494 THE MUSICIAN ABOUT TOWN. 
have been produced for the last twenty years) that either the com- 
posers take a pride in displaying the triumph of their art over an 
untoward and inert mass of worthless plot, or are like some unwise 
and egotistical actors, who can bear no rival in merit near the 
throne, and therefore make a point of selecting a foil for the charac- 
ter which most immediately comes in contact with their own. 
Whatever the cause may be, the fact is certain, that when a new 
opera is announced we always make up our minds to be disgusted 
with the story, and to lament for the misjudgment or perversity of 
the composer. Even Mr. Rooke’s opera of “‘ Amelie” never could 
have endured for a fortnight, had it not been for the popular predi- 
lection for all music of the Tyrolean character. The drama itself 
would have been performed to empty benches after the first night. 
Mr. Barnett’s most successful opera has been “The Mountain 
Sylph,” and this not wholly on account of the music in it, charm- 
ing and classical as that music is ; but the story is an interesting 
one, and the treatment of it, both scenical and lyrical, reflects high 
credit upon the authoress, Mrs. Shannon. But Mr. Barnett’s mu- 
sic of “ Fair Rosamond,” taking it through all its range, was of a 
much higher character than that of his Mountain Sylph: there 
were in it concerted pieces and melodies worthy of the great mas- 
ters of dramatic composition ; but his story being absolutely con- 
temptible, the force of his genius alone could not indemnify the 
treasury of the theatre for the large outlay of expense in producing 
it’; and Fair Rosamond is a shelved opera, while the Mountain 
Sylph takes its rotation with other stock pieces, and always attracts 
an admiring audience when its characters are creditably filled. The 
same provoking objection holds good with regard to his last grand 
opera. It would be difficult to collect a longer list of discrepancies, 
and violations of all propriety, historical and dramatic, in any single 
piece, than have been ingeniously brought together in the “ Fari- 
nelli ;” the whole incident in which professes to turn upon the cele- 
brated anecdote of that prince of singers having, by his divine art, 
(like David of old), exorcised a King of Spain from the demon hy- 
pochondria. In the first place, the poet (we use this term conven- 
tionally, and not from distinction) has made Farinelli wander 
through Spain upon a speculative tour, and without a sixpence in 
his pocket ; whereas, he was at that time master of a princely for- 
tune. He has made him a lover, has given him a mistress ; a poli- 
tical intriguer in the cause of the queen ; neither of which charac- 
ters was consonant with his nature and habits: and, to crown all, 
he has multiplied the very incident upon which his story professedly 
