The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-03 00:00:00

CO VENT-GARDEN THEATRE.

Rossini's opera of Semiramide was produced at
this theatre on Saturday in a style of splendour' mag-
nificence, and completeness, surpassingeven the
achievements of the Vestris management.
cy The part
of Semiramide was sustained
Kemble, and that of Arsace byl
Mrs.
Alfred Shaw,
her first appearance on the English stage. Many of
our readers will doubtless rocollect Mrs. Alfred Shaw
as Miss Pintails, one of our_ most favourite concert
singers. She has spent the last two or three years
in Germany and Italy, assiduously cultivating •
musical talents by studying practising.. operatic
music, and she has been latterly
()sir' at most
.of
the principal theatres in esteem
which her musical talents are held by tilcie
on the Continent, the following anecdote furnishes
gratifying proof. Previous to the concert season
before the last a well known German professor was
asked by some parties connected with the Phil-
harmonic coneerts who were the most celebrated
female singers in Germany? "The two most accom-
plished female singers in Germany at the present
moment, are Mrs. Alfred Shaw and Miss Clara
Novello," was the professors reply. Such is
the lady who on Saturday night made her debrd
on the English stage with all the success that her
most ardent admirers could have anticipated. ller
figure is tall and well proportioned ; she has a pleasing
expression of countenance, and her action is graceful
and appropriate. Of the compass of her voice we bad
Ino means of judging for Arsace is a contra-alto part ;
j the upper notes of 'her voice were consequently not
called into requisition. As a contra-alto singer,
ever, she stands alone ; she possesses the rich and
reedy tones which constitute the great beauty of that
quality of voice in even greater perfection than Al-
bertazzi. Her voice has all the clearness of Madame
Vestris, joined to the full rich mellowness of Miss
Love's, and in distinctness of enunciation she is un-
rivalled. Superior even to Witham in this respect,
the enunciation of Mrs. Alfred Shaw, in even the most
rapid passages, is infinitely more distinct than is that
of some of the best declaimers on the stage. Ilex
voice is completely under command, and it possesses
that flexibility which can be acquired Only assi-
(Nous practice. Iler opening
recitative,alitlthe
to
beautiful cavatina by which it is followed, seemed
take the audience quite by surprise.
listened to with breathless delight, n" a4S4he le was
plaudhits louda loc:g11--
elusion was greeted with
continued. From that moment4earlsaice on she had el
position, and we hail her pp
thei achieved
Yt
stage as an earnest that the days are at length ap-
proaelling, when we may have
us yet, with the exception f an English opera (for,
°
Artaxerxes we have no
work deserving the name), and that the regeneration
of the musical drama in this country, so
begun by Miss Adelaide Kemble, will not be retarded
by that lady's early retirement from her profession.
Miss Adelaide Kemble
lher Semiramide. iar added to her triumphs by
perior to li
She conception of the part is su-
ewas, indeed, the Queen. To
the impassioned
majestic dignity of a intensity of a Malibran she joins the
Siddons. In the magnificent
scena, " Arsace will- return," in the first act, she
burst forth in her full strength and splendour,