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THEATRICAL REVIEW. 



ITALIAN OPERA. 



Saturday, April \st. The elite company not having yet arrived, an 

 attempt was made to get up a passable entertainment in their absence. 

 We are sorry to say it was not successful, the music and singers being 

 alike below the mark. Donizetti's " Belisario*' is new to the English 

 stage, though of some standing in Italy ; and so common-place and 

 inferior is it as a composition that we regret that it has been imported 

 at all. As a composer, Donizetti seems to have exhausted himself in 

 " Anna Bolena ;" and though in his " Marino Faliero," and other 

 operas not known to an English audience, there are many gleams of 

 talent, he has written nothing except " Anna Bolena," which would 

 not have sunk into early oblivion unless supported by the exertions 

 such singers as he has had the good fortune to meet with. Pas 

 Malibran, Grisi, Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and Lablache have been 

 the mediums through which we have received his works and what 

 would not be satisfactory under their auspices. Only compare his 

 advantages with those of Barnett. For instance, suppose that Grisi 

 had replaced Miss Romer ; Rubini and Lablache, Wilson and Guibi- 

 lei, why " Fair Rosamond'* would have caused as great a. furor as the 

 " Puritani'' (of course we take for granted certain changes of style to 

 correspond with the change of performers). Now we do not consi- 

 der either the " Puritani" or " Fair Rosamond'^uperlatively good in 

 themselves far from it; but we think there is nearly as much merit in 

 the one as in the other, and so we quit this part of criticism; adding, 

 however, with respect to the case in point, that there is not a solo, duet, 

 trio, quartet, or chorus in " Belisario" we ever wish to hear again. 



The story is a rifacciamento of the old French romance, and is of 

 course equally veracious in point of history. It is divided into three 

 periods :The Triumph- The Exile and The Death. In the first 

 Belisarius returns victorious, bringing many prisoners, to all whom, 

 by the emperor's permission, he gives their freedom. One, however, 

 of the newly liberated captives, " Alamiro," refuses to quit him, and, 

 dazzled by his warlike glory, wishes to become his friend and they 

 swear eternal friendship accordingly. It appears that " Antonina,'' 

 the wife of " Belisarius," has been informed during his absence, that 

 her infant son, who had been stolen, had been kidnapped and mur- 

 dered by the commands of the father. This creates so strong a de- 

 sire for revenge in her mind that, in order to gratify this passion, she 

 interpolates certain treasonable passages in some of the general's let- 

 ters to her. These are shown up to the Emperor ; "'Belisarius" is 

 tried for his life, and" Antonina" appears as a witness against him. 

 This produces an eclair 'cissement, in the course of which " Belisarius'' 

 confesses that he was urged to the sacrifice of his infant by a dream, 

 which represented his son as the greatest enemy of his country, and 

 which danger his patriotism induced him to avert at^ the expense of his 

 paternal "feelings. Here the first division ends 'amid the roar of 



