" The
whole attraction lies (as always in these great musical _speculations_) in
the solo singers. These ever place themselves between you and good music;
they choose to sing the music that best shows their powers, no matter how
familiar, hackneyed, sentimental, commonplace, and trashy. If you call for
"William Tell," for the "Nozzi di Figaro," to say nothing of "Fidelio," or
"Oberon," or "Freischuetz," they have not the organization for it, have not
the chorus, the secondary singers, the artists who know and love the music;
it will not pay, and so forth. Our Academies must justify their name and be
domestic institutions, permanent lyric organizations, before we can call in
singers to illustrate an opera, instead of worn-out operas to illustrate
the singer.
Since penning the above, we hear of a fortnight's suspension of the Opera
in New York, to allow time for the preparation of the "Nozzi di Figaro,"
"Robert le Diable," "Les Huguenots," &c.
In close connection with the opera, the brilliant concerts of Vieuxtemps
and Thalberg go on. Probably there is nothing better of the virtuoso kind;
and as they bring in the orchestra sometimes, they give occasionally
something classical and great, performed in a masterly manner.
Pages:
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404
405
406
407
408
409