Parepa-Rosa English Opera: Oberon

Brief.

“The musical feature of the week will be the reappearance of the Parepa-Rosa English Opera Company at the Academy of Music. ‘Don Giovanni’ will be given on Friday and at the Saturday matinée, and ‘Oberon’ on Saturday night. The casts in both operas are exceedingly strong, and it will be the last opportunity this season to hear this company.”

Brief.

Don Giovanni and Oberon are “the chef d’œuvres of the lyric stage.”

“Mme. Parepa-Rosa, Miss Hersee and the full troupe whose performances at the Academy of Music a few weeks ago afforded so much pleasure, are to give three final representations at the same house on Friday and Saturday. Friday evening and at the Saturday matinée, ‘Don Giovanni’ will be sung, and Saturday evening ‘Oberon’ is to be interpreted.”

“The three performances given for the last two days by the Parepa-Rosa English Opera Company at this house were brilliantly and fashionably attended. ‘Martha’ [sic] and ‘Oberon,’ the two best works in their repertoire, were given with all the care, finish and artistic spirit that marked their previous representations. The matinée yesterday was crowded. The company go first to Boston and will probably return here before the close of the season.”

“Two performances of two of the heaviest works of the operatic repertory were given at the Academy of Music, yesterday, by Mme. Parepa-Rosa and her associates. In the afternoon these artists sang ‘Don Giovanni’ and in the evening they interpreted ‘Oberon.’ To sing within twelve hours Donna Anna and Reiza is to accomplish a great feat. Its successful performance amply atoned for the defects of the representations in other respects. The rendering of ‘Oberon,’ which has already been written of here, was, be it said, far from unsatisfactory… [continues about Don Giovanni]. …In the evening, as already stated, ‘Oberon’ was sung in presence of a very large audience, Mme. Rosa’s apostrophe to the ocean producing its wonted impression.”

“The last snatches of song which we were to hear from the Parepa-Rosa company were sung on Saturday. The snatches consisted of two entire operas, ‘Don Giovanni’ in the afternoon, and ‘Oberon’ in the evening. [Reviews Don Giovanni first.]

“The defects of the matinée were atoned for by an admirable performance of ‘Oberon’ in the evening, the cast being the same as that of last March, [lists cast], receiving an abundance of applause. It was an extraordinary feat for a prima-donna to undertake two such trying roles as those of Donna Anna and Reiza with an interval of only three hours between, but Madame Rosa performed it triumphantly, and the ‘Ocean’ scena was given with as much grandeur and power as if the ‘Letter’ scena had not preceded it a little while before. [This is a reference to Parepa’s interpretation of Donna Anna’s “Non mi dir” at the matinee performance.] So the company goes away with our best blessings and keenest regrets, and we pray that when the Rosas have sailed over the sea, and Mr. Hess gathers up the remnants, the new or repaired troupe may please us even half as well as that we have just lost. For Mr. Rosa and his accomplished wife the American people will have a cordial welcome ready whenever they return. They have done great things for music since they have been here, and we believe the public as not shown itself ungrateful.”

“The brief opera season of Mme. Parepa Rosa consisted of ‘Martha’ on Friday night, of ‘Don Giovanni’ at the Saturday matinée, and of ‘Oberon’ on Saturday night. The ‘Don Giovanni’ performance, with the exception of Madame Rosa’s part of Donna Anna, was below mediocrity, the regular members of the company being quite unfitted to the parts they assumed. ‘Oberon’ was creditably given to a large audience, and several encores were demanded. Madame Parepa-Rosa’s rendering of the great ‘Ocean’ scena was one of her noblest achievements in lyric art, and was in every way worthy of the great composition. The orchestra, under the lead of Mr. Rosa, was generally good, though in the overture the time was taken too fast. We should have liked to have noted a greater delicacy in the chorus singing, which in the numerous plana passages with which the ‘Oberon’ chorus music abounds was far too boisterous. The music of Weber is thoroughly delicious, and it is much to be regretted that it is allied to a libretto so trashy and tedious as that of ‘Oberon.’”