_Monday.--Faust_ and Foremost. Miss EAMES better even than she was last
week. NED DE RESZKÉ not so diabolical a _Mephistopheles_ as M. MAUREL.
NEDDY RESZKÉ
Not so goblineske,
and a stouter sort of demon, but of course a "_bon diable_."
[Illustration: Cards held by Druriolanus Operaticus.]
_Wednesday._--_Roméo et Julietta._ JACK and NED DE RESZKÉ _Roméo_ and _The
Friar_. Why the waltz alone, which ought to be on every organ besides Miss
EAMES'S, but which, strange to say, isn't thoroughly popular, should be
enough to make an Opera; but it's like the proportion of one swallow in the
composition of a summer, and, however well sung, it does not do everything.
It's a dull Opera.
_Thursday._--_Carmen_ again. House not immense. Persons "of note" chiefly
on the stage. JULIA same as before; therefore refer to previous notice. Cab
and carriage service after the theatres everywhere wants reforming
altogether. We may not be worse off than in any other capital of Europe,
but we ought to be far ahead of them.
Somebody or other complained of my writing "GLÜCK" instead of "GLUCK," He
didn't like the two dots; one too many for the poor chap, already in his
dotage, so to relieve him and soothe him, I'll write it "GLUCK," and then
he can go to the proprietor of "DAVIDSON'S Libretto Books" and ask him to
take the dotlets off the "Ü" in GLÜCK. I wonder if my strongly-spectacle'd
fault-finder writes the name of HANDEL correctly? I dare say so correct a
person never falls into any sort of error; or if he does, never admits it.
I like it done down to dots, as "HÄNDEL," myself; it looks so uncommonly
learned.
_Saturday._--_Tannhäuser._ Full and appreciative house to welcome the
_rentrée_ of Madame ALBANI, who was simply perfection and the perfection of
simplicity as the self-sacrificing heroine _Elizabeth_. From a certain
Wagnerian-moral point of view, no better impersonator,--dramatically at
least, if not operatically,--of the sensual Falstaffian Knight could be
found than Signer PEROTTI; and, from every point of view, no finer
representation of the Cyprian Venus than Mlle. SOFIA RAVOGLI. M. MAUREL was
admirable in every way as the moral _Wolframo_, and Signor ABRAMOFF the
gravest of Landgraves. The full title of this Opera should be _Tannhäuser;
or, The Story of a Bard who sang a questionable kind of Song in the highest
Society, and what came of it._
Fine effect at end of First Act, when prancing steeds, with secondhand
park-hack saddles, at quite half-a-crown an hour, are brought in, and, on a
striking tableau of bold but impecunious warriors refusing to mount, the
Curtain descends.
Then what pleasure to see _Albani-Elizabeth_ receiving the guests in Act
II., varying the courtesies with an affectionate embrace whenever a
particular friend among the ladies-of-the-court-chorus came in view. My
LORD CHAMBERLAIN, viewing the scene from his private box, must have picked
up many a hint for Court etiquette from studying this remarkable scene.
Then how familiar to us all is the arrangement of the bards all in a row,
like our old friends the Christy Minstrels, _Tannhäuser_ being the
Tambourine, and _Wolfram_ the Bones! Charming. Great success. Repeat it by
all means.
* * * * *
[Illustration: CHIVALRY AT THE BREAKFAST-TABLE.
"NOW, COOK, JUST YOU LOOK HERE! LOOK AT THAT PIECE OF BACON I'VE JUST GIVEN
YOUR MISTRESS! IT'S THE THICKEST AND WORST CUT I EVER SAW IN MY LIFE!--AND
THIS PIECE I'M JUST GOING TO TAKE MYSELF IS _ONLY A LITTLE BETTER!_"]
* * * * *
"PLEASE GIVE ME A PENNY, SIR!"