ON THE PRESENT STATE OF THE OPERA IN LONDON. 211 



subject of astonishment how some of them could be performed at 

 all. The advice tendered, to judge of the operas by the eflect which 

 they produce on the audience, is likewise judicious, inasmuch as 

 they have generally the undeserved good fortune of being sung by 

 the finest vocalists in the world ; under such circumstances, it may 

 be confidently asserted that, in the present state of public taste, the 

 composer is secure of obtaining a share of the applause which in 

 justice belongs solely to the performet. Thus, the argument which 

 the reviewer founds on their extensive popularity, cannot be sup- 

 ported until he produces a public capable of estimating the intrinsic 

 merit of an opera independently of the manner in which it is per- 

 formed. The Germans approximate far more nearly in this respect 

 to a perfect taste than either the English or the French, yet in 

 Germany the partisans of Bellini form but an insignificant minori- 

 ty. I have been present at the performance of the Somnamhula, at 

 Frankfort, when the audience did not exceed fifty persons (either 

 Robert le Diable or a classical opera of any school would have filled 

 the house), and expressions of disapprobation were certainly predo- 

 minant, although the performers might be considered favourites. 

 Even in England we are not without proof that the popularity of 

 Bellini may be ascribed rather to the performance than to the com- 

 position. When the manager of the English Opera House has en- 

 deavoured to introduce either the works of that composer, or any 

 other of the same school, the experiment has invariably failed. The 

 reason is obvious : the singers, although competent to do justice to 

 music of every style, were not in themselves sufficiently attractive 

 to counterbalance the want of interest in the music, which, when 

 left to its intrinsic merit, encountered the neglect it deserved. 

 Again, if it were actually the composition which affords so much 

 delight to the frequenters of the Italian opera, it is difficult to con- 

 ceive why Balfe's Siege of Rochelle has attracted so small a share of 

 notice in aristocratic circles. This opera contains airs in the style at 

 present so much in vogue, while the excellence of the concerted 

 pieces renders it, as a whole, superior to any production of the mo- 

 dern Italian school ; yet it will never acquire the same degree of 

 popularity as the trash which has been introduced to the notice of 

 the fashionable world by the splendid talents of Grisi, Rubini, Tam- 

 burini, and Lablache. Let the most contemptible opera ever com- 

 posed be assigned to this gifted quartett, and behold how the praises 

 of the composer will be instantly blazoned abroad by the opera 

 house critics ! 



The question is not, however, whether there are, or are not, indi- 



