The Sun.
London, England, 1851-11-11 00:00:00

SUN

DRURY-LANE THEATRE.
JULLIEI.\T'S CONCERTS.
November, which was wont to be the most dreary of
the twelve months of the year, so far, at least, as
the metropolis was concerned, has for some years past,
thanks to the regular appearance during that month of
M. Jullien and his band at Drury-lane Theatre, be-
come by no means the least pleasant of the months,
and the gloominess under which Londoners were
wont fduring November to suffer, has been effec-
tually dispelled by the music, the lights, the statues,
the crush, end the excitement evoked by the magic
baton of M. Jullien. The season of M. Juilien's
Promenade Concerts commenced last evening, and the
' programme is a most promising one. All the old
favourites are retained; KeeDig, Collinet, Lazarus,
and Deloffre are still among the soloists, and in addi-
' tion Sivori, Piatti, and Bottesini are engaged, and we
have Miss Dolby as the vocalist, vice Jetty Treffz
Among the musical novelties promised are a selection
from Mozart's Zauborflote, a selection from Beet-
hoven's Fidelio, an Indian quadrille, composed by
M. Jullien, on East Indian melodies, a new grand qua-
drille, entitled " The St. Leger Day," descriptive of
the grand national races of England, and which is to
he produced on Wednesday, and a new humorous
quadrille on American and English melodies, to be
produced on Thursday, entitled " The Bloomers'
Quadrille," beside a variety of new waltzes, polkas,
and quadrilles, which have been composed by M.
Jullien expressly for her Majesty's state balls. The
theatre is elegantly fitted up in the same style as last
year, the refreshment rooms are on the same
scale of comfort, and the reading room is even more
richly supplied with journals and periodicals than it
was lest season. The theatre was crammed to
excess in every part long before the commencement
of the concert ; it was a misnomer, insulting
to the persons "on the floor," to designate that por-
tion of the house last night as a promenade, it was
more than a crush, it was a regular jam, and the un-
fortunate, who found himself in the midst, could nei-
ther advance nor retreat ; could turn neither to the
right nor to the left, but like a ship embayed in the
ice was forced to drift with "the pack ;" the compari-
son to an ice-pack, however, does not hold good in
one sense, for the heat was sufficiently intense to have
thawed Wenham Lake itself. The appearance of
Jullien in the orchestra was the signal for a burst of
enthusiastic applause, followed by loud cries
for " God save the Queen !" The band ac-
cordingly struck up the National Anthem, and
were accompanied by the audience, who after a
fashion more hearty than harmonious joined in chorus.
This was followed by Beethoven's Leonora overture
to Fidelio, which was admirably performed, listened
to most attentively, and applauded to the echo. This
was followed by a new quadrille, arranged by Jul-
lien, from the opera of 1l Prodigo. The quadrille,
which concludes with the " Pas de Poignards," was
applauded enthusiastically ; it possesses the elements
of en enduring popularity. The great hit of the
evening, however, was Bottesini's solo fantasia on the
contra-basso from airs in Bellini's Sonnambula. The
astonishing performance of Bottesini on this unwieldy
instrument, which, in his hands, becomes by turn a
trumpet, flute, flageolet, violin, and gives forth every
variety of sound from its ownnatural growl to the
softest tones of an .2Eolian harp, hushed the vast crowd
into the most solemn silence, and at the conclusion
the applause was vociferous, and the call for a repe-
tition tunanimous. Miss Dolby sang the Page's
song, "Noble Seigneurs," from the Huguenots, very
effectively, and the first part concluded with the
" Grand Exhibition Quadrille," which, with the
crystal curtain (which we are happy to say is as bril-
liant as ever), divided the honour of lest season.
The
,vieces de resistance in the second part were the
selection from the Iluguenots and the andante from
Beethoven's symphony D, both of which were admi-
rably performed. A new polka by Jullien, entitled
The Crystal Fountain, as sparkling as its title,
achieved an immense success ; and the unaccompanied
trio from Robert Le Diable, by Kcenig, Cioffi, and
Prospere, was much applauded. The season could no'
have had a more brilliant commencement.