1828.] 



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MONTHLY THEATRICAL REPORT. 



The King's Th?afre is now the wonder, 

 the luminary to which all the other dra- 

 matic lights bo-.v their waning heads. The 

 managers of the opera have certainly con- 

 trived to form a force very unusual in this 

 country, and, altogether, unrivalled in any 

 other. Sontag, the worshipped of Germany, 

 from the Hartz to the Tyrol ; Pasta, the 

 queen of Italian tragedy ; Schutz, a very 

 spirited and clever singer ; and among the 

 rest, Caradori, a great favourite of the pub- 

 lic, until she began to give horself airs, and 

 make the world discover that the meekness 

 and moderation which first created an inte- 

 rest for her, were put on for effect, and 

 thrown off for effect too. With such a com- 

 pany, a new tide of popularity might be 

 predicted, and it has flowed, and continues 

 to flow. 



We have been always convinced that 

 puffing is bad policy ; but this is a puffing 

 age ; and never was actress puffed like 

 Sontag. There was not a point of her cha- 

 racter, person, powers, or features, from 

 her chevehire a la Hongroise, down to her 

 boots a la Hulon, on which the panegyric 

 blast was not directed with reckless activity. 

 She was pronounced to be the cause of duel 

 upon duel in Berlin ; to have secularized 

 the feelings of the Abbot of St. Bartolomeo 

 Borrico, in Vienna ; to have been proposed 

 for, in sacred matrimony, by an English 

 Ambassador, who had jilted the Duchess of 

 Berry, for her sake ; and to have narrowly 

 escaped the actual ceremony with a German 

 prince, although the idolized and paramount 

 over the bodies of half a million of souls, 

 such as souls are in Germany. 



The havoc that this Venus wrought in 

 Paris was beyond description ; and the 

 number of billets written to her, sensibly 

 increased the revenue of the petite paste. 

 With these charms, for the undoing of those 

 who had eyes to see, what fatality had she 

 not for those who had also ears to hear ? 

 Her voice was pronounced to be the very 

 supreme of sound ; the fiddlers of Berlin 

 could not keep pace with her rapidity, echo 

 her strength of tone, or emulate her deli- 

 cacy of articulation ; the fiddlers of Vienna 

 laid by their bows in despair, and suffered 

 her to make her bravuras solo. All was 

 astonishment and admiration. 



Mademoiselle Sontag appeared a few 

 nights since in London, and the miracle 

 was reduced, at a moment, into human 

 dimensions. For the Venus, and the Syren, 

 comes forth a tolerably pretty, very good- 

 humoured looking, honest countenanced 

 young person ; thoroughly German, in every 

 movement and feature ; with a very sweet, 

 very distinct, and very flexible voice. Alto- 

 gether a charming performer, and perfectly 

 corresponding to the opinion attributed to 

 the great Catalani : Elle est la premiere 



M.M. New Series VOL. V. No. 29. 



dans son genre, mais son genre n'est pas 

 le premier. She is completely the Rosina 

 of the " Barbiere di Seviglia," playful, 

 pleasant, and coquettish ; with, from time 

 to time, a touching expression of voice and 

 manner, that brings her piquancy to the 

 heart ; and, at all times, singular ease and. 

 command of voice. 



Our theatrical directors seldom exhibit 

 much tact in their dramatic contrivances ; 

 but we must give them credit for improve- 

 ment in this point, in the " Barbiere." The 

 first sight of Rosina is seen from a window, 

 according to the original. A position palpa- 

 bly disadvantageous to the whole effect of 

 the figure. On the present occasion, a bet- 

 ter taste reserved the grand dd.but for a 

 better scene ; and Sontag came forth, at 

 once, to the front of the stage, with the let- 

 ter in her hand, and in the beautiful ca- 

 vatma, Una voce pocofct, which we have so 

 often heard, and which scarcely can be heard 

 without pleasure, poured forth her incantation. 

 But sweet as the spell was, it was felt to be 

 a falling off from the high-raised expecta- 

 tion of the audience, and a feeling of disap- 

 pointment was certainly the general impres- 

 sion. But the fault was in the tactique of 

 the singer, not in her deficiency of power. 

 By an idle policy, common among perfor- 

 mers, she reserved her display for a later 

 effort, and indulged herself only in prelu- 

 ding. But the first song is like the first 

 blow, a great way to victory ; and the can- 

 didate for popular honours should feel it a 

 maxim, that the first effort demands the 

 whole power. If Sontag, instead of tenderly 

 trying her ground, at her first attempt, had 

 boldly taken possession of it, and developed 

 her whole strength, she would have escaped 

 the languor that let down the spirits of the 

 audience during half the night, and would 

 have been triumphant from her first roulade 

 to the last. 



Catalani, who knew the stage and the Eng- 

 lish taste thoroughly, almost always commen- 

 ced with a bravura ; developed the whole vi- 

 gour of her matchless voice, before the audi- 

 ence had recovered from their admiration of 

 the dignity of her entrance, and the majesty 

 of her fine -countenance and gesture ; and 

 made the whole night a career of easy vic- 

 tory. 



Sontag's articulation and flexibility are, 

 probably, now unequalled. She sings those 

 violin variations of Rode, which are now be- 

 come a sort of gymnastic feat among the 

 bravura singers, with a perfect mastery of 

 their execution. But the effort, however 

 perfectly accomplished, is not to our taste. 

 The finest influence of the human voice is, 

 its speaking to the heart its expression. All 

 the ganibolings and curvettings that were 

 ever effected by the opera dancer, are not 

 the hundredth part so graceful as the natural 



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