The Press.
London, England, 1855-06-09 00:00:00

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.

THE performances at the Royal Italian Opera this week
have included an additional extra night upon Monday,
when Lucrezia Borgia was given, for the first time
this season. The deep tragic character of Lucrezia
is one peculiarly suited to the genius of Grisi. The
finale in the first act, the trio in the second, and the
fatal banquet scene in the third, offer situations to
which few parallels in dramatic interest are to be
found in modern operas. In a character so well
known it is unnecessary to particularise the fine
points—every one knows them—and of the first
performance of the character this season we can
conscientiously say, that in the deep pathos and
intense passion of her acting Grisi was fully equal to
the best of her previous efforts, while in the bril-
liancyof her singing the slightest possible decadence
could only be discovered. Mario, as Gennaro, sang
exceedingly well throughout,and confirmed the impres-
sion his previous performances this season have sug-
gested—that his voice is in better health and condition
than it has been for the last year or two. In the
"Di pescatore," and in the romauza in the second
act, two of his choicest efforts when he is perfectly
himself, he produced an immense effect, and in the
death scene his acting and singing were superb.
Tamburini resumed his old part of the Duke, and in
the great duet in the second act, in which he feigns
reconciliation with Gennaro, but at the same time
poisons him by the hand of his wife, his acting was
very fine; but his singing is but a shadow of what it
was, as we have already intimated, but still there is
no visible depreciation of taste and judgment, and
hence it is still welcome. The famous " Brindisi "
was sung by Madame Nantier Didiee with sufficient
spirit and gaiety to win an encore. Grisi and Mario
were recalled after each act, and at the end of the
opera more than once:
On Tuesday night Don Giovanna was repeated
with the same cast as before, Mlle. Jenny Ney not
having sufficiently recovered to take the part of
Donna Anna; and on Thursday night the first
representation of the Huguenots was given to a very
crowded house. The cast was scarcely so powerful
as in former years, Mlle. Marai taking the place of
Castellan as the Queen, and Mlle. Didiee of Alboni
as the page ; but Grisi and Mario were there, and
the whole atteirion of the house was fixed upon
these two great artists. Yet the audience were more
critical than enthusiastic. On the whole, they were
cold, and nothing seemed to warm them up till the
grand scene of the third act. The " Nobil donna," the
" Piff-Paff," the famous septuor of the duel, which
scarcely obtained an encore, and the " Benediction of
the Poignards" were listened to coldly, and with but
faint applause; but the part of Urbano was in-
differently filled by Mlle. Didiee, who was ill and
weak, and, though she managed to get through the
" Nobil donna," she was compelled to omit alto-
gether her best song, the " No, no, no, caso egual."
The house felt disappointed, and so the first act went
off flatly, in spite of Mario's exquisite singing in the
" Bell' angiol," and " Bela divina." In the second
act the " Rataplan" chorus was weak and not so
effective as it should he, but Grisi's unsurpassable
execution in the" 0 terror ! mi spaventa," and the force
and freshness of her voice, brought down hearty
applause. With the third act however came
the incomparable acting and singing of both
Grisi and Mario in the duet after the benedic-
tion, their despair at the discovery of the frightful
plot for the destruction of the Protestants of France,
her confession of love, the exquisite tenderness
which he repeated, "TU m'ami? oh qual brine
raggio d'amor celeste!" his passionate appeal to
her to fly with him, and their sudden desperation
when the mournful tolling of the cathedral bell
announces to them both that the hour of massacre
has come, was a scene of such intense emotion,
such deep pathos, and acted with such exquisite
skill, as called forth raptures of applause. Of the
other characters, Mlle. Marai sung the music allotted
to the part of the Queen with great fluency and
skill, but her voice is still tremulous and thin, and
wanting in capacity. She is, however, a most correct
and conscientious artiste, and is daily improving in
her r6l Formes as Marcel was powerful and effec-
tive in his singing, though he committed a most un-
mistakeable false note or two in his duet with
Valentine in the second act. His acting was fine,
impressive, and highly poetical. Signor Taglialico
looked and sustained the part of Nevers with grace
and dignity, and gave the "Prodi guerrier tu vedi,
non un solo assassin " with fine effect ; while Signor
Polonini, as St. Brit, proved a most efficient substi-
tute for Tamburini. Her Majesty and Prince Albert,
accompanied by the Princesses of Hohenlohe, and
attended by the Duchess of Wellington, honoured
the performances with their presence. The Trova-
tore is to be repeated to-night, Mlle Jenny Ney
having sufficiently recovered to resume her part.

THE PRESS.

CRYSTAL PALACE.

GREAT and gay have been the doings at Sydenham
within the past se'nigbt, during which the directors
have celebrated in various ways the anniversary of
the opening of their gigantic e-tablishment. On Sa
turday last there was an horticultural fête, for which
enormous preparations were made, such as the
colossal proportions of the palace rendered not only
possible but easy, down the long nave and along the
open corridor facing the terrace. The arrangements
were judiciously contrived to suit all weathers, but
the fete, though it might not have been spoiled U 3
rain, went off all the more gaily through the influ-
ence of the bright sun and genial gales which deigned
to visit the land for the first time since the branches
had proclaimed the arrival of spring. The floral
display fairly rivalled any that either Chiswick or the
Regent's-park has ever exhibited. Prizes awarded
upon a most liberal scale, to the aggregate amount
of 1,000 sovereigns, attracted the flowers to the
palace, and the flowers in turn attracted a concourse
of visitors, in many respects as gay and gaudy as
themselves, to the number of nearly 15,000. Besides
the horticultural show there were musical perform-
ances, chief among which was that of the young
pianist, Arthur Napoleon, who gave infinite satisfac-
tion to the select, or rather the sturdy few who were
able to crush their way into the vicinity of his dais
under the nave. Three bands and nine fountains
also played during the afternoon—the latter for the
first time in public, and also to the great delight of
the company. On the whole, this fête must be re-
corded as a genuine and signal success of the direc-
tors, who have given welcome hints that it will be
the first of a series.

On Monday another entertainment came off at the
palace, in the shape of a concert, at which Alboni
was to have sung for the first time in England this
season. Indisposition, however, prevented her ap-
pearance, and the musical portion of the fete wag
otherwise supplied; the fountains, bands, and
Messrs. Staples' refreshment-tables supplying the
supplementary attractions, which gathered 13,000
season-ticket holders—such only being, as on Satur-
day, admitted—for their enjoyment.
The forced absence of Alboni is to be repaired,
according to the programme, this day (Saturday),
when she will appear in another concert under the
same conditions, and with similar accompaniments
—barring of course a first indisposition.

ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.—The engagement of M.
Levassor, the celebrated actor of the Palais Royal, at
this theatre will afford an opportunity to all true
lovers of the exquisite histrionic art of our neigh-
bours of fully gratifying their tastes. The first of a
series of Mutinies et Soirées Ricriatives et Comiques
was presented on Wednesday evening, M. Levassor
sustaining the principal parts in the proverb A Deux
Pas de Bonheur and Le Bas Bleu, a vaudeville in
which be appears in five different characters. The
interval between the proverb and the vaudeville was
agreeably filled up by three songs and a comic scene.
In the proverb M. Levassor personates a cynical
Englishman, who having fallen in love with the in-
visible singer of a most fascinating little chanson,
travels over the whole of Europe in the hope of find-
ing her. The singer and the song pursue him in
all his rambles, but all his efforts at discovering her,
which are detailed in an amusing soliloquy, are un-
successful. Eventually the cause of his travels turns
out to be his own ward, who has accompanied him,
and he then discovers that he has been from begin-
ning to end within "deur pas" of perfect happiness.
M. Levassor's Englishman was a thorough gentle-
man, a little cold and awkward, perhaps, but not in
the slightest degree a caricature, never, in tone or
gesture, "overstepping the modesty of (English)
nature." The Bas Bleu is a very slight affair, and
produced but little effect on the audience, coming, as
it did unfortunately for its effect, after the Pere Bon-
homme and the Pirouettes d'un vieux Danseur, both
of them, but especially the first, most finished speci-
mens of the actor's art. The imitation of extreme
old age in the song was certainly the most sur-
prisingly truthful effort of the kind we have ever
witnessed. The " childish treble" of the voice, the
shrunk figure, the feeble gait, and the innocent
vanity of age weakly struggling to conceal its
physical defects, were assumed with an accuracy
which made it difficult to believe that the actor had
not undergone some miraculous temporary trans-
formation, and had really become the cheerful octo-
genarian he was representing. The comic scene, in
which an old Maitre de Danse, whose enthusiasm for
his art is overmatched by stiff joints and feeble
powers of respiration, produced convulsions of
laughter. M. Levassor was effectively assisted by
Mlle. Teisseire, who sang a pretty village song, " Le
Cure du Village," celebrating the virtues of a good
Roman Catholic pastor, a counterpart of Chaucer's
priest, with great taste and feeling. The house was
well filled, and, what is very unusual in London
theatres, most successfully ventilated.

Da. GAISFORD, Dean of Christ Church, Oxford,
died on Saturday morning last, very suddenly and
unexpectedly. The deceased appeared to be in per-
fect health a few days before, and on the previous
Tuesday and Wednesday had been engaged in ex-
amining candidates for the Slade studentship
in the College-hall. Dr. Gaisford took his B.A.
degree in 1801 as Grand Compounder, 111. A in 1804,
and was appointed one of the public examiners in
1809. He was nominated Regius Professor of Greek
in 1811 ; Prebendary of St. Paul's, and also Preben-
dary of Llandaff, in 1823. In 1831 he was appointed
Dean of Christ Church, and had the degrees of B.D.
and D.D. conferred on him by diploma in the same
year. He was also a delegate of the press, fellow of
the Royal Academy at Muni7.ll, and a corresponding
member of the Royal Institute of France. He was
the author of many classical works, printed at the
University press, and held the highest position as a
Greek scholar, and his death leaves a blank in that
department of literature which will not easily be
supplied. The deceased was in his 77th year, and,
although partaking of the character of a strict disci-
plinarian, was greatly beloved in his college. He en-
tertained a deep-rooted attachment to the university
and to his college in particular. He was a great
friend and patron of poor students who came to
Christ Church, and who showed themselves deserving
of regard and encouragement by their quiet study
and persevering attention to their duties.