Ronconi and Pupils Operatic Entertainment

“On Monday evening, at the Theater of the Union League Club, Signor Ronconi gave a performance, consisting of scenes from three different operas, by himself and his pupils; the artistic success of which must have been highly gratifying to their friends, as it evidently was to the numerous and fashionable audience assembled. On this occasion the sterner sex, who have hitherto left this exciting diversion to the ladies, gave signs both of talent and future promise, while the ladies, with their sweet, unworn voices, admirable style and intelligent concurrence in the advice of the artist who guided them, were all that could be desired. Indeed, the perfect simplicity and freedom from self-occupation by which, in particular, the part of Elvira, in the ‘Puritani,’ was characterized, was really more appropriate to the situation than any acting could have been. Rarely have we heard Bellini’s most lovely air, ‘Qui la Voce Sua Suave [sic],’ more exquisitely rendered. The surprise of the evening was that after so much necessary fatigue of preparation, Signor Ronconi was in better voice than we have ever heard him in this City. Of his acting it is superfluous to speak. The pictorial stateliness which he gave to the tyrannical Duke in ‘Lucrezia Borgia,’ the earnestness and sympathy he displayed in the father in the ‘Puritani,’ the elan which he and his young coadjucator threw into the magnificent ‘Suoni la tromba,’ and the whimsicality, the humor, the delicious fun of his Don Pasquale may be imagined; but that, favored by a sale not built without some reference to the power of human [illeg.], we should have the singer once more, was indeed a satisfaction. We can only regret that a performance so interesting is not likely to be repeated.”