NEW SINGERS OF THE SEASON.
IT has never been more entirely the critic's ungracious task to "damn with faint praise," than in writing about the present race of singers. Girls are now as much alike in their voices as their shapes—both are apt to be sophisticate. We cannot blame heartily, where we find a master has been labouring uphill against Nature, and his pupil shows industry and cultivation, if not talent; nor can we praise cordially, when we quit the theatre without having heard a single phrase which reached the heart. The me- tropolitan stage of England has not been, in point of vocal genius, at a lower ebb. Tenors and trebles are at a premium ; never was there a finer opening for candidates. The three singers of the Bath theatre, MISS FORLIg3 Mom. GRzEkf and BIAWCHI TAY- LOR, have added no efficient force to Covent Garden Theatre. Miss FORDE has appeared to little advantage except as Rosina in the Barber of Seville. The defect of this young lady's voice is great harshness in the quality : for the rest, her intonation is pretty accurate, and her execution and style such as show a diligent scholar. Beyond these, there is nothing to be discovered. Mr. GREEN, after committing one or two songs, has betaken himself to acting; a resolution which manifests judicious self-apprecia- tion—he is evidently no musician. Mr. BIANCHI TAYLOR will, we think, be numbered among those (no mean quantity,) who with pleasant style, sweet voices, and good tastes, have yet been obliged to relinquish their attempts at the great houses from the want of power of lungs. We have had from time to time several chamber-singers who have made an honourable exit on this ground. As shouting is the only means of appeasing the incensed deities aloft, and Mr. TAYLOR is not exactly in case to propitiate diem by such peace-offering, we know of no remedy for him. An apology was made for the indisposition of Miss BYFIELD on Thursday night, and Der Freischfitz substituted for the piece called Carron Side, in which we expected to hear her perform. This young lady is well spoken of in the daily prints ; but as we prefer hearing with our ears, our own opinion will lose nothing by being formed upon the reappearance of the singer, when a con- siderable encumbrance of fright is generally taken off. The voice faulters with a debutante at the thought of the number of guineas per week which will accrue to her if she can reach A in tune. She makes a shake—hears a clapping—trembles, thinks with delight of the inevitable carriage, and how happy she will make Tomkins if she can but get an engagement. Then a transient horror creeps over her that her turban is awry, or her feathers are loosening ; and in the midst of pleasure and pain, hope and fear, she has to sing, which, of all occupations, most requires the performer to possess herself. For this reason, we think that much of the criticism on singing may be premature, though it is undeniable that a shrewd guess may be made by a practised hearer, even under all these disadvantages. Miss RUSSELL, who has twice appeared at Drury- Lane as Susanna in the Marriage of Figaro, bears marks of LANZA'S good instruction, but she has to serve a long apprentice- ship to the stage before she can achieve what in theatrical phrase is required of a first woman. Her voice told in the finale to the second act of Cosi fan tutte, (which forms the first finale to the Marriage of Figaro ;) and this fact shows that it possesses body, though in the songs it seemed to want strength. Miss RUSSELL has rather an unpleasant manner of taking her high notes, some- thing approaching to that squeezing of the tone which is so disa- greeable in Madame FEARON. That she possesses a good ear, we had one striking proof, namely, that she sang her part in the duet of " Su l'aria" in tune ; while Mrs. BEDFORD (the Countess) ut- tered hardly a single note of her's at the right pitch. A more woful exhibition of had time, ill tune, and vile taste, than Mrs. BEDFORD'S performance, we never witnessed. As for Miss RUSSELL, a few more birth-days will (if she is diligent) make her a good singer. The young lady is neither tall nor particularly handsome ; but we understand that there is considerable rapture extant upon the sub- ject of her foot. On this attraction let her make a stand.
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