The Sun.
London, England, 1857-09-09 00:00:00

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Thanks to the spirit and liberality
merit, we have had another " mmica estifa s
the Theatre Royal this Week: Barely a tirtniM
piterar-oas ic.,3douttya t.;7rine'siitcf.cf.eo,rae'ritalis
abeaespreolasticodns,iitlhce
from the Lyceum repertoire, in which . several c. f
the leading artistes .of, Mr. litye'e corps peratique
suet tinted the leadingeparts. This week, we have
to record the successes of the principal members of
Mr. PLuneley's conspenei—succesees which, we are
glad to say, have at least partially redeemed the rc-
putetion of-the people of Liverpool from the impu-
tation of indifference to good music, which a who's
week of miserably bad houses bad not unreasonably •
brought upcin it. We dealt, at the time, with the
shabby exeuse which was put forward, in some
quarters, in extenuation of these scanty a' tendences,
and which sought to shift the responsibility from the
public to the manager, by grumbling at the prices .
charged ; and we showed that, while those prices
were considerably lower than would be paid for the
seeeseatertainineet, and the sallme accommodetion, ite
L-mdon, they were not more than sufficient, even if
the experiment were modet a' ely successful, to meet
the necessary expenses of bringing a corps of first- -
rate artistes, With band, chortle wardrobe, and pro •
perties from London, and to indemnify the manager
for the great cost to which-he must be put in putting
a series of operas upon the stage. We were glad, at
the time, to see that tho;e anonymous grumblers
were generally repudiated by writers who felt with
us that the charmter of the town was compromised
by. theiatomplaints; and arc still more glad- to coo
that those complaint; have not been repeated. On
two ocesteionte -at least, thahouse ha; ban crowded
to exec's; and
.upon the, other evenings the attend-
ances have been so much- better than they were a
tortnight since, as fully to jestify the explanation
which accounted fel. the empty benches, by the ex- ,
cessive 1 eat, and the absence aof great number-of
our leading famaies from town-.
On Monday evening "Il Trovatore " was per-
formed, the partof Leonora being assigned to Mme.
Spezia, and that of Azucena to Mme. Porns, while
Manrico was represented by Signor Giuglini, and
Conte de Luria by Signer'Beneventano. As a
whole, the performance was exceedingly satisfac-
tory.. Mme. Spezia is a consummate actress and ,
an accomplished singer, and she played with se
it ech spirit, iyet with so much feeling, and sang
with so much care, that—in- spite of some defects
of voice, which it required, on more then-ene ore a -
sion, obviously painful effort i toovercxme—she won
golden opinions, and was warmly and enthrtsiast'cally
applauded. The " Miserero" scene, eepeeially, woe
admirably rendered, and the house enthralled until
its close, when the audience testified, in a marked
and uumistakeable manner, the warmth of its ad- •
mit ation. Signor Ginglin's Meurico was everything -
that could be wished, and, while he charmed and
delighted us by the. sweetness of his voice, he gave
us almost equal pleasure, in the more impressive
passages of the opera, especially by the chastened
propriety of his acting. In the beautiful air, " Ah!
ben mice!' he was rapturously encored ; and he
iwas called before the curtain at the close of the
first, third, and fourth acts—the recall at the end
!of the third act being. repeated. Madame Poma
was far from an adequete'snbstitute for Alboui, in
the charac'er of Azucena, to
.do justice to which re-
quires qualities, vocal and dramatic, with which -
;she is not gifted, and in which she acquitted herself
'but indifferently. Signor Benevantano's Coute di
'Luna was a very creditable performance, and was
eXceeding!y well sustained.
" La' Traviata" was the opera of Tnesday even-
. ing. We do not intend inflicting upon our readers
a dissertation upon the moral or immoral tenden-
, eies of this production, for upon this sube'esi enotieh.
has already been said. Suffice it that Piccolomini
created quite a sensation by her poWeiful delinea-
tion of Violetta. She wasably supported by Giuglini
as Alfred; though Beneventano wastoo violent and
iantirg in the character of Germont. There is
souse palliation, however, to be found in the fact
that the false writing of the composer has a ten-
dency to force up the voices to a pitch unnatural
to the singer} and disagreeable to the audience.
The constant recurrence, too, of female melody, in
triple time, is another defect of this opera. The
minor parts' were respectably fa filled, and, on the
whole, the performance went off well, the house
being crammed—the fair sex, of course, vastly pre-
ponderating.
On Wednesday, "La Figlia del Reggimento "
again commanded an overflowing audience. The
heroine of the piece—Maria, the foundling, and the
adopted " Baugh er of the Regiment 'lwas, c f
course, represented by Mademoiselle Piccolomini,
and a very admirable representative she proved.
Her conception of the character was .good ; and,
throwing her whole soul into it—identifying herself
completely with the lively and light-hearted, yet
grateful and affectionate girl, whose heart, even in
the .midst of luxury and grandeur' was constantly
reverting to her early friends, of "The Twentieth"
—she carried the audience with her, from her first
appearance to the fall Of the curtain. Her command
of countenance is marvellous, and there is a fresh-
ness, a liveliness, a piquancy in leer style, which
will never fail to charm. The critics, by common
consent, have placed Madlle. Piccolomiei higher es
em actress than as a singer, and with good reason.
Nevertheless, she sings well—always intelligently,
and with feeling, if not always as carefully as she
might ; and although it might be easy to select
from among her competitors those who would be
admitted to be superior to her, both in voice and
execution, wo doubt whether, taking her for all in
all—actress and singer together—she is-not, in her
own line, without a rival. The Tonio of Signor
Belart was most successful. With a very fine
voice, exceedingly well managed, this gentleman
promises to be a great acquisition to the lyric stage,
and Mr. Lumley is lucky in having been able to
strengthen his company with two such tenors as
Giuglini and Belart. Of the Sulpiz'o of Signor
Belletti we need say very little, for he is an old
favourite. He always sings well, and acts
with spirit ; and. we may pay him the highest
compliment in our power, when we say that,
Upon this occasion he was worthy of . himself.
Madame Poma, as La Marchese and Signor
Aldi, as Ortensio, were of grotesque and absurd as
anybody could desire ; and altogether the opera
was most successful. Mademoiselle . Piccolombii
was, of course, enthusiastically recalled at the end
of each act, and she and her audience parted upon
mutually good terms with each other. In the last
scene of " Lucia di Lammermoor," which followed,
Signor Giuglini, as E Igerdo, strengthened the
favourable impression produced by his previous
achievements. The music was exquisitely rendered,
and warmly applauded.
" La Nozze di Figaro" was played on Thursday;
and we regret, for the credit of the town, to have
to record that Mozart's exquisite music failed to
draw a full house. It is a reproaeh to the musical
taste of the ago, that while a performance of the
"Traviata" proved so attractive, that hundreds,
with their money in their hands, were unable to
obtain admission, "La Nozza di Figaro" -was
played to half empty boxes, although the ale r
parts of the house were tolerably well filled.
Madame Piccolomini, as Swanna, and Signor Bel-
letti, as Figaro, shared the honours of the evening
between them. They were the life of the piece,
and, understanding each other thoroughly, they
played up to each other admirably, and kept the
attention of the audience constantly fixed. Bellet-
ti's masterly singing of " Non pin andrai" elicited
an enthusiastic encore. Madame Spezia, as Cheru-
bino, and Signor Belart, as Don Basilic), left noth-
ing to be desired. Madlle. Ortolani's impersonation
of the Countess was marked by much good taste, al-
though the tremulousness of her voice marred
some of the finest passages of the music. The Mar-
ne er f
v °ern nt
aa nn oc ems o and
the
Mar-
cellina of Madame Poma, and the Bartolo of Signor
Rossi,
rately good.
Last night, " Don Giovanni" was represented
highly of Signor cresditneobrl e
er B
with the following cast :—Zerlina, Madlle. Piccolc-
Countl ver
Almavivae
,Madlle. Spezia ; Donna Elvita,
Don Ottavio Signor Giuglini ;
mmDia
oi. Giovanni
41
e. oo
n
tiDt 0 o nr
tn a ,
i au
Signor Rossi; Leporello, Signor Belletti;
nSin ;aignor Beneventano. We have nei-
ther time nor space for detailed criticism. Suffice
it to say that the opera went well, and that there
was a large and enthusiastic house. Piccolo-
mini both sung and acted with a vivacity, feeling,
and taste which drew forth loud plaudits. The
duet, "La ci darem," 'was encored, as was also
the solo by Zerlina, " Batti, Bette" the bye-
play of which was as excellent as the singing.
Though somewhat too heavy in person, and too vio-
lent in tone, Beneventano made a fair Giovanni;
while Belletti, as Leporello, was most amusing and
effective throughout. Madlle Spezia and Madlle,
Ortolani - performed the parts slotted to - them
with great ability. Giuglini was particularly happy
in thelcharacter of Ottavie, and in th c splendid songs
"It mio tesoro," he excited a perfect furore of
applause, and was, of course, encored.
We cannot conclude our notice of these operas
without giving deserved credit to the orchestra,
which, under the conductorship of Sig. Viaschetti,
and the leadership of Sig. Fievelli, has performed
a very arduous duty in a most satisfactory and able
manner. The chorus, too, has done its share of
the work well, and, on the whole Mr. Lumley—
whose .name is imperishably associated with the
history of the opera in England—is to be congra-
tulated on the success which has attended his re-
newed efforts to cater for the musical public.--
Liverpool Paper.

Pluoe 40. STA ;2yiLD 5 D

men each, 'and mounting guuq, that are sent out
by--tbe Mandarins to intercept the trade of Hong
Kong: Sunday was a calm, and- many of these
fellows were out. I sent a gunboat in the evening.
Dur:ng the'night she returned; bringing t wofellows
(traders), = Whom she caught fighting. Yesterday
morning I sent the gunboat and Hong Kong again
away • and, .as I bad the case of these traders to
itiveldigate,. I did not go myself, but sent Sir
Robert M'Claire, the Captain cf the Esk, with his
boat?. He chnied a row-boat up one creek, while
the Hong. Kong, our tender,. went 'after another.
The land was low, so that I could see their masts
all-day, and see and hear their fiting. M'Clure,
in his gig and with his launch, fo'iowed his chase
up an inner creek, and on his suddenly coming on
a war junk they (the Junk) opened fire and killcd
and wounded ten of his men in the launch. Of
Course, he attacked' them again when his other
lioatS-came_tip, and captured boats, junk, and' all ;
so here has been' a small affair and I not in it, but
these are our amusement?.

." I really do not require your ladylike caution
not to 'be rash.' It is a real fact that your
fir; -eater retired from a position he had
taken no- and brought his boats up a second time
in regular order, when the cheers of our lads would
have swelled the hearts of braver Men than John
Chinaman; but all this ',Shall hope to fight over
again•with you.,at home.
" We have a surgeon out here who served in she
Naval Brigade in the Crimea. He-says lie never
saw such frightful wounds as the Chinese shot
Appear to make. By the way, I ought to record
delicate attention of the ladies of Macao. My
Commmodore's broad pendant having •been lost
when' my boat sunk, they have presented me with
a new silk one,- worked with their own fair handi.
I hope some day to plant it on the walls of the
Celestial .city. where the -'Braves,'- as they call
themselves, shall respect it. I will now, in con-
clusion, give you a copy of a letter to me, equally
gratifying imits way. lam sure, my dear friends
at home will agree that it ought to be so :