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Leader (1850-1860), 1st May 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 424, Untitled Article

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      the heartiness , the effectiveness , and ^ e humour pervading the piece . There is irood dramatic " invention" in Mind your own justness , amidst much that is the common property of the stage : and there are wy " effective exlxibitioris of that invention . Verdon himself is a rare . bit ol Daintiiiff , only marred by the want of truth in the denouement . It is all very well for a man to say " What light is this breaks in P and by the aid of that light suddenly discover that he has not lovedthe woman whose marriage with another broke his heart , unsettled , his reason , and made him abruteand a sot , —to say that this passion was all the while a love for her sister , who didn't reject him , but loved him in silence : dramatic lights that "break in" at the close of a piece have peculiar properties ( is not Paulina converted to Christianitv in I Martiri , by the sudden appearance

      of a dirty and disreputable sunbeam across the flats ?) but noaudience will be brought to believe that . I regret this , because Verdon is really a fine character , touched with a true dramatic hand , and affording the actor immense scope , of which Webster availed himself . His performance was natural , deeply affecting , and varied by skilful lights and shadows . I cannot tell you the story j go and see the piece : its faults are very forgettable , its excellencies are memorable , Keeieyas the footman Smith , sublimated by money and marriage into Smythe , keeps the audience in a roar , and the effect , of hia acting is heightened by juxtaposition with Buckstone , who plays a faint version of Paul Pry , always minding other people ' s business and neglecting his own . Mrs . Stirling and Miss Reynolds make the most of trifling parts . The dresses were good , the scenery pitiable , - ^ - andnot new .

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      ICTOTES THEATRICAL . On issuing from the Diorama of " Wellington ' s Campaigns , " one of our wits suggested that Messrs . Grieve should paint a companion to it—" . Buim ' s Engagements . " Certainly I ' rury Lane ought not to be allowed to pass without some record . I beg to move that a collection of the " Bills" be deposited in some impregnable and incombustible _ p lace , that coming generations may know the resources of the English language , and the spirit and invention of English enterprise . One of my correspondents with a naivete perfectly charming , wants to know why " Vivian does not give us the benefit of his opinion on the Drury Lane performances . " Is not that h f

      impayalle—priceless ? Imagine my witnessing one of tose perormances At my age ! JSTo , excellent , but innocent Constant Eeader , I have not courage enough for that—but I read Buiin ' s play-bills , and I assure you , if the performances were likely to be half as amusing , I-should not have imitated a discerning public , and carefully stayed away . At the Makionettes there are some Ethiopian Puppets whose acquaintance I advise you to cultivate ; the splendour of the decorations in Aladdin is something quite noticeable . I fancy most people prefer the puppets to the legitimate drama , which now raises its head at the Pbingess's with Charles Kean , at the Makylebone with James Anderson , and at the Olympic with . Henry Farren . Poor Legitimate Drama !

      " E ' en in its ashes lives its—want of fire . " What rage is it possesses actors to play Shakespeare at all hazards P No sooner does a man discover that he has a strident voice and vigorous lungs than the page of Shakespeare flies open , and thus Brown , who would have been useful in the blood and thunder line , is wretched unless the public think him &" Shakespearian actor . " Vivian .

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      MUSICAL GATHERINGS . As I was , officially at least , present on this occasion only as the critique blond of " Vivian , " for whose " figurations" any screeches of mine would be a very sorry substitute , I shall only say that I " assisted at" the first performance of the new QUARTETT ASSOCIATION . on Wednesday , at Willis ' s Rooms , and that it was an admirable introduction of a series that promises to be as delightful as instructive to those who come to enjoy , and to those who come to learn and to enjoy . to

      For is not Beethoven , or Cherubim , or Mendelssohn , " interpreted" ( use a big word ) by sucli a quatuor as Sainton , Piatti , Cooper , and Hill , a " liberal education , " as well as a liberal feast P You know , or ought to know , the fire and brilliancy , the vigour and the passion , of the one ; the purity of tone , and the sentiment so delicate and refined of another ; the correct feeling and careful grace of a third ; and tho modest mastery of the fourth ; you know them as brothers together in that glorious band of Costa's : hero we find them , seated at a table for a moment of repose , enjoying and giving onjoyment to a select company of listeners , as they discourse tho utterances of the lords of harmony .

      Beally , no meetings are so truly enjoyable as these ; where the company is rare in numbers and in taste , the room spacious and cool , the seats comfortable , and the attention not exhausted by a dreary surfeit of sweet Bounds , but rather is poised , sustained , and tranquillized . By tho aid of tho excellent analytical programme supplied by Mr . Macfarren , I might , space permitting , venture into more detail ; but I am warned to be content with telling you that we heard Cherubini ' s grand quartott m E flat ( quite now to an English audience ) , of which I can only mention the Scherzo , brimming over with svyeet Andalusia ' s wilful mischief and caprice , love—languor and defiant coquetry : —then

      a most elegant sonata duo , by Sterndale Bennett , played by Piatti and tho composer with a quiet unpretending certainty of strength and a delicacy worthy of Mendelssohn ' s , friend and disciple ;—a sumptuous quartett in E flat , of Mendelssohn's ( led by Cooper with a feeling that was quite infectious ) , and , as a finale , a quartett in E minor of Beethoven ' s ( containing a grand adagio ) led by Sainton with that breadth , abandon , and decision , which distinguish the first violin of the Royal Italian opera . Altogether , a most delightful meeting . May it be the first of many ! And I " left off with an appetite ; " for at eight o ' clock behold me again one of a vast audienco in Exetor Hall , at the invitation of

      THK NEW PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY , spellbound by that sorcerer , Hector Borlioz . It was the first time Iliad heard his " Romeo and Juliet , " and I consider it on event in my musical

      life ! It tras a revelation . Talk abptit genius ! I don t fcttipw what is genui ^ if it is hot in . ¦ tbte dramatic svmphony"of Hector Berlioz ; ^ OuVthTim ^ expect me to begin canting &bout the legi ^ naate classical Behpol , as the eminenttrageditiais of JPortinan Market and the " Grecian" do about the legitimate drama , or as musical amateurs , tvhp sleep first and gp in j ; raptures afterwards ; are wont to do r I simply ask you what music is and ought to be P If that be the highest mtisics which .. transports my thought s beyond tlie . reach of hunaan . language , wliich fills me as I listen with intense aspirations , which stirs ' .-the very depths of' . my-being , whidi \ yafts me away entranced on waves of mysterious harmony , which- / to hear is at once a pangi a wonder , and a joy ,, then I say is this symphony of Hector Berlioz a creation of genius . Suppose Hedeparts ^ from all rulej ; sets every precedent at defiance , and emancipates himself frona every tradition - ^ what do T care ! ' ; . ' • . ..,. ''¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦' ¦ : ¦ . '¦¦ - •• . .. '¦¦ ... , - ¦ ,: ¦ ' , ¦¦ ¦¦ ¦ ¦¦ .. '¦

      Is there COnservatismin art as in pplifcicsi or an orthodoxy in music as in religion ? Hector Berlioz has all the science and the learning of the past on his back , and he is bearing them away into uridiscOVered regions of wealth and beauty . How he sways that tempestuous fek of sound ; how he raises and stills the biHows of harmony ; how he rules the thunder of the basses and rides on the whirlwind of the violins ! But his music must be heard many times , to he perceived ; at first , one seems to wander in a wilderness of beauty . But for intensity of passion ; what can surpass the lament of the lovers ; for wild prodigal lancVj what the dance of Queen ¦ ¦ ¦

      MabP . ... . . . - . ; . ,. ; . . .. . .: .-. , . , . . . - . " : . ... I can only glance here at this nun © pjf wealth . Certain I am that throughout the apparent recklessness and disorder reigns a most consummate symmetry , which one hearing only half discloses . But I ani not surprised at the comparative isolation of Berlioz a $ a composer , lie is happy to have lived to reap the firstfruits of a genius which will alied light and warmth on after generations . It is au honour to Englaiiad to have saluted him as that vast audience , in Exeter Hall , did on Wednesday evening . Wliat sliall I say of Madame Pleyel , or of the immense reception that greeted her the latform ? Looking more proudlmore ± \ ivv m-m ^

      appearance on p y , UXCCtUU 11 ICX CtLJfJl ^ tlJ . <\ ? LMXJ \ P V / JLL t / JULt / jjxiAiySM . . JL * J * . _* - *» . ** - » . ^ y * .- * , j ** . v m-a-. ^ y axj . vxu < disdainfully beautiful than ever , with that . sculpturesque form and queenly air ; As sh € 5 sat down to the piano , after twice bowing to the audience and to tne orchestra with classic dignity , a sort of electric sympathy seemed to pass from her to the instrument : we felt the notes beforie she touched them , and then she began the Concert Stuck , as if it were a spontaneous inspiration . Allow me here ( in the absence of Vivian ) to give you the words of the solid and brilliant critic of the Times ; to whom , as the Bristol ^^ elector who followed ^ Burke ' s oration , I say ditto *

      In weighing the claims of tliis wonderfiilartLst , comparison is out of the question . ^ Tadame Pleyel is inebntest ably the best pianist in Enrbpe . Tliere are other players of distiiiguished merit , each of whom Ms a specialityi each of whorji excels in some particular \ vi \ j that defines hia idiosyncrasy ; but Madame Pleyel is one of the ffew whose rare gifts place them above and wholly apart from the rest . The instrument upon which she performs is her language 1 . She play * with a facility that presents no trace of study or precousideration . The ars celare artevi was never exemplified to more entire perfection . In respect of mechanism Madame Pleyel has acquired all that . method can demonstrate , and assiduous practice insure . Her tone , powerful , rich , and completely under control , is susceptible of every gradation of intensitywithout deteriorating from its quality . In passages

      , of the utmost rapidity she can Riibdue it , with ease , to the softest pianissimo . ^ In the management of the crescendo and diminuendo ( the gradual increase and diminution of force ) she stands alone , and ( Mendelssohn excepted ) we can remember no pianist who has approached her in this peculiarity . Her stylo is full of fire ami impetuosity contrasted , when necessary , by the greatest delicacy and refinement . In the delivery of passionate phrases she displays an abandon and a depth of expression which leave nothing to bo desired ; the ear , the judgment , and the feelings are equally satisfied . We have heard the majority of the renowned " virtuosi , " from Liszt and Littolf to the late Madame Duld < en , attempt the Concert-stuck of Weber , but not one of them ever ; entered into it heart and soul ,

      and ( without taking liberties with tho text ) executed it with such perfection as Madame Pleyel . She plays it , as she does everything else , from memory , and with so much ease and nonchalance that her performance , but for the symmetrical beauty of the composition itself , woifld have all the appearance of a masterly improvisation . To leave details , Madame Revel ' s execution of tho Concert-stack was worthy of her fame , and fully justified the eulogy of the eccentric and exclusive Liszt , who , forgetting hia own pretensions in tho enthusiasm of tlie moment , after one of Madame Plcypi ' a performances , declared that she was not " la phis grando pirtnisto , " but " le plus grand piahiste" in tho world . This , after nil ,-is at onco tho most comprehensive and succinct , ns it is unquestionably the justest tribute to so prodigious a talent . Madaino Pleyel , in fact , is a genius , not a pianoforte

      player . * The rest of the concert was of very secondary interest , though it comprised tho magnificent overtures of JEgmont and Eur-yanthe , B V f / given by the orchestra . Tho gentleman , however , who acted as deputy i " M . Berlioz , in conducting tho latter overture , has to learn a little more sobriety in the uae of his hair , his shoulders , and his legs ; and to * ° m 0 ™~ ber that it is not tho business of the conductor to be carried away hy w . o orchestra , but to control it—to conduct it like a master , not Jiko » u Erinnys . Tho sol ( 5 ction from tho Vestale was cold , and not very comfortably sung ; tho old air of Gluclc was too abrupt a change jmmediatu . y after Borneo and Juliet ; it was , to compare great withl smaH , iiko minuet after a mazurka . On the whole , it was a concert for wlncii wio audienco had reason to be grateful to tho New Philharmonic Society . , Le Cjiat-Huant .

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      THE SUMMER BXHIBITIQNS . , THE WATBH COIjOUK SOCIETY . TitnHE of the established exhibitions for tho summer havo opened thifl week , with what may be called the established display oi morje . x seilior is that of tlie Water Colour 8 ocietyi . small , compact ; compiow . The names of tho principal artistfl . -Gojplev FieldtojBf , Cfalldv , David Wcoiw Alfred Taylor , tho Fripps , W . Hunt , f . Xewis , —almost aulfioj to my , befoW you tk ^ pictures theraBelves j and to say the troth * neither oi

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 1, 1852, page 424, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1933/page/20/