preeting flore Date Bection of the wind camper les less in musi cal concepts. Alibaba inded upon the well know w sad in 1884 Although its wess it was little quid areopagus 100 scientific ficent opera extended by the Parisian s. Even the parterre was ashamed not piece of Mozart-especially when prelibretto, and notwithstanding that the had been transposed an octave in alt, ss of Nourrit's voice. Still, though its ged by all, Don Juan met only with ivileged few. ng between Cherubini's splendid failure, ed up by Robert le Diable, (now near its ntation,) and by one or two new ballets, arisians after novelty was quenched for a lights of Mademoiselle Taglioni, and by deux of the two Ellslers. Fanny-the ers-is surprisingly beautiful as a woman, ising as a danseuse. Her pirouettes and ength and agility are, however, the very and chaste sylphisms of Taglioni. was exhibited to the public, who had long Never did Jewess or opera so surpass all moiselle Falcon looked and sang the Rehe scenery and decorations were brilliant of dramatic splendour, and the music has r, M. Halevy, to a seat in the French instiwas produced in the spring of 1835, and n left the masquerades of the Carnival for tacle. One hundred and eighty thousand aded in "getting it up," and in one scene a on of one hundred and fifty knights on horseoply, pass over the stage. In the last act a re is admirably depicted, and the sad illusion is rendered perfect by the procession of penippropriate dirge, and by the dead stillness of sembled to witness the execution. rom the Juive to the Huguenots, the last work eer, and, as we think, the most extraordinary etion of the present day. en, in his preceding opera, with what success this er has exhibited a perpetual struggle between the good and of evil. Still, the legend of Robert possic elements of interest, and its musical translation d to, its dramatic positions observed and admired ence, with the same attentive curiosity and with the thless anxiety that any intelligent auditory would the recital of a highly wrought fiction, or with which d of spectators would await the issue of an eventful Rarely has the supernatural been turned to such At dead of night the count arises and prowls about the castle -a dangerous lion at such an hour and in such a place-but just as matters approach a dénouement, a trumpet sounds a flourish without, and the lord of the castle returns with his followers from the holy land. The lady is thus rescued from danger, and her pursuer forced with his companions to accept their liberty as a boon. After the Comte Ory, the "Swan of Pesaro" set the seal to his immortality by the production of Guillaume Tell. Months previously to this event, all Europe awaited with breathless interest the appearance of this noble drama. On the night of its first representation, the Grand Opera was crowded to excess, and a seat was sold as high as one hundred and fifty francs. The performance over,-a joyous and enthusiastic multitude assembled beneath the windows of the Maestro, while the choristers of the opera sang the inimitable quartett of the Comte Ory. Such an ovation was almost worthy the hero of a revolution; and, in fact, Rossini had effected a revolution, destined, perhaps, to outlive the glorious liberties of July. A dispute next arose as to the emoluments of the composer, and the matter is still in litigation. Meanwhile, under penalty of losing the arrears for which he contended, the Maestro has preserved a willing silence. Director of the Italian opera, his time has been employed of late in drawing forth the talents of Bellini, Donizetti, and Mercadante, in producing their operas at the Bouffes', and in developing the vocal resources of the young cantatrici entrusted to his skill. To his instructions is Giulia Grisi mainly indebted for her success. He is now seen in every public place of amusement--and Paris abounds in such -to-day you meet him at Tortoni's, to-night at Musard's ball; yesterday morning he was strolling in the Jardin des Plantes, last evening at the Grand Opera you saw him a delighted listener to the Huguenots of Meyer-Beer.2 We have said that the year 1832 was an epoch in the annals of the gai science-it gave birth to Robert le Diable—a musical melo-drama--Germanic in its conception, and in its compo 1 The Italian Opera. 2 Rossini made a tour through Germany and Belgium, last autumn, in company with Rothschild of Francfort. The accounts he gave, on his return, of the distresses which inconvenience great men en route was ludicrous enough. At night, for instance, hardly had he ensconced himself comfortably in his auberge-his eyes half-closed with sleep-before low strains of music broke in upon his slumber. The sounds swell! the musicians draw nigh! and the maestro finds himself serenaded with an air from Semiramide or Armida! He was thus obliged every night to make a speech at the expense of sleep; besides being bored to death with his own music. sition displaying each new and fertile resource of the school of Rossini. But Robert le Diable was long preceded by the masterpiece of Von Weber. True, but Der Freyschütz was executed at the Opera Comique, the productions of which theatre may be said to form a transition between the vaudeville, or lighter comedy, and the grand opera, in which, as in all the pieces exhibited on the stage of the Rue le Pelletier, the dialogue is recitative. It is written over the door of the Théatre du Vaudeville-"Le Français né malin, inventa le Vaudeville." This, mutatis mutandis, would also be an appropriate inscription for the portico of the Opèra Comique. Robert le Diable is then the first five-act opera in which, on the French stage, the elaboration of a thought was carried out with the most exquisite finish of execution and unity of design. It exhibits the conflicts of a good with an evil principle, and the partition shadows forth each phase of emotion. The perpetual warfare between monos and daimonos-between things heavenly and things infernal-on the one side, early education, maternal love, and the noble materials of virtue--opposed to them, the subtle voice of the serpent, the fiend who avows himself a father, the father who would win his son to perdition; all these colourings of passion, thrown into the most vivid contrast, are wrought into a succession of powerfully dramatic scenes--each new one augmenting the interest felt in its predecessor. The legend is, as the minstrel hath it, "L'histoire epouvantable De notre jeune duc De ce Robert le Diable Ce mauvais garnement "De Normandie" would not have impaired the beauty of M. Scribe's last couplet, inasmuch as our hero's was a Norman dukedom. Robert is an amateur of wine, of dice, and of beauty, who maintains his reputation with the pit by his display of reckless daring and generosity, and who deserves no mention by the side of our old and philosophical friend, Faust. The true hero of the drama is (as is usual in such matters since Milton) the Devil-his friend and unknown sire. Sweet woman most appropriately administers the chalice of holy hope to this all but lost sinner--we mean Robert, not his sire-and in the hour of trial, when he consents to sign the black and bloody bond, an organ, pealing to her assistance, recalls to his mind the chants of his infancy. At the same moment, Alice unfolds the dying letter of his mother. "O mon fils ma tendresse assidue Veille sur toi du haut des cieux Fuis les conseils audacieux C'en est fait-the hour has come; and Bertram, in despair, strives to drag Robert with him through the flames amid which he disappears. The scene is strikingly dramatic, and the horror displayed in Nourrit's convulsed features, as he starts back from the spot at which his sire vanished, is a magnificent piece of acting. All this occurs in the antechamber of a chapel-a curtain rises, and a splendid assemblage of priests, of enfans de chœur with censers, of lords and ladies in wedding bravery, at the head of whom the princess Isabel kneels before the altar-await to celebrate the nuptials of the repentant duke with his ladye-love. The opera Robert was followed by Gustave ou le bal Masqué, a production of Auber's, far inferior to the Muette, and founded upon the assassination of Gustavus of Sweden, by Ankastrom. History is of course altered to suit the genius of the piece. In truth, Clio, in dramatic mythology, too often becomes the goddess of fiction. The main success of Gustave is to be attributed to the brilliant masquerade in the fifth act. We remember having been present at its first representation, and the bravos which welcomed this gay scene were in due accordance with the Gaul's love of splendour, and admiration of tinsel. Besides the usual gas lights of the stage, eighteen hundred bougies in rich candelabras illumined the ball room "as the sun at noon." This scene is now often played without the preceding four acts the opera is therefore, comparatively, a failure. Cherubini-the Beethoven of the present day-next produced an opera. The forte of this grand composer lies less in musicodramatic, than in profound harmonic conceptions. Alibabaso his last work is entitled-is founded upon the well known Arabian tale, and was first exhibited in 1834. Although its early representations were crowded to excess, it was little appreciated by the parterre, for which dignified areopagus its splendid harmonies and masterly cadences were too scientific. Yet it seems to us that even Milton's Comus would weary an English pit, and the undying parterre of the French theatres holds, in its palms, the destinies of every dramatic production it is called upon to praise or to condemn. In vain are bands of claqueurs, hired to applaud, even as professional mourners are retained at a funeral. Enthusiasm paid at the rate of thirty sous a night is not easily communicated. We were enchanted with Alibaba, the dilettanti pronounced it a chef d'œuvre, but its majesty, the pit of the grand opera, thought otherwise. cordingly fell through. Previous to the appearance of Alibaba, the Don Juan of Mozart had been brought out at great expense, and the rich |
