STATE OF THE OPERA C0NCERT-R00)1.—In addition to the suggestions which
we threw out last week respecting the future management of the King's Theatre, we wish to add a word upon one of its branches, which needs, and will repay, revision and reform. We allude to the Concert-room,—once the most splendid, spacious, and in every respect the best in the metropolis. All frequenters of concerts know, that, under the late management, it has been defaced and spoiled in every possible way; that the entrances are more shabby than those of Bagnigge Wells, the seats ragged and dirty, the floor often rivalling in filth that of a pigstye, the boxes the refuge of vermin. The unfortunate destruction of the Argyll Rooms gave the late lessee a monopoly of nearly all the concerts, enforced still further by the most arbitrary regulations with his band ; and hence, the public had no alternative but to encounter the dirt and meanness of the Opera Concert-room, or to absent themselves from concerts altogether. So numerous and so emphatic have been the remonstrances of the subscribers to the Philharmonic Concerts, that the new Directors have been in treaty with the proprietors of the Hanover Square Rooms for the next season. To this alternative, we trust, they will not now be driven,—for there, all the nonsense and folly connected with the noble Directors and their preserve will encounter them ; their seats, their allotment of ample and aristocratic space, being vastly more important than the arrangement of the orchestra. The Opera Concert- room may be restored to what it was : its walls remain, and the ample space which they enclose may be rendered a lit receptacle for the finest band in Europe, as well as for a decently-dressed audience.
PAGANINI.—The Signor is returned from his Norwich excursion, well satisfied that the inhabitants of that city possess more money than wit. Some circumstances connected with his engagement there ought to be known, in order that future entrepreneurs in provincial towns may be put on their guard. He makes an engagement at Norwich with a Mr. PETIT, upon a sharing plan, fixing the price of admission to his concerts at fifteen shillings,—he himself being the only attraction ; and by this arrangement (the whole receipts amounting to 867/. 10s.) he shares 800/. He then makes a further arrangement with Mr. SMITH, the manager of the Norwich company, that, at the close of the concerts undertaken in conjunction with Mr. PETIT, he should perform at the theatre ; the prices there to average only four shillings and sixpence! There is no need of commentary on these facts : those whom' it may concern will draw their own conclusions from them. In London, the keenness of mic appetites is marvellously abated. We have more and more and more "last concerts," but there is no besieging of doors ; the barriers in the saloon of the Opera-house are all removed, and you may have your choice of the best places in the house. On Saturday night, with part of aa opera to boot, it was nearly a desert.
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