Maretzek Italian Opera Company: Norma

“Amusements. Italian Opera. Madame Parepa-Rosa, since her appearance in opera, has transferred her successes from the concert to the operatic stage. Her Leonora was good, but her appearance as Norma completely took the town by storm. It is not that her acting is great, for it certainly is not, but her wonderful voice, ringing through the well-known beautiful airs of this mot charming of Bellini’s operas, has created an enthusiasm as genuine as it is deserved. It was a wise thing, therefore, for Mr. Maretzek to announce ‘Norma’ for the matinée on Saturday, as the result proved. Never since the day when ‘Faust’ was first produced here have we seen such an audience at a matinee. Every seat in the house was occupied, even in the third gallery, and around every doorway and down every aisle was collected a throng of ladies and gentlemen, happy if they succeeded in getting even a partially obstructed view of the stage. A great portion of the audience were evidently from the country, but there was also a very large attendance of city ladies, who were not at all behind their country friends in enthusiastic expressions of delight. The gentlemen were, of course, in the minority, which accounted for the quality of the applause, an encore to be emphatic needing the strong hands and lusty voices of the ‘gods of the gallery’ in addition to the more aristocratic clapping of the gentlemen in the boxes. However, the gentlemen who were there did their best in the way of applause, and the artists seemed to be satisfied. It is needless to speak again of the way the opera was given. We have already noticed the performance of ‘Norma’ last week at length, and can only now say that it was in every respect a success.”

“Amusements. Academy of Music—Italian Opera. On Saturday, for the matinée here, Mme. Parepa-Rosa repeated her performance of ‘Norma.’ Nothing could make more patent the spreading favor which this artist is winning than the fact that, within a single week, the one character has sufficed to attract three large audiences—and that the last was even greater than the first.”

“Parepa-Rosa has sung in Italian Opera through the past week with Adelaide Phillipps, Brignoli, &c., to great acceptance. Her characters have been Leonora in Il Trovatore (!) Norma, Donna Anna (best of all).”