On this page

• Text (1)

  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.

  • 

    gg6 The-Saturday Analyst and Leader. [Oc...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Record Of The Week. Home And Coloxial. T...

    columns , and two critiques to it . The Post has copied out into its notice the whole argument from the excellent book of words issued by the publishers of the music , Messrs . Cramer and Beale , and other papers have followed suit . We simply advert to these facts as demonstrative of theunexampled success achieved by an English opera , by an English composer , with an English subject ; and to make manifest the non-necessity there is for us to repeat not a twice but twenty times told tale . Nor is it necessary to discusss the merits of theartistes towhom the leading parts are alloted . Their well-known names are a sufficient guarantee for the excellence of any performance in which they constitute the cast . The only circumstance demanding special notice is that Madame Lemmens Sherrington in her new character of an actress has shown that her histrionic powers are eqtial to her well-known qualifications a s . a smger ,

    the very highest praise that any artiste could aspire to . Mr- Parkinson and Mr . Tatey—respectively known , the former as prano lenore of the Eastern Opera House ; the latter through the medium of the concertroom and the oratorios- —have justified the expectations formed of their abilities . On Wednesday the greatest of operas , Don Giovanni , was performed with a powerful cast . This is a work in which there are none but leading parts . For instance , the part of II Commendatore , estimated in mere time and quantity of music , is very small ; but upon the efficiency of the representative of this character depends some of the finest effects in the opera . So with regard to Don Ottavio , his one sorig , ' II mio Tesoro , " is . worth a whole . ordinary opera . A ^ ain , the apportionment of the part of Donna Elvira to a leading artiste is a

    sine qua nou in . the completeness of the ensemble . On the present occasion the parts were distributed as follows : —perhaps the two greatest artistes on the lyric stage—judged by the actualities of the present , not the traditionary fame of the past—Mdlle . Titiens and Sig . Giuglini represented Donna Anna and Don Ottavio ; Sig . Grassier , Don Giovanni ; Sig . Tia . llettij . IJeporello ; Mdlle . Parepa , Zei'liha- ; Mdlle . Vaneri , Donna Elvira ; Herr Hermanns , II Commendatore ; Sig . Castelli , Masette . The merits and characteristics of the other artistes who appeared are thoroughly known arid appreciated by the public . There were two first appearaiicesj Mdlle . Parepa and Herr Hermanns . The former 'lias long been celebrated as one of the greatest English singers of the day , and she is now about to add the triumphs of the lyric stage to her other achievements . Herr Hermanns was first introduced to

    London : audiences at the Popular Concerts last spring ; and his extraordinary organ was well suited to the vocal thunders which * Cl ConiJnendatore has to utter . The minuet was admirably given by Mdlle . Morlacchi and M . Massbt . The " gems" were redemanded , but , with the exception of u II mio tesoro , " hot repeated ; the artistes merely returning to bow acknowledgments .. In the ballet of O ' rfa , Mdlle . Morlacchi has appeared to great advantage during the present week . DKtTRY Lan"E . —As Byron was the " great Napoleon of the realms oj rhyme , " Mr . E . T . Smith is unquestionably and unequivocally the great Napoleon of paanagerial and histrionic achievement , and we should hardly be surprised to see him , at a not very distant period , commanderin-chief of the entire metropolitan , stage . The rout of veteran troops by raw levies , the annihilation of long-matured combinations of scientific

    strategy , by an abnormal and extemporised coup ae main ,: was not more unprecedented and astonishing than the conversion of what was pecuniarily speaking , a bankrupt stag © into a profitable mercantile enterprise , and the restoration of the time-honoured seats of the Italian and British drama , in the Haymarket and 'Prury Lane , to their pristine flourishing condition . Having at these establishments not merely catered for the Upper Ten Thousand with ten thousand a year , but consulted the financial exigencies even of those whose happiness it is to be exempt from the payment of income tax , by presenting to the public the best of high class performances at emphatically " popular prices , " he is now about . to show his regard for the million by opening the magnificent . Alhambra as a monster music hull for their , especial delectation . But , as in the former caso , tlie " million" ( how $ hakspero ' s

    phrases have become " familiar in our mouths as household words ! " ) were enabled by tho low prices of admission to avail themselves of an entertainment which they proved themsolvcs to possess the taste for appreciating , so wo have no doubt the performances at tho Alhambra will , in point of excellence , bo worthy of the patronage of tho Upper Ten Thousand ,. But to the matter in hand . " Old Drury " oponed on Monday with a series of porformanoos in . which the most distinguished performers of tho ago appeared in some of their most favourite ohai'aoterizations . We have so fully detailed tho- —not movoly . doublebut multiple company which Mr , E . T . Smith has assembled at this theatre into one brilliant galaxy , in our preliminary announcement , in our impression of tho 6 th , inst ., that any further descent to particulars here would bo a work of supererogation . Sufllco it to say that thoro

    is a whole company of bright particulnr stars , each ox which mono 19 sufficient , and has before now proved sufficient , to establish tho fortunes of a theatre . The pieces selected for Monday were The Tragedy Queen , in whioh Mrs . Stirling apponi'od in her original character of Mrs . Bracegirdle ; and was well supported by Miss Ardon as Bridget . Married for Money , in which Mr . Charles Mathows sustained the part of Mr . Mopus 5 and Mr , Roxby , Mrs . JYank Mathews , Miss Helen Howard , Miss Minnie Davis , & c , oflloiontly roprosontod tho rest of the dramatis personee ; and Jilt ISoooellenoy , in which Mr . Oharloa Mathows appeared again as La Hose , and Mrs . Charles Matthowa as Torcsina , and were oflloiontly seconded by Mr . Tilbury , Mra . Farrel , and Miss Clyde , Mr . Lambert ; , who has returned from Australia , has

    resumed his place on the London boards at this theatre , appearing on Monday in the first two pieces , respectively aa Ebonezor Standfast and Sir Robert itytellowboy . Such wore the " legitimate " portion of the entertainments , whioh concluded with a torpBiehoroan aftor-piooo , which on Tuesday was changed for Mi * . John , Oxonford ' a favourite farce of My Jpellow Cleric , in whioh Mr , Robert Roxby , Mies Ardon , & o ., appeared . In accordance with ancient custom the proceedings , wore opened on tho opening night ; with the National Anthom , sung by tho whole strength of tho company . The weather , though bad enough to fceep everybody at homo , did npt prevent this vast theatre from fillings nor did , it suooeed in casting a damper on tiho spirits of the audience , whjoh manifested a oondltion of buoyant and doUghted satisfaction throughout , ,

    IlATMAniCET Theathe . —We extract tho following notico of Mr-John Brougham from the Ifew York Times . — Mr . John Brougham , the universal favourite of the public , is now in London , playing , we understand , in a successful engagement at the Haymarket Theatre . We will send him , across the water , a few hearty words of congratulation . Hi 3 new comedy called " PJaying with Fire , " produced last night at Wallack ' si was not merely a success , but a triumph so unequivocal as to deserve to be marked with a " white stone , " according to the recommendation of Plautus , in the history of the drama . We are aware that this is high praise , but it is merited . Do not the roars of laughter eoho in our ears yet ? Was ever audience dismissed , at the fall of the curtain , more thoroughly satisfied with their night ' s enjoyment : ? To describe the plot would be almost to write the play . It cannot be

    wisely attempted , and we prefer to let the patrons of Wallack ' s , who in this instance will bo nearly all Lhe thcatrc-goiug population of the city ' , evolve it and resolve it for themselves . It may be suflieient to say that supposed patrimonial difficulties , which have 110 real existence , entangling a pair of husbands and a pair of wives , lie at the base of its construction j and that the " Playing with Fire " typifies the dangerous moJe of resort whereby they endeavour to test-eadi ¦ Other ' s fidelity and sincerity of affection . . " But beyond this , and yet artfully interwoven with it , arc a series of the most amusing stratagem ? , equivoque and contretemps that , have been witnessed in a-new comedy for many years past . A crowded house testified their approbation of these effects and situations with such manifestations of delight as are seldom heard within the walls of a theatre . - Olympic Theatre . — As there arc plays , the excellence of which consists in the completeness of detail and a symmetrical ensemble , and others which depend on striking situations , variety of incident , com * plication of intrigue ; others , again , in which everything is subordinate to the presentment of sonie grand conception of individual chnraeter ; so there are actors whose merit consists in entirely sinking their personality out of sight , and putting on the ideal type with which , for the time being , they have to invest themselves , ¦ while tho distinguishing idiosyncrasy of another class of artists consists in impressing 'themselves , ' so to speak , upon the portrayals , they embody . Mr . Epbspn ' s genius is essentially that of individual characterization . He does not sornuch identify himself with this-or that character ; he identifies the . character with himself , arid makes it hid own . . 3113 happiest efforts are those "ivhero

    nxost other actors would despair of finding any t lung to do . His great est successes are those in which'tho p iece is avehicle for his extraordinary invention , bodied forth in the most wondrous , and original delineations . It must not , however , be supposed that to construct a suitable piece for the display of his extraordinary powers , nothing more is requisite than to string together a conglomerate of incident , with a vacuum in it suflieien-tl y large to afford scope for him to disport himself in-those histrionic cbullir lions of humour that risj with the spontaneous raciness of improvised conceptions . On the contrary , just as true art conceals itself , and those productions that have really been the most laboured appear the simplost and most natural , to create one of those apparent nothings—nothing that is without Mr . Robson in it—in which this great actor by himself will rivet the attention of the audience fpr an hour together , —is by no

    means an easy task , || as those who like may convince themselves by attempting it . Ono of the most successful achievements of this description ia Mr . J . M , Morton's new piece , "A Begular Fix , " and those who have not s : ; en it with Mr . Ilobson as Hugh do Brass , are , as the Spanish proverb says of those who have not seen tho best thing worth seeing , much to be pitied . Mr . Surplus , a lawyer , has , wo regret to say , a pro-marital daughter whom ho passes off as an adopted child , whose father had mysteriously disappeared . Ho is also blessed with a wife who labours under the singular delusion that everybody who soos her , of the masculine gender , falls-in love with her . Mr . Uugh do JJrasa , a man who bears tho curse of Adam by being in debt to his tailor , with executions out against him , haying dined at ) xib club and helped to consume seven bottles of winois taken by a friend to a bull ,

    , whero a fow more bottles of champagns send him into that sleep that is not pasily broken , and remaining help less in his arm-ohair till next rooming , ho is awakened by the servants dusting him and tho onair togothor . On opening his eyes tho first thing ho sees is a bauiK keeping guard at Iub post ( i , o . a lamp-post ) , opposito tho door . Given this state of fnots , put of whioh to extract an oxtra double dose ot fun , and this is a font which only Mr . Robson opuld accomplish . The drollery , which is of tho most oonvulsiva and hpiuioidal character , consists in the attempts made by Mr . Hugh do Brass , first to recolleot how ho carao whore ho is j nnd , secondly , boing there , how tP remain .

    that he may osoapo the fnngs of tlio sheriff ' s officer . Ho porsuaaea tho lawyer ' s managing olork , as well as another of Miss Surplus s euitors ( for tho young lady haa two strings to her bow ) , that ho is uio Mond of their youtli s ho poreuados Surplus that he has ooiuo to oonsult ^ him upon important family business . Mrs . Surplus fancies lie is a stranger , who lias fallen in love with hor , and resorted to a ruse for gaining admission , and so makes doBperato love to him j whiou , when Surplus diBcovoro , J 10 " mokes believe" to bo the long-lost nitiioi of the real Miss ( Surplus , but tho imposition is unmasked by tno father ' s oonfoseion of patornity . When poor Do Brass is at his wits end , in oomos tho ofllooi' to seize his proy , and drive , tho unfortunate victim mad outright—as ho aunnosos , but in reality to annpunoe ms

    nooessionto thobaronotoy of Groat Britain , with a fortune ot Y > " ft-year . And so tho piece ends . Thoao wjio know what Mr . Kooqon a powers are , may , in some measure , realise tho extraordinary piooo 01 noting he constructs upon this foundation . The lino of oharaoterisation ia somowhat d , ifrorpnt from his old parts , but in excellence and suoeoas it ia not infwior to any of thorn . AnEwm TmUTiUJ . —Thoro is no change of porformanoo to I' ^ d nt this liouso , nor need thoro bo , with piooos that " draw so eiiootivoly . The Colleen JJawn is achieving a buocosb hardly ovor butpassed . Apiyrli of tho attractions of Mr . Wobstor ' e thoatro is . w © believe , resolvable into his admirable arrangements for promoting u « accommodation of tho public . Tho convenience of the aueUonoe * j oonaulted in ovory point . The civility ana attention of tho fo " ^ *^ tondftnta , tho abolition of legitimate robbery under tho pretence ox

    Gg6 The-Saturday Analyst And Leader. [Oc...

    gg 6 The-Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Oct . 90 , 1860

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 20, 1860, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20101860/page/14/