THE THEATRES.
TEE operas lately imported from France have been more diverting than usual in point of locality, incident, and manners. It was indeed high time that the scene should change ; and an example of the favour- able impulse which this precaution seems destined to give to the operas performed on our national boards was peculiarly observable on Wed- ' nesday at the Princess's Theatre, when a new comic opera by BALFE, ' The Castle of .Aymon, or the Four Brothers, was given. From the very first scene, which exhibited the interior of a castle with an old gray-bearded seneschal moving about, the attention of a crowded house was riveted, and expectation was evidently on tiptoe to divine the "strange eventful
• history" to which this served as the prologue. Even though nothing i follow to satisfy the cravings of the marvel-loving playgoer, t is a great • point gained by a composer to make the first step with his audience in good humour and with a scene confessedly new.
It soon, however, became evident, that for the dramatic groundwork of this piece the juvenile literature of Fairyland, or somewhat akin to it, had been consulted : to this source, in fact, MM. LEUVEN and BRUNSWICK, the authors of the libretto, confess ; and in naming the work Les Quatre Fils Aymon, by which title it was played last sum- mer at the Opera Comique, they had in view the popularity of a story which is as well known in France and Germany as Blue - Beard or Valentine and Orson here. The dramatic fault of the present piece is perhaps the reverse of that of The Syren,—namely, that after one or two scenes are over the events may be but too easily anticipated. An old nobleman of Bretagne on his deathbed has enjoined his four sons to travel for a year from the day of his decease ; and they are ordered to return at an appointed time by a separate route, to open a chest in due form, which is supposed to contain great treasure. , Their return takes place in the second scene, to the great Joy of the old steward, Iron (LErrhEa)—a sort of Caleb Balderstone, who, though half-starved himself, is anxious before all things to support the honour of the family. And here we may give a specimen or two of the drollery. One of the brothers exclaims that he is tired of travelling, and come home to enjoy himself: he asks for breakfast ; there is none to be had in this castle of bare walls ; and when with difficulty one of the vassals has furnished a meal for the famishing young lords, a great rich Baron of the neighbourhood, Baron de Beaumanoir, (WALTON,) who has over- ridden himself in hunting, comes in to ask hospitality, and devours it all ; which Iron is obliged to accede to, for the honour of the house.
• To add to the pleasure of the brothers, the trunk is opened, and contains nothing save some good advice. Each of the brothers has in the course of his travels fallen in love with a fair incognita; whom we are not sur- prised to find by and by as the daughter and three nieces of the Baron. • Meanwhile, this (though made a very comical fellow by WsuroN) is one Of those miserly and grasping personages that the public see cheated with
• great satisfaction. The real object of his visit to the Castle of Aymon was the reported wealth of its heir, whom be deems on this account a suitable match for his daughter. Iron confirms his notion, and com- Awes a series of lies; which are amusing enough from their prompt- ness and adroit application to every emergency. He represents the three younger brothers as dead—the eldest as sole heir to vast trea- sures—his want of grandeur, retinue, &c., when he visits the Baron, as '" little peculiarities," which must be humoured—his wish is " to be loved for himself alone." In fine, this new rival of the Marquis Ca- rabbas dupes the Baron, and settles all the family on highstates.
If such a libretto is some what of the Puss in Boots order, it is at least a new vehicle for music, and the better suited to the farcical nature of its merriment. The duet between the Steward and the Baron when they reckon up "the bags of gold, the horses and the asses," left by the deceased lord—which grows faster and more furious as it proceeds— created great laughter. In Italian this would have made an excellent buffo duet ; while in English, notwithstanding its risible effect, it scarcely keeps clear of vulgarity. The music certainly lost nothing from want of good-will on the part of the actors : indeed, the spirited attempts at the assumption of character, which unite with the musical performances at this house, are of the greatest advantage to its representations. For- tune has favoured WALTON in his later parts : he has an excellent idea of representing the foibles of quality-folk—the fop of fashion, the dilet- tante lord, the mean-spirited Baron, can hardly be in better hands. , There is humour in the tones of his speaking voice, and an evident sa- tisfaction in the telling points of the same nature that occur in the music.
The struggle between his pride and his avarice in the present opera, when wishing to give a grand entertainment he desires to do it as cheaply as possible—if possible for half what he at first proposed—was most amus- ing, and of the truest satire. LEFFLER acts with a great deal of zeal and talent ; and this makes the alteration of his voice less perceptible than it else would be. The song in the third act—in which Iron attempts to be tender and affectionate, and talks of dying—suffered much by his previous character for mendacity. The audience would not see the liar turned on a sudden into a sincere man, and endured his sentimen- tality with reluctance. This song is both ill-placed and out of cha- racter. ALLEN sang very well ; but Bubiniized somewhat too much. .We have no great expectations from the debutante Miss HELEN COR- DELL : and this opinion rests upon a deficiency of musical talent and feeling which was observable in her general performance, rather than upon false intonations and the accidents attendant on the alarm of a first appearance.
With regard to the music of the opera, BALFE is so well known that the reader will have anticipated us. We set aside every standard of criticism in approaching this man of effect, who will be judged by him- self alone. There are some few things in the Castle of Aymon in which a composer of talent is to be recognized; and in addition to the buffo duet, we may cite the first song by WALTON in the second act. But we can never think that fifty operas spun, like this, out of the materials of the modern French and Italian opera, would either add one iota to
the fame of BALFE or the prosperity of the art. His score seemed to
us rather to abound in "orchestral noises" than in any of the com- binations and effects that the musician delights in. All is ad captandum, trifling, and superficial. Meanwhile, the composer is "a prosperous gentleman " ; and his new songs here will doubtless set the girls in a Sutter, and the Regent Street music-shops in unwonted activity.
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