Theatrical Review. 103 



whatever art it may be displayed. It is neither so florid as Rubini's 

 nor so monotonous as Donzelli's, preserving a just mean between 

 those extremes. It must be confessed, however, that he has not the 

 finish of the former nor the magnificent voice of the latter. We 

 cannot say we prefer his singing to that of either of these two mas- 

 ters, but it leaves nothing to be regretted from their absence, and we 

 feel assured that he will become so permanent a favourite in this 

 country that no musical season will be complete without his aid. 

 The advantage of hearing him in a small space may be something in 

 his favour, but he evidently possesses sterling qualities of the highest 

 order, which will not fail to place him in the highest rank of his pro- 

 fession. After the opera " God save the King'' was sung, the solo 

 parts by Blasis and Catone, and not quite so cruelly maltreated as is 

 generally the case, when our national anthem is, as we think, impro- 

 perly entrusted to the voices of foreigners. 



December \lth.~- The second of the series of " Buffa Operas," 

 given at the Lyceum, was presented to the public on this evening, 

 and entitled " II Furioso :" the music is by Donizetti, the words by 

 nobody knows who. We wish, however, we did know who affixed 

 the miserable translation furnished on the alternate pages of the 

 libretto, which bears under its title the names of some of the princi- 

 pal booksellers in the metropolis as publishers, to whom it is equally 

 disgraceful to issue such trash as it is to the perpetrator to write it, 

 who neither understands English nor Italian, and we suppose pays for 

 the privilege of being allowed to appear in print. 



The story is a melange of the " Mountaineers and the Stranger," 

 the story being supplied from the former, the motive of Cardenio's 

 madness from the latter : and the scene is laid in St. Domingo, we 

 suppose for the sake of introducing a black slave as the buffo of the 

 piece. The part of Cardenio was supported by a Signer Ronconi, 

 who is a young man of considerable abilities in his profession, enjoy- 

 ing the advantage of a pure barytone voice, unalloyed with any 

 thing of the bass. Indeed the quality is that of tenor, but lowered a 

 third in the scale, without the least mixture of the rich round tone 

 that usually belongs to the compass. His style is very good, and we 

 long to hear him sing some better music. Donizetti's best is not first 

 rate, and this appears to be his very worst. Signer Ronconi was 

 very successful in his second aria, which reminded us of the air in 

 the closing scene of " Anna Bolena," by the same composer. He 

 obtained an encore in a duet with " Kaidama," the negro, in the 

 second act. We say he, for the other part had nothing to do with 

 the call for repetition. This we think the best piece of music in the 

 opera, and the sentiment thrown into it by this singer would have 

 redeemed it from any chance of condemnation had its demerits been 

 equally prominent. It commences with a slow movement, 



" Fu 1'orror dei tradimenti, 

 Ch* eclissd la mia raggione." 



Catone had not a favourable opportunity of showing his peculiar 

 excellencies. The music in the opera was too high for his voice, and 

 the song he introduced, with an obligato accompaniment on the horn 



