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Mr. Lumley has issued the prospectus of his arrangements- for Her- Majesty's Theatre. Efe,sets out by alluding to the eircumstanceslmder which he has once more taken the field- " The secession, in 1847," he says, "of many of those performers who had long been attached to the Operahouse, was the commencement of.a long and arduous struggle to maintain the fortunes of the old house • and it. ils not till the wealth of four successive competitors had been fruitlessly lavished upon the rival theatre, that Mr. Lumley was reluctantly compelled to retire from the contest. From that time to the present, Mr. Lumley's efforts have been unremitting to reopen Her Majeaty's Theatre upon a per- manent basis, and to restore the opera to its ancient home. Hellas received liberal encouragement from every side ; and, effectually aided by noble and generous support from a quarter where the refinements of art and taste never fail to find a patron, he is now enabled gratefully to announce the imme- diate resumption of performances." The prospectus adds little to the contents of the demi-official announcement which we noticed last week. One addition, however, there is, of very considerableinterest : Mr. Lumley has engaged Johanna Wagner, with whom he waged so keen a warfare in our courts of law in consequence of the breach of engagement with him into which she was led by the rival manager, Mr. Gye. The result of that contest, we be- lieve, would have debarred Mademoiselle Wagner from coining to Eng- land unless she came to Mr. Lumley himself; and this she is now going to do,-a politic step, we should- think, for both parties : for she, as being the most interesting novelty that Mr. Lumley at this time could possibly bring forward, will be an immense accession to his company ; while she will have the advantage, so highly prized by foreign per of becoming known to the English public. Mr. Lumleyhas obtained another accession of strength in the person of Belletti, the admirable baritone, who first became known to our public.on the boards of Her ..liiajesty'e Theatre. All the other engagements for.the opera have been already mentioned except that of the Musical Director, who, we are now informed, is to be Signor Bonetti, of the Paris Italian-Opera, instead of Mr. Balfe.
The engagements of the ballet present a long array of names, all un- known to us except Rosati, and the two Taglionis, Marie and Paul. The theatre is to open on Saturday the 10th of May, with Alboni in the Cenerentola, and a new ballet. Mademoiselle Piecolomini is next to ap- pear, in Verdi's new opera La Traviata, a version of the famous Dame aux Camelia. s ; then Albertini in the Trovotore ; and lastly, Johanna Wagner, as Romeo in Bellini's Capuletti e Honteeehi. On the whole, it appears that though Mr. Lumley has been late in announcing his pro- ceedings, he has been the reverse of inactive. His engagements present a great amount of interesting novelty, and promise a brilliant season.
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