Strakosch Italian Opera: Mignon

"Grand farewell matinee."

The supplementary season of Italian opera improvised by Mr. Strakosch at the Academy of Music, in consequence of the failure of the subscription in Philadelphia, has offered no opportunity for critical remark, and has been far less brilliant than the twenty nights which preceded it. Various circumstances have interfered with its prosperity. The holidays, sacred to social festivity, children’s sports, pantomime and circus, never favor the lyric drama. The Academy has been engaged for other purposes on several of the opera nights. Once the house had been closed in consequence of the sickness of the prima donna; and if we are not mistaken the action of the manager at the time of the visit of the Grand Duke has been vividly resented by subscribers who were then excluded from the entertainment by what they regarded (perhaps unjustly) as an unwarrantable extra charge for admission. Be the cause what you will, the second subscription has been a disappointment; the manager has been forced to rely chiefly upon transient visitors; and the audiences latterly have been poor, the boxes especially standing empty. Upon the whole the profits of the first three weeks no doubt will overbalance the deficiencies of the subsequent period, and the season will be referred to hereafter as an exceptionally good one in the history of our Academy. It has witnessed some of the most remarkable personations now to be seen on the operatic stage. Whatever Miss Nilsson’s place as a singer—and we have often enough spoken our mind on that subject—there can be no question of her eminence as a lyric artist, who unites the interpretation of song with the delineation of character and the expression of emotion more perfectly than any other prima donna whom America has ever seen. Her Margherita, Mignon, and Violetta are extraordinary and vivid personations,--not without obvious faults, but far above the usual range of operatic action; and if her forty-nights’ season had given us nothing but these three, it would still be memorable in the annals of our stage. Indeed the repertory has been astonishingly small for so long a series of performances. Beside ‘Faust,’ ‘Mignon,’ ‘La Traviata,’ and the two operas given to Miss Duval, ‘Il Barbiere’ and ‘La Sonambula,’ it has comprised nothing but ‘Lucia,’ ‘Don Giovanni,’ ‘Martha,’ and ‘Trovatore,’ all of which are sufficiently stale. ‘Mignon’ is the only one upon whose production a decent amount of care was expended, and even that was by no means brilliant. Whether Mr. Strakosch might not have retained the interest of the public a great deal longer if he relied less upon the charms of Miss Nilsson, if he had cast the subordinate roles with a decent regard for the opinions of mankind, trained his chorus, polished his orchestra, spent a little money on dresses and decorations, and given a little variety in the bills, is a question for him, not us, to answer. The aim of his life is to make money, and we do not propose to give him any lessons in the art of doing that.”