The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-04 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

[lt is with the utmost pleasure that we submit
the following to the consideration of our readers—
grateful for the glorious past and hopeful of a yet
more glorious future for Her Majesty's Theatre
under the able direction of Mr. Mapleson.—ED. OF
" THE SuN.'']
All lovers of musical art, and those who know
how to appreciate managerial enterprise of the most
undaunted kind, whether they are to be found in
town or country, are deeply touched, both in the
personal and the public sense, at the destruction of
Her Majesty's Theatre. It was one of the few
public buildings in London to which English people
could refer with pride. It is not saying too much to
declare that musically, socially, and architecturally
it was a model. It was the opera house in fact of
England. Every one, whether they expressed or
concealed this conviction, entertained the prefer-
ence privately. And this was, letting alone its
maintenance of that high rank, for the reason that
the history of Her Majesty's Theatre is that of the
history of lyric drama in England.

With the noble building, now in ruins, are asso-
ciated some of the pleasantest memories of English
life. IVe trust, in the public interest, that speedy
means will be found to reinstate her Majesty's
Theatre in all its former glory, and to recommit
it again into the hands of Mr. Mapleson. The
ensemble of operatic performances, taking its career
as a whole, never was so perfect as Her Majesty's
Theatre. To Mr. Mapleson, who has managed the
place for the last six years—no slight section of its
history—more especially is due the grand merit of
gathering with infinite labour and at very great
cost, all that Europe could present in the operatic
way desirable. His companies have been first rate,
his operas superb, his resources for illustration per-
fect. The old regime of operas has been an Impe-
rial regime.

To Mr. Mapleson is also due the credit of intro.
ducing to the opera-loving world celebrated artistes
whom all wished to hear. He was the first to make
known to the musical public, and to triumph with
it, the great, before-rejected work of Gounod,
" Faust," which has since made the tour of the
globe in various forms. To chefs d'ceuvre of Gounod
succeeded works of Verdi, hitherto unheard—to
these master-pieces of the colossi of music—
Mozart, Cherubini, and others of similar
stamp. The . Shaksperian musical interpreter,
Nicolai, with his " Falstaff," and the com-
poser of the English school, Schira, with
his " Nicolo de Layi," also found welcome.
" Faust" alone made Mr. Mapleson's administration
glorious. Curiously enough, Verdi's "Un Ballo in
Maschera," always a failure at the rival opera house
at Covent-garden, became a genuine success in Mr.
Mapleson's hands, when interpreted by the all-
capable Titiens and the silver-voiced Giugliui.
Then, again, in regard to great singers, Mr. Maple-
son has introduced to us Ilona de Murska and
Christine Nilsson, both syrens of incomparable
power. These are vocalists of the rarest accom-
plishments. English audiences also, by Mr. Maple-
sou's regardlessuess of difficulties and of expense,
have been enabled to hear Mdlle. Clara Louise Kel-
logg, au artiste of extraordinary ability. Kellogg
divided with Titiens the recent honours of prima
donna when the late " short season" of opera ter-
minated in the disastrous disappearance (only tem-
porary) of the grand Her Majesty's Theatre.
" Old," now to give place to " New."

It is a noteworthy fact that, under Mr. Maple-
son's management, Her Majesty's Theatre has
always been conspicuously strong in that class of
bewitching voices which are called contralti. Con-
tralto singing is the witchery of the art-musical.
Now this class of voices has for years past been the
weak point at the Covent-Garden Opera. It is an
irretrievable defect for the perfection of Opera.
Recently, while the contralto parts at the Royal
Italian Opera were in the hands of incompetent
people, and the dissatisfaction commensurate, Mr.
Mapleson numbered in his operatic ranks at Her
Majesty's Theatre, Bettelheim, Grossi, Trebelli-
Bettini, Demeric-Lablache, and others of note,
though less greatly distinguished.
Mr. Mapleson is not, however, alone a London
director of Opera. He is a general entrepreneur.
Country as well as town have felt the benefits of
his management. He has especial claims on the
sympathy and on the assistance of provincial
lovers of the opera. For has he not brought to
their doors all the riches of his establishment?
Indeed, if it had not been for Mr. Mapleson, we
seriously doubt whether we should ever have had an
Italian opera performance of the first class in such
centres as Liverpool, Manchester, Dublin, Glas-
gow, or Edinburgh. Mr. Mapleson's opera was
an opera all the year round. He even strength-
ened his already superlative company by such
additions as Gardoni and the Great Mario, im-
portations from the other opera-house, which esta-
blishment he knew occasionally how to make sub-
servient to his interests. And year after year Mr.
Mapleson has been the sole source of supply, so
far as opera music is concerned, not only to our
principal country theatres, but to our concert-rooms
everywhere.

We, therefore, speak the national feeling when
we say that we heartily deplore Mr. Mapleson's
fearful and sudden misfortune. It has been disas-
trous not only to Mr. Mapleson, but to Titiens,
Santley—nay, to every member of his company,
both of the stage departments and of the business
departments. All members of her Majesty's Theatre
have, in some way, grown to seem to us as a sort
of personal friends. Our sympathy with all con-
nected with her Majesty's Theatre is not the selfish
assurance that Mr. Mapleson has given first-rate
opera in the country. It is deep and sincere.
And nowhere will the loss of the theatre be
more deplored than in the country towns. Mr.
lapleson can, however, declare with truth, with
the French monarch, that " all is lost except
honour." That will survive and augment. Fortu-
nately he is full of energy and spirit, as are his
staff and his company. Under these circum-
stances his fortunes will brilliantly revive.

With the best wishes of all lovers of art in its
highest form, we trust soon to see Mr. Mapleson
and his people at work again, labouring in the in-
serest of the public, to retrieve past losses. If en-
ailed to do so, Mr. Mapleson, the representative of
►er Majesty's Theatre, will keep up the prestige of
he magnificent opera, so long the glory of the
:uetropolis, while its successor rises rapidly from the
;she:3 into still more magnificence. At Drury-
;aue Theatre, Mr. Mapleson will, we hope, at the
►ppointed time, be ready with his usual " Opera
season" announcement of 1868. In the succeeding
year we trust that we shall ourselves be able to as-
iist, to use the hackneyed term, at the opening of
he New Opera House, even to be superior to the
)Id Her Majesty's Theatre. That time-honoured,
.egal building, where; besides previous great lumi-
,aries of the Italian stage, Pasta, Malibran, Son-
ag, Grisi, Jenny Lind, Titiens, Ilma de Murska,
Nilsson, Kellogg, Rubini, Tamburini, Lablache,
Mario, Giuglini, besides a host of minor names,
Ave delighted thousands ! But to art and to per-
;everauce united there is no interregnum. "Sa
Majeste est morte." '6 Yive Sa Majeeto."