Notice. THE MUSICAL WORLD may be obtained direct from the Office, Terms {Every additional line (10 words) ... ... 28. 6d. 6d. following are the names of noblemen and gentlemen who have expressed their willingness to act in that capacity :-Lord William Graham, M.P.; Hon. J. F. T. W. Fiennes; Hon. C. S. B. Hanbury, M.P.; Sir Wm. Curtis, Bart. (2nd time); J. King, King, Esq., M.P.; H. Mildmay, Esq., M.P.; Col. Clifford, M.P.; B. Botfield, Esq., M.P.; S. Allaway, Esq., (2nd time); J. H. Arkwright, Esq. (3rd time); Rev. G. Arkwright; Rev. J. Bullock (2nd time); Rev. T. H. Bird; T. Dew, Esq.; W. Brewster, Evans, Esq.; Rev. E. Hampden; Rev. E. B. Hawkshaw; T. Hill, Esq.; Rev. H. C. Key; A. R. B. Knight, Esq. (2nd time); Rev. Prebendary Lee; Rev. W. B. Mynors; Rev. Prebendary Poole; R. Webb, Esq.; Rev. H. O. Wilson. These gentlemen stipulate that their individual pecuniary responsibility shall not exceed 251.; but there is no reason why they should be mulcted so heavily, if the inhabitants of the county will only come forward in a commendable spirit and support the proposition which has been started for providing a guarantee fund, as has been done at Worcester on former occasions, when the Worcester Festivals were less prosperous than they have been of late years. A beginning in this way has been made, and at a meeting held at Herc-THE general meeting of the Philharmonic Society (anford, on Wednesday, a 250l. was put down as subscriptions to the fund. -Worcester Journal. SCARBOROUGH.-Now that the season is drawing to a close, we are but fulfilling a duty to Mr. W. Williams, conductor of the Spa band, in congratulating him on the able and satisfactory manner in which he has discharged his duties, and the manner in which music of the higher order (together with the lighter music of the day), has been rendered Praise is no less due to Mr. Smith, the general manager, for the energy and taste he has displayed in catering for the amusement of the public during this (his first) season. A further prolongation of the musical engagements at the Spa, we have no doubt, would form an important aid in bringing about the much-needed extension of the season at Searborough.-Scarborough Gazette. Advertisements. ST. JAMES'S HALL, The Musical World. LONDON: SATURDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1860. nually held in November) has taken place, and resolutions have been adopted which are calculated to satisfy every true friend of the institution. If the Philharmonic is not exactly in the position of Ajax defying the lightning, it at least disdains to emulate the self-denying reticence of Bede the younger. Brother Gye must look up a Dinah on his own account; at Hanover Square he will search in vain for a mildly relinquishing Seth. That accommodating “methody" finds no parallel in Pope Anderson, who seems to share the obstinacy, without the faint-heartedness, of Pius IX. His army shall be neither a French army, nor an army of mechanics, but an army of genuine Philharmonic troops, led on to victory by Generalissimo Sterndale Bennett. We have reason to believe that no general meeting ever took place at which more unanimity was expressed than at the general meeting of the Philharmonic Society, on Monday week. The wave that threatened to annihilate the institution has not quite overwhelmed it. That is clear from the MONDAY. POPULAR CONCERTS. result. Not foolhardy enough to endeavour to breast it, HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.—The Last Six Nights of Titiens and Giuglini. This Evening (Saturday) December 1, for the last night but three, ROBIN HOOD. Positive re-appearance of SIMS REEVES, supported by SANTLEY, PATEY PARKINSON, BARTLEMAN. LEMAIRE, and LEMMENS-SHERRINGTON. In active preparation, a new opera, entitled QUEEN TOPAZE, in which Mile. PAREPA, Mlle. ALLESANDRI, Mr. SANTLEY, Mr. PATEY, and Mr. SwIFT will appear. Commence at 8 o'clock each evening. Reduced prices.. and thus be carried away, the members prudently “ducked,” and allowed it to pass over their heads. They have got soaked a little, it is true, but nothing worse. If report lies not, the Covent Garden people are beginning to hesitate. The Philharmonic Concerts will not do in Floral Hall. Mr. Alfred Mellon is aware of that. Nevertheless, the Philharmonic Concerts must go on; and the mere notion of their being swamped by a conspiracy has enlisted a world of sympathy in their behalf. The members know it well; strong faith within has encouraged them to pass strong measures; and they are likely rather to be gainers than losers by the crisis that, a month since, astonied them to a member. One of the resolutions, carried nem. con., is extremely forthcoming season, to be eight. significative. Instead of six concerts, there are, in the The return to the old system will be hailed with delight by every amateur. Sixteen symphonies, as many overtures, and at least eight concertos (for pianoforte or violin) will form something more like a substantial Philharmonic budget than the restricted supply of recent years. Moreover, in reducing the number of their performances from eight to six, the Philharmonic Society had cried "Peccavi," when there was really no reason for any such confession. Another important and straightforward decision was adopted, which will probably confer an equal amount of gratification on the musical world. It was resolved unanimously that no change should THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE.-Lessee, Mr. be made in the nights of performance; that the time (Saturday), Dec. 1, Her Majesty's Servants will perform FORTY AND FIFTY. After which the new comedy, THE ADVENTURES OF A BILLET DOUX, in which Mr. and Mrs. CHARLES MATHEWS will appear. To conclude with Sheridan's CRITIC; or, A Tragedy Rehearses. Sir Fretful Plagiary and Puff. Mr. CHARLES MATHEWS; Don Whiskerandos, Mr. R. ROXBY; Tilburina, Miss E. ARDEN. Doors open at half-past 6; commence at 7. Box-office open from 10 till 5 o'clock daily. honoured Mondays should be again consecrated to the classic muse of harmony; and that no proposition to the contrary, from whatever source, or on whatever pretext, should be entertained for one instant. As Agrippa's dog (Cornelius, not Menenius) had a devil tied to his collar, some think that Paracelsus (Theophrastus Bombastes, &c.) had one confined to his sword pummel (or else that Erastus belied him. Others, it was once generally believed, wore devils in their rings. But this is neither here nor there, unless it be beside the question. Nihil intellectu quod non prius fuit in sensu. Notions are twofold-actions or habits. "On ne se soucie pas" (says Pascal), d'être estimé dans les villes où on ne fait que passer; mais quand on y doit demeurer un peu de tems, on s'en soucie." "How long a time is necessary?"-asks of himself the French philosopher. "Just so long". answers to himself the French philosopher-" as is proportioned to our durée vaine et chétive" (our vain and feeble sojourn). The same proposition holds with salles de concerts as with "villes." The directors of the Philharmonic Society have been reading Pascal at the eleventh hour. "No one," says John Stuart Mill" can be a great thinker who does not recognise that, as a thinker, it is his first duty to follow his intellect to whatever conclusions it may lead." The same holds with Philharmonic directors, who may or may not be great thinkers, but who have followed the conclusion to which their intellect led in the contemplation of an anticipated crisis. They have looked it boldly in the face, and outlived it! Of the eight concerts, two will take place before Easter. Bravo! Professor Sterndale Bennett is re-appointed conductor. Bravissimo! There is even a talk of two rehearsals, instead of one only, for each concert. Better and better, if this should turn out sooth. One rehearsal is no rehearsal; and thus the first rehearsal and the performance become too often synonyme. What follows involves grave matter for consideration. 66 "Any members of the orchestra," (we quote from memory of hearsay) "who may find themselves," (" find themselves -good)"precluded by engagements made elsewhere," ("made elsewhere "-not bad) "from accepting the engagement offered by the Philharmonic Society for the Monday evenings pre-specified, will, as a matter of, however disagreeable ("however disagreeable"-capital !), necessity, be replaced by substitutes, appointed, not necessarily by themselves, but (necessarily) by the Philharmonic Directors." PETIPACE. all, what has Addison said against the Opera-an entertainment which he certainly enjoyed, or he would not have attended it so often, or have devoted so many excellent papers to it? The Spectator was written from day to day, and was certainly not intended for our entertainment; yet who can fail to be amused at the description of the stage king "who spoke in Italian, and his slaves answered him in English;" and of the lover who "frequently made his court and gained the heart of his princess in a language which she did not understand?" What, too, in this style of humour, can be better than the notion of the audience "getting tired of understanding half the opera, and to ease themselves of the trouble of thinking so ordering it that the whole opera is performed in an unknown tongue;" or of the performers who, for all the audience knew to the contrary, might be "calling them names and abusing them among themselves ;" or of the probable reflection of the future historian, that "in the beginning of the eighteenth century the Italian tongue was so well understood in England that operas were acted on the public stage in that language?" On the other hand, we have not, it is true, heard yet of any historian publishing the remark suggested by Addison, probably because those historians who go the opera-and who does not ?-are quite aware that to understand an Italian opera it is not at all necessary to have a knowledge of the Italian language. The Italian singers might abuse us at their ease, especially in concerted pieces and in grand finales; but they might, in the same way, and equally without fear of detection, abuse their own countrymen. However, it is a great mistake to inquire too closely into the foundation on which a joke stands when the joke itself is good; and we are almost ashamed, as it is, of having said so much on the subject of Addison's pleasantries, when the pleasantries spoke so well for themselves. The only portion of Addison's longest paper on the opera that can be treated in perfect seriousness is that which begins, "If the Italians have a genius for music above the English, the English have a genius for performances of a much higher nature, &c." Now we fancy the recent political condition of Italy sufficiently proves that music could not save a country from national degradation; but neither had painting nor an admirable poetic literature done so. It is Finis coronat opus. Cæsar, Brutus, Metellus Cimber, also better, no doubt, that a man should learn his duty to and even Antony must ruminate before proceeding further God and to his neighbour than that he should cultivate harin this venture, adventure, or (to cite Sancho) "misad-mony; but why not do both, and above all, why compare venture." like with unlike? Allow that the 66 performances of a much higher nature," than music exist; at least they do not answer the same end? If it could be shown that the more general science on which that of astronomy rests was a nobler study than music, it at the same time could not be maintained (except perhaps by the editor of the Scotsman) that there was anything consoling, or per se, elevating in mathematics? Poetry, again, would by many persons be classed higher than music, though the effect of half poetry, of imaginative literature generally, is to place the reader in a state of reverie, such as music induces more immediately and more perfectly. The enjoyment of art-by which we do not mean its production, or its critical examination, but the pure enjoyment of the artistic result-has nothing strictly intellectual in it. No man could grow wise by looking at Raphael, or listening to Mozart. Neither does he derive any intellectual ideas from some of our most beautiful poems, fine music. Music is evidently not didactic, and painting but simply delight of an elevated kind, such as is given by can only teach in the ordinary sense of the word what every one already knows; though of course a painter can depict ADDISON'S satirical articles on the Italian Opera, in the Spectator, would probably be liked, though not truly relished, by the editor of the Scotsman; for he would be quite unable to appreciate their admirable humour. By musicians, however, they are often spoken of as ill-natured and unjust, and are ascribed-somewhat unfairly, as it seems to us to the annoyance, it is supposed, Addison must have felt at the failure of his opera of Rosamond, which had been set to music by the most ignorant and malicious impostor of his day. This, however, is politely to assume what Addison's life, as a whole, will not allow us to believe, that he never blamed except in revenge for some personal loss, or praised except in the hope of some personal gain. And, after Clayton, who, afterwards supported by two other musicians named Haym and Dieupart, proposed, under the auspices of Steele, to rescue their art from the "barbarism, under an affectation of knowledge," into which it had fallen since the arrival of Handel in England! certain aspects of nature and of the human face, previously unobserved and unimagined, just as the composer in giving a musical expression to certain sentiments and passions can rouse in us emotions previously dormant, or at all events, never experienced before with so much intensity. But the fine arts cannot communicate abstract truths-from which it chiefly follows, that no right-minded artist ever uses them with such an aim; though there is no saying that some wild enthusiast will not endeavour to express, and other enthusiasts equally wild pretend to see, in symphonies, whether of the past, the present, or the future, and in big symbolical pictures, such as the admirably-painted fresco by Kaulbach, on the walls of the Neue Museum at Berlin, which explains to every one (after he has read the long printed description of the work) that the fall of Babel and the destruction of Babylon meant and were precisely the fame thing. But why, it will be said, should we argue about music with the editor of the Scotsman? Heaven preserve us from any such folly! We are merely publishing a few remarks for the perusal of our intelligent readers who may have been shocked by the barbarism of this Pict, and may wish to see him put to shame. It is a strange thing, nevertheless, that the editor of the Scotsman should not like music. Shakspeare had somewhat of a taste for it, and we all know what he says of the man who has "no music in his soul," and of the dark conspiracies and other political performances for which he is fitted. Milton was passionately fond of music; and let the editor of the Scotsman ask Mr. David Masson whether the author of "Paradise Lost" did not address three Latin poems to Leonora Baroni singing at Rome ad Leonoram Roma canentem? Molière's plays are full of allusions to music of such a nature, that they prove him to have had a practical acquaintance with the art. (Let the editor of the Scotsman consult on this subject "Molière musicien," par C. Blaze,-price [we regret to say] 15 francs). Finally, Rabelais was not only a musician by taste, but was actually a fiddler and a singing-master. At all events, when violin playing was in its infancy in France, he understood what was in his time considered the wonderful art of shifting or démancher-ing the instrument. Panurge," he says, "ces mots achevez, jecta au milieu du parquet une grosse bourse de cuir pleine d'escus au soleil. Au son de la bourse commencearent tous les chats fourrez jouer des gryphes, comme si feussent violons desmanchez." PANTAGRUEL, LIVRE IV. CHAPITRE 13. Rabelais is known moreover to have opened a singing-school at Meudon, which he himself directed. The two greatest poets of England, the two greatest comic writers of France, loved music (it being tolerably certain that at least three out of the four practised it), and yet the editor of the Scotsman undervalues it and hates it! The thing passes belief. We fancy what the editor of the Scotsman really objects to in music is, that he cannot get any solid, material advantage out of it." "You can't eat it, and you can't drink it, and you can't put it on your back," as a Caledonian manufacturer is said to have observed, when asked to set a value upon a certain picture. But the editor of the Scotsman can obtain real bodily profit out of sweet sounds, as out of * Talking of "political performances" (of which the editor of the Scotsman declares musicians to be incapable) we are reminded that Farinelli, the organist, was minister at the Court of Spain-not as ambassador, but as minister of state. A sopranist in the cabinet 1 To what political position, then, might not a manly tenor or baritone of the present day aspire? medicinal waters, if he only knows how to set about it. Let him study and derive what good he can from the following. account of the wonderful curative powers of music, as given by that great musician, Rabelais : PAR CHANSONS. "COMMENT LA QUINTE ESSENCE GUARISSOIT LES MALADES Vous, en vostres royaulmes, avez quelques roys les quelz fantasticquement guarissent d'aulcunes maladies, comme scrophule, malsacré, fiebvres quartes, par seule apposition des mains, ceste nostre royne de toutes maladies guarit sans y toucher, seullement leur sonnant une chanson selon la compétence du mal. Puys nous monstra les orgues, desquelles sonnant, faisoit ses admirables guarisons. Scelles estoyent de façon bien estrange. Car les tuyaulx estoyent de casse en canon, le sommier de gaiac, les marchettes de rheubarbe, le suppèed de turbith, le clavier de scammonie.” Lors que considérions ceste admirable et nouvelle structure d'orgues, par ses abstracteurs.... et aultres siens officiers, feurent les lepreux introduictz: elle leur smna une chanson, je ne scay quelle, feurent soubdain et parfaictement guariz. Puys feurent introduictz les empoissonnez et les Escossois et gens debout. Puys les aveugles, les sourds, les muetz, les resdacteurs apoplectiques, leur appliquant de mesme.” If the editor of the Scotsman can make nothing out of the above Rabelaisian anecdote, we recommend to his attention the following extract from the "Memoirs of Mademoiselle de Montpensier," which seems to show that the Scotchmen of the present day are a great deal too much like the Scotchmen of two hundred years since :—“ Le Roi d'Angleterre (Charles II.) vint_me conduire jusqu'à mon logis par la galérie qui va du Louvre aux Tuileries; et le long du chemin il ne me parla que de la misérable vie qu'il avait menée en Ecosse; qu'il n'y avait pas une femme; que les gens étaient si rustres, qu'ils croyaient que c'était un péché d'entendre des violons." DINADAM. IT is at length decided that the customary Festival of the Three Choirs will take place at Hereford next year, although at one time great fears were entertained that this important musical event would fall to the ground for want of sufficient funds. Thanks, however, to the energy and determination of the present chairman, J. H. Arkwright, Esq., of Hampton Court (chairman of the festival, by the way, for the third time), aided by the stewards at the head of whom figure Lord William Graham, M.P., the Hon. J. F. T. W. Fiennes, Hon. C. S. B. Hanbury, M.P., and Sir William Curtis, Bart.-the triennial meeting is not merely determined upon, but is likely to prove an entire success. Twenty-six gentlemen have accepted office as stewards, on condition that they are not to be responsible for a deficiency beyond 6501. The Mayor of Hereford, B. Botfield, Esq., M.P., in compliance with a general wish, has added his name to the list of stewards; so that already a powerful prestige attaches to the forthcoming meeting, and nothing more is required than a Guarantee Fund, in case the loss should be greater than the sums for which the stewards have made themselves answerable, to make the prospects of the Festival in the highest degree promising. Through the exertions and untiring energies of Mr. Townshend Smith, Honorary Secretary, the subscriptions to the Guarantee Fund have already realised nearly 3501.; so that at this moment, even should no more additions be made to the list of subscribers, the stewards have only rendered themselves liable to 127. or 137. each to make up the deficit. At the head of the subscribers to the Guarantee Fund stands the Venerable the Archdeacon of Hereford, who, although continuing to entertain objections to musical performances in the cathedral, has put down his name for 251.; while Messrs. Bulmer and Whitfield give the next largest sum, 10., and Mr. Townshend Smith's name is conspicuous among the 51. donors. Further, it may be worthy of mention that the Dean and Chapter of Hereford have granted the use of the nave of the cathedral for the performance of oratorios and other sacred compositions, and another portion of the building for the daily celebration of choral service. The cessation of the Hereford Festival would have involved a serious loss to the cause of charity. The collection in 1857, amounting to 10647. 3s. 4d., was greater than on any former occasion, which was equally the case at the last meetings both of Worcester and Gloucester. It would have been a disgrace to the town corporate and shire of Hereford to have suffered the discontinuance of the Triennial Meeting, which for so many years had benefited the inhabitants of the old cathedral town by the influx of visitors, conferred new life and enjoyment on a remote and listless locality, and rescued hundreds from the grasp of want and misery. The people of Hereford are indebted more than they are aware of to Mr. Townshend Smith, to the stewards, and to the subscribers to the Guarantee Fund, for upholding the honour of their fair city. IN ANGUISH. N again placing the oratorio of Solomon before their subscribers and the public, the Committee of the Sacred Harmonic Society have done wisely. The works of Handel must necessarily be their chief stock in trade, and to fairly represent his colossal genius, Solomon must be entered on the list among his better known achievements, the Messiah, Israel, Samson, the Dettingen Te Deum. It is our invariable custom to attend performances of Handel's oratorios, and if we rank Solomon as a work in which the interest to musicians is not of the same stamp as in the others we have mentioned, we do not by any means think it should be neglected. It was, during the season before last, twice performed, and listened to with unqualified satisfaction. While we think the scene of the two mothers before Solomon is too prolonged, and that the libretto is one of the worst that ever troubled Handel, we are not forgetful that "From the censer," and the series of choruses (with contralto solo) commencing," Music, spread thy voice around," are amongst his most gigantic inspirations; that "May no rash intruder" is not only of marvellous beauty, but that being the only specimen of its style, it has no rival. Solomon, too, has an overture of great value as an orchestral study, which fitly inaugurates an oratorio wherein instrumental excellence is preserved unimpaired throughout. The work, as performed at Exeter Hall, is much curtailed from its original proportions, and even now is too long for particular descriptions of each piece. The antiphonal form is used in many of the choruses, and in particular instances--such as the first, "Your harps and cymbals sound," "With pious heart," and the before mentioned "From the censer"- with a dignity and magnificence only inferior to some of the numbers of Israel in Egypt. In the airs, too, we find very many of the happiest ideas of the composer, such as "What tho' I trace" (contralto), "Can I see my infant gored?" (soprano), and "Will the sun forget to streak? (soprano), with its graceful flauto obbligato. These are but few of the many pieces in Solomon which are always welcome. The recitatives are very numerous, and serve to exhibit Handel's fertility of invention. Indeed, in this branch of vocal art he has never been surpassed. It is the custom for the press to take a great deal for granted with respect to the performances of well known associations. We have never failed to express our opinion on the Sacred Harmonic Concerts; but, while admitting their excellence in many points, which, if considered altogether, leave them without equal, we have had occasionally to urge that better things might be done by a body of such great resources. On the present occasion we can safely say that a better representation will never have been given by the Society. If we are not mistaken, this may be attributed to the work of reform and purgation to which the Committee have lately directed their zealous labours. Those gentlemen, however, know best; but if we are right in our surmise, it cannot fail to be an encouragement to them to prosecute a reform, which indeed was rapidly becoming indispensable. Of the performance of Solomon, which took place last night, and inaugurated the present season, we shall speak next week, in the proper place. SHOULDER, WESTMINSTER PLAY.-The Trinummus of Plautus will be pernights: Friday, December 14; Tuesday, December 18; Thursformed by the Queen Scholars of Westminster on the following day, December 20, with the addition of a Prologue and Epilogue on the last two nights. Music. It requires no extraordinary skill in execution to render music subservient to the purposes of social and domestic enjoyment; but it does require a willing spirit and a feeling mind to make it tell upon the sympathies and affections of our nature. There is a painful specplay for the gratification of her own family, or casts aside with contempt tacle occasionally exhibited in private life, when a daughter refuses to the music they prefer; yet when a stranger joins the circle, and especially when many guests are met, she will sit down to the piano with the most obliging air imaginable, and play with perfect good-will whatever air the company may choose. What must the parents of such a daughter feel, if they recollect the fact that it was at their expense their child acquired this pleasing art, by which she appears anxious to charm any one but them? And how does the law of love operate with her? Yet music is the very art which, by its mastery over the feelings and affections, calls forth more tenderness than any other. Surely, then, the principle of love ought to regulate the exercise of this gift in proportion vated as the medium of display, so much as the means of home enjoyto its influence upon the human heart. Surely it ought not to be cultiment; not so much as a spell to charm the stranger, or one who has no other link of sympathy with us, as a solace to those we love, and a tribute of gratitude and affection to those who love us.-Brighton Guardian. THE BASS VIOL versus THE PIANO.-Since the harp has fallen into disuse, nothing has supplied its place as a drawing-room instrument. The piano, that friend of mediocrity, reigns everywhere; but ladies are not aware of all the harm that it occasions. In the first place, except in the hands of an adept, the piano has no expression at all, and only wearies the ear. Besides, it accords in no respect with feminine beauty, and it especially cuts the bust or the head with a horizontal line, causing musicians have not thought long ago of substituting for these massive, the most unpleasing effect. It is really strange that our drawing-room angular chests, some instrument graceful in form and melodious in tone. The painters were the people to consult. There is to be seen at the Louvre a beautiful picture by Netscher-a lady playing on the bass viol. Paul Veronese has represented himself with this instrument in his magher exquisite hand on the strings of a bass voil. The outline, the shape, nificent picture of the "Marriage at Cana." the shades of colour, all unite to place in advantageous relief the white arm which lithely directs the bow, the slender fingers which delicately traverse the finger-board, the bust gracefully bending forward over the. soul of the instrument, which seems to reply by its vibrations to the throbbing of the lovely performer's heart. Should not an instinct of coquetry, in default of musical sentiment, have caused the adoption by ladies of the instrument of the patron saint of musicians?- Brighton Guardian. St. Cecilia also displays The Opera. ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA.-On Monday night an operetta in one act, entitled the Marriage of Georgette, was produced with unequivocal success. Les Noces de Jeannette, the French original, from the joint pens of MM. Barbier and Carré (authors of Dinorah), was brought out some years ago at the Opéra Comique. The music, by M. Victor Massé, gained the first laurels for a young composer who has since taken rank' among the most popular disciples of the late Adolphe Adam, and whose latest notable performance, La Reine Topaze, was, like Les Noces de Jeannette, composed expressly for the now celebrated Mad. Miolan Carvalho. A more agreeable little piece to serve as what our neighbours term "lever de rideau could hardly be desired; and the music is so light and sparkling, that, the brevity of the opera taken into consideration, it is a pity any portion of it should be rejected. Although we are not aware that Les Noces de Jeannette has been introduced at any of our metropolitan theatres, an English version, by Messrs. Leicester Buckingham and A. Harris, so conveniently adapted that it may be played with or without music, has been given in most of the provincial towns, and-thanks to the brilliant vocalisation of Miss Louisa Pyne-was for a long time a favourite in the United States of America, where she sustained one of the two principal characters. The French piece itself, together with the music, transplanted literatim et notatim from the boards of the pleasant opera house in the Rue Favart, was presented, last summer, at the little theatre in Camden House, Kensington, and experienced a highly-flattering reception at the hands of a genuine assembly of connoisseurs. As the general public, however, has no access to that sanctum sanctorum of aristocracy and fashion, a brief digest of the plot may not be supererogatory. Georgette (Jeannette) is in love with an artisan named Jacques (Jean), who pretends to reciprocate her attachment, until the day appointed for signing the wedding contract, when, repenting of his engagement, he suddenly withdraws. Pursuing the fickle swain to his abode, nevertheless, the forsaken Chloe reproaches him with having made her the laughingstock of the village. Jacques, thus confronted, vows that his admiration remains unchanged, but that his abstract dread of marriage, being even greater than his affection, has led him to this seeming inconsistency. Not satisfied with such a poor excuse, Georgette threatens vengeance from so uncompromising a quarter-that of a stern military father that Jacques is induced to affix his name to a paper, which he subsequently learns to be a second contract. His indignation at finding himself to be thus irretrievably bound, is only appeased by Georgette's promise that she will not herself sign the deed, and, satisfied that he is still a free man, he leaves the house on an errand with which she has intrusted him. Meanwhile, however, having altered her mind, Georgette completes the contract by the addition of her signature, and on his return Jacques discovers his now legally affianced bride in quiet possession of his domicile. The only expedient he can hit on is to disgust the intruder alike with her partner and her home; and to this end, in an excess of exasperation, half assumed, half real, he turns the apartment topsyturvy, deranges the bed-furniture, overthrows chairs and tables, and smashes the glass and crockery; after which magnanimous achievement he seeks a temporary repose in the hayloft. While thus invoking the aid of Somnus to calm his excited nerves, Georgette has the broken furniture removed, and substitutes her own, the recent gifts of her friends, in its place. Jacques, on awakening, is astonished to see his apartment freshly and neatly furnished, a substantial supper laid out for him, after his own peculiar taste, while the self-elected wife of his bosom, like the heroine of Lebrun's Rossignol, is emulating the nightingale in fluent and mellifluous strains. Touched with this proof of united forbearance and solicitude, enchanted by the song, and still more (as Mr. Corri makes it appear) by the supper, the heart of Jacques relents; a reconciliation follows in due course, and the enamoured Georgette is rewarded for her perseverance by the hand of a youth who, unmoved by her intrinsic charms, was by no means proof against new furniture, new crockery, and a bacon-omelette. Mr. W. Harrison (we are approaching the period when every manager will be his own author), in his adaptation of the French piece, has followed the original with tolerable fidelity, but somewhat spoiled the denoûment, by omitting the incident of Georgette's tearing up the contract at the very moment of her triumph, which left her still more completely mistress of the field, while, at the same time, paying a slight tribute to "poetical justice." The music of M. Massé (it must be understood that of all his operas-which, besides those we have mentioned, include Galathée, La Chanteuse Voilée, La Financée du Diable, Les Saisons, &c.— the Noces de Jeannette is the least pretending) does not admit of detailed criticism or analysis, there being very little to criticise and nothing at all to explain. It is throughout of the slightest possible texture, and depends exclusively on its light and fluent tune, combined with a certain well-sustained theatrical propriety. The soliloquy of Jacques, “At last, I am alone," is spirited, if nothing more; the duet, "Hold, stay there, if you please," in which Georgette induces Jacques to sign the contract, though too long for its abstract musical interest, is by no means too long for the dramatic situation; the comic song, "Oh! you can little know, my dear," in which Jacques tries to disgust Georgette by a formal catalogue of the conjugal duties she will have to fulfil under his roof, is lively, well written, and to the purpose; and the final duet, where Jacques, repenting, endeavours to make peace, contains a phrase for Georgette-"My fond heart will sure its joy reveal "-not merely pretty, but which, without exaggeration, may be termed beautiful. Best of all, however' are the three songs of Georgette-" Amongst the village swains," "Fly nimbly with your work, my fingers," and "At my cottage door "-the first of which is remarkably graceful and expressive, while the others (the "Knitting-song' and the "Nightingale-song," by which names they are likely to be familiarly known) are characteristic as well as melodious. All three were given to perfection by Miss Louisa Pyne (Georgette), whose first appearance after her indisposition was hailed with several distinct rounds of applause. In the "Nightingale's song" the accomplished vocalist was accompanied in masterly style on the flute by Mr. Pratten. This gentleman shared with her an elaborate "cadenza" for flute and voice, cut out on much the same pattern as those time-honoured specimens of Lebrun and Bishop that were wont to enliven the amateurs of two or three generations since, and which one might have thought had been virtually driven out of fashion by the genius and originality of Meyerbeer, who by the extraordinary trio for voice and two flutes in the last scene of L'Etoile du Nord made all preceding attempts look faded and forlorn. Perhaps, however, M. Victor Masse did wisely in taking Lebrun rather than Meyerbeer for a model, the first being as easy as the last was difficult to emulate. Nevertheless, Lebrun allowed for, it was a real musical treat to listen to such a performance as that of Miss Lousia Pyne and Mr. Pratten. We have said nothing of the overture and final chorus, inasmuch as they are wholly insignificant. The part of Jacques was supported with vigour and painstaking ability by Mr. Corri, who, though his humour cannot (as we have had already occasion to observe) be cited as spontaneous or natural, managed to divert the audience considerably in more than one scene. The applause at the fall of the curtain was unanimous and cordial. The Marriage of Georgette was preceded by the ballet of The Ambuscade and followed by Mr. Loder's admirable Night Dancers. Mr. Balfe's new opera-Bianco, the Bravo's Bride-is in active rehearsal. The Theatres. ST. JAMES'S THEATRE.-On Monday night Mlle. Albina di Rhona, a French dancer, said to be of Servian origin, made her first appearance, in a trifling piece entitled Smack for Smack. The young lady, who is an actress as well as a dancer, speaks the French language, and, as the piece originally stood, the only other character, a Prussian soldier, was played by a German, who spoke in his own vernacular. The bickering which takes place between these two personages, and which ultimately leads to a declaration of mutual attachment, mainly serves to introduce a number of those characteristic dances in which Mlle. Albina di Rhona is a proficient. Nevertheles, it was felt that the German would be unintelligible to a large portion of the audience, and hence he is converted into an Englishman, and played by Mr. Belmore, the lady still retaining |