THE REHEARSAL.
WE attended the rehearsal of DONIZETTI'S opera, L'Esule di Ro- ma, yesterday; and we may fairly congratulate Mr. MASON OR his debit as a manager. His band is complete thoughout—every man is a player, and not a dummy. The cast of the opera em- braced Madame DE MERIC, and Signori WINTER, MARIANI, CALVERT, and GALLI. The lady is a delightful singer; her organ clear, melodious, and of sufficient power; her style pure, and well cultivated; and her intonation good. Such a singer LAPORTE would have announced with a flourish of trumpets; but Mr. MASON has chosen to let the talents of all his performers speak for themselves, and thus to impose upon English critics and the English public the task of thinking and judging for themselves. It is not unlikely that some artists, whose names have not been puffed in our daily papers previous to their appearance here, may be, on that account, undervalued be that as it will, we shall speak of them as they are. WINTER (though German by name) is a Neapolitan : his voice is a tenor, of extensive compass, considerable sweetness and power; his upper A flat filled the house. He is a sound, good singer—the very reverse of DAVID: no unmeaning frippery, no incessant alternation of pp: and Jr, but the legitimate and pure style of an accomplished artist. reminds us somewhat of CURIONI, but Lis: intonation_ is more. certain. CALY.RIU is also a tenor, but of very inferior rank: his voice is weak and reedy, and his capabilities as a singer are small. We make the latter remark with some reser- vation, having only heard him at a rehearsal; but any thing mom than a second-rate it is impossible he should be : in a word, he is another TORRI. MARTANI's voice is a legitimate bass, of great power and good tone : as a singer, he will rank considerably be- hind ZuenELLI, and before SANTINI—he has neither the exqui- site finish and extraordinary facility of the former, nor the con- summate vulgarity of the latter. GALLI has been heard here before ; and therefore it is only necessary to say that he is not the
GALL!.
The opera is but a very second-rate composition, or rather com- pilation: there is hardly a new idea throughout. We were not disappointed in this respect, for we did not expect one. There is a terzetto in the first act, which was finely sung by Madame DE MERIC, WINTER, and MA.RIANT ; but the number of concerted pieces (duets excepted) is small, and their character common place.
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