Mary Berry in Paris - 29 March, 1802, at night

from Diary of Mary Berry, 29 March 1802, page 161:

In the evening at the Opera. ‘Astyanax’ was the opera, and ‘Psyche’ the ballet. All French operas are so like one another that it is only of the decoration that one can speak. The last scene, of Pyrrhus going on board a vessel with Astyanax and Andromache, and sailing away with all his fleet, was very good ; but au reste, it is always the same scrambling and violent exertion of voice, always the same exaggerated action, always a scene which we have called the tearing scene, where, from sorrow, or joy, or…   more >>

cite as

Mary Berry, Diary of Mary Berry, 29 March 1802. In Lady Theresa Lewis (ed.), Extracts of the Journal and Correspondence of Miss Berry from the Year 1783 to 1852, volume 2 (London, 1865), p. 161. https://led.kmi.open.ac.uk/entity/lexp/1541695489015 accessed: 8 December, 2024

location of experience: Paris

Listeners

Mary Berry
Author, literary hostess, Playwright
1763-1852

Listening to

hide composers
Psyche
Astyanax
written by Rodolphe Kreutzer
performed by Mlle Maillard

Experience Information

Date/Time 29 March, 1802, at night
Medium live
Listening Environment in the company of others, indoors, in public

Notes

Although Mary Berry does not name the composer of either work heard, from her description it is possible that ‘Psyché’ alludes to the ballet-pantomime of that name by Ernest Louis Müller. Rodolphe Kreutzer’s opera ‘Astyanax’ was popular in Paris since its première in April 1801.


Originally submitted by lcc5 on Thu, 08 Nov 2018 16:44:49 +0000
Approved on Sat, 01 Dec 2018 12:30:22 +0000