THE ITALIAN OPERA.
TIIE Italian Opera closed for the season on Saturday night : wishing to take leave of it with a favourable impression, amid with recollections
upon which we could feast till next year, we gave Le Nozze di Figaro
another hearing. With the remembrance of almost every different cast of this opera since it was first brought out in England, we esti- mate that of the present season as the best. PERSIANI'S performance
of La Contessa is one of the most finished displays of the vocal art we ever heard ; and her acquaintance with the style of MOZART gives her, in this opera, a decided advantage over Gals' ; with whose Susanna. nevertheless, we are not fastidious enough to find fault. Gass' acted and sung with great spirit ; and, in general, contented herself with a strict adherence to the text of her author—the safest course for a singer of her school to adopt. TAMBURINI is a perfect representative of the Count : voice, manner, person, action—all are suited to the gay and gallant Almaviva ; and LABLACHE'S Figaro, bating his size, is a complete realization. The opera, in every respect, was more completely displayed to its auditors than on its first representation. To singers accustomed to deal with the meagre outline of a part which they are at liberty to fill tip as they please, the study of an opera of MOZART is a laborious and a novel task ; for every note of the original must be retained in the memory and expressed by the voice. The ever ready .stock of embellishments will avail nothing here, since no opportunities occur for their display. Hence, frequent practice alone can enable the performers to wear their unaccustomed dress easily and gracefully, and to throw all the freedom and vivacity into their respective characters of which they are susceptible. MO- ZART seems to have made some progress in attaining their affections ; and they now sing their parts as if they felt how much of beauty and grace they contain, and the perfect adaptation of every phrase to the sentiment it is intended to express. In the excellence of the per- formance let the band have, as it deserves, its full share of praise. It scarcely seemed the same orchestra that we have heard during the Beason in the same place. Instead of the noisy explosions to which alone we have been, of lute, accustomed, and for which almost any band of similar numbers would have equally sufficed, the individual and combined powers of the performers had legitimate and ample scope for display. And, having frequently had occasion to censure the conductor for the ill timed haste with which he urged on his toiling and reluctant troops through Mozaar's operas, we have much more pleasure in stating that nearly every piece in Le Naze di Figaro was taken in its true and proper time. No effect intended by the author was lost.
The state of the house before the curtain may be taken as an indi-
cation of the public taste. The pit was crowded in five minutes after the doors were opened : the boxes were nearly empty at the corn. rnencement of the opera, and, with the exception of the Queen and the Duke of CAMBRIDGE. wholly deserted by their usual tenants. The same indication of different taste in different classes of society—grow. ing purer as we descend—has appeared several times this season. For their several benefits the performers selected operas of MOZART or Cimettosa—because they were sure to fill that part of the house which to them was the most profitable. The subscribers have interdicted the reformance of these or any such compositions—preferring Lucia di Lammermoor and Parisina ; and to their wishes the lessee finds it con- venient to submit. The apes and hangers.on—the toadeaters and imitators of the aristocracy, including their butlers and lady's maids— swear by DONIZETTI and BELLINI, (for the present :) but go to the class who have the power to form and the independence to assert an opinion, and this sort of stuff is valued at its true worth.
The season is admitted, on all hands, to have been a most profitable one to the lessee. The Coronation helped to fill his treasury, no doubt ; but the total absence of musical attraction elsewhere, added to the combination of vocal talent which he had collected, and which was not rivalled in any European theatre, gave him almost the mono. poly of the market. It is understood that LAPORTE is to continue in possession of the management. Before dismissing the subject of opera music, we should state, that SPONTINI has visited this country with a view of endeavouring to esta- blish here a German Opera. To our musical readers the name and the works of SPONTINI must be known : but it may be necessary for the information of others to state, that, a Roman born, he has made almost every European capital his successive residence; that lie was the pupil of Padre MARTINI, and the hived of CIMAROSA ; that he has written for the theatres of Naples, Venice, Florence, Paris, and Berlin, in the two latter of which some of his operas are stock pieces ; that his experience as the manager of a theatre is not exceeded, scarcely equalled, by any man living : and, we may add of our own knowledge, that his views of his art are truly classical and comprehensive. We believe that nothing is finally. settled in relation to the subject of his visit to this country ; but our own opinion scarcely inclines to regard it as a safe speculation. The German opera, in order to secure the attention of the London public, must be produced in all its power and grandeur—half measures will utterly fail. It is, when thus dis- played, surpassingly powerful and grand ; and possesses a degree of at- tractive force to a musically.educated people, fiar beyond the opera of any other nation. The Italian opera of the present day, as exhibited at the Queen's Theatre in the Haymarket, consists of a few songs and choruses—the former deriving their sole charm from the talents and additions of the singers, the latter a few common chords or unison pas- sages badly executed ; the poet is degraded into a rhyming drudge ; the prominent instruments of the orchestra are the brazen ones, and noise, of necessity, usurps the place of music. This is any thing but an opera ; which, in its true form, presents a combined display of the arts. Any thing else is a show—a spectacle—a melodrama—a hubbub—but it is not an opera. If the English public could have the reality pre- sented to them—if, instead of being curtailed of its fair proportions,
the German opera were exhibited here with all the care in preparation and all the splendour in performance which attend its representation in . some of the German capitals, it might command success. The expe- riment would be is bold one ; but it must be tried thus, to give it even a chance of success. SPONTINI came here not only possessed of high reputation, but of powerful recommendations. We suspect the latter will avail him little. The aristocracy, whose diseased palates and sickly stomachs gorge at MOZART, will have little relish for WEBER, GLUCK, and SPOHR. If any appeal be made to the English on behalf of good music—no matter where or of what kind—it will be answered, if at all, by the middle classes. We need not add, that our own best wishes would attend the enterprise.
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