Théâtre Italien.—After being postponed for some time, on account of the illness of Rubini, Bellini’s Capuletti e Montecchi was at length brought out; the hero and heroine represented by the sisters Grisi, and Tebaldo by Rubini. Few of Bellini’s operas have enjoyed so great a share of popularity in Italy as this; which, however, was written without premeditation, and begun and finished in fifteen days, at the urgent request of the Venetian managers, to fill up a gap in their performances occasioned by the complete condemnation of some other pieces. Bellini, himself, appears to be partial to it, for he has dedicated the printed copy to his fellow-citizens in Catania; but even considered as a work of Bellini’s, it bears evident marks of the haste in which it was got up. It was tolerably successful, however. The last movement of the finale to the first act, in which Romeo and Julietta sing an impassioned melody in unison, accompanied by the other voices and chorus in arpeggioed staccato notes, was particularly applauded, and in fact decided the fate of the opera.
Bellini’s opera was followed by the revival of Mozart’s Don Juan, which was very nearly a failure. Nothing can render Mozart’s operas old; their triumph over both time and fashion was sufficiently proved by the crowds which the announcement of his chef d’œuvre drew to the theatre: but the best music, to produce its effect, most be well and spiritedly performed, and it is but too true that the great majority of the Italian singers neither like, nor understand, nor can sing Mozart’s music. It is too foreign to their habits, they find no hooks left in it for them to hang their fiorituri on,—and persuade themselves, therefore, that it precludes them from all opportunity of showing off their talents.
Tamburini looked Don Juan well, and was encored in the rondeau Fin ch’han dal vino; but he spoiled the air by introducing into it a long pause and holding note on the E
towards the close, when the whole spirit and effect of the composition consists in the rapid and uninterrupted movement the author has given it. The women were all out of their places, and felt so; Mlle. Grisi has too tall and commanding a figure and too loud a voice for Zerlina. Mad. Tadolini is totally unfit for Elvira, and Mlle. Karl, who performed Donna Anna, is unfortunately no favourite with the public, which is too frequently as capricious in its dislikes as in its favoritisms. Rubini alone seemed in his element; his Il mio tesoro was, as usual, a finished morceau.
A very successful début has lately been made at the Opéra Comique, by a M. Hebert, a young man with a very fine bass voice. He appeared in Jean de Paris. It is said that he wished to select the Maitre de Chapelle, but the composer objected; if so, and the same composer heard M. Hebert, he must have felt some regret at his refusal. The débutant possesses superior taste; and a certain elegance and facility in his delivery; to which he adds a good figure, self-possession, and intelligence, qualities which practice, and the habit of appearing before the public, will no doubt develope and improve.
THE DRAMA.
KING’s THEATRE.
THIS theatre has passed, as we predicted, out of the hands of the be-puffed Mr. Mason, into those of the be-praised M. Laporte, and opened on Saturday the 16th of February, with nearly the weakest of Rossini’s operas, therefore one of the greatest favourites with Italian singers, La Cenerentola. In this appeared for the first time in England, Madame BOCCABADATI, who recently was presented to Parisian audience, but with no very flattering result; she therefore was not extremely reluctant to accept an engagement at our Italian Opera House, where anything is tolerated, provided the manager is a Frenchman, and the boxes are let at the moderate price of 300 guineas for about fifty nights.
Madame Boccabadati possesses a soprano voice, of that kind which makes its way into the house, though it sometimes forces people to make their way out. This potent quality is a piercing thinness, and, as commonly happens with a vocal organ of such description, is accompanied by an apparently total absence of all feeling. As counterbalances, however, her intonation is good, and she sings with that firmness, that self-confidence, which leads one to suppose that she understands music,—at least the modern opera music, for the chances are that this lady never sang, never dreamt of, any other. In person Madame B. is much shorter than her name, but what is wanting in height is made up in breadth. As to age, a well-bred critic would guess her at half of that allotted by the Psalmist to man: the less polite manager of an office for insuring lives, would add seven or ten years to this, and be much nearer the mark.