

Theatrical Review. 327 



the Gymnase or Theatre de Madame la Duchesse de Berri, as it was at 

 that time called, will not readily forget the effect produced on a Pa- 

 risian audience by their astonishing performance. We forget at pre- 

 sent the name of the original representative of " Christine," but she 

 was an actress of considerable note. The same piece was repeatedly 

 played in London during the flourishing period of the French com- 

 pany while tney occupied the little theatre in Tottenham Street, the 

 parts being then filled by Pelissie, Laporte, and St. Ange, Laporte 

 being at a somewhat later period replaced by Perlet, who took his 

 original character. There was no more popular vaudeville in their 

 catalogue ; and the distress of the lovers and magnanimity of the 

 rough soldier seldom failed to draw tears from the eyes of the fair 

 audience. Now however attractive the dialogue in the original, in 

 the Italian version it is guiltless of |wit, naivete, or effect; and as the 

 music is by no means striking, the whole affair was uncommonly 

 dull. Ronconi made nothing of his only song, '' Al campo della glo- 

 ria," nor do we think any thing can be made of so tame a piece of 

 music ; besides which, he looked not like a rough sergeant, but like 

 a count in disguise. Giannoni had very little to do either as a song- 

 stress or actress, but did that little well. Miss Fanny Wyndham was 

 encored in a song, " Pastorello pien d'amore," for the sake of a few 

 notes of extraordinary power and depth at the conclusion. The air 

 itself was by no means deserving of repetition, except inasmuch as 

 it served as a vehicle for her singing. The somniferous qualities of 

 this operetta were made the more apparent by comparison with the 

 lively first act of " L'Elisir d'Amore," by which it had been preceded. 

 February 1 1 th. This night was appropriated to the second in rank 

 of Mozart's operas, and though it is admitted on all hands by com- 

 petent judges that the " Don Giovanni" is the most perfect dramatic 

 composition of his or any other person's, it may be a matter of doubt 

 whether the " Nozze di Figaro" is not, from the more agreeable and 

 lively plot and lighter music, a still greater favourite with the public. 

 At all events, after playing to empty benches for the whole of their 

 brief season, on this occasion the house was crammed to suffocation. 

 The stalls and private boxes have always been well filled, but as these 

 may be considered the peculiar property of that class who go not 

 where they are entertained, but where fashion calls them, they furnish 

 no data by which to judge of the public taste. Now the price of 

 admission to the boxes and pit being within the reach of all persons 

 enjoying moderately good means, the number of visitors to those 

 parts of the theatre form a very good criterion of the estimation in 

 which the performances are held. As long as the light but lively 

 operas of the new Italian school were the only food offered to the 

 musical appetite few were present at the feast. As soon as the pro- 

 mised banquet is an opera by Mozart, the unopened doors are 

 thronged with impatient crowds ; and fortunate indeed are those who 

 can procure reasonably good places in the small area allotted for the 

 public.* Hundreds were sent back from the doors. This is not a 



* Those who have not visited the Lyceum lately should be informed that the best 

 half of the pit is divided into stalls according to the practice in foreign theatres. But 

 mark! at English prices. 



