New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-01-28
THEATERs IN ROME,
BY EDMUND ABOUT.

t In France it is the common notion that III
, merits and defects of our artists are reproduce
7 among the Italians, with that dose of exaggera
l ton which COMFORTS with the climate. Just a
the inodorous shrubs of the temperate regions &C
quire an exaggerated perfume in the approach t.
the equator as the inotfensve serpents of tn
. North inflict mortal wound i'll the South w
please ourselves in supposing that the talent ant
character of the artist will become warmed and
$ as it were, electrified, under the rays of mor
ardent
The theater and the French novel look to 1tal,
{ for nervous composers, poets burning with
0 feverish frenzy, painters intoxicated with glory
aud singers OF noble caprice. who shall scale more
ladders in their song than were ever seen by
Roman hod-carrier. Good, simple race that VIZ
are!
) Let MS begin at the thcater, and you will SEE
} how little they resemble the portraits that have
been painted for us. The director is man who
has little money that he is willing to risk. He
asks permission to play comedies for thee months
in one OF the halls of the city. Some patron en-
dorses his morality-the public gives consent
{ Behold him a direetor Last year he was o farmer
next year he will speculate in the army supplies
at this very moment if his receipts are small, he
can retrieve himself by the anchoyy fisheries, OF
| which he has the monopoly.
The hall where his nets are to be spread for the
public is sort of well, set round with boxes, the
parquette, and the bottom. You may count six
ranges of boxes. all alike, and disposed in the
order of the windows of house. The parQuette
and the orchestra are in one; the benches are
commodous and there is easy circulation. The
boxes are let for the season, or the evening, at
extremely moderate rates. They are furnished
with straw bottomed chairs, the lessee being at
liberty to substitute easy chairs. The lighting is
not costly, for the hall is but few degrees less
black than oven. The repairs consist of a
fresh coat in water colors, which is not often re-
newed.
The administration is composed of two employees,
/ one of whom sells the tickets in a neighboring
shop, and the other receives them at the entrance
/ Of the parquette; no comptroller, no box-opener
Each person arrives with his ticket or his key, ac-
/ cording as he belongs below or above. The vest-
bule serves for the green room there is also the
street, in which one may spend the e1lt,''dctes.
/ II the contractor thinks proper to offer this re-
spectacle public an opera season. he begins by
| plaeardng proclamation to his MacHnases. He
| trunpets, with loud praises, the names of the
i authors, the composers and the artists whom he
has enrolled. The first performers are reasonably
| well paid they get much less than at Paris, but
enough to live upon in the Italian style. The
chorus singers and insrumentaliss may be caught
| with single throw Of the net; the wares are
common, and nothing abounds here more than
| mediocrity.
| The primo donna asSo7uta is a good family
mother Her six lille creatures have had the deli
| cate consideration not to spoil the voice of their
| mamma Her husband is a baritone, sometimes
ruined gentleman, whom she supports. Have no
| fears that she may deceive him; she has to do.
The performance, the rehearsais the children and
the soup-pot absorb her whole soul. Still it is not
impossible that her marriage contract may receive
a scratch or two, for is she not woman? But she
will never abandon her husband that she may sing
more at her ease. There is much simplicity gen,
uneness and real goodness of heart in the TRINA
donna, provided that the luxury of Paris or St.
Petersburg have not turned her head, Her hus-
baud is her most necessary article of furniture.
de goes with her to the theater and takes her
home, signs the agreements, leads the children to
school, and buys the dinner at the market.
4 The lady soprano and gentleman tenor are nei.
ther more nor less considered than the common cit
izen. They have relations, honest shop keepers,
who willingly acknowledge them. They are lit
tie envied while they are making much money and
pitied when they are down at the heel, They
learned music as they would have studied law
plain sewing or medicine. Applause pleases them
but they do not commit suicide when they NAV
chance to be Missed. For that matter they receive
great deal of applause when they merit q little.
Italy is more enthusiastic than France. We are
Jealous of our artists as of great men, and re-
proach them with the admiration which they force
from us. Italy spoils hers. The habit of recalling
them after each aria is SO strong, that it has been
found convenient to leave opening; in the middle
of the curtain. IT they have the most moderate
success, they do nothing but come in and go out
till midnight. Their sleep is never broken by
criticisms; if man of taste should feel impelled
to offer them some good advice, he must write it
upon the walls, for the very simple reason that
there are no newspapers.
Each one, towards the end of the season, gives
q representation for his benefit He goes in per-
son. and with flexible back offers his box tickets
to the grand seignours. They give him more than
the ordinary price. He thanks them very humbly.
When the doors open he seats himself under the
vestbule OF the theater behind silver plate into
which every one throws some offering, and he
bows in token of his thanks for a twenty cent
piece.
The poor devils of the orchestra and the choirs
all follow some other trade. Plurality is the fash
ion and necessity Of this country. Yesterday |
hired caeche from grain doaler who let's car |
riages, and the coachlnan, it seemed, was singer
of Argentina.
The theater opens with an opera in three acts,
by divine maestro, whose name will never reach |
Paris. He is chapel of microscopic grand
duke, or paronized by some Roman prince The
curtain rises, the tenor sings aria, the public |
applauds. At this signal they rush into the side
scenes after a little man in butternut.cOlored |
overcoat. and an extraordinary neclz-te. An actor
leads him before the curtain, and he bows pro- |
foundry. 1t is the author. They recall hinl-he |
returns. At the close of each aria the applause
brings hin! out once twice, thrice; his poor spine
can do no more. The game appears TO please him. |
for, instead of Withdrawing from the disgrace of |
such glory, he posts himself in the wings, like a |
lackey in ante-GhaTnber waiting the good pleas
ure of the public In truth, he must have hungry |
ears, for here he is now coming for himself, at the
first sound of applause, without a semblance Of |
violence to excuse the tasteless triumph. At his |
fourteenth genefuXon, disgust SEXES me, and go |
out. The first act was nearly finished.
what may appear unnatural. IS the enthusiasm
of the audience, who are paying for work both
mediocre in itself, aud feeble in execution. Cla-
quers do not exist here; it is the real public which
screams itself hoarse with braves, and caps its
hands without fear of spraina ] observed none of |
the fashionable world taking its ice Or talking of |
It's own concerns during the rectatiye. a 1t listened
with all its ears and applaudcd with its whole
heart. The Romans in Rome do gratis and vigOr-
ously what the Partisan Romans do with anguor
and for value received. At the end of season of
three months, the contractor, who has produced
three operas, one Of which new, retires glori-
ously. He has lost little money, but ia codlsoled
by engraving on a block of MARBLE at the door of
the theater, the which hc has obtained and
the gratitude of the people. Sometimes lie seeks
fortune clseWhere sometimes, also, to set himself
straight, he tries Of the drama and comedy
He has taken care to secure the aid of three Or
four lawyers it is the lawyer who writes the COM
edes. The poets of the troupe are announced in
the prospectus after the actors. Usually these
gentlemen content themselves with translating the
dramas and vaudeVilles of Paris II was thus that
Terence and Plautus were inspired by the Greek
comedy. But Terence and Plautus did not write
their transations with Il running pen. The Roman
author rarely refuses himself the pleasure of sing
ing the work which he has translated; it is the old
habit Of nation of conquerors. Sometimes they
scratch the authors name, and the public is allow
ed to suppose that the piece made itself The
Se!gaeu' Euge0i0 Scribe has alone the privilege of
being always named.
The Roman public likes nothing but French J.,
pieces. 1t claps them, and laughs and weeps over
them. But from time TO time jt5 self-love reyolts
against its taste. What! cries the parquette: we
are Romans, and we applaud French authors!
they hiss, on principle, the work with
which they are most delighted. Last year, at
about this time the public Kissed its favorite actor
The fellow instantly understood what it meant. He