New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-12-14
TIE OPERA.


production of Donizettl with delight, and
rarely with more pleasure than when pre-
sented by the excellent troupe Of Mr.. Ca
nonge. There is, no doubt. field for criti-
cism to one who will watch the voices for
that purpose, but we should never think OF
exercising our talent in that way. The toll
and responsibility of selecting and import
ing such concert under all The difficulties
which surround us render the conscientious
manager who has SO faithfully done his
duty sacred from any captious cavil, and
he has nothing to apprehend from any
other. With the interruption of opera for
year, and the unexpected success of this
season, he who would attempt to dissatisfy
the public by carping at weak note or a
faulty cadence would have found fault with
baked, and would have reproached Moses
as bad contractor to conduct immigrants
northeast of the Jordan.
The Edgar Of III. Gsdilhe was very fairly
sung, and acted with the extravagant fer
vor assigned that character. Mile. Lagye
Is charming artistic. The extended range
and rapid infections of voice required by
the solo score were given with correctness
that bore the test OF the comparative instru-
mentation which accompanied it. No voice
In the troupe requires less aid from the
orchestra. None can sustain theme
with more independent effect, or can
throw ornament or emotion around
it with more beauty. The concerted pieces
were admirably rendered, especially the
duets in the first two acts and the Guintette
in the betrothal scene. The orchestra, un-
der direction of Mr.. Momas, could not GER
tainly be excelled. To close the eyes and
adopt the illustration Of the blind man, that
the sound of a trumpet was to him the ideal
"color of scarlet" we might fancy that
orchestra pictured harmony in which the
shades and lights are thrown in by the
baton of the conductor as by the touch of
the painter. 1t harmonizes so completely
with the voices that they become the lead
ing instruments, whose effects are illus
trated by the tenor and rendered more i'm
pressive by the bass and choral depart
dOAtc' All iuuCcO bSom " COuDOS6 Ou0
harmonious instrument whose expression is
evoked BY the hand of the master who
directs them ali. We shall not tantalizs
the reader by giving them the first line in
French of the solos or concerted pieces. 1t
is to us not unlike inolosing a bill of fare to
hungry man as a sample of dinner one
has eaten.
The music of Donizetti excels in melody,
and there is q beautiful similarity in the
solo gems of "Lucie' and Of other produc-
tons of the same composer, especially of
the "Fille du Regiment" and even of "Lu
crezia." But, though the. mythology places
Clio and Euterpe as administrators Of his
tory and the lyric art those who manufac-
ture Hbrettos often dissociate and even
antagonizs them. As, however, no com.
poser is responsible for the plot or
dialogue upon which his gems are
strung, the Hbretto is often a very
meagre exposition of the merits of the
music. Lucie de Lammermoor is in this last
respect very unfortunate. A more miser-
able paraphrase of history and sentiment
could not well be offered. The modern
Italian could not. perhaps, well comprehend
the stern sentiment of the people and period
to which that painful story refers, and it is
vouched for as founded on skeleton of
well marked fact The players "play
their parts as they have been set down."
and sent down to them, but there is nothing
of Scotland or of the Scotch except the
plaid, and even that we think belongs to the
clan Campbell and not to the Ashtons or
Ravenswood. This point we leave, however,
to others. The master of Ravenswood was
a young and solitary man, the desce ndant
of once proud family, upon whom the
abolition of Judaism had worked its usual
effects, He was poor, sensitive and proud,
willing to labor, but unhappily society. in
striving to resist this revolution, had pro-
yidsd no system by which its refined and
estimable victims might have been relieved
from ruin. The pail Of poverty had fallen
upon the ancestral halls of Ravenswood
The former aerfs Of his house had acquired
the competence and the Independence of
freedom. The heir had no alternative
except TO go abroad and offer his sword
in that continental service which has
given such renOwn to the eXiled and gal !
liant aristocrats of Scotland and Ireland
the MacMahons, billions, and even the |
The master of RavenswoOd |
had a relative in the councils of England, |
and he was endeavoring to remove some |
political bar to the advancement of the |
young man, when tho tragcal events COM
by Scott occurred. The leading |
character in the real novel is omitted in |
the libretto. Lady Ashton was Lady Mac
beth in her ambition, and in the imperiOus
rule of her family. but her designs were
carried out by intrigue ard deception,
rather than by intentional murder. She is
weakly replaced in the libretto by her son.
The catastrophe of blighted affection is the
same in both, bat the lyric drama could
not shadow the moral Of this unhappy |
Dung mans death. He was lost in quick
sand, and the tradition of his family full
filed:
He shaul stable his steed in the kelpies flow,
And his name shall be lost foreveTmoe.
So it was. Family, fame and fortune had
The bonds of the hereditary
ert had been broken. The means OF hos
,itaiity and refinement had persisted.
3ard5 ami women nurtured in the young
leir memories that were no more and sent
lim into r new world with the discarded
ysteIn Of antiquity. 1t was sending him
o battle with the cloth yard arrow"
lgainst the Remington rifle. And so the
addest chapter in all human history tells
# the gallant and helpless Ravenswoods
md Nigels and other victims of that