The Sun.
London, England, 1844-03-07 00:00:00

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

We have had some serious misgivings about the opening
of her Majesty's Theatre. The impresario of the Italiens in
Paris of late suddenly engaged in the most inauspicious con-
flict with his troupe; the interference of the gentlemen of the
long robe was demanded by both parties, and the artists on
whose assistance we reckoned for the opening appeared des-
tined to remain imprisoned in the interminable legal purga-
tory. of a French court of justice. Fortunately, our energetic
London lessee took the alarm, started for Paris on Tuesday,
pacified the combatants, removed the difficulty, set Forna-
sari free, and embarked him on his road here, returned to
London on Monday, and that day settled the opening of her
Majesty's Theatre for Saturday next. The Opera will open
with the new ballet Esmeralda, and with Persiani and the
ew tenor, Correlli, in Adelia ; Fomasari appearing in the
ensuing week:
It is a most laudable innovation to begin the season wfth a
new ballet, supported by such dancers. Esmeralda, re-
port says, is most splendidly got up, and enlivened by
charming music, by the author of Undine„ the triumphant
ballet of last season. Carlotta Grisi enacts Victor Hugo's
poetical heroine, whilst Perrot assists the fair dansatrice
with his unrivalled pantomimic powers, performing a part
which has raised many a smile amongst those who are con-
versant with the plot of the original novel. The beautiful
Frasi, another fair daughter of Terpsichore, who appears
for the first time, is the fit representative of Fleur de Lys.
Adelia will this year, as last, be the first opera of the season,
and it is fortunately chosen, being a short opera, to precede
the first performance of a new ballet, on the first night of the
season ; the performance might otherwise have lasted till
the last wax lights had burnt out—a consideration in which
we critics are deeply interested, we whose labours begin at
those very moments when the votaries of pleasure enjoy their
first slumbers. In other respects we may safely assert that
never did the Opera begin under such auspices. Already,
at this moment, when so many of the nobility are absent
from town, and before the day of the opening of the Opera
is known, the list of subscribers, which we have with consi-
derable trouble and difficulty made out, is brilliant and nume-
rically strong beyond all precedent. We annex a list below,
and it will be seen that, independent of her Gracious Majesty
the Queen and the Queen Dowager, and their Royal High-
nesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, nine Dukes
have taken boxes, and their example has been imi-
tated by many of the highest and noblest personages
of the peerage ; whilst the House of Commons is re-
' presented by M.l'.'s without number. If the subscrip-
tion proceeds as it does at present, within a very few
days every vacant box or stall in the house will be se-
cured, and then we shall publish the general list, pointing out
the habitual seat of each subscriber, and thus affording our
readers information which we know they value, from the
eagerness with which the catalogue raisonnee we published
last year was sought after. We rejoice at this favourable
aspect of affairs, not only on account of the lessee, who has
so ably extricated the theatre from its former despondency,
but because it is the accomplishment of our predictions, and
it proves the correctness of our opinion regarding her Ma-
jestv's Theatre. These opinions were once considered pecu-
liarities; but they now enjoy general vogue. The opera will,
therefore, in all probability, be still more splendid than in
the preceding year—the most auspicious season on record.
The list we publish will give our readers a foretaste
of the spectacle before the curtain. There is nothing
that can be compared to the coup d'ceil afforded by
such an assemblage at her Majesty's Theatre. On en-
tering you behold above, amidst the blaze of light, all
the fairest women of this land, with her gracious Majesty at
their head, whilst below you encounter, in the passages of the
pit, the personages of the most exalted rank, and those who
through their many avenues have achieved fame or fortune,
and are the objects of the admiration or the envy of the
world, whether denizens of the land, or exalted foreigners on
a visit of curiosity. It is not, therefore, astonishing that on
certain nights last year, the railroads brought crowds of
spectators to the Opera even from very distant parts of the
provinces. As regards art, our Opera combines all the mate-
rial elements of the Italian Opera and of the French Aca-
demie de Musique—or, in other words, unites the queen of
the lyrical school, the Italian, with all that is most perfect
in the French choregraphic system ; presenting us in turn
all the best dancers of all the first theatres in Eurpose. We
may, therefore, safely assert that it surpasses everything of
the kind in Europe, and every year its attraction must be
more deeply felt as long as it is maintained on its proper
footing.

Th;following is the list of the first subscribers :
The Queen.
The Queen Dowager.
The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge.
Dukes and Duchesses—Their Graces the Duke of Wel-
lington, Duke and Duchess of Beaufort, Duke and Duchess
of Somerset, Duke and Duchess of Montrose, Duke of Devon-
shire, Duke and Duchess of Roxburgh, Duke and Duchess of
Bedford, Duke and Duchess of Leinster, Duke and Duchess of
Buccleuch.

Marquises and Marchionesses--Marquis and Marchioness
of Aylesbury, Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn, Mar-
chioness of Wellesley, Marchionesses of Westmeath, Tavis-
tock, Titchfield, Huntley, Douro, Kildare, Clanricarde, Wor-
cester.

Earls—Liverpool, Pembroke, Falmouth; Sandwich, Bruce,
Chesterfield, Shelburne, Charleville, Belfast.
Countesses,Kenmare, Powis, Glengall, Cardigan.
Lords—Compton, Alvanley, Sandys, Templemore, Curzon,
W. Berestord, Gardner, A. l'itzclarence, Foley, Paget, Mac-
donald.

Viscounts—Lowther, Templetown, Castlereagh
Baran De Lagos.
Baronesses—Brunnow, De Rothschild.

Count De Noialles,

Sirs-H. -Webb, W. Fremantle, W. Abdy, Charles Kent,
Charles Shakerley, J. Guise, E. Codrington, C. Marshall,
Offley Vakeman, E. Wilmot, C. Slingsby, H. Willoughby,
T. Hare, J. Harrington, A. K. Macdonald, W. W. Wynne,
R. Errington.
Ladies—Fitzroy Somerset, Brougham, Sondes, Bowyer
Smythe, Shuckburgh, Dinorben, Trimlestown, Loftus Otway,
Martins, Jodrell, K. Cavendish, Kemeys, Kenmare, William
Paulet.

Generals—Upton, D'Ovley, Meade.
Mistresses—Burgess, Wauchope, Hon. Tollemache, Sand-
ford, Wilson, Fitzgibbon, Hodgson, S. Platt. Montefiore,
Fremantle, Denison, Assheton Smith, Paul, Hayter, Wat-
son, Lushington, Massey, Sontag, Tunno, Powell, Hon.
Yorke, Robarts, Page, Fitzgerald, Fitzhugh, Pultney, Brown-
rigg, Gerard Fraser, Holford, Ewing, Colonel Fitch, Wood-
house, Marjoribanks, Walters, Ley.
Misses—Gyles, Kyme, Gee.
Colonels—Grant, Dixon, Knox, Wigram.
Majors—Buckley, Croft, Drake, Mildman.
Captains—Lyon, Fitzroy, Glyne, Pole, Hon. Macdonald,
Meynell.
Esquires—C. Standish, M.P., J. Caven, J. Attwood, Ma-
theson, M.P., W. Wigram, C. B. Baldwin, M.P., J. Attwood,
011ivera, Guy Champion, J. Hobson, Hon. J. Chichester, H.
Villebois, H. Barnes M.P., N. W. Senior, R. W. Williams,
Tudor, Pearce, Lockett, Langham, Bentley, Cox. F. Per-
kins, Packe, M'Lean, Dobree, A Campbell, Meason, Lindo,
G. Dawkins, Tierney, T. L. Ward, Dawkins, A. Grant, Cun-
ningham, J. Littledale, H. Littledale, 0. Morgan, R. Eden,
Mundav, W. Clayton, C. Cox, H. Cox, T. Baring, Walter
Ewer, S. Lushington, Hamon, Parkinson, Vyner, Collett,
Hon. Grant, Nicoll, Macklew, C. Martyn, Currie, Hon. J.
Lindsay, I. Franks, Trelawney, Blackburne, Dent, Fenwiek,
Hon. It. Curzon, B. St. Leger, Fitzgerald, P. Wells, H. Whit-
more, Marson, Martin, Bethune, Lee, Rothman, Beavan,
Archer, Burton, Beazley, T. Hodgson, Hugh Wood, R. Twiss,
V. Morris, J. H. Smith, Knapp, Baxter, R. T. S. Cocks, H.
Bicknell, Hayward, H. Kemble, Petrie, R. Burnett, J.
Stewart, M.P., J. H, Lowther, I. de Moira, Baltazzi, C. An-
drews, H. Broadwood, M.P., E. Moore, F. Mills, Hubert de
Burgh, H. Belinaye, Forde, G. Wombwell, Hon. G. Byng,
Hon. C. Greville, C. R. Tunno, H. Musgrove, Hon.
Gardner, Clayton.