Opera Singer Gallery

Scene from the new opera of "Maritana", at Drury Lane Theatre, 1845

Scene from the new opera of "Maritana", at Drury Lane Theatre, 1845. London stage production of an opera by William Vincent Wallace. Three times have we heard this new work...and on each occasion have the ovations been much the same, namely seven or eight encores, great applause for the composer at the termination of every act, and his appearance before the curtain vehemently insisted upon after the finale, the same compliment being extended to the principal singers...There has been no opera produced for years that has created a greater sensation....and on all hands it is agreed that Mr. Wallace is destined to occupy a most prominent position amongst our native musicians...The libretto has been avowedly adapted by the author from the French drama by Dumaniois and Dennery, of "Don Caesar de Bazan". From "Illustrated London News", 1845, Vol VII

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Scene from Costa's opera of "Don Carlos", 1844. Creator: Unknown

Scene from Costa's opera of "Don Carlos", 1844. The tragic denouement, which is supposed to take place in the Huerta Reale, or royal garden, at midnight. After singing a parting duet of exquisite tenderness, the guilty lovers, Carlos and Isabella, are surprised by the enraged monarch, Philip, attended by the brothers of the Holy Inquisition...Escape is hopeless - so after outpouring with passionate fervor a story of his wrongs to the King, Carlos snatches a dagger from Philip's side and plunges it in his own. The consternation, produced by this tragic deed, is...immense, and the effect very imposing. The guilty and wretched Isabella, having indulged for some time in a paroxysm of musical sorrow, is rudely laid hold of and borne away to either death or that lingering life which the tender mercies of the sacred fraternity might provide for her, in some convent cell or dungeon'. From "Illustrated London News", 1844, Vol I

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Great Musicians - Plate X., c1880, (1895). Artist: F Jenkins Heliog

Great Musicians - Plate X., 1895. Portraits of classical musicians; Wilma Neruda, Lady Halle, (1838-1911), Charles Halle (1819-1895), Ignacy Jan Paderewski (1860-1941), Eugene Ysaye (1858-1931) and Lillian Nordica (1857-1914). From The Musical Educator, Volume IV by John Greig, M.A., Mus. Doc. [T. C. & E. C. Jack, Edinburgh, 1895]

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