OPERA MANAGEMENT. •
The general course of management pursued at the " Royal Italian Opera" is evidently creating disappointment. When the project of a new ' Operahouse at Covent Garden transpired at the end of last season, the imputations, pretty loudly made, that the projectors were actuated by pique and animosity towards the old theatre, were met by indignant dis- claimers, and professions that the scheme originated purely in a desire to advance the progress of art, to remedy the abuses of a monopoly, and to place the means of enjoying the most elegant of all musical entertain- ments, daily increasing in popularity, within the reach of a larger portion of the public. Such views, if not directly announced, were at least quasi- officially put forth in many newspaper articles by partisan pens. The scheme was repeatedly recommended and advocated on the ground of its adaptation to the middle classes,—by the adoption of lower prices of ad- mission, by the absence of ballet, and by the performance of a range of pieces more extensive, elevated, and classical, than the narrow and frivolous repertoire of the old Operahouse. The expectation of all these things, which made a great impression on the public, was tacitly sanctioned by the parties themselves; though they withheld any information respecting their plan till the eve of opening their theatre. Since that time nearly two months have clasped; a considerable portion of the season, and sufficient to test their course of management. The pro- gramme announced an unprecedentedly numerous, and certainly a superb.. vocal company, besides a complete corps de ballet; the expenses of which clearly put any approximation to English theatrical prices out of the question, and closed the doors of the house against a large portion of the public who had hoped to find them thrown open. The reduction of prices, though perhaps as great as could be afforded, was still so small as to show, that reliance was to be placed, not on a popular audience, but on the classes previously habituated to the Italian Opera. Perhaps it was thought that. London was large enough to furnish out of these classes audiences for both' theatres; perhaps it was hoped to fill Covent Garden at the expense .of Her Majesty's Theatre. But whatever views may have been-entertained in this respect, the best means have not been taken to realize them.
In what essential is the management of the new theatre an improvement upon that of the old? Without entering into critical comparisons between individual members of the two companies, we may place them, generally, on an equal footing; admitting each management to have endeavoured to obtain the greatest amount of available talent. The orchestra of the new house, conductor included, was that of the old. It has at present an ad- vantage in that circumstance; but the difference does not much affect the general character of the performanoes; and the same may be said of the chorus. The most hackuied pieces of the old repertoire have been relied on- Semiramide, Lucia di Lammermoor, La Sonnambula, L'Elisir d'Amore, and Lucrezia Borgia. Of novelties there have been only two; Ehaliana its Algieri, one of the feeblest of Rossini's works, and Douizetti's Maria di Bohan, so poor a piece, and so coldly received, that it has not been repeated.
Now this kind of management, we apprehend, will not be generally at- tractive among those classes who are able and willing to patronize the Italian Opera. It will not attract the habitues of the boxes, who regard the Opera as a place of fashionable resort—who confine their notice of the stage to the " Deesses de la dense "—who think Carlotta Grisi a superior performer to Giulietta, and M. Perrot a greater " composer" than Mozart. Give such persons a musical celebrity to be the star of the season, the lion or lioness of parties, and the subject of the gossip of the day; give them their brilliant ballet and their favourite datiseuse; and why should they forsake a place that has been for a century the aristocratic haunt of their ancestors, for a parvenu theatre, destitute of the prestige of fashion, and furnishing their favourite entertainments in a second-hand style? Nor will
such management attract those persons, belonging to the wealthier chum, . and able to patronize so expensive au entertainment, who are desirous to see it placed on a higher artistic footing. A wish to form an audience out, of such persons ought to lead to a different course; to a selection of the greatest and most classical works of the musical stage, without re- gard to the mere fashion of the day. It would have led, for example, to the masterpieces of Mozart, Gluck, Ciwarosa, Winter, and Paer,— to the Idomeneo, the Clemenza di Tito, Don Giovanni, and Figaro; to Orfeo, Alceste, Armida, and 1phigenia in Tayside; to the- Orazj and the Matrimonio Segreto; to Proserpina, Castor and Pollux, and the other, operas written for the unrivalled contralto Grassini- to the Agnese, in which Tamburiui made his first great impression in England; and to other beautiful works which a little research and judgment could easily discover.: There would be no exclusiveness in this system; but a graceful variety would be afforded by the intermixture of the great works of the older masters with the efforts of modern genius, as is the case in other branches of the drama. It might limit the quantity of new works, but would raise their quality. A high standard of excellence, kept constantly in view,' would preserve from degradation the taste both of artists and of the pub-, lie; would rest its judgments on real and permanent beauties; and would{ place music more on an equality with the other fine arts than it is an present, in its freedom from the capricious influences of fashion. By mph*, course, we sincerely believe, a great mashie/ theatre could open a glori career, daily gaining greater and greater support from the most enlighte
and acc.omplished portion of the public.
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