Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 29th March 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 17, ^rogrRKf tlit people.

Page 17
Page 17
17 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (2)
    • €at SUta.
    • ^rogrRKf tlit people.
  • Text (5)
  • 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.

      March 29, 1851.] ®F)S 3ltaxjtx. 301

      March 29 , 1851 . ] ® f ) S 3 LtaXjtX . 301

      €At Suta.

      € at SUta .

      ^ Opening Op The Opera. If Ever A Critic...

      ^ OPENING OP THE OPERA . If ever a critic had a busy week of it I am the man . First came the Opera , bursting forth with the sudden beauty of an arctic spring , which throws aside by one sublime effort the dreary mantle of winter and starts into life at ottce . Oh , " what a sight ! ( the Opera , not the spring . ) How the argent light shivered on the satiny shoulders of the fairest women of Europe ! how the brightest of eyes smiled

      their expectant joy ! how fresh the bouquets ! and how fresh the women looked ! yes : even the " old familiar faces "—those faces that one wearies of in the course of the seasonk seeing them everywhere ( and kissing them nowhere ) - —even they looked fresh , and young , and happy , and eager ; and the old bucks eyed them with assassinating glances , and we young bucks Forgot our languor and superiority to fall into honest raptures over their merciless charms . It was a pleasant sight .

      The Opera opening promises a season of delight . Let the Pope " aggress" —let Lord John neither retire nor remain , but keep up the ideal of Whiggery by " avoiding extremes" — let Crystal Palaces he never so magnificent—the one consoling fact that the opera is once more open , is a fact of such significance that I feel I could become dithyrambic—but won't . What was there on Saturday to gather that crowd ? Why , first there was the Opera itself . It reopened its doors : that was Bomething . Then it offered us Caroline Duprez —the daughter of that impassioned

      singer whose grandiose style of phrasing made one forget all defects—and all of us were cuiious to see what heritage Of his genius he had left to his child . The opera was the hacknied Lucia , and with Calzolari as Edgardo ! Calzolari ! Yet in spite of that the crowd went , went to hear Caroline Duprez ; and found a young girl—not more than eighteen—with the charm of youth and the defect of inexperience . But I will reserve criticism until she has played another character . She is young , has been well taught , has a great name to spur her on , and may bear it worthily .

      I have said nothing of the ballet—the ballet , the glory and pride of this hou « e !—but Oarlotta was not in it , and all the elegance in the world will not compensate for the absence of her enchanting witching graces . But she is to appear to night ! Not completely to sacrifice L'lie des Amours to Carlotta , let me briefly say that it is an ingenious and graceful representation of life d la Wattrau . Another and a greater name drew me on Monday to

      MRS . KEMBLE'S SHAKSPEAltE HEADINGS at the St . James ' s Theatre . Such an intellectual delight ! To those who really love Shakspeare , and have any feeling for what itjibighest in dramatic art , there can be no performance .. half so fascinating as these readings . By means of , changes of voice , unforced yet iiiaiktu , and sufficient gesticulation to explain the text , aided l > y the fine commentary of eye and brow , Mrs . Kemble brings before you the whole scene , enacts every part , and moves you as the

      play itself would move you . One great charm in this Readings , and one which gives them « uch superiority over performances , is that aU the minor parts assume their true position , and produce the harmony which tho poet designed . lOvery one known the exquisite beauty of some of these minor parts , and knows also the merciless massacre of them on the « tage . But in those Headings the dreadful misapprehension of meaning and distortion of verse which undoi strappers inflict upon us are banished , and even the slightest parts are carefully given .

      With regard to her reading of the greater characters Home difference of opinion will naturally exist , but no out ; will deny that hor reading is thoughtful and striking . The versatility displayed in her rendering of the saucy child York and tho smooth hypocrisy of ¦ J titthard iu their colloquy wan greatly applauded . I never enjoyed Shakepeure bo inueh , out of my own £ turfy . 1 have heard Tieek read Shakspeaie , « nd Seydelmann , the ^ reat tragedian ; but although tho former is celebrated wi th . *) Jirst of readers , and tho latter win ) to my thinking one of the iiiHt , of actors- - although both of them mtWbettor than Mrs . Kemble iu the strict seiifco of the word—yet for dramati't reading , that is to say , for ^ viiifi you the effects of acting without the aids of the fttag < :, I prefer Mrs . ¦ Keinble .

      While I was listening to those reading * . William Jorrold , the hoii of DouglaH tho Witty , wan keeping the Lyceum in a roar with COOL AS A CUCUMliKIt , of which the Times eay « : — " I'lio cool gentleman , mlminibly represented liy Mr . ^ liavlc-H MuthowH , h « H picked up a citfiir-cam' belonging to uu <» 1 < 1 m-ntU'iHiui' *) won , mid on the strength of tins introduction eiitcm the old Keutlernnn ' H house , and makes himself perfectly at home . Tho won , who Ima l » een banished lroni hin father ' s ho nun to prevent a moijalliunco , i « treated by the intruder us ft burglar when

      he comes home again , but at last the impertinent wight atones for his misdeeds by attempting a reconciliation between father and son . Nothing can be slighter than the structure of this farce , but Mr . Charles Mathem is well fitted , and the dialogue is exceedingly neat . The success is unequivocal . " I promised myself that I would go and laugh at this piece on Tuesday 5 but on that night

      TARTITFE was produced at the Haymarket , as an experiment in lieu of the coarse version which has so long held the stage under the title of The Hypocrite . Unhappily for the world , Tartufe is as true now as he was in the days when Moliere dissected him , and drew the loud enmity of the clergy upon his own head for the audacity . What , ridicule religion ! scoff at things sacred ! Not at all . I , Jean Baptiste Poquelin Moliere , tell you unequivocally that my comedy does not touch upon Religion but upon Hypocrisy—surely you will not say the two are

      one ? I flagellate Pretence , I tear the mask from Cant , I ridicule vice , and you tell me I offend Religion Why may I not ridicule tlie pretence of Piety ? I have ridiculed Upstarts , Pedants , Fools , Marquises , Quacks—may I not ridicule Hypocrites ? It was in vain Moliere had every sound reason on his side , he would have been a lost man had not the King stood by him . The King had not then listened to Le Tellier ; Madame de Maintenon had not made hypocrisy the court fashion ; so that in spite of virulent pamphlets and an enraged clergy Tartufe was sustained , and France shook her sides at the inimitable picture .

      What a noble work it is ! how full of curious and profound observation , relieved by gay and genial wit , set in an intrigue as admirable as it is clear and progressive in its development ! There is no heartier comedy than Moliere ' d : his indignation is never crabbed , always manly ; his satire has no rankling poison in it . Quacks and pretenders of all kinds are his game , but his very scorn of them springs rather from love of what is noble than from malicious detection of what is ignoble . The result is that his writings have a perfectly agreeable effect . The laughter does one good . I noticed that on Tuesday . In spite of acting so deplorable that I ground my teeth in rage to

      see a work of art thus mangled , the substantial merit , truth , wisdom , heartiness of the comedy kept the audience in a pleased if not enthusiastic state of mind . They would leave the theatre merrier and wiser men after such a performance . They might " wonder , " indeed , at the fuss made about Moliere ; they might ask if two centuries of admiration had been bestowed 011 a work not more " striking" than that . And truly , if Moliere is to be judged by the interpretation given in the Haymarket , his renown must be a huge sham . Such acting ! such manners ! such dignity ! such finesse ! such a perception of the airy elegance of wit ! such delivery of verse ! Take

      Webster away , and not a good word is to be said for one of them—unless for Selby , in the trifling part of Loyal . The mwrepresentarions of Orgon and Madame Pernelle , perpetrated by Mr . Lambert and Mrs . Stanley , were disgraceful to a London theatre : no acting manager should have permitted such mistakes to pans in rehearsal . If he could not insist upon a nearer approach to the stupid piety andbevere narrowmindedness of the characters , he could at least have insisted that the unseemly turbulence of farce were forgotten for this oceasion ; and he could have assured Mr . Lambert that verse was not prose , and that " impudent viper" was not the pronunciation

      for a theatre which plays comedy . These two wort the worst ; but the others were all unsatisfactory . Mis . FitzwiIlium—clever as she is —cannot touch the charming pertnes . s and good sense of Dorine , and her mouth is ho totally unused to verse , that many of the epigrams were unmanageable by her . Miss Reynolds ban riot the f : iintest idea of les y ramies manures of Kirn ire . Miss Add inon and Mr . Howe , as the loveiB . spoiled that most charming scene of lovers' quarrel , by their want of nature : they were not petti . shly wilful ,

      provokingly misunderstanding each other , letting their irritation grow out of their own injustice —n . s lovers universally do , and as Moliere has ho wonderfully painted them here-but t . lieir quairel was ho ill represented that it seemed absurdly untrue . The whole performance was discreditable . It wanted truth , it wmited art , it , wanted elegance . One little detail will f ^ ive precision to my strictures . Scarcely ( ino of the perfonm rn called Tart . ule anything but Tartoof , and as they pronounced it ho they played it— they Tnrtoofed !

      I make an exception for Webster . He alone played like a comedian . He had carefully studied bin part , lie crept into it ,, mid spoke through it . Quiet and catlike in his velvet motions find deniureneHs , there win an intensity of sensual glare in his eye and u . swelling appeiito in Jtis lip , which unmistakoably betrayed tin ; f » roN ' -iieHH over which suhotity was thrown ins » veil . Nothing could bo finer than bis delineation ' of Tartufe undor this aspect ; hut 1 ininwed the demoniac element at the close . However , had it not been lor bis acting ; ! would not have nut the piece out , for to . sec Moliere on his first introduction maltreated in that reeklesH style was by no mount * a ^ reeitblo . Tuesday thus disposed of , Wednesday drew mo to

      MB . J . W . WALLACK , who by hiB & o , mUl has , in my eyes , settled his claims * for the present at least . In Othello and Macbeth lie had an indulgent press to aid him . I was unwilling to disturb any chance of success he might have by the severity of conscientious criticism * and was therefore silent . It is now time to speak plainly . As yet he does not rise above mediocrity . With many ad ^ vantages—with a handsome person , good voice , and knowledge of stage traditions , he has a laudable ambition to be ori ginal , which displays itself in a variety of new readings more remarkable as novelties than as ingenious interpretatione . But although a respectable actor , and one who in the present state of the dra't-. a may assume a tolerable position , he has not hitherto given any of those indications of genius which Shakspeare demands . As I am in a minority on this point , at least as regards my critical confreres—I hope it will not be attributed to harshness if I dwell upon the defects of the young actor ; there is no more injurious kindness than flattery . In the first place I wish Mr . Wallack would bestow less thought upon new readings , and give more attention to the simple delivery of his text , which he constantly utters in a style as mechanical as it is incorrect . What I mean is that he does not read sensibly . He does not distribute his emphasis like a man who feels the whole meaning of the words ; and his intonation is often quite at variance with the meaning . To give but one example , —he whines , almost ludicrously , passages that are not in the slightest degree pathetic , eg ., when Hamlet sets at nought the remonstrances of his friends against following the Ghost , exclaiming , " Why , what should be the fear ?" will it be believed that Mr . Wallack uttered this in the whining tone in which he weeps for his murdered father ? . Again , when Horatio says that he has a truant disposition , and Hamlet replies , " I would not have your enemy say so , " Mr . Wallack uttered it with a savage sternness—down in the growling tragedy of his voice—which would have befitted his reply to the king . I might fill a column with examples ; any one who attends to his declamation will see that the fault is constant . So much for mere delivery of verse , the principium et fons of acting . With regard to the expression of emotion he has yet almost everything to learn . He can storm , but he cannot suffer . There is no play of emotion —no flux and reflux of passion—pictured in his tones , gestures , or looks . He has three or four set looks , set tones , and set gestures , which do duty for all . I do not reproach him for his imitations of Macready ' s ungainly attitudes , nor for the general want of grace in his deportment ; but I do reproach him for mistaking loud breathing and snorting for the representation of passion , and for the agony of a storm-tost soul . With these fundamental objections against his style , I may be excused if I decline discussing the higher questions of his conception of" the parts he has played . The one good thing to bo said of him is that he has a conception . He does think for himself , and that gives some hope for his ultimate success . But before he can play Shakspeare as we desire it he must undergo great transformations . Why does he not rather throw himself into a new part ? What insanity of ambition is it forces all the actors to cope with Shakspeare ' s most diilicult parts , when the public will see them willingly in new plays ? Macready was the only actor people cared to see in Shakspeare's tragedies , and him they preferred in pieces not by Shakspeare ! Vivian . of

      ^Rogrrkf Tlit People.

      ^ rogrRKf tlit people .

      L10 T T E It S T O C Ii A It T I S T 8. ...

      L 10 T T E It S T O C II A It T I S T 8 . VII . Hints on thm Convkntion ov nkxt Wkkic . Next week the " Convention " meets in London at the Partbenium-roomH , and let ull concerned , as fur as possible , tnko cure that it meets to some purpose . Some previous " Conventions " have been little better than Condemnations . Considering the disorganized state of the Chartist sections , it would , perhaps , be more befitting to use this lens pretending designation , and cull the proposed " Convention" " An asHombly of Chartist Delegates . " 1 am afraid the ; title of Convention in too grand for our means , and raises too much expectation . To promise lean and do more than is expected from us would bo a novelty in Chartist politic , ami would , give an agreeable aurprise to the newspapers . It would be useful if each Delegate would deliver ii written speech to the Assembly when making hm report from the section he represents Such report should comprise a AmV / stutement of the members , income , activity , and recommendations of those who went , him , taking ' care that the fucta reported are rather under th > ui over stated . I say such a apeech should bu written , because it woutd then bo more likely to be brief ; t say written , bocauwo it would then be more likoly to be exuet ; written , because then it . could bo referred to ; written , beciumo then there could be no dispute as to what wuS ( mid ; written , beoatwe than all those report spocchoa could bo handed

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 29, 1851, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29031851/page/17/