STRASBURG.
During the last year it was our good fortune to have a German company, under the direction of M. Carl Bode, exclusively devoted to the opera; and their productions were therefore comparatively of so perfect a nature, that the direction of the French theatre was quite unable to compete with them. They performed during the season, Fidelio, Die Schweizer Familie, Freyschütz, Die Weisse Dame, Preziosa, Die Stumme von Portici, Don Juan, Koskiusko, Der Dorf Barbier, (The Village Barber,) Tancred, Oberon, Das Donauweibchen, (The Nymph of the Danube,) Wiener in Berlin, Der Kleiner Wilddiebe, (the Little Poacher,) Sargin, Zauberflöte, Wilhelm Tell, and Robert der Teufel. Among the company, consisting of about forty members, the most distinguished were Madame Brauer Düringer, whose principal characters were Fidelio, Donna Anna in Die Weisse Frau, Elvira in Die Stumme and in Don Juan, Sophie in Sargin, Mathilde in Wilhelm Tell, Isabelle in Robert der Teufel, and Tancred. She has a powerful, rich voice, which is of extraordinary effect in the concerted pieces, and she sings with much taste. Madame Mayer, too, was delightful as Annchen in Der Freyschütz; in fact, in all the characters which she sustained. Demlle. Liszevsky also called forth great admiration as Emmeline, Agathe, &c; but particularly as Jemmy in Wilhelm Tell, and Alice in Robert der Teufel. M. Wagner, from the Würtzburg Theatre, as principal tenor, was successful in all his efforts; he sang with equal skill and excellence the high part of Sargin and the low one of Don Juan; as Robert and as Arnold, he has few equals. M. Heisel, as second tenor, was not without merit. The other singers were MM. Popp, Netz, Krieg, Fischer, Kaibel, &c. Great credit is due to M. Bode for having by his judicious management cultivated the taste for classical productions.
With regard to the French theatre, as matters were not going on very prosperously, the direction was taken out of the hands of M. Deville, and the company continued to perform to the end of the season on their own account. Under these circumstances, many new operas were not to be expected; one only was given, Auber’s Liebestrank (Le Philtre). The company consisted of Mesdames Lamotte, prima donna, possessing a rich voice, but often out of tune; Langlade, an agreeable second singer and excellent actress, Demouchi and Després; M. Vernet, principal tenor, with a flexible but thin voice. The rest were scarcely above mediocrity, and the wretched apologies for choruses were below criticism.