Nature and Alt, December 1, 1866. 
MUSIC ABROAD. 
247 
to the Royal Italian Opera, Covent Garden. She became a 
favourite with the patrons of Mr. Gye, but she has not been 
so fortunate as to please the Viennese public much. Her 
arrival had been heralded by paragraphs in the papers to the 
effect that she had quitted the Royal Opera-house, Berlin, 
from patriotic motives. Being the daughter of an Austrian 
officer, she had refused to take part in the performance got 
up to celebrate the victories of the Prussian armies. The 
public, however, have chosen to judge her by her vocal 
abilities, rather than by her patrotic sentiments, and their 
verdict has not been as favourable as it might have been. 
She appeared as Amina in La Sonna/nibula, and as Margarethe 
in Gounod’s Faust, and the general opinion appears to be 
that she is better fitted for the concert-room than the stage. 
True that in La Sonnambula, a too lavish use of black 
colour round her eyes gave her a most ludicrous appearance 
as she rose from the couch in the Count’s apartment, 
causing a titter to run through the house, rendering her 
nervous, and completely spoiling the finale of the second act. 
True, also, that she was suffering - from the effects of recent 
indisposition when she sang in Faust. Still, if we make 
every allowance for these two contretenvps, Fraulein 
Orgeny’s prospects in Vienna are not the most brilliant. 
Herold’s opera of Zartvpa has been revived, but is not likely 
to remain long in the bills. The subject does not attract as 
it used to do when the famous tenors, Wild and Erl, sustained 
the part of the hero. The public, like Sir Charles 
Coldstream, are rather “used up.” They do not take the 
same interest as formerly in pirates and such small deer. 
Since Meyerbeer caused a cemetery full of nuns to rise 
from their graves and dance about the stage, and Herr 
Richard Wagner treated his audience to choruses of 
phantom sailors, one poor ghost has but a bad chance. 
The Baroness Pasqualati, a lady highly esteemed in the 
higher circles, has opened the Harmonie Theatre. Her pro- 
gramme includes light operettas. The first specimen she 
presented to her patrons on the opening night was a trifle 
entitled Her galcgnte Candidat, founded on the French piece 
L’AbbS galant. The music, by Conradin, contains several 
numbers distinguished for their freshness and originality. 
The applause at the fall of the curtain was general. 
One effect of the war upon art in Germany has been 
that the theatres at Cassel, Wiesbaden, Frankfort, and 
Hanover, have become Prussian Theatres Royal, with a 
subvention from the Prussian government ; which latter, 
in a pecuniary view, will probably be no great loser by the 
transaction ; for, if the attendance should happen to fall off 
at any of the above establishments, Herr von Htilsen, the 
Intendant-General of the Theatres Royal, Berlin, has 
merely to send a “ star ” or two from head-quarters to 
Cassel, Wiesbaden, Hanover, or Frankfort, as the case 
may be, and the public will again flock to the comparatively 
deserted edifices. Meanwhile, Herr Niemann, one of 
the best tenors in Germany, has taken advantage of the 
new state of things which annulled his contract with the 
management of the ex-king of Hanover, to conclude an 
engagement with that of the Royal Opera-house, Berlin, 
where he will prove a great acquisition, and share with 
Herr Wachtel the first tenor parts. There is plenty for 
both to do ; the programme having been more varied this 
season than any previous one. For instance, among the 
operas performed since the Royal Opera re-opened its doors, 
may be mentioned La Dame Blanche, Chiillaume Tell, II 
Trovatore, Tannhauser, Les deua Journdes, Joseph in 
Egypten, Faust, Le Postilion de Longjvmeau, Fra Diavolo, 
Robert le Diable, L’ Africaine, Rienzi, Les Huguenots, 
Omar und Zimmermann, Le Prophete, and several more 
besides. Most certainly the greatest fanatico per la musica 
cannot complain either of the quantity or the quality of what 
is offered him by the Royal Opera-house, Berlin. The 
company, too, is excellent, counting among its members 
many artists not only of German but also of European 
celebrity, and many more, who if not quite so famous, 
might almost lay claim to be so. It must, moreover, be 
borne in mind that the performance of opera is not 
limited to the Royal Opera-house. Operas are given, and 
in'good style, too, at Kroll’s theatre, at the Wilhelmstadt 
theatre, and at the Victoria theatre. Not a season passes, 
either, without an Italian company paying a visit to the 
banks of the Spree, though there is no regular Italian 
troupe, as is the case in London, Paris, and Vienna. 
This is the only particular in which Berlin is behind the 
three other great European capitals named. It will have 
been seen that the operas cited above are all well-known 
works. The only absolute operatic novelty produced at 
Berlin lately, is one in the shape of a three-act musical 
farce ; words and music by Herr Adolph Larronge. The 
music is exceedingly original and clever. 
A gentleman who has greatly contributed towards pro- 
pagating among - the Berliners a taste for music of a high 
class, lately celebrated the 25th anniversary of the concerts 
established by him — that gentleman is Herr Liebig. The 
concert ho gave on the occasion in question attracted 
around him troops of friends and admirers anxious to testify 
their gratitude for what he has done in forwarding the 
interests of art. Herr Liebig deserves all the honours 
shown him. Thirty years ago, anything like good musical 
entertainments — leaving out of consideration the Opera — 
was scarcely to be found in Berlin. The principal “ enter- 
tainments ” of this kind were the concerts given in the 
j gardens attached to the suburban coffee-houses, and such 
1 like localities. The performers consisted of some half 
dozen wretched fiddlers. The sole exceptions were the 
concerts of the military bands, and even they were not 
what they how are. It was not till Johann Strauss, the 
Walz-King, as he was termed, had visited the Prussian 
capital with his orchestra, and shown the public in the 
concert-room of the Theatre Royal, for six shillings a head, 
how dance-music should be played, that better days began 
to dawn in Berlin for this kind of composition. But it was 
not long ere, in Gungl’s and in Kroll’s, Berlin could boast of 
possessing - orchestras not a whit inferior to Strauss’s. 
Herr Liebig, too, when founding his concerts, assigned a 
prominent position to dance-music. It was only little by 
little that he introduced classical music into his programmes. 
But the classical element soon ousted every other, as easily 
and as naturally as the young cuckoo drives the smaller 
fledglings from the nest into which he has been dropped, in 
the form of an egg, by the parent bird. Herr Liebig - was 
no less anxious to improve his band than to elevate the 
character of his entertainment. He was fortunate enough 
to secure the performers he required. This enabled him to 
offer the public, not merely the very highest and most 
classical works, but to do so in a style inferior only to that 
of the Royal Orchestra itself, if indeed inferior to that. Of 
all the various orchestras in Berlin, there can at any rate be 
no doubt that Herr Liebig’s stands next to the Royal 
Orchestra, and on all grand occasions its services are 
secured by the Singacademie and Stern’s Association. The 
public have not been backward in doing justice to Herr 
Liebig’s exertions ; and the popularity of his concerts has 
increased so greatly that he gives one somewhere or other 
in Berlin nearly every day. It is easy to understand what 
a beneficial effect he exercises upon public taste by putting 
it in the power of the friends of true art, who are prevented 
by the high prices of admission from attending the concerts 
of the Royal Band, to enjoy, for a comparative trifle, the 
best and noblest productions of the great masters of classical 
instrumental music. But, while honouring the mighty com- 
posers of the past, Herr Liebig - is not neglectful of the 
representatives of the present ; and more than one young- 
composer of talent is indebted to him for his first intro- 
duction to the public. But what has more particularly 
tended to render Herr Liebig so popular, is the total absence 
of aught approaching charlatanism in whatever he does. 
Such a man is an honour to the art which he professes. 
The Royal Orchestra has commenced its series of Symphony- 
Concerts for the season. In obedience to a generally 
expressed wish, the directors have determined on giving a 
certain number of old and less well-known operatic over- 
tures. The first specimen selected was the overture to the 
opera of Tigranes, by Righini, which was produced for the 
first time in Berlin in the year 1800. As a curiosity, 
it is interesting, but cannot be said to possess any very 
great intrinsic merit. The principle, however, on which it 
was included in the programme, is a good one. 
