Kellogg English Opera: Mignon

“In producing ‘Mignon’ last night in English, for the first time in New-York, Miss Kellogg followed not the original arrangement made for the French Opera Comique, but the adaptation prepared by the composer for Drury Lane when the work was first given in Italian, and familiar to us here through the performance of the Strakosch and Maretzek companies. There is no doubt that the style of the Opera Comique would accord much better with the capacity of the present troupe, which for the work of grand opera is certainly but ill equipped. Miss Kellogg, however, has repeatedly shown that she shrinks from no comparisons with the best of her predecessors, and though her pluck is sometimes more to be admired than her judgment, it must be acknowledged that the representation of last night in many particulars justified her boldness. ‘Mignon,’ after all, is not a difficult opera to present fairly well. If the heroine has a competent representative the rest is tolerably easy. In Miss Kellogg’s Mignon nothing seems to be spontaneous. It lacks the romantic beauty of Nilsson’s and the fun and passion of Lucca’s, but there is enough display of vivacity in the second Act to keep the house amused; the whole conception of the character is intelligent, and the acting—almost always good—is now and then admirable. The principal deficiency is in the sentimental scenes of the first Act, where Miss Kellogg is hardly in her element. She sings all the music however with great taste, and in the Styrienne of the second Act last night she made a brilliant hit, taking the [illegible] [to run?] at the close with comfortable ease, and finishing with an excellent D above the staff. She was well supported by Mrs. Van Zandt as Filina and Miss Beaumont as Frederick. Mr. Castle as Wilhelm was welcome after his long absence, but he seems to have left the sick room before his voice is in proper condition, and he did not make the impression which his friends expected. Mr. Peakes was but a poor Lotario. The orchestra was weak and incomplete, the harp being greatly missed, and the choruses and concerted pieces were not always in tune.”

“The performance of ‘Mignon’ in its English garb, attracted a very numerous audience to the Academy of Music last evening. The representation was the best yet given. It brought before the public simultaneously, the two prime donne of the company; it afforded the principal tenor his first opportunity to appear this season, and finally, it proved that Mr. Hess’ artists need not confine themselves to interpreting the most hackneyed works of the répertoire. ‘Mignon,’ to be sure, is anything but new; but what opera is not fresh after ‘Il Trovatore’ and ‘Martha?’ That theatre-goers in this City are not weary of Thomas’ work was, in any case, made clear by the presence of the assemblage it brought together yesterday, and by the positive interest taken in the recital. Miss Kellogg’s portrayal of Mignon is a very creditable effort. It is not original, but it is not a spiritless copy, and if the American songstress borrows the ‘business’ of the part from Mme. Nilsson, she does not, in an attempt to usurp the perfect fitness of that gifted performer to the character, lose the charm of naturalness without which the best-considered personation is devoid of merit. Of the vague beauty and savage grace of Mme. Nilsson’s Mignon there is, indeed little in Miss Kellogg’s; there is, however, in Miss Kellogg’s delineation an ease, a vivacity, and an amount of elaboration which we can associate in our recollection with none of her previous achievements, and great praise is certainly due to the lady therefor. The fact that she sings the music exceedingly well will be premised from the prima donna’s record; had not the sustained tone on the last note of each of the verses of ‘Knowest thou the fair land,’ flatted a little, we should be warranted in saying that that pretty melody has never been better sung than it was last night; while the styrienne went so well that it had to be at once repeated. In the last act Miss Kellogg’s acting was quite as good as her singing, and her whole performance, in brief, is to be set down as most successful. Mme. Van Zandt, as Elvira, found equal favor with her hearers. Mme. Van Zandt’s voice is rather lacking in flexibility, but it is brilliant, powerful, and under thorough control. In the tuneful concerted numbers of the first and second acts the singer’s tones embroidered with unusual richness the harmonic texture, and, in act the third, her effective rendering of the polacca won an immediate encore. The Wilhelm was Mr. Castle, who had a very cordial reception. Mr. Castle was not at his best last evening, evidence of a recent cold being still apparent in his work, but in spite of his condition, he secured an encore for the romance in act the fourth, and got bravely over the remaining difficulties of a long and thankless rôle. Mr. Peakes embodied Lothario to general acceptances, and Frederic was for the first time redeemed from his comparative insignificance by Miss Beaumont, whose acting Miss Cary would do well to study, and whose gavotte was sung twice in deference to hearty applause. The choruses in ‘Mignon,’ let us add, were nicely executed, and the orchestra, though thin, was well in [illegible] for the accompaniments. We were astonished to see that the direction in the score engraved ‘voll arpa’ was anglicized for the occasion by means of the words ‘with an upright piano.’ As a consequence the harp was wanting and misread throughout the opera.”

“At the Academy of Music last evening ‘Mignon’ was given in English by the Kellogg opera company.

The attendance was good, notwithstanding the state of the weather, and the audience seemed gratified with the performance. Miss Kellogg appeared as [see above for performer listings]. Miss Kellogg achieved great success. In the favorite romanza, ‘Knows’t thou the land,’ and also in the Stiriana she won great applause. Her acting was greatly admired throughout. Mrs. Van Zandt found many opportunities of displaying her agreeable voice and powers of execution. At the end of the waltz, in the second act, after executing with great brilliancy a chain of shakes extending upwards to ‘A,’ she rose to high ‘D’ and produced at this elevation a note of considerable power and beauty of tone. This gained a unanimous encore, to which she acceded. In the celebrated Polacca she was also triumphant. Miss Beaumont by her vivacious and clever acting did much to make an insignificant part interesting, and sang the Rondo-Gavotte so well that it was redemanded. Mr. Castle seemed to still be suffering from his recent indisposition, for the tones of his voice had lost some of their freshness and agreeable quality, and occasionally he sang flat, especially in the Romanza, ‘Little thought the hapless maid,’ which throughout was considerably below the pitch. Mr. Peakes and Mr. Cayla deserve honorable mention. All the singers have adopted a style of vocalization which makes the general effect of the performance particularly agreeable. The choruses were all sung creditably and acted with care and attention to details. This opera contains an important part for the harp. It is by no means satisfactory to hear it performed on a small piano-forte.” 

“The performance of Thomas’ ‘Mignon’ in English last night by the Kellogg company was a grand success. Miss Kellogg eclipsed all her former efforts in the title rôle, gaining from a very crowded house enthusiastic applause in the many beautiful melodies allotted to her. The first triumph she gained was in the taking song, ‘Knowest Thou the Land,’ and she achieved still more in the estimation of her audience (a very large one, in spite of the inclemency of the weather) by the charming manner in which she took part in the ‘Swallows’ duet. In the Styrienne of the second act she was brilliant and effective, and in the lake scene she revealed a degree of dramatic power far beyond what even her admirers gave her credit for. The Mignon of Miss Kellogg was stamped with the impress of talent of the highest order, and in acting and singing she realized the ideal which the most exacting mind could form of such a trying rôle. Mme. Van Zandt proved to be the best representative of the coquettish actress, Filina, we have ever had on the metropolitan boards, and she gave the polacca in the third act with such a brio and élan that an encore was the consequence. Miss Annie Beaumont acted and sang the rôle of Federica superbly, and fulfilled everything that might be desired of an artist in such an ungrateful rôle. Peakes was a very acceptable Lotario, and Castle showed evident signs of recent indisposition by the weaknesss of his voice in the part of Wilhelm Meister.”