The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-27 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA,

Un Ballo in Maschera."

The loveliest of all Signor Verdi's operas, " Un
Ballo in Maschera," was repeated last evening at
the Royal Italian to a brilliant and delighted
audience. From the stealthy opening of the Over-
ture, an opening that always sounds to us as though
it came burdened with muttered intimations of the
approaching conspiracy, up to the pathetic tumult
of the grand Finale, where Duke Richard expires
amidst the lamentations of his court, having been
struck down by the pistol shot of Renato in the
midst of the gay wild hubbub of the masquerade—
the Four Acts of this most charming lyrical drama
" went off" with admirable effect under the baton of
Mr. Costa. Yesterday being the second performance
of the opera this season, both orchestra and chorus
were brought into due subordination at last by the
potent wand of the conductor. There was no op.
partunity left for cavilling last night, therefore,
any longer at the over-zeal either of the instrumen-
talists or of the choral singers : as there had been
opportunity for thus cavilling on the first occasion,
namely, on Saturday. And by this evidence (as it
were, upon second thoughts !) of moderation on the
part of the chorus lead the orchestra, the principal
performers, no less than the composition itself, as
now rendered at the Royal Italian, were very con-
spicuously benefitted. Mademoiselle Lagrua, for one,
was thereby enabled, quite unmistakably, to add
yet another leaf to the bay garland she is fast
winning for herself here in England—her Amelia
taking rank now side by side with her Norma
and her Leonora. It is in the tender pathos of it,
indeed, even a yet mare bewitching impersonation
at tin es than the K.ug's Favourite, Signor Mario
' again was in noble voice last evening, to the evident
exultation of a crowded house. So that it needs
hardly to be said, what we will yet say, that his
, Riccardo was from the first a masterpiece at once
of acting and of vocalisation. His impersonation
of the Duke remains still to this hour wholly and
absolutely unrivalled. The character in itself is
one of the most eminently dramatic within reach of
a prim• Nmore, and allotted to a consummate artist
like Signor Mario, ono who is great as an actor no
less than as a singer, it wins our sympathy through-
out while it commands our admiration. A more
bewitching performance, again, than Mdlle. Battu's
Oscar, we have certainly not within our very recent
recollection. It acts with the charm of a spell
upon the usually sedate and undemonstrative
Covent Garden habitue3. A most graceful page she
makes, in all the variations o! costume and situation
—and one who sings the lovely melodies allotted to
Oscar not merely charming y but deliciously. Of
Signor Graziani we may here say, at once, that we
have never yet heard him to greater advantage
than as the Duke's friend and secretary in the
lovely double of " Gustave"—this opera of Verdi's
Un Balls in Maschera." Graziani's Renato in
the fourth act especially was just everything we
could in reeson have wished. His romanaa " 0
dolcizzo perdute," in whict he laments the lost
happiness of his undoubtiig love for Amelia,
was given with the most exquisite delicacy—
a delicacy all the more apparent in that
tender lament composed for the baritone, inter-
woven as the articulated notes of the singer
are in this remain% with the refined breath-
ing forth, almost, one might say, sighing, of the
flute accompaniment. As a natter of sheer neces-
sity with the audience, Signs)! Graziani was, at the
close of the second verse, instantly encored. There
were several other encores during the night—
equally as a matter of curse : but the ab
sense of one other, would have been a cause
of nothing less than bewilderment to us but that
the " sit uation"—as for that natter must be always
provokingly visible at every performance of " Un
Ballo in Maschera"—but that the "situation,"
we say, at the moment, precludes the audience
from following its instinct and demanding
a repetition. We wean hers, of csurse, no other
than Oscar's delicious, warning, riant " Saper
vorreste," with its trilling refrain, " Tra lsi, la, la"
—sung in the midst of the dance and frolic
of the masquerade, immediately before the
assassination—and which exquisite morceau
was carolled last night by Mdlle. Battu
ith bewitching espieulerie ! The gem and
glory of this beautiful opera, however, has yet to
be mentioned—mentioned we mean, of course, in
regard to the rendering of it last evening at the
Royal Italian Opera. For, as to its celebration,
otherwise—who is not already familiar with
it ? "It'' here signifying that delicious spine
tette, namely, at the close of the fifth scene
of the second act, the quintette led off
by Riccardo's "E scherzo od s follia "—hose
sung by Mario, those who have ever heard
him sing it will recall, nothing less than grate-
fully, to their remembrance ! It is that superb quin-
tette, in fact, the very climax of the beauty of which
is capped, so to speak, by Oscar's impassioned cr.;
soaring above, piercing through,
sounds of dismay—
" sari dunqne spento the chorus,
In breve a tradintento ?
Al sol pensarci l'anima,
Abbrivideado vs 1"
Armando and Angri, the conspirators, and with
those two the hag, Ulrica, participate with the page:
Oscar and the Duke Riccardo in " rendering"
this lovely concerted piece :—one of Signor Verdi.
most brilliant, as it is certainly also one of his
most popular compositions. Given as it was
last evening, it was redemanded with enthusiasm,
and listened to throughout, on its repetition,
with unabated admiration. Almost equally
effective—certainly as successful in proportion to its
merit—was the mastery finale to the third
act, where Renato takes his disgraced wife,
homewards from the moonlit field , to the
jeering of the libertine caorus—
Ire la tragedia reuti, in commedia
Piacevolissitua all I ahl ah 1

Of Mademoiselle Teti who was the Sorceress, we
prefer saying
nothing at an, for as thrice she
unquestionably fails to make any impression what-
ever. The rest of the characters, being none of
them of any importance, may be passed by without
being particularized. The opera, lift a whole, is
put upon the stage with a minute regard
toits complete Less, not un worthy even of the
reputation of this great lyrical establishment. The
final scene, or rather "spectiele," namely, the ball-
room in the palace, superbly illuminated and gor-
geously decorated, filled with a radiant and ever
moving throng of pierrots, harlequins, punchinellos,
oallet dancers ,and masqueraders, bomb alnOng them
sumptuously costumed, is, as an illusior, just
simply in one word, magnificent. The marvel to us
is, not that the opera should nova have been re-
vived, but that two years should have been allowed
to elapse without ayn Performance at all of "Un
Ballo in Alascnera" at Covent-garden—knowing
full well,
as opera-goers do, the evcr-living charm
of the libretto, that is, of the mere story related
in the libretto—a story that, once upon a time, one
might not unreasonably have thought, that Auber
had lung ago made his own exclusively, by royal
right, as one may say, of his puissant genius as a
composer ! And our wonder that during the last
two years this Italian double of " Gustave" has not
been heard at Covent Garden, ie;not diminished, of
course, when we remember the lovely, fresh
and sparkling music wedded anew to the
old tie by the younger genius of Verdi—a
genius that (happily) shrank not from auda-
ciously daring a comparison, even of melo-
dies, with the brilliant Frenchman ! However,
after the lapse of these two years the charming
opera is revived, and we are thankful. To-mor-
row, Donizetti's "La Favorita," will bo repeated :
and on Saturday, for the first time this season, with
Wachtel as Jean of Leyden, and Madame Destinn
as Fides, the pat-9ns of the Royal Italian will have
produced for them, as Mr. Gye's establishment can
produce it, "Le ProphAte"—we were going to say
Meyerbeer's masterpiece, but that we have too
grateful a remembrance of his "Huguenots."

THE COUNT DE CHAMBORD'S STUD !—Fourteen
horses, said to belong to the Count de Dames, but
in reality the property of the Count de Chambord, have just
been sold at the French Tattersall's for the sum of 72,400 f.
One, a lady's horse, was purchased by the Duke de la
Rochofoucauld for 8,400 f, and another by M. Saldanha for
10,400 f. The average price of the 14 minuted to not less
than 5,100!,