THE THEATRES.
Ma. BALES does business on a grand scale. In one quarter it is re- ported that he is to receive 4501. for the copyright of his opera of The Bohemian Girl; in another, that the work is instantly to be brought on the stage in Paris, to be revived there when extinct here. In all this good fortune, if true, how small a share has merit The crowd drawn on Monday by the first representation of the opera surpassed any thing we have witnessed since the palmy days of MALI- BRAN in the Sonnambula and Maid of Artois; a strong evidence of the correctness of the managerial theory of attraction : and yet, amidst the tumult and commotion of this numerous auditory, no applause, we dare swear, greeted the work as a genuine novelty—as a thing to convey the slightest impulse to dramatic music either at home or abroad. The opera now set afloat is but a fresh specimen of one of those managerial efforts of combination, which, brought to bear on some approved subject, ride triumphantly on popular favour for a brief season, and then quietly sail away to the realms of everlasting oblivion. We have long de- plored, as a great evil in our theatrical system, the union of music with expensive pageantry, scenery, and decoration, as depraving the public taste and lowering the genuine natural appeals of the art. The risk attending any speculation in opera, associated with such varieties of ex- pense, amounts to the prohibition of dramatic composition from any but the few privileged hands. That the paucity of composers is one great source of the monotony of the musical drama, does not concern the manager ; who reasons thus—" Balfe has succeeded once; he may again ; but to make sure work, let him imitate that in which he has before been successful. He knows the taste of the town—he knows what will tell. The dramatic part of an opera must not outrage decorum by the novelty of its action or incident : a piece already tasted by the public in some other form will best suit the purpose. At the commencement of each act, the scene-painters will be responsible for the usual exclamations of surprise on view of their mountain-passes, distant convents, and moon- lit lakes ; the ballet-master will bring his nimble troops to the rescue in any halt of the action or dialogue ; the dress-makers shall produce all the colours of the rainbow the foot-lights shall be judiciously managed ; and a carpet laid down before the third act will complete the triumph of the opera." Mechanical joint-stock arrangements such as these have superseded that old form of opera in which a musician, having ideas to express, vented them simply and naturally. And so wedded is Mr. Burns, in his theory of success, to expensive accessories, that we really believe he would not give a straw for any music that did not cost more to bring out than all Wozanes operas put together. Meanwhile, what is the result ? A dazzling but vacant entertainment, in which all that is seen and heard is but the renewal of half-forgotten scenes and dramatic conventions, neither touching the heart nor awakening the imagination. The story of The Bohemian Girl is founded on FANNY ELLSLER'S ballet of The Gipsy; but the scene is transposed from Scotland to Austria. We have here melodrama on stilts ; and though we had not served an apprenticeship at the Adelphi in pieces where "twelve years are supposed to elapse before the commencement of the second act," we should never be at a loss to see a tolerable way beforehand in this, which is a simple case of kidnapping, as prosaic and commonplace as ever fell under the head of Accidents and Offences."
The curtain rises on the chateau of Count Arnheim, (BonEANI,) situ- ated on a wild and rocky scene on the Danube. A festival is preparing in honour of the Emperor of Austria, which gives occasion to the open- ing solo and chorus. The stage cleared, Thaddeus, (HARRISON,) a y oung exiled Pole, makes his appearance ; and having sung a sentimental song, joins some gipsies to escape Austrian pursuit. A screaming and firing of pistols now attract attention ; and soon we learn that the Count's child Arline has been saved from the attack of an infuriated stag by the gipsy Thaddeus. The Count invites him to dinner ; but on his demur- ring to the health of the Emperor of Austria, there is a general row. Thaddeus makes his escape ; but Devilshoof, (SaatErrosr,) indignant at the usage of his comrade, seizes the Count's child, carries her up the rocks, cuts down a rustic bridge, fires a pistol, and is lost in inaccessible fastnesses. In this state of things, the Count becomes devotional ; he and his attendants kneel down, and there is a general preghiera. In the second act, Arline, (Miss RA.INFORTIL) now grown a 3 oung.womanly gipsy, appears as the beloved of Thaddeus. Their affection is however crossed by the jealousy of the Gipsy Queen (Miss BEors). She herself loves Thaddeus, and contrives to affix a charge of robbery on his bride ; who is brought before the Count for trial, and discovered to be his daughter, by the novel accident of a mark on the arm. The last act discovers her in a brilliantly, lighted saloon and in ball-dress, prepared for the usual animated finale. Her gipsy lover returns ; and it appears 1 doubtful what course events will take ; when, Thaddeus declaring him- self a gentleman born, there is no impediment to their nuptials. The Gipsy Queen is shot, by mistake, in the same apartment ; and there is a very lively and rapturous termination. It is not one of the least misfortunes of this melodramatic affair, that the serious parts create mirth and the mirthful seriousness. There is neither romantic, legendary, nor domestic interest about it ; and the deficiency of nature in the characters assorts in some measure with the want of meaning in the music. Mr. BALFE has a total want of all the profounder qualities of the musician, and is an incorrigible imitator in a bad school. He is perpetually on the rack for effect, with rarely any ideas beyond dance and quadrille subjects. His instrumentation displays no rich or beautiful effects : it is at once thin and noisy. The violins have passages of immense rapidity, which make them often go very ill to- gether; the trumpets, drums, and little bells, are almost in the same in- cessant activity. A din such as is rarely heard is theconsequence. Baum sometimes writes a chorus with success; of which there is an instance here and there in this opera. His slow airs are rather collections of cadences and endings than real melodies : there is no sustained character about them ; their main interest depends-on some popular turn in the burden. Even in modulation this composer has little variety : the same sequences of sevenths, the same interrupted resolutions, continually meet the ear. He should carry his works to Italy or France, where they would be better appreciated, as belonging to the school of artificial effect, than they are in England beyond the walls of Drury Lane.
The singing of Miss RAINFORTH was good ; though the part required a bolder performer, with more variety of passage and audacity of roulade. BORRANI sang with a hard quality of voice, in the style of Thansuansi, and often with a faulty intonation. He is not calculated either for a first-rate actor or singer ; his speaking voice being par- ticularly unfortunate. HARRISON has a delicate and beautiful tenor, and would be capable of great things if he restrained his voice within its due limits. The chief faults of his performance at present arise from want of judgment in the management of his resources. The chorus was correct and effective ; and, in all that concerns the mise en scene, the opera was most splendid.
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