it4r it4ratr9.
Two things gave a special and intrinsic interest to the performance at Her Majesty's Theatre last Saturday, independently of the pomp and circumstance attending it as one of the "festival entertainments" com- manded by the Queen for the gratification of her royal and illustrious guests It was the debut of Piccolomini in a new part—Amine in the Sessnambula, and Giuglini's first appearance in this country as Elvin°. bleenloraini's performance, both in its strong and in its weak points, was very much what might have been expected. She looked the little coun- try maiden charmingly ; and her eimple tenderness towards her lover, spiced with a touch of rustic coquetry, quite innocent but sufficient to move his Moody temper, was as prettily expressed as by any of her precursors. Her subsequent distress was sweetly but somewhat feebly and superfici- ally painted. It was not the deep despair, quiet and resigned, but utterly desolate, which wrung the heart of every spectator when Jenny Lind was in the stage. Her singing, too, had as usual its forte and its foible. The
n ude., originally written for Pasta, the greatest artiste of her time, is not only highly impassioned but of extraordinary difficulty ; flights to the top of the scale, rapid divisions, and chromatic runs, being largely employed to speak the inarticulate language of violent emotion. Where feeling is expressed by sweet, simple phrases of melody, Mademoiselle Piceolommi was touching and pathetic ; but her singing, like her acting, lacked in- tensity. For this reason, her two great airs failed to produce 'effect. The
Come per me sereno," in the opening scene, and the second, "A]r, non giunge," which forms the finale, both derive their strong expression from the singer's powers of execution. But Piceolomini either avoided the digeulties altogether, or accomplished them incompletely ; so that, the means being wanting, the expression was wanting also, and the audience =mined unmoved.
Giuglini was far more successful. Ile brought out the jealous crotchety character of Elvino very cleverly, and sang the music more as it was originally sung by Rubini than by any of that great artist's sue-
Giuglini has the highest-pitched voice of any of our present teners. Tamberlik was famous for his high notes, but they, piercing and strident, were available only for great effects ; while Giuglini's, like Rabini's, are light, imft, and flexible, so that he gives Bellini's text with- out effort and with all its original brilliancy. His reception was as warm as if there had been no array of royalty and grandeur in the house.
Ft was supposed that after these "festival entertainments," Her Ma- jesty's Theatre would close till the regular season. But the cheap pet- formances are resumed, and, to all appearance, will fill up the whole or the greatest part of the intermediate time. Balfe's Bohemian Girl, under its Italian title /a Zingara has been put in rehearsal, with Piccolomini, Spezia, and Giuglini ; and if successful, its run of course will not be cut short.
After more than one rumour of his death, and more than one hope of recovery, the great Lablache has gone at last ; he died at Naples on Saturday. The career of Lablache was one of unbroken success. The son of a French refugee, he was born at Naples, in 1794 ; educated at the Oonaervatorio, and brought out at eighteen as a pure comic singer—the " buffo " of the Italian stage, seldom seen in London. But he soon de- veloped his capacity for that general range of dramatic power which is demanded by the prime, basso • and from the Father of Paer's Agnew to II Dottore Plulcamara, from basso; or Marino Faliero to Geronimo or II Dotter Bartolo, he was among the greatest singers the Italian stage has known. Others have excelled him in brilliancy or in delicate variety of expression ; but in vastness of voice, truth of tune and expression, and depth of feeling, he was not to be excelled. Perhaps his greatest triumph was the imagination and power with which he brought out the tragic force of the buffo Podesta in La Gaza Ladra. His bonhomie made him the friend and favourite of the audience ; and the unconcealed decline in which the great voice stiffened under the iron hand of time was watched with universal regret. Lablache's private character has been -worthy of his artistic renown, and he haA always been welcomed in the best London and Parisian society.
PARISIAN TrIEATRIcALs.
M. Scribe is again in the field with a new comedy, entitled Fen Lionel; as qui vier& rerra. The person who has become the late M. Lionel is a young gentleman who has survived his own suicide. To speak less paradoxically he has thrown himself into the water in a state of mental depression, but being saved by a fisherman, refrains alike from repeating the experiment and from acknowledging his own existmme. Under a false name, he looks on the consequences of his decease, and till near the end of the play is checked from preventing a world of mischief by the fear of being nicknamed " Feu Lionel." In the composition of this work M. Scribe has been assisted by M. Potroy.
MM. Anicet Bourgeois and Dennery have furnished the Gait6 with a new piece, in which a tale of somewhat commonplace vengeance is relieved by a situation decidedly novel and ingenious. One of two Calabrian brothers is a priest ; the other is falsely accused of' a murder. The real assassin confesses his guilt to the priest, who is thus not only convinced of his brother's innocence, but is armed with the means of saving his life. But the duties of the confessional are more solemn than 'three springing from family ties, and the priest must therefore see his brother die guiltless, rather than violate the obligations of the sacerdotal office. A fighting gentleman, who kills the assassin in a duel, cuts this intricate Gordian knot at the same blow. So little are the rules of the eonfes.sional based on the maxim "Dc raortuis nil nisi bonum,” that the death of the confessed culprit Unlocks the lips of the confessor, Of course the priest in this story loses no time in exercising his privilege. The title of the piece is now Les Fiancés d' Albano, but it has been an- nounced under other names, and it appears that the true one isLes Secrets de its Confession.
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