The Cavatina
Una Voce Poco Fa Gave Me Inconceivable Delight.
The Ballo was of a very
splendid description and from a subject taken from the Oriental history
entitled Macbet Sultan of Delhi.
How the Mogul Sultan came to have the
name of Macbet I know not. On the plafond of the Pergola is an
allegorical painting representing the restored Kings of Europe replaced on
their thrones by Valor and Justice. The decorations at this theatre are not
quite so splendid as those of the Scala at Milan, but living horses and
military evolutions seem to be annexed to every historical Ballo. Horses
indeed appear to be an indispensable ingredient in the Balli in the large
cities of Italy.
In the Teatro Cocomera, comedies are performed, and very generally those
of the inexhaustible Goldoni. I saw the Bugiardo very fairly performed at
this theatre. The story is nearly the same as that of our piece, The
Liar, which is I believe imitated from Le Menteur of Corneille. The
actor who did the Liar was a very good one. The actresses screamed too much
and were rather coarse. Another night at the theatre I saw a piece call'd
II furioso, a comedie larmoyante which was interesting and well given;
but the voice of the prompter was occasionally too loud. Tragedies are very
seldom played; the language of Alfieri could never, I will not say be given
with effect, but even conceived by the modern actors. It would be like a
tragedy of Sophocles performed by boys at school.
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