The Sun.
London, England, 1864-08-09 00:00:00

MR. ALFRED MELLON'S CONCERTS.

The Opening Night.

Lad evening—to the delight of the rausic.loving
portion of that still considerable section of the
general public unhappily for them detained by
circumstances a little while longer here in town
when everybody else (who is anybody) is Either
hastening, or has already hastened to the seaside or
to the continent—yesterday, we say, to the delight
of the million, if not of the upper ten
thousand, Mr. Alfred Mellon inaugurated
in Covent Garden Theatre the fourth annual
series of his autumnal concerts. There in the vast
area of that noblest among all the arenas
of public entertainment in the metropolis, better
known as the Royal Italian Opera House, Mr Mellon
was welcomed as hardly anyone else is welcomed
now-a-days, who appears, baton in hand, as a popu-
lar concert giver, composer, conductor, all in one, in
the centre of a noble orchestra. What the late M.
Jullien never attempted, Mr. Mellon has accom-
plished. Namely, in the dead season of the year,
he has virtually now, during three successive sea.
sons (and he is just now doing it again for the fourth)►
ho haevirtually created a soul (the soul ofenthusiasm)
under the ribs of death—the death of the town, or
at least of the season. Whereas nobody (as the
phrase is) is supposed now to be in town--last even.
ing, upon the first glance on entering the Royal
Italian everybody (again as the phrase is) seemed
to be there. Dress circle, private boxes, amphi-
theatre, ',slips, and pit—every ordinary portion
of the house had, as it always does somehow at Mr
Mellon's magical summons, an admirable and over.
flowing attendance. Literally an overflowing at.
tandance for the extra-ordinary portion of
the house on the occasion of these con-
certs, meaning by this the Promenade, was
crammed at intervals during the night to absolute
inconvenience Passing through those "halls of
Balclutha" they were certainly not " desolate !"
The resplendent edifice radiantly lit up, as it is
now nightly during the:delighcful weeks set apart
for these concerts, rang again and again at very
frequent intervals, not only with sweet souncis,vocal
and instrumental, solo and choral, but with genuine
bursts of enthusiasm. The performance last
evening led off with Beethoven's para-
gon Overture among all the four overtures com-
posed by him for his Fidelie, incomparably the
overture of overtures among those four—the Leonora.
It was given magnificently by one hundred per-
formers selected by Mr. Mellon from the orchestras
of the Royal Italian and the Musical Society of the
metropolis. The very pick of these orchestras, we
may reasonably set them down as, moreover, not
only judging of the capabilities by their performance
last evening, but simply bearing in mind the fact
that these one hundred include among them the
names of very nearly all the great solo instrumen-
talists numbered in the two orchestras ft om which
they have been chosen. After a new quadrille,
based upon themes taken from M. Gounod's
last popular opera of " Mirella." Mr, Carrodus, the
English Violinist, gave brilliant evidence of his
quality as a master of that King of instruments by
his rendering of Ernst's fantasia from Rossini's
tello. Then, came forth conspicuously on the
platform in front of the orchestra, the Sensation
Singer of the day among concert-goers, Madlle.
Carlotta Patti! Hardly—in fact we may confi-
dently assert—not by any means, legitimate, is
Mademoiselle Carlotta in her style of singing. Yet
it takes, and takes too we should say, quite wonder-
fully. Her opening cavatina gave proof of her
exceeding popularity, and proof of a kind, more-
over, that nobody could at all mistake. Whatever
she sings necessitates a recall. her extraordinary
rendering of the "Carnival of Venice," as arranged
for the voice by Benedict—and that we remem-
ber her singing by the way at Mr. Benedict's own
concert, far better than she did last night—is, in its
way, just a vivid exemplar of Madlle. Carlotta
Patti, as a sensational vocalist. The close of it was
responded to by the enraptured audience yester-
day by a thundering encore—an encore answered
by Madlle. Carlotta's singing, with charming
espiylierie, " Gin a body meet a body coming
thro' the rye I" The polacce from Bellini'e
" Puriteni," and the bolero from the " Sicilian
Vespers," won, for the fair vocalist,
scarcely less hearty acclamations. As for the
solo instrumentalists who emulated Mr. Carrodus
in entertaining the audience yesterday, besides
a no less admirable player of the coriaet.a-piston
than Mr. Levy, who gave with a sort of a whirling
flourish of sonorous sounds the Whirlwind Polka,
there were distributed among the selections—as, for
instance, in Mr. Alfred Mellon's own glorious ar.
rangement of selections from Verdi's I 1 Trovatore
(one of the especial,treats of the night !)—abundant
solos set apart for trombone, flute, oboe, clarionet,
horn, and ophechlide. Besides which the gist lish
young pianist, who has already been astonishing
Londoners with her performances at the Crystal
Palace, the Hanover Square Rooms, and St.
James's Hall, always propitiating her audience
by the unaffected childish bob of her very curtsey
whenever she either approaches or reeia
from the music stool—Madlle. Marie Krebs
was there among the stars of " Mellon's Con-
certs," shining as radiantly as ever in a superb
fantasia on " Lucrezia Borgia." It is impossible
to hear her—this gifted maiden of fifteen—without
recognising in her a very formidable rival to Mdme.
Goddard. Foremost among all the novelties pro-
vided however, with so unstinting hand by the
annual giver of these eminently popular series of
entertainments—first and foremost among all the
novelties provided for Mr. Mellon's admirers yes.
terday—stood forth, arrayed in magnificent
oriental attire, his head encircled with a blood-red
turban, his flow ing beard descending upon
a milkewhite bernous, and upon a richly em.
broidered raiment, the name of which we
know not—Ali Ben Sou Alle—bearing in his
hands a strange new gold-gleaming wind instrument,
called by him a Turkophone. Whoever the per.
former himself may be, we shall doubtless learn later
on. Whispers have been heard identifying him
with a second clarionet player in M. Jullien's
orchestra. How correctly, or incorrectly, we can-
not even conjecture. At the least we can pro.
pounce his appearance last night as an indis-
putable success—as, himself, unquestionably a very-
gifted musician—and his new instrument the turko-
phone, if not an absolute novelty, as an instrument
of wonderful compass, and exquisite tone, a tone
blending the dulcifluous mellowness of the clarionet
with a reverberant clangour, half that of the horn
and of the saxophone; Ali Ben Sou Alio was encored
with enthusiasm in his delicious performance of a
fantasia on Bellini's " Somnambula." As the first
part of the concert commenced with Beethoven's
overture of " Leonora," the second part began
with Mellon's overture of Marguerite, led, of course,
by the composer himself. And as the First Part
closed loyally with the National Anthem, the
Second, or in other words, the whole evening's
entertainment, was brought to a close by a scarcely
resistible feet moving galop by Bache—to the
sound of which the delighted audience were dis.
persed,

CUTTING A LION'S CLAWS.—The Brussels jour•
nals give an account of a curious surgical operation
just perfcrmed on the great African lion belonging to the
Zoological Society of that city. For some time past the
animal has been suffering from disease in the feet, which
necessitated the cutting of its claws, In order to do this
without danger, a large box was prepared with a grated
bottom, covered by a wooden floor, which could be with-
nrawn, so as to allow the lion's feet to pass between the
bars. The top of the box was also made to descend by
means of screws so as to press on the animal and prevent it
drawing in its feet. When the lion entered the box, the
latter was turned on its side and the sliding bottom with-
drawn. The paws then slipped between the bars, and the
screws above were tightened, M. Thiernasse, assisted by
five pupils of the Veterinary School, then proceeded to cut
away the claws. The patient bore the operation tolerably
well, only uttering a short roar occasionally, and seemed
relieve( when the first paw had been cut and dressed. A
keeper, to whom the lion is much attached, sat near its
head and endeavoured to calm it by talking, evidently not
without effect. The operation was successfully performed,
and there is every V:asoa to believe that the cure will be
complete,