Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1883-02-03
THE MAPLEsON OPERA.

THE MAPLEsON OPERA.
In the Italian opera company at St.
Louis, last week, was presented the
stron gest combustion OF great stars
that has evor yet been effected III this
country. and IN the portion of the sea-
son which l had the good fortune to
attend l saw and heard them all.
On Friday night wo had Verdi's ola
Traviata," with Patti, Nicolini and
Galassi at Saturday matinee we heard
in Wsgnsr's "~Loheng.in" Albani,
Galassi, Mad. Galassl and MierzwInski;
while OH Saturday night Gounod's
"Faust" was produced, including in
the cast Ravelli, Scaichi. Montl and
Dottl, who was a substitute for Ros.
sinh. sick.
Traviata is the play OF Camille"
turned into opera, and dramatically,o of
course, suffers in comparison with
Dumas masterpiece. Nevertheless. it
il q grand work. and rs the entire in
terest centers about the heroine, it is an
opera in which the audience had full
valae of their money in both seeing and
hearing the wonderful Patti. Of her IN
general, l gave my opinion last year,
80 I will not repeat. can only say
that in this opera. her role was vocally
perfect; her dresses magnificent aud
tasteful; In the ballroom scene she
was fairly ablaze with her princely
collection of diamonds, while her action
was worthy OF the great vocallsm which
it accompanied and graced. But PATHS
Camille is not Modjesks's; you admire
the one. you love the other; you pity
the great sorrow of the one, for the
other your heart is broken. Nlcolini
started out singing exasperatlngly fiat,
then warmed up aud did for him some
really good work, and closed "a badly
OF tho key as he started. Galassi as
Gsrmont made a great hit. Never be-
fore have I heard a baritone voice which
could be so completely and 6ttingly
described by the one adjectlve-grand.
He stands unchallenged as the greatest
living baritone. and his voice IS a
model Of symmetry, beauty and artistic
excellence. The audience was enthusi-
astic over the entire opera, and Patti
was sncored and recalled again and
again. aud after the curtain dropped
OH the last act, she was brought out for
q last look OF farewell in a perfect
whirlwind of applause. cheers and
waving of hats, fans and handkerchiefs.
These she received with smiles and
bows of the most grateful delight. and
doubtless felt happier over them than
the large sum that manager Mapleson
paid her for her evenings work.
l heard Albani eight years ago on
her former visit to this country.
Then, as now, she ranked as one Of
the three greatest living sopranos
Patti, Albani and Nillson. In the iu.
terval, her voice like her figure, has
increased III breadth and fullness,
while Ill both voice and action she has
gained III the faculty of winning the
sympathy as vel as applause of her
audience. Her Characterization of
elisa" was. aud is probably the best
on the operate stage, aud vocally, as
III exemplitication OF music which is
purely dramatic, is Of the first rank.
Her voice is round, liquid aud full,
her tones of the greatest purity and
her phrssing without a blemish. She
has however, contracted the use of the
tremolo-new to her-which is a Sc
rious fault in her singing, and should
be corrected.
Mierzwinski, the new tenor, is quite
a young man, strongly German in ap-
p~earauce, though a Pole by birth. He
has a splendid, robust tenor voice. but
10 all actor or only moderate ability.
1 had the pleasure of meeting him and
found him very affable and unaffected
though as he didn't "Spik mooch re
[nglis," aud IS l didn't "Deutsch
sprechen." our Intercourse was limited
aud amusing.
Ravelli, Campaniui's worthy sue
c%essor, is . delioiousfy charming lyric
tenor, aud made an admirable Faust,
although he is rather all inferior actor.
He sings with a delightful ease and
abandon, aud his voice is as the girls
would say '.just too sweet for any
thing" But alas! girls, he has gone
the way of all %tenors, he is married!
Monti made q perfectly satanic
Mephistopheles, has a magnificent bass
voice, aud is a fine actor. In Scalchi,
however, we found the most delight.
tul of all the new acquisitions to this
troupe. She truly ranks as a central.
to, just al Patti does as a soprano. Her
voice is deep, rich, sympathetic. mel.
low and powerful; her hexibillty il
perfect, and her tones of the greatest
purity. She has a pleasing stage ap
pearance and is a fine actress, and We
who have been %la,nenting the depart
ure of our beloved Cary from the stage
can now be %comforted, for Scalchi NO,
only takes her place. but /. the supe
rior Of our gifted country IN
Some of the minor characters de
serve a good word. as do also the or
chestra and chorus. the latter winning
an enthusiastic encore in the grea,
soldiers chorus in Faust By their per
feet drill and admirable singing. The
stage scenes, especially in Lohengrin
were we'll arranged. forming strlkin.
tablvaux with the picturesque cos
tunes. armor. AMI grouping OF tn
figures. Taking it ull in all. it was
memorable and pleasant occasion t,
those of US who made the trip, and on
only regret is that more of our musica
friends dill 10; share our emf ,yment.
=. A CHIEL.
The POST Dispatch, of January SOt
. says:-"In the Missouri house yestel