THEATRES AND MUSIC.
Mr. Mitchell is keeping his promise to the public, that he would produce the best pieces of the repertoire of the Opera Comique. Such a piece, cer- tainly, is La Dame Blanche, which-was performed for the first time on Wed- nesday. It was the last of Boieldieu's works, written after a long retire- ment, during which it was supposed that he had abandoned the field to his younger rival Auber; and it showed that his silence, whatever may have been its cause, did not arise from any consciousness of failing powers. The French bailed with acclamations the reappearance of their favourite composer, and acknowledged his new opera to be the crowning effort of his genius; and before many months had elapsed it was produced on every considerable musical stage in Germany. Versions of it were performed at several London theatres, Drury Lane in particular; but with such wanton changes in the plot, and so many omissions, interpolations, and alterations in the music, that the original work could hardly be recognized. The opera thus acquired a brief popularity in London; but by the public in general it has long been forgotten.
The libretto, by Scribe, is worthy of that lively and ingenious dramatist. In constructing his story, he has blended some features of two of Scott's novels, Guy Mannering and the Monastery. The hero, a young soldier of fortune, bearing the name of George Brown, returns unknowingly to the castle of his ancestors, the Earls of Avenel. His father had been " out " with the Pretender, and had consequently become an exile, and, dying, left his infant son destitute. The heir being reputed dead, the family estate is brought to sale, and is on the eve of being purchased by Gaveston, the late lord's steward, (the Glossin of the piece,) when young George, like Hen- ry Bertram, makes his appearance. It is a somewhat amusing specimen of French notions of English affairs, that Gaveston, by the purchase of the estate, is to become the Earl of Avenel. The youth's dreamy reminiscences of the sights and sounds of his infancy are turned to excellent account by the dramatist and composer; one of the prettiest things in the opera being a scene in which George, hearing a fragment of an old tune, tries to piece it out by his own faint recollections. There is in the family a tradition of a " White Lady " who haunts the castle; but this gives rise to nothing supernatural. The phantom is merely personated by the heroine of the Piece in the course of some schemes to baffle the selfish designs of Gaveston. This part of the plot is too absurd to bear telling; but it gives rise to good melodramatic incidents; the most remarkable of which is the auction of the estate, where George, at the prompting of the Supposed agent of the White Lady, outbids Gaveston, and, without a Penny in his pocket, becomes the purchaser at an enormous price. This seemingly unmusical business is carried on in a concerted piece of the most animated kind and full of beautiful effects. The whole concerted music of the opera, indeed, is very admirable, far exceeding in large-
ness of development, ingenuity, and breadth, very clever produc- tions of Auber. Boieldieu's school was that of Mozart; whom he re- sembles not only in his harmonic and orchestral combinations, but in the character of his melody, which, in its long and flowing periods, differs en tirely from the pointed and sautillant style of Auber, some of whose operas sound like sets of quadrilles.
The chief merit of the performance lay in the goodness of its ensemble. Mademoiselle Charton, indeed, left nothing to be desired in the character of Anna; but M. Bonnamy, the tenor, though a respectable performer, has not sufficient vocal strength for the part of the hero. The famous song, " Ah quel plaisir d'être soldat," which Roger hardly ever sang without a double encore, produced no effect in Bonnamy's hands. He acted, how- ever, with ease and gayety, and sang like a musician. Mademoiselle Gui- chard was exceedingly pleasant as the farmer's wife; and Buguet's bass voice told well in the part of Gaveston. The orchestra played beautifully; and the totalitd of the piece was highly satisfactory.
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