190 Theatrical Matters. [[Aug. 



on the banks of the lordly Rhine. The plot of the opera, which is entitled, 

 " The Robber's Bride/' is of the serious Ifind. The Count of Viterho has 

 retired from court in disgust; in his retirement he nurtures mutiny and 

 commences a political correspondence, which falls into the hands of an enemy, 

 and is by him given to government. The Count has a daughter, charming, 

 young, and fastidious, who has increased the list of her father's enemies, 

 by involuntarily making a lover of a man of abandoned character, subse- 

 quently become a leader of banditti. The lover had ))een contumeliously 

 driven from the Count's presence for his presumption in daring to approach 

 the lady Laura. But he now returns, makes his terms for the protection of 

 the Count, and the hand of his daughter is the proposed price. In the moment 

 of this fatal bargain, the soldiery arrive to sieze the Count, the commander 

 of the troop is thunderstruck at discovering that the daughter of the rebel 

 is the being with whose captivations he himself had been caught at Palermo. 

 Laura is ready to die in despair, at finding herself in this formidable dilemma 

 between the old lover and the new bridegroom. Her oath has been given 

 to marry the bandit ; but stage robbers are generally very high-minded 

 persons; the bandit finds himself unable to resist the agony of the lovely 

 Laura; his iron nature melts; in the most self-denying style, he absolves 

 her from her oath, and the lovers are made, what all opera lovers ought to 

 be, the happiest of adorers and singers. 



There has been for two hundred years such an incessant clamour of 

 complaint raised against the nonentity of opera plots, that we should not 

 wonder if criticism, in its old spirit, should class this plot among the 

 feeble, nor do we know what very effective answer we could make to the 

 charge. But the music is the question; and as nobody expects acting from 

 singers, we see no justice in demanding story from operas. The music ex- 

 hibits the skill of a master. We have heard no composition richer in the 

 deepest displays of musical science ; and we will not hesitate to say that 

 none but a pupil of Beethoven could have produced so stern and solid a 

 proof of scientific labour, nor are we sure, that in any nation but Germany 

 will" this labour be appreciated. Ries is said to have bestowed four years 

 study on this opera : we could believe him if he had told us that he had 

 bestowed forty. No composition of our day equals it in the prodigality of 

 science, the mere toil of chromatics and intricacy of the accompaniments. Beet- 

 hoven might have rejoiced in the completeness of the imitation, for the opera 

 is Beethoven from one end to the other ; but the model is faulty and the 

 work is in consequence a failure. There is a signal deficiency of melodies, 

 and without them no opera will be successful in this country, nor in any 

 other. Genius is discovered in melody, science in harmony, and Ries has 

 had the ill luck to discard the infinitely superior characteristic of an opera com- 

 poser. Miss Betts (Laura), Sapio (the lover), and Phillips (the Count), were 

 the principal support of the piece. A robber's glee, for two tenors and two 

 basses, has the best hope of surviving the general wreck of the opera. The 

 performance was too long, even if the music had been excellent ; but it has 

 been reduced since the first night, and the reduction is a palpable improve- 

 ment. The arrangement of the opera on our stage is by Hawes, who has 

 already superintended the chief popular works at this theatre of late years. 

 But we may ask why, wit'.i the whole of the German and Italian stages before 

 him, his collection for the Lyceum is not more varied .'' There are a hundred 

 operas which have succeeded to high popularity on the continent within the 

 last quarter of a century — why are not these brought out .-* The work of a 

 composer like Ries, hitherto untried, and without experience of the stage, is 

 at best a perilous undertaking, and we wish the Lyceum too well, to desire 

 to see it repeated. 



The " Sister of Charity," a little French melodrame, has been frequently 

 played. The heroine is Miss Kelly, who makes the most of all characters 

 of this class, and whose acting has rendered the piece popular. 



The King's Theatre has contumed its triumphs. A succession of clever 

 performances have been produced, some chefs-d'wuvre, among which 



