THE THEATRES.
BALFE, the great contractor for the lyric supplies at Drury Lane, has, by the production of a new grand opera, brought seasonable relief to the extensive cohort of fiddlers, singers, and dancers, attached to that esta- blishment—almost worn to skin and bone by long diet on The Bohe- mian Girl, served up for the hundred-and-sixth time this week. At Drury it is desired to play a sure card : and such it is always made, by a certain proportion of song, dance, dress, scenery, and favourite singer, with a due layer of convention scattered over each, and the whole mingled with the mechanical regularity that constitutes a glass of punch, though by no means partaking of the spirit or flavour. This plan of opera, too expensive to be put to frequent trials, and too dangerous from that cause to submit to any but bit by bit improvements, has ended by producing for us one work in a season, and by placing the possession of the lyric stage in the hands of one man, who has no style of his own, but is as thoroughpaced a foreigner as ever wrote for the theatre—yet who, oddly enough, obtains his greatest applause on national grounds. This is one way of paying the sarcasms of foreigners in their own coin : they reproach us with not being able to compose, and we send them some of their own things in proof to the contrary. As a concern of private enterprise, the manager has an undoubted right to select his own composer, on knowledge of his style of workmanship ; and it is only in affecting to be in any degree a patron of art that he is exposed to the censure of criticism. For the progress of music, however, we believe that managers, like "good kings," must " bleed,"—not in the sense that Mr. 13uNN does, whose profuse outlay every one can understand; but by incurring risks, encouraging the novelties of new brains, and hazarding ruin and damnation : the perpetual ovations of Drury Lane, and the applause which is a regular commonplace of every fresh occasion at present, sound the knell of invention. We make these remarks without particular application to BALM'S new opera seria, The Daughter of St. Mark, produced on Wednesday ; which has been written with great pains, and bears the impress of higher artistical feeling than any thing he has yet produced : the ge- neral style, however, is only elevated by the adoption of the common- places of good music which in some sort unvulgarize it, and at the same time leave it far short of the desires of musicians. The great faults of the opera are heaviness and monotony of character : the former is acci- dental, the latter peculiar to the artist. Four mortal hours are con- sinned in listening to dialogue delivered in recitative and accompa- nied by a full band,—a monstrous plan for dignifying trifles and making the business "drag its slow length along." It is unnatural, too, to the English ear to listen to commonplace conversation modulated and ac- companied by an orchestra,—the pomp of accompaniment provoking attention ; and though where passion or sentiment are to be expressed it duly repays it, as we see in numerous examples of PURCELL and HANDEL, yet it does not exclude the ludicrous from mean and ordinary observations. The language of accompanied recitative is necessarily heroic ; and when any one mounts its stilts to ask such a house. hold question as "What is to be done ? " or the like, he incurs danger of the burlesque. The tediousness was rendered worse by the drawling of the singers, who as long as they have music of any kind to deliver are perpetually straining for effects where none are necessary or desirable. Good spoken dialogue introduces the songs or concerted pieces with far greater effect than this heavy novelty ; which was a mill-stone about the neck of Thistanieei opera, and is as great a one here. Another most potent drawback So- the pleasure of the hearer is the total deficiency of interest in the per- sonages, who are so many walking costumes. A lady in white muslin, a lover in aJoan of Arc's wig, anda bad man in the open sleeves of the Council of Ten, with the trombones, are thought to be good heroic ma- terials. No doubt, if certain trains of cause and consequence were laid open, they might be so—a romantic interest in them might be created: but when all is tailor's work—when the middle ages only subserve the fiddle ages, and the Crusaders attack modern common sense and patience as stoutly as they did ancient infidelity—we cannot yield to dramatic illusion, Miss RAIDIFORTIL, HARRISON, &C., are before us from first to last ; the impersonation which gives vitality to the drama is absent ; and the actors cannot forget themselves in their parts, because no opportu- nity has been given them. We may thank the French stage and MEY ERBEER for the beautiful example of showy opera which prevails on the Continent as well as here, characterizing the lyric drama of our day by abundant compositions and no progress.
Catarina Cornaro, (Miss RAINFORTH,) a young Venetian lady, is be- trothed to Adolph De Coarcy, (Healusos,) a French knight. Their nuptials are preparing in the first scenes, when a messenger from the Council enters to say that the bride must give up her husband for the King of Cyprus ; intelligence which produces a scuffle at the conclusion of the act between the partisans of Adolph and the Bing. In the second act, Catarina is discovered in her oratory ; and a letter in her prayer-book informs her that she may expect her lover. He comes accordingly ; but the daggers of some assassins concealed behind the tapestry prevent her from confessing why she renounces him. The act closes in Cyprus. The third act shows that Adolph has followed. his betrothed in disguise. The lovers are discovered in an interview, and are condemned to death ; when Moncenigo, (Boasesir,) who has tall this moment concealed that Catarina is his daughter, rushes in, and by declaring this fact saves her life. The King generously relinquishes her, and the lovers are united. The scenery, dresses, dances, and stage-groups, are splendid beyond description. The architectural ex- cellence of the first scene, and of that representing the port of Fame- gosta, at the close of the second act, have perhaps never been sur- passed.
The theme of the overture, which begins by trombones in C major, forms part of the military pageant in the second act, where it is blown by six trumpets in unison. The allegro of the overture is in C minor ; it has then a long solo for the corno di bassetto in A flat, (beautifully played,) and ends in the major. It is in point of style altogether the best over- ture by BALFE that we have ever heard. The music of the first act at- tracts no particular notice; but in the second there is decided improve- ment. Miss ILUNFORTH'S opening scene is good ; and the duet between her and Adolph, with the assassins now and then showing them- selves behind the tapestry, proved effective. " When all around our path," a bass song with a pompous introduction, and a me- lody somewhat in SPOIIHS style, was much applauded. The finale was also effective, and, though not new, beautifully per- formed. Hanalson's song in the third act, "Oh smile," with harp and trombone obligati, seemed to owe its success rather to some happy inflections of the singer's voice than to any particular quality in the music. The new singers at this house, WEISS and BURDEN', pro- mise to be effective assistants to opera. Miss Remsotern was fre- quently too sharp; and seemed to labour under anxiety respecting the music of her part—doubting, perhaps, her physical power. BORRANI was also rarely in tune: but HARRISON, though he never spares him- self, was inflexibly true to his part, and manifested great taste. The curtain descended amid a storm of applause.
Two new French dancers from Madrid, Monsieur and Madame FINART, made their first appearance last night, and executed a Spanish dance, called "Las Boleras del Wals del Sevillano," in a finished style, and with some of the fire and elasticity of native artists. Their cos-
tumes are superbly characteristic ; and the varied movements of the dance afford scope for a display of grace and vigour expressive of pas- sionate impulse, to which the incessant chatter of the castanets gives great vivacity. These Spanish dances only want to be made more fami- liar to become popular in this country.
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