Punch (90.1886)

June 19, 1886.] PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

THINGS ONE WOULD RATHER HAVE LEFT UNSAID.

Jones [to Hostess, famed for her Dinners). "Oh, by the way, Mrs. Hodgtcinson, if you

should happen to want a really good cook, I know of one who would suit you to at !"

substituted ,for L'Africaine, in consequence
of Signor Gayarue'shoarseness. Mile. Julia
Valba and Signor Anbrade achieved a tri-
umph. To hear Alrani in Faust the Garden
was erammedfull and every Garden seat taken.
Next Saturday Alrani in Traviata; a treat.
" Lago al Factotum del la citd, Brrravo ! "

NlBBS.

" Nibbeluxglet " says:—

The Troubadour, written by Dr. Huefper,
and composed by Mr. Mackenzie, is a melan-
choly work. The story is dismal, and so is
the music. Hardly one ray of sunshine pene-
trates the murky gloom which overshadows
the entire Opera. After the festivities in the
First Act there is positively nothing but
misery in the melodies, which has a naturally
depressing effect upon the audience. Mr.
Barton McGuckin sang the Troubadour's
arduous and, in some places, actually tire-
some, music with the most praiseworthy per-
sistency and some obvious effort. His song
with "lute" accompaniment was one of the
best numbers in the Opera. The prelude to
the Third Act is also worthy of especial
mention, being a sonorous and refreshingly
straightforward entr'acte. Mr. McGuckin
has some fairly effective love-music with
Margarida; Madame Vaileria sang this
part to _ perfection. Mr. Leslie Crotty as
the *' wicked Count" was admirable from a
musical point of view, and sang with thrill-
ing effect a drinking song, which Dr. Huef-
fer calls a "posy," in the last Act. This
number is highly ingenious, recalling by its

sardonic ring, and instrumental accompani-
ment, the well-known "serenade" sung by
Mepliistopheles beneath the window of another
Margarida in Faust. Miss Marian Burton
employed her rich and round voice with her
customary success, receiving a well-merited
encore for her solo in the Third Act, " Beneath
a hawthorn on the [blooming lawn." There
is an enormous amount of musicianly work in
the new Opera, but little inspiration.

The masterly employment of contrasted
rhythms in alternation and combination, the
fine orchestral colour, and above all, the
splendid part-writing of the choruses, inspire
the profoundest respect for the composer's
attainments, but give little of the satisfac-
tion to an ordinary audience, that a success-
ful Opera should do. The method of Wag-
ner, is not one to be lightly handled. No one
yet has written an Opera in the least like
him, though many have essayed to follow in
his steps. The sensation of fatigue induced
upon listeners' minds by the interminable un-
reeling of recitative, accompanied by snatches
of hit motives and restless instrumentation, is
not successfully combated by the reflection
that it is " very clever." Mr. Mackenzie
can certainly claim a lenient judgment on
the ground that he was heavily handicapped
by his collaborateur. Who could write music
to such words as these: " Be welcome, fair
ladies both, to this our meeting,"—just as if
the scene were laid at Exeter Hall.

Mr. Mackenzie's strong point is the or-
chestra, which he thoroughly understands.

{Signed) Nibbelunglet.

297

"1886."

{After the Battle.)

Uibe on, great Chief! A mournful ride !
The ebbing and the flowing tide

Of battle now
Sets—for awhile—against you. Doom
Dulls in your eye its light; its gloom

Shadows your brow.

That firm-set face, that forthright look
Tell that defeat is hard to brook,

And heavier thus,
Because old comrades many, brave,
Swell the foes' ranks whose standards wave

Victorious.

Where are the men who many a day
Have fought around you in the fray,

Defying fear ?
Ask where the fire of youth now glows,
Where are dead summers, where the snows

Of yester year ?

Argyll is gone, his cocky crest,
Like Chanticleer's, which ever prest

Straight to the van,
Flames with the foe ne late assailed;
Gone Hartingtox, who never failed

To play the man :

Gone Chamberlain", gone Goschen, gone—
Of shocks the sorest!—Glorious John.

And these have turned
The tide of fight, and dulled your fame,
And lowered the flag where Victory's flame

So oft hath burned.

Yet some remain ; the stalwart, stout,
Swashbuckler IIarcourt ; how the rout

Must rouse his ire!
Aramis-granville, sleekly strong,
Young Rosebery of the ready tongue

And charge of fire.

Chivalrous Russell, Chllbers meek,
Mundella of the eagle-beak

And flowing hair;
High-hearted Spencer, Morley grim,
With—strangest of strange foils to him—

Bland Labouchere :

And many another man of might,
Yet not enough to win the fight,

Or stay defeat.
So, with fixed face and forward glance,
The Chief, best used to brave advance,

Rides in retreat.

Withdrawing, yet considerate still
Of further fight; unshaken will,

TJnbated hope,
O'er-ride reverse ; yet once again
He '11 rally that despondent train

With fate to cope.

It is not yet his Waterloo.

That stern face seeks the shadows through

For coming light,
Though now outnumbered, brought to stand,
He leads a broken, beaten band

Once more to fight.

All Smoke.—A few days since a cabman
was punished with rather a heavy fine for
discharging apistol accidentally. The weapon
was the property of Lord Manbeville, who,
upon being called to give evidence, suddenly
disappeared, and treated that very excellent
Magistrate, Mr. Newton, with contempt.
His Worship complained that Lord Mastije-
ville was most "disrespectful," and guilty
of "highly unbecoming" conduct. Surely,
after this opinion from the Bench, further
steps should have been taken. Lord Man-
devllle ought not to have been let off—like
his revolver !