The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-18 00:00:00

VERDI'S " MACBETH" AT TIIE CAN-

T_ERBU.RY HALL.

(From the Entr'acte.)
Startling as our heading may appear, it is nevertheless
a fact, that Verdi's opera of " Macbeth," so long the subject
of criticism in the Parisian musical world, has been pro-
duced for the first time in this country at the establishment
of Mr. C. Morton, in tho Westminster-road—namely, the
Canterbury Hall. We do not wish, however, in any way
to mislead the public ; the music simply is performed, there
is :no mise en scene, but the opera is gone through as it
would be in any other concert-room, and very admirably
it is done.

Before commencing any remark upon the music, we
must comment on the libretto, which, like all other foreign
librettos, is peculiar for the very close manner in which
the author has copied every idea from the text of Shaks-
pere, and at the same time made some of the primest mis-
takes that it is possible to be guilty of. For instance, in
the first act, " Lady Macbeth," who, by the bye, has,P,a
long duet, wound her husband up to the "killing" pitch,
and, indeed, as the text informs us, has been almost an eye-
witness to the murder, is made to join in the final chorus
to this act, calling for vengeance on the murderer's head,
and requesting the Divine aid to discover who the assassin
is. We forget any such passage in Shakspere, so we
suppose it may be looked upon as the ideal creation of the
poet's brain. In the operatic last act, the libretto includes,
very briefly, the whole of the fifth and part of the fourth
acts of the tragedy. Thus we have a chorus of "Scottish
exiles," and an air for Macduff, which includes that cele-
brated speech—

" Front to front bring thou this fiend of Scotland," ece.
and which is certainly closely copied from the Bard of
Avon. The sleeping scene is then given, whilst the battle
scenes are pressed down into twenty lines of gong, scent',
aria, and chorus. The first and last acts have alone been
produced at this Hall, and we certainly plead ignorance
as to how many Verdi has written; be this as it max,
however, there is much to praise in the music, and when
it
shall be produced on the operatic stage, we think it wlu
become quite as favourite an opera as the " Trovatore,"and
certainly immeasurably superior to the " Vespres
Sici-
liennes," the choruses being finer, and the songs, what
there are, far more telling. The chief features amongst the
solos are a grand scene for Lady Macbeth (which in reality
answers to the reading of the letter, and after the soliloquy
in the first act of the tragedy) and a very beautiful recite-
five and song for Macbeth, in the last act, which we think
will be likely to rival, if it does not excel, its near neigh-
bour from "Il Trovatore," "Il Balen." The choruses
are, of course, by Verdi, and that is quite sufficient to in-
timate that they are intricate, noisy, and not too full of
melody ; but this is one of the peculiarities of this com-
poser.
The production of this opera at the Canterbury Iran
a decided feather in the cap of the proprietor of the estab-
lishment, Mr. C. Morton. Hitherto these stages have
been made the vehicle for mere clap-trap songs and duets,
dances, duo performers; and ebc-iy minstrels. Mr. Morton
has raised the character of his Hall, and the concerts which
are nightly given are such as to give great satisfaction to
even a musician.
The opera itself, which has been so well got out under
the superintendence of Mr. F. Jongmans, the musical
director, is really admirably performed. The solos are exe-
cuted in an artistic manner, and Miss Russell, whose cs"
sesses a florid, well-cultivated, and clear voice,
scene above alluded to in a style which might arouse do
envy of many of our acknowledged West-end concert-IV°
performers. Macbeth, too (we forget the gentleraan's
private name), exhibits the thorough musician in all he has
to sing, and particularly in the air, " Obedience, love, and
honour." sing the

Should Mr. Morton continue presenting 'such novelties
as this at the Canterbury Hall, it is likely, not only to take
the lead, as it does now, but to entirely separate itself freru
the other concert-rooms of the metropolis. We cordially
recommend this new production to the attention of eur
readers in particular, and the public in general.

THIS DAYS MARKETS.