The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-24 00:00:00

"HAMLET" AS A FRENCH OPERA.

No nation under the sun more frequently tries to illus-

trate the Latin adage,

"Audacee foeuna juvat," than the

French. And what a daring venture, forsooth, to extract
a French opera from our own Hamlet ; from that " recital
of a moral poisoning," as M. Taine says; from that end-
less analysis through which the human soul is scruti-
nised and searched in its innermost recesses. Albeit,
the audacious feat has been accomplished ; Shakspere's
masterpiece has been habitod into a French lyrical
drama, and successfully too, for the composers re-
ceived a veritable ovation, on Monday evening, at the
close of the first representation of Hamlet, Prince de

Danmark opera in five acts, the words by MM. Michel
Cane and Jules Barbier, the =bin by M. Ambroise

Thomas.

Let us see how the librettists and the maestro have in-
terpreted.

" Th' applause, delight, tho wonder of our stage."

MM. Carr 6 and Barbier have borrowed from Hamlet its
most pathetic situations and best pages, and arranged them
in five acts. In the first we have the exposition of the love
of the young Prince for Ophelia, who returns it most ten-
derly, and the apparition of the Ghost of Hamlet's father
on the platform before the castle at Elsinore ; in the se-
cond, there is the play of "the murder of Gonzago ;" the
moving scene between the mother and the son, and Ham-
let rebuking Ophelia and advising her to become a nun,
make the third act; the fourth is filled up by the affecting
madness of Ophelia; in the fifth there is a scene with the
gravediggers, the burial of Ophelia, and the revenge of
Hamlet, who kills tho usurper.

You perceive that Hamlet has been unmercifully cur-
tailed to fit the opal-laic exigencies, to argue with do and fa
on the immortality of the soul, to pierce with a full band
the mysteries of eternity. But if such a curtailment may
be explained to a certain extent, not so the travestying of
a main part of the plot. For instance, the librettists have
made a traitor of Polonius, who is but a buffoon. Pos-
sibly to legitimate Hamlet's vengeance, would you say ?
No ; if Polonius is killed by the sword of the Prince, it is
behind the scenes, and it is entirely unknown to the pub-
lic. Moreover, what becomes of the cause of Ophelia's
madness? Pauvre grand William va !" exclaimed the
king of French critics, Jules Janin.

Now to the score. Its author, M. Ambroise Thomas, has
already won many lyrical palms—Le Cak4 Le Songe d'une
Nuit d'Eli, and Mignon, have placed him foremost among
the French composers. It was known that he had spent a
long time at his elegiac lyrical tragedy of Hamlet, curiosity
was raised to a pitch, bets were freely made on the issue of
the first night, and all the dillelantes in Paris hastened to
the Opera to witness the maestro's triumph or fiasco. He
went most successfully through the ordeal, and Hamlet,
besides proving to be the great musical hit of the
season, will certainly be the most precious gem of Thomas's
artistic crown.

I The overture, or rather the introduction, is short. It
begins with mystery, it ends with power. It sets in deep
relief the excellence of the composer in the working of
orchestration. The chorus of officers, which heralds the
first act, "Nargue de l'ivresse," is remarkably ample. Hamlet
makes his entry to the song of the violoncellos, and mur-
murs, " 0 femme, to t'appelles inconstance et fragilite ;" then
comes the duo with Ophelia —"Doute de la lumiere," deli-
ciously sweet, though greatly contrasting with the bravura
of most operas. Well, that subdued style is in unison with
the part of Hamlet. His northern love could not inspire
such a duo as in the A fricaine. Withal, what is one to
expect from a hero who is about to declare that "his soul
is of marble." The Pygmalions are to be found but in
mythology. The cavatina of Laertes on his departure for
abroad—" Pour mon pays en serviteur fidele"—has been en-
cored with enthusiasm. However, this Dane chevalier
has too much of the Beau Dunois, Partant pour la Syrie.
The finale of the picture is a joyous chorus of courtiers,
shamelessly sitting at the coronation banquet. The merry
burden is dramatically stopped by the announcement of
the perambulations of the Ghost. A fantastical symphony
precedes the apparition of the spectre on the platform. As
to the scene between Hamlet and his father's Ghost, it is
interpreted with great skill, though the recitative has too
much its own way at the expense of melody, though the
ghost (basso David) blew as through the trumpet of the
Last Judgment.
Ophelia begins the second act with a fabliau, ravishingly
sung and rapturously applauded. The arioso of the Queen
does not produce the same effect; but the chorus of the
players—" Princes sans apanages"—is full of humour, origi-
nality, and entrain. The Baechic song of Hamlet, who tries
to shake off his bad thoughts, " 0 vin, dissipe la tristesse," is
full of rhythm. There is a change of scenery, and the
action now goes on in a magnificent palace, where the
"mu; dor of Gonzago" is acted, and Hamlet breaks out
in his terrible reproaches in a recitative singularly
harmonising with the melody of the orchestra ; singer
and instruments completely blend. The finale ending
that act is magnificently animated, and those superb
vohemences disclose a maestro's hand always sure of itself.
Hamlet begins the third act with the fine monologue—
" Etre ou nepai etre . . . o mystere." Here was a difficult
problem to solve, and that solution was surrounded with
reefs. Critics thought and said that it was as well to put
in music a problem of Spinosa. To sing "To be, or not
to be," seemed simply absurd, yet the consumMato syz-