THE ITALIAN OPERA.
THERE is a sort of interregnum just now at the Opera House. The reign of the late King and Queen is at an end. Mrs. Wool) is fled to Bristol, and LABLACIIE to Paris, leaving their subjects to carry on the concerns of the Italian stage as they can. This may be productive of some variety ; for all the performers being now pretty much on a par, why should not DEVILLE and DE ANGELI take their turn with Lavas- SEUR and SANTINI in principal characters ? And we think this change would be an improvement. It would be amusing at any rate, which the cast of .11 Barbiere on Thursday night was not—it was merely dull. La.s.wms' whose appearance last year might be regarded as a failure, measured by the expectations which foolish managers and fashionable critics had excited, has not improved in any respect. She has facility and neatness of execution and, while her voice is kept down, her singing is pleasing; but the moment she attempts to soar beyond this, the imperfections of tone and tune appear, and all gratification ceases. Measured by the side of Mrs. Wools, she is a pigmy. LEVASSEUR ap- in Basilio. We doubt not, that the managers have appreciated his powers accurately in allotting him this repieno part. The Barber -10sini) fell to &sum, whose personification of him was a compound of impudent vulgarity and noise. CuRIONI was the only really competent performer in the piece. But the great attraction to this house must be looked for in the kin- dred art. Without pretending to any very critical knowledge of the science of which Tscr.rosi is so distinguished a professor, we hold it to be quite impossible for any one to witness unmoved such an exquisite personification of grace and elegance as her performance in the ballet presents. It is the most eloquent action that we ever beheld.
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