The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-11 00:00:00

THE ENGLISH OPERA AT NOTTINGHAAL

The Theatre Royal re-opened last (Monday) evening,
with the first performance of Miss Pyne's company, the
pieces selected being " Sonnaisibula" and "The Waterman."
Mr. Manley is the tenor of the corps, and we were glad to
observe that notwithstanding the onerous labours of a
provincial tour he has improved both in voice and style of
acting; he acquitted himself meritoriously throughout,
and in the scena " All is lost now," with the accompaning
air, " Still so gently o'er me stealing," he sung with excel-
lent taste and feeling and won a very cordial and general
tribute of applause.— The Nottingham Evpress of Friday.
Last Friday evening, Balfe's opera, " The Bohemian
Girl," was produced by Miss M. Pyne's company at the
Theatre Royal. The most successful of the melodies of the
evening was "The heart bowed down," sung by Nlr Bor-
rani (Count Rodolph) in an admirable manner ; so much
so that he was warmly encored, and, in repeating the
second verse he went down to the F under the first line in
a very silvery tone, and in a tone of voice which no bass
singer ever excelled, or, perhaps, ever equalled. The
cadenza in the encore was entirely original, and, although
in a general way we object to interpolations, we could not
but admire the style in which Mr. Borrani ex-
temporised this. Miss Pyne (Arline) sung in a
most artistic manner throughout the opera. The
orchestra, conducted by Mr. Praeger, acquitted them-
selves very ably. The performances concluded with the
humorous farce of "The Swiss Cottage," adapted from the
opera comique, "Le Chalet." This (Saturday) evening
"Il Trovatore," with a musical farce, will be performed.—
The Nottingham Express of Saturday.
We believe that we may supplement the above tribute to
our old favourite, with an intimation that can hardly fai
to prove welcome to many an opera-going Londoner
namely, that Mr. Borrani is already included among Mr.
E. T. Smith's engagements for the coming English Opera
season at Drury-lane Theatre.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE, LEEDS.—Operatic per-
formances generally draw good audiences in Leeds. On
Monday that immensely favourite opera, " Il Trovatore,"
by Giuseppe Verdi, attracted an audience which filled the
house in every part, and numbers were unable to gain ad
mission. Miss Rebecca Isaacs, as Leonora, sang with all
the taste and ability for which she is distinguished. The
part of Manrico was essayed by Mr. Parkinson, and Miss
Jane Manley took the part of Azucena. Her fine mezzo-
soprano voice is under good control ; and her conception
of the terrible Gipsy woman was excellent. Mr. Tully con-
ducted with his usual ability.

At the annual meeting of the Rock Life Assur-
ance Company the additional policies in 1859 were stated
to represent a sum of £218,134, making with those previously
in force a total of £3,992,825, on which the annual pre-
miums amounted to £133,620.
At a quarterly court of the Equitable Assurance
Society the directors announced their intention to ado,.t
some recommendations leng urged upon them to extend
their area of investment, Consols and mortgages having
hitherto alone been selected. At the same time strong
representations were made by some of the policy-holders in
favour of a reform of the system of management, which
they consider to be close and antiquated, and such as to
prevent the society from maintaining its proper rank.
SUSPICIOUS CASE.—On Saturday afternoon, at
one o'clock, the body of a female, having one arm cut com-
pletely off, and otherwise mutilated, was picked up by a
waterman oft the Isle of Dogs. The body was taken to the
Milwall Ferry, and subsequently to the Poplar dead -house.
Information of the circumstance has been forwarded tO the
coroner for East Middleamc,