El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-10-09
THE OPERA.
An Unusually High Order of Perform
ance and Much PLEASED Audience.

Not since the Juch Opera company
were in Ell Paso years ago has there
been such troupe and such an Orches-
ira as appeared in the opera house last
night in Verdi's opera of the Masked
Ball. And the large house showed by
we'll timed applause that the efforts of
the artists on the stage were appre
ciated. Comparatively few people in
town are at all acquainted with this
opera which is one of the great COM
poser's earlier works, and there were
no librettos to be had anywhere. So
the best that could be done was to re al
the synopsis of the plot which was rs
printed in the ''opera house program
as follows:
This is one OF Verdi's earlier works
but will rank with his best efforts. 1t
was first produced in Naples in 1858
under the title of GustavO III, about
the time of the attempted assassination
of Napoleon III, by Orsini, and con-
sequently suppressed oy the authori-
ties on account of the plot, which So
excited the Napolitan public as to al
rushed through the streets shout
ing, viva Verdi" as the letters in his
name had also another significance
Viva Victomo Emmanuel Rey de
Italia" On account of the populace it
was arranged to bring out the opera
under another title, the one it now
bears, "Un Ballo Maschero," and the
scene was laid in Boston, Mass, and
the time, the colonial period, and the
principal character instead of being
Gustavo III, of Sweden, was Richard,
count of Warwick, the governor of
Massachusetts.
The whole plot rests on two themes,
first the conspiracy of some of the
people to compass the death of the
count for political reasons, and which
is frustrated by Reinhart (Renato) who
is the faithful friend of Richard: Sec
ond, the discovery by Remnant that
the count is in love with his wife
Amelia, and which turns his love for
Richard to bitter hate and he joins the
oonspiratOrs and by his own hand in
the final scene stabs Richard during
the masked ball, from which the piece
takes its name.
The opera does not aboand in pop
ular' melodies that have made other
Verdi compositions constant and abid-
ing public favorites, as for instance the
opera that is to be presented tonight.
But there is melody enough if one will
listen, and in the last act, that
mazourka dance is las old as the
hills" and is played by every school
girl. The cast last night was as fol-
lows:
Ricardo. tenor. ........ Sig. r. Collenz
RenatO baritone. Sig. FrancescOni
Amelia, dramatic soprano. Mile.
....... l.. Montanari
Ulrica, contralto. .Srita. B. Francs
Oscar, lyric soprano. .... Mile. Vincini
Tom, bossO. Sig Glrardi
Silvano, bosso profundo. Sig.
.Veneziani
The singing raised again the stand
ard of operate effort in this town to
h T,n 1aFf
and reminded the audience of more
of the country. In fact the singing
was of remarkable excellence, the
cOstuming very good, and the en-
semble p easing as well as powerful.
The tenor captured the audience. He
was considered altogether the best and
most sat sfactOry tenor that ever sang
in Ell Paso. His voice is heavy, full
and easily filed the house; and then
his figure compliments his voice. The
cOntraltO has a w de range of vol e of
a fine quality, and her makeup, cos
tuning and perfect figure easily made
her favOrite. The sopranos were
fully up to the expectations Of the
audience, and were warmly +, caived
was also the baritone who well de-
served his applause. he bassOs were
good, but ala not sing particularly
stroug. Montana ri and G ,ilenz receiv-
ed deserved encore iu thu love duet:
and as throughout the opera the singers
found the audience in an appreciativa
mood, they sang with life and spirit.
Then the genef al costuning was
creditab'e, the special scenery in
troduced added to the effect and
the acting was better tn n one u-uaily
expects in operate companies.
The orchestra deserve snecial men,
ton. The musicians are all from the
National conservatory in the City OF