_Monday._--_L'Amico Fritz_ at last! Better late than never. A Dramatic
Operatic Idyl. "Nothing in it," as _Sir Charles Coldstream_ observes,
except the music, the singing, and the acting of Signor DE LUCIA as
_Fritz_ Our Friend, of M. DUFRICHE as the _Rabbi_ of Mlle. GIULIA
RAVOGLI as _Boy Beppe_, of Mlle. BAUERMEISTER as _Caterina_, and of
Madame CALVÉ as _Suzel_. Not an indifferent performer or singer among
them, and not an individual in the audience indifferent to their
performance. Cherry-Tree Duet, between _Suzel_ and _Fritz_, great hit.
Admirably sung and acted, and vociferously encored. Nay, they would
have had it three times if they could, but though Sir DRURIOLANUS sets
his face against encores, allowing not too much encore but just encore
enough, he, as an astute Manager, cannot see why persons who have
paid to hear a thing only once should hear it three times for the same
money. No; if they like it so much that they want it again, and must
have it, and won't be happy till they get it, then let them encore
their own performance of paying for their seats, and come and hear
their favourite _morçeaux_ over and over again as often as they like
to pay. He will grant one encore no more. Sir DRURIOLANUS is right. Do
we insist on Mr. IRVING giving us "To be or not to be," or any other
soliloquy, all over again, simply because he has done it once so well?
Do we ask Mr. J.L. TOOLE to repeat his author's good jokes--or his own
when his author has failed him? No; we applaud to the echo, we laugh
till, as Mr. CHEVALIER says, "we thort we should ha' died," but
we don't encore the comic jokes, telling situations, or serious
soliloquies as rendered by our accomplished histrions.
[Illustration: The Rabbinical-Hat-Beer-Jug.]
Were a collection of pictures made of Mlle. BAUERMEISTER in different
characters, it would, for interest and variety, become a formidable
rival of the CHARLES MATHEWS series now in the possession of the
Garrick Club. To-night she is the busy, bustling _Caterina_, _Friend
Fritz's_ housekeeper, who, as she has to provide all the food for
their breakfast, and set it on the table, might be distinguished as
_Catering Caterina_. No one now cares to see an Opera without Mlle.
BAUERMEISTER in it, whether she appear as a dashing lady of the Court,
probably in a riding-habit, or as a middle-class German housekeeper,
or as Cupid God of Love, or as _Juliet's_ ancient nurse, or as an
impudent waiting-maid, or as an unhappy mother, or as,--well,--any
number of characters that I cannot now recall, but all done
excellently well. Never have I heard of her being either "sick or
sorry." Some few seasons ago I drew public attention to this most
useful and ornamental _artiste_, and now I am glad to see that here
and there a critic has awoke to the fact of her existence, and has
done her tardy justice. Long may the Bauermeistersinger be able to
give her valuable assistance, without which no Covent Garden Opera
Company could possibly be perfect.
[Illustration: Bob-Cherry Duet.]
As to _L'Amico Fritz_, I should suggest that it be played in one
Scene and two Acts. That this one Scene should be the Exterior of
Cherry-Tree Farm (which should be _Fritz's_, not the _Rabbi's_)
and that instead of lowering the Curtain, the _intermezzo_--not I
venture to opine equal to the marvellous _intermezzo_ in _Cavalleria
Rusticana_--should be played. _L'Amico_ is certain of an encore, and
this will give the singers a rest. It could then commence at nine--a
more convenient hour to those who would like to hear every note of it,
than 8:15, and it would be over by eleven sharp. A nod is as good as a
wink to Sir DRURIOLANUS, but all the same, Heaven forefend I should
be guilty of either indiscretion in the Imperial Operatorial presence.
Thus much at present.
_Friday._--"It's the smiles of its AUGUSTUS and the heat of its
July"--adapted quotation from "Old Song." "I cannot sing the old
song"--except under a sense of the deepest and most unpardonable
provocation; and when I do!!--_Cave canem, ruat coelum!_ I bring down
the house as Madame DELILAH's SAMSON did. To-night _Manon_ is indeed
warmly welcomed. "A nice Opera," says a young lady, fanning herself.
"I wish it were an iced Opera," groans WAGSTAFF, re-issuing one of
his earliest side-splitters. M. VAN DYCK strong as the weak _Des
Grieux_, but Madame MRAVINA apparently not strong enough. "What made
author-chap think of calling her _Manon_?" asks languid person in
Stalls. WAGSTAFF, revived after an iced B.-and-S., is equal to the
occasion. "Such a bad lot, you know--regular man-catcher; hooked a
_man on_, then, when he was done with, hooked another man on. Reason
for name evident, see?" The _Cavalleria Rusticana_ is the favourite
for Derby Night. All right up to now, Sir DRURIOLANUS.
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