The New York herald., 1871-10-24
Opening Of the Italian Opera
Season.
Grand Success Of the Swedish
Nightingale.
Popularity Of German and French
Opera.
Miss Cushman as Meg Mtrrilies; Mr.. Sothern
az Lord Dundreary; MI. Mathews
as the Nervous Man.
NILE. NILSSON IN LUCIA DI LAMMERN00H
AT THE ACADEMY.

NILE. NILSSON IN LUCIA DI LAMMERMo0R
AT THE ACADEMY.
The Academy was all ablaze last night with the
creme de la creme OF fashion and elegance. The
boxes and circles were graced by the bellies OF the
metropolis, and the cher G8uures Of the modiste's
Ars and full dress seemed to be to grea. extent de
v10ueur Regarding the subject Of fun dress, we are
Of opinion that 1t should be made at the opera rule
and every lady and gentleman should observe it.
When lady takes on her bonnet she is considered
70 be In full dress, and the same is the case with
gentleman wearing dress coat. This is the gen.
era acceptation OF the term, ana IL s BY no means
dtncult to dress house In this fashion. The effect
would be immeasurably better than Is produced at
present by an audience In this city. In European
opera houses full dress is rgldly enforced, and
See no reason why the same should not be done
1eres The appearance OF the house last evening
was magnificent. The artist came TO hear the new
prima donna, the Htterateur to gain materials for
his next enusion, the Knickerbocker magnate be.
cause 1t was fashionable the Wall street broker be.
cause every one else was there and the ot p0ll0t
nat in the gallery dividing their attention be-
tween the stage and the brilliant scene be.
meath them. 1t was not an enthusiastic house, or at
least their component parts had made up their
minds to listen, chat ana applaud decorously
Nothing short Of genius could have reused such an
"bravOs" 1t cannot be said now tnat Italian
opera receives scanty encouragement in New YORK.
A glance AZ that house was sufficient answer to
ouch An assertion.
LUCIA di Lammerm0or'' was the opening opera
of the season. Since its first performance at Naples
thirty seven years ago. its intense dramatic charac-
ter ana delicious melodies have made 1t standard
aavorite ON the operatic stage. The original cast
consisted OF Madame Persiani and sigrori Duprez,
Porto and Dc Angel, and the names Of
the most celebrated artists in Italian opera
are associated with this lyric story OF
THE BRIDE OF Lammermoor.n For the heroine
We have had Frezzolin, sontag. Jenny Lind, Catna-
r1ne Hayes, Gazzaniga, Dolores Nau and Adelina
PATTI ana the master OF Ravenswood hos been
represented BY Rubini, Mario, Salvl Fraschini,
Laborde and Sims Reeves. Although there Is much
mat is nonsensical in the breto and an excess Of
nOrid ornamentatlon weakens some OF the music,
Jet there are q few scenes that for fervor
ana passion have never been excelled In
opera. The cast last evening was the follow1ng:-
Nile. Christina Nilsson as Lucia, Signor Brignoli az
Edgardo. signor Barre as Ashton. signor Reichart
~ Arturo. signor Lyal as Norman, Signor Coett as
RAYMOND, Mme Cooney as Alice.
To Nile. Nilsson In duo the SUCCESS OF tho ontiro
opera No better role could have been selected for
her debut From the moment :hat she came upon
the stage In the second scene Of the first act after
the beautiful narp solo that precedes her first recita
lady In the orchestra in truly artistic
note Sn sy o. one ,uae Of the sn, rs
close Of the mad scene, sne held the audience spell
bound. No one who mas heard Nilsson In concert
There Is rich glow Of expression which lights up
even the most commonplace numbers, and an
snce Of reality The duet, ''Sulla Tomba,n for SO.
prano and tenor. which brings the first act to o
brilliant close, drew from naturally cold audience
enthusiasm OF the most unqualified KIND. In this
duet BrignOli ast0nished all BY his unwonted fire
ana s5s IN the ae tine
tween Lucia and her brother in which he shows her
the letter nas contains m ro9s i hcr
In the broken rectatve that expresses her despair
Nilsson displayed her great power even more than In
An ara, and the magnificent sestettinO, the best
concerted vocal piece tat ever the composer wrote,
was gwen with an effect rarely heard within the
walls Of the Academy. But In the mad scene she
rose to height OF dramatic passion rarely attain
able by prlma donnas nowadays. Even the exu-
spirit OF the music became IN her hands the means
DJ adding to the effect OF the scene IL was naeed
Ss an ana a Me s l9ox 1r
much interest.
Bllgnolio never sang better in his life, and ne
With his old hfe and expression. ''Fra poco,b the
aria Of the OPERA was not so successful, owing to
She apason normal or French pitch which is used
BY this company, and which lowered This
aria TO an unwarrantable extent. Barre,
voice. snd t IS nnder so%pee control Me
hardly the kind Of artist, however, one would look
Tor as the leading baritone Of such troupe, as
there s an absence OF fire anu dramatic fervOr in
his singing The secondary characters IN the opera
were represented by people who should not be
permitted TO sing IN any opera company, as
their voices and management OF the same
are conspicuousy deficient In any quality that calls
for commentator. The chorus, fully sixty strong
was the best tlat ever tr0d the stage Of the opera
house; and, although we recognized many OF the
old familiar faces among them, yet 1t
ls evident that particular pains have been
taken 10 give them thorough rehea sails.
rue orchestra is also very large and complete, and
Ii Ia positive relief from the horrible infections In
this line OF past Still, we would suggest
30 the conductor that noisy and ineffective as the
Instrumentation OF this opera is In every scene ex-
cent two It is not advisable 10 give his orchestra
loose rem and drown the voices OF the singers es-
pecially when the voice s the principal exponent Of
che situation.
IL NAV be seen from this review that the manage
ment Oi the Nilsson Italian opera Company has
received the most nattering encouragement at
the start, and we trust that he will
not relax for moment hs exertions
60 make every detail In the production
OF each opera as perfect as possible. The company
mas priceless gem in the prima donna and the
IenOrs are entirely satisfactory But the secondary
people must be replaced by artists VINO can sing
and act On wednesday "Fausp' VIII be given win
. strong cast.
WACHTEL AS ARNOLD AT THE STADT
THEATRE.
Never has the German mind In New York city
Given n ureater proof of ts adherence to opera