The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JULY 2, 1862.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE,

DON GIOVANNI."

The story of " Don Juan" for almost a period of
three centuries has been one of the most widely
diffused and popular in the whole range of mode►n
fiction. It has not only exhausted in its history
every form of dramatic treatment, but it is further
distinguished by the fame of having attracted the
sympathy and developed the power of the greatest
comic and lyric genius which modern ages have
produced. Oriental in its origin, it entered and
traversed Europe as aballad of "the j on gleurs,"—rose
in Italy as a pantomime, when that [entertainment
was revived as the immediate precursor of the
drama—made its first appearance on the stage in
Spain in the " Burlado de Sevilla" of Tirsa de
Moleno—obtained its due expansion at the hands of
Moliere, when, in 1665, he produced his " Festin

de Pierre" in Paris, and created an uproar among

the priests only inferior to that subsequently
raised by the " Tartuffe"—became afterwards
in the same country the grand :exemplar
of serious ballets, through the talents of
Noverre—and finally reached the height of

its fame, when the genius of Mozart de-
tected in its story the amplest field for musical ex-
pression, and applied to that end a power which
resulted in the greatest triumph that the lyric drama
has yet displayed. The cause of the story's attrac-
tion it certainly is not easy to explain—unless Don
Juan is to be taken as a type of the comparative
reaction which grew out of the spirit of chivalry.
After woman had been unduly worshipped, she be-
came to a certain degree despised—the adoration
of one age led to the persecution of another. Gal-
lantry, which in the first instance was a term that
meant the protection of the sex, grew at length to
imply its conquest—till the rake, instead of the
" preux chevalier," became the hero of novel and
comedy, and Don Juan was regarded as the arche-
type of his class. The story, also, it must be re-
membered, owed a portion of its attraction to its
extraordinary romance—to its striking and rapid
admixture of the comic, tragic, and supernatural,
which at one period of its history had almost
seemed to compose the eventful drama of daily life.
The genius of Mozart easily detected in such a sub-
ject the peculiar force as well as variety which
were essential to evoke his power. Here he found
room to interpret almost every feeling of the human
heart, from the deepest and purest filial devotion,
down to the most seductive, selfish passion. Here
he could contrast the gay and terrible, the rustic
and the elegant, the most simple mirth and inno-
cence with the most courtly grace and splendour,
many of the great realities of this life with some of
the deepest mysteries of another. Here also, side
by side with the jovial daringenf his libertine hero,
and the retributive terrors of his unearthly visitant,
he could paint the humour and misgivings of the
world-famous Leporello, that grand type of the
stage valet, that human pendulum who, in his
vibrations between the interests of his pockets and
his bones, presents a picture and a moral, welcome
to the laughter of all ages. In his treatment of
this great subject only a few of his many superb
distinctions need be referred to. In the first place
we may remember that with him the voice is
always paramount. In order to illustrate
human passions he felt that his best instrument was
the human organisation. As was said afterwards
of Piccini in comparison with Gluck—he placed
the statue on the stage, and the pedestal in the
orchestra. He did not attempt, as in later times, to
subvert this just relation, and make the servant do
the work which is only proper to the master. Thus
he is eminently vocal—his instrumentation is but
an aid to the functions of the voice—is but the
imaginative embroidering of the subject vocally
illustrated; whilst, to make his work still more
dramatic, he concentrates his music in the mouths
of his chief characters. He has many arias, and
few choruses. Those who are at all acquainted with
the progress of the lyric drama, will remember that
this rule has been reversed by modern writers. In
Verdi especially we have an instance of as much
chorus as we have solo. Another distinction of his
genius equally rejected in these days is the gentle-
ness of its expression. Mozart was in this respect
the very opposite of modern writers. The trumpet
—their chief resource--was to him a source of
horror. There is an anecdote that when
. _
His whole soul was most affectionate, and
naturally found vent in the most tender mani-
festations. His constant cry as a child became his
symbol as a writer. in all his works we detect
the utterance of his infant question, " Do you love
me?" Simply and grandly as this work was written,
it was too majestic and too profound for instantane-
ous appreciation. Mozart had feared as much, for
he confessed that he had composed it to please his
friends and not the public. It required a period of
thirty years to find its way to Paris (1807), where it
was so little understood, that Garet the singer said,
" Don Juan is a gentleman who is known
everywhere but at the opera!" It required ten
years further to find its way to London,
when its extraordinary success, and we are proud to
record it, rendered its reputation European. Its
production was so decisive as to restore the fortunes
of the theatre, and constitute what must always be
considered an epoch in our lyric history. A perfect
presentment of this master piece we suppose must
beviewed as hopeless. Whencan we expect under one
roof to see an entirely adequate Gievanni,Leporello,
Donna Anna and Zerlina. The nearest approach to its
complete treatment which has been given in our
time was undoubtedly that at Covent Garden, when
Mdlle. Patti last season was associated with Grisi
and Rosa Csillag, Faure, Ronconi, Tamberlik, and
Formes. However, if excellence was never to be
presented but when it could be given in perfection,
we fancy the enjoyments of the world would suffer
some curtailment. Mr. Mapleson possessed re-
sources for presenting this opera, in some respects,
far beyond any other theatre, and the per-
formance of last evening Was not more
demanded by the talent he has so
fortunately at command than the desire of a public
so thoroughly able to do it justice, Of the Donna
Anna of Madame Titiens we can do nothing but
reiterate our long accustomed eulogies. This was
one of the characters in which she most success-
fully invaded the domain of Grisi, and in which
she now must be allowed to excel without the least
approach to rivalry. In absolute tragic grandeur
—the most lofty and sustained expression of
some of the profoundest and purest emotions
—by means of a style the most broad
and massive—and a voice the most grandly
sonorous that has been heard in recent years—the
Donna A.nnn of Madam() Titions eaikits without a
parallel. Her exclamation alone on her recogni-
tion of her father's murderer—" Oh Del, quegli e
it carnefice del padre mio"—was a burst only pos-
sible to the highest order of tragic genius—and,
coupled with this, her description of the
outrage of the libertine, and, still more
importantly, her delivery of the noble aria in
which it culminates—the Or sai the l'onoze"—
in which she adjures her lover to revenge the
insult to herself and the crime against her father,
were of a character whose lofty vehemence could
not possibly be surpassed. The Ottavio of Signor
Giuglini was another feature of this per-
formance. No singer in recent years
has brought a voice to its lovely music comparable
to that of this great favourite—nor so great a depth
of feeling—whilst it is to his good taste
we owe the enjoyment of the restoration of one
of the most exquisite airs of the ()perk—the
" Della sua pace," always omitted by signor
Tamberlik. In the delivery of this, as well as the
" Alio Tesoro," no expression could be more perfect
—and no success more entire. A third feature of
the evening was the Zerlina of Miss Louisa Pyne,i
being her her first appearance at this theatre, anc,
if our memory serves us rightly, her first appearance
in this character. Her conception of it is so entirely
distinct from Mdlle. Patti's, both vocally and dra-
matically, that it offers no points of comparison
with that of the young favourite, and may be said
to address itself to an entirely distinct taste. It
aims neither at the vocal brilliancy or
the piquant coquetry of the latter ; but on
the contrary at a natural tenderness, and innocent
cheerful utterance which is impossible to coutern.,
plate without being affected by and *Med