The credit which the management of the Opera Buffs gained
by the judicious selection and good performance of L'Italiana in Alyieri, has
been very, much impaired (to say the least of it) by the production of a
contemptible thing called 11 Nuovo Figaro, by one Rtcer,—a favourite composer, we are told, in the country which has produced PERGOLLSI, JOMELLI, PAESIELLO, CIMAROSA, and ROSSINI. "Deeper and deeper
still ! " We thought the Italian school of music had reached the lowest point of degradation, but this Maestro Ricci shows us we were mis- taken. He indeed appears to have "sounded the very bass-string of humility ;" but this, too, may be a mistake, and some other tuneful brother in ini ore/lo may get below even him. Alas for Ita!y, once the land of learning, science, poetry, and art ! where are they now ?
The thing in question is not merely beneath criticism, it is beneath contempt. We shall not, therefore, waste a word upon its demerits. At " Her Majesty's Theatre," where nothing is too bad for the taste of the audience, provided it is administered by Guist, Realm, TAM. BURIN!. laid LABLACHE, even this trash might have gone down. Let the composer be ever so barren a rascal, these singers—in their own way
unriva led—wills abundantly supply his deficiencies. Their " most sweet voices" and graceful fioriture will turn his lead into gold, and ravish the "ears polite" of the occupants of the subscription-boxes? But this will not do at the Opera Buffs. The singers there are very respectable : give them u good drama and good music, and they will per- form it eteditably and agreeably. This is all ; and indeed, under judi- cious mansgement, it is enough : but it is a consideration which should impress upon Mr. .incur .L the necessity of selecting operas of in- trinsic posit, and of not being content to bring forward any thing that ignorant and injudicious singers may suggest to him, because it may have happened, through the attraction of two or three favourite per. formers, to have met with some success abroad. The exceeding cold- ness with which the piece was received on Tuesday evening, aid the silence which attended the fall of the curtain, have probably convinced Lim of his error. What is Leftism of the fine operas we were pro. mired at the beginning of the season? Where is the Nozze di Figaro, where Cusifan trate where L' Impresario in Anyustie ? where MC'onta- irici Valente? Are none of them forthcoming ? Or is one of them to come lagging out on the eve of the closing of the theatre, after we have been entertained with a few more novelties by Ricci and his worthy rompeers ? .Signor CASTELLAN, a very youthful di:butant, (only nineteen, it is said,) appeared on Tuesday evening. As an actor be is wholly un. funned, but of considerable promise as a singer. We must hear him again, and in better music, before we can decide on his merits.
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