The Express.
London, England, 1868-10-05 00:00:00

ONE PENNY.

MUSIC.

CRYSTAL PI

The excellent Saturday concerts of this estab-
lishment were resumed last week. The programme was
as follows:
Overture, " Oberon "
Siena and Aria, " A6pergdo
Andante tiplanato and 0111011 C Polossine, Piano-
forte ',Op. rY))
Aria, Della sue pare (Don (liovanni)
itrupliany, in A Major, " Italian" Maadebre•
taverna "Bel Reggio" (fteralrarnhle).. ... Romani.
Solos, Pianoforte, a. (*rade (Op. 37`
t• b. "(slop de Concert" (0p.114) Pawn%
Songs, a. " Serenade"
Q " Devotion," Mr. VAIN& Itigby
Ft Overture in F (Op. 50) R. Volkrnann.
• • ' - -

Mr. Manna, on taking his place at the conductor's desk,
was received with loud and prolonged applause—a just
tribute to the energy and skill which he has displayed in
the direction of these concerta. Weber's impulsive and
romantic prelude to his final opera—his death-song —and
Mendelmohn's exquisitely genial symphony, the result of
the impressions produced on his imaginative temperament
by his Italian tour in IMO, are AO well known that our
comments here may be limited to a record of their
admirable performance on this occasion, when the precision
and alternate fire and delicacy of the orchestral playing
were fully worthy of the high reputution now attaching to
the Crystal Palace band. The solo vocalists wore Mdlle.
Sternberg and Mr. Vernon Rigby.

At next Saturday's concert several novelties are pro-
mised, among them being the march from Richard Wsg-
neee latest opera, Meistersinger.

DRAMA.

LYCEUM.

A great deal may be said for tho pertinacity, if
not for the judgment, of an author who, after thirty
years of a successful and eventful life, can remodel an
unsuccessful and much-abused play which he produced in
his youth, and persuade a Lond9n manager to try its
effect upon a new public. This tenacity of purpose was
shown by Lord Lytton at the Lyceum on Saturday
night, when his five act play of The Sri Vaptaios,
or, the Birthright, was revived under the title of Ti..
Rightful Heir, with an entirely new last act or
two, and much new dialogue. His story is that
of a mother who loves the son of her second mar-
riage better than the son of her first—a boy more
lowly born—and who stifles her natural affections for
the sake of her pride. Many desperate means have been
tried to kill this first-born before the action of the piece
commences, but on the rising of the curtain he still lives
to escape the jealous fury of his brother, and to over-
come all at last by the natural nobility of
his character. Admitting the basis of the mother's
character, there is art, if not nature, in the
way in which her impulses are developed; and there is
really one fine scene between her and her di...carded son
about the middle of the play which almost atones for
many ridiculous stage tricks and much antiquated stage
lumber. The alterations in character made by the author
are, as far as they go, improvements. The part of a
poor cousin—the Sir Maurice Beevor of the original
piece—has lost much in brutality. and gained much in
pathos. His miserly qualities have been destroyed, and
he obtains in their place ambition and a certain amount
of dignity. The young lady of the drama has also been
strengthened. . . .

The scenery is very unequal—one or two Elizabethan
interiors being very good, but all the outdoor scenes are
flat, coarse, and patchy. The stage arrangement is rude,
necessitating the repeated falls of a Really red-velvet tableau
curtain; but the piece, though described as in five acts
and eight tableaux, is not long. The principal actors
were received with great enthusiasm by a full house, and
Loid Lytton had to bow from his box more than once is
the course of the evening.