We were right in predicting that the Donoft of Bliss Amy Sherwin would be an performance of Feust on Saturday for the
exception to the rule about repetitions. Society in Shanghai has found at last that Miss Sherwin is the best and most charming singer that has ever visited the port, as the boxes and dross circle shewed, and it should now be full of disappointment. that it did not find it out before. The stalls and pit were also well tilled and the gallery was crowded, and the large audience was well repaid, for the performance was even better than Tuesday's and will long be remembered as the best representation of a complete opera ever given in Shanghai, The pains taken by the management to make it so were well laid out, and to recall that they took part in it, and helped to make it go well, will be the best reward that the amateurs who assisted in it could desire.
is pleasant too for the community to know that there is material here to give a grand opera, when the necessary nucleus, in the shape of four good artists, is provided.
We have so lately given a report of the performance that itis unnecessary to follow it in detail again. It went triumphantly throughout, and the fact that only two encores, Miss Fischer's La palate d'umor, and the Soldiers' chorus, were given, is easily explained when the length of the performance is considered. To begin with Miss Sherwin, from whom Shanghai now rts with the deepest regret, we can only that she was perfect. Her beautiful voice enchained her hearers from her first niomentary appearance as she goes home from church, through the long and lovely garden scene, the pathetic cathedral scene, the death of Valentine which gave her such ample room to display her unquestioned tragic powers, to the emotional prison scene, ending with' her death. Nothing could have been more perfect in this last act than the repetition, as her thoughts go back to her former happiness, of the little duet between herself and Furst when she first sees him, which was sung with a delightful purity and clearness, which showed how well her voice had withstood the calls upon it in this long and trying role. Miss Fischer was a charming Siebel and a most characteristic Dame Martha, and it is noticeable that her voice changes with the different characters, and only the programme can convince us that the two reles are taken by the same lady. Miss Fischer is quite the equal of most of the prime douxe that we have hitherto had in Shaughai. Faust is exactly the part for Mr. Stockwell; he acts it and he sings it; how well he sings it those who have heard him at any time during the season know; and nothing could have been better than his Salve, dimera, and the duet with Marguerite, Tardi si fa, at the end of the garden scene. Those who can realise the difficulty of singing from the back of the stage to the companiment of a single piano far away in the orchestra, must have wondered how Mr. Stockwell did so well in the prison scene. Mr. Sherwin's Mephistopheles was a decides improvement on his former presentation of the role, and was a very good performance, and he' was impressively malignant in the cathedral scene. Mr. George Compton seemed to be a little nervous when he first came in, but his voice soon recovered itself appearance his Valentine is all that could be desired, his singing is most sympathetic, and his acting in the dying scene was truly realistic. Mr. Robertini has a good voice and presence, and he did well all' that was required of him as Wagner, 'The ladies' chorus in the first act hada very pretty effect, but it was surpassed by the men's chorus, which was uncommonly good, and was specially applauded. We are accustomed in operas to see the chorus—if there is one at all—composed of four or five dilapidated supers, whose only idea is to make a noise of some kind, and who are rarely lucky enough to know anything of the words or music they are supposed to 5 and a chorus of men with good voices who have taken the trouble to learn and rehearse the music, is a most delightful innovation, We must make a special note of the Cathedral scene, which was played for the first time on Saturday, and wus made most effective by Miss' Sherwin's touching rendering; the scenery throughout was very good; the town-band in their anachronistic uniforms, were very welcome assistance in the Soldiers' chorus; the lime light was judiciously managed, and the intervals "were less protracted than before, owing to the carpenters being more proficient with their work; 80 that Miss Sherwin leaves us in, to use a hackneyed, but on this occasion merited, phrase, a blaze of triumph, The whole community will wish her every suc-case; and she faavox habirid har a largo number of private friends who will much regret her loss, and a still much larger number of admirers of her talents as an artist.
Miss Army Sherwin was equally surprised and delighted on Saturday evening to be called out from her dressing room during one of the intervals, and presented by Mr. "George Compton," on behalf of the chorus, th a very handsome silver card-basket, with the names of the donors engraved on it, which she was asked to keep as a memento of her visit to Shanghai, and of the pleasure the chorus had had in supporting her in Faust and the other operas in which they had appeared.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.