The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JULY 14, 1863.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE,

" ROSXIiJNDiI"
No greater test could be demanded of the power
of Madame Ristori than the interest she is able to
infuse into the classic play of Alfieri, with which
last evening she concluded the present term of her
performances. We can compare it to nothing but
the ardour of Pygmalion, which sufficed to endow
a statue with vitality. A greater triumph of
the unities could scarcely be instanced
than " Rosmunda." A play of a single
movement—for its five acts are but momentary divi-
sions of one action--of a single scene, a single
incident, and, in all creative respects, a single pas-
sion—carries uni'y to a point that is almost a pun
upon the term. Nothing, objectively at least, could
be closer to its Greek original, and nothing, to
modern sympathies, could be more monotonous and
dull. Our belief in the Shi.ksperean method,
which presents man as a complex being,
and insists on incident as the great means
of developing and contrasting character, will
not permit us to subscribe to a rescusci-
tation of the ancient theory, which presented man
as a purely ideal, and not as an actual being, be-
cause he was always associated with some great re-
ligious or historic lesson.
The story of Rosmunda needs but to be detailed
to exhibit a rigid simplicity that entirely unfits it
stage,t
m unless sustained by an ele-
akes not the least pretension—an
amount and force of character. The
emf for
nrt
athotero
dmwi
nohadi
rceyhr ni
heroine—widow of Alboin king of the Lombards,
whom she had treacherously put to death in revenge
of his murder of her father, and by means of a chief,
Almachilde, whom she had rewarded for his crime
by raising to a share of her throne—is shown as no
sooner possessed of the great end of her vengeance,
than she is unexpectedly punished by it. Sete dis-
covers that her new husband, to whom she is passion-
ately attached, not only regrets the service he
has done her—which he now denounces as the basest
treachery—but that he also loves the daughter of
the murdered king, Romilda, who is detained
at the court a prisoner. The most terrible
revulsion of feeling is the instant and
natural result and revenge, which is the
master passion, becomes the sole tenant of her
heart. Learning that Romilda has a lover in
Ildovaldo, a Lombard general, she tempts
the latter with the hand of the Princess if he
will head his troops and arrest her husband,
He eagerly consents, but in the struggle that ensues
Almachilde gains the advantage, and the two
lovers of the Princess rushing in w her presence with
their followers she sees but one way to defeat them
both and perfect her revenge—which is to destroy
their unhappy idol. Dragging her victim to the
summit of the staircase, which is surrounded by
the contending troops, she compels their leaders to
dismiss them, and recall her own guards to
the palace. This is no sooner done, and she is once
more reinstated in her power, than she buries her
dagger in her victim, and brandishing it above her,,
tells her husband that its next blow is reserved for
himself.

Such a subject it will be seen, however capable
f rightly treated— of being sublimed by a
great tragedian—when spread over five acts, and
only sustained by a single incident, could scarcely
fail to become wearying even to the most ideal of
spectators. It affords but three opportunities to
the powers of Madame Ristori. First, the discovery
of her husband's falsehood—and after its outburst of
dismay and fury, the terrible acknowledgment of
vengeance, as the only passion of her soul—next, her
fierce enjoy merit of the first step to it on Romilda s
indignant rejection in her presence of Almachilde's
passion and confession of tier love for another, and
lastly the closing scene which sates her
vengeance with the destruction of her rival.
Of the manner in which Madame Ristori
deals with these positions, no words of ours could
convey an adequate idea. An intensity as deep iu
feeling as it is poetic in expression, sweeps from
a subtlety the most keen to a grandeur the most
impressive, and leaves but the one conviction in
the mind of the spectator of a tragic genius wholly
unequalled on the modern stage of Europe. Terri-
ble indeed is the condensed passion with which she
murmurs the invocation to revenge to return and
fill her breast as its sole diety—
Tu cola
Riedi, o Vendetta; riedi, e me riempi
Tutta di tutto 'I nome tuo, s' io sempre
Per prima e cola Data mia t'ebbi.
Fearful the exultation of her smile and gesture as
Romilda repays the confession of Almachilde—by
avowing her own love for anov.et—and still more
appalling is the fury with whiclt she grasps Romildaon hearing her proclaimed as the future Queen, and
waving her dagger over her, presents her as her
own victim—
n Donna di me Castel, di me, net petto
Io quest° stil gia gia le immergo."
'sir a
l terriblelevel.
Above all, however, is the mad ferocity with which
a
she drags her victim up the staircase, folding her
c bier thesee in
roset e gie in ro.'
usual
huas in the coils of some infuriated serpent, and then
having secured exultingly destroys her, and bran-
dishes her dagger as the impending doom of
perjured husband.
n Ho it ferro alacor, trema, or principia appena
'
L
a vendetta he coumt p
Other passages were marked by a power which we
only in
herself,
find
ardour to something higher than her t
It is needless to say they were thoroughly aevel.
Ppre
ciated by her refined and excited audience, who
were raised to enthusiasm repeatedly and sum_
moned her before them with the loudest'd
tions at the end of the third act alsoemonstra-
and
play. Madame Ristori, it is
right
to add, of the
ably supported. on this occasion by the
talents of
Was very
Madame Glech in Romilda, who
e act d
spirit, and Signori pezz .I_n a
ntti
in the
i
and C with great
characters of the husband and the lover.
We cannot take leave of these
which have avowedly been u _
source of performances,
which
enjoyment to the pub ic, Without ex such high
pressing a wish
that we know to be the echo
of a
general feeling,
that they may be speedily repeated,
also tendering our thanks to the spiritand without
Mr. IVlapleson, in becoming the means
and taste of
such a gratification within our reach.eans of
Placing

il The annual benefit of
Mr. Y
place tomorrow evening, and
_______ __________--_,
with it closes his second season, which has now extended
to the unusual length of five years. The attractions are of
a very varied description, The great feature of the even-
ing will be Mr. Buckstone's annual address; and in the
be delivered to-morrow one to ow evening the events of the
past, as
Au ti loi
nE
e takes T 11. E A T
Rwell as the arrangements for the future, will be
Bk
McA I s T
described in the manager's most agreeable and witty style.
The entertainments commence with the very pretty ballet,
„ The Star of Andalusia ;" then follows the celebrated
drama tt Charles the Twelfth," in which Mr. Buekstone
sustains Vie part of Adam Brock, and Miss Louise Keeley
that of -Udiga. Mr. and Mrs Wigan next appear in the
capital farce " The Bengal Tiger," Mrs. Howard Paul
gives her celebrated imitation of Sims Reeves, and the
ballad of "Goodbye, Sweetheart." The whole concludes
with the old but excellent farce " Deaf as a Post," for Mr.
Compton,Mr. W. Farren, and Mrs. E. Fitzwilliam. It is
a source of great satisfaction to know that the season has
of ono a very beenprosperous description, and Mr. Buck-
stone has our best wishes for a continuance of that good
fortune which he most richly deserves.
ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.--
formance is to be A grand amateur per-
given at this theatre on Wednes-
day, the 24th inst., for tha benefit of Macam Celli, the
widow of the late Baron Fillippo Celli, the distinguished
professor of music—the instructor of Grisi, Albertazzi,
Boccabadati, Signor Poggi Ivantioff, the famous Zucchelli,
and Mdm. Lemaire, who is at the present time giving proof
of the Baron's excellent method of teaching in Italy, showing
that age,
which had deprived him of his voice, had not
robbed him of the power of developing that of others. The
performance will be one of no ordinary description, as Mr.
Tom Taylor appears in the part of Oppenhardt, in his own
original comedy " The Lesson for Life," in which the
characters will be sustained by the members of the Civil
Service Rifle Volunteers, assisted by Mrs. Stirling and Miss
E. Ferry. We are also to have other entertainments of a
very attractive nature, but we feel certain the simple fact
that the widow of the late talented maestro stands in need
of help, will be sufficient to ensure an overflowing audience
The honorary secretary has made arrangements by which
tickets for the performance can be obtained at Mitchell's
Library, Old Bond-street.
THE LATE RAILWAY AceIDENT.—CoI. Yolland,
the Board of Trede Inspector, has been bolding a
private inquiry
as to the state of the permanent way from
Pontypool-road to Newport, and upon his decision, to a
greater extent will depend the question as to whether the
West Midland or the Monntouthshi,e is the
_responsible
company for the accident. The damage to the railway and
plant and the compensation to he paid to sufferers will, itis
expected, amount to from £B,OOO to £lO,OO,