... . ANY work produced by Dr. Stainer merits immediate and respectful attention. He writes little, but always writes well, and has composed admirable music of an ecclesiastical cha racter. He has also distinguised himself, both while organist of Magdalen College, Oxford, and during the fifteen years that he has been organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, by zealous and suc cessful efforts to improve ...

... STORIES of the stage are still largely in the ascendant; and The Rival Queens, by one so competent to deal with theatrical romance as Mr. John Coleman (3 vols.: Remington and Co.), is naturally a co ...

... MESSRS. FORSYTH BROTHERS.-- Six Vocal Duets for soprano and contralto, words by Edward Oxenford, music by Franz Abt, will prove a welcome addition to the schoolroom répertoire, as the words are suit ...

... MUSIC. ROYAL ITALIAN OPERA. THE year 1887 promises to be a memorable one in the annals of Italian Opera in London. We wrote, last week, the public estimation of Italian Opera will this year be sharply tested by two successive seasons of it at Covent Garden. Since then we have learnt that Mr. Augustus Harris intends to give, immediately after the Carl Rosa opera season at Drury Lane, a Royal ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. A HOME OF REST FOR HORSES. ON this present occa sion the standard head ing to this weekly series of articles is scarcely justifiable save on the broad principle that the flag covers the cargo whatever it may be composed of. For the plain fact is, that I am not going to criticise at all, but simply to appeal. As it happened, I cast about for something whereon to exercise my ...

... Royal Italian Opeba.- Signor Vianesi having failed to arrive here in due course of time, it is probable that Mr. Map'eson will dispense with his services as chief conductor during the current season of opera at Covent Garden. In that case, we are glad to learn, the post of chief conductor is likely to be filled by Signor Bottesini, who is not only the greatest of all violoncellists, but an ...

... , WE doubt very much whether Ruddy George; or, Robin Red breast, the skit upon Ruddigore which was tried on Saturday morning at Toole's, is likely to take its place in the evening programme. There is not, perhaps, more bad taste in the joke than is inevitable whenever mimicry is introduced. There are one or two clever individual performances, and a few satis factory laughs. But Ruddy George, ...

... . AT what was Astley's, and is now Sanger's, there was presented on Saturday night an adaptation of Joshua Haggard, one of Miss Braddon's most dramatic novels. The title of the play, which is by Mr. J. Wilton Jones-- the other Jones-- is oddly enough borrowed from a second fiction. It is Recommended to Mercy. The hero of Miss Braddon's story iB, it will be recollected, a minister at a ...

... GRAND THE ATRE. THE English Comedy Company has begun at the Grand Theatre a series of such performances of classical comedy as are rarely given in Islington, or in other semi-suburban districts. The bill here is often changed, but the opening representa tion, that of The Rivals, may fairly be taken as typical of the rest so far as concerns the spirit of the enterprise. That spirit is excellent ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIO. THE SNOWBALL.'. EUGH! A rice week of nice weather for the cultivation of captious criti cism. A week of east winds that ex coriate the skin and exacerbate the tem per, inflame the eyes and irritate the nerves, paralyse the liver and, up setting the mental apple-cart, send the golden pippin of fancy rolling in the gutter. A week of chills and croak- ings, dyspepsia and ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. HARD HIT. IT is all very well to be wise after the event-- to claim to have prognosticated an inevitable failure, or to add one's tributary brick to the laudatory pile erected over a secured success. A writer who has leisure to watch the course of events and nous to gauge the issue of paper before penning a criticism has a better opportunity of posing as a correct ...

... . THE fifth concert of Messrs. Novello's second season pre sented great attractions in Mr. Cowen's cantata The Sleeping Beauty (conducted by the composer) and Beethoven's magni ficent Choral Symphony. Extra exertions had been made to ensure unusual excellence of execution. The choir of 300 selected voices had worked hard at rehearsals; the fine band had been increased in numbers, and was led ...