Punch (12.1847)

96

PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

THE OPENING OF THE OPERA.

hat excitement, what bust'e, what squeez-
ing, what crushing !
To the Opera every one seems to be
rushing.

No sooner the janitors open the doors,
Than into the house a vast muliitude
pours.

At the door of the pit is the usual

squeeze:

Says one—"Take your heel off my toe

His badges of honour are marks of disgrace,
And smack they all go at the legs of the base.
Leonora, of course, to her Ferdinand clings,
At the hazard of tearing and rumbling her things ;
Like a heroine plunged in the depths of despair,
She wildly give* loose to her grief and her hair ;
'Tis always a mark of a sorrowful mind
When a heroine's back hair is all dangling behind.
Fernando re-enters the convent, and straight
A penitent female appears at the gate,
Of course it is wondrously easy to guess—■
Leonora's the woman, in white and distress.
A deserted soprano their efforts ne'er cease,

if you please !" ^ ne tenors can get not a moment of peace ;

While another exclaims, from a corner But such importunity can we regret

remote When it gives us a beautiful final duet,

" I'll thank' vou to hand me the tail of Which, after a total exhaustion of force,

my coat.

Some backwatds, some forwards, some
sideways, are thrust ;
But somehow or other go onwards they must,
Till they find themselves pack'd, by a very close fit,
In the front, or the centre, or back of the pit.
Brimful is the house, and, as every one knows,
Expectation stands quite on the tip of its tees
To see what the manager brings in the stead
Of those who away from his standard have fled.
And first, on a scale comprehensively grand,
Before us is spread the new Opera Band :
A forest of fiddles, a thicket of basses,
A small grove of flutes, and a bed of grosses caisses ;
A little plantation of trumpets and brass,
With serpents—but now not one snake in the grass.
What a splendid effect ! How delicious the twiddles
That come from the strings of those exquisite fiddles !
And then how majestic, how soft, and how mellow
The sound of that beautiful first violencello !
How deeply yet smoothly the notes seem to glide
From the thundering mouth of that huge ophycleide.
How soft the trombone ! how wondrously pat
It leaps all at once from the sharp to the flat.
That charming triangle! its sound makes us feel
There sometimes is soul in a bit of cold steel ;
And ah ! that magnificent drum how it soars
To the highest of notes in the highest of sc ires.
That sweet clarionet, how it gracefully gambles !
From nat'ral to nat'ral it playfully rambles ;
Now shrieking at A, and now moaning at F,
It touches, with ease, every note in the clef.
The curtain ascends—in procession before us
Pass a body of monks, who are singing a choru3.
The piece is the popular opera, The Favourite,
The plot has some strong situations to flavour it ;
But into particulars let us not go
Of what half the public by this time must know.
They've seen it with Templeton, and with Dofrez,
And with young Mr. Traveks, of whom critics say
That he's destined to win operatical glory,
As our freshest and primest ofprimi tenon;
With the heroine's part we completely at home are,
Through the aid of the Drury Lane favourite, Miss Romer.
The plot it is needless again to repeat ;
How Fernando a lady is taken to meet,

Will finish in death and forgiveness of course?
The tenor, Gardoni, must rank with ihe best;
How precious the treasures locked up in his chest.'
Not e'tn England's Bank if you came to inquire,
Contains in its chest any notes that are higher.
SoPERCin and Bouche will soon be well known,
For they've each of them voices and sty les of iheir own,
That render them worthy of taking the places
Of baritones best, and pn foundest of bases.
Mister Lumley, the manager, surdy has reason
To be proud of the Opening Night ot his Season.
The house fairly echoed with shoutings for Lumley,
Who bowed to his patrons in attitude comely :
And then to wind up, ju»t by way of a closer.
Came calls for our principal English composer—
For Balfe, vho pursuing the usual decencies,
Achieved some half-dozen most graceful obeisances.
The Ballet came after, with wondrous success,
But to say any more we can't now stop the press ;
So we coolly make use of the common evasion,
By promising more on some future occasion.

iflcte ©ffirts for $rmce.

We understand that Prince Albert has been solicited to allow him-

And how he abandons his home in the cloister, *°_ ^P**.^ n,°™!?a^?nJor ^L^^^J^Lff

To open the world with his sword—like an oyster ;
How he wins all the battles, and gets all the fame

That primi tenon are licensed to claim ;
How he asks Leonora's fair hand from the King ;
How he gets it, and hears a most horrible thing ;
How he's married, and thrown himself madly away
On the Sovereign's favourite—la bella del re—
Oh, then what a terrible outburst ensues,
Fernando his monaTch begins to abuse ;

Ranger of the park of Whetstone. His Royal Highness, from his know-
ledge of all subjects, is considered the fittest person to pre.-ide over this
well-known park, and to defend its privileges against the rude hands of
reformers. Whetstone Park was originally a manor or chase, and was
so called from the determined manner in which chase was given to
ihose dishonest debtors who gave the name of Whetstone to the place,
in consequence of its makiug every blade when destitute of blunt a
sharper of the most penetrating description. The rangersbip has no
emolument beyond the privilege of killing a buck ; but as few bucks
resort to the park, this privilege is almost formaL

Prince Albert has likewise been offered the professorship of
Hebrew in the University of Hounsditch. It is true his Royal High-
ness does not understand the language, but this will render him more
tolerant to those who are learning it.

It is rumoured that the square-keepership of Golden Square is to be
offered to the Prince on the first vacancy. There will he an opposition
candidate, who, it is said, relies on the sympathy-exciting fact of his
having three children ; but as the Prince is in a position that will
enable him to put forth a placard inscribed "Vote for Albert and
five children," his Royal Highness's return may, we think, be safely
predicted.