OPERA DRURIOLANA.
May success attend the preliminary Operatic canter which Sir Druriolanus is taking with such preliminary cantors as he has got together at Drury Lane. Faust was effectively given, with Esther Palliser as a gentle Marguerite, Signor Giannini as a very robust Faust—quite a tenore robusto—and Signor Castelmary as the very deuce of a Mephistopheles, with eyebrows and moustachios sufficient to frighten even the gay and festive Marta, played with spirit by Mlle. Biancoli. "Mons." Dufriche represented the Mons who laboured hard to please, and who, as Valentine, did well and died well. Herr Feld conducted. "Well Felded!"
Then out came the ever fresh, the ever free Bohemian Girl. Never was such a girl! Quite a Ninon de L'Enclos! Beautiful for ever! Still dreaming of Marble Halls (Music Halls nowadays) "with vassals and serfs by her si-i-ide," and no better Bohemian Girl to be seen just now than Madame Albu as Arline. So "Arl in to begin!" and see and hear Balfe's pretty little Girl of Bohemia while she is still visible and audible at Drury Lane. Mr. Eadie a trifle gawky as Thaddeus, but then he finds himself in an awkward situation, especially when he has to fumble for the documentary evidence of his birth, attested at a Bohemian Registry Office. Carl Armbruster conducted this, and then up got Herr Feld "with his little lot," represented by the unrivalled and unequalled Cavalleria Rusticana. Ah! Cavalleria is a treat, even when its performance is not absolutely perfect. The music is charming from first to last; ever fresh and delightful.
That wonderful Intermezzo was excellently given, and enthusiastically encored. As yet the Intermezzo has had no successful rival. It stands alone, and is, of all compositions, the most—well, words fail me—it is a whole dramatic story, within a few bars' compass—it is sweetness and sadness, and then it soothes you to rest, and so you drop off quietly to sleep, until you are awoke by the cessation of sound, when you rouse yourself, with an effort, to applaud, and to beg that you may have just one more delicious dose of it—and doze from it. Saturday finishes with Carmen, and Sic transit gloria Operatica for the past week. All right up to now!
Mus.