... . Two operas have recently been added to the repertory of the current German opera season at Covent Garden; Beethoven's Fidelio, and Wagner's Tristan und Isolde, two works as widely as possible dissimilar. The former was on the whole well per formed especially delightful being the execution of the splendid No. 3 Leonora overture. This was properly placed by Herr Hans Richter as a prelude to ...

... . Mr. William Shakespeare1 s Tragedic of Hamlet, Prince of Pen- mark. Published according to the true original copies. Lon don Simpkin, Marshall Co. THIS is a reprint of the First Folio, published in 1623. The publishers believe it will be refreshing to turn from the many learned commentators who have altered and distorted the text, to the authentic version; in which belief they are, doubtless ...

... . UPON light, bright pieces, such as do not ask too much of the attention of their spectators, Mr. Brookfield is wisely concentra ting his attention at the Haymarket. His latest production be longs in many of its characteristics to farce rather than to comedy, for its dramatis persona are overdrawn and highly- coloured, whilst its plot makes no pretence of probability. For Bachelors, as the ...

... . So far as histrionic work of the highest order is concerned, work demanding intellect as well as emotional force, the general impression produced by Signor Salvini's performances during his present visit leaves him very much in the position of a one-part actor. His Lear and Macbeth, like his Hamlet of nine years ago, are not to be spoken of in the same day with his Othello; and his ...

... . To the Editor of The Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. Deae Sie, Will you kindly publish enclosed, which comes from a good, honest cricketer-- who hits fair with bat and pen and also this letter I did not know till I received Mr. Ford's letter that he agreed with me about l.b.w. being from howler's hand; but the anxiety about the fatted calf proves my theory, that those who trust to ...

... . ANY port in a storm, but for choice I should say Ports mouth. There is a grand look about the sea-girt place that is enough to make a landsman-- let alone a sailor-- hitch his pants and shout Heave ho! Summer, of course, is the period at which one should be found doing Portsmouth. Yachting, Goodwood, and the Island-- all are as it were packed away during the winter and spring. There, ...

... . A weak and apparently ill-prepared performance of Dumas' well-known Mile, de Belle Isle was presented on Wednesday morning at the Opera Comique by Miss Edmiston, who, how ever, was able to prove as the heroine that she has considerably advanced in her art since last she was seen on the London stage. She has some real emotional power, though her physical means are not great. By far the ...

... . MR. AMBROSE AUSTIN'S annual concert at the Albert Hall, on Wednesday evening next, is well worthy of notice and public support. Mr. Austin is widely known, and this concert is n kind of celebration of his management of St. James's Hall during the past quarter of a century. Mr. A. Austin has never taken what is known as a benefit concert; he is a liberal caterer for the musical public. When ...

... . A BAND of train-worn travellers arrived in the busy town of Liverpool a little less than a week ago, their mission being to unpack the White Elephant and register their opinions to an anxious world through the medium of what Mr. Gladstone would term that great engine the press. The physically high and mentally mighty representative of the greatest show man in the world (Phineas T. Barnum ...

... . Benefit concerts are seldom of interest to anyone, save those by whom they are given, and those by whom they are patronised. But there are exceptions to the general rule, and such was the case on Wednesday last, when thousands of music lovers were attracted to the Albert Hall by the strong pro gramme of the concert announced by Mr. Ambrose Austin. O wing to a severe cold Mme. Albani was ...

... . An anonymous and poorly written adaptation of Herve's Nitouche was produced on Saturday last at the Crystal Palace, and for the first time in the metropolis at the Opera Comique Theatre on Monday last. The original libretto written by MM. Meilhac and Millaud could hardly be reproduced textually in English at a London theatre, but the adapters have not succeeded in substituting witty dialogue ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. AT THE RROMENADE CONCERTS. THERE is an old tale-- I cannot for the moment recall whether it is in the Cent Nouvelles Nou velles, the Heptameron of Marguerite de Valois, or the Contes of Bo naventure des Perriers --of a certain lord who sought to induce one of his servitors to lend him his aid in an enterprise that it is neither needful nor seemly to particularise ...