The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-26 00:00:00

ROYAL ITALIAN-COVE NT-GARDEN'

Last evening at Covent-garden was in eve°
sense an extra night—a night in many ways e%tr3ol-
ordinary. In its attendance—in the opera select —t
for performance—in the artistes to whom al:
opera had been intrusted for interpretatie'oi
The noble area of that great home
ce
.
the lyrical drama was crowded. The ma,sterPleci
was Mozart's, and among Mozart's the very 131di
of them all—not " Indomeneo," not the " Nezz„eiig
Figaro," not the " Zauberflot," but the Yen-0
i -
maestro's cape d'opera the immortal
Giovanni." Performed as it was last Dightog
the Royal Italian, it seems utterly bewilderrny
to believe that—as is nevertheless historic eed,
the fact—when the " Don" was first perforre
namely, in the year 1787, nearly eighty years anif
it was received by the Viennese with an 11bact
frigid indifference. Whereas " Idomeneo
Gio-
been welcomed with enthusiasm, " D°ll T 0
vanni " was listened to coldly, or, as we -03-
said, with frigid indifference upon the e'lay
sion of its first performance. Certain, at and
`dies
rate we may be that when its exquisite Inc'evg
were first listened to in Vienna the cast of YO no
Mozart's operatic chef d'ceuvre included within
such Zerlina as Mademoiselle Adelina Pattj'ach
such Masetto as Signor Ronconi, and no sno,
Don Giovanni as M. Faure —to saY "of
thing of Madamoiselle Fricci's Donna Anna, of
Madame Lemmens Sherrington's Donna Eivilt-o
Signor Brignoli's Don Ottavio, of Signor Ciallice,
Leporello, and of Signor CappoßPsll C ommendetcliit-
A cast like that—of such an opera—aided astheP:nis
cipal artistesare by a chorus asperfect in harm°3l-a'a
unison as that of the Royal Italian, and b.„Yhoso
orchestra whose lightest breath, equally with "ivo
loudest whirlwind of sound, is obediently resPeu-tbo
to the subtlest beck of the wand ef
Conductor —present to all true lovers of —,,11t
a combination that is listened to with denier
and remembered with gratitude. No Nvi,:t of
that with the announcement of a cast like t"-
the ever new and ever bewitching "Don Gievanlvaß
—no wonder we say that the Royal Italia"
very numerously attended, and that, moreeve,' the
a house more than usually demonstrative Our
admiration excited by the genius of the
tc.ool
poser, and byi the almost equally oxeePrtliteo
gifts and capabilities of the distinguished it'eaius
by whom the effusions of that rnatehless4 veri
were warmed anew into life and beauty—"- tathe
ttle
n f
statues of Pymalionall but that veritable s
itself which furnishes the weird element - red
story, the ghostly grimly effigy of the
es as
Commendatore. Among so many execilen.e of the
were last night apparent—the first night this
re '
performance of " Don Giovanni"--it weit to
vidious to make selection. Suffice .tes as
say, that while such
peerless favour' . wou
Mdlle. Patti, M. Faure, and Signor Roacon!,
°lon
Sherrui7
new titles to our admiration, Madame
last n'l, been
tit
upon the stage of the Royal Italian—
may be congratulated upon a most succes.s,f,eilt "ecing
especially noticeable in her regard as havi,uthis we
the occasion of her first, and, certain 01
ar
fo may be, of not by any means, her last aP r ale'
upon the lyrical boards as an operatic r
Peoee