The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-04-13
The Two FfgarOs'' by Mozart
and ROsSfni.

about thirty years its junior, are the two
great exceptions. With the English the comic
element in music never had any abiding stay,
and all that rendered the vernacular versions
of the two Figdr0s at Old Covent Gar'en
piquant and of interest has departed. The
adaptations were great cruelties, for the
light, lively, and strictly connie portions of
these two operas were rejected and cut
out. The late Sir Henry Bishop imagined he
could be more playful and spirited than Mozart,
and compose better bravura than Rossini;
but his excisions, however extraordinary, and
his additions and supposed amendments,
however uncommon and meritorious, failed
in adding ardor and enthusiasm to the work
of Mozart, or more Of life and gayety to the
fancy of RosSini; and the only result of his
labor was rapid shortening of the comic
existence on the English stage of the two
greatest composers for the opera that ever
hourished. Rewriting the FJgdr0S was not
more venturesome task than initiating the
FTeiSchuts of Weber, the Last Judgment of
Spohr, and the st. PduL of Mendelssohn; but
each and all these efforts proved to be labor
in vain on the part of Sir Henry, yielding
neither profit nor emolument.
The plot of the ''Figaro" married, differs
as much from the plot of the marrying "Fi-
garo," as the genius and capabilities of the
two composers. There is no real feeling and
no uteuSlty VI tuOuBul III any Ouo bCeuo III
Figaro the Barber, and we much question
whether the constant up and alive--the un-
broken sparkle and effervescence-the utter
absence of every point of repose, or any open
ing for serious or even sentimental coloring
which mark the plot of the Barber would
have done other than depressed the
temperament of Mozart; whilst, on the
other hand, the shades of tenderness
and varied pathos rising up here and there
In the Mozartian OPERA demand an ex-
preston beyond the calibre of the swan, or
rather the lark, of Pesaro. Rossini, however,
full of force and fun in his development of
comic scenes, was, when he wrote the Barber
but mannerist, and dismal one, in his por-
traiture of the deep and strong feelings ap-
pertaining to humanity. True it is, that the
Idncre6S and OteS1o in Rossinian guise raised
an interest that, for time, permeated all
musical Europe; but the love, enterprise, and
desperation of such character as the SYRIA
cusan Prince is but feebly sketched in the
touch and go pages of the Rossini score;
and the agony of the Moor may be imag-
ined from the fact that David, the great
tenor, interpolated the famous duet from the
AT1aidG into the final scene of the OteIlO, and
walked off the stage arm and arm with his
adored ''Desdemona." No musical dramatic
composer that has ever lived would have ap-
preached Mozart in his rendering of such
operas as the IdncredS, OteIJO, Romeo and
Juliet, and Faust "Amenaide" in prison
and in chains with ''Tancredi" as the "Ivan-
hoe"-unknown knight and champion-would
have given Mozart a chance of rivalling Sir
Walter Scott; and as for the innocent "Des-
demona," the headstrong yet ill-treated
ftJuliet," and the miserable 'Margaret"-
they must each wait their day: the poet has
given them immortality-the musician of the
future has this end to consummate.
Rossini was without rival when he COM
posed the Barber, for the so-called popular
opera of the same name by Paisiello had been
virtually made antique by the success of the
new school. The French had overrun Italy,
had carried with them their military bands,
orchestras, and operas, and taught the South
erns their new phrases, combinations, and
modes of execution; and Rossini had carried
the trombones, trumpets, and half the mill
tary band into the theatre, combining the
flash and dash of the new armory with dis
play of power id vocalization that none but O
great singer would have ventured to deal with.
If his orchestral performers were shady, his vo-
calists were generally reliable, and oftentimes
not to be challenged. He had acquired as
much of the learning of the master as he
needed, without the drudgery of the pupil;
he had seen what art was, and what artists
could do; and had received no small expert
ence in the sentiments and passions of the
musical public. AS to verses and poetry he
decried both: he wanted situation, transition,
contrast, and climax, and in the Barber he
obtained all four. The serenade of the
''Count," the rhapsody or soliloquy of the
Barber" and the letter-song of the
heroine were severally prodigious ad-
vances on the work of Paisiello, and are
to this day as mastery and interesting as
when first produced. No mans hands can be
competent to deal with another mans head;
for no two pair of hands can execute alike;
and q common invention is not to be found
in two sets of brains No composer of any
reputation has ever attempted an imitation
of these three exquisite morceaux. The
work has been SO we'll and so fearlessly done,
so perfect and so sure, that imitation can
only end in vulgarity, and something to be
thoroughly ashamed of. The school is SO
simple there is nothing to catch hold of;
the brilliancy and vivacity so truthful and
intense there is no room for exaggeration;
there was no trickery, deception, incompre-
hensibility, mystery, Ostentation, or pretense
all was the result of great knowledge, anC
the application of known means in
way never thought of before, and EN-
bodied in q graciousness and elegance o.
spirit that must have taken lifetime to grasI
and hold at ready and instant command. O.
the same class are the two duets between
s'Figaro" and the "Count, and 'Figaro" ant
''Rosina" in the first act; brilliant and beau
tiful, overwhelming in their power, powe
apparently produced by small and inadequat
means and vet enormous in their quantity O
effect. Everything is right as far as it goes
and the composer has taken the true measur
of singers, band, stage, and audience. He hs
engaged oil, interested and satisfied all. Th
trio where the "Count" reveals himself