The Sun.
London, England, 1856-06-16 00:00:00

HER MAJIeSTY'S TBEATRE.

The opera chosen for the occasio❑ WAS one of the
earliest compositions of Bullini—" I Capuletti ed i Mon -
tecchi," and from the very first moment Mdlle. Wagner
►na le her appearance on the stage success was certain.
Throughout the whole of the four acts, into which the
opera is divided, ➢Zdlle. Wagner's career was one con-
tinued triumph, and at the fall of the curtain, at the
termination of each of the acts, she had to re-ap•
pear to receive the applause of the brilliant and
aristocratic audience she had enchanted. Madlle.
%Vaguer's voice is a mezza soprano, extending, indeed,
to the contralto region. It is iminansely powerful, and
every note between G natural (ledger line beneath the
treble clef) and B natural (ledger lino above the treb'e
clef) is pure and wonderfully sonorous, and id the whole
of our experience we certainly never heard any vocal
tone so sustained, equal, and voluminous as hers. The
other parts in the opera were very 'effi.liently supported
by Madile. Jenny Bauer, Herr• Reichardt, and Signor
Beneventano.

We coraially agree in the Mowing opinions of the
powers of roladlle. Wagner, given by our morning con-

emporar.es

(From the Times.)
When first Madame Rist.:ri, in the character of Medea,
passed along the rocky background, that first entrance
was sufficient to prove that all was riget. The same
may be Laid of Mademoiselle Wagner. When she ad-
vanced from the back of the stage as the armed R)meo,
her stately form encased in the most glittering mail, the
clusters of fair hair falling ab.,ut her neck, the tall
plume v.aving above her bead, she gave full earnest of
her victory. " Vera incessu patuit dea ;"—there was a
revelation of superiority in the very step, and the sono-
rous voice in which the young warrior announced his
mission as an ambassador of peace to the Capolete, and
welch rang through the house as penetrating and as
awakeniug as toe surnames of a trumpA createe a feeling
which was nothing short of amazement. People could
net so soon make up their minds whether they were look-
ing at a great vocalist or a great actress—but, at all
events, a grand apparition was before them. A step light
and tnejeetie, a v ice combining the resources of the con-
tralto and the soprano, a spirited mode of declamation, a
native grace that rendered every pose a pictorial illustra-
tioa—this as altogether such as union of elements as
for a while suspended the power of reflection. Toe truly
martial manner in which she shouted forth the air of
defiance, " Le treinenda nitrite spada," must brilliantly
wound up the first scene, and in the next came the duet
with Giteietta, in winch Mademoiselle Wagner displayed
all the pension of an ardent lover, still in the same grand
sculptured style with which she had represented the
emotions of hatred. An enthusiastic call fellowed the
descant of the drop-scene, and as soon as the plaudits
had subsided a few sounds of di approbation were heard.
Tee which could only have denoted some personal
feeling—for to aeiribute them to critical opinion would
be simply preposterous—bad merely the effect of re-
kindling the zeal of the audience and Mademoiselle
Wagner was again summoned before the certain.
The second act of " I Capuletti ed i Montecchi" is
similar ie character to the first scene of the first act,
being chiefly made up of a squabble between the rival
factions, occaeioned by Romeo's attempt to carry off
Giulietta, an I thus topreveot her marriage with Tubaldo.
The dispute between Romeo and Tehaldo in the third
act, which is brought to a sudden termination by the
appearance of Giulietta's funeral in the background,
brought with it a new oeportuuity for display ; and a
wind effeet introduced by Mademoiselle Wagner took
the audience by surprise :

" Vieni, io ti sprezzoe sqdo
Taco i seguaci tuoi;
Tu brainerai fra not
L'Alpi frapprste a it mar,"
said the infuriated Romeo, and while pronouncing these
words of defiance Mademoiselle Wagner took such a
sudden leap from the highest to the lowest extremity of
her voice, and at the same time ac:mmpanied it with
such an expression of overwhelming wrath, that the
combiea.tion of the vocal feet with the histrionic out-
br -ak was of surpassing effect. The Romeo of Made-
moiselle Wa.-4ner reaches his climax in the fourth
act which is almost identical with that of, not
Shakspere, but Garrick. Tne h- art-rending sobs
with which Romeo Slogs himself on the supposed corpse
of Giulietta and his aiiand.ininent to a luxury of wo—
the transient rapture with which he ohs rves her resus-
citation, the shriek and attitude of despair with which he
exclaims " Ah, infelice !" as the remembrance of the
poison flashes through his mind—came in sub rapid
succession that the audience looked on with umninaied
a,diniration, till at the descent of the curtain they rolled
forts the most deafening applause, and thrice summoned
before the curtain the great artiste, who had already been
called at the end of every act. Those persons whose
memory does not take them back to the days of Madame
Pasta, and who were not at her Majesty's Theatre on
Saturday night, will, doubtlesm, have a difficulty in con-
ceivieg that such excitement could be got out of such .an
li:lipid opera as " I Capttletti ed i Montecchi." The
new Rome.) gives life to what was lifeless.

(Front the orating, Poi& )
Johanna Wagner has appeared at last, and 'at once
fully justified all that has been said of her by the best
Gerinac critics.' With one stroke she has annihilated
whatever prejudice circumstances might have raised
against her, and conquered the almost insuperable diffi-
culties which her own mighty reputation had thrown in
the mayor success with a new and critical public.
The few, however, who were acquainted w,th her
powers could have no fears for the result, which proved
to be as we had confidently anticipated-7a° artistic
tiiumpli of the loftiest order. Whethrr JOhanna, Wagner
was all that everybody thought she should or would be,
we ca snot pretend to say ; but that a grand actress and
superb singer were hailed with enthusiastic delight in
the person of the debutante, there can be no question
whatever.
Johanna Wagner must have paid special attention to
the generation and production of tone—that most im-
portant branch of her art—the foundation of all excel-
lencecompass in singing, for nothing short of unremitting and
owcis:nael
tlilyFytaiorfit,:cnirtieeldehsselett;:s,ilioayisntiuocr:ieutylaapninidy)ds possibly have brought about so
ateria
init herig: 1-iivoinot
weitenhiet,eosir.
marvellousmss
weixii
igiicnr abe 7srthdoegi
eneocistwruhyeae
sr.;
lisation of all the registers—the perfect balance of tone
—that ber mechanical skill is strikingly exemplified.
But the co/ovinv.ol the sounds—the delineation of Pao

- -

On Saturday night the long-looked•f:)r Mule. Wag-
ner made her first appearance at her iklajeity's Theatre,
and achieved a triumph greater than has scarcely ever
been equalled, certainly never excelled, in the annals cf
the Lyric drama.