[Illustration: The Hanging Committee.]
_Monday to Saturday_.--Nothing particular this week. Second July
Meeting at Newmarket took a lot of people away, and the thunder,
hail and rain frightened a lot more away on Thursday, so may as well
discuss _Esmeralda_, which I hadn't time to do last week. Rather
a mixed affair to start with when you have a French _libretto_,
set by an English Composer, and played at the Royal Italian Opera,
Covent Garden. No matter. A big success for everyone concerned,
from DRURIOLANUS downwards. No one could have wished for a better
_Esmeralda_ than Madame MELBA, though she did not make the most of
that first charming song, "_L'Hirondelle_." One Swallow, however,
doesn't make an Opera, and Madame MELBA soon pulled herself together,
and threw herself into the work when she saw Mons. JEAN DE RESZKÉ, as
_Phoebus_, winning fresh laurels.
The _Quasimodo_ of M. DUFRICHE, of the Vibrato school, was
dramatically good, but not great; but _Claude Frollo_ was both
great and good. These two have been defrauded of their rights by the
undramatic Librettist, who has done about as little as possible with
the excellent materials at his command. What a scene might have been
the final one between _Quasimodo_ and _Claude_, when _Claude Frollo_
is pitched over the battlements. I forget what becomes of _Quasi_; but
if he stabs himself, or is stabbed, that would be quite sufficient
for dramatic justice and effect. Then, of course, the absurd ceremony
used by _Clopin_, and the real unwillingness of _Esmeralda_ to become
_Gringoire's_ wife, would dispose of the marriage, unless _Gringoire_
were previously got rid of (for I don't remember how the novel ends)
and _Esmeralda_ would be united to _Phoebus_, while _Fleur-de-Lys_
could marry _De Chevreuse_, or anybody else.
[Illustration: HOW IT OUGHT TO HAVE ENDED.
Mr. Justice Butt pronounces a decree of divorce. Phoebus marries
Esmeralda. Claude Frollo is smashed, and Quasimodo is stabbed.]
The Goat, too, has a wretched part: to be left out after the first
scene is too bad. Something might have been done with him, if he had
only been put into a chaise; but perhaps _Esmeralda_ and _Phoebus_
reserve him for further use in the course of a couple of years or so,
when _Djali_, drawing a goat-chaise containing a little _Esmeralda_
and a little _Phoebus_, followed by a nurse and Papa and Mamma, would
make a sensation at some fashionable seaside resort.
[Illustration: _The Goat_. "I ought to have the second principal part
in this Opera. If they don't produce _Dinorah_, I shall give notice.
Too bad of Goring Thomas. If I see him alone I'll show him what
'Butting' Thomas is."]
Mons. MONTARIOL played and sang well as _Gringoire_, and Mons.
WINOGRADOFF was most artistic as _Clopin_, Amusing to see Mons.
LASSALLE as _Claude Frollo_, melodramatically hiding behind the
window-curtains, just as _Phoebus_ enters the room followed by
_Esmeralda_. So evidently was the curtain shaken, that _Phoebus_
would most certainly have detected the sneak, or he might have asked
_Esmeralda_, "What's that?" and have asserted his belief that it could
not possibly be the cat, but he might have accepted her explanation
had she informed him that it was the Goat. What a chance here lost
for a situation of the Goat behind curtains butting _Claude Frollo_!
However, it was all "purtendin'," and JEAN DE RESZKÉ as _Phoebus_
didn't see what he would most certainly have noticed immediately had
he been himself. Magnificently got up; _mise-en-scène_ excellent; band
and chorus all that could be wished.
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