Parepa-Rosa English Opera: Oberon

Follows a review of this company’s performance of Le nozze di Figaro. “…Of course [the] instant recognition of the merit of ‘Oberon’ is a most encouraging symptom [that “miscellaneous” audiences with varying and/or little musical knowledge may yet appreciate fine but perhaps less catchy and emotional operas than those of “Verdi and Gounod”]. The repetition of the opera [Oberon] to-night will be the farewell evening performance of the season. Madame Rosa’s declamation in one scene is little less than sublime, and all the other principal parts are represented with rare conscientiousness. Mr. Castle has hardly the dramatic power demanded of him, but, as a whole, the finish, equality, and thorough musical intelligence which so highly distinguish the company are more conspicuous in this work than in any other they have given in New-York. The orchestra, under Mr. Carl Rosa’s direction, embroiders the drama with the most exquisite devices; the conductor who interprets it aright must be not only a magnetic leader and an accomplished musician, but something of a poet as well, and Mr. Rosa has shown that he is all that.”

“To-night the Parepa troupe will give another performance of Weber’s ‘Oberon,’ a work which at its first production on Tuesday night proved to be by far the most successful operatic entertainment of the season. The scenery used on that occasion—apart from the few familiar ‘sets’ belonging to the Academy—is the property of the Parepa company. The costumes also belong to this organization, and are unusually handsome. To the musician the rendering by Madame Parepa-Rosa of the great air ‘Occan, thou mighty monster,’ is alone worth an evening’s leisure.”

“The English Opera Company give ‘Oberon’ again this evening. The difficulties that the work presents are such that only a first-class company is equal to its performance. It is likely, therefore, that it will be as long before the lovely fairy music of the opera will be heard again as it has been since it was last given, and that is a period of forty years. With Saturday, the season ends. It has been a lucrative one for the managers, and indeed they have seen their treasury fill at every place where they have performed. Every one will congratulate so admirable an artist as Madame Parepa-Rosa, on this well-deserved result.

“We have but one regret in this matter, and that is that nothing has been done by this company for American art. In place of the ‘Domino Noir,’ if the work of some American composer had been selected, we believe it would have been with a happier result, for the English text that was set to Auber’s French music, was wretched doggerel. Music must be made for the words and not words patched on to music. There are several American operas that have had decided success in their day, among them Fry’s ‘Leonora’ and ‘Notre Dame,’ and Bristow’s ‘Rip Van Winkle,’ and we believe it would have been not only a graceful return for the constant favor that has been shown to Madame Rosa during her career in this country, but also a profitable venture, for her to have produced one or other of these works.”