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Mademoiselle Johanna Wagner has at length appeared before the London public. The curiosity excited by her Continental fame was enhanced by recollections of the disputes between the rival Opera- houses of which she was the subject, and the complicated lawsuits which made her name familiar to people who do not usually trouble their heads with musical affairs. It was even rumoured that, on her appearance, an attempt would be made to revive the ill-feeling gene- rated by those transactions : but if such a spirit existed its exhibition was found to be impossible; and the fair stranger was received oa Saturday night, at Her Majesty's Theatre by an immense audience, not only with the honour due to her as a distinguished artist, but with tin- mingled and cordial kindness. She appeared as Romeo, in the Capuletti ed i Monteeehi of Bellini ; an opera of which the only merit lies in the interest of the subject and the scope it gives to the powers of a tragic actress. The music through'. out is vague and colourless ; the simple, monotonous airs, might be. assigned. to any one character as well as any other; and such expression as they may seem to have is due entirely to the performer. No singer in the world can make much of such music ; and if Mademoiselle Wagner has made this opera the means of one of her triumphs, it is through her powers as an actress.
It is usual to talk of the subject of this opera being taken from Shah- spore; but it is muoh more likely that it was taken from Bandello, the old Italian novelist from whom Shakspere himself took his story. It is only in the general scope and the catastrophe that the two pieces coincide. The Romeo of the opera is not Shakspere's Romeo—not the ardent, ro- mantic youth, as new to the world as Juliet herself, but the bearded man, the head of his house, the warlike leader ; whose first appearance s in the assumed character of an envoy from himself, to negotiate an intermarriage which shall put an end to the hereditary feud between the families. Thus the most exquisite charm of Shakspere's play is de- stroyed—the sympathy created for the young and helpless pair, which makes their story so inexpressibly mournful. The Romeo of the opera, moreover, is inconsistent with himself: he is too much the hard man of the world to be the lover devoted even unto death, which he is after- wards Made to become.
It was in consequence of this duality in the character of Romeo that Johanna Wagner, on her first appearance, seemed something very differ- ent from the Romeo of our English associations. Her aspect, as the chi- valrous warrior, the chief of a powerful house, was striking and im- posing. She is beautiful in the German style of beauty, with a fair com- plexion, blue eyes, and a profusion of fair hair. She is tall beyond the ordinary stature of women, finely formed, and graceful in every move- ment. Her commanding air, free gesture, and firm step, all bespoke the noble leader, conscious of dignity and power. In the earlier scenes in which Romeo is engaged, all is strife and violence. There is first alter- cation with the Capulets, then a quarrel with his rival Tebaldo, full of haughty defiance on both sides ; and even in the opening scene with Juliet—a scene never surpassed for the beautiful endearments of the first meeting—he becomes impetuous, almost fierce, in urging the timid girl to elope with him. In all this, though as unlike our Romeo as possible, Mademoiselle Wagner displayed commanding power. But it was in the conclusion of the scene with Tebaldo in the third act that she first awoke the softer feelings of the audience. As the rivals are about to engage in mortal combat, mournful music is heard, and a funeral—the funeral of the supposed dead Juliet—passes over the stage. Their fell purpose is anested, their rage is turned to grief, and they mingle their tears to- gether. This scene, which is chiefly in recitative, showed the dramatic effectiveness of Mademoiselle Wagner's musical elocution, as well as her pathetic expression. Every word seemed wrung from a heart bursting with agony. In the fourth act Johanna Wagner was really the Romeo of Shak- spere. The scene is in the cemetery of the Capulets : Romeo comes at midnight, breaks open the bier, finds his beloved cold and lifeless, and swallows poison. Juliet awake; and rises; a moment of rapture ensues ; but the poison does its work—Romeo expires in the arms of Juliet, and she falls dead on his body. Mademoiselle Wagner's acting was "beau- tiful exceedingly" in the whole of this scene, but one incident made an indescribable sensation. When Juliet, slowly awaking, murmurs his name, Romeo listens calmly, thinking that it is the voice of her spirit calling on him to join her in the tomb; but when he sees her rising and looking towards lam, the electric start, and the wild cry of astonishment, doubt, and transport, as he rushes into her arms, were the very climax of histrionic art.
For Johanna Wagner is an artist in the highest sense of the term. Her acting is the consumination of art, but it is not art which cornea in the place of genius ; it is art superinduced upon genius, which directilts impulses and heightens its power. That this is the ease, those conver- sant with the stage must be aware' though her art is never obtrusive, never cramps her freedom or chills her fervour and it is all the more admirable in this instance, when she is necessarily embarrassed and im- peded by the task of singing a quantity of insipid music. It is on this account that we have at present not much to say of her powers as singer. She has a magnificent voice, naturally a mezzo-soprano, MA extending by cultivation to the extreme regions of the soprano and this contralto. Her style is purely German. An Italian singer, in dealing with the meagre airs of this opera, would have filled up the bare outline with details more or less skilful and appropriate : but she sang the notes as simply as if they had been written by Mozart,—in a purely musical sense a blemish, and contrary to the acknowledged principles of the vocal art. But this opera affords no sufficient means of judgment : she must be heard in the music of the great masters of her own country.
Mademoiselle Jenny Baur, with a rather thin, but sweet and tunable voice, makes an interesting Giulietta ; and Reichardt displays intelli- gence and vigour in the part of Tebaldo.
The opera was repeated on Tuesday with undiminished eclat, and to as great a house as on Saturday.
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