ITALIAN OPERAS BY THE PUPILS OF THE ROYAL ACADEMY OF
MUSIC.
PERSONS who desire to see the best-sized and most comfortably ar- ranged theatre in London, and who do not object to paying dear for the gratification of their curiosity, should go to the operatic perform- ances by the pupils of the Academy in the former Concert.room of the King's Theatre. They will see a very pretty salon filled with the best company in London; and they will hear some sufficiently. pleasing music, and witness some rather awkward acting. It is worth the half guinea to become acquainted with the excellent pro- mise of Miss CHILDE ; whose promise, we must add, is now superior to the accomplishment of most of our favourites. Her voice is of a fine quality, her execution always equal to the occasion, and her taste unerringly accurate. SEGUIN'S acting is an exception to the general observation of awk- wardness. He played the part of the old man so cleverly, that we had no idea that the performer was other than a sexagenarian, till we asked his name,—for we must explain, that after paying half-a-guinea at a door, we never allow ourselves the extravagance of a book or a penny bill. It is far cheaper to trouble the people right and left of one with " Pray who's this, and that, good Six ?" like GAY'S brass- headed pin in the Museum. Mr. SEGUIN'S vocal performance is above mediocrity, and equal to the line of character in which we heard him. A Mr. F. SMITH should be instructed, when he enacts the arduous part of a gentleman, not to look through an eye-glass like the fop in a pantomime. The second series of representations lhas commenced, with some improvement upon the first. CIMAROSA is more within the reach of these artists than ROSSINI: the flow of elegant and varied melody pervading the whole of 11 Matrimonio Seg,reto, stands in need of none of those tricks of execution which are the necessary appendages of the Rossinian school. If the passages are given in tolerable:time and tune, their intrinsic beauty must convey a certain degree of pleasure to the ear, although correct pronunciation, expression, and even voice itself be deficient. This was the effect in the performance on Saturday night. It is rather hard upon the English youths to place BRIZZI in imme- diate contact with them ; for Blum, though very slenderly gifted by nature as a singer, is sufficient to render their Anglo-Italian more disagreeably conspicuous. It is to be regretted that the voices of most of the pupils are feeble. In many of the songs and concerted pieces they were scarcely audible, even in the miniature theatre in which they performed, and with accompaniments so light as those of CIMAROSA.
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