La Grange-Brignoli Italian Opera: Rigoletto

“No better choice could have been made for the closing night of the season than ‘Rigoletto.’ Musicians rank this opera as Verdi’s best, and that this opinion is shared by the majority of the musical public is evinced in the case of the present management, by whom it has been presented more frequently than any other in their good troupe. The music of ‘Rigoletto’ is more than dramatic—it is also characteristic and very highly finished—and the purpose and idea of each part should be thoroughly understood, and a perfect sympathy with each other should be felt by every artist taking part in it. The Gilda of Madame de La Grange is, perhaps, her best assumption. Exception, however, may be taken to her rendering of ‘Caro nome.’ This delicious morceau—the spontaneous confession of love, of a young girl, to herself—possesses a something deeper even than tenderness. It should be delivered with a charming simplicity, and at the same time replete with the most tender feeling. The additional ornamentation which Madame La Grange introduces serves rather to detract from the true effect which the piece should produce. Her excuse may be that it takes with the public, and never fails eliciting an encore. The final allegro of the preceding duet with tenor, is finely rendered, and is one of her most telling effects. Signor Orlandini, although he sings the music well enough, is scarcely equal to the requirements of the arduous role of Rigoletto. Signor Massimiliani is, perhaps, better as the Duke than in any other part he has undertaken this season. His reading of La donna é Mobile is original, and free from exaggeration. The quartette, in the fourth act, is one of the finest pieces of concerted operatic music ever written, and forms a perfect music painting; the dark scene and somber music of the storm makes a forcible background; the gay laughter of the gipsy girl, and the careless insouciance of the duke, are the prominent lights, while the grief and revenge of father and daughter should be kept in the shade. These delicacies of tone are not so strictly observed as they might be, and the characters are all too prominent, while, at the same time, the scene is too light. Miss Phillips does the little she has to do well, but her costume is rather too fresh and bright, even for a pretty street dancer. These slight shortcomings, however, do not prevent the representation of ‘Rigoletto’ from being one of the most enjoyable yet given at Pike’s Opera House.”