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282 THE LE A DEB. [Sati^
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WHITE MAGIC. On Wednesday Signor Biletta...
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ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. In our Postscript, ...
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THE MUSICAL INSTITUTE. To consolidate th...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Albert Smith On Mont Blanc. "When Madame...
var iety of these effects ' occurring amidst scenes so monotonous : herewas a danger I apprehended , and I was glad to see Beverley had so skilfully aV much for the dioramic part . The - " guide , p hilosopher , and friend " whom we usually find expounding the text of a diorama , is m ninety-nine cases a stupendous and overpowering bore , but in the hundredth case ne is Albert Smith , and sums up in himself all , the entertainment missing from the ninety-nine ! : His- illustrations of the Ascent of Mont JBlanc & ve of unflagging amusement . He sings , he plays on the piano , on the horn , on the hurdy-gurdy , on the flageolette—he sketches absurd characters , he mimics all voices , he paints in a word or an accent a national peculiarity , —he never stops , he rushes on like a locomotive of fun ^—
"V ^ ith a yup , yup , yup , tra la la la laand the sides of the audience ache with Homeric laughter ! So much sentiment and so much fun—so much poetry of nature and so much laughter you cannot elsewhere crowd into two hours : Avis aux amateurs !
282 The Le A Deb. [Sati^
282 THE LE A DEB . [ Sati ^
White Magic. On Wednesday Signor Biletta...
WHITE MAGIC . On Wednesday Signor Biletta ' s long-talked of comic Opera , White Magic , was produced at the Haymarket . The libretto is as nonsensical as English comic operas claim the privilege to be , without , however , their customary dulness ; the jokes are of an extremely feeble and comic-opera style ( such as " then it appeared you disappeared , " which I do not regard as a brilliant flash ); and the ballads have the poetry of opera balladsthat is to say , the heroine is told she is as " bright as the rose" and as " pure as the lily , " her eye has " priceless gems within it , " while " Her heart is heaven—ah , who shall win it ? O ' er sea and land , o ' er hills and valleys , Her beauty holds its matchless reign . O ! why was Fate unkindly ! * O ! how < x > uld folly blindly . Divide us with its idle malice ?" The " poet" is anonymous ; if he is wise he will studiously remain so . He will pant for obscurity , and deathless unrenown ! Happily , the music makes amends . It is light , facile , flowing , gay , and fresh . Although an Italian , Signor Biletta has skilfully avoided the old familiar phrases of the modern Italian school—he has avoided even their languid rhythms and Bellini sweetnesses ; the school he- belongs to is rather that of Auber , from whom he has caught something of the dancing rhythm and piquant orchestral effects , not to mention an occasional melodic reminiscence . Although not rich in melodic ideas , the writing is entitled to the rare praise of originality . By which I mean , that although the ideas themselves may not always be new , yet they are re-created in his new combinations , and bear the character of having flowed spontaneously from him : elles coulent de source ! There are some passages where the writing is wide of the mark , and one unhappy attempt at a Balfe Ballad—* ' You are bright as the rose that looks tip to the sun ;" the failure of which will , I hope , warn Signor Biletta off that clap-trap and sickly ground ; for he is capable of writing very charming music , such as will create a more lasting reputation than all the " Hearts bowed down with weight of woes" that ever " Dreamt in marble halls . " But with these trifling exceptions , the opera went delightfully — the music having life and gaiety in its pleasant flow . Its success was genuine . I hope it will inaugurate a series of successes . We are sadly in want of new operas , and do not want grand operas . On the whole , the execution was excellent . Louisa Pyne was more charming than ever , the little chubby dodu syren that she is ! Her singing was joyous and gracefully piquant , and would have saved any music . Signor Biletta had fitted her to perfection , and she returned him the compliment by singing his music faultlessly . ' Nothing could be more elegant than her singing of the elegant romance , " O was I then awake or dreaming P" if she nad not marred one passage by the introduction of a commonplace cadence—an introduction inexcusable in such a mistress of jioriture ! Her sister played the part of a soubrettc with some drollery . Weiss sang a good part with care and effect , though occasionally bawling , and singing his tenderness , like a etentor , at the pit , instead of singing it in Louisa ' s ear ! As for Mr . Harrison—the true British tenor—lie sang with his throat , his nose , and his calves , and was much applauded by a delicately discriminating part of the audience . The opera succeeded although ho Bang in it . Vivian .
Royal Italian Opera. In Our Postscript, ...
ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA . In our Postscript , last week , we were able to announce the opening of the [ Royal Italian Opeba , for its sixth season , on Tuesday , the 23 rd instant . Passers-by inform me that the favoured , if not strictly fashionable , locality of Bow-street begins ( to pass from the penny-a-liner to Bunn ) to " throw off its winter garb of woo , " and ( to return to the penny-a-liner ) to " wear an unusually animated appearance . " In my own substantial language , I Bhould sav that Bow-street is already preparing to escape from the leU lurnvo
monopoly of imperious " Peelers" and dreary prison-van s , a . glimpse of the interior , through the grand entrance , brought back to mo a world of delightful recollections . Ali , ! it must bo cpnfessod that ; at the end of July one conceives the possibility of living oven without the Opera ; but in March ! porliaps wo think the Opera one of the few things worth living for . And lo J lioro we are at the sixth season . Woll , the directors fnothW like a majestic plural ) have acted with a wise liberality in not do
reposing on the success of last year— -a success , it may remomoorcu , more than commensurate with the satisfaction of the nudioncos ; for many and freauent and grave wore the contretemps that beset the direction , anU disappointed the public , last yoar . Therefore , I say , that not to have relied on the great success of last yoar , but to have strengthened and enlarged the resources of attraction , is a policy as wise as it is liberal , and it will assuredly have its reward . This yoar ' s programme has an air ot
quiet certainty and confidence about it which is better than a budget of promises . ; ¦ . ' v / :: ' : ¦ ' . . - '¦'¦ ' ; . ' v ¦ ;/ ¦ - / ' .. ' - •' : ¦ '¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦' - ¦/ - . Costa ' s glorious band , modified only by accessions ; the choral forces increased an efficiency ( there was a little falling off in that quarter last Jrear ) ; Mario ( we trust in renewed voice ) j Grisi , TamberUk , and oaded with the spoils of Russia and with imperial honours ; Viardot and Castellan not forgotten . ; yagliafico , always a thorough artist j and others if not named here , not less remembered ; with our old friend Marini again , and a batch of new tenors , such as Anders , the Vienna iProphe'te and Giieymard , the latest successor to Dtipretf , of Pa " ris * and a soprano * or two not unknown to continental fame ; and a new contralto , has the courage to take the place of Alboni and of Angri ( what can we saymore ?); and the ballet recruited in its personnel , and restored to some prominence , ( but onl y * we trust , as a divertissement , ) " is not this a dainty dish to set before a king . ?"
Weber ' s Oberon , duoe Costa Spohr ' s Faust , Rossini ' s Comte Ory , of delicious memory , and last , not least , iPietro II'Grande , by the immortal Jullien , which I believe , and predict , will startle into admiration the most sceptical , for it will , I feel sure , contain melody , skill , esprit , originality , colour , grace , sustained bat not overlaid by science . These are tempting " features" for a programme . Meanwhile let us wish a hearty and genuine success to the Royal Italian Opera and to all whom it may concern ! Au revoir ! -kE Chat-Httant .
The Musical Institute. To Consolidate Th...
THE MUSICAL INSTITUTE . To consolidate the musical population by a central society , to afford tie means of " inter-communication" between the professors of the art , to collect the existing knowledge on the subject , existing works , specimens of musical instruments , especially of those which are obsolete , to furnish a new starting point whence future knowledge may proceed—such are the objects of the Musical Institute ; and the address with which Mr . John Hullah opened its first evening meeting , sets it going in a spirit worthy of the most generous art , and with a clearness calculated to promote its objects in the highest degree . *
„ . , He grapples at the outset with the phantom of jealousy , which makes He grapples at the outset with the phantom of jealousy , which makes artists " rivals to the vulgar eye , " while they are " colleagues in the sight of the philosopher : " c « For we find , on reference to the history of human progress—shall I not say , rather , of human endeavour—that those who have by their genius and their labour contributed to the well-being or the delight of their fellows , have appeared , not single and at moderate intervals , l > ut in ' glorious companies' and- ' goodly fellowships , ' though occasionally a long silence may have separated the death-song of one generation from the lispings of another . * * * * . . „ ; .,.. ¦' -. otherwiseif did hot
" Now we know ( and it would be difficult to believe , we know ) that among the illustrious persons whose happiness it has heen to appear together on the stuge of life at the epochs to which I have severally alluded , —we know , I say , that the most constant interchange of thought , the most unceasing intercommunion of knowledge , prevaaed . Jealousies or misunderstandings doubtless have done their work in Florence or in Rome , under a Lorenzo or a Leo , as it is to be feared they will continue to do their work in all places , and under all circumstances , to the end of time . Art is as little likely to want its Cellini ( in one vocation at least ) as Literature its Aretino . But it is certain , I repeat—and the memoirs of the time abound in evidence of the fact—that the most frank and cordial intercourse was matter of daily life among—nay , that the most loyal friendships united together—the great majority of the contemporaries to whom 1 liave alluded . Can it he doubted for an instant that this intercourse , and that these of those
friendships , were among the chief causes of the intellectual vigour wonderful epochs ? Can it be doubted that the greatest , not less than the least among those prodigious generations , was the greater for them ? Is it not rather certain that this intercourse , and that these friendships were among the most active ot tiie means to which we owe those mighty works , whose memory can only pcnsii w the civilization of which they are at once an expression and a cause . Now , save the casual opportunities of " parties , " or mutual visitines , musicians have no facilities for meeting ; while the immense extent o tnc metropolis divides them by the intervention of multitudes enougi w people a province . We have already described how the Musical ^'" T will supply the central ground , by means of a reading-room , an u ru evening meetings ; while the library and the museum will place ™ * ° ™ and instruments of the past within reach of all . How many a student will rejoice to lind Ins labours of research thus brought to a locus ; u ^ tv > o « tt nmni < n " iwvi « fnrmf > r" mnv nnw hfifiOmo a student ! i- UG tlCgl ^ ot
which a knowledge of the past and the future suffer by the want sue appliances can bo known only to those who have laboured _ to colieci bu scientific facts ; but a few instances will illustrate it . Mr . Hullah , bmw learned in his art , does not know of any collection of the entiro wori « not even of those printed—by Clementi , who did so much to Drink pianoforte to perfection . An instrument essential to tho perl ormaiii . c , Beethoven ' s Symphony in C minor , the contrafagotto , is unknown , » n " Jcd part allotted to that instrument is now performed by " an en § T , tian the ophicleido ; another instrument , essential to tho works or ^ " of Bach , tho oboo d ' amoro , has recently rewarded the search ot a memuu tho Institute . As to tho future : , ^ .. ,. / . ., •»«¦ ir , 1 i ,, t . t 1 !„ , ! J . « lnnon ilrtW tl » G SOmCW " of Hullah would hlad to learn how the soi
" Some us , " as Mr . Bays , " o g ^ funtttHtic forms of our boAved stringed instruments originated ; and wfty , ^^ shape and tho bulk of most other instruments have experienced sucn v * . ^ sklorablo changes , theirs should liavo remained essentially the *«»<>• q Ljthoso but difficult tobclipvo , that those strange approximations to the letter ^ do | jcojlo > very odd corners ,-which preHont themselves to our notice in a Violin or ^ ^ ^ may bo indisponsablo to its power or sweetness ; but ^ I am not ftWft ™ o otiicr . evor boon shown that they Imvc wiy connexion with either the one or ^ . j-of " Is thoro any subject in tho whole range of Scionco in which ala *&? mB persons might bo supposed to bo interested , than tho construction , ot u » the Voico ? And yet I verily believe—so violently havo mufl ^ c ^ tneor ^^ ^ Musical Institute of London—Inaugural Address , Saturday , February ; By Jolin Hullah , Frosidont . Published by Mr . Parker .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 20, 1852, page 22, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20031852/page/22/
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