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Leader (1850-1860), 12th November 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page 1100, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      WEDNESDAY EVENING CONCERTS . The &ird of a series "of . weekly concerts , tinder this title , was given at Exeter Hall , last Wednesday . As the entertainments are professedly of a popular character , and the rates of admission . low , we had not expected to find that portion of the music which is of a higher class performed in the style in which it was given by the orchestra , wJiicn numbers about seventy performers , is conducted by Mr . Benedict , and is in every respect excellent . The execution of Mozart ' s Symphony in G minor might have pleased the most fastidious , but the audience generally were not fastidious ; _ and although the Svinnhonv and the piano-forte concerto of Beethoven m O

      minor , which , ' followed , were well received , and the latter warmly applauded , all enthusiasm was reserved for some weak songs in the second and '** miscellaneous" part . Mademoiselle Clauss played as she only can play ; the difficulties of the concerto ( and there are passages of immense diffioulty ) were surmounted with the finest ease ; the execution of the whole was masterly ; but it iB in a slow movement that the genius of Wilhelmine Clauss is felt , and in the beautiful " Largo" the delicate lingering touch , and a sort of airy tenderness peculiar to herself , were irresistibly enchanting . " Batti , batti , " " II mio tesoro , " and " Vedrai carino , " were very creditably sung by Miss Birch , Mr . Augustus Braham , and Miss B . Isaacs . " Hush , ye pretty warbling choir , " by Miss Alleyne , and the overture to Euryanthe , by the band , concluded the first part , when Mr . Benedict retired in favour of Herr Meyer Lutz , as conductor . A miscellaneous collection of songs , &c , followed . Mr .

      Augustus Braham sang " Oft in the stilly night , " with so much genuine taste , that he was encored ; lie substituted " The Bay of Biscay , " which was received with an Exeter-hall storm of applause . He possesses a remarkably powerful tenor voice , rich in quality , and extremely sweet in the upper notes . He sings without affectation , and with perfect ease , and was deservedly successful . The inarch from Le Prophete , vociferously encored ; songs by Miss Thirlwall , Miss Cicely Nott ,. and many others , with Mozart ' s overture , Clemenza di Tito , concluded the programme , which , although somewhat of a medley , was well suited to the audience , and very well executed .

      Untitled Article

      THE THEATEES IN PARIS . THE " FEERIE" AT THE PORTE ST . MARTIN . "When you go to take your place in the morning at the little pigeon-hole on the stairs in the entrance hall of the Porte St . Martin Theatre , and find a queue waiting there , as though the performance was going to commence ; and when , after much struggling , you reach the aforesaid pigeonhole , and on asking for astalle d ' orchestre , with a pleasant expression of ariticipative enjoyment , for that evening , are received with derisive laughter by the people you have pushed through , and told every place is gone for the next five days , you may be sure there is " unprecedented attraction ! " And so there is ; for the new fairy piece , Les Sept Merveilles du Monde , in twenty tableaux , by Messrs . d'JEnnery and Grange , has turned Paris mad .

      The fairy pieces at this bouse have always formed epoclis in the French dramatic world . The play-goers talk now of the gorgeous beauties of the JPeau d'Ane , and La Belle aux Cheveux d'Or , and La Chatte Blanche , and La JBiche au Bois ; but nothing has ever been done to compare , in elaborate splendour of mine en scene , with the present spectacle . The piece itself is very bad ; and playing from seven until after midnight singularly wearisome , looking to the story ; but the groupings , the effects , and , above all , tho singularly beautiful costumes and travestisscmenlsnwyen Age , angelic , demoniacal , lunar , mythological , animal , vegetable , and . mechanical—keep the axidience fixed in their placeB until the final descent of the curtain .

      The plot is commonplace enough , and not of the newest . Prince Fortunio has fallen in love with a sylph , named Miranda , who is the eighth wonder of the world . To endow her with mortal attributes ho must subdue the othor seven : these are the Temple of Diana , the Pyramids of Egypt , the Temple of Jupiter , tho Hanging Gardens of Babylon , the Lighthouse of Alexandria , tho CoIoshur of Rhodes , and tlie Mausoloum ; nnd each is represented by a spirit . There is of course an opposing influ - ence , a stupid rival , a silly princess , and a good genius ; and the plots and counterplots of all these characters form the action , about winch there must of necessity bo a certain sameness in each venture ; but it must bo regarded as a mere vehicle for the effects , and nothing more . Of these tho most striking is tho plague of ilies , in Egypt , which this Wonder calls up to deter the Prince from Ins object . An enormous number of children . appear in every conceivable entomological dress—beotloH , drngonflien , wasps , moths , and bluo-bottles—and produce a strange effect by always keeping their backs to the audience , as we are familiar with them pinned

      out in a collection . A fight between a luigo Innnble-bec , in a , suit of flno hairy fabric , like a guardsman ' s bearskin , and a daddy-long-legs , who , being on stilts , takes the stage- in three strides , is admirabl y managed ! Then there is alflo a congress of the principal lighthouses of the world , to assist tho Phare d'Alexnndrio . Their dresses are most artistically marine , and each carries a model of the lighthouse represented as a stall ' , with the lights shining in the lantern ; the only dark one being the Lantern of T ) iogones at St . Cloud , played by Colhron , who is capitally dressed out with galette , niamroons , wiW /'/ W-, gouff ' , and other popular productions of the Ht . Cloud fete days . A dialogue between the lighthouses of Calais and Dover is happily introduced . Jn the Temple of Jupiter , tho godn are introduced in extreme poverty , nobody now believing in them , and Love being the only one who retains liis position . lie is a

      " fast" Cupid , speaking Lorotto slang ; and when tho Prinoe arrives , and Jupitor trios to repulse- him , Love lights bis worn-out thunderbolt with his cigar ; but a miserable Hquib without , a bang is all the rosult . The ucone of hell , to which Diana drives tho intruders from the moon , is a very grand " BOt ; " and a wild dance of girl-furies is one of the best ballet affairs that lia » been booh buico the Pas das Poupiards . TJio last ttiblouu

      represents the spirits of the Seven Wonders flying in the air , with very little support , by means of some fine steel mechanism , such as the wizards used in the ethereal suspension , and the hippodrome people in the car of Industry and the Arts . The effect is excellent . The most fabulous sums are reported to have been expended on the getting up of the piece ; but its vogue Witt repay any outlay .. No theatre m England has shown such rich costumes except the Lyceum , at which house , also , the scenery is superior ; for there is nothing in the Sept Merveilles that can standby the side of William Beverley ' s masterpieces , in the way of painting and setting . The transformations , too , are clumsily managed , and all evidentl y borrowed from our pantomimes , except one , where all the living bridal party are changed into chairs , toilet table , clocks , and chiffoniers , to furnish a bare room . The decep - tion here is complete , and most elaborate .

      The best character in the piece is Prince Broccoli , the stupid rival , admirably played by Gil-Perez , whose , fife . G-audens , in the Dame aux Camdlias , may yet be in the recollection of some of our readers . Beyond this , noneof the parts are of much importance , and most of / them might even be rendered less prominent with advantage . The p iece , however , is a great Success : and when , in addition to the attractions noticed , we may see a grand dancing festival in the Babylonian Gardens ; a banquet of husbands and wives of every nation in the world in the Mausoleum ; a storm at sea , with the destruction of the mighty Colossus of Rhodes $ a review of the

      rival armies of Greeks and Trojans , represented by nearly two hundred infants ; a scene in the interior of the moon , with a grand noteeting of " lunatics ; " and a general mMie of lights , flowers , fountains , Spangles , legs , and all manner of other attractions , it may readily be imagined that the rush for places is not overstated . The Sept Merveilles is recommended to " travellers on the continent , " if it be only to see how far lavish outlay , ingenious disposition of groups and properties , and faultless taste in colour , costume , and detau , can be carried . The greatest wonder of all is , however , that the Parisian dramatists could not furnish a piece of proportionate excellence . Bbown .

      Untitled Article

      PENCIL NOTES . Although the election of John Everett Millais as an Associate of the Academy does not affect our opinion of his powers ( that was avowed , when to see genius in his pictures was to incur the scorn of all who looked through Hoyal Academy spectacles ) , we feel an interest in this act which forbids our silence on the occasion . " The act , precisely as it is honourable to the lioyal Academy , confers honour on Millais . Undoubtedly so ; and he , who has __ manfully stood his ground against severer criticism , than has crushed numbers of promising men before him , will feel the honour , we are sure . We hope our readers , both those who hold with us in opinion concerning Millais , ancl those who do not , will give us credit for a better motive than the mere feeling of triumph , when we say , that this choice of the Royal Academy has afforded us real delight .

      Mr . Jennings , the printseller , of Cheapside , is seldom without a good picture to make his gallery worth a visit . Now it is a Boddington , and now a Pyne . 3 ? or some weeks there was the best sunset over a corn field , by the best of the Williamses , that we ever saw from that accomplished hand . A stone cabin , dropped into a perfect nest of foliage , is there still . The picture is by Green , one of the New Water Colour Society men , and one of the ablest , though he does not exhibit half enough . A card from Mr . Jennings , bearing the name of Landseer , took us to Cheapside the other day , and we there saw two finished crayon drawings executed with inimitable force and facility . They are called " Free Trade" and " Protection , " the one representing a well-fed drayhorse , the other a beaten racer . In tlie last wobave , as groom and jockey , Lord Derby and Mr . Disraeli . But the joke ia too feeble to stand against so much art as Landaeer brings to bear upon it . He will find a lighter style than that " come handier , " if lie be desirous of emulating

      Gilray . There is also at Jennings ' s a picture by Le Jeune , one of his most ambitious subjects , tho " Parable of tho Liliea . " It was in the ^ ° y * Academy , last season , or the last but one . Tho lilies are obvious . We are not impressed with any other fact about the work , except that it is painted with the mild prettiness for which Le Jeuno it ) so extensively unknown . The National Gallery re-opens with an important change in tlie disposition of tho pictures , which are now brought to an angle suiting tlie eye , and , in effect , into better lights . Tho idea is taken from tlie new arrangement of paintings at tho Louvre . Wo kave not yet-had time to go and judge of the result , but wo speak from good report .

      Henry Cole has published his observations on the expediency of carrying out the proposals of the Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 , for the promotion , rather by tho public themselves than by Government , of institutions of science and art . We will , notice these observations nioro fully next week . * - *>'

      Untitled Article

      1 * II O T O G It A P If Y . [ hkuono autioivk . | . NYim -iK , latterly t / he fellow-labourer of Daguorro , is fairly to bo credit *** with the practical invention , of holography , or that branch of it at loiist which takes its name from the better known of tho Iwoexpcrimeritali" ™ the Daguerreotype— -called the " dry process , " to distinguish it Irani tno proeens of solutions , discovered by l \> x Talbot . Niopeo gave to Jum invention the nanio of . HvluH / rapIiy , a name retained by us as preloriiDio i that which wo are accustomed to \ iem '—Ph < do () raphj / . Boforo tlw unw of Ni 6 * pc « many important experiments had boon made oh the action the violet rays on the salts of silver , the details of which oxnonmonto wm be found in ituni ' H volume— an indispensable guide to Mio W &K f , student of heliography . In the present paper wo give a f ^ xJK progressive Boriott of discoveries , and of tho art developed by INiopuu , jDaguorro , and Talbot in recent tunes .

      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 12, 1853, page 1100, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2012/page/20/