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620 THE LEADER, J*To. 379, Sa.ttxrdAT
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FAZIO. " Only the other day (wrote M. Fh...
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HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. Signor Belart, a ...
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RUBINSTEIN. At the Musical Union on Tues...
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MR. AND MRS. WEBB'S ENTERTAINMENT At the...
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THEATRICAL NOTES. saffifasrss^ & as •= ,...
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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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¦ - — 'Y . Madame Ristotil-^Camma. Comma...
is not . sufficiently , present ; so that we are scarcely prepared to conspire with Comma to poison him . At last Sinoro enters , with an unfortunate winged helmet and red cloak , afterwards exchanged for rich robes and an absolutely comic head of red hair . From that moment we find it Impossible to hate him with proper energy . Ristori in vain trembles ,, raves , and Expresses with that wonderful power of pantomime and physiognomical play which is peculiar to her , all the gradations of her passion . The idea of exaggeration is ever powerfully present . Indeed , the actress has an intuitive perception that this is the case , and gives a slightly maniacal interpretation to some of the passages . We follow her with interest ; but Sinoro neveririses to a greater tragic height than Bucklaw slain in the chamber of Lucy Ashton . His admission of crimeseven the horrid detail of tearingfout the heart of his victim—which comes as an episode in his passionate declaration of love , is , dramatically speaking , insufficient to constitute him . a villain . Signor Gleck , whom it is the fashion to speak of disdainfully with Signor Boccomini and the rest , but who plays with an energy and a taste that almost make us forget his ludricous costume—terminating , by the way , for some mysterious reason , in Phrygian breeches , and , we think , yellow leather boots—Signor Gleck , we say , in vain struggles to deserve
the summary chastisment preparing for him . We rather pity him as we see him with so much simplicity falling into the toils of a mad woman . The opportunity occurs of justifying Camma in accordance with the laws of the stage . Oh ! for Mamx > wb , artificer of horror , to have taken advantage of it ! Talese , the bard , friend of the murdered Sinato , beards the new tetrarch , endeavours to thwart his hopes , and in every way shows a contempt for his power . He is only mildly threatened with imprisonment , and allowed to stay and see the wedding ; whereas a cruel death , that might have aroused the passions of the audience , should at once have been inflicted on him . Then , indeed , should we have been prepared to behold Camma , under the excitement of the new crime perpetrated before her own eyes , lure the monster who had made her a widow to his fall . As it is , nothing but the overwhelming grace of the great actress prevents our sympathies departing from the Druidess , and we cannot help feeling that Sinoro is illused . It is with some remorse we see him borne off the
stagea remorse , it is true , forgotten in the splendid death-scene that follows ; but that recurs when we look back over the whole story . We scarcely remember to have seen a play that was dramatically so unsatisfactory . It is , moreover , remote from an English audience by its scene , its date , its characters , the ideas referred to—its whole moral atmosphere . Signor Montanelli seems to have been influenced to take up some Druidical notions that have acquired an arbitrary value in his eyes ; Here and there are transparent allusions to the condition of _ Italy under the Austrians ; but we should not like to suppose that Comma is the model proposed for the enslaved . However , speaking from a literary point of view , Camma is possessed of true merit . There may be too many figures drawn from" physical nature , but the style is warm arid . flowing- —altogether eloquent writes
in fact . In mere diction , * perhaps , Signor Montanblli is too finicking . He destriere , which Madame Bistort , fond of popular words , changes to corrier * ; and , instead of uomo , squeamishly in most Italian phrase has cavaliere , which , with great simplicity , Mr . Thomas Williams translates ' knight . * Yet Camma , we repeat , is a remarkable production , considering , that it was composed with the not very legitimate object of enabling one actress to display her peculiar powers . This is rather a humiliation for literature . A dramatist must take the company he writes for into account ; but his first duty is not to give any particular actor an opportunity of showing off . Indeed , by so doing , he encourages the fatal facility with which actors degenerate into mannerism . Variety of effect is in realify only possible with variety of character . An actor ' s first , and indeed only , business is to interpret .
620 The Leader, J*To. 379, Sa.Ttxrdat
620 THE LEADER , J * To . 379 , Sa . ttxrdAT
Fazio. " Only The Other Day (Wrote M. Fh...
FAZIO . " Only the other day ( wrote M . Fhilarete Chasi . es in reference to M . Frederic Sound ' s drama Clotilde ) our modern Parisians had no idea that the prose drama being represented before them in French dresses of the day , had its origin in a novel by Lasca , dramatized in the sixteenth century by an Englishman , and worked up again in the nineteenth century by Milmant under the title of Faxio . " The English audiences , who were moved to tears by Miss O'Neill in 1818 , who were shaken with terror and emotion by Miss Cushman when ahe first-appeared as Bianco , in London some years ago , who were struck with awe and pity and admiration by Miss Glynn's Biancain 1853 , and who now in this present summer are startled into unconventional manifestations of sympathy and compassion by the tragic grandeur and almost ideal beauty of Madame Ristori ' s impersonation—the English audiences , we say , and perhaps we may add the English criticsarc quite as much disposed to give Dean Milman full
, credit for the tragedy which we believe he wrote at college , as the French audiences to accept Frederic Soulie ' s Clotilde for an original drama . An Italian proverb assures us that a tragic work by a priest is rarely good and complete . It would be ungenerous to apply this proverb to Dr . Milman ' s composition , the imperfections of which belong rather to unripeness and to that propensity to rhetorical redundancy which * is commonly found in young dramatic writers who have steeped their pens in Elizabethan ink . It cannot be said that Giraldi Fazio is an interesting hero . In the first scene only he engages our interest and sympathy for a moment , as the poor alchemist , rich 'in the wealth of love . ' Even here , however , there is a feeble flirting fickleness about the fellow which makes us half angry with his wife for loving such a trifler , and from the moment when he is rescued from his studious poverty by theclieap and easy process of larceny not quite ' petty , lie becomes simttlv contemptible . As a lover he forsakes the noblest of women for Alda
a heartless courtesan , the play thing of his own idle vanity as much as of - fceMaVviperous fascinations . In the last scenes , indeed , after his condemnation to death , , he is almost a new manf He has gleams of courage , dignity , and nobleneeB , w )» ioh transform the vain , larcenous , fickle Fazio of the earlier scenes into a hero-worthy of . Stonca ' a love , and not unworthy of her jealous hate } but throughout the tragedy it is to Bianca that the supremacy of the scene belongs . And moat nobly does Madame Ristori assert this supremacy , not only in the strong situations , of the drama , b ^ t In those delicate and subtle transitions , those subsidences of emotion which distinguish the true artist from the conventional dauber . In , the course of the tragedy , Madame Ristoki traverses the whole scale of passion—rlove , hate , tenderness , jealousy , pity , terror , revenge , remorse , rapture ^ desolation— every chord is touched with the instinct and the impulse ot womanly sympathy and commanding genius . In her attitudes , there is at one moment An undulation and a flowing grace ; in the intonations of her voice , a sweet persuasion and a caressing tenderness j at another , a flashing desperation and a fateful scorn . . Take heed : wo are passionate $ our milk of lovo , ,. Doth turn to wormwood , and that's bitter drinking . What infinite sweetness In her tone , when , after she has brought the
tremendous charge against her husband , she learns that the disastrous sold is * . ««<» - to the State ! 8 1 B cont iscated • • . Ebbene Vivrempoveri ancora , eti perdono . Poveri , ma felici , e i nostri giorni ¦ . Scoweran come pria r apidi e lieti . When Fazio is torn from her— . ¦ r ¦ i Oh ! non , ancor l ' arresta No tu non dei morir !—she makes herself a shield between him and death . When Fazio is gone and th solitary prison cell and couch of straw are empty , how the utter loneline creeps over her sense and spirit I Madame Ristori does not represent the d sertion and the death of the heart in conventional starts and sobs but bv thl instinct which is the soul of the highest art , she lets you see the aeonv tor turing , convulsing , laying waste and blank the wbm wan face , and sweeDinw pallid brow , and trembling mouth , like a wind-harp . e s
Saran confuse nelT estremo aihplesso . Le nostre vite . . . ed io libera forse Prjina di te . . . We sometimes hear it said that Madame Ristori ' s propensity to the sculpturesque gives a certain formalism and sameness to her various impersonations and that many of her attitudes in Bianca are familiar to those who have seen her Medea . There is , no doubt , some ground for this criticism ; but the truth remains that no living actress ( we are no bigoted believers in the dead ) can transfix the senses and sway the emotions of an audience like Eistobl The
great tragedienne was , on this occasion , better supported than usual by the rest of the company . Signor Bellotti-Bon , an experienced actor of some standing in Italy , performed the single scene in which Bartoldo the Miser appears , with sufficient ability to confirm his continental reputation . Signor Vitahani is if not entirely satisfactory , at least a more than tolerable Fazio , and Madllel Ferroni , too cold , perhaps , and not quite , distinguished enough for a Florentine Marchesa of the fifteenth century , is not an unseductive Aldabdla , save that there is too much of the dove and too little of the snake in her composition . Fazio will certainly be the success of the present season of Madame Ristori ' s performances in London .
Her Majesty's Theatre. Signor Belart, A ...
HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE . Signor Belart , a Spanish light tenor , with a sweet , flexible , and elegant voice , not ill-trained nor ill-managed , made his first appearance at Her Majesty ' s Theatre , on Tuesday evening , in the Sonnambula , and obtained a positive success by the marked feeling and intelligence with which he sang and acted in the part of Elvino . Signor Belabt is a real acquisition to the company . Madame Alboni was the Rosina—and if not precisely Rosina , she was entirely Alboni ; and what more can be said to justify the delight and admiration of the audience ? She sang Ah ! non giunge as no one else can sing it in the world .
Rubinstein. At The Musical Union On Tues...
RUBINSTEIN . At the Musical Union on Tuesday last , the great Russian pianist played for the last time this season in England , but we have little doubt lie will be disposed to return to a country in which the most competent authorities are his warmest admirers . Rubinstein ( we do not know whether we ought to call him Monsieur or Herr ) is by birth a Russian , but as a musician he is essentially German , and at the fi rst glimpse of his head you are sure to exclaim " How like Beethoven ! " for it is almost a fac-simile on a reduced scale of that harmonious Titan . A terrible responsibility is such a likeness , but in this instance it is not unworthily sustained No pianist "nce ^ nnT has achieved at so early an age ( Rubinstein is not more than thirty ) so exceptional a reputation . At a bound he has placed himself m the foremost rank of the musical art . As a composer , we are not able to discuss h » » f » g » , £ . ™ iin < r to t . h * oninion nf those whose opinion is sincere and decisive , the wowes
, hi has already written indicate profound study and singularly rtpe MwngJJ ment , rather than the inventive and creative faculty ; a ™»^ ^ ^ J ^ S ! of the science rather than the possession of those gifts , which no amount ot stuay can bestow , and for which no degree of learning is a substitu te . But as an executant , we may honestly and emphatically pronounce Rubins tun the greatest living pianist . Liszt does not excel him in brilliancy , petHaps does not iqualhim in the perfect union of profound feeling and amazing ^ o ^ gjj strength and unaffected grace which , in all he touches , marks the hand of « c binstein . And to all his gifts and powers is added-the . ™ ™™ . g * rm of that unfeigned simplicity which , separates true genius from the counterfeit .
Mr. And Mrs. Webb's Entertainment At The...
MR . AND MRS . WEBB'S ENTERTAINMENT At the Dudley Gallery , Egyptian Hall , on Wednesday afternoon toit , wj and Mrs . wWappeareS ' under high patronage and with considerable succea n the entertainment which wo noticed some weeks since , when it was private y performed at Camden House , Kensington .
Theatrical Notes. Saffifasrss^ & As •= ,...
THEATRICAL NOTES . saffifasrss ^ & as = , ^ j ^ StJssjss bear promising names . Victims , the title of the comedy , suggests wr ™™ , mlt of se ? ious and sontlmentnl ( probably of feminine ) }» £ «¦* . ™ ' ' / os and Second Floor sqems to imply any amount of purely Buokstonoan aojr £ d »«« BatastronUes . Wo wish the worthy manager who has done so muon w the public heart a merry bumper on the 8 th . p g . Monduy l / B . andMrs . Charles Kean had their benefit at thePw *™» f ££ teA for tiight , when Richard II . was performed . That gorgeous « v » val jui » ° duisod . the last time next Monday ; and pn Wednesday' J *« ^ "J thjtio being of night rehearsal of this piece takes place on Tuesday—the tnoairo " Bourse closed to the public . . A „ ... on Mon-Mr . and Mrs . Barne * Williams again returnedtotho j ^^ ^ IoC 08 . lay night for a brief engagement . They merely played in thpir BtocK P
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 27, 1857, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27061857/page/20/
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