SIMON SUNS ROYAL ENGLISH AND ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XVIII, Issue 6054, 13 April 1881, Page 5

SIMON SUNS ROYAL ENGLISH AND ITALIAN OPERA COMPANY.

Aime Maillart's delightful opera, "The Hermit's Bell," was produced last night to a large and fashionable audience. We owe to Mr. and Madame Simonsen our first acquaintance with this beautiful composition. They produced it for the first time in Auckland during their last season in this city. It has not been performed since. The story is charmingly simple aud romantic. Rose Moineau (Madame Simonsen) is supposed to be a vagrant peasant girl. Sylvan (Signor Bianchi) is secretly a member of a Calvinist body, who are persecuted by the soldiers of Louis XIV. "The Hermit" is a statue in a mountain grotto, which is supposed to ring a bell whenever there is any improper flirtation going on in the village. He is the terror of the villagers, married and single. Rose discovers Sylvan's secret, and he implores her secrecy in a beautiful song, "Rose, betray me not," rendered with great feeling, but with the tendency to redundance, which we have already noticed. Rose is of the type of Mr. Buckstone's "Nan," and she uses a flirtation between Bellamy (Mr. E. St. Clair) a quartermaster of dragoons, and Georgette (Miss Leonora Simonsen) the wife of Thebaut {Mr. Crain) the village innkeeper, for the purpose of enabling the Calvinists to escape through thedefiles of the mountains, she herself acting as guide. Thibaut has denounced Rose to Sylvan for light conduct and treachery, and the quartermaster seizes Sylvan, who is to be shot. But Rose is equal to the occasion, and accuses the officer of letting the Calvinists slip through his fingers, threatening to inform the authorities, who will strip him of his uniform. In the midst of the crisis Rose's loyalty to the Calvinists is proved, the officer thinks it better to keep his uniform on him, and there is a village wedding. The simplicity of the story itself, the military stir that is given to its progress, the solemn and independent episode which serves as the pivot on which it turns, the pretty coquetry of the villagers, and the rollicking merriment of the soldiers, sustain the brightness and pleasantness of the movement throughout. The joyous fun, the piquancy and abandon which Madame Simousen throws into the part .of Rose, deserve the highest praise. The exquisite beauty of the air "Sweet whispers," brought dawn the house, and she complied with an enthusiastic encore. Miss Leonora Simonsen was heard and seen to great advantage. She lias a charming personelle and much playful humour. Mr. Crain sang well. Mr. St. Clair does not appear so advantageously m a light rdle of this kind as in more energetic parts, but he acquitted himself very creditably.' Every time we witness these performances we are more and more impressed with the splendid conducting of Mr. Simonsen. The orchestra deserves unqualified commendation. For to-night "Lucia di Lammermoor "is underlined. In this opera Paladini, Luisetti, Riccardi, Madame Simonsen, and Miss F. SimonseD, will appear.