Voir .
Tux termination of the English Opera season is fixed for Saturday week. Easter Monday is close at hand, and though Mr. Gye has as yet made no sign, he may be safely relied on to rise to the occasion, and maintain the credit of the Royal Italian Opera even daring an Exhibition year. Mdlle. Titjens, towards whom all eyes are turner' as the probable successor of Grisi, has left for Barcelona, it is true, but her engagement there is but of a month's duration, so that her sisters Marchisio are at Turin, and their return to England is said to be doubtful. Surely agrand revival of Semiramide, with these two ce- lebrated sisters in their favourite roles, would be an event worthy of the year. A oontemporary announces the approaching visit to London of a German Opera company, a statement which it is to be hoped will be confirmed. To say nothing of Die Zauberflate or Der ,Freichutz in their original form, the production in London of 7'annhauser could not fail to excite great interest. St. James's Hall has certainly been made good use of daring the past week. On Monday, Herr Joachim and 'Mr. Charles Halle were the attraction; on Tuesday, "The Wandering Minstrels," an accom- plished body of amateurs, under the direction of the Hon. Seymour Egerton, gave a brilliant concert, in aid of the funds of the Brompton Hospital; and on Wednesday, the Musical Society of London 'held their first concert of the season. On the latter occasion, the members of the Society mustered in great strength, and completely filled the hall itself, while the balcony seats, set aside for the ge, neral public, were occupied with hardly a single exception. The programme was of the most attractive kind; the orchestra, enlarged to nearly one hundred performers, was conducted by Mr. Alfred Mellon; and the vocalists were Madame Guerra- belle and Madame Sainton-Dolby. The concert commenced with Mozart's ever-welcome overture to Die Zauberllote, and after an ex- quisite rendering of the aria, " Dolce corde amate," of the same com- poser, by Madame Sainton-Dolby, Herr Joachim performed his grand Hungarian concerto in D minor for the second time in this country. The opening allegro, although the most ambitious movement of the three, was least appreciated ; in fact, the elaborate fulness of the orchestral accompaniment rendered it more like the allegro of a symphony than anything else, and it more than once required a very fine ear to distinguish whether Herr Joachim was playing at all, especially as the first violins of the orchestra were in the hands of MM. Bandon and H. G. Blagrove. In the subsequent romanza and "mak alla singara, however, no one could refuse their tribute of ap- plause, either to the composition of the virtuoso, or the magnificent execution of the composer. The other principal feature of the con- cert was Mendelssohn's superb "Italian Symphony" in A (Op. 90). The bold and joyous allegro, the scientific simplicity of the andante and moderato movements, and the brilliant saltarello, were all as irre- sistible as ever, and Mr. Alfred Mellon had need of all his firm- ness in refusing the persistently demanded encore for the second. Good as the performance of the orchestra in everything else was, in this grand work they were certainly perfect. Beethoven's overture to Fidelio (No. 1), the least known of the four, was produced in a manner which will ensure its more frequent repetition for the future. Madame Guerrabella sang the emus from Robin Hood," Hail, happy man," with even greater effect than when I last heard her, in the opera itself at Covent Garden, and was joined by Madame Saintou- Dolby in a chamber duet of Handel's, "Tanti strali," skilfully in- trumented for the orchestra by Mr. Henry Smart. The concert was brought to a conclusion by M. Hector Berlioz's overture "Le Carnaval Remain,'" about as perfect a musical imitation of the gaiety, animation, and noise of the carnival it professes to describe as can be imagined. The manner in which light tempo di douse passages, with their time marked by castanets, tambourines and tri- angle, are introduced, certainly constitute it one of the most inspiriting
Previous page
