MADAME MELBA.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 243, 13 October 1891, Page 4

MADAME MELBA.

Madame Melba, in ber latest appearance at Covent Garden Theatre, appears po have taken London by storm. The Times critic says ;. " The Australian prima donna chose for her reappearance the part of Juliet in M. Gounod's opera, in which she won her earliest successes in this country. The warmth of the greeting which she receives shows that her position as a public favourite is firmly established. The delivery of the waltz in the first act was followed by such prolonged applause that an encore was inevitable, and at the end of each act Mtne. Melba and M. Jean de Reszke — who divided with her the honours of the eve. ning — were repeatedly called before the curtain." Referring to the subsequent performance of " Rigoletto," the Pall Mall Gazette said : — '♦ More brilliant singing than Madame Melba's in " Caro Nome' has rarely been known at Oovent Garden." St. James's Budget is warmer still s — "The part chosen by Madame Melba for her i*e-appearance was that of Juliet in Gounod's opera on the subject of the Lovers of Verona, which, more than any other vocalist, Madame Melba has restored to the favour it enjoyed when, years ago, the heroine was impersonated at the Royal Italian Opera by Madame Adelina Fatti. Never did Madame Melba sing more perfectly than on this occasion, white her acting, always graceful and in the best taste, w%a marked on this occasion by much emotional power. Nothing ceuld surpass the absolute precision, the dazzling brilliancy, of her execution in the vocal waltz. Subsequently Madame Melba made her second appearance as G.'lda in 'Rigoletto' one of her very beet parts — certainly better than that of Juilet, even as 'Rigoletto 'is a better opera than ' Romeo et Juliette.' Gilda's opening air was delivered with .the simplicity that it demands, and the charm which, when Madame Melba is the vocalist, it receives. She had the advantage of singing and acting with M. Maurel in the character of the Jester— a performance difficult to match on the operatic etage. In the duet of the first act with the tragic-minded, buffoen,. and to a still greater degree in the passionate pathetic duet of tho third act, Madame Melba entered as fully into the spirit of the situation as M. Maurel himself."