ob jections which have been made to the times in which Mr. Bennett took the various pieces, as no two conductors can precisely agree in their readings of scores, can have very little weight; but the colouring of a symphonic movement or of an overture is the real test of the directing power, and the heaviness which prevailed must be taken as an index that public feeling had not been fixed by Mr. Bennett. Perhaps experience may make a change ; but it may be safely assumed the most efficienticonductor will be the master who has had a life's experience of an orchestra's swing, as well as the thorough knowledge of the styles and meanings of composers. Mr. Alfred Mellon amongst English professors seems to be the only one who has acquired anything like Costa's clearness and de , ;ision of beat. Mme. Schumann's magnificent performances of Beethoven's concerto in E flat, and of Mendelssohn's 17 variations serieuses, last Monday ; and of Mendelssohn's diffi cult sonata in D minor (Op. 29). his "Spring song," in A, his presto in C, from the " Songs Without Words," and of her unfortunate husband's (Schumann, the composer and writer, has lost his reason) fantastic fantasia, "Evening," at the Musical Union, last Tuesday, created almost un paralleled sensation, as had been confidently antici pated by those who had heard her playing in Germany. She is one of the greatest of living pianists, having a special style of her own—an un mistakeable manner to distinguish her from the herd of ordinary performers. It is not merely manual mechanism, marvellous as it is ; but it is in the equality and brilliancy of touch, the intellectual interpretation, the enthusiasm, as it wire, of expres sion, which mark the execution of Mme. Schumann. The effects she produces appear effortless ; the hands appear to glide over the keys invisibly, and yet the volume of tone is immense when necessary. Mine. Schumann w'll be the lion of the season. The composer of the new oratorio is Herr Carl Reinthaler, a professor in the Cologne Acade:ny of Music, who has studied in Italy. The work is not the emanation of a musician of genius; but it has some exceedingly clever attributes, an essential one being its utter freedom from the mistiness and ugliness of the " Music of the Future." The oratorio is German in structure, but it is Italian in feeling. The educated aid well- trained musician is more palpable than the inspired composer. Herr Reinthaler's first work will certainly provoke curiosity as to his career. Mr. Thomas, the basso, sang the music of the father, and Mme. Clara Ncvello that of the daughter. She was encored in a clever aria, " Blessed shall thou be." Mr. Montem Smith gave the tencr music, and Miss Palmer, the rising contralto, had also a part; but the soprano and the bass absorb the principal music, the choral portion being greatly developed. Mr. Hullah deserves praise for introducing the work. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—The reopening of the above establishment is announced for Tuesday the lith of May, with Signora Alboni (now the Countess Pepoli) as the prima donna. Mme. Albertini, an English woman, married to Baucarde, the French tenor, is to make her debut in the Trovatore, Alboni to be Azucena. Mlle. Marietta Piccolomini, the niece of a cardinal, who has been creating such a sensation latterly in Italy, will appear in Verdi's Traviata. As tenors, the names of Calzolari and Baucarde are specified ; and a new singer, a pupil of Manuel Garcia, a Signor Salviani, will sing for the first time in England. Salviani was in the medical rrofession, and wrote the scientific portion of Gercias singing -book. He has sung in America, and made some impres-ion at the Pergola in Flo rence, in illeyerbeer's Prophete. Signor BenevaD-