The Sun.
London, England, 1849-08-28 00:00:00

THE sr Nv,

CLOSE OF THE MUSICAL SEASON.

The most brilliant musical sewol that has perhaps
ever been known in London closed on Saturday with
the performance of Don. Giovanni, by the company
of the Royal Italian Opera, at Covent-garden.
From the early part of last winter London had
become the head-quarters of all the musicians of
Europe. Driven by political causes from France,
from Italy, from Germany, the elite of the musical
profession sought and found a refuge and a welcome
in England. Dining the whole of the season London
supported two Italian and one French opera, besides
aumerous benefit concerts, and regularly every week
for forty weeks the London Wednesday Concerts,
besides, during a portion of the season, a German
opera. In reviewing the season we shall proceed to
consider separately the efforts of each operatic esta-
blishment, and first
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Mr. Lumley, who began the season under
immense disadvantages, disadvantages attributable
not to any fault of his own, but to the caprices
of that spoiled child of the public, Mademoiselle
Jenny Lind, brought it to a most tri-
umphant conclusion, and in the annals of Her Ma-
jesty's Theatre the season of 1849 will be ever
renowned as the season in which Lind, Alboni, and
Sontag, all sang. In consequence of the indecision
of Jenny Lind, who during the whole of last
winter was vacillating as to whether or not she
should again appear on the stage, Mr. Lumley
was unable to form his engagements until the time
of opening approached. He had, however, secured the
services of Alboni as
_his prima donna for his open-
ing, and on the 15th of March the theatre opened
with the Cenerentola, in which Alboni sustained the
character of the heroine, a part in which she had
created a furore in Paris, and in which her success
here was equally great. Gardoni was the primo tenore,
and Coletti, Belletti, and the two Lablaches, continued
members of the company. After performing three
nights Alboni returned to the continent to complete
her engagements, and on the 24th of March Madame
Guiliani, a most efficient vocalist, an excellent actress,
and a very pretty woman, made her debut as
Elvira, in the opera of Ernani, in which character
she produced a most favourable impression, which was
more than confirmed by her subsequent performance
of Leonora in I Due Foscari, on the 31st, when
Coletti made his first appearance for the season in the
character of the Doge. On the 10th April, Made-
moiselle Parodi, the pupil of Pasta, made her first ap-
pearance in England in the character of Norma,
and at once assumed a high position on
the stage. She appeared in Norma for five con-
secutive nights, and each time with increasing suc-
cess. She subsequently appeared in La Favorita, and
in this she more than sustained the fame she had
acquired by her Norma. Her version of Semira-
mide was somewhat different from the conventional
reading of the part, and did not much please the ad
mirers of the windmill school of acting. We, however,
at the time expressed it as our opinion that Made-
moiselle Parodi's reading of the part was the correct
one—an opinion which we see no reason what-
ever to modify. Her. Donna Anna, however,
in Don Giovanni, and Carolina, in the
Matrimonio Segretto, were admitted on all
hands to be excellent, and her Lucrezia Borgia was
far and away the finest on the stage. Her personi-
fication of the Countess, in Le Nozze di Figaro, was
admirable, and there can be no doubt but that Ma-
demoiselle Parodi (who is now not yet twenty-two
years of age) has before her a brilliant career, and that
the time is not far distant when she will be
hailed the prima donna of Europe. On the 12th of
April, Mademoiselle Jenny Lind had appeared in the
opera of the Zauberfiote, got up as a concert, but
the success of the attempt was so very moderate, that
she consented to appear for a limited number of nights
as an operatic actress, being her farewell en-
gagement, and on the 26th of April she appeared in
La Sonnambula, and excited to the full as intense
a furore as she had done during the two preceding
seasons. The character of Elvin() was sustained by
Calaolari, a new tenor, who produced a most favour-
able impression on the audience, and who is a most
valuable addition to the company. The operas in
which she played were La Sonnambula, Lucia di
Lammermoor, La Figlia del Reggimento, and Roberto
it Diavolo, in which last she again took leave of the
stage on the 10th of May. On the 12th,.Madlle. Alboni,
who had returned from the continent, re-appeared
in the Cenerentola, and shortly afterwards performed
Rosina, in the Barbiere di Siviglia, a character in
which she had already frequently appeared, and
always with the greatest success, Arsace, in the
Semiramide, the character in which sbe originally
made here debut some three years since, and in
Ninetta, in the Gazza Ladra, and Zerlina, in Don
Giovanni, characters in which she had never pre-
viously appeared, but in which she achieved the most
marked success, not merely as a vocalist, but as an
actress also. Shortly after wards she ap-
peared as Fidalma, in the Matrimonio Segretto,
and never since the days of Malibran has the character
of Fidalma been nearly so effectively sustained ; in
that of Norina in Don Pasquale, in which her acting
was full of humour and spirit, and her singing perfect;
and in her favourite characters of Orsini, in Lucrezia
Borgia, and of Cherubino, in the Nozze di Figaro.
During the month of June an engagement was
concluded with Moriani, who happened to be passing
through London, and who appeared in the character
of Gennaro in Lucrezia Borgia, and in that of Otello.
On the 7th July occurred the great event of the
season, the re-appearance of Madame Sontag,
with undiminished powers, after an absence from the
stage of twenty years. She made her debut in the
character of Linda, and the first verse of the
"Oh lute di quest' anima" proved that she still
retained her purity of intonation, her exquisite
quality of voice, and her unapproachable brilliancy of
execution in as great perfection as when twenty years
before she had driven half Europe mad with enthusi-
asm. She performed Rosina in R Barbiere, Amina
in the Sonnambula, Desdemona in Otello, and
Susanna in the Nozze di Figaro, and in each excited
a furore that quite equailedthe Lind furore when at its
height. The engagement of Madame Sontag was a
masterpiece of management on the part of Mr.
Lumley, and enabled him to bring a brilliant season
to a most brilliant termination. All the operas pro-
duced were put on the stage with the utmost care and
attention, and were cast in the most efficient possible
manner. Lablache, the greatest of living bassos, set
the example of not unfrequently appearing in a minor
part in order to give increased strength to the cast of
an opera, an example which was worthily followed by
Coletti and Belletti. The orchestra, thanks to the
untiring exertions of Balfe, was greatly improved,
and the choruses were, generally speaking, admira-
bly drilled. The deesses de la danse were Carlotta
Grisi, Marie Taglioni, and Carolina Rosati. The
Diable a quatre was the ballet until after the Easter
recess, when Electra was produced, in which the in-
troduction of the electric light produced a most bril-
liant and novel effect. The run of Electra continued
until Carlotta Grisi left for the continent. Then a
most delightful divertissement, entitled La Prima
Ballerina, was produced, with Carolina Rosati as the
heroine; this had a considerable run; and then the
Plaisirs d'hivers, with its pas des Patineurs, the
chef d'oeuvre of Paul Taglioni, which bids fair to take
a permanent place in the ballet repertoire, brought to
a triumphant conclusion a season which, considered
in an artistical point of view, has been one of the most
glorious in the annals of her Majesty's Theatre.

LONnowl

Sonnambula, on which occasion Mr. Sims Reeves
made his first appearance on these boards in the
character of Elvino. His success was complete, and
the great English tenor has taken his station in the
front rank of his profession. His subsAuent per-
formance of Roderick Dhu, in the Donna del Lago,
and of the Huguenot soldier, in the Huguenots, were
beyond all praise. This last opera was produced on
the 24th May, Grisi taking the part of Valentine.
Her success was immense, and ,the Huguenots be-
came as popular as it had been during the preceding
season, when Madame Viardot Garcia appeared in
the character. The great event of the season was
the production of the Proplate, on which occa-
sion Madame Viardot Garcia made her rentree
in the character of Fides, a performance unequalled
for its power, its pathos, and its truth. The Prophete
was performed nine times, and its attraction continued
undiminished to the end of the season, which closed
on Friday evening with Don Giovanni, in which
Madame Viardot Garcia sustained for the first time
the character of Zerlina, and achieved a success equal
to that achieved by her sister, poor Malibran, in
Fideln:a. The band and choruses have been under
the direction of Costa— e' est tout dire en tin mot; and
notwithstanding the.embarassments of Mr. Delafield
and the damage that must necessarily have
been occasioned by the knowledge of the
fact of his bankruptcy becoming public during
the courseof the season, the subscribers have had no
cause to complain. With the most rigid faith every
promise made in the programme has been performed,
and every opera produced has been put upon the
stage in the best possible manner.

OPERA COMIQUE, ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.
While the leviathan lyrical establishments in the
Haymarket and in Covent-garden have been shaking
the musical world by their rivalry, a third lyrical
theatre has been naturalized among us, the
performances at which are always of the most
agreeable character, and which, if they do not asto-
nish, as do some of the grand efforts of some of the
grand theatres, never fail to delight. 'Thanks to the
efforts of Mr. Mite hell, the French Opera Comique,
the most delightful and graceful of all the schools of
opera, has become naturalized in England, and may
now be considered a permanent feature among the
regular amusements of the season. This is to be at-
tributed entirely to the exertions of Mr. Mitchell,
who during the course of one short season has produced
the following popular compositions :—Le Domino
Noir, Le Maitre de Chapelle, Le Nouveau Seigneur,
Le 13 ouffe et le Tailleur, Polichinelle, L' Ambassadrice,
Les Deux Voleurs, La Dame Blanche, Zanetta,
Richard Cceur de Lion, Le Concert a la Cour, Le
Double Eschelle, Fra Diavolo, Le Chalet, Action, Les
Diamans de la Couronne, Le Panier Fleure, Le Pre
aux Clercs, Les Rendezvous Bourgeois, La Part du
Diable, Ne Touchez pas a la Belize, andLe Comte Ory.
These were sustained by the talents of Mademoiselle
Charton, whose success was immense, and who stands
first in the rank of English favourites, Mademoiselle
Guichard, the most espiegle of soubrettes, and by
Couderc, by Octave, and by Zelger, whose reputations
are European. The orchestra, under the able direction
of M. Charles Hanssens was unique, consisting as
it did of the elite of the performers of both operas,
and can only be compared to the famous combina-
tion of talent engaged by Mr. Mitchell in his early
undertaking of the Italian Opera Buffs at the
Lyceum Theatre in 1838. Under these circum-
stances, it is not surprising that Her Majesty should
have so frequently honoured this theatre with her
presence, or that she should have in an especial
manner testified her approbation of Mr.
Mitchell's exertions by being present on the
occasion of his benefit. There was not an opera
produced during the season the performance of which
was not witnessed by her Majesty. The season con
eluded with the clever performances of Arnal and
Madame Doche in vaudeville. We understand that
it is probable that from the satisfaction afforded by
the introduction of the Opera Comique, the popular
composer Monsieur Auber may be induced to visit
London, for the purpose of superintending the produc•
tion of an entirely new work, as well as other composi-
tions of eminence, during the course of the ensuing sea-
son. It is thus reserved to Mitchell, after introducing to
his subscribers during the course of his management,
every celebrity of the theatres in Paris, including
Mesdemoiselles Rachel, Plessy, Dejazet, Rose Cheri,
Nathalie, Clarisse, Denain, Brohain, Forgeot,
Charton ; Mesdames Doche, Albert, Rabut ; and
Messieurs Bouffe, Frederic Lemaitre, Latent, Volnys,
Ravel, Grassot, Laferniere, Felix, Lemenil, Fechter,
Arnal, Cartigny, Bocage, Acharet, Alcide Toussez,
Rhozevil, Julien, Deschamps, Levassor, Vernet,
Couderc, Octave, Zelger, to crown his triumph, by
being the first who has succeeded in inducing the
great Auber, the mighty maestro himself, to accept
an English engagement.

SPURTING IN TELLIGENCE.
TATTERSALL'S.—YESTERDAY.
LEAMINGTON STARES.
7 to 4 agst Sir J. Hawley's Fernhill
7 to 1 agst Mr. Roll's Collingwood
10 to 1 agst Mr. Barnes's Sotterley
10 to 1 agst Mr. Meesom's The Dart
14 to 1 agst Lord Clifden's Wanota
Fernhill was the only horse in favour; offers to lay 7
to 4 or take 2 to 1, but little done.
ST. LEGER.
7 to 4 on Lord Eglinton's Flying Dutchman
10 to 1 agst Lord Stanley's Uriel
18 to 1 agst Mr. Pedley's Old Dan Tucker
25 to 1 agst Mr. A. Nichola's Nunnykirk (offered)
33 to 1 agst Mr. Nevin's Herbert (take 40 to 1)
50 to 1 agst Lord Eglinton's Elthiron
3,000 to 15 agst Lord Egliuton's Bolus—taken atd
afterwards offered
The only bet we heard on The Flying Dutchman was
200 to 100, at which price many " fielders " were
anxious to invest; Uriel was backed several times at 8
and 9 to 1, but gave way near the close to 10 to 1. 1,000
to 25 taken about Herbert, and I,ooo's to 10, 15, and 20,
about Belus.

CESAREWITCIj STAKES.
40 to 1 agst Lord Howth's Peep-o' day-Boy
1,000 to 20 agst Lord Stanley's Canesou—taken
1,000 to 20 agst Captain Harcourt's Ellerdale—taken
1,000 to 20 agst Lord Stanley's Legerdemain—taken
1,000 to 20 agst Captain Lowther's Iron Rail—taken
1,000 to 20 agst Mr. Crawford's The Cur—taken
1:000 to 20 agst Colonel Peel's Tadnaor—taken
1,000 to 15 agst Mr. Meiklam's Wensleydale
2,000 to 30 agst Mr. S. Conway's Kennington

CAMBRIDGESHIRE BTAREs.-
2,000 to 40 agst Mr. Payne's Glendower—taken
1,000 to 20 agst Lord Stanley's Canewm
1,000 to 20 agst Colonel Peel's Vasa
1,000 to 20 agst Mr. Nolan's Blucher
1,000 to 20 agst Mr. S. Conway's Kennington
10,000 to 10 agst Elierdale for the Cesarewitch and
Nina for the Cambridgeshire (taken)-10,000 to 10
agst Chantrey and Blucher for the same events (taken).
An entry given with both bets.

DERBY, 1850.

25 to 1 agst Mr. Bowes's Brother to Epirote—taken
to 2501.
30 to 1 agst Mr. Jaques's Mildew—taken
50 to 1 agst Mr. Gratwicke'a The Nigger—taken.

A QUA TICS.
LONDON YACHT CLUB.

The contest for the London Yacht Club Challenge
Cup, to be won two 3 ears consecutively before it becomes
the absolute property of the holder, took place yester-
day. It was a time race, one minute per ton being al
lowed by the larger to the smaller craft, and the distance
contested was from the Folly House, Blackwell-road,
down to a boat off Tilbury Fort, and back.
The following had been entered, but it will be found
did not all take their places:—
Yachts. Tons.

Owners.

Moor Park
18 Messrs. G. G. Browne.
Diana
Rival
Mavourneen
Hazard, ••• 6 Ackharne & Charles

The start took place under the direction of Mr. F. J.
Hughes, commodore, at a quarter to twelve, when the
Hazard unfortunately carried away her peak hallyards,
and could not get her mainsail set until below Blackwall.
The Moor Park took the lead at starting. kept it all the
way down, and rounded the flag buoy off Tilbnry Fort at
18 minutes past two; the Rival at 28 minutes past. The
Moor Park increased her lead considerably in beating up
to windward, the wind being W.N.W.,and finally passed
to the southward of the winning buoy at 11 minutes 15
seconds past seven ; the Rival at 38 minutes 52 seconds;
and the Hazard at 57 minutes 20 seconds past. The
owner of the Moor Park, which showed her great supe-
riority to windward, becomes the holder of the cup for
one year.
RICHMOND ROYAL REGATTA, _

The annual double-bank rowing match at Richmond,
in honour of and to celebrate Prince Albert's natal day,
took place yesterday, and was, as usual, extremely at-
tractive. The regatta was under the august patronage
of the Queen Dowager and the nobility and gentry re-
sident at Richmond and vicinity. The race was in four
heats, the first man of each of the first three Wing eli-
gible only to contend in the fc•urth or final one.
Firdt Heat.
George Platt, jun., James Godfrey (Red) 1
William Kemp, Charles L. Jackson (White) 0
James Martin, Charles Cripps (Blue) 0
Second Heat.
George Jackson, jun., Robert Trourbridge...(White) 1
Henry Kidner, Charles Godfrey (Red) 0
George Howard, George Platt (Blue) 0
Third Heat.
Henry Messam, William Bell (White) 1
Joseph Bailey, Thomas Mackinney. . (Red) 0
George Bailey, David Edwards (Blue) 0

Final Heat.
Henry Messam, William Bell (White) 1
George Platt, jun., James Godfrey. (Blue) 0
George Jackson, jun., Robert Trourbridge...(White) 0

MRS. JERMY.—This unfortunate lady is at present
residing in the lake district of Westmoreland. She is
looked upon with unbounded sympathy and interest She
is at present in private lodgings at Ambleside.—Carlisle
Patriot.
BROUGHAM CASTLE.---The Carlisle Patriot says
" When Lord Breughzan is at home ht bLautitul chapel
at Brougham Hall is too often attended by persons whose
object is more to see the Noble and Learned Lord than
to join in the devotions muted to the plsee."