The Sun.
London, England, 1856-05-12 00:00:00

house itself was not unworthy of particular ob-
servation. Shadowed over as it had been for
three years by darkness, dust, and vacuity, it
shone out in ail its former splendour on Satur-
day evening, undimmed and untarnished. The
paintings looked as fresh as ever, the gilding as
brilliant, even the gorgeous box-hangings of
damask satin seemed to have the same rich golden
gloss upon them as upon the first season when
they " glorified " the interior, as that wonderful
interior had never previously (at any rate within
our recollection) been siwilarly " glorified !"
Altogether the effect was such that the audience—
thronging the pie, and piled tier upon tier in the
boxes, and crowding the huge gallery from the
front row up to the very roof-beams--hailed the
burst of light from the great central chandelier
with visible and audible satisfaction. The ap-
plause breaking forth afresh when Signor Bonetti
assumed the conspicuous post occupied formerly
by Mr. Balfe, and earlier still by Signor Costa—
applause, first of all of good-humoured encou-
ragement, but afterwards when renewed later in
the evening, by eminently' well-merited approba-
tion. The principal evidence of which we con-
ceive to have been observable in the very brilliant
performance under the guidance of Signor Bonetti's
baton of the exquisitely graceful and piquante
Overture. Rather in the Overture, in sooth (if
a little unwelcome truth may be uttered thus
plainly) than in the accompaniments. The latter
being in parts so vociferous and Verdi-ish, so to
speak, as to transform the vocalisation (occasionally
even not merely of a solo or a duet, but of a
quintette or a sextette) into so much dumb show—
at least be it said to the ears of the unlucky
groundlings ! Time vocal harmonic; soaring away
inaudibly over the blatant roar of brass and cat-
gut. A little less verve at these times in the
energy of the orchestral accompaniment and
Signor Bonetti will leave his auditors less cause
for disappointment, after the expectations roused
by his masterly surveillance, if we may so phrase
it, of the artistes threading the melodic intricacies
of an Overture iu itself in every way so dulcet
and delectable.

As for the Opera as a whole, considered in re-
gird to its vocal rendering on Saturday evening
--what shall be said ? That it has seldom been
listened to with more genuine satisfaction since
the first night of its performance during the Car-
nival of 1817 (just nine and thirty years ago 1) in
the Theatre Valle at old Rome, when the now
classic Maestro Rossini was in the early flush of
his precocious and brilliant reputation. From

the introductory outburst of the blithe, joyous,

jubilant "Si, si, si," to the full chor,ll. " Piano,
piano, a poco, a poco," closing the First Act ;

from the half-playful, half-pettish dialogue be-
tween. Dandini and Angelina inaugurating the

Second, to that delicious outpouring of melody
which is the crowning triumph of La Cenerentola

—nothing appeared to us on Saturday night to
be listened to by the vast audience there and then

uolleeted together in her Majesty's Theatre, with

the smallest token of indifference. The Chorus

of Cavaliers—(very stiff in the joints and

applrently somewhat confused, and even, it

seemed, a little ashrtmed of themselves somehow,
as they trooped in again and again during the
evening in a slovenly kind of shambling double-
procession)—evinced, at the very outset of their

steady unison in " Oh, fighe amabile," the

taking of the last three or four weeks of laborious
rehearsal. As for Alboni—what though her

voice " gave" once rather unaccountably, anl
though here and there some two or three of her

notes seemed to us rather subdued in their into

nation occasionally—she sang the night before

last as she sang five years ago—exquisitely ! Her
first sweet dainty solo aria, " Una volta c'era, un
Re," the lovely inaugurative melody of Ceneren-

taa, was as bewitching as ever : and more be-
witching than ever, it seemed to us, was that

final triumph of song, already hinted at as the
crown and glory of the opera, the renowned
" Non pin testa" —encored, as a matter of

course, and greetel from first to lasi-, at every
momentary pause, with acclamations. Nobly did