verse. Mexicain, of this little bit of flattery, paid the moneytaker's salary for the night with four pieces of soap and a packet of segars, and had the cocks cooked for supper.-New York Herald. MUSIC is the soprano, the feminine principle, the heart of the universe; because it is the voice of love-because it is the highest type, and aggregate expression of passional attraction, therefore it is infinite; therefore it pervades all space, and transcends all, being HOLIDAY SIGHTS.-The various exhibitions of the metropolis, like a divine influx. What tone is to the word, what expression is which as distinguished from the theatres and the galleries devoted to form, what affection is to thought, what the heart is to the head, to painting and sculpture may be reduced to the category of what intention is to argument, what insight is to policy, what holi- "sights," are in pretty full force this Whitsuntide. To range them ness is to heroism, what religion is to philosophy, what moral all in geographical order, the best plan is to start from the Colosseum influence is to power, what woman is to man, is music to the uni- in the Regent's Park, where, in addition to the Panorama of Paris Flexile, graceful, and free, it pervades all things, and is and other ancient attractions, there is a view of the Tête Noire limited to none. It is not poetry, but the soul of poetry; it is not Pass and Valley of Trient, while the portion of the building called mathematics, but it is in numbers, like harmonious proportions in the "Cyclorama" is still devoted to Lisbon and its Earthquake. cast iron; it is not painting, but it shines through colours and gives Then comes the Diorama, with its views of Stolzenfels and the them their tone; it is not dancing, but it makes all graceful mo- Shrine at Bethlehem, after contemplating which the traveller, quitting tion; it is not architecture, but the stones take their places in Regent's Park, may pursue his journey through Regent Street, harmony with its voice, and stand in "petrified music." In the stopping at the Polytechnic Exhibition, where dissolving views words of Bettina, "Every art is the body of music, which is the conduce to the amusement, and Professor Bachoffner's lectures soul of every art; and so is music too, the soul of love, which also to the instruction, of the enlightened public. Then comes the Cosanswers not for its workings, for it is the contract of divine with morama Rooms, with their stock set of views and some miscellaneous human.”—Mrs. Child's Letters from New York. curiosities-variety being a great object of the edifice. After which THE MUSIC OF NATURE.-Any ear may hear the wind. It is a the route is to New Bond Street, where there is a neat model of great leveller; nay, rather, it is a great dignifier and elevator. The the battle of Trafalgar, and an intelligent exhibitor, in pensioner's wind that rushes through the organ of St. George's Chapel at costume, describes the vessels that demolish each other with Windsor, has first passed through the barrel-organ of some poor broadsides of cotton wool. Once in Piccadilly, the voyager may Italian boy; the voice of Alboni and that of a street singer have go to the Ultima Thule" of the west, the building once devoted but one common capital to draw upon-the catholic atmosphere, to the Chinese Exhibition, and taking its name therefrom, but since the unsectarian air, the failure of which would be the utter extinc-occupied by the grand moving diorame, representing Her Majesty's tion of Handel, Haydn, and all the rest. This air, or atmosphere journey to Ireland, and Mr. Cummings' zoological reministhe compound of nitrogen and oxygen, to which we are so deeply cences of South Africa. From the building, which from past indebted sometimes plays the musician of itself, and calls upon usage is called Chinese, the line of way, now castward, proceeds Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and Mendelssohn, upon the to the hall from past usages termed Egyptian," though ocean and in the forest; and they, like invisible but not inaudible indeed the panorama of the Nile gives a sort of new performers, make glorious music. Sometimes the shrouds of a right to the ancient title. Here the journey across the ship, as she rolls upon the tempestuous deep, raise wild and pierc- Rocky Mountains of California is the newest attraction. Leaving ing sopranos to the skies; sometimes the trees and branches of a Piccadilly and coming to the southern end of Regent-street, we forest of gigantic pines become mighty harp strings, which, smitten have the Overland Route to India, honourable for the successful by the rushing tempests, send forth grand and incessant harmonies attempt to elevate the moving panorama from a mere source -now anthems and anon dirges. Sometimes the waves of the of instruction to a work of art. Proceeding thence inte ocean respond, like white-robed choristers, to the thunder-bass of Leicester-square, we come, first, to Mr. Brees's picture of the sky, and so make Creation's grand oratorio, in which "the New Zealand, and then to Mr. Burford's Cerberus of Panoheavens are telling," and the earth is praising God. Sometimes ramas,-decidedly the highest works of their class,-where we deep calls upon deep, the Mediterranean to the German Sea. and contemplate Pompeii, the Arctic Regions, and the newest work, both to the Atlantic Ocean; and these, the Moses and the Miriam the Lakes of Killarney. It will be distinctly understood, that our of the earth, awaken rich antiphones, and form the opposite choirs, arrangement is in geographical, and not chronological order, and responding from side to side in Nature's grand cathedral, praising that we by no means hold ourselves responsible for the calamities and adoring their Creator and builder. Were man silent, God of those who, contemplating at the appointed hour the moving would not want praise.-Dr. Cumming. diorama from somewhere to somewhere else, miss Professor Bachoffner's lecture at the Polytechnic. Baker-street should be mentioned apart as a place somewhat out of our line of road, and rendered illustrious by the representation of the Mannings, added (not so very recently) to Madame Tussaud's collection. MEXICAN CURRENCY.-A correspondent of the Mobile Register, of the 26th ult., writing from Mexico, says: "Madame Anna Bishop having, by her splendid vocal powers, turned all the heads in the Mexican capital, Mr. Bochsa was applied to by several musical amateurs of a town in the interior of the republic for Madame to give a concert. Accordingly he wrote to the proprietor of the only place in the town where a musical performance could at all be given, viz., an open cockpit arena, to ascertain terms, &c. When the answer came, and with it a contract in due form, Mr. Bochsa was not a little puzzled at finding, after the amount in the national theatre was named, a clause, stipulating that the said sun should be paid in genuine Mexican piastres, and not in pieces of soap, nor in segars, nor in poultry, alive or dead. However, Bochsa signed the contract, but only obtained the clue to this strange proviso after Madame Bishop's performance, when the gallery, or gradin, money-takers brought him, on account numberless pieces of yellow soap, segars, and two fighting cocks alive. Mr. Bochsa remonstrated, but the Mexican cobreradores said that these commodities were what they generally received as small money, and he tried to prove to the enraged director, that, if the soap was weighed, and the segars called by the name of Anna, he would realize a handsome profit by them. To quiet Mr. Bochsa and reconcile him to these vendibles, the moneytakers gave a glowing description of the musical taste of a family who, to hear the great prima donna and wonderful harpist, did not hesitate to part with two of the most celebrated fighting-cocks of the town for six gradin tickets. Mr. Bochsa, in acknowledgement, a la TO CORRESPONDENTS. J. W. A. (Leeds.)—We received correspondent's note and the paper of the printed rules, but not the extract from the journal named, or else we should have been glad to insert it. ADVERTISEMENTS. ust Published, price 3s. 6d., N OVERTURE for the PIANO-FORTE, composed by THE 24 O'CLOCK POLKA, To be danced precisely at 12 o'clock p.m, Composed by MAURICE STRACKOSCH, edited and newly arranged by R. ANDREWS. London: C. JEFFERYS, Soho Square; Manchester: R. ANDREWS, 4, Palatine Buildings. Zaccaria, PROPHETE.. (the Prophet) Madame VIARDOT. Madame CASTELLAN. Signor TAGLIAFICO. Signor LAVIA. Signori ROMMI and SOLDI. Signor MARALTI. Signor POLONINI. Herr FORMES. The CHOIR in the Grand CORONATION SCENE of the third Act, will combine the powers of the FULL ORCHESTRA, the MILITARY BANDS, the CHORUS, and ORGAN. Members of the Sheffield Apollo Glee Society hereby Toffer a Premium of TEN GUINEAS for the best original cheerful Glee for Four Voices; such Glee having never previously been offered in competition. The compositions are to be sent in, addressed to the Secretary of the Society, Mr. Charles Smith, Dam House, Sheffield, on or before the 1st of September next, and each to be accompanied by a sealed letter containing the real name and address of the composer, the Glee and the letter being marked on the outside with the same motto. The Manuscripts will all become the (as property of the Society, but the composers will retain the copyright. The name of the successful candidate will be announced immediately after the decision. CHARLES SMITH, Hon. Secretary. MR. CRIVELLI Begs to acquaint his Friends and the Public that a THIRD EDITION of THE ART OF SINGING, enlarged and newly arranged in the form of a Grammatical System of Rules for the Cultivation of the Voice, may be had at his Residence, 71, UPPER NORTON STREET, and at all the principal Musicsellers. JUST PUBLISHED, OSELLEN'S INSTRUCTION BOOK for the Pianoforte, con Rtaining the Rudiments of Music; an Anatomical Description of the SCHOTT & Co., Publishers and Importers of Foreign Music and Instruments, 89, St. James's Street, London. Just Published, MADLLE. JENNY LIND'S "MADELAINE AND THE BIRD." A BONG, Translated from the German by DESMOND RYAN, Esq. Music by C. A. MANGOLD. Sung by JENNY LIND in all her late Concerts on the Continent.-Price 1s. SCHOгт and Co., Importers and Publishers. The Incidental Ballet in the Skating Scene will be supported by Composer, Director of the Music, and Conductor, Mr. COSTA. PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY NIGHT. A RECORD OF MUSIC, THE DRAMA, LITERATURE, FINE ARTS, FOREIGN INTELLIGENCE, &c. Terms of Subscription, per Annum, 16s. Stamped; 12s. Unstamped; to beforwarded by Money Order or Postage Stamps, to the Publisher, W. S. Johnson, “Nassau Steam Press," 60, St. Martin's Lane, Charing Cross. No. 27.-VOL. XXV. ERNST. SATURDAY, JULY 6, 1850. We observe that the director of the Beethoven Quartet Society has advertised an extra performance for the exclusive benefit of this great violinist, which will take place on Monday evening. The announcement of this event affords us an opportunity of correcting a mistake which has prevailed, in reference to Herr Ernst's connection with the recent series of performances. He was not as has been stated, “engaged" to lead the quartets -but accorded his services, without any express conditions, agreeing to depend upon the result of the speculation for his share of the pecuniary proceeds. It is not the first time that the name of Ernst has been connected with motives so entirely disinterested. His wish was no doubt to sustain, by aid of his talent and influence, the fortunes of the Beethoven Quartet Society, in whose prosperity every true lover of art must feel sincerely interested. We have reason to believe that perfect success has crowned his expectations, and that next year, thanks to Ernst, the Society will re-commence proceedings on a new and enlarged basis. RACHEL. THE greatest tragedian of our time, and probably of all time, has once more appeared among us. She has already played three of her finest parts at the St. James's Theatre, and as her engagement with Mr. Mitchell only extends to twelve performances, there are but nine chances remaining for those who have not been present to witness what they may never have another opportunity of witnessing. The impression produced by Rachel, at least upon ourselves, is without parallel in the range of dramatic performances. The most consummate of actresses, she does not act, but makes reality sublime by the intense earnestness of an impassioned and poetical temperament. Those who agree with us that Shakspere not only far surpasses the German, French, Italian, and Spanish dramatists, but the Greeks themselves, with their fate and their unities, will understand us when we say that what Rachel has done, having no Shakspere to inspire her, is little short of a miracle. She has laid a sacrifice on the altar of a cold religion, and by the power of her genius has brought down the fire from heaven that makes the world believers. In her, faith is inherent. Full of her subject, she throws her whole soul into it. Whatever she touches becomes pregnant, and brings forth meaning, that, but for her, might have lain dormant and speechless. Of all known theatres, the most frigid, and stony, and pedantic, is the French-and the French of Louis the XIV. especially. It is the corpse of the Greek drama, bloodless and pulseless. But Rachel has taken it up in her arms-and lo! it breathes, and walks, and sings, with the old melody and the old enthusiasm. It is full of life and eloquence, of truth and vigour. It awe-strikes like Sophocles, and moves the heart like Shakspere. We are not rhapsodizing. We speak from conviction, and PRICE THREEPENCE. STAMPED FOURPENCE with an ardour that springs from the very delight with which the acting of Bachel has but this instant filled us. Previous to going to the Theatre on Wednesday, we read the tragedy of Bajazet, that we might put ourselves in the proper train of mind to appreciate the performance without difficulty. Our feeling on rising from the perusal was much the same as though we had been carefully considering, step by step, the process of a lengthy and elaborate piece of reasoning. We were no more moved than by an essay of the Scotch philosophers, or a chapter of the Système de la Nature. There was nothing that stirred up the entrails in this drama of the seventeenth century. Bajazet, the hero, was a nonentity; Atalide, his beloved, an insipid common-place; Acomat, the visir, a dry piece of calculating shrewdness; Osmin, his confidant, a prosy, loquacious bore. Even Roxane, a character which some have placed next to Phèdre among the creations of Racine, failed to afford us the slightest interest. The story, founded on an incident in Turkish history, which occurred about the time of Racine, robbed of what charm might attach to it by the conventional treatment of a stilted school, presented nothing but a barren field of empty declamation. Such was the impression derived from a perusal of Bajazet, and in such a condition of mind we went to the theatre, little expecting, with all our unbounded admiration for Rachel, to be touched or affected in any way by the performance. Nor did the opening scene, in which the rascally Acomat discloses his projected treason against the absent sultan, Amurat, to Osmin, his tool and accomplice, serve to shake our apathy into awakening interest. We made up our minds for an infliction, to be patiently and lovingly endured for the sake of Rachel alone. She appeared-arrayed in all the magnificence of the Eastern costume and, as by a stroke of enchantment, the flow of indifference was suddenly arrested, and the tide of feeling rushed back to its source, bearing away every cold obstruction in the overwhelming impetuosity of its course. How such a sudden change could be effected by the mere apparition of a woman on the scene can best be understood by those for whom the lamp of faith burns eternally in some hidden corner of the soul. It was as though a nerve, in which all sense is concentrated, suddenly touched, started from its sleep, and set the whole frame in a blaze. There stood Rachel, with her dark eyes flashing fire from their deep recesses, like distant beacons on the face of night; with her black hair, blacker than the raven, close encircling her imperial brow; her right hand raised with dignity, the snow-white emblem of command; her whole appearance that of a Queen, a woman, knowing no law but her own unbending will. It seemed as though the genius of tragedy had suddenly broke loose from its tomb, and freshly clad in the semblance of Roxana, indicated by a gesture that this was the poet's inward thought, that this was what he would have expressed had he not been fettered by the trammels of a prudish taste. And is it not so? When we think of Juliet, Ophelia, Lady Macbeth, or any other character of Shakspere, an image is conjured up in the mind, which represents in vivid colours our idea of the individual creation of the dramatist; but when we think of Phèdre, or Hermione, or Camille, the figure of Rachel rushes at once into the empty space of our abstraction, and fills it up with a living picture. Rachel, weighed down under the influence of that inexorable fate which has placed its heavy foot upon her neck; Rachel, now intoxicating her wretched lover with false caresses, now withering him with fierce reproaches; Rachel, like a fury, her arms erect and threatening, her hair dishevelled, her whole frame convulsed with grief and rage, which from their extreme intensity meet and become one single overwhelming passion. That is our idea of Phedre; that is our idea of Hermione; that is our idea of Camille. Phèdre, Hermione, Camille, are each and all Rachel, under different impulses,-Rachel in various attitudes. The sublime Daughter of Israel has raised her finger, and the lips of the statue become red with animation, the hollow caverns of the eyes are lighted up, the breast heaves, the limbs move and quiver; the shrivelled stone, loosened into drapery, falls gracefully from the shoulders that now glow with life, clings to the yielding form, and hangs in rich folds from the beckoning arm. Proud with awakened sense the statue walks erect, and a voice, like the music of the Egyptian image upon which Apollo hung his lyre at eventime, flows from the divided mouth and fills the air with strange and plaintive harmony. We are not going to entrench upon the province of our excellent reporter of the French Plays, J. de C-, by examining in detail the wonderful Roxana, or the still more marvellous Phèdre. We are moved, however, by the occasion, and under the still abiding influence of Rachel's inimitable genius, which has left us wholly without sympathy for any other subject than herself, to attempt, in as few words as possible, a description of the general impression produced on us by each of these unique performances. (To be continued.) THE MUSICAL UNION. THE last meeting of the season took place on Tuesday at Willis's Rooms. The attendance was very numerous, and the programme one of the most interesting which Mr. Ella has presented to his subscribers. It included Mozart's quintet in D, for two violins, two tenors, and violoncello; Mendelssohn's quartet in E flat; and Beethoven's grand sonata in A minor, for pianoforte and violin, dedicated to Kreutzer. The executants were Ernst (first violin), Deloffre (second violin), Hill and Alfred Mellon (tenors), Piatti (violoncello), and Charles Hallé, (pianoforte). Mozart's quintet in D is one of the finest examples of contrapuntal writing which the art possesses. It forcibly demonstrates what has been observed of this great master, that counterpoint flowed as easily from his pen as plain, unaccompanied tune-or, as Mr Macfarren has more strikingly expressed it, that "he thought in counterpoint." But the fitness of Mozart's subjects for elaborate conduct must be attributed in a great measure to that prodigal invention which placed such a treasure of melodies at his disposal. Where another composer might be puzzling his brain to find two themes well calculated for simultaneous treatment, Mozart would have so many that the difficulty lay in what to choose and what to reject. His mind was a fountain of melody, ever flowing; and an examination of any of his works-especially his compositions for the chamber will show, that, not only the principal themes, but the subordinate parts, are melodies, more or less developed. Add this rare gift of invention to an unerring instinct of symmetrical form, a passionate intensity of expression, a mastery of all the resources of contrast and combination, and a command of harmonic richness and variety as unlimited as it was regulated by the finest taste, and some idea may be obtained of those astonishing gifts and acquirements which enabled Mozart in many of his works to carry the art to a point beyond which no musician has successfully attempted to travel. It may be urged, in contradistinction to what we have said, that the works which followed the quintet of Mozart in Tuesday's performance - the quartet of Mendelssohn, and the sonata of Beethovenhave pushed music further than Mozart ever dreamed of. This we unhesitatingly deny; and we think it may be useful to suggest a distinction which has been too often overlooked in discussing such matters. When Beethoven began to write he imitated Haydn and Mozart, but being an original thinker he soon rebelled against the trammels imposed by the methods of other masters. His genius was not greater than that of Mozart, but it was more expansive. As a contrapuntist he was his inferior, and his later works prove indisputably that his feeling of form, although strong, was less exquisitely pure. But Beethoven enjoyed the advantages offered by the improved mechanism and enlarged sphere of orchestral instruments. Of this he adroitly took advantage, and in his symphonies (Nos. 3 to 9) we find that vastness of outline, which is the pre-eminent characteristic of his genius, gradually developing itself, until it was on the point (if we may draw conclusions from the plan he had unfolded of the 10th symphony, which he died without accomplishing) of overstepping the limits of imaginable propriety. Beethoven rightly considered the symphony the highest form in which a musician could exercise his genius and knowledge, but his apparent intention of making it the one grand and universal expression of the art was a chimera, impossible of achievement. His haughty spirit brooked no inferiority, and as in opera Mozart, and in oratorio Handel, had still left him in the rear of excellence, Beethoven would fain have shown, by prodigious efforts, that his mission was the noblest, and that the symphony should not merely take precedence of other forms but comprehend them all.* In comparing Mozart with Beethoven, we should, there fore, consider the difference of the men. No two minds could be more strangely opposite; but as their genius and their con scientious devotion to that art whose progress they were destined to influence were equal, their separate produc tions must be viewed as expressions of individual modes of thought at once suggestive and complete. That Beethoven could excel, however, in the compact form of writing which was the characteristic of Mozart. is plainly shown in the first movement of the C minor symphony, a work in which all the peculiarities of his style are manifest; and that Mozart was not less capable of grasping the larger and more varied outline in which Beethoven chiefly delighted, is, we think, proved beyond a doubt in the first movement of the grander of the two symphonies in D, and in the unparalleled finale of the Jupiter. Mendelssohn being of our own time, it would not be decorous to bring him into immediate comparison with those On this rock has stranded the undoubted genius of Hector Berlioz, one of the most remarkable men of our time, who, however, made the additional and very grave mistake of beginning at what should have been clear notion of small ones, attempting to soar into the loftiest regions of art before he had wings to lift him off the ground. the end of his labours, planning large works before he had obtained a illustrious men, however highly we may rate the originality of his genius and the extent of his acquirements, and however confident may be our opinion that the quartet performed on Tuesday is in all respects worthy of being associated with the works that preceded and followed it. It may nevertheless be said of him, that with a mode of thinking as individual, and an imagination as brilliant as that of any known musician, Mendelssohn possessed a command of all the materials of his art, and a facility in their employment which have never been surpassed; that he has given proofs to the world of his excellence in every branch of composition except only one, and that the progress of his opera, so ardently expected, being unhappily arrested by his sudden death, alone prevented the incontestable proof of that universality which they who best knew him unanimously accorded to his genius. But even had Mendelssohn been permitted to fulfill his career, to accomplish all his niany and ambitious plans, to complete the opera, the oratorio, the symphony, and the other works he had begun, he could not have surpassed that which is unsurpassable, he could not have gone beyond Mozart and Beethoven. His furthest aspiration would have been to meet them at that point, which genius, with perseverance and sincerity of purpose for guides, can only hope to reach. There are many roads that conduct to this one goal; the choice is directed by the peculiar character and temperament of the traveller, but earnest will and ansleeping energy are both required to reach the end in safety; without these genius itself may be misled and wander from its path, so many and attractive are the delusions and false lights that beset it at every step. The performance, both of the quintet of Mozart and the quartet of Mendelssohn, was all that could be desired. It is unnecessary for us to dilate upon the style in which Ernst interprets these master-pieces of the classic school. We have so frequently, during the last six months, had occasion to ren➡ der homage to his magnificent talent, that we should only have to repeat our own words. Suffice it, that Ernst's execntion of the works in question was worthy of his fame, that Piatti's violoncello playing was perfect, and that Hill and Deloffre were, as usual, admirable in the tenor and second violin parts. The scherzo in Ner.delssohn's quartet, one of the most fanciful and exciting that ever proceeded from his pen, was enthusiastically redemanded, and repeated with in creased effect. Our high opinion of M. Charles Hallé, as a pianist of classical accomplishments, united to a mechanism unsurpassable for correctness and brilliar.cy, was more than justified by his joint performance with Ernst of the grand sonata of Beethoven in A minor, for pianoforte and violin, dedicated to Kreutzer, which excited an extraordinary degree of interest, and may be regarded as one of the finest exhibitions of executive skill ever listened to by the subscribers to the Musical Union. Mr. Ella, himself, the diligent and untiring director, appeared astonished, and heartily joined in the applause, which was accorded by the audience, à maintes reprises, to the efforts of the two great artists, who retired, at the end of their labours, amidst unanimous expressions of delight. Next week we shall give a résumé of the season, which, we believe, has been unusually profitable to Mr. Ella. MRS. GLOVER.—The last performance on the stage of the greatest living English actress will take place on Wednesday at Drury Lane. Mrs. Glover will be surrounded by a brilliant host of native and foreign talent, but, we have no doubt, her own name, on snch an occasion, would fill the house from pit to gallery. Wednesday night will be a night of rejoicing and a night of sorrow. CONCERT AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE, THE Queen gave a concert on Monday at Buckingham Palace, to which the Royal Family, the Diplomatic corps, and between 300 and 400 of the nobility and gentry were invited. Soon after nine o'clock the company began to arrive, and were conducted to the suite of state saloons. Her Majesty and Prince Albert, accompanied by his Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia, were conducted by the Lord Chamberlain from the White Drawing-room, to the Grand Saloon, which was fitted up for the concert. The Queen was attended by the Mistress of the Robes, the Lady in Waiting, the Maids of Honour, the Lord, Groom, and Equerry in Waiting. Prince Albert was attended by the Lord, Groom, and Equerry in Waiting to his Royal Highness; and his Royal Highness the Prince of Prussia was attended by the gentlemen of the suite. The distinguished company assembled followed the august party into the Grand saloon. Her Majesty and the Prince, with their Royal and illustrious visitors, being seated, the concert commenced precisely at ten o'clock. The following was the programme ;→→→ PÁRTE PRIMĂ. PARTE SECONDA. Cherubini. Donizetti. Rossini. Meyerbeer. Quintetto" Mentre dorni," Mesdames Castellan e Trio-" A la faveur," Mesdames Viardot e Castellan, Duo-" Vanne se alberghi in petto," Mesdames Cas- Coro Pastorale Felice eta dell oro," Tutti Rossini. Marliuni.] Rossini. Mozart. Mercadante. Costa. Mr. Costa presided at the pianoforte. We confess, with due deference to Royal taste, that, had we been present, our enjoyment of the above programme would not have been of the keenest. HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE. The production of I Capuletti ed i Montecchi on Saturday, with Bellini's music only, was a novelty in the operatic world, which is likely to create much curiosity. Hitherto the plan has generally been to take a portion of Bellini's work, and portion of Vaccai's or Zingarellas Giuletta e Komeo, and with these to form a sort of patchy whole. I Capuletti ed i Montecchi is one of those earlier works of style, and the employment of that expressive melody for which Bellini, in which, by the introduction of a simple and dramatic he always had so singular a talent, he effected a reaction against the school of Rossini. It was produced after Il Pirata, La Straniera, and some other operas unknown in this country, and before La Sonnambula and Norma, in which latter opera |