The Press.
London, England, 1854-04-29 00:00:00

giusit.

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.
THE appearance of Mlle. Cruvelli on Thursday
completes the accession to this establishment of
Mr. Lumley's notorieties. While the members of
the late corps of her Majesty's Theatre drop in one
by one, the old strength of Covent Garden drops out.
Mario, Grisi, Viardot, are almost in abeyance;
Alboni sulks in the Champs Elysees ; and Formes
is singing Der Preischutz in German at Drury Lane.
Cruvelli arrives covered with fresh laurels from
Paris, and, with the concomitant consciousness of
greatness, she •` only appears for a limited number
of nights"—the usual mischief of the star system.
Whether she really deserves the credit of the vast
improvement in her singing awarded by the Parisian
critics, the opera Otello, in which she appeared, gave
us no opportunity of judging. We are not about to
repeat the cuckoo cry of the weakness of the libretto
of this opera, and its sins against Shakspeare. We
really do not see what Shakspeare is to the purpose ;
and for the libretto, it is every inch as good as the
Sonnambula and Anna Bole na. If Rossini had been
well inspired when he wrote the opera, we should
have heard nothing about the libretto ; but he was
not in a good humour. The endless instrumental
introductions to every scene are a proof of his poverty
in melody at the moment ; and two choruses, a single
duet, and a couple of airs, will not make up an opera.
The public received Cruvelli kindly, but not warmly :
they would not take the Parisian verdict on trust,
and the curtain fell on the first act almost with-
out applause. At the end of the second, when
people had been already warmed by the single
grand movement of the opera, the duet between
Otello and lago, Cruvelli excited the house by her
acting in the scene where she is rebuffed at once by
father and husband—a scene thoroughly conven-
tional, but which always has its effect. She was re
called amid great applause. In the last act lie her
only vocal opportunities, but her version of the wil-
low song is so thoroughly out of character—an
elaborate melody when a simple ballad is wanted—
that she failed to make much impression. On the
other hand, she sang the beautiful prayer, " Deh
calma," with exquisite sweetness, sufficient to atone
for the preposterous claptrap of the concluding

scene.
Tamberlik was the Otello, and as usual excited
thunders of applause in the outburts in alto of his
wonderful voice, although he is forced to spoil the
general keeping of the music in making them. Ron-
coni, as lago, did admirably the duty of doing
nothing, in which difficult task he was assisted by
Tagliafico and Polonini.
L'Elisir was given on Tuesday, for the purpose of
contrasting the lively, whimsical, buffooning addition
of Roneoni in Dulcamara with the pompous pa-
tronising humour which Lablache is wont to throw
into the part. Mlle. Bosi , as Adi,,a, deserves spe-
cial commendation : there are all the elements of
improvement in her graceful coquetry and correct
tasteful vocalisation.
DRURY LANE.
TEE German opera company commenced its opera-
tions here on Thursday, and commenced them, as
a German company always will, with Der Freischutz.
The opera has become almost nationalised, and
Formes, who played Caspar, is almost nationalised
too, so that there was a heartiness both about the per-
formance and the audience which was worthy of the
old days of Drury. Caradori was the Agatha;
Reichardt, the Max. The characteristic excellence
of German musicians, the completeness and unity
of their whole performance, was so well preserved
that we would not spoil it by selecting any special
feature for commendation. Lucresi... Borgia, on
Monday, introduced Mr. Hamilton Brabam to the
operatic stage, and Mlle. Yestale, wherein a new
acquisition took the contralto part of Orsini, respect-
ing which we have so many pleasant reminiscences.
The lady, in the present dearth of contraltos, will
make her way. Mr. H. Brahma we must hear again
era w. d.eide•

11111 m•