... MUSIC. THE YEAR THAT'S AWA'. WHAT the infant new year may bring us hereafter, in the shape of additions to our musical treasures, is a secret that time alone can reveal; but we are in a position to estimate the musical results of the year that's awa', and possibly to derive from that estimate some wholesome instruction for our future guidance. There is much m the musical history ot the year ...

... CO VENT GARDEN THEATRE. The arrangement by which the proposed puntdmmie gave way to a circus performance under the direction of Messrs. Hengler would appear, despite the anything but favourable weather of the past few days, to have proved sufficiently suc cessful. A varied and interesting programme is provided, which, if it wants some of the sensational features of previous ventures here, is ...

... . MESSRS. WILLARD AND LART have begun their rule at the hitherto unlucky Shaftesbury in a very promising way. So late in the season it would have been hardly worth while to prepare and produce a new play, for the preparation could only have been hurried, and the production could hardly have had time to be remunerative before the dangerous break of the summer holidays. The management, therefore ...

... OLYSIPIC THEATRE. OPERA in English is now announced at this theatre, probably for the sake of disarming the austere critics who take pleasure in pointing out that English versions of Italian or French operas are not English operas. These inconsistent censors habitually speak of the representations of German and French operas in the Italian language as Italian operas. Why should they ...

... . This admirably written work was performed last week at Princes' Hall, under the direction of the gifted composer, assisted by Miss Alice Steel, Miss Louise Bourne, Mr. Charles Karlyle, and Ilerr Heinricli as solo vocalists, all of whom were fully equal to their respective tasks. The Islington German Orchestral Society did justice to the fine orchestration, and valuable assistance was given ...

... . The return of Sir. Toole to his London theatre after an absence due to a cause suggestive of the deepest sympathy was an event of genuine interest to the large section of the public which regards the popular comedian in the light of a personal friend. Mr. Toole is accustomed to hearty receptions, but the warmth of the welcome accorded to him on Easter Monday was such as evidently unnerved ...

... . Pepa, the now comedy by SIM. Sleilhac and Gauderax, im ported by SI. Slayer from the Theatre Franqais, does not seem likely to provide any very useful material for the adapter. It has much more talk than action, and English audiences care comparatively little for talk, however witty. Its chief satire is -directed against a type of character unfamiliar in this country and its plot, such ns it ...

... . Tiie descent of the pony d la Baldwin was the chief feature at Henglcr's on Saturday evening last. The feat was actually accompl slicd by hauling up the pony to the roof, aud then fastening it to the parachute, when, at a given signal, the machine find the quadruped dropped to the arena. It was not, however, received with much favour by the audience, for the applause was largely mingled with ...

... OUR CAPTIOUS CRITIC. THE GUARDS' BURLESQUE. THE Guards are, as a rule, good fellows, and at need have done well for their country. But they should not overrate themselves, or look down upon the world outside. It is not so long since that the Marines were considered very inferior persons indeed. But they have held their own and taken a capital position, not withstanding what crack regiments may ...

... . IT is not a very likely set of characters that Mr. F. W. Broughton introduces to us in his one-act comedy The Poet, which now precedes Joseph's Sweetheart at the Vaudeville: but granted their existence, their story and their manner of con versation are perhaps probable enough. To begin with, we have Miss Winifred Grey, a weak-minded damsel, who, to the distress of her sensible cousin, Kitty ...

... . At his sixth concert, on Tuesday last, Mr. Henschel pre sented, for the first time in England, an entr'acte from Weber's forthcoming comic opera, The Three Pintos. The work, melo- dius and piquautly orchestrated, encourages favourable antici pations of the opera from which it is taken, and will probably become popular in our concert rooms. The programme also included Mendelssohn's Hear my ...

... . SOUND and interesting play though it is, Still Waters Run Deep has been so done to death that we should have thought it would scarcely pay for revival on the elaborate scale adopted by Mr. Charles Wyndham at the Criterion. It is not so very long ago that Tom Taylor's well-known comedy was presented with much completeness at the St. James's; and it is being constantly played by amateurs from ...