DOI Heft:
May 28, 1892
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.17693#0266
Mat 28, 1892.]
257
lost. Perhaps I left it in a railway carriage. Afterwards I tried to mezzo, foreboding ill, presaging tragedy,—magnificent! And as
put my bets, as far as I could remember them, down on a large sheet Mancinelli _ bows from his seat, acknowledges the thunder of
of paper, and I think I got it very nearly right. But I left the applause—this was the thunder in the atmosphere—and pulls his
paper lying about in the library in a very interesting first edition of forces together again to repeat and emphasize the triumph—Drerio-
Plotinus, I believe, and either the housemaid burned it, or my host lanes shuts up his lorgnette, beams on the world around, and
threw it into the waste-paper basket. At all events, it was lost, and murnrars to himself, " Waterloo is won ! " Decides thereupon to
I have no head for figures, and things got mixed somehow. The give the same performance on Thursday, and does so, with repetition
book-maker's recollection of the circumstances was not the same as of triumph.
mine. But I began quite a fresh book, on imaginative principles, on Now one word as to a picturesque detail. The action takes place
the course. I had not a good Ascot. And as Racing gives me a on Easter Sunday, not on Palm Sunday; but Archbishop Drerio-
headache, and I seldom meet any people on the Turf who are at all lanes has issued a pastoral melody dispensing his flock from the
interested in the same things as myself, I have given it up for good, usual custom, and allowing them to have the palms distributed on
They say I am a good deal regretted by the Ring. It is always Easter Sunday, for the sake of the show. " Palmam qui meruit
pleasant to remember having made a favourable impression. ferat,"—and well does each one of the Chorus deserve his or her palm.
— , And do not those in front who are nervous as to splitting their glove-
seams, also bare their palms to applaud this Opera ? Why certainly.
THE OPERA-GOER'S DIARY. Truly, Sir Dreriolanes Archiepiscopes Dispensator, well hast
thou inaugurated the palmy days of this Opera Season.
Monday, May 16.—Sound the trumpets, Beat the drums! All Friday.—Faust selected because alliteration in Faust and Friday.
Hail to Sir Dreriolanes Operatices, the most successful Knight A trifle, but as Dreriolanes says, " The world is governed by trifles."
of the Season ! A brilliant audience in a brilliant house lighted by Wise saw this, with practical modern instance. Van Dyck look-
thousands of additional electric , _^-^^CnX ^e a Rembrandt, a Faust-
lights, acclaimed with rapture the ///^* r Faust, and Miss Emma Eames
awakening of Opera. Philemon Yf/—V^^^?^* / a charming Marguerite. Mons.
et Baucis began it, a work by \\ ^&r~? ^J^S^§\\//> Plan Q on's Mephistopheles d la
Gounod (which is not intended for -~^^^Mm~Z^^S^^//f FrarifMse. Mons. Ceste good as
swearing) of great sweetness and M^^^^^^AV if Valentine. A propos of Valentine
light; and this was followed by / %f ^W\Jih.WP /^^^^B^m^' -^m\ and his soldiers, why do the army
Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria fm ^^SrMfJ^^^^ HMks and their friends who come to
Rusticana, "Rustic Chivalry,"
which might be epigrammatically
described as a " Clod-hoppera."
Philemon et Baucis is charming.
M. Montariol was a capital
Philemon, and Mile. Sigrid
Arnold sen as Baucis, a sort of
classical Little Bo-peep, received
a hearty welcome on her return to
the Covent Garden House and
Home. M. Planqon was the
thoroughly French Jupin, and
M. Castelmary an amiable
Vulcan; both most accomplished
Divines. Altogether, a perfect
quartette. The graceful inter-
mezzo only escaped an encore be-
cause the knowing ones among
the gods and groundlings felt
that too much enthusiasm at first
might do serious damage to the
subsequent reception of the great
intermezzo of the evening. All on
qui vive for great intermezzo.
Anticipations of event heard in
the lobbies. Anxiety depicted on
some countenances, but most
features looking happy and hope-
ful. The members of what was
once known as '' the Organising
welcome them, invariably turn
their backs on the triumphal pro-
cession, taking no sort of interest
in it whatever ? Also, why is that
banner persistently and purpose-
lessly waved during the whole of
the great Soldiers' Chorus? Is
this the reason why nowadays the
ever-popular Soldiers' Chorus is
seldom encored ? As this mono-
tonous action on the part of the
Bannerman (not Campbell of
that ilk, but the ensign-bearing
supernumerary) suggests "flag-
ging interest," hadn't it better be
abolished altogether?
Saturday.—Great excitement in
outer Hall. Everybody buzzing
about. What has happened ? Has
dynamite been found ? Has some
eminent vocalist "gone up to see,"
and can't come down again in
time ? Sir Druriolanes is pre-
sent, explaining matters to the
critics, and repeating explanation
in various tongues to eager foreign
inquirers. The sentinels eye the
moving scene with determination
and bayonets fixed. At a word
from Sir Dreriolanes, they will
Committee " nod encouragingly to The Good and Great Archbishop Druriolanus Coventgardenus giving g[ve an extra charge, and rout the
one another as they pass to and his Chorus Flock permission to use Palms on Easter Sunday. crowd. " What is it all about ? "
fro ; the officials and habitues ex- Qlute "tlie Palmy days" of the °Pera- asks little Peterkin. Sir Drerio-
change greetings without any expression of opinion. Sir Drtjrio
lanus does not issue forth until the right moment, when he can shut
up his opera-glass with a click, and give the word to Field-Marshal
Mancinelli to lead his men to the attack. For the present, '' Wait"
is the mot d'ordre, "and this," quoth a jig-maker, "is the only
weight in the entire entertainment."
Up goes the Curtain, and those who remember the Cavalleria as it
was put on "in another place," to use parliamentary language, see
at the first glance that this representation is going to be quite another
pair of shoes. The stage management is admirable: not a second
without movement, and every movement with a motive—musical or
dramatic, or both. Madame Calve's Santuzza is operatically and
histrionically—but especially the latter- a triumph; and "this is the
verdict of us all." Gielia Ravogli makes a great part of Lola; the
many-talented little Mile. Baeermeister's Lucia is not quite up to
her own Marta in Faust, As for the men, the singing and the acting
of Signor De Lucia as Turiddu (ye gods! what a name!), and of
Mons. Dueriche as Alfio cannot be surpassed.
But—stop—the tremendous row (a quarrel quite representative
of Whitechapel in Italy, and suggesting to some of us what Signor
Coster Chevalier might do if this Opera were Londonised) between
Turiddu-de-Lucia and Santuzza-Calve is over, the latter has de-
nounced her former lover, there is thunder in the air—the atmosphere
is heavy with fate—and the stage is clear. Then comes the inter-
lanes can tell him. Madame Calve is indisposed, and V Amico
Fritz cannot be performed. So Gleck's Orfeo is substituted in a
happy-g'lucky sort of way. The two Ravogli are excellent, and
Box and Stall are satisfied.
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
" Mrs. Henniker," my Baronite writes, "dedicates to her brother,
Lord Houghton, her first essay in fiction, on the ground that he
will be the most kindly critic. Bid me Good-bye (Bentley) does
not stand in need of the adventitious aid of fraternal kindliness to
recommend it to the reader. The story of woman's sacrifice to a
sense of duty has been told before ; but Mrs. Henniker endows her
version with a charm of simplicity under which, here and there,
glows the fire of passion. Moreover, she writes excellent English,
which ladies who make books do sometimes. It is a pity the story is
so sad. Colonel St. Aubyn might just as well have married Mary
Giffard, and lived ever after in that charming Brereton Royal which
Mrs. Henniker doubtless sketches from life. If she had insisted on
his being a cripple for life, her dictum could not have been disputed.
But there ought to have been a union between William and Mary"
Why are the Obstructives like last Season's Walnuts?—Because
they are troublesome to Peel.
257
lost. Perhaps I left it in a railway carriage. Afterwards I tried to mezzo, foreboding ill, presaging tragedy,—magnificent! And as
put my bets, as far as I could remember them, down on a large sheet Mancinelli _ bows from his seat, acknowledges the thunder of
of paper, and I think I got it very nearly right. But I left the applause—this was the thunder in the atmosphere—and pulls his
paper lying about in the library in a very interesting first edition of forces together again to repeat and emphasize the triumph—Drerio-
Plotinus, I believe, and either the housemaid burned it, or my host lanes shuts up his lorgnette, beams on the world around, and
threw it into the waste-paper basket. At all events, it was lost, and murnrars to himself, " Waterloo is won ! " Decides thereupon to
I have no head for figures, and things got mixed somehow. The give the same performance on Thursday, and does so, with repetition
book-maker's recollection of the circumstances was not the same as of triumph.
mine. But I began quite a fresh book, on imaginative principles, on Now one word as to a picturesque detail. The action takes place
the course. I had not a good Ascot. And as Racing gives me a on Easter Sunday, not on Palm Sunday; but Archbishop Drerio-
headache, and I seldom meet any people on the Turf who are at all lanes has issued a pastoral melody dispensing his flock from the
interested in the same things as myself, I have given it up for good, usual custom, and allowing them to have the palms distributed on
They say I am a good deal regretted by the Ring. It is always Easter Sunday, for the sake of the show. " Palmam qui meruit
pleasant to remember having made a favourable impression. ferat,"—and well does each one of the Chorus deserve his or her palm.
— , And do not those in front who are nervous as to splitting their glove-
seams, also bare their palms to applaud this Opera ? Why certainly.
THE OPERA-GOER'S DIARY. Truly, Sir Dreriolanes Archiepiscopes Dispensator, well hast
thou inaugurated the palmy days of this Opera Season.
Monday, May 16.—Sound the trumpets, Beat the drums! All Friday.—Faust selected because alliteration in Faust and Friday.
Hail to Sir Dreriolanes Operatices, the most successful Knight A trifle, but as Dreriolanes says, " The world is governed by trifles."
of the Season ! A brilliant audience in a brilliant house lighted by Wise saw this, with practical modern instance. Van Dyck look-
thousands of additional electric , _^-^^CnX ^e a Rembrandt, a Faust-
lights, acclaimed with rapture the ///^* r Faust, and Miss Emma Eames
awakening of Opera. Philemon Yf/—V^^^?^* / a charming Marguerite. Mons.
et Baucis began it, a work by \\ ^&r~? ^J^S^§\\//> Plan Q on's Mephistopheles d la
Gounod (which is not intended for -~^^^Mm~Z^^S^^//f FrarifMse. Mons. Ceste good as
swearing) of great sweetness and M^^^^^^AV if Valentine. A propos of Valentine
light; and this was followed by / %f ^W\Jih.WP /^^^^B^m^' -^m\ and his soldiers, why do the army
Pietro Mascagni's Cavalleria fm ^^SrMfJ^^^^ HMks and their friends who come to
Rusticana, "Rustic Chivalry,"
which might be epigrammatically
described as a " Clod-hoppera."
Philemon et Baucis is charming.
M. Montariol was a capital
Philemon, and Mile. Sigrid
Arnold sen as Baucis, a sort of
classical Little Bo-peep, received
a hearty welcome on her return to
the Covent Garden House and
Home. M. Planqon was the
thoroughly French Jupin, and
M. Castelmary an amiable
Vulcan; both most accomplished
Divines. Altogether, a perfect
quartette. The graceful inter-
mezzo only escaped an encore be-
cause the knowing ones among
the gods and groundlings felt
that too much enthusiasm at first
might do serious damage to the
subsequent reception of the great
intermezzo of the evening. All on
qui vive for great intermezzo.
Anticipations of event heard in
the lobbies. Anxiety depicted on
some countenances, but most
features looking happy and hope-
ful. The members of what was
once known as '' the Organising
welcome them, invariably turn
their backs on the triumphal pro-
cession, taking no sort of interest
in it whatever ? Also, why is that
banner persistently and purpose-
lessly waved during the whole of
the great Soldiers' Chorus? Is
this the reason why nowadays the
ever-popular Soldiers' Chorus is
seldom encored ? As this mono-
tonous action on the part of the
Bannerman (not Campbell of
that ilk, but the ensign-bearing
supernumerary) suggests "flag-
ging interest," hadn't it better be
abolished altogether?
Saturday.—Great excitement in
outer Hall. Everybody buzzing
about. What has happened ? Has
dynamite been found ? Has some
eminent vocalist "gone up to see,"
and can't come down again in
time ? Sir Druriolanes is pre-
sent, explaining matters to the
critics, and repeating explanation
in various tongues to eager foreign
inquirers. The sentinels eye the
moving scene with determination
and bayonets fixed. At a word
from Sir Dreriolanes, they will
Committee " nod encouragingly to The Good and Great Archbishop Druriolanus Coventgardenus giving g[ve an extra charge, and rout the
one another as they pass to and his Chorus Flock permission to use Palms on Easter Sunday. crowd. " What is it all about ? "
fro ; the officials and habitues ex- Qlute "tlie Palmy days" of the °Pera- asks little Peterkin. Sir Drerio-
change greetings without any expression of opinion. Sir Drtjrio
lanus does not issue forth until the right moment, when he can shut
up his opera-glass with a click, and give the word to Field-Marshal
Mancinelli to lead his men to the attack. For the present, '' Wait"
is the mot d'ordre, "and this," quoth a jig-maker, "is the only
weight in the entire entertainment."
Up goes the Curtain, and those who remember the Cavalleria as it
was put on "in another place," to use parliamentary language, see
at the first glance that this representation is going to be quite another
pair of shoes. The stage management is admirable: not a second
without movement, and every movement with a motive—musical or
dramatic, or both. Madame Calve's Santuzza is operatically and
histrionically—but especially the latter- a triumph; and "this is the
verdict of us all." Gielia Ravogli makes a great part of Lola; the
many-talented little Mile. Baeermeister's Lucia is not quite up to
her own Marta in Faust, As for the men, the singing and the acting
of Signor De Lucia as Turiddu (ye gods! what a name!), and of
Mons. Dueriche as Alfio cannot be surpassed.
But—stop—the tremendous row (a quarrel quite representative
of Whitechapel in Italy, and suggesting to some of us what Signor
Coster Chevalier might do if this Opera were Londonised) between
Turiddu-de-Lucia and Santuzza-Calve is over, the latter has de-
nounced her former lover, there is thunder in the air—the atmosphere
is heavy with fate—and the stage is clear. Then comes the inter-
lanes can tell him. Madame Calve is indisposed, and V Amico
Fritz cannot be performed. So Gleck's Orfeo is substituted in a
happy-g'lucky sort of way. The two Ravogli are excellent, and
Box and Stall are satisfied.
OUR BOOKING-OFFICE.
" Mrs. Henniker," my Baronite writes, "dedicates to her brother,
Lord Houghton, her first essay in fiction, on the ground that he
will be the most kindly critic. Bid me Good-bye (Bentley) does
not stand in need of the adventitious aid of fraternal kindliness to
recommend it to the reader. The story of woman's sacrifice to a
sense of duty has been told before ; but Mrs. Henniker endows her
version with a charm of simplicity under which, here and there,
glows the fire of passion. Moreover, she writes excellent English,
which ladies who make books do sometimes. It is a pity the story is
so sad. Colonel St. Aubyn might just as well have married Mary
Giffard, and lived ever after in that charming Brereton Royal which
Mrs. Henniker doubtless sketches from life. If she had insisted on
his being a cripple for life, her dictum could not have been disputed.
But there ought to have been a union between William and Mary"
Why are the Obstructives like last Season's Walnuts?—Because
they are troublesome to Peel.