THE ITALIAN OPERA.
Pietro r Eremita was produced on Saturday : why not the Itiosi)? why not the opera in its original form, instead of the strange in- congruous medley whicje this version makes of the story? There is, a great deal to admire in the music of this piece, although Much of it is absurd enough. In true • sublimity, simplicity must be a characteristic feature; and here ROSSINI fails. Who but he, for instance, would have set these words to a jig—a vulgar jig ?
" Signor del cielo, 0-Re dei Re, Sian lodi a te; Fattor del tutto, Signor dci Re."
Again, in the invocation, " Eterno, immenso, incomprensibil Dio !" he has imitated the " Possenti Numi" of MOZART, but the attempt only discovers his own feebleneis. Signora Puzzi returned to this theatre, after an absence of five years, as the representative of Agia. She returned unimproved, and as unfitted for the station which she aspired to fill, as ever. Her voice is unpleasant, and there is nothing to atone for so grievous a defect. To show the discernment of the audience, she • ,s was greeted with raptures, and vehemently applauded throughout. Probably the fashionables, whose evening parties she is accustomed to visit, and to whom she is a great acquisition, mustered to carry her through : but we, being unaccustomed to measure a singer's • capabilities by the quantum of noise which they produce, must award the • palm to Madame DE MERIC, to whom the inferior character of Fatima was allotted. We have, before, alluded to the delightful precision of this lady's intonation; and she gave an • extraordinary instance of the accuracy of her ear on Saturday night. In the first scene, with WINTER and MARIANI, while they were wandering, most distressingly, from the pitch, she maintained 'it, in their despite, with her accustomed correctness. On the whole, WINTERS performance was energetic' and satisfactory. In one of the Morning Papers, Gi UBILEI was singled out for an un- usual share of praise, and above all, he was lauded for his "beauti- fully perfect intonation." Now, if this was meant as a joke, it was .a bad one : if given as the writer's deliberate opinion, nature must have,denied him the gift of a discriminating ear. The opera was splendidly produced as to scenery and dresses, but sadly mutilated in its proportions. It was repeated on Tues- day; when it was found that Puzzi had disappeared, and her place was much better filled by DE MERIC.
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