MrPunch's history of modern England . advisedly, because thedomination of Italian composers and singers and of the Italianlanguage was as yet practically unassailed. Germany, it istrue, had already begun to knock at the door. Lord MountEdgcumbe in his Reminiscences mentions the visit of aGerman operatic company in 1832. Staudigl, who createdthe Utle-role in Mendelssohns Elijah when it was producedat Birmingham in 1846, is mentioned by Punch as singing inopera in London in 1841. Webers Der Freischilts was given 276 The Reign of Italian Opera at the Haymarket in the summer of 1844. But the great
MrPunch's history of modern England . advisedly, because thedomination of Italian composers and singers and of the Italianlanguage was as yet practically unassailed. Germany, it istrue, had already begun to knock at the door. Lord MountEdgcumbe in his Reminiscences mentions the visit of aGerman operatic company in 1832. Staudigl, who createdthe Utle-role in Mendelssohns Elijah when it was producedat Birmingham in 1846, is mentioned by Punch as singing inopera in London in 1841. Webers Der Freischilts was given 276 The Reign of Italian Opera at the Haymarket in the summer of 1844. But the greaterlights in the operatic firmament, judged by the test of fashion-able patronage and indeed general popularity, were all meteoric Malibran—Spanish by race but Italian in train-ing—died suddenly and tragically in 1836, and Pasta, her greatrival, withdrew from the stage shortly afterwards. The retire-ment of the famous tenor Rubini is mentioned in Punchs firstvolume, but his popularity was eclipsed by that of Mario, who. LABLACHE reigned without a rival in virtue of his triple endowment ofvoice, good looks, and elegance. His triumphs were shared byGrisi, and the kings and queens of song on the lyric stagein these two decades were either Italians by birth—, Grisi,Alboni, whom Punch likens to a jolly blooming she-Bacchus,Persiani, and Piccolomini—or trained in the Italian school anddistinguished by their association with Italian opera, such asSontag and Jenny Lind, Duprez the French tenor, andLablache, who was born and bred in Italy though of Franco-Hibernian parentage, the greatest in bulk, in volume andbeauty of voice, in dramatic versatility and in genial humour ofall operatic basses. So too with the composers. It was theheyday of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and the earlier Verdi,whom Punch in 1852 irreverently styles the crack composer as he cracked so many voices. Punch cannot be blamed if hefailed to foresee in the crude vigour of Nabucco and the hecti
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