Albites Italian Opera: Robert le diable

“Meyerbeer, king of operatic composers, took the place of noisy Verdi last night, and his best work, and perhaps the best of all operas, was the medium through which the entire strength of Albites’ company was brought out together, and its chief members—Miss Kellogg, Mme. States and Signor Villani—had a chance of distinguishing themselves in the highest rôles of the lyric drama. There is no work so admirably adapted for popularity by its stirring melodies , its grand Miltonic subject, the struggle between the powers of good and evil, its strongly marked contrasts and its unapproachable dramatic effects. A marvel of science and art, yet its grandeur is simplicity itself, and the sight, fancy and heart are led captive to it as well as the ear. No work displays so admirably the exquisite balance and blending of the three schools—the deep science of the German, the sentimentality and sweetness of the Italian and the rich embroidery and dramatic effects of the French—in all of which Meyerbeer was a master. In the startling contrasts he sometimes resorts to, and which are always with him effective, many of his successors have been led into imitations, which, however, invariably result in failure. The cast last night was strong in some respects. Miss Kellogg appeared for the first time as Alice, Mme. States as Isabella, Signor Villani as Robert, Signor Caroselli as Rambaldo and Carl Formes as Bertram. The rôle of Alice is the most ambitious one that has ever been attempted by the favorite American prima donna, and much interest was evinced in the result. The part makes heavy demands on the ability on the actress and the power of the singer. Alice is the spirit of good that throughout the opera carries on single-handed (for the assistance of Isabella is very limited) the struggle with the infernal powers, and more passionate acting and more passionate singing can scarcely be conceived. Miss Kellogg, in late years, has developed from a coquettish Zerlina into a lyric tragedienne, with considerable command of fire and passion. Her voice, from being purely a soprano sfogato, has acquired much of the strong dramatic quality which can give effect to grand rôles in opera. This is principally owing to the penetrating quality of the tone, added to an indefinable sympathetic quality and to her sincere and persevering studies in her art. Her Alice may be set down as one of the most satisfactory and finished efforts on the stage. In her first aria, ‘Vanne, Disse Al Figlio,’ in which she tells Robert the last advice of his dying mother, she phrased and declaimed the passionate words in an artistic manner that gave them due effect. The song of her native Normandy, a simple, pastoral pair, which she sings at the demons’ cavern, was given with a grace and artlessness that left all its charms unalloyed. She introduces cadenzas of her own in some of those airs, and their adaptability to the subject and finished execution add much to the appreciation of her by the audience as an artiste. The famous trio, without accompaniment, in the same scene, between Alice, Robert and Bertram, for a wonder was sung in perfect time—an extraordinary and unexpected circumstance, considering the proneness of the fiend’s voice to fall below the pitch. In the trying scenes with Robert in the last part of the opera Miss Kellogg displayed admirable qualities as an actress. Mme. States made a very favorable impression, and gave effect to the ‘Robert, Toi que j’Aime,’ an air that brought out the best qualities of her fine voice. Villani seemed to forget his usual apathy, and electrified the house with the barcarolle in the first act and in the subsequent scenes with Alice and Bertram. If he would always endeavor to infuse into his rôles a little warmth and passion, and not appear as a misanthrope or retired student, he would gain more success. More accurate singing is not sufficient for an operatic tenor. Caroselli did better than on any previous occasion, and the conductor considerately gave him a chance of being heard. That he possesses talent there is no question, and the necessary experience will probably develop him into a first class tenore di grazia. The Bertram of Carl Formes was years ago a performance such as could not be witnessed or heard except when he was on the stage. His voice was an organ of thrilling power, which fairly reveled in the weird numbers of the fiend; but years and want of care of this voice has robbed it of its power and left it almost helpless in its inability to grasp and hold a note. Last night he acted with much of his old power, and carefully husbanded the materials which remain to him of his unequalled voice. In the duet with Rambaldo in the second act, a fragmentary dialogue, his voice seldom struck the right note. In the trio, as we have already mentioned, it kept pretty fairly within bounds. The chorus was not deserving of praise last night, but the opposite. The subterranean voices in the St. Irene scene were inaudible, and the voices of Robert’s wights were perpetually quarreling as to the time and tune. Mlle. Adrienne made a very seductive Helene, and in her dancing and poses proved herself to be a finished Terpsichorean artiste. The limited resources of the Academy, and, perhaps, also of the various impresarii who try their fortunes there, preclude the possibility of a mise en scène, appointments, costumes and effects such as belong to this opera—therefore we must pass over in silence the meagreness of this department last night. Again we must speak in unmeasured terms of the utter inability of the leader of the orchestra to give anything like an intelligent reading of an operatic score. To him is due many of the most serious drawbacks of the season, and it was a mercy that his undisciplined followers last evening did not effect a condition of affairs in the music of Meyerbeer worse than that of Paris under the régime of the Commune.”

Announcement of the extension of the season. “There is little to add to our repeated congratulations on the prosperity of this season. Mr. Albites has astonished everybody, himself included, on a success of unlooked-for brilliancy, and nearly all things connected with it can be looked back upon with pleasure. Among these, the decided improvement of our young prima donna, Miss Kellogg, has been most gratifying. Miss Kellogg has sung better, acted better and looked better during this engagement than ever before in New-York, or, we fancy, elsewhere; which is saying a great deal, but nothing more than is well deserved.”

“The interesting feature in the production lf ‘Roberto il Diavolo’ at the Academy of Music on Saturday night, was the singing of Miss Kellogg, who has added in Alice another item to her list of successes. Her exquisite purity of intonation is a quality peculiarly desirable in Meyerbeer’s music. In her first aria, [Vanne, disse,?] and in the great trios of the second and the last acts, her accuracy and finish were particularly noticeable. The part is new to Miss Kellogg, and with further repetitions of it she will undoubtedly impart to it a greater degree of dramatic force. Her Alice is a noticeable step forward in the art history of the favorite American prima donna.

Mrs. States as Isabella sang with her usual wealth of voice, and by having in the Roberto o tu che adoro the most admired air that Meyerbeer ever wrote, won the hearty commendation of the audience. Carl Formes was the Bertram. His rendering of the part is a magnificent dramatic picture, but excepting in the lower notes his voice is seldom in tune. In the difficult, unaccompanied trio, however, he was the Formes of past days, and was well supported by Villani. This is one of the most difficult compositions in the entire range of the lyric repertoire, and on Saturday night it was sung from beginning to end without the slightest deflection from the pitch. Miss Kellogg, Villani and Formes deserve the warmest appreciation for this superb performance.

Otherwise the representation of ‘Roberto’ was decidedly poor. Only in this trio did Villani or Formes do anything worthy of praise. Caroselli made no special impression as Raimbaud; and orchestra, scenery and chorus were all indifferent, to say the least.”

“’Roberto il Diavolo’ was represented at the Academy of Music, on Saturday evening. Its performance attracted and afforded rather intermittent pleasure to an audience which crowded the house. It is doubtful if a rendering of this work, perfect in point of vocal and in instrumental execution and in scenic illustration has ever been attained to outside of Paris. It is beyond all question that is has never been reached here. Under all operatic administrations, the consequences of an announcement of its rehearsal have been almost identical. There has never been shrinking from liberties with the score suggested by economy, either in time or money, and there has never been appreciation, not of an expediency of an elaborate stage-setting, but of its imperative need. Hence the unevenness of the spell of its recital, and the incomplete feeling of content marking the close. During more protracted series of opera nights than that commenced by Mr. Albites, these impressions have been looked for and experienced, and in the present brief season, at least, good grounds existed for their awaital. To this cause, no doubt, was referable the commendable kindness of Saturday’s spectators, a kindness, however, we must in all justice declare to have been made of easy practice by admirable incidents of the entertainment. In the first place, Miss Kellogg’s labors as Alice—the part being essayed by the lady—proved exceedingly remunerative. With repetitions of the opera, it is true, we shall be able to demand a more definite conception of the character, a stronger heed of the contrast between the simplicity and the pathos of the peasant in the first act, and the pious fervor and the terror of Bertram’s victim in the second. But we shall hardly be entitled to exact a more correct, tasteful and finished delivery of the music than the lady contributed to Saturday’s event. Without particularizing Miss Kellogg’s share in the concerted pieces, carried out with the surety and spirit which never forsake her, and which, on the occasion we write of, lent to the uncertainty of voice of Signor Formes, a strong staff of support, we can mention the romance ‘Vanne,’ in the first act, as worthy of ranking with the best specimens of phrasing, and her florid cadenzas in this and in the couplets and scene at the outset of the cavern situation, as done with a fluency and a brilliancy of the highest order. Much inferior in precision and polish to Miss Kellogg’s style, Mrs. States’s is on account of its effectiveness—the fruit of a powerful organ—not to be dismissed without consideration. So far as awaking enthusiasm was concerned, Mrs. States’s success was that of the evening, and her energetic singing of the grand air of the opera, allotted to Isabella, and, in the current version, the single one assigned to her, was noisily called for a second time, and rewarded by a handsome floral tribute. A cold personation of Roberto, by Signor Villani, was once noticeable for the dash with which the bacchanalian verses in the first act were sung, and for the consummate beauty of his cadenzas, usually suppressed, in this passage of the opera, by clumsier artists. Signor Formes’s picture of Bertram is one made familiar by frequent showing. With suitable surroundings, its force as a purely dramatic effort would excuse many vocal imperfections. But as no great power can be displayed upon a petty object, so no great acting can be done amid irresponsive persons and things. It is as a singer only, that we can therefore judge Signor Formes. The lowest notes of his voice are still true and resonant, but those of the upper and medium registers are untrustworthy. Besides, Signor Formes’s ear has become so defective that keeping within the limits of tune is almost impossible. The duet with Signor Caroselli, at the opening of the second act, was sadly dealt with, and if the trio following was better, and the final trio was really praiseworthy, and so acknowledged by a unanimous recall, it was mainly, as implied above, because of the aid of more fortunate artists. Signor Caroselli---Raimbaldo—we may compliment for his couplets in the first act, and, indeed, for his exertions to the end of his task. These reflections, it will be observed, suggest a pretty satisfactory entertainment. The tone of the prefatory words of this notice, however, better depict the sum of its influences. The chorus was bad when heard, and utterly inaudible when its discord, coming from Hades, might have sounded reasonably proper. The orchestra was callous in sentiment and precipitous in pace. The seductive qualities of the ballet would not have tempted a comprimario. And the scenery was of the kind to which the frequenters of the Academy are habituated. It was nearly midnight when the curtain fell.”

“The phenomenal season of Italian Opera at the Academy of Music prospers so gaily, in spite of all drawbacks, that it is to be prolonged through this week, and Philadelphia (where the company was to have appeared to-night), perforce goes begging. The uniform excellent of Miss Kellogg in the roles she has thus far chosen, is the one cheering incident of the fortnight. In all the requirements of a prima donna—strength and beauty of voice, breadth and finish of style, and real artistic conscientiousness—she has exhibited a marked improvement over the Miss Kellogg of former years, and in consideration of the pleasure she has given us we are ready to pardon Mr. Albites for the singular badness of the representations in nearly all other respects. On Saturday evening there was a performance of ‘Robert.’ Miss Kellogg’s Alice deserves the same hearty praise which we have given all her previous personations. It was finely conceived and sweetly sung, and she made the second act especially picturesque. Mrs. States was the Isabella, and Villani  and Caroselli were both satisfactory in the parts of Robert and Raimbault. But here commendation must stop. Mr. Carl Formes has been famous in his day as Bertram, and he still has a fine dramatic conception of the character. We never heard him sing worse, however, than he did on Saturday night. He was hardly ever in tune; he had no control at all over his voice; he left even the memory of Reina sweet by comparison, and managed (with the cordial cooperation of the noisy Nicolao) to ruin every scene in which he appeared,--that is to say, substantially the whole opera.

“But what odds so long as the public does not grumble? The house was crowded. ‘Standing Room Only’ was announced at the door. Our Society has resolved that the opera shall be patronized this season, and goes accordingly in its best clothes, no matter who sings or what may be the bill. This resolution is so evident that Mr. Albites has the temerity to announce ‘Crispino’ tonight with Reina as the comical cobbler. (Reina, is it, or Orlandini? No matter; either will be bad enough.) And we dare say he will have a splendid house, and the audience will be so busy laughing, and flirting, and exhibiting the fashions, that it will not notice whether the performance is good or bad. Vive la bagatelle! Who said that New-York had not enough aesthetic culture to support Italian opera? And we wonder what Mr. Maretzek thinks. He never did anything half so bad as this, yet he has failed about a hundred and fifty times.”