THE THEATRES.

BRAHAM has this week rendered his theatre available to the produc- tion of a legitimate English opera. Last year it was in vain to expect this ; his company was thin and weak ; it is now well-appointed in every respect, and there is no theatre in the Metropolis at which an opera can receive such justice. His long experience and intimate ac- quaintance with the dramatic music of every country, eminently qualify him for the station he now occupies of manager of a musical theatre. CIMAROSA, WEBER, STORACE, and BISHOP, have all written expressly

for BRAHAM : he alone, of all his vocal contemporaries, has in turn in-

listed in his service the most eminent musical talent of Italy, Ger- which we have now to speak, from a composer without any previous reputation, be is fully competent to decide on its pretensions and pro- the character of Rose, and sung " Some folks, who have grown old .. dramatic composers, partly it may be presumed from ignorance of the . works of their predecessors, have usually abandoned all attempt at and sour," very pleasingly. BENNETT not only sang but acted with good taste and propriety. His song, " Autumn leaves," was a great '.. the production of an English opera ; and, either smitten with the favourite, and promises to become extensively popular. PARRY'S part learned elaboration of the German school, or captivated with the

that the purpose of dramatic writing is attained by one or the other Besides the pieces we have mentioned, there is a very interesting of these means. There is no greater mistake ; and the quantum of duet, sung by BRAHABI and BENNET ; a round full of excellent part- acquirement necessary to the production of either of these results is writing ; and a quintet in the second finale, consummately beautiful.

Our Enlish d writers would d o more fre intro- much less than its possessors would have us imagine, or than is usually

duce unagccompaniedramatic vocal part-music intowell their operaqs.uentl Ity sto absence believed : a page of crudities is more easily produced than a line of

melody that has interest enough to fix itself in the memory; and from those of other countries is easily accounted for, since there it is " piccoli, tromboni, trombe e tamburri," will accomplish all that the unknown even in the concert-room ; but with singers like BIIAHABI,

lovers of noise can desire, without any vigorous effort of thought or ring it and PARRY, to whom this kind of vocal harmony is familiar, gination. Mr. HULLAII has chosen the more difficult task of rendering it may not only be safely but successfully employed,—witness the effect melody the distinctive feature of his opera ; and he has chosen wisely. produced by the movement to which we allude.

Its character is decidedly English ; the structute of the melodies is, Of the merely acting parts, that of Old Benson is the principal ; and for the most part, purely national ; but, instead of the penury which is it is admirably played by STRICKLAND. He expresses the grief and exhibited in the instrumental scores of ARNE, LINLEY, and Diarasz, we indignation of the father with pathos and power, the result of sponta- have the variety and richness of modern accompaniment. This is pre- neous feeling as well as study. HARLEY gives amusing effect to a cisely what an English composer should aim at if he intend either to comic character, sketched in the smart touch-and-go manner of Boz,— attain eminence himself or to sustain the reputation of the national one Mr. Martin Stokes, a busybody, upon exceedingly good terms with lyric drama. Let him study sedulously and patiently the best writers himself, and, so far as he alone is concerned, with everybody else; his of other countries—not to pilfer their passages, not to appropriate continual apprehensions of " something wrong," however, and his

knack of making folks uncomfortable, is not, to use his own pet phrase, their thoughts, but to teach him how best to arrange and improve his own. BALM'S operas have all the effect of translations ; the words " a capital custom," and renders his company any thing but agreeable. seem fitted to the music, not the music to the words ; there is nothing r,GARDINER, as John Maddox, the clownish lover of Rose, recalls little English about them but the language ; every thought and phrase KNIGHT to our recollection. BARNETT makes the Honourable Sparkins

find its way into Rana too disagreeable : instead of the polished rascal, by whom the smacks of Italy : and if by chance a simple melody experienced man of the world, Squire Norton, was deceived, he makes the piece, the sympathies of the audience are at once excited, and the house rings with applause. " The light of other days," for example, is the rogue in grain palpable to everybody but the flirting girls. but a single phrase repeated seventeen times over ; yet this is the popu- The piece is superbly got up. The dresses are characteristic and lar air of the opera. At Milan it would be laughed at, but in London picturesque in fashion, and only too sumptuous in material. BRA- its very simplicity is its recommendation. Mr. HULLAII has succeeded HAM'S crimson velvet shooting-jacket is ma pen de trop : but the rest in producing a succession of interesting melodies ; while his concerted of the picture being in the same high tone of colour, the keeping is pieces evince such skill in vocal combination, together with consider- able dramatic effect, that we can scarcely doubt his attainment of high The house was crowded. Five pieces were encored in the first act, eminence in that branch of the art to which he has devoted himself. and two in the second. When the curtain fell, the applause was en- The complete success of this opera may be attributed to several thusiastic ; and both composer and author were loudly called for, and causes combined. We have been so accustomed to regard the drama greeted by the audience. The piece was announced for daily repetition.

and the words of an opera only as something to be tolerated, a kind of The enjoyment of this most agreeable evening would have been necessary but unmeaning appendage to the music, that we have almost dashed with melancholy, had it been known, that at the very time we lost sight of their real importance to the composer. The public ear were admiring the full-blown " Rose," Miss JULIA SMITH, a charming may from habit become insensible to the just connexion between sense flower of the stage, MISS FRANCES STANLEY, the once intended re- and sound; but the true musician feels the value of their dependence presentative of the part, was actually dying. Poor girl ! she has upon one another. The composer's study should be to give full and cox- left the stage of life prematurely indeed—she was only seventeen.

Many an actress whose death has " eclipsed the gayety " of the rest expression to the words and sentiments of the drama ; but to do this, he must have materials to work upon, otherwise his labour is town, possessed a less share of real talent for personation than Miss vain. In the present case, we have to record the rare appearance of a STANLEY; and in few have we seen combined such unassuming pro- priety of manner, and genuine, hearty feeling, unalloyed with vulgarity piece in which the composer and the dramatist have gone hand-in- hand. The characteristics of their joint production are consistency, or affectation. Let not the young and nameless actress, whose heart wore propriety, harmony; they have followed throughout the same ideas, to no mask, sink into the grave without a passing tribute to her worth. which each has given expression in his own language. In addition to Mr. RICE'S Jim Crow, the Adelphi has this week

The subject of the Village Coquettes is of the simple and homely witnessed the resuscitation of Mr. GOBIERSAL'S personation of BONA character that appeals to the sympathies of an English audience most PARTE. Paulina, or the Passage If the Beresina, is a burletta, from the readily, and it is worked up into a light and lively drama, with a happy French we believe ; the story of which is, that the heroine goes mad in admixture of the serious and the comic, by the clever and amusing consequence of seeing her husband drowned, as she supposes, in cross- sketcher of common life and character, known better as " Boz " than ing the Beresina, and continues under the delusion that his actual self as Mr. CHARLES DICKENS. The scene is laid in an English village is only a phantom that haunts her imagination. To cure her, it is at harvest-time, a century ago; and the story is briefly this. Squire suggested to get up a scene representing the passage of the Beresina, Norton, the lord of the manor, corrupted by a course of dissipation in in which her husband shall be saved ; and this has the desired effect. London, comes down to his estate for the shooting-season, in company The serious interest is heightened also by making Paulina previously with an "honourable " adventurer and blackleg, Mr. Sparkins Flam ; beg from Napoleon the life of Colonel Savigny, her future husband, who under whose auspices he proceeds to ensnare the heart of Lucy, the had incurred the punishment of death for allowing her an opportunity daughter of old Farmer Benson, one of his tenants ; Mr. Flam making of assisting her father to escape from Moscow. Not even Mrs. love to her cousin, Rose. The lasses are dazzled by the fine dresses YATES'S powerful acting, however, could save the pathetic scenes from and fine speeches of their new admirers; and the flirtations of the the infection of mirth which the improbability of the main incident, " Village Coquettes" put their rustic lovers into doleful dumps. Old and the mock heroics of the dialogue, assisted by the infelicitous inter- Benson's suspicions and anger are aroused; and the expression of his mingling of the serious and comic, caused to prevail. Mr. GOMERSAL, honest indignation causes Lim to be turned out of the farm. The Squire, in Napoleon, has not withstood the effects of time, and the portrait ex- however, reflects and relents ; reinstates his old tenant; abandons his hibits more of the veteran than is historically true : this was not to be profligate design on Lucy ; and her father, with herself and her lover helped—but where was the indispensable snuff-box ? JOHN REEVE, George Edmunds, are made happy. Meanwhile, Mr. Flam, who had as a corpulent and cowardly commissary—BUCKSTONE, as Pitou, a ter- been secretly plotting Lucy's abduction with a view to pecuniary re- ror-stricken conscript—and Mrs. STIRLING, as a little coquette, who ward, is foiled in his attempt ; and another proof of his villany happen- plays off a formidable Cossack rival against the poor little Pitou—were ing to turn up at the same time, he meets his desert by being kicked out very amusing. But the merit of the piece consists in the spectacle. of doors. There is nothing very new or striking in all this ; but the The Hall of the Czars, as it is called, in which Bonaparte holds his characters, incidents, dialogue, and images, are appropriate to the sub- levee—the scene of the ball, interrupted by the burning of the Kremlin ject, and furnish the desired means of musical expression. The —and the animated tableau of the passage of the Beresina—are, like songs, indeed, are characterized by freshness, simplicity, and graphic all the scenic displays of the Adelphi, very effective.

force : each one is a picture in itself.

Mr. MULLAH, for his part, has aimed at no elaborate effects, because Mr. BULWER'S play, the Dutchess of La Valliere, is announced for such would have been inappropriate ; but the whole piece is conceived performance at Covent Garden on Wednesday. Othello and Julius and executed in good taste and with correctiudgment : its charm lies Casor still continue to draw crowded houses; affording a new proof of in its truth. We are convinced that the performers as well as the au- the old remark, that SHAKSPEARE'S plays, when well acted, have inex- dience felt this : it was a lesson to both ; and few persons could have haustible charms for playgoers.

left the theatre on Tuesday without feeling that an important step had been made towards the correction of our national taste.

The performers all exerted themselves most creditably. BRAHAM, 1 as Squire Norton, feeling that the music was worthy of such an exer- non, sung in his best style—free from any taint of vulgarity—it was pure, expressive, and imbued alternately with animation and deep feel- many, and England ; and although an opera comes to him, like that of mg : be commanded applause simply because be deserved it. His de- livery, in particular, of " The child and the old man sat alone," dis- played that powerful declamation in which he is unrivalled. We may

bable success. contrast with this, the song and chorus, " That very wise head, old The author of the music is Mr. JOHN HULLAII ; and the Village 2;sop said "—a sparkling and joyous effusion—as a specimen of the Coquettes is his first—at least his first produced—attempt at dramatic versatility both of the composer's and of the singer's powers. Miss composition. Mr. HULLAH is a pupil of Mr. HORSLEY; that is, he RAINFORTH, in Lucy, united the utmost purity, feeling, and correct- derived from that eminent vocal barmonist a knowledge of the prin. ness, with a charming effect that no injudicious attempt at ornament ciples of his art : his application of those principles has been to a could have produced. We may mention the singing of the two songs, "Love is not a feeling," and "How beautiful at eventide," with un- department of it untrodden by his instructor, but one for which the

qualified approbation. Miss J. SMITH gave the playful coquetry of pupil has evinced a decided bias and no ordinary talent. Our young favourite, and promises to become extensively popular. PARRY'S part learned elaboration of the German school, or captivated with the showy glitter of that of modern Italy, have bewildered themselves of Young Benson, though of secondary interest in the drama, was in the mazes of harmony, or crowded their melodiously meagre score made musically interesting by the ballad " My fair home is no longer v ith an accumulation of noisy instruments, under the mistaken notion mine ;" which he sang in his sweetest style.

that the purpose of dramatic writing is attained by one or the other Besides the pieces we have mentioned, there is a very interesting of these means. There is no greater mistake ; and the quantum of duet, sung by BRAHABI and BENNET ; a round full of excellent part- acquirement necessary to the production of either of these results is writing ; and a quintet in the second finale, consummately beautiful.

Our Enlish d writers would d o more fre intro- much less than its possessors would have us imagine, or than is usually

duce unagccompaniedramatic vocal part-music intowell their operaqs.uentl Ity sto absence believed : a page of crudities is more easily produced than a line of

melody that has interest enough to fix itself in the memory; and from those of other countries is easily accounted for, since there it is " piccoli, tromboni, trombe e tamburri," will accomplish all that the unknown even in the concert-room ; but with singers like BIIAHABI,

lovers of noise can desire, without any vigorous effort of thought or ring it and PARRY, to whom this kind of vocal harmony is familiar, gination. Mr. HULLAII has chosen the more difficult task of rendering it may not only be safely but successfully employed,—witness the effect melody the distinctive feature of his opera ; and he has chosen wisely. produced by the movement to which we allude.

Its character is decidedly English ; the structute of the melodies is, Of the merely acting parts, that of Old Benson is the principal ; and for the most part, purely national ; but, instead of the penury which is it is admirably played by STRICKLAND. He expresses the grief and exhibited in the instrumental scores of ARNE, LINLEY, and Diarasz, we indignation of the father with pathos and power, the result of sponta- have the variety and richness of modern accompaniment. This is pre- neous feeling as well as study. HARLEY gives amusing effect to a cisely what an English composer should aim at if he intend either to comic character, sketched in the smart touch-and-go manner of Boz,— attain eminence himself or to sustain the reputation of the national one Mr. Martin Stokes, a busybody, upon exceedingly good terms with lyric drama. Let him study sedulously and patiently the best writers himself, and, so far as he alone is concerned, with everybody else; his of other countries—not to pilfer their passages, not to appropriate continual apprehensions of " something wrong," however, and his perfect.