The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-06 00:00:00

THE ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA,

Mario as Masaniello.

Covent■garden was last evening, as a matter of
course, filled throughout. From the magnificent
" parterre" (once the Pit, new the Stalls) to the
railed amphitheatre close under the ceiling, the
noble building was completely occupied. Ad this,
we say, as a mere matter of course—for, were there
not yesterday two distinct attractions to the house,
either of which would have been sufficient to secure
the largest audience the vast stri:erure could con-
veniently accommodate? ;tee oh/ eiteut)re selected
for performance—es it net well known for years
past as on 'e of the chief glories of Mr. Gye's este-
blisttment? That exquisite masterpiece of Auber—
the lovely and bewitching, the ever fresh and ever
new five act Opera of " Masenie►llo V Added to
which—was not last evening that annual event in
the operatic season, the first appearance of Mario ?
It will be remembered that last year the Fisherman-
Hero was represented by M. Naudin—the character
of Pietro being allotted at the same time to M.
Faure. Without any disparagement whatever to
either of those accomplished artistes, it may at once be
said, however, that it was ft gratification to the vast
majority of opera-goers in London when Mr. Oye'e
programme for 1864, intimated ernong other we,-
come arranger"-..aents for the new season--the season
which at is agreeable to think has hardly yet
Paumrnenced—that Masaniello and Pietro would
revert from their late French to their
original Italian representatives at Covent-
Garden ; Signor Graziani resuming his part as the
fisherman Pietro, and Signor Mario, his part, one
of the most picturesque and admirable among his
numerous delineations, the fisherman Itlasanieilo.
Otherwise than in those two particulars, the cast of
the opera, yesterday, was the same as heretofore at
the Royal Italian, was identically the same as the
cast of it last season. Perhaps there could
be adduced no more delightful illustration of
the all but perfection with which a great opera
can bo produced than " Masaniello," as it is, year
after year, put upon the stage of Covent Garden.
The mis-en-scene is everything one could possibly
wish. Two of the scenes especially, as mere spec •
tacks, are, as we all know, wonderful as realisations
of the localities and of the incidents. Namely—
the market scene in the third act, endir,g with the
revolutionary rising of the Neapolitans at the bid-
ding of Masaniello—and the lovely sea view near
Portici, in the second act, where the pescatori, clus-
tering round their favourite hero, are " preparing"
for the Revolution I Those two scenes especially
are as admirably realised this year as they have
ever been upon the stage of the Royal Italian—to
say nothing of the effect produced, as usual, by the
pageantry of the coronation procession of the
King-Fisherman, or again by the gorgeous
finale with the eruption of Mount Vesuvius.
And surely, it might be said, no adorn-
ments can be lavished too proiusaly upon that
loveliest opera of M. Auber, one of the loveliest
among the loveliest of all our operas, those five
acts of haunting melodies known variously as the
" Muette de Portici" and us " Mesaniello." It was
significant as an indication of the popular apprecia-
tion of this great work, as a work of art, being
still as fresh as it has ever been during all these
years past, that the overture—played with such
consummate brilliancy by the noble orchestra
of the Royal Italian, led, too, as that orchestra is
with such inimitable aplomb in the every turn and
throb, so to speak, of hie wizard baton by Mr.
Costa—was greeted at its close with an exp onion of
applause—and instantly encored. As to the opera
itself, the abounding beauties in it are, long since,
a velar proverb among all the musical circles of
Earope—Masaniello, comr rising within it as it do
(who is there who will venture to gainsay it ?)
two of the loveliest barcaroles ever composed,
one of the most exquisite love ditties, dance
music in profusion of the most delicious variety ann
of the most exhilarating animation, and, beyond
all this, that wonderful prayer at the end of the
fourth act, by the production of which alone Auber
may well be said to have immortalized himself.
Turning, however, from the opera and its composer,
to the artists who last night co-operated so very
admirably in doing full justice to both, we should
hero record at once that the reception which
greeted Signor Mario upon his first appear-
ance—that is, almost immediately after the
rising of the curtain for the second act, when, in the
midst of the chorus of the fishermen, he is seen, in
the picturesque dress of Masaniello, desc.inding
from among the rocks upon the seashore near Por•
tici—was a reception, in its way, so enthusiastic and
so prolonged, that it was, in literal truth, nothing
less than an ovation. In the mere look of him, he is
still the Mario of old—still the same, completely,
identically, without one shadow of a shade of dete-
rioration. In his acting, he is a greater artist than
ever: his closing scenes, where he is in a partial
delirium from the effects of the poison—singing
softly, yet, ah ! so wildly, the tenderest snatches of
his exquisite barcarole silenzio pescator, while the
choral voices of the populace cry out to him, half in
despair, half in supplication, the beloved name of
their idol, " Masaniello! Masaniello !"—in • hese
closing scenes, Mario rose, as he has o:ten done
before, to the height of tragic ints nsity. If only
his once matchless voice were yet in all its pristine
power and beauty—which, alas! it is not, or if at
all, only in momentary snatches ! But then—as we
heard remarked by some near us last evening—No
man can go on singing for ever ! And singing.
moreover, we may add, as we still have at
least the delight of remembering that Mario, dur-
ing so many years past, has been singing ! At
intervals, in defiance of Nature, and still mare
almost it should be said in defiance of our
bleak, humid, wretched, wintry atmosphere,
here in 'London wintry even in April—at inter
vals, we say, in defiance of all this, the great
tenor yet contrived to delight his audience yester-
day, time and again : not only, as already inti-
mated, by hell acting in the closing scenes of the
opera, but occasionally by his still unrivalled per-
fection of style in singing also; as in his lovely,
dulcifluous rendering of Del miser sol amico
lido, where Finella is falling into a slumber
to the Dream-Music, or as again where he bids fare-
well to his lowly, home in the Addle capanna mia,
before mounting his caparisoned charger to be borne
away in procession to the stately ceremony of his
coronation. Signor Graziani's Pietro—as formerly,
a great favourite with the Covent-garden audience
—won a cordial encore (as was, indeed, nobly well
deserved) in the Ve come it vento irate. For the rest,
little enough remains to be said, the same having
been said already so very frequently—such, for ex-
ample, as that Madlle. Marie Battu made as charm-
ing an Elvira as ever, while the graceful danseuse,
Madlle. Salvioni looked the most interesting of Fe-
nelias. Signor Neri Baraldi represented as ably as
hitherto Alphonse, the Don-Juan-like son of the
Duke D'Arcos, otherwise at once Fenella's lover and
Elvira's bridegroom. Without particularising in any
way the minor characters in the opera (tile doing of
which in truth in regard to so familiar a cast
would be simply unnecessary), it would be
ungrateful, however, as it seems to us, not
to piy one additional tribute of admira-
tion (if we could put a laugh into print while
doing so we would I) to the nameless fiaherrnar
with the ridiculous legs and arms, and that inde-
scribable comic cock to his bonnet-rouge, who is
still—we are delighted every year to recognise him
through his disguise—Mr. W. H. Payne, beyond
all manner of doubt the very funniest pantomimist
living.
To-morrow evening, it is pleasant to note that
Verdi's " I 1 Trovatore" will re-introduce to a Lon-
don audience Herr Wachtel, the German tenor
whose debut, it may be remembered, took place
two seasons back. Herr Wachtel appearing now.
of course, upon this occasion as Maurice—while
the character of Leonora will be undertake❑ by
Madlle. Fricci—with Madlle. Destinn as Azucena.
On Saturday, Mario, as already announced, will,
after an interval of eight years, resume his old part
in La Favorita of Donizetti, being assisted, in the
other leading characters of that charming opera, by
Lagrua and Signor Graziani.

TELEGRAPH TO BALMORAL.—In the miseellaneous
estimates for this year is an item of £2BO for the telegraph
to Balmoral,