The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1824-12-02 00:00:00

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.

It gives us much satisfaction to record the very suc-
cessful Med of Mr. Sapio, at Drury-lane, last evening.
The musical talents of this gentleman have been for some
time past held in very high estimation ; his fame preceded
him to the profession he has joined, and it devolved upon
hint less to acquire a new reputation than to sustain his
previous one. Hitherto his exertions have been principally
confined to musical meetings, oratorios, and concerts. The
applaueee that crowned his efforts on these occasions in-
duced his friends and admirers to form very high hopes of
similar success in the operatic department of the drama.
As far as last night's; performance might be taken as a cri-
terion whereby tojndge, these favourable anticipations have
been justified. The character which Mr. Sapio selected
for his first appearance was the very trying one of the
Serf:slier. The celebrity of Mr. Braham in this his fa-
vourite part, rendered it a very venturesome one for a new
aspirant to undertake on such an occasion. It abounds in
music of an animated and glowing spirit, which im-
poses great difficulty of execution on its representative.
Mr. Sapio possesses a very prepossessing appearance. His
figure is well-formed, and his general deportment manly
and engaging.. There is a gentlemanlike propriety in what
he says and does upon the stage, which bespeaks the culti-
vation of good society ; and this, Mr. Sapio may be assured,
is not the least valuable of the many qualifications he has
brought to his profession. His voice is powerful to a very
high degree, yielding indeed in pot.er only to that of
Braham : it is of exquisite sweetness, and the modulation
of its tones denote that it has been sedulously cultivated.
The falsetto of his voice is also sweet and powerful ; but
he seldom indulges in it, and the compass of his natural
tones renders him independent of it. But the Point which
pleases us most in Mr. Sapio is the chasteness of his style—
his unwillingness to sacrifice musical propriety to meretri-
cious ornament and ostentatious display. Should he arrive
at that eminence of which his performance last evening
gives fair promise, he is likely to effect a revolution in
public taste by the substitution of natural singing for the
artificial and viper-ornamental style that distinguishes our
leading singers of the present day. Mr. Sapio was encored
in almost all the songs of the Seraskier. That in which
he pleseed us most was his duet with Miss Stephens,
" irlien thy bosom heaves a sigh." There could not be a
more beautiful blending of middle and fluttering notes—
of sweet, powerful, and pathetic sounds, " rising like a
steam of rich .perfumes upon the air ;" the tints of the
rainbow do not harmonize more delight( ully than their voices
united in producing an effect which we can only describe
as the very perfection of the art. Ile does as Braliatn—heave
the torrent of sound like a load from his breast, but his tones
flow in a rich stream of more chaste and of no less copious
variety. " Confur;on thus defeated," displayed, in a very
high degree, his musical science, which must manifestly
have been the result of long preparation and laborious ac-
quirement. We could wish that he bad infused somewhat
more of sprightliness into the delightful serenading song,
" Lille come down to me." As an actor, his pretensions are
not inconsiderable; his speaking voice is clear and audible,
and his delivery correct and impressive: there is, how-
ever, too much exuberance at present in his action, and
it is not always easy sail flowing : an acquaintance
with the business of the stage will soon correct this.
Altogether, we do not remember to have witnessed for a
long time so deservedly successful a debut. He has taken
his position at once in the first walk of opera, and he is
likely to maintain it. "He has nobly dared ;" and we
shall err egregiously, if, ere long, we are tot able to
add, "he has nobly won." Miss Stephens made her first
appearance for the season last evening. She was wel-
comed by the cordial greetings of a very numerous audience.
We really have exhausted every epithet of eulogy in at-
tempting to speak of her as she deserves. Had we them
all now at the tip of our pen we would rc-write them all,
fur we never heard her sing with more delightful and fasci-
nating effect, and there was a fresh buoyancy, archness,
and vivacity in her acting, "that was not there before."
Harley was most agreeably comical; and, togethe: with
what the author says, and whit' he says for him, he made
the part a must amusing one.