Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1881-01-14
AMUSEmENTs.
THE OPERA.

The riemon.s we're in a stHtc o. tur
mol last night. Sloppy add soft were
tn streets from the etfe rs If a daml
and foggy atmosphere during the day.
The fierce winds shifted 10 the west
near dark, then veered TO the north,
howliag angrily aud sending down a
driving rain, iutcrmix,d with slect,
the surface Of :he siush under ioot
being crusted over with ice ere the
night had far advanc a.. IL was an
angry WHIT rs evening, but pcr;urb d
nature did not keep people rum going
to tho opera. The audience was a
large and, considering tho weather, a
de'ideAly complimentary one. Fislc
ionable youth got there At the rate Of
eight to ten dollars a pair, while the
middle-aged and elderly lovers Of the
lyric drama, less prctentious and ex-
pensive, were satisfied to trudge thcle
in wraps, oyershoes and listers. The
first appearance of a new operate
troupe, 20 we'll advertised as the
Strakosch- Hess company and tie
presentation Of a grand opera for the
first time, Of which so much has been
sid and written as "Mes6stofele.''
were together we'll calculate to draw,
and they did. The curtain was rung
up half an hour or so late. The
chorus came in from Nash
ville aud went on the stage tired, the
audience were tArdy in occupying their
seats, and when the seven trumpets IN
the orchestra began the sacred strains
of the overture to the prologue mis.
givings were n%umerously expressed as
to the success OF the opera. The cur
tain went up disclosing a scene in the
clouds, illustrating heaven, behind
which were invisible celestial pha-
langes, whose voices sooO joined in a
mystic but saiutly chorus, harmon
iously sung to the holy saints and
angels. The scenic effect was clever;
indeed, the best Of the evening; but
it required u considerable stretch OF
the imagit alton to cause a spectator
to believe himself gazing upon a
scene in the celestial regions 1t may
be here remarked that the opera de
ponds largely upon the grandeur of its
scenery for success. The pictures
last night were lacking in many essen
ti4ls. For instance, that on the
heights of the Broken, the witches
mountain, where the winds are sup.
posed to moan among sinister profles
of rock, which stand forth black
against the gray sky, with reddish
moonbeams w.irdly lighting the scene,
was nothing more than the same old
tree upon which Rip Van Wrinkles
dog Schneider was hung during his
masters long sleep a dozen or more
years ago, while a cauldron in the cen
ter of the stage was fed by a scowliDg
witch with little pellets of red fire to
help out th witches il their Walpur-
gis Sabbath night orgies. II lacked
considerable of representing a wild
and deserted o in the vail, oil the
Schirk, so graphically described By
Goethe, and also by Byron in his
weird descriptions in the grand tragedy
Of Werner. But it is useless to dwell
uoon this Failure. Unfortunately.
rich mountings are not among the
dramatic adornments often witnessed
here. The heavenly prologue of the
opera closes with the appearance Of
Mefstofele among the clouds, designed
to illustrate s%stan's visit to regions
celestial. a feature borrowed from the
sacred book of JOB by Gosthe When
Mr.. Comfy as Mefstofele raised the
magnificent tones of his superb bassc
in his banter to the heavenly host tc
lure and entice Faust into his net, the
effect was grand, and the curtain went
down on the prologue with the feel
ings of the audience wrought up to q
high pitch Of enthusiasm.