The people of Trieste, were just beginning to engage in the pleasures and diversions of the carnival. As the opera forms no inconsiderable part of these amusements, I anticipated the delight I should enjoy in the evening, in witnessing the performance of Italian artists, from whose reputation I was led to form high expectations. Upon entering the theatre, I did not find its effect upon the spirits so enlivening as that of the French or of the English opera  […]

 The sounds of the orchestra no sooner struck my ears, than I recognized the exquisite execution of the German artists. The opera, entitled Gli pretendenti delusi, opened with a charming duet between the Prima donna, and the Tenore. The Primo Buffo, was the first in Italy, and sang the arias with inimitable grace, and humour. In Italy, it is the fashion to be inattentive to the recitative parts of the opera, but when the orchestra pauses, and the actor comes forward to the front of the stage, and announces to the audience by his looks, that he is going to sing the aria, a general silence immediately follows.