The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-23 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA.

The plan of a richly varied programme, adopted
by the managers at the commencement of the mason, is
being kept up at the English Opera with great spirit, and a
SOCCeiliioo of good houses sufficiently attests that the ad-
vantages it offers are fully appreciated by the public. By
this continual change of performance various tastes are con-
sulted, a larger area of selection is given to the lovers of
music, and visitors, who are only in town for a
week or two, may hear during their stay some of the
best specimens of our English ballad operas, as well as ver-
sions effectively rendered of the more brilliant sod totals.
limbed favourites from the Italian.
Last night the opera of Sonnambula, which has not been
given at the English Opera for three years, was produced is
• very satisfactory and successful manner. The resources of
the company which Mims Pyre and Mr. Rarrison have col-
lected will be sufficiently gathered from the fact that,
although neither of those distinguished vocalists took part
is the performance, the rendering of an opera which de-
mends so much from the chief singers was a decided SUOMI..
The part of Amine was taken 1.7 Mimi Bars Dobson, the
new prima donna whose appearance in Lurline we have
already noticed, and considering the difficulties of such a part
for a young and comparatively inexperienced singer, she
ceriaioly acquitted herself ins eery creditable manner. la
the first sot indeed Miss Dobson 's manner was a little formal
and strained, and her singing was wanting in flexibility and
expression ; but in the second and third acts she sang with
greater freedom end power, and entered thoroughly into
the spirit of the part. Throughout the rendering of this
difficult part was marked by good taste and appropriate
feeling, while the vocalisation was often peculiarly sweet
and expressive. At the close of the second act Miss Dolmens
wits deservedly called before the curtain, while at the end
of the third all the chief singers appeared is answer to a
unanimous demand from the house. Mr. George Perron, as
Elvin, sang and acted with spirit, and Mr. Bentley roads
a popular and effective Count Rodolpho. The humour of
Mr. Rouse, as Alessio, and the vivacity of Miss Thirlwall,
as Lisa, contributed also to the success of the opera.

AIR. KENNEDY'S SCOTTISH VOCAL ENTERTAIN-
MENT.

Last night Mr. Kennedy, a gentleman new to
Loudon, though having a well-earned reputation in Elie-
burgh, appeared at the Queen's Concert Rooms, Hanover-
square, in an entertainment on the songs of Scotland.
Treading in the footsteps of the late Mr. Wilson, Mr.
Kennedy makes his selections with taste sad judgment, pro-
fuse them with as few introductory remarks as possible.
and sings them with all the force and finish of a thoroughly
trained musician. His face and manner are pleasing and
intelligent, he has a large share of dramatic power, a good
sense of humour and character, and a voice that is rich and
flexible. With these rare qualifications for the task be has
undertaken, it is sot surprising that he was highly success-
ful. Even allowing for the clannish audience which such an
entertainment was likely to draw together on the first
night, the new oomer may consider that he has at once
taken a secure position ea an illustrator of Scotch ballads.
The entertainment took rather a wide range, beginning
with the old belled of Lizzie Lindsay, touching upoq some
of the humourous dialogue songs of M'NeiL giving a testa
of Burns, and sot forgetting Aytoun Red Robert Chambers.
Of course a Jacobite lay was in the programme—no Scot-
tish entertainment would be worthy of the name without
one—and the most solid part of the performance consisted
of selections from the Gentle Shepherd, partly sung and
partly recited. We are not amongst those who believe
Allan Ramuy, or even Burns to be equal to Shakespeare,
but still we can respect that national spirit which keeps
even the thinnest national nag warm for aa many centuries
as historians need trouble themselves with. The Scotch
song writers are a fortunate raoe—the smallest of them is
sure of local immortality, and their poetic labours were
eased by wrltlug lu two lsouvagus. An elastic dialect is
better than a rhyming dictionary for a poet bard primed to
match weeds, and many a stiff or unnecessary line in
English songs would have had no existence if the poets had
written with a Scotch poetic licence.
Mr. Kennedy was particularly successful in rendering the
well-known dialogue song, "Come under my plaidie," with
its cheerful lrish jig-like tune ; and in the more plaintive
melodies, such as "Tak yer auld cloak aboot ye," the ape
tones of his voice were heard to great advantage. His ren-
dering of Burns' spirited battle song, "Scots wha hap:,
seemed, however, to want spirit to English ears, as we re-
gard it more ea a poem for fierce declamation, like the Mar-
seillaise, than a song to he sung carefully.
The literary portion of the entertainment—the remarks
which preceded each song—may be considered by some to be
too slight, but Mr. Kennedy certainly deserves thanks for
one omission. With every temptation to allude to old
Fletcher of &noun, and what he said, or is said to have
said about the people's songs, be avoided that threadbare
illustration of singing lecturers, for which most of his audi-
ence were doulAlees grateful. He announces • repetition
of his entertainment on Monday, September • 29, "Monday
first," to put it in true Scotch form, when he will douttless
meet with another hearty reception. Mr. Land played the
pianoforte accempriniments with his usual taste, and has
promised • new song fur the next performance.