REMARKS.

Der Freischutz.

It is ridiculous to call the English a musical nation; we may as well say they are a dancing one.

"The land of singing and of dancing slaves,

This is not

Love-whispering woods, and lute-resounding waves."

We sit at an opera with our eyes half open and half shut, nodding and winking like the owl in the wolf's glen; and, if we dance,

"How ill the dancing with the music suits!

So Orpheus play'd, and, like them, danced the brutes."

Unlike our continental neighbours, a concord of sweet sounds with us is not the summum bonum of human existence. We care not to put our heads in a musical pillory,

"An opera's like a pillory-may be said

To nail our ears down, but expose our head."

The divine strains of Handel barely reconcile us to the Oratorio season once a year; and Haydn and Mozart cannot sustain the falling state of the Italian opera, without the aid of new names and new faces to suit the caprice of those who attend-not for the music, but the fashion. Were the English really an harmonious nation, their own composers might well satisfy the nicest ear.Setting aside Handel as the noblest musician in the world, Arne, Purcel, Boyce, Jackson, and a host of others, may fairly uphold the English character for science,, melody, and taste. Novelty is, however, the charm that must win us to sweet sounds; and the introduction of Weber's music into this country was the most popular and successful novelty in our time, and well repaid the good taste that ventured the experiment.

If anything could reconcile us to a man selling himself to the devil, it must be his throwing in, by way of bonus, such music as Carl Maria Von Weber's. Indeed,

we are half inclined to suspect that the Carl must have followed the example of his friend Caspar, and, in like manner, bartered his own soul for a musical equivalent; for, had the imps of darkness tuned their fiddles in the orchestra, and Lucifer himself presided at the pianoforte, symphonies more unearthly and diabolical had never been heard than those in the incantation scene. This opera makes no pretension to literary merit; yet the story (which is taken from the third volume of Popular Traditions of the Northern Nations, and in some respects resembles that of The Wood Demon) is well conducted. The melodramatic part was judiciously superintended by Mr. T. P. Cooke, whose performance of the sable huntsman, with his copper skin, green shirt, black wig, and brass collar, was meritorious and affrighting; and to the monsters under the immediate command of Mr. Franklin, we can hardly award sufficient praise for their superhuman and grotesque appearance ind deportment. The phantasmagoria of the skeleton tag, horsemen, and hounds, was particularly effective; and the owl, winking and flapping its wings to the music, was decorous and appalling. A sort of magical sympathy ran through this infernal scene, from which the very trees, wheels, whips, and ugly faces, were not exempt.

The grand features of Weber's music are terror and sublimity. Gaiety and tenderness occasionally delight the ear; science leads it through all the mazes of enchantment; but wildness and melancholy are its prevailing qualities, and sounds of deeper and more awful intonation never thrilled the soul since the triumph of the fabled Timotheus :

"Hark! hark !—the horrid sound
Has rais'd up his head;

As, awaked from the dead,

And amaz'd, he stares around.

"Revenge! revenge! Timotheus cries;

See, the furies arise,

See the snakes how they rear,

How they hiss in the air,

And the sparkles that flash from their eyes!"

The death of such a man as Weber is a national calamity: genius is of no country-every land is its home. England received with open arms this magnificent composer; she crowned him with rapturous applause while

living, and would have entombed his sacred dust among her illustrious dead, but for the uncharitable bigotry of her priesthood, who could not endure that the solemn sounds of Catholic rites should profane a Protestant cathedral. On our first introduction to Weber, we were forcibly struck with his appearance and manner. A slender fragile form; a weak, tremulous voice; a countenance long, meagre, and pallid, but beaming with melancholy expression; and an eye full, sparkling, and intelligent. Sickness and study had worn him to the bone; and, though a young man, he had the tottering decrepitude of age. But his mind was active, fervent, and enthusiastic; the glorious sounds of his divine art kindled the fire of his spirit; and, his enthusiasm thus awakened, he moved, spoke, and directed with the alacrity and vigour that belong to health. But, the excitement over, his frame sunk beneath the effort,

"A fiery soul, which, working out its way,
Fretted the pigmy body to decay,

And o'er-inform'd the tenement of clay."

Hail! and farewell!

G.

STAGE DIRECTIONS.

The Conductors of this work print no Plays but those which they have seen acted. The Stage Directions are given from their own personal observations, during the most recent performances.

EXITS and ENTRANCES.

R. means Right; L. Left; D. F. Door in Flat; R. D. Right Door; L. D. Left Door; S. E. Second Entrance; U. E. Upper Entrance; M. D. Middle Door.

RELATIVE POSITIONS.

R. means Right ; L. Left ; C. Centre; R. C. Right of Centre; L. C. Left of Centre.

L.

RC.

C.

LC.

L.

The Reader is supposed to be on the Stage, facing the Audience.

OTTOCAR-Yellow tunic and purple velvet robe, very richly spangled; purple cap, with gold cords and tassel; white pantaloons, yellow boots.

KUNO.-Green long doublet and pantaloons, trimmed with black velvet and gold lace; russet boots, with large tops; large black hat, with black feathers.

CASPAR, RODOLPH, and ROLLO.-Green long doublet and pantaloons, trimmed with black velvet and a little gold lace,and buttons on breast; yellow boots, black belts, with brass buckles; a powder horn and pouch; large black hats with black feathers.

HUNTSMEN and the rest of the CHORUS.-Same dresses as Caspar, &c. but no gold lace.-The Chorus are also Peasants in the first scene.

ZAMIEL.-Dark copper or olive flesh shape, green shirt, brass collar and belt, black wig and beard, black cap, with large plume of black feathers; scarlet robe, trimmed with black, and black sandals.

KILLIAN.-Brown jacket and trunk breeches, blue stockings, white shirt, and blue braces, drab hat and feather, russet shoes. AGNES.-White dress, trimmed with brown and blue. Second dress-white, trimmed with flowers.

ANN.-Black velvet body, trimmed with pink; white shirt. Second dress. All white.

Persons represented in the Opera of DER FREISCHUTZ, at the Theatre Royal, English Opera House. OTTOCAR, a Bohemian Prince

Mr. Baker.
.Mr. Bartley.

KUNO, the Ranger..

CASPAR,

Mr. Bennett.

The Music under the superintendence of Mr. HAWES

The Melo-Dramatic business under the direction of Mr. T. P. COOKE.

The Scenery by Mr. WILSON, and under his direction by his assistant, Mr. PITT.

The Monsters, by Mr. FRANKLIN.-The Properties, by Mr. GODBEE, and numerous assistants.

The Dresses by Mr. HEAD and Mrs. BROOKS.

The story on which the above is founded, may be found in the third volume of a work entitled Popular Traditions of the Northern Nations.

DER FREISCHÜTZ.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-A dark and gloomy part of a thick forest. [Front grooves.

Enter CASPAR, L., followed by ROLLO, each with his rifle.

Cas. In vain I thread the forest! In vain I call upon the hunters spirit! He answers not my summons. Does then, indeed, my hour approach? Has Zamiel deserted me?

Rol. Pshaw! this is childish weakness:-be more a man! Thou knowest he will not answer here-in the wolf's glen alone.

Cus. How my heart sinks within me when I reflect that one more day-one little short-lived day-and, my conditions with he spirit unfulfilled, my day of life is over! [Calls.] What, Zamiel ! Ho! He comes not at my bidding, as he was ever wont !

Rol. Why should he answer? He knows you do not want his aid.

Cas. True-he knows all my thoughts. [Aloud.] Spirit, or devil! whatsoe'er thou art-am I then doom'd?

Zam. [Within, L.) Not yet!

Cas. Whose voice was that?-Was't thine?

Rol. It was the voice of Zamiel :-he answered thee, Not yet!

Cas. No! but to-morrow yields me to his power. The seven years of prosperous fortune he promised have been idly wasted; I know it well-and if I enlist not ere to-morrow's noon another in his service, I am his;-but I have still thy promise for assistance