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Leader (1850-1860), 20th November 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

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      No. 452, November 20, 1858.] Thijjeabej....

      No . 452 , November 20 , 1858 . ] THIJJEABEj . 1255

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      Drtjby Lane Theatre. The Crown Diamonds ...

      DRTJBY LANE THEATRE . The Crown Diamonds of Auber , Wallace ' s -Montana and'Balfe ' s Rose of Cast Hie , have been the attractions , of the last week ; Mart / ia having been withdrawn for the present at least . The admirable ensemble secured for these operas by the exertions of the management , the artists , and the band , continue to draw very good houses in spite of the usual flatness of theatrical " business" immediately preceding -Christmas , and of the depreciatory exertions of a few grumblers . Apropos of the illegitimate embroidery of Auber ' s score , about which such a fuss lias been made in certain quarters , it ought to be . remembered—although this is hardly a valid excuse offenders those who

      for the original , or even , perhaps jnore thoughtlessly than deliberately , follow in their footsteps—that Signor Mario has , season after season , imported , all uncensured , an air by aiiother composer into Donizetti ' s Lucrezia Borgia . Madame Grisi has done the same by Uossini in his Otello . But outraged taste that could bolt the camel at Covent < 5 arden and in the Hayinarket , was choked by a gnat in Drury Lane . It were interesting , though certainly unprofitable , to inquire why full vials of indignation have been reserved for the Pyne and Harrison management , while the older and still more eminent offenders above mentioned have not even been sprinkled . The decorative sinner who first believeIiode

      twisted extraneous ballads , and , we , s Air too , into the fabric of the Crown Diamonds , might , we fancy , be detected by any musical archaeologist who would be at the pains , in the person of the artist who first arranged the work for the Princess ' s Theatre . It is said that all arrangements for the removal of this company to the Covent Garden Opera-house are in a state of forwardness . The programme for the season there will be headed by Mr . Balfe ' s new opera , and will comprise , we believe , Donizetti ' s Figlia del Regghnento , and Verdi ' s masterpiece , // Trovatore . These two latter works may possibly be given oh the Drury Lane stage before Christmas , but it would be premature to make such an announcement authoritatively .

      HAYMARKET THEATRE . My Mother ' s Maid , who was some months since in Madame Celeste ' s service at the Adelphi as" Our . X . ady ' s Maid , was last night introduced to the public by Mr . Bucks tone . The incidents represented are the impediments opposed to the lawful matrimony of the hero by his mother ' s domestic , with whom he has previously indulged in an indiscreet flirtation , and the timely discomfiture of the Abigail by the discover }' of her connexion with a policeman . The principal parts were sustained with boundless vivacity by Mr . and Mrs . Charles Mathews , whose exertions were rewarded with frequent bursts of genuine laughter .

      OLYMPIC THEATRE , The judicious curtailment of the Red Vial , after the well-founded dissentient criticism of its first audience , having enabled it to enjoy a moderate run , it has been withdrawn without dishonour ; and Mr . J . M . Morton ' s Thumping Legacy now heads the bill . This piece , originally produeed during Mr . Macready ' s management of Drury Lane , with Mr . Keeley us the principal character , is one of its talented author ' s happiest efforts ; but . has been so long upon the shelf that its plot may not be remembered by many of our renders . The hero , Jerry ^ Ominous ( Robson ) , a cockney chemist and druggist , but , in point of fact , an oH'shoot of the noble

      Corsican house Gerwimo , is suddenly summoned to Corsica , to receive " a tliumping legney , " bequeathed to him by a deceased uncle , liobson ' s eatisfaction at this may be conceived , and also his bewilderment upon the discovery that his uncle is not dead , but has sent for him to impose upon him the duty , esteemed sacred in the island , of currying out a vendetta , and of being killed , or killing a member of a rival family , the Leoni . Our poor inveigled chemist finds himself opposed to n chevaux-40-friHt ^ ot stilettos ; for his cousin Jtosetta ( Miss Herbert ) has one ready for him if ho proceeds to execute the will of her murderous old father ; tho doomed Leoni challenges him to mortal combat on

      his own account , and one Jiambozettiy another lover otRoaotta , is no loss ferociously inclined . Tho shrewdness , however , which characterises tho genuino Londoner , stands his friend . Ho stirs up a foud between fchoso last-named worthies , and , casting to tho winds all , thought of tho family honour and of tho fair Rosotta , whoso hand had boon promised to him as tho price of blood , delivers himself , with a ploasant sonso of security , into tho hands of tho ifreneh soldiery . \ t is needless to say that Mr . Iiobson kept tho liouso in a roar . Tho pusillanimous head of tho family , old Filippo Gorouiwo , was vory ably supported by Mr . G . Cooko , as was tho bloodthirsty Bambosattl by Mr . 11 . Wigan . Misa Herbert and , Mr . Gordon woro olBoiout as , Jtoaotta and

      Leoni , arid the mise en scene was fully up to the Olympic mark , which is now a high one . MONSIEUR JULLIEN ' S CONCERTS . The first " Mendelssohn night , " on Monday last , attracted such a crowd that the management were under , the painful necessity of turning hundreds from their doors even before the commencement of the entertainment . No further proof can be needed that the taste for classical music so industriously cultivated—to his credit , be it said—by Monsieur Jullien has now taken as firm a hold of a large and influential class of amateurs as has that for lighter music of the million . The selection of the evening

      was—Symphony in A major . Concerto ( pianoforte ) in G minor—Miss Arabella Goddard . Scena soprano . " Infelice "—Miss Stabbach . Concerto ( violin )—M . TVieniawski . Wedding March ( Midsummer Night ' s Dream ) . The execution of the Symphony by the excellent band now under Monsieur jullien ' s command was such as to leave nothing to be desired even by the most fastidious of connoisseurs . The famous andante was encored , and the concluding movement received the warmest plaudits . The masterly performance

      of the Concerto by Miss Goddard created a perfect furore . M . Wieniawski displayed taste and talent in the violin solo , for which we are free to confess we had before failed to give him due credit , and was honoured by a unanimous " recal . " In the scena , " Iufelice , " Miss Stabbach fully answered the demands of the composer for talent of the first class . The " Wedding March" met with its usual success , and was encored . The entire concert received from an audience of more -than average discrimination an amount of approbation which must have been highly satisfactory to all the artists engaged in it , and which fully warranted the announcement of its repetition last night .

      THE CRYSTAL PALACE . However mucli of gratification it may afford our order— -thankless , and too often fruitless , though the task—to warn tlie public against the devastation of joint-stock property often committed by those King Logs and King Storks whom the supineness of shareholders permits year after year to devour their substance under the name of Directors , it gives us yet more when we may conscientiously congratulate a proprietary upon the energy and fidelity of their administrators . Each successive visit of ours to the Crystal Palace lends strength , we are pleased to say , to our young belief that the affairs of the society

      PROPOSED NEW CRYSTAL PALACE AT MUSWELL-HILI This project is beginning to be much talked of Opinions pro and con . are warmly expressed in mer cantile and speculative circles * Those who ventur < upon the former are at present , of course , in th € minority . Tor , in the first place , objecting is evei the easier game . Objectors are rarely asked foi proofs , and their safe , deceitful generalities are allowed to pass counterfeit as good currency . Projectors , on the other hand , are always examined , cross-examined , and re-examined , and are often asked to bring success and completion in evidence of feasibility . Secondly , in this particular case , the very name of Crystal Palace is so associated with memories of bygone prodigality and loss , and so ineradicable by present industry and integrity are the blots upon the escutcheon of its management , that

      the burnt children , " who are weak enough to dread competition , find no difficulty in enlisting in lively condemnation and ridicule of any new scheme of the kind all the indolent who care to have no opinion . They are joined , too , by all the incredulous , and unimaginative , and hard-headed , who argue triumphantly , from a Capel-court point of view , that no second concern of the kind can answer while the stock of the first is below par . If to this phalanx we add the million timorous partisans of immobility and the few retrogressives whom the onward press of the age has left standing like lonely pillars on their beloved ancient ways , we can at once account for a loud , strong , and , at first sight , imposing majority in opposition . So convinced , however , are we of its feasibility , that we take our stand with the aye 3 .

      In our former notice we stated our opinion that the success of this project would mainly depend on the natural charms and accessibility of the proposed site . Desirous alike of investigating these points for ourselves and of being hereafter able to speak upon them with some degree of confidence , we have been at the pains to take such a survey with reference to its alleged capabilities as was competent to an unprofessional eye . The property offering for the purpose lays on the left of the Great Northern line , between the new station at Muswell-hill and that at Colney-hatch . It is , we should say , within ten or twelve minutes ' railway ride of King ' s-cross by a through train . The distance by existing highways is

      six and a half miles from Langham cliurch , and will be considerably reduced by a road in contemplation from Crouch-end to Highgate-arcliway . We are induced to go into details , because in our former remarks we took occasion , relying upon our imperfect recollection , to question the alleged beauty and extent of the landscape . We are glad , as in honour bound , being now better informed , to confess our error . The land of which it is proposed to form a park , is a chain of undulating land well timbered , principally with oak . It rises to a lofty ridge , 193 feet above the level of the Great Northern rails , and overhanging the pretty hamlets between

      Crouchare now in conscientious and painstaking hands , and have seen their worst days . We are not without hopes , as we have before said , that ere long the further stimulus of competition will yet improve their aspect ; but even without its assistance , it is now clear to those who examine the concern without prejudice , that the directors are making sound progress , and in the right way . No such unprejudiced observer can miss seeing that further important changes are still necessary and politic ; but as we believe they are under consideration , we may as well for the present leave the finding of fault for the more pleasant , and , in this case , equally easy task , of finding something to speak well of .

      end and Hampstead . The middle distance is broken by the Ilighgate hill and spire , and the horizon of a beautiful panorama is formed by the Kentish hills that bound the Thames valley from Shooter ' s-hill to Erith and the heiglvts of the tea valley from Waustead , by Highbeach , towards Hazing . We went so far as to deride the comparison between this landscape and that seen from the Sydenham terraces ; but here ngain we are obliged to concede that the natural and ever-present water lends charms which the grandly beautiful but fleeting play of the fountains at the Crystal Palace cannot supply .

      The "Gorilla" is now the vogue at Sydenham , and to see him is certainly worth the journoy and the cost . This most wonderful , most manlike , and therefore most horrible of apes , whose great peculiarities are his having four hands , and apparently a most minute brain , came to this country half putrid , though pickled in alcohol . He has , however , been so often and so scientilioully described during the last week , that we need not vex the reader with another paraphrase of the very interesting lecture upon him delivered daily between one and four o ' clock by Mr . A . D . Bartlett , tho talented manager of the Natural History Department . The series of Saturday Win tor Concerts has commenced . At the first ,

      To conclude . It cannot be denied tliat the site is a charming one . It is an old observation that Londoners are not half awnre of the beauties that immediately environ them , and we were never more convinced of this than on our visit to Tottenham Wood , We shall continue to watch the pi-ogress of this project with interest , and have much moro to say about it . Pioneers as wo would be of progress , it is part of our duty , which we may not shirk , to seek and to point out new objects of public interest , and new grooves for public thought . We would be in tho front rank , not with tho camp followers . There may bo slinking safety and some spoil in tho rear , but with the peril of the front there is greater honour .

      on Saturday lust , was performed , for tho first time > n London , a successful serenata by M . Costa , culled " Tho Dream , " composed on tho occasion of tho Princoss RoynPa marriage , and played before the Court at Buckingham Palace . Tho soloists of tho day were Miss Suibbaoh and Mr . Alontem Smith , and an efficient chorus performed tho beautiful glees " bleep , gentle lady" of Bishop , and " I saw lovely I'llillis" of Poursall . A show of prize birds is announced for the 22 nd , 8 » ru \ and 24 th lust ., and the numerous class who pursue tho innocent recreation

      ST . MAIVTIN ' S HA . T , L , This handsome music-room has been completely redecorated , its ceiling richly pointed in the Tudoi taste , anil its orchestra advantageously rearranged . It was lust night opened for tho winter season with Mendelssohn ' s " St . Paul , " performed by tho Upper Singing School , conducted by Mr . John JIullali . Tho chonifloa " Stono him to deatli ! " "Hiso up , uriso ! " "Sloepors , awake ! " "Jlyw lovoly wo the messengers ! " and" O , bo ye gracious ! " were beautiful y . endured . Tho soprano soloist , M ^ - MllM ° ? ° Villars , and tho contralto , Madllo Behrois ( tho latter a , ? S « t « Hf ) , win mont conimondably , and R avo much satiation to tho connoisseurs present . Mr . Santloy , tho basso , is au artist of much promise .

      of bird-keophi ff and taming are preparing to muster their pets in great iorco . Amateurs from all parts are expected to rally round Mr . KUkl of Hammersmith , a well . luiown oNport , who has a " happy family'' of tumo animals somo thrua or four hundred in number . \\ o understand that a talking canary is expected to bo one of tho nio . st prominent funturcs of tho ehow , and is lookotl for with oxtremo interest by " tho fancy . " Wo shall next week , spaco permitting , alludo to , and perhaps publish , tho Company ' s official programme of contemplated amusements and now traffic arrangomentsj

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 20, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20111858/page/15/