Parepa-Rosa English Opera: Zampa

Santley's U.S. opera debut.

“The Academy of Music was crowded last night to its utmost limits, every seat being taken and hundreds compelled to content themselves with standing room only. Even the stockholders’ boxes—strange to say, for English opera—were all filled, and the house presented as brilliant and fashionable an appearance as at the début of Nilsson. It was an occasion worthy of such an attendance and such an ovation. The greatest living baritone, Charles Santley, made his first bow on the operatic boards of the metropolis, and every one and everything that New York could boast of in fashion and intelligence was present to do honor to the event. Mr. Santley has been now some months in this country, and those who were acquainted with his high reputation (and their name is legion) lamented that his talents should be confined to the narrow sphere of the concert room and the adverse influence of incompetent management. Mr. Rosa deserves the thanks of the musical public for not having permitted Mr. Santley to leave America without giving the public an opportunity of hearing this renowned artist; for, owing to the peculiar manner in which the concerts in which he sang since his arrival were conducted but a small proportion of the public enjoyed the pleasure of listening to one of the finest baritone voices ever heard on the stage. The opera was ‘Zampa,’ a more brilliant or effective work than which it would be difficult to find among the French composers, either new or old, and in which the favorite pupil of Cherubini (Herold) has gained his highest success. The last time it was played in New York previous to last night’s representation was at the old Theatre Français, when Mlle. Naddi, Mlle. Laurentis, De Surmnent and Armand appeared in the principal roles. The cast last night was as follows [see above]. 

The role of Zampa, as is well known, was written for a tenor voice; but as it does not extend very high Mr. Santley by a few transpositions, such as a tone lower in one or two arias, is enabled to bring the part within the range of his voice. His first appearance in opera here may be set down as a grand, unqualified success. His voice is of a quality pure and clear as crystal; every note tells like the tone of a bell. Hearing him is like unto gazing into a mirror; every thought of the composer is reflected, and there is not an unintelligible idea from beginning to end. The three well-known scenes of ‘Zampa,’ the drinking song of the first act, the passionate address to Camilla, in the second act, and the final scene, which ends in the punishment of the impious Corsair, were delivered with a power, emphasis and effect such as are seldom heard on any operatic stage. As an actor he is easy and graceful, rather than powerful or demonstrative. He is evidently afraid of overdoing a scene or tearing passion to pieces, and believes in the golden medium, without descending to tameness. No one who wishes to see and hear the nearest approach to a perfect artist that the Academy of Music has known since the present building was erected should fail to attend the second representation of ‘Zampa,’ on Wednesday evening. Regarding the rest of the cast, we may say that Mrs. Seguin and Mr. Aynesley Cook were deserving of the highest praise. Mrs. Van Zandt was good in the first act, but sang woefully out of tune in the last two. Mr. Whiffen acted his part admirably and Mr. Karl, with the exception of some mishaps in acting, made the role of Alphonso a flattering success. But next to Mr. Santley, who, of course, was the lion of the evening, the principal share of praise is due to the conductor, Mr. Carl Rosa, who brought both the chorus and the orchestra safely and triumphantly through the mazes of this really difficult and trying opera. Not one conductor in ten could have succeeded so well in reconciling the incongruities of the instrumental and choral parts and bringing the opera to a successful close.”

“The marked interest felt in Mr. Santley by our public was plainly evidenced last night by the immense crowd which flocked to the Academy of Music to attend his operatic début in ‘Zampa.’ Every seat was sold at an early hour, and the vast number of persons in the door-ways and lobbies made the usual placard of ‘standing-room only’ a bit of playful irony. Not only was the attendance the largest of the present season at the Academy, but it was also the most fashionable.

Herold’s ‘Zampa’ is a brilliant, showy and melodious work. Its charming airs, sonorous choruses and sparkling orchestration vie in delighting the ear; and an interesting and romantic plot, in which there is enough super-naturalism to deepen the interest, serves as the groundwork for the beautiful music of the French composer.

Although the entire opera has been rehearsed and prepared in two weeks, it was given with much precision and finish, the concerted pieces, especially, meeting with excellent interpretation. Mrs. Van Zandt was very favorably received as Camilla, and, with Mr. Karl, sung so sweetly that the exquisite love duet received an encore. Mrs. Seguin, Mr. Cook and Mr. Whiffen gave efficient aid in minor parts. 

The great interest in the evening, of course, centered in Mr. Santley, whose picturesque appearance at once won the favor of the audience. Throughout the opera this favor increased. The rollicking bacchanalian song at the close of the first act, and the elaborate aria, which Mr. Santley had sung here in the concert-room, were both promptly encored. The beautifully-clear enunciation of the great baritone enhanced the charms of his voice, while his bearing was graceful and dignified. Indeed, a purer specimen of artistic vocalization than the Zampa of Mr. Santley has not yet been heard on our lyric stage. It would be easy to imagine a Zampa of more intensity in point of action, but impossible to find one who would sing the music better.”

“Mr. Santley was greeted last evening at his first appearance in this country on the operatic stage with an immense house, as large a one as ever Nilsson in all the glories of Italian opera, ever drew and far greater than ever were attracted to the good but somewhat monotonous concerts of the Dolby troupe, of which Santley was the chief attraction. ‘Zampa, or the Marble Bride,’ is an opera that contains certain Arias, which Mr. Santley finds peculiarly suited to his voice and method, and this he chose, therefore, as the one in which to bring himself before the public as an operatic singer.

So far as we remember, it has been given here but once before, and that was fifteen years since, at Niblo’s, in French, by a New Orleans company, of which Madame Rose de Vries was prima donna. It is full of vivacious, sparkling, and well-constructed music, such melodies as catch the ear quickly, and are marked enough in character to remain in the memory. The first act is the best, and Herold has displayed in it an admirable command of his art, and particularly a very descriptive fancy in his orchestration. The plot is melodramatic, and belongs to the ‘Beadle Dime Novel’ class of literature. Zampa is a bold corsair, of course—bold, chivalrous, magnificent, munificent, and all that. Something, in fact, of a maritime Don Giovanni. Like the unhappy Don, too, a marble statue is the ruin of him. He puts a ring in defiance on the finger of the statue, and in the last act she claims him as her own, and the two descend together, ad inferno, to slow music, and under the fearful and sanguinary glare of red lights. All of which, being a somewhat weak and very French echo of Mozart’s masterpiece, is on the whole not calculated to strike any great degree of awe or terror into the mind of the spectator.

Mr. Santley sang superbly. In action he was quiet and graceful, a very debonnair and easy-going pirate, not at all inclined to excite himself, or to flourish his sword and pistols, or to indulge in any of the customary blood and thunder of the marine villain of the stage. Mr. Santley’s voice is as resonant, vibrant, clear, and telling in the opera house as in the concert room. At ease himself, he puts his audience also at ease, and carries assurance to every hearer that they are listening to an artist who is master of the situation. Mr. Santley was excellently supported by Mrs. Van Zandt, Mrs. Seguin, and Messrs. Karl, Cook, and Whiffen.

Mr. Karl, except in one instance where his voice failed to reach the note and broke, sang with unusual suavity and good taste. Mrs. Aynsley Cook personated the marble statue. If this lady sang as well as she poses she would be a great artiste, for her action was strong and full of admirable purpose and intelligence, and added thrilling intensity to the finale of the first act. In less discreet hands it might easily have been made absurd.”

“Mr. Charles Santley, whose performances in the concert-room awakened, from their inception, a lively desire to hear the singer in opera, made his first appearance on the stage in this country, at the Academy of Music, last evening. Managers are not always so fortunate in their introductions of artists as was Mr. Carl Rosa last night, but they are not always so judicious in their arrangements. The choice of the opera was, in our opinion, excellent. ‘Zampa’ is Herold’s most effective production. It is one of the few works whereof the characteristic and well-defined themes, and the glowing instrumentation are potent enough to wield an influence akin to that of the romanticism of Weber. Deficient in the subtler beauties of writing which—often in the absence of inspiration—fascinate the practiced ear, the score of ‘Zampa’ is a picture in which broad lines, happy contrasts and bright colors are clear to all. ‘Zampa,’ too, rests upon a story containing an action that progresses, and suggests for illustration emotions which it is the legitimate office of music to portray. But for a recollection of ‘Der Freyschutz,’ passages might be mentioned as the best specimens of popular pictorial music in existence. The superb overture, embodying in a symmetrical form the prominent motives of the work, gives promise of the well-developed and thoroughly intelligible scenes to follow. The narrative by which these are bound together we may summarize [synopsis follows]. A good, though not faultless recital, unfolded this plot, and dealt fairly with the eloquence and charm of the music. Mr. Santley , as might have been safely prophesied, was as successful as his warmest admirers could desire. The part of Zampa is exactly suited to him. Written for the tenor Cholet, whose range of voice was exceptional, the tessitura of the role is sufficiently low to be within the reach of so gifted a baritone as Mr. Santley, whose superb notes endow the melodies with a rich virility the medium register of a tenor could not supply. We could fill a much greater space than is now at our disposal with the excellences of Mr. Santley’s personation. Those persons among the immense audience occupying every seat and foot of standing-room at the Academy, last night, who applauded his performances in the concert-room, need not be told that his mastery of the vocal art is complete. In the emission of the voice, in its management in the longest legato passages and in the most cramping divisions and florid bars, in correctness and elegance of phrasing, his singing is possibly unequaled. His enunciation of the text is in itself a delight. The occasion we write of showed him to be an actor whose dignity and ease could only be the result of study and experience. The even beauty of his singing lessened somewhat, perhaps, the force of certain portions of the opera meant to be particularly telling. The quaint drinking song was naturally singled out for applause which caused it to be repeated, but the superb delivery of the aria, ‘Thou whose sweet seductive grace,’ made this the notable incident of the evening. The pure cantabile execution of the introductory verses and the sweetness of the phrases of the larghetto were especially noticeable in this piece, while a little more variety in the repetitions of the allegro would have been desirable. In the grand duo with Camilla, previous to the final fall of the curtain, the quiet earnestness of Mr. Santley’s manner yielded, as was requisite, to an approach to passionate declamation, but a confused state of affairs in the orchestra prevented the duet from proving as dramatic as it ought to have been. A most cordial greeting was extended to Mr. Santley on his entrance, and he was enthusiastically recalled at the termination of the first and last acts. Several of the principal members of the Parepa-Rosa opera troupe figured worthily in the representation. Mr. Tom Karl, as Alphonso, gave his aria in the first act with a facile grace by which the value of all his work is enhanced, and he and Mme. Van Zandt—the lady embodying Camilla—were compelled to repeat a portion of the duet in act the second. Mme. Van Zandt sang neatly throughout the opera, though her cadenzas are not always to be cited as models of vocalization; her romance recapitulatory of the story of the woes of Alice de Manfredi, was rendered without much sentiment. The character of Ritta, a peasant girl whose adventures with a truant husband constitute the comic element in ‘Zampa,’ was filled by Mrs. Seguin, with her wonted vivacity. Daniel, the husband, was embodied by Mr. Aynsley Cook, and Dandalo by Mr. Whiffen, both gentlemen doing much toward enlivening the entertainment. The chorus was tolerably proficient, but will surely be perfect on Wednesday, when ‘Zampa,’ with the same artists, is to be repeated. Then, too, the magnificent finale of the second act will doubtless be handled with the results its perfect exposition can at all times secure.”

“It hardly needs to be stated that the audience which greeted Mr. Santley’s first appearance here in opera was a large one. The reputation of the great baritone in concert had roused earnest expectation among all classes of musical people, and made his debut on the lyric stage one of the most exciting incidents of the season.

Hérold’s opera of ‘Zampa,’ unheard in America for many years past, but familiar by innumerable adaptations and selections from overture or scene, was in some respects well chosen for the occasion. The music is neither imaginative nor profound, but the melodies are crisp, and clear, and spirited, and accord well with the straightforward simplicity and distinctness which are so marked a characteristic of Mr. Santley’s method. The part of Zampa, however, is in so far ill chosen that it required a dash and fire in action, an intensity in dramatic feeling which Mr. Santley’s acting does not possess. The quiet ease and dignity of his manner, his almost undue composure of movement, and the calm assurance of his delivery savored less of the corsair of the 17th century than of the cultivated gentleman of the 19th.

In mere musical regards, however, the part was superbly sung, as those who have heard Mr. Santley on the concert stage were sure it would be. He carries into dramatic music the same unsurpassed excellences which are so evident in his execution of ballad and oratorio—the same broad, simple phrasing, the same unfailing uncertainty of intonation, the same delicacy of feeling and perfect facility of execution; and behind all these the undefined but palpable expression of power, of reserved force and calm self-command which make his vocalism more impressive than that of any male singer we have ever heard in America. The most brilliant illustration of these merits was given in the fine aria and scena at the opening of the second act, ‘None can fly my law supreme,’ which were redemanded with literal thunders of applause.”

“In ‘Zampa’ last night Mr. Santley again showed to great advantage his excellent school of singing, the charming fluency of his vocalization and the clearness of his enunciation. His elaborate scena in the second act was warmly applauded and the concluding movement promptly encored. The spirited duet of the last act was superbly sung both by Santley and Mrs. Van Zandt. The opera otherwise was creditably rendered, Mrs. Cook’s fine personation of the Marble Bride being one of the striking features of the representation, though it consists only of a few statuesque attitudes and bits of pantomime. With the graceful music of the French composer every listener is sure to be charmed. Herold is as graceful in some of his inspirations as Auber or Donizetti, and the Rosa opera troupe deserve the thanks of the musical public for rescuing from neglect his most fascinating work.”

“Mr. Santley repeated at the Academy of Music, last evening, his personation of Zampa, in the opera bearing that title. We have only to record of the latest performance of Herold’s charming work that it was enjoyed by an audience only slightly inferior in numbers to that of Monday’s representation, and that it was free, in respect of the general interpretation, from the blemishes of the first night. All the solos, last night, were capitally done; the finale of act the second was quite effective, and the grand duo in the last scene was as dramatic as could be desired. Those merits of Mr. Santley’s personation, of which mention has already been made, were enhanced, yesterday, by an increased vivaciousness and warmth in his acting, wherefrom the grand air in the second act, and the duet in the third, derived an especial benefit. Mme. Van Zandt’s exertions were also more successful, and, to be brief, the rehearsal proceeded with a smoothness only ruffled by imperative demands for repeats.”

“Charles Santley, the noted English baritone, made his first appearance in opera in America on the night of Feb. 12th, 1872, at the Academy of Music, in Herold’s French opera of ‘Zampa,’ by the Parepa-Rosa English Opera Troupe, it being performed in English, with the following cast [see above]. The Academy was crowded, and the house presented a brilliant appearance. The opera of ‘Zampa’ is not only Herold’s best work, but one of the most attractive of the French operas, and contains not only several charming arias but excellent concerted music and attractive instrumentation. The plot is simple [synopsis follows]. The role of Zampa is one which apparently suits either a baritone or a tenor, the range of its vocal requirements extending from double E as high as B flat. ‘Zampa’ has been called the opera of one role and an overture; Mr. Santley has made the former noteworthy, and the latter is a favorite in every concert room. This opera was presented in London in 1858, with Tamberlik as Zampa, and Parepa as Camilla. In 1870 it was produced in English, and Mr. Santley’s singing in the title role made it a success. The music was transposed for Mr. Santley, whose upper register seldom exceeds G. On the occasion of his first appearance, on Monday night, he rendered the music with all the grace of expression and power and purity of tone which characterizes him and fully realized the expectations of his concert admirers. Every note was made to tell, and every word uttered with distinctness, a rare quality in English opera singers. The principal scenes of the opera were given with telling effect, enthusiastic encores being elicited. The drinking song brought down the house, and his impassioned earnestness in the scena with Camilla in the second act was specially commendable. Indeed, dramatically as well as musically, did he gratify his audience at exhibiting such a delightful absence of the customary absurd mannerisms, so that his performances presented quite an agreeable novelty. As an actor Mr. Santley is graceful and quiet and undemonstrative almost to a fault, and he is a model for lyric performers on his avoidance of the operatic habit of vocally ‘tearing a passion to pieces.’ Of the performance in general we have specially to speak of the startling realistic efforts of Mrs. Aynsley Cook in her personation of the Statue Bride. Those distant from the stage could hardly realize that the figure was not a statue, so motionless did it stand, while even those nearest failed to notice anything evincing life in the figure until the ring was clasped. It was quite a feature of the representation. Mrs. Seguin was, as usual, fully equal to the requirements of the role assigned her, and sang and acted with praiseworthy ability. Mr. Aynsley Cook enacted the part of Zampa’s attendant admirably, and sang in his accustomed artistic style; and Mr. Whiffen ably acquitted himself as Dandolo. Mr. Karl and Madame Van Zandt filled the roles assigned them to the satisfaction of the audience, both being the recipients of merited applause. The choruses were finely rendered, and the orchestral performances up to the Rosa standard, which is high. The opera was handsomely mounted, the costumes handsome and appropriate, and the mise en scene up to the Academy mark under the Rosa management.”

“Monday evening, debut of Santley in Zampa. He acquitted himself creditably, and did not seem to be very much embarrassed in the presence of a New York audience, although some of our critics persist in considering it a trying ordeal for him.

The house was literally crammed. There was hushed and eager anticipation throughout the familiar overture, the opening chorus, and the music which follows, until the Robber Chief stepped upon the stage, and was greeted with round upon round of applause. The part of Zampa is written for the tenor voice; but such is the range of Santley’s magnificent organ that a little transposition brings the music entirely within his own. His voice is, for a baritone, what that of Sims Reeves is for a tenor, or Nilsson’s for a soprano, or Alboni’s for a contralto. Throughout its whole range there is not one bad note. One is conscious of a certain dignity in his singing which tells of power in reserve,--but intensely dramatic his singing is not, or at least was not on this occasion. His acting was perhaps somewhat different from the manner in which we should expect a real pirate to conduct himself, and he has been criticized on this ground; but surely anything is better than the hair-tearing performances of the traditional stage villain.

The music of Zampa affords a fine ground for the display of his splendid voice, and it is in this opera that he is most famous—although he sings in many others which are musically to be preferred.”