The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-05 00:00:00

inusk.

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.—On Saturday evening
this theatre opened for the season, preserving the character,
which it has for some years assumed, of a house devoted to
the performance of musical pieces and " choreographic"
spectacles. The theatres of Drury-lane and Covent-garden,
the ancient seats of the English drama, are transformed into
Opera-houses, while tragedy and comedy seek for shelter,
and find the warmest welcome, in the distant regions of
Islington and Surrey. In Drury-lane we now boast that we
have at length obtained a national English opera—another
" Academie Royale de Musique." We shall not say that the
boast is unfounded—but merely that it is somewhat prema-
ture. When Drury-lane, as an opera-house, shall have a
company embracing some of the greatest performers in ,
Europe ; an orchestra unrivalled for strength and precision ;
a chorus thoroughly trained and disciplined ; a mitre en
scene unparalleled for splendour ; and, above all, a Spon-
tini, a Rossini, or a Ileyerbeer, employed in the production
of its original pieces ;—then we may plume ourselves on the
possession of a great English Opera. As to the composers,
we would gladly see them of our own country ; but their per-
sonal nativity is of less importance than the character of
their music. The French National Opera has been
raised and supported for more than a century by the
LAbours of the most illustrious masters of Germany and Italy,
expressly devoted to its service. These men studied the
genius of the language and its peculiarities of modulation
and inflection ; and succeeded in making their music French,
without sacrificing its force oe beauty. so Frenchman has
ever complained of the foreign air or accent of Iphigenie en
Tauride, Guillaume Tell, or Robert le Diable. In England,
instead of importing composers, we have only imported their
works. We have brought upon our stage music composed
to Italian, German, and French cords, and forced into an
ill-assorted union with our own language; a process which
destroys the flow and smoothness of the music, while it dis-
torts and mangles the words till they become unintelligible.
The consequence has been, that we have lost, on the stage,
the accent, emphasis, and every characteristic feature of our
own national melody ; and our native composers have adopted
a sort of mongrel style, a jumble of Italian, German, and
trench—anything but English. Take, for instance, Belle,
the most popular among them, and a man, moreover, of de-
cided genius; he is, personally, a native of the British isles,
but, musically, a fellow-countryman of Donizetti. And
it is somewhat remarkable, that our clever Iriah com-
poser is less of an English musician than Benedict,
a native of Germany. Had the attention of Han-
del been directed to the English stage, and had
he produced a succession of pieces containing music
like that of" Acis and Galatea," the whole history of our
musical drama would have been changed.—We are, how-
ever, now in the way of improvement. Our stage is no
longer supplied exclusively with foreign operas done (or
rather undone) into English: Mr. Bunn has the merit of
throwing it more open than before to original productions;
and we hope that our composers, emancipating themselves
from the trammels of imitation, may acquire a more inde-
pendent and English character. It appears, from Mr. Bonn's
announcement, that three new operas are forthcoming, from
Mr. Balfe, Mr. Wallace, and Mr. Lavenu. From Balfe we
expect no novelty; his thoroughly foreign style is too fixed
to undergo any change: but he will produce some showy
and pretty music which will probably be popular. Mr. Wal-
lace, in his first essay, has given a promise of force and ori-
ginality which we hope his second will not disappoint. Mr.
Lavenu is an aspirant who has yet to win his spurs, but may
turn out a gallant knight. " A confident hope," Mr. Bunn
says, " is still entertained of producing ' The Camp of Si-
lesia : ' " but if this hope is contingent on the appearance of
Jenny Lind as the heroine, it seems very unlikely to be
realised. The opera of Saturday was " The Crusaders," a
piece which is thoroughly worn out. It has owed its
success to the merit of the music, which is considerable,
and to the showy spectacle, which has always nume-
rous admirers ; as a drama, it excites our wonder
to see the stuff that a rational audience will tolerate for the
sake of vocal flourishes and gewgaw glitter. It was cast
in the same way as last season, and went oft' very smoothly,
but caused little excitement in the audience. The two
prime donne, hfiss Romer and Miss Rainforth, whose voices
were thoroughly fatigued before the end of last season, had
benefited by repose; they both sang extremely well, and
were more than once encored. Harrison, Borrani, Stretton,
and Weiss, acquitted themselves as usual. The orchestra is
said to be enlarged, but we could not discover any enlarge-
meat in its powers. The stringed instruments wanted firm-
ness and volume of tone, and were unable to contend with
the din of the drums and brass instruments. We had very
loud and very soft, but no sustained solidity of sound; the
extremes of light and shade, but no middle tint. The in-
struments, moreover, were carelessly tuned, and their false
harmony added to their harshness. The choruses were
neither worse nor better than last season. The opera was
followed by a ballet called " The Offspring of Flowers ;"
long succession of pas scuds, pas de deur, and 'Noreen=
d'ensemble, some of them very pretty, though without say
dramatic action which we could comprehend. The audience,
however, were enlightened on the subject by a libretto or
programme, which is really a curiosity, from the ultra fine-
ness of its writing. It is a long story, but its substance
amounts to thi. A youthful page, in the agonies of
being jilted by a princely fair one, is consoled by a

kind fairy, who carries him off to a certain outlandish region,
where the ladies grow out of flower-pots. One of these
floral damsels is appropriately represented by Mlle. Flora
Fabbri, wbo dances herself into the young man's heart, and
reconciles him so well to the loss of his lint love that they
appear together at the princess's nuptial festivities. Flora
Fabbri implied beautiful, and danced exquisitely, though
several of her pea were far from new. There was a dance
before a mirror, in which the dancer's image is reflected ; a
thing we have seen more than once ; and a close imitation
of Cerito's famous pea de ronsbre, though not nearly so well
managed. There were other imitations ; and, indeed, the
bullet consisted almost entirely of such reminiscences. M.
Bretin, who represented the page, is an accomplished dancer;
and M. and Madame Theodore have much merit. They
danced a pas de deux, which was greatly applauded. There
was a shawl dance, by thirty-six ladies, which had an excel.
lent effect ; and the spectacle, altogether, was pretty •, but,
considering its total want of
substance, it was a great deal
too long. The theatre wee very full in every part. The
first novelty of the season is announced for Wednesday next,
when Madame Anna Bishop is to appear in Balfe's " Maid
et Artois."

Pamotarmers.—Rev. B. Men, M.A., toHe~cnCs-square Chapel,
Cur., Panama; Rev. A. Farther, M.A., to HderMeld Cur., York-
shire; Rev. J. Burnet to Bradford V., Yorkshire, 6001. and resi-
dence.
Vaearr.—Churett-Ilulme Cur., Bandteeb, Cheshire; St. Stephen's
Cor., Mebane ; St. Jamre's Cur., Manehester ; Warham All
Babb 1., We din Ncentsii, 2301., no residence ; patron the Lord
Ciamedite, swot by the death of the Rev. W. Atkisson ; Sutton St.
Mtesiraleld, die Chester, 2231., patrons, the trustees,
meant limo etdthe Rev. J. Burnet; Maid Moreton R.,
diw Oared, UHL, m reddens, patron, the repre-
sentations of the Bev. J. L. Ling, LL.B., by whose death the living has
Weems scent.
The Bishop of Oxford has appointed the following places to hold
confirseatkos :—Bicester, 6th Oat, at 11 a.m. ; Fringford, 6th, at 3
p.m. ; Fritwell, 7th, at 11 a.m. ; Deddington, 7th, at 3 p.m. ; Ban-
bury, Rh, at II a.m.; Wroxton, Rh, at 3 pan. ; Croprrdy, 9th, at
11 a.m.; Swakliffe, 9th, at 3 p.m.; Hook Norton, 10th, at 11 a.m. ;
Great Tew, 10th, at 3 p.m.: Chipping Marton, Ilth, at 3 p.m.;
Churchill, 12th, at 11 a.m. ; (2iarlbury, 12th, at 3 p.m.
EMI/M.ll.—h is stated, in Friday's paper, that the Rectories of St.
Mildred, with St. Margaret Moses, are vacant by the death of the
Rev. J. Charleswolth, whereas it is that gentleman's son, who oat.
dated as his curate, who is dead.