New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-10-13
MASsANIELLO At THE AcADEMr.


opera prospects sst night. Mss Heossler wss haod
:. mely reettd. Her voice is pure and wei car
waited; In ret ss regards method, it raves notbin.
TO lie cesi Cd Bot in oIanstc resources she iueI
| psrie eed She wants boundin enth usasn Of IN an
ner and expression Necessary crea'e f,r0re. rhc
character she cid, being poshg more tasn that of
fne soy tr s-ed IN white .atiu and b=ha9ng nicely
on Der u4ri-e- admits # Do special acting; bu' tnar
apart the yourg sopgstIesss singing ~tnts esc'ty Of
e1piession-elan a. the French have it. S1e "a
ce,ved, however, shove OF uqasts. Mr. BdEnD'i
.ss spplsudea in the ba'c,roe: and tho bsss and
nor met 10 eruped ,ifer usy 10 the mid tie,
snc The FIST half encored and TIE rect omitted. In
tits Nj. BieDoi appeared 70 be reserving himself.
ana Mr Amodie not The age business Of the
cho'Ds wss 20 ard lively, and the ente tainmen.
& iegslly excellent.
Tie opera OF Masssrielo il the frst emimen,y suc-
ce sful French grand opera of the new school. 1t Is
no. twenty-five Yeas OLD aud ire beauties are Gn-
touched by time, and will so ever remain. The over
ture Is bic re of nsprs oni imposed of sog iders,
tbSt II to soy, without composite interwork'ng', but
reyI Rossiwise for success on the clesrness of one
orch' 81 ne ody at time rot stopping as in sosata
symphony developments for dda tic Ike calmuess
OF iDgtn'ous combinations spun Of the phrases first
presented. This overture is entirely made from sue
cesrion If appropriately dramatic phrases, so CON.
sructed and ch ,oed that excepting the brief pastor
al episoce they afford neal pictd of revolutionary
W ldntss, hurry, coniestation and triumph Beside
this quality, there is local coorng which is delight
iul, and climscterc spendor OF the first order.
Wien bow, ver we get TO the vocal phrasing of the
composer. We fod him second t, others in grandeur
and Msssanieo is of all his sorks the only which
IL L. -. 81 Dar;, Tho
others being ligh petite for that end. rnis
ia ( is somewhat remarkable as, regarding of
the modern secrets of compo~ition-of those things
which are never suay zed in books iticisms-the
points Of distinction betseen the melody of this pc
rod and that anterior to ROssni, no has Owed
more deepy than Auber. The fact Is that his melO-
dies though thorough in accent, want breadth. The
most elegant exception to this is The duet Amour Sdcrf
which is magnificent. The opening defamation of
that is very pe and the eocuton the oratory of the
duet part leaves nothing to be desired.
Aubers great strength in Mass aneIo lies in bis
tiopsl and picturesque music-of Italian fishermen
patriotic Groves, military skirmishes, and so forth.
This class of music accurately painted is wholly Of
modem origin. Ia Glucks and Mozsrt's time it
not kt own There wss no locality nor nationality of
coloing attempted then. BOildieu, however, had
been before Auber in his Scotch delineations
of The White Lady, and Weber in his
Germsnisms in Der Frrisckut:-sut the Neapolitan
fed btiDg une1plored, the worn original These
musical master pieces which enamel national meIo-
dies, perform service in preserving the native out
growths of Whatever people, Of the richest value; but
being artistic they hsve escaped the notice of tn
ignorsnt sbapby, pretenlous abortons called
Hisiories-wbich are simply political recitas-leav-
ing the inner lfetbe core-of the people untouched.
1t may be safely affirmed that hearing and under
standing of the music aaa words of snieo, aud
due observation OF the costum-s and scenery, will
give student more iosigb, into Itssn history than
the reading of the dynss OF the Bombas. Whole
eIturies of life along the bay of Naples lie
fagrant and eloquent in the barcarole-ans's,
la uatinte-no nor is any written description
of the rising Of liberty -stormof the crowds of the
irfuristed and oppressed masses-so vivid as the
screechpg terrois of the cry, avr-armes-led OIL by
Massaliellc and so thoroughly deaeaed by the COM
poscr's music. But up to this moment there is no
alliance between modern literature and lyrical art
literary men knowing nothing less than nothing OF
mp SIC and not recogpziDg it, place as an exPositor,
n recorder, whom in tina drama, and always a purst
end idealist- Hence poetry now is dead art In
Homer's time men sarg bee alse they could not help
it-Iike the birds-and music and poetry always were
togetberthe idea Of separating them was as impos'i'
be then as stpara ing the soul from the body, with
the life o the latter not extinct. But now poets shut
tbemselyes up il heir studies and with firm reliancs
on the inevitable trio of the Iambus they Invoke
oil the sciences and st-, cyclopedaw'e, to bless and
butter their Muse and music is MT in their numbers
but present peers out effort and not az lan breath
ing. When. however, a right-down minstrel like
Burns sings-to tunes measured long time ago by
bsrds-how themusic rings in the syllsbles
The success OF MassanIeo, an similar clearly melo-
die WORK for the musical stage, has excited the sm
bition of many mitators, but melodis's like poets,
b.irg born, operas are produced generally with every
merit but melody. Such have nothing improper Tor
Instruments or voices-everythirg but the divine
af stus 10 noes-which set the auditory on IRE with
enthusiasm As there are seldom more than two or
three dramatic melodsts living at time OF course
many are called and few chosen. and defeat aud
disappoir iment are the rewards of the aspirants-
who though lot many as IL generally supposed-are
certainly enough to Prove that the rarest Of musical
gifts is that OF melsdy Horever, there Is to be
way of getting over this difficulty, and
the latest invention is that operas should be written
without melodes-tbose wild flowers Of primitive peo-
ples-and the work of musical defamation aone
should answer. If this only be brought to bear,
operas may be written monstrously fast, as the com
poser will never have to stop for an absolute melo-
"dy"-sn inspirstion-o for that which the composer
when man Of genius, always esteems as of nestima~
bic value. and without which his work would be
played to empty benches.
rlrrT NM