The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-25 00:00:00

APRIL 25, 1857. 18— no, let dates be suppressed, for Grisi is just as likely to see out a dozen more prime donne as she has done for the last ten years. One by one they disappear. The cry is still they come ! But their existence is so ephemeral, that one season suffices for the suppression of their names. When Grist sang the same part of Leonora at the Italian Operahouse in Paris during the season I just con cluded, it was announced for one night only, being for Signor Grazianis benefit; but such was the furore her acting and singing excited that a re engagement as long as she could remain was made, and heriservices were secured for the ensuing season. The courage of Grisi in attacking new parts has always been admired; and her conscientiousness in carrying out her conceptions has been equally appre ciated. She works indeed with unparalleled energy. Nothing is shirked in the score by Grisi. In the concerted pieces, with band and chorus in full swing, her glorious voice is heard towering above the contending elements, Her Leonora has been care fully studied by her. It is no faint outline ; but it is broadly and boldly conceived. It is a Spanish rnaden, who loves a wandering troubadour with an intensity that defies all opposing influences, however strong, and that does not hesitate to self-immolation at the last to preserve her Manrico's life. The passion of this performance has never been stirs passed on any stage, and,lsupported as it was by an energetic reading of the tenor's music by Mario, the effect was electrifying. Mario, without being in his finest voice, sang with a charm that no other tenor has ever approached. The delivery of the " Ah, si ben mio" in three-four time was surpassingly beau tiful, but the effort which exceeded everything was his share in the " Miserere" with Grisi, and of the trio finale with her and Didiee. In the duo the agonising bursts from Grisi, as the pathetic tones of Mario are heard from the dungeon, whilst the peal of the organ, the tolling of the death bell, and the dismal supplications of the monks were mingled, absolutely startled the auditory. If Verdi had com posed but the last act of the Trovatore his genius would never have been questioned, for the ending has never been surpassed in dramatic power and inten sity. He seems to excel in death-scenes. Take, as instances, those in the Ernani, the Due Foscari, and the Traviata. With Graziani in the Conte di Luna, Tagliafico as Ferrando, and Mlle. Didiee as Azucena the gipsy, the cast as regards principals left nothing to be desired. The orchestral accompaniments were played by the band with consummate skill and deli cacy, and the choral portions were sung with infinite spirit and precision. The new sounding board answers its purpose completely, for the singing is heard to the greatest advantage. Another remarkable display of histrionic genius was that of Ronconi at his debut as Chevreuse in Donizetti'a Maria di Bohan; but he has never had a fair chance in this opera, fur the simple reason that he has never been supported with a sufficiently dra matic Maria. If Viardot or Grisi were to enact the wife, combined with the acting of Ronconi, the work would be more attractive than it has proved. Mme. Devries has a soprano voice of tremendous power, which will account for her great popularity in an extended arena like the Crystal Palace; but there is no charm in her style, and her acting is cold and uninteresting. Mme. Tadolini was the original Maria in 1843 in Vienna, and Grisi took the part in Paris in 1844 with Mario, Ronconi, and Brambilla in the cast. Mme. Ronconi was the Maria in 1852, with Salvi, Ronconi, and Alboni. In 1852 it was Mme. Castellan, with M!le. Seguin and 'l'ainberlik. At Her Majesty's we have had in turn Mme. Ligrange and Mme. Fiorentini ; but Viardot, who has peen Maria in St. Petersburg, and Grisi, would be the only artistes to act up to Ronconi's wonderful delineation of the husband. Since Alboni there has been no Armando de Gondi like that of Mlle. Didiee on Saturday night. She sang with a charm that won for her a most impulsive encore in the second cavatina in six-eight time, " Son leggero nell' amore." The new tenor, Neri-Baraldi, as Chalius, will be a very valuable addition to the triple troupe. Verdi's Traviata will be produced for Mme. Bosio, who crested a sensation in the part at St. Peters burg, and Graziani and Mario, who so delighted the ri Pasian auditories last season. It is not a little curious about this Traviata that so many artistes should have achieved such fame as the frail heroine, despite of the abominable libretto. It is stated to be Mlle. Spezia's best part, and M.le. Boccabadatti has been for some time exciting Italian audiences ny her acting and singing. Consumption on the stage appears to be at a premium. Admitting that Verdi has treated the dying-scene with his usual intensity, the taste is questionable that can accept with eager ness such morbid exhibitions. PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY. Tam ancient society commenced another season last Monday, the permanent conductor for the six con certs being, as during the past year, Professor Sterndale Bennett. Instead of haying two chef, THE PRESS. d'attaque, or, as they were called in former times, " leaders," there are now three. Sivori and Cooper were in 1856 the two first violins iu turn; in 1857 we shall have Sainton for two concerts, Blagrove for two, and Cooper for two. This arrangement has been pronounced to be absurd. And so it would have been in those days when a leader and a con ductor fought a battle for supremacy ; but the baton having gained the day against the bow, it is matter of little consequence whether a chef d'attaque be changed every concert, provided he be an efficient executant, and understands his conductor. Mr. Bennett is not a demonstrative wielder of the baton—he seeks apparently quietness and un obtrusiveness. Amateurs can listen calmly with the certainty there will be no attempt at new readings, and that the pace will be the jog-trot one. The result must be evident—it is cold conventional correctness. A little more decision, a shade or two of additional colouring, and the effects would perhaps be less somniferous. This remark will not apply to the overtures—for the band, trained as it was by Costa, will go its own pace—but to the symphonies. Haydn's No. 8, in E flat, which is more filled with episodes than is usual with his works, and Beethoven's to D, No. 2, would have gained by increased animation on the part of the conductor. The two solo instrumental items were Piatti's fine rendering of a violoncello concerto by F. A. Kummer, admirably written for the instrument, and Miss Arabella Goddard's correct but frigid interpre tation of Mendelssohn's concerto in D minor. After the recent fame acquired by this highly-accomplished pianiste in Beethoven's sonatas, her playing was looked for with great interest, but did not realise everybody's expectations. The mechanism was wonderful, especially in the final movement ; but the slow one seemed to many hearers to be deficient in sentiment and passion. Mme. Rudersdorff and Signor Belletti were the singers. THE MUSICAL UNION. THE thirteenth season was opened by Mr. Ella on Tuesday, with a most interesting debut—that of Mlle. Anna Molique, a daughter of the distin• guished violinist and composer of that name. The lair pianiste is a pupil of Charles Halle, and took the part originally assigned to her master (who had met with an accident) in her father's MS. trio in F, No. 2, op. 52, Molique and Piatti being her colleagues. This combination gave additional zest to the produc tion and performance of the trio, which, like all the works of the great classic, will require more than one hearing to appreciate the profound, novel, and in genious combinations with which it is crowded. Mlle. Molique made a very favourable impression on her critical auditory. Spohr's double quartet in D minor, op. BS, was attacked with uncommon vigour and remarkable brilliancy by Molique, Carrotlus, Goffrie and Piatti and Blagrove, Ries, R. Blagrove, and Paque. With Mozart's quartet in C, No. 6, and a contra-basso pronunciamento from Bottesini, the morning's programme was complete. The reception of Molique's and Silas's compositions will doubtless induce the director to he more bold in his policy. "Nothing venture, nothing have," will apply to music as to ordinary life. THE CRYSTAL PALACE. PREPARATIONS are in active progress for the concerts of the Royal Italian Opera company, the first of which will be given next Friday. Mr. Gye, who constructed with so much ingenuity the orchestra of last year, solving a problem in acoustics which had been declared to be an impossible one, has again superintended the arrangements, and has availed himself of his former experience to extend the com forts of the auditory, whilst securing them all the advantages of hearing even at the most remote distances. Mr. Costa will conduct a portion of the programmes, and the full choral and orchestral forces of the Royal Italian Opera, as at Covent Garden, will be brought into play. The selections for the season will present many points of peculiar interest to amateurs. The indefatigable committee of the Sacred Har monic Society are at work night and day for the Handel Festival on the 15th, 17th, and 10th of June. The Messiah will be the first oratorio, Judas Maccabees the second, and the Israel in Egypt the final one. The enormous extent of the orchestra will be guessed when it is mentioned that it will be nearly forty feet wider than the existing one in Exeter-hall; and yet so accurately has the line of sight been carried, that every executant, vocal and instrumental, will have a clear view of the conductor, who will not be obliged to resort, as Berlioz did in Paris at the Great Exhibition, to some dozen sub conductors to communicate the beat of the baton. Gray and Davison's gigantic organ, which is intended to remain permanently in the transept, is now in course of fixture, and by the end of the ensuing month will be complete. The makers are confident in their assertion that whilst it will be the most powerful instrument in the world, it will combine such qualities as to render the Crystal Palace organ 415 A 1, and the glories of Friburg, Harlem, St. Denis, York, Birmingham, and Liverpool are to be eztin guished. Costa has matured his plan for the equal balance of force in the stringed, wind, and percussion instruments. The proportions he has adopted are these :-76 first violins, 74 second violins, 50 violas, 50 violoncellos, and 50 double basses—in all 300 stringed. The wind comprise 9 flutes, 9 oboes, 9 clarionets, 9 bassoons, 12 horns, 12 trumpets and cornets-a-piston, 9 trombones, 3 ophicleidcs, 9 serpents and bass horns, 3 drums and 6 side•drums-90 wind and percussion in all. The grand total will be 390 players. Here is a wide field for speculation as to the effects which will be produced by such tripling of the ordinary parts ol• an orchestra. That there will be some sublime results cannot for a moment be doubted; but whether the inner subtle workings of a composer's score will come out in bold relief, is a problem to be solve 1. What an aggregate of human voices will accomplish we already know by the essay under Costa's direc• tion at the opening of the Crystal Palace. MR. C. KENNY gave an interesting lecture con nected with humorous anecdotes of the great com poser Beethoven on Wednesday night, at the Mechanics' Institution, Chancery-late. Some of Beethoven's compositions were done justice to by the admirable singing of Miss Palmer, Miss Hughes, and Mr. Allen. Master Harrison also ac quitted himself most respectably on the pianoforte. The room was well attended. Las BOUFFES PARISIENS, whose charming per• formances have for several years been among the attractions of Paris, are about to appear here at the St. James's Theatre, commencing on May the 20th. In addition to the principal artists, Messrs. Pradeau, Guyot, and Gertpre, and Mlles. Dalmont and I.lare chal, it is intended to import the orchestra of the establishment uudir the direction of M. Offenbach, by whom the music of many of the pieces is corn posed. These performances, so thoroughly French in their piquant and artistic finish, can scarcely fail to become popular. CRI3IEAN RELICS.—Undor this title a grand Illus trated Concert is to take place at the St. James's Theatre on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday next. The proceeds of the three concerts are for the benefit of the Nightingale Fund, the Soldier's Infant's Home, and the Army and Navy Pensioners' Employment Society. alloneg parka anb Qtit FRIDAY EVENING. Taz return of the Bank of England for the week ending the lath inst., shows the following changes compared with that for the week preceding : Increase in Circulation Decrease in Public Deposits Increase in Other Deposits Decrease in Private Securities Increase in Bullion Increase in Rest Increase in Reserve Bullion in Both Departments 9,803,749 Circulation, including Bank Post Bills The three most essential points in this comparison are all of a very favourable character. The Private Securities have diminished nearly 600,0001., whil e the Bulli o n and the Reserve have each increased more than half a million. These changes fully show that there were no grounds fer anticipating, as appears to have been the case in Paris a few days ago, that the Bank Directors were preparing to place the Money Market under still further restrictions. The Bullion is now gradually approaching towards 10,000,0001., whilst the stock of notes has increased to 3,619,220/. It is quite understood that the changes which have occurred in the position of the Bank during the cur rent week have not been such as to interfere with its pro gressive improvement; but so long as the publication of the returns is delayed till Friday, when they might be put.- lished upon Tuesday, seeing that the accounts are made up to the Saturday previous, such opinions must be ac cepted with reserve. The other changes shown by the comparison do nut call for any remark. The Money Market has in the present week presented quite a contrast to its condition during the preceding ten days. In our last we described the extreme Eringency that prevailed up to Friday, caused by the apprehensions excited by the restrictions on discounts and advances im posed by the Bank, followed by rumours that the Bank of France had increased the premium from four to six per mille upon its purchases of gold. Up to Thursday the sensitiveness was such that many houses, in order to he prepared for whatever might happen, enlarged their dis counts as much as possible ; and thus involuntarily added, by an exaggerated demand, to the existing stringency. A heavy demand, too, had been prevailing all the week in order to pay for the silver sent to India by Monday's packet. From these, and other leas important causes, a state of general uneasiness was created out of propor tion to the real circumstances which created it. In the present week, therefore, we have had a natural reaction. It is true, which we doubted last Friday, th,t the Bank of France has increased the premium upon its gold pur chases • and it is also a fact that Messrs. Barings have launched the great Russian railway scheme upon the