The Sun.
London, England, 1835-06-04 00:00:00

DIORAMA.

We went yesterday to pay a second visit to the Diorama,
our first having been a hasty one, and our remarks, in conse-
quence, somewhat briefer than the merits of the exhibition
demand. The Pictures are two in number—one, a view of
the Interior of the Church of Santa Croce, at Florence ; and
the other, of the Campo Vaccino, at Rome. The first is the
best—indeed, of the kind, the best we have seen. The effects
produced by the alternations of light and shade are such as
none will believe, who have not witnessed them. The view
undergoes during its exhibition, every possible modification of
light, from that of high noon-day to midnight darkness,
which last is relieved for a short period by the entrance of
a funeral procession by torch light, which is seen—dwarfed of
course by distance—to pass across the further extremity of the
building. The church is then once more buried in profoundest
gloom, but almost instantly afterwards it passes from this state,
into one of brilliant illumination, which is effected by the light-
ing up, in succession, of the wax tapers and chandeliers, at
the various altars. By means of this broad glare of light the
chairs and benches, in various parts of the church, which were
previously vacant, are perceived to be occupied by devotees,
assembled to assist at the celebration of the mass. At this in-
stant the bell of the principal altar tinkles, as a signal that the
hour of prayer has arrived ; upon which the church organ
strikes up a solemn anthem ; and so admirably is this instru.
ment placed, or so well-adapted is the Diorama for the pur-
poses of enriching and strengthening sound, that the
organ actually possesses all the rich grandeur and full
volume of melody it would possess, were we to hear it
pealing under the vaulted roof of Westminster Abbey. By
the time the religious rites are ended, morning has begun to
dawn ; first a pale, indistinct, greyish light comes hesitating in
at the church windows ; presently it assumes a bolder and
more definite character, quenching the glare of the wax tapers,
as it grows in strength; till at length a full meridian sun bursts
in on the church and bench, and column, altar and
floor, the near monument, and the distant arch, are all
brought out in their minutest proportions, beneath its
splendour. When the spectator is informed that all
these changes--all these magical effects—are produced by
the simple means of colours on a plain, extended surface of
canvas, combined with the reflection of the rays of light, and
the ingenious application of the powers of light and shade, we
suspect he will be as incredulous as we were—until we bad
seen the Exhibition 1 The View of the Campo Vaccino is
good, but by no means first-rate. The whole powers of the
painter have been centered in the Santa Croce. Altogether
the Diorama is, by many degrees, the most extraordinary ex-
hibition of the season.

SOCIETA ARMONICA.

SIXTH CONCERT.

The last Concert of this Association, for the season, was held
on Monday evening at the Great Concert Rooms attached to
the King's Theatre. The vocal performers were Mlles. Grisi,
Annette Brambilla, Miss Postans, Signors Tamburini, Rubini,
and Lablache. Ivanoff, although announced, did not make
his appearance. Indeed, to accommodate the Italian profes-
sors, the order of the programme was inverted ; Beethoven
was left for the second act, where his symphony bloomed an
autumn flower ; while the productions of Donizetti and Bel-
lini flourished like vigorous weeds in the spring-time of the
performance. The operas—so called—" I Puritani," " Les-
tocq," and " Marino Faliero," exemplify the three degrees of
comparison—bad, worse, worst ; but as the language of pane-
gyric has been happily exhausted on their supposititious excel-
lencies, justifiable homicide, or at least accidental death, ought,
in the nature of chances, to be fate of the first composer who
shall hereafter be deemed to occupy any position between
these extremes. Tamburini performed the song, from " Fi-
garo," sung by Lablache at the last Ancient Concert, with
the utmost finish and elegance, and in most perfect keeping
with the spirit of the composition. Hummel's septet is an
elegant and imaginative composition, and was meritoriously
executed by Messrs. Forbes, Mori, Lindley, Dragonetti,
Card, Willman, and Harper. Mr. Ribas performed a
fantasia on the flute in a masterly manner ; but if he claim
credit for his procreation of the concluding cadenza, what shall
we say to his pretensions as composer of the piece which it
ungrcicefully closed? Miss Postans cannot (what English
vocalist can ?) sing Italian music. This young lady possesses
one of the first requisites for success in her branch of the art—
a fine voice ; but she followed Grisi only to convince the au-
dience of the wide difference between the native and foreign
utterance of Italy's sweet sounds. Why should we expect
it to be otherwise ? A foreign artist can never do justice
to our own language, although married to the immortal strains
of a Handel or Purcel. The audience expressed their disap-
probation of the omission of Signor Ivanoff and his barcarolle,
and were informed by the conductor that this gentleman had
conic too late to be introduced to the company during the first
act, and went away too early to make the amende honourable
in the second. If this had been any other than the last of
this series of concerts, we should have presumed to recommend
an unity of action (no doubt there was of design) between the
flourishes of the conductor Mr. Forbes, and the leader, Mr.
Mori. The band appeared to relieve their minds from the
pain of uncertainty, by regarding neither.