The Sun.
London, England, 1841-04-01 00:00:00

G-E RMAN 0 i;ERA,.

The announcement for last night of one of Mozart's most
splendid operas, Titus, promised a great treat, and was a ch."
cided and very considerable improvement upon the last novelty
which Mr. Schumann presented to the public. We hope that
that gentleman has either had tact enough himself to perceive,
or good sense enough to be taught by sagacious friends, that
as the representative of the German Opera in England, he
should most strictly confine himself to the production of Ger-
man music. For this his company was last year, (and will
be again this year, we hope) admirably well adapted, and this
the persons who frequent the theatre expect from him. If
in the selection of his operas he try to attract to his theatre the
loose many, who will go anywhere for noise, novelty, or
fashion—if he take but one step out of the course so plainly
chalked out for him, and of which he
_seemed last year to
have so clear a perception, he will, we think, grasp at the
shadow and probably lose the substance. We give the inha-
bitants of London credit for an improved and improving mu-
sical taste, and doubt not that a considerable audience will be
ever ready to support him if he be faithful to his trust, and bring
before the lovers of German music in London a succession of
operas, not all first rate, but such as abound.,in Germany, and
many of which, delightful though they be, are little or not at all
known in this country. It is plain that at present his company
is anything but complete, and perhaps the number of operas he
can bring forward successfully is therefore small. Had we doubted
this fact before, last night's performance would have convinced
us of it. There are but seven parts to fill in Titus, two of
which are unimportant, yet we are sorry to say that with the
exception of Madame Heinefetter, Madame Schumann, and Mr.
Steiner, none did justice to Mozart's music. Haitzinger (a
favourite of ours of long standing), was evidently suffering
from cold, and we apprehend he has even a more insidious and
relentless enemy to combat with than influenza. His good
taste and musical knowledge were as perceptible as ever, but
he lacked vigour both as a singer and an actor, and did not by
any means satisfy us. Miss Furth ( Vitellia) was, until last
night, entirely unknown here, and as far as we can judge from
a first appearance, she is no fit representative of the revengeful,
domineering Roman beauty, who by her charms and arts in-
duces the virtuous, high-souled Sextus to become the betrayer,
nay, the assassin of his imperial friend. Her voice,
though powerful, appeared to us shrill, unpleasing, and
wanting expression, so as to form a complete contrast to
the impassioned, soul-stirring tones and acting of Heinefetter,
who surpassed herself last night as Sextus. Let no one re-
proach the German language with harshness, and call it ill-
adapted to music, who has ever heard Heinefetter sing
" Dann sey dein Herzvoll Liebe,;
Sey dein Besitz mein Lohn I" -

_
And, again—
" Ach nur einmal noch im Leben !
Lasz dein Herz mir offen stehn?
Ruhiger, bast du vergeben,
V erd'ich dann zum Tode gehn 1"
Or her beautiful duet with Steiner, as Annius, in the first act—.

" In deinem Arm zu weilen."
Also Madame Schumann's duett with Steiner—
" Ach verzeih' du Auserweehlte, '
the well-known " Ah, perdona al primo affetto," was beau-
tifully executed, and ought to silence all objections to the lan-
guage of our Saxon ancestors. The choruses, though as well
executed as usual, are less numerous in Titus than in more
modern operas. One, in the second act, expressing gra-
titude and joy at the escape of Titus from the con-
spirators, was exquisitely performed, and, with Haitzin-
ger's solo, was the only encore of the evening.
Mozart's genius needs not our weak voice to extol it; we can
only express our delight at a gain hearing it, although the per-
formance left us much to wish for. We wait with impatience
for the arrival of, at least, some of the many promised addi-
tional singers, and regret exceedingly that King Ernest of Han-
over, with his usual kindness and consideration for others, has
refused leave of absence to Steinmuller, whose excellent bari-
tone would have been a most desirable acquisition to the pre-
sent company, the more so as Poeck, whom he almost equals,
and to whom he is preterred by some, is not to make his ap-
pearance here this season. We are to have Madame Von
Hasselt, whose pure delightful voice, free from all guttural and
nasal notes, and whose tremulo, that rare power, still more
rarely well applied, is the admiration of all Germany; and
Madame Lehmann, of whom fame speaks highly, and who made
a successful debut at Vienna a short time ago, and Tichatcheck,
the first tenor, even in musical Germany. All these we are to
hear and admire, and we look forward to great things after the
holidays.
We must not however forget to remind Mr. Bunn, or who:
ever manage these things, that it is not quite comme itPut to
see two decently dressed English footmen in drab and red
livery with its accompaniments, intrude into the presence of
the Iloman Emperor and Senate. kotzebue's story of his
having seen on the stage in Paris, during the performance of
Athalie, a chimney decorated with a number of tobacco pipes,
is certainly not worse than this, and that was fifty years ago.
Surely such outrages on costume ought not to be permitted
here. The house was not very well attended, and the audience,
partly, we presume, because like us they were disappointed,
and partly because they did not understand the music, or
the language, were unusually apathetic. Her Majesty and
Prince Albert arrived during the overture, and left soon after
the beginning of the second act.

The Committee on the Designs Copyright Bill
has been further deferred from Wednesday 21st April, to
Wednesday, 12th May.
ADJOURNED COMMISSION OF LUNACY.—
Wednesday mooing, at half_pest eleven o'clock, the com-
mission of lunacy upon Miss White, of Twickenham,
which was adjourned from the 17th inst., at the reque,t
of Miss White, in order to provide herself with profes-
sional assistance, was resumed before Mr. Commissioner
the
e eccentric, reater portion of it
rather than
Blount and a special jury, composed of the county magis-
tracy, at the Crown Hotel, Twickenham. A great deal
owfenestidteo honcseww adduced,
asl but h
that ady was
inane ; and after a personal interview the jury found that
Miss Barbara White is of sound mind, and capable of
managing her own affairs and her property. Miss White
is in bet 52nd year.
Amongst the various valuable ornaments,
chiefly of silver, which were occasionally used in some of
the apartments at Windsor Castle, but which for some
time past had been placed amongst the stores, and lately
discovered to be missing (in addition' to a large quan-
tity of other similarly valuable property), is a silver crown,
which formerly belonged to Charles 11., and highly prized
for its peculiarly beautiful and elaborate workmanship.
There a e no hopes entertained of discovering any por-
tion of the silver articles which have been purloined; for
there is little doubt that long before this, indeed, that
almost immediately arter they were stolen, they were in
the crucible of some of the London receivers.
A case came before the Insolvent Debtor's Court
on Wednesday, in which the petitioner, a lady who had
kept the Sackville Hata, and lost all her own money, as
well as some belongiog to other persons, ascribed her in-
sohency partly to the Whigs. It appeared that she told
the agent of the opposing creditors that " if she could get
the abominable Whigs out cf her house and the Tories in
she should go on like clock work " Tha Commissioner
said she was not the only foolish person who had thought
fur the last four years that the Whigs would go out.
PRESENTS TO HER MAJESTY.—WINDSOR,
MARCH 30.—Two Arabian ponies, which have been sent
as presents to her Miijesty from thelmaum of Muscat, ar-
rived at the Royal mews, yesterday morning, from Buck-
ingham Palace. They are grey, about four years old.
They are quiet in harness, and are intended to be driven
by her Majesty upon fne arrival of the Court at Windsor
at Easter. Prince Albert drove them in a pony phaeton,
before they left town.
MALT.— A return has been laid before the
House of Commons of the quantity of malt used in the dis-
tilleries during the years 1839 and 1840 in the united
kingdom. The total amount in 1839 Was 4,223,342
bushels ; and in 1840, 4,037,122 bushels. The quantities
used in the three countries for the last year were as fol-
lows :—England, 238.263; Ireland, 486 240 •; and Scot-
land, 3,312,619 bushels, being nearly five times as much
as that used in England and Ireland together.
In consequence of the lamented death of Mrs.
Wilberfurcr,
.we believe that no Bampton lectures Will be
rt,iieered in the University pulpit this year.— Olfoi.d
Rerald.
At the close of the poll for the election of a
Councillor for the ward of St. Thomas, Portsmouth, on
Tu,sday. Mr. Emanuel, a Jew• was elected bv a majority
of 33. The numbers for Mr. Emanuel being i
.17, and for
Mr. Price (a Christian, and of the same Liberal politics
with his opponent), 114.
BODY FOUND IN THE RIVER.—Mr. Baker
held an inquest yesterday at the Green Man, High-street,
Poplar, on the body of a once fine young man, apparently
aged '2O, arid riarne not positively known. Cornelius
Ryan proved finding the body on Monday morning floating
on the Thames cif Messrs. Napier and Co.'s factory,
Mill-wall. Deceased was well dressed, and iu a pocket
was found a letter addressed " James George, care of
Mr. John George, 22, Lower Shadwell, London, Eng-
land," and dated " Graten, Feb. 4, 1841," and signed
" Qrisal Morison." Theie being no evidence to prove
the identity of deceased, or to show how he came into the
Thames. the verdict of the Jury was an open one, viz.,
" Found dead."