The Press.
London, England, 1854-07-08 00:00:00

lortign art, Xittratuu, kt.

THE GRAND OPERA IN PARIS, which has long
been in a deplorable state, on account of the pecu-
niary embarrassments of its directors, is now to be
reorganised. The Moniteur publishes a decree by
which this establishment is placed under the direc-
tion of the Imperial Civil List, and within the attri•
buttons of the Minister of the Emperor's household.
A commission is instituted to give advice to the
minister on all questions of art, and on all the
measures proper to ensure the prosperity of the
Opera. The whole of the present debts and liabilities
of the director of the Opera are to be paid off by the
Civil List, which is henceforth to conduct the estab •
lishment at its risk and peril. M. Roqueplan, the
present director, is to be continued as director under
the new regime, but to have no risk or responsibility,
and to receive a salary of 1,0 00/. per annum. The
Opera closed on Saturday last for a recess of two
months.

M. lisLxvv is understood to be engaged on a new
work for the Theatre Lyrique, the principal charac-
ter in which will be sustained by Mme. Cabel. The
libretto is by M. do Sr. George.
A NEW OPERA by M. Duprez is in preparation at
the Opera Comique : it is entitled jelliotte.
M. BERLIOZ' OPERA, Benvenuto Cellini, is about
to be given at Dresden.
IT is stated that M. Liszt is preparing for the stage
an opera of Schubert, never yet performed : its title
is Alfons and Estrella.
THE ROYAL MUSICAL ACADEMY OF SWEDEN re-
cently gave a grand festival in the Church of Charles
John at Stockholm. Mendelssohn's oratorio of
Elie, and some fragments of the works of Handel,
were executed by 480 chorists and instrumentalists.
An historical concert has also been given in the
same city. It consisted of selections from the works
of composers of the end of the seventeenth and the
first half of the eighteenth century ; amongst them
were a trio and a chorus from Ramean's Dardanux,
and the overture and air for a tenor from Lulli's
Proserpine. No musical solemnities of such magni
tude had ever before taken place in Sweden, and they
attracted crowded audiences.
ACCORDING to advices from Milan great efforts
are making to restore.the opera at La Scala to some-
thing of its former splendour. A training school has
been organised, where two hundred chorus or secon-

THE PRESS.

dary singers are to receive gratuitous instruction, and
a brilliant troupe has been engaged for the carnival
of 1855. New operas by M. Verdi and M. Chiaro-
monte are also promised for the new direction.
THE following details are given by a Berlin
journal relative to the construction of the building
erected at Munich for the exhibition of Zollverein
and German productions. The palace is constructed
after the designs and plans of Chief Councillor of
Architecture, 24. Von Voit ; by N. Clett, a rich
master manufacturer, of Munich. The ground-
plan is cruciform ; the elongated portion running
east and west, 800 feet long, and the arms 280 feet.
The breadth of the transept is 100 feet, the square
superficies of the whole 134,400 feet, the maximum
height 80 feet, that of the transept 80 feet, and the
minimum of the lateral alleys and branches 60
feet. The transept is divided into five parallel alleys
by columns 20 feet high, serving as bases to the
arches. The materials are iron and glass. The
water runs off from the roof, through the hollow
columns, into sewers and reservoirs constructed
beneath for that purpose. The eastern and western
ends, and northern and southern branches, are
approached by 34 steps. The grand entrance will
be by the northern arm, the exit by the south.
About 30,000 cwt. of iron and 215,700 square feet
of glass have been employed. The force of re-
sistance of the columns supporting the galleries
was tried with a weight of 350 cwt. The cost is not
stated.
SOME trials on a small scale, made last year in
Hungary, in the culture of the tea plant, having per-
fectly succeeded in point of quality, some more exten-
sive experiments are again being tried this year in
the cultivation of the Chinese weed.