Riusir.
- Within our memory the Italian Opera nights were only two in the week, Tuesday and Saturday. Then Thursday was added, as an " extra - Within our memory the Italian Opera nights were only two in the week, Tuesday and Saturday. Then Thursday was added, as an " extra
night" ; and now, what with subscription nights and what with extra nights, we have performances at both the ;opera-houses almost every night in the week. Perhaps the managers of both houses find them- selves driven to this expedient by the heavy rents they pay for the theatres, and the enormous expenses of their establishments. But its policy is questionable. The oftener, indeed, they can fill their houses, the more easy the burden of rent fiecomes. But the salaries of all the performers, from the prima donna to the orchestral player and chorus- singer, and even to the scene-shifter, must be increased in proportion to the increase of work. The theatres so frequently opened are not always full, and it is not to be expected that they should ; for London, vast as it is, cannot furnish an opera-going public sufficient to fill both these great and costly theatres six nights in the week. Moreover, the quality of the performances must be injured by their excessive frequency. There is not sufficient time for rehearsals and other preparations; for the per- formers must have necessary rest ; and if they are made to toil all the morning, they cannot possibly do their work properly at night. We doubt, theretore, whether this high-pressure course is an advantageous one ' • and cannot help thinking that the lessees of both houses might do well to apply themselves to the adage, " Chi va piano va sane."
There is little to notice in the proceedings of either house, during the past week. Grisi has been prevented from appearing by a heavy do- mestic affliction, the death of one of her children. At her Majesty's Theatre a considerable sensation has been created by the Mk of Sig- nor Ciampi in the character of Doctor Bartholo in the 'Barbiere di Siviglia. He is very young—only one and twenty,—but is nevertheless a ripe and accomplished artist. Saving only Lablache, he is the best Bartholo we have ever seen, being not only a genuine comedian, but an admirable singer. We have great pleasure in learning that Cimarosa's charming Matrimonio Segreto is in preparation at this theatre. The Musical Society of London terminated their second season on Wednesday evening by a concert at St. James's Hall ; a good entertains ment, but presenting none of those remarkable features, that the public were led to expect from the grandiloquent professions with which the Society commenced their proceedings. There were symphonies of Beet- hoven and Mendelisohn ; a couple of overtures, a concerto on the violin performed by Herr Molique, and airs by Mademoiselle Meyer, and Miss Louisa Pyne ; a concert, in short, formecrprecisely on the model of the Philharmonic Society. Among the numberless benefit concerts of the week, Mrs. Anderson's has been by far the most remarkable. It was given on Wednesday morning at Her Majesty's Theatre, and was a sumptuous banquet 'of vocal and instrumental music of the highest class. The singers included all the great stars of the theatre, with several. stars equally great, not of the theatre, particularly Miss Louisa Pyne and Mademoiselle ArtOt. Mrs. Anderson herself performed a concerto of Beethoven, and showed that, though she has almost given up appearing in public, she is still one of the greatest pianists of the day. The theatre was filled with an as- semblage of the most fashionable and musical people in London.
Lady Crampton, late Miss Victoire Balfe, was presented at her Ma- jesty's drawing-room on Tuesday, by Lady Palmerston.
The Theatre Lyrique has revived Les Rosteres, Herold's maiden opera, which was first performed at the Opera Comique more than forty years ago, and has been many years forgotten. It was eclipsed by subsequent and more masterly works of the composer,—Marie, Le Pre aux Clercs, and Zampa ; but its reproduction has been attended with success, be- cause the subject is gay and pleasant, and the music is simple, graceful, and melodious. In England we never think ' of reviving an old opera. We throw aside the works of our Ames, Shields, Storacess and Bishops, simply because they are old, and run after trivial productions of the day, or importations from abroad, simply beMuse they are new ; little know- ing how much genuine pleasure we thus deprive ourselves of.
Madame Borghi-Mamo has been reengaged by the Lessee of Her Ma- jesty's Theatre for next season, and has also been engaged for the next carnival season at the Theatre of La Scala at Milan.
According to statistical tables (says the Gazette Musicale) there are at present in Europe 18,140 actors, 21,609 actresses, 1733 Managers of theatres ; and the number of persons attached in one way or another to dramatic establishments amounts to 82,246.
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