The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-06 00:00:00

The Royal Italian Opera.

Guiseppe Verdi may now in truth congratulate
himself upon the splendour of his reputation. His
popularity has long been in the ascendant. But
he has hardly ever enjoyed so signal an attestation
of its security as that which is just now being ac-
corded to it. The operatic season of 1866 is in fact
being inaugurated under his auspices, rather than
under the auspices of Mozart, Bellini, Rossini,
Meyerbeer, Beethoven, or Donizetti. The Royal
Italian Opera at Covent Garden was opened on
Tuesday evening, according to announcement,
with the most charming of all his operas—
to our taste, at least, the most charming—
Un Ballo in Maschera. Last evening, at the same
great Lyrical Establishment, from the hands of the
same maestro, came another capo d'opera for the
night's enjoyment, to wit // Trovatore. To-morrow
evening, again, Mr. Gye's patrons, the musical
public in general, are to be regaled with the always
popular melodic luxuries of La Traviata. Nay,
Mr. Mapleson would appear to be of the
same mind precisely— seeing that to-morrow
night at Her Majesty's, the season is there also be
inaugurated with one of Verdi's chef d'ceuvres, one
of the three already but just now mentioned, the
opera, that is, of last night's performance at Covent-
garden, Il Trovatore. While Verdi is now only in his
Fifty-second year—as contrasted with a veteran like
Rossini, now in his Seventy-Fourth, and with a
venerable composer like Auber, now actually in
his Eighty-Second—the first mentioned, the author
of the works already named and, among a crowd
of others, of Ernani, of Louisa Miller, and of
Rigoletto, has already been fully one quarter
of a century before the musical public throughout
Christendom. For a long while he occupied a
place among the great operatic composers, almost, it
might be said, upon sufferance, Received, first of
all, rather with deprecatory shrugs of the shoulders,
than by acclamation, Signor Verdi has conquered
applause and acceptance at the hands of the more
fastidious—almost, it might be averre 1, with an allow-
able paradox—•in very despite of his popularity.
" Verdi the Violent," so called, can at length,
however, hold his own, it must be allowed, in the
midst of, no matter what, competitors ! Is there
need of any conclusive token of this ?—it is afforded
at the very dawn of this present season of 1866, in
London at both the great Opera Houses, where to
Verdi is spontaneously proffered the pas of prece-
dence ! The coincidence has its unquestionable sig-
' nificance. The maestro may now laugh to scorn
henceforth his more pertinacious depredators. For
we may rest assured of this, that both Mr.
Gye and Mr. Mapleson know perfectly well
what they are about, when selecting, each of them
quite irrespectively of the other, an opera from the
hand of Verdi, with which to open the campaign, in
preference to one by any other composer. And
the brilliant success attendant upon the performance
of "Un Ballo in Maschera" on Tuesday, and again
last evening upon the performance of "II Trova-
tore" is already Mr. Gye's complete justification.

AN EARTHQUAKE IN SHETLAND.—The Flugga
Rock, which is situated about a mile and a half from
the ncrth shore of North Unst, in Shetland, and is the most
northern portion of her Majesty's dominions, was visited
by an earthquake on the 9th ult. The rock, which is of a
conical form, and rises 180 feet out of the sea, is surrounded
by a lighthouse, and the lightkeeper gives the following
account of the occurrence :—" On the 9th ult., when I was
on watch in the lightroom, at 1 20 a.m., the tower began to
shake terribly, and Crow and Sutherland (the assistant-
lightkeepers) called up to me from the bedroom to see what
was the matter, as the tower was shaking. I had not power
to answer them, for the red shades commenced to rattle,
and were like to be shaken out of their frames, the shaking
lasting 30 seconds. There was no wind nor sea to cause the
tower to shake, and we think it must have been the shock
of an earthquake."— Scotsman.

THE LETTER II.—" The instance of bad pronun-
ciation which is most common, and therefore requires par-
ticular notice, is the misapplication of the aspirate h. This
defect sometimes occasions ludicrous and even serious mis-
takes. When omitted, it materially affects the energy of
the speaker—the expression of emotions and passions often
depending, in a great measure, upon the vehemence with
which the aspirate is uttered. Some not only omit the
aspirate where it should be sounded, but aspirate where
there is no h, or where it should bo silent, as head for
end, &c. This is the grossest fault; but it is not con-
fined to the vulgar, or to those who have acquired the
bad habit by mixing much with ignorant people. Many
clergymen, and others with rather weak or unpractised
voices, have astonished their friends by unnecessarily as-
pirating words in church which they would not so mis-
pronounce in private society. This arises from an instinc-
tive effort to be better heard. Not having sufficient power
of voice, or not knowing how to use the power they
possess, these gentlemen mistake aspiration for loudness,
as others mistake loudness for aspiration. The difference
between the two will bo readily understood if the reader
will hold up the finger a few inches from his mouth,
and pronounce any word containing the h. If he
aspirates, ho will feel the breath against his finger,
but not if ho merely speaks louder. Many omit
the aspirate, not only at the beginning of words, but
after the w, as in where, &c. ; and in the middle of words,
as in forehead ln some phrases of little words
it is very difficult to give the aspirate correctly without
becoming pedantic and constrained in the delivery
In practising, the aspirate should be given strongly ; but in
ordinary and public speaking all effort should be avoided.
The man who labours at his h's betrays a consciousness
of his defect. . . . In the great majority of words which con-
tain the letter h either at the beginning, middle, &c., the h
should be aspirated. In the following words the h is
silent :—heir, heiress, heirl,-mm ; herb, herbago ; honest,
honesty, honestly ; honour, honourable, honourably ;
hospital; hostler; hour, hourly; humour, humorist, hu-
morously; and their other derivatives. Tho h in humble
was formerly silent, but it is now aspirated. " Humble-
pie" is an incorrect spelling of " umble-pie," a pie made of
" umbles," a plural noun, meaning a deer's entrails. To
" eat umble-pie" is to eat of the poorest dish. The his a
wrong spelling, and should be omitted. The hin the fol-
lowing words is silent, though not initial :—asthina, dis-
habille, isthmus, rhapsody, rhetoric, rheumatism, Rhine,
rhinoceros, rhomb, rhubarb, rhyme, rhythm, Thames,
Thomas. Also in such words as ah, catarrh, laical],
Sarah, &e."—C. W. dinit4's "Clerical Elocution."