The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-24 00:00:00

ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA.

Roberto id Diavolo, which, with the full c ollection
of the Huguenots, and the Proph .ele, we still consider
to be the chef d'oeuvre of Meyerbeer, was produced
here for the first time this season, last evening, with
completaiess that has never been gsurpassed
and_ has seldom been equalled. We have a
was
first per-
fectrec,,ilection of this opera when it •as
first produced at the Grand ()Per.' in Paris, then in
the zenith of its power and of its fame, and certainly
the manner in which the opera was performed and
put on the stage last evening far surpassed the man-
ner in which it was put on the serge in Poris °lithe occa-
sion of its original production. The following is the cast,
and certainly as a whole the opera has never been,
not even at this theatre, cast nearly so strongly.
Alice, Moo,. Grisi (her first 'appearance in that cha-
racter) ; Isabella, Male. Castellon ; Dania d'Onoro,
Mdlle. Cotti; Elena, Mdlle. Louise Taglioni • Al-
berto, Signor Rommi ; Eraldo, 111. Massol; Il ;lore,
Signor Tagliafico ; Majordomo, Signor Sakti; Cava-
liers, Signor Mei and Signor Yolonini; Roberto,
Signor Tamberlik (his first
~appearance in that
character) ; Bertram°, Herr Formes ; and min
Signor IMario (his first appearance in that character).
The character of Alice is one quite eat of the, usual
line of Madame Grisi's performances ; it is almost
impossible to imagine the imperious Semiramide, the
impassioned Norma, the energr.ic Luerezia, eyhi-
hiting the innocent simplicity- of the angelic pcasant
girl, yet Maclaine Grisi achieved it grr at sneeess iu
the part, and sang the music divinely. Her man-
ner of rendering tho-" Va dit elle" and the " Quand:je
quittai la Normnandie" was excellent, but the grand
scene I.vas the finale, in which she rescues Robert
from Bertram.
xllib
of t.i
whichor i of
shehat
here she had an opportunityil for the
energyexcels,ai)and of o the
this delinea-
tionfopportu-
nity
she
trio of the
si om rus se
ino Ild
t
did nut fail to avail herself. The
concluding
opera ha never been so
sublimely—that is the true word—has never been so
Sublimely rendered as it was last rit •
....;ht by Madame
Grisi, Signor Tamberlik, and Herr Foi-ine. It was
the very perfection of im
passroned lyrical trag,Aly.
Signor Tainbrlik is by far the best Robert %hoc' it
ha -
s ever been our good'fort eun to see, as superior to
his predeQelsor Satyr as it is well possible to imagine;
the tremulous quJity of his voice told most dfec-
%S7 6(1-
u-iore ' p..the,ie scenes, and his manly
and c'd
made him look the Normen
hero to the life. Never have we heard the
far.fmecl " L'or est une chimere," rendered so ener-
getically, or sung with such immense and the
last scene of the opera was, as we before vaid,
perfect triumph. The great Lature of the oerfor-
. mance, however, is the Bertram of Formes. We hod
thought it . impossible to equal Staudiglerha in this
his equal, pps in
part, but Formes is certainly
some things his superior. He throws more feeling
into the part than did Staudigl, he not only tempers,
but subdues the malignity of the fired with the
affection of the father ; and„,evcn when he triuno.
the tippqeut :yieldlog 4f -„ober% to his
influence, his expressloa of triumph is rather an out-
burst of boisterous mufrinakint, evidently feigned to
hide the deep despair the expression of -which 1e ever
on his features, than a sudden outbreak of
yet joyous rnalignitF.
triuknphant '--," Isa-
bella of Madame Castellon is beattaul
ceedingly, and is a InAriced improvement u o ex-
p n her
former impersonations a this cilv,r.
yr. The ex-