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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Opera from its Origin in
-Italy to the present Time, by Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
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-
-Title: History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time
-       With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe
-
-Author: Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-Release Date: July 8, 2012 [EBook #40164]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE OPERA ***
-
-
-
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40164 ***
 
 Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
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@@ -18097,366 +18074,4 @@ Wagner.
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+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 40164 ***
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@@ -1,18462 +0,0 @@
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Opera from its Origin in
-Italy to the present Time, by Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time
-       With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe
-
-Author: Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-Release Date: July 8, 2012 [EBook #40164]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE OPERA ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
-produced from scanned images of public domain material
-from the Google Print project.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY
-
-OF
-
-THE OPERA,
-
-from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
-
-WITH ANECDOTES
-
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.
-
-BY
-
-SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,
-
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.
-
-"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"
-     "WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"
-
-VOL. I. & VOL. II.
-
-LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.
-
-1862.
-
-[_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._]
-
-LONDON: LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS VOLUME I.
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-
-Preface, Prelude, Prologue, Introduction, Overture, &c.--The
-Origin of the Opera in Italy, and its introduction into Germany.--Its
-History in Europe; Division of the subject                             1
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-Introduction of the Opera into France and England                     12
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-On the Nature of the Opera, and its Merits as compared with
-other forms of the Drama                                              36
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-Introduction and progress of the Ballet                               70
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-Introduction of the Italian Opera into England                       104
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-The Italian Opera under Handel                                       140
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-General view of the Opera in Europe in the Eighteenth Century,
-until the appearance of Gluck                                        172
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-French Opera from Lulli to the Death of Rameau                       217
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-Rousseau as a Critic and as a Composer of Music                      238
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-Gluck and Piccinni in Paris                                          267
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY OF THE OPERA.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-     PREFACE, PRELUDE, PROLOGUE, INTRODUCTION, OVERTURE, ETC.--THE
-     ORIGIN OF THE OPERA IN ITALY, AND ITS INTRODUCTION INTO
-     GERMANY.--ITS HISTORY IN EUROPE; DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.
-
-
-It has often been said, and notably, by J. J. Rousseau, and after him,
-with characteristic exaggeration, by R. Wagner, that "Opera" does not
-mean so much a musical work, as a musical, poetical, and spectacular
-work all at once; that "Opera" in fact, is "the work," _par excellence_,
-to the production of which all the arts are necessary.[1] The very
-titles of the earliest operas prove this notion to be incorrect. The
-earliest Italian plays of a mixed character, not being constructed
-according to the ancient rules of tragedy and comedy, were called by the
-general name of "Opera," the nature of the "work" being more
-particularly indicated by some such epithet or epithets as _regia_,
-_comica_, _tragica_, _scenica_, _sacra_, _esemplare_, _regia ed
-esemplare_, _&c._; and in the case of a lyrical drama, the words _per
-musica_, _scenica per musica_, _regia ed esemplare per musica_, were
-added, or the production was styled _opera musicale_ alone. In time the
-mixed plays (which were imitated from the Spanish) fell into disrepute
-in Italy, while the title of "Opera" was still applied to lyrical
-dramas, but not without "musicale," or "in musica" after it. This was
-sufficiently vague, but people soon found it troublesome, or thought it
-useless, to say _opera musicale_, when opera by itself conveyed, if it
-did not express, their meaning, and thus dramatic works in music came to
-be called "Operas." Algarotte's work on the Opera (translated into
-French, and entitled _Essai sur l'Opéra_) is called in the original
-_Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica_. "Opera in music" would in the present
-day sound like a pleonasm, but it is as well to consider the true
-meaning of words, when we find them not merely perverted, but in their
-perverted sense made the foundation of ridiculous theories.
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIRST OPERA]
-
-The Opera proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the 15th century as
-the modern drama proceeds from the medićval mysteries. Ménestrier,
-however, the Jesuit father, assigns to it a far greater antiquity, and
-considers the Song of Solomon to be the earliest Opera on record,
-founding his opinion on these words of St. Jérôme, translated from
-Origen:--_Epithalamium, libellus, id est nuptiale carmen, in modum mihi
-videtur dramatis a Solomone conscriptus quem cecinit instar nubentis
-sponsć_.[2]
-
-Others see the first specimens of opera in the Greek plays; but the
-earliest musical dramas of modern Italy, from which the Opera of the
-present day is descended directly, and in an unbroken line, are
-"mysteries" differing only from the dramatic mysteries in so far that
-the dialogue in them was sung instead of being spoken. "The Conversion
-of St. Paul" was played in music, at Rome, in 1440. The first profane
-subject treated operatically, was the descent of Orpheus into hell; the
-music of this _Orfeo_, which was produced also at Rome, in 1480, was by
-Angelo Poliziano, the libretto by Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.
-The popes kept up an excellent theatre, and Clement IX. was himself the
-author of seven _libretti_.
-
-At this time the great attraction in operatic representations was the
-scenery--a sign of infancy then, as it is a sign of decadence now. At
-the very beginning of the sixteenth century, Balthazar Peruzzi, the
-decorator of the papal theatre, had carried his art to such perfection,
-that the greatest painters of the day were astonished at his
-performances. His representations of architecture and the illusions of
-height and distance which his knowledge of perspective enabled him to
-produce, were especially admired. Vasari has told us how Titian, at the
-Palace of la Farnesina, was so struck by the appearance of solidity
-given by Peruzzi to his designs in profile, that he was not satisfied,
-until he had ascended a ladder and touched them, that they were not
-actually in relief. "One can scarcely conceive," says the historian of
-the painters, in speaking of Peruzzi's scenic decorations, "with what
-ability, in so limited a space, he represented such a number of houses,
-palaces, porticoes, entablatures, profiles, and all with such an aspect
-of reality that the spectator fancied himself transported into the
-middle of a public square, to such a point was the illusion carried.
-Moreover, Balthazar, the better to produce these results, understood, in
-an admirable manner the disposition of light as well as all the
-machinery connected with theatrical changes and effects."
-
-[Sidenote: DAFNE.]
-
-In 1574, Claudio Merulo, organist at St. Mark's, of Venice, composed the
-music of a drama by Cornelio Frangipani, which was performed in the
-Venetian Council Chamber in presence of Henry III. of France. The music
-of the operatic works of this period appears to have possessed but
-little if any dramatic character, and to have consisted almost
-exclusively of choruses in the madrigal style, which was so
-successfully cultivated about the same time in England. Emilio del
-Cavaliere, a celebrated musician of Rome, made an attempt to introduce
-appropriateness of expression into these choruses, and his reform,
-however incomplete, attracted the attention of Giovanni Bardi, Count of
-Vernio. This nobleman used to assemble in his palace all the most
-distinguished musicians of Florence, among whom were Mei, Caccini, and
-Vincent Galileo, the father of the astronomer. Vincent Galileo was
-himself a discoverer, and helped, at the Count of Vernio's musical
-meetings, to invent recitative--an invention of comparative
-insignificance, but which in the system of modern opera plays as
-important a part, perhaps, as the rotation of the earth does in that of
-the celestial spheres.
-
-Two other Florentine noblemen, Pietro Strozzi and Giacomo Corsi,
-encouraged by the example of Bardi, and determined to give the musical
-drama its fullest development in the new form that it had assumed,
-engaged Ottavio Rinuccini, one of the first poets of the period, with
-Peri and Caccini, two of the best musicians, to compose an opera which
-was entitled _Dafne_, and was performed for the first time in the Corsi
-Palace, at Florence, in 1597.
-
-_Dafne_ appears to have been the first complete opera. It was considered
-a masterpiece both from the beauty of the music and from the interest of
-the drama; and on its model the same authors composed their opera of
-_Euridice_, which was represented publicly at Florence on the occasion
-of the marriage of Henry IV. of France, with Marie de Medicis, in 1600.
-Each of the five acts of _Euridice_ concludes with a chorus, the
-dialogue is in recitative, and one of the characters, "Tircis," sings an
-air which is introduced by an instrumental prelude.
-
-New music was composed to the libretto of _Dafne_ by Gagliano in 1608,
-when the opera thus rearranged was performed at Mantua; and in 1627 the
-same piece was translated by Opitz, "the father of the lyric stage in
-Germany," as he is called, set to music by Schutz, and represented at
-Dresden on the occasion of the marriage of the Landgrave of Hesse with
-the sister of John-George I., Elector of Saxony. It was not, however,
-until 1692 that Keiser appeared and perfected the forms of the German
-Opera. Keiser was scarcely nineteen years of age when he produced at the
-Court of Wolfenbüttel, _Ismene_ and _Basilius_, the former styled a
-Pastoral, the latter an opera. It is said reproachfully, and as if
-facetiously, of a common-place German musician in the present day, that
-he is "of the Wolfenbüttel school," just as it is considered comic in
-France to taunt a singer or player with having come from Carpentras. It
-is curious that Wolfenbüttel in Germany, and Carpentras in France (as I
-shall show in the next chapter), were the cradles of Opera in their
-respective countries.
-
-[Sidenote: MONTEVERDE, AND HIS ORCHESTRA.]
-
-To return to the Opera in Italy. The earliest musical drama, then, with
-choruses, recitatives, airs, and instrumental preludes was _Dafne_, by
-Rinuccini as librettist, and Caccini and Peri as composers; but the
-orchestra which accompanied this work consisted only of a harpsichord, a
-species of guitar called a chitarone, a lyre, and a lute. When
-Monteverde appeared, he introduced the modern scale, and changed the
-whole harmonic system of his predecessors. He at the same time gave far
-greater importance in his operas to the accompaniments, and increased to
-a remarkable extent the number of musicians in the orchestra, which
-under his arrangement included every kind of instrument known at the
-time. Many of Monteverde's instruments are now obsolete. This composer,
-the unacknowledged prototype of our modern cultivators of orchestral
-effects, made use of a separate combination of instruments to announce
-the entry and return of each personage in his operas; a dramatic means
-employed afterwards by Hoffmann in his _Undine_,[3] and in the present
-day with pretended novelty by Richard Wagner. This newest orchestral
-device is also the oldest. The score of Monteverde's _Orfeo_, produced
-in 1608, contains parts for two harpsichords, two lyres or violas with
-thirteen strings, ten violas, three bass violas, two double basses, a
-double harp (with two rows of strings), two French violins, besides
-guitars, organs, a flute, clarions, and even trombones. The bass violas
-accompanied Orpheus, the violas Eurydice, the trombones Pluto, the small
-organ Apollo; Charon, strangely enough, sang to the music of the
-guitar.
-
-Monteverde, having become chapel master at the church of St. Mark,
-produced at Venice _Arianna_, of which _Rinuccini_ had written the
-libretto. This was followed by other works of the same kind, which were
-produced with great magnificence, until the fame of the Venetian operas
-spread throughout Italy, and by the middle of the seventeenth century
-the new entertainment was established at Venice, Bologna, Rome, Turin,
-Naples, and Messina. Popes, cardinals and the most illustrious nobles
-took the Opera under their protection, and the dukes of Mantua and
-Modena distinguished themselves by the munificence of their patronage.
-
-Among the most celebrated of the female singers of this period were
-Catarina Martinella of Rome, Archilei, Francesca Caccini (daughter of
-the composer of that name and herself the author of an operatic score),
-Adriana Baroni, of Mantua, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, whose
-praises have been sung by Milton in his three Latin poems "Ad Leonoram
-Romć canentem."
-
-[Sidenote: THE ITALIAN OPERA ABROAD.]
-
-The Italian opera, as we shall afterwards see, was introduced into
-France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin, who as the Abbé Mazarini,
-had visited all the principal theatres of Italy by the express command
-of Richelieu, and had studied their system with a view to the more
-perfect representation of the cardinal-minister's tragedies. The
-Italian Opera he introduced on his own account, and it was, on the
-whole, very inhospitably received. Indeed, from the establishment of the
-French Opera under Cambert and his successor Lulli, in the latter half
-of the seventeenth century, until the end of the eighteenth, the French
-were unable to understand or unwilling to acknowledge the immense
-superiority of the Italians in everything pertaining to music. In 1752
-Pergolese's _Serva Padrona_ was the cause of the celebrated dispute
-between the partisans of French and Italian Opera, and the end of it was
-that _La Serva Padrona_ was hissed, and the two singers who appeared in
-it driven from Paris.
-
-In England the Italian Opera was introduced in the first years of the
-eighteenth century, and under Handel, who arrived in London in 1710,
-attained the greatest perfection. Since the production of Handel's last
-dramatic work, in 1740, the Italian Opera has continued to be
-represented in London with scarcely noticeable intervals until the
-present day, and, on the whole, with remarkable excellence.
-
-Of English Opera a far less satisfactory account can be given. Its
-traditions exist by no means in an unbroken line. Purcell wrote English
-operas, and was far in advance of all the composers of his time, except,
-no doubt, those of Italy, who, we must remember were his masters, though
-he did not slavishly copy them. Since then, we have had composers (for
-the stage, I mean) who have utterly failed; composers, like Dr. Arne,
-who have written Anglo-Italian operas; composers of "ballad operas,"
-which are not operas at all; composers of imitation-operas of all kinds;
-and lastly, the composers of the present day, by whom the long
-wished-for English Opera will perhaps at last be established.
-
-In Germany, which, since the time of Handel and Hasse, has produced an
-abundance of great composers for the stage, the national opera until
-Gluck (including Gluck's earlier works), was imitated almost entirely
-from that of Italy; and the Italian method of singing being the true and
-only method has always prevailed.
-
-Throughout the eighteenth century, we find the great Italian singers
-travelling to all parts of Europe and carrying with them the operas of
-the best Italian masters. In each of the countries where the opera has
-been cultivated, it has had a different history, but from the beginning
-until the end of the eighteenth century, the Italian Opera flourished in
-Italy, and also in Germany and in England; whereas France persisted in
-rejecting the musical teaching of a foreign land until the utter
-insufficiency of her own operatic system became too evident to be any
-longer denied. She remained separated from the rest of Europe in a
-musical sense until the time of the Revolution, as she has since and
-from very different reasons been separated from it politically.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA IN FRANCE.]
-
-Nevertheless, the history of the Opera in France is of great interest,
-like the history of every other art in that country which has engaged
-the attention of its ingenious amateurs and critics. Only, for a
-considerable period it must be treated apart.
-
-In the course of this narrative sketch, which does not claim to be a
-scientific history, I shall pursue, as far as possible, the
-chronological method; but it is one which the necessities of the subject
-will often cause me to depart from.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-INTRODUCTION OF THE OPERA INTO FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
-
-     French Opera not founded by Lulli.--Lulli's elevation from the
-     kitchen to the orchestra.--Lulli, M. de Pourceaugnac, and Louis
-     XIV.--Buffoonery rewarded.--A disreputable tenor.--Virtuous
-     precaution of a _prima donna_.--Orthography of a stage Queen.--A
-     cure for love.--Mademoiselle de Maupin.--A composer of sacred
-     music.--Food for cattle.--Cambert in England.--The first English
-     Opera.--Music under Cromwell.--Music under Charles II.--Grabut and
-     Dryden.--Purcell.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ORFEO AND DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-In a general view of the history of the Opera, the central figures would
-be Gluck and Mozart. Before Gluck's time the operatic art was in its
-infancy, and since the death of Mozart, no operas have been produced
-equal to that composer's masterpieces. Mozart must have commenced his
-_Idomeneo_, the first of his celebrated works, the very year that Gluck
-retired to Vienna, after giving to the Parisians his _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_; but, though contemporaries in the strict sense of the word,
-Gluck and Mozart can scarcely be looked upon as belonging to the same
-musical epoch. The compositions of the former, however immortal, have at
-least an antique cast. Those of the latter have quite a modern air; and
-it must appear to the audiences of the present day that far more than
-twenty-three years separate _Orfeo_ from _Don Giovanni_, though that is
-the precise interval which elapsed between the production of the opera
-by which Gluck, and of the one by which Mozart, is best known in this
-country. Gluck, after a century and a half of opera, so far surpassed
-all his predecessors that no work by a composer anterior to him is ever
-performed. Lulli wrote an _Armide_, which was followed by Rameau's
-_Armide_, which was followed by Gluck's _Armide_; and Monteverde wrote
-an _Orfeo_ a hundred and fifty years before Gluck produced the _Orfeo_
-which was played only the other night at the Royal Italian Opera. The
-_Orfeo_, then, of our existing operatic repertory takes us back through
-its subject to the earliest of regular Italian operas, and similarly
-Gluck, through his _Armide_ appears as the successor of Rameau, who was
-the successor of Lulli, who usually passes for the founder of the Opera
-in France, a country where it is particularly interesting to trace the
-progress of that entertainment, inasmuch as it can be observed at one
-establishment, which has existed continuously for two hundred years, and
-which, under the title of Académie Royale, Académie Nationale, and
-Académie Impériale (it has now gone by each of those names twice), has
-witnessed the production of more operatic masterpieces than any other
-theatre in any city in the world. To convince the reader of the truth of
-this latter assertion I need only remind him of the works produced at
-the Académie Royale by Gluck and Piccinni immediately before the
-Revolution; and of the _Masaniello_ of Auber, the _William Tell_ of
-Rossini, and the _Robert the Devil_ of Meyerbeer,--all written for the
-said Académie within sixteen years of the termination of the Napoleonic
-wars. Neither Naples, nor Milan, nor Prague, nor Vienna, nor Munich, nor
-Dresden, nor Berlin, has individually seen the birth of so many great
-operatic works by different masters, though, of course, if judged by the
-number of great composers to whom they have given birth, both Germany
-and Italy must be ranked infinitely higher than France. Indeed, if we
-compare France with our own country, we find, it is true, that an opera
-in the national language was established there earlier than here, though
-in the first instance only as a private entertainment; but, on the other
-hand, the French, until Gluck's time, had never any composers, native or
-adopted, at all comparable to our Purcell, who produced his _King
-Arthur_ as far back as 1691.
-
-Lulli is generally said to have introduced Opera into France, and,
-indeed, is represented in a picture, well known to Parisian opera-goers,
-receiving a privilege from the hands of Louis XIV. as a reward and
-encouragement for his services in that respect. This privilege, however,
-was neither deserved nor obtained in the manner supposed. Cardinal
-Mazarin introduced Italian Opera into Paris in 1645, when Lulli was only
-twelve years of age; and the first French Opera, entitled Akébar, Roi de
-Mogol, words and music by the Abbé Mailly, was brought out the year
-following in the Episcopal Palace of Carpentras, under the direction of
-Cardinal Bichi, Urban the Eighth's legate. Clement VII. had already
-appeared as a librettist, and it has been said that Urban VIII. himself
-recommended the importation of the Opera into France; so that the real
-father of the lyric stage in that country was certainly not a scullion,
-and may have been a Pope.
-
-[Sidenote: THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC.]
-
-The second French Opera was _La Pastorale en musique_, words by Perrin,
-music by Cambert, which was privately represented at Issy; and the third
-_Pomone_, also by Perrin and Cambert, which was publicly performed in
-Paris in 1671--the year in which was produced, at the same theatre,
-_Psyché_, a _tragédie-ballet_, by the two greatest dramatic poets France
-has ever produced, Moličre and Corneille. _Pomone_ was the first French
-Opera heard by the Parisian public, and it was to the Abbé Perrin, its
-author, and not to Lulli, that the patent of the Royal Academy of Music
-was granted. A privilege for establishing an Academy of Music had been
-conceded a hundred years before by Charles IX. to Antoine de Baif,--the
-word "_Académie_" being used as an equivalent for "_Accademia_," the
-Italian for concert. Perrin's license appears to have been a renewal, as
-to form, of de Baif's, and thus originated the eminently absurd title
-which the chief operatic theatre of Paris has retained ever since. The
-Academy of Music is of course an academy in the sense in which the
-Théâtre Français is a college of declamation, and the Palais Royal
-Theatre a school of morality; but no one need seek to justify its title
-because it is known to owe its existence to a confusion of terms.
-
-Six French operas had been performed before Lulli, supported by Madame
-de Montespan, succeeded in depriving Perrin of his "privilege," and
-securing it for himself--at the very moment when Perrin and Cambert were
-about to bring out their _Ariane_, of which the representation was
-stopped. The success of Lulli's intrigue drove Cambert to London, where
-he was received with much favour by Charles II., and appointed director
-of the Court music, an office which he retained until his death. Lulli's
-first opera, written in conjunction with Quinault, being the seventh
-produced on the French stage, was _Cadmus and Hermione_ (1673).
-
-[Sidenote: LULLI'S DISGRACE.]
-
-The life of the fortunate, unscrupulous, but really talented scullion,
-to whom is falsely attributed the honour of having founded the Opera in
-France, has often been narrated, and for the most part very
-inaccurately. Every one knows that he arrived from Italy to enter the
-service of Mademoiselle de Montpensier as page, and that he was degraded
-by that lady to the back kitchen: but it is not so generally known that
-he was only saved through the influence of Madame de Montespan from a
-shameful and horrible death on the Place de Grčve, where his accomplice
-was actually burned and his ashes thrown to the winds. Mademoiselle de
-Montpensier, in one of her letters, speaks of Lulli asking for his
-congé; but it is quite certain that he was dismissed, though it would be
-as impossible to give a complete account of the causes of his dismissal
-as to publish the original of the needlessly elaborate reply attributed
-to a certain French general at Waterloo.[4] We may mention, however,
-that Lulli had composed a song which was a good deal sung at the court,
-and at which the Princess had every right to be offended. A French
-dramatist has made this affair of the song the subject of a very
-ingenious little piece, which was represented in English some years
-since at the Adelphi Theatre, but in which the exact nature of the
-objectionable composition is of course not indicated. Suffice it to say,
-that Lulli was discharged, and that Louis XIV., hearing the libellous
-air, and finding it to his taste, showed so little regard for
-Mademoiselle de Montpensier's feelings, as to take the young musician
-into his own service. There were no vacancies in the king's band, and it
-was, moreover, a point of etiquette that the court-fiddlers should buy
-their places; so to save trouble, and, perhaps, from a suspicion that
-his ordinary players were a set of impostors, his majesty commissioned
-Lulli to form a band of his own, to which the name of "_Les petits
-violons du roi_" was given. The little fiddles soon became more expert
-musicians than the big ones, and Louis was so pleased with the little
-fiddle-in-chief, that he entrusted him with the superintendence of the
-music of his ballets. These ballets, which corresponded closely enough
-to our English masques, were entertainments not of dancing only, but
-also of vocal and instrumental music; the name was apparently derived
-from the Italian _ballata_, the parent of our own "ballad."
-
-Lulli also composed music for the interludes and songs in Moličre's
-comedies, in which he sometimes appeared himself as a singer, and even
-as a burlesque actor. Once, when the musical arrangements were not quite
-ready for a ballet, in which the king was to play four parts--the House
-of France, Pluto, Mars and the Sun--he replied, on receiving a command
-to proceed with the piece--"_Le roi est le maitre; il peut attendre tant
-qu'il lui plaira._" His majesty did not, as I have seen it stated, laugh
-at the facetious impertinence of his musician. On the contrary, he was
-seriously offended; and great was Lulli's alarm when he found that
-neither the House of France, nor Pluto, nor Mars, nor the Sun, would
-smile at the pleasantries with which, as the performance went on, he
-endeavoured to atone for his unbecoming speech. The wrath of the Great
-Monarch was not to be appeased, and Lulli's enemies already began to
-rejoice at his threatened downfall.
-
-[Sidenote: LULLI A BUFFOON.]
-
-Fortunately, Moličre was at Versailles. Lulli asked him at the
-conclusion of the ballet to announce a performance of _M. de
-Pourceaugnac_, a piece which never failed to divert Louis; and it was
-arranged that just before the rise of the curtain Moličre should excuse
-himself, on the score of a sudden indisposition, from appearing in the
-principal character. When there seemed to be no chance of _M. de
-Pourceaugnac_ being played, Lulli, that the king might not be
-disappointed, nobly volunteered to undertake the part of the hero, and
-exerted himself in an unprecedented manner to do it justice. But his
-majesty, who generally found the troubles of the Limousin gentleman so
-amusing, on this occasion did not even smile. The great scene was about
-to begin; the scene in which the apothecaries, armed with their terrible
-weapons, attack M. de Pourceaugnac and chase him round the stage. Louis
-looked graver than ever. Then the comedian, as a last hope, rushed from
-the back of the stage to the foot lights, sprang into the orchestra,
-alighted on the harpsichord, and smashed it into a thousand pieces. "By
-this fall he rose." Probably he hurt himself, but no matter; on looking
-round he saw the Great Monarch in convulsions of laughter. Encouraged by
-his success, he climbed back through the prompter's box on to the stage;
-the royal mirth increased, and Lulli was now once more reinstated in the
-good graces of his sovereign.
-
-Moličre had a high opinion of Lulli's facetious powers. "_Fais nous
-rire, Baptiste_," he would say, and it cannot have been any sort of joke
-that would have excited the laughter of the greatest of comic writers.
-Nevertheless, he fell out with Lulli when the latter attained the
-"privilege" of the Opera, and, profiting by the monopoly which it
-secured to him, forbade the author of _Tartuffe_ to introduce more than
-two singers in his interludes, or to employ more than six violins in his
-orchestra. Accordingly, Moličre entrusted the composition of the music
-for the _Malade Imaginaire_, to Charpentier. The songs and symphonies of
-all his other pieces, with the exception of _Mélicerte_, were composed
-by Lulli.
-
-The story of Lulli's obtaining letters of nobility through the
-excellence of his buffoonery in the part of the Muphti, in the
-_Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ has often been told. This was in 1670, but once
-a noble, and director of the Royal Academy of Music, he showed but
-little disposition to contribute to the diversion of others, even by the
-exercise of his legitimate art. Not only did he refuse to play the
-violin, but he would not even have one in his house. To overcome Lulli's
-repugnance in this respect, Marshal de Gramont hit upon a very ingenious
-plan. He used to make one of his servants who possessed the gift of
-converting music into noise, play the violin in Lulli's presence. Upon
-this, the highly susceptible musician would snatch the instrument from
-the valet's hands, and restore the murdered melody to life and beauty;
-then, excited by the pleasure of producing music, he forgot all around
-him, and continued to play to the great delight of the marshal.
-
-Many curious stories are told of Lafontaine's want of success as a
-librettist; Lulli refused three of his operas, one after the other,
-_Daphné_, _Astrée_, and _Acis et Galathée_--the _Acis et Galathée_ set
-to music by Lulli being the work of Campistron. At the first
-representation of _Astrée_, of which the music had been written by
-Colasse (a composer who imitated and often plagiarised from Lulli),
-Lafontaine was present in a box behind some ladies who did not know him.
-He kept exclaiming every moment, "Detestable! detestable!"
-
-[Sidenote: LAFONTAINE'S IMPARTIALITY.]
-
-Tired of hearing the same thing repeated so many times, the ladies at
-last turned round and said, "It is really not so bad. The author is a
-man of considerable wit; it is written by M. de la Fontaine."
-
-"_Cela ne vaut pas le diable_," replied the _librettist_, "and this
-Lafontaine of whom you speak is an ass. I am Lafontaine, and ought to
-know."
-
-After the first act he left the theatre and went into the Café Marion,
-where he fell asleep. One of his friends came in, and surprised to see
-him, said--"M. de la Fontaine! How is this? Ought you not to be at the
-first performance of your opera?"
-
-The author awoke, and said, with a yawn--"I've been; and the first act
-was so dull that I had not the courage to wait for the other. I admire
-the patience of these Parisians!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Compare this with the similar conduct of an English humourist, Charles
-Lamb, who, meeting with no greater success as a dramatist than
-Lafontaine, was equally astonished at the patience of the public, and
-remained in the pit to hiss his own farce.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, and Campistron, one of Lulli's
-librettists--when Quinault was not in the way--occasionally worked
-together, and with no very favourable result. Hence, mutual reproaches,
-each attributing the failure of the opera to the stupidity of the other.
-This suggested the following epigram, which, under similar
-circumstances, has been often imitated:--
-
-        "Entre Campistron et Colasse,
-        Grand débat s'émeut au Parnasse,
-    Sur ce que l'opéra n'a pas un sort heureux.
-    De son mauvais succčs nul ne se croit coupable.
-    L'un dit que la musique est plate et misérable,
-    L'autre que la conduite et les vers sont affreux;
-    Et le grand Apollon, toujours juge équitable,
-        Trouve qu'ils ont raison tous deux."
-
-Quinault was by far the most successful of Lulli's librettists, in spite
-of the contempt with which his verses were always treated by Boileau.
-Boileau liked Lulli's music, but when he entered the Opera, and was
-asked where he would sit, he used to reply, "Put me in some place where
-I shall not be able to hear the words."
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIDDLE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-Lulli must have had sad trouble with his orchestra, for in his time a
-violinist was looked upon as merely an adjunct to a dancing-master.
-There was a king of the fiddles, without whose permission no cat-gut
-could be scraped; and in selling his licenses to dancing-masters and the
-musicians of ball-rooms, the ruler of the bows does not appear to have
-required any proof of capacity from his clients. Even the simple
-expedient of shifting was unknown to Lulli's violinists, and for years
-after his death, to reach the C above the line was a notable feat. The
-pit quite understood the difficulty, and when the dreaded _démanchement_
-had to be accomplished, would indulge in sarcastic shouts of "_gare
-l'ut! gare l'ut!_"
-
-The violin was not in much repute in the 17th, and still less in the
-16th, century. The lute was a classical instrument; the harp was the
-instrument of the Troubadours; but the fiddle was fit only for servants,
-and fiddlers and servants were classed together.
-
-"Such a one," says Malherbe, "who seeks for his ancestors among heroes
-is the son of a lacquey or a fiddler."
-
-Brantôme, relating the death of Mademoiselle de Limeuil, one of the
-Queen's maids of honour, who expired, poor girl, to a violin
-accompaniment, expresses himself as follows:--
-
-"When the hour of her death had arrived, she sent for her valet, such as
-all the maids of honour have; and he was called Julien, and played very
-well on the violin. 'Julien,' said she, 'take your violin and play to me
-continually, until you see me dead, the _Defeat of the Swiss_,[5] as
-well as you are able; and when you are at the passage _All is lost_,
-sound it four or five times as piteously as you can; which the other
-did, while she herself assisted him with her voice. She recited it
-twice, and then turning on the other side of her pillow said to her
-companions, 'All is lost this time, as well I know,' and thus died."
-
-These musical valets were as much slaves as the ancient flute players of
-the Roman nobles, and were bought, sold, and exchanged like horses and
-dogs. When their services were not required at home, masters and
-mistresses who were generously inclined would allow their fiddlers to go
-out and play in the streets on their own account.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Strange tales are told of the members of Lulli's company. Duménil, the
-tenor, used to steal jewellery from the soprano and contralto of the
-troop, and get intoxicated with the baritone. This eccentric virtuoso is
-said to have drunk six bottles of champagne every night he performed,
-and to have improved gradually until about the fifth. Duménil, after one
-of his voyages to England, which he visited several times, lost his
-voice. Then, seeing no reason why he should moderate his intemperance at
-all, he gave himself up unrestrainedly to drinking, and died.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC ORTHOGRAPHY.]
-
-Mdlle. Desmâtins, the original representative of _Armide_ was chiefly
-celebrated for her beauty, her love of good living, her corpulence, and
-her bad grammar. She it was who wrote the celebrated letter
-communicating to a friend the death of her child, "_Notre anfan ai
-maure, vien de boneure, le mien ai de te voire._" Mlle. Desmâtins took
-so much pleasure in representing royal personages that she assumed the
-(theatrical) costume and demeanour of a queen in her own household, sat
-on a throne, and made her attendants serve her on their knees. Another
-vocalist, Marthe le Rochois, accused of grave flirtation with a bassoon,
-justified herself by showing a promise of marriage, which the gallant
-instrumentalist had written on the back of an ace of spades.
-
-The Opera singers of this period were not particularly well paid, and
-history relates that Mlles. Aubry and Verdier, being engaged for the
-same line of business, had to live in the same room and sleep in the
-same bed.
-
-Marthe Le Rochois was fond of giving advice to her companions. "Inspire
-yourself with the situation," she said to Desmâtins, who had to
-represent Medea abandoned by Jason; "fancy yourself in the poor woman's
-place. If you were deserted by a lover, whom you adored," added Marthe,
-thinking, no doubt, of the bassoon, "what should you do?" "I should look
-out for another," replied the ingenuous girl.
-
-But by far the most distinguished operatic actress of this period was
-Mlle. de Maupin, now better known through Théophile Gauthier's
-scandalous, but brilliant and vigorously written romance, than by her
-actual adventures and exploits, which, however, were sufficiently
-remarkable. Among the most amusing of her escapades, were her assaults
-upon Duménil and Thévenard, the before-mentioned tenor and baritone of
-the Academie. Dressed in male attire she went up to the former one night
-in the Place des Victoires, caned him, deprived him of his watch and
-snuff-box, and the next day produced the trophies at the theatre just as
-the plundered vocalist was boasting that he had been attacked by three
-robbers, and had put them all to flight. She is said to have terrified
-the latter to such a degree that he remained three weeks hiding from her
-in the Palais Royal.
-
-Mlle. de Maupin was in many respects the Lola Montes of her day, but
-with more beauty, more talent, more power, and more daring. When she
-appeared as Minerva, in Lulli's _Cadmus_, and taking off her helmet to
-the public, showed all her beautiful light brown hair, which hung in
-luxuriant tresses over her shoulders, the audience were in ecstacies of
-delight. With less talent, and less powers of fascination, she would
-infallibly have been executed for the numerous fatal duels in which she
-was engaged, and might even have been burnt alive for invading the
-sanctity of a convent at Avignon, to say nothing of her attempting to
-set fire to it. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that Lola Montes
-was the Mlle. Maupin of _her_ day; a Maupin of a century which is
-moderate in its passions and its vices as in other things.
-
-[Sidenote: A COMPOSER OF SACRED MUSIC.]
-
-Moreau, the successor of Lulli, is chiefly known as having written the
-music for the choruses of Racine's _Esther_, (1689). These choruses,
-re-arranged by Perne, were performed in 1821, at the Conservatoire of
-Paris, and were much applauded. Racine, in his preface to _Esther_,
-says, "I cannot finish this preface without rendering justice to the
-author of the music, and confessing frankly that his (choral) songs
-formed one of the greatest attractions of the piece. All connoisseurs
-are agreed that for a long time no airs have been heard more touching,
-or more suitable to the words." Nevertheless, Madame de Maintenon's
-special composer was not eminently religious in his habits. The musician
-whose hymns were sung by the daughters of Sion and of St. Cyr sought his
-inspiration at a tavern in the Rue St. Jacques, in company with the poet
-Lainez and with most of the singers and dancers of the period. No member
-of the Opera rode past the Cabaret de la Barre Royale without tying his
-horse up in the yard and going in for a moment to have a word and a
-glass with Moreau. Sometimes the moment became an hour, sometimes
-several. The horses of Létang and Favier, dancers at the Académie, after
-being left eight hours in the court-yard without food, gnawed through
-their bridles, and, looking no doubt for the stable, found their way
-into a bed-room, where they devoured the contents of a dilapidated straw
-mattrass. "We must all live," said Lainez, when he saw a mattrass
-charged for among the items of the repast, and he hastened to offer the
-unfortunate animals a ration of wine.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH MUSIC IN ENGLAND.]
-
-When Cambert arrived in London he found Charles II. and his Court fully
-disposed to patronise any sort of importation from France. Naturally,
-then, the founder of French Opera was well received. Even Lock, in many
-of his pieces, had imitated the French style; and though he had been
-employed to compose the music for the public entry of Charles II., at
-the Restoration, and was afterwards appointed composer in ordinary to
-His Majesty, Cambert, immediately on his arrival, was made master of the
-king's band; and two years afterwards an English version of his
-_Ariadne_ was produced. "You knew Cambert," says de Vizé, in _Le Mercure
-Galant_; "he has just died in London (1677), where he received many
-favours from the King of England and from the greatest noblemen of his
-Court, who had a high opinion of his genius. What they have seen of his
-works has not belied the reputation he had acquired in France. It is to
-him we owe the establishment of the operas that are now represented. The
-music of those of _Pomona_, and of the _Pains and Pleasures of Love_, is
-by him, and since that time we have had no recitative in France that has
-appeared new." In several English books, Grabut, who accompanied
-Cambert to England, is said to have arranged the music of _Ariadne_, and
-even to have composed it; but this is manifestly an error. This same
-Grabut wrote the music to Dryden's celebrated political opera _Albion
-and Albanius_, which was performed at the Duke's Theatre in 1685, and of
-which the representations were stopped by the news of Monmouth's
-invasion. Purcell, who was only fifteen years of age when _Ariadne_ was
-produced, was now twenty-six, and had written a great deal of admirable
-dramatic music. Probably the public thought that to him, and not to the
-Frenchman, might have been confided the task of setting _Albion and
-Albanius_, for in the preface to that work Dryden says, as if
-apologetically, that "during the rehearsal the king had publicly
-declared more than once, that the composition and choruses were more
-just and more beautiful than any he had heard in England." Then after a
-warm commendation of Grabut Dryden adds, "This I say, not to flatter
-him, but to do him right; because among some English musicians, and
-their scholars, who are sure to judge after them, the imputation of
-being a Frenchman is enough to make a party who maliciously endeavour to
-decry him. But the knowledge of Latin and Italian poets, both of which
-he possesses, besides his skill in music, and his being acquainted with
-all the performances of the French operas, adding to these the good
-sense to which he is born, have raised him to a degree above any man who
-shall pretend to be his rival on our stage. When any of our countrymen
-excel him, I shall be glad, for the sake of Old England, to be shown my
-error: in the meantime, let virtue be commended, though in the person of
-a stranger."
-
-Neither Grabut nor Cambert was the first composer who produced a
-complete opera in England. During the Commonwealth, in 1656, Sir William
-Davenant had obtained permission to open a theatre for the performance
-of operas, in a large room, at the back of Rutland House, in the upper
-end of Aldersgate Street; and, long before, the splendid court masques
-of James I. and Charles I. had given opportunities for the development
-of recitative, which was first composed in England by an Italian, named
-Laniere, an eminent musician, painter and engraver. The Opera had been
-established in Italy since the beginning of the century, and we have
-seen that in 1607, Monteverde wrote his _Orfeo_ for the court of Mantua.
-But it was still known in England and France only through the accounts,
-respectively, of Evelyn and of St. Evrémond.
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIRST ENGLISH OPERA.]
-
-The first English opera produced at Sir William Davenant's theatre, the
-year of its opening, was _The Siege of Rhodes_, "made a representation
-by the art of perspective in scenes, and the story sung in recitative
-music." There were five changes of scene, according to the ancient
-dramatic distinctions made for time, and there were seven performers.
-The part of "Solyman" was taken by Captain Henry Cook, that of "Ianthe"
-by Mrs. Coleman, who appears to have been the first actress on the
-English stage--in the sense in which Heine was the first poet of his
-century (having been born on the 1st of January, 1800)[6] and
-Beaumarchais the first poet in Paris (to a person entering the city from
-the Porte St. Antoine).[7] The remaining five parts were "doubled." That
-of the "Admiral" was taken by Mr. Peter Rymon, and Matthew Lock, the
-future composer of the music to _Macbeth_; that of "Mustapha," by Mr.
-Thomas Blagrave, and Henry Purcell, the father of the composer of _King
-Arthur_, and himself an accomplished musician. The vocal music of the
-first and fifth "entries" or acts, was composed by Henry Lawes; that of
-the second and third, by Captain Henry Cook, afterwards master of the
-children of the Chapel Royal; that of the fourth, by Lock. The
-instrumental music was by Dr. Charles Coleman and George Hudson, and was
-performed by an orchestra of six musicians.
-
-The first English opera then was produced, ten years later than the
-first French opera; but the _Siege of Rhodes_ was performed publicly,
-whereas, it was not until fifteen years afterwards (1671) that the first
-public performance of a French opera (Cambert's _Pomone_) took place.
-Ordinances for the suppression of stage plays had been in force in
-England since 1642, and in 1643, a tract was printed under the title of
-_The Actor's Remonstrance_, showing to what distress the musicians of
-the theatre had been already reduced. The writer says, "But musike that
-was held so delectable and precious that they scorned to come to a
-tavern under twenty shillings salary for two hours, now wander with
-their instruments under their cloaks (I mean such as have any) to all
-houses of good fellowship, saluting every room where there is company
-with 'will you have any musike, gentlemen.'" In 1648, moreover, a
-provost-marshal was appointed with power to seize upon all ballad
-singers, and to suppress stage plays.
-
-Nevertheless, Oliver Cromwell was a great lover of music. He is said to
-have "entertained the most skilful in that science in his pay and
-family;" and it is known that he engaged Hingston, a celebrated
-musician, formerly in the service of Charles, at a salary of one hundred
-a-year--the Hingston, at whose house Sir Roger l'Estrange was playing,
-and continued to play when Oliver entered the room, which gained for
-this _virtuoso_ the title of "Oliver's fiddler." Antony ŕ Wood, also
-tells a story of Cromwell's love of music. James Quin, one of the senior
-students of Christ Church, with a bass voice, "very strong and exceeding
-trouling," had been turned out of his place by the visitors, but, "being
-well acquainted with some great men of those times that loved music,
-they introduced him into the company of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector,
-who loved a good voice and instrumental music well. He heard him sing
-with great delight, liquored him with sack, and in conclusion, said,
-'Mr. Quin, you have done well, what shall I do for you?' To which Quin
-made answer, 'That your highness would be pleased to restore me to my
-student's place,' which he did accordingly." But the best proof that can
-be given of Oliver Cromwell's love for music is the simple fact that,
-under his government, and with his special permission, the Opera was
-founded in this country.
-
-[Sidenote: CROMWELL'S LOVE OF MUSIC.]
-
-We have seen that in Charles II's reign, the court reserved its
-patronage almost exclusively for French music, or music in the French
-style. When Cambert arrived in London, our Great Purcell (born, 1659)
-was still a child. He produced his first opera, _Dido and Ćneas_, the
-year of Cambert's death (1677); but, although, in the meanwhile, he
-wrote a quantity of vocal and instrumental music of all kinds, and
-especially for the stage, it was not until after the death of Charles
-that he associated himself with Dryden in the production of those
-musical dramas (not operas in the proper sense of the word) by which he
-is chiefly known.
-
-In 1690, Purcell composed music for _The Tempest_, altered and
-shamefully disfigured by Dryden and Davenant.
-
-[Sidenote: PURCELL.]
-
-In 1691, _King Arthur_, which contains Purcell's finest music, was
-produced with immense success. The war-song of the Britons, _Come if you
-Dare_, and the concluding duet and chorus, _Britons strike Home_, have
-survived the rest of the work. The former piece in particular is well
-known to concert-goers of the present day, from the excellent singing
-of Mr. Sims Reeves. Purcell died at the age of thirty-six, the age at
-which Mozart and Raphael were lost to the world, and has not yet found a
-successor. He was not only the most original, and the most dramatic, but
-also the most thoroughly English of our native composers. In the
-dedication of the music of the _Prophetess_ to the Duke of Somerset,
-Purcell himself says, "Music is yet but in its nonage, a forward child,
-which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England, when the
-masters of it shall find more encouragement. 'Tis now learning Italian,
-which is its best master, and studying a little of the French air to
-give it somewhat more of gaiety and fashion." Here Purcell spoke in all
-modesty, for though his style may have been formed in some measure on
-French models, "there is," says Dr. Burney, "a latent power and force in
-his expression of English words, whatever be the subject, that will make
-an unprejudiced native of this island feel more than all the elegance,
-grace and refinement of modern music, less happily applied, can do; and
-this pleasure is communicated to us, not by the symmetry or rhythm of
-modern melody, but by his having tuned to the true accents of our mother
-tongue, those notes of passion which an inhabitant of this island would
-breathe in such situations as the words describe. And these indigenous
-expressions of passion Purcell had the power to enforce by the energy of
-modulation, which, on some occasions, was bold, affecting and sublime.
-Handel," he adds, "who flourished in a less barbarous age for his art,
-has been acknowledged Purcell's superior in many particulars; but in
-none more than the art and grandeur of his choruses, the harmony and
-texture of his organ fugues, as well as his great style of concertos;
-the ingenuity of his accompaniments to his songs and choruses; and even
-in the general melody of the airs themselves; yet, in the accent,
-passion and expression of _English words_, the vocal music of Purcell
-is, sometimes, to my feelings, as superior to Handel's as an original
-poem to a translation."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-ON THE NATURE OF THE OPERA, AND ITS MERITS AS COMPARED WITH OTHER FORMS
-OF THE DRAMA.
-
-     Opera admired for its unintelligibility.--The use of words in
-     opera.--An inquisitive amateur.--New version of a chorus in Robert
-     le Diable.--Strange readings of the _Credo_ by two chapel
-     masters.--Dramatic situations and effects peculiar to the
-     Opera.--Pleasantries directed against the Opera; their antiquity
-     and harmlessness.--_Les Opéras_ by St. Evrémond.--Beaumarchais's
-     _mot_.--Addison on the Italian Opera in England.--Swift's
-     epigram.--Béranger on the decline of the drama.--What may be seen
-     at the Opera.
-
-
-[Sidenote: UNINTELLIGIBILITY OF OPERA.]
-
-When Sir William Davenant obtained permission from Cromwell to open his
-theatre for the performance of operas, Antony ŕ Wood wrote that, "Though
-Oliver Cromwell had now prohibited all other theatrical representations,
-he allowed of this because being in an unknown language it could not
-corrupt the morals of the people." Thereupon it has been imagined that
-Antony ŕ Wood must have supposed Sir William Davenant's performances to
-have been in the Italian tongue, as if he could not have regarded music
-as an unknown language, and have concluded that a drama conducted in
-music would for that reason be unintelligible. Nevertheless, in the
-present day we have a censor who refuses to permit the representation
-of _La Dame aux Camélias_ in English, or even in French,[8] but who
-tolerates the performance of _La Traviata_, (which, I need hardly say,
-is the _Dame aux Camélias_ set to music) in Italian, and, I believe,
-even in English; thinking, no doubt, like Antony ŕ Wood, that in an
-operatic form it cannot be understood, and therefore cannot corrupt the
-morals of the people. Since Antony ŕ Wood's time a good deal of stupid,
-unmeaning verse has been written in operas, and sometimes when the words
-have not been of themselves unintelligible, they have been rendered
-nearly so by the manner in which they have been set to music, to say
-nothing of the final obscurity given to them by the imperfect
-enunciation of the singers. The mere fact, however, of a dramatic piece
-being performed in music does not make it unintelligible, but, on the
-contrary, increases the sphere of its intelligibility, giving it a more
-universal interest and rendering it an entertainment appreciable by
-persons of all countries. This in itself is not much to boast of, for
-the entertainment of the _ballet_ is independent of language to a still
-greater extent; and _La Gitana_ or _Esmeralda_ can be as well understood
-by an Englishman at the Opera House of Berlin or of Moscow as at Her
-Majesty's Theatre in London; while perhaps the most universally
-intelligible drama ever performed is that of Punch, even when the brief
-dialogue which adorns its pantomime is inaudible.
-
-Opera is _music in a dramatic form_; and people go to the theatre and
-listen to it as if it were so much prose. They have even been known to
-complain during or after the performance that they could not hear the
-words, as if it were through the mere logical meaning of the words that
-the composer proposed to excite the emotion of the audience. The only
-pity is that it is necessary in an opera to have words at all, but it is
-evident that a singer could not enter into the spirit of a dramatic
-situation if he had a mere string of meaningless syllables or any sort
-of inappropriate nonsense to utter. He must first produce an illusion on
-himself, or he will produce none on the audience, and he must,
-therefore, fully inspire himself with the sentiment, logical as well as
-musical, of what he has to sing. Otherwise, all we want to know about
-the words of _Casta diva_ (to take examples from the most popular, as
-also one of the very finest of Italian operas) is that it is a prayer to
-a goddess; of the Druids' chorus, that it is chorus of Druids; of the
-trio, that "Norma" having confronted "Pollio" with "Adalgisa," is
-reproaching him indignantly and passionately with his perfidy; of the
-duet that "Norma" is confiding her children to "Adalgisa's" care; of the
-scene with "Pollio," that "Norma" is again reproaching him, but in a
-different spirit, with sadness and bitterness, and with the compressed
-sorrow of a woman who is wounded to the heart and must soon die. I may
-be in error, however, for though I have seen _Norma_ fifty times, I have
-never examined the _libretto_, and of the whole piece know scarcely more
-than the two words which I have already paraded before the
-public--"_Casta Diva._"
-
-[Sidenote: WONDERFUL INSTANCE OF CURIOSITY.]
-
-One night, at the Royal Italian Opera, when Mario was playing the part
-of the "Duke of Mantua" in _Rigoletto_, and was singing the commencement
-of the duet with "Gilda," a man dressed in black and white like every
-one else, said to me gravely, "I do not understand Italian. Can you tell
-me what he is saying to her?"
-
-"He is telling her that he loves her," I answered briefly.
-
-"What is he saying now?" asked this inquisitive amateur two minutes
-afterwards.
-
-"He is telling her that he loves her," I repeated.
-
-"Why, he said that before!" objected this person who had apparently come
-to the opera with the view of gaining some kind of valuable information
-from the performers. Poor Bosio was the "Gilda," but my horny-eared
-neighbour wondered none the less that the Duke could not say "I love
-you," in three words.
-
-"He will say it again," I answered, "and then she will say it, and then
-they will say it together; indeed, they will say nothing else for the
-next five minutes, and when you hear them exclaim 'addio' with one
-voice, and go on repeating it, it will still mean the same thing."
-
-What benighted amateur was this who wanted to know the words of a
-beautiful duet; and is there much difference between such a one and the
-man who would look at the texture of a canvas to see what the painting
-on it was worth?
-
-Let it be admitted that as a rule no opera is intelligible without a
-libretto; but is a drama always intelligible without a play-bill? A
-libretto, for general use, need really be no larger than an ordinary
-programme; and it would be a positive advantage if it contained merely a
-sketch of the plot with the subject, and perhaps the first line of all
-the principal songs.
-
-[Sidenote: IMITATIVE MUSIC.]
-
-Then the foolish amateur would not run the risk of having his attention
-diverted from the music by the words, and would be more likely to give
-himself up to the enjoyment of the opera in a rational and legitimate
-manner. Another advantage of keeping the words from the public would be,
-that composers, full of the grossest prose, but priding themselves on
-their fancy, would at last see the inutility as well as the pettiness of
-picking out one particular word in a line, and "illustrating" it: thus
-imitating a sound when their aim should be to depict a sentiment. Even
-the illustrious Purcell has sinned in this respect, and Meyerbeer,
-innumerable times, though always displaying remarkable ingenuity, and as
-much good taste as is compatible with an error against both taste and
-reason. It is a pity that great musicians should descend to such
-anti-poetical, and, indeed, nonsensical trivialities; but when inferior
-ones are unable to let a singer wish she were a bird, without imitating
-a bird's chirruping on the piccolo, or allude in the most distant manner
-to the trumpet's sound, without taking it as a hint to introduce a short
-flourish on that instrument, I cannot help thinking of those
-literal-minded pictorial illustrators who follow a precisely analogous
-process, and who, for example, in picturing the scene in which "Macbeth"
-exclaims--"Throw physic to the dogs," would represent a man throwing
-bottles of medicine to a pack of hounds. What a treat, by the way, it
-would be to hear a setting of Othello's farewell to war by a determined
-composer of imitative picturesque music! How "ear-piercing" would be his
-fifes! How "spirit-stirring" his drums.
-
-The words of an opera ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be
-heard. They should be poetical that they may inspire first the composer
-and afterwards the singer; and they should be ryhthmical and sonorous in
-order that the latter may be able to sing them with due effect. Above
-all they ought not to be ridiculous, lest the public should hear them
-and laugh at the music, just where it was intended that it should affect
-them to tears. Everything ought to be good at the opera down to the
-rosin of the fiddlers, and including the words of the libretto. Even the
-chorus should have tolerable verses to sing, though no one would be
-likely ever to hear them. Indeed, it is said that at the Grand Opera of
-Paris, by a tradition now thirty years old, the opening chorus in
-_Robert le Diable_ is always sung to those touching lines--which I
-confess I never heard on the other side of the orchestra:--
-
-    La sou-| pe aux choux | se fait dans la mar |-mite
-    Dans la | marmi-|-te on fait la soupe aux | choux.
-
-I have said nothing about the duty of the composer in selecting his
-libretto and setting it to music, but of course if he be a man of taste
-he will not willingly accept a collection of nonsense verses. English
-composers, however, have not much choice in this respect, and all we can
-ask of them is that they will do their best with what they have been
-able to obtain; not indulging in too many repetitions, and not tiring
-the singer and provoking such of the audience as may wish to "catch" the
-words by setting more than half a dozen notes to the same monosyllable
-especially if the monosyllable occurs in the middle of a line, and the
-vowel e, or worse still, i, in the middle of the monosyllable. One of
-our most eminent composers, Mr. Vincent Wallace, has given us a striking
-example of the fault I am speaking of in his well-known trio--"Turn on
-old Time thy hour-glass" (_Maritana_) in which, according to the music,
-the scanning of the first half line is as follows:--
-
-    T[)u]rn [=o]n | [)o]ld T[=i] | [)i]-[=i] || [)i]-[)i]-[)i]--ime | &c.
-
-[Sidenote: WORDS FOR MUSIC.]
-
-To be sure Time is infinite, but seven sounds do not convey the notion
-of infinity; and even if they did, it would not be any the more pleasant
-for a singer to have to take a five note leap, and then execute five
-other notes on a vowel which cannot be uttered without closing the
-throat. If I had been in Mr. Vincent Wallace's place, I should, at all
-events, have insisted on Mr. Fitzball making one change. Instead of "Old
-Time," he should have inserted "Old Parr."
-
-    T[)u]rn [=o]n | [)o]ld P[=a]-| [)a]-[=a] || [)a]-[)a]-[)a]-arr | &c.,
-
-would not have been more intelligible to the audience than--"Turn on old
-Ti-i-i-i-i-i-ime, &c., and it would have been a thousand times easier to
-sing. Nor in spite of the little importance I attach to the phraseology
-of the libretto when listening to "music in a dramatic form," would I,
-if I were a composer, accept such a line as--
-
-    "When the proud land of Poland was ploughed by the hoof,"
-
-with a suspension of sense after the word hoof. No; the librettist might
-take his hoof elsewhere. It should not appear in _my_ Opera; at least,
-not in lieu of a plough. Mr. Balfe should tell such poets to keep such
-ploughs for themselves.
-
-    Sic vos _pro_ vobis fertis aratra boves,
-
-he might say to them.
-
-The singer ought certainly to understand what he is singing, and still
-more certainly should the composer understand what he is composing; but
-the sight of Latin reminds me that both have sometimes failed to do so,
-and from no one's fault but their own. Jomelli used to tell a story of
-an Italian chapel-master, who gave to one of his solo singers the phrase
-_Genitum non factum_, to which the chorus had to reply _Factum non
-genitum_. This transposition seemed ingenious and picturesque to the
-composer, and suited a contrast of rhythm which he had taken great pains
-to produce. It was probably due only to the bad enunciation of the
-choristers that he was not burned alive.
-
-Porpora, too, narrowly escaped the terrors of the inquisition; and but
-for his avowed and clearly-proved ignorance of Latin would have made a
-bad end of it, for a similar, though not quite so ludicrous a blunder as
-the one perpetrated by Jomelli's friend. He had been accustomed to add
-_non_ and _si_ to the verses of his libretto when the music required it,
-and in setting the creed found it convenient to introduce a _non_. This
-novel version of the Belief commenced--_Credo, non credo, non credo in
-Deum_, and it was well for Porpora that he was able to convince the
-inquisitors of his inability to understand it.
-
-[Sidenote: UNNATURALNESS OF OPERA.]
-
-Another chapel-master of more recent times is said, in composing a mass,
-to have given a delightfully pastoral character to his "Agnus Dei." To
-him "a little learning" had indeed proved "a dangerous thing." He had,
-somehow, ascertained that "agnus" meant "lamb," and had forthwith gone
-to work with pipe and cornemuse to give appropriate "picturesqueness" to
-his accompaniments.
-
-Besides accusations of unintelligibility and of _contra-sense_ (as for
-instance when a girl sentenced to death sings in a lively strain), the
-Opera has been attacked as essentially absurd, and it is satisfactory to
-know that these attacks date from its first introduction into England
-and France. To some it appears monstrous that men and women should be
-represented on the stage singing, when it is notorious that in actual
-life they communicate in the speaking voice. Opera was declared to be
-unnatural as compared with drama. In other words, it was thought natural
-that Desdemona should express her grief in melodious verse, but
-unnatural that she should do so in pure melody. (For the sake of the
-comparison I must suppose Rossini's _Otello_ to have been written long
-before its time). Persons, with any pretence to reason, have long ceased
-to urge such futile objections against a delightful entertainment which,
-as I shall endeavour to show, is in some respects the finest form the
-drama has assumed. Gresset answered these music-haters well in his
-_Discours sur l'harmonie_.--"After all," he says, "if we study nature do
-we not find more fidelity to appropriateness at the Opera than on the
-tragic stage where the hero speaks the language of declamatory poetry?
-Has not harmony always been much better able than simple declamation to
-imitate the true tones of the passions, deep sighs, sobs, bursts of
-grief, languishing tenderness, interjections of despair, the inflexions
-of pathos, and all the energy of the heart?"
-
-For the sake of enjoying the pleasures of music and of the drama in
-combination, we must adopt certain conventions, and must assume that
-song is the natural language of the men and women that we propose to
-show in our operas; as we assume in tragedy that they all talk in verse,
-in comedy that they are all witty and yet are perpetually giving one
-another opportunities for repartee; in the ballet that they all dance
-and are unable to speak at all. The form is nothing. Give us the true
-expression of natural emotion and all the rest will seem natural enough.
-Only it would be as well to introduce as many dancing characters and
-dancing situations as possible in the _ballet_--and to remember in
-particular that Roman soldiers could not with propriety figure in one;
-for a ballet on the subject of "Les Horaces" was once actually produced
-in France, in which the Horatii and the Curiatii danced a double _pas de
-trois_; and so in the tragedy the chief passages ought not to be London
-coal-heavers or Parisian water-carriers; and similarly in the Opera,
-scenes and situations should be avoided which in no way suggest singing.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERATIC CHORUS.]
-
-And let me now inform the ignorant opponents of the Opera, that there
-are certain grand dramatic effects attainable on the lyric stage, which,
-without the aid of music, could not possibly be produced. Music has
-often been defined; here is a new definition of it. It is _the language
-of masses_--the only language that masses can speak and be understood.
-On the old stage a crowd could not cry "Down with the tyrant!" or "We
-will!" or even "Yes," and "No," with any intelligibility. There is some
-distance between this state of things and the "Blessing of the daggers"
-in the _Huguenots_, or the prayer of the Israelites in _Moses_. On the
-old stage we could neither have had the prayer (unless it were recited
-by a single voice, which would be worse than nothing) before the
-passage, nor the thanksgiving, which, in the Opera, is sung immediately
-after the Red Sea has been crossed; but above all we could not obtain
-the sublime effect produced by the contrast between the two songs; the
-same song, and yet how different! the difference between minor and
-major, between a psalm of humble supplication and a hymn of jubilant
-gratitude. This is the change of key at which, according to Stendhal,
-the women of Rome fainted in such numbers. It cannot be heard without
-emotion, even in England, and we do not think any one, even a professed
-enemy of Opera, would ask himself during the performance of the prayer
-in _Mosé_, whether it was natural or not that the Israelites should sing
-either before or after crossing the Red Sea.
-
-Again, how could the animation of the market scene in _Masaniello_ be
-rendered so well as by means of music? In concerted pieces, moreover,
-the Opera possesses a means of dramatic effect quite as powerful and as
-peculiar to itself as its choruses. The finest situation in _Rigoletto_
-(to take an example from one of the best known operas of the day) is
-that in which the quartet occurs. Here, three persons express
-simultaneously the different feelings which are excited in the breast of
-each by the presence of a fourth in the house of an assassin, while the
-cause of all this emotion is gracefully making love to one of the three,
-who is the assassin's sister. The amorous fervour of the "Duke," the
-careless gaiety of "Maddalena," the despair of "Gilda," the vengeful
-rage of "Rigoletto," are all told most dramatically in the combined
-songs of the four personages named, while the spectator derives an
-additional pleasure from the art by which these four different songs are
-blended into harmony. A magnificent quartet, of which, however, the
-model existed long before in _Don Giovanni_.
-
-All this is, of course, very unnatural. It would be so much more natural
-that the "Duke of Mantua" should first make a long speech to
-"Maddalena;" that "Maddalena" should then answer him; that afterwards
-both should remain silent while "Gilda," of whose presence outside the
-tavern they are unaware, sobs forth her lamentations at the perfidy of
-her betrayer; and that finally the "Duke," "Maddalena," and "Gilda," by
-some inexplicable agreement, should not say a word while "Rigoletto" is
-congratulating himself on the prospect of being speedily revenged on the
-libertine who has robbed him of his daughter. In the old drama, perfect
-sympathy between two lovers can scarcely be expressed (or rather
-symbolized) so vividly as through the "_ensemble_" of the duet, where
-the two voices are joined so as to form but one harmony. We are
-sometimes inclined to think that even the balcony duet between "Romeo"
-and "Juliet" ought to be in music; and certainly no living dramatist
-could render the duet in music between "Valentine and Raoul" adequately
-into either prose or verse. Talk of music destroying the drama,--why it
-is from love of the drama that so many persons go to the opera every
-night.
-
-[Sidenote: EXPLODED PLEASANTRIES.]
-
-But is it not absurd to hear a man say, "Good morning," "How do you do?"
-in music? Most decidedly; and therefore ordinary, common-place, and
-trivial remarks should be excluded from operas, as from poetical dramas
-and from poetry of all kinds except comic and burlesque verse. It was
-not reserved for the unmusical critics of the present day to discover
-that it would be grotesque to utter such a phrase as "Give me my boots,"
-in recitative, and that such a line as "Waiter, a cutlet nicely
-browned," could not be advantageously set to music. All this sort of
-humour was exhausted long ago by Hauteroche, in his _Crispin Musicien_,
-which was brought out in Paris three years after the establishment of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, and revived in the time of Rameau (1735)
-by Palaprat, in his _Concert Ridicule_ and _Ballet Extravagant_
-(1689-90), of which the author afterwards said that they were "the
-source of all the badinage that had since been applauded in more than
-twenty comedies; that is to say, the interminable pleasantries on the
-subject of the Opera;" and by St. Evrémond, in his comedy entitled _Les
-Opéras_, which he wrote during his residence in London.
-
-In St. Evrémond's piece, which was published but not played,
-"Chrisotine" is, so to speak, opera-struck. She thinks of nothing but
-Lulli, or "Baptiste," as she affectionately calls him, after the manner
-of Louis XVI. and his Court; sings all day long, and in fact has
-altogether abandoned speech for song. "Perrette," the servant, tells
-"Chrisotine" that her father wishes to see her. "Why disturb me at my
-songs," replies the young lady, singing all the time. The attendant
-complains to the father, that "Chrisotine" will not answer her in
-ordinary spoken language, and that she sings about the house all day
-long. "Chrisotine" corroborates "Perrette's" statement, by addressing a
-little _cavatina_ to her parent, in which she protests against the
-harshness of those who would hinder her from singing the tender loves of
-"Hermione" and "Cadmus."
-
-"Speak like other people, Chrisotine," exclaims old "Chrisard," or I
-will issue such an edict against operas that they shall never be spoken
-of again where I have any authority."
-
-"My father, Baptiste; opera, my duty to my parents; how am I to decide
-between you?" exclaims the young girl, with a tragic indecision as
-painful as that of Arnold, the son of Tell, hesitating between his
-Matilda and his native land.
-
-[Sidenote: ST. EVREMOND'S BURLESQUE.]
-
-"You hesitate between Baptiste and your father," cries the old
-gentleman. "_O tempora! O mores!_" (only in French).
-
-"Tender mother! Cruel father! and you, O Cadmus! Unhappy Cadmus! I shall
-see you no more," sings "Chrisotine;" and soon afterwards she adds,
-still singing, that she "would rather die than speak like the vulgar. It
-is a new fashion at the court (she continues), and since the last opera
-no one speaks otherwise than in song. When one gentleman meets another
-in the morning, it would be grossly impolite not to sing to
-him:--'_Monsieur comment vous portez vous?_' to which the other would
-reply--'_Je me porte ŕ votre service._'
-
-"FIRST GENTLEMAN.--'_Aprčs diner, que ferons nous?_'
-
-"SECOND GENTLEMAN.--'_Allons voir la belle Clarisse._'
-
-"The most ordinary things are sung in this manner, and in polite society
-people don't know what it means to speak otherwise than in music."
-
-_Chrisard._--"Do people of quality sing when they are with ladies?"
-
-_Chrisotine._--"Sing! sing! I should like to see a man of the world
-endeavour to entertain company with mere talk in the old style. He would
-be looked upon as one of a by-gone period. The servants would laugh at
-him."
-
-_Chrisard._--"And in the town?"
-
-_Chrisotine._--"All persons of any importance imitate the court. It is
-only in the Rue St. Denis and St. Honoré and on the Bridge of Notre
-Dame that the old custom is still kept up. There people buy and sell
-without singing. But at Gauthier's, at the Orangery; at all the shops
-where the ladies of the court buy dresses, ornaments and jewels, all
-business is carried on in music, and if the dealers did not sing their
-goods would be confiscated. People say that a severe edict has been
-issued to that effect. They appoint no Provost of Trade now unless he is
-a musician, and until M. Lulli has examined him to see whether he is
-capable of understanding and enforcing the rules of harmony."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The above scene, be it observed, is not the work of an ignorant
-detractor of opera, of a brute insensible to the charms of music, but is
-the production of St. Evrémond, one of the very first men, on our side
-of the Alps, who called attention to the beauties of the new musical
-drama, just established in Italy, and which, when he first wrote on the
-subject, had not yet been introduced into France. St. Evrémond had too
-much sense to decry the Opera on account of such improbabilities as must
-inevitably belong to every form of the drama--which is the expression of
-life, but which need not for that reason be restricted exclusively to
-the language of speech, any more than tragedy need be confined to the
-diction of prose, or comedy to the inane platitudes of ordinary
-conversation. At all events, there is no novelty, and above all no wit,
-in repeating seriously the pleasantries of St. Evrémond, which, we
-repeat, were those of a man who really loved the object of his
-good-natured and agreeable raillery.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-Indeed, most of the men who have written things against the Opera that
-are still remembered have liked the Opera, and have even been the
-authors of operas themselves. "_Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine
-d'ętre dit on le chante_," is said by the Figaro of Beaumarchais--of
-Beaumarchais, who gave lessons in singing and on the harpsichord to
-Louis XV.'s daughters, who was an enthusiastic admirer of Gluck's
-operas, and who wrote specially for that composer the libretto of
-_Tarare_, which, however, was not set to music by him, but by Salieri,
-Gluck's favourite pupil. Beaumarchais knew well enough--and _Tarare_ in
-a negative manner proves it--that not only "what is not worth the
-trouble of saying" cannot be sung, but that very often such trivialities
-as can with propriety be spoken in a drama would, set to music, produce
-a ludicrous effect. Witness the lines in St. Evrémond's _Les Opéras_--
-
-    "_Monsieur comment vous portez vous?_"
-    "_Je me porte ŕ votre service_"--
-
-which might form part of a comedy, but which in an opera would be
-absurd, and would therefore not be introduced into one, except by a
-foolish librettist, (who would for a certainty get hissed), or by a wit
-like St. Evrémond, wishing to amuse himself by exaggerating to a
-ridiculous point the latest fashionable mania of the day.
-
-Addison's admirably humorous articles on Italian Opera in the
-_Spectator_ are often spoken of by musicians as ill-natured and unjust,
-and are ascribed--unjustly and even meanly, as it seems to me--to the
-author's annoyance at the failure of his _Rosamond_, which had been set
-to music by an incapable person named Clayton. Addison could afford to
-laugh at the ill-success of his _Rosamond_, as La Fontaine laughed at
-that of _Astrée_; and to assert that his excellent pleasantries on the
-subject of Italian Opera, then newly established in London, had for
-their origin the base motives usually imputed to him by musicians, is to
-give any one the right to say of _them_ that this one abuses modern
-Italian music, which the public applaud, because his own English music
-has never been tolerated or that that one expresses the highest opinion
-of English composers because he himself composes and is an Englishman.
-To impute such motives would be to assume, as is assumed in the case of
-Addison, that no one blames except in revenge for some personal loss, or
-praises except in the hope of some personal gain. And after all, what
-_has_ Addison said against the Opera, an entertainment which he
-certainly enjoyed, or he would not have attended it so often or have
-devoted so many excellent papers to it? Let us turn to the _Spectator_
-and see.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-Italian Opera was introduced into England at the beginning of the 18th
-century, the first work performed entirely in the Italian language being
-_Almahide_, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, and which
-was produced in 1710, with Valentini, Nicolini, Margarita de l'Epine,
-Cassani and "Signora Isabella," in the principal parts. Previously, for
-about three years, it had been the custom for Italian and English
-vocalists to sing each in their own language. "The king,[9] or hero of
-the play," says Addison, "generally spoke in Italian, and his slaves
-answered him in English; the lover frequently made his court, and gained
-the heart of his princess in a language which she did not understand.
-One would have thought it very difficult to have carried on dialogues in
-this manner without an interpreter between the persons that conversed
-together; but this was the state of the English stage for about three
-years.
-
-"At length, the audience got tired of understanding half the opera, and,
-therefore, to ease themselves entirely of the fatigue of thinking, have
-so ordered it at present, that the whole opera is performed in an
-unknown tongue. We no longer understand the language of our own stage,
-insomuch, that I have often been afraid, when I have seen our Italian
-performers chattering in the vehemence of action, that they have been
-calling us names and abusing us among themselves; but I hope, since we
-do put such entire confidence in them, they will not talk against us
-before our faces, though they may do it with the same safety as if it
-were behind our backs. In the meantime, I cannot forbear thinking how
-naturally an historian who writes two or three hundred years hence, and
-does not know the taste of his wise forefathers, will make the following
-reflection:--In the beginning of the 18th century, the Italian tongue
-was so well understood in England, that operas were acted on the public
-stage in that language.
-
-"One scarce knows how to be serious in the confutation of an absurdity
-that shows itself at the first sight. It does not want any great measure
-of sense to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice; but what makes
-it the more astonishing, it is not the taste of the rabble, but of
-persons of the greatest politeness, which has established it.
-
-"If the Italians have a genius for music above the English, the English
-have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, and
-capable of giving the mind a much nobler entertainment. Would one think
-it was possible (at a time when an author lived that was able to write
-the _Phedra and Hippolitus_) for a people to be so stupidly fond of the
-Italian opera as scarce to give a third day's hearing to that admirable
-tragedy? Music is, certainly, a very agreeable entertainment; but if it
-would take entire possession of our ears, if it would make us incapable
-of hearing sense, if it would exclude arts that have much greater
-tendency to the refinement of human nature, I must confess I would allow
-it no better quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his
-commonwealth.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-"At present, our notions of music are so very uncertain, that we do not
-know what it is we like; only, in general, we are transported with
-anything that is not English; so it be of foreign growth, let it be
-Italian, French, or High Dutch, it is the same thing. In short, our
-English music is quite rooted out, and nothing yet planted in its
-stead."
-
-The _Spectator_ was written from day to day, and was certainly not
-intended for _our_ entertainment; yet, who can fail to be amused at the
-description of the stage king "who spoke in Italian and his slaves
-answered him in English;" and of the lover who "frequently made his
-court and gained the heart of his princess in a language which she did
-not understand?" What, too, in this style of humour, can be better than
-the notion of the audience getting tired of understanding half the
-opera, and, to ease themselves of the trouble of thinking, so ordering
-it that the whole opera is performed in an unknown tongue; or of the
-performers who, for all the audience knew to the contrary, might be
-calling them names and abusing them among themselves; or of the probable
-reflection of the future historian, that "in the beginning of the 18th
-century the Italian tongue was so well understood in England that operas
-were acted on the public stage in that language?" On the other hand, we
-have not, it is true, heard yet of any historian publishing the remark
-suggested by Addison; probably, because those historians who go to the
-opera--and who does not?--are quite aware that to understand an Italian
-opera, it is not at all necessary to have a knowledge of the Italian
-language. The Italian singers might abuse us at their ease, especially
-in concerted pieces, and in grand finales; but they might in the same
-way, and equally, without fear of detection, abuse their own countrymen.
-Our English vocalists, too, might indulge in the same gratification in
-England, and have I not mentioned that at the Grand Opera of Paris--
-
-    '_La soupe aux choux se fait dans la marmite._'
-
-has been sung in place of Scribe's words in the opening chorus of
-_Robert le Diable_; and if _La soupe_, &c., why not anything else? But
-it is a great mistake to inquire too closely into the foundation on
-which a joke stands, when the joke itself is good; and I am almost
-ashamed, as it is, of having said so much on the subject of Addison's
-pleasantries, when the pleasantries spoke so well for themselves. One
-might almost as well write an essay to prove seriously that language was
-_not_ given to man "to conceal his thoughts."
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AS AN ART.]
-
-The only portion of the paper from which I have extracted the above
-observations that can be treated in perfect seriousness, is that which
-begins--"If the Italians have a genius for music, &c.," and ends--"I
-would allow it no better quarter than Plato has done," &c. Now the
-recent political condition of Italy sufficiently proves that music could
-not save a country from national degradation; but neither could painting
-nor an admirable poetic literature. It is also better, no doubt, that a
-man should learn his duty to God and to his neighbour, than that he
-should cultivate a taste for harmony, but why not do both; and above
-all, why compare like with unlike? The "performances of a much higher
-nature" than music undeniably exist, but they do not answer the same
-end. The more general science on which that of astronomy rests may be a
-nobler study than music, but there is nothing consoling or _per se_
-elevating in mathematics. Poetry, again, would by most persons be
-classed higher than music, though the effect of half poetry, and of
-imaginative literature generally, is to place the reader in a state of
-reverie such as music induces more immediately and more perfectly. The
-enjoyment of art--by which we do not mean its production, or its
-critical examination, but the pure enjoyment of the artistic result--has
-nothing strictly intellectual in it; no man could grow wise by looking
-at Raphael or listening to Mozart. Nor does he derive any important
-intellectual ideas from many of our most beautiful poems, but simply
-emotion, of an elevated kind, such as is given by fine music. Music is
-evidently not didactic, and painting can only teach, in the ordinary
-sense of the word, what every one already knows; though, of course, a
-painter may depict certain aspects of nature and of the human face,
-previously unobserved and unimagined, just as the composer, in giving a
-musical expression to certain sentiments and passions, can rouse in us
-emotions previously dormant, or never experienced before with so much
-intensity. But the fine arts cannot communicate abstract truths--from
-which it chiefly follows that no right-minded artist ever uses them with
-such an aim; though there is no saying what some wild enthusiasts will
-not endeavour to express, and other enthusiasts equally wild pretend to
-see, in symphonies and in big symbolical pictures. If Addison meant to
-insinuate that _Phćdra and Hippolytus_ was a much higher performance
-than any possible opera, he was decidedly in error. But he had not heard
-_Don Juan_, _William Tell_, and _Der Freischütz_; to which no one in the
-present day, unless musically deaf, could prefer an English translation
-of _Phčdre_. It would be unfair to lay too much stress on the fact that
-the music of Handel still lives, and with no declining life, whereas the
-tragedies of Racine, resuscitated by Mademoiselle Rachel, have not been
-heard of since the death of that admirable actress; Addison was only
-acquainted with the earliest of Handel's operas, and these _are_
-forgotten, as indeed are most of his others, with the exception, here
-and there, of a few detached airs.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND DRAMA.]
-
-In the sentence commencing "Music is certainly a very agreeable
-entertainment, but," &c., Addison says what every one, who would care to
-see one of Shakespeare's plays properly acted (not much cared for,
-however, in Addison's time), must feel now. Let us have perfect
-representations of Opera by all means; but it is a sad and a disgraceful
-thing, that in his own native country the works of the greatest
-dramatist who ever lived should be utterly neglected as far as their
-stage representation is concerned. It is absurd to pretend that the
-Opera is the sole cause of this. Operas, magnificently put upon the
-stage, are played in England, at least at one theatre, with remarkable
-_completeness_ of excellence, and, at more than one, with admirable
-singers in the principal and even in the minor parts. Shakespeare's
-dramas, when they are played at all, are thrown on to the stage anyhow.
-This would not matter so much, but our players, even in _Hamlet_, where
-they are especially cautioned against it, have neither the sense nor the
-good taste to avoid exaggeration and rant, to which, they maintain, the
-public are now so accustomed, that a tragedian acting naturally would
-make no impression. Their conventionality, moreover, makes them keep to
-certain stage "traditions," which are frequently absurd, while their
-vanity is so egregious that one who imagines himself a first-rate actor
-(in a day when there are no first-rate actors) will not take what he is
-pleased to consider a second-rate part. Our stage has no tragedian who
-could embody the jealousy of "Otello," as Ronconi embodies that of
-"Chevreuse" in _Maria di Rohan_, nor could half a dozen actors of equal
-reputation be persuaded in any piece to appear in half a dozen parts of
-various degrees of prominence, though this is what constantly takes
-place at the Opera.
-
-In Addison's time, Nicolini was a far greater actor than any who was in
-the habit of appearing on the English stage; indeed, this alone can
-account for the success of the ridiculous opera of _Hydaspes_, in which
-Nicolini played the principal part, and of which I shall give some
-account in the proper place. Doubtless also, it had much to do with the
-success of Italian Opera generally, which, when Addison commenced
-writing about it in the _Spectator_, was supported by no great composer,
-and was constructed on such frameworks as one would imagine could only
-have been imagined by a lunatic or by a pantomime writer struck serious.
-If Addison had not been fond of music, and moreover a very just critic,
-he would have dismissed the Italian Opera, such as it existed during the
-first days of the _Spectator_, as a hopeless mass of absurdity.
-
-[Sidenote: STAGE DECORATION.]
-
-Every one must in particular admit the justness of Addison's views
-respecting the incongruity of operatic scenery; indeed, his observations
-on that subject might with advantage be republished now and then in the
-present day. "What a field of raillery," he says, "would they [the wits
-of King Charles's time] have been let into had they been entertained
-with painted dragons spitting wildfire, enchanted chariots drawn by
-Flanders mares, and real cascades in artificial landscapes! A little
-skill in criticism would inform us, that shadows and realities ought not
-to be mixed together in the same piece; and that the scenes which are
-designed as the representations of nature should be filled with
-resemblances, and not with the things themselves. If one would represent
-a wide champaign country, filled with herds and flocks, it would be
-ridiculous to draw the country only upon the scenes, and to crowd
-several parts of the stage with sheep and oxen. This is joining together
-inconsistencies, and making the decoration partly real and partly
-imaginary. I would recommend what I have here said to the directors as
-well as the admirers, of our modern opera."
-
-In the matter of stage decoration we have "learned nothing and forgotten
-nothing" since the beginning of the 18th century. Servandoni, at the
-theatre of the Tuileries, which contained some seven thousand persons,
-introduced as elaborate and successful mechanical devices as any that
-have been known since his time; but then as now the real and artificial
-were mixed together, by which the general picture is necessarily
-rendered absurd, or rather no general picture is produced. Independently
-of the fact that the reality of the natural objects makes the
-artificiality of the manufactured ones unnecessarily evident as when the
-branches of real trees are agitated by a gust of wind, while those of
-pasteboard trees remain fixed--it is difficult in making use of natural
-objects on the stage to observe with any accuracy the laws of proportion
-and perspective, so that to the eye the realities of which the manager
-is so proud, are, after all, strikingly unreal. The peculiar conditions
-too, under which theatrical scenery is viewed, should always be taken
-into account. Thus, "real water," which used at one time to be announced
-as such a great attraction at some of our minor playhouses, does not
-look like water on the stage, but has a dull, black, inky, appearance,
-quite sufficient to render it improbable that any despondent heroine,
-whatever her misfortune, would consent to drown herself in it.
-
-The most contemptuous thing ever written against the Opera, or rather
-against music in general, is Swift's celebrated epigram on the Handel
-and Buononcini disputes:--
-
-    "Some say that Signor Buononcini
-     Compared to Handel is a ninny;
-     While others say that to him, Handel
-     Is hardly fit to hold a candle.
-     Strange that such difference should be,
-     'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee."
-
-Capital, telling lines, no doubt, though is it not equally strange that
-there should be such a difference between one piece of painted canvas
-and another, or between a statue by Michael Angelo and the figure of a
-Scotchman outside a tobacconist's shop? These differences exist, and it
-proves nothing against art that savages and certain exceptional natures
-among civilized men are unable to perceive them. We wonder how the Dean
-of St. Patrick's would have got on with the Abbé Arnauld, who was so
-impressed with the sublimity of one of the pieces in Gluck's
-_Iphigénie_, that he exclaimed, "With that air one might found a new
-religion!"
-
-[Sidenote: BERANGER ON THE DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.]
-
-One of the wittiest poems written against our modern love of music
-(cultivated, it must be admitted, to a painful extent by many incapable
-amateurs) is the lament by Béranger, in which the poet, after
-complaining that the convivial song is despised as not sufficiently
-artistic, and that in the presence of the opera the drama itself is fast
-disappearing, exclaims:
-
-    Si nous t'enterrons
-      Bel art dramatique,
-    Pour toi nous dirons
-      La messe en musique.
-
-Without falling into the same error as those who have accused Addison of
-a selfish and interested animosity towards the Opera, I may remark that
-song-writers have often very little sympathy for any kind of music
-except that which can be easily subjected to words, as in narrative
-ballads, and to a certain extent ballads of all kinds. When a man says
-"I don't care much for music, but I like a good song," we may generally
-infer that he does not care for music at all. So play-wrights have a
-liking for music when it can be introduced as an ornament into their
-pieces, but not when it is made the most important element in the
-drama--indeed, the drama itself.
-
-Favart, the author of numerous opera-books, has left a good satirical
-description in verse of French opera. It ends as follows:--
-
-      Quiconque voudra
-      Faire un opéra,
-      Emprunte ŕ Pluton,
-      Son peuple démon;
-      Qu'il tire des cieux
-      Un couple de dieux,
-      Qu'il y joigne un héros
-      Tendre jusqu' aux os.
-      Lardez votre sujet,
-      D'un éternel ballet.
-    Amenez au milieu d'une fęte
-        La tempęte,
-        Une bęte,
-      Que quelqu'un tűra
-      Dčs qu'il la verra.
-      Quiconque voudra faire un opéra
-      Fuira de la raison
-      Le triste poison.
-      Il fera chanter
-      Concerter et sauter
-      Et puis le reste ira,
-      Tout comme il pourra.
-
-[Sidenote: PANARD ON THE OPERA.]
-
-This, from a man whose operas did not fail, but on the contrary, were
-highly successful, is rather too bad. But the author of the ill-fated
-"Rosamond" himself visited the French Opera, and has left an account of
-it, which corresponds closely enough to Favart's poetical description.
-"I have seen a couple of rivers," he says, (No. 29 of the _Spectator_)
-"appear in red stockings, and Alpheus, instead of having his head
-covered with sedge and bulrushes, making love in a fair, full-bottomed,
-periwig, and a plume of feathers, but with a voice so full of shakes and
-quavers that I should have thought the murmurs of a country brook the
-much more agreeable music. I remember the last opera I saw in that merry
-nation was the "Rape of Proserpine," where Pluto, to make the more
-tempting figure, puts himself in a French equipage, and brings
-Ascalaphus along with him as his _valet de chambre_." This is what we
-call folly and impertinence, but what the French look upon as gay and
-polite."
-
-Addison's account agrees with Favart's song and also with one by Panard,
-which contains this stanza:--
-
-    "J'ai vu le soleil et la lune
-     Qui faissient des discours en l'air
-     _J'ai vu le terrible Neptune_
-     _Sortir tout frisé de la mer_."
-
-Panard's song, which occurs at the end of a vaudeville produced in 1733,
-entitled _Le départ de l'Opéra_, refers to scenes behind as well as
-before the curtain. It could not be translated with any effect, but I
-may offer the reader the following modernized imitation of it, and so
-conclude the present chapter.
-
-    WHAT MAY BE SEEN AT THE OPERA.
-
-    I've seen Semiramis, the queen;
-      I've seen the Mysteries of Isis;
-    A lady full of health I've seen
-      Die in her dressing-gown, of phthisis.
-
-    I've seen a wretched lover sigh,
-      "_Fra poco_" he a corpse would be,
-    Transfix himself, and then--not die,
-      But coolly sing an air in D.
-
-    I've seen a father lose his child,
-      Nor seek the robbers' flight to stay;
-    But, in a voice extremely mild,
-      Kneel down upon the stage and pray.
-
-    I've seen "Otello" stab his wife;
-      The "Count di Luna" fight his brother;
-    "Lucrezia" take her own son's life;
-      And "John of Leyden" cut his mother.
-
-    I've seen a churchyard yield its dead,
-      And lifeless nuns in life rejoice;
-    I've seen a statue bow its head,
-      And listened to its trombone voice.
-
-    I've seen a herald sound alarms,
-      Without evincing any fright:
-    Have seen an army cry "To arms"
-      For half an hour, and never fight.
-
-    I've seen a naiad drinking beer;
-      I've seen a goddess fined a crown;
-    And pirate bands, who knew no fear,
-      By the stage manager put down;
-
-    Seen angels in an awful rage,
-      And slaves receive more court than queens,
-    And huntresses upon the stage
-      Themselves pursued behind the scenes.
-
-    I've seen a maid despond in A,
-      Fly the perfidious one in B,
-    Come back to see her wedding day,
-      And perish in a minor key.
-
-    I've seen the realm of bliss eternal,
-      (The songs accompanied by harps);
-    I've seen the land of pains infernal,
-      With demons shouting in six sharps!
-
-[Sidenote: PANARD AT THE OPERA.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF THE BALLET.
-
-     The Ballets of Versailles.--Louis XIV. astonished at his own
-     importance.--Louis retires from the stage; congratulations
-     addressed to him on the subject; he re-appears.--Privileges of
-     Opera dancers and singers.--Manners and customs of the Parisian
-     public.--The Opera under the regency.--Four ways of presenting a
-     petition.--Law and the financial scheme.--Charon and paper
-     money.--The Duke of Orleans as a composer.--An orchestra in a court
-     of justice.--Handel in Paris.--Madame Sallé; her reform in the
-     Ballet, and her first appearance in London.
-
-
-[Sidenote: A CORPS OF NOBLES.]
-
-After the Opera comes the Ballet. Indeed, the two are so intimately
-mixed together that it would be impossible in giving the history of the
-one to omit all mention of the other. The Ballet, as the name
-sufficiently denotes, comes to us from the French, and in the sense of
-an entertainment exclusively in dancing, dates from the foundation of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, or soon afterwards. During the first
-half of the 17th century, and even earlier, ballets were performed at
-the French court, under the direction of an Italian, who, abandoning his
-real name of Baltasarini, had adopted that of Beaujoyeux. He it was who
-in 1581 produced the "_Ballet Comique de la Royne_," to celebrate the
-marriage of the Duc de Joyeuse. This piece, which was magnificently
-appointed, and of which the representation is said to have cost
-3,600,000 francs, was an entertainment consisting of songs, dances, and
-spoken dialogue, and appears to have been the model of the masques which
-were afterwards until the middle of the 17th century represented in
-England, and of most of the ballets performed in France until about the
-same period. There were dancers engaged at the French Opera from its
-very commencement, but it was difficult to obtain them in any numbers,
-and, worst of all, there were no female dancers to be found. The company
-of vocalists could easily be recruited from the numerous cathedral
-choirs; for the Ballet there were only the dancing-masters of the
-capital to select from, the profession of dancing-mistress not having
-yet been invented. Nymphs, dryads, and shepherdesses were for some time
-represented by young boys, who, like the fauns, satyrs, and all the rest
-of the dancing troop wore masks. At last, however, in 1681, Terpsichore
-was worthily represented by dancers of her own sex, and an aristocratic
-corps de ballet was formed, with Madame la Dauphine, the Princess de
-Conti, and Mdlle. de Nantes as principal dancers, supported by the
-Dauphin, the Prince de Conti and the Duke de Vermandois. They appeared
-in the _Triomphe de l'Amour_, and the astounding exhibition was fully
-appreciated. Previously, the ladies of the court, when they appeared in
-ballets, had confined themselves to reciting verses, which sometimes,
-moreover, were said for them by an orator engaged for the purpose. To
-see a court lady dancing on the stage was quite a novelty; hence, no
-doubt, the success of that spectacle.
-
-[Sidenote: QUADRILLES AND COUNTRY DANCES.]
-
-The first celebrated _ballerina_ at the French Opera was Mademoiselle La
-Fontaine, styled _la reine de la danse_--a title of which the value was
-somewhat diminished by the fact that there were only three other
-professional danseuses in Paris. Lulli, however, paid great attention to
-the ballet, and under his direction it soon gained importance. To Lulli,
-who occasionally officiated as ballet-master, is due the introduction of
-rapid style of dancing, which must have contrasted strongly with the
-stately solemn steps that were alone in favour at the Court during the
-early days of Louis XIV's reign. The minuet-loving Louis had notoriously
-an aversion for gay brilliant music. Thus he failed altogether to
-appreciate the talent of "little Baptiste" not Lulli, but Anet, a pupil
-of Corelli, who is said to have played the sonatas of his master very
-gracefully, and with an "agility" which at that time was considered
-prodigious. The Great Monarch preferred the heavy monotonous strains of
-his own Baptiste, the director of the Opera. It may here be not out of
-place to mention that Lulli's introduction of a lively mode of dancing
-into France (it was only in his purely operatic music that he was so
-lugubriously serious) took place simultaneously with the importation
-from England of the country-dance--and corrupted into _contre-danse_,
-which is now the French for quadrille. Moreover, when the French took
-our country-dance, a name which some etymologists would curiously enough
-derive from its meaningless corruption--we adopted their minuet which
-was first executed in England by the Marquis de Flamarens, at the Court
-of Charles II. The passion of our English noblemen for country-dances is
-recorded as follows in the memoirs of the Count de Grammont:--"Russel
-was one of the most vigorous dancers in England, I mean for
-country-dances (_contre-danses_). He had a collection of two or three
-hundred arranged in tables, which he danced from the book; and to prove
-that he was not old, he sometimes danced till he was exhausted. His
-dancing was a good deal like his clothes; it had been out of fashion
-twenty years."
-
-Every one knows that Louis XIV. was a great actor; and even his mother,
-Anne of Austria, appeared on the stage at the Court of Madrid to the
-astonishment and indignation of the Spaniards, who said that she was
-lost for them, and that it was not as Infanta of Spain, but as Queen of
-France, that she had performed.
-
-On the occasion of Louis XIV.'s marriage with Marie Therčse, the
-celebrated expression _Il n'y plus de Pyrenées_ was illustrated by a
-ballet, in which a French nymph and a Spanish nymph sang a duet while
-half the dancers were dressed in the French and half in the Spanish
-costume.
-
-Like other illustrious stars, Louis XIV. took his farewell of the stage
-more than once before he finally left it. His Histrionic Majesty was in
-the habit both of singing and dancing in the court ballets, and took
-great pleasure in reciting such graceful compliments to himself as the
-following:--
-
-    "Plus brilliant et mieux fait que tous les dieux ensemble
-     La terre ni le ciel n'ont rien qui me ressemble."
-                          (_Thétis et Pélée._--Benserade. 1654),
-
-       "Il n'est rien de si grand dans toute la nature
-        Selon l'âme et le coeur au point oů je me vois;
-        De la terre et de moi qui prendra la mesure
-        Trouvera que la terre est moins grande que moi."
-                     (_L'Impatience._--Benserade. 1661).
-
-On the 15th February, 1669, Louis XIV. sustained his favourite character
-of the Sun, in _Flora_, the eighteenth ballet in which he had played a
-part--and the next day solemnly announced that his dancing days were
-over, and that he would exhibit himself no more. The king had not only
-given his royal word, but for nine months had kept it, when Racine
-produced his _Britannicus_, in which the following lines are spoken by
-"Narcisse" in reference to Nero's performances in the amphitheatre.
-
-    Pour toute ambition pour vertu singuličre
-    Il excelle ŕ conduire un char dans la carričre;
-    A disputer des prix indignes des ses mains,
-    A se donner lui-męme en spectacle aux Romains,
-    A venir prodiguer sa voix sur un théâtre
-    A réciter des chants qu'il veut qu'on idolâtre;
-    Tandis que des soldats, de moments en moments,
-    Vont arracher pour lui des applaudissements.
-
-[Sidenote: LOUIS RETURNS TO THE STAGE.]
-
-The above lines have often been quoted as an example of virtuous
-audacity on the part of Racine, who, however, did not write them until
-the monarch who at one time did not hesitate to "_se donner lui męme en
-spectacle_, &c.," had confessed his fault and vowed never to repeat it;
-so that instead of a lofty rebuke, the verses were in fact an indirect
-compliment neatly and skilfully conveyed. So far from profiting by
-Racine's condemnation of Nero's frivolity and shamelessness, and
-retiring conscience-stricken from the stage (of which he had already
-taken a theatrical farewell) Louis XIV. reappeared the year afterwards,
-in _Les amants magnifiques_, a _Comédie-ballet_, composed by Moličre and
-himself, in which the king figured and was applauded as author,
-ballet-master, dancer, mime, singer, and performer on the flute and
-guitar. He had taken lessons on the latter instrument from the
-celebrated Francisco Corbetta, who afterwards made a great sensation in
-England at the Court of Charles II.
-
-If Louis XIV. did not scruple to assume the part of an actor himself,
-neither did he think it unbecoming that his nobles should do the same,
-even in presence of the general public and on the stage of the Grand
-Opera. "We wish, and it pleases us," he says in the letters patent
-granted to the Abbé Perrin, the first director of the Académie Royale de
-Musique (1669) "that all gentlemen (_gentilshommes_) and ladies may sing
-in the said pieces and representations of our Royal Academy without
-being considered for that reason to derogate from their titles of
-nobility, or from their privileges, rights and immunities." Among the
-nobles who profited by this permission and appeared either as singers,
-or as dancers at the Opera, were the Seigneur du Porceau, and Messieurs
-de Chasré and Borel de Miracle; and Mesdemoiselles de Castilly, de Saint
-Christophe, and de Camargo. Another privilege accorded to the Opera was
-of such an infamous nature that were it not for positive proof we could
-scarcely believe it to have existed. It had full control, then, over all
-persons whose names were once inscribed on its books; and if a young
-girl went of her own accord, or was persuaded into presenting herself at
-the Opera, or was led away from her parents and her name entered on the
-lists by her seducer--then in neither case had her family any further
-power over her. _Lettres de cachet_ even were issued, commanding the
-persons named therein to join the Opera; and thus the Count de Melun got
-possession of both the Camargos. The Duke de Fronsac was enabled to
-perpetrate a similar act of villany. He it is who is alluded to in the
-following lines by Gilbert:--
-
-    "Qu'on la séduise! Il dit: ses eunuques discrets,
-     Philosophes abbés, philosophes valets,
-     Intriguent, sčment l'or, trompent les yeux d'un pčre,
-     Elle cčde, on l'enlčve; en vain gémit sa mčre.
-    _Echue ŕ l'Opéra par un rapt solennel,_
-    _Sa honte la dérobe au pouvoir paternel._"
-
-[Sidenote: INVENTION OF THE BALLET.]
-
-As for men they were sent to the Opera as they were sent to the
-Bastille. Several amateurs, abbés and others, the beauty of whose voices
-had been remarked, were arrested by virtue of _lettres de cachet_, and
-forced to appear at the Académie Royale de Musique, which had its
-conscription like the army and navy. On the other hand, we have seen
-that the pupils and associates of the Académie enjoyed certain
-privileges, such as freedom from parental restraint and the right of
-being immoral; to which was afterwards added that of setting creditors
-at defiance. The pensions of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging
-to the Opera were exempted from all liability to seizure for debt.
-
-The dramatic ballet, or _ballet d'action_, was invented by the Duchess
-du Maine. We soon afterwards imported it into England as, in Opera, we
-imported the chorus, which was also a French invention, and one for
-which the musical drama can scarcely be too grateful. The dramatic
-_ballet_, however, has never been naturalized in this country. It still
-crosses over to us occasionally, and when we are tired of it goes back
-again to its native land; but even as an exotic, it has never fairly
-taken root in English soil.
-
-The Duchess du Maine was celebrated for her _Nuits de Sceaux_, or _Nuits
-Blanches_, as they were called, which the nobles of Louis XIV.'s Court
-found as delightful as they found Versailles dull. The Duchess used to
-get up lotteries among her most favoured guests, in which the prizes
-were so many permissions to give a magnificent entertainment. The
-letters of the alphabet were placed in a box, and the one who drew O had
-to get up an opera; C stood for a comedy; B for a ballet; and so on. The
-hostess of Sceaux had not only a passion for theatrical performances,
-but also a great love of literature, and the idea occurred to her of
-realising on the stage of her own theatre something like one of those
-pantomimes of antiquity of which she had read the descriptions with so
-much pleasure. Accordingly, she took the fourth act of _Les Horaces_,
-had it set to music by Mouret, just as if it were to be sung, and caused
-this music to be executed by the orchestra alone, while Balon and
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who were celebrated as dancers, but had never
-attempted pantomime before, played in dumb show the part of the last
-Horatius, and of Camilla, the sister of the Curiatii. The actor and
-actress entered completely into the spirit of the new drama, and
-performed with such truthfulness and warmth of emotion as to affect the
-spectators to tears.
-
-Mouret, the musical director of _Les Nuits Blanches_, composed several
-operas and _ballets_ for the Académie; but when the establishment at
-Sceaux was broken up, after the discovery of the Spanish conspiracy, in
-which the Duchess du Maine was implicated, he considered himself ruined,
-went mad and died at Charenton in the lunatic asylum.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE FREE LIST.]
-
-"Long live the Regent, who would rather go to the Opera than to the
-Mass," was the cry when on the death of Louis XIV., the reins of
-government were assumed by the Duke of Orleans. At this time the whole
-expenses of the Opera, including chorus, ballet, musicians, scene
-painters, decorators, &c.--from the prima donna to the
-bill-sticker--amounted only to 67,000 francs a year, being considerably
-less than half what is given now to a first-rate soprano alone. The
-first act of the Regent in connexion with the Opera was to take its
-direction out of the hands of musicians, and appoint the Duc d'Antin
-manager. The new _impresario_, wishing to reward Thévanard, who was at
-that time the best singer in France, offered him the sum of 600 francs.
-Thévanard indignantly refused it, saying "that it was a suitable
-present, at most, for his valet," upon which d'Antin proposed to
-imprison the singer for his insolence, but abstained from doing so, for
-fear of irritating the public with whom Thévanard was a prodigious
-favourite. He, however, resigned the direction of the Opera, saying that
-he "wished to have nothing more to do with such _canaille_."
-
-The next operatic edict of the Regent had reference to the admission of
-authors, who hitherto had enjoyed the privilege of free entry to the
-pit. In 1718 the Regent raised them to the amphitheatre--not as a mark
-of respect, but in order that they might be the more readily detected
-and expelled in case of their forming cabals to hiss the productions of
-their rivals, which, standing up in the pit in the midst of a dense
-crowd, they had been able to do with impunity. Even to the present day,
-when authors exchange applause much more freely than hisses, the
-regulations of the French theatre do not admit them to the pit, though
-they have free access to every other part of the house.
-
-At the commencement of the 18th century, the Opera was the scene of
-frequent disturbances. The Count de Talleyrand, MM. de Montmorency,
-Gineste, and others, endeavouring to force their way into the theatre
-during a rehearsal, were repulsed by the guard, and Gineste killed. The
-Abbés Hourlier and Barentin insulted M. Fieubet; they were about to come
-to blows when the guard separated them and carried off the obstreperous
-ecclesiastics to For l'Evčque, where they were confined for a fortnight.
-On their release Hourlier and Barentin, accompanied by a third abbé,
-took their places in the balcony over the stage, and began to sing,
-louder even than the actors, maintaining, when called to order, that the
-Opera was established for no other purpose, and that if they had a right
-to sing anywhere, it was at the Académie de Musique.
-
-[Sidenote: PETER THE GREAT AT THE OPERA.]
-
-A balustrade separated the stage balconies from the stage, but continual
-attempts were made to get over it, and even to break into the actresses'
-dressing rooms, which were guarded by sentinels. At this period about a
-third of the _habitués_ used to make their appearance in a state of
-intoxication, the example being set by the Regent himself, who could
-proceed direct from his residence in the Palais Royal to the Opera,
-which adjoined it. To the first of the Regent's masked balls the
-Councillor of State, Rouillé, is said to have gone drunk from personal
-inclination, and the Duke de Noailles in the same condition, out of
-compliment to the administrator of the kingdom.
-
-When Peter the Great visited the French Opera, in 1717, he does not
-appear to have been intoxicated, but he went to sleep. When he was asked
-whether the performance had wearied him, he is said to have replied,
-that on the contrary he liked it to excess, and had gone to sleep from
-motives of prudence. This story, however, does not quite accord with the
-fact that Peter introduced public theatrical performances into Russia,
-and encouraged his nobles to attend them.
-
-Nothing illustrates better the heartless selfishness of Louis XV. than
-his conduct, not at the Opera, but at his own theatre in the Louvre,
-immediately after the occurrence of a terrible and fatal accident. The
-Chevalier de Fénélon, an ensign in the palace guard, in endeavouring to
-climb from one box to another, lost his fooling, and fell headlong on to
-a spiked balustrade, where he remained transfixed through the neck. The
-theatre was stained with blood in a horrible manner, and the unfortunate
-chevalier was removed from the balustrade a dead man. Just then, the
-Very Christian king made his appearance. He gave the signal for the
-performance to commence, and the orchestra struck up as if nothing had
-happened.
-
-Some idea of the morality of the French stage during the regency and
-the reign of Louis XV., may be formed from the fact that, in spite of
-the great license accorded to the members of the Académie, or at least,
-tolerated and encouraged by the law, it was found absolutely necessary
-in 1734 to expel the _prima donna_ Mademoiselle Pélissier, who had
-shocked even the management of the Opera. She was, however, received
-with open arms in London. Let us not be too hard on our neighbours.
-
-Soon afterwards, Mademoiselle Petit, a dancer, was exiled for negligence
-of attire and indiscretion behind the scenes. I must add that this
-negligence was extreme. The most curious part of the affair, was that
-the Abbé de la Marre, author of several _libretti_, undertook the young
-lady's defence, and published a pamphlet in justification of her
-conduct, which is to be found among his _OEuvres diverses_.
-
-Another _danseuse_, however, named Mariette, ruled at the Opera like a
-little autocrat. "The Princess," as she was named, from the regard the
-Prince de Carignan, titular director of the academy, was known to
-entertain for her, applied to the actual managers, Lecomte and
-Leboeuf, for a payment of salary which she had already received, and
-which they naturally refused to give twice. Upon this they were not only
-dismissed from their places (which they had purchased) but were exiled
-by _lettres de cachet_.
-
-[Sidenote: PELISSIER AT TABLE.]
-
-The prodigality of favourite and favoured actresses under the regency
-was extreme. The before-mentioned Mademoiselle Pélissier and her friend
-Mademoiselle Deschamps, both gluttonous to excess, were noted for their
-contempt of all ordinary food, and of everything that happened to be
-nearly in season, or at all accessible, not merely to vulgar citizens,
-but to the generality of opulent sensualists. It is not said that they
-aspired to the dissolution of pearls in their sauces, but if green peas
-were served to them when the price of the dish was less than sixty
-francs, they sent them away in disdain. Mademoiselle Pélissier was in
-the receipt of 4,000 francs (Ł160) a year from the Opera. Mademoiselle
-Deschamps, who was only a figurante, contrived to get on with a salary
-of only sixteen pounds. And yet we have seen that they were neither of
-them economical.
-
-One of the most facetious members of the Académie under the regency, was
-Tribou, a performer, who seems to have been qualified for every branch
-of the histrionic profession, and to have possessed a certain literary
-talent besides. This humourist had some favour to ask of the Duke of
-Orleans. He presented a petition to him, and after the regent had read
-it, said gravely--
-
-"If your Highness would like to read it again, here is the same thing in
-verse."
-
-"Let me see it," said the Duke.
-
-Tribou presented his petition in verse, and afterwards expressed his
-readiness to sing it. He sang, and no sooner had he finished, than he
-added--
-
-"If _mon Seigneur_ will permit me, I shall be happy to dance it."
-
-"Dance it?" exclaimed the regent; "by all means!"
-
-When Tribou had concluded his _pas_, the duke confessed that he had
-never before heard of a petition being either danced or sung, and for
-the love of novelty, granted the actor his request.
-
-During the regency, wax was substituted for tallow in the candelabra of
-the Opera. This improvement was due to Law, who gave a large sum of
-money to the Académie for that special purpose. On the other hand,
-Mademoiselle Mazé, one of the prettiest dancers at the Opera, was ruined
-three years afterwards by the failure of this operatic benefactor's
-financial scheme. The poor girl put on her rouge, her mouches, and her
-silk stockings, and in her gayest attire, drowned herself publicly in
-the middle of the day at La Grenouilličre.
-
-[Sidenote: HOW TO CROSS THE STYX.]
-
-After the break up of Law's system, the regent, terrified by the murmurs
-and imprecations of the Parisians, endeavoured to turn the whole current
-of popular hatred against the minister, by dismissing him from the
-administration of the finances. When Law presented himself at the Palais
-Royal, the regent refused to receive him; but the same evening, he
-admitted him by a private door, apologized to him, and tried to console
-him. Two days afterwards, he accompanied Law to the Opera; but to
-preserve him from the fury of the people, he was obliged to have him
-conducted home by a party of the Swiss guard.
-
-In the fourth act of Lulli's _Alceste_, Charon admits into his bark
-those shades who are able to pay their passage across the Styx, and
-sends back those who have no money.
-
-"Give him some bank notes," exclaimed a man in the pit to one of these
-penniless shades. The audience took up the cry, and the scene between
-Charon and the shades was, at subsequent representations, the cause of
-so much tumult, that it was found necessary to withdraw the piece.
-
-The Duke of Orleans appears to have had a sincere love of music, for he
-composed an opera himself, entitled _Panthée_, of which the words were
-written by the Marquis de La Fare. _Panthée_ was produced at the Duke's
-private theatre. After the performance, the musician, Campra, said to
-the composer,
-
-"The music, your Highness, is excellent, but the poem is detestable."
-
-The regent called La Fare.
-
-"Ask Campra," he said, "what he thinks of the Opera; I am sure he will
-tell you that the poem is admirable, and the music worthless. We must
-conclude that the whole affair is as bad as it can be."
-
-The Duke of Orleans had written a motet for five voices, which he wished
-to send to the Emperor Leopold, but before doing so, entrusted it for
-revision to Bernier, the composer. Bernier handed the manuscript to the
-Abbé de la Croix, whom the regent found examining it while Bernier
-himself was in the next room regaling himself with his friends. The
-immediate consequences of this discovery were a box on the ear for
-Bernier, and ten louis for de La Croix.
-
-The Regent also devoted some attention to the study of antiquity. He
-occupied himself in particular with inquiries into the nature of the
-music of the Greeks, and with the construction of an instrument which
-was to resemble their lyre.
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC IN COURT.]
-
-To the same prince was due the excellent idea of engaging the celebrated
-Italian Opera Company of London, at that time under the direction of
-Handel, to give a series of performances at the Académie. A treaty was
-actually signed in presence of M. de Maurepas, the minister, by which
-Buononcini the conductor, Francesca Cuzzoni, Margarita Durastanti,
-Francesco Bernardi, surnamed _Senesino_, Gaetano Bernesta, and Guiseppe
-Boschi were to come to Paris in 1723, and give twelve representations of
-one or two Italian Operas, as they thought fit. Francine, the director
-of the Académie, engaged to pay them 35,000 francs, and to furnish new
-dresses to the principal performers. This treaty was not executed,
-probably through some obstacle interposed by Francine; for the manager
-signed it against his will, and on the 2nd of December following, the
-regent, with whom it had originated, died. The absurd privileges secured
-to the Académie Royale, and the consequent impossibility of giving
-satisfactory performances of Italian Opera elsewhere than at the chief
-lyrical theatre must have done much to check the progress of dramatic
-music in France. From time to time Italian singers were suffered to make
-their appearance at the Grand Opera; but at the regular Italian Theatre
-established in Paris, as at the Comédie Française, singing was only
-permitted under prescribed conditions, and the orchestra was strictly
-limited, by severe penalties, rigidly enforced, to a certain number of
-instruments, of which not more than six could be violins, or of the
-violin family.
-
-At the Comédie Italienne an ass appeared on the stage, and began to
-bray.
-
-"Silence," exclaimed Arlechinno, "music is forbidden here."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the distinguished amateurs of the period of the regency was M. de
-Saint Montant, who played admirably on the viola, and had taught his
-sons and daughters to do the same. Being concerned in a law suit, which
-had to be tried at Nimes, he went with his family of musicians to visit
-the judges, laid his case before them, one after the other, and by way
-of peroration, gave them each a concert, with which they were so
-delighted that they decided unanimously in favour of M. de Saint
-Montant.
-
-A law suit had previously been decided somewhat in the same manner, but
-much more logically, in favour of Joseph Campra, brother of the composer
-of that name, who was the conductor of the orchestra at the Opera of
-Marseilles. The manager refused to pay the musicians on the ground that
-they did not play well enough. In consequence, he was summoned by the
-entire band, who, when they appeared in court, begged through Campra
-that they might be allowed to plead their own cause. The judges granted
-the desired permission, upon which the instrumentalists drew themselves
-up in orchestral order and under the direction of Campra commenced an
-overture of Lulli's. The execution of this piece so delighted the
-tribunal that with one voice it condemned the director to pay the sum
-demanded of him.
-
-A still more curious dispute between a violinist and a dancer was
-settled in a satisfactory way for both parties. The dancer was on the
-stage rehearsing a new step. The violinist was in the orchestra
-performing the necessary musical accompaniment.
-
-"Your scraping is enough to drive a man mad," said the dancer.
-
-"Very likely," said the musician, "and your jumping is only worthy of a
-clown. Perhaps as you have such a very delicate ear," he added, "and
-nature has refused you the slightest grace, you would like to take my
-place in the orchestra?"
-
-[Sidenote: LA CAMARGO.]
-
-"Your awkwardness with the bow makes me doubt whether your most useful
-limbs may not be your legs," replied the dancer. "You will never do any
-good where you are. Why do you not try your fortune in the ballet? Give
-me your violin," he continued, "and come up on to the stage. I know the
-scale already. You can teach me to play minuets, and I will show you how
-to dance them."
-
-The proposed interchange of good offices took place, and with the
-happiest results. The unmusical fiddler, whose name was Dupré, acquired
-great celebrity in the ballet, and Léclair, the awkward dancer, became
-the chief of the French school of violin playing.
-
-Marie-Anne Cupis de Camargo did not lose so much time in discovering her
-true vocation. She gave evidence of her genius for the ballet while she
-was still in the cradle, and was scarcely six months old when the
-variety of her gestures, the grace of her movements, and the precision
-with which she marked the rhythm of the tunes her father played on the
-violin led all who saw her to believe that she would one day be a great
-dancer. The young Camargo, who belonged to a noble family of Spanish
-origin, made her _début_ at the Académie in 1726, and at once achieved a
-decided success. People used to fight at the doors to obtain admittance
-the nights she performed; all the new fashions were introduced under her
-name, and in a very short space of time her shoemaker made his fortune.
-All the ladies of the court insisted on wearing shoes _ŕ la Camargo_.
-But the triumph of one dancer is the despair of another. Mademoiselle
-Prévost, who was the queen of the ballet until Mademoiselle de Camargo
-appeared was not prepared to be dethroned by a _débutante_. She was so
-alarmed by the young girl's success that she did her utmost to keep her
-in the background, and contrived before long to get her placed among
-the _figurantes_. But in spite of this loss of rank, Mademoiselle de
-Camargo soon found an opportunity of distinguishing herself. In a
-certain ballet, she formed one of a group of demons, and was standing on
-the stage waiting for Dumoulin, who had to dance a _pas seul_, when the
-orchestra began the soloist's air and continued to play it, though still
-no Dumoulin appeared. Mademoiselle de Camargo was seized with a sudden
-inspiration. She left the demoniac ranks, improvised a step in the place
-of the one that should have been danced by Dumoulin and executed it with
-so much grace and spirit that the audience were in raptures.
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who had previously given lessons to young Camargo,
-now refused to have anything to do with her, and the two _danseuses_
-were understood to be rivals both by the public and by one another. The
-chief characteristics of Camargo's dancing were grace, gaiety, and above
-all prodigious lightness, which was the more remarkable at this period
-from the fact that the mode chiefly cultivated at the Opera was one of
-solemn dignity. However, she had not been long on the stage before she
-learned to adopt from her masters and from the other dancers whatever
-good points their particular styles presented, and thus formed a style
-of her own which was pronounced perfection.
-
-[Sidenote: STAGE COSTUME.]
-
-Mademoiselle de Camargo, in spite of her charming vivacity when dancing,
-was of a melancholy mood off the stage. She was not remarkably pretty,
-but her face was highly expressive, her figure exquisite, her hands and
-feet of the most delicate proportions, and she possessed considerable
-wit. Dupré, the ex-violinist, who had leaped at a bound from the
-orchestra to the stage, was in the habit of dancing with Camargo, and
-also with Mademoiselle Sallé, another celebrity of this epoch, who
-afterwards visited London, where she produced the first complete _ballet
-d'action_ ever represented, and at the same time introduced an important
-reform in theatrical costume.
-
-The art of stage decoration had made considerable progress, even before
-the Opera was founded, but it was not until long after Mademoiselle
-Sallé had given the example in London that any reasonable principles
-were observed in the selection and design of theatrical dresses. In
-1730, warriors of all kinds, Greek, Roman, and Assyrian, used to appear
-on the French stage in tunics belaced and beribboned, in cuirasses, and
-in powdered wigs bearing tails a yard long, surmounted by helmets with
-plumes of prodigious height. The tails, of which there were four, two in
-front and two behind, were neatly plaited and richly pomatumed, and when
-the warrior became animated, and waved his arm or shook his head, a
-cloud of hair powder escaped from his wig. It appeared to Mademoiselle
-Sallé, who, besides being an admirable dancer, was a woman of taste in
-all matters of art, that this sort of thing was absurd; but the reforms
-she suggested were looked upon as ridiculous innovations, and nearly
-half a century elapsed before they were adopted in France.
-
-This ingenious _ballerina_ enjoyed the friendship and regard of many of
-the most distinguished writers of her time. Voltaire celebrated her in
-verse, and when she went to London she took with her a letter of
-introduction from Fontenelle to Montesquieu, who was then ambassador at
-the English Court. Another danseuse, Mademoiselle Subligny came to
-England with letters of introduction from Thiriot and the Abbé Dubois to
-Locke. The illustrious metaphysician had no great appreciation of
-Mademoiselle de Subligny's talent, but he was civil and attentive to her
-out of regard to his friends, who were also hers, and, in the words of
-Fontenelle, constituted himself her "_homme d'affaires_."
-
-[Sidenote: PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES.]
-
-Mademoiselle Sallé was not only esteemed by literature, she was adored
-by finance, and Samuel Bernard, the Court banker and money lender, gave
-her a hundred golden louis for dancing before the guests at the marriage
-of his daughter with the President Molé. The same opulent amateur sent a
-thousand francs to Mademoiselle Lemaure, by way of thanking her for
-resuming the part of "Délie," in the "Les Fętes Grecques et Romaines,"
-on the occasion of the Duchess de Mirepoix's marriage. I must mention
-that at this period it was not the custom in good society for young
-ladies to appear at the Opera before their marriage. Their mothers were
-determined either to keep their daughters out of harm's way, or to
-escape a dangerous rivalry as long as possible; but once attached to a
-husband the newly-married girl could show herself at the Opera as often
-as she pleased, and it was a point of etiquette that through the Opera
-she should make her entrance into fashionable life. These _débutantes_
-of the audience department presented themselves to the public in their
-richest attire, in their most brilliant diamonds; and if the effect was
-good the gentlemen in the pit testified their approbation by clapping
-their hands.
-
-But to return to Mademoiselle Sallé. What she proposed to introduce
-then, and did introduce into London, in addition to her own admirable
-dancing, were complete dramatic ballets, with the personages attired in
-the costumes of the country and time to which the subject belonged. To
-give some notion of the absurdity of stage costumes at this period we
-may mention that forty-two years afterwards, when Mademoiselle Sallé's
-reform had still had no effect in France, the "Galathea," in Rousseau's
-_Pygmalion_, wore a damask dress, made in the Polish style, over a
-basket hoop, and on her head on enormous _pouf_, surmounted by three
-ostrich feathers!
-
-In her own _Pygmalion_, Mademoiselle Sallé carried out her new principle
-by appearing, not in a Polish costume, nor in a Louis Quinze dress, but
-in drapery imitated as closely as possible from the statues of
-antiquity. Of her performance, and of _Pygmalion_ generally, a good
-account is given in the following letter, written by a correspondent in
-London, under the date of March 15th, 1734, to the "Mercure de France."
-In the style we do not recognise the author of the "Essay on the
-Decadence of the Romans," and of the "Spirit of Laws," but it is just
-possible that M. de Montesquieu may have responded to M. de Fontenelle's
-letter of introduction, by writing a favourable criticism of the
-bearer's performance, for the "influential journal" in which the notice
-actually appeared.
-
-"Mdlle. Sallé," says the London correspondent, "without considering the
-embarrassing position in which she places me, desires me to give you an
-account of her success. I have to tell you in what manner she has
-rendered the fable of Pygmalion, and that of Ariadne and Bacchus; and of
-the applause with which these two ballets of her composition have been
-received by the Court of England.
-
-"Pygmalion has now been represented for nearly two months, and the
-public is never tired of it. The subject is developed in the following
-manner.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE.]
-
-"Pygmalion comes into his studio with his pupils, who perform a
-characteristic dance, chisel and mallet in hand. Pygmalion tells them to
-draw aside a curtain at the back of the studio, which, like the front is
-adorned with statues. The one in the middle above all the others
-attracts the looks and admiration of every one. Pygmalion gazes at it
-and sighs; he touches its feet, presses its waist, adorns its arms with
-precious bracelets, and covers its neck with diamonds, and, kissing the
-hands of his dear statue, shows that he is passionately in love with it.
-The amorous sculptor expresses his distress in pantomime, falls into a
-state of reverie, and then throwing himself at the feet of a statue of
-Venus, prays to the goddess to animate his beloved figure.
-
-"The goddess answers his prayer. Three flashes of light are seen, and to
-an appropriate symphony the marble beauty emerges by degrees from her
-state of insensibility. To the surprise of Pygmalion and his pupils she
-becomes animated, and evinces her astonishment at her new existence, and
-at the objects by which she is surrounded. The delighted Pygmalion
-extends his hand to her; she feels, so to speak, the ground beneath her
-with her feet, and takes some timid steps in the most elegant attitudes
-that sculpture could suggest. Pygmalion dances before her, as if to
-instruct her; she repeats her master's steps, from the easiest to the
-most difficult. He endeavours to inspire her with the tenderness he
-feels himself, and succeeds in making her share that sentiment. You can
-understand, sir, what all the passages of this action become, executed
-and danced with the fine and delicate grace of Mdlle. Sallé. She
-ventured to appear without basket, without skirt, without a dress, in
-her natural hair, and with no ornament on her head. She wore nothing, in
-addition to her boddice and under-petticoat, but a simple robe of
-muslin, arranged in drapery after the model of a Greek statue.
-
-"You cannot doubt, sir, of the prodigious success this ingenious ballet,
-so well executed, obtained. At the request of the king, the queen, the
-royal family, and all the court, it will be performed on the occasion
-of Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, for which all the boxes and places in
-the theatre and amphitheatre have been taken for a month past. The
-benefit takes place on the first of April.
-
-"Do not expect that I can describe to you Ariadne like Pygmalion: its
-beauties are more noble and more difficult to relate; the expressions
-and sentiments are those of the profoundest grief, despair, rage and
-utter dejection; in a word all the great passions perfectly declaimed by
-means of dances, attitudes and gestures suggested by the position of a
-woman who is abandoned by the man she loves. You may announce, sir, that
-Mademoiselle Sallé becomes in this piece the rival of the Journets, the
-Duclos, and the Lecouvreurs. The English, who preserve so tender a
-recollection of their famous Oldfield, whom they have just laid in
-Westminster Abbey among their great statesmen (!) look upon her as
-resuscitated in Mademoiselle Sallé when she represents Ariadne.
-
-"P. S. The first of this month the Prince of Orange, accompanied by the
-Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland and the Princesses, went to
-Covent Garden Theatre [Théâtre du _Commun Jardin_ the French newspaper
-has it] to see the tragedy of King Henry IV., when there was a numerous
-assembly; and all the receipts of the representation were for the
-benefit of Mademoiselle Sallé."
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE.]
-
-[Sidenote: A PROFITABLE PERFORMANCE.]
-
-M. Castil Blaze, who publishes the whole of the above letter, with the
-exception of the postscript, in his history of the Académie Royale, is
-wrong in concluding from Mademoiselle Sallé having appeared at Covent
-Garden, that she was engaged to dance there by Handel, who was at that
-time director of the Queen's Theatre (reign of Anne) in the Haymarket.
-M. Victor Schoelcher may also be in error when, in speaking of the
-absurd fable that Handel being in Paris heard a canticle by Lulli,[10]
-and coming back to England gave it to the English, as God Save the King,
-he assures us that Handel never set foot in Paris at all. It is certain
-that Handel went to Italy to engage new singers in 1733, and it is by no
-means improbable that he passed through Paris on his way. At all events,
-M. Castil Blaze assures us that in that year he visited the Académie
-Royale de Musique, and that "while lavishing sarcasms and raillery on
-our French Opera," he appreciated the talent of Mademoiselle Sallé. "A
-thousand crowns (three thousand francs) was the sum," he continues,
-"that the _virtuose_ asked for composing two ballets and dancing in them
-at London _during the carnival_ of 1734. The director of a rival
-enterprise watched for her arrival in that city, and offered her three
-thousand guineas instead of the three thousand crowns which she had
-agreed to accept from Handel; adding that nothing prevented her from
-making this change, inasmuch as she had signed no engagement. 'And my
-word,' answered the amiable dancer; 'is my word to count for nothing?'
-This reply, applauded and circulated from mouth to mouth, prepared
-Mademoiselle Sallé's success, and had the most fortunate influence on
-the representation given for her benefit. All the London journals gave
-magnificent accounts of the triumphs of Marie Taglioni, and of the marks
-of admiration and gratitude that she received. Equally flattering
-descriptions reached us from the icy banks of the Neva. Mere trifles,
-_niaiseries, debolleze_! This _furore_, this enthusiasm, this
-fanaticism, this royal, imperial liberality was very little, or rather
-was nothing, in comparison with the homage which the sons of Albion
-offered to and lavished upon the divine Sallé. History tells us that at
-the representation given for her benefit people fought at the doors of
-the theatre; that an infinity of amateurs were obliged to conquer at the
-point of the sword, or at least with their fists, the places which had
-been sold to them by auction, and at exorbitant prices. As Mademoiselle
-Sallé made her last curtsey and smiled upon the pit with the most
-charming grace, furious applause burst forth from all parts and seemed
-to shake the theatre to its foundation. While the whirlwind howled,
-while the thunder roared, a hailstorm of purses, full of gold, fell upon
-the stage, and a shower of bonbons followed in the same direction. These
-bonbons, manufactured at London, were of a singular kind; guineas--not
-like the doubloons, the louis d'or in paste, that are exhibited in the
-shop-windows of our confectioners, but good, genuine guineas in metal
-of Peru, well and solidly bound together--formed the sweetmeat; the
-_papillote_ was a bank-note. Projectiles a thousand times, and again a
-thousand times precious. Arguments which sounded still when the fugitive
-tempest of applause was at an end. Our favourite _virtuoses_ place now
-on their heads, after pressing them for a moment to their hearts, the
-wreaths thrown to them by an electrified public. Mademoiselle Sallé put
-the proofs of gratitude offered by her host of admirers into her pockets
-or rather into bags. The light and playful troop of little Loves who
-hovered around the new dancer, picked up the precious sugar-plums as
-they fell, and eight dancing satyrs carried away in cadence the
-improvised treasures. This performance brought Mademoiselle Sallé more
-than two hundred thousand francs."
-
-What M. Castil Blaze tells us about the bonbons of guineas and
-bank-notes may or may not be true--I have no means of judging--but it is
-not very likely that eight dancing satyrs appeared on the stage at
-Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, inasmuch as the ballet given on that
-occasion was not _Bacchus and Ariadne_, as M. Castil Blaze evidently
-supposes, but _Pygmalion_. The London correspondent of the _Mercure de
-France_ has mentioned that _Pygmalion_ was to be performed by desire of
-"the king and the queen, the royal family, and all the court," and
-naturally that was the piece selected. According to the letter in the
-_Mercure_ the benefit was fixed for the first of April; indeed, the
-writer in his postscript speaks of it as having taken place on that day,
-but he says nothing about purses of gold, nor does he speak of guineas
-wrapped up in bank-notes.
-
-It appears from the _Daily Journal_ that Mademoiselle Sallé took her
-benefit on the 21st of March (which would be April 1, New Style), when
-the first piece was _Henry IV., with the humours of Sir John Falstaff_,
-and the second _Pigmalion_ (with a _Pig_). It was announced that on this
-occasion "servants would be permitted to keep places on the stage,"
-whereas in most of the Covent Garden play bills of the period the
-following paragraph appears:--"It is desired that no person will take it
-ill their not being admitted behind the scenes, it being impossible to
-perform the entertainment unless these passages are kept clear."
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE AND HANDEL.]
-
-At this time Handel was at the Queen's Theatre, and it was not until the
-next year, long after Mademoiselle Sallé had left England, that he moved
-to Covent Garden. The rival who is represented as having offered such
-magnificent terms to Mademoiselle Sallé with the view of tempting her
-from her allegiance to Handel, must have been, if any one, Porpora;
-though if M. Castil Blaze could have identified him as that celebrated
-composer he would certainly have mentioned the name. Porpora, who
-arrived in England in 1733, was in 1734 director of the "Nobility's
-Theatre" in Lincoln's-Inn Fields.
-
-The following is the announcement of Mademoiselle Sallé's first
-appearance in England:--
-
-     "AT THE THEATRE ROYAL COVENT GARDEN, On Monday, 11th March, will be
-     performed a Comedy, called "_The_ WAY _of the_ WORLD, by the late
-     Mr. Congreve, with entertainments of dancing, particularly the
-     Scottish dance by Mr. Glover and Mrs. Laguerre, Mr. le Sac, and
-     Miss Boston, M. de la Garde and Mrs. Ogden.
-
-     "The French Sailor and his Lass, by Mademoiselle Sallé and Mr.
-     Malter.
-
-     "The Nassau, by Mr. Glover and Miss Rogers, Mr. Pelling and Miss
-     Nona, Mr. Le Sac and Mrs. Ogden, Mr. de la Garde and Miss Batson.
-
-     "With a new dance, called _Pigmalion_, performed by Mr. Malter and
-     Mademoiselle Sallé, M. Dupré, Mr. Pelling, Mr. Duke, Mr. le Sac,
-     Mr. Newhouse, and M. de la Garde.
-
-     "No servants will be permitted to keep places on the stage."
-
-It appears that at the King's Theatre on the night of Mademoiselle
-Sallé's benefit, at Covent Garden, there was "an assembly." "Two
-tickets," says the advertisement, "will be delivered to every
-subscriber, this day, at White's Chocholate House, in St. James's
-Street, paying the subscription-money; and if any tickets remain more
-than are subscribed for, they will be delivered the same day at the
-Opera office in the Haymarket, at six and twenty shillings each.
-
-"Every ticket will admit either one gentleman or two ladies.
-
-"N. B.--Five different doors will be opened at twelve for the company to
-go out, where chairs will easily be had.
-
-N. B.--To prevent a crowd there will be but 700 tickets printed."
-
-I find from the collection of old newspapers before me, that Handel,
-whose _Ariadne_ was first produced and whose _Pastor Fido_ was revived
-in 1734, is called in the playbills of the King's Theatre "Mr. Handell."
-The following is the announcement of the performance given at that
-establishment on the 4th June, 1734, "being the last time of performing
-till after the holidays."
-
-"AT the KING'S THEATRE in the HAYMARKET, on Tuesday next, being the 4th
-day of June will be performed an Opera called
-
-PASTOR FIDO,
-
-Composed by Mr. Handell, intermixed with Choruses.
-
-The Scenery after a particular manner.
-
-Pit and Boxes will be put together, and no persons to be admitted
-without tickets, which will be delivered that day at the Office of the
-Haymarket, at half a guinea each.
-
-GALLERY FIVE SHILLINGS.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. HANDELL.]
-
-BY HIS MAJESTY'S COMMAND.
-
-No persons whatever to be admitted behind the scenes.
-
-To begin at half an hour after six o'clock."
-
-Handel had now been twenty-four years in London where he had raised the
-Italian Opera to a pitch of excellence unequalled elsewhere in Europe,
-except perhaps at Dresden, which during the first half of the 18th
-century was universally celebrated for the perfection of its operatic
-performances at the Court Theatre directed by Hasse. But of the
-introduction of Italian Opera into England, and especially of the
-arrival of Handel, his operatic enterprises, his successes and his
-failures, I must speak in another chapter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-INTRODUCTION OF ITALIAN OPERA INTO ENGLAND.
-
-     Operatic Feuds.--Objections to Nose-pulling.--Arsinoe.--Camilla and
-     the Boar.--Steele on insanity.--Handel and Clayton.--Nicolini and
-     the lion.--Rinaldo and the sparrows.--Hamlet set to music.--Three
-     enraged musicians.--Three charming singers.
-
-
-It was not until the close of the 17th century that England was visited
-by any Italian singers of note, among the first of whom was the
-well-known Margarita de l'Epine. This vocalist's name frequently occurs
-in the current literature of the period, and Swift in his "Journal to
-Stella" speaks in his own graceful way of having heard "Margarita and
-her sister and another drab, and a parcel of fiddlers at Windsor." This
-was in 1711, nineteen years after her arrival in England--a proof that
-even then Italian singers, who had once obtained the favour of the
-English public, were determined to profit by it as long as possible.
-Margarita was an excellent musician, and a virtuous and amiable woman;
-but she was ugly and was called Hecate by her husband, who had married
-her for her money.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC FEUDS.]
-
-The history of the Opera in England is, more than in any other country,
-the history of feuds and rivalries between theatres and singers. The
-rival of Margarita de l'Epine was Mrs. Tofts, who in 1703 was singing
-English and Italian songs at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
-Instead of enjoying the talent of both, the London public began to
-dispute as to which was the best; and what was still more absurd, to
-create disturbances at the very theatres where they sang, so that the
-English party prevented Margarita de l'Epine from being heard, while the
-Italians drowned the voice of Mrs. Tofts.[11] Once, when the amiable
-Margarita was singing at Drury Lane, she was not only hissed and hooted,
-but an orange was thrown at her by a woman who was recognised as being
-or having been in the service of the English vocalist. Hence
-considerable scandal and the following public statement which appeared
-in the _Daily Courant_ of February 8th, 1704.
-
-"Ann Barwick having occasioned a disturbance at the Theatre Royal on
-Saturday last, the 5th of February, and being thereupon taken into
-custody, Mrs. Tofts, in vindication of her innocencey, sent a letter to
-Mr. Rich, master of the said Theatre, which is as followeth:--'Sir, I
-was very much surprised when I was informed that Ann Barwick, who was
-lately my servant, had committed a rudeness last night at the playhouse
-by throwing of oranges and hissing when Mrs. L'Epine, the Italian
-gentlewoman, sang. I hope no one will think it was in the least with my
-privity, as I assure you it was not. I abhor such practices, and I hope
-you will cause her to be prosecuted that she may be punished as she
-deserves. I am, sir, your humble servant, KATHARINE TOFTS.'"
-
-[Sidenote: ARSINOE.]
-
-At this period the unruly critics of the pit behaved with as little
-ceremony to those who differed from them among the audience as to those
-performers whom they disliked on the stage. In proof of this, we may
-quote a portion of the very amusing letter written by a linen-draper
-named Heywood (under the signature of James Easy), to the
-_Spectator_,[12] on the subject of nose-pulling. "A friend of mine, the
-other night, applauding what a graceful exit Mr. Wilkes made," says Mr.
-Easy, "one of these nose-wringers overhearing him, pulled him by the
-nose. I was in the pit the other night," he adds, "when it was very
-crowded. A gentleman leaning upon me, and very heavily, I civilly
-requested him to remove his hand; for which he pulled me by the nose. I
-would not resent it in so public a place, because I was unwilling to
-create a disturbance; but have since reflected upon it as a thing that
-is unmanly and disingenuous, renders the nose-puller odious, and makes
-the person pulled by the nose look little and contemptible. This
-grievance I humbly request you will endeavour to redress."
-
-Fifty years later, at the Grand Opera of Paris, a gentleman in the pit
-applauded the dancing of Mademoiselle Asselin. "_Il faut ętre bien bęte
-pour applaudir une telle sauteuse_," said his neighbour, upon which a
-challenge was given and received, the two amateurs went out and fought,
-when the aggressor fell mortally wounded.
-
-In the letters of Frenchmen and Englishmen from Italy, describing the
-Italian theatres of the eighteenth century, we read neither of pelting
-with oranges, nor of nose-pulling, nor of duelling. One of the most
-remarkable things in the demeanour of the audience appears to have been
-the unceremonious manner in which the aristocratic occupants of the
-boxes behaved towards the people in the pit. The nobles, who were
-somewhat given to expectoration, thought nothing of spitting down into
-the parterre, and "what is still more extraordinary," says Baretti, who
-notices this curious habit, "those who received it on their faces and
-heads, did not seem to resent it much." We are told, however, that "they
-made the most curious grimaces in the world."
-
-But to return to the rival singers of London. In 1705, then, Mrs. Tofts
-and Margarita were both engaged at Drury Lane; the former taking the
-principal part in _Arsinoe_, which was performed in English, the latter
-singing Italian songs before and after the Opera. _Arsinoe_ ("the first
-Opera," says the _Spectator_, "that gave us a taste for Italian music")
-was the composition of Clayton, the _maestro_ who afterwards wrote music
-for Addison's unfortunate _Rosamond_, and who described the purpose and
-character of his first work in the following words:--"The design of this
-entertainment being to introduce the Italian manner of singing to the
-English stage, which has not been before attempted, I was obliged to
-have an Italian Opera translated, in which the words, however mean in
-several places, suited much better with that manner of music than others
-more poetical would do. The style of this music is to express the
-passions, which is the soul of music, and though the voices are not
-equal to the Italian, yet I have engaged the best that were to be found
-in England; and I have not been wanting, to the utmost of my diligence,
-in the instructing of them. The music, being recitative, may not at
-first meet with that general acceptation, as is to be hoped for, from
-the audience's being better acquainted with it; but if this attempt
-shall be a means of bringing this manner of music to be used in my
-native country, I shall think my study and pains very well employed."
-
-[Sidenote: CAMILLA AND THE BOAR]
-
-Mr. Hogarth, in his interesting "Memoirs of the Opera," remarks that
-"though _Arsinoe_ is utterly unworthy of criticism, yet there is
-something amusing in the folly of the composer. The very first song may
-be taken as a specimen. The words are--
-
-    Queen of Darkness, sable night,
-    Ease a wandering lover's pain;
-      Guide me, lead me
-    Where the nymph whom I adore,
-      Sleeping, dreaming,
-    Thinks of love and me no more.
-
-The first two lines are spoken in a meagre sort of recitative. Then
-there is a miserable air, the first part of which consists of the next
-two lines, and concludes with a perfect close. The second part of the
-air is on the last two lines; after which, there is, as usual, a _da
-capo_, and the first part is repeated; the song finishing in the middle
-of a sentence,--
-
-    "Guide me, lead me
-     Where the nymph whom I adore"--
-
-which, I venture to say, has not been beaten by Bunn, or Fitzball, or
-any of our worst librettists at their worst moments.
-
-The music of _Camilla_, the second opera in the Italian style, performed
-in England, was by Marco Antonio Buononcini, the brother of Handel's
-future rival. The work was produced at the original Opera House, erected
-by Sir John Vanburgh, on the site of the present building, in 1705.[13]
-It was sung half in English and half in Italian. Mrs. Tofts played the
-part of "Camilla," and kept to _her_ mother tongue. Valentini played
-that of the hero, and kept to his. Both the Buononcinis were composers
-of high ability and the music of _Camilla_ is said to have been very
-beautiful. The melodies given to the two principal singers were
-original, expressive, and well harmonized. Mrs. Tofts' impersonation of
-the Amazonian lady was much admired by persons of taste, and there was a
-part for a pig which threw the vulgar into ecstacies.
-
-"Mr. Spectator," wrote a correspondent, "your having been so humble as
-to take notice of the epistles of the animal, embolden me, who am the
-wild boar that was killed by Mrs. Tofts, to represent to you that I
-think I was hardly used in not having the part of the lion in Hydaspes
-given to me. It would have been but a natural step for me to have
-personated that noble creature, after having behaved myself to
-satisfaction in the part above mentioned; but that of a lion is too
-great a character for one that never trode the stage before but upon two
-legs. As for the little resistance I made, I hope it may be excused when
-it is considered that the dart was thrown at me by so fair a hand. I
-must confess I had but just put on my brutality; and Camilla's charms
-were such, that beholding her erect mien, hearing her charming voice,
-and astonished with her graceful motion, I could not keep up to my
-assumed fierceness, but died like a man."
-
-[Sidenote: STEELE ON INSANITY.]
-
-Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage in 1709, in consequence of mental
-derangement. We have seen Mademoiselle Desmâtins, half fancying in her
-excessive, vanity that she was really the queen or princess she had been
-representing the same night on the stage, and ordering the servants, on
-her return home, to prepare her throne and serve her on their bended
-knees. Poor Mrs. Tofts laboured under a similar delusion; only, in her
-case, it was not a moral malady, but the hallucination of a diseased
-intellect. "In the meridian of her beauty," says Hawkins, in his History
-of Music, "and possessed of a large sum of money, which she had acquired
-by singing, Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage, and was married to Mr. Joseph
-Smith, a gentleman, who being appointed consul for the English nation,
-at Venice, she went thither with him. Mr. Smith was a great collector of
-books, and patron of the arts. He lived in great state and magnificence;
-but the disorder of his wife returning, she dwelt sequestered from the
-world, in a remote part of the house, and had a large garden to range
-in, in which she would frequently walk, singing and giving way to that
-innocent frenzy which had seized her in the early part of her life."
-
-The terrible affliction, which had fallen upon the favourite operatic
-vocalist, is touched upon by Steele, with singular want of feeling, of
-taste, and even of common decency, in No. 20 of the _Tatler_. "The
-theatre," he says, "is breaking, and there is a great desolation among
-the gentlemen and ladies who were the ornaments of the town, and used to
-shine in plumes and diadems, the heroes being most of them pressed, and
-the queens beating hemp." Then with more brutality than humour he adds,
-"The great revolutions of this nature bring to my mind the distress of
-the unfortunate 'Camilla,' who has had the ill luck to break before her
-voice, and to disappear at a time when her beauty was in the height of
-its bloom. This lady entered so thoroughly into the great characters she
-acted, that when she had finished her part she could not think of
-retrenching her equipage, but would appear in her own lodgings with the
-same magnificence as she did upon the stage. This greatness of soul has
-reduced that unhappy princess to a voluntary retirement, where she now
-passes her time among the woods and forests, thinking on the crowns and
-sceptres she has lost, and often humming over in her solitude:--
-
-    'I was born of royal race,
-     Yet must wander in disgrace, &c.'
-
-"But for fear of being overheard, and her quality known, she usually
-sings it in Italian:--
-
-    'Nacqui al regno, nacqui al trono,
-     E pur sono,
-     Sventatura pastorella.'"
-
-[Sidenote: STEELE AND DRURY LANE.]
-
-It is "the Christian soldier" who wrote this; who rejoiced in this
-anti-christian and cowardly spirit at the dark calamity which had
-befallen an amiable and charming vocalist, whose only fault was that
-she had aided the fortunes of a theatre abhorred by Steele. And what
-cause had Steele for detesting the Italian Opera with the unreasonable
-and really stupid hatred which he displayed towards it? Addison, as it
-seems to me, has been most unfairly attacked for his strictures on the
-operatic performances of his day. They were often just, they were never
-ill-natured, and they were always enveloped in such a delightful garb of
-humour, that there is not a sentence, certainly not a whole paper, and
-scarcely even a phrase,[14] in all he has published about the Opera,
-that a musician, unless already "enraged," would wish unwritten. It is
-unreasonable and unworthy to connect Addison's pleasantries on the
-subject of _Arsinoe_, _Camilla_, _Hydaspes_, and _Rinaldo_, with the
-failure of his _Rosamond_, which, as the reader is aware, was set to
-music by the ignorant impostor called Clayton. Addison, it is true, did
-not write any of his admirably humorous papers about the Italian Opera
-until after the production of _Rosamond_, but it was not until some time
-afterwards that the _Spectator_ first appeared. St. Evrémond, who was a
-great lover of the Opera, wrote much more against it than Addison. In
-fact, the new entertainment was the subject of the day. It was full of
-incongruities, and naturally recommended itself to the attention of
-wits; and we all know that, as a rule, wits do not deal in praise. All
-that _Rosamond_ proves is, that Addison liked the Opera or he would
-never have written it.
-
-But about this Christian Soldier who endeavours to convince his readers
-that music is a thing to be despised because it does not appeal to the
-understanding, and who laughs at the misfortunes of a poor lunatic
-because she is no longer able to attract the public by her singing from
-the dramatic theatre in which he took so deep an interest, and of which
-he afterwards became patentee?[15]
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL V. AMBROSE PHILLIPS.]
-
-Of course, if music appealed only to the understanding, mad Saul would
-have found no solace in the tones of David's harp, and it would be
-hideously irreverent to imagine the angels of heaven singing hymns to
-their Creator. Steele, of course, knew this, and also that the pleasure
-given by music is not a mere physical sensation, to be enjoyed as an
-Angora cat enjoys the smell of flowers, but he seems to have thought it
-was his duty (as it afterwards became his interest) to write up the
-drama and write down the Opera at all hazards. Powerful penmanship it
-must have been, however, that would have put down Handel, or that would
-have kept up Mr. Ambrose Phillips. It would have been easier, at least
-it would have been more successful, to have gone upon the other tack. We
-all know Handel, and (if the expression be permitted) he becomes more
-immortal every day. Steele, it is true, did not hold his music in any
-esteem, but Mozart, a competent judge in such matters, _did_, and
-reckoned it an honour to write additional accompaniments to the elder
-master's greatest work. And who was this Ambrose Phillips? some reader,
-not necessarily ignorant of his country's literature, may ask. He was
-Racine's thief. He stole _Andromaque_, and gave it to the English as his
-own, calling it prosaically and stupidly "The Distrest Mother," which is
-as if we should call "Abel" "The Uncivil Brother," or "Philoctetes" "The
-Man with the Bad Foot," or "Prometheus," "The Gentleman with the Liver
-Complaint." Steele wrote a paper[16] on the reading of this new tragedy,
-in which he declares that "the style of the play is such as becomes
-those of the first education, and the sentiments worthy of those of the
-highest figure." He also says, "I congratulate the age that they are at
-last to see truth and human life represented in the incidents which
-concern heroes and heroines."
-
-Translated Racine was very popular just then with writers who regarded
-Shakespeare as a dealer in the false sublime. "Would one think it was
-possible," asks Addison, "at a time when an author lived that was able
-to write the _Phedra and Hippolytus_ (translate _Phčdre_, that is to
-say), for a people to be so stupidly fond of the Italian Opera as scarce
-to give a third day's hearing to that admirable tragedy."
-
-Sensible people! It seems quite possible to us in the present day that
-they should have preferred Handel's music to Racine's rhymed prose,
-rendered into English rhymes by a man who had nothing of the poetical
-spirit which Racine, though writing in an unpoetical language, certainly
-possessed.
-
-The triumphant success of Handel's _Rinaldo_ was felt deeply by Steele
-and by the _Spectator's_ favourite composer Clayton, a bad musician, and
-apart from the practice of his art, as base a scoundrel as ever libelled
-a great man. But of course critics who besides expatiating on the
-blemishes of Shakespeare dwelt on the beauties of Racine as improved by
-Phillips, would be sure to enjoy the cacophony of Clayton;
-
-    "Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina Mćvi."
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-However we must leave the chivalrous Steele and his faithful minstrel
-for the present. We have done with the writer's triumphant gloating over
-the insanity of the poor _prima donna_. We shall presently see the
-musician publishing impudent falsehoods, under the auspices of his
-literary patron, concerning Handel and his genius, and endeavouring,
-always with the same protection, to form a cabal for the avowed purpose
-of driving him from the country which he was so greatly benefiting.
-
-Before Handel's arrival in England Steele had not only insulted operatic
-singers, but in recording the success of Scarlatti's _Pyrrhus and
-Demetrius_, had openly proclaimed his chagrin thereat. "This
-intelligence," he says, "is not very agreeable to our friends of the
-theatre."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, in which the celebrated Nicolini made his first
-appearance, was the last opera performed partly in English and partly in
-Italian.
-
-In 1710, _Almahide_, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, was
-played entirely in the Italian language, with Valentine, Nicolini,
-Margarita de l'Epine, Cassani, and "Signora Isabella" (Isabella
-Girardean), in the principal parts. The same year _Hydaspes_ was
-produced. This marvellous work, which is not likely to be forgotten by
-readers of the _Spectator_, was brought out under the direction of
-Nicolini, the sopranist, who performed the part of the hero. The other
-singers were those included in the cast of _Almahide_, with the addition
-of Lawrence, an English tenor, who was in the habit of singing in
-Italian operas, and of whom it was humourously said by Addison, in his
-proposition for an opera in Greek, that he "could learn to speak the
-language as well as he does Italian in a fortnight's time." "Hydaspes"
-is a sort of profane Daniel, who being thrown into an amphitheatre to be
-devoured by a lion, is saved not by faith, but by love; the presence of
-his mistress among the spectators inspiring him with such courage, that
-after appealing to the monster in a minor key, and telling him that he
-may tear his bosom but cannot touch his heart, he attacks him in the
-relative major, and strangles him.
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-"There is nothing of late years," says Addison, in one of the most
-amusing of his papers on the Opera, "that has afforded matter of greater
-amusement to the town than Signior Nicolini's combat with a lion in the
-Haymarket, which has been very often exhibited to the general
-satisfaction of most of the nobility and gentry in the kingdom of Great
-Britain." Upon the first rumour of this intended combat, it was
-confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both galleries,
-that there would be a tame lion sent from the tower every Opera night,
-in order to be killed by Hydaspes; this report, though altogether so
-universally prevalent in the upper regions of the play-house, that some
-of the most refined politicians in those parts of the audience gave it
-out in whisper, that the lion was a cousin-german of the tiger who made
-his appearance in King William's days, and that the stage would be
-supplied with lions at the public expense, during the whole session.
-Many likewise were the conjectures of the treatment which this lion was
-to meet with from the hands of Signior Nicolini; some supposed that he
-was to subdue him in recitative, as Orpheus used to serve the wild
-beasts in his time, and afterwards to knock him on the head; some
-fancied that the lion would not pretend to lay his paws upon the hero,
-by reason of the received opinion, that a lion will not hurt a virgin.
-Several who pretended to have seen the Opera in Italy, had informed
-their friends, that the lion was to act a part in high Dutch, and roar
-twice or thrice to a thorough bass, before he fell at the feet of
-Hydaspes. To clear up a matter that was so variously reported, I have
-made it my business to examine whether this pretended lion is really the
-savage he appears to be, or only a counterfeit.
-
-"But before I communicate my discoveries, I must acquaint the reader
-that upon my walking behind the scenes last winter, as I was thinking on
-something else, I accidentally justled against a monstrous animal that
-extremely startled me, and upon my nearer survey much surprised, told me
-in a gentle voice that I might come by him if I pleased, 'for,' says he,
-'I do not intend to hurt any body.' I thanked him very kindly, and
-passed by him; and in a little time after saw him leap upon the stage,
-and act his part with very great applause. It has been observed by
-several, that the lion has changed his manner of acting twice or thrice
-since his first appearance; which will not seem strange, when I acquaint
-my reader that the lion has been changed upon the audience three several
-times. The first lion was a candle-snuffer, who being a fellow of a
-testy choleric temper, overdid his part, and would not suffer himself to
-be killed so easily as he ought to have done; besides, it was observed
-of him, that he grew more surly every time he came out of the lion; and
-having dropped some words in ordinary conversation, as if he had not
-fought his best, and that he suffered himself to be thrown upon his back
-in the scuffle, and that he would wrestle with Mr. Nicolini for what he
-pleased, out of his lion's skin, it was thought proper to discard him;
-and it is verily believed to this day, that had he been brought upon the
-stage another time, he would certainly have done mischief. Besides, it
-was objected against the first lion, that he reared himself so high upon
-his hinder paws, and walked in so erect a posture, that he looked more
-like an old man than a lion.
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-"The second lion was a tailor by trade, who belonged to the play-house,
-and had the character of a mild and peaceable man in his profession. If
-the former was too furious, this was too sheepish for his part; insomuch
-that after a short modest walk upon the stage, he would fall at the
-first touch of Hydaspes, without grappling with him, and giving him an
-opportunity of showing his variety of Italian trips. It is said, indeed,
-that he once gave him a rip in his flesh colour doublet; but this was
-only to make work for himself, in his private character of a tailor. I
-must not omit that it was this second lion who treated me with so much
-humanity behind the scenes. The acting lion at present is, as I am
-informed, a country gentleman who does it for his diversion, but desires
-his name may be concealed. He says, very handsomely, in his own excuse,
-that he does not act for gain; that he indulges an innocent pleasure in
-it; and that it is better to pass away an evening in this manner, than
-in gaming and drinking; but at the same time says, with a very agreeable
-raillery upon himself, and that if his name should be known, the
-ill-natured world might call him 'the ass in the lion's skin.' This
-gentleman's temper is made out of such a happy mixture of the mild and
-the choleric, that he outdoes both his predecessors, and has drawn
-together greater audiences than have been known in the memory of man.
-
-"I must not conclude my narrative without taking notice of a groundless
-report that has been raised to a gentleman's disadvantage, of whom I
-must declare myself an admirer; namely, that Signior Nicolini and the
-lion have been sitting peaceably by one another, and smoking a pipe
-together, behind the scenes; by which their enemies would insinuate, it
-is but a sham combat which they represent upon the stage; but upon
-enquiry I find, that if any such correspondence has passed between them,
-it was not till the combat was over, when the lion was to be looked upon
-as dead, according to the received rules of the drama. Besides, this is
-what is practised every day in Westminster Hall, where nothing is more
-usual than to see a couple of lawyers, who have been tearing each other
-to pieces in the court, embracing one another.
-
-"I would not be thought, in any part of this relation, to reflect upon
-Signior Nicolini, who, in acting this part, only complies with the
-wretched taste of his audience; he knows very well that the lion has
-many more admirers than himself; as they say of the famous equestrian
-statue on the Pont Neuf at Paris, that more people go to see the horse
-than the king who sits upon it. On the contrary, it gives me a just
-indignation to see a person whose action gives new majesty to kings,
-resolution to heroes, and softness to lovers, thus sinking from the
-greatness of his behaviour, and degraded into the character of a London
-'prentice. I have often wished that our tragedians would copy after this
-great master in action. Could they make the same use of their arms and
-legs, and inform their faces with as significant looks and passions, how
-glorious would an English tragedy appear with that action which is
-capable of giving dignity to the forced thoughts, cold conceits, and
-unnatural expressions of an Italian Opera! In the meantime, I have
-related this combat of the lion, to show what are at present the
-reigning entertainments of the politer part of Great Britain."
-
-[Sidenote: RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.]
-
-But the operatic year of 1710 is remarkable for something more than the
-production of Almahide and Hydaspes; for in 1710 Handel arrived in
-England, and the year after brought out his Rinaldo, the first of the
-thirty-five operas which he gave to the English stage. For Handel we are
-indebted to Hanover. It was at Hanover that the English noblemen who
-invited him to London first met the great composer; and it was the
-Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I., who granted him permission to
-come, and who when he in his turn arrived in England to assume the
-crown, added considerably to the pension which Queen Anne had already
-granted to the former chapel-master of the Hanoverian court. In 1710 the
-director of the theatre in the Haymarket was Aaron Hill, who no sooner
-heard of Handel's arrival in London than he went to him, and requested
-him to compose an opera for his establishment. Handel consented, and
-Hill furnished him with a plan, sketched out by himself, on the subject
-of _Rinaldo and Armida_ in Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, the writing of
-the _libretto_ being entrusted to an Italian poet of some note named
-Rossi. In the advertisements of this opera Handel's name does not
-appear; not at least in that which calls attention to its first
-representation and which simply sets forth that "at the Queen's Theatre
-in the Haymarket will be performed a new opera called _Rinaldo_."
-
-It was in _Rinaldo_ that the celebrated operatic sparrows made their
-first appearance on the stage--with what success may be gathered from
-the following notice of their performance, which I extract from No. 5 of
-the _Spectator_.
-
-"As I was walking in the streets about a fortnight ago," says Addison,
-"I saw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his
-shoulder; and as I was wondering with myself what use he would put them
-to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the same
-curiosity. Upon his asking him what he had upon his shoulder, he told
-him that he had been buying sparrows for the opera. 'Sparrows, for the
-opera,' says his friend, licking his lips, 'What! are they to be
-roasted?' 'No, no,' says the other, 'they are to enter towards the end
-of the first act, and to fly about the stage.'
-
-[Sidenote: RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.]
-
-"This strange dialogue wakened my curiosity so far that I immediately
-bought the opera, by which means I perceived the sparrows were to act
-the part of singing birds in a delightful grove, though upon a nearer
-inquiry I found the sparrows put the same trick upon the audience that
-Sir Martin Mar-all practised upon his mistress; for though they flew in
-sight, the music proceeded from a concert of flageolets and bird-calls,
-which were planted behind the scenes. At the same time I made this
-discovery, I found by the discourse of the actors, that there were great
-designs on foot for the improvement of the Opera; that it had been
-proposed to break down a part of the wall, and to surprise the audience
-with a party of a hundred horse; and that there was actually a project
-of bringing the New River into the house, to be employed in jetteaus and
-waterworks. This project, as I have since heard, is postponed till the
-summer season, when it is thought that the coolness which proceeds from
-fountains and cascades will be more acceptable and refreshing to people
-of quality. In the meantime, to find out a more agreeable entertainment
-for the winter season, the opera of _Rinaldo_ is filled with thunder and
-lightning, illuminations, and fireworks; which the audience may look
-upon without catching cold, and indeed without much danger of being
-burnt; for there are several engines filled with water, and ready to
-play at a minute's warning, in case any such accident should happen.
-However, as I have a very great friendship for the owner of this
-theatre, I hope that he has been wise enough to insure his house before
-he would let this opera be acted in it.
-
-"But to return to the sparrows. There have been so many flights of them
-let loose in this opera, that it is feared the house will never get rid
-of them; and that in other plays they may make their entrance in very
-wrong and improper scenes, so as to be seen flying in a lady's
-bedchamber, or perching upon a king's throne; besides the inconveniences
-which the heads of the audience may sometimes suffer from them. I am
-credibly informed, that there was once a design of casting into an opera
-the story of 'Whittington and his Cat,' and that in order to it there
-had been set together a great quantity of mice, but Mr. Rich, the
-proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently considered that it would be
-impossible for the cat to kill them all, and that consequently the
-princes of the stage might be as much infested with mice as the prince
-of the island was before the cat's arrival upon it, for which reason he
-would not permit it to be acted in his house. And, indeed, I cannot
-blame him; for as he said very well upon that occasion, 'I do not hear
-that any of the performers in our opera pretend to equal the famous pied
-piper who made all the mice of a great town in Germany follow his music,
-and by that means cleared the place of those noxious little animals.'
-
-"Before I dismiss this paper, I must inform my reader that I hear that
-there is a treaty on foot between London and Wise,[17] (who will be
-appointed gardeners of the playhouse) to furnish the opera of _Rinaldo
-and Armida_ with an orange grove; and that the next time it is acted the
-singing birds will be impersonated by tom tits: the undertakers being
-resolved to spare neither pains nor money for the gratification of their
-audience."
-
-[Sidenote: HAMLET SET TO MUSIC.]
-
-Steele, in No. 14 of the _Spectator_, tells us that--"The sparrows and
-chaffinches at the Haymarket fly, as yet, very irregularly over the
-stage; and instead of perching on the trees and performing their parts,
-these young actors either get into the galleries or put out the
-candles," for which and other reasons equally good, he decides that Mr.
-Powell's Puppet-show is preferable as a place of entertainment to the
-Opera, and that Handel's _Rinaldo_ is inferior as a production of art to
-a puppet-show drama. Indeed, though Steele, in the _Tatler_, and Addison
-in the _Spectator_, have said very civil things about Nicolini, neither
-of them appears to have been impressed in the slightest degree by
-Handel's music, nor does it even seem to have occurred to them that the
-composer's share in producing an opera was by any means considerable.
-Steele, thought the Opera a decidedly "unintellectual" entertainment
-(how much purely intellectual enjoyment is there, we wonder, in the
-pleasure derived from the contemplation of a virgin, by Raphael, and
-what is the meaning in criticising art of looking at it merely in its
-intellectual aspect?); but he at the same time bears testimony to the
-high (ćsthetic) gratification he derived from the performance of
-Nicolini, who "by the grace and propriety of his action and gesture,
-does honour to the human figure," and who "sets off the character he
-bears in an opera by his action as much as he does the words of it by
-his voice."[18]
-
-In 1711, in addition to Handel's _Rinaldo_, _Antiochus_, an opera, by
-Apostolo Zeno and Gasparini, was performed, and about the same time, or
-soon afterwards, _Ambleto_, by the same author and composer, was brought
-out. If we smile at Signor Verdi for attempting to turn _Macbeth_ into
-an opera, what are we to say to Zeno's and Gasparini's experiment with
-the far more unsuitable tragedy of _Hamlet_? In _Macbeth_, the songs and
-choruses of witches, the banquet with the apparition of the murdered
-Banquo, and above all, the sleep-walking scene might well inspire a
-composer of genius; but a "Hamlet" without philosophy, or, worse still,
-a "Hamlet" who searches his own soul to orchestral accompaniments--this
-must indeed be absurd. I learn from Dr. Burney, that _Ambleto_ was
-written for Venice, that it was represented at the Queen's Theatre, in
-London, and that "the overture had four movements ending with a jig!" An
-overture to _Hamlet_ "ending with a jig!" To think that this was
-tolerated, and that we are shocked in the present day by burlesques put
-forth as such! The _Spectator_, while apparently keeping a sharp look
-out for all that is ridiculous, or that can be represented as ridiculous
-in the operatic performances of the day, has not a word to say against
-_Ambleto_. But it must be remembered that since Milton's time, "Nature's
-sweetest child" had ceased to be appreciated in England even by the most
-esteemed writers--who, however, for the most part, if they were not good
-critics, could claim no literary merit beyond that of style. In a paper
-on Milton, one of whose noblest sonnets is in praise of Shakespeare,
-Addison, after showing how, by certain verbal expedients, bathos may be
-avoided and sublimity attained, calmly points to the works of Lee and
-Shakespeare as affording instances of the false sublime[19], adding
-coolly that, "_in these authors_ the affectation of greatness often
-hurts the perspicuity of the style."
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-I have spoken of Steele's and Clayton's consternation, at the success of
-_Rinaldo_. Some months after the production of that work, the despicable
-Clayton, supported by two musicians named Nicolino Haym, and Charles
-Dieupart, (who were becomingly indignant at a foreigner like Handel
-presuming to entertain a British audience), wrote a letter to the
-_Spectator_, which Steele published in No. 258 of that journal,
-introducing it by a preface, full of wisdom, in which it is set forth
-that "pleasure and recreation of one kind or other are absolutely
-necessary to relieve our minds and bodies from too constant attention
-and labour," and that, "where public diversions are tolerated, it
-behoves persons of distinction, with their power and example, to preside
-over them in such a manner as to check anything that tends to the
-corruption of manners, or which is too mean or trivial for the
-entertainment of reasonable creatures." The letter from the "enraged
-musicians" is described as coming "from three persons who, as soon as
-named, will be thought capable of advancing the present state of
-music"--that is to say, of superseding Handel. But the same perverse
-public, which in spite of the _Spectator's_ remonstrances, preferred
-_Rinaldo_ to translated Racine, persisted in admiring Handel's music,
-and in paying no heed whatever to the cacophony of Clayton. Here is the
-letter from the three miserable musicasters to their patron and
-fellow-conspirator.
-
-"We, whose names are subscribed, think you the properest person to
-signify what we have to offer the town in behalf of ourselves, and the
-art which we profess,--music. We conceive hopes of your favour from the
-speculations on the mistakes which the town run into with regard to
-their pleasure of this kind; and believing your method of judging is,
-that you consider music only valuable, as it is agreeable to and
-heightens the purpose of poetry, we consent that it is not only the true
-way of relishing that pleasure, but also that without it a composure of
-music is the same thing as a poem, where all the rules of poetical
-numbers are observed, though the words have no sense or meaning; to say
-it shorter, mere musical sounds in our art are no other than
-nonsense-verses are in poetry." [A beautiful melody then, apart from
-words, said no more to these musicians, and to the patron whose idiotic
-theory they are so proud to have adopted than a set of nonsense-verses!]
-"Music, therefore, is to aggravate what is intended by poetry; it must
-always have some passion or sentiment to express, or else violins,
-voices, or any other organs of sound, afford an entertainment very
-little above the rattles of children. It was from this opinion of the
-matter, that when Mr. Clayton had finished his studies in Italy, and
-brought over the Opera of _Arsinoe_, that Mr. Haym and Mr. Dieupart, who
-had the honour to be well-known and received among the nobility and
-gentry, were zealously inclined to assist, by their solicitations, in
-introducing so elegant an entertainment, as the Italian music grafted
-upon English poetry." [Such poetry, for instance, as
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-    "Guide me, lead me,
-     Where the nymph whom I adore
-
-which occurred in Clayton's _Arsinoe_--Haym, it may be remembered, was
-the ingenious musician who arranged _Pyrrhus and Demetrius_ for the
-Anglo-Italian stage, when half of the music was sung in one language,
-and half in the other.] "For this end," continue the precious trio, "Mr.
-Dieupart and Mr. Haym, according to their several opportunities,
-promoted the introduction of _Arsinoe_, and did it to the best advantage
-so great a novelty would allow. It is not proper to trouble you with
-particulars of the just complaints we all of us have to make; but so it
-is that without regard to our obliging pains, we are all equally set
-aside in the present opera. Our application, therefore, to you is only
-to insert this letter in your paper, that the town may know we have all
-three joined together to make entertainments of music for the future at
-Mr. Clayton's house, in York Buildings. What we promise ourselves is, to
-make a subscription of two guineas, for eight times, and that the
-entertainment, with the names of the authors of the poetry, may be
-printed, to be sold in the house, with an account of the several authors
-of the vocal as well as the instrumental music for each night; the money
-to be paid at the receipt of the tickets, at Mr. Charles Lulli's. It
-will, we hope, sir, be easily allowed that we are capable of undertaking
-to exhibit, by our joint force and different qualifications, all that
-can be done in music" [how charmingly modest!] "but lest you should
-think so dry a thing as an account of our proposal should be a matter
-unworthy of your paper, which generally contains something of public
-use, give us leave to say, that favouring our design is no less than
-reviving an art, which runs to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge. We aim at establishing some settled notion of
-what is music, at recovering from neglect and want very many families
-who depend upon it, at making all foreigners who pretend to succeed in
-England to learn the language of it as we ourselves have done, and not
-be so insolent as to expect a whole nation, a refined and learned
-nation, should submit to learn theirs. In a word, Mr. Spectator, with
-all deference and humility, we hope to behave ourselves in this
-undertaking in such a manner, that all Englishmen who have any skill in
-music may be furthered in it for their profit or diversion by what new
-things we shall produce; never pretending to surpass others, or
-asserting that anything which is a science is not attainable by all men
-of all nations who have proper genius for it. We say, sir, what we hope
-for, it is not expected will arrive to us by contemning others, but
-through the utmost diligence recommending ourselves."
-
-Poor Clayton seems, here and there, to have really fancied that it was
-his mission to put down Handel, and stuck to him for some time in most
-pertinacious style. One is reminded of the writer who endeavoured to
-turn Wilhelm Meister into ridicule, and of the epigram which that
-attempt suggested to Goethe, ending:--
-
-    "Hat doch die Wallfisch seine Laus."
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-But Clayton was really a creator, and proposed nothing less than "to
-revive an art which was running to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge." One would have thought that this was going a
-little too far. Handel affecting knowledge--Handel a barbarian? Surely
-Steele in giving the sanction of his name to such assertions as these,
-puts himself in a lower position even than Voltaire uttering his
-celebrated dictum about the genius of Shakespeare; for after all,
-Voltaire was the first Frenchman to discover any beauties in Shakespeare
-at all, and it was in defending him against the stupid prejudices of
-Laharpe that he made use of the unfortunate expression with which he has
-so often been reproached, and which he put forward in the form of a
-concession to his adversary.
-
-Clayton and his second fiddles returned to the attack a few weeks
-afterwards (January 18th, 1712). "It is industriously insinuated," they
-complained, "that our intention is to destroy operas in general, but we
-beg of you (that is to say, the _Spectator_, as represented by Steele,
-who signs the number with his T) to insert this explanation of ourselves
-in your paper. Our purpose is only to improve our circumstances by
-improving the art which we profess" [the knaves are getting candid]. "We
-see it utterly destroyed at present, and as we were the persons who
-introduced operas, we think it a groundless imputation that we should
-set up against the Opera itself," &c., &c.
-
-What became of Clayton, Haym, and Dieupart, and their speculation, I do
-not know, nor do I think that any one can care. At all events, even with
-the assistance of Steele and the _Spectator_ they did not extinguish
-Handel.
-
-The most celebrated vocalist at the theatre in the Haymarket, from the
-arrival of Handel in England until after the formation of the Royal
-Academy of Music, in 1720, was Anastasia Robinson, a _contralto_, who
-was remarkable as much for her graceful acting as for her expressive
-singing. She made her first appearance in a _pasticcio_ called _Creso_,
-in 1714, and continued singing in the operas of Handel and other
-composers until 1724, when she contracted a private marriage with the
-Earl of Peterborough and retired from the stage. Lady Delany, an
-intimate friend of Lady Peterborough, communicated the following account
-of her marriage and the circumstances under which it was made, to Dr.
-Burney, who publishes it in his "History of Music."
-
-[Sidenote: ANASTASIA ROBINSON.]
-
-"Mrs. Anastasia Robinson was of middling stature, not handsome, but of a
-pleasing, modest countenance, with large blue eyes. Her deportment was
-easy, unaffected, and graceful. Her manner and address very engaging,
-and her behaviour on all occasions that of a gentlewoman, with perfect
-propriety. She was not only liked by all her acquaintance, but loved and
-caressed by persons of the highest rank, with whom she appeared always
-equal, without assuming. Her father's house, in Golden Square was
-frequented by all the men of genius and refined taste of the times.
-Among the number of persons of distinction who frequented Mr. Robinson's
-house, and seemed to distinguish his daughter in a particular manner,
-were the Earl of Peterborough and General H--. The latter had shown a
-long attachment to her, and his attentions were so remarkable that they
-seemed more than the effects of common politeness; and as he was a very
-agreeable man, and in good circumstances, he was favourably received,
-not doubting but that his intentions were honourable. A declaration of a
-very contrary nature was treated with the contempt it deserved, though
-Mrs. Robinson was very much prepossessed in his favour.
-
-"Soon after this, Lord Peterborough endeavoured to convince her of his
-partial regard for her; but, agreeable and artful as he was, she
-remained very much upon her guard, which rather increased than
-diminished his admiration and passion for her. Yet still his pride
-struggled with his inclination, for all this time she was engaged to
-sing in public, a circumstance very grievous to her; but, urged by the
-best of motives, she submitted to it, in order to assist her parents,
-whose fortune was much reduced by Mr. Robinson's loss of sight, which
-deprived him of the benefit of his profession as a painter.
-
-"At length Lord Peterborough made his declaration to her on honourable
-terms. He found it would be in vain to make proposals on any other, and
-as he omitted no circumstance that could engage her esteem and
-gratitude, she accepted them. He earnestly requested her keeping it a
-secret till a more convenient time for him to make it known, to which
-she readily consented, having a perfect confidence in his honour.
-
-"Mrs. A. Robinson had a sister, a very pretty accomplished woman, who
-married D'Arbuthnot's brother. After the death of Mr. Robinson, Lord
-Peterborough took a house near Fulham, in the neighbourhood of his own
-villa at Parson's-green, where he settled Mrs. Robinson and her mother.
-They never lived under the same roof, till the earl, being seized with a
-violent fit of illness, solicited her to attend him at Mount Bevis, near
-Southampton, which she refused with firmness, but upon condition that,
-though still denied to take his name, she might be permitted to wear her
-wedding-ring; to which, finding her inexorable, he at length consented.
-
-[Sidenote: ANASTASIA ROBINSON.]
-
-"His haughty spirit was still reluctant to the making a declaration that
-would have done justice to so worthy a character as the person to whom
-he was now united; and indeed his uncontrollable temper and high opinion
-of his own actions made him a very awful husband, ill suited to Lady
-Peterborough's good sense, amiable temper, and delicate sentiments. She
-was a Roman Catholic, but never gave offence to those of a contrary
-opinion, though very strict in what she thought her duty. Her excellent
-principles and fortitude of mind supported her through many severe
-trials in her conjugal state. But at last he prevailed on himself to do
-her justice, instigated, it is supposed by his bad state of health,
-which obliged him to seek another climate, and she absolutely refused to
-go with him unless he declared his marriage. Her attendance on him in
-this illness nearly cost her her life.
-
-"He appointed a day for all his nearest relations to meet him at the
-apartment over the gateway of St. James's palace, belonging to Mr.
-Poyntz, who was married to Lord Peterborough's niece, and at that time
-preceptor of Prince William, afterwards Duke of Cumberland. He also
-appointed Lady Peterborough to be there at the same time. When they were
-all assembled, he began a most eloquent oration, enumerating all the
-virtues and perfections of Mrs. A. Robinson, and the rectitude of her
-conduct during his long acquaintance with her, for which he acknowledged
-his great obligation and sincere attachment, declaring he was determined
-to do her that justice which he ought to have done long ago, which was
-presenting her to all his family as his wife. He spoke this harangue
-with so much energy, and in parts so pathetically, that Lady
-Peterborough, not being apprised of his intentions, was so affected that
-she fainted away in the midst of the company.
-
-"After Lord Peterborough's death, she lived a very retired life, chiefly
-at Mount Bevis, and was seldom prevailed on to leave that habitation but
-by the Duchess of Portland, who was always happy to have her company at
-Bulstrode, when she could obtain it, and often visited her at her own
-house.
-
-"Among Lord Peterborough's papers, she found his memoirs, written by
-himself, in which he declared he had been guilty of such actions as
-would have reflected very much upon his character, for which reason she
-burnt them. This, however, contributed to complete the excellency of her
-principles, though it did not fail giving offence to the curious
-inquirers after anecdotes of so remarkable a character as that of the
-Earl of Peterborough."
-
-[Sidenote: DUCAL CONNOISSEURS.]
-
-The deserved good fortune of Anastasia Robinson reminds me of the
-careers of two other vocalists of this period, one of them owed her
-elevation to a fortunate accident; while the third, though she entered
-upon the same possible road to the peerage as the second, yet never
-attained it. "The Duke of Bolton," says Swift, in one of his letters,
-"has run away with Polly Peachum, having settled four hundred a year on
-her during pleasure, and upon disagreement, two hundred more." This was
-the charming Lavinia Fenton, the original Polly of the Beggars' Opera,
-between whom and the Duke the disagreement anticipated by the amiable
-Swift never took place. Twenty-three years after the elopement, the
-Duke's wife died, and Lavinia then became the Duchess of Bolton. She
-was, according to the account given of her by Dr. Joseph Warton, "a very
-accomplished and most agreeable companion; had much wit, good strong
-sense, and a just taste in polite literature.
-
-Her person was agreeable and well made," continues Dr. Warton, "though I
-think she never could be called a beauty. I have had the pleasure of
-being at table with her, when her conversation was much admired by the
-first character of the age, particularly by old Lord Bathurst and Lord
-Granville."
-
-The beautiful Miss Campion, who was singing about the same time as Mrs.
-Tofts, and who died in 1706, when she was only eighteen, did _not_
-become the Duchess of Devonshire; but the heart-broken old Duke, who
-appears to have been most fervently attached to her, buried her in his
-family vault in the church of Latimers, Buckinghamshire, and placed a
-Latin inscription on her monument, testifying that she was wise beyond
-her years, and bountiful to the poor even beyond her abilities; and at
-the theatre, where she had some times acted, modest and pure; but being
-seized with a hectic fever, she had submitted to her fate with a firm
-confidence and Christian piety; and that William, Duke of Devonshire,
-had, upon her beloved remains, erected this tomb as sacred to her
-memory.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE ITALIAN OPERA UNDER HANDEL.
-
-     Handel at Hamburgh.--Handel in London.--The Queen's Theatre.--The
-     Royal Academy of Music.--Operatic Feuds.--Porpora and the
-     Nobility's Opera.
-
-
-The great dates of Handel's career as an operatic composer and director
-are:--
-
-1711, when he produced _Rinaldo_, his first opera, at the Queen's
-Theatre, in the Haymarket;
-
-1720, when the Royal Academy of Music was established under his
-management at the same theatre, (which, with the accession of George I.,
-had become "the King's");
-
-1734, when in commencing the season at the King's Theatre with a new
-company, he had to contend against the "Nobility's Opera" just opened at
-the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, under the direction of Porpora;
-
-1735, when he moved to Covent Garden, Porpora and "la nobilita
-Britannica" going at the same time to the King's Theatre.
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.]
-
-Both operas failed in 1737, and Handel then went back to the King's
-Theatre, for which he wrote his last opera _Deidamia_ in 1740.
-
-Of Handel's arrival in England, and of the manner in which his first
-opera was received, I have spoken in the preceding chapter. Of his
-previous life in Germany but little is recorded; indeed, he left that
-country at the age of twenty-five. It is known, however, that he was for
-some time engaged at the Hamburgh theatre, where operas had been
-performed in the German language since 1678. Rinuccini's _Dafne_, set to
-music by Schutz, was represented, as has been already mentioned, at
-Dresden in 1627, (or according to other accounts 1630); but this was a
-private affair in honour of a court marriage, and the first opera
-produced in Germany in public, and in the German language, was Thiele's
-_Adam and Eve_, which was given at Hamburgh in 1678. The reputation of
-Keiser at the court of Wolfenbüttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh
-Theatre, towards the close of the century, to send and offer him an
-engagement; he accepted it, and in the course of twenty-seven years
-produced as many as one hundred and sixty operas. Mattheson states that
-both Handel and Hasse (who was afterwards director of the celebrated
-Dresden Opera) formed their styles on that of Keiser.[20] Mattheson,
-himself a composer, succeeded Keiser as conductor of the orchestra at
-the Hamburgh Theatre, holding that post, however, conjointly with
-Handel, whose quarrel and duel with Mattheson have often been related.
-Handel was presiding in the orchestra while Mattheson was on the stage
-performing in an opera of his own composition. The opera being
-concluded, Mattheson proposed to take Handel's place at the harpsichord,
-which the latter refused to give up. The rival conductors quarrelled as
-they were leaving the theatre. The quarrel led to a blow and the blow to
-a fight with swords in the market place, which was terminated by
-Mattheson breaking the point of his sword on one of his antagonist's
-buttons, or as others have it, on the score of his own opera, which
-Handel carried beneath his coat.
-
-Handel went from Hamburgh to Hanover, where, as we have seen, he
-received an invitation from some English noblemen to visit London, and,
-with the permission and encouragement of the Elector, accepted it.
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.]
-
-Handel's _Rinaldo_ was followed at the King's Theatre by his _Il Pastor
-Fido_ (1712), his _Teseo_ (1713), and his _Amadigi_ (1715). Soon after
-the production of _Amadigi_, the performances at the King's Theatre seem
-to have ceased until 1720, when the "Royal Academy of Music" was formed.
-This so-called "Academy" was the result of a project to establish a
-permanent Italian opera in London. It was supported by a number of the
-nobility, with George I. at their head, and a fund of Ł50,000 was
-raised among the subscribers, to which the king contributed Ł1,000. The
-management of the "Academy" was entrusted to a governor, a deputy
-governor, and twenty directors, (why not to a head master and
-assistants?) and for the first year the Duke of Newcastle was appointed
-governor; Lord Bingley, deputy governor; while among the directors were
-the Dukes of Portland and Queensberry, the Earls of Burlington, Stair
-and Waldegrave, Lords Chetwynd and Stanhope, Sir John Vanburgh,
-(architect of the theatre), Generals Dormer, Wade, and Hunter, &c. The
-worse than unmeaning title given to the new opera was of course imitated
-from the French; the governor, deputy governor, and directors being
-doubtless unacquainted with the circumstances under which the French
-Opera received the misnomer which it still retains.[21] They might have
-known, however, that the "Académie Royale" of Paris, at that time under
-the direction of Rameau, was held in very little esteem, except by the
-French themselves, as an operatic theatre, and moreover, that Italian
-music was never performed there at all. Indeed, for half a century
-afterwards, the French execrated Italian music and would not listen to
-Italian singers--which gives us some notion of what musical taste in
-France must have been at the time of our Royal Academy being founded.
-The title would have been absurd even if the French Opera had been the
-finest in Europe; as it was nothing of the kind, and as it was,
-moreover, sworn to its own native psalmody, to give such a title to an
-Italian theatre, supported by musicians and singers of the greatest
-excellence, was a triple absurdity. Strangely enough, even in the
-present day, the Americans, as ingenious as the English of George I.'s
-reign, call their magnificent Italian Opera House at New York the
-Academy of Music. As a matter of association, it would be far more
-reasonable to call it the "St. Charles's Theatre," or the "Scale
-Theatre."
-
-The musical direction of our Royal Academy of Music was confided to
-Handel, who, besides composing for the theatre himself, engaged
-Buononcini and Ariosti to write for it. He also proceeded to Dresden,
-already celebrated throughout Europe for the excellence of its Italian
-Opera, and engaged Senesino, Berenstadt, Boschi, and Signora Durastanti.
-
-Handel's first opera at the Royal Academy of Music was _Radamisto_,
-which was hailed on its production as its composer's masterpiece. "It
-seems," says Dr. Burney, "as if he was not insensible of its worth, as
-he dedicated a book of the words to the king, George I., subscribing
-himself his Majesty's 'most faithful subject,' which, as he was neither
-a Hanoverian by birth, nor a native of England, seems to imply his
-having been naturalised here by a bill in Parliament."
-
-[Sidenote: ACADEMIES OF MUSIC.]
-
-Buononcini, (who, compared with Handel, was a ninny, though others said
-that to him Handel was scarcely fit to hold a candle, &c.) produced his
-first opera also in 1720. It was received with much favour, and by the
-Buononcinists with enthusiasm.
-
-The next opera was _Muzio Scevola_, composed by Handel, Buononcini, and
-Ariosti together. It is said that the task of joint production was
-imposed upon the three musicians by the masters of the Academy, by way
-of competitive examination, and with a view to test the abilities of
-each in a decisive manner. If there were any grounds for believing the
-story, it might be asked, who among the directors were thought, or
-thought themselves qualified to act as judges in so difficult and
-delicate a matter.
-
-In the meanwhile the opera of the three composers did but little good to
-the theatre, which, in spite of its admirable company, was found a
-losing speculation, after a little more than a year, to the extent of
-Ł15,000. Thirty-five thousand pounds remained to be paid up, but the
-rest of the subscription money was not forthcoming, and the directors
-were unable to obtain it until after they had advertised in the
-newspapers that defaulters would be proceeded against "with the utmost
-rigour of the law."
-
-A new mode of subscription was then devised, by which tickets were
-granted for the season of fifty performances on receipt of ten guineas
-down, and an engagement to pay five guineas more on the 1st of February,
-and a second five guineas on the 1st of May. Thus originated the
-operatic subscription list which has been continued with certain
-modifications, and with a few short intervals, up to the present day.
-
-Buononcini's _Griselda_, which passes for his best opera, was produced
-in 1722, with Anastasia Robinson in the part of the heroine. Handel's
-_Ottone_ and _Flavio_ were brought out in 1723; his _Giulio Cesare_ and
-_Tamerlano_ in 1724; his _Rodelinda_ in 1725; his _Scipione_ and
-_Alessandro_ in 1726; his _Admeto_ and _Ricardo_ in 1727; his _Siroe_
-and _Tolomeo_ in 1728--when the Royal Academy of Music, which had been
-carried on with varying success, and on the whole with considerable ill
-success, finally closed.
-
-[Sidenote: FAILURE OF ITALIAN OPERA IN LONDON.]
-
-Buononcini's last opera, _Astyanax_, was produced in 1727, after which
-the Duchess of Marlborough, his constant patroness, gave the composer a
-pension of five hundred a year. A few years afterwards, however, he
-stole a madrigal, the invention of a Venetian named Lotti, and the theft
-having been discovered and clearly proved, Buononcini left the country
-in disgrace. Similar thefts are practised in the present day, but with
-discretion and with ingeniously worded title pages. Buononcini should
-have simply called his plagiarism a "Venetian Madrigal, dedicated to the
-Duchess of Marlborough by G. Buononcini." This unfortunate composer,
-whom Swift had certainly described in a prophetic spirit as "a ninny,"
-left England in 1733, with an Italian Count whose title appears to have
-been about as authentic as Buononcini's madrigal, and who pretended to
-possess the art of making gold, but abstained from practising it
-otherwise than by swindling. Buononcini was for a time the dupe of this
-impostor. In the meanwhile he continued the exercise of his profession,
-at Paris, where we lose sight of him. In 1748, however, he went to
-Vienna, and by command of the Emperor composed the music for the
-festivities given in celebration of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Thence
-he proceeded with Montecelli, the composer, to Venice, where the affair
-of the madrigal was probably by this time forgotten. At all events, no
-importance was attached to it, and Buononcini was engaged to write an
-opera for the Carnival. He was at this time nearly ninety years of age.
-The date of his death is not recorded, but Dr. Burney tells us that he
-is supposed to have lived till nearly a hundred.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BEGGARS' OPERA.]
-
-Besides the annual subscriptions, to the Royal Academy of Music the
-whole of the original capital of Ł50,000 was spent in seven years. In
-spite, then, of the admirable works produced by Handel, the unrivalled
-company by which they were executed, and the immense sums of money
-lavished upon the entertainment generally, the Italian Opera in London
-proved in 1728 what it had proved twelve years before, a positive and
-unmistakable failure. This could scarcely have been owing, as has been
-surmised, to the violence of the disputes concerning the merits of
-Handel and Buononcini, the composers, or of Faustina and Cuzzoni, the
-singers, for the natural effect of such contests would have been to keep
-up an interest in the performances. Probably few at that time had any
-real love for Italian music. A certain number, no doubt, attended the
-Italian Opera for the sake of fashion, but the greater majority of the
-theatre-going public were quite indifferent to its charms. Dr.
-Arbuthnot, one of the few literary men of the day who seems to have
-really cared for music, writes as follows, in the _London Journal_,
-under the date of March 23rd, 1728:--"As there is nothing which
-surprises all true lovers of music more than the neglect into which the
-Italian operas are at present fallen, so I cannot but think it a very
-extraordinary instance of the fickle and inconstant temper of the
-English nation, a failing which they have always been endeavouring to
-cast upon their neighbours in France, but to which they themselves have
-just as good a title, as will appear to any one who will take the
-trouble to consult our historians." He points out that after adopting
-the Italian Opera with eagerness, we began, as soon as we had obtained
-it in perfection, to make it a pretext for disputes instead of enjoying
-it, and concludes that it was supported among us for a time, not from
-genuine taste, but simply from fashion. He observes that _The Beggars'
-Opera_, then just produced, was "a touchstone to try British taste on,"
-and that it has "proved effectual in discovering our true inclinations,
-which, however artfully they may have been disguised for a while, will
-one time or another, start up and disclose themselves. Ćsop's story of
-the cat, who, at the petition of her lover, was changed into a fine
-woman, is pretty well known, notwithstanding which alteration, we find
-that upon the appearance of a mouse, she could not resist the temptation
-of springing out of her husband's arms to pursue it, though it was on
-the very wedding night. Our English audience have been for some time
-returning to their cattish nature, of which some particular sounds from
-the gallery have given us sufficient warning. And since they have so
-openly declared themselves, I must only desire that they will not think
-they can put on the fine woman again just when they please, but content
-themselves with their skill in caterwauling. For my own part, I cannot
-think it would be any loss to real lovers of music, if all those false
-friends who have made pretensions to it only in compliance with the
-fashion, would separate themselves from them; provided our Italian Opera
-could be brought under such regulations as to go on without them. We
-might then be able to sit and enjoy an entertainment of this sort, free
-from those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres, without
-any regard, not only to performers, but even to the presence of Majesty
-itself. In short, my comfort is, that though so great a desertion may
-force us so to contract the expenses of our operas, as would put an end
-to our having them in as great perfection as at present, yet we shall be
-able at least to hear them without interruption."
-
-The Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes, to which Arbuthnot alludes, where he
-speaks of "those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres,"
-appear to have been quite as violent as those with which the names of
-Handel and Buononcini are associated. Most of this musical party-warfare
-(of which the most notorious examples are those just mentioned, the
-Gluck and Piccinni contests in Paris, and the quarrels between the
-admirers of Madame Mara and Madame Todi in the same city) has been
-confined to England and France, though a very pretty quarrel was once
-got up at the Dresden Theatre, between the followers of Faustina, at
-that time the wife of Hasse the composer, and Mingotti. The Italians
-have shown themselves changeable and capricious, and have often hissed
-one night those whom they have applauded the night afterwards; but, in
-the Italian Theatres, we find no instances of systematic partisanship
-maintained obstinately and stolidly for years, and I fancy that it is
-only among unmusical nations, or in an unmusical age, that anything of
-the kind takes place. The ardour and duration of such disputes are
-naturally in proportion to the ignorance and folly of the disputants. In
-science, or even in art, where the principles of art are well
-understood, they are next to impossible. Self-styled connoisseurs,
-however, with neither taste nor knowledge can go on squabbling about
-composers and singers, especially if they never listen to them, to all
-eternity.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni were both admirable vocalists, and in entirely
-different styles, so that there was not even the shadow of a pretext
-for praising one at the expense of the other. Tosi, their contemporary,
-in his _Osservazzioni sopra il Canto Figurato_,[22] thus compares them:
-"The one," he says (meaning Faustina), "is inimitable for a privileged
-gift of singing and enchanting the world with an astonishing felicity in
-executing difficulties with a brilliancy I know not whether derived from
-nature or art, which pleases to excess. The delightful soothing
-cantabile of the other, joined to the sweetness of a fine voice, a
-perfect intonation, strictness of time, and the rarest productions of
-genius in her embellishments, are qualifications as peculiar and
-uncommon as they are difficult to be imitated. The pathos of the one and
-the rapidity of the other are distinctly characteristic. What a
-beautiful mixture it would be, if the excellences of these two angelic
-beings could be united in a single individual!"
-
-Quantz, the celebrated flute-player, and teacher of that instrument to
-Frederic the Great, came to London in 1727, and heard Handel's _Admeto_
-executed to perfection at the Royal Academy of Music. The principal
-parts were filled by Senesino, Cuzzoni and Faustina, and Quantz's
-account of the two latter agrees, with that given by Signor Tosi.
-Cuzzoni had a soft limpid voice, a pure intonation, a perfect shake. Her
-style was simple, noble and touching. In allegro movements, her rapidity
-of execution was not remarkable, &c., &c. Her acting was cold, and
-though she was very beautiful, her beauty produced no effect on the
-stage. Faustina, on the other hand, was passionate and full of
-expression, as an actress, while as a vocalist she was remarkable for
-the fluency and brilliancy of her articulation, and could sing with ease
-what would have been considered difficult passages for the violin. Her
-rapid repetition of the same note--(the violin "_tremolo_") was one of
-her most surprising feats. This artifice was afterwards imitated with
-the greatest success by Farinelli, Monticelli, Visconti, and the
-charming Mingotti, and at a later period, Madame Catalani produced some
-of her greatest effects in the same style.
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni made their first appearance together at Venice in
-1719. In 1725, Faustina went to Vienna, and met with an enthusiastic
-reception from the habitués of the Court Theatre. She left Vienna the
-same year for London, where she arrived when Cuzzoni's reputation was at
-its height.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Cuzzoni made her first appearance in London in 1723, and was a member of
-Handel's company when the singers were engaged, at the suggestion of the
-regent, to give a series of performances in Paris; this engagement,
-which was due in the first instance to the solicitations of the
-Marchioness de Prie, was, as I have already mentioned, never carried
-out. Whether the Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes originated with a cabal
-against the singer in possession of the public favour, or whether the
-admirers of the accepted favorite felt it their duty to support her by
-attacking all new comers, is not by any means clear; but Faustina had
-scarcely arrived when the feud commenced. Quanta tells us that as soon
-as one began to sing, the partisans of the other began to hiss. The
-Cuzzoni party, which was headed by the Countess of Pembroke, made a
-point of hissing whenever Faustina appeared. Faustina, who if not
-better-looking, was more agreeable than Cuzzoni, had most of the men on
-her side. Her patronesses were the Countess of Burlington and Lady
-Delawar.
-
-The most remarkable of the many disturbances caused by the rivalry
-between these two singers (forced upon them as it was) took place in
-June 1727. The _London Journal_ of June 10th in that year, tells us in
-its description of the affair, that "the contention at first was only
-carried on by hissing on one side and clapping on the other, but
-proceeded at length to the melodious use of cat-calls and other
-accompaniments which manifested the zeal and politeness of that
-illustrious assembly." We are further informed that the Princess
-Catherine was there, but neither her Royal Highness's presence, nor the
-laws of decorum could restrain the glorious ardour of the combatants.
-The appearance of Faustina appears to have been the signal for the
-commencement of this disgraceful riot, to judge from the following
-epigram on the proceedings of the night.
-
-    "Old poets sing that beasts did dance,
-       Whenever Orpheus played;
-     So to Faustina's charming voice
-       Wise Pembroke's asses brayed."
-
-Cuzzoni had also her poet, and her departure from England was the
-occasion of the following pretty but silly lines, addressed to her by
-Ambrose Phillips:--
-
-    "Little Syren of the stage,
-       Charmer of an idle age,
-     Empty warbler, breathing lyre,
-       Wanton gale of fond desire;
-     Bane of every manly art,
-       Sweet enfeebler of the heart,
-     O, too pleasing is thy strain,
-       Hence to Southern climes again!
-     Tuneful mischief, vocal spell,
-       To this island bid farewell;
-     Leave us as we ought to be,
-       Leave the Britons rough and free."
-
-
-The Britons had shown themselves sufficiently "rough and free," while
-Cuzzoni was singing to them. The circumstances of this vocalist's
-leaving London were rather curious, and show to what an extent the
-Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes must have disgusted the directors of the
-Academy; the caprice of one of them must also have irritated Handel
-considerably, for it is related that once when Cuzzoni, at a rehearsal,
-positively refused to sing an air that Handel had written for her, she
-could only be convinced of the necessity of doing so by the composer
-threatening to throw her out of the window. It was known that each was
-about to sign a new contract, and Cuzzoni's patronesses made her take an
-oath not to accept lower terms than Faustina. The directors ingeniously
-and politely took advantage of this, and offered her exactly one guinea
-less.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Cuzzoni made her retreat, and Faustina remained in possession of the
-field of battle.
-
-However, Faustina, after the failure of the Academy in the following
-year, herself returned to Italy, and met her rival at Venice in 1729,
-and again, in 1730. Cuzzoni returned to London in 1734, and sang at the
-Opera in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, established under the direction of
-Porpora, in opposition to Handel. She visited London a third time in
-1750, when a concert was given for her benefit; but the poor little
-syren was now old and infirm; she had lost her voice, and even the
-enemies of Faustina would not come to applaud her. This stage queen had
-a most melancholy end. From England she went to Holland, where she was
-imprisoned for debt, being allowed, however, to go out in the evenings
-(doubtless under the guardianship of a jailer) and sing at the theatres,
-by which means she gained enough money to obtain her liberation. Having
-quite lost her voice, she is said to have maintained herself for some
-time at Bologna by button-making. The manner of her death is not known;
-but probably she had the same end as those stage-queens mentioned by the
-dramatic critic in _Candide_: "_On les adore quand elles sont belles, on
-les jette a la voirie quand elles sont mortes_."
-
-The career of Faustina on the other hand did not belie her auspicious
-name. In 1727, at Venice, she met Hasse, whose music owed much of its
-success to her admirable singing. The composer fell in love with this
-charming vocalist, married her, and in 1730 accepted an offer from
-Augustus, King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, to direct the Opera of
-Dresden. Here Faustina renewed her successes, and for fifteen years
-reigned with undisputed supremacy at the Court Theatre. Then, however, a
-new Cuzzoni appeared in the person of Signora Mingotti.
-
-[Sidenote: MINGOTTI.]
-
-Regina Valentini, a pupil and domestic at the Convent of the Ursulines,
-possessed a beautiful voice, but so little taste for household work,
-that to avoid its drudgery and the ridicule to which her inability to go
-through it exposed her, she resolved to make what profit she could out
-of her singing. Old Mingotti, the manager, was willing enough to aid her
-in this laudable enterprise; and accordingly married her and put her
-under the tuition of Porpora, the future opponent of Handel, and actual
-rival of Hasse. In due time Mingotti made her first appearance at the
-Dresden Opera, when her singing called forth almost unanimous applause;
-we say "almost," because Hasse and some of his personal friends
-persisted in denying her talent. The successful _débutante_ was offered
-a lucrative engagement at Naples, where she created the greatest
-enthusiasm by her performance of the part of _Aristea_ in the
-_Olimpiade_, with music by Galuppi. Mingotti was now the great singer of
-the day; she received propositions from managers in all parts of Europe,
-but decided to return to the scene of her earnest triumphs at Dresden.
-This was in 1748.
-
-Haase was then composing his _Demofonte_. He knew well enough the
-strong, and thought he had remarked the weak, points in Mingotti's
-voice; and, in order to show the latter to the greatest possible
-disadvantage, provided the unsuspecting singer with an adagio which rose
-and fell upon the very notes which he considered the most doubtful in
-her unusually perfect organ. To render the vocalist's deficiencies as
-apparent as possible, he did the next thing to making her sing the
-insidious _adagio_ without accompaniment; for the only accompaniment he
-wrote for it was a _pizzicato_ of violins. Regina at the very first
-rehearsal, understood the snare, said nothing about it, but studied her
-_adagio_ till she sang it with such perfection that what had been
-intended to discover her weakness only served in the most striking
-manner to exhibit her strength. The air which was to have ruined
-Mingotti's reputation brought her the greatest success she had ever
-obtained. Her execution was so faultless that Faustina herself could
-find nothing to say against it. A story is told of Sir Charles Williams,
-the English Minister at the Court of Dresden, who had taken a prominent
-part in the Hasse and Faustina cabal, and had been in the habit of
-saying that Mingotti was doubtless a brilliant singer, but that in the
-expressive style and in passages of sustained notes she was heard to
-disadvantage--a story is told of this candid and gentlemanly critic
-going to Mingotti after she had sung her treacherous solo, and
-apologizing to her publicly for ever having entertained a doubt as to
-the completeness of her talent.
-
-Hasse remained thirty-three years in the service of the Elector and made
-the Dresden Opera the first in Europe; but in 1763 the troubles of
-unhappy Poland having begun, he retired with Faustina on a small pension
-to Vienna and thence to Venice, where they both died in the year 1783,
-Hasse being then eighty-four years of age and his wife ninety.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The most celebrated of the other singers at the Royal Academy of Music
-were Durastanti and Senesino, both of whom were engaged by Handel at
-Dresden, and appeared in London at the opening of the new establishment.
-In 1723, however, Cuzzoni arrived, and Durastanti, acknowledging the
-superior merit of that singer, took her departure. At least the
-acknowledgment was made for her in a song written by Pope, which she
-addressed to the audience at her farewell performance, and which ended
-with this couplet:--
-
-    "But let old charmers yield to new;
-     Happy soil, adieu, adieu!"
-
-[Sidenote: SENESINO.]
-
-Either singers were very different then from what they are now, or
-Durastanti could not have understood these lines, which, strangely
-enough, are said to have been written by Pope at the desire of her
-patron, the Earl of Peterborough. Surely Anastasia Robinson, the future
-Countess, would not have thanked the earl for such a compliment, in
-however perfect a style it might have been expressed. Madame Durastanti
-appears to have been much esteemed in England, and I read in the
-_Evening Post_ of March 7th, 1721, that "Last Thursday, His Majesty was
-pleased to stand godfather, and the Princess and the Lady Bruce
-godmothers, to a daughter of Mrs. Durastanti, chief singer in the opera
-house. The Marquis Visconti for the king, and the Lady Lichfield for the
-princess."
-
-Senesino, successor to Nicolini, and the second of the noble order of
-sopranists who appeared in England, was the principal contralto singer
-("_modo vir, modo foemina_") in Handel's operas, until 1726, when the
-state of his health compelled him to return to Italy. He came back to
-England in 1730, and resumed his position at the King's Theatre, under
-Handel. In 1733, when the rival company was formed at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, Senesino joined it, but retired after the appearance of
-Farinelli, who at once eclipsed all other singers.
-
-Steele's journal, _The Theatre_, entertains us with a brief account of
-the vanity of one Signor Beneditti, who appears to have performed
-principal parts, at least for a time, at the Opera in 1720. The paper,
-which is written by Sir Richard Steele's coadjutor, Sir John Edgar,
-commences with a furious onslaught on a company of French actors, who
-were at that time performing in London, and of whose opening
-representation we are told that "if we are any longer to march on two
-legs, and not be quite prone, and on all four like the other animals"
-we must "assume manhood and humane indignation against so barbarous an
-affront. But I foresee," continues Sir John,[23] "that the theatre is to
-be utterly destroyed, and sensation is to banish reflection as sound is
-to beat down sense. The head and the heart are to be moved no more, but
-the basest parts of the body to be hereafter the sole instruments of
-human delight. A regular, orderly, and well-governed company of actors,
-that lived in reputation and credit and under decent settlement are to
-be torn to pieces and made vagabond, to make room for even foreign
-vagrants, who deserved no reception but in Bridewell, even before they
-affronted the assembly, composed of British nobility and gentry, with
-representations that could introduce nothing of even French except, &c.
-....Though the French are so boisterous and void of all moderation or
-temper in their conduct, the Italians are a more tractable and elegant
-nation. If the French players have laid aside all shame, the Italian
-singers are as eminently nice and delicate, which the reader will
-observe from the following account I have received from the Haymarket.
-
-[Sidenote: CAPRICES OF SINGERS.]
-
-     "'Sir,--
-
-     "'It happened in casting parts for the new opera, Signor Beneditti
-     conceived he had been greatly injured, and applied to the board of
-     directors for redress. He set forth in the recitative tone, the
-     nearest approaching to ordinary speech, that he had never acted
-     anything in any other opera below the character of a sovereign, and
-     now he was to be appointed to be captain of a guard. On these
-     representations, we directed that he should make love to Zenobia,
-     with proper limitations. The chairman signified to him that the
-     board had made him a lover, but he must be content to be an
-     unfortunate one, and be rejected by his mistress. He expressed
-     himself very easy under this, and seemed to rejoice that,
-     considering the inconstancy of women, he could only feign, not
-     pursue the passion to extremity. He muttered very much against
-     making him only the guard to the character he had formerly appeared
-     in,'" &c.
-
-A small and not uninteresting volume might be written about the caprices
-of singers and their behaviour under real or imaginary slights. One of
-the best stories of the kind is told of Crescentini, who, three-quarters
-of a century later, at the first representation of _Gli Orazi e
-Curiazi_, observed immediately before the commencement of the
-performance, that the costume of _Orazio_ was more magnificent than his
-own. He sent for the stage manager, and burning with rage, addressed him
-as follows:--
-
-"_Perche_," he commenced, "avez vous donné _oun_ habit blanc ŕ ce
-_mossiou_; et _che_ vous m'en avez gratifié _d'oun_ vert?"
-
-It was explained to the singer that there was a tradition at the
-Comédie Francaise by which the costume of the principal Horatius was
-white and that of the chief of the Curiatii, green.
-
-"_Perché_ la _bordoure rouze_ ŕ un _primo tenore_, el la _bordoure_
-noire ŕ _oun primo virtuoso_?" continued the incensed sopranist.
-
-"No one was thinking," replied the stage manager, "of your positions as
-singers; our only object was to make the costumes as correct as
-possible."
-
-"Votre _ousaze_ et votre _ezatitoude_ sont des imbéciles," exclaimed
-Crescentini; "_zé mé lagnérai_ de votre condouite envers moi. Quant ŕ
-vous, _mossiou_ Brizzi _fate-mi il piacere_ dé vous déshabiller _subito_
-et dé mé fairé passer _questo vestito in baratto dou_ mien qué zé vais
-vous envoyer. _Per Bacco!_ non _si dirŕ qu'oun tenore_ aura _parou miou
-vétou qu'oun primo oumo, surtout_ quand ce _primo virtuoso_ est Girolamo
-Crescentini d'Urbino."
-
-An exchange took place on the spot, and throughout the evening a
-Curiatius, six feet high, was seen wearing a little Roman costume, which
-looked as if it would burst with each movement of the singer, while a
-diminutive Horatius was attired in a long Alban tunic, of which the
-skirt trailed along the ground.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AND HEIDEGGER.]
-
-But the singers are taking us away from the Opera. Let us return to
-Handel, all of whose vocalists together, admirable as they were, could
-not save the Royal Academy of Music from ruin. After the final failure
-of that enterprise in 1728, the directors entered into an arrangement
-with Heidegger for opening the King's Theatre under their joint
-management. Handel went to Italy to engage new singers, but did not make
-a very brilliant selection. Heidegger, nevertheless, did his duty as a
-manager, and introduced the principal members of the new company to
-public notice in the following "puff direct," which, for cool unadorned
-impudence, has not been surpassed even in the present day. "Mr. Handel,
-who is just returned from Italy, has contracted with the following
-persons to perform in the Italian Operas, Signor Bernacchi, who is
-esteemed the best singer in Italy; Signora Merighi, a woman of a very
-fine presence, an excellent actress, and a very good singer, with a
-counter-tenor voice; Signora Strada, who hath a very fine treble voice,
-a person of singular merit; Signor Annibale Pio Fabri, a most excellent
-tenor, and a fine voice; his wife, who performs a man's part well;
-Signora Bertoldi, who has a very fine treble voice, she is also a very
-genteel actress, both in men and women's parts; a bass voice, from
-Hamburgh, there being none worth engaging in Italy."
-
-I fancy this was an attempt to carry on Italian Opera at a reduced
-expenditure, for as soon as the speculation began to fail, the popular
-Senesino was again engaged. Handel had had a serious quarrel with this
-singer, but when a manager is in want of a star, and a star is tempted
-with a lucrative engagement, personal feelings are not taken into
-account. They ought to have been, however, in this particular case, at
-least by Handel, for the breach between the composer and the singer was
-renewed, and Senesino left the King's Theatre to join the company which
-was being formed at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of
-Porpora.
-
-Handel now set out once more for Italy, but again failed to engage any
-singers of celebrity, with the exception of Carestini, whom he heard at
-Bologna at the same time as Farinelli. That he should have preferred the
-former to the latter seems unaccountable, for by the common consent of
-musicians, critics, and the public, Farinelli, wherever he sang, was
-pronounced the greatest singer of his time, and it appears certain that
-no singer ever affected an audience in so powerful a manner. The
-passionate (and slightly blasphemous) exclamation of the entranced
-Englishwoman, "One God and one Farinelli," together with the almost
-magical effect of Farinelli's voice in tranquilising the half demented
-Ferdinand VI., seems to show that his singing must have been something
-like the music of patriarchal times; which charmed serpents, and which
-in a later age throws highly impressionable women into convulsions.
-
-[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]
-
-I have already mentioned that in going or returning to Italy this last
-time, Handel appears to have passed through Paris, and to have paid a
-contemptuous sort of attention to French music. It is then, if ever,
-that he should be accused of having stolen for our national anthem, an
-air left by Lulli--which _he_ did not, and which Lulli _could_ not have
-composed. The ridiculous story which would make our English patriotic
-hymn an adaptation from the French, is told for the first time I believe
-in the Duchess of Perth's letters. But instead of "_God save the Queen_"
-being translated from a canticle sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, the
-pretended canticle is a translation of "God save the Queen." Here is the
-French version--
-
-    "Grand Dieu, sauvez le Roi!
-    Grand Dieu, vengez le Roi!
-            Vive le Roi!
-    Que toujours glorieux
-    Louis victorieux
-    Voie ses ennemis
-            Toujours soumis.
-
-If it could be proved that this "canticle" was sung by the Ladies of St.
-Cyr, England could no longer claim the authorship of "_God save the
-Queen_," as far, at least, as the words are concerned; and it is evident
-that the words, which are scarcely readable as poetry, though excellent
-for singing, were written either for or with the music. M. Castil Blaze,
-however (in _Moličre Musicien_, Vol. I., page 501), points out that "_si
-l'on ignorait que la musique de cet air est, non pas de Handel, comme
-plusieurs l'ont assuré mais de Henri Carey la version Française
-prouverait du moins que cette melódie, scandée en sdruccioli ne peut
-appartenir au sičcle de Louis XIV.; nos vers ŕ glissades etaient
-parfaitement inconnus de Quinault et de Lulli, de Bernard et de
-Rameau_."
-
-[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]
-
-Mr. Schoelcher, like many other writers, attributes "_God save the
-King_" to Dr. John Bull, but Mr. W. Chappell, in his "Popular Music of
-the Olden Time," has shown that Dr. John Bull did not compose it in its
-present form, and that in all probability Henry Carey did, and that
-words and music together, as we know it in the present day, our national
-anthem dates only from 1740. Lulli did not compose it, but it was not
-composed before his time, nor before Handel's either. The air has been
-so altered, or rather, developed, by the various composers who have
-handled it since a simple chant on the four words "God save the King"
-was harmonised by Dr. John Bull, and afterwards converted from an
-indifferent tune into an admirable one (through the fortunate blundering
-of a copyist, as it has been surmised), that it may almost be said to
-have grown. What an interesting thing to be able to establish the fact
-of its gradual formation, like the political system of that nation to
-whose triumphs it has long been an indispensable accompaniment! But how
-humiliating to find that somebody marked in Dr. Bull's manuscript a
-sharp where there should have been no sharp, and that our glorious
-anthem owes its existence to a mistake! Mr. Chappell prints three or
-four ballads and part songs in his work, beginning at the reign of James
-I., either or all of which may have been the foundation of "_God save
-the King_," but it appears certain that our national hymn in its present
-form was first sung, and almost note for note as it is sung now, by H.
-Carey, in 1740, in celebration of the taking of Portobello by Admiral
-Vernon.[24]
-
-Handel did not compose "_God save the King_;" but he had good reason for
-singing it, considering the steady and liberal patronage he received
-from our three first Georges. When, after the expiration of his contract
-with Heidegger, he removed to Covent Garden, in 1735, still carrying on
-the war against Porpora (who removed at the same time to the King's
-Theatre), George II. subscribed Ł1,000 towards the expenses of Handel's
-management, and it was the support of the King and the Royal Family that
-enabled him to combat the influence that was brought to bear against him
-by the aristocracy. Handel, according to Arbuthnot, owed his failure, in
-a great measure, the first time, to the _Beggars' Opera_. The second
-time, on the other hand, it was the _Nobility's_ Opera that ruined him.
-Handel, as we have seen, had only Carestini to depend upon. Porpora, his
-rival, had secured two established favourites, Cuzzoni and Senesino
-(both members of Handel's old company at the Academy), and had,
-moreover, engaged Farinelli, by far the greatest singer of the epoch.
-Nevertheless, Porpora failed almost at the same time as Handel, and at
-the end of the year 1737, there was no Italian Opera at all in London.
-
-Handel joined Heidegger once more in 1738, at the King's Theatre. In two
-years he wrote four operas, of which the fourth, _Deidamia_, was the
-last he ever produced. After this he abandoned dramatic music, and, as a
-composer of Oratorios, entered upon what was to him a far higher career.
-Handel was at this time fifty-six years of age, and since his arrival in
-England, in 1711, he had written no less than thirty-five Italian
-operas.
-
-[Sidenote: CAPABILITIES OF MUSIC.]
-
-Handel's Italian operas, as such, are now quite obsolete. The air from
-_Admeto_ is occasionally heard at a concert, and Handel is known to have
-introduced some of his operatic melodies into his Oratorios, but there
-is no chance of any one of his operas ever being reproduced in a
-complete form. They were never known out of England, and in this country
-were soon laid aside after their composer had fairly retired from
-theatrical management. I think Mr. Hogarth[25] is only speaking with his
-usual judiciousness, when he observes, that "whatever pleasure they must
-have given to the audiences of that age, they would fail to do so
-now.... The music of the principal parts," he continues, "were written
-for a class of voices which no longer exists,[26] and for these parts no
-performers could now be found. A series of recitatives and airs, with
-only an occasional duet, and a concluding chorus of the slightest kind,
-would appear meagre and dull to ears accustomed to the brilliant
-concerted pieces and finales of the modern stage; and Handel's
-accompaniments would appear thin and poor amidst the richness and
-variety of the modern orchestra. The vocal parts, too, are to a great
-extent, in an obsolete taste. Many of the airs are mere strings of dry,
-formal divisions and unmeaning passages of execution, calculated to show
-off the powers of the fashionable singers; and many others, admirable in
-their design, and containing the finest traits of melody and expression,
-are spun out a wearisome length, and deformed by the cumbrous trappings
-with which they are loaded. Musical phrases, too, when Handel used them,
-had the charm of novelty, have become familiar and common through
-repetition by his successors."
-
-Among the airs which Handel has taken from his Operas and introduced
-into his Oratorios, may be mentioned _Rendi l' sereno al ciglio_, from
-_Sosarme_, now known as _Lord, remember David_, and _Dove sei amato
-bene_, in _Rodelinda_, which has been converted into _Holy, Holy, Lord
-God Almighty_. That these changes have been made with perfect success,
-proves, if any proof were still wanted by those who have ever given a
-minute's consideration to the subject, that there is no such thing as
-absolute definite expression in music. The music of an impassioned love
-song will seem equally appropriate as that of a fervent prayer, except
-to those who have already associated it intimately in their memories
-with the words to which it has first been written. A positive feeling
-of joy, or of grief, of exultation, or of depression, of liveliness, or
-of solemnity, can be expressed by musical means without the assistance
-of words, but not mixed feelings, into which several shades of sentiment
-enter--at least not with definiteness; though once indicated by the
-words, they will obtain from music the most admirable colours which will
-even appear to have been invented expressly and solely for them. Gluck
-arranged old music to suit new verses quite as much, or more, than
-Handel--even Gluck who maintained that music ought to convey the precise
-signification, not only of a dramatic situation, but of the very words
-of a song, phrase by phrase, if not word by word.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AND OUR ITALIAN OPERA.]
-
-During the period of Handel's presidency over our Italian Opera, works
-not only by Handel and his colleagues, but also by Scarlatti, Hasse,
-Porpora, Vinci, Veracini, and other composers were produced at the
-King's Theatre, at Covent Garden, and at Porpora's Theatre in Lincoln's
-Inn Fields. After Handel's retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolese,
-Jomelli, Gluck, and Piccinni, were performed, and the most distinguished
-singers in Europe continued to visit London. In 1741, when the Earl of
-Middlesex undertook the management of the King's Theatre, Galuppi was
-engaged as composer, and produced several operas: among others,
-_Penelope_, _Scipione_, and _Enrico_. In 1742, the _Olimpiade_, with
-music by Pergolese (a pupil of Hasse, and the future composer of the
-celebrated _Serva Padrona_) was brought out. After Galuppi's return to
-Italy, in 1744, the best of his new operas continued to be produced in
-London. His _Mondo della Luna_ was represented in 1760, when the English
-public were delighted with the gaiety of the music, and with the
-charming acting and singing of Signora Paganini. The year afterwards a
-still greater success was achieved with the same composer's _Filosofo di
-Campagna_, which, says Dr. Burney, "surpassed in musical merit all the
-comic operas that were performed in England till the _Buona Figliola_."
-Not only were Gluck's earlier and comparatively unimportant works
-performed in London soon after their first production at Vienna, but his
-_Orfeo_, the first of those great works written in the style which we
-always associate with Gluck's name, was represented in London in 1770,
-four years before Gluck went to Paris. Indeed, ever since the arrival of
-Handel in this country, London has been celebrated for its Italian
-Opera, whereas the French had no regular continuous performances of
-Italian Opera until nearly a hundred years afterwards. Handel did much
-to create a taste for this species of entertainment, and by the
-excellent execution which he took care every opera produced under his
-direction should receive, he set an example to his successors of which
-the value can scarcely be over-estimated, and which it must be admitted
-has, on the whole, been followed with intelligence and enterprise.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-     GENERAL VIEW OF THE OPERA IN EUROPE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL
-     THE APPEARANCE OF GLUCK.
-
-     Great Italian Singers.--Ferri in Sweden.--Opera in Vienna.--Scenic
-     decorations.--Singers of the Eighteenth Century.--Singers'
-     nicknames.--Farinelli's one note.
-
-
-[Sidenote: QUEEN CHRISTINA AND FERRI.]
-
-Handel, by his great musical genius, conferred a two-fold benefit on the
-country of his adoption. He endowed it with a series of Oratorios which
-stand alone in their grandeur, for which the English of the present day
-are deeply grateful, and for which ages to come will honour his name;
-and before writing a note of his great sacred works, during the thirty
-years which he devoted to the production and superintendence of Italian
-Opera in England, he raised that entertainment to a pitch of excellence
-unequalled elsewhere, except perhaps at the magnificent Dresden Theatre,
-which, for upwards of a quarter of a century was directed by the
-celebrated Hasse, and where Augustus, of Saxony, took care that the
-finest musicians and singers in Europe should be engaged.
-
-Rousseau, in the _Dictionnaire Musicale_, under the head of "Orchestra,"
-writing in 1754[27], says:--
-
-"The first orchestra in Europe in respect to the number and science of
-the symphonists, is that of Naples. But the orchestra of the opera of
-the King of Poland, at Dresden, directed by the illustrious Hasse, is
-better distributed, and forms a better _ensemble_."
-
-Most of Handel's and Porpora's best vocalists were engaged from the
-Dresden Theatre, but the great Italian singers had already become
-citizens of the world, and settled or established themselves temporarily
-as their interests dictated in Germany, England, Spain, or elsewhere,
-and at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were Italian Operas
-at Naples, Turin, Dresden, Vienna, London, Madrid, and even
-Algiers--everywhere but in France, which, as has already been pointed
-out, did not accept the musical civilisation of Italy until it had been
-adopted by every other country in Europe, including Russia. The great
-composers, and above all, the great singers who abounded in this
-fortunate century, went to and fro in Europe, from south to north, from
-east to west, and were welcomed everywhere but in Paris, where, until a
-few years before the Revolution, it seemed to form part of the national
-honour to despise Italian music.
-
-As far back as 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden sent a vessel of war to
-Italy, to bring to her Court Balthazar Ferri, the most distinguished
-singer of his day. Ferri, as Rousseau, quoting from Mancini, tells us in
-his "Musical Dictionary," could without taking breath ascend and descend
-two octaves of the chromatic scale, performing a shake on every note
-unaccompanied, and with such precision that if at any time the note on
-which the singer was shaking was verified by an instrument, it was found
-to be perfectly in tune.
-
-Ferri was in the service of three kings of Poland and two emperors of
-Germany. At Venice he was decorated with the Order of St. Mark; at
-Vienna he was crowned King of Musicians; at London, while he was singing
-in a masque, he was presented by an unknown hand with a superb emerald;
-and the Florentines, when he was about to visit their city, went in
-thousands to meet him, at three leagues distance from the gates.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA IN VIENNA.]
-
-The Italian Opera was established in Vienna under the Emperor Leopold
-I., with great magnificence, so much so indeed, that for many years
-afterwards it was far more celebrated as a spectacle than as a musical
-entertainment. Nevertheless, Leopold was a most devoted lover of music,
-and remained so until his death, as the history of his last moments
-sufficiently shows. We have seen a French maid of honour die to the
-fiddling of her page; the Emperor of Germany expired to the
-accompaniment of a full orchestra. Feeling that his end was approaching
-he sent for his musicians, and ordered them to commence a symphony,
-which they went on playing until he died.
-
-Apostolo Zeno, whom Rousseau calls the Corneille, and Metastasio, whom
-he terms the Racine of the Opera, both resided for many years at Vienna,
-and wrote many of their best pieces for its theatre. Several of Zeno's,
-and a great number of Metastasio's works have been set to music over and
-over again, but when they were first brought out at Vienna, many of them
-appear to have obtained success more as grand dramatic spectacles than
-as operas. During the latter half of the eighteenth century, Vienna
-witnessed the production of some of the greatest master-pieces of the
-musical drama (for instance, the _Orpheus_, _Alcestis_, &c., of Gluck,
-and the _Marriage of Figaro_, of Mozart); but when Handel was in England
-directing the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, and when the Dresden
-Opera was in full musical glory (before as well as after the arrival of
-Hasse), the Court Theatre of Vienna was above all remarkable for its
-immense size, for the splendour of its decorations, and for the general
-costliness and magnificence of its spectacles. Lady Mary Wortley
-Montague visited the Opera, at Vienna, in 1716, and sent the following
-account of it to Pope.
-
-"I have been last Sunday at the Opera, which was performed in the garden
-of the Favorita; and I was so much pleased with it, I have not yet
-repented my seeing it. Nothing of the kind was ever more magnificent,
-and I can easily believe what I am told, that the decorations and
-habits cost the Emperor thirty thousand pounds sterling. The stage was
-built over a very large canal, and at the beginning of the second act
-divided into two parts, discovering the water, on which there
-immediately came, from different parts, two fleets of little gilded
-vessels that gave the representation of a naval fight. It is not easy to
-imagine the beauty of this scene, which I took particular notice of. But
-all the rest were perfectly fine in their kind. The story of the Opera
-is the enchantment of Alcina, which gives opportunities for a great
-variety of machines, and changes of scenes which are performed with
-surprising swiftness. The theatre is so large that it is hard to carry
-the eye to the end of it, and the habits in the utmost magnificence to
-the number of one hundred and eight. No house could hold such large
-decorations; but the ladies all sitting in the open air exposes them to
-great inconveniences, for there is but one canopy for the Imperial
-Family, and the first night it was represented, a shower of rain
-happening, the opera was broken off, and the company crowded away in
-such confusion that I was almost squeezed to death."
-
-[Sidenote: SCENIC DECORATIONS.]
-
-One of these open air theatres, though doubtless on a much smaller scale
-than that of Vienna, stood in the garden of the Tuileries, at Paris, at
-the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was embowered in trees and
-covered with creeping plants, and the performances took place there in
-the day-time. These garden theatres were known to the Romans, witness
-the following lines of Ovid:--
-
-    "Illic quas tulerant nemorosa palatia, frondes
-     Simpliciter positć; scena sine arte fuit."
-             _De Arte Amandi_, Liber I., v. 105.
-
-I myself saw a little theatre of the kind, in 1856, at Flensburgh, in
-Denmark. There was a pleasure-ground in front, with benches and chairs
-for the audience. The stage door at the back opened into a cabbage
-garden. The performances, which consisted of a comedy and farce took
-place in the afternoon, and ended at dusk.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-I have already spoken of the magnificence and perfection of the scenic
-pictures exhibited at the Italian theatres in the very first days of the
-Opera. In the early part of the seventeenth century immense theatres
-were constructed so as to admit of the most elaborate spectacular
-displays. The Farnesino Theatre, at Parma, built for dramas,
-tournaments, and spectacles of all kinds, and which is now a ruin,
-contained at least fifty thousand spectators.[28]
-
-In the 18th century the Italians seem to have thought more of the music
-of their operas, and to have left the vanities of theatrical decorations
-to the Germans.
-
-Servandoni, for some time scene painter and decorator at the Académie
-Royale of Paris not finding that theatre sufficiently vast for his
-designs, sought a new field for his ambition at the Opera-House of
-Dresden, where Augustus of Poland engaged him to superintend the
-arrangement of the stage. Servandoni painted a number of admirable
-scenes for this theatre, in the midst of which four hundred mounted
-horsemen were able to manoeuvre with ease.
-
-In 1760 the Court of the Duke of Wurtemburg, at Stuttgardt, was the most
-brilliant in Europe, owing partly, no doubt, to the enormous subsidies
-received by the Duke from France for a body of ten thousand men, which
-he maintained at the service of that power. The Duke had a French
-theatre, and two Italian theatres, one for Opera Seria, and the other
-for Opera Buffa. The celebrated Noverre was his ballet-master, and there
-were a hundred dancers in the _corps de ballet_, besides twenty
-principal ones, each of whom had been first dancer at one of the chief
-theatres of Italy. Jomelli was chapel-master and director of the Opera
-at Stuttgardt from 1754 until 1773.
-
-[Sidenote: SCENIC DECORATIONS.]
-
-In the way of stage decorations, theatrical effects, and the various
-other spectacular devices by which managers still seek to attract to
-their Operas those who are unable to appreciate good music, we have made
-no progress since the 17th century. We have, to be sure, gas and the
-electric light, which were not known to our forefathers; but St.
-Evrémond tells us that in Louis the XIV.'s time the sun and moon were
-so well represented at the Académie Royale, that the Ambassador of
-Guinea, assisting at one of its performances, leant forward in his box,
-when those orbs appeared and religiously saluted them. To be sure, this
-anecdote may be classed with one I have heard in Russia, of an actor
-who, playing the part of a bear in a grand melodrama, in which a storm
-was introduced, crossed himself devoutly at each clap of thunder; but
-the stories of Servandoni's and Bernino's decorations are no fables.
-Like the other great masters of stage effect in Italy, Bernino was an
-architect, a sculptor and a painter. His sunsets are said to have been
-marvellous; and in a spectacular piece of his composition, entitled _The
-Inundation of the Tiber_, a mass of water was seen to come in from the
-back of the stage, gradually approaching the orchestra and washing down
-everything that impeded its onward course, until at last the audience,
-believing the inundation to be real, rose in terror and were about to
-rush from the theatre. Traps, however, were ready to be opened in all
-parts of the stage. The Neptune of the troubled theatrical waves gave
-the word,
-
-   ----"_et dicto citiůs tumida ćquora placat_."
-
-But in Italy, even at the time when such wonders were being effected in
-the way of stage decorations, the music of an opera was still its prime
-attraction; indeed, there were theatres for operas and theatres for
-spectacular dramas, and it is a mistake to attempt the union of the two
-in any great excellence, inasmuch as the one naturally interferes with
-and diverts attention from the other.
-
-Of Venice and its music, in the days when grand hunts, charges of
-cavalry, triumphal processions in which hundreds of horsemen took part,
-and ships traversing the ocean, and proceeding full sail to the
-discovery of America were introduced on to the stage;[29] of Venice and
-its music even at this highly decorative period, St. Evrémond has given
-us a brief but very satisfactory account in the following doggrel:--
-
-    "A Venise rien n'est égal:
-     Sept opéras, le carneval;
-     Et la merveille, l'excellence,
-     Point de choeurs et jamais de danse,
-     Dans les maisons, souvent concert,
-     Oů tout se chante ŕ livre ouvert."
-
-The operatic chorus, as has already been observed, is an invention
-claimed by the French[30]; on the other hand, from the very foundation
-of the Académie Royale, the French rendered their Operas ridiculous by
-introducing _ballets_ into the middle of them. We shall find Rousseau
-calling attention to this absurd custom which still prevails at the
-Académie, where if even _Fidelio_ was to be produced, it would be
-considered necessary to "enliven" one or more of the scenes with a
-_divertissement_--so unchanging and unchangeable are the revolutionary
-French in all that is futile.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA AT VIENNA.]
-
-We have seen that in the first years of the 18th century, the Opera at
-Vienna was chiefly remarkable for its size, and the splendour and
-magnificence of its scenery. But it soon became a first-rate musical
-theatre; and it was there, as every one who takes an interest in music
-knows, that nearly all the masterpieces of Gluck and Mozart[31] were
-produced. The French sometimes speak of Gluck's great works as if they
-belonged exclusively to the repertory of their Académie. I have already
-mentioned that four years before Gluck went to Paris (1774), his _Orfeo_
-was played in London. This opera was brought out at Vienna in 1764, when
-it was performed twenty-eight times in succession. The success of
-_Alceste_ was still greater; and after its production in 1768, no other
-opera was played for two years. At this period, the imperial family did
-not confine the interest they took in the Opera to mere patronage; four
-Austrian archduchesses, sisters of the Emperor Charles VII., themselves
-appeared on the stage, and performed, among other pieces, in the
-_Egeria_ of Metastasio and Hasse, and even in Gluck's works. Charles
-VII. himself played on the harpsichord and the violoncello; and the
-Empress mother, then seventy years of age, once said, in conversing with
-Faustina (Hasse's widow at that time), "I am the oldest dramatic singer
-in Europe; I made my _début_ when I was five years old." Charles VI.
-too, Leopold's successor, if not a musician, had, at least, considerable
-taste in music; and Farinelli informed Dr. Burney that he was much
-indebted to this sovereign for an admonition he once received from him.
-The Emperor told the singer that his performance was surprising, and,
-indeed, prodigious; but that all was unavailing as long as he did not
-succeed in touching the heart. It would appear that at this time
-Farinelli's style was wanting in simplicity and expressiveness; but an
-artist of the intelligence and taste which his correspondence with
-Metastasio proves him to have possessed, would be sure to correct
-himself of any such failings the moment his attention was called to
-them.
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The 18th century produced a multitude of great singers. Their voices
-have gone with them; but we know from the music they sang, from the
-embellishments and cadences which have been noted down, and which are as
-good evidence now as when they were first executed, that those
-_virtuosi_ had brought the vocal art to a perfection of which, in these
-later days, we meet with only the rarest examples. Is music to be
-written for the sake of singers, or are singers to learn to sing for the
-sake of music? Of the two propositions, I decidedly prefer the latter;
-but it must, at the same time, be remarked, that unless the executive
-qualities of the singer be studied to a considerable extent, the singer
-will soon cease to pay much attention to his execution. Continue to give
-him singable music, however difficult, and he will continue to learn to
-sing, counting the difficulties to be overcome only as so many
-opportunities for new triumphs; but if the music given to him is such as
-can, perhaps even _must_, be shouted, it is to be expected that he will
-soon cease to study the intricacies and delicacies of his art; and in
-time, if music truly vocal be put before him, he will be unable to sing.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The great singers of the 17th century, to judge from the cantilenas of
-Caccini's, Peri's, and Monteverde's operas, must have cultivated
-expression rather than ornamentation; though what Mancini tells us about
-the singing of Balthazar Ferri, and the manner in which it was received,
-proves that the florid, highly-adorned style was also in vogue. These
-early Italian _virtuosi_ (a name which they adopted at the beginning of
-the 17th century to distinguish themselves from mere actors) not only
-possessed great acquirements as singers, but were also excellent
-musicians; and many of them displayed great ability in matters quite
-unconnected with their profession. Stradella, the only vocalist of whom
-it is recorded that his singing saved his life, composed an opera, _La
-Forza dell Amor paterno_, of which the manifold beauties caused him to
-be proclaimed "beyond comparison the first Apollo of music:" the
-following inscription being stamped by authority on the published
-score--"_Bastando il dirti, che il concerto di si perfetta melodia sia
-valore d'un Alessandro, civč del Signor Stradella, riconoscinto senza
-contrasto per il primo Apollo della musica._" Atto, an Italian tenor,
-who came to Paris with Leonora Baroni, and who had apartments given him
-in Cardinal Mazarin's palace, was afterwards entrusted by that minister
-with a political mission to the court of Bavaria, which, however, it
-must be remembered, was just then presided over, not by an elector, but
-by an electoress. Farinelli became the confidential adviser, if not the
-actual minister (as has been often stated, but without foundation) of
-the king of Spain. In the present day, the only _virtuoso_ I know of
-(the name has now a more general signification) who has been entrusted
-with _quasi_-diplomatic functions is Vivier, the first horn player, and,
-in his own way, the first humorist of the age; I believe it is no secret
-that this facetious _virtuoso_ fills the office of secretary to his
-Excellency Vely Pasha.
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-Bontempi, in his _Historia Musica_, gives the following account of the
-school of singing directed by Mazzocchi, at Rome, in 1620: "At the
-schools of Rome, the pupils were obliged to give up one hour every day
-to the singing of difficult passages till they were well acquainted with
-them; another to the practice of the shake; another to feats of
-agility;[32] another to the study of letters; another to vocal
-exercises, under the direction of a master, and before a looking-glass,
-so that they might be certain they were making no disagreeable movement
-of the muscles of the face, of the forehead, of the eyes, or of the
-mouth. So much for the occupation of the morning. In the afternoon,
-half-an-hour was devoted to the theory of singing; another half-hour to
-counterpoint; an hour to hearing the rules of composition, and putting
-them in practice on their tablets; another to the study of letters; and
-the rest of the day to practising the harpsichord, to the composition of
-some psalm, motet, canzonetta, or any other piece according to the
-scholar's own ideas.
-
-"Such were the ordinary exercises of the school in days when the
-scholars did not leave the house. When they went out, they often walked
-towards Monte Mario, and sang where they could hear the echo of their
-notes, so that each might judge by the response of the justness of his
-execution. They, moreover, sang at all the musical solemnities of the
-Roman Churches; following, and observing with attention the manner and
-style of an infinity of great singers who lived under the pontificate of
-Urban VIII., so that they could afterwards render an account of their
-observations to the master, who, the better to impress the result of
-these studies on the minds of his pupils, added whatever remarks and
-cautions he thought necessary."
-
-With such a system as the above, it would have been impossible,
-supposing the students to have possessed any natural disposition for
-singing, not to have produced good singers. We have spoken already of
-some of the best vocalists of the 18th century; of Faustina, Cuzzoni,
-and Mingotti; of Nicolini, Senesino, and Farinelli. Of Farinelli's life,
-however (which was so interesting that it has afforded to a German
-composer the subject of one opera, to M. M. Scribe and Auber, that of
-another, _La part du Diable_, and to M. Scribe the plan of "_Carlo
-Broschi_," a tale), I must give a few more particulars; and this will
-also be a convenient opportunity for sketching the careers of some two
-or three others of the great Italian singers of this epoch, such as
-Caffarelli, Gabrielli, Guadagni, &c.
-
-First, as to his name. It is generally said that Carlo Broschi owed his
-appellation of Farinelli to the circumstance of his father having been a
-miller, or a flour merchant. This, however, is pure conjecture. No one
-knows or cares who Carlo Broschi's father was, but he was called
-"Farinelli," because he was the recognised _protégé_ of the Farina
-family; just as another singer, who was known to be one of Porpora's
-favorite pupils, was named "Porporino."
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS' NICKNAMES.]
-
-Descriptive nicknames were given to the celebrated musicians as well as
-to the celebrated painters of Italy. Numerous composers and singers owed
-their sobriquets
-
-  TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY; as--
-
-  _Il Sassone_ (Hasse), born at Bergendorf, in Saxony;
-  _Portogallo_ (Simao);
-  _Lo Spagnuolo_ (Vincent Martin);
-  _L'Inglesina_ (Cecilia Davies);
-  _La Francesina_ (Elizabeth Duparc), who, after singing
-  for some years with success in Italy and at London,
-  was engaged by Handel in 1745, to take the principal
-  soprano parts in his oratorios:
-
-  TO THEIR NATIVE TOWN; as--
-
-  _Buranello_, of Burano (Galuppi);
-  _Pergolese_, of Pergola (Jesi);
-  _La Ferrarese_, of Ferrara (Francesca Gabrielli);
-  _Senesino_, of Sienna (Bernardi):
-
-  TO THE PROFESSION OF THEIR PARENTS; as--
-
-  _La Cochetta_ (Catarina), whose father was cook
-  to Prince Gabrielli, at Rome:
-
-  TO THE PLACE THEY INHABITED; as--
-
-  _Checca della Laguna_, (Francesca of the Lagune):
-
-  TO THE NAME OF THEIR MASTER; as--
-
-  _Caffarelli_ (Majorano), pupil of Caffaro;
-  _Gizziello_ (Conti), pupil of Gizzi;
-  _Porporino_ (Hubert), pupil of Porpora:
-
-  TO THE NAME OF THEIR PATRON; as--
-
-  _Farinelli_ (Carlo Broschi), protected by the Farinas,
-  of Naples;
-  _Gabrielli_ (Catarina), protected by Prince Gabrielli;
-
-  _Cusanimo_ (Carestini), protected by the Cusani
-  family of Milan:
-
-  TO THE PART IN WHICH THEY HAD PARTICULARLY
-  DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES; as--
-
-  _Siface_ (Grossi), who had obtained a triumphant
-  success, as that personage, in Scarlatti's _Mitridate_.
-
-But the most astonishing of all these nicknames was that given to
-Lucrezia Aguiari, who, being a natural child, was called publicly, in
-the playbills and in the newspapers, _La Bastardina_, or _La
-Bastardella_.
-
-Catarina, called Gabrielli, a singer to be ranked with the Faustinas and
-Cuzzonis, naturally became disgusted with her appellation of _la
-cocchetta_ (little cook) as soon as she had acquired a little celebrity.
-She accordingly assumed the name of Prince Gabrielli, her patron;
-Francesca Gabrielli, who was in no way related to the celebrated
-Catarina, keeping to that of _Ferrarese_, or _Gabriellina_, as she was
-sometimes called.
-
-But to return to my short anecdotal biographies of a few of these
-singers.[33] Carlo Broschi, then, called "Farinelli," first
-distinguished himself, at the age of seventeen, in a bravura with an
-_obligato_ trumpet accompaniment, which Porpora, his master, wrote
-expressly for him, and for a German trumpet-player whose skill on that
-instrument was prodigious. The air commenced with a sustained note,
-given by the trumpet. This note was then taken up by the vocalist, who
-held it with consummate art for such a length of time that the audience
-fell into raptures with the beauty and fulness of his voice. The note
-was then attacked, and held successively by the player and the singer,
-_pianissimo_, _crescendo_, _forte_, _fortissimo_, _diminuendo_, _
-smorzando_, _perdendosi_--of which the effect may be imagined from the
-delirious transports of the lady who, on hearing this one note several
-times repeated, hastened to proclaim in the same breath the unity of the
-Deity and the uniqueness of Farinelli. This trumpet song occurs
-originally in Porpora's _Eomene_; and Farinelli sang it for the first
-time at Rome, in 1722. In London, in 1734, he introduced it in Hasse's
-_Artaserse_, the opera in which he made his _début_, at the Lincoln's
-Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, his old preceptor.
-
-[Sidenote: FARINELLI'S ONE NOTE.]
-
-I, who have heard a good many fine singers, and one or two whose voices
-I shall not easily forget, must confess myself unable to understand the
-enthusiasm caused by Farinelli's one note, however wonderful the art
-that produced it, however exquisite the gradations of sound which gave
-it colour, and perhaps a certain appearance of life; for one musical
-sound is, after all, not music. Bilboquet, in Dumersan and Varin's
-admirable burlesque comedy of _Les Saltimbanques_, would, perhaps, have
-understood it; and, really, when I read of the effect Farinelli
-produced by keeping to one note, I cannot help thinking of the
-directions given by the old humorist and scoundrel to an incompetent
-_débutant_ on the trombone. The amateur has the instrument put into his
-hands, and, with great difficulty, succeeds in bringing out one note;
-but, to save his life, he could not produce two. "Never mind," says
-Bilboquet, "one note is enough. Keep on playing it, and people who are
-fond of that note will be delighted." How little the authors of _Les
-Saltimbanques_ knew that one note had delighted and enchanted thousands!
-Not only is truth stranger than fiction, but reality is more grotesque
-even than a burlesque fancy.
-
-Farinelli visited Paris in 1737, and sang before Louis XV., who,
-according to Riccoboni, was delighted, though His Majesty cared very
-little for music, and least of all for Italian music. It is also said
-that, on the whole, Farinelli was by no means satisfied with his
-reception in Paris, nor with the general distaste of the French for the
-music of his country; and some writers go so far as to maintain that the
-ill-will he always showed to France during his residence, in a
-confidential position, at the Court of Madrid, was attributable to his
-irritating recollections of his visit to the French capital. In 1752,
-the Duke de Duras was charged with a secret mission to the Spanish Court
-(concerning an alliance with France), which is supposed to have
-miscarried through the influence of Farinelli; but there were plenty of
-good reasons, independently of any personal dislike he may have had for
-the French, for advising Ferdinand VI. to maintain his good
-understanding with the cabinets of Vienna, London, and Turin.
-
-[Sidenote: FARINELLI AT MADRID.]
-
-Ferdinand's favourite singer remained ten years in his service; soothing
-and consoling him with his songs, and, after a time, giving him valuable
-political advice. Farinelli's quasi-ministerial functions did not
-prevent him from continuing to sing every day. Every day, for ten years,
-the same thing! Or rather, the same things, for His Majesty's particular
-collection included as many as four different airs. Two of them were by
-Hasse, _Pallido il sole_ and _Per questo dulce amplesso_. The third was
-a minuet, on which Farinelli improvised variations. It has been
-calculated that during the ten years he sang the same airs, and never
-anything else, about three thousand six hundred times. If Ferdinand VI.
-had not, in the first instance, been half insane, surely this would have
-driven him mad.
-
-Caffarelli, hearing of Farinelli's success at Madrid, is said to have
-made this curious observation: "He deserves to be Prime Minister; he has
-an admirable voice."
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC DUEL.]
-
-Caffarelli was regarded as Farinelli's rival; and some critics,
-including Porpora, who had taught both, considered him the greatest
-singer of the two. This sopranist was notorious for his intolerable
-insolence, of which numerous anecdotes are told. He would affect
-indisposition, when persons of great importance were anxious to hear
-him sing, and had engaged him for that purpose. "Omnibus hoc vitium
-cantoribus;" but it may be said Caffarelli was capricious and
-overbearing to an unusual extent. Metastasio, in one of his letters,
-tells us that at a rehearsal which had been ordered at the Opera of
-Vienna, all the performers obeyed the summons except Caffarelli; he
-appeared, however, at the end of the rehearsal, and asked the company
-with a very disdainful air, "What was the use of these rehearsals?" The
-conductor answered, in a voice of authority, "that no one was called
-upon to account to him for what was done; that he ought to be glad that
-his failure in attendance had been suffered; that his presence or
-absence was of little consequence to the success of the opera; but that
-whatever he chose to do himself, he ought, at least, to let others do
-their duty." Caffarelli, in a great rage, exclaimed "that he who had
-ordered such a rehearsal was a solemn coxcomb." At this, all the
-patience and dignity of the poet forsook him; "and getting into a
-towering passion, he honoured the singer with all those glorious titles
-which Caffarelli had earned in various parts of Europe, and slightly
-touched, but in lively colours, some of the most memorable particulars
-of his life; nor was he likely soon to come to a close; but the hero of
-the panegyric, cutting the thread of his own praise, boldly called out
-to his eulogist: 'Follow me, if thou hast courage, to a place where
-there is none to assist thee, * * * * * The bystanders tremble; each
-calls on his tutelar saint, expecting every moment to see poetical and
-vocal blood besprinkle the harpsichords and double basses. But at length
-the Signora Tesi, rising from under her canopy, where, till now, she had
-remained a most tranquil spectator, walked with a slow and stately step
-towards the combatants; when, O sovereign power of beauty! the frantic
-Caffarelli, even in the fiercest paroxysm of his wrath, captivated and
-appeased by this unexpected tenderness, runs with rapture to meet her;
-lays his sword at her feet; begs pardon for his error; and generously
-sacrificing to her his vengeance, seals, with a thousand kisses upon her
-hand, his protestations of obedience, respect and humility. The nymph
-signifies her forgiveness by a nod; the poet sheathes his sword; the
-spectators begin to breathe again; and the tumultuous assembly breaks up
-amid the joyous sounds of laughter."
-
-Of Caffarelli a curious, and as it seems to me fabulous, story is told
-to the effect that for five years Porpora allowed him to sing nothing
-but a series of scales and exercises, all of which were written down on
-one sheet of paper. According to this anecdote, Caffarelli, with a
-patience which did not distinguish him in after life, asked seriously
-after his five years' scale practice, when he was likely to get beyond
-the rudiments of his art,--upon which Porpora suddenly exclaimed:--"Young
-man you have nothing more to learn, you are the greatest singer in the
-world." In London, however, coming after Farinelli, Caffarelli did not
-meet with anything like the same success.
-
-At Turin, when the Prince of Savoy told Caffarelli, after praising him
-greatly, that the princess thought it hardly possible any singer could
-please after Farinelli, "To night," exclaimed the sopranist, in the
-fulness of his vanity, "she shall hear two Farinellis."
-
-What would the English lady have said to this, who maintained that there
-was but "_one_ Farinelli?"
-
-At sixty-five years of age, Caffarelli was still singing; but he had
-made an enormous fortune--had purchased nothing less than a dukedom for
-his nephew, and had built himself a superb palace, over the entrance of
-which he placed the following modest inscription:--
-
-    "Amphion THEBAS, ego domum."
-
-    "Ille eum, sine tu!"
-
-wrote a commentator beneath it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Guadagni was the "creator" of the parts of _Telemacco_ and _Orfeo_, in
-the operas by Gluck, bearing those names. He sang in London in 1766, at
-Venice the year afterwards, when he was made a Knight of St. Mark; at
-Potsdam before the King of Prussia, in 1776, &c. Guadagni amassed a
-large fortune, though he was at the same time noted for his generosity.
-He has the credit of having lent large sums of money to men of good
-family, who had ruined themselves. One of these impoverished gentlemen
-said, after borrowing the sum of a hundred sequins from him--
-
-"I only want it as a loan, I shall repay you."
-
-"That is not my intention," replied the singer; "if I wanted to have it
-back, I should not lend it to you."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GABRIELLI.]
-
-Gabrielli (Catarina) is described by Brydone, in his tour through
-Sicily, in a letter, dated Palermo, July 27, 1770. She was at this time
-upwards of thirty, but on the stage appeared to be scarcely eighteen;
-and Brydone considers her to have been "the most dangerous syren of
-modern times," adding, that she has made more conquests than any woman
-living. "She was wonderfully capricious," he continues, "and neither
-interest nor flattery, nor threats, nor punishment, had any power to
-control her. Instead of singing her airs as other actresses do, for the
-most part she hums them over _a mezza voce_, and no art whatever is
-capable of making her sing when she does not choose it. The most
-successful expedient has ever been found to prevail on her favourite
-lover (for she always has one) to place himself in the centre of the pit
-or the front box, and if they are on good terms, which is seldom the
-case, she will address her tender airs to him, and exert herself to the
-utmost. Her present inamorato promised to give us this specimen of his
-power over her. He took his seat accordingly, but Gabrielli, probably
-suspecting the connivance, would take no notice of him, so that even
-this expedient does not always succeed. The viceroy, who is fond of
-music, has tried every method with her to no purpose. Some time ago he
-gave a great dinner, and sent an invitation to Gabrielli to be of the
-party. Every other person came at the hour of invitation. The viceroy
-ordered dinner to be put back, and sent to let her know that the company
-had all arrived. The messenger found her reading in bed. She said she
-was sorry for having made the company wait, and begged he would make her
-apology, but really she had entirely forgotten her engagement. The
-viceroy would have forgiven this piece of insolence, but when the
-company went to the Opera, Gabrielli repeated her part with the utmost
-negligence and indifference, and sang all her airs in what they call
-_sotto voce_, that is, so low that they can scarcely be heard. The
-viceroy was offended; but as he is a good tempered man, he was loth to
-enforce his authority; but at last, by a perseverance in this insolent
-stubbornness, she obliged him to threaten her with punishment in case
-she any longer refused to sing. On this she grew more obstinate than
-ever, declaring that force and authority would never succeed with her;
-that he might make her cry, but never could make her sing. The viceroy
-then sent her to prison, where she remained twelve days; during which
-time she gave magnificent entertainments every day, paid the debts of
-all the poor prisoners, and distributed large sums in charity. The
-viceroy was obliged to give up struggling with her, and she was at last
-set at liberty amidst the acclamations of the poor."
-
-[Sidenote: GABRIELLI.]
-
-Gabrielli said at this time that she should never dare to appear in
-England, alleging as her reason that if, in a fit of caprice, which
-might at any time attack her, she refused to sing, or lost her temper
-and insulted the audience, they were said to be so ferocious that they
-would probably murder her. She asserted, however, and, doubtless, with
-truth, that it was not always caprice which prevented her singing, and
-that she was often really indisposed and unable to sing, when the public
-imagined that she absented herself from the theatre from caprice alone.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mingotti used to say that the London public would admit that any one
-might have a cold, a head-ache, or a fever, except a singer. In the
-present day, our audiences often show the most unjustifiable anger
-because, while half the people in a concert room are coughing and
-sneezing, some favourite vocalist, with an exceptionally delicate
-larynx, is unable to sing an air, of which the execution would be sure
-to fatigue the voice even in its healthiest condition.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-To Brydone's anecdotes of Gabrielli we may add another. The ambassador
-of France at the court of Vienna was violently in love with our
-capricious and ungovernable vocalist. In a fit of jealousy, he attempted
-to stab her, and Gabrielli was only saved from transfixion by the
-whalebone of her stays. As it was, she was slightly wounded. The
-ambassador threw himself at the singer's feet and obtained her
-forgiveness, on condition of giving up his sword, on which the offended
-_prima donna_ proposed to engrave the following words:--"_The sword
-of----, who on such a day in such a year, dared to strike La
-Gabrielli._" Metastasio, however, succeeded in persuading her to abandon
-this intention.
-
-In 1767 Gabrielli went to Parma, but wearied by the attentions of the
-Infant, Don Philip ("her accursed hunch back"--_gobbo maladetto_--as she
-called him), she escaped in secret the following year to St.
-Petersburgh, where Catherine II. had invited her some time before. When
-the empress enquired what terms the celebrated singer expected, the sum
-of five thousand ducats was named.
-
-"Five thousand ducats," replied Catherine; "not one of my field marshals
-receives so much."
-
-"Her majesty had better ask her field marshals to sing," said Gabrielli.
-
-Catherine gave the five thousand ducats. "Whether the great Souvaroff's
-jealousy was excited, is not recorded.
-
-At this time the composer Galuppi was musical director at the Russian
-court. He went to St. Petersburgh in 1766, and had just returned when
-Dr. Burney saw him at Venice. Among the other great composers who
-visited Russia in Catherine's reign were Cimarosa and Paisiello, the
-latter of whom produced his _Barbiere di Siviglia_, at St. Petersburgh,
-in 1780.
-
-Most of the celebrated Italian vocalists of the 18th century visited
-Vienna, Dresden, London and Madrid, as well as the principal cities of
-their own country, and sometimes even Paris, where both Farinelli and
-Caffarelli sang, but only at concerts. "I had hoped," says Rousseau,
-"that Caffarelli would give us at the 'Concert Spirituel' some specimen
-of grand recitative, and of the pathetic style of singing, that
-pretended connoisseurs might hear once for all what they have so often
-pronounced an opinion upon; but from his reasons for doing nothing of
-the kind I found that he understood his audience better than I did."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA IN PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.]
-
-It was not until the accession of Frederick the Great, warrior, flute
-player, and severe protector of the arts in general, that the Italian
-Opera was established in Berlin; and it had been reserved for Catherine
-the Great to introduce it into St. Petersburgh. In proportion as the
-Opera grew in Prussia and Russia it faded in Poland, and its decay at
-the court of the Elector of Saxony was followed shortly afterwards by
-the first signs of the infamous partition.
-
-Frederick the Great's favourite composers were Hasse, Agricola, and
-Graun, the last of whom wrote a great number of Italian operas for the
-Berlin Theatre. When Dr. Burney was at Berlin, in 1772, there were fifty
-performers in the orchestra. There was a large chorus, and a numerous
-ballet, and several principal singers of great merit. The king defrayed
-the expenses of the whole establishment. He also officiated as general
-conductor, standing in the pit behind the chef d'orchestre, so as to
-have a view of the score, and drilling his musical troops in true
-military fashion. We are told that if any mistake was committed on the
-stage, or in the orchestra, the king stopped the offender, and
-admonished him; and it is really satisfactory to know, that if a singer
-ventured to alter a single passage in his part (which almost every
-singer does in the present day) His Majesty severely reprimanded him,
-and ordered him to keep to the notes written by the composer. It was not
-the Opera of Paris, nor of London, nor of New York that should have been
-called the Academy, but evidently that of Berlin.
-
-The celebrated Madame Mara sang for many years at the Berlin Opera. When
-her father Herr Schmaling first endeavoured to get her engaged by the
-king of Prussia, Frederick sent his principal singer Morelli to hear her
-and report upon her merits.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC MARTINET.]
-
-"She sings like a German," said the prejudiced Morelli, and the king,
-who declared that he should as soon expect to receive pleasure from the
-neighing of his horse as from a German singer, paid no further attention
-to Schmaling's application. The daughter, however, had heard of the
-king's sarcasm, and was determined to prove how ill-founded it was.
-Mademoiselle Schmaling made her _début_ with great success at Dresden,
-and afterwards, in 1771, went to Berlin. The king, when the young
-vocalist was presented to him, after a few uncourteous observations,
-asked her if she could sing at sight, and placed before her a very
-difficult bravura song. Mademoiselle Schmaling executed it to
-perfection, upon which Frederick paid her a multitude of compliments,
-made her a handsome present, and appointed her _prima donna_ of his
-company.
-
-When Madame Mara in 1780 wished to visit England with her husband, (who
-was a dissipated violoncellist, belonging to the Berlin orchestra) the
-king positively prohibited their departure, and on their escaping to
-Vienna, sent a despatch to the Emperor Joseph II., requesting him to
-arrest the fugitives and send them back. The emperor, however, merely
-gave them a hint that they had better get out of Vienna as soon as
-possible, when he would inform the king that his messenger had arrived
-too late. Afterwards, as soon as it was thought she could do so with
-safety, Madame Mara made her appearance at the Viennese Opera and sang
-there with great success for nearly two years.
-
-According to another version of Madame Mara's flight, she was arrested
-before she had passed the Prussian frontier, and separated from her
-husband, who was shut up in a fortress, and instead of performing on the
-violoncello in the orchestra of the Opera, was made to play the drum at
-the head of a regiment. The tears of the singer had no effect upon the
-inflexible monarch, and it was only by giving up a portion of her salary
-(so at least runs this anecdote of dubious authenticity) that she could
-obtain M. Mara's liberation. In any case it is certain that the position
-of this "_prima donna_" by no means "_assoluta_," at the court of a
-very absolute king, was by no means an agreeable one, and that she had
-not occupied it many years before she endeavoured to liberate herself
-from it by every device in her power, including such disobedience of
-orders as she hoped would entail her prompt dismissal. On one occasion,
-when the Cćsarevitch, afterwards Paul I., was at Berlin, and Madame Mara
-was to take the principal part in an opera given specially in his
-honour, she pretended to be ill, and sent word to the theatre that she
-would be unable to appear. The king informed her on the morning of the
-day fixed for the performance that she had better get well, for that
-well or ill she would have to sing. Nevertheless Madame Mara remained at
-home and in bed. Two hours before the time fixed for the commencement of
-the opera, a carriage, escorted by a few dragoons, stopped at her door,
-and an officer entered her room to announce that he had orders from His
-Majesty to bring her alive or dead to the theatre.
-
-"But you see I am in bed, and cannot get up," remonstrated the vocalist.
-
-"In that case I must take the bed too," was the reply.
-
-It was impossible not to obey. Bathed in tears she allowed herself to be
-taken to her dressing room, put on her costume, but resolved at the same
-time to sing in such a manner that the king should repent of his
-violence. She conformed to her determination throughout the first act,
-but it then occurred to her that the Russian grand duke would carry
-away a most unworthy opinion of her talent. She quite changed her
-tactics, sang with all possible brilliancy, and is reported in
-particular to have sustained a shake for such a length of time and with
-such wonderful modulations of voice, that his Imperial Highness was
-enchanted, and applauded the singer enthusiastically.
-
-[Sidenote: THE MARATISTES AND TODISTES.]
-
-In Paris Madame Mara was received with enthusiasm, and founded the
-celebrated party of the Maratistes, to which was opposed the almost
-equally distinguished sect of the Todistes. Madame Todi was a
-Portuguese, and she and Madame Mara were the chief, though contending,
-attractions at the Concert Spirituel of Paris, in 1782. These rivalries
-between singers have occasioned, in various countries and at various
-times, a good many foolish verses and _mots_. The Mara and Todi
-disputes, however, inspired one really good stanza, which is as
-follows:--
-
-    "Todi par sa voix touchante,
-       De doux pleurs mouille mes yeux;
-     Mara plus vive, plus brillante,
-       M'étonne, me transporte aux cieux.
-     L'une ravit et l'autre enchante,
-       Mais celle qui plait le mieux,
-     Est toujours celle qui chante."
-
-Of Madame Mara's performances in London, where she obtained her greatest
-and most enduring triumphs, I shall speak in another chapter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-A good notion of the weak points in the Opera in Italy during the early
-part of the 18th century is given, that is to say, is conveyed
-ironically, in the celebrated satire by Marcello, entitled _Teatro a la
-Moda, &c., &c._[34]
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-The author begins by telling the poet, that "there is no occasion for
-his reading, or having read, the old Greek and Latin authors: for this
-good reason, that the ancients never read any of the works of the
-moderns. He will not ask any questions about the ability of the
-performers, but will rather inquire whether the theatre is provided with
-a good bear, a good lion, a good nightingale, good thunder, lightning
-and earthquakes. He will introduce a magnificent show in his last scene,
-and conclude with the usual chorus in honour of the sun, the moon or the
-manager. In dedicating his libretto to some great personage, he will
-select him for his riches rather than his learning, and will give a
-share of the gratuity to his patron's cook, or maître d'hôtel, from whom
-he will obtain all his titles, that he may blazon them on his title
-pages with an &c., &c. He will exalt the great man's family and
-ancestors; make an abundant use of such phrases as liberality and
-generosity of soul; and if he can find any subject of eulogy (as is
-often the case), he will say, that he is silent through fear of hurting
-his patron's modesty; but that fame, with her hundred brazen trumpets,
-will spread his immortal name from pole to pole. He will do well to
-protest to the reader that his opera was composed in his youth, and may
-add that it was written in a few days: by this he will show that he is a
-true modern, and has a proper contempt for the antiquated precept,
-_nonumque prematur in annum_. He may add, too, that he became a poet
-solely for his amusement, and to divert his mind from graver
-occupations; but that he had published his work by the advice of his
-friends and the command of his patrons, and by no means from any love of
-praise or desire of profit. He will take care not to neglect the usual
-explanation of the three great points of every drama, the place, time,
-and action; the place, signifying in such and such a theatre; the time,
-from eight to twelve o'clock at night; the action, the ruin of the
-manager. The incidents of the piece should consist of dungeons, daggers,
-poison, boar-hunts, earthquakes, sacrifices, madness, and so forth;
-because the people are always greatly moved by such unexpected things. A
-good _modern_ poet ought to know nothing about music, because the
-ancients, according to Strabo, Pliny, &c., thought this knowledge
-necessary. At the rehearsals he should never tell his meaning to any of
-the performers, wisely reflecting that they always want to do everything
-in their own way. If a husband and wife are discovered in prison, and
-one of them is led away to die, it is indispensable that the other
-remain to sing an air, which should be to lively words, to relieve the
-feelings of the audience, and make them understand that the whole
-affair is a joke. If two of the characters make love, or plot a
-conspiracy, it should always be in the presence of servants and
-attendants. The part of a father or tyrant, when it is the principal
-character, should always be given to a soprano; reserving the tenors and
-basses for captains of the guard, confidants, shepherds, messengers, and
-so forth.
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-"The modern composer is told that there is no occasion for his being
-master of the principles of composition, a little practice being all
-that is necessary. He need not know anything of poetry, or give himself
-any trouble about the meaning of the words, or even the quantities of
-the syllables. Neither is it necessary that he should study the
-properties of the stringed or wind instruments; if he can play on the
-harpsichord, it will do very well. It will, however, be not amiss for
-him to have been for some years a violin-player, or music-copier for
-some celebrated composer, whose original scenes he may treasure up, and
-thus supply himself with subjects for his airs, recitations, or
-choruses. He will by no means think of reading the opera through, but
-will compose it line by line; using for the airs, _motivi_ which he has
-lying by him; and if the words do not go well below the notes, he will
-torment the poet till they are altered to his mind. When the singer
-comes to a cadence, the composer will make all the instruments stop,
-leaving it to the singer to do whatever he pleases. He will serve the
-manager on very low terms, considering the thousands of crowns that the
-singers cost him:--he will, therefore, content himself with an inferior
-salary to the lowest of these, provided that he is not wronged by the
-bear, the attendants or the scene-shifters being put above him. When he
-is walking with the singers, he will always give them the wall, keep his
-hat in his hand, and remain a step in the rear; considering that the
-lowest of them, on the stage, is at least a general, a captain of the
-guards, or some such personage. All the airs should be formed of the
-same materials--long divisions, holding notes, and repetitions of
-insignificant words, as amore, amore, impero, impero, Europa, Europa,
-furori, furori, orgoglio, orgoglio, &c.; and therefore the composer
-should have before him a memorandum of the things necessary for the
-termination of every air. This will enable him to eschew variety, which
-is no longer in use. After ending a recitative in a flat key, he will
-suddenly begin an air in three or four sharps; and this by way of
-novelty. If the modern composer wishes to write in four parts, two of
-them must proceed in unison or octave, only taking care that there shall
-be a diversity of movement; so that if the one part proceeds by minims
-or crotchets, the other will be in quavers or semiquavers. He will charm
-the audience with airs, accompanied by the stringed instruments
-_pizzicati_ or _con sordini_, trumpets, and other effective
-contrivances. He will not compose airs with a simple bass accompaniment,
-because this is no longer the custom; and, besides, he would take as
-much time to compose one of these as a dozen with the orchestra. The
-modern composer will oblige the manager to furnish him with a large
-orchestra of violins, oboes, horns, &c., saving him rather the expense
-of double basses, of which there is no occasion to make any use, except
-in tuning at the outset. The overture will be a movement in the French
-style, or a prestissimo in semiquavers in a major key, to which will
-succeed a _piano_ in the minor; concluding with a minuet, gavot or jig,
-again in the major key. In this manner the composer will avoid all
-fugues, syncopations, and treatment of subjects, as being antiquated
-contrivances, quite banished from modern music. The modern composer will
-be most attentive to all the ladies of the theatre, supplying them with
-plenty of old songs transposed to suit their voices, and telling each of
-them that the Opera is supported by her talent alone. He will bring
-every night some of his friends, and seat them in the orchestra; giving
-the double bass or violoncello (as being the most useless instruments)
-leave of absence to make room for them.
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-"The singer is informed that there is no occasion for having practised
-the solfeggio; because he would thus be in danger of acquiring a firm
-voice, just intonation, and the power of singing in tune; things wholly
-useless in modern music. Nor is it very necessary that he should be able
-to read or write, know how to pronounce the words or understand their
-meaning, provided he can run divisions, make shakes, cadences, &c. He
-will always complain of his part, saying that it is not in his way,
-that the airs are not in his style, and so on; and he will sing an air
-by some other composer, protesting that at such a court, or in the
-presence of such a great personage, that air carried away all the
-applause, and he was obliged to repeat it a dozen times in an evening.
-At the rehearsals he will merely hum his airs, and will insist on having
-the time in his own way. He will stand with one hand in his waistcoat
-and the other in his breeches' pocket, and take care not to allow a
-syllable to be heard. He will always keep his hat on his head, though a
-person of quality should speak to him, in order to avoid catching cold;
-and he will not bow his head to anybody, remembering the kings, princes,
-and emperors whom he is in the habit of personating. On the stage he
-will sing with shut teeth, doing all he can to prevent a word he says
-from being understood, and, in the recitatives, paying no respect either
-to commas or periods. While another performer is reciting a soliloquy or
-singing an air, he will be saluting the company in the boxes, or
-listening with musicians in the orchestra, or the attendants; because
-the audience knows very well that he is Signor So-and-so, the _musico_,
-and not Prince Zoroastro, whom he is representing. A modern virtuoso
-will be hard to prevail on to sing at a private party. When he arrives
-he will walk up to the mirror, settle his wig, draw down his ruffles,
-and pull up his cravat to show his diamond brooch. He will then touch
-the harpsichord very carelessly, and begin his air three or four times,
-as if he could not recollect it. Having granted this great favour, he
-will begin talking (by way of gathering applause) with some lady,
-telling her stories about his travels, correspondence and professional
-intrigues; all the while ogling his companion with passionate glances,
-and throwing back the curls of his peruke, sometimes on one shoulder,
-sometimes on the other. He will every minute offer the lady snuff in a
-different box, in one of which he will point out his own portrait; and
-will show her some magnificent diamond, the gift of a distinguished
-patron, saying that he would offer it for her acceptance were it not for
-delicacy. Thus he will, perhaps, make an impression on her heart, and,
-at all events, make a great figure in the eyes of the company. In the
-society of the literary men, however eminent, he will always take
-precedence, because, with most people, the singer has the credit of
-being an artist, while the literary man has no consideration at all. He
-will even advise them to embrace his profession, as the singer has
-plenty of money as well as fame, while the man of letters is very apt to
-die of hunger. If the singer is a bass, he should constantly sing tenor
-passages as high as he can. If a tenor, he ought to go as low as he can
-in the scale of the bass, or get up, with a falsetto voice, into the
-regions of the contralto, without minding whether he sings through his
-nose or his throat. He will pay his court to all the principal
-_cantatrici_ and their protectors; and need not despair, by means of
-his talent and exemplary modesty, to acquire the title of a count,
-marquis, or chevalier.
-
-"The _prima donna_ receives ample instructions in her duties both on and
-off the stage. She is taught how to make engagements and to screw the
-manager up to exorbitant terms; how to obtain the "protection" of rash
-amateurs, who are to attend her at all times, pay her expenses, make her
-presents, and submit to her caprices. She is taught to be careless at
-rehearsals, to be insolent to the other performers, and to perform all
-manner of musical absurdities on the stage. She must have a music-master
-to teach her variations, passages and embellishments to her airs; and
-some familiar friend, an advocate or a doctor, to teach her how to move
-her arms, turn her head, and use her handkerchief, without telling her
-why, for that would only confuse her head. She is to endeavour to vary
-her airs every night; and though the variations may be at cross purposes
-with the bass, or the violin part, or the harmony of the accompaniments,
-that matters little, as a modern conductor is deaf and dumb. In her airs
-and recitatives, in action, she will take care every night to use the
-same motions of her hand, her head, her fan, and her handkerchief. If
-she orders a character to be put in chains, and addresses him in an air
-of rage or disdain, during the symphony she should talk and laugh with
-him, point out to him people in the boxes, and show how very little she
-is in earnest. She will get hold of a new passage in rapid triplets, and
-introduce it in all her airs, quick, slow, lively, or sad; and the
-higher she can rise in the scale, the surer she will be of having all
-the principal parts allotted her," &c., &c.
-
-Enough, however, of this excellent but somewhat fatiguing irony; and let
-me conclude this chapter with a few words about the librettists of the
-18th century. The best _libretti_ of Apostolo Zeno, Calsabigi and
-Metastasio, such as the _Demofonte_, the _Artaserse_, the _Didone_, and
-above all the _Olimpiade_, have been set to music by dozens of
-composers. Piccinni, and Sacchini each composed music twice to the
-_Olimpiade_; Jomelli set _Didone_ twice and _Demofonte_ twice; Hasse
-wrote two operas on the _libretto_ of the _Nittetti_, two on that of
-_Artemisia_, two on _Artaserse_, and three on _Arminio_. The excellence
-of these opera-books in a dramatic point of view is sufficiently shown
-by the fact that many of them, including Metastasio's _Didone_,
-_Issipile_ and _Artaserse_ have been translated into French, and played
-with success as tragedies. The _Clemenza di Tito_, by the same author
-(which in a modified form became the _libretto_ of Mozart's last opera)
-was translated into Russian and performed at the Moscow Theatre during
-the reign of the Empress Elizabeth.
-
-In the present day, several of Scribe's best comic operas have been
-converted into comic dramas for the English stage, while others by the
-same author have been made the groundwork of Italian _libretti_. Thus
-_Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_ are the originals of Donizetti's
-_Elisir d'amore_ and Bellini's _Sonnambula_. Several of Victor Hugo's
-admirably constructed dramas have also been laid under contribution by
-the Italian librettists of the present day. Donizetti's _Lucrezia_ is
-founded on _Lucrčce Borgia_; Verdi's _Ernani_ on _Hernani_, his
-_Rigoletto_ on _Le Roi s'amuse_.
-
-[Sidenote: LIBRETTI.]
-
-Our English writers of _libretti_ are about as original as the rest of
-our dramatists. _The Bohemian Girl_ is not only identical in subject
-with _La Gitana_, but is a translation of an unpublished opera founded
-on that _ballet_ and written by M. St. George. The English version is
-evidently called _The Bohemian Girl_ from M. St. George having entitled
-his manuscript opera _La Bohémienne_, and from Mr. Bunn having mistaken
-the meaning of the word. It is less astonishing that the manager of a
-theatre should commit such an error than that no one should hitherto
-have pointed it out. The heroine of the opera is not a Bohemian, but a
-gipsey; and Bohemia has nothing to do with the piece, the action taking
-place in some portion of the "fair land of Poland," which, as the
-librettist informs us, was "trod by the hoof;" though whether in
-Russian, in Austrian or in Prussian Poland we are not informed. _La
-Zingara_ has often been played at Vienna, and I have seen _La Gitana_ at
-Moscow. Probably the Austrians lay the scene of the drama in the
-Russian, and the Russians in the Austrian, dominions. Fortunately, Mr.
-Balfe has given no particular colour to the music of his _Bohemian
-Girl_, which, as far as can be judged from the melodies sung by her, is
-as much (and as little) a Bohemian girl as a gipsey girl, or a Polish
-girl, or indeed any other girl. The _libretti_ of Mr. Balfe's
-_Satanella_, _Rose of Castille_, _Maid of Honour_, _Bondsman_, &c., are
-all founded on French pieces. Mr. Wallace's _Maritana_, is, I need
-hardly say, founded on the French drama of _Don Cćsar de Bazan_. But
-there is unmistakeable originality in the _libretto_ of this composer's
-_Lurline_, though the chief incidents are, of course, taken from the
-well-known German legend on which Mendelsohn commenced writing his opera
-of _Loreley_.
-
-[Sidenote: NATIONAL STYLES.]
-
-One of the very few good original _libretti_ in the English language is
-that of _Robin Hood_, by Mr. Oxenford. The best of all English libretti,
-in point of literary merit, being probably Dryden's _Albion and
-Albanius_, while the best French libretto in all respects is decidedly
-Victor Hugo's _Esmeralda_. Mr. Macfarren has, in many places, given
-quite an English character to the music of _Robin Hood_, though, in
-doing so, he has not (as has been asserted) founded a national style of
-operatic music; for the same style applied to subjects not English might
-be found as inappropriate as the music of _The Barber of Seville_ would
-be adapted to _Tom and Jerry_. A great deal can be written and very
-little decided about this question of nationality of style in music. If
-Auber's style is French, (instead of being his own, as I should say)
-what was that of Rameau? If "The Marseillaise" is such a thoroughly
-French air (as every one admits), how is it that it happens to be an
-importation from Germany? The Royalist song of "Pauvre Jacques" passed
-for French, but it was Dibdin's "Poor Jack." How is it that "Malbrook"
-sounds so French, and "We won't go home till morning" so English--an
-attempt, by the way, having been made to show that the airs common to
-both these songs were sung originally by the Spanish Moors? I fancy the
-great point, after all, is to write good music; and if it be written to
-good English words, full of English rhythm and cadence, it will, from
-that alone, derive a sufficiently English character.
-
-Handel appears to me to have done far greater service to English Opera
-than Arne or any of our English and pseudo-English operatic composers
-whose works are now utterly forgotten, except by musical antiquaries;
-for Handel established Italian Opera among us on a grand artistic scale,
-and since then, at Her Majesty's Theatre, and subsequently at the
-comparatively new Royal Italian Opera, all the finest works, whether of
-the Italian, the German, or the French school, have been brought out as
-fast as they have been produced abroad, and, on the whole, in very
-excellent style. English Opera has no history, no unbroken line of
-traditions; it has no regular sequence of operatic weeks by native
-composers; but at our Italian Opera Houses, the whole history of
-dramatic music has been exemplified, and from Gluck to Verdi is still
-exemplified in the present day. We take no note, it is true, of the old
-French composers,--Lulli, who begat Rameau, and Rameau, who begat no
-one--and for the reason just indicated. There are plenty of amusing
-stories about the _Académie Royale_ from its very foundation, but the
-true history of dramatic music in France dates from the arrival of Gluck
-in Paris in 1774.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-FRENCH OPERA FROM LULLI TO THE DEATH OF RAMEAU.
-
-     Ramists and Lullists.--Rameau's Letters of nobility.--His
-     death.--Affairs of honour and love.--Sophie Arnould.--Madame
-     Favart.--Charles Edward at the Académie.
-
-
-Lulli died in Paris, March 22nd, 1687, at the age of fifty-four. In
-beating time with his walking stick during the performance of a _Te
-Deum_ which he had composed to celebrate the convalescence of Louis
-XIV., he struck his foot, and with so much violence that he died from
-the effects of the blow. It is said[35] that this _Te Deum_ produced a
-great sensation, and that Lulli died satisfied, like a general expiring
-on the battle field immediately after a victory.
-
-All Lulli's operas are in five acts, but they are very short. "The
-drama," says M. Halévy, "comprises but a small number of scenes; the
-pieces are of a briefness to be envied; it is music summarized; two
-phrases make an air. The task of the composer then was far from being
-what it is now. The secret had not yet been discovered of those pieces,
-those finales which have since been so admirably developed, linking
-together in one well-conceived whole, a variety of situations which
-assist the inspiration of the composer and sometimes call it forth.
-There is certainly more music in one of the finales of a modern work
-than in the five acts of an opera of Lulli's. We may add that the art of
-instrumentation, since carried to such a high degree of brilliancy, was
-then confined within very narrow limits, or rather this art did not
-exist. The violins, violas, bass viols, hautboys, which at first formed
-the entire arsenal of the composer, seldom did more than follow the
-voices. Lulli, moreover, wrote only the vocal part and the bass of his
-compositions. His pupils, Lalouette and Colasse, who were conductors
-(_chefs d'orchestre_, or, as was said at that time, _batteurs de
-mesure_) under his orders, filled up the orchestral parts in accordance
-with his indications. This explains how, in the midst of all the details
-with which he had to occupy himself, he could write such a great number
-of works; but it does not diminish the idea one must form of his
-facility, his intelligence, and his genius, for these works, rapidly as
-they were composed, kept possession of the stage for more than a
-century."
-
-The next great composer, in France, to Lulli, in point of time, was
-Rameau. "Rameau" (in the words of the author from whom I have just
-quoted, and whose opinion on such a subject cannot be too highly valued)
-"elevated and strengthened the art; his harmonies were more solidly
-woven, his orchestra was richer, his instrumentation more skilful, his
-colouring more decided."
-
-Dr. Burney, however, in his account of the French Opera of his period
-(when Rameau's works were constantly being performed) speaks of the
-music as monotonous in the extreme and without ryhthm or expression.
-Indeed, he found nothing at the French Opera to admire but the dancing
-and the decorations, and these alone (he tells us) seemed to give
-pleasure to the audience. Nevertheless, the French journals of the
-middle of the 18th century constantly informed their readers that Rameau
-was the first musician in Europe, "though," as Grimm remarked, "Europe
-scarcely knew the name of her first musician, knew none of his operas,
-and could not have tolerated them on her stages."
-
-[Sidenote: RAMISTS AND LULLISTS.]
-
-Jean Phillippe Rameau was born the 25th September, 1683, at Dijon. He
-studied music under the direction of his father, Jean Rameau, an
-organist, and afterwards visited Italy, but does not appear to have
-appreciated Italian music. On his return to France he wrote the music of
-an opera founded on the _Phčdre_ of Racine, and entitled _Hippolyte et
-Aricie_. This work, which was produced in 1733, was received with much
-applause and a good deal of hissing, but on the whole it obtained a
-great success which was not diminished in the end by having been
-contested in the first instance. Rameau had soon so many admirers of his
-own, and met with so much opposition from the admirers of Lulli that two
-parties of Lullists and of Ramists were formed. This was the first of
-those foolish musical feuds of which Paris has witnessed so many, though
-scarcely more than London. Indeed, London had already seen the disputes
-between the partisans of Mrs. Tofts, the English singer, and Margarita
-l'Epine, the Italian, as well as the more celebrated Handel and
-Buononcini contests, and the quarrels between the friends of Faustina
-and Cuzzoni. However, when Rameau produced his _Castor and Pollux_, in
-1737, he was generally admitted by his compatriots to be the greatest
-composer of the day, not only in France, but in all Europe--which, as
-Grimm observed, was not acquainted with him. Gluck, however, is said[36]
-to have expressed his admiration of the chorus, _Que tout gémisse_, and
-M. Castil Blaze assures us, that "the fine things which this work
-(_Castor and Pollux_) contains, would please in the present day."
-
-Great honours were paid to Rameau by Louis XV., who granted him letters
-of nobility, and that only to render him worthy of a still higher mark
-of favour, the order of St. Michael. The composer on receiving his
-patent did not take the trouble to register it, upon which the king,
-thinking Rameau was afraid of the expense, offered to defray all the
-necessary charges himself. "Let me have the money, your Majesty," said
-Rameau, "and I will apply it to some more useful purpose. Letters of
-nobility to me? _Castor_ and _Dardanus_ gave them to me long ago!"
-
-[Sidenote: RAMEAU'S LETTERS OF NOBILITY.]
-
-Rameau's letters of nobility were invalidated by not being registered,
-but the order of St. Michael was given to him all the same.
-
-The badge of the same order was refused unconditionally by Beaumarchais,
-when it was offered to him by the Baron de Breteuil, minister of Louis
-XVI., the author of the _Marriage of Figaro_ observing that men whose
-merit was acknowledged had no need of decorations.
-
-Thus, too, Tintoretto refused knighthood at the hands of Henry III. of
-France (of what value, by the way, was the barren compliment to Sir
-Antony Vandyke, whom every one knows as a painter, and no one, scarcely,
-as a knight)? Thus, the celebrated singer, Forst, of Mies, in Bohemia,
-refused letters of nobility from Joseph I., Emperor of Germany, but
-accepted a pension of three hundred florins, which was offered to him in
-its place; and thus Beethoven being asked by the Prince von Hatzfeld,
-Prussian ambassador at Vienna, whether he would rather have a
-subscription of fifty ducats, which was due to him,[37] or the cross of
-some order, replied briefly, with all readiness of determination--"Fifty
-ducats!"
-
-Besides being a very successful operatic composer, (he wrote thirty-six
-works for the stage, of which twenty-two were represented at the
-Académie Royale), Rameau was an admirable performer on the organ and
-harpsichord, and wrote a great deal of excellent music for those two
-instruments. He, moreover, distinguished himself by his important
-discoveries in the science of harmony, which he published, defended, and
-explained, in twenty works, more or less copious.
-
-"Rameau's music," says M. Castil Blaze, "marks (in France) a progress.
-Not that this master improved the taste of our nation: he possessed none
-himself. Although he had visited the north of Italy, he had no idea that
-it was possible to sing better than the hack-vocalists of our Opera.
-Rameau never understood anything of Italian music; accordingly he did
-not bring the forms of melody to perfection among us. The success of
-Rameau was due to the fact, that he gave more life, warmth, and
-movement, to our dramatic music. His ryhthmical airs (when the
-irregularity of the words did not trouble him too much), the free,
-energetic, and even daring character of his choruses, the richness of
-his orchestra, raised this master at last to the highest rank, which he
-maintained until his death. All this, however, is relative, comparative.
-I must tell you in confidence, that these choruses, this orchestra, were
-very badly constructed, and often incorrect in point of harmony.
-Observe, too, if you please, that I do not go beyond our own frontiers,
-lest I should meet a Scarlatti, a Handel, a Jomelli, a Pergolese, a
-Sebastian Bach, and twenty other rivals, too formidable for our
-compatriot, as regards operas, religious dramas, cantatas, and
-symphonies."
-
-[Sidenote: DEATH OF RAMEAU.]
-
-Rameau died in 1764. The Opera undertook the direction of his funeral,
-and caused a service for the repose of his soul to be celebrated in the
-church of the Oratory. Several pieces from _Castor_ and _Pollux_, and
-other of his lyrical works, had been arranged for the ceremony, and were
-introduced into the mass. The music was executed by the orchestra and
-chorus of the Opera, both of which were doubled for the occasion. In
-1766, on the second anniversary of Rameau's death, a mortuary mass,
-written by Philidor, the celebrated chess player and composer (but one
-of those minor composers of whose works it does not enter into our
-limited plan to speak), was performed in the same church.
-
-The chief singers of the Académie during the greater portion of Rameau's
-career as a composer, were Jéliotte, Chassé, and Mademoiselle de Fel.
-Jéliotte retired in 1775, and for nine years the French Opera was
-without a respectable tenor. Chassé (baritone), and Mademoiselle de Fel,
-were replaced, about the same time, by Larrivée, and the celebrated
-Sophie Arnould, both of whom appeared afterwards in Gluck's operas.
-
-Claude Louis de Chassé, Seigneur de Ponceau, a gentleman of a good
-Breton family, gave up a commission in the army in 1721, to join the
-Opera. He succeeded equally as a singer and as an actor, and also
-distinguished himself by his skill in arranging tableaux. He it was who
-first introduced on to the French stage immense masses of men, and
-taught them to manoeuvre with precision. Louis XV. was so pleased
-with the evolutions of Chassé's theatrical troops in an opera
-represented at Fontainbleau, that he afterwards addressed him always as
-"General." In 1738, Chassé left the Académie on the pretext that the
-histrionic profession was not suited to a man of gentle birth.[38] But
-the true reason is said to have been that having saved a considerable
-sum of money, he found he could afford to throw up his engagement.
-However, he invested the greater part of his fortune in a speculation
-which failed, and was obliged to return to the stage a few years after
-he had declared his intention of abandoning it for ever. On his
-reappearance, the "gentlemanliness" of Chassé's execution was noticed,
-but in a sarcastic, not a complimentary spirit.
-
-    "Ce n'est plus cette voix tonnante
-     Ce ne sont plus ses grands éclats;
-     C'est un gentilhomme qui chante
-     Et qui ne se fatigue pas--"
-
-were lines circulated on the occasion of the Seigneur du Ponceau's
-return to the Académie, where, however, he continued to sing with
-success for a dozen years afterwards.
-
-[Sidenote: AFFAIRS OF HONOUR AND LOVE.]
-
-Jéliotte was one of the great favourites of fashionable Parisian society
-(at least, among the women); but Chassé (also among the women) was one
-of the most admired men in France. Among other triumphs of the same
-kind, he had the honour of causing a duel between a Polish and a French
-lady, who fought with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne. The latter was
-wounded rather seriously, and on her recovery, was confined in a
-convent, while her adversary was ordered to quit France. During the
-little trouble which this affair caused in the polite world, Chassé
-remained at home, reclining on a sofa after the manner of a delicate,
-sensitive woman who has had the misfortune to see two of her adorers
-risk their lives for her. In this style he received the visits of all
-who came to compliment him on his good luck. Louis XV. thought it worth
-while to send the Duke de Richelieu to tell him to put an end to his
-affectation.
-
-"Explain to his Majesty," said Chassé to the Duke, "that it is not my
-fault, but that of Providence, which has made me the most popular man in
-the kingdom."
-
-"Let me tell you, coxcomb, that you are only the third," said the Duke.
-"I come next to the king."
-
-It was indeed a fact that Madame de Polignac, and Madame de Nesle had
-already fought for the affection of the Duke de Richelieu, when Madame
-de Nesle received a wound in the shoulder.[39]
-
-Sophie Arnould was a discovery made by the Princess of Modena at the Val
-de Grâce, whither her royal highness had retired, according to the
-fashion of the time, to atone, during a portion of Lent, for the sins
-she had committed during the Carnival, and where she chanced to hear the
-young girl singing a vesper hymn. The Princess spoke of Mademoiselle
-Arnould's talents at the court, and, in spite of her mother's
-opposition, (the parents kept a lodging house somewhere in Paris) she
-was inscribed on the list of choristers at the king's chapel. Madame de
-Pompadour, already struck by the beauty of her eyes, which are said to
-have been enchantingly expressive, exclaimed when she heard her sing,
-"_Il y a lŕ, de quoi faire une princesse._"
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-Sophie Arnould (a charming name, which the bearer thereof owed in part
-to her own good taste, and in no way to her godfathers and godmothers,
-who christened her Anne-Madeleine) made her _début_ in the year 1757, at
-the age of thirteen. She wore a lilac dress, embroidered in silver. Her
-talent, combined with her wonderful beauty, ensured her immediate
-success, and before she had been on the stage a fortnight, all Paris was
-in love with her. When she was announced to sing, the doors of the Opera
-were besieged by such crowds that Fréron declared he scarcely thought
-persons would give themselves so much trouble to enter into paradise.
-The fascinating Sophie was as witty as she was beautiful, and her _mots_
-(the most striking of which are quoted by M. A. Houssaye in his _Galerie
-du 18me. Sičcle_), were repeated by all the fashionable poets and
-philosophers of Paris. Her suppers soon became celebrated, but her life
-of pleasure did not cause her to forget the Opera. She is said to have
-sung with "a limpid and melodious voice," and to have acted with "all
-the grace and sentiment of a practiced comédienne."[40] Garrick saw her
-when he was in Paris, and declared that she was the only actress on the
-French stage who had really touched his heart.[41]
-
-As an instance of the effect her singing had upon the public, I may
-mention that in 1772, Mademoiselle Arnould refused to perform one
-evening, and made her appearance among the audience, saying that she had
-come to take a lesson of her rival, Mademoiselle Beaumesnil; that the
-minister, de la Vrilličre, instead of sending the capricious and
-facetious vocalist to For-l'Evčque, in accordance with the request of
-the directors, contented himself with reprimanding her; that a party
-was formed to hiss her violently the next night of her appearance, as a
-punishment for her impertinence; but that directly Sophie Arnould began
-to sing, the conspirators were disarmed, and instead of hissing,
-applauded her.
-
-On the 1st of April, 1778, the day of Voltaire's coronation at the
-Comédie Française, all the most celebrated actresses in Paris went to
-compliment him. He returned their visits directly afterwards, and his
-conversation with Sophie Arnould at the opera, is said to have been a
-speaking duet of the most marvellous lightness and brilliancy.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When poor Sophie was getting old she continued to sing, and the Abbé
-Galiani said of her voice that it was "the finest asthma he had ever
-heard." This remark, however, belongs to the list of sharp things said
-during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, described at some length in the
-next chapter but one, and in which Sophie Arnould played an important
-part.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mademoiselle Arnould's _mots_ seem to me, for the most part, not very
-susceptible of satisfactory translation. I will quote a few of them in
-Sophie's own language.
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-Of the celebrated dancer, Madeleine Guimard, concerning whom I shall
-have something to say a few pages further on, Sophie Arnould, reflecting
-on Madeleine's remarkable thinness, observed "_ce petit ver ŕ soie
-devrait ętre plus gras, elle ronge une si bonne feuille._"[42]
-
-Sophie was born in the room where Admiral Coligny was assassinated, and
-where the Duchess de Montbazon lived for some time. "_Je suis venue au
-monde par une porte célčbre_," she said.
-
-One day, when a very dull work, Rameau's _Zoroastre_, was going to be
-played at the Académie, Beaumarchais, whose tedious drama _Les deux
-amis_ had just been brought out at the Comédie Française, remarked to
-Sophie Arnould that there would be no people at the opera that evening,
-
-"_Je vous demande pardon_," was the reply, "_vos deux amis nous en
-enverront._"
-
-Seeing the portraits of Sully and Choiseul on the same snuff-box, she
-exclaimed, "_C'est la recette et la dépense._"
-
-To a lady, whose beauty was her only recommendation, and who complained
-that so many men made love to her, she said, "_Eh ma chčre il vous est
-si facile des les éloigner; vous n'avez qu'ŕ parler._"
-
-Sophie's affection for the Count de Lauragais, the most celebrated and,
-seemingly, the most agreeable of her admirers, is said to have lasted
-four years. This constancy was mutual, and the historians of the French
-Opera speak of it as something not only unique but inexplicable and
-almost miraculous. At last Mademoiselle Arnould, unwilling, perhaps, to
-appear too original, determined to break with the Count; the mode,
-however, of the rupture was by no means devoid of originality. One day,
-by Mademoiselle Arnould's orders, a carriage was sent to the Hotel de
-Lauragais, containing lace, ornaments, boxes of jewellery--and two
-children; everything in fact that she owed to the Count. The Countess
-was even more generous than Sophie. She accepted the children, and sent
-back the lace, the jewellery, and the carriage.
-
-A little while afterwards the Count de Lauragais fell in love with a
-very pretty _débutante_ in the ballet department of the Opera. Sophie
-Arnould asked him how he was getting on with his new passion. The Count
-confessed that he had not made much progress in her affections, and
-complained that he always found a certain knight of Malta in her
-apartments when he called upon her.
-
-"You may well fear him," said Sophie, "_Il est lŕ pour chasser les
-infidčles._"
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-This certainly looks like a direct reproach of inconstancy, and from
-Sophie's sending the Count back all his presents, it is tolerably clear
-that she felt herself aggrieved. He was of a violently jealous
-disposition, though he had no cause for jealousy as far as Sophie was
-concerned. Indeed, she appears naturally to have been of a romantic
-disposition, and a tendency to romance though it may mislead a girl yet
-does not deprave her.
-
-We shall meet with the charming Sophie again during the Gluck and
-Piccinni period, and once again when the revolution had invaded the
-Opera, and had ruined some of the chief operatic celebrities. During her
-last illness, in telling her confessor the unedifying story of her life,
-she had to speak of the jealous fury of the Count de Lauragais, whom she
-had really loved.[43]
-
-"My poor child, how much you have suffered!" said the kind priest.
-
-"_Ah! c'était le bon temps! j'était si malheureuse!_" exclaimed Sophie.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Sophie Arnould's rival and successor at the Opera was Mademoiselle
-Laguerre, who, if she had not the wit of Sophie, had considerably more
-than her prudence, and who died, leaving a fortune of about Ł180,000.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the celebrated French singers of the 18th century, Madame Favart
-must not be forgotten. This vocalist was for many years the glory and
-the chief support of the Opéra Comique, which, in 1762, combined with
-the Comédie Italienne to form but one establishment. There was so much
-similarity in the styles of the performances at these two operatic
-theatres, that for seven years before the union was effected, the
-favourite piece at the one house was _La Serva Padrona_, at the other,
-_La Servante Maitresse_, that is to say, Pergolese's favourite work
-translated into French.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME FAVART.]
-
-The history of the Opera in France during the latter half of the 18th
-century abounds in excellent anecdotes; and several very interesting
-ones are told of Marshal Saxe. This brave man was much loved by the
-beautiful women of his day. In M. Scribe's admirable play of _Adrienne
-Lecouvreur_, Maurice de Saxe is made to say, that whatever celebrity he
-may attain, his name will never be mentioned without recalling that of
-Adrienne Lecouvreur. Some genealogist, without affectation, ought to
-tell us how many persons illustrious in the arts are descendants of
-Marshal Saxe, or of Adrienne Lecouvreur, or of both. It would be an
-interesting list, at the head of which the names of George Sand, and of
-Francoeur the mathematician, might figure. But I was about to say,
-that the mention of the great Maurice de Saxe recalled to me not only
-Adrienne Lecouvreur, but also the charming Fifine Desaigles, one of the
-fairest and most fascinating of _blondes_, the beautiful and talented
-Madame Favart, and a good many other theatrical fair ones. When the
-Marshal died, poor Fifine went into mourning for him, and wore black,
-even on the stage, for as many days as it appeared to her that his
-passionate affection for her had lasted. It is uncertain whether or not
-the warrior's love for Madame Favart was returned. The Marshal said it
-was; the lady said it was not; the lady's husband said he didn't know.
-The best story told about Marshal Saxe and Madame Favart, or rather
-Mademoiselle Chantilly, which was at that time her name, is one relating
-to her elopement with Favart from Maestricht, during the siege.
-Mademoiselle Chantilly was a member of the operatic _troupe_ engaged by
-the Marshal to follow the army of Flanders,[44] and of which Favart was
-the director. Marshal Saxe became deeply enamoured of the young _prima
-donna_, and made proposals to her of a nature partly flattering, partly
-the reverse. Mademoiselle Chantilly, however, preferred Favart, and
-contrived to escape with him one dark and stormy night. Indeed, so
-tempestuous was it, that a bridge, which formed the communication
-between the main body of the army and a corps on the other side of the
-river, was carried away, leaving the detached regiments quite at the
-mercy of the enemy. The next morning an officer visited the Marshal in
-his tent, and found him in a state of great grief and agitation.
-
-"It is a sad affair, no doubt," said the visitor; "but it can be
-remedied."
-
-"Remedied!" exclaimed the distressed hero; "no; all hope is lost; I am
-in despair!"
-
-The officer showed that the bridge might be repaired in such and such a
-manner; upon which, the great commander, whom no military disaster could
-depress, but who was now profoundly afflicted by the loss of a very
-charming singer, replied--
-
-"Are you talking about the bridge? That can be mended in a couple of
-hours. I was thinking of Chantilly. Perfidious girl! she has deserted
-me!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the historical persons who figured at the Académie Musique about
-the middle of the 18th century, we must not forget Charles Edward, who
-was taken prisoner there. The Duke de Biron had been ordered to see to
-his arrest, and on the evening of the 11th December, when it was known
-that he intended to visit the Opera, surrounded the building with twelve
-hundred guards as soon as the Young Pretender had entered it. The prince
-was taken to Vincennes, and kept there four days. He was then liberated,
-and expelled from France in accordance with the terms of the treaty of
-1748, so humiliating to the French arms.
-
-[Sidenote: CHARLES EDWARD AT THE ACADEMIE.]
-
-The servants of the Young Pretender, and with them one of the retinue of
-the Princess de Talmont, whose antiquated charms had detained the
-Chevalier de St. Georges at Paris, were sent to the Bastille, upon which
-the princess wrote the following letter to M. de Maurepas:--
-
-"The king, sir, has just covered himself with immortal glory by
-arresting Prince Edward. I have no doubt but that His Majesty will order
-a _Te Deum_ to be sung, to thank God for so brilliant a victory. But as
-Placide, my lacquey, taken in this memorable expedition, can add nothing
-to His Majesty's laurels, I beg you to send him back to me."
-
-"The only Englishman the regiment of French guards has taken throughout
-the war!" exclaimed the Princess de Conti, when she heard of the arrest.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-There was a curious literary apparition at the Académie in 1750, on the
-occasion of the revival of _Thétis et Pélée_, when Fontenelle, the
-author of the libretto of that opera, entered a box, and sat down just
-where he had taken his place sixty years before, on the first night of
-its production. The public, delighted, no doubt, to see that men could
-live so long, and get so much enjoyment out of life, applauded with
-enthusiasm.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH COMIC OPERA.]
-
-In this necessarily incomplete history of the Opera (anything like a
-full narrative of its rise and progress, with particulars of the lives
-of all the great composers and singers, would fill ten large volumes and
-would probably not find a hundred readers) there are some forms of the
-lyric drama to which I can scarcely do more than allude. My great
-difficulty is to know what to omit, but I think that in addressing
-English readers I am justified in passing hastily over the Pulcinella
-Operas of Italy and the Opéra Comique of France. I shall say very little
-about the ballad operas of England, which are no longer played, which
-led to nothing, and which do not interest me personally. The lowest
-style of Italian comic opera, again, has not only exercised no
-influence, but has never attained even a moderate amount of success in
-this country. Not so the Opéra Comique of France, if Auber is to be
-taken as its representative. But the author of the _Muette de Portici_,
-_Gustave III._, and _Fra Diavolo_, is not only the greatest dramatic
-composer France has produced, but one of the greatest dramatic composers
-of the century. By his masterly concerted pieces and finales he has
-given an importance to the _Opéra Comique_ which it did not possess
-before his time, and if he had never written works of that class at all
-he would still be one of the favourite composers of the English public,
-esteemed and studied by musicians, and admired by all classes. The
-French historians of the Opéra Comique show that, as regards the
-dramatic form, it has its origin in the _vaudeville_, many of the old
-_opéras comiques_ being, in fact, little more than _vaudevilles_, with
-original airs in place of songs adapted to tunes already known. In a
-musical point of view, however, the French owe their lyrical comedy to
-the Italians. Monsigny, Philidor, Grétry, the founders of the style,
-were felicitous imitators of the Pergoleses, the Leos, the Vincis, and
-the Piccinnis. "In _Le Déserteur_, _Le Roi et le Fermier_, _Le Maréchal
-Ferrant_, _Le Tableau Parlant_, we are struck," says M. Scudo, the
-excellent musical critic of the _Révue des Deux Mondes_, "as Dr. Burney
-was, in 1770, to find more than one recollection of _La Serva Padrona_,
-_La Cecchina_, and other opera buffas by the first masters of the
-Neapolitan school. The influence of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi, may be
-remarked in the works of Dalayrac, Berton, Boieldieu, and Nicolo.
-Boieldieu afterwards imitated Rossini to some extent in _La Dame
-Blanche_, but the chief followers of this great Italian master in France
-have been Hérold and Auber." This brings us down to the present day,
-when we find Meyerbeer, the composer of great choral and orchestral
-schemes, the cultivator of musico-dramatic "effects" on a large scale,
-writing for the Opéra Comique; and in spite of the spoken dialogue in
-the _Etoile du Nord_ and the _Pardon de Ploermel_, it is impossible not
-to place those important and broadly conceived lyrical dramas in the
-class of grand opera.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-ROUSSEAU AS A CRITIC AND AS A COMPOSER OF MUSIC.
-
-     The Musical Dictionary.--Account of the French Opera from the
-     Nouvelle Héloise.--Le devin du Village.--Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
-     Granet of Lyons.
-
-
-Rousseau, a man of a decidedly musical organisation, who, during his
-residence in Italy, learnt, as he tells us in the _Confessions_, to love
-the music of Italy; who wrote so earnestly and so well in favour of that
-music, and against the psalmody of Lulli and Rameau, in his celebrated
-_Lettre sur la Musique Française_; and who had sufficient candour, or,
-rather let us say, a sufficiently sincere love of art to express the
-enthusiasm he felt for Gluck when all the other writers in France, who
-had ever praised Italian music, felt bound to depreciate him blindly,
-for the greater glory of Piccinni; this Rousseau, who cared more for
-music than for truth or honour, and who has now been proved to have
-stolen from two obscure, but not altogether unknown, composers the music
-which he represented to be his own, in _Pygmalion_, and the _Devin du
-Village_, has given in his _Dictionnaire Musicale_, in the
-before-mentioned _Lettre sur la Musique Française_, but above all in
-the _Nouvelle Héloise_, the best general account that can be obtained of
-the Opera in France during the middle of the 18th century. I will begin
-with Rousseau's article on the Opera (omitting only the end, which
-relates to the ballet), from the _Dictionnaire Musicale_:--
-
-[Sidenote: ROUSSEAU'S DEFINITION OF OPERA.]
-
-"An opera is a dramatic and lyrical spectacle, designed to combine the
-enchantments of all the fine arts by the representation of some
-passionate action through sensations so agreeable as to excite both
-interest and illusion.[45]
-
-"The constituent parts of an opera are the poem, the music, and the
-decoration. By poetry, the spectacle speaks to the mind; by music, to
-the ear; and by painting, to the eye: all combining, through different
-organs, to make the same impression on the heart. Of these three parts,
-my subject only allows me to consider the first and last with reference
-to the second.
-
-"The art of combining sounds agreeably may be regarded under two
-different aspects. As an institution of nature, music confines its
-effects to the senses, to the physical pleasure which results from
-melody, harmony, and rhythm. Such is usually the music of churches; such
-are the airs suited to dancing and songs. But as the essential part of a
-lyrical scene, aiming principally at imitation, music becomes one of the
-fine arts, and is capable of painting all pictures; of exciting all
-sentiments; of competing with poetry; of endowing her with new
-strength; of embellishing her with new charms; and of triumphing over
-her while placing the crown on her head.
-
-"The sounds of a speaking voice, being neither harmonious nor sustained,
-are inappreciable, and cannot, consequently, connect themselves
-agreeably with the singing voice, or with instruments, at least in
-modern languages. It was different with the Greeks. Their language was
-so accentuated that its inflections, in a long declamation, formed,
-spontaneously as it were, musical intervals, distinctly appreciable.
-Thus it may be said that their theatrical pieces were a species of
-opera; and it was for this very reason that they could have no operas
-properly so called.
-
-"But the difficulty of uniting song to declamation in modern languages
-explains how it is that the intervention of music has given to the lyric
-poem a character quite different from that of tragedy or comedy, and
-made it a third species of drama, having its particular rules. The
-differences alluded to cannot be determined without a perfect knowledge
-of music, of the means of identifying it with words, and of its natural
-relations to the human heart--details which belong less to the artist
-than to the philosopher.
-
-[Sidenote: GREEK MUSIC.]
-
-"Confining myself, therefore, on this subject to a few observations
-rather historical than didactic, I remark, first, that the Greek theatre
-had not, like ours, any lyrical feature, for that which they called so,
-had not the slightest resemblance to what we call so.
-
-Their language had so much accent that, in a concert of voices, there
-was little noise, whilst all their poetry was musical, and all their
-music declamatory. Thus, song with them was hardly more than sustained
-discourse. They really sang their verses, as they declared at the head
-of their poems, a practice which gave the Romans, and afterwards the
-moderns, the ridiculous habit of saying, _I sing_, when nothing is sung.
-That which the Greeks called the lyric style was a pompous and florid
-strain of heroic poesy, accompanied by the lyre. It is certain, too,
-that their tragedies were recited in a manner very similar to singing,
-and that they were accompanied by instruments, and had choruses.
-
-"But if, on that account, it should he inferred that they were operas
-like ours, then it must be supposed that their operas were without airs,
-for it appears to me unquestionable that the Greek music, without
-excepting even the instrumental, was a real recitative. It is true that
-this recitative, uniting the charm of musical sounds to all the harmony
-of poetry, and to all the force of declamation, must have had much more
-energy than the modern recitative, which can hardly acquire one of these
-advantages but at the expense of the others. In our living languages,
-which partake for the most part of the rudeness of their native
-climates, the application of music to speech is much less natural than
-it was with the Greeks. An uncertain prosody agrees ill with regularity
-of measure; deaf and dumb syllables, hard articulations, sounds not
-sonorous, with little variation, and no suppleness, cannot but with
-great difficulty be consorted with melody; and a poetry cadenced solely
-by the number of syllables, whilst it gets but a very faint harmony in
-musical rhythm, is constantly opposed to the diversity of that rhythm's
-values and movements. These are the difficulties which were to be
-overcome, or eluded, in the invention of the lyrical poem. The effort,
-therefore, of its inventors was to form, by a nice selection of words,
-by choice turns of expression, and by varied metres, a particular
-language; and this language, called lyrical, is rich or poor in
-proportion to the softness or harshness of that from which it is
-derived.
-
-"Having thus prepared a language for music, the question was next to
-apply music to this language, and to render it so apt for the purposes
-of the lyrical scene that the whole, vocal and instrumental, should be
-taken for one and the same idiom. This produced the necessity of
-continuous singing,--a necessity the greater in proportion as the
-language employed should be unmusical, as the less a language has of
-softness and accentuation, the more the alternate change from song to
-speech shocks the ear.
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AND LANGUAGE.]
-
-"This mode of uniting music to poetry sufficed to produce interest and
-illusion among the Greeks, because it was natural; and, for the contrary
-reason, it cannot have the like effect on us. In listening to a
-hypothetical and constrained language, we can hardly conceive what the
-singers would say, so that with much noise they excite little emotion.
-Hence the further necessity of bringing physical to the aid of moral
-pleasure, and of supplying, by the charm of harmony, the lack of
-distinctness of meaning and energy of expression. Thus, the less the
-heart was touched the more need there was to flatter the ear, and from
-sensation was sought the delight which sentiment could not furnish.
-Hence the origin of airs, choruses, symphonies, and of that enchanting
-melody which often embellishes modern music at the expense of its poetic
-accompaniment.
-
-"At the birth of the Opera, its inventors, to elude that which seemed
-unnatural, as an imitation of human life, in the union of music with
-speech, transferred their scenes from earth to heaven, and to hell. Not
-knowing how to make men speak, they made gods and devils, instead of
-heroes and shepherds, sing. Thus magic and marvels became speedily the
-stock in trade of the lyrical theatre. Yet, in spite of every effort to
-fascinate the eyes, whilst multitudes of instruments and of voices
-bewildered the ear, the action of every piece remained cold, and all its
-scenes were totally void of interest. As there was no plot which,
-however intricate, could not be easily unravelled by the intervention of
-some god, the spectator quietly abandoned to the poet the task of
-delivering his hero from his greatest dangers. Thus immense machinery
-produced little effect, for the imitation was always grossly defective
-and coarse. A supernatural action had in it no human interest, and the
-senses refused to yield to an illusion, in which the heart had no part.
-It would have been difficult to weary an assembly at greater cost than
-was done by these first operas.
-
-But the spectacle, imperfect as it was, was for a long time the
-admiration of its contemporaries. They congratulated themselves on so
-fine a discovery. Here, they said, is a new principle added to that of
-Aristotle; here is admiration added to terror and pity. They were not
-aware that the apparent riches of which they boasted were but a sign of
-sterility, like flowers which cover the fields before harvest. It was
-because they could not touch the heart that they aimed at surprising,
-and their pretended admiration was, in fact, but a puerile astonishment
-of which they ought to have been ashamed. A false air of magnificence
-and enchantments, sorceries, chimeras, extravagances the most insane, so
-imposed upon them that, with the best faith in the world, they spoke
-with respect and enthusiasm of a theatre which merited nothing but
-hisses: as if there were more merit in making the king of gods utter the
-stupidest platitudes than there would be in attributing the same to the
-lowest of mortals; or as if the valets of Moličre were not infinitely
-preferable to the heroes of Pradon.
-
-[Sidenote: EARLY OPERAS.]
-
-"Although the author of these first operas had had hardly any other
-object than to dazzle the eye and to astound the ear, it could scarcely
-happen that the musician did not sometimes endeavour to express, by his
-art, some sentiments diffused through the piece in performance. The
-songs of nymphs, the hymns of priests, the shouts of warriors, infernal
-outcries did not so completely fill up these barbarous dramas as to
-leave no moments or situations of interest when the spectator was
-disposed to be moved. Thus it soon began to be felt, that independently
-of the musical declamation, often ill adapted to the language employed,
-the musical movement of harmony and of songs was not alien to the words
-which were to be uttered, and that consequently the effect of music
-alone, hitherto confined to the senses, could reach the heart. Melody,
-which was at first only separated from poetry by necessity, profited by
-this independence to adopt beauties absolutely and purely musical;
-harmony, improved and carried to perfection, opened to it new means of
-pleasing and of moving; and the measure, freed from the embarrassment of
-poetic rhythm, acquired a sort of cadence of its own.
-
-"Music, having thus become a third imitative art, had speedily its own
-language, its expressions, its pictures, altogether independent of
-poetry. Symphony also learnt to speak without the aid of words; and
-sentiments often came from the orchestra quite as distinctly and vividly
-expressed as they could be by the mouths of actors. Spectators then,
-beginning to get disgusted with all the tinsel of fairy land, of puerile
-machinery, and of fantastic images of things never seen, looked for the
-imitation of nature in pictures more interesting and more true. Up to
-this time the Opera had been constituted as it alone could be; for what
-better use, at the theatre, could be made of a kind of music which could
-paint nothing than by employing it in the representation of things which
-could not exist? But as soon as music learnt to paint and to speak the
-charms of sentiment, it brought into contempt those of the Wand; the
-theatre was purged of its garden of mythology, interest was substituted
-for astonishment; the machines of poets and of carpenters were
-destroyed; and the lyric drama assumed a more noble and less gigantic
-character. All that could move the heart was employed with success, and
-gods were driven from the stage on which men were represented[46]....
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC SUBJECTS.]
-
-"This reform was followed by another not less important. The Opera, it
-was felt, should represent nothing cold or intellectual--nothing that
-the spectator could witness with sufficient tranquillity to reflect on
-what he saw. And it is in this especially that the essential difference
-between the lyric drama and pure tragedy consists. All political
-deliberations, all plots, conspiracies, explanations, recitals,
-sententious maxims--in a word, all which speaks to the reason was
-banished from the theatre of the heart, with all _jeux d'esprit_,
-madrigals, and other pleasant conceits, which suppose some activity of
-thought. On the contrary, to depict all the energies of sentiments, all
-the violence of the passions, was made the principal object of this
-drama: for the illusion which makes its charm is destroyed as soon as
-the author and actor leave the spectator a moment to himself. It is on
-this principle that the modern Opera is established. Apostolo Zeno, the
-Corneille of Italy, and his tender pupil, who is its Racine,
-[Metastasio] have opened and carried to its perfection this new career
-of the dramatic art. They have brought the heroes of history on a
-theatre which seemed only adapted to exhibit the phantoms of fable....
-
-"Having tried and felt her strength, music, able to walk alone, began to
-disdain the poetry she had to accompany. To enhance her own value, she
-drew from herself beauties of which her companion had hitherto had a
-share. She still professes, it is true, to express her ideas and
-sentiments; but she assumes, so to speak, an independent language, and
-though the object of the poet and of the musician is the same, they are
-too much separated in their labours, to produce at once two images,
-resembling each other, yet distinct, without mutual injury. Thus it
-happens, that if the musician has more art than the poet, he effaces
-him; and the actor, seeing the spectator sacrifice the words to the
-music, sacrifices in his turn theatrical gesture and action to song and
-brilliancy of voice, which transforms a dramatic entertainment into a
-mere concert....
-
-"Such are the defects which the absolute perfection of music, and its
-defective application to language, may introduce into the Opera. And
-here it may be remarked that the languages the most apt to conform to
-all the laws of measure and of melody are those in which the duality of
-which I have spoken is the least apparent, because music, lending itself
-to the ideas of poetry, poetry yields, in its turn, to the inflections
-of music, so that when music ceases to observe the rhythm, the accent
-and the harmony of verses, verses syllable themselves, and submit to the
-cadence of musical measure and accent. But when a language has neither
-softness nor flexibility, the harshness of its poetry hinders its
-subjection to music; a good recitation of verses is obstructed even by
-the sweetness of the melody accompanying it; and one is conscious, in
-the forced union of the two arts, of a perpetual constraint which shocks
-the ear, and which destroys at once the charm of melody and the effect
-of declamation. For this defect there is no remedy; and to apply, by
-compulsion, music to a language which is not musical, is to give it more
-harshness than it would otherwise have....
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AND PAINTING.]
-
-"Although music, as an imitative art, has more connection with poetry
-than with painting, this latter is not obliged, as poetry is, at the
-theatre, to make a double representation of the same object; because the
-one expresses the sentiments of men, and the other gives pictures merely
-of the places where they are, which strengthens much the illusion of the
-whole spectacle.... But it must be acknowledged that the task of the
-musician is greater than that of the painter. The imitation expressed by
-painting is always cold, because it wants that succession of ideas and
-of impressions which increasingly kindle the soul, all its portraiture
-being conveyed to the mind at a first look. It is a great advantage,
-also, to a musician that he can paint things which cannot be heard,
-whilst the painter cannot paint those which cannot be seen; and the
-greatest prodigy of an art which has no life but in movement is, that it
-is able to give even an image of repose. Sleep, the quietude of night,
-solitude, and silence, are among the number of music's pictures.
-Sometimes noise produces the effect of silence and silence the effect of
-noise, as when one falls asleep at a monotonous reading and wakes up the
-moment the reader stops.... Further, whilst the painter can derive
-nothing from the musician, the skilful musician will not leave the
-studio of the painter without profit. Not only can he, at his will,
-agitate the sea, excite the flames of a conflagration, make rivulets run
-and murmur, bring down the rain and swell it to torrents, but he can
-augment the horrors of the frightful desert, darken the walls of a
-subterranean prison, calm the storm, make the air tranquil and the sky
-serene, and shed from the orchestra the freshest fragrance of the
-sweetest bowers.
-
-"We have seen how the union of the three arts we have mentioned
-constitute the lyric scene. Some have been tempted to introduce a
-fourth, of which I have now to speak.
-
-"The question is to know whether dancing, being a language, and
-consequently capable of becoming an imitative art, should not enter with
-the other three into the action of the lyrical drama, or whether it
-would not rather interrupt and suspend this action and spoil the effect
-and the unity of the whole piece.
-
-"But here, I think, there can be no question at all. For every one feels
-that the interest of a successive action depends upon the continuance
-and growing increase of the impression its representation makes on us.
-But by breaking off a spectacle and introducing other spectacles which
-have nothing to do with it, the principal subject is divided into
-independent parts, with no link of connection between them; and the more
-agreeable the inserted spectacles are, the greater must be the deformity
-produced by the mutilation of the whole.... It is for this reason that
-the Italians have at last banished these interludes from their operas.
-They are, separately considered, a species of spectacle very pleasing,
-very piquante, and quite natural, but so misplaced in the midst of a
-tragic action, that the two exhibitions injure each other mutually, and
-the one can never interest but at the expense of the other."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE BALLET.]
-
-Rousseau then suggests that the ballet should come after the opera,
-which, as every one knows, is the rule at the Italian Opera houses of
-London, and which appears to me a far preferable arrangement to that of
-the French Académie, where no lyrical work is considered complete
-without a _divertissement_ introduced anyhow into the middle of it, or
-of the Italian theatres where it is still the custom to perform short
-ballets or _divertissements_ between the acts of the opera. Italy, the
-country of the Vestrises, of the Taglionis, and in the present day I may
-add of Rosati, has always bestowed much care on the production of its
-_ballets_. I have mentioned (Chapter I.), that the opera in its infancy
-owed much to the protection of the Popes. The Papal Government in the
-present day is said to pay special attention to the _ballet_, and to
-watch with paternal solicitude the _pirouettes_ and _jetés battus_ of
-the _danseuses_. At least I find a passage to that effect in a work
-entitled "La Rome des Papes,"[47] the writer declaring that cardinals
-and bishops attend the Operas of Italy to see that the _ballerine_ swing
-their legs within certain limits.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Having seen Rousseau's views of the Opera as it might be, let us now
-turn to his description of the Opera of Paris as it actually was; a
-description put into the mouth of St. Preux, the hero of his _Nouvelle
-Héloise_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Before I tell you what I think of this famous theatre, I will tell you
-what is said here about it; the judgment of connoisseurs may correct
-mine, if I am wrong.
-
-"The Opera of Paris passes at Paris for the most pompous, the most
-voluptuous, the most admirable spectacle that human art has ever
-invented. It is, say its admirers, the most superb monument of the
-magnificence of Louis XIV.; and one is not so free as you may think to
-express an opinion on so important a subject. Here you may dispute about
-everything except music and the Opera; on these topics alone it is
-dangerous not to dissemble. French music is defended, too, by a very
-rigorous inquisition, and the first thing intimated as a warning, to
-strangers who visit this country, is that all foreigners admit, there is
-nothing in this world so fine as the Opera of Paris. The fact is,
-discreet people hold their tongues, and dare only laugh in their
-sleeves.
-
-"It must, however, be conceded, that not only all the marvels of nature,
-but many other marvels, much greater, which no one has ever seen, are
-represented, at great cost, at this theatre; and certainly Pope[48] must
-have alluded to it when he describes one on which was seen gods,
-hobgoblins, monsters, kings, shepherds, fairies, fury, joy, fire, a jig,
-a battle, and a ball.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC INCONGRUITY.]
-
-"This magnificent assemblage, so well organized, is in fact regarded as
-though it contained all the things it represents. When a temple appears,
-the spectators are seized with a holy respect, and if the goddess be at
-all pretty, they become at once half pagan. They are not so difficult
-here as they are at the _Comédie Francaise_. There the audience cannot
-indue a comedian with his part: at the Opera, they cannot separate the
-actor from his. They revolt against a reasonable illusion, and yield to
-others in proportion as they are absurd and clumsy. Or, perhaps, they
-find it easier to form an idea of gods than of heroes. Jupiter having a
-different nature from ours, we may think about him just as we please:
-but Cato was a man; and how many men are they who have any right to
-believe that Cato could have existed?
-
-"The Opera is not then here as elsewhere, a company of comedians paid to
-entertain the public; its members are, it is true, people whom the
-public pay, and who exhibit themselves before it; but all this changes
-its nature and name, for these dramatists form a Royal Academy of
-Music,[49] a species of sovereign court, which judges without appeal in
-its own cause, and is otherwise by no means particular about justice or
-truth....
-
-"Having now told you what others say of this brilliant spectacle, I will
-tell you at present what I have seen myself.
-
-"Imagine an enclosure fifteen feet broad, and long in proportion; this
-enclosure is the theatre. On its two sides are placed at intervals
-screens, on which are grossly painted the objects which the scene is
-about to represent. At the back of the enclosure hangs a great curtain,
-painted in like manner and nearly always pierced and torn that it may
-represent at a little distance gulfs on the earth or holes in the sky.
-Every one who passes behind this stage, or touches the curtain, produces
-a sort of earthquake, which has a double effect. The sky is made of
-certain blueish rags suspended from poles or from cords, as linen may be
-seen hung out to dry in any washerwoman's yard. The sun, for it is seen
-here sometimes, is a lighted torch in a lantern. The cars of the gods
-and goddesses are composed of four rafters, squared and hung on a thick
-rope in the form of a swing or see-saw; between the rafters is a
-cross-plank on which the god sits down, and in front hangs a piece of
-coarse cloth well dirtied, which acts the part of clouds for the
-magnificent car. One may see towards the bottom of the machine, two or
-three stinking candles, badly snuffed, which, whilst the great personage
-dementedly presents himself swinging in his see-saw, fumigate him with
-an incense worthy of his dignity. The agitated sea is composed of long
-angular lanterns of cloth and blue pasteboard, strung on parallel spits,
-which are turned by little blackguard boys. The thunder is a heavy cart
-rolled over an arch, and is not the least agreeable instrument one
-hears. The flashes of lightning are made of pinches of resin thrown on a
-flame; and the thunder is a cracker at the end of a fusee.
-
-[Sidenote: SCENERY AND DECORATIONS.]
-
-"The theatre is moreover furnished with little square traps, which,
-opening at need, announce that the demons are about to issue from their
-cave. When they have to rise into the air, little demons of stuffed
-brown cloth are substituted for them, or sometimes real chimney sweeps,
-who swing about suspended on ropes till they are majestically lost in
-the rags of which I have spoken. The accidents, however, which not
-unfrequently happen are sometimes as tragic as farcical. When the ropes
-break, then infernal spirits and immortal gods fall together, and lame
-and occasionally kill one another. Add to all this, the monsters, which
-render some scenes very pathetic, such as dragons, lizards, tortoises,
-crocodiles and large toads, who promenade the theatre with a menacing
-air, and display at the Opera all the temptations of St. Anthony. Each
-of these figures is animated by a lout of a Savoyard, who has not even
-intelligence enough to play the beast.
-
-"Such, my cousin, is the august machinery of the Opera, as I have
-observed it from the pit with the aid of my glass; for you must not
-imagine that all this apparatus is hidden, and produces an imposing
-effect. I have only described what I have seen myself, and what any
-other spectator may see. I am assured, however, that there are a
-prodigious number of machines employed to put the whole spectacle in
-motion, and I have been invited several times to examine them; but I
-have never been curious to learn how little things are performed by
-great means.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"I will not speak to you of the music; you know it. But you can form no
-idea of the frightful cries, the long bellowings with which the theatre
-resounds daring the representation. One sees actresses nearly in
-convulsions, tearing yelps and howls violently out of their lungs,
-closed hands pressed on their breasts, heads thrown back, faces
-inflamed, veins swollen, and stomachs panting. I know not which of the
-two, the eye or the ear, is most agreeably affected by this ugly
-display; and, what is really inconceivable, it is these shriekings alone
-that the audience applaud. By the clapping of their hands they might be
-taken for deaf people delighted at catching some shrill piercing sound.
-For my part, I am convinced that they applaud the outcries of an actress
-at the Opera as they would the feats of a tumbler or a rope-dancer at a
-fair. The sensation produced by this screaming is both revolting and
-painful; one actually suffers whilst it lasts, but is so glad to see it
-all over without accident as willingly to testify joy. Imagine this
-style of singing employed to express the delicate gallantry and
-tenderness of Quinault! Imagine the muses, the graces, the loves, Venus
-herself, expressing themselves in this way, and judge the effect! As for
-devils, it might pass, for this music has something infernal in it, and
-is not ill-adapted to such beings.
-
-[Sidenote: THE AUDIENCE]
-
-"To these exquisite sounds those of the orchestra are most worthily
-married. Conceive an endless charivari of instruments without melody, a
-drawling and perpetual rumble of basses, the most lugubrious and
-fatiguing I have ever heard, and which I have never been able to
-support for half an hour without a violent headache. All this forms a
-species of psalmody in which there is generally neither melody nor
-measure. But should a lively air spring up, oh, then, the sensation is
-universal; you then hear the whole pit in movement, painfully following,
-and with great noise, some certain performer in the orchestra. Charmed
-to feel for a moment a cadence, which they understand so little, their
-ears, voices, arms, feet, their entire bodies, agitated all over, run
-after the measure always about to escape them; while the Italians and
-Germans, who are deeply affected by music, follow it without effort, and
-never need beat the time. But in this country the musical organ is
-extremely hard; voices have no softness, their inflections are sharp and
-strong, and their tones all reluctant and forced; and there is no
-cadence, no melodious accent in the airs of the people; their military
-instruments, their regimental fifes, their horns, and hautbois, their
-street singers, and _guinguette_ violins, are all so false as to shock
-the least delicate ear. Talents are not given indiscriminately to all
-men, and the French seem to me of all people to have the least aptitude
-for music. My Lord Edward says that the English are not better gifted in
-this respect; but the difference is, that they know it, and do not care
-about it; whilst the French would relinquish a thousand just titles to
-praise, rather than confess, that they are not the first musicians in
-the world. There are even those here who would willingly regard music
-as a state interest, because, perhaps, the cutting of two chords of the
-lyre of Timotheus was so regarded at Sparta.--But to return to my
-description.
-
-"I have yet to speak of the ballets, the most brilliant part of the
-opera. Considered separately, they form agreeable, magnificent, and
-truly theatrical spectacles; but it is as constituent parts of operatic
-pieces that I now allude to them. You know the operas of Quinault. You
-know how this sort of diversion is there introduced. His successors, in
-imitating, have surpassed him in absurdity. In every act the action is
-generally interrupted at the most interesting moment, by a dance given
-to the actors who are seated, while the public stand up to look on. It
-thus happens that the _dramatis personć_ are absolutely forgotten. The
-way in which these fętes are brought about is very simple: Is the prince
-joyous? his courtiers participate in his joy, and dance. Is he sad? he
-must be cheered up, and they dance again. I do not know whether it is
-the fashion at our court to give balls to kings when they are out of
-humour; but I know that one cannot too much admire the stoicism of the
-monarchs of the buskin who listen to songs, and enjoy _entrechats_, and
-_pirouettes_, while their crowns are in danger, their lives in peril,
-and their fate is being decided behind the curtain. But there are many
-other occasions for dances: the gravest actions in life are performed in
-dancing.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BALLET]
-
-"Priests dance, soldiers dance, gods dance, devils dance; there is
-dancing even at interments,--dancing _ŕpropos_ of everything.
-
-"Dancing is there the fourth of the fine arts constituting the lyrical
-scene. The three others are imitative; but what does this imitate?
-Nothing. It is then quite extraneous when employed in this manner, for
-what have minuets and rigadoons to do in a tragedy? I will say more. It
-would not be less misplaced, even if it imitated something, because of
-all the unities that of language is the most indispensable; and an
-action or an opera performed, half in singing and half in dancing, would
-be even more ridiculous than one written half in French and half in
-Italian.
-
-"Not content with introducing dancing as an essential part of the
-lyrical scene, the Academicians have sometimes even made it its
-principal subject; and they have operas, called _ballets_, which so ill
-respond to their title, that dancing is just as much out of its place in
-them as in the others. Most of these ballets form as many separate
-subjects as there are acts, and these subjects are linked together by
-certain metaphysical relations, which the spectator could never
-conceive, if the author did not take care to explain them to him in the
-prologue. The seasons, the ages, the senses, the elements, what
-connexion have these things with dancing? and what can they offer,
-through such a medium, to the imagination? Some of the pieces referred
-to are even purely allegorical, as the Carnival, and Folly; and these
-are the most insupportable of all, because, with much cleverness and
-piquancy they have neither sentiments nor pictures, nor situations, nor
-warmth, nor interest, nor anything that music can take hold of, to
-flatter the heart or to produce illusion. In these pretended ballets,
-the action always passes in singing, whilst dancing always interrupts
-the action. But as these performances have still less interest than the
-tragedies, the interruptions are less remarked. Thus defect serves to
-hide defect, and the great art of the author is, in order to make his
-ballet endurable, to make his piece as dull as possible....
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"After all, perhaps, the French ought not to have a better operatic
-drama than they have, at least, with respect to execution; not that they
-are not capable of appreciating what is good, but because the bad amuses
-them more. They feel more gratification in satirising than in
-applauding; the pleasure of criticising more than compensates them for
-the _ennui_ of witnessing a stupid composition, and they would rather
-mockingly pelt a performance after they have left the theatre, than
-enjoy themselves while there."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-I have already remarked that, although in his _Lettre sur la Musique
-Française_, Rousseau had praised the melody of the Italians as much as
-he had condemned the dreary psalmody of the French, he expressed the
-highest admiration for the genius of Gluck. He never missed a
-representation of _Orphée_, and said, in allusion to the gratification
-that work had afforded him, that "after all there was something in life
-worth living for, since in two hours so much genuine pleasure could be
-obtained." He observed that Gluck seemed to have come to France in order
-to give the lie to his proposition that good music could never be set to
-French words. At another time he observed that every one complained of
-Gluck's want of melody, but that for his part he thought it issued from
-all his pores.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Now let us turn to the _Devin du Village_, of which both words and music
-are generally attributed to Jean Jacques Rousseau; that Rousseau who, in
-the _Confessions_, reproaches himself so bitterly with having stolen a
-ribbon (it is true he had accused an innocent young girl of the theft,
-and, by implication, of something more), who passes complacently over a
-hundred mean and disgusting acts which he acknowledges to have
-committed, and who ends by declaring that any one who may come to the
-conclusion that he, Rousseau, is, "_un malhonnęte homme_," is himself "a
-man to be smothered," (_un homme ŕ étouffer_).
-
-_Le Devin du Village_ is undoubtedly the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau,
-as far as the libretto is concerned; but M. Castil Blaze has shown, on
-what appears to me very good evidence,[50] that the music was the
-production of Granet, a composer residing at Lyons.
-
-One day in the year 1751, Pierre Rousseau, called Rousseau of Toulouse,
-to distinguish him from the numerous other Rousseaus living in Paris,
-and known as the director of the _Journal Encyclopédique_, received a
-parcel containing a quantity of manuscript music, which, on examination,
-turned out to be the score of an opera. It was accompanied by a letter
-addressed, like the parcel itself, to "M. Rousseau, _homme de lettres_,
-demeurant ŕ Paris," in which a person signing himself Granet, and
-writing from Lyons, expressed a hope that his music would be found
-worthy of the illustrious author's words; that he had given appropriate
-expression to the tender sentiments of Colette and Colin, &c. Pierre
-Rousseau, though a journalist, understood music. He knew that Granet's
-letter was intended for Jean Jacques, and that he ought to return it,
-with the music, to the post-office, but the score of the _Devin du
-Village_, from the little he had seen of it, interested him, and he not
-only kept it until he had made himself familiar with it from beginning
-to end, but even showed it to a friend, M. de Belissent, one of the
-conservators of the Royal Library, and a man of great musical
-acquirements. As soon as Pierre Rousseau and De Belissent had quite
-finished with the _Devin du Village_, they sent it back to the
-post-office, whence it was forwarded to its true destination.
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-Jean Jacques had been expecting Granet's music, and, on receiving the
-opera in a complete form, took it to La Vaubaličre, the farmer-general,
-and offered it to him, directly or indirectly, as a suitable piece for
-Madame de Pompadour's theatre at Versailles, where several operettas had
-already been produced. La Vaubaličre was anxious to maintain himself in
-the good graces of the favourite, and purchased for her entertainment
-the right of representing the _Devin du Village_. This handsome present
-cost the gallant financier the sum of six thousand francs. However, the
-opera was performed, was wonderfully successful, and was afterwards
-produced at the Académie, when Rousseau received four thousand francs
-more; so at least says M. Castil Blaze, who appears to have derived his
-information from the books of the theatre, though according to
-Rousseau's own statement in the _Confessions_, the Opera sent him only
-fifty _louis_, which he declares he never asked for, but which he does
-not pretend to have returned.
-
-Rousseau "confesses," with studied detail, how the music of each piece
-in the _Devin du Village_ occurred to him; how he at one time thought of
-burning the whole affair (a conceit, by the way, which has since been
-rendered common-place by amateur authors in their prefaces); how his
-friends succeeded in persuading him to do nothing of the kind; and how,
-at last, he wrote the drama and sketched out the whole of the music in
-six days, so that when he arrived with his work in Paris, he had nothing
-to add but the recitative and the "_remplissage_" by which he probably
-meant the orchestral parts. In the next page he tells us that he would
-have given anything in the world if he could only have had the _Devin du
-Village_ performed for himself alone, and have listened to it with
-closed doors, as Lulli is reported to have listened to his _Armide_,
-executed for his sole gratification. This pleasure might, perhaps, have
-been enjoyed by Rousseau if he had really composed the music himself,
-for when the Académie produced his second _Devin du Village_, of which
-the music was undoubtedly his own, the public positively refused to
-listen to it, and hissed it until it was withdrawn. If the director had
-persisted in representing the piece the theatre would doubtless have
-been deserted by every one but the composer.
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-But to return to the original score which, as Rousseau himself informs
-us, wanted nothing when he arrived in Paris except what he calls the
-"_remplissage_" and the recitative. He had intended, he says, to have
-_Le Devin_ performed at the Opera, but M. de Cury, the intendant of the
-Menus Plaisirs, was determined it should first be brought out at the
-Court. A duel was very nearly taking place between the two directors,
-when it was at last decided by Rousseau himself, that Fontainebleau,
-Madame de Pompadour, and La Vaubaličre should have the preference.
-Whether Granet had omitted to write recitative or not, it is a
-remarkable fact that recitative was wanted when the piece came to be
-rehearsed, and that Rousseau allowed Jéliotte, the singer, to supply it.
-This he mentions himself, as also that he was not present at any of the
-rehearsals--for it is at rehearsals above all, that a sham composer
-runs the chance of being detected. It is an easy thing for any man to
-say that he has composed an opera, but it may be difficult for him to
-correct a very simple error made by the copyist in transcribing the
-parts. However, Rousseau admits that he attended no rehearsals except
-the last, and that he did not compose the recitative, which, be it
-observed, the singers required forthwith, and which had to be written
-almost beneath their eyes.
-
-But what was Granet doing in the meanwhile? it will be asked. In the
-meanwhile Granet had died. And Pierre Rousseau and his friend M. de
-Bellissent? Rousseau, of Toulouse, supported by the Conservator of the
-Royal Library, accused Jean Jacques openly of fraud in the columns of
-the _Journal Encyclopédique_. These accusations were repeated on all
-sides, until at last Rousseau undertook to reply to them by composing
-new music to the _Devin du Village_. This new music the Opera refused to
-perform, and with some reason, for it appears (as the reader has seen)
-to have been detestable. It was not executed until after Rousseau's
-death, and at the special request of his widow, when, in the words of
-Grimm, "all the new airs were hooted without the slightest regard for
-the memory of the author."
-
-It is this utter failure of the second edition of the _Devin du Village_
-which convinces me more than anything else that the first was not from
-the hand of Rousseau. But let us not say that he was "_un malhonnęte
-homme_." Probably the conscientious author of the Contrat Social adopted
-the children of others by way of compensation for having sent his own to
-the Enfants Trouvés.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-GLUCK AND PICCINNI IN PARIS.
-
-     Gluck at Vienna.--Iphigenia in Aulis.--A rehearsal at Sophie
-     Arnould's.--Gluck and Vestris.--Piccinni in Italy.--Piccinni in
-     Paris.--The two Iphigenias.--Iphigenia in Champagne.--Madeleine
-     Guimard, Vestris, and the Ballet.
-
-
-Fifteen years before the French Revolution, of which, in the present
-day, every one can trace the gradual approach, the important question
-that occupied the capital of France was not the emancipation of the
-peasants, nor the reorganisation of the judicial system, nor the
-equalisation of the taxes all over the country; it was simply the merit
-of Gluck as compared with Piccinni, and of Piccinni as compared with
-Gluck. Paris was divided into two camps, each of which had its own
-special music. The German master was declared by the partisans of the
-Italian to be severe, unmelodious and heavy: by his own friends he was
-considered profound, full of inspiration and eminently dramatic.
-Piccinni, on the other hand, was accused by his enemies of frivolity and
-insipidity, while his supporters maintained that his melodies touched
-the heart, and that it was not the province of music to appeal to the
-intellect. Fundamentally, the dispute was that which still exists as to
-the superiority of German or Italian music. Severe classicists continue
-to despise modern Italian composers as unintellectual, and the Italians
-still sneer at the music of Germany as the "music of mathematics."
-Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi have been undervalued in succession by the
-critics of Germany, France and England; and although there can be no
-question as to the inferiority of the last to the first-named of these
-composers, Signor Verdi, if he pays any attention to the attacks of
-which he is so constantly the object, can always console himself by
-reflecting that, after all, not half so much has been said against his
-operas as it was once the fashion to say against Rossini's. The
-Italians, on the other hand, can be fairly reproached with this, that,
-to the present day, they have never appreciated _Don Giovanni_. They
-consent to play it in London, Paris and St. Petersburgh because the
-musical public of the capitals know the work and are convinced that
-nothing finer has ever been written; (this is, however, less in Paris
-than in the other two capitals of the Italian Opera), but the singers
-themselves do not in their hearts like Mozart. They are kind enough to
-execute his music, because they are well paid for it, but that is all.
-
-[Sidenote: GERMAN AND ITALIAN MUSIC.]
-
-In the present century, which is above all an age of eclecticism, we
-find the natural descendants of Piccinni going over to the Gluckists,
-while the legitimate inheritors of Gluck abandon their succession to
-adopt the facile forms and sometimes unmeaning if melodious phrases of
-the Piccinnists. Certainly there are no traces of the grand old German
-school in the light popular music of Herr Flotow (who, if not a German,
-is a Germanised Russian); and, on the other hand, Signor Verdi in his
-emphatic moments quite belies his Italian origin; indeed, there are
-passages in several of this composer's operas which may be traced
-directly not to Rossini, but to Meyerbeer.
-
-The history of the quarrels between the Gluckists and Piccinnists has no
-importance in connection with art. These disputes led to no sound
-criticism, nor have the attacks and replies on either side added
-anything to what was already known on the subject of music as applied to
-the expression and illustration of human passion. As for deciding
-between Gluckism and Piccinnism (I say nothing about the men, who
-certainly were not equal in point of genius), that is impossible. It is
-almost a question of organisation. It may be remarked, however, that no
-composer ever began as a Gluckist (so to speak) and ended as a
-Piccinnist, whereas Rossini, in his last and greatest work, approaches
-the German style, and even Donizetti, in his latest and most dramatic
-operas, exhibits somewhat of the same tendency. It will be remembered,
-too, that the great Mozart, and in our own day Meyerbeer, wrote their
-earlier operas in the Italian mode, and abandoned it when they
-recognised its insufficiency for dramatic purposes. Indeed, Gluck's own
-style, as we shall presently see, underwent a similar change. But it
-would be rash to conclude from these instances, that Italians, writing
-in the Italian style, have produced no great dramatic music. Rossini's
-_Otello_ and Bellini's _Norma_ at once suggest themselves as convincing
-proofs of the contrary.
-
-All that remains now of the Gluck _versus_ Piccinni contest is a number
-of anecdotes, which are amusing, as showing the height musical
-enthusiasm and musical prejudice had reached in Paris at an epoch when
-music and the arts generally were about the last things that should have
-occupied the French. But before calling attention to a few of the
-principal incidents in this harmonious civil war, let me sketch the
-early career of each of the great leaders.
-
-Gluck was born, in 1712, of Bohemian parents, so that he was almost
-certainly not of German but of Slavonian origin.[51] Young Gluck learnt
-the scale simultaneously with the alphabet (why should not all children
-be taught to read from music-notes as they are taught to read from
-ordinary typography?) and soon afterwards received lessons on the
-violoncello, which, however, were put a stop to by the death of his
-father.
-
-[Sidenote: CHILDHOOD OF GLUCK.]
-
-Little Christopher was left an orphan at a very early age. Fortunately,
-he had made sufficient progress on the violoncello to obtain an
-engagement with a company of wandering musicians. Thus he contrived to
-exist until the troupe had wandered as far as Vienna, where his talent
-attracted the attention of a few sympathetic and generous men, who
-enabled him to complete his musical education in peace.
-
-After studying harmony and counterpoint, Gluck determined to leave the
-capital of Germany for Italy; for in those days no one was accounted a
-musician who had not derived a certain amount of his inspiration from
-Italian sources. After studying four years under the celebrated Martini,
-he felt that the time had come for him to produce a work of his own. His
-"Artaxerxes" was given at Milan with success, and this opera was
-followed by seven others, which were brought out either at Venice,
-Cremona or Turin. Five years sufficed for Gluck to make an immense name
-in Italy. His reputation even extended to the other countries of Europe
-and the offers he received from the English were sufficiently liberal to
-tempt the rising composer to pay a visit to London. Here, however, he
-had to contend with the genius and celebrity of Handel, compared with
-whom he was as yet but a composer of mediocrity. He returned to Vienna
-not very well pleased with his reception in England, and soon afterwards
-made his appearance once more in Italy, where he produced five other
-works, all of which were successful. Hitherto Gluck's style had been
-quite in accordance with the Italian taste, and the Italians did not
-think of reproaching him with any want of melody. On the contrary, they
-applauded his works, as if they had been signed by one of their most
-esteemed masters. But if the Italians were satisfied with Gluck, Gluck
-was not satisfied with the Italians; and it was not until he had left
-Italy, that he discovered his true vein.
-
-Gluck was forty-six years of age when he brought out his _Alcestis_, the
-first work composed in the style which is now regarded as peculiarly his
-own. _Alcestis_, and _Orpheus_, by which it was followed, created a
-great sensation in Germany, and when the Chevalier Gluck composed a work
-"by command," in honour of the Emperor Joseph's marriage, it was played,
-not perhaps by the greatest artists in Germany, but certainly by the
-most distinguished, for the principal parts were distributed among four
-arch-duchesses and an arch-duke. Where are the dukes and duchesses now
-who could play, not with success, but without disastrous failure, in an
-opera by Gluck?
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AT VIENNA.]
-
-It so happened that at Vienna, attached to the French embassy, lived a
-certain M. du Rollet, who was in the habit of considering himself a
-poet. To him Gluck confided his project of visiting Paris, and composing
-for the French stage. Du Rollet not only encouraged the musician in his
-intentions, but even promised him a libretto of his own writing. The
-libretto was not good--indeed what _libretto_ is?--except, perhaps, some
-of Scribe's _libretti_ for the light operas of Auber. But it must be
-remembered that the _Opéra Comique_ is only a development of the
-vaudeville; and in the entire catalogue of serious operas, with the
-exception of Metastasio's, a few by Romani and Da Ponte's _Don Giovanni_
-(with a Mozart to interpret it), it is not easy to find any which, in a
-literary and poetical sense, are not absurd. However, Du Rollet
-arranged, or disarranged, Racine's _Iphigénie_, to suit the requirements
-of the lyric stage, and handed over "the book" to the Chevalier Gluck.
-
-_Iphigenia in Aulis_ was composed in less than a year; but to write an
-opera is one thing, to get it produced another. At that time the French
-Opera was a close borough, in the hands of half a dozen native
-composers, whose nationality was for the most part their only merit.
-These musicians were not in the habit of positively refusing all chance
-to foreign competitors; but they interposed all sorts of delays between
-the acceptance and the production of their works, and did their best
-generally to prevent their success. However, the Dauphiness Marie
-Antoinette, had undertaken to introduce the great German composer to
-Paris, and she smoothed the way for him so effectually, that soon after
-his arrival in the French capital, _Iphigenia in Aulis_ was accepted,
-and actually put into rehearsal.
-
-Gluck now found a terrible and apparently insurmountable obstacle to his
-success in the ignorance and obstinacy of the orchestra. He was not the
-man to be satisfied with slovenly execution, and many and severe were
-the lessons he had to give the French musicians, in the course of almost
-as many rehearsals as Meyerbeer requires in the present day, before he
-felt justified in announcing his work as ready for representation. The
-young Princess had requested the lieutenant of police to take the
-necessary precautions against disturbances; and she herself, accompanied
-by the Dauphin, the Count and Countess of Provence, the Duchesses of
-Chartres and of Bourbon, and the Princess de Lamballe, entered the
-theatre before the public were admitted. The ministers and all the
-Court, with the exception of the king (Louis XV.) and Madame Du Barry
-were present. Sophie Arnould was the Iphigenia, and is said to have been
-admirable in that character, though the charming Sophie seems to have
-owed most of her success to her acting rather than to her singing.
-
-The first night of _Iphigenia_, Larrivée, who took the part of
-Agamemnon, actually abstained from singing through his nose. This is
-mentioned by the critics and memorialists of the time as something
-incredible, and almost supernatural. It appears that Larrivée, in spite
-of his nasal twang, was considered a very fine singer. The public of the
-pit used to applaud him, but they would also say, when he had just
-finished one of his airs, "That nose has really a magnificent voice!"
-
-[Sidenote: IPHIGENIA IN AULIS.]
-
-The success of _Iphigenia_ was prodigious. Marie Antoinette herself gave
-the signal of the applause, and it mattered little to the courtiers
-whether they understood Gluck's grand, simple music, or not.
-
-All they had to do, and all they did, was to follow the example of the
-Dauphiness.
-
-Never did poet, artist, or musician have a more enthusiastic patroness
-than Marie Antoinette. She not only encouraged Gluck herself, but
-visited with her severe displeasure all who ventured to treat him
-disrespectfully. And it must be remembered that in those days a _Grand
-Seigneur_ paid a great artist, or a great writer, just what amount of
-respect he thought fit. Thus, one _Grand Seigneur_ had Voltaire caned
-(and afterwards from pride or from cowardice refused his challenge),
-while another struck Beaumarchais, and, after insulting him in the court
-of justice over which he presided, summoned him to leave the bench and
-come outside, that he might assassinate him.
-
-The first person with whom Gluck came to an open rupture was the Prince
-d'Hennin, the "Prince of Dwarfs," as he was called. The chevalier, in
-spite of his despotic, unyielding nature, could not help giving way to
-the charming Sophie Arnould, who, with a caprice permitted to her alone,
-insisted on the rehearsals of _Orpheus_ taking place in her own
-apartments. The orchestra was playing, and Sophie Arnould was singing,
-when suddenly the door opened, and in walked the Prince d'Hennin. This
-was not a grand rehearsal, and all the vocalists were seated.
-
-"I believe," said the _Grand Seigneur_, addressing Sophie Arnould in the
-middle of her air, "that it is the custom in France to rise when any
-one enters the room, especially if it be a person of some
-consideration?"
-
-Gluck leaped from his seat with rage, rushed towards the intruder, and
-with his eyes flashing fire, said to him:--
-
-"The custom in Germany, sir, is to rise only for those whom we esteem."
-
-Then turning to Sophie, he added:--
-
-"I perceive, Mademoiselle, that you are not mistress in your own house.
-I leave you, and shall never set foot here again."
-
-When the story was told to Marie Antoinette, she was indignant with the
-Prince, and compelled him to make amends to the chevalier for the insult
-offered to him. The Prince's pride must have suffered terribly; for he
-had to pay a visit to the composer, and to thank him for having assured
-him in the plainest terms, that he looked upon him with great contempt.
-
-This Prince d'Hennin was a favourite butt for the wit of the vivacious
-Count de Lauragais, who, as the reader, perhaps, remembers, was one of
-Sophie Arnould's earliest and most devoted admirers. One day when the
-interesting Sophie was unwell, the Count asked her physician whether it
-was not especially necessary to think of her spirits, and to keep away
-everything that might tend to have a depressing effect upon them.
-
-The doctor answered the Count's sagacious question in the affirmative.
-
-[Sidenote: THE PRINCE D'HENNIN.]
-
-"Above all," continued De Lauragais, "do you not consider it of the
-greatest importance that the Prince d'Hennin should not be allowed to
-visit her?"
-
-The physician admitted that it would be as well she should not see the
-prince; but De Lauragais was not satisfied with this, and he at last
-persuaded the obliging doctor to put his opinion in the form of a direct
-recommendation. In other words, he made him write a prescription for
-Mdlle. Arnould, forbidding her to have any conversation with the Prince
-d'Hennin. This prescription he sent to the prince's house, with a letter
-calling his particular attention to it, and entreating him, for the sake
-of Mdlle. Arnould's health, not to forget the injunction it contained.
-The consequence was a duel, which, however, was attended with no bad
-results, for, in the evening, the insultor and the insulted met at
-Sophie Arnould's house.
-
-It now became the fashion at the Court to attend the rehearsals of
-_Orpheus_, which took place once more in the theatre. On these
-occasions, the doors were besieged long before the performance
-commenced; and numbers of persons were unable to gain admission. To see
-Gluck at a rehearsal was infinitely more interesting than to see him at
-one of the ordinary public representations. The composer had certain
-habits; and from these he would not depart for any one. Thus, on
-entering the orchestra, he would take his coat off to conduct at ease in
-his shirt sleeves. Then he would remove his wig, and replace it by a
-cotton night-cap of the remotest fashion. When the rehearsal was at an
-end, he had no necessity to trouble himself about the articles of dress
-which he had laid aside, for there was a general contest between the
-dukes and princes of the Court as to who should hand them to him.
-_Orpheus_ is said to have been quite as successful as _Iphigenia_. One
-thing, however, which sometimes makes me doubt the completeness of this
-success, in a musical point of view, is the recorded fact, that "_the
-ballet_, especially, was very fine." The _ballet_ is certainly not the
-first thing we think of in _William Tell_, or even in _Robert_. It
-appears that Gluck himself objected positively to the introduction of
-dancing into the opera of _Orpheus_. He held, and with evident reason,
-that it would interfere with the seriousness and pathos of the general
-action, and would, in short, spoil the piece. He was overruled by the
-"_Diou_ de la Danse." What could Gluck's opinion be worth in the eyes of
-Auguste or of Gaetan Vestris, who held that there were only three great
-men in Europe--Voltaire, Frederick of Prussia, and himself. No! the
-dancer was determined to have his "_Chacone_," and he was as obstinate,
-indeed, more obstinate, than Gluck himself.
-
-"Write me the music of a _chacone_, Monsieur Gluck," said the god of
-dancing.
-
-"A chacone!" exclaimed the indignant composer; "Do you think the Greeks,
-whose manners we are endeavouring to depict, knew what a chacone was?"
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND VESTRIS.]
-
-"Did they not!" replied Vestris, astonished at the information; and in a
-tone of compassion, he added, "Then they are much to be pitied."
-
-_Alcestis_, on its first production, did not meet with so much success
-as _Orpheus_ and _Iphigenia_. The piece itself was singularly
-uninteresting; and this was made the pretext for a host of epigrams, of
-which the sting fell, not upon the author, but upon the composer.
-However, after a few representations, _Alcestis_ began to attract the
-public quite as much as the two previous works had done. Gluck's
-detractors were discomfited, and the theatre was filled every evening
-with his admirers. At this juncture, the composer of _Alcestis_ was
-thrown into great distress by the death of his favourite niece. He left
-Paris, and his enemies, who had been unable to vanquish, now resolved to
-replace him.
-
-I have said that Madame Du Barry did not honour the representation of
-Gluck's operas with her presence. It was, in fact, she who headed the
-opposition against him. She was mortified at not having some favourite
-musician of her own to patronize when the Dauphiness had hers, and now
-resolved to send to Italy for Piccinni, in the hope that when Gluck
-returned, he would find himself neglected for the already celebrated
-Italian composer. Baron de Breteuil, the French ambassador at Rome, was
-instructed to offer Piccinni an annual salary of two thousand crowns if
-he would go to Paris, and reside there. The Italian needed no pressing,
-for he was as anxious to visit the French capital as Gluck himself had
-been. Just then, however, Louis XV. died, by which the patroness of the
-German composer, from Dauphiness, became Queen. Madame Du Barry's party
-hesitated about bringing over a composer to whom they fancied Marie
-Antoinette must be as hostile as they themselves were to Gluck. But the
-Marquis Caraccioli, the Neapolitan ambassador at the Court of France,
-had now taken the matter in hand, and from mere excess of patriotism,
-had determined that Piccinni should make his appearance in Paris to
-destroy the reputation of the German at a single blow. As for Marie
-Antoinette, she not only did not think of opposing the Italian, but,
-when he arrived, received him most graciously, and showed him every
-possible kindness. But before introducing Piccinni to our readers as the
-rival of Gluck in Paris, let us take a glance at his previous career in
-his native land.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLAS PICCINNI.]
-
-Nicolas Piccinni, who was not less than fifty years of age when he left
-Naples, for Paris, with the avowed purpose of outrivalling Gluck, was
-born at Bari, in the Neapolitan territory, in 1728. His father was a
-musician, and apparently an unsuccessful one, for he endeavoured to
-disgust his son with the art he had himself practised, and absolutely
-forbade him to touch any musical instrument. No doubt this injunction of
-the father produced just the contrary of the effect intended. The
-child's natural inclination for music became the more invincible the
-more it was repressed, and little Nicolas contrived, every day, to
-devote a few hours in secret to the study of the harpsichord, the piano
-of that day. He knew nothing of music, but guided by his own instinct,
-learnt something of its mysteries simply by experimenting (for it was
-nothing more) on the instrument which his father had been imprudent
-enough, as he would have said himself, to leave within his reach.
-Gradually he learnt to play such airs as he happened to remember, and,
-probably without being aware himself of the process he was pursuing,
-studied the art of combining notes in a manner agreeable to the ear; in
-other words, he acquired some elementary notions of harmony. And still
-his father flattered himself that little Nicolas cared nothing for
-music, and that nothing could ever make him a musician.
-
-One day, old Piccinni had occasion to visit the Bishop of Bari. He took
-his son with him, but left the little boy in one room while he conversed
-on private business with His Eminence in another. Now it chanced that in
-the room where Nicolas was left there was a magnificent harpsichord, and
-the temptation was really too great for him. Harpsichords were not made
-merely to be looked at, he doubtless thought. He went to the instrument,
-examined it carefully, and struck a note. The tone was superb.
-
-Next he ventured upon a few notes in succession; and, then, how he
-longed to play an entire air!
-
-There was no help for it; he must, at all events, play a few bars with
-both hands. The harpsichord at home was execrable, and this one was
-admirable--made by the Broadwood of harpsichord makers. He began, but,
-carried away by the melody, soon forgot where he was, and what he was
-doing.
-
-The Bishop, and especially Piccinni _pčre_, were thunderstruck. There
-was a roughness and poverty about the accompaniment which showed that
-the young performer was far from having completed his studies in
-harmony; but, at the same time, there was no mistaking the fire, the
-true emotion, which characterised his playing. The father thought of
-going into a violent passion, but the Bishop would not hear of such a
-thing.
-
-"Music is evidently the child's true vocation," said the worthy
-ecclesiastic; "He must be a musician, and one day, perhaps, will be a
-great composer."
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI AT NAPLES.]
-
-The Bishop now would not let old Piccinni rest until he promised to send
-his son to the Conservatory of Music, directed by the celebrated Leo.
-The father was obliged to consent, and Nicolas was sent off to Naples.
-Here he was confided to the care of an inferior professor, who was by no
-means aware of the child's precocious talent. The latter was soon
-disgusted with the routine of the class, and conceived the daring
-project of composing a mass, being at the time scarcely acquainted even
-with the rudiments of composition. He was conscious of the audacity of
-the undertaking, and therefore confided it to no one; but, somehow or
-other, the news got abroad that little Nicolas had composed a grand
-mass, and, before long, Leo himself heard of it.
-
-Then the great professor sent for the little pupil, who arrived
-trembling from head to foot, thinking apparently that for a boy of his
-age to compose a mass was a species of crime.
-
-Leo was grave, but not so severe as the young composer had expected.
-
-"You have written a mass?" he commenced.
-
-"Excuse me, sir, I could not help it;" said the youthful Piccinni.
-
-"Let me see it?"
-
-Nicolas went to his room for the score, and brought it back, together
-with the orchestral parts all carefully copied out.
-
-After casting a rapid glance at the manuscript, Leo went into the
-concert-room, assembled an orchestra, and distributed the orchestral
-parts among the requisite number of executants.
-
-Little Nicolas was in a state of great trepidation, for he saw plainly
-that the professor was laughing at him. It was impossible to run away,
-or he would doubtless have made his escape. Leo advanced towards him,
-handed him the score, and with imperturbable gravity, requested him to
-take his place at the desk in front of the orchestra. Nicolas, with the
-courage of despair, took up his position, and gave the signal to the
-orchestra which the merciless professor had placed under his command.
-After his first emotion had passed away, Nicolas continued to beat time,
-fancying that, after all, what he had composed, though doubtless bad,
-was, perhaps, not ridiculous. The mass was executed from beginning to
-end. As he approached the finale, all the young musician's fears
-returned. He looked at the professor, and saw that he did not seem to be
-in the slightest degree impressed by the performance. What _did_ he,
-what _could_ he think of such a production?
-
-"I pardon you this time," said the terrible _maestro_, when the last
-chord had been struck; "but if ever you do such a thing again I will
-punish you in such a manner that you will remember it as long as you
-live. Instead of studying the principles of your art, you give yourself
-up to all the wildness of your imagination, and when you have tutored
-your ill-regulated ideas into something like shape, you produce what you
-call a mass, and think, no doubt, that you have composed a masterpiece."
-
-Nicolas burst into tears, and then began to tell Leo how he had been
-annoyed by the dry and pedantic instruction of the sub-professor. Leo,
-who, with all his coldness of manner, had a heart, clasped the boy in
-his arms, told him not to be disheartened, but to persevere, for that he
-had real talent; and finally promised that from that moment he himself
-would superintend his studies.
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI AND DURANTE.]
-
-Leo died, and was succeeded by Durante, who used to say of young
-Piccinni, "The others are my pupils, but this one is my son." Twelve
-years after his entrance into the Conservatory the most promising of its
-_alumni_ left it and set about the composition of an opera. As Piccinni
-was introduced by Prince Vintimille, the director of the theatre then
-in vogue was unable to refuse him a hearing; but he represented to His
-Highness the certainty of the young composer's work turning out a
-failure. Piccinni's patron was not wanting in generosity.
-
-"How much can you lose by his opera," he said to the manager, "supposing
-it should be a complete _fiasco_?"
-
-The manager named a sum equivalent to three hundred and twenty pounds.
-
-"There is the money, then," said the prince, handing him at the same
-time a purse. "If the _Donne Dispetose_ (that was the name of Piccinni's
-opera) should prove a failure, you may keep the money, otherwise you can
-return it to me."
-
-Logroscino was the favorite Italian composer of that day, and great was
-the excitement when it was heard that the next new opera to be produced
-was not of his writing. Evidently, his friends had only one course open
-to them. They decided to hiss Logroscino's rival.
-
-But the Florentine public had reckoned without Piccinni's genius. They
-could not hiss a man whose music delighted them, and Piccinni's _Donne
-Dispetose_ threw them into ecstacies. Those who had come to hoot
-remained to applaud. Piccinni's reputation had commenced, and it went on
-increasing until at last his was the most popular name in all musical
-Italy.
-
-Five years afterwards, Piccinni (who in the meanwhile had produced two
-other operas) gave his celebrated _Cecchina_, otherwise _La Buona
-Figliuola_, at Rome. The success of this work, of which the libretto is
-founded on the story of _Pamela_, was almost unprecedented. It was
-played everywhere in Italy, even at the marionette theatres; and still
-there was not sufficient room for the public, who were all dying to see
-it. This little opera filled every playhouse in the Italian peninsula,
-and it had taken Piccinni ten days to write! The celebrated Tonelli,
-who, being an Italian, had naturally heard of its success, happened to
-pass through Rome when it was being played there. He was not by any
-means persuaded that the music was good because the public applauded it;
-but after hearing the melodious opera from beginning to end, he turned
-to his friends and said, in a tone of sincere conviction, "This Piccinni
-is a true inventor!"
-
-Of course the _Cecchina_ was heard of in France. Indeed, it was the
-great reputation achieved by that opera which first rendered the
-Parisians anxious to hear Piccinni, and which inspired Madame Du Barry
-with the hope that in the Neapolitan composer she might find a
-successful rival to the great German musician patronised by Marie
-Antoinette.
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND PICCINNI.]
-
-Piccinni, after accepting the invitation to dispute the prize of
-popularity in Paris with Gluck, resolved to commence a new opera
-forthwith, and had no sooner reached the French capital than he asked
-one of the most distinguished authors of the day to furnish him with a
-_libretto_. Marmontel, to whom the request was made, gave him his
-_Roland_, which was the Roland of Quinault cut down from five acts to
-three. Unfortunately, Piccinni did not understand a word of French.
-Marmontel was therefore obliged to write beneath each French word its
-Italian equivalent, which caused it to be said that he was not only
-Piccinni's poet, but also his dictionary.
-
-Gluck was in Germany when Piccinni arrived, and on hearing of the
-manoeuvres of Madame du Barry and the Marquis Caraccioli to supplant
-him in the favour of the Parisian public, he fell into a violent
-passion, and wrote a furious letter on the subject, which was made
-public. Above all, he was enraged at the Academy having accepted from
-his adversary an opera on the subject of Roland, for he had agreed to
-compose an _Orlando_ for them himself.
-
-"Do you know that the Chevalier is coming back to us with an _Armida_
-and an _Orlando_ in his portfolio?" said the Abbé Arnaud, one of Gluck's
-most fervent admirers.
-
-"But Piccinni is also at work at an _Orlando_?" replied one of the
-Piccinnists.
-
-"So much the better," returned the Abbé, "for then we shall have an
-_Orlando_ and also an _Orlandino_."
-
-Marmontel heard of this _mot_, which caused him to address some
-unpleasant observations to the Abbé the first time he met him in
-society.
-
-But the Abbé was not to be silenced. One night, when Gluck's _Alceste_
-was being played, he happened to occupy the next seat to Marmontel.
-_Alceste_ played by Mademoiselle Lesueur, has, at the end of the second
-act, to exclaim--
-
-"_Il me déchire le coeur._"
-
-"_Ah, Mademoiselle_," said the Academician quite aloud, "_vous me
-déchirez les oreilles._"
-
-"What a fortunate thing for you, Sir," said the Abbé, "if you could get
-new ones."
-
-Of course the two armies had their generals. Among those of the
-Piccinnists were some of the greatest literary men of the
-day--Marmontel, La Harpe, D'Alembert, &c. The only writers on Gluck's
-side were Suard, and the Abbé Arnaud, for Rousseau, much as he admired
-Gluck, cannot be reckoned among his partisans. Suard, who wrote under a
-pseudonym, generally contrived to raise the laugh against his
-adversaries. The Abbé Arnaud, as we have seen, used to defend his
-composer in society, and constituted himself his champion wherever there
-appeared to be the least necessity, or even opportunity, of doing so.
-Volumes upon volumes were written on each side; but of course no one was
-converted.
-
-The Gluckists persisted in saying that Piccinni would never be able to
-compose anything better than concert music.
-
-The Piccinnists, on the other hand, denied that Gluck had the gift of
-melody, though they readily admitted that he had this advantage over his
-adversary--he made a great deal more noise.
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND PICCINNI.]
-
-In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Piccinni's _Orlando_, or
-_Orlandino_, as the Abbé Arnaud called it, were not going on favourably.
-The orchestra, which had been subdued by the energetic Gluck, rebelled
-against Piccinni, who was quite in despair at the vast inferiority of
-the French to the Italian musicians.
-
-"Everything goes wrong," he said to Marmontel; "there is nothing to be
-done with them."
-
-Marmontel was then obliged to interfere himself. Profiting by Piccinni's
-forbearance, directors, singers, and musicians were in the habit of
-treating him with the coolest indifference. Once, when Marmontel went to
-rehearsal, he found that none of the principal singers were present, and
-that the opera was to be rehearsed with "doubles." The author of the
-_libretto_ was furious, and said he would never suffer the work of the
-greatest musician in Italy to be left to the execution of "doubles."
-Upon this, Mademoiselle Bourgeois had the audacity to tell the
-Academician that, after all, he was but the double of Quinault, whose
-_Roland_ (as we have seen) he had abridged. One of the chorus singers,
-too, explained, that for his part he was not double at all, and that it
-was a fortunate thing for M. Marmontel's shoulders that such was the
-case.
-
-At last, when all seemed ready, and the day had been fixed for the first
-representation, up came Vestris, the god of dancing, with a request for
-some _ballet_ music. It was for the thin but fascinating Madeleine
-Guimard, who was not in the habit of being refused. Piccinni, without
-delay, set about the music of her _pas_, and produced a gavot, which
-was considered one of the most charming things in the Opera.
-
-When Piccinni started for the theatre, the night of the first
-representation, he took leave of his family as if he had been going to
-execution. His wife and son wept abundantly, and all his friends were in
-a state of despair.
-
-"Come, my children," said Piccinni, at last; "this is unreasonable.
-Remember that we are not among savages. We are living with the politest
-and kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a musician, they
-will, at all events, respect me as a man and a stranger."
-
-Piccinni's success was complete. It was impossible for the Gluckists to
-deny it. Accordingly they said that they had never disputed Piccinni's
-grace, nor his gift of melody, though his talent was spoiled by a
-certain softness and effeminacy, which was observable in all his
-productions.
-
-Marie Antoinette, whom Madame du Barry and her clique had looked upon as
-the natural enemy of Piccinni, because she was the avowed patroness of
-Gluck, astonished both the cabals by sending for the Italian composer
-and appointing him her singing-master. This was, doubtless, a great
-honour for Piccinni, though a very unprofitable one; for he was not only
-not paid for his lessons, but incurred considerable expense in going to
-and from the palace, to say nothing of the costly binding of the operas
-and other music, which he presented to the royal circle.
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI'S SUCCESS.]
-
-Beaumarchais had found precisely the same disadvantages attaching to the
-post of Court music-master, when, in his youth, he gave lessons to the
-daughters of Louis XV.
-
-When Berton assumed the management of the Opera, he determined to make
-the rival masters friends, and invited them to a magnificent supper,
-where they were placed side by side. Gluck drank like a man and a
-German, and before the supper was finished, was on thoroughly
-confidential terms with his neighbour.
-
-"The French are very good people," said he to Piccinni, "but they make
-me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they can't sing."
-
-The reconciliation appeared to be quite sincere; but the fact was, the
-quarrel was not between two men, but between two parties. When the
-direction of the Opera passed from the hands of Berton into those of
-Devismes, a project of the latter, for making Piccinni and Gluck compose
-an opera, at the same time, on the same subject, brought their
-respective admirers once more into open collision. "Here," said Devismes
-to Piccinni, "is a libretto on the story of Iphigenia in Tauris. M.
-Gluck will treat the same subject; and the French public will then, for
-the first time, have the pleasure of hearing two operas founded upon the
-same incidents, and introducing the same characters, but composed by two
-masters of entirely different schools."
-
-"But," objected Piccinni, "if Gluck's opera is played first, the public
-will think so much of it that they will not listen to mine."
-
-"To avoid that inconvenience," replied the director, "we will play yours
-first."
-
-"But Gluck will not permit it."
-
-"I give you my word of honour," said Devismes, "that your opera shall be
-put into rehearsal and brought out as soon as it is finished, and before
-Gluck's."
-
-Piccinni went home, and at once set to work.
-
-He had just finished his two first acts when he heard that Gluck had
-come back from Germany with his _Iphigenia in Tauris_ completed.
-However, he had received the director's promise that his Iphigenia
-should be produced first, and, relying upon Devismes's word of honour,
-Piccinni merely resolved to finish his opera as quickly as possible, so
-that the management might not be inconvenienced by having to wait for
-it, now that Gluck's work, which was to come second, was ready for
-production.
-
-Piccinni had not quite completed his _Iphigenia_, when, to his horror,
-he heard that Gluck's was already in rehearsal! He rushed to Devismes,
-reminded him of his promise, reproached him with want of faith, but all
-to no purpose. The director of the Opera declared that he had received a
-"command" to produce Gluck's work immediately, and that he had nothing
-to do but to obey. He was very sorry, was in despair, &c.; but it was
-absolutely necessary to play M. Gluck's opera first.
-
-[Sidenote: THE TWO IPHIGENIAS.]
-
-Piccinni felt that he was lost. He went to his friends, and told them
-the whole affair.
-
-"In the first place," said Guinguenée, the writer, "let me look at the
-poem?" The poem was not merely bad, it was ridiculous. The manager had
-taken advantage of Piccinni's ignorance of the French language to impose
-upon him a _libretto_ full of absurdities and common-places, such as no
-sensible schoolboy would have put his name to. Guinguenée, at Piccinni's
-request, re-wrote the whole piece--greatly, of course, to the annoyance
-of the original author.
-
-In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Gluck's _Iphigenia_ were continued.
-At the first of these, in the scene where _Orestes_, left alone in
-prison, throws himself on a bench saying "L_e calme rentre dans mon
-coeur_," the orchestra hesitated as if struck by the apparent
-contradiction in the accompaniment, which is still of an agitated
-character, though "Orestes" has declared that his heart is calm. "Go
-on!" exclaimed Gluck; "he lies! He has killed his mother!"
-
-The musicians of the Académie had a right, so many at a time, to find
-substitutes to take their places at rehearsals. Not one profited by this
-permission while _Iphigenia_ was being brought out.
-
-The _Iphigenia in Tauris_ is known to be Gluck's masterpiece, and it is
-by that wonderful work and by _Orpheus_ that most persons judge of his
-talent in the present day. Compared with the German's profound, serious,
-and admirably dramatic production, Piccinni's _Iphigenia_ stood but
-little chance. In the first place, it was inferior to it; in the second,
-the public were so delighted with Gluck's opera that they were not
-disposed to give even a fair trial to another written on the same
-subject. However, Piccinni's work was produced, and was listened to with
-attention. An air, sung by _Pylades_ to _Orestes_, was especially
-admired, but on the whole the public seemed to be reserving their
-judgment until the second representation.
-
-The next evening came; but when the curtain drew up, Piccinni
-discovered, to his great alarm, that something had happened to
-Mademoiselle Laguerre, who was entrusted with the principal part.
-_Iphigenia_ was unable to stand upright. She rolled first to one side,
-then to the other; hesitated, stammered, repeated the words, made eyes
-at the pit; in short, Mdlle. Laguerre was intoxicated!
-
-"This is not 'Iphigenia in Tauris,'" said Sophie Arnould; "this is
-'Iphigenia in Champagne.'"
-
-That night, the facetious heroine was sent, by order of the king, to
-sleep at For-l'Evčque, where she was detained two days. A little
-imprisonment appears to have done her good. The evening of her
-re-appearance, Mademoiselle Laguerre, with considerable tact, applied a
-couplet expressive of remorse to her own peculiar situation, and,
-moreover, sang divinely.
-
-[Sidenote: IPHIGENIA IN CHAMPAGNE.]
-
-While the Gluck and Piccinni disputes were at their height, a story is
-told of one amateur, doubtless not without sympathizers, who retired in
-disgust to the country and sang the praises of the birds and their
-gratuitous performances in a poem, which ended as follows:--
-
-    Lŕ n'est point d'art, d'ennui scientifique;
-    Piccinni, Gluck n'ont point noté les airs;
-    Nature seule en dicta la musique,
-    Et Marmontel n'en a pas fait les vers.
-
-The contest between Gluck and Piccinni (or rather between the Gluckists
-and Piccinnists) was brought to an end by the death of the former. An
-attempt was afterwards made to set up Sacchini against Piccinni; but
-Sacchini being, as regards the practice of his art, as much a Piccinnist
-as a Gluckist, this manoeuvre could not be expected to have much
-success.
-
-The French revolution ruined Piccinni, who thereupon retired to Italy.
-Seven years afterwards he returned to France, and, having occasion to
-present a petition to Napoleon, was graciously received by the First
-Consul in the Palace of the Luxembourg.
-
-"Sit down," said Napoleon to Piccinni, who was standing; "a man of your
-merit stands in no one's presence."
-
-Piccinni now retired to Passy; but he was an old man, his health had
-forsaken him, and, in a few months, he died, and was buried in the
-cemetery of the suburb which he had chosen for his retreat.
-
-In the present day, Gluck appears to have vanquished Piccinni, because,
-at long intervals, one of Gluck's grandly constructed operas is
-performed, whereas the music of his former rival is never heard at all.
-But this, by no means, proves that Piccinni's melodies were not
-charming, and that the connoisseurs of the eighteenth century were not
-right in applauding them. The works that endure are not those which
-contain the greatest number of beauties, but those of which the form is
-most perfect. Gluck was a composer of larger conceptions, and of more
-powerful genius than his Italian rival; and it may be said that he built
-up monuments of stone while Piccinni was laying out parterres of
-flowers. But if the flowers were beautiful while they lasted, what does
-it matter to the eighteenth century that they are dead now, when even
-the marble temples of Gluck are antiquated and moss-grown?
-
-I cannot take leave of the Gluck and Piccinni period without saying a
-few words about its principal dancers, foremost among whom stood
-Madeleine Guimard, the thin, the fascinating, the ever young, and the
-two Vestrises--Gaetan, the Julius of that Cćsar-like family, and Auguste
-its Augustus.
-
-One evening when Madeleine Guimard was dancing in _Les fętes de l'hymen
-et de l'amour_, a very heavy cloud fell from the theatrical heavens upon
-one of her beautiful arms, and broke it. A mass was said for
-Mademoiselle Guimard's broken arm in the church of Notre Dame.[52]
-
-[Sidenote: MADELEINE GUIMARD.]
-
-Houdon, the sculptor, moulded Mademoiselle Guimard's foot.
-
-Fragonard, the painter, decorated Mademoiselle Guimard's magnificent,
-luxuriously-furnished hotel. In his mural pictures he made a point of
-introducing the face and figure of the divinity of the place, until at
-last he fell in love with his model, and, presuming so far as to show
-signs of jealousy, was replaced by David--yes Louis David, the fierce
-and virtuous republican!
-
-David, the great painter of the republic and of the empire was, of
-course, at this time, but a very young man. He was, in fact, only a
-student, and Madeleine Guimard, finding that the decoration of her
-"Temple of Terpsichore" (as the _danseuse's_ artistic and voluptuous
-palace was called) did not quite satisfy his aspirations, gave him the
-stipend he was to have received for covering her walls with fantastic
-designs, to continue his studies in the classical style according to his
-own ideas.
-
-This was charity of a really thoughtful and delicate kind. As an
-instance of simple bountiful generosity and kindheartedness, I may
-mention Madeleine Guimard's conduct during the severe winter of 1768,
-when she herself visited all the poor in her neighbourhood, and gave to
-each destitute family enough to live on for a year. Marmontel, deeply
-affected by this beneficence, addressed the celebrated epistle to her
-beginning--
-
-    _"Est il bien vrai, jeune et belle damnée," &c._
-
-"Not yet Magdalen repentant, but already Magdalen charitable," exclaimed
-a preacher in allusion to Madeleine Guimard's good action, (which soon
-became known all over Paris, though the dancer herself had not said a
-word about it); and he added, "the hand which knows so well how to give
-alms will not be rejected by St. Peter when it knocks at the gate of
-Paradise."
-
-Madeleine Guimard, with all her powers of fascination, was not beautiful
-nor even pretty, and she was notoriously thin. Byron used to say of thin
-women, that if they were old, they reminded him of spiders, if young and
-pretty, of dried butterflies. Madeleine Guimard's theatrical friends, of
-course, compared her to a spider. Behind the scenes she was known as
-_L'araignée_. Another of her names was _La squelette des grâces_. Sophie
-Arnould, it will be remembered, called her "a little silk-worm," for the
-sake of the joke about "_la feuille_," and once, when she was dancing
-between two male dancers in a _pas de trois_ representing two satyrs
-fighting for a nymph, an uncivil spectator said of the exhibition that
-it was like "two dogs fighting for a bone."
-
-[Sidenote: MADELINE GUIMARD.]
-
-Madeleine Guimard is said to have preserved her youth and beauty in a
-marvellous manner, besides which, she had such a perfect acquaintance
-with all the mysteries of the toilet, that by the arts of dress and
-adornment alone, she could have made herself look young when she was
-already beginning to grow old. Marie-Antoinette used to consult her
-about her costume and the arrangement of her hair, and once when, for
-insubordination at the theatre, she had been ordered to For-l'Evčque,
-the _danseuse_ is reported to have said to her maid, "never mind,
-Gothon, I have written to the Queen to tell her that I have discovered a
-style of _coiffure_; we shall be free before the evening."
-
-I have not space to describe Mademoiselle Guimard's private theatre,[53]
-nor to speak of her _liaison_ with the Prince de Soubise, nor of her
-elopement with a German prince, whom the Prince de Soubise pursued,
-wounding him and killing three of his servants, nor of her ultimate
-marriage with a humble "professor of graces" at the Conservatory of
-Paris. I must mention, however, that in her decadence Madeleine Guimard
-visited London (a dozen Princes de Soubise would have followed her with
-drawn swords if she had attempted to leave Paris during her prime); and
-that Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the author of the interesting "Musical
-Reminiscences," saw her dance at the King's Theatre in the year 1789.
-This was the year of the taking of the Bastille, when a Parisian artist
-might well have been glad to make a little tour abroad. The dancers who
-had appeared at the beginning of the season had been insufferably bad,
-and the manager was at last compelled to send to Paris for more and
-better performers. Amongst them, says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "came the
-famous Mademoiselle Guimard, then near sixty years old, but still full
-of grace and gentility, and she had never possessed more." Madeleine
-Guimard had ceased to be the rage in Paris for nearly ten years, ("_Vers
-1780_," says M. A. Houssaye, in his "Galerie du Dix-huitičme Sičcle",
-_elle tomba peu ŕ peu dans l'oubli_"), but she was not sixty or even
-fifty years of age when she came to London. M. Castil Blaze, an
-excellent authority in such matters, tells us in his "_Histoire de
-l'Académie Royale de Musique_," that she was born in 1743.
-
-[Sidenote: THE VESTRIS FAMILY.]
-
-By way of contrast to Madeleine Guimard, I may call attention to
-Mademoiselle Théodore, a young, pretty and accomplished _danseuse_, who
-hesitated before she embraced a theatrical career, and actually
-consulted Jean Jacques Rousseau on the subject; who remained virtuous
-even on the boards of the Académie Royale; and who married Dauberval,
-the celebrated dancer, as any respectable _bourgeoise_ (if Dauberval had
-not been a dancer) might have done. Perhaps some aspiring but timid and
-scrupulous Mademoiselle Théodore of the present day would like to know
-what Rousseau thought about the perils of the stage? He replied to the
-letter of the _danseuse_ that he could give her no advice as to her
-conduct if she determined to join the Opera; that in his own quiet path
-he found it difficult to lead a pure irreproachable life: how then
-could he guide her in one which was surrounded with dangers and
-temptations?
-
-Vestris, I mean Vestris the First, the founder of the family, was as
-celebrated as Mademoiselle Guimard for his youthfulness in old age. M.
-Castil Blaze, the historian of the French Opera, saw him fifty-two years
-after his _début_ at the Académie, which took place in 1748, and
-declares that he danced with as much success as ever, going through the
-steps of the minuet "_avec autant de grâce que de noblesse_." Gaetan
-left the stage soon after the triumphant success of his son Auguste, but
-re-appeared and took part in certain special performances in 1795, 1799
-and 1800. On the occasion of the young Vestris's _début_, his father, in
-court dress, sword at side, and hat in hand, appeared with him on the
-stage. After a short but dignified address to the public on the
-importance of the art he professed, and the hopes he had formed of the
-inheritor of his name, he turned to Auguste and said, "Now, my son,
-exhibit your talent to the public! Your father is looking at you!"
-
-The Vestris family, which was very numerous, and very united, always
-went in a body to the opera when Auguste danced, and at other times made
-a point of stopping away. "Auguste is a better dancer than I am," the
-old Vestris would say; "he had Gaetan Vestris for his father, an
-advantage which nature refused me."
-
-"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le dieu de la danse_ (a title
-which he had himself given him) touches the ground from time to time, he
-does so in order not to humiliate his comrades."
-
-This notion appears to have inspired Moore with the lines he addressed
-in London to a celebrated dancer.
-
-                  "---- You'd swear
-    When her delicate feet in the dance twinkle round,
-    That her steps are of light, that her home is the air,
-    And she only _par complaisance_ touches the ground."
-
-[Sidenote: THE VESTRIS FAMILY.]
-
-The Vestrises (whose real name was _Vestri_) came from Florence. Gaetan,
-known as _le beau Vestris_, had three brothers, all dancers, and this
-illustrious family has had representatives for upwards of a century in
-the best theatres of Italy, France and England. The last celebrated
-dancer of the name who appeared in England, was Charles Vestris, whose
-wife was the sister of Ronzi di Begnis. Charles Vestris was Auguste's
-nephew. His father, Auguste's brother, was Stefano Vestris, a stage poet
-of no ability, and Mr. Ebers, in his "Seven Years of the King's
-Theatre,"[54] tells us (giving us therein another proof of the excellent
-_esprit de famille_ which always animated the Vestrises) that when
-Charles Vestris and his wife entered into their annual engagement, "the
-poet was invariably included in the agreement, at a rate of
-remuneration for his services to which his consanguinity to those
-performers was his chief title."
-
-We can form some notion of Auguste Vestris's style from that of Perrot
-(now ballet-master at the St. Petersburgh Opera), who was his favourite
-pupil, and who is certainly by far the most graceful and expressive
-dancer that the opera goers of the present day have seen.
-
-END OF VOL. I.
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY
-
-OF
-
-THE OPERA,
-
-from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
-
-WITH ANECDOTES
-
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.
-
-BY
-
-SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,
-
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.
-
-
-"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"
-    "WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"
-
-VOL II.
-
-LONDON:
-
-WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.
-
-1862.
-
-(_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._)
-
-LONDON:
-
-LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS VOLUME II.
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-
-The Opera in England at the end of the Eighteenth and beginning
-of the Nineteenth Century                                              1
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-Opera in France after the departure of Gluck                          34
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-The French Opera before and after the Revolution                      46
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-Opera in Italy, Germany and Russia, during and in connection
-with the Republican and Napoleonic Wars.--Paisiello, Paer,
-Cimarosa, Mozart.--The Marriage of Figaro.--Don Giovanni              86
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-Manners and Customs at the London Opera half a century
-since                                                                121
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-Rossini and his Period                                               140
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-Opera in France under the Consulate, Empire and Restoration          178
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-Donizetti and Bellini                                                226
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-Rossini--Spohr--Beethoven--Weber and Hoffmann                        282
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY OF THE OPERA.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-     THE OPERA IN ENGLAND AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND BEGINNING OF
-     THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
-
-
-Hitherto I have been obliged to trace the origin and progress of the
-Opera in various parts of Europe. At present there is one Opera for all
-the world, that is to say, the same operatic works are performed every
-where, if not,
-
-    "De Paris ŕ Pékin, de Japon jusqu'ŕ Rome,"
-
-at least, in a great many other equally distant cities, and which
-Boileau never heard of; as, for instance, from St. Petersburgh to
-Philadelphia, and from New Orleans to Melbourne. But for the French
-Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, the universality of Opera would
-have been attained long since. The directors of the French Opera, after
-producing the works of Gluck and Piccinni, found it impossible, as we
-shall see in the next chapter, to attract the public by means of the
-ancient _répertoire_, and were obliged to call in the modern Italian
-composers to their aid. An Italian troop was engaged to perform at the
-Académie Royale, alternately with the French company, and the best opera
-buffas of Piccinni, Traetta, Paisiello, and Anfossi were represented,
-first in Italian, and afterwards in French. Sacchini and Salieri were
-engaged to compose operas on French texts specially for the Académie. In
-1787, Salieri's _Tarare_ (libretto by Beaumarchais),[55] was brought out
-with immense success; the same year, the same theatre saw the production
-of Paisiello's _Il re Teodoro_, translated into French; and, also the
-same year, Paisiello's _Marchese di Tulipano_ was played at Versailles,
-by a detachment from the Italian company engaged at our own King's
-Theatre.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AT VERSAILLES.]
-
-This is said to have been the first instance of an Italian troop
-performing alternately in London and in Paris. A proposition had been
-made under the Regency of Philip of Orleans, for the engagement of
-Handel's celebrated company;[56] but, although the agreement was drawn
-up and signed, from various causes, and principally through the jealousy
-of the "Academicians," it was never carried out. The London-Italian
-company of 1787 performed at Versailles, before the Court and a large
-number of aristocratic subscribers, many of whom had been solicited to
-support the enterprise by the queen herself. Storace, the _prima donna
-assoluta_ of the King's Theatre, would not accompany the other singers
-to Paris. Madame Benini, however, the _altra prima donna_ went, and
-delighted the French amateurs. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his interesting
-volume of "Musical Reminiscences," tells us that she "had a voice of
-exquisite sweetness, and a finished taste and neatness in her manner of
-singing; but that she had so little power, that she could not be heard
-to advantage in so large a theatre: her performance in a small one was
-perfect." Among the other vocalists who made the journey from London to
-Paris, were Mengozzi the tenor, who was Madame Benini's husband, and
-Morelli the bass. "The latter had a voice of great power, and good
-quality, and he was a very good actor. Having been running footman to
-Lord Cowper at Florence," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "he could not
-be a great musician." Benini, Mengozzi, and Morelli, again visited Paris
-in 1788, but did not make their appearance there in 1789, the year of
-the taking of the Bastille. The _répertoire_ of these singers included
-operas by Paisiello, Cimarosa, Sarti, and Anfossi, and they were
-particularly successful in Paisiello's _Gli Schiavi per Amore_. When
-this opera was produced in London in 1787 (with Storace, not Benini, in
-the principal female part), it was so much admired that it ran to the
-end of the season without any change. Another Italian company gave
-several series of performances in Paris between 1789 and 1792, and then
-for nine years France was without any Italian Opera at all.
-
-Storace was by birth and parentage, on her mother's side, English; but
-she went early to Italy, "and," says the author from whom I have just
-quoted, "was never heard in this country till her reputation as the
-first buffa of her time was fully established." Her husband was Fisher,
-a violinist (whose portrait has been painted by Reynolds); but she never
-bore his name, and the marriage was rapidly followed by a separation.
-Mrs. Storace settled entirely in England, and after quitting the King's
-Theatre accepted an engagement at Drury Lane. Here English Opera was
-raised to a pitch of excellence previously unknown, thanks to her
-singing, together with that of Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. Bland, Kelly, and
-Bannister. The musical director was Mrs. Storace's brother, Stephen
-Storace, the arranger of the pasticcios entitled the _Haunted Tower_,
-and the _Siege of Belgrade_.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME MARA.]
-
-Madame Mara made her first appearance at the King's Theatre the year
-before Storace's _début_. She had previously sung in London at the
-Pantheon Concerts, and at the second Handel Festival (1785), in
-Westminster Abbey. I have already spoken of this vocalist's
-performances and adventures at the court of Frederick the Great, at
-Vienna, and at Paris, where her worshippers at the Concerts Spirituels
-formed themselves into the sect of "Maratistes," as opposed to that of
-the "Todistes," or believers in Madame Todi.[57]
-
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, during a visit to Paris, heard Madame Mara at one
-of the Concerts Spirituels, in the old theatre of the Tuileries. She had
-just returned from the Handel Commemoration, and sang, among other
-things, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," which was announced in the
-bills as being "Musique de Handel, paroles de _Milton_." "The French,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "had not the taste to like it."
-
-The first opera in which Madame Mara appeared at the King's Theatre was
-_Didone_, a pasticcio, in which four songs of different characters, by
-Sacchini, Piccinni, and two other composers, were introduced. She
-afterwards sang with Miss Cecilia Davies (_L'Inglesina_) in Sacchini's
-_Perseo_.
-
-At this period Handel's operas were already so much out of fashion,
-though esteemed as highly as ever by musicians and by the more venerable
-of connoisseurs, that when _Giulio Cesare_ was revived, with Mara and
-Rubinelli (both of whom sang the music incomparably well), in the
-principal parts, it had no success with the general public; nor were
-any of Handel's operas afterwards performed at the King's Theatre.
-_Giulio Cesare_, in which many of the most favourite songs from Handel's
-other operas ("Verdi prati," "Dove sei," "Rendi sereno il ciglio," and
-others) were interpolated, answered the purpose for which it was
-produced, and attracted George III. two or three times to the theatre.
-Moreover (to quote Lord Mount Edgcumbe's words), "it filled the house,
-by attracting the exclusive lovers of the old style, who held cheap all
-other operatic performances."
-
-[Sidenote: THE PANTHEON.]
-
-In 1789 (the year in which the supposed sexagenarian, Madeleine Guimard,
-"still full of grace and gentility," made her appearance) the King's
-Theatre was burnt to the ground--not without a suspicion of its having
-been maliciously set on fire, which was increased by the suspected
-person soon after committing suicide. Arrangements were made for
-carrying on the Opera at the little theatre in the Haymarket, where Mara
-was engaged as the first woman in serious operas, and Storace in comic.
-The company afterwards moved to the Pantheon, "which," says Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "in its original state was the largest and most beautiful room
-in London, and a very model of fine architecture. It was the
-chef-d'oeuvre of Wyatt, who himself contrived and executed its
-transformation, taking care not to injure any part of the building, and
-so concealing the columns and closing its dome, that it might be easily
-restored after its temporary purpose was answered, it being then in
-contemplation to erect an entirely new and magnificent opera-house
-elsewhere, a project which could never be realised. Mr. Wyatt, by this
-conversion, produced one of the prettiest, and by far the most genteel
-and comfortable theatres I ever saw, of a moderate size and excellent
-shape, and admirably adapted both for seeing and hearing. There the
-regular Opera was successfully carried on, with two very good companies
-and ballets. Pacchierotti, Mara, and Lazzarini, a very pleasing singer
-with a sweet tenor voice, being at the head of the serious; and
-Casentini, a pretty woman and genteel actress, with Lazzarini, for
-tenor, Morelli and Ciprani principal buffos, composing the comic. This
-was the first time that Pacchierotti[58] had met with a good _prima
-donna_ since Madame Lebrun, and his duettos with Mara were the most
-perfect pieces of execution I ever heard. The operas in which they
-performed together were Sacchini's _Rinaldo_ and Bertoni's _Quinto
-Fabio_ revived, and a charming new one by Sarti, called _Idalide_, or
-_La Vergine del Sole_. The best comic were La Molinara, and La bella
-Pescatrice, by Guglielmi. On the whole I never enjoyed the opera so much
-as at this theatre."
-
-The Pantheon enterprise, however, like most operatic speculations in
-England, did not pay, and at the end of the first season (1791) the
-manager had incurred debts to the amount of thirty thousand pounds. In
-the meanwhile the King's Theatre had been rebuilt, but the proprietor,
-now that the Opera was established at the Pantheon, found himself unable
-to obtain a license for dramatic performances, and had to content
-himself with giving concerts at which the principal singer was the
-celebrated David. It was proposed that the new Opera house should take
-the debts of the Pantheon, and with them its operatic license, but the
-offer was not accepted, and in 1792 the Pantheon was destroyed by
-fire--in this case the result, clearly, of accident.
-
-At last the schism which had divided the musical world was put an end
-to, and an arrangement was made for opening the King's Theatre in the
-winter of 1793. There was not time to bring over a new company, but one
-was formed out of the singers already in London, with Mara at their head
-and with Kelly for the tenor.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. MARA.]
-
-Mara was now beginning to decline in voice and in popularity. When she
-was no longer engaged at the Italian Opera, she sang at concerts and for
-a short time at Covent Garden, where she appeared as "Polly" in _The
-Beggars' Opera_. She afterwards sang with the Drury Lane company while
-they performed at the King's Theatre during the rebuilding of their own
-house, which had been pulled down to be succeeded by a much larger one.
-She appeared in an English serious opera, called _Dido_, "in which,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "she retained one song of her _Didone_, the
-brilliant _bravura_, _Son Regina_. It did not greatly succeed, though
-the music was good and well sung. This is not surprising," he adds, "the
-serious opera being ill suited to our stage, and our language to
-recitative. None ever succeeded but Dr. Arne's _Artaxerxes_, which was,
-at first, supported by some Italian singers, Tenducci being the original
-Arbaces." It is noticeable that in the aforesaid English _Dido_ Kelly
-was the tenor, while Mrs. Crouch took the part of first man, which at
-this time in Italy was always given to a sopranist.
-
-Madame Mara's husband, the ex-violinist of the Berlin orchestra, appears
-never to have been a good musician, and always an idle drunkard. His
-wife at last got disgusted with his habits, and probably, also, with his
-performance on the violin,[59] for she went off with a flute-player
-named Florio to Russia, where she lived for many years. When she was
-about seventy she re-appeared in England and gave a concert at the
-King's Theatre, but without any sort of success. Her wonderful powers
-were said to have returned, but when she sang her voice was generally
-compared to a penny trumpet. Madame Mara then returned to Moscow, where
-she suffered greatly by the fire of 1812. She afterwards resided at some
-town in the Baltic provinces, and died there at a very advanced age.
-
-The next great vocalist who visited England after Mara's _début_, was
-Banti. She had commenced life as a street singer; but her fine voice
-having attracted the attention of De Vismes, the director of the
-Académie, he told her to come to him at the Opera, where the future
-_prima donna_, after hearing an air of Sacchini's three times, sang it
-perfectly from beginning to end. De Vismes at once engaged her; and soon
-afterwards she made her first appearance with the most brilliant
-success. Although Banti was now put under the best masters, she was of
-such an indolent, careless disposition, that she never could be got to
-learn even the first elements of music. Nevertheless, she was so happily
-endowed by nature, that it gave her no trouble to perfect herself in the
-most difficult parts; and whatever she sang, she rendered with the most
-charming expression imaginable. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, who does not
-mention the fact of her having sung at the French Opera, says that Banti
-was the most delightful singer he ever heard (though, when she appeared
-at the King's Theatre in 1799, she must have been forty-two years of
-age[60]); and tells us that, "in her, genius supplied the place of
-science; and the most correct ear, with the most exquisite taste,
-enabled her to sing with more effect, more expression, and more apparent
-knowledge of her art, than many much better professors."
-
-[Sidenote: BANTI.]
-
-It is said of Banti, that when she was singing in Paris, though she
-never made the slightest mistake in concerted pieces, she sometimes
-executed her airs after a very strange fashion. For instance: in the
-_allegro_ of a cavatina, after singing the principal motive, and the
-intermediary phrase or "second part," she would, in a fit of absence,
-re-commence the air from the very beginning; go on with it until the
-turning point at the end of the second part; again re-commence and
-continue this proceeding, until at last the conductor warned her that
-next time she had better think of terminating the piece. In the
-meanwhile the public, delighted with Banti's voice, is said to have been
-quite satisfied with this novel mode of performance.
-
-Banti made her _début_ in England in Bianchi's _Semiramide_, in which
-she introduced an air from one of Guglielmi's oratorios, with a violin
-_obbligato_ accompaniment, played first by Cramer, afterward by Viotti,
-Salomon, and Weichsell, the brother of Mrs. Billington. This song was of
-great length, and very fatiguing; but Banti was always encored in it,
-and never omitted to repeat it.
-
-At her benefit in the following year (1800) Banti performed in an opera,
-founded on the _Zenobia_ of Metastasio, by Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the
-author of the interesting "Reminiscences," to which, in the course of
-the present chapter I shall frequently have to refer. The "first man's"
-part was allotted to Roselli, a sopranist, who, however, had to transfer
-it to Viganoni, a tenor. Roselli, whose voice was failing him, soon
-afterwards left the country; and no other male soprano made his
-appearance at the King's Theatre until the arrival of Velluti, who sang
-twenty-five years afterwards in Meyerbeer's _Crociato_.
-
-Banti's favourite operas were Gluck's _Alceste_, in which she was called
-upon to repeat three of her airs every night; the _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_, by the same author; Paisiello's _Elfrida_, and _Nina_ or _La
-Pazza per Amore_; Nasolini's[61] _Mitridate_; and several operas by
-Bianchi, composed expressly for her.
-
-Before Banti's departure from England, she prevailed on Mrs. Billington
-to perform with her on the night of her benefit, leaving to the latter
-the privilege of assuming the principal character in any opera she might
-select. _Merope_ was chosen. Mrs. Billington took the part of the
-heroine, and Banti that of "Polifonte," though written for a tenor
-voice. The curiosity to hear these two celebrated singers in the same
-piece was so great, that the theatre was filled with what we so often
-read of in the newspapers, but so seldom see in actual life,--"an
-overflowing audience;" many ladies being obliged, for want of better
-places, to find seats on the stage.
-
-Banti died at Bologna, in 1806, bequeathing her larynx (of extraordinary
-size) to the town, the municipality of which caused it to be duly
-preserved in a glass bottle. Poor woman! she had by time dissipated the
-whole of her fortune, and had nothing else to leave.
-
-[Sidenote: MRS. BILLINGTON.]
-
-Mrs. Billington, Banti's contemporary, after singing not only in
-England, but at all the best theatres of Italy, left the stage in 1809.
-In 1794, while she was engaged at Naples, at the San Carlo, a violent
-eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place, which the Neapolitans attributed
-to the presence of an English heretic on their stage. Mrs. Billington's
-friends were even alarmed for her personal safety, when, fortunately,
-the eruption ceased, and the audience, relieved of their superstitious
-fears, applauded the admirable vocalist in all liberty and confidence.
-Mrs. Billington was an excellent musician, and before coming out as a
-singer had distinguished herself in early life (when Miss Weichsell) as
-a pianoforte player. She appears to have been but an indifferent
-actress, and, in her singing, to have owed her success less to her
-expression than to her "agility," which is said to have been marvellous.
-Her execution was distinguished by the utmost neatness and precision.
-Her voice was sweet and flexible, but not remarkable for fulness of
-tone, which formed the great beauty of Banti's singing. Mrs. Billington
-appeared with particular success in Bach's _Clemenza di Scipione_, in
-which the part of the heroine had been originally played in England by
-Miss Davies (_L'Inglesina_); Paisiello's _Elfrida_; Winter's _Armida_,
-and _Castore e Polluce_; and Mozart's _Clemenza di Tito_--the first of
-that master's works ever performed in England. At this time, neither the
-_Nozze di Figaro_, nor Mozart's other masterpiece, _Don Giovanni_
-(produced at Prague in 1787), seem to have been at all known either in
-England or in France.
-
-After Banti's departure from England, and while Mrs. Billington was
-still at the King's Theatre, Grassini was engaged to sing alternately
-with the latter vocalist. She made her first appearance in _La Vergine
-del Sole_ an opera by Mayer (the future preceptor of Donizetti), but in
-this work she succeeded more through her acting and her beauty than by
-her singing. Indeed, so equivocal was her reception, that on the
-occasion of her benefit, she felt it desirable to ask Mrs. Billington to
-appear with her. Mrs. Billington consented; and Winter composed an opera
-called _Il Ratto di Proserpina_, specially for the rival singers, Mrs.
-Billington taking the part of "Ceres," and Grassini that of
-"Proserpine." Now the tide of favour suddenly turned, and we are told
-that Grassini's performance gained all the applause; and that "her
-graceful figure, her fine expression of face, together with the sweet
-manner in which she sang several simple airs, stamped her at once the
-reigning favourite." Indeed, not only was Grassini rapturously applauded
-in public, but she was "taken up by the first society, _fęted_,
-caressed, and introduced as a regular guest in most of the fashionable
-assemblies." "Of her _private_ claims to that distinction," adds Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, "it is best to be silent; but her manners and exterior
-behaviour were proper and genteel."
-
-[Sidenote: BRAHAM.]
-
-At this period 1804-5, the tenors at the King's Theatre were Viganoni
-and Braham. Respecting the latter, who, in England, France and Italy, in
-English and in Italian operas, on the stage and in concert rooms, must
-have sung altogether for something like half a century, I must again
-quote the author of "Musical Reminiscences," who heard him in his prime.
-"All must acknowledge," he says, "that his voice is of the finest
-quality, of great power and occasional sweetness. It is equally certain
-that he has great knowledge of music, and _can_ sing extremely well. It
-is therefore the more to be regretted that he should ever do otherwise;
-that he should ever quit the natural register of his voice by raising it
-to an unpleasant falsetto, or force it by too violent exertion; that he
-should depart from a good style, and correct taste, which he knows and
-can follow as well as any man, to adopt at times the over-florid and
-frittered Italian manner; at others, to fall into the coarseness and
-vulgarity of the English. The fact is, that he can be two distinct
-singers, according to the audience before whom he performs, and that to
-gain applause he condescends to sing as ill at the playhouse as he has
-done well at the Opera. His compositions have the same variety, and he
-can equally write a popular noisy song for the one, or its very
-opposite, for the other. A duetto of his, introduced into the opera of
-_Gli Orazj_, sung by himself and Grassini, had great beauty, and was in
-excellent taste. * * * * Braham has done material injury to English
-singing, by producing a host of imitators. What is in itself not good,
-but may be endured from a fine performer, becomes insufferable in bad
-imitation. Catalani has done less mischief, only because her powers are
-_unique_, and her astonishing execution unattainable. Many men endeavour
-to rival Braham, no woman can aspire to being a Catalani."
-
-When both Grassini and Mrs. Billington retired, (1806), the place of
-both was supplied by the celebrated Catalani, the vocal queen of her
-time. She made her first appearance in Portogallo's _Semiramide_, (which
-is said to have been a very inferior opera to Bianchi's, on the same
-subject), and, among other works, had to perform in the _Clemenza di
-Tito_, of Mozart, whose music she is said to have disliked on the ground
-that it kept the singer too much under the control of the orchestra.
-Nevertheless, she introduced the _Nozze di Figaro_ into England, and
-herself played the part of "Susanna" with admirable success.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI.]
-
-"Her voice," says Ferrari (Jacques Godefroi, a pupil of Paisiello), "was
-sonorous, powerful, and full of charm and suavity. This organ, of so
-rare a beauty, might be compared for splendour to the voice of Banti;
-for expression, to that of Grassini; for sweet energy, to that of Pasta;
-uniting the delicious flexibility of Sontag to the three registers of
-Malibran. Madame Catalani had formed her style on that of Pacchierotti,
-Marchesi, Crescentini;[62] her groups, roulades, triplets, and
-_mordenti_, were of admirable perfection; her well articulated
-execution lost nothing of its purity in the most rapid and most
-difficult passages. She animated the singers, the chorus, the orchestra,
-even in the finales and concerted pieces. Her beautiful notes rose above
-and dominated the _ensemble_ of the voices and instruments; nor could
-Beethoven, Rossini or any other musical Lucifer, have covered this
-divine voice with the tumult of the orchestra. Our _virtuosa_ was not a
-profound musician; but, guided by what she did know, and by her
-practised ear, she could learn in a moment the most complicated pieces."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Her firm, strong, brilliant, voluminous voice was of a most agreeable
-_timbre_," says Castil Blase; "it was an admirable soprano of prodigious
-compass, from _la_ to the upper _sol_, marvellous in point of agility,
-and producing a sensation difficult to describe. Madame Catalani's
-manner of singing left something to desire in the noble, broad,
-sustained style. Mesdames Grassini and Barilli surpassed her on this
-point, but with regard to difficulties of execution and _brio_, Madame
-Catalani could ring out one of her favourite airs and exclaim, _Son
-Regina!_ She was then without a rival. I never heard anything like it.
-She excelled in chromatic passages, ascending and descending, of extreme
-rapidity. Her execution, marvellous in audacity, made talents of the
-first order pale before it, and instrumentalists no longer dared figure
-by her side. When Tulou, however, presented himself, his flute was
-applauded with enthusiasm after Madame Catalani's voice. The experiment
-was a dangerous one, and the victory was only the more brilliant for the
-adventurous young artist. There was no end to the compliments addressed
-to him on his success."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On her way to London, in the summer of 1806, Catalani, whose reputation
-was then at its height, passed through Paris, and sang before the
-Emperor at St. Cloud. Napoleon gave her 5,000 francs for this
-performance, besides a pension of 1,200 francs, and the use of the
-Opera, with all expences paid, for two concerts, of which the receipts
-amounted to 49,000 francs. The French emperor, during his victorious
-career, had acquired the habit of carrying off singers as captives, and
-enrolling them, in spite of themselves, in his musical service. The same
-dictatorial system, however, failed when applied to Catalani.
-
-"Where are you going, that you wish to leave Paris?" said Napoleon.
-
-"To London, Sire," answered the singer.
-
-"You must remain in Paris," replied Napoleon, "you will be well paid and
-your talents will be better appreciated here. You will have a hundred
-thousand francs a year, and two months' leave of absence. That is
-settled. Adieu, Madame."
-
-Catalani went away without daring to say that she did not mean to break
-her engagement with the manager of the King's Theatre. In order to keep
-it she was obliged to embark secretly at Morlaix.
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI.]
-
-I have spoken of this celebrated vocalist's first appearance in London,
-and, having given an Italian and a French account of her singing, I may
-as well complete the description by quoting the remarks made by an
-Englishman, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, on her voice and style of execution.
-
-"It is well known," he says, "that her voice is of a most uncommon
-quality, and capable of exertions almost supernatural. Her throat seems
-endued (as has been remarked by medical men) with a power of expansion
-and muscular motion by no means usual, and when she throws out all her
-voice to the utmost, it has a volume and strength that are quite
-surprising, while its agility in divisions, running up and down the
-scale in semi-tones, and its compass in jumping over two octaves at
-once, are equally astonishing. It were to be wished she was less lavish
-in the display of these wonderful powers, and sought to please more than
-to surprise; but her taste is vicious, her excessive love of ornament
-spoiling every simple air, and her greatest delight (indeed her chief
-merit) being in songs of a bold and spirited character, where much is
-left to her discretion (or indiscretion) without being confined by
-accompaniment, but in which she can indulge in _ad libitum_ passages
-with a luxuriance and redundancy no other singer ever possessed, or if
-possessing, ever practised, and which she carries to a fantastical
-excess. She is fond of singing variations on some known simple air, and
-latterly has pushed this taste to the very height of absurdity, by
-singing, even without words, variations composed for the fiddle."
-
-Allusion is here doubtless made to the _air varié_ by Pierre Rode, the
-violinist, which, from Catalani to Alboni and our own Louisa Pyne, has
-been such a favourite show-piece with all vocalists of brilliant
-executive powers, more especially in England. The vocal variations on
-Rode's air, however, were written in London, specially for Catalani, by
-Drouet the flute-player.
-
-Catalani returned to Paris in October, 1815, when there was no longer
-any chance of Napoleon reproaching her for her abrupt departure nine
-years before. She solicited and obtained the "privilege" of the Italian
-theatre; but here the celebrated system of her husband, M. Valabrčque
-(in which the best possible operatic company consisted only of _ma femme
-et trois ou quatre poupées_) quite broke down. Madame Catalani gave up
-the theatre, with the subvention of 160,000 francs allowed her by the
-government, in 1818, M. Valabrčque having previously enunciated in a
-pamphlet the reasons which led to this abandonment. Great expenses had
-been incurred in fitting up the theatre, and, moreover, the management
-had been forced to pay its rent. The pamphlet concluded with a paragraph
-which was scarcely civil on the part of a foreigner who had been most
-hospitably received, towards a nation situated as France was just then.
-It is sufficiently curious to be quoted.
-
-[Sidenote: M. VALABREQUE.]
-
-"Consider, moreover," said the discomforted director, or rather the
-discomforted husband of the directress, "that in the time when several
-provinces beyond the mountains belonged to France, twenty thousand
-Italians were constantly attracted to the capital and supplied numerous
-audiences for the Italian theatre; that, moreover, the artists who were
-chiefly remarked at the theatres of Milan, Florence, Venice and Genoa,
-could be engaged for Paris by order of the government, and that in such
-a case the administration was reimbursed for a portion of the extra
-engagements."
-
-Catalani had left the King's Theatre in 1813, two years before she
-assumed the management of the Italian Theatre of Paris. With some brief
-intervals she had been singing in London since 1806, and after quitting
-England, she was for many years without appearing on any stage, if we
-except the short period during which she directed the Théâtre Feydau.
-Her terms were so inordinate that managers were naturally afraid of
-them, and Catalani found it more to her advantage to travel about
-Europe, giving concerts at which she was the sole performer of
-importance, than to accept such an engagement as could be offered to her
-at a theatre. She gave several concerts of this kind in England, whither
-she returned twice after she had ceased to appear at the Opera. She is
-said to have obtained more success in England than in any other country,
-and least of all in Italy.
-
-When she appeared at the King's Theatre in 1824, and sang in Mayer's
-_Fanatico per la Musica_, the frequenters of the Opera, who remembered
-her performance in the same work eighteen years before, were surprised
-that so long an interval had produced so little change in the singer.
-The success of the first night was prodigious; but Mr. Ebers (in his
-"Seven Years of the King's Theatre"), tells us that "repetitions of this
-opera, again and again, diminished the audiences most perceptibly,
-though some new air was on each performance introduced, to display the
-power of the Catalani. * * * In this opera the sweet and soothing voice
-of Caradori was an agreeable relief to the bewildering force of the
-great wonder."
-
-In one season of four months in London, Madame Catalani, by her system
-of concerts, gained upwards of ten thousand pounds, and doubled that sum
-during a subsequent tour in the provinces, in Ireland and Scotland. She
-sang for the last time in public at Dublin, in 1828.
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI'S AGREEMENT]
-
-As to the sort of engagement she approved of, some notion may be formed
-from the following draft of a contract submitted by her to Mr. Ebers in
-1826:----
-
-     "_Conditions between Mr. Ebers and M. P. de Valabrčque._
-
-     "1. Every box and every admission shall be considered as belonging
-     to the management. The free admissions shall be given with paper
-     orders, and differently shaped from the paid tickets. Their number
-     shall be limited. The manager, as well as Madame Catalani, shall
-     each have a good box.
-
-     "2. Madame Catalani shall choose and direct the operas in which she
-     is to sing; she shall likewise have the choice of the performers in
-     them; she will have no orders to receive from any one; she will
-     find all her own dresses.
-
-     "3. Madame Catalani shall have two benefits, to be divided with the
-     manager; Madame Catalani's share shall be free: she will fix her
-     own days.
-
-     "4. Madame Catalani and her husband shall have a right to
-     superintend the receipts.
-
-     "5. Every six weeks Madame Catalani shall receive the payment of
-     her share of the receipts, and of the subscription.
-
-     "6. Madame Catalani shall sing at no other place but the King's
-     Theatre, during the season; in the concerts or oratorios, where she
-     may sing, she will be entitled to no other share but that specified
-     as under.
-
-     "7. During the season, Madame Catalani shall be at liberty to go to
-     Bath, Oxford, or Cambridge.
-
-     "8. Madame Catalani shall not sing oftener than her health will
-     allow her. She promises to contribute to the utmost of her power to
-     the good of the theatre. On his side, Mr. Ebers engages to treat
-     Madame Catalani with every possible care.
-
-     "9. This engagement, and these conditions, will be binding for this
-     season, which will begin and end and continue during all the
-     seasons that the theatre shall be under the management of Mr.
-     Ebers, unless Madame Catalani's health, or state of her voice,
-     should not allow her to continue.
-
-     [Sidenote: CATALANI'S AGREEMENT]
-
-     "10. Madame Catalani, in return for the conditions above mentioned,
-     shall receive the half part of the amount of all the receipts which
-     shall be made in the course of the season, including the
-     subscription to the boxes, the amount of those sold separately, the
-     monies received at the doors of the theatre, and of the
-     concert-room; in short, the said half part of the general receipts
-     of the theatre for the season.
-
-     "11. It is well understood that Madame Catalani's share shall be
-     free from every kind of deduction, it being granted her in lieu of
-     salary. It is likewise well understood, that every expense of the
-     theatre during the season shall be Mr. Ebers'; such as the rent of
-     the theatre, the performers' salaries, the tradespeople's bills; in
-     short, every possible expense; and Madame Catalani shall be
-     entirely exonerated from any one charge.
-
-     "This engagement shall be translated into English, taking care that
-     the conditions shall remain precisely as in the original, and shall
-     be so worded as to stipulate that Madame Catalani, on receiving her
-     share of the receipts of the theatre, shall in no ways whatever be
-     considered as partner of the manager of the establishment.
-
-     "12. The present engagement being made with the full approbation of
-     both parties, Mr. Ebers and M. Valabrčque pledge their word of
-     honour to fulfil it in every one of its parts."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-I must now add that Madame Catalani, by all accounts, possessed an
-excellent disposition, that her private life was irreproachable, and
-that while gaining immense sums, she also gave immense sums away in
-charity. Indeed, the proceeds of her concerts, for the benefit of the
-poor and sick have been estimated at eighty thousand pounds, besides
-which she performed numerous acts of generosity towards individuals. Nor
-does she appear to have possessed that excessive and exclusive
-admiration for Madame Catalani's talent which was certainly entertained
-by her husband, M. Valabrčque. Otherwise there can be no truth in the
-well known story of her giving, by way of homage, the shawl which had
-just been presented to her by the Empress of Russia, to a Moscow
-gipsey--one of those singing _tsigankie_ who execute with such
-originality and true expression their own characteristic melodies.
-
-After having delighted the world for thirty-five years, Madame Catalani
-retired to a charming villa near Florence. The invasion of the cholera
-made her leave this retreat and go to Paris; where, in 1849, in her
-seventieth year, she fell a victim to the very scourge she had hoped to
-avoid.
-
-[Sidenote: CELEBRATED SINGERS.]
-
-As for the husband, Valabrčque, he appears to have been mean, officious,
-conceited (of his wife's talent!) and generally stupid. M. Castil Blaze
-solemnly affirms, that when Madame Catalani was rehearsing at the
-Italian Opera of Paris an air which she was to sing in the evening to a
-pianoforte accompaniment, she found the instrument too high, and told
-Valabrčque to see that it was lowered; upon which (declares M. Blase)
-Valabrčque called for a carpenter and caused the unfortunate piano's
-feet to be amputated!
-
-"Still too high?" cried Madame Catalani's husband, when he was accused
-in the evening of having neglected her orders. "Why, how much did you
-lower it, Charles?" addressing the carpenter.
-
-"Two inches, Sir," was the reply.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The historian of the above anecdote calls Tamburini, Lablache, and
-Tadolini, as well as Rossini and Berryer, the celebrated advocate, to
-witness that the mutilated instrument had afterward four knobs of wood
-glued to its legs by the same Charles who executed in so faithful a
-manner M. Valabrčque's absurd behest. It continued to wear these pattens
-until its existence was terminated in the fire of 1838--in which by the
-way, the composer of _William Tell_, who at that time nominally directed
-the theatre, and who had apartments on the third floor, would inevitably
-have perished had he not left Paris for Italy the day before!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Before concluding this chapter, I will refer once more to the "Musical
-Reminiscences" of Lord Mount Edgcumbe, whose opinions on singers seem
-to me more valuable than those he has expressed about contemporary
-composers, and who had frequent and constant opportunities of hearing
-the five great female vocalists engaged at the King's Theatre, between
-the years 1786 and 1814.
-
-"They may be divided," he says, "into two classes, of which Madame Mara
-and Mrs. Billington form the first; and they were in most respects so
-similar, that the same observations will apply equally to both. Both
-were excellent musicians, thoroughly skilled in their profession; both
-had voices of uncommon sweetness and agility, particularly suited to the
-bravura style, and executed to perfection and with good taste, every
-thing they sung. But neither was an Italian, and consequently both were
-deficient in recitative: neither had much feeling or theatrical talent,
-and they were absolutely null as actresses; therefore they were more
-calculated to give pleasure in the concert-room than on the stage.
-
-The other three, on the contrary, had great and distinguished dramatic
-talents, and seemed born for the theatrical profession. They were all
-likewise but indifferently skilled in music, supplying by genius what
-they wanted in science, and thereby producing the greatest and most
-striking effects on the stage: these are their points of resemblance.
-Their distinctive differences, I should say, were these: Grassini was
-all grace, Catalani all fire, Banti all feeling."
-
-[Sidenote: GUGLIELMI.]
-
-The composers, in whose music the above singers chiefly excelled, were
-Gluck, Piccinni, Guglielmi, Cimarosa, and Paisiello. We have seen that
-"Susanna" in the _Nozze di Figaro_, was one of Catalani's favourite
-parts; but as yet Mozart's music was very little known in England, and
-it was not until 1817 that his _Don Giovanni_ was produced at the King's
-Theatre.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-After Gluck and Piccinni, the most admired composers, and the natural
-successors of the two great rivals in point of time, were Cimarosa and
-Paisiello. Guglielmi was considerably their senior, and on returning to
-Naples in 1777, after having spent fifteen years away from his country,
-in Vienna, and in London, he found that his two younger competitors had
-quite supplanted him in public favour. His works, composed between the
-years 1755 and 1762, had become antiquated, and were no longer
-performed. All this, instead of discouraging the experienced musician
-(Guglielmi was then fifty years of age) only inspired him with fresh
-energy. He found, however, a determined and unscrupulous adversary in
-Paisiello, who filled the theatre with his partisans the night on which
-Guglielmi was to produce his _Serva innamorata_, and occasioned such a
-disturbance, that for some time it was impossible to attend to the
-music.
-
-The noise was especially great at the commencement of a certain
-quintett, on which, it was said, the success of the work depended.
-Guglielmi was celebrated for the ingenuity and beauty of his concerted
-pieces, but there did not seem to be much chance, as affairs stood on
-this particular evening, of his quintett being heard at all.
-Fortunately, while it was being executed, the door of the royal box
-opened, and the king appeared. Instantly the most profound silence
-reigned throughout the theatre, the piece was recommenced, and Guglielmi
-was saved. More than that, the enthusiasm of the audience was raised,
-and went on increasing to such a point, that at the end of the
-performance the composer was taken from his box, and carried home in
-triumph to his hotel.
-
-From this moment Paisiello, with all his jealousy, was obliged to
-discontinue his intrigues against a musician, whom Naples had once more
-adopted. Cimarosa had taken no part in the plot against Guglielmi; but
-he was by no means delighted with Guglielmi's success. Prince San
-Severo, who admired the works of all three, invited them to a
-magnificent banquet where he made them embrace one another, and swear
-eternal friendship.[63] Let us hope that he was not the cause of either
-of them committing perjury.
-
-[Sidenote: FINALES.]
-
-Paisiello seems to have been an intriguer all his life, and to have been
-constantly in dread of rivals; though he probably had less reason to
-fear them than any other composer of the period. However, at the age of
-seventy-five, when he had given up writing altogether, we find him, a
-few months before his death, getting up a cabal against the youthful
-Rossini, who was indeed destined to eclipse him, and to efface even the
-memory of his _Barbiere di Siviglia_, by his own admirable opera on the
-same subject. It is as if, painting on the same canvas, he had simply
-painted out the work of his predecessor.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Cimarosa, though he may have possessed a more dignified sense than
-Paisiello of what was due to himself, had less vanity. A story is told
-of a painter wishing to flatter the composer of _Il Matrimonio
-Segretto_, and saying that he looked upon him as superior to Mozart.
-
-"Superior to Mozart!" exclaimed Cimarosa. "What should you think, Sir,
-of a musician, who told you that you were a greater painter than
-Raphael?"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the other composers who adorned the end of the eighteenth and the
-beginning of the nineteenth century, may be mentioned Sacchini, the
-successor of Piccinni in Paris; Salieri, the envious rival of Mozart,
-and (in Paris) the successor of Gluck; Paer, in whose _Camilla_ Rossini
-played the child's part at the age of seven (1799); Mayer, the future
-master of Donizetti; and Zingarelli, the future master of Bellini, one
-of whose operas was founded on the same _libretto_ which afterwards
-served the pupil for his _Capuletti i Montecchi_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Piccinni is not connected in any direct manner with the present day; but
-it is nevertheless to Piccinni that we owe the first idea of those
-magnificent finales which, more than half a century afterwards,
-contributed so much to the success of Rossini's operas, and of which the
-first complete specimens, including several movements with changes of
-key and of rhythm, occur in _La Cecchina ossia la Buona Figliuola_,
-produced at Rome in 1760.
-
-Logroscino, who sometimes passes as the inventor of these finales, and
-who lived a quarter of a century earlier, wrote them only on one theme.
-
-The composer who introduced dramatic finales into serious opera, was
-Paisiello.
-
-It may interest the reader to know, that the finale of _Don Giovanni_
-lasts fifteen minutes.
-
-That of the _Barber of Seville_ lasts twenty-one minutes and a-half.
-
-That of _Otello_ lasts twenty-four minutes.
-
-[Sidenote: FINALES.]
-
-The quintett of _Gazza Ladra_ lasts twenty-seven minutes.
-
-The finale of _Semiramide_ lasts half an hour--or perhaps a minute or
-two less, if we allow for the increased velocity at which quick
-movements are "taken" by the conductors of the present day.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-OPERA IN FRANCE, AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF GLUCK.
-
-
-A few months before Gluck left Paris for the last time, an insurrection
-broke out at the Opera. The revolutionary spirit was abroad in Paris.
-The success of the American War of Independence, the tumultuous meetings
-of the French Parliament, the increasing resistance to authority which
-now manifested itself everywhere in France; all these stimulants to
-revolt seem to have taken effect on the singers and dancers of the
-Académie. The company resolved to carry on the theatre itself, for its
-own benefit, and the director, Devismes, was called upon to abdicate.
-The principal insurgents held what they called "Congress," at the house
-of Madeleine Guimard, and the God of Dancing, Auguste Vestris, declared
-loudly that he was the Washington of the affair.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE GUIMARD.]
-
-Every day some fresh act of insubordination was committed, and the
-chiefs of the plot had to be forced to appear on the stage by the
-direct interference of the police.
-
-"The minister desires me to dance," said Mademoiselle Guimard on one of
-these occasions; "_eh bien qu'il y prenne garde, je pourrais bien le
-faire sauter_."
-
-The influential leader just named conducted the intrigue with great
-skill and discretion.
-
-"One thing, above all!" she said to her fellow conspirators; "no
-combined resignations,--that is what ruined the Parliament."
-
-To the minister, Amelot, the destroyer and reconstructor of the
-Parliament of Dijon, Sophie Arnould observed, in reference to his
-interference with the affairs of the Académie---
-
-"You should remember, that it is easier to compose a parliament than to
-compose an opera."
-
-Auguste Vestris having spoken very insolently to Devismes, the latter
-said to him---
-
-"Do you know, sir, to whom you are speaking?"
-
-"To whom? to the farmer of my talent," replied the dancer.
-
-Things were brought to a crisis by the _fętes_ given to celebrate the
-birth of Marie Antoinette's first child, December, 1778. The city of
-Paris proposed to spend enormous sums in festivities and illuminations;
-but the king and queen benevolently suggested that, instead of being
-wasted in useless display, the money should be given away in marriage
-portions to a hundred deserving young girls; and their majesties gave
-fifty thousand francs themselves for the same object. Losing sight of
-the Opera for the moment, I must relate, in as few words as possible, a
-charming little anecdote that is told of one of the applicants for a
-dowry. Lise was the name of this innocent and _naďve_ young person, who,
-on being asked some question respecting her lover, replied, that she had
-none; and that she thought the municipality provided everything! The
-municipality found the necessary admirer, and could have had no
-difficulty in doing so, if we may judge from the graceful bust of Lise,
-executed in marble by the celebrated sculptor, Houdon.
-
-The Académie, which at this time belonged to the city, determined to
-follow its example, and to give away at least one marriage portion.
-Twelve hundred francs were subscribed and placed in the hands of
-Mademoiselle Guimard, the treasurer elect. The nuptial banquet was to
-take place at the winter Vauxhall (_Gallicč_ "Wauxhall"); and all Paris
-was in a state of eager excitement to be present at what promised to be
-a most brilliant and original entertainment. It was not allowed,
-however, to take place, the authorities choosing to look upon it as a
-parody of the _fęte_ given by the city.
-
-[Sidenote: AUGUSTE VESTRIS.]
-
-The doors of the "Wauxhall" being closed to the subscribers,
-Mademoiselle Guimard invited them to meet at her palace, in the Chaussée
-d'Antin. The municipality again interfered; and in the middle of the
-banquet Vestris and Dauberval were arrested by _lettres de cachet_ and
-taken to For-l'Evčque, on the ground that they had refused to dance the
-Tuesday previous in the _divertissement_ of _Armide_.
-
-Gaetan Vestris was present at the arrest of his son, and excited the
-mirth of the assembly by the pompous, though affectionate, manner in
-which he bade him farewell. After embracing him tenderly, he said--
-
-"Go, Augustus; go to prison. This is the grandest day of your life! Take
-my carriage, and ask for the room of my friend, the King of Poland; and
-live magnificently--charge everything to me."
-
-On another occasion, when Gaetan was not so well pleased with his
-Augustus, he said to him:
-
-"What! the Queen of France does her duty, by requesting you to dance
-before the King of Sweden, and you do not do yours? You shall no longer
-bear my name. I will have no misunderstanding between the house of
-Vestris and the house of Bourbon; they have hitherto always lived on
-good terms."
-
-For his refusal to dance, Augustus was this time sentenced to six
-months' imprisonment; but the opera goers were so eager for his
-re-appearance that he was set free long before the expiration of the
-appointed term.
-
-He made his _rentrée_ amid the groans and hisses of the audience, who
-seemed determined to give him a lesson for his impertinence.
-
-Then Gaetan, magnificently attired, appeared on the stage, and addressed
-the public as follows:--
-
-"You wish my son to go down on his knees. I do not say that he does not
-deserve your displeasure; but remember, that the dancer whom you have so
-often applauded has not studied the _pose_ you now require of him."
-
-"Let him speak; let him endeavour to justify himself," cried a voice
-from the pit.
-
-"He _shall_ speak; he _shall_ justify himself," replied the father. And,
-turning to his son, he added: "Dance, Auguste!"
-
-Auguste danced; and every one in the theatre applauded.
-
-The orchestra took no part in the operatic insurrection; and we have
-seen that the musicians were not invited to contribute anything to the
-dowry, offered by the Académie to virtue in love and in distress. De
-Vismes proposed to reward his instrumentalists by giving up to them a
-third of the receipts from some special representation of Gluck's
-_Iphigénie en Tauride_. The band rejected the offer, as not sufficiently
-liberal, and by refusing to play on the evening in question, made the
-performance a failure.
-
-The Academic revolt was at last put an end to, by the city of Paris
-cancelling de Vismes's lease, and taking upon itself the management of
-the theatre, de Vismes receiving a large sum in compensation, and the
-appointment of director at a fixed salary.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BEAUMARCHAIS AND GLUCK.]
-
-Beaumarchais, while assisting the national revolution with the _Marriage
-of Figaro_, is known to have aided in a more direct manner the
-revolution which was now imminent at the opera. It is said, that he was
-anxious to establish an operatic republic in the hope of being made
-president of it himself. He is known to have been a good musician. I
-have spoken of his having held the honourable, if not lucrative, post of
-music-master to the daughters of Louis XV. (by whom he was as well paid
-as was Piccinni by that monarch's successor);[64] and a better proof of
-his talent is afforded, by his having composed all the music of his
-_Barber of Seville_ and _Marriage of Figaro_, except the air of
-_Malbrook_ in the latter comedy.
-
-Beaumarchais had been much impressed by the genius of Gluck. He met him
-one evening in the _foyer_ of the Opera, and spoke to him so clearly and
-so well about music that the great composer said to him: "You must
-surely be M. de Beaumarchais." They agreed to write an opera together,
-and some years afterwards, when Gluck had left Paris for Vienna, the
-poet sent the composer the _libretto_ of _Tarare_. Gluck wrote to say
-that he was delighted with the work, but that he was now too old to
-undertake the task of setting it to music, and would entrust it to his
-favourite pupil, Salieri.
-
-Gluck benefited French opera in two ways. He endowed the Académie with
-several master-pieces, and moreover, destroyed, or was the main
-instrument in destroying, its old _répertoire_, which after the works of
-Gluck and Piccinni was found intolerable. It was now no longer the
-fashion to exclude foreign composers from the first musical theatre in
-France, and Gluck and Piccinni were followed by Sacchini and Salieri.
-Strange to say, Sacchini, when he first made his appearance at the
-Académie with his _Olympiade_, was deprived of a hearing through the
-jealousy of Gluck, who, on being informed, at Vienna, that the work in
-question was in rehearsal, hurried to Paris and had influence enough to
-get it withdrawn. Worse than this, when the _Olympiade_ was produced at
-the Comédie Italienne, with great success, Gluck and his partisans put a
-stop to the representation by enforcing one of the privileges of the
-Académie, which rendered it illegal for any other theatre to perform
-operas with choruses or with more than seven singers on the stage.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK.]
-
-No work by Sacchini or Salieri was produced at the Académie until after
-the theatre in the Palais Royal was burnt down, in 1781. In this fire,
-which took place about eighteen months after Gluck had retired from
-Paris, and five months after the production of Piccinni's _Iphigenia in
-Tauris_, the old _répertoire_ would seem to have been consumed, for no
-opera by Lulli was afterwards played in France, and only one by
-Rameau,--_Castor and Pollux_, which, revived in 1791, was not favourably
-received.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-It was in June, 1781, after a representation of Gluck's _Orphée_, that
-the Académie Royale was burnt to the ground. _Coronis_ (music by Rey,
-the conductor of the orchestra) was the last piece of the evening, and
-before it was finished, during the _divertissement_, one of the scenes
-caught fire. Dauberval, the principal dancer, had enough presence of
-mind to order the curtain down at once. The public wanted no more of
-_Coronis_, and went quietly away without calling for the conclusion of
-Rey's opera, and without having the least idea of what was taking place
-behind the curtain. In the meanwhile the fire had spread on the stage
-beyond the possibility of extinction. Singers, dancers, musicians, and
-scene-shifters, rushed in terror from the theatre, and about a dozen
-persons, who were unable to escape, perished in the conflagration.
-Madeleine Guimard was nearly burnt to death in her dressing-room, which
-was surrounded by flames. One of the carpenters, however, penetrated
-into her _loge_, wrapped her up in a counterpane (she was entirely
-undressed), and bore her triumphantly through the fire to a place of
-safety.
-
-"Save my child! save my child!" cried Rey, in despair; and as soon as he
-saw the score of _Coronis_ out of danger he went away, giving the flames
-full permission to burn everything else. All the manuscripts were saved,
-thanks to the courageous exertions of Lefebrvre, the librarian, who
-remained below in the music room even while the stage was burning, until
-the last sheet had been removed.
-
-"The Opera is burnt down," said a Parisian to a Parisian the next
-morning.
-
-"So much the better," was the reply. "It had been there such a time!"
-
-This remark was ingenious but not true, for the Académie Royale de
-Musique had only been standing eighteen years. It was burnt down before,
-in 1768, on which occasion Voltaire, in a letter to M. d'Argental, wrote
-as follows: "_on dit que ce spectacle était si mauvais qu'il fallait tôt
-ou tard que la vengeance divine éclatât_." The theatre destroyed by fire
-in 1763[65] was in the Palais Royal, and it was reconstructed on the
-same spot. After the fire of 1781, the Porte St. Martin theatre was
-built, and the Opera was carried on there ten years, after which it was
-removed to the opera-house in the Rue Richelieu, which was pulled down
-after the assassination of the Duc de Berri. But we are advancing beyond
-the limits of the present chapter.
-
-[Sidenote: THE NEW OPERA HOUSE.]
-
-The new Opera House was built in eighty-six days. The members of the
-company received orders not to leave Paris, and during the interval
-were paid their salaries regularly as if for performing. The work began
-on the 2nd of August, and was finished on the 27th of October. Lenoir,
-the architect, had told Marie Antoinette that the theatre could be
-completed in time for the first performance to take place on the 30th of
-October.
-
-"Say the 31st," replied the queen; "and if on that day I receive the key
-of my box, I promise you the Order of St. Michael in exchange."
-
-The key was sent to her majesty on the 26th, who not only decorated
-Lenoir with the _cordon_ of St. Michael, but also conferred on him a
-pension of six thousand francs; and on the 27th the theatre was opened
-to the public.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1784, Sacchini's _Chimčne_, adapted from _Il Gran Cid_, an opera he
-had written for the King's Theatre in 1778, was produced at the Académie
-with great success. The principal part in this work was sustained by
-Huberti, a singer much admired by Piccinni, who wrote some airs in the
-_cantabile_ style specially for her, and said that, without her, his
-opera of _Dido_, in which she played the principal part, was "without
-Dido." M. Castil Blaze tells us that she was the first true singer who
-appeared at the Académie. Grimm declares, that she sang like Todi and
-acted like Clairon. Finally, when Madame de Saint Huberti was performing
-at Strasburgh, in 1787, a young officer of artillery, named Napoleon
-Bonaparte, addressed the following witty and complimentary verses to
-her:--
-
-    "Romains qui vous vantez d'une illustre origine
-     Voyez d'oů dépendait votre empire naissant:
-     Didon n'eut pas de charme assez puissant
-     Pour arręter la fuite oů son amant s'obstine;
-     Mais si l'autre Didon, ornement de ces lieux,
-       Eűt été reine de Carthage,
-     Il eűt, pour la servir, abandonné ces dieux,
-     Et votre beau pays serait encore sauvage."
-
-Sacchini's first opera, _OEdipe ŕ Colosse_, was not produced at the
-Académie until 1787, a few months after his death. It was now no
-question, of whether he was a worthy successor of Gluck or a formidable
-opponent to Piccinni. His opera was admired for itself, and the public
-applauded it with genuine enthusiasm.
-
-[Sidenote: SALIERI.]
-
-In the meanwhile, Salieri, the direct inheritor of Gluck's mantle (as
-far as that poetic garment could be transferred by the mere will of the
-original possessor) had brought out his _Danaides_--announced at first
-as the work of Gluck himself and composed under his auspices. Salieri
-had also set _Tarare_ to music. "This is the first _libretto_ of modern
-times," says M. Castil Blaze, "in which the author has ventured to join
-buffoonery to tragedy--a happy alliance, which permits the musician to
-vary his colours and display all the resources of genius and art." The
-routine-lovers of the French Académie, the pedants, the blunderers,
-were indignant with the new work; and its author entrusted Figaro with
-the task of defending it.
-
-"Either you must write nothing interesting," said Figaro, "or fools will
-run you down."
-
-The same author then notices, as a remarkable coincidence, that
-"Beaumarchais and Da Ponte, at four hundred leagues distance from one
-another, invented, at the same time, the class of opera since known as
-"romantic." Beaumarchais's _Tarare_ had been intended for Gluck; Da
-Ponte's _Don Giovanni_, as every one knows, found its true composer in
-Mozart.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-THE FRENCH OPERA BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
-
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA DURING THE CONVENTION.]
-
-A complete history of the French Opera would include something like a
-history of French society, if not of France generally. It would, at
-least, show the effect of the great political changes which the country
-has undergone, and would remind us here and there of her celebrated
-victories, and occasionally even of her reverses. Under the despotism,
-we have seen how a simple _lettre de cachet_ sufficed to condemn an
-_abbé_ with a good voice, or a young girl with a pretty face, to the
-Opera, just as a person obnoxious to the state or to any very
-influential personage was sent to the Bastille. During the Regency, half
-the audience at the Opera went there drunk; and almost until the period
-of the Revolution the _abbés_, the _mousquetaires_, and the _grands
-seigneurs_, quarrelled, fought, and behaved in many respects as if the
-theatre were, not their own private house, but their own particular
-tap-room. Music profited by the Revolution, in so far that the
-privileges of the Académie were abolished, and, as a natural
-consequence, a number of new musical works produced at a variety of
-theatres which would otherwise never have seen the light; but the
-position of singers and dancers was by no means a pleasant one under the
-Convention, and the tyranny of the republican chiefs was far more
-oppressive, and of a more brutal kind, than any that had been exercised
-at the Académie in the days of the monarchy. The disobedient daughters,
-whose admirers got them "inscribed" on the books of the Opera so as to
-free them from parental control, would, under another system, have run
-away from home. No one, in practice, was injured very much by the
-regulation, scandalous and immoral as it undoubtedly was; for, before
-the name was put down, all the harm, in most cases, was already done.
-Sophie Arnould, it is true, is said to have been registered at the Opera
-without the consent of her mother, and, what seems very
-extraordinary--not at the suggestion of a lover; but Madame Arnould was
-quite reconciled to her daughter's being upon the stage before she
-eloped with the Count de Lauragais. To put the case briefly: the
-_académiciens_ (and above all, the _académiciennes_) in the immoral
-atmosphere of the court, were fęted, flattered, and grew rich, though,
-owing to their boundless extravagance, they often died poor: whereas,
-during the republic, they met with neither sympathy nor respect, and in
-the worst days of the Convention lived, in a more literal sense than
-would be readily imagined, almost beneath the shadow of the guillotine.
-
-In favour of the old French society, when it was at its very worst, that
-is to say, during the reign of Louis XV., it may be mentioned that the
-king's mistresses did not venture to brave general opinion, so far as to
-present themselves publicly at the Opera. Madame Dubarry announced more
-than once that she intended to visit the Académie, and went so far as to
-take boxes for herself and suite, but at the last moment her courage (if
-courage and not shamelessness be the proper word) failed her, and she
-stayed away. On the other hand, towards the end of this reign, the
-licentiousness of the court had become so great, that brevets,
-conferring the rights and privileges of married ladies on ladies
-unmarried, were introduced. Any young girl who held a "_brevet de dame_"
-could present herself at the Opera, which etiquette would otherwise have
-rendered impossible. "The number of these brevets," says _Bachaumont_,
-"increased prodigiously under Louis XVI., and very young persons have
-been known to obtain them. Freed thus from the modesty, simplicity, and
-retirement of the virginal state, they give themselves up with impunity
-to all sorts of scandals. * * * Such disorder has opened the eyes of the
-government; and this prince, the friend of decency and morality, has at
-last shown himself very particular on the subject. It is now only by the
-greatest favour that one of these brevets can be obtained."[66]
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC AND RELIGIOUS FETES.]
-
-No _brevets_ were required of the fishwomen and charcoal men of Paris,
-who, on certain fętes, such as the Sovereign's birth day, were always
-present at the gratuitous performances given at the Opera. On these
-occasions the balcony was always reserved for them, the _charbonniers_
-being placed on the king's side, the _poissardes_ on the queen's. At the
-close of the representation the performers invited their favoured guests
-on to the stage, the orchestra played the airs from some popular ballet,
-and a grand ball took place, in which the _charbonniers_ chose their
-partners from among the operatic _danseuses_, while the _poissardes_
-gave their hands to Vestris, Dauberval, &c.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-During Passion week and Easter, the Opera was shut, but the great
-operatic vocalists could be heard elsewhere, either at the Jesuits'
-church or at the Abbaye of Longchamp, to which latter establishment it
-is generally imagined that the Parisian public used to be attracted by
-the singing of the nuns. What is far more extraordinary is, that the
-Parisians always laboured under that delusion themselves. "The
-Parisians," says M. Castil Blaze, in his "History of the Grand Opera,"
-"always such fine connoisseurs in music, never penetrated the mystery of
-this incognito. The railing and the green curtain, behind which the
-voices were concealed, sufficed to render the singers unrecognisable to
-the _dilettanti_ who heard them constantly at the opera."
-
-Adjoining the Jesuits' church was a theatre, also belonging to the
-Jesuits, for which, between the years 1659 and 1761, eighty pieces of
-various kinds, including tragedies, operas and ballets, were written.
-Some of these productions were in Latin, some in French, some in Latin
-and French together. The _virtuosi_ of the Académie used to perform in
-them and afterwards proceed to the church to sing motets. "This church
-is so much the church of the Opera," says Freneuse, "that those who do
-not go to one console themselves by attending vespers at the other,
-where they find the same thing at less cost." He adds, that "an actor
-newly engaged, would not think himself fully recognised unless asked to
-sing for the Jesuits." As for the actresses, "in their honor the price
-which would be given at the door of the opera is given for a chair in
-the church. People look out for Urgande, Arcabonne, Armide, and applaud
-them. (I have seen them applaud la Moreau and la Chérat, at the midnight
-mass.) These performances replace those which are suspended at the
-opera."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BEHIND THE SCENES.]
-
-There would be no end to this chapter (and many persons would think it
-better not written) if I were to enter into details on the subject of
-the relations between the singers and dancers of the Académie, and the
-Grands Seigneurs of the period. I may observe, however, that the latter
-appear to have been far more generous, without being more vicious, and
-that they seem to have lived in better taste than their modern
-imitators, who usually ruin themselves by means of race-horses, or, in
-France, on the Stock Exchange. The Count de Lauragais paid an immense
-sum to the directors of the Académie, to compensate them for abolishing
-the seats on the stage (probably impertinent visitors used to annoy him
-by staring at Sophie Arnould); the Duke de Bouillon spent nine hundred
-thousand livres on Mademoiselle la Guerre (Gluck's _Iphigénie_); the
-Prince de Soubise nearly as much on Mademoiselle Guimard--who at least
-gave a portion of it away in charity, and who, as we have seen, was an
-intelligent patroness of David, the painter.
-
-When the Prince de Guéméné became insolvent, the Prince de Soubise, his
-father-in-law, ceased to attend the Opera. There were three thousand
-creditors, and the debts amounted to forty million livres. The heads of
-the family felt called upon to make a sacrifice, and the Prince de
-Soubise was no longer in a position to give _petits soupers_ to his
-_protégées_ at the Académie. Under these circumstances, the "ladies of
-the _ballet_" assembled in the dressing-room of Mademoiselle Guimard,
-their chief, and prepared the following touching, and really very
-becoming letter, to their embarrassed patron:--
-
-     "Monseigneur,
-
-     "Accustomed to see you amongst us at the representations at the
-     Lyrical Theatre, we have observed with the most bitter regret that
-     you not only tear yourself away from the pleasures of the
-     performance, but also that none of us are now invited to the little
-     suppers you used so frequently to give, in which we had turn by
-     turn the happiness of interesting you. Report has only too well
-     informed us of the cause of your seclusion, and of your just grief.
-     Hitherto we have feared to importune you, allowing sensibility to
-     give way to respect. We should not dare, even now, to break
-     silence, without the pressing motive to which our delicacy is
-     unable any longer to resist.
-
-     "We had flattered ourselves, Monseigneur, that the Prince de
-     Guéméné's bankruptcy, to employ an expression which is re-echoed in
-     the _foyers_, the clubs, the newspapers of France, and all Europe,
-     would not be so considerable, so enormous, as was announced; and,
-     above all, that the wise precautions taken by the King to assure
-     the claimants the amount of their debts, and to avoid expenses and
-     depredations more fatal even than the insolvency itself, would not
-     disappoint the general expectation. But affairs are doubtless in
-     such disorder, that there is now no hope. We judge of it by the
-     generous sacrifices to which the heads of your illustrious house,
-     following your example, have resigned themselves. We should think
-     ourselves guilty of ingratitude, Monseigneur, if we were not to
-     imitate you in seconding your humanity, and if we were not to
-     return you the pensions which your munificence has lavished upon
-     us. Apply these revenues, Monseigneur, to the consolation of so
-     many retired officers, so many poor men of letters, so many
-     unfortunate servants whom M. le Prince de Guéméné drags into ruin
-     with him.
-
-     "As for us, we have other resources: and we shall have lost
-     nothing, Monseigneur, if we preserve your esteem. We shall even
-     have gained, if, by refusing your gifts now, we force our
-     detractors to agree that we were not unworthy of them. "We are,
-     with profound respect,
-
-     "Monseigneur,
-
-     "Your most Serene Highness's very humble and
-
-     "devoted Servants,
-
-     "GUIMARD, HEINEL," &c.
-
-     With twenty other names.
-
-[Sidenote: GENEROSITY OF THE BALLET.]
-
-Auguste Vestris spent and owed a great deal of money; the father
-honoured the engagements of the young dancer, but threatened him with
-imprisonment if he did not alter his conduct, and concluded by
-saying:--"Understand, Sir, that I will have no Guéméné in _my_ family."
-
-Although ballet dancers were important persons in those days, they were
-as nothing compared to the institution to which they belonged. Figaro,
-in his celebrated soliloquy, observes, with reference to the great
-liberty of the press accorded by the government, that provided he does
-not speak of a great many very different things, among which the Opera
-is included, he is at liberty to publish whatever he likes "under the
-inspection of three or four censors." Beaumarchais was more serious
-than would be generally supposed, in including the Opera among the
-subjects which a writer dared not touch upon, or, if so, only with the
-greatest respect. Rousseau tells us in more than one place, that it was
-considered dangerous to say anything against the Opera; and Mademoiselle
-Théodore (the interesting _danseuse_ before-mentioned, who consulted the
-fantastic moralist on the conduct she ought to pursue as a member of the
-ballet), was actually imprisoned, and exiled from Paris for eighteen
-days, because she had ventured to ridicule the management of the
-Académie, in some letters addressed to a private friend. The author of
-the _Nouvelle Héloise_ should have warned her to be more careful.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND REVOLUTION.]
-
-On the 12th July, 1789, the bills were torn down from the doors of the
-Opera. The Parisians were about to take the Bastille. Having taken it,
-they allowed the Académie to continue its performance, and it re-opened
-on the 21st of the same month. In Warsaw, during the "demonstrations" of
-last March, the Opera was closed. It remains closed now[67] (end of
-November), and will re-open--neither Russians nor Poles can say when! No
-one tears the bills down, because no one thinks of putting them up; it
-being perfectly understood by the administration, (which is a department
-of the Government), that the Warsaw public are not disposed at present
-for amusement of any kind.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1789, the revolutionary spirit manifested itself among the company
-engaged at the French Opera. An anonymous letter--or rather a letter in
-the name of all the company, printed, but not signed--was addressed to
-the administration of the theatre. It pointed out a number of abuses,
-and bore this epigraph, strongly redolent of the period: "_Tu dors
-Brutus, et Rome est dans les fers!_"
-
-In 1790 the city of Paris assumed once more the management of the
-Académie, the artistic direction being entrusted to a committee composed
-of the chiefs of the various departments, and of the principal singers
-and dancers. One of the novelties produced was a "melodrama founded on
-passages from the Scriptures," called "The Taking of the Bastille,"
-written specially for Notre Dame, where it was performed for the first
-time, and where it was followed by a grand _Te Deum_. In this _Te Deum_
-few of the lovers of the Opera could have joined, for one of the first
-effects of the revolution was naturally to drive the best singers and
-dancers away from Paris. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that Mademoiselle
-Guimard was dancing in London in 1789. Madame Huberti, who was, by all
-accounts, the best singer the French had ever heard at the Académie,
-left Paris early in 1790.
-
-We know how injurious a distant war, a dissolution of parliament, a
-death in the royal family are to the fortunes of an operatic season in
-London. Fancy what must have been the effect of the French revolution on
-the Académie after 1789! The subscription list for boxes showed, in a
-few years, a diminution of from 475,000 _livres_ to 000,000! Some of the
-subscribers had gone into exile, more or less voluntary, some had been
-banished, others had been guillotined. M. Castil Blaze, from whose
-interesting works I have obtained a great number of particulars
-concerning the French Opera at the time of the revolution, tells us that
-the Queen used to pay 7,000 livres for her box. The Duke d'Orléans paid
-7,000 for his own private box, and joined the Duke de Choiseul and
-Necker in a subscription of 3,200 francs for another. The Princess de
-Lamballe and Madame de Genlis gave 3,600 francs for a "post chaise;"
-(there were other boxes, called "spittoons"--the _baignoires_ of the
-present day--"cymbals," &c.; names which they evidently owed to their
-position and form). On the other hand, there were 288 free admissions,
-of which, thirty-two were given to authors, and eight to newspapers--_La
-Gazette de France_, _Le Journal de Paris_, and _Le Mercure_. The
-remaining 248 were reserved for the Hôtel de Ville, the King's
-Household, the actors of the Comédie Française, and the singers and
-dancers of the Opera itself.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND REVOLUTION.]
-
-The howling of the _ça ira_ put an end for ever to the Concert
-Spirituel, where the Parisians for nearly eighty years had been in the
-habit of hearing excellent instrumental soloists, and some of the best
-of the Italian singers, when there was as yet no Italian Opera in Paris.
-The last _concert spirituel_ took place at the theatre of the Tuileries
-in 1791.
-
-Louis XVI. and his family fled from Paris on the 28th June, 1791. The
-next day, and before the king was brought back to the Tuileries, the
-title of the chief lyric theatre was changed, and from the "Académie
-_Royale_" became simply the "Opera." At the same time the custom was
-introduced of announcing the performers' names, which was evidently an
-advantage for the public, and which was also not without its benefit,
-for the inferior singers and dancers who, when they unexpectedly made
-their appearance to replace their betters, used often to get hissed in a
-manner which their own simple want of merit scarcely justified. "_Est ce
-que je savais qu'on lŕcherait le Ponthieu?_" exclaimed an unhappy
-ticket-seller one evening, when an indignant amateur rushed out of the
-theatre and began to cane the recipient of his ill-spent money. We may
-fancy how Ponthieu himself must have been received inside the house.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: MARIE ANTOINETTE.]
-
-By an order of the Committee of Public Safety, dated the 16th of the
-September following, the title of the Opera was again changed to
-_Académie Royale de Musique_. This was intended as a compliment to the
-king, who had signed the Constitution on the 14th, and who was to go to
-the Opera six days afterwards. On the 20th the royal visit took place.
-"_Castor and Pollux_ was played," says M. Castil Blaze, "and not
-_Iphigénie en Aulide_, as is asserted by some ill-informed historians,
-who even go so far as to pretend that the chorus _Chantons, célébrons
-notre reine_ was, as on another occasion, hailed with transports of
-enthusiasm, and that the public called for it a second time. The house
-was well filled, but not crammed[68] (_comble_), as is proved by the
-amount of the receipts--6,686 livres, 15 sous. The same opera of
-Rameau's, vamped by Candeille, had produced 6,857 livres on the 14th of
-the preceding June. The representation of _Castor and Pollux_ in
-presence of the royal family took place on Tuesday the 20th September,
-and not on the 21st, the Wednesday, at that time, not being an opera
-night. On the 19th, Monday, the people had assisted at a _special
-performance_ of the same work given, gratuitously, in honour of the
-Constitution. The Royalists were present in great numbers at the
-representation of the 20th September, and some lines which could be
-applied to the Queen were loudly applauded. Marie-Antoinette was
-delighted, and said to the ladies who accompanied her, "You see that the
-people is really good, and wishes only to love us." Encouraged by so
-flattering a reception, she determined to go the next night to the
-Opéra Comique, but the king refused to accompany her. The piece
-performed was _Les Evénements imprévus_. In the duet of the second act,
-before singing the words "_Ah comme j'aime ma maitresse_" Madame Dugazon
-looked towards the Queen, when a number of voices cried out from the
-pit, _Plus de maitresse! Plus de maitre! Vive la liberté!_ This cry was
-answered from the boxes with _Vive la reine! Vive le roi!_ Sabres and
-sword-sticks were drawn, and a battle began.
-
-[Sidenote: FACTS AND COINCIDENCES.]
-
-The Queen escaped from the theatre in the midst of the tumult. Cries of
-_ŕ bas la reine!_ followed her to her carriage, which went off at a
-gallop, with mud and stones thrown after it. Marie Antoinette returned
-to the Tuileries in despair. On the first of October, fourteen days
-afterwards, the title of _Opéra National_ was substituted for that of
-_Académie Royale de Musique_. The Constitution being signed, there was
-no longer any reason for being civil to Louis XVI. This was the third
-change of title in less than four months. The majority of the buffoons,
-(M. Castil Blaze still speaks), "who now write histories more or less
-Girondist, or romantic of the French Revolution, do not take the trouble
-to verify their facts and dates. I have told you simply that the
-dauphiness Marie Antoinette made her first appearance at the Opera on
-the 16th June, 1773, in company with her husband. Others, more ingenious
-no doubt, substitute the 21st January for the 16th June, in order to
-establish a sort of fatality by connecting days, months and years. To
-prophecy after the event is only too easy, above all, if you take the
-liberty of advancing by five months, the day which it is desired to
-render fatal. These same buffoons, (says M. Castil Blaze), who now go to
-the Opera on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sometimes on Sunday, think
-people have done the same for the last two centuries. As they have not
-the slightest suspicion that the evenings of performance at the Académie
-Royale were changed in 1817, we find them maundering, paddling,
-splashing about, and finally altering figures and days, in order to make
-the events of the last century accord with the dates of our own epoch.
-That is why we are told that the Royal Family went for the last time to
-this theatre on Wednesday, the 21st September, 1791, instead of Tuesday,
-the 20th. Indeed how is it possible to go to the Opera on a Tuesday?
-That is why it is stated with the most laughable aplomb, that on the
-21st October, 1793, _Roland_ was performed, and on the 16th of October
-following, the _Siege of Thionville_, the _Offering to Liberty_, and the
-ballet of _Telemachus_. Each of these history-writing novelists fills or
-empties the house according to his political opinions; applauds the
-French people or deplores its blindness; but all the liberalism or
-sentiment manufactured by them is thrown away. Monday, the 21st of
-January, Wednesday the 16th of October, 1793, not being opera nights at
-that time, the Opera did not on those evenings throw open its doors to
-the public. On Tuesday, the 22nd of January, the day after the death of
-Louie XVI., _Roland_ was represented; the amount of the receipts, 492
-livres, 8 sous, proves that the house was empty. No free admissions were
-given then. On Tuesday, October the 15th, 1793, the eve of the execution
-of Marie Antoinette, the _Siege of Thionville_, the _Offering to
-Liberty_, _Telemachus_, in which "_la Citoyenne Perignon_" was to
-appear--a forced performance--only produced 3,251 livres. On Friday, the
-18th of October, the next day but one after this horrible catastrophe,
-_Armide_ and the _Offering to Liberty_--a forced performance and
-something more--produced 2,641 livres, which would have filled about a
-third of the house."[69]
-
-The 10th August, 1792, was the last day of the French monarchy. On the
-Sunday previous, during the Vespers said at the Chapel of the Tuileries
-in presence of the king, the singers with one accord tripled the sound
-of their voices when they came to the following verse in the
-_Magnificat_: _Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles_.
-Indignant at their audacity, the royalists thundered forth the _Domine
-salvum fac regem_, adding these words with increased energy and
-enthusiasm, _et reginam_! The greatest excitement and agitation
-prevailed in the Chapel during the rest of the service.
-
-To conclude the list of musical performances which have derived a gloomy
-celebrity from their connexion with the last days of Louis XVI., I may
-reproduce the programme issued by the directors of the Opéra National,
-on the first anniversary of his execution, 21st January, 1794.
-
-          IN BEHALF OF AND FOR THE PEOPLE,
-
-                    GRATIS,
-
-   In joyful commemoration of the Death of the Tyrant,
-
-             THE NATIONAL OPERA
-
-  WILL GIVE TO DAY, 6 PLUVIOSE, YEAR II., OF THE REPUBLIC,
-
-            MILTIADES AT MARATHON,
-
-           THE SIEGE OF THIONVILLE,
-
-           THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY.
-
-[Sidenote: REPUBLICAN CELEBRITIES.]
-
-The Opera under the Republic was directed, until 1792, by four
-distinguished _sans culottes_--Henriot, Chaumette, Le Rouxand Hébert,
-the last named of whom had once been check-taker at the Académie! The
-others know nothing whatever of operatic affairs. The management of the
-theatre was afterwards transferred to Francoeur, one of the former
-directors, associated with Cellérier, an architect; but the dethroned
-_impresarii_, accompanied by Danton and other republican amateurs,
-constantly made their appearance behind the scenes, and very frequently
-did the chief members of the company the honour of supping with them. In
-these cases the invitations, as under the ancient régime, proceeded, not
-from the artists, but from the artists' patrons; with this difference,
-however, that under the republic, the latter never paid the bill. There
-was no Duke de Bouillon now testifying his admiration of the vocal art
-to the tune of 900,000 francs;[70] there was no Prince de Soubise, to
-receive from the united ballet letters of condolence, thanks, and
-proposed pecuniary assistance; and if there _had_ been such an
-impossible phenomenon as a Count de Lauragais, what, I wonder, would he
-not have given to have been able to clear the _coulisses_ of such
-abominable intruders as the before named republican chiefs? "The chiefs
-of the republic, one and indivisible," says M. Castil Blaze, "were very
-fond of moistening their throats. Henriot, Danton, Hébert, Le Roux,
-Chaumette, had hardly taken a turn in the _coulisses_ or in the _foyer_,
-before they said to such an actor or actress: We are going to your room,
-see that we are received properly." A superb collation was brought in.
-When the repast was finished and the bottles were empty, the national
-convention, the commune of Paris beat a retreat without troubling
-itself about the expense. You think, perhaps, that the dancer or the
-singer paid for the representatives of the people? Not at all; honest
-Mangin, who kept the refreshment room of the theatre, knew perfectly
-well that the actors of the Opera were not paid, that they had no sort
-of money, not even a rag of an assignat; he made a sacrifice; from
-delicacy he did not ask from the artists what he would not have dared to
-claim from the sans culottes for fear of the guillotine."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Sometimes the executioner, who, as a public official, had a right to his
-entrées, made his appearance behind the scenes, and it is said that in a
-facetious mood, he would sometimes express his opinion about the
-"execution" of the music. So, I am told, the London hangman went one
-night to the pit of Her Majesty's Theatre to hear Jenny Lind, and on
-seeing the Swedish nightingale, exclaimed, breathless with admiration
-and excitement, "What a throat to scrag!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: AGREEABLE CRITICS.]
-
-Operatic kings and queens were suppressed by the republic. Not only were
-they forbidden to appear on the stage, but even their names were not to
-be pronounced behind the scenes, and the expressions _côté du roi_,
-_côté de la reine_, were changed into _côté jardin_, _côté cour_, which
-at the theatre of the Tuileries indicated respectively the left and
-right of the stage, from the stage point of view. At first all pieces in
-which kings and queens appeared, were prohibited, but the dramas of
-_sans culottes_ origin were so stupid and disgusting, that the republic
-was absolutely obliged to return to the old monarchical _répertoire_.
-The kings, however, were turned into chiefs; princes and dukes became
-representatives of the people; seigneurs subsided into mayors; and
-substitutes more or less synonymous, were found for such offensive words
-as crown, throne, sceptre, &c. In a new republican version of a lyrical
-work represented at the Opera Comique, _le roi_ in one well known line
-was replaced by _la loi_, and the vocalist had to declaim _La loi
-passait, et le tambour battait aux champs._ A certain voluble executant,
-however, is said to have preferred the following emendation: _Le pouvoir
-exécutif passait, et le tambour battait aux champs._
-
-The scenes of most of the new operas were laid in Italy, Prussia,
-Portugal,--anywhere but in France, where it would have been
-indispensable, from a political, and impossible from a poetical, point
-of view to make the lovers address one another as _citoyen_,
-_citoyenne_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the 19th of June, 1793, the directors of the Opera having objected to
-give a gratuitous performance of _The Siege of Thionville_, the commune
-of Paris issued the following edict:
-
-"Considering that for a long time past the aristocracy has taken refuge
-in the administration of various theatres;
-
-"Considering that these gentlemen corrupt the public mind by the pieces
-they represent;
-
-"Considering that they exercise a fatal influence on the revolution;
-
-It is decreed that the _Siege of Thionville_ shall be represented gratis
-and solely for the amusement of the _sans culottes_, who, to this moment
-have been the true defenders of liberty and supporters of democracy."
-
-Soon afterwards it was proposed to shut up the Opera, but Hébert, the
-ferocious Hébert, better known as _le pčre Duchčsne_, undertook its
-defence on the ground that it procured subsistence for a number of
-families, and "caused the agreeable arts to flourish."
-
-It was thereupon resolved "that the Opera should be encouraged and
-defended against its enemies." At the same time the managers Cellérier
-and Francoeur were arrested as _suspects_. Neither of them was
-executed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE "MARATISTES" AGAIN.]
-
-The Opera was now once more placed under the direction of a committee
-chosen from among the singers and dancers, who were selected this time,
-not by reason of their artistic merit, but solely with reference to
-their political principles. Lays, one of the chief managers, was a
-furious democrat, and on one occasion insisted on Mademoiselle Maillard
-(Gluck's "Armida!") appearing in a procession as the Goddess of Reason.
-
-Mademoiselle Maillard having refused, Chaumette was appealed to. The
-arguments he employed were simple but convincing. "Well, _citoyenne_,"
-he said, "since you refuse to be a divinity, you must not be astonished
-if we treat you _as a mortal_." Fortunately for the poor prima donna,
-Mormoro, a member of the Commune of Paris, and a raging "Maratiste"
-(which has not quite the same meaning now as in the days of the
-"Todistes") claimed the obnoxious part for his unhappy wife. The
-beautiful Madame Mormoro was forced to appear in the streets of Paris in
-the light and airy costume of an antique Goddess, with the thermometer
-at twenty degrees below freezing point! "Reason" not unreasonably wept
-with annoyance throughout the ceremony.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Léonard Bourdon, called by those who knew him _Léopard_ Bourdon, used
-all his influence, as a distinguished member of the Mountain, to get a
-work he had prepared for the Opera produced. His piece was called the
-_Tomb of the Impostors_, or _the Inauguration of the Temple of Truth_.
-It was printed at the expense of the Republic, but never brought out. In
-the first scene the stage represents a church, built with human skulls.
-In the sanctuary there is to be a fountain of blood. A woman enters to
-confess, the priest behaves atrociously in the confessional, &c., &c.
-The scenes and incidents throughout the drama are all in the same style,
-and the whole is dedicated in an uncomplimentary epistle to the Pope.
-Léopard tormented the directors actors, and actresses, night and day, to
-produce his master-piece, and threatened, that if they were not quick
-about it, he would have a guillotine erected on the stage.
-
-This threat was not quite so vain as it might seem. A list of twenty-two
-persons engaged at the Opera (twenty-two--the fatal number during the
-Reign of Terror), had been already drawn up by Hébert, as a sort of
-executioner's memorandum. When he was in a good humour he would show it
-to the singers and dancers, and say to them with easy familiarity; "I
-shall have to send you all to the guillotine some day. Two reasons have
-prevented me hitherto; in the first place you are not worth the trouble,
-in the second I want you for my amusement." These reasons were not
-considered quite satisfactory by the proscribed artists, and Beaupré, a
-comic dancer of great talent, contrived by various humorous stratagems
-(one of which, and doubtless the most readily forgiven, consisted in
-intoxicating Hébert), to gain possession of the fatal list; but the day
-afterwards the republican _dilettante_ was always sufficiently recovered
-from the effects of his excessive potations to draw up another one
-exactly like it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: DANGEROUS MELODIES.]
-
-At the head of the catalogue of suspected ones figured the name of
-Lainez, whom the republicans could not pardon for the energy and
-expression with which he had sung the air _Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine_, at the last performances of _Iphigénie en Aulide_; and that of
-Mademoiselle Maillard, whose crime has been already mentioned. At this
-period it was dangerous not only to sing the words, but even to hum or
-whistle the music of such airs as the aforesaid _Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine_, _O Richard o mon roi!_ _Charmante Gabrielle_, and many others,
-among which may be mentioned _Pauvre Jacques_--an adaptation of Dibdin's
-_Poor Jack_, in which allusions had been discovered to the fate of Louis
-XVI. Indeed, to perform any kind of music might be fatal to the
-executant, and thus Mesdemoiselles de Saint Léger, two young ladies
-living in Arras, were executed for having played the piano the day that
-Valenciennes fell into the hands of the enemy.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mademoiselle Maillard, much as she detested the republicans, was forced,
-on one occasion, to sing a republican hymn. When Lainez complimented her
-on the warmth of her expression, the vigour of her execution, she
-replied, "I was burning with rage at having to sing to such monsters."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Vestris, the Prince de Guéméné of the Vestris family, he who had been
-accused by his father of wishing to produce a misunderstanding between
-the Vestrises and the Bourbons, had to dance in a _pas de trois_ as a
-_sans culottes_, between two nuns!
-
-Sophie Arnould, accused (and not quite unreasonably), of aristocratic
-sympathies, pointed indignantly to a bust of Gluck in her room, and
-asked the intelligent agents of the Republic, if it was likely she would
-keep the bust of Marat were she not a true republican?
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The vocalists of a revolutionary turn of mind would have succeeded
-better if they had possessed more talent; but the Parisian public, even
-in 1793, was not prepared to accept correctness in politics as an excuse
-for inaccuracy in singing. Lefčvre, a sixth tenor, but a bloodthirsty
-republican, insisted on being promoted to first characters, and
-threatened those whom he wished to replace with denunciations and the
-guillotine, if they kept him in a subordinate position any longer.
-Lefčvre had his wish gratified in part, but not altogether. He appeared
-as _primo tenore_, but was violently hissed by his friends, the _sans
-culottes_. He then came out as first bass, and was hissed again. In his
-rage he attributed his _fiasco_ to the machinations of the
-counter-revolution, and wanted the soldiers to come into the theatre,
-and fire upon the infamous accomplices of "Pitt and Coburg."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: AN ATROCIOUS TENOR.]
-
-This bad singer, and worse man, was one of the twelve chiefs of the
-National Guard of Paris, and on certain days had the command of the
-city. As his military rule was most oppressive, the Parisians used to
-punish him for his tyranny as a soldier, by ridiculing his monstrous
-defects as a vocalist.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Though the Reign of Terror was a fearful time for artists and art, the
-number of playhouses in Paris increased enormously. There were
-sixty-three theatres open, and in spite of war, famine, and the
-guillotine, they were always full.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1794, the opera was transferred to the Rue de la Loi (afterwards Rue
-de Richelieu), immediately opposite the National Library. With regard to
-this change of locality, let us hear what M. Castil Blaze has to say, in
-his own words.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"How was it that the opera was moved to a building exactly opposite the
-National Library, so precious and so combustible a repository of human
-knowledge? The two establishments were only separated by a street, very
-much too narrow: if the theatre caught fire, was it not sure to burn the
-library? That is what a great many persons still ask; this question has
-been re-produced a hundred times in our journals. Go back to the time
-when the house was built by Mademoiselle Montansier; read the _Moniteur
-Universel_, and you will see that it was precisely in order to expose
-this same library to the happy chances of a fire, that the great lyrical
-entertainment was transferred to its neighbourhood. The opera hung over
-it, and threatened it constantly. At this time enlightenment abounded
-to such a point, that the judicious Henriot, convinced in his innermost
-conscience that all reading was henceforth useless, had made a motion to
-burn the library. To move the opera to the Rue Richelieu--the opera,
-which twice in eighteen years had been a prey to the flames--to place it
-exactly opposite our literary treasures, was to multiply to infinity the
-chances of their being burnt.'
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mercier, in reference to the literary views of the Committee of Public
-Safety, writes in the _Nouveau Paris_, as follows:--
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The language of Omar about the Koran was not more terrible than those
-uttered by the members of the committee of public safety when they
-expressed their intentions formally, as follows:--'Yes, we will burn all
-the libraries, for nothing will be needed but the history of the
-Revolution and its laws.'" If the motion of Henriot had been carried,
-David, the great Conventional painter was ready to propose that the same
-service should be rendered to the masterpieces in the Louvre, as to the
-literary wealth of the National Library. Republican subjects, according
-to David, were alone worthy of being represented.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA AND THE NATIONAL LIBRARY.]
-
-At one of the sittings of the very council in which Henriot had already
-brought forward his motion for burning the Library, Mademoiselle
-Montansier was accused of having built the theatre in the Rue Richelieu
-with that very design. On the 14th of November, 1793, Chaumette at the
-sitting of the Commune of Paris, said--
-
-"I denounce the _Citoyenne_ Montansier. The money of the Englishman[71]
-has been largely employed in raising this edifice, and the former queen
-gave fifty thousand crowns towards it. I demand that this theatre be
-closed on account of the dangers which would result from its catching
-fire." Adopted.
-
-Hébert. "I denounce _la demoiselle_ Montansier, personally; I have
-information against her. She offered me a box at her new theatre to
-procure my silence. I demand that la Montansier be arrested as a
-suspicious person." Adopted.
-
-Chaumette. "I demand, moreover, that the actors, actresses and directors
-of the Parisian theatres be subjected to the censorship of the council."
-Adopted.
-
-After deciding that the theatre in the Rue de la Loi could not be kept
-open without imperilling the existence of the National Library, and
-after imprisoning Mademoiselle Montansier for having built it, the
-Commune of Paris deliberately opened it as an opera house! Mademoiselle
-Montansier was, nevertheless, still kept in prison, and remained there
-ten months, until after the death of Robespierre.
-
-Mademoiselle Montansier's nocturnal assemblies in the Palais Royal were
-equally renowned before and after her arrest. Actors and actresses,
-gamblers, poets, representatives of the people, republican generals,
-retired aristocrats, conspicuous _sans culottes_, and celebrities of all
-kinds congregated there. Art, pleasure, politics, the new opera, the
-last execution were alike discussed by Dugazon and Barras, le pčre
-Duchesne and the Duke de Lauzun, Robespierre and Mademoiselle Maillard,
-the Chevalier de Saint Georges and Danton, Martainville and the Marquis
-de Chanvelin, Lays and Marat, Volange and the Duke of Orleans. From the
-names just mentioned, it will be understood that some members of this
-interesting society were from time to time found wanting. Their absence
-was not much remarked, and fresh notorieties constantly came forward to
-fill the places of those claimed by the guillotine.
-
-After Mademoiselle Montansier's liberation from prison, Napoleon
-Bonaparte was introduced to her by Dugazon and Barras. His ambition had
-not yet been excited, and Barras--who may, nevertheless, have looked
-upon him as a possible rival, and one to be dreaded--wished to get up a
-marriage between him and the fashionable but now somewhat antiquated
-syren of the Palais Royal. Everything went on well for some time. Then a
-magnificent dinner was given with the view of bringing the affair to a
-conclusion; but Bonaparte was very reserved, and Barras now saw that his
-project was not likely to succeed. At a banquet given by Mademoiselle
-Montansier, to celebrate the success of the thirteenth Vendémiaire,
-Bonaparte proposed a toast in honour of his venerable "intended," and
-soon afterwards she married Neuville.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE MONTANSIER.]
-
-Mademoiselle Montansier who had been shamefully cheated, indeed robbed,
-by the Convention, hoped to have her claims recognised by the Directory.
-Barras offered her one million, six hundred thousand francs. She refused
-it, the indemnity she demanded for the losses which she had sustained by
-the seizure of her theatre at the hands of the Convention amounting to
-seven millions. Napoleon, when first consul, caused the theatre to be
-estimated, when its value was fixed at one million three hundred
-thousand francs. After various delays, Mademoiselle Montansier received
-a partial recognition of her claim, accompanied by an order for payment,
-signed by the Emperor at Moscow.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Some readers have, probably, been unable to reconcile two facts
-mentioned above with respect to the Opera under the Convention:--1. That
-the performers were not paid; and 2. That the public attended the
-representations in immense numbers. The explanation is very simple. The
-money was stolen by the Commune of Paris. Gardel, the ballet-master,
-required fifty thousand francs for the production of a work composed by
-himself, on the subject of _William Tell_. Twice was the sum amassed
-from the receipts and professedly set apart for the unfortunate _William
-Tell_, and twice the money disappeared. It had been devoted to the
-requirements of patriots in real life.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Danton, Hébert, Chaumette, Henriot, Robespierre, all administrators of
-the Opera; Dubuisson, Fabre d'Eglantine, librettists writing for the
-Opera, and both republicans had been executed during the Reign of
-Terror. Chamfort, a republican, killed himself to avoid the same fate.
-
-Coquéau, architect, musician, and writer, the author of a number of
-musical articles produced during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, was
-guillotined in the year II. of the republic.
-
-The musician, Edelman, after bringing a number of persons to the
-scaffold, including his patron and benefactor, the Baron de Diétrich,
-arrived there himself in 1794, accompanied by his brother.
-
-In the same year Despréaux, leader of the first violins at the opera in
-1782, and member of the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1793, killed himself
-from remorse.
-
-Altogether, sixteen persons belonging to the opera in various ways
-killed themselves, or were executed in 1792, '93, and '94.
-
-After the fall of Robespierre, the royalists for a time ruled the
-theatres, and avenged themselves on all actors who had made themselves
-conspicuous as revolutionists. Trial, a comic tenor, who had made a very
-serious accusation against Mademoiselle Buret, of the Comédie Italienne,
-which led to her execution, was forced to sing the _Réveil du Peuple_ on
-his knees, amid the execrations of the audience. He sang it, but was
-thrown into such a state of agitation that he died from the effects.
-
-Lays, whose favourite part was that of "Oreste," in _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_, had, in the course of the opera, to declaim these verses:--
-
-    "J'ai trahi l'amitié,
-       J'ai trahi la nature;
-     Des plus noirs attentats
-       J'ai comblé la mesure."
-
-The audience of the Bordeaux theatre considered this confession so
-becoming in the mouth of the singer who had to utter it, that Lays took
-care not to give them an opportunity a second time of manifesting their
-views on the subject. Lays made his next appearance in _OEdipe ŕ
-Colone_. As in this opera he had to represent the virtuous Theseus, he
-felt sure that the public would not be able to confound him in any
-manner with the character he was supporting; but he had to submit to all
-sorts of insults during the performance, and at the fall of the curtain
-was compelled to begin the _Réveil du Peuple_. After the third verse, he
-was told he was unworthy to sing such a song, and was driven from the
-stage.
-
-[Sidenote: MADELEINE GUIMARD AGAIN.]
-
-On the 23rd of January, 1796, Mademoiselle Guimard re-appeared at a
-performance given for the benefit of aged and retired artists. A number
-of veteran connoisseurs came forward on this occasion to see how the
-once charming Madeleine looked at the age of fifty-nine. After the
-ballet an old _habitué_ of Louis the Fifteenth's time called for a
-coach, drove to his lodging, and on getting out, proceeded naturally to
-pay the driver the amount of his fare.
-
-"You are joking, my dear Count," said the coachman. "Whoever heard of
-Lauragais paying the Chevalier de Ferričre for taking him home in his
-carriage?"
-
-"What! is it you?" said the Count de Lauragais.
-
-"Myself!" replied the Chevalier.
-
-The two friends embraced, and the Chevalier de Ferričre then explained
-that, when all the royalists were concealing themselves or emigrating,
-he had determined to do both. He had assumed the great coat of his
-coachman, painted a number over the arms on his carriage, and emigrated
-as far as the Boulevard, where he found plenty of customers, and passed
-uninjured and unsuspected through the Reign of Terror.
-
-"Where do you live?" said the Count.
-
-"Rue des Tuileries," replied the Chevalier, "and my horses with me. The
-poor beasts have shared all my misfortunes."
-
-"Give me the whip and reins, and get inside," cried de Lauragais.
-
-"What for?" inquired the Chevalier.
-
-"To drive you home. It is an act which, as a gentleman, I insist on
-performing; a duty I owe to my old companion and friend. Your day's work
-is over. To-morrow morning we will go to Sophie's, who expects me to
-breakfast."
-
-"Where?"
-
-"At the Hotel d'Angivillier, a caravansary of painters and musicians,
-where Fouché has granted her, on the part of the Republic, an apartment
-and a pension of two thousand four hundred francs--we should have said a
-hundred _louis_ formerly. This is called a national reward for the
-eminent services rendered by the _citoyenne_ Arnould to the country, and
-to the sovereign people at the Opera. The poor girl was greatly in need
-of it."
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD AGAIN.]
-
-Fouché had once been desperately in love with Sophie Arnould, and now
-pitied her in her distress. Thanks to her influence with the minister,
-the Chevalier Ferričre obtained an order, authorizing him to return to
-France, though he had never left Paris, except occasionally to drive a
-fare to one of the suburbs.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The natural effect of Napoleon's campaigns in Italy was to create among
-the French army a taste for Italian music. The First Consul and many of
-his generals were passionately fond of it; and a hint from the Tuileries
-in 1801 was sufficient to induce Mademoiselle Montansier to engage an
-Italian company, which performed for the first time in Paris on the 1st
-of May in the same year. The enterprise, however, was not successful;
-and in 1803 the directress, who had been arrested before because money
-was owing to her, was put in prison for owing money.
-
-If, by taking his troops to Italy, Napoleon was the means of introducing
-a taste for Italian music among the French, he provided his country with
-Italian singers in a far more direct manner. At Dresden, in 1806, he
-was delighted with the performance of Brizzi and Madame Paer in the
-opera of _Achille_, composed by the prima donna's husband.
-
-"You sing divinely, Madame Paer," said the emperor. What do they give
-you at this theatre?"
-
-"Fifteen thousand francs, Sire."
-
-"You shall receive thirty. M. Brizzi, you shall follow me on the same
-terms."
-
-"But we are engaged."
-
-"With me. You see the affair is quite settled. The Prince of Benevento
-will attend to the diplomatic part of it."
-
-[Sidenote: NAPOLEON AND PAER.]
-
-Napoleon took away _Achille_, and everything belonging to it; music,
-composer, and the two principal singers. The engagement by which the
-emperor engaged Paer as composer of his chamber music, was drawn up by
-Talleyrand, and bore his signature, approved by Napoleon, and attested
-by Maret, the secretary of state. Paer, who had been four years at
-Dresden, and who, independently of his contract, was personally much
-attached to the king of Saxony, did all in his power to avoid entering
-into Napoleon's service. Perhaps, too, he was not pleased at the
-prospect of having to follow the emperor about from one battle-field to
-another, though by a special article in the engagement offered to him,
-he was guaranteed ten francs a post, and thirty-four francs a day for
-his travelling expenses. As Paer, in spite of the compliments, and the
-liberal terms[72] offered to him by Napoleon, continued to object,
-General Clarke told the emperor that he had an excellent plan for
-getting over all difficulties, and saving the maestro from any
-reproaches of ingratitude which the king of Saxony might otherwise
-address to him. This plan consisted in placing Paer in the hands of
-_gens d'armes_, and having him conducted from camp to camp wherever the
-emperor went. No violence, however, was done to the composer. The king
-of Saxony liberated him from his engagement at the Dresden opera, and,
-moreover, signified to him that he must either follow Napoleon, or quit
-Saxony immediately. It is said that Paer was ceded by a secret treaty
-between the two sovereigns, like a fortress, or rather like a province,
-as provinces were transferred before the idea of nationality was
-invented; that is to say, without the wishes of the inhabitants being in
-any way taken into account. The king of Saxony was only too glad that
-Napoleon took nothing from him but his singers and musicians.
-
-Brizzi, the tenor, Madame Paer, the prima donna, and her husband, the
-composer, were ordered to start at once for Warsaw. In the morning, the
-emperor would attend to military and state affairs, and perhaps preside
-at a battle, for fighting was now going on in the neighbourhood of the
-Polish capital. In the evening, he had a concert at head quarters, the
-programme of which generally included several pieces by Paisiello.
-Napoleon was particularly fond of Paisiello's music, and Paer, who,
-besides being a composer, was a singer of high merit, knew a great deal
-of it by heart.
-
-Paisiello had been Napoleon's chapel-master since 1801, the emperor
-having sent for him to Naples after signing the Concordat with the Pope.
-On arriving in Paris, the cunning Italian, like an experienced courtier,
-was no sooner introduced to Napoleon than he addressed him as 'sire!'
-
-"'Sire,' what do you mean?" replied the first consul; "I am a general,
-and nothing more."
-
-"Well, General," continued the composer, "I have come to place myself at
-your majesty's orders."
-
-"I must really beg you," continued Napoleon, "not to address me in this
-manner."
-
-"Forgive me, General," answered Paisiello, "but I cannot give up the
-habit I have contracted in addressing sovereigns who, compared with you,
-seem but pigmies. However, I will not forget your commands, sire; and if
-I have been unfortunate enough to offend, I must throw myself upon your
-Majesty's indulgence."
-
-[Sidenote: EXPRESSION IN MUSIC.]
-
-Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass he wrote for
-Napoleon's coronation. Each of the masses for the imperial chapel
-brought him one thousand francs. Not much, certainly; but then it must
-be remembered that he produced as many as fourteen in two years. They
-were for the most part made up of pieces of church music, which the
-maestro had written for Italy, and when this fruitful source failed him,
-he had recourse to his numerous serious and comic operas. Thus, an air
-from the _Nittetti_ was made to do duty as a _Gloria_, another from the
-_Scuffiera_ as an _Agnus Dei_. Music depends so much upon association
-that, doubtless, only those persons who had already heard these melodies
-on the stage, found them at all inappropriate in a church. Figaro's air
-in the _Barber of Seville_ would certainly not sound well in a mass; but
-there are plenty of love songs, songs expressive of despair (if not of
-too violent a kind), songs, in short, of a sentimental and slightly
-passionate cast, which only require to be united to religious words to
-be at once and thereby endowed with a religious character. Gluck,
-himself, who is supposed by many to have believed that music was capable
-of conveying absolute, definite ideas, borrowed pieces from his old
-Italian operas to introduce into the scores he was writing, on entirely
-different subjects, for the Académie Royale of Paris. Thus, he has
-employed an air from his _Telemacco_ in the introduction to the overture
-of _Iphigénie en Aulide_. The chorus in the latter work, _Que d'attraits
-que de majesté_, is founded on the air, _Al mio spirto_, in the same
-composer's _Clemenza di Tito_. The overture to Gluck's _Telemacco_
-became that of his _Armide_. Music serves admirably to heighten the
-effect of a dramatic situation, or to give force and intensity to the
-expression of words; but the same music may often be allied with equal
-advantage to words of very different shades of meaning. Thus, the same
-melody will depict equally well the rage of a baffled conspirator, the
-jealousy of an injured and most respectable husband, and various other
-kinds of agitation; the grief of lovers about to part, the joy of lovers
-at meeting again, and other emotions of a tender nature; the despondency
-of a man firmly bent on suicide, the calm devotion of a pious woman
-entering a convent, and other feelings of a solemn class. The
-signification we discover in music also depends much upon the
-circumstances under which it is heard, and to some extent also on the
-mood we are in when hearing it.
-
-[Sidenote: TWO PASTICCIOS.]
-
-Under the republic, consulate, and empire, music did not flourish in
-France, and not even the imperial Spontini and Cherubini, in spite of
-the almost European reputation they for some time enjoyed, produced any
-works which will bear comparison with the masterpieces of their
-successors, Rossini, Auber, and Meyerbeer. During the dark artistic
-period which separates the fall of the monarchy from the restoration, a
-few interesting works were produced at the Opera Comique; but until
-Napoleon's advent to power, France neglected more than ever the music of
-Italy, and did worse than neglect that of Germany, for, in 1793, the
-directors of the Academy brought out a version of Mozart's _Marriage of
-Figaro_, in five acts, without recitative and with all the prose
-dialogue of Beaumarchais introduced. In 1806, too, a _pasticcio_ by
-Kalkbrenner, formed out of the music of Mozart's _Don Juan_, with
-improvements and additions by Kalkbrenner himself, was performed at the
-same theatre. Both these medleys met with the fate which might have been
-anticipated for them.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-     OPERA IN ITALY, GERMANY AND RUSSIA, DURING AND IN CONNECTION WITH
-     THE REPUBLICAN AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. PAISIELLO, PAER, CIMAROSA,
-     MOZART. THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. DON GIOVANNI.
-
-
-Nothing shows better the effect on art of the long continental wars at
-the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century than
-the fact that Mozart's two greatest works, written for Vienna and Prague
-immediately before the French Revolution, did not become known in
-England and France until about a quarter of a century after their
-production. Fortunate Austria, before the great break up of European
-territories and dynasties, possessed the two first musical capitals in
-Europe. Opera had already declined in Berlin, and its history, even
-under the direction of the flute-playing Frederic, possesses little
-interest for English readers after the departure or rather flight of
-Madame Mara. Italy was still the great nursery of music, but her maestri
-composed their greatest works for foreign theatres, and many of them
-were attached to foreign courts. Thus, Paisiello wrote his _Barbiere di
-Siviglia_ for St. Petersburgh, whither he had been invited by the
-Empress Catherine, and where he was succeeded by Cimarosa. Cimarosa,
-again, on his return from St. Petersburgh, wrote his masterpiece, _Il
-Matrimonio Segretto_, for the Emperor Leopold II., at Vienna. Of the
-Opera at Stockholm, we have heard nothing since the time of Queen
-Christina. The Dresden Opera, which, in the days of Handel, was the
-first in Europe, still maintained its pre-eminence at the beginning of
-the second half of the eighteenth century, when Rousseau published his
-"Musical Dictionary," and described at length the composition of its
-admirable orchestra. But the state and the resources of the kings of
-Saxony declined with the power of Poland, and the Dresden Opera, though,
-thanks to the taste which presided at the court, its performances were
-still excellent, had quite lost its peculiar celebrity long before
-Napoleon came, and carried away its last remaining glories in the shape
-of the composer, Paer, and Madame Paer and Brizzi, its two principal
-singers.
-
-[Sidenote: PAISIELLO IN RUSSIA.]
-
-The first great musical work produced in Russia, Paisiello's _Barbiere
-di Siviglia_, was performed for the first time at St. Petersburgh, in
-1780. In this opera work, of which the success soon became European, the
-composer entered thoroughly into the spirit of all Beaumarchais's best
-scenes, so admirably adapted for musical illustration. Of the solos, the
-three most admired were Almaviva's opening romance, Don Basil's _La
-Calomnia_, and the air for Don Bartholo; the other favourite pieces
-being a comic trio, in which La Jeunesse sneezes, and L'Eveillé yawns in
-the presence of the tutor (I need scarcely remark that the personages
-just named belong to Beaumarchais's comedy, and that they are not
-introduced in Rossini's opera), another trio, in which Rosina gives the
-letter to Figaro, a duet for the entry of the tenor in the assumed
-character of Don Alonzo, and a quintett, in which Don Basil is sent to
-bed, and in which the phrase _buona sera_ is treated with great
-felicity.
-
-Pergolese rendered a still greater service to Russia than did Paisiello
-by writing one of his masterpieces for its capital, when he took the
-young Bortnianski with him from St. Petersburgh to Italy, and there
-educated the greatest religious composer that Russia, not by any means
-deficient in composers, has yet known.
-
-[Sidenote: A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.]
-
-We have seen that Paisiello, some years after his return to Italy, was
-engaged by Napoleon as chapel-master, and that the services of Paer were
-soon afterwards claimed and secured by the emperor as composer of his
-chamber music. This was not the first time that Paer had been forced to
-alter his own private arrangements in consequence of the very despotic
-patronage accorded to music by the victorious leaders of the French
-army. In 1799 he was at Udine, where his wife was engaged as _prima
-donna_. Portogallo's _la Donna di genio volubile_ was about to be
-represented before a large number of the officers under the command of
-Bernadotte, when suddenly it appeared impossible to continue the
-performance owing to the very determined indisposition of the _primo
-basso_. This gentleman had gone to bed in the middle of the day
-disguised as an invalid. He declared himself seriously unwell in the
-afternoon, and in the evening sent a message to the theatre to excuse
-himself from appearing in Portogallo's opera. Paer and his wife
-understood what this meant. The performance was for Madame Paer's
-benefit; and Olivieri, the perfidious basso, from private pique, had
-determined, if possible, to prevent it taking place. Paer's spirit was
-roused by the attitude of the _primo buffo_, which was still that of a
-man confined to his bed; and he resolved to frustrate his infamous
-scheme, which, though simple, appeared certain of success, inasmuch as
-no other comic _basso_ was to be found anywhere near Udine. The audience
-was impatient, Madame Paer in tears, the manager in despair, when Paer
-desired that the performance might begin; saying, that Providence would
-send them a basso who would at least know his part, and that in any case
-Madame Paer must get ready for the first scene. Madame Paer obeyed the
-marital injunction, but in a state of great trepidation; for she had no
-confidence in the capabilities of the promised basso, and was not by any
-means sure that he even existed. The curtain was about to rise, when the
-singer who was to have fallen from the clouds walked quietly on to the
-stage, perfectly dressed for the part he was about to undertake, and
-without any sign of hesitation on his countenance. The _prima donna_
-uttered a cry of surprise, burst into a fit of laughter, and then rushed
-weeping into the arms of her husband,--for it was Paer himself who had
-undertaken to replace the treacherous Olivieri.
-
-"No," said Madame Paer; "this is impossible! It shall never be said that
-I allowed you, a great composer, who will one day be known throughout
-Europe, to act the buffoon. No! the performance must be stopped!"
-
-At this moment the final chords of the overture were heard. Poor Madame
-Paer resigned herself to her fate, and went weeping on to the stage to
-begin a comic duet with her husband, who seemed in excellent spirits,
-and commenced his part with so much _verve_ and humour, that the
-audience rewarded his exertions with a storm of applause. Paer's gaiety
-soon communicated itself to his wife. If Paer was to perform at all, it
-was necessary that his performance should outshine that of all possible
-rivals, and especially that of the miscreant Olivieri, who was now
-laughing between his sheets at the success which he fancied must have
-already attended his masterly device. The _prima donna_ had never sung
-so charmingly before, but the greatest triumph of the evening was gained
-by the new _basso_. Olivieri, who previously had been pronounced
-unapproachable in Portogallo's opera, was now looked upon as quite an
-inferior singer compared to the _buffo caricato_ who had so
-unexpectedly presented himself before the Udine public. Paer, in
-addition to his great, natural histrionic ability, knew every note of
-_la Donna_. Olivieri had studied only his own part. Paer, in directing
-the rehearsals, had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all of them,
-and gave a significance to some portions of the music which had never
-been expressed or apprehended by his now defeated, routed, utterly
-confounded rival.
-
-[Sidenote: A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.]
-
-At present comes the dark side of the picture. Olivieri, dangerously ill
-the night before, was perfectly well the next morning, and quite ready
-to resume his part in _la Donna di genio volubile_. Paer, on the other
-hand, was quite willing to give it up to him; but both reckoned without
-the military connoisseurs of Udine, and above all without Bernadotte,
-who arrived the day after Paer's great success, when all the officers of
-the staff were talking of nothing else. Olivieri was announced to appear
-in his old character; but when the bill was shown to the General, he
-declared that the original representative might go back to bed, for that
-the only buffo he would listen to was the illustrious Paer. In vain the
-director explained that the composer was not engaged as a singer, and
-that nothing but the sudden indisposition of Olivieri would have induced
-him to appear on the stage at all. Bernadotte swore he would have Paer,
-and no one else; and as the unfortunate _impresario_ continued his
-objections, he was ordered into arrest, and informed that he should
-remain in prison until the _maestro_ Paer undertook once more the part
-of "Pippo" in Portogallo's opera.
-
-The General then sent a company of grenadiers to surround Paer's house;
-but the composer had heard of what had befallen the manager, and,
-foreseeing his own probable fate, if he remained openly in Udine, had
-concealed himself, and spread a report that he was in the country.
-Lancers and hussars were dispatched in search of him, but naturally
-without effect. In the supposed absence of Paer, the army was obliged to
-accept Olivieri; and when six or seven representations of the popular
-opera had taken place and the military public had become accustomed to
-Olivieri's performance of the part of "Pippo," Paer came forth from his
-hiding place and suffered no more from the warlike dilettanti-ism of
-Bernadotte.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME FODOR AND THE COW.]
-
-There would be no end to my anecdotes if I were to attempt to give a
-complete list of all those in which musicians and singers have been made
-to figure in connection with all sorts of events during the last great
-continental war. The great vocalists, and many of the great composers of
-the day, continued to travel about from city to city, and from court to
-court, as though Europe were still in a state of profound peace.
-Sometimes, as happened once to Paer, and was nearly happening to him a
-second time, they were taken prisoners; or they found themselves shut up
-in a besieged town; and a great _cantatrice_, Madame Fodor, who chanced
-to be engaged at the Hamburg opera when Hamburg was invested, was
-actually the cause of a _sortie_ being made in her favour. On one
-occasion, while she was singing, the audience was disturbed by a cannon
-ball coming through the roof of the theatre and taking its place in the
-gallery; but the performances continued nevertheless, and the officers
-and soldiers of the garrison continued to be delighted with their
-favourite vocalist. Madame Fodor, however, on her side, was beginning to
-get tired of her position; not that she cared much about the bombardment
-which was renewed from time to time, but because the supply of milk had
-failed, cows and oxen having been alike slaughtered for the sustenance
-of the beleaguered garrison. Without milk, Madame Fodor was scarcely
-able to sing; at least, she had so accustomed herself to drink it every
-evening during the intervals of performance, that she found it
-inconvenient and painful to do without it. Hearing in what a painful
-situation their beloved vocalist found herself, the French army
-gallantly resolved to remedy it without delay. The next evening a
-_sortie_ was effected, and a cow brought back in triumph. This cow was
-kept in the property and painting room in the theatre, above the stage,
-and was lowered like a drop scene, to be milked whenever Madame Fodor
-was thirsty. So, at least, says the operatic anecdote on the subject,
-though it would perhaps have been a more convenient proceeding to have
-sent some trustworthy person to perform the milking operation up stairs.
-In any case, the cow was kept carefully shut up and under guard.
-Otherwise the animal's life would not have been safe, so great was the
-scarcity of provision in Hamburg at the time, and so great the general
-hunger for beef of any kind.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE D'ENTRAIGUES' MURDER.]
-
-Madame Huberti, after flying from Paris during the Reign of Terror,
-married the Count d'Entraigues, and would seem to have terminated her
-operatic career happily and honourably; but she was destined some years
-afterwards to die a horrible death. The countess always wore the order
-of St. Michael, which had been given to her by the then unacknowledged
-Louis XVIII., in token of the services she had rendered to the royalist
-party, by enabling her husband to escape from prison and preserving his
-portfolio which contained a number of political papers of great
-importance. The Count afterwards entered the service of Russia, and was
-entrusted by the government with several confidential missions. Hitherto
-he had been working in the interest of the Bourbons against Napoleon;
-but when the French emperor and the emperor Alexander formed an
-alliance, after the battles of Eylau and Friedland, he seems to have
-thought that his connexion with Russia ought to terminate. However this
-may have been, he found means to obtain a copy of the secret articles
-contained in the treaty of Tilsit[73] and hastened to London to
-communicate them to the English government. For this service he is said
-to have received a pension, and he now established himself in England,
-where he appears to have had continual relations with the foreign
-office. The French police heard how the Count d'Entraigues was employed
-in London, and Fouché sent over two agents to watch him and intercept
-his letters. These emissaries employed an Italian refugee, to get
-acquainted with and bribe Lorenzo, the Count's servant, who allowed his
-compatriot to read and even to take copies of the despatches frequently
-entrusted to him by his master to take to Mr. Canning. He, moreover,
-gave him a number of the Count's letters to and from other persons. One
-evening a letter was brought to M. d'Entraigues which obliged him to go
-early the next morning from his residence at Barnes to London. Lorenzo
-had observed the seal of the foreign office on the envelope, and saw
-that his treachery would soon be discovered. Everything was ready for
-the journey, when he stabbed his master, who fell to the ground mortally
-wounded. The Countess was getting into the carriage. To prevent her
-charging him with her husband's death, the servant also stabbed her, and
-a few moments afterwards, in confusion and despair, blew his own brains
-out with a pistol which he in the first instance appears to have
-intended for M. d'Entraigues. This horrible affair occurred on the 22nd
-of July, 1812.
-
-Nothing fatal happened to Madame Colbran, though she was deeply mixed up
-with politics, her name being at one time quite a party word among the
-royalists at Naples. Those who admired the king made a point of
-admiring his favourite singer. A gentleman from England asked a friend
-one night at the Naples theatre how he liked the vocalist in question.
-
-"Like her? I am a royalist," was the reply.
-
-When the revolutionists gained the upper hand, Madame Colbran was
-hissed; but the discomfiture of the popular party was always followed by
-renewed triumphs for the singer.
-
-Madame Colbran must not lead us on to her future husband, Rossini, whose
-epoch has not yet arrived. The mention of Paer's wife has already taken
-us far away from the composers in vogue at the end of the eighteenth
-century.
-
-[Sidenote: IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETTO.]
-
-Two of the three best comic operas ever produced, _Le Nozze di Figaro_
-and _Il Matrimonio Segretto_ (I need scarcely name Rossini's _Il
-Barbiere di Siviglia_ as the third), were written for Vienna within six
-years (1786-1792), and at the special request of emperors of Germany.
-Cimarosa was returning from St. Petersburgh when Leopold II., Joseph the
-Second's successor, detained him at Vienna, and invited him to compose
-something for his theatre. The _maestro_ had not much time, but he did
-his best, and the result was, _Il Matrimonio Segretto_. The Emperor was
-delighted with the work, which seemed almost to have been improvised,
-and gave the composer twelve thousand francs, or, as some say, twelve
-thousand florins; in either case, a very liberal sum for the period when
-Cimarosa, Paisiello and Gughelmi had mutually agreed, whatever more
-they might receive for their operas, never to take less than two
-thousand four hundred francs.
-
-The libretto of _Il Matrimonio Segretto_, by Bertatti, is imitated from
-that of a forgotten French operetta, _Sophie ou le Mariage Caché_, which
-is again founded on Garrick and Coleman's _Clandestine Marriage_. The
-Emperor Leopold was unable to be present at the first performance of
-Cimarosa's new work, but he heard of its enormous success, and
-determined not to miss a note at the second representation. He was in
-his box before the commencement of the overture, and listened to the
-performance throughout with the greatest attention, but without
-manifesting any opinion as to the merits of the music. As the Sovereign
-did not applaud, the brilliant audience who had assembled to hear _Il
-Matrimonio_ a second time, were obliged, by court etiquette, to remain
-silent without giving the slightest expression to the delight the music
-afforded them. This icy reception was very different to the one obtained
-by the opera the night before, when the marks of approbation from all
-parts of the house had been of the most enthusiastic kind. However, when
-the piece was at an end, the Emperor rose and said aloud--
-
-"Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is admirable, delightful,
-enchanting. I did not applaud that I might not lose a single note of
-this masterpiece. You have heard it twice, and I must have the same
-pleasure before I go to bed. Singers and musicians, pass into the next
-room! Cimarosa will come too, and will preside at the banquet prepared
-for you. When you have had sufficient rest we will begin again. I
-_encore_ the whole opera, and, in the mean while, let us applaud it as
-it deserves." Leopold clapped his hands, and for some minutes the whole
-theatre resounded with plaudits. After the banquet, the entire opera was
-repeated.
-
-The only other example of such an occurrence as the above is to be found
-in the career of Terence, whose _Eunuchus_ on its first production, was
-performed twice the same day, or, rather, once in the morning, and once
-in the evening.
-
-A similar amount of success obtained by Paer's _Laodicea_ had quite an
-opposite result; for, as nearly the whole opera was encored, piece by
-piece, it was found impossible to conclude it the same evening, and the
-performance of the last act was postponed until the next night.
-
-Mozart's _Nozze di Figaro_, produced six years before the _Matrimonio
-Segretto_, was far less justly appreciated,--indeed, at Vienna, was not
-appreciated at all. This admirable work, so full of fresh spontaneous
-melody, and of rich, varied harmony was actually hissed by the Viennese!
-They even hissed _Non piu andrai_, which seems equally calculated to
-delight the educated and the most uneducated ear. Mozart has made
-allusion to this almost incredible instance of bad taste very happily
-and ingeniously in the supper scene of _Don Giovanni_.
-
-[Sidenote: MOZART AND JOSEPH II.]
-
-Joseph II. cared only for Italian music, and never gave his entire
-approbation to anything Mozart produced, though the musicians of the
-period acknowledged him to be the greatest composer in Europe.
-
-"It is too fine for our ears," said the presumptuous Joseph, speaking to
-Mozart of the _Seraglio_. "Seriously, I think there are too many notes."
-
-"Precisely the proper number," replied the composer.
-
-The Emperor rewarded his frankness by giving him only fifty ducats for
-his opera.[74]
-
-Nevertheless, the _Seraglio_ had caused the success of one of the
-emperor's favourite enterprises. It was the first work produced at the
-German Opera, established by Joseph II., at Vienna. Until that time,
-Italian opera predominated everywhere; indeed, German opera, that is to
-say, lyric dramas in the German language, set to music by German
-composers, and sung by German singers, could not be said to exist. There
-were a number of Italian musicians living at Vienna who were quite aware
-of Mozart's superiority, and hated him for it; the more so, as by taking
-such an important part in the establishment of the German Opera, he
-threatened to diminish the reputation of the Italian school. The
-_Entführung aus dem Serail_ was the first blow to the supremacy of
-Italian opera. Der _Schauspieldirector_ was the second, and when, after
-the production of this latter work at the new German theatre of Vienna,
-Mozart proceeded to write the _Nozze di Figaro_ for the Italians, he
-simply placed himself in the hands of his enemies. At the first
-representation, the two first acts of the _Nozze_ were so shamefully
-executed, that the composer went in despair to the emperor to denounce
-the treachery of which he was being made the victim. Joseph had detected
-the conspiracy and was nearly as indignant as Mozart himself. He sent a
-severe message round to the stage, but the harm was now done, and the
-remainder of the opera was listened to very coldly. _Le Nozze di Figaro_
-failed at Vienna, and was not appreciated, did not even get a fair
-hearing, until it was produced some months afterwards at Prague. The
-Slavonians of Bohemia showed infinitely more good taste and intelligence
-than the Germans (led away and demoralized, however, by an Italian
-clique) at Vienna. At Prague, _le Nozze di Figaro_ caused the greatest
-enthusiasm, and Mozart replied nobly to the sympathy and admiration of
-the Bohemians. "These good people," he said, "have avenged me. They know
-how to do me justice, I must write something to please them." He kept
-his word, and the year afterwards gave them the immortal _Don Giovanni_.
-
-[Sidenote: MOZART AND SALIERI.]
-
-At the head of the clique which had sworn eternal enmity to Mozart, was
-Salieri, a musician with a sort of Pontius Pilate reputation, owing his
-infamous celebrity to the fact that his name is now inseparably coupled
-with that of the sublime composer whom he would have destroyed. Salieri
-(whom we have met with before in Paris as the would-be successor of
-Gluck) was the most learned of the Italian composers at that time
-residing in Vienna; and, therefore, must have felt the greatness of
-Mozart's genius more profoundly than any of the others. When _Don
-Giovanni_, after its success at Prague, was produced at Vienna, it was
-badly put on the stage, imperfectly rehearsed, and represented
-altogether in a very unsatisfactory manner. Nor, with improved execution
-did the audience show any disposition to appreciate its manifold
-beauties. Mozart's _Don Giovanni_ was quite eclipsed by the _Assur_ of
-his envious and malignant rival.
-
-"I will leave it to psychologists to determine," says M.
-Oulibicheff,[75] "whether the day on which Salieri triumphed publicly
-over Mozart, was the happiest or the most painful of his life. He
-triumphed, indeed, thanks to the ignorance of the Viennese, to his own
-skill as a director, (which enabled him to render the work of his rival
-scarcely recognisable), and to the entire devotion of his subordinates.
-He must have been pleased; but Salieri was not only envious, he was also
-a great musician. He had read the score of _Don Giovanni_, and you know
-that the works one reads with the greatest attention are those of one's
-enemies. With what admiration and despair it must have filled the heart
-of an artist who was even more ambitious of true glory than of mere
-renown! What must he have felt in his inmost soul! And what serpents
-must again have crawled and hissed in the wreath of laurel which was
-placed on his head! In spite of the fiasco of his opera, which he seems
-to have foreseen, and to which, at all events, he resigned himself with
-great calmness, Mozart, doubtless, more happy than his conqueror, added
-a few 'numbers,' each a masterpiece to his score. Four new pieces were
-written for it, at the request of the Viennese singers."
-
-M. Oulibicheff's compatriot Poushkin has written an admirable study on
-the subject presented above in a few suggestive phrases by Mozart's
-biographer. Unfortunately, it is impossible in these volumes to find a
-place for the Russian poet's "Mozart and Salieri."
-
-After the failure of _Don Giovanni_ at Vienna, a number of persons were
-speaking of it in a room where Haydn and the principal connoisseurs of
-the place were assembled. Every one agreed in pronouncing it a most
-estimable work, but, also, every one had something to say against it. At
-last, Haydn, who, hitherto, had not spoken a word, was asked to give his
-opinion.
-
-"I do not feel myself in a position to decide this dispute," he
-answered. "All I know and can assure you of is that Mozart is the
-greatest composer of our time."
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-As Salieri's _Assur_ completely eclipsed _Don Giovanni_, so, previously,
-did Martini's _Cosa Rara_, the _Nozze di Figaro_. Both these phenomena
-manifested themselves at Vienna, and the reader has already been
-reminded that the fate of the _Nozze di Figaro_ is alluded to in _Don
-Giovanni_. All the airs played by the hero's musicians in the supper
-scene are taken from the operas which were most in vogue when Mozart
-produced his great work; such as _La Cosa Rara_, _Frŕ due Litiganti
-terzo gode_, and _I Pretendenti Burlati_. Leporello calls attention to
-the melodies as the orchestra on the stage plays them, and when, to
-terminate the series, the clarionets strike up _Non piu andrai_, he
-exclaims _Questo lo conosco pur troppo!_ "I know this one only too
-well!" With the exception of _Non piu andrai_, which the Viennese could
-not tolerate the first time they heard it, none of the airs introduced
-in the _Don Giovanni_ supper scene would be known in the present day,
-but for _Don Giovanni_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Don Giovanni_, composed by Mozart to _Da Ponte's_ libretto (which is
-founded on Moličre's _Festin de Pierre_, which is imitated from Tirso di
-Molina's _El Burlador di Siviglia_, which seems to have had its origin
-in a very ancient legend[76]), was produced at Prague, on the 4th of
-November, 1787. The subject had already been treated in a ballet, in
-four acts, for which Gluck wrote the music (produced at Parma in 1758;
-and long before the production of Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, it had been
-dramatised in some shape or other in almost every country in Europe, and
-especially in Spain, Italy, and France, where several versions of the
-Italian _Il Convitato di Pietra_ were being played, when Moličre first
-brought out his so-called _Festin de Pierre_. The original cast of _Don
-Giovanni_ at Prague was as follows:--
-
-    _Donna Anna_, Teresa Saporiti.
-    _Elvira_, Catarina Micelli.
-    _Zerlina_, Madame Bondini (Catarina Saporiti).
-    _Don Giovanni_, Bassi (Luigi).
-    _Ottavio_, Baglioni (Antonio).
-    _Leporello_, Ponziani (Felice).
-    _Don Pedro_, Lolli (Guiseppe).
-    _Masetto_, the same.
-
-Righini, of Bologna, had produced his opera of _Don Giovanni, ossia il
-Convitato di Pietra_, at Prague, only eight years before, for which
-reason the title of _Il Dissoluto Punito_ was given to Mozart's work. It
-was not until some years afterwards that it received the name by which
-it is now universally known.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-Although the part of _Don Giovanni_ was written for a baritone, tenors,
-such as Tacchinardi and Garcia, have often played it, and frequently
-with greater success than the majority of baritones have obtained. But
-no individual success of a favourite singer can compensate for the
-transpositions and changes that have to be effected in Mozart's
-masterpiece, when the character of the hero is assigned to a vocalist
-who cannot execute the music which of right belongs to it. It has been
-said that Mozart wrote the part of _Don Giovanni_ for a baritone,
-because it so happened that the baritone at the Prague theatre, Bassi,
-was the best singer of the company; but it is not to be imagined that
-the musical characterization of the personages in the most truly
-dramatic opera ever written, was the result of anything but the
-composer's well-considered design. "_Don Giovanni_ was not intended for
-Vienna, but for Prague," Mozart is reported to have said. "The truth,
-however, is," he added, "that I wrote it for myself, and a few friends."
-Accordingly, the great composer was not thinking of Bassi at the time.
-It would be easy, moreover, to show, that though the most feminine of
-male voices may suit the ordinary _jeune premier_, or _premier
-amoureux_, there is nothing tenor-like in the temperament of a _Don
-Giovanni_; deceiving all women, defying all men, breaking all laws,
-human and divine, and an unbeliever in everything--even in the power of
-equestrian statues to get off their horses, and sit down to supper.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-But, let us not consider whether or not _Fin ch' han dal vino_ is
-improved by being sung (as tenor _Don Giovannis_ sometimes sing it) a
-fourth higher than it was written by Mozart; or whether it is tolerable
-that the concerted pieces in which _Don Giovanni_ takes part should be,
-not transposed (for that would be insufficient, or, rather, would
-increase the difficulties of execution) but so altered, that in some
-passages the original design of the composer is entirely perverted. Let
-us simply repeat the maxim, on which it is impossible to lay too much
-stress, that the work of a great master should not be touched,
-re-touched, or in any manner interfered with, under any pretext. There
-is, absolutely, no excuse for managers mutilating _Don Giovanni_; not
-even the excuse that in its original form this inexhaustible opera does
-not "draw." It has already lived, and with full, unfailing life, for
-three-quarters of a century. It has survived all sorts of revolutions in
-taste, and especially in musical taste. There are now no Emperors of
-Germany. Prague has become a third-rate city. That German Opera, which
-Mozart originated with his _Entführung aus dem Serail_, has attained a
-grand development, and among its composers has numbered Beethoven,
-Weber, and the latter's follower, and occasional imitator, Meyerbeer.
-Rossini has appeared with his seductive melody, and his brilliant,
-sonorous orchestra. But justice is still--more than ever--done to
-Mozart. The verdict of Prague is maintained; and this year, as ten,
-twenty, forty years ago, if the manager of the Italian Opera of London,
-Paris, or St. Petersburgh, has had for some time past a series of empty
-houses, he takes an opera, seventy-four years of age, and which,
-according to all ordinary musical calculations, ought long since to have
-had, at least, one act in the grave, dresses it badly, puts it badly on
-the stage, with such scenery as would be thought unworthy of Verdi, and
-hazardous for Meyerbeer, announces _Don Giovanni_, and every place in
-the theatre is taken!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Although Mozart's genius was fully acknowledged by the greatest
-musicians, among his contemporaries (the reader already knows what Haydn
-said of him, and what Cimarosa replied when he was addressed as his
-superior), his music found an echo in the hearts of only a very small
-portion of the ordinary public. Admired at Prague, condemned at Vienna,
-unknown in the rest of Europe, it may be said, with only too much truth,
-that Mozart's master-pieces, speaking generally, met with no recognition
-until after his death; with no fitting recognition until long
-afterwards. From the slow, strong, oak-like growth of Mozart's fame, now
-flourishing, and still increasing every day, we may see, not for his
-name alone, but for his music, a continued celebrity and popularity,
-which will probably endure as long as our modern civilization. I have
-already spoken of the effects of the last general war in checking
-literary and artistic communication between the nations of Europe. This
-will, in part, account for Mozart's master-piece not having been
-performed at the Italian Opera of Paris until 1811, nor in London until
-after the peace, in 1817. In the Paris cast, the part of _Don Giovanni_
-was assigned to a tenor, Tacchinardi; and when the opera was revived at
-the same theatre (which was not until nine years afterwards),
-Tacchinardi was replaced by Garcia.
-
-The first "Don Giovanni" who appeared in London, was the celebrated
-baritone, Ambrogetti. Among the other distinguished singers who have
-appeared as "Don Giovanni," with great success, may be mentioned
-Nourrit, the tenor; Lablache (in 1832), before he had identified himself
-with the part of "Leporello;" Tamburini, and I suppose I must now add,
-Mario; though this great artist has been seen and heard to more
-advantage in other characters. The last great "Don Giovanni" known to
-the present generation was Signor Tamburini. It is a remarkable fact,
-well worth the consideration of managers, who are inclined to take
-liberties with Mozart's master-piece, that when Garcia, the tenor,
-appeared in London as "Don Giovanni," after Ambrogetti, the baritone, he
-produced comparatively but little effect; though Garcia was one of the
-most accomplished musicians, and, probably, the very best singer of his
-day.
-
-Without going back again to the original cast, I may notice among the
-most celebrated Donna Annas, Madame Ronzi de Begnis, Mademoiselle
-Sontag, Madame Grisi, Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli, and Mademoiselle
-Titiens.
-
-Among the Zerlinas, Madame Fodor, Madame Malibran, Madame Persiani[77],
-and Madame Bosio.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-Among the Don Ottavios, Rubini and Mario.
-
-Porto is said to have been particularly admirable as Masetto, and
-Angrisani and Angelini as the commandant.
-
-Certainly, no one living has heard a better Leporello than Lablache.
-
-Mr. Ebers tells us, in his "Seven Years of the King's Theatre," that
-_Don Giovanni_ was brought out by Mr. Ayrton in 1817, "in opposition to
-a vexatious cabal," and "in despite of difficulties of many kinds which
-would have deterred a less decided and persevering manager."
-Nevertheless, "it filled the boxes and benches of the theatre for the
-whole season, and restored to a flourishing condition the finances of
-the concern, which were in an almost exhausted state."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: DIPLOMATISTS AND DANCERS.]
-
-The war, so injurious to the Opera, had a still more disastrous effect
-on the ballet, a fact for which we have the authority of the manager and
-author from whom I have just quoted. "The procrastinated war," says Mr.
-Ebers, "which, until the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, had kept England and
-France in hostilities, had rendered the importation of dancers from the
-latter country almost impracticable." Mr. Waters, Mr. Ebers'
-predecessor, had repeatedly endeavoured to prevail on French dancers to
-come to England, "either with the _congés_, if attainable, or by such
-clandestine means as could be carried into effect." He failed; and we
-are told that his want of success in this respect was one cause of the
-disagreement between himself and the committee of the theatre, which led
-soon afterwards to his abandoning the management. Mr. Ebers, however,
-testifies from his own experience to the almost insuperable difficulty
-of inducing the directors of the French Opera to cede any of their
-principal performers even for a few weeks to the late enemies of their
-country. When the dancers were willing to accept the terms offered to
-them, it was impossible to obtain leave from the minister entrusted with
-the supreme direction of operatic affairs; if the minister was willing,
-then objections came from the ballet itself. It was necessary to secure
-the aid of the highest diplomatists, and the engagement of a few first
-dancers and _coryphées_ was made as important an affair as the signing
-of a treaty of commerce. The special envoy, the Cobden of the affair,
-was Monsieur Boisgerard, an ex-officer in the French army under the
-Bourbons, and actually the second ballet-master of the King's Theatre;
-but all official correspondence connected with the negotiation had to be
-transmitted through the medium of the English ambassador at Paris to the
-Baron de la Ferté. Boisgerard arrived in Paris furnished with letters of
-introduction from the five noblemen who at that time formed a "committee
-of superintendence" to aid Mr. Ebers in the management of the King's
-Theatre, and directed all his attention and energy towards forming an
-engagement with Bigottini and Noblet, the principal _danseuses_, and
-Albert, the _premier danseur_ of the French Opera. In spite of his
-excellent recommendations, of the esteem in which he was himself held by
-his numerous friends in Paris, and of the interest of a dancer named
-Deshayes, who appears to have readily joined in the conspiracy, and who
-was afterwards rewarded for his aid with a lucrative engagement as first
-ballet-master at the London Opera House--in spite of all these
-advantages it was impossible, for some time, to obtain any concessions
-from the Académie. To begin with, Bigottini, Noblet and Albert refused
-point blank to leave Paris. M. Boisgerard, however, as a ballet-master
-and a man of the world, understood that this was intended only as an
-invitation for larger offers; and finally all three were engaged,
-conditionally on their _congés_ being obtained from the directors of the
-theatre. Now the real difficulty began; now the influence of the five
-English noblemen was brought to bear; now despatches were interchanged
-between the British ambassador in Paris and the Baron de la Ferté,
-intendant of the royal theatres; now consultations took place between
-the said intendant and the Viscount de la Rochefoucault, aide-de-camp of
-the king, entrusted with the department of fine arts in the ministry of
-the king's household; and between the said artistic officer of the
-king's household and Duplanty, the administrator of the Royal Academy of
-Music, and of the Italian Opera. The result of all this negotiation
-was, that the administration first hesitated and finally refused to
-allow Mademoiselle Bigottini to visit England on any terms; but, after
-considerable trouble, the French agents in the service of Mr. Ebers
-obtained permission for Albert and Noblet to accept engagements for two
-months,--it being further arranged that, at the expiration of that
-period, they should be replaced by Coulon and Fanny Bias. Albert was to
-receive fifty pounds for every night of performance, and twenty-five
-pounds for his travelling expenses. Noblet's terms were five hundred and
-fifty pounds for the two months, with twenty-five pounds for expenses.
-Coulon and Bias were each to receive the same terms as Noblet. Three
-other dancers, Montessu, Lacombe, and Mademoiselle de Varennes, were at
-the same time given over to Mr. Ebers for an entire season, and he was
-allowed to retain all his prisoners--that is to say, those members of
-the Académie, with Mademoiselle Mélanie at their head, whom previous
-managers had taken from the French prior to the friendly and pacific
-embassy of M. Boisgerard. An attempt was made to secure the services of
-Mademoiselle Elisa, but without avail. M. and Mademoiselle Paul entered
-into an agreement, but the administration refused to ratify it;
-otherwise, with a little encouragement, Mr. Ebers would probably have
-engaged the entire ballet of the Académie Royale.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE NOBLET.]
-
-Male dancers have, I am glad to think, never been much esteemed in
-England; and Albert, though successful enough, produced nothing like the
-same impression in London which he was in the habit of causing in
-Paris. Mademoiselle Noblet's dancing, on the other hand, excited the
-greatest enthusiasm, and the subscribers made all possible exertions to
-obtain a prolongation of her _congé_ when the time for her return to the
-Académie arrived. Noblet's performance in the ballet of _Nina_ (of which
-the subject is identical with that of Paisiello's opera of the same
-name) is said to have been particularly admirable, especially for the
-great dramatic talent which she exhibited in pourtraying the heroine's
-melancholy madness. _Nina_ was announced for Mademoiselle Noblet's
-benefit, on a night not approved by the Lord Chamberlain--either because
-it interfered with some of the court regulations, or for some other
-reason not explained. The secretary to the committee of the Opera was
-directed to address a letter to the Chamberlain, representing to him how
-inconvenient it would be to postpone the benefit, as the _congé_ of the
-_bénéficiaire_ was now on the point of expiring. Lord Hertford, with
-becoming politeness, wrote the following letter, which shows with what
-deep interest the graceful dancer inspired even those who knew her only
-by reputation. The letter was addressed to the Marquis of Ailesbury, one
-of the members of the operatic committee.
-
-     "MY DEAR LORD,--I have this moment (eleven o'clock) received your
-     letter, which I have sent to the Chamberlain's office to Mr. Mash;
-     and as Mademoiselle Noblet is a very pretty woman as I am told, I
-     hope she will call there to assist in the solicitation which
-     interests her so much. Not having been for many years at the opera,
-     except for the single purpose of attending his majesty, I am no
-     judge of the propriety of her request or the objections which may
-     arise to the postponement of her benefit for one day at so short a
-     notice. I hope the fair solicitress will be prepared with an answer
-     on this part of the subject, as it is always my wish to accommodate
-     you; and I remain most sincerely your very faithful servant,
-
-     "INGRAM HERTFORD."
-
-     "Manchester Square,
-
-     _April 29th, 1821_."
-
-     Mademoiselle Noblet's benefit having taken place, the subscribers,
-     horrified at the notion that they had now, perhaps, seen her for
-     the last time, determined, in spite of all obstacles, in spite even
-     of the very explicit agreement between the director of the King's
-     Theatre and the administration of the Académie Royale, that she
-     should remain in London. The _danseuse_ was willing enough to
-     prolong her stay, but the authorities at the French Opera
-     protested. The Academy of Music was not going to be deprived in
-     this way of one of the greatest ornaments of its ballet, and the
-     Count de Caraman, on behalf of the Academy, called on the committee
-     to direct Mr. Ebers to send over to Paris, without delay, the
-     performers whose _congés_ were now at an end. The members of the
-     committee replied that they had only power to interfere as regarded
-     the choice of operas and ballets, and that they had nothing to do
-     with agreements between the manager and the performers. They added,
-     "that they had certainly employed their influence with the English
-     ambassador at Paris at the commencement of the season, to obtain
-     the best artists from that city; but it appearing that the Academy
-     was not disposed to grant _congés_ for London, even to artists, for
-     whose services the Academy had no occasion, the committee had
-     determined not again to meddle in that branch of the management."
-
-[Sidenote: TERPSICHOREAN TREATY.]
-
-The French now sent over an ambassador extraordinary, the Baron de la
-Ferté himself, to negotiate for the restoration of the deserters. It was
-decided, however, that they should be permitted to remain until the end
-of the season; and, moreover, that two first and two second dancers
-should be allowed annually to come to London, but only under the precise
-stipulations contained in the following treaty, which was signed between
-Mr. Ebers, on the one hand, and M. Duplantys on the part of Viscount de
-la Rochefoucault, on the other.
-
-"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music,
-wishing to facilitate to the administration of the theatre of London,
-the means of making known the French artists of the ballet without this
-advantage being prejudicial to the Opera of Paris;
-
-"Consents to grant to Mr. Ebers for each season, the first commencing on
-the 10th of January, and ending the 20th of April, and the second
-ending the 1st of August, two first dancers, two _figurants_, and two
-_figurantes_; but in making this concession, the administration of the
-Royal Academy of Music reserves the right of only allowing those dancers
-to leave Paris to whom it may be convenient to grant a _congé_; this
-rule applies equally to the _figurants_ and _figurantes_. None of them
-can leave the Paris theatre except by the formal permission of the
-authorities.
-
-"And in return for these concessions, Mr. Ebers promises to engage no
-dancer until he has first obtained the necessary authorization in
-accordance with his demand.
-
-"He engages not under any pretext to keep the principal dancers a longer
-time than has been agreed without a fresh permission, and above all, to
-make them no offers with the view of enticing them from their permanent
-engagements with the French authorities.
-
-"The present treaty is for the space of * * *.
-
-"In case of Mr. Ebers failing in one of the articles of the said treaty,
-the whole treaty becomes null and void."
-
-[Sidenote: BOISGERARD IN THE TEMPLE.]
-
-[Sidenote: MARIA MERCANDOTTI.]
-
-The prime mover in the diplomatic transactions which had the effect of
-securing Mademoiselle Noblet far the London Opera was, as I have said,
-the ballet master, Boisgerard, formerly an officer in the French army.
-In a chapter which is intended to show to some extent the effect on
-opera of the disturbed state of Europe consequent on the French
-Revolution, it will, perhaps, not be out of place to relate a very
-daring exploit performed by the said M. Boisgerard, which was the cause
-of his adopting an operatic career. "This gentleman," says Mr. Ebers, in
-the account published by him of his administration of the King's Theatre
-from 1821 to 1828, "was a Frenchman of good extraction, and at the
-period of the French Revolution, was attached to the royal party. When
-Sir Sidney Smith was confined in the Temple, Boisgerard acted up to his
-principles by attempting, and with great personal risk, effecting the
-escape of that distinguished officer, whose friends were making every
-effort for his liberation. Having obtained an impression of the seal of
-the Directorial Government, he affixed it to an order, forged by
-himself, for the delivery of Sir Sidney Smith into his care. Accompanied
-by a friend, disguised like himself, in the uniform of an officer of the
-revolutionary army, he did not scruple personally to present the
-fictitious document to the keeper of the Temple, who, opening a small
-closet, took thence some original document, with the writing and seal of
-which, he carefully compared the forged order. Desiring the adventurers
-to wait a few minutes, he then withdrew, and locked the door after him.
-Giving themselves up for lost, the confederate determined to resist,
-sword in hand, any attempt made to secure them. The period which thus
-elapsed, may be imagined as one of the most horrible suspense to
-Boisgerard and his companion; his own account of his feelings at the
-time was extremely interesting. Left alone, and in doubt whether each
-succeeding moment might not be attended by a discovery involving the
-safety of his life, the acuteness of his organs of sense was heightened
-to painfulness; the least noise thrilled through his brain, and the
-gloomy apartment in which he sat seemed filled with strange images. They
-preserved their self-possession, and, after the lapse of a few minutes,
-their anxiety was determined by the re-appearance of the gaoler,
-accompanied by his captive, who was delivered to Boisgerard. But here a
-new and unlooked for difficulty occurred; Sir Sidney Smith, not knowing
-Boisgerard, refused, for some time, to quit the prison; and considerable
-address was required on the part of his deliverers to overcome his
-scruples. At last, the precincts of the Temple were cleared; and, after
-going a short distance in a fiacre, then walking, then entering another
-carriage, and so on, adopting every means of baffling pursuit, the
-fugitives got to Havre, where Sir Sidney was put on board an English
-vessel. Boisgerard, on his return to Paris (for he quitted Sir Sidney at
-Havre) was a thousand times in dread of detection; tarrying at an
-_auberge_, he was asked whether he had heard the news of Sir Sidney's
-escape; the querist adding, that four persons had been arrested on
-suspicion of having been instrumental in it. However, he escaped all
-these dangers, and continued at Paris until his visit to England, which
-took place after the peace of Amiens. A pension had been granted to Sir
-Sidney Smith for his meritorious services; and, on Boisgerard's arrival
-here, a reward of a similar nature was bestowed on him through the
-influence of Sir Sidney, who took every opportunity of testifying his
-gratitude."
-
-We have already seen that though the international character of the
-Opera must always be seriously interfered with by international wars,
-the intelligent military amateur may yet be able to turn his European
-campaigning to some operatic advantage. The French officers acquired a
-taste for Italian music in Italy. So an English officer serving in the
-Peninsula, imbibed a passion for Spanish dancing, to which was due the
-choregraphic existence of the celebrated Maria Mercandotti,--by all
-accounts one of the most beautiful girls and one of the most charming
-dancers that the world ever saw. This inestimable treasure was
-discovered by Lord Fife--a keen-eyed connoisseur, who when Maria was but
-a child, foretold the position she would one day occupy, if her mother
-would but allow her to join the dancing school of the French Academy.
-Madame Mercandotti brought her daughter to England when she was fifteen.
-The young Spaniard danced a bolero one night at the Opera, repeated it a
-few days afterwards at Brighton, before Queen Charlotte, and then set
-off to Paris, where she joined the Académie. After a very short period
-of study, she made her _début_ with success, such as scarcely any dancer
-had obtained at the French Opera, since the time of La Camargo--herself,
-by the way, a Spaniard.
-
-Mademoiselle Mercandotti came to London, was received with the greatest
-enthusiasm, was the fashionable theme of one entire operatic season, had
-a number of poems, valuable presents, and offers of undying affection
-addressed to her, and ended by marrying Mr. Hughes Ball.
-
-The production of this _danseuse_ appears to have seen the last direct
-result of that scattering of the amateurs of one nation among the
-artists of another, which was produced by the European convulsions of
-from 1789 to 1815.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-     MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT THE LONDON OPERA, HALF A CENTURY SINCE.
-
-
-[Sidenote: A MANAGER IN THE BENCH.]
-
-A complete History of the Opera would include a history of operatic
-music, a history of operatic dancing, a history of the chief operatic
-theatres, and a history of operatic society. I have made no attempt to
-treat the subject on such a grand scale; but though I shall have little
-to say about the principal lyrical theatres of Europe, or of the habits
-of opera-goers as a European class, there is one great musical dramatic
-establishment, to whose fortunes I must pay some special attention, and
-concerning whose audiences much may be said that will at least interest
-an English reader. After several divided reigns at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, at Covent Garden, at the Pantheon, and at the King's Theatre,
-Italian Opera found itself, in 1793, established solely and majestically
-at the last of these houses, which I need hardly remind the reader was
-its first home in England. The management was now exercised by Mr.
-Taylor, the proprietor. This gentleman, who was originally a banker's
-clerk, appears to have had no qualification for his more exalted
-position, beyond the somewhat questionable one of a taste for
-speculation. He is described as having had "all Sheridan's deficiency of
-financial arrangement, without that extraordinary man's resources."
-Nevertheless he was no bad hand at borrowing money. All the advances,
-however, made to him by his friends, to enable him to undertake the
-management of the Opera, are said to have been repaid. Mr. Ebers, his
-not unfriendly biographer, finds it difficult to account for this, and
-can only explain it by the excellent support the Opera received at the
-period. Mr. Taylor was what in the last century was called "a humorist."
-Not that he possessed much humour, but he was a queer, eccentric man,
-and given to practical jokes, which, in the present day, would not be
-thought amusing even by the friends of those injured by them. On one
-occasion, Taylor having been prevailed upon to invite a number of
-persons to breakfast, spread a report that he intended to set them down
-to empty plates. He, moreover, recommended each of the guests, in an
-anonymous letter, to turn the tables on the would-be ingenious Taylor,
-by taking to the _déjeuner_ a supply of suitable provisions, so that the
-inhospitable inviter might be shamed and the invited enabled to feast in
-company, notwithstanding his machinations to the contrary. The manager
-enjoyed such a reputation for liberality that no one doubted the
-statement contained in the anonymous letter.
-
-Each of the guests sent or took in his carriage a certain quantity of
-eatables, and when all had arrived, the happy Taylor found his room
-filled with all the materials for a monster picnic. Breakfast _had_ been
-prepared, the guests sat down to table, some amused, others disgusted at
-the hoax which had been practised upon them, and Taylor ordered the
-game, preserved meats, lobsters, champagne, &c., into his own larder and
-wine cellar.
-
-Even while directing the affairs of the Opera, Taylor passed a
-considerable portion of his time in the King's Bench, or within its
-"rules."
-
-"How can you conduct the management of the King's Theatre," a friend
-asked him one day, "perpetually in durance as you are?"
-
-"My dear fellow," he replied, "how could I possibly conduct it if I were
-at liberty? I should be eaten up, sir--devoured. Here comes a
-dancer,--'Mr. Taylor, I want such a dress;' another, 'I want such and
-such ornaments.' One singer demands to sing in a part not allotted to
-him; another, to have an addition to his appointments. No, let me be
-shut up and they go to Masterson (Taylor's secretary); he, they are
-aware, cannot go beyond his line; but if they get at _me_--pshaw! no man
-at large can manage that theatre; and in faith," he added, "no man that
-undertakes it ought to go at large."
-
-Though Mr. Taylor lived within the "rules," the "rules" in no way
-governed him. He would frequently go away for days together into the
-country and amuse himself with fishing, of which he appears to have
-been particularly fond. At one time, while living within the "rules," he
-inherited a large sum of money, which he took care not to devote to the
-payment of his debts. He preferred investing it in land, bought an
-estate in the country (with good fishing), and lived for some months the
-quiet, peaceable life of an ardent, enthusiastic angler, until at last
-the sheriffs broke in upon his repose and carried him back captive to
-prison.
-
-But the most extraordinary exploit performed by Taylor during the period
-of his supposed incarceration, was of a political nature. He went down
-to Hull at the time of an election and actually stood for the borough.
-He was not returned--or rather he was returned to prison.
-
-[Sidenote: THE PANTHEON.]
-
-One way and another Mr. Taylor seems to have made a great deal of money
-out of the Opera; and at one time he hit upon a plan which looked at
-first as if it had only to be pursued with boldness to increase his
-income to an indefinite amount. This simple expedient consisted in
-raising the price of the subscribers' boxes. For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes he charged three hundred pounds, and so in proportion
-with all the others. A meeting of subscribers having been held, at
-which, although the expensive Catalani was engaged, it was decided that
-the proposed augmentation was not justified by the rate of the receipts
-and disbursements, and this decision having been communicated to Taylor,
-he replied, that if the subscribers resisted his just demands he would
-shut up their boxes. In consequence of this defiant conduct on the part
-of the manager, many of the subscribers withdrew from the theatre and
-prevailed upon Caldas, a Portuguese wine merchant, to re-open the
-Pantheon for the performance of concerts and all such music as could be
-executed without infringing the licence of the King's Theatre. The
-Pantheon speculation prospered at first, but the seceders from the
-King's Theatre missed their operas, and doubtless also their ballets. A
-sort of compromise was effected between them and Taylor, who persisted,
-however, in keeping up the price of his boxes; and the unfortunate
-Caldas, utterly deserted by those who had dragged him from his
-wine-cellars to expose him to the perils of musical speculation, became
-a bankrupt.
-
-Taylor was now in his turn brought to account. Waters, his partner in
-the proprietorship of the King's Theatre, had been proceeding against
-him in Chancery, and it was ordered that the partnership should be
-dissolved and the house sold. To the great annoyance of the public, the
-first step taken in the affair was to close the theatre,--the
-chancellor, who is said to have had no ear for music, having refused to
-appoint a manager.
-
-It was proposed by private friends that Taylor should cede his interest
-in the theatre to Waters; but it was difficult to bring them to any
-understanding on the subject, or even to arrange an interview between
-them. Waters prided himself on the decorum of his conduct, while Taylor
-appears to have aimed at quite a contrary reputation. All business
-transactions, prior to Taylor's arrest, had been rendered nearly
-impossible between them; because one would attend to no affairs on
-Sunday, while the other, with a just fear of writs before him, objected
-to show himself in London on any other day. The sight of Waters,
-moreover, is said to have rendered Taylor "passionate and scurrilous;"
-and while the negociations were being carried on, through
-intermediaries, between himself and his partner, he entered into a
-treaty with the lessee of the Pantheon, with the view of opening it in
-opposition to the King's Theatre.
-
-Ultimately, the management of the theatre was confided, under certain
-restrictions, to Mr. Waters; but even now possession was not given up to
-him without a struggle.
-
-[Sidenote: WITHIN THE "RULES."]
-
-When Mr. Waters' people were refused admittance by Mr. Taylor's people,
-words led to blows. The adherents of the former partners, and actual
-enemies and rivals, fought valiantly on both sides, but luck had now
-turned against Taylor, and his party were defeated and ejected. That
-night, however, when the Watersites fancied themselves secure in their
-stronghold, the Taylorites attacked them; effected a breach in the stage
-door, stormed the passage, gained admittance to the stage, and finally
-drove their enemies out into the Haymarket. The unmusical chancellor,
-whose opinion of the Opera could scarcely have been improved by the
-lawless proceeding of those connected with it, was again appealed to;
-and Waters established himself in the theatre by virtue of an order from
-the court.
-
-The series of battles at the King's Theatre terminated with the European
-war. Napoleon was at Elba, Mr. Taylor still in the Bench, when Mr.
-Waters opened the Opera, and, during the great season which followed the
-peace of 1814, gained seven thousand pounds.
-
-Taylor appears to have ended his days in prison; profiting freely by the
-"rules," and when at head quarters enjoying the society of Sir John and
-Lady Ladd. The trio seem, on the whole, to have led a very agreeable
-prison life (and, though strictly forbidden to wander from the jail
-beyond their appointed tether, appear in many respects to have been
-remarkably free.) Taylor's great natural animal spirits increased with
-the wine he consumed; and occasionally his behaviour was such as would
-certainly have shocked Waters. On one occasion, his elation is said to
-have carried him so beyond bounds, that Lady Ladd found it expedient to
-empty the tea-kettle over him.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. EBERS' MANAGEMENT.]
-
-In 1816 the Opera, by direction of the Chancellor, (it was a fortunate
-thing that this time he did not order it to be pulled down,) was again
-put up for sale, and purchased out and out by Waters for seven thousand
-one hundred and fifty pounds. As the now sole proprietor was unable to
-pay into court even the first instalment of the purchase money,[78] he
-mortgaged the theatre, with a number of houses belonging to him, to
-Chambers the banker. Taylor, who had no longer any sort of connection
-with the Opera, at present amused himself by writing anonymous letters
-to Mr. Chambers, prophesying the ruin of Waters, and giving dismal but
-grotesque pictures of the manager's penniless and bailiff-persecuted
-position. Mr. Ebers, who was a great deal mixed up with operatic affairs
-before assuming the absolute direction of the Opera, also came in for
-his share of these epistles, which every one seems to have instantly
-recognised as the production of Taylor. "If Waters is with you at
-Brompton," he once wrote to Mr. Ebers, "for God's sake send him away
-instantly, for the bailiffs (alias bloodhounds) are out after him in all
-directions; and tell Chambers not to let him stay at Enfield, because
-that is a suspected place; and so is Lee's in York Street, Westminster,
-and Di Giovanni, in Smith Street, and Reed's in Flask Lane--both in
-Chelsea. It was reported he was seen in the lane near your house an
-evening or two ago, with his eye blacked, and in the great coat and hat
-of a Chelsea pensioner." At another time, Mr. Chambers was informed that
-Michael Kelly, the singer, was at an hotel at Brighton, on the point of
-death, and desirous while he yet lived to communicate something very
-important respecting Waters. The holder of Waters' mortgage took a post
-chaise and four and hurried in great alarm to Brighton, where he found
-Michael Kelly sitting in his balcony, with a pine apple and a bottle of
-claret before him.
-
-Taylor's prophecies concerning Waters, after all, came true. His
-embarrassments increased year by year, and in 1820 an execution was put
-into the theatre at the suit of Chambers. Ten performances were yet due
-to the subscribers, when, on the evening of the 15th of August, bills
-were posted on the walls of the theatre, announcing that the Opera was
-closed. Mr. Waters did not join his former partner in the Bench, but
-retired to Calais.
-
-Mr. Ebers's management commenced in 1821. He formed an excellent
-company, of which several singers, still under engagement to Mr. Waters,
-formed part, and which included among the singers, Madame Camporese,
-Madame Vestris, Madame Ronzi de Begnis; and M. M. Ambrogetti, Angrisani,
-Begrez, and Curioni. The chief dancers (as already mentioned in the
-previous chapter), were Noblet, Fanny Bias, and Albert. The season was a
-short one, it was considered successful, though the manager but lost
-money by it. The selection of operas was admirable, and consisted of
-Paer's _Agnese_, Rossini's _Gazza Ladra_, _Tancredi_ and _Turco_ in
-_Italia_, with Mozart's _Clemenza di Tito_, _Don Giovanni_, and _Nozze
-di Figaro_. The manager's losses were already seven thousand pounds. By
-way of encouraging him, Mr. Chambers increased his rent the following
-year from three thousand one hundred and eighty pounds to ten thousand.
-It is right to add, that in the meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up
-Waters's entire interest in the Opera for eighty thousand pounds.
-Altogether, by buying and selling the theatre, Waters had cleared no
-less than seventy-three thousand pounds. Not contented with this, he no
-sooner heard of the excellent terms on which Mr. Chambers had let the
-house, than he made an application (a fruitless one), to the
-ever-to-be-tormented Chancellor, to have the deed of sale declared
-invalid.
-
-During Mr. Ebers's management, from the beginning of 1821 to the end of
-1827, he lost money regularly every year; the smallest deficit in the
-budget of any one season being that of the last, when the manager
-thought himself fortunate to be minus only three thousand pounds (within
-a few sovereigns).
-
-After Mr. Ebers's retirement, the management of the Opera was undertaken
-by Messrs. Laporte and Laurent. Mr. Laporte was succeeded by Mr. Lumley,
-the history of whose management belongs to a much later period than that
-treated of in the present chapter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-During the early part of the last century, the character of the London
-Opera House, as a fashionable place of entertainment, and in some other
-respects, appears to have considerably changed. Before the fire in
-1789, the subscription to a box for fifty representations was at the
-rate of twenty guineas a seat. The charge for pit tickets was at this
-time ten shillings and sixpence; so that a subscriber who meant to be a
-true habitué, and visited the Opera every night, saved five guineas by
-becoming a subscriber. At this time, too, the theatre was differently
-constructed, and there were only thirty-six private boxes, eighteen
-arranged in three rows on each side of the house. "The boxes," says Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, in his "Musical Reminiscences," "were then much larger
-and more commodious than they are now, and could contain with ease more
-than their allotted subscribers; far different from the miserable
-pigeon-holes of the present theatre, into which six persons can scarcely
-be squeezed, whom, in most situations, two-thirds can never see the
-stage. The front," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "was then occupied by
-open public boxes, or _amphitheatre_ (as it is called in French
-theatres), communicating with the pit. Both of these were filled,
-exclusively, with the highest classes of society; all, without
-exception, in full dress, then universally worn. The audiences thus
-assembled were considered as indisputably presenting a finer spectacle
-than any other theatre in Europe, and absolutely astonished the foreign
-performers, to whom such a sight was entirely new. At the end of the
-performance, the company of the pit and boxes repaired to the
-coffee-room, which was then the best assembly in London; private ones
-being rarely given on opera nights; and all the first society was
-regularly to be seen there. Over the front box was the five shilling
-gallery; then resorted to by respectable persons not in full dress: and
-above that an upper gallery, to which the admission was three shillings.
-Subsequently the house was encircled with private boxes; yet still the
-prices remained the same, and the pit preserved its respectability, and
-even grandeur, till the old house was burnt down in 1789."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-When the Opera was rebuilt, the number of representations for the
-season, was increased to sixty, and the subscription was at the same
-time raised to thirty guineas, so that the admission to a box still did
-not exceed the price of a pit ticket. During the second year of
-Catalani's engagement, however, when she obtained a larger salary than
-had ever been paid to a singer before, the subscription for a whole box
-with accommodation for six persons, was raised from one hundred and
-eighty to three hundred guineas. This, it will, perhaps, be remembered,
-was to some extent a cunning device of Taylor's; at least, it was
-considered so at the time by the subscribers, though the expenses of the
-theatre had much increased, and the terms on which Catalani was engaged,
-were really enormous.[79] Dr. Veron, in his interesting memoirs (to
-which, by the way, I may refer all those who desire full particulars
-respecting the management of the French Opera during the commencement of
-the Meyerbeer period) tells us that, at the end of the continental war,
-the price of the _demi-tasse_ in the cafés of Paris was raised from six
-to eight _sous_, and that it has never been lowered. So it is in
-taxation. An impost once established, unless the people absolutely
-refuse to pay it, is never taken off; and so it has been with the boxes
-at the London Opera House. The price of the best boxes once raised from
-one hundred and eighty to three hundred guineas, was never, to any
-considerable extent, diminished, and hence the custom arose of halving
-and sub-dividing the subscriptions, so that very few persons have now
-the sole ownership of a box. Hence, too, that of letting them for the
-night, and selling the tickets when the proprietor does not want them.
-This latter practice must have had the effect of lessening considerably
-the profits directly resulting from the high sums charged for the boxes.
-The price of admission to the pit being ten shillings and six-pence, the
-subscribers, through the librarians, and the librarians, who had
-themselves speculated in boxes, found it necessary in order to get rid
-of the box-tickets singly, to sell them at a reduced price. This
-explains why, for many years past, the ordinary price of pit tickets at
-the libraries and at shops of all kinds in the vicinity of the Opera,
-has been only eight shillings and six-pence. No one but a foreigner or a
-countryman, inexperienced in the ways of London, would think of paying
-ten shillings and six-pence at the theatre for admission to the pit;
-indeed, it is a species of deception to continue that charge at all,
-though it certainly does happen once or twice in a great many years that
-the public profit by the establishment of a fixed official price for pit
-tickets. Thus, during the great popularity of Jenny Lind, the box
-tickets giving the right of entry to the pit, were sold for a guinea,
-and even thirty shillings, and thousands of persons were imbecile enough
-to purchase them, whereas, at the theatre itself, anyone could, as
-usual, go into the pit by paying ten shillings and six-pence.
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-"Formerly," to go back to Lord Mount Edgcumbe's interesting remarks on
-this subject, "every lady possessing an opera box, considered it as much
-her home as her house, and was as sure to be found there, few missing
-any of the performances. If prevented from going, the _loan_ of her box
-and the gratuitous use of the tickets was a favour always cheerfully
-offered and thankfully received, as a matter of course, without any idea
-of payment. Then, too, it was a favour to ask gentlemen to belong to a
-box, when subscribing to one was actually advantageous. Now, no lady can
-propose to them to give her more than double the price of the admission
-at the door, so that having paid so exorbitantly, every one is glad to
-be re-imbursed a part, at least, of the great expense which she must
-often support alone. Boxes and tickets, therefore, are no longer given;
-they are let for what can be got; for which traffic the circulating
-libraries afford an easy accommodation. Many, too, which are not taken
-for the season, are disposed of in the same manner, and are almost put
-up to auction. Their price varying from three to eight, or even ten
-guineas, according to the performance of the evening, and other
-accidental circumstances." From these causes the whole style of the
-opera house, as regards the audience, has become changed. "The pit has
-long ceased to be the resort of ladies of fashion, and, latterly, by the
-innovations introduced, is no longer agreeable to the former male
-frequenters of it." This state of things, however, has been altered, if
-not remedied, from the opera-goers' point of view, by the introduction
-of stalls where the manager compensates himself for the slightly reduced
-price of pit tickets, by charging exactly double what was paid for
-admission to the pit under the old system.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.]
-
-On the whole, the Opera has become less aristocratic, less respectable,
-and far more expensive than of old. Those who, under the ancient system,
-paid ten shillings and six-pence to go to the pit, must now, to obtain
-the same amount of comfort, give a guinea for a stall, while "most
-improper company is sometimes to be seen even in the principal tiers;
-and tickets bearing the names of ladies of the highest class have been
-presented by those of the lowest, such as used to be admitted only to
-the hindmost rows of the gallery." The last remark belongs to Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, but it is, at least, as true now as it was thirty years ago.
-Numbers of objectionable persons go to the Opera as to all other public
-places, and I do not think it would be fair to the respectable lovers of
-music who cannot afford to pay more than a few shillings for their
-evening's entertainment, that they should be all collected in the
-gallery. It would, moreover, be placing too much power in the hands of
-the operatic officials, who already show themselves sufficiently severe
-censors in the article of dress. I do not know whether it is chiefly a
-disgrace to the English public or to the English system of operatic
-management; but it certainly is disgraceful, that a check-taker at a
-theatre should be allowed to exercise any supervision, or make the
-slightest remark concerning the costume of a gentleman choosing to
-attend that theatre, and conforming generally in his conduct and by his
-appearance to the usages of decent society. It is not found necessary to
-enforce any regulation as to dress at other opera houses, not even in
-St. Petersburgh and Moscow, where, as the theatres are directed by the
-Imperial Government, one might expect to find a more despotic code of
-laws in force than in a country like England. When an Englishman goes to
-a morning or evening concert, he does not present himself in the attire
-of a scavenger, and there is no reason for supposing that he would
-appear in any unbecoming garb, if liberty of dress were permitted to him
-at the Opera. The absurdity of the present system is that, whereas, a
-gentleman who has come to London only for a day or two, and does not
-happen to have a dress-coat in his portmanteau; who happens even to be
-dressed in exact accordance with the notions of the operatic
-check-takers, except as to his cravat, which we will suppose through the
-eccentricity of the wearer, to be black, with the smallest sprig, or
-spray, or spot of some colour on it; while such a one would be regarded
-as unworthy to enter the pit of the Opera, a waiter from an oyster-shop,
-in his inevitable black and white, reeking with the drippings of
-shell-fish, and the fumes of bad tobacco, or a drunken undertaker, fresh
-from a funeral, coming with the required number of shillings in his
-dirty hands, could not be refused admission. If the check-takers are
-empowered to inspect and decide as to the propriety of the cut and
-colour of clothes, why should they not also be allowed to examine the
-texture? On the same principle, too, the cleanliness of opera goers
-ought to be enquired into. No one, whose hair is not properly brushed,
-should be permitted to enter the stalls, and visitors to the pit should
-be compelled to show their nails.
-
-I will conclude this chapter with an extract from an epistle from a
-gentleman, who, during Mr. Ebers's management of the King's Theatre, was
-a victim to the despotic (and, in the main, unnecessary) regulations of
-which I have been speaking. I cannot say I feel any sympathy for this
-particular sufferer; but his letter is amusing. "I was dressed," he
-says, in his protest forwarded to the manager the next morning, "in a
-_superfine blue coat_, with _gold buttons_, a white waistcoat,
-fashionable tight drab pantaloons, white silk stockings, and dress
-shoes; _all worn but once a few days before at a dress concert at the
-Crown and Anchor Tavern_!" The italics, and mark of admiration, are the
-property of the gentleman in the superfine blue coat, who next proceeds
-to express his natural indignation at the idea of the manager presuming
-to "enact sumptuary laws without the intervention of the legislature,"
-and threatens him with legal proceedings, and an appeal to British jury.
-"I have mixed," he continues, "too much in genteel society, not to know
-that black breeches, or pantaloons, with black silk stockings, is a very
-prevailing full dress; and why is it so? Because it is convenient and
-economical, _for you can wear a pair of white silk stockings but once
-without washing, and a pair of black is frequently worn for weeks
-without ablution_. P. S. I have no objection to submit an inspection of
-my dress of the evening in question to you, or any competent person you
-may appoint."
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.]
-
-If this gentleman, instead of being excluded, had been admitted into the
-theatre, the silent ridicule to which his costume would have exposed
-him, would have effectually prevented him from making his appearance
-there in any such guise again. It might also have acted as a terrible
-warning to others inclined to sin in a similar manner.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-ROSSINI AND HIS PERIOD.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI.]
-
-Innovators in art, whether corrupters or improvers, are always sure to
-meet with opposition from a certain number of persons who have formed
-their tastes in some particular style which has long been a source of
-delight to them, and to interfere with which is to shock all their
-artistic sympathies. How often have we seen poets of one generation not
-ignored, but condemned and vilified by the critics and even by the poets
-themselves of the generation preceding it. Musicians seem to suffer even
-more than poets from this injustice of those who having contracted a
-special and narrow admiration for the works of their own particular
-epoch, will see no merit in the productions of any newer school that may
-arrive. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson have one and all been attacked,
-and their poetic merit denied by those who in several instances had
-given excellent proofs of their ability to appreciate poetry. Almost
-every distinguished composer of the last fifty years has met with the
-same fate, not always at the hands of the ignorant public, for it is
-this ignorant public with its naďve, uncritical admiration, which has
-sometimes been the first to do justice to the critic-reviled poets and
-composers, but at those of musicians and of educated amateurs.
-Ignorance, prejudice, malice, are the causes too often assigned for the
-non-appreciation of the artist of to-day by the art-lover, partly of
-to-day, but above all of yesterday. It should be remembered however,
-that there is a conservatism in taste as in politics, and that both have
-their advantages, though the lovers of noise and of revolution may be
-unable to see them; that the extension of the suffrage, the excessive
-use of imagery, the special cultivation of brilliant orchestral effects,
-may, in the eyes of many, really seem injurious to the true interests of
-government, poetry and music; finally that as in old age we find men
-still keeping more or less to the costumes of their prime, and as the
-man who during the best days of his life has habituated himself to drink
-port, does not suddenly acquire a taste for claret, or _vice versâ_,--so
-those who had accustomed their musical stomachs to the soft strains of
-Paisiello and Cimarosa, _could not_ enjoy the sparkling, stimulating
-music of Rossini. So afterwards to the Rossinians, Donizetti poured
-forth nothing but what was insipid and frivolous; Bellini was languid
-and lackadaisical; Meyerbeer with his restlessness and violence, his new
-instruments, his drum songs, trumpet songs, fencing and pistol songs,
-tinder-box music, skating scenes and panoramic effects, was a noisy
-_charlatan_; Verdi, with his abruptness, his occasional vulgarity and
-his general melodramatic style, a mere musical Fitzball.
-
-It most not be supposed, however, that I believe in the constant
-progress of art; that I look upon Meyerbeer as equal to Weber, or Weber
-as superior to Mozart. It is quite certain that Rossini has not been
-approached in facility, in richness of invention, in gaiety, in
-brilliancy, in constructiveness, or in true dramatic power by any of the
-Italian, French, or German theatrical composers who have succeeded him,
-though nearly all have imitated him one way or another: I will exclude
-Weber alone, an original genius, belonging entirely to Germany[80] and
-to himself. It is, at least, quite certain that Rossini is by far the
-greatest of the series of Italian composers, which begins with himself
-and seems to have ended with Verdi; and yet, while neither Verdi nor
-Bellini, nor Donizetti, were at all justly appreciated in this country
-when they first made their appearance, Rossini was--not merely sneered
-at and pooh-poohed; he was for a long time condemned and abused every
-where, and on the production of some of his finest works was hissed and
-hooted in the theatres of his native land. But the human heart is not so
-black as it is sometimes painted, and the Italian audiences who whistled
-and screeched at the _Barber of Seville_ did so chiefly because they did
-not like it. It was not the sort of music which had hitherto given them
-pleasure, and therefore they were not pleased.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S BIOGRAPHERS.]
-
-Rossini had already composed several operas for various Italian theatres
-(among which may be particularly mentioned _L'Italiana in Algeri_,
-written for Venice in 1813, the composer having then just attained his
-majority) when the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ was produced at Rome for the
-Carnival of 1816. The singers were Vitarelli, Boticelli, Zamboni, Garcia
-and Mesdames Giorgi-Righetti, and Rossi. A number of different versions
-of the circumstances which attended, preceded, and followed the
-representation of this opera, have been published, but the account
-furnished by Madame Giorgi-Righetti, who introduced the music of Rossini
-to the world, is the one most to be relied upon and which I shall adopt.
-I may first of all remind the reader that a very interesting life of
-Rossini, written with great _verve_ and spirit, full of acute
-observations, but also full of misstatements and errors of all
-kinds,[81] has been published by Stendhal, who was more than its
-translator, but not its author. Stendhal's "Vie de Rossini" is founded
-on a work by the Abbé Carpani. To what extent the ingenious author of
-the treatise _De l'Amour_, and of the admirable novel _La Charteuse de
-Parme_, is indebted to the Abbé, I cannot say; but if he borrowed from
-him his supposed facts, and his opinions as a musician, he owes him all
-the worst portion of his book. The brothers Escudier have also published
-a "Vie de Rossini," which is chiefly valuable for the list of his
-works, and the dates of their production.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-To return to the _Barber of Seville_, of which the subject was
-librsuggested to Rossini by the author of the _libretto_, Sterbini.
-Sterbini proposed to arrange it for music in a new form; Rossini
-acquiesced, and the librettists went to work. The report was soon spread
-that Rossini was about to reset Paisiello's libretto. For this some
-accused Rossini of presumption, while others said that in taking
-Paisiello's subject he was behaving meanly and unjustly. This was
-absurd, for all Metastasio's lyrical dramas have been set to music by
-numbers of composers; but this fact was not likely to be taken into
-consideration by Rossini's enemies. Paisiello himself took part in the
-intrigues against the young composer, and wrote a letter from Naples,
-begging one of his friends at Rome to leave nothing undone that could
-contribute to the failure of the second _Barber_. When the night of
-representation, at the Argentina Theatre, arrived, Rossini's enemies
-were all at their posts, declaring openly what they hoped and intended
-should be the fate of the new opera. His friends, on the other hand,
-were not nearly so decided, remembering, as they did, the
-uncomplimentary manner in which Rossini's _Torvaldo_ had been received
-only a short time before. The composer, says Madame Giorgi-Righetti "was
-weak enough to allow Garcia to sing beneath Rosina's balcony a Spanish
-melody of his own arrangement. Garcia maintained, that as the scene was
-in Spain the Spanish melody would give the drama an appropriate local
-colour; but, unfortunately, the artist who reasoned so well, and who was
-such an excellent singer, forgot to tune his guitar before appearing on
-the stage as "Almaviva." He began the operation in the presence of the
-public. A string broke. The vocalist proceeded to replace it; but before
-he could do so, laughter and hisses were heard from all parts of the
-house. The Spanish air, when Garcia was at last ready to sing it, did
-not please the Italian audience, and the pit listened to it just enough
-to be able to give an ironical imitation of it afterwards.
-
-The introduction to Figaro's air seemed to be liked; but when Zamboni
-entered, with another guitar in his hand, a loud laugh was set up, and
-not a phrase of _Largo al factotum_ was heard. When Rosina made her
-appearance in the balcony, the public were quite prepared to applaud
-Madame Giorgi-Righetti in an air which they thought they had a right to
-expect from her; but only hearing her utter a phrase which led to
-nothing, the expressions of disapprobation recommenced. The duet between
-"Almaviva" and "Figaro" was accompanied throughout with hissing and
-shouting. The fate of the work seemed now decided.
-
-At length Rosina came on, and sang the _cavatina_ which had so long been
-looked for. Madame Giorgi-Righetti was young, had a fresh beautiful
-voice, and was a great favourite with the Roman public. Three long
-rounds of applause followed the conclusion of her air, and gave some
-hope that the opera might yet be saved. Rossini, who was at the
-orchestral piano, bowed to the public, then turned towards the singer,
-and whispered "_oh natura_!"
-
-This happy moment did not last, and the hisses recommenced with the duet
-between Figaro and Rosina. The noise increased, and it was impossible to
-hear a note of the finale. When the curtain fell Rossini turned towards
-the public, shrugged his shoulders and clapped his hands. The audience
-were deeply offended by this openly-expressed contempt for their
-opinion, but they made no reply at the time.
-
-The vengeance was reserved for the second act, of which not a note
-passed the orchestra. The hubbub was so great, that nothing like it was
-ever heard at any theatre. Rossini in the meanwhile remained perfectly
-calm, and afterwards went home as composed as if the work, received in
-so insulting a manner, had been the production of some other musician.
-After changing their clothes, Madame Giorgi-Righetti, Garcia, Zamboni,
-and Botticelli, went to his house to console him in his misfortune. They
-found him fast asleep.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-The next day he wrote the delightful _cavatina, Ecco ridente il cielo_,
-to replace Garcia's unfortunate Spanish air. The melody of the new solo
-was borrowed from the opening chorus of _Aureliano in Palmira_, written
-by Rossini in 1814, for Milan, and produced without success; the said
-chorus having itself figured before in the same composer's _Ciro_ in
-_Babilonia_, also unfavourably received. Garcia read his _cavatina_ as
-it was written, and sang it the same evening. Rossini, having now made
-the only alteration he thought necessary, went back to bed, and
-pretended to be ill, that he might not have to take his place in the
-evening at the piano.
-
-At the second performance, the Romans seemed disposed to listen to the
-work of which they had really heard nothing the night before. This was
-all that was needed to ensure the opera's triumphant success. Many of
-the pieces were applauded; but still no enthusiasm was exhibited. The
-music, however, pleased more and more with each succeeding
-representation, until at last the climax was reached, and _Il Barbiere_
-produced those transports of admiration among the Romans with which it
-was afterwards received in every town in Italy, and in due time
-throughout Europe. It must be added, that a great many connoisseurs at
-Rome were struck from the first moment with the innumerable beauties of
-Rossini's score, and went to his house to congratulate him on its
-excellence. As for Rossini, he was not at all surprised at the change
-which took place in public opinion. He was as certain of the success of
-his work the first night, when it was being hooted, as he was a week
-afterwards, when every one applauded it to the skies.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-In Paris, more than three years afterwards, with Garcia still playing
-the part of "Almaviva," and with Madame Ronzi de Begnis as "Rosina,"
-_Il Barbiere_ was not much better received than on its first production
-at Rome. It was less astonishing that it should fail before an audience
-of Parisians (at that time quite unacquainted with Rossini's style) than
-before a highly musical public like that of Rome. In each case, the work
-of Paisiello was made the excuse for condemning that of Rossini; but
-Rossini's _Barber_ was not treated with indignity at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris. It was simply listened to very coldly. Every one was saying,
-that after Paisiello's opera it was nothing, that the two were not to be
-compared, &c., when, fortunately, some one proposed that Paisiello's
-_Barber_ should be revived. Paer, the director of the music, and who is
-said to have been rendered very uneasy by Rossini's Italian successes,
-thought that to crush Rossini by means of his predecessor, was no bad
-idea. The St. Petersburgh _Barber_ of 1788 was brought out; but it was
-found that he had grown old and feeble; or, rather, the simplicity of
-the style was no longer admired, and the artists who had already lost
-the traditions of the school, were unable to sing the music with any
-effect. Rossini's _Barber_ has now been before the world for nearly half
-a century, and we all know whether it is old-fashioned; whether the airs
-are tedious; whether the form of the concerted pieces, and of the grand
-finale, leaves anything to be desired; whether the instrumentation is
-poor; whether, in short, on any one point, any subsequent work of the
-same kind even by Rossini himself, has surpassed, equalled, or even
-approached it. But the thirty years of Paisiello's Barber bore heavily
-upon the poor old man, and he was found sadly wanting in that gaiety and
-brilliancy which have given such celebrity to Rossini's hero, and after
-which Beaumarchais's sparkling epigrammatic dialogue appears almost
-dull.[82] Paisiello's opera was a complete failure. And when Rossini's
-_Barbiere_ was brought out again, every one was struck by the contrast.
-It profited by the very artifice which was to have destroyed it, and
-Rossini's enemies took care for the future not to establish comparisons
-between Rossini and Paisiello. Madame Ronzi de Begnis, too, had been
-replaced very advantageously by Madame Fodor. With two such admirable
-singers as Fodor and Garcia in the parts of "Rosina" and "Almaviva,"
-with Pellegrini as "Figaro," and Begnis as "Basil," the success of the
-opera increased with each representation: and though certain musical
-_quid-nuncs_ continued to shake their heads when Rossini's name was
-mentioned in a drawing-room, his reputation with the great body of the
-theatrical public was now fully established.
-
-The _tirana_ composed by Garcia _Se il mio nome saper voi bramate_,
-which he appears to have abandoned after the unfavourable manner in
-which it was received at Rome, was afterwards re-introduced into the
-_Barber_ by Rubini.
-
-The whole of the _Barber of Seville_ was composed from beginning to end
-in a month. _Ecco ridente il cielo_ (the air adapted from _Aureliano in
-Palmira_) was, as already mentioned, added after the first
-representation. The overture, moreover, had been previously written for
-_Aureliano in Palmira_, and (after the failure of that work) had been
-prefixed to _Elizabetta regina d'Inghilterra_ which met with some
-success, thanks to the admirable singing of Mademoiselle Colbran, in the
-principal character.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini took his failures very easily, and with the calm confidence of a
-man who knew he could do better things and that the public would
-appreciate them. When his _Sigismondo_ was violently hissed at Venice he
-sent a letter to his mother with a picture of a large _fiasco_,
-(bottle). His _Torvaldo e Dorliska_, which was brought out soon
-afterwards, was also hissed, but not so much.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-This time Rossini sent his mother a picture of a _fiaschetto_ (little
-bottle).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The motive of the _allegro_ in the trio of the last act of (to return
-for a moment to) the _Barber of Seville_, is, as most of my readers are
-probably aware, simply an arrangement of the bass air sung by "Simon,"
-in _Haydn's Seasons_. The comic air, sung by "Berta," the duenna, is a
-Russian dance tune, which was very fashionable in Rome, in 1816. Rossini
-is said to have introduced it into the _Barber of Seville_, out of
-compliment to some Russian lady.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini's first opera _la Pietra del Paragone_, was written when he was
-seventeen years of age, for the Scala at Milan, where it was produced in
-the autumn of 1812. He introduced the best pieces out of this work into
-the _Cenerentola_, which was brought out five years afterwards at Rome.
-Besides _la Pietra del Paragone_, he laid _il Turco in Italia_, and _la
-Gazzetta_ under contribution to enrich the score of _Cinderella_. The
-air _Miei rampolli_, the duet _un Soave non so chč_, the drinking chorus
-and the burlesque proclamation of the baron belonged originally to _la
-Pietra del Paragone_; the _sestett_, the _stretta_ of the finale, the
-duet _zitto, zitto_, to the _Turco in Italia_, (produced at Milan in
-1814), _Miei rampolli_ had also been inserted in _la Gazzetta_.
-
-The principal female part in the _Cenerentola_, though written for a
-contralto, has generally, (like those of Rosina and Isabella, and also
-written for contraltos), been sung by sopranos, such as Madame Fodor,
-Madame Cinti, Madame Sontag, &c. When sung by Mademoiselle Alboni, these
-parts are executed in every respect in conformity with the composer's
-intentions.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.]
-
-Rossini's first serious opera, or at least the first of those by which
-his name became known throughout Europe, was _Tancredi_, written for
-Venice in 1813, the year after _la Pietra del Paragone_. In this opera,
-we find indicated, if not fully carried out, all those admirable changes
-in the composition of the lyric drama which were imputed to him by his
-adversaries as so many artistic crimes. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his
-objections to Rossini's music, strange and almost inexplicable as they
-appear, yet only says in somewhat different language what is advanced by
-Rossini's admirers, in proof of his great merit. The connoisseur of a
-past epoch describes the changes introduced by Rossini into dramatic
-music, for an enemy, fairly enough; only he regards as detestable
-innovations what others have accepted as admirable reforms. It appeared
-to Rossini that the number of airs written for the so-called lyric
-dramas of his youth, delayed the action to a most wearisome extent. In
-_Tancredi_, concerted pieces in which the dramatic action is kept up,
-are introduced in situations where formerly there would have been only
-monologues. In _Tancredi_ the bass has little to do, but more than in
-the operas of the old-school, where he was kept quite in the back
-ground, the _ultima parte_ being seldom heard except in _ensembles_. By
-degrees the bass was brought forward, until at last he became an
-indispensable and frequently the principal character in all tragic
-operas. In the old opera the number of characters was limited and
-choruses were seldom introduced. Think, then, how an amateur of the
-simple, quiet old school must have been shocked by a thoroughly
-Rossinian opera, such as _Semiramide_, with its brilliant, sonorous
-instrumentation, its prominent part for the bass or baritone, its long
-elaborate finale, and above all its military band on the stage! Mozart
-had already anticipated every resource that has since been adopted by
-Rossini, but to Rossini belongs, nevertheless, the merit of having
-brought the lyric drama to perfection on the Italian stage, and forty
-and even thirty years ago it was to Rossini that its supposed
-degradation was attributed.
-
-"So great a change," says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "has taken place in the
-character of the (operatic) dramas, in the style of the music and its
-performance, that I cannot help enlarging on that subject before I
-proceed further. One of the most material alterations is, that the grand
-distinction between serious and comic operas is nearly at an end, the
-separation of the singers for their performance, entirely so.[83] Not
-only do the same sing in both, but a new species of drama has arisen, a
-kind of mongrel between them called _semi seria_, which bears the same
-analogy to the other two that that nondescript melodrama does to the
-legitimate tragedy and comedy of the English stage."
-
-And of which style specimens may be found in Shakespeare's plays and in
-Mozart's _Don Giovanni_! The union of the serious and the comic in the
-same lyric work was an innovation of Mozart's, like almost all the
-innovations attributed by Lord Mount Edgcumbe to Rossini. Indeed, nearly
-all the operatic reforms of the last three-quarters of a century that
-have endured, have had Mozart for their originator.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.]
-
-"The construction of these newly invented pieces," continues Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "is essentially different from the old. The dialogue which
-used to be carried on in recitative, and which in Metastasio's operas,
-is often so beautiful and interesting, is now cut up (and rendered
-unintelligible, if it were worth listening to), into _pezzi concertati_,
-or long singing conversations, which present a tedious succession of
-unconnected, ever-changing motivos, having nothing to do with each
-other: and if a satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, which the
-ear would like to dwell upon, to hear modulated, varied and again
-returned to, it is broken off before it is well understood, by a sudden
-transition into a totally different melody, time and key, and recurs no
-more; so that no impression can be made or recollection of it preserved.
-Single songs are almost exploded ... even the _prima donna_ who would
-formerly have complained at having less than three or four airs allotted
-to her, is now satisfied with one trifling _cavatina_ for a whole
-opera."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe has hitherto given a tolerably true account of the
-reforms introduced by Rossini into the operatic music of Italy; only,
-instead of calling Rossini's concerted pieces and finales, "a tedious
-succession of unconnected, ever-changing motivos," he ought to describe
-them as highly interesting, well connected and eminently dramatic. He
-goes on to condemn Rossini for his new distribution of characters, and
-especially for his employment of bass voices in chief parts "to the
-manifest injury of melody and total subversion of harmony, in which the
-lowest part is their peculiar province." Here, however, it occurs to
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, and he thereupon expresses his surprise, "that the
-principal characters in two of Mozart's operas should have been written
-for basses."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When the above curious, and in its way valuable, strictures on Rossini's
-music were penned, not only _Tancredi_, but also _Il Barbiere_,
-_Otello_, _La Cenerentola_, _Mosč in Egitto_, _La Gazza Ladra_, and
-other of his works had been produced. _Il Barbiere_ succeeded at once
-in England, and Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that for many years after
-the first introduction of Rossini's works into England "so entirely did
-he engross the stage, that the operas of no other master were ever to be
-heard, with the exception of those of Mozart; and of his only _Don
-Giovanni_ and _le Nozze di Figaro_ were often repeated.... Every other
-composer, past and present, was totally put aside, and these two alone
-named or thought of." Rossini, then, if wrongly applauded, was at least
-applauded in good company. It appears from Mr. Ebers's "Seven years of
-the King's Theatre," that of all the operas produced from 1821 to 1828,
-nearly half were Rossini's, or in exact numbers fourteen out of
-thirty-four, but it must be remembered that the majority of these were
-constantly repeated, whereas most of the others were brought out only
-for a few nights and then laid aside. During the period in question the
-composer whose works, next to Rossini, were most often represented, was
-Mozart with _Don Giovanni_, _Le Nozze_, _La Clemenza di Tito_, and _Cosi
-fan Tutti_. The other operas included in the repertoire were by Paer,
-Mayer, Zingarelli, Spontini, (_la Vestale_), Mercadante, Meyerbeer, (_Il
-Crociato in Egitto_) &c.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: TANCREDI.]
-
-Our consideration of the causes of Rossini's success, and want of
-success, has led us far away from the first representation of _Tancredi_
-at the theatre of La Fenice. Its success was so great, that each of its
-melodies became for the Venetians a second "Carnival of Venice;" and
-even in the law courts, the judges are said to have been obliged to
-direct the ushers to stop the singing of _Di tanti palpiti_, and _Mi
-rivedrai te rivedrň_.
-
-"I thought after hearing my opera, that the Venetians would think me
-mad," said Rossini. "Not at all; I found they were much madder than I
-was." _Tancredi_ was followed by _Aureliano_, produced at Milan in 1814,
-and, as has already been mentioned, without success. The introduction,
-however, containing the chorus from which Almaviva's _cavatina_ was
-adapted, is said to have been one of Rossini's finest pieces. _Otello_,
-the second of Rossini's important serious operas, was produced in 1816
-at Naples (Del Fondo Theatre). The principal female part, as in the
-now-forgotten _Elizabetta_, and as in a great number of subsequent
-works, was written for Mademoiselle Colbran. The other parts were
-sustained by Benedetti, Nozzari, and the celebrated Davide.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In _Otello_, Rossini continued the reforms which he had commenced in
-_Tancredi_. He made each dramatic scene one continued piece of music,
-used recitative but sparingly, and when he employed it, accompanied it
-for the first time in Italy, with the full band. The piano was now
-banished from the orchestra, forty-two years after it had been banished
-by Gluck from the orchestras of France.
-
-Davide, in the part of Otello," created the greatest enthusiasm. The
-following account of his performance is given by a French critic, M.
-Edouard Bertin, in a letter from Venice, dated 1823:--
-
-[Sidenote: OTELLO.]
-
-"Davide excites among the _dilettanti_ of this town an enthusiasm and
-delight which could scarcely be conceived without having been witnessed.
-He is a singer of the new school, full of mannerism, affectation, and
-display, abusing, like Martin, his magnificent voice with its prodigious
-compass (three octaves comprised between four B flats). He crushes the
-principal motive of an air beneath the luxuriance of his ornamentation,
-and which has no other merit than that of difficulty conquered. But he
-is also a singer full of warmth, _verve_, expression, energy, and
-musical sentiment; alone he can fill up and give life to a scene; it is
-impossible for another singer to carry away an audience as he does, and
-when he will only be simple, he is admirable; he is the Rossini of song.
-He is a great singer; the greatest I ever heard. Doubtless, the manner
-in which Garcia plays and sings the part of "Otello" is preferable,
-taking it altogether, to that of Davide. It is purer, more severe, more
-constantly dramatic; but with all his faults Davide produces more
-effect, a great deal more effect. There is something in him, I cannot
-say what, which, even when he is ridiculous, commands, enhances
-attention. He never leaves you cold; and when he does not move you, he
-astonishes you; in a word, before hearing him, I did not know what the
-power of singing really was. The enthusiasm he excites is without
-limits. In fact, his faults are not faults for Italians, who in their
-_opera seria_ do not employ what the French call the tragic style, and
-who scarcely understand us, when we tell them that a waltz or quadrille
-movement is out of place in the mouth of a Cćsar, an Assur, or an
-Otello. With them the essential thing is to please: they are only
-difficult on this point, and their indifference as to all the rest is
-really inconceivable: here is an example of it. Davide, considering
-apparently that the final duet of _Otello_ did not sufficiently show off
-his voice, determined to substitute for it a duet from _Armida_ (Amor
-possente nome), which is very pretty, but anything rather than severe.
-As it was impossible to kill Desdemona to such a tune, the Moor, after
-giving way to the most violent jealousy, sheathes his dagger, and begins
-in the most tender and graceful manner his duet with Desdemona, at the
-conclusion of which he takes her politely by the hand, and retires,
-amidst the applause and bravos of the public, who seem to think it quite
-natural that the piece should finish in this manner, or, rather, that it
-should not finish at all: for after this beautiful _dénouement_, the
-action is about as far advanced as it was in the first scene. We do not
-in France carry our love of music so far as to tolerate such absurdities
-as these, and perhaps we are right."
-
-Lord Byron saw _Otello_ at Venice, soon after its first production. He
-speaks of it in one of his letters, dated 1818, in which he condemns
-the libretto, but expresses his admiration of the music.
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ was written for Milan, and brought out at the theatre
-of "La Scala," in 1817. Four years afterwards it was produced in London
-in the spring, and Paris in the autumn. The part of "Ninetta,"
-afterwards so favourite a character with Sontag, Malibran, and Grisi,
-was sung in 1821 by Madame Camporese in London, by Madame Fodor in
-Paris. Camporese's performance was of the greatest merit, and highly
-successful. Fodor's is said to have been perfection. The part of
-"Pippo," originally written for a contralto, used at one time to be sung
-at the English and French theatres by a baritone or bass. It was not
-until some years after _La Gazza Ladra_ was produced, that a contralto
-(except for first parts), was considered an indispensable member of an
-opera company.
-
-Madame Fodor was not an Italian, but a Russian. She was married to a
-Frenchman, M. Mainvielle, and, before visiting Italy, and, until her
-_début_, had studied chiefly in Paris. Her Italian tour is said to have
-greatly improved her style, which, when she first appeared in London, in
-1816, left much to be desired. Camporese was of good birth, and was
-married to a member of the Guistiniani family. She cultivated singing in
-the first instance only as an accomplishment; but was obliged by
-circumstances to make it her profession. In Italy she sang only at
-concerts, and it was not until her arrival in England that she appeared
-on the stage. She seems to have possessed very varied powers; appearing
-at one time as "Zerlina" to Ronzi's "Donna Anna;" at another, as "Donna
-Anna," to Fodor's "Zerlina."
-
-[Sidenote: LA GAZZA LADRA.]
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ is known to be founded on a French melo-drama, _La Pie
-Voleuse_, of which the capabilities for operatic "setting," were first
-discovered by Paer. Paer had seen Mademoiselle Jenny Vertpré in _La Pie
-Voleuse_. He bought the play, and sent it to his librettist in ordinary
-at Milan, with marginal notes, showing how it ought to be divided for
-musical purposes. The opera book intended by Paer for himself was
-offered to Rossini, and by him was made the groundwork of one of his
-most brilliant productions.
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ marks another step in Rossini's progress as a composer,
-and accordingly we find Lord Mount Edgcumbe saying, soon after its
-production in England:--"Of all the operas of Rossini that have been
-performed here, that of _la Gazza Ladra_ is most peculiarly liable to
-all the objections I have made to the new style of drama, of which it is
-the most striking example." The only opera of Rossini's which Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe seems really to have liked was _Aureliano in Palmira_, written
-in the composer's earliest style, and which failed.
-
-"Its finales," (Lord Mount Edgcumbe is speaking of _La Gazza Ladra_)
-"and many of its very numerous _pezzi concertati_, are uncommonly loud,
-and the lavish use made of the noisy instruments, appears, to my
-judgment, singularly inappropriate to the subject; which, though it
-might have been rendered touching, is far from calling for such warlike
-accompaniments. Nothing can be more absurd than the manner in which this
-simple story is represented in the Italian piece, or than to be a young
-peasant servant girl, led to trial and execution, under a guard of
-soldiers, with military music." The quintett of _La Gazza Ladra_, is,
-indeed, open to a few objections from a dramatic point of view.
-"Ninetta" is afraid of compromising her father; but "Fernando" has
-already given himself up to the authorities, in order to save his
-daughter--in whose defence he does not say a word. An explanation seems
-necessary, but then the drama would be at an end. There would be no
-quintett, and we should lose one of Rossini's finest pieces. Would it be
-worth while to destroy this quintett, in order to make the opera end
-like the French melo-drama, and as the French operatic version of _La
-Gazza Ladra_ also terminates?
-
-I have already spoken of _La Cenerentola_, produced in 1817 at Rome.
-This admirable work has of late years been much neglected. The last time
-it was heard in England at Her Majesty's Theatre, Madame Alboni played
-the principal part, and excited the greatest enthusiasm by her execution
-of the final air, _Non piu mesta_ (the model of so many solos for the
-_prima donna_, introduced with or without reason, at the end of
-subsequent operas); but the cast was a very imperfect one, and the
-performance on the whole (as usual, of late years, at this theatre)
-very unsatisfactory.
-
-[Sidenote: MOSE IN EGITTO.]
-
-_Mosč in Egitto_ was produced at the San Carlo[84] Theatre, at Naples,
-in 1818; the principal female part being written again for Mademoiselle
-Colbran. In this work, two leading parts, those of "Faraoni" and "Mosč,"
-were assigned to basses. The once proscribed, or, at least contemned
-basso, was, for the first time brought forward, and honoured with full
-recognition in an Italian _opera seria_. The story of the Red Sea, and
-of the chorus sung on its banks, has often been told; but I will repeat
-it in a few words, for the benefit of those readers who may not have met
-with it before. The Passage of the Red Sea was intended to be
-particularly grand; but, instead of producing the effect anticipated, it
-was received every night with laughter. The two first acts were always
-applauded; but the Red Sea was a decided obstacle to the success of the
-third. Tottola, the librettist, came to Rossini one morning, with a
-prayer for the Israelites, which he fancied, if the composer would set
-it to music, might save the conclusion of the opera. Rossini, who was in
-bed at the time, saw at once the importance of the suggestion, wrote on
-the spur of the moment, and in a few minutes, the magnificent _Del tuo
-stellato soglio_. It was performed the same evening, and excited
-transports of admiration. The scene of the Red Sea, instead of being
-looked forward to as a source of hilarity, became now the chief
-"attraction" of the opera. The performance of the prayer produced a sort
-of frenzy among the audience, and a certain Neapolitan doctor, whose
-name has not transpired, told either Stendhal or the Abbé Carpani (on
-whose _Letters_, as before mentioned, Beyle's "Vie de Rossini par
-Stendhal" is founded), that the number of nervous indispositions among
-the ladies of Naples was increased in a remarkable manner by the change
-of key, from the minor to the major, in the last verse.
-
-_Mosč_ was brought out in London, as an oratorio, in the beginning of
-1822. Probably, dramatic action was absolutely necessary for its
-success; at all events, it failed as an oratorio. The same year it was
-produced as an opera at the King's Theatre; but with a complete
-transformation in the libretto, and under the title of _Pietro
-l'Eremita_. The opera attracted throughout the season, and no work of
-Rossini's was ever more successful on its first production in this
-country. The subscribers to the King's Theatre were in ecstacies with
-it, and one of the most distinguished supporters of the theatre, after
-assuring the manager that he deserved well of this country, offered to
-testify his gratitude by proposing him at White's!
-
-[Sidenote: MOSE IN EGITTO.]
-
-In the autumn of the same year _Mosč_ was produced at the Italian Opera
-of Paris, and in 1827, a French version of it was brought out at the
-Académie. The Red Sea appears to have been a source of trouble
-everywhere. At the Académie, forty-five thousand francs were sunk in it,
-and to so little effect, or rather with such bad effect, that the
-machinists' and decorators' waves had to be suppressed after the first
-evening. In London the Red Sea became merely a river. The river,
-however, failed quite as egregiously as the larger body of water, and
-had to be drained off before the second performance took place.
-
-_Mosč_ is quite long enough and sufficiently complete in its original
-form. Several pieces, however, out of other operas, by Rossini, were
-added to it in the London version of the work. In Paris, in accordance
-with the absurd custom (if it be not even a law) at the Académie, _Mosč_
-could not be represented without the introduction of a ballet. The
-necessary dance music was taken from _Ciro in Babilonia_ and _Armida_,
-and the opera was further strengthened as it was thought (weakened as it
-turned out), by the introduction of a new air for Mademoiselle Cinti,
-and several new choruses.
-
-The _Mosč_ of the Académie, with its four acts of music (one more than
-the original opera) was found far too long. It was admired, and for a
-little while applauded; but when it had once wearied the public, it was
-in vain that the directors reduced its dimensions. It became smaller and
-smaller, until it at last disappeared.
-
-_Zelmira_, written originally for Vienna, and which is said to have
-contained Madame Colbran Rossini's best part, was produced at Naples in
-1822. The composer and his favourite _prima donna_ were married in the
-spring of the same year at Castelnaso, near Bologna.
-
-"The recitatives of _Zelmira_" says Carpani, in his _Le Rossinane ossia
-lettere musico-teatrali_, "are the best and most dramatic that the
-Italian school has produced; their eloquence is equal to that of the
-most beautiful airs, and the spectator, equally charmed and surprised,
-listens to them from one end to the other. These recitatives are
-sustained by the orchestra; _Otello_, _Mosč in Egitto_, are written
-after the same system, but I will not attribute to Rossini the honour of
-a discovery which belongs to our neighbours. Although the French Opera
-is still barbarous from a vocal point of view, there are some points
-about it which may be advantageously borrowed. The introduction of
-accompanied recitative is of the greatest importance for our _opera
-seria_, which, in the hands of the Mayers, Paers, the Rossinis, has at
-last become dramatic."
-
-_Zelmira_ was brought out in London in 1824, under the direction of
-Rossini himself, and with Madame Colbran Rossini in the principal part.
-The reception of the composer, when he made his appearance in the
-orchestra, was most enthusiastic, and at the end of the opera, he was
-called on to the stage, which, in England, was, then, quite a novel
-compliment.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI AND GEORGE IV.]
-
-At the same time, all possible attention was paid to Rossini, in
-private, by the most distinguished persons in the country. He was
-invited by George IV. to the Pavilion at Brighton, and the King gave
-orders that when his guest entered the music room, his private band
-should play the overture to the _Barber of Seville_. The overture being
-concluded, his Majesty asked Rossini what piece he would like to hear
-next. The composer named _God save the King_.
-
-The music of _Zelmira_ was greatly admired by connoisseurs, but made no
-impression on the public, and though Madame Colbran-Rossini's
-performance is said to have been admirable, it must be remembered that
-she had already passed the zenith of her powers. Born in Madrid, in
-1785, she appears to have retired from the stage, as far as Italy was
-concerned, in 1823, after the production of _Semiramide_. At least, I
-find no account of her having sung anywhere after the season of 1824, in
-London, though her name appears in the list of the celebrated company
-assembled the same year by Barbaja, at Vienna. Mademoiselle Colbran
-figures among the sopranos with Mesdames Mainvielle-Fodor, Féron, Esther
-Mombelli,[85] Dardanelli, Sontag, Unger, Giuditta, Grisi, and Grimbaun.
-The contraltos of this unrivalled _troupe_ were Mesdames
-Cesare-Cantarelli and Eckerlin; the tenors, Davide, Nozzari, Donzelli,
-Rubini, and Cicimarra; the basses, Lablache, Bassi, Ambroggi,
-Tamburini, and Bolticelli. Rossini had undertaken to write an opera
-entitled _Ugo rč d'Italia_, for the King's Theatre. The engagement had
-been made at the beginning of the season, in January, and the work was
-repeatedly announced for performance, when, at the end of May, it was
-said to be only half finished. He had, at this time, quarrelled with the
-management, and accepted the post of director at the Italian Opera of
-Paris. The end of _Ugo rč d'Italia_ is said by Mr. Ebers to have been,
-that the score, as far as it was written, was deposited with Messrs.
-Ransom, the bankers. Messrs. Ransom, however, have informed me, that
-they never had a score of Rossini's in their possession.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-After Rossini's departure from London, his _Semiramide_, produced at
-Venice only the year before, was brought out with Madame Pasta, in the
-principal character. The part of "Semiramide" had been played at the
-_Fenice_ Theatre, by Madame Colbran; it was the last Rossini wrote for
-his wife, and _Semiramide_ was the last opera he composed for Italy.
-When we meet with Rossini again, it will be at the Académie Royale of
-Paris, as the composer of _the Siege of Corinth_, _Count Ory_, and
-_William Tell_.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S SINGERS.]
-
-The first great representative of "Semiramide" was Pasta, who has
-probably never been surpassed in that character. After performing it
-with admirable success in London, she resumed in it the year afterwards,
-1825, at the Italian Opera of Paris. Madame Pasta had already gained
-great celebrity by her representation of "Tancredi" and of "Romeo," but
-in _Semiramide_, she seems, for the first time, to have exhibited her
-genius in all its fulness.[86]
-
-The original "Arsace" was Madame Mariani, the first great "Arsace,"
-Madame Pisaroni.
-
-Since the first production of _Semiramide_, thirty years ago, all the
-most distinguished sopranos and contraltos of the day have loved to
-appear in that admirable work.
-
-Among the "Semiramides," I may mention in particular Pasta, Grisi,
-Viardot-Garcia, and Cruvelli. Although not usually given to singers who
-particularly excel in the execution of light delicate music, the part of
-"Semiramide" was also sung with success by Madame Sontag (Paris, 1829),
-and Madame Bosio (St. Petersburgh, 1855).
-
-Among the "Arsaces," may be cited Pisaroni, Brambilla, and Alboni.
-
-Malibran, with her versatile comprehensive genius, appeared both as
-"Arsace" and as "Semiramide," and was equally fortunate in each of these
-very different impersonations.
-
-I will now say a few words respecting those of the singers just named,
-whose names are more especially associated with Rossini's earliest
-successes in England.
-
-Madame Pasta having appeared in Paris with success in 1816, was engaged
-with her husband, Signor Pasta (an unsuccessful tenor), for the
-following season at the King's Theatre. She made no great impression
-that year, and was quite eclipsed by Fodor and Camporese, who were
-members of the same company. The young singer, not discouraged, but
-convinced that she had much to learn, returned to Italy, where she
-studied unremittingly for four years. She reappeared at the Italian
-Opera of Paris in 1821, as "Desdemona," in Rossini's _Otello_, then for
-the first time produced in France. Her success was complete, but her
-performance does not appear to have excited that enthusiasm which was
-afterwards caused by her representation of "Medea," in Mayer's opera of
-that name. In _Medea_, however, Pasta was everything; in _Otello_, she
-had to share her triumph with Garcia, Bordogni, and Levasseur. From this
-time, the new tragic vocalist gained constantly in public estimation.
-_Medea_ was laid aside; but Pasta gained fresh applause in every new
-part she undertook, and especially in _Tancredi_ and _Semiramide_.
-
-[Sidenote: PASTA.]
-
-Pasta made her second appearance at the King's Theatre in 1824, in the
-character of "Desdemona." Her performance, from a histrionic as well as
-from a vocal point of view, was most admirable; and the habitués could
-scarcely persuade themselves that this was the singer who had come
-before them four years previously, and had gone away without leaving a
-regret behind. When Rossini's last Italian opera was produced, the same
-season, the character of "Semiramide" was assigned to Madame Pasta, who
-now sang it for the first time. She had already represented the part of
-"Tancredi," and her three great Rossinian impersonations raised her
-reputation to the highest point. In London, Madame Pasta did not appear
-as "Medea" until 1826, when she already enjoyed the greatest celebrity.
-It was found at the King's Theatre, as at the Italian Opera of Paris,
-that Mayer's simple and frequently insipid music was not tolerable,
-after the brilliant dramatic compositions of Rossini; but Pasta's
-delineation of "Medea's" thirst for vengeance and despair, is said to
-have been sublime.
-
-A story is told of a distinguished critic persuading himself, that with
-such a power of pourtraying "Medea's" emotions, Madame Pasta must
-possess "Medea's" features; but for some such natural conformity he
-seems to have thought it impossible that she could at once, by
-intuition, enter profoundly and sympathetically into all "Medea's"
-inmost feelings. Much might be said in favour of the critic's theory; it
-is unnecessary to say a word in favour of a performance by which such a
-theory could be suggested. We are told, that the believer in the
-personal resemblance between Pasta and "Medea" was sent a journey of
-seventy miles to see a visionary portrait of "Medea," recovered from the
-ruins of Herculaneum. To rush off on such a journey with such an object,
-may not have been very reasonable; to cause the journey to be
-undertaken, was perfectly silly. Probably, it was a joke of our friend
-Taylor's.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: PISARONI.]
-
-Madame Pisaroni made her début in Italy in the year 1811, when she was
-eighteen years of age. She at first came out as a soprano, but two years
-afterwards, a severe illness having changed the nature of her voice, she
-appeared in all the most celebrated parts, written for the musicos or
-sopranists, who were now beginning to die out, and to be replaced by
-ladies with contralto voices. Madame Pisaroni was not only not
-beautiful, she was hideously ugly; I have seen her portrait, and am not
-exaggerating. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us, that another favourite
-contralto of the day Mariani (Rossini's original Arsace) was Pisaroni's
-rival "in voice, singing, and ugliness;" adding, that "in the two first
-qualities, she was certainly her inferior; though in the last it was
-difficult to know to which the preference should be given." But the
-anti-pathetic, revolting, almost insulting features of the great
-contralto, were forgotten as soon as she began to sing. As the hideous
-Wilkes boasted that he was "only a quarter of an hour behind the
-handsomest man in Europe," so Madame Pisaroni might have said, that she
-had only to deliver one phrase of music to place herself on a level with
-the most personally prepossessing vocalist of the day. This
-extraordinary singer on gaining a contralto, did not lose her original
-soprano voice. After her illness, she is said to have possessed three
-octaves (between four C's), but her best notes were now in the contralto
-register. In airs, in concerted pieces, in recitative, she was equally
-admirable. To sustain a high note, and then dazzle the audience with a
-rapid descending scale of two octaves, was for her an easy means of
-triumph. Altogether, her execution seems never to have been surpassed.
-After making her début in Paris as "Arsace," Madame Pisaroni resumed
-that part in 1829, under great difficulties. The frightfully ugly
-"Arsace" had to appear side by side with a charmingly pretty
-"Semiramide,"--the soprano part of the opera being taken by Mademoiselle
-Sontag. But in the hour of danger the poor contralto was saved by her
-thoroughly beautiful singing, and Pisaroni and Sontag, who as a vocalist
-also left nothing to desire, were equally applauded. In London, Pisaroni
-appears to have confined herself intentionally to the representation of
-male characters, appearing as "Arsace," "Malcolm," in _La Donna del
-Lago_, and "Tancredi;" but in Paris she played the principal female part
-in _L'Italiana in Algeri_, and what is more, played it with wonderful
-success.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The great part of "Arsace" was also that in which Mademoiselle Brambilla
-made her début in England in the year 1827. Brambilla, who was a pupil
-of the conservatory of Milan, had never appeared on any stage; but
-though her acting is said to have been indifferent, her lovely voice,
-her already excellent style, her youth and her great beauty, ensured
-her success.
-
-"She has the finest eyes, the sweetest voice, and the best disposition
-in the world," said a certain cardinal of the youthful Brambilla, "if
-she is discovered to possess any other merits, the safety of the
-Catholic Church will require her excommunication." After singing in
-London several years, and revisiting Italy, Brambilla was engaged in
-Paris, where she again chose the part of "Arsace," for her début.
-
-Many of our readers will probably remember that "Arsace" was also the
-character in which Mademoiselle Alboni made her first appearance in
-England, and on this side of the Alps. Until the opening night of the
-Royal Italian Opera, 1847, the English public had never heard of
-Mademoiselle Alboni; but she had only to sing the first phrase of her
-part, to call forth unanimous applause, and before the evening was at an
-end, she had quite established herself in the position which she has
-ever since held.
-
-[Sidenote: SONTAG.]
-
-Sontag and Malibran both made their first appearance in England as
-"Rosina," in the _Barber of Seville_. Several points of similarity might
-be pointed out between the romantic careers of these two wonderfully
-successful and wonderfully unfortunate vocalists. Mademoiselle Garcia
-first appeared on the stage at Naples, when she was eight years old.
-Mademoiselle Sontag was in her sixth year when she came out at
-Frankfort. Each spent her childhood and youth in singing and acting, and
-each, after obtaining a full measure of success, made an apparently
-brilliant marriage, and was thought to have quitted the stage. Both,
-however, re-appeared, one after a very short interval, the other, after
-a retirement of something like twenty years. The position of
-Mademoiselle Garcia's husband, M. Malibran, was as nothing, compared to
-that of Count Rossi, who married Mademoiselle Sontag; the former was a
-French merchant, established (not very firmly, as it afterwards
-appeared) at New York; the latter was the Sardinian Ambassador at the
-court of Vienna; but on the other hand, the Countess Rossi's end was far
-more tragic, or rather more miserable and horrible than that of Madame
-Malibran, itself sufficiently painful and heart-rending.
-
-Though Rosina appears to have been one of Mademoiselle Sontag's best, if
-not absolutely her best part, she also appeared to great advantage
-during her brief career in London and Paris, in two other Rossinian
-characters, "Desdemona" and "Semiramide." In her own country she was
-known as one of the most admirable representatives of "Agatha," in _Der
-Freischütz_, and she sang "Agatha's" great _scena_ frequently, and
-always with immense success, at concerts, in London. She also appeared
-as "Donna Anna," in _Don Giovanni_, (from the pleasing, graceful
-character of her talent, one would have fancied the part of "Zerlina"
-better suited to her), but in Italian opera all her triumphs were gained
-in the works of Rossini.
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-When Marietta Garcia made her début in London, in the _Barber of
-Seville_, she was, seriously, only just beginning her career, and was at
-that time but seventeen years of age. She appeared the same year in
-Paris, as the heroine in _Torvaldo e Dorliska_ (Rossini's
-"_fiaschetto_," now quite forgotten) and was then taken by her father on
-that disastrous American tour which ended with her marriage. Having
-crossed the Atlantic, Garcia converted his family into a complete opera
-company, of which he himself was the tenor and the excellent musical
-director (if there had only been a little more to direct). The daughter
-was the _prima donna_, the mother had to content herself with secondary
-parts, the son officiated as baritone and bass. In America, under a good
-master, but with strange subordinates, and a wretched _entourage_,
-Mademoiselle Garcia accustomed herself to represent operatic characters
-of every kind. One evening, when an uncultivated American orchestra was
-massacring Mozart's master-piece, Garcia, the "Don Giovanni" of the
-evening, became so indignant that he rushed, sword in hand, to the foot
-lights, and compelled the musicians to re-commence the finale to the
-first act, which they executed the second time with care, if not with
-skill. This was a severe school in which poor Marietta was being formed;
-but without it we should probably never have heard of her appearing one
-night as "Desdemona" or as "Arsace," the next as "Otello," or as
-"Semiramide;" nor of her gaining fresh laurels with equal certainty in
-the _Sonnambula_
-
-and in _Norma_. But we have at present only to do with that period of
-operatic history, during which, Rossini's supremacy on the Italian stage
-was unquestioned. Towards 1830, we find two new composers appearing,
-who, if they, to some extent, displaced their great predecessor, at the
-same time followed in his steps. For some dozen years, Rossini had been
-the sole support, indeed, the very life of Italian opera. Naturally, his
-works were not without their fruit, and a great part of Donizetti's and
-Bellini's music may be said to belong to Rossini, inasmuch as Rossini
-was clearly Donizetti's and Bellini's progenitor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-OPERA IN FRANCE UNDER THE CONSULATE, EMPIRE, AND RESTORATION.
-
-
-The History of the Opera, under the Consulate and the Empire, is perhaps
-more remarkable in connexion with political than with musical events.
-Few persons at present know much of Spontini's operas, though _la
-Vestale_ in its day was celebrated in Paris, London and especially in
-Berlin; nor of Cherubini's, though the overtures to _Anacreon_ and _les
-Abencerrages_ are still heard from time to time at "classical" concerts;
-but every one remembers the plot to assassinate the First Consul which
-was to have been put into execution at the Opera, and the plot to
-destroy the Emperor, the Empress and all their retinue, which was to
-take effect just outside its doors. Then there is the appearance of the
-Emperor at the Opera, after his hasty arrival in Paris from Moscow, on
-the very night before his return to meet the Russians with the allies
-who had now joined them, at Bautzen and Lutzen--the same night by the
-way on which _les Abencerrages_ was produced, with no great success.
-Then again there is the evening of the 29th of March, 1814, when
-_Iphigénie en Aulide_ was performed to an accompaniment of cannon which
-the Piccinnists, if they could only have heard it, would have declared
-very appropriate to Gluck's music; that of the 1st of April, when by
-desire, of the Russian emperor and the Prussian king, _la Vestale_ was
-represented; and finally that of the 17th of May, 1814, when _OEdipe ŕ
-Colone_ was played before Louis XVIII., who had that morning made his
-triumphal entry into Paris.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC PLOT.]
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the 10th of October, 1800, a band of republicans had sworn to
-assassinate the First Consul at the Opera. A new work was to be produced
-that evening composed by Porta to a libretto founded on Corneille's
-tragedy of _les Horaces_. The most striking scene in the piece, that in
-which the Horatii swear to conquer or perish, was to be the signal for
-action; all the lights were to be put out at the same moment, fireworks
-and grenades were to be thrown into the boxes, the pit and on to the
-stage; cries of "fire" and "murder" were to be raised from all parts of
-the house, and in the midst of the general confusion the First Consul
-was to be assassinated in his box. The leaders of the plot, to make
-certain of their cue, had contrived to be present at the rehearsal of
-the new opera, and everything was prepared for the next evening and the
-post of each conspirator duly assigned to him, when one of the number,
-conscience smitten and unable to sleep during the night of the 9th,
-went at daybreak the next morning to the Prefect of Police and informed
-him of all the details of the plot.
-
-The conspiracy said Bonaparte, some twenty years afterwards at St.
-Helena, "was revealed by a captain in the line.[87] What limit is
-there," he added, "to the combinations of folly and stupidity! This
-officer had a horror of me as Consul but adored me as general. He was
-anxious that I should be torn from my post, but he would have been very
-sorry that my life should be taken. I ought to be made prisoner, he
-said, in no way injured, and sent to the army to continue to defeat the
-enemies of France. The other conspirators laughed in his face, and when
-he saw them distribute daggers, and that they were going beyond his
-intentions, he proceeded at once to denounce the whole affair."
-
-Bonaparte, after the informer had been brought before him, suggested to
-the officers of his staff, the Prefect of Police and other functionaries
-whom he had assembled, that it would be as well not to let him appear at
-the Opera in the evening; but the general opinion was, that on the
-contrary, he should be forced to go, and ultimately it was decided that
-until the commencement of the performance everything should be allowed
-to take place as if the conspiracy had not been discovered.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC PLOT.]
-
-In the evening the First Consul went to the Opera, attended by a number
-of superior officers, all in plain clothes. The first act passed off
-quietly enough--in all probability, far too quietly to please the
-composer, for some two hundred persons among the audience, including the
-conspirators, the police and the officers attached to Bonaparte's
-person, were thinking of anything but the music of _les Horaces_. It was
-necessary, however, to pay very particular attention to the music of the
-second act in which the scene of the oath occurred.
-
-The sentinels outside the Consul's box had received orders to let no one
-approach who had not the pass word, issued an hour before for the opera
-only; and as a certain number of conspirators had taken up their
-positions in the corridors, to extinguish the lights at the signal
-agreed upon, a certain number of Bonaparte's officers were sent also
-into the corridors to prevent the execution of this manoeuvre. The
-scene of the oath was approaching, when a body of police went to the
-boxes in which the leaders of the plot were assembled, found them with
-fireworks and grenades in their hands, notified to them their arrest in
-the politest manner, cautioned them against creating the slightest
-disturbance, and led them so dexterously and quietly into captivity,
-that their disappearance from the theatre was not observed, or if so,
-was doubtless attributed to the badness of Porta's music. The officers
-in the corridors carried pistols, and at the proper moment seized the
-appointed lamp-extinguishers. Then the old Horatius came forward and
-exclaimed--
-
-    "_Jurez donc devant moi, par le ciel qui m'écoute._
-     _Que le dernier de vous sera mort ou vainqueur._"
-
-The orchestra "attacked" the introduction to the quartett. The fatal
-prelude must have sounded somewhat unmusical to the ear of the First
-Consul; but the conspirators were now all in custody and assembled in
-one of the vestibules on the ground floor.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LES MYSTERES D'ISIS.]
-
-On the 24th of December, 1800, the day on which the "infernal machine"
-was directed against the First Consul on his way to the Opera, a French
-version of Haydn's _Creation_ was to be executed. Indeed, the
-performance had already commenced, when, during the gentle _adagio_ of
-the introduction, the dull report of an explosion, as if of a cannon,
-was heard, but without the audience being at all alarmed. Immediately
-afterwards the First Consul appeared in his box with Lannes, Lauriston,
-Berthier, and Duroc. Madame Bonaparte, as she was getting into her
-carriage, thought of some alteration to make in her dress, and returned
-to her apartments for a few minutes. But for this delay her carriage
-would have passed before the infernal machine at the moment of its
-explosion. Ten minutes afterwards she made her appearance at the Opera
-with her daughter, Mademoiselle Hortense Beauharnais, Madame Murat, and
-Colonel Rapp. The performance of the _Creation_ continued as if nothing
-had happened; and the report, which had interfered so unexpectedly with
-the effect of the opening _adagio_, was explained in various ways; the
-account generally received in the pit being, that a grocer going into
-his cellar with a candle, had set light to a barrel of gunpowder. Two
-houses were said to have been blown up. This was at the beginning of the
-first part of the _Creation_; at the end of the second, the number had
-probably increased to half a dozen.
-
-Under the consulate and the empire, the arts did not flourish greatly in
-France; not for want of direct encouragement on the part of the ruler,
-but rather because he at the same time encouraged far above everything
-else the art of war. Until the appearance of Spontini with _la Vestale_,
-the Académie, under Napoleon Bonaparte, whether known as Bonaparte or
-Napoleon, was chiefly supported by composers who composed without
-inventing, and who, with the exception of Cherubini, were either very
-feeble originators or mere plagiarists and spoliators. Even Mozart did
-not escape the French arrangers. His _Marriage of Figaro_ had been
-brought out in 1798, with all the prose dialogue of Beaumarchais's
-comedy substituted for the recitative of the original opera. _Les
-Mystčres d'Isis_, an adaptation, perversion, disarrangement of _Die
-Zauberflötte_, with several pieces suppressed, or replaced by fragments
-from the _Nozze di Figaro_, _Don Giovanni_, and Haydn's symphonies, was
-produced on the 23rd of August, 1801, under the auspices of Morel the
-librettist, and Lachnith the musician.
-
-_Les_ Misčres _d'Isis_ was the appropriate name given to this sad
-medley by the musicians of the orchestra. Lachnith was far from being
-ashamed of what he had done. On the contrary, he gloried in it, and
-seemed somehow or other to have persuaded himself that the pieces which
-he had stolen from Mozart and Haydn were his own compositions. One
-evening, when he was present at the representation of _Les Mystčres
-d'Isis_, he was affected to tears, and exclaimed, "No, I will compose no
-more! I could never go beyond this!"
-
-_Don Giovanni_, in the hands of Kalkbrenner, fared no better than the
-_Zauberflötte_ in those of Lachnith. It even fared worse; for
-Kalkbrenner did not content himself with spoiling the general effect of
-the work, by means of pieces introduced from Mozart's other operas, and
-from Haydn's symphonies: he mutilated it so as completely to alter its
-form, and further debased it by mixing with its pure gold the dross of
-his own vile music.
-
-[Sidenote: KALKBRENNER'S DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-In Kalkbrenner's _Don Giovanni_, the opera opened with a recitative,
-composed by Kalkbrenner himself. Next came Leporello's solo, followed by
-an interpolated romance, in the form of a serenade, which was sung by
-Don Juan, under Donna Anna's window. The struggle of Don Juan with Donna
-Anna, the entry of the commandant, his combat with Don Juan, the trio
-for the three men and all the rest of the introduction, was cut out. The
-duet of Donna Anna and Ottavio was placed at the end of the act, and as
-Don Juan had killed the commandant off the stage, it was of course
-deprived of its marvellous recitative, which, to be duly effective, must
-be declaimed by Donna Anna over the body of her father. The whole of the
-opera was treated in the same style. The first act was made to end as it
-had begun, with a few phrases of recitative of Kalkbrenner's own
-production. The greater part of the action of Da Ponte's libretto was
-related in dialogue, so that the most dramatic portion of the music lost
-all its significance. The whole opera, in short, was disfigured, cut to
-pieces, destroyed, and further defiled by the musical weeds which the
-infamous Kalkbrenner introduced among its still majestic ruins. At this
-period the supreme direction of the Opera was in the hands of a jury,
-composed of certain members of the Institute of France. It seems never
-to have occurred to this learned body that there was any impropriety in
-the trio of masques being executed by three men, and in the two soprano
-parts being given to tenors,--by which arrangement the part of Ottavio,
-Mozart's tenor, instead of being the lowest in the harmony, was made the
-highest. The said trio was sung by three archers, of course to entirely
-new words! Let us pass on to another opera, which, if not comparable to
-_Don Giovanni_, was at least a magnificent work for France in 1807, and
-which had the advantage of being admirably executed under the careful
-direction of its composer.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Spontini had already produced _La Finta Filosofa_, which, originally
-brought out at Naples, was afterwards performed at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris, without success; _La Petite Maison_, written for the Opéra
-Comique, and violently hissed; and _Milton_ also composed for the Opéra
-Comique, and favourably received. When _La Vestale_ was submitted to the
-jury of the Académie, it was refused unanimously on the ground of the
-extravagance of its style, and of the audacity of certain innovations in
-the score. Spontini appealed to the Empress Josephine, and it was owing
-to her influence, and through a direct order of the court that _La
-Vestale_ was put upon the stage. The jury was inexorable, however, as
-regarded certain portions of the work, and the composer was obliged to
-submit it to the orchestral conductor, who injured it in several places,
-but without spoiling it. Spontini wished to give the part of the tenor
-to Nourrit; but Lainez protested, went to the superintendant of the
-imperial theatres, represented that he had been first tenor and first
-lover at the Opera for thirty years, and finally received full
-permission to make love to the Vestal of the Académie.
-
-The Emperor Napoleon had the principal pieces in _La Vestale_ executed
-by his private band, nearly a year before the opera was brought out at
-the Académie. He had sufficient taste to admire the music, and predicted
-to Spontini the success it afterwards met with. He is said, in
-particular, to have praised the finale, the first dramatic finale
-written for the French Opera.
-
-[Sidenote: SPONTINI.]
-
-_La Vestale_ was received by the public with enthusiasm. It is said to
-have been admirably executed, and we know that Spontini was difficult on
-this point, for we are told by Mr. Ebers that he objected to the
-performance of _La Vestale_, in London, on the ground "that the means of
-representation there were inadequate to do justice to his composition."
-This was twenty years after it was first brought out in Paris, when all
-Rossini's finest and most elaborately constructed operas (such as
-_Semiramide_, for instance), had been played in London, and in a manner
-which quite satisfied Rossini. Probably, however, it was in the
-spectacular department that Spontini expected the King's Theatre would
-break down. However that may have been, _La Vestale_ was produced in
-London, and met with very little success. The part of "La Vestale" was
-given to a Madame Biagioli, who objected to it as not sufficiently good
-for her. From the accounts extant of this lady's powers, it is quite
-certain that Spontini, if he had heard her, would have considered her
-not nearly good enough for his music. It would, of course, have been far
-better for the composer, as for the manager and the public, if Spontini
-had consented to superintend the production of his work himself; but
-failing that, it was scandalous in defiance of his wishes to produce it
-at all. Unfortunately, this is a kind of scandal from which operatic
-managers in England have seldom shrunk.
-
-Spontini's _Fernand Cortez_, produced at the Académie in 1809, met with
-less success than _La Vestale_. In both these works, the spectacular
-element played an important part, and in _Fernand Cortez_, it was found
-necessary to introduce a number of Franconi's horses. A journalist of
-the period proposed that the following inscription should be placed
-above the doors of the theatre:--_Içi on joue l'opéra ŕ pied et ŕ
-cheval_.
-
-Spontini, as special composer for the Académie of grand operas with
-hippic and panoramic effects, was the predecessor of M. M. Meyerbeer,
-and Halévy; and Heine, in his "Lutčce"[88] has given us a very witty,
-and perhaps, in the main, truthful account of Spontini's animosity
-towards Meyerbeer, whom he is said to have always regarded as an
-intriguer and interloper. I may here, however, mention as a proof of the
-attractiveness of _La Vestale_ from a purely musical point of view, that
-it was once represented with great success, not only without magnificent
-or appropriate scenery, but with the scenery belonging to another piece!
-This was on the 1st of April, 1814, the day after the entry of the
-Russian and Prussian troops into Paris. _Le Triomphe de Trajan_ had been
-announced; the allied sovereigns, however, wished to hear _La Vestale_,
-and the performance was changed. But there was not time to prepare the
-scenery for Spontini's opera, and that of the said _Triomphe_ was made
-to do duty for it.
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-_Le Triomphe de Trajan_ was a work in which Napoleon's clemency to a
-treacherous or patriotic German prince was celebrated, and it has been
-said that the programme of the 1st of April was changed, because the
-allied sovereigns disliked the subject of the opera. But it was
-perfectly natural that they should wish to hear Spontini's master-piece,
-and that they should not particularly care to listen to a _pičce
-d'occasion_, set to music by a French composer of no name.
-
-I have said that Cherubini's _Abencerrages_, of which all but the
-overture is now forgotten, was produced in 1813, and that the emperor
-attended its first representation the night before his departure from
-Paris, to rejoin his troops, and if possible, check the advance of the
-victorious allies. No other work of importance was produced at the
-French Académie until Rossini's _Sičge de Corinthe_ was brought out in
-1825. This, the first work written by the great Italian master specially
-for the French Opera, was represented at the existing theatre in the Rue
-Lepelletier, the opera house in the Rue Richelieu having been pulled
-down in 1820.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-In the year just mentioned, on the 13th of February, being the last
-Sunday of the Carnival, an unusually brilliant audience had assembled at
-the Académie Royale. _Le Rossignol_, an insipid, and fortunately, very
-brief production, was the opera; but the great attraction of the evening
-consisted in two ballets, _La Carnaval de Venise_, and _Les Noces de
-Gamache_. The Duke and Duchess de Berri were present, and when _Le
-Carnaval de Venise_, _Le Rossignol_, and the first act of _Les Noces de
-Gamache_, had been performed, the duchess rose to leave the theatre. Her
-husband accompanied her to the carriage, and was taking leave of her,
-intending to return to the theatre for the last act of the ballet, when
-a man crept up to him, placed his left arm on the duke's left side,
-pulled him violently towards him, and as he held him in his grasp,
-thrust a dagger through his body. The dagger entered the duke's right
-side, and the pressure of the assassin's arm, and the force with which
-the blow was given, were so great, that the weapon went through the
-lungs, and pierced the heart, a blade of six inches inflicting a wound
-nine inches long. The news of the duke's assassination spread through
-the streets of Paris as if by electricity; and M. Alexandre Dumas, in
-his interesting Memoirs, tells us almost the same thing that Balzac says
-about it in one of his novels; that it was known at the farther end of
-Paris, before a man on horseback, despatched at the moment the blow was
-struck, could possibly have reached the spot. On the other hand, M.
-Castil Blaze shows us very plainly that the terrible occurrence was not
-known within the Opera; or, at least, only to a few officials, until
-after the conclusion of the performance, which went on as if nothing had
-happened. The duke was carried into the director's room, where he was
-attended by Blancheton, the surgeon of the Opera, and at once bled in
-both arms. He, himself, drew the dagger from the wound, and observed at
-the same time that he felt it was mortal. The Count d'Artois, and the
-Duke and Duchess d'Angoulęme arrived soon afterwards. There lay the
-unhappy prince, on a bed hastily arranged, and already inundated, soaked
-with blood, surrounded by his father, brother, sister, and wife, whose
-poignant anguish was from time to time alleviated by some faint ray of
-hope, destined, however, to be quickly dispelled.
-
-Five of the most celebrated doctors in Paris, with Dupuytren among the
-number, had been sent for; and as the patient was now nearly suffocating
-from internal hćmorrhage, the orifice of the wound was widened. This
-afforded some relief, and for a moment it was thought just possible that
-a recovery might be effected. Another moment, and it was evident that
-there was no hope. The duke asked to see his daughter, and embraced her
-several times; he also expressed a desire to see the king. Now the
-sacrament was administered to him, but, on the express condition exacted
-by the Archbishop of Paris, that the Opera House should afterwards be
-destroyed. Two other unacknowledged daughters of his youth were brought
-to the dying man's bedside, and received his blessing. He had already
-recommended them to the duchess's care.
-
-"Soon you will have no father," she said to them, "and I shall have
-three daughters."
-
-In the meanwhile the Spanish ballet was being continued, amidst the
-mirth and applause of the audience, who testified by their demeanour
-that it was Carnival time, and that the _jours gras_ had already
-commenced. The house was crowded, and the boleros and sequidillas with
-which the Spaniards of the Parisian ballet astonished and dazzled Don
-Quixote and his faithful knight, threw boxes, pit, and gallery, into
-ecstasies of delight.
-
-Elsewhere, in the room next his victim, stood the assassin, interrogated
-by the ministers, Decazes and Pasquier, with the bloody dagger before
-them on the table. The murderer simply declared that he had no
-accomplices,[89] and that he took all the responsibility of the crime on
-himself.
-
-At five in the morning, Louis XVIII. was by the side of his dying
-nephew. An attempt had been made, the making of which was little less
-than an insult to the king, to dissuade him from being present at the
-duke's last moments.
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-"The sight of death does not terrify me," replied His Majesty, "and I
-have a duty to perform." After begging that his murderer might be
-forgiven, and entreating the duchess not to give way to despair, the
-Duke de Berri breathed his last in the arms of the king, who closed his
-eyes at half-past six in the morning.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Opera was now to be heard no more in the Rue Richelieu. The holy
-sacrament had crossed the threshold of a profane building, and it was
-necessary that this profane building should be destroyed; indeed, a
-promise to that effect had been already given. All the theatres were
-closed for ten days, and the Opera, now homeless, did not re-commence
-its performances until upwards of two months afterwards, when it took
-possession for a time of the Théâtre Favart. In the August of the same
-year the erection of the theatre in the Rue Lepelletier was commenced.
-The present Théâtre de l'Opéra, (the absurd title of Académie having
-recently been abandoned), was intended when it was first built, to be
-but a temporary affair. Strangely enough it has lasted forty years,
-during which time it has seen solidly constructed opera-houses perish by
-fire in all parts of Europe. May the new opera-house about to be erected
-in Paris, under the auspices of Napoleon III., be equally fortunate.
-
-I am here reminded that both the Napoleons have proved themselves good
-and intelligent friends to the Opera. In the year eleven of the French
-republic, the First Consul and his two associates, the Minister of the
-French republic, the three Consuls, the Ministers of the interior and
-police, General Junot, the Secretary of State, and a few more officials
-occupied among them as many as seventeen boxes at the opera, containing
-altogether ninety-four places. Bonaparte had a report drawn up from
-which it appeared that the value of these boxes to the administration,
-was sixty thousand four hundred francs per annum, including fifteen
-thousand francs for those kept at his own disposition. Thereupon he
-added to the report the following brief, but on the whole satisfactory
-remark.
-
-"_A datter du premier nivose toutes ces loges seront payées par ceux qui
-les occupent._"
-
-The error in orthography is not the printers', but Napoleon Bonaparte's,
-and the document in which it occurs, is at present in the hands of M.
-Regnier of the Comédie Française.
-
-A month afterwards, Napoleon, or at least the consular trio of which he
-was the chief, assigned to the Opera a regular subsidy of 600,000 francs
-a year; he at the same time gave it a respectable name. Under the
-Convention it had been entitled "Théâtre de la République et des Arts;"
-the First Consul called it simply, "Théâtre des Arts," an appellation it
-had borne before.[90]
-
-Hardly had the new theatre in the Rue Lepelletier opened its doors,
-when a singer of the highest class, a tenor of the most perfect kind,
-made his appearance. This was Adolphe Nourrit, a pupil of Garcia, who,
-on the 10th of September, 1821, made his first appearance with the
-greatest success as "Pylade" in _Iphigénie en Tauride_. It was not,
-however, until Auber's _Muette de Portici_ was produced in 1828, that
-Nourrit had an opportunity of distinguishing himself in a new and
-important part.
-
-[Sidenote: LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.]
-
-_La Muette_ was the first of those important works to which the French
-Opera owes its actual celebrity in Europe. _Le Sičge de Corinthe_,
-translated and adapted from _Maometto II._, with additions (including
-the admirable blessing of the flags) written specially for the Académie,
-had been brought out eighteen months before, but without much success.
-_Maometto II._ was not one of Rossini's best works, the drama on which
-it was constructed was essentially feeble and uninteresting, and the
-manner in which the whole was "arranged" for the French stage, was
-unsatisfactory in many respects. _Le Sičge de Corinthe_ was greatly
-applauded the first night, but it soon ceased to have any attraction for
-the public. Rossini had previously written _Il Viaggio a Reims_ for the
-coronation of Charles X., and this work was re-produced at the Academy
-three years afterwards, with several important additions (such as the
-duet for "Isolier" and the "Count," the chorus of women, the
-unaccompanied quartett, the highly effective drinking chorus, and the
-beautiful trio of the last act), under the title of _le Comte Ory_. In
-the meanwhile _La Muette_ had been brought out, to be followed the year
-afterwards by _Guillaume Tell_, which was to be succeeded in its turn by
-Meyerbeer's _Robert le Diable_, _Les Huguenots_ and _Le Prophčte_,
-(works which belong specially to the Académie and with which its modern
-reputation is intimately associated), by Auber's _Gustave III._,
-Donizetti's _la Favorite_, &c.
-
-_La Muette de Portici_ had the great advantage of enabling the Académie
-to display all its resources at once. It was brought out with
-magnificent scenery and an excellent _corps de ballet_, with a _premičre
-danseuse_, Mademoiselle Noblet as the heroine, with the new tenor,
-Nourrit, in the important part of the hero, and with a well taught
-chorus capable of sustaining with due effect the prominent _rôle_
-assigned to it. For in the year 1828 it was quite a novelty at the
-French Opera to see the chorus taking part in the general action of the
-drama.
-
-[Sidenote: LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.]
-
-If we compare _La Muette_ with the "Grand Operas" produced subsequently
-at the Académie, we find that it differs from them all in some important
-respects. In the former, instead of a _prima donna_ we have a _prima
-ballerina_ in the principal female part. Of course the concerted pieces
-suffer by this, or rather the number of concerted pieces is diminished,
-and to the same cause may, perhaps, be attributed the absence of finales
-in _La Muette_. It chiefly owed its success (which is still renewed from
-time to time whenever it is re-produced) to the intrinsic beauty of its
-melodies and to the dramatic situations provided by the ingenious
-librettist, M. Scribe, and admirably taken advantage of by the composer.
-But the part of Fenella had also great attractions for those unmusical
-persons who are found in almost every audience in England and France,
-and for whom the chief interest in every opera consists in the
-skeleton-drama on which it is founded. To them the graceful Fenella with
-her expressive pantomime is no bad substitute for a singer whose words
-would be unintelligible to them, and whose singing, continued throughout
-the Opera, would perhaps fatigue their dull ears. These ballet-operas
-seem to have been very popular in France about the period when _La
-Muette_ was produced, the other most celebrated example of the style
-being Auber's _Le Dieu et la Bayadčre_. In the present day it would be
-considered that a _prima ballerina_, introduced as a principal character
-in an opera, would interfere too much with the combinations of the
-singing personages.
-
-I need say nothing about the charming music of _La Muette_, which is
-well known to every frequenter of the Opera, further than to mention,
-that the melody of the celebrated barcarole and chorus, "_Amis, amis le
-soleil va paraitre_" had already been heard in a work of Auber's, called
-_Emma_; and that the brilliant overture had previously served as an
-instrumental preface to _Le Maçon_.
-
-_La Muette de Portici_ was translated and played with great success in
-England. But shameful liberties were taken with the piece; recitatives
-were omitted, songs were interpolated: and it was not until _Masaniello_
-was produced at the Royal Italian Opera that the English public had an
-opportunity of hearing Auber's great work without suppressions or
-additions.
-
-The greatest opera ever written for the Académie, and one of the three
-or four greatest operas ever produced, was now about to be brought out.
-_Guillaume Tell_ was represented for the first time on the 3rd of
-August, 1829. It was not unsuccessful, or even coldly received the first
-night, as has often been stated; but the result of the first few
-representations was on the whole unsatisfactory. Musicians and
-connoisseurs were struck by the great beauties of the work from the very
-beginning; but some years passed before it was fully appreciated by the
-general public. The success of the music was certainly not assisted by
-the libretto--one of the most tedious and insipid ever put together; and
-it was not until Rossini's masterpiece had been cut down from five to
-three acts, that the Parisians, as a body, took any great interest in
-it.
-
-[Sidenote: GUILLAUME TELL.]
-
-_Guillaume Tell_ is now played everywhere in the three act form. Some
-years ago a German doctor, who had paid four francs to hear _Der
-Freischütz_ at the French Opera, proceeded against the directors for the
-recovery of his money, on the plea that it had been obtained from him on
-false pretences, the work advertised as _Der Freischütz_ not being
-precisely the _Der Freischütz_[91] which Karl Maria von Weber composed.
-The doctor might amuse himself (the authorities permitting) by bringing
-an action against the managers of the Berlin theatre every time they
-produce Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_--which is often enough, and always in
-three acts.
-
-The original cast of _Guillaume Tell_ included Nourrit, Levasseur,
-Dabadie, A. Dupont, Massol, and Madame Cinti-Damoreau. The singers and
-musicians of the Opera were enthusiastic in their admiration of the new
-work, and the morning after its production assembled on the terrace of
-the house where Rossini lived and performed a selection from it in his
-honour. One distinguished artist who took no part in this ceremony had,
-nevertheless, contributed in no small degree to the success of the
-opera. This was Mademoiselle Taglioni, whose _tyrolienne_ danced to the
-music of the charming unaccompanied chorus, was of course understood and
-applauded by every one from the very first.
-
-After the first run of _Guillaume Tell_, the Opera returned to _La
-Muette de Portici_, and then for a time Auber's and Rossini's
-masterpieces were played alternate nights. On Wednesday, July 3rd, 1830,
-_La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and with a certain political
-appropriateness;--for the "days of July" were now at hand, and the
-insurrectionary spirit had already manifested itself in the streets of
-Paris. The fortunes of _La Muette de Portici_ have been affected in
-various ways by the revolutionary character of the plot. Even in London
-it was more than once made a pretext for a "demonstration" by the
-radicals of William the Fourth's time. At most of the Italian theatres
-it has been either forbidden altogether or has had to be altered
-considerably before the authorities would allow it to be played. Strange
-as it may appear, in absolute Russia it has been represented times out
-of number in its original shape, under the title of _Fenella_.
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH NATIONAL SONGS.]
-
-We have seen that _Masaniello_ was represented in Paris four days before
-the commencement of the outbreak which ended in the elder branch of the
-Bourbons being driven from the throne. On the 26th of July, _Guillaume
-Tell_ was to have been represented, but the city was in such a state of
-agitation, in consequence of the issue of the _ordonnances_, signed at
-St. Cloud the day before, that the Opera was closed. On the 27th the
-fighting began and lasted until the 29th, when the Opera was re-opened.
-On the 4th of August, _La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and created
-the greatest enthusiasm,--the public finding in almost every scene some
-reminder, and now and then a tolerably exact representation, of what had
-just taken place within a stone's throw of the theatre. _La Muette_,
-apart from its music, became now the great piece of the day; and the
-representations at the Opera were rendered still more popular by
-Nourrit singing "_La Parisienne_" every evening. The melody of this
-temporary national song, like that of its predecessor (so infinitely
-superior to it), "_La Marseillaise_" (according to Castil Blaze), was
-borrowed from Germany. France, never wanting in national spirit, has yet
-no national air. It has four party songs, not one of which can be
-considered truly patriotic, and of which the only one that possesses any
-musical merit, disfigured as it has been by its French adapters, is of
-German origin.
-
-Nourrit is said to have delivered "_La Parisienne_" with wonderful
-vigour and animation, and to this and to Casimir Delavigne's verses (or
-rather to Delavigne's name, for the verses in themselves are not very
-remarkable) may be attributed the reputation which the French national
-song, No. 4,[92] for some time enjoyed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Guillaume Tell_ is Rossini's last opera. To surpass that admirable work
-would have been difficult for its own composer, impossible for any one
-else; and Rossini appears to have resolved to terminate his artistic
-career when it had reached its climax. In carrying out this resolution,
-he has displayed a strength of character, of which it is almost
-impossible to find another instance. Many other reasons have been given
-for Rossini's abstaining from composition during so many years, such as
-the coldness with which _Guillaume Tell_ was received (when, as we have
-seen, its _immediate_ reception by those whose opinion Rossini would
-chiefly have valued, was marked by the greatest enthusiasm), and the
-success of Meyerbeer's operas, though who would think of placing the
-most successful of Meyerbeer's works on a level with _Guillaume Tell_?
-
-"_Je reviendrai quand les juifs auront fini leur sabbat_," is a speech
-(somewhat uncharacteristic of the speaker, as it seems to me),
-attributed to Rossini by M. Castil Blaze; who, however, also mentions,
-that when _Robert le Diable_ was produced, every journal in Paris said
-that it was the finest opera, _except Guillaume Tell_, that had been
-produced at the Académie for years. It appears certain, now, that
-Rossini simply made up his mind to abdicate at the height of his power.
-There were plenty of composers who could write works inferior to
-_Guillaume Tell_, and to them he left the kingdom of opera, to be
-divided as they might arrange it among themselves. He was succeeded by
-Meyerbeer at the Académie; by Donizetti and Bellini at the Italian
-opera-houses of all Europe.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini had already found a follower, and, so to speak, an original
-imitator, in Auber, whose eminently Rossinian overture to _La Muette_,
-was heard at the Académie the year before _Guillaume Tell_.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S FOLLOWERS.]
-
-I need scarcely remind the intelligent reader, that the composer of
-three master-pieces in such very different styles as _Il Barbiere_,
-_Semiramide_, and _Guillaume Tell_, might have a dozen followers, whose
-works, while all resembling in certain points those of their predecessor
-and master, should yet bear no great general resemblance to one another.
-All the composers who came immediately after Rossini, accepted, as a
-matter of course, those important changes which he had introduced in the
-treatment of the operatic drama, and to which he had now so accustomed
-the public, that a return to the style of the old Italian masters, would
-have been not merely injudicious, but intolerable. Thus, all the
-post-Rossinian composers adopted Rossini's manner of accompanying
-recitative with the full band; his substitution of dialogued pieces,
-written in measured music, with a prominent connecting part assigned to
-the orchestra, for the interminable dialogues in simple recitative,
-employed by the earlier Italian composers; his mode of constructing
-finales; and his new distribution of characters, by which basses and
-baritones become as eligible for first parts as tenors, while great
-importance is given to the chorus, which, in certain operas, according
-to the nature of the plot, becomes an important dramatic agent. I may
-repeat, by way of memorandum, what has before been observed, that nearly
-all these forms originated with Mozart, though it was reserved for
-Rossini to introduce and establish them on the Italian stage. In short,
-with the exception of the very greatest masters of Germany, all the
-composers of the last thirty or forty years, have been to some, and
-often to a very great extent, influenced by Rossini. The general truth
-of this remark is not lessened by the fact, that Hérold and Auber, and
-even Donizetti and Bellini (the last, especially, in the simplicity of
-his melodies), afterwards found distinctive styles; and that Meyerbeer,
-after _Il Crociato_, took Weber, rather than Rossini, for his model--the
-composer of _Robert_ at the same time exhibiting a strongly marked
-individuality, which none of his adverse critics think of denying, and
-which is partly, no doubt, the cause of their adverse criticism.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S RETIREMENT.]
-
-What will make it appear to some persons still more astonishing, that
-Rossini should have retired after producing _Guillaume Tell_ is, that he
-had signed an agreement with the Académie, by which he engaged to write
-three grand operas for it in six years. In addition to his "author's
-rights," he was to receive ten thousand francs annually until the
-expiration of the sixth year, and the completion of the third opera. No.
-1 was _Guillaume Tell_. The librettos of Nos. 2 and 3 were _Gustave_ and
-_Le Duc d'Albe_, both of which were returned by Rossini to M. Scribe,
-perhaps, with an explanation, but with none that has ever been made
-public. Rossini was at this time thirty-seven years of age, strong and
-vigorous enough to have outlived, not only his earliest, but his latest
-compositions, had they not been the most remarkable dramatic works of
-this century. If Rossini had been a composer who produced with
-difficulty, his retirement would have been more easy to explain; but the
-difficulty with him must have been to avoid producing. The story is
-probably known to many readers of his writing a duet one morning, in
-bed, letting the music paper fall, and, rather than leave his warm
-sheets to pick it up, writing another duet, which was quite different
-from the first. A hundred similar anecdotes are told of the facility
-with which Rossini composed. Who knows but that he wished his career to
-be measured against those of so many other composers whose days were cut
-short, at about the age he had reached when he produced _Guillaume
-Tell_? A very improbable supposition, certainly, when we consider how
-little mysticism there is in the character of Rossini. However this may
-be, he ceased to write operas at about the age when many of his
-immediate predecessors and followers ceased to live.[93]
-
-And even Rossini had a narrow escape. About the critical period, when
-the composer of _Guillaume Tell_ was a little more than half way between
-thirty and forty, the Italian Theatre of Paris was burnt to the ground.
-This, at first sight, appears to have nothing to do with the question;
-but Rossini lived in the theatre, and his apartments were near the
-roof. He had started for Italy two days previously; had he remained in
-Paris, he certainly would have shared the fate of the other inmates who
-perished in the flames.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Meyerbeer is a composer who defies classification, or who, at least, may
-be classified in three different ways. As the author of the _Crociato_,
-he belongs to Italy, and the school of Rossini; _Robert le Diable_
-exhibits him as a composer chiefly of the German school, with a tendency
-to follow in the steps of Weber; but _Robert_, _les Huguenots_, _le
-Prophčte_, _l'Etoile du Nord_, and, above all _Dinorah_, are also
-characteristic of the composer himself. The committee of the London
-International Exhibition has justly decided that Meyerbeer is a German
-composer, and there is no doubt about his having been born in Germany,
-and educated for some time under the same professor as Karl Maria Von
-Weber; but it is equally certain that he wrote those works to which he
-owes his great celebrity for the Académie Royale of Paris, and as we are
-just now dealing with the history of the French Opera, this, I think, is
-the proper place in which to introduce the most illustrious of living
-and working composers.
-
-[Sidenote: REHEARSALS.]
-
-"The composer of _Il Crociato in Egitto_, an amateur, is a native of
-Berlin, where his father, a Jew, who is since dead, was a banker of
-great riches. The father's name was Beer, Meyer being merely a Jewish
-prefix, which the son thought fit to incorporate with his surname. He
-was a companion of Weber, in his musical studies. He had produced other
-operas which had been well received, but none of them was followed by or
-merited the success that attended _Il Crociato_." So far Mr. Ebers, who,
-in a few words, tells us a great deal of Meyerbeer's early career. The
-said _Crociato_, written for Venice, in 1824, was afterwards produced at
-the Italian Opera of Paris in 1825, six years before _Robert le Diable_
-was brought out at the Académie. In the summer of 1825, a few months
-before its production in Paris, it was modified in London, and Mr. Ebers
-informs us that the getting up of the opera, to which nine months were
-devoted at the Théâtre Italien, occupied at the King's Theatre only one.
-Such rapid feats are familiar enough to our operatic managers and
-musical conductors. But it must be remembered that a first performance
-in England is very often less perfect than a dress rehearsal in France;
-and, moreover, that between bringing out an original work (or an old
-work, in an original style), in Paris, and bringing out the same work
-afterwards, more or less conformably to the Parisian[94] model, in
-London, there is the same difference as between composing a picture and
-merely copying one. No singers and musicians read better than those of
-the French Académie, and it is a terrible mistake to suppose that so
-much time is required at that theatre for the production of a grand
-opera on account of any difficulty in making the _artistes_ acquainted
-with their parts. _Guillaume Tell_ was many months in rehearsal, but
-the orchestra played the overture at first sight in a manner which
-astonished and delighted Rossini. The great, and I may add, the
-inevitable fault of our system of management in England is that it is
-impossible to procure for a new opera a sufficient number of rehearsals
-before it is publicly produced. It is surprising how few "repetitions"
-suffice, but they would _not_ suffice if the same perfection was thought
-necessary on the first night which is obtained at the Paris and Berlin
-Operas, and which, in London, in the case of very difficult, elaborate
-works, is not reached until after several representations.
-
-However, _Il Crociato_ was brought out in London after a month's
-rehearsal. The manager left the musical direction almost entirely in the
-hands of Velluti, who had already superintended its production at
-Venice, and Florence, and who was engaged, as a matter of course, for
-the principal part written specially for him. The opera (of which the
-cast included, besides Velluti, Mademoiselle Garcia, Madame Caradori and
-Crivelli the tenor) was very successful, and was performed ten nights
-without intermission when the "run" was brought to a termination by the
-closing of the theatre. The following account of the music by Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, shows the sort of impression it made upon the old amateurs of
-the period.
-
-[Sidenote: MEYERBEER'S CROCIATO.]
-
-It was "quite of the new school, but not copied from its founder,
-Rossini; original, odd, flighty, and it might even be termed
-_fantastic_, but at times beautiful; here and there most delightful
-melodies and harmonies occurred, but it was unequal, solos were as rare
-as in all the modern operas, but the numerous concerted pieces much
-shorter and far less noisy than Rossini's, consisting chiefly of duets
-and terzettos, with but few choruses and no overwhelming accompaniments.
-Indeed, Meyerbeer has rather gone into the contrary extreme, the
-instrumental parts being frequently so slight as to be almost meagre,
-while he has sought to produce new and striking effects from the voices
-alone."
-
-Before speaking of Meyerbeer's better known and more celebrated works, I
-must say a few words about Velluti, a singer of great powers, but of a
-peculiar kind ("_non vir sed Veluti_") who, as I have said before,
-played the principal part in _Il Crociato_. He was the last of his
-tribe, and living at a time when too much license was allowed to singers
-in the execution of the music entrusted to them, so disgusted Rossini by
-his extravagant style of ornamentation, that the composer resolved to
-write his airs in future in such elaborate detail, that to embellish
-them would be beyond the power of any singer. Be this how it may,
-Rossini did not like Velluti's singing, nor Velluti Rossini's
-music--which sufficiently proves that the last of the sopranists was not
-a musician of taste.[95] Mr. Ebers tells us that "after making the tour
-of the principal Italian and German theatres, Velluti arrived in Paris,
-where the musical taste was not prepared for him," and that, "Rossini
-being at this time engaged at Paris under his agreement to direct there,
-Velluti did not enter into his plans, and having made no engagement
-there, came over to England without any invitation, but strongly
-recommended by Lord Burghersh." The re-appearance of a musico in London
-when the race was thought to be extinct, caused a great sensation, and
-not altogether of an agreeable kind. However, the Opera was crowded the
-night of his _début_; to the old amateurs it recalled the days of
-Pacchierotti, to the young ones, it was simply a strange and unexpected
-novelty. Some are said to have come to the theatre expressly to oppose
-him, while others were there for the avowed purpose of supporting him,
-from a feeling that public opinion had dealt harshly with the
-unfortunate man. Velluti had already sung at concerts, where his
-reception was by no means favourable. Indeed, Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells
-us "that the scurrilous abuse lavished upon him before he was heard, was
-cruel and illiberal," and that "it was not till after long deliberation,
-much persuasion, and assurances of support that the manager ventured to
-engage him for the remainder of the season."
-
-[Sidenote: VELLUTI.]
-
-Velluti's demeanour on entering the stage was highly prepossessing. Mr.
-Ebers says that "it was at once graceful and dignified," and that "he
-was in look and action the son of chivalry he represented."
-
-He adds, that "his appearance was received with mingled applause and
-disapprobation; but that "the scanty symptoms of the latter were
-instantly overwhelmed." The effect produced on the audience by the first
-notes Velluti uttered was most peculiar. According to Mr. Ebers, "there
-was a something of a preternatural harshness about them, which jarred
-even more strongly on the imagination than on the ear;" though, as he
-proceeded, "the sweetness and flexibility of those of his tones which
-yet remained unimpaired by time, were fully perceived and felt." Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe informs us, that "the first note he uttered gave a shock
-of surprise, almost of disgust, to inexperienced ears;" though,
-afterwards, "his performance was listened to with great attention and
-applause throughout, with but few _audible_ expressions of
-disapprobation speedily suppressed." The general effect of his
-performance is summed up in the following words:--"To the old he brought
-back some pleasing recollections; others, to whom his voice was new,
-became reconciled to it, and sensible of his merits; whilst many
-declared, to the last, his tones gave them more pain than pleasure."
-However, he drew crowded audiences, and no opera but Meyerbeer's
-_Crociato_ was performed until the end of the season.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Some years after the production of _Il Crociato_, Meyerbeer had written
-an _opéra comique_, entitled _Robert le Diable_, which was to have been
-represented at the Ventadour Theatre, specially devoted to that kind of
-performance. The company, however, at the "Théâtre de l'Opera Comique,"
-was not found competent to execute the difficult music of _Robert_, and
-the interesting libretto by M. M. Scribe and Delavigne, was altered and
-reduced, so as to suit the Académie. The celebrated "pruning knife" was
-brought out, and vigorously applied. What remained of the dialogue was
-adapted for recitative, and the character of "Raimbaud" was cut out in
-the fourth and fifth acts. With all these suppressions, the opera, as
-newly arranged, to be recited or sung from beginning to end, was still
-very long, and not particularly intelligible. However, the legend on
-which _Robert le Diable_ is founded is well suited for musical
-illustration, and the plot, with a little attention and a careful study
-of the book, may be understood, in spite of the absence of "Raimbaud,"
-who, in the original piece, is said to have served materially to aid and
-explain the progress of the drama.
-
-[Sidenote: ROBERT LE DIABLE.]
-
-If _Robert le Diable_ had been produced at the Opéra Comique, in the
-form in which it was originally conceived, the many points of
-resemblance it presents to _Der Freischütz_ would have struck every one.
-Meyerbeer seems to have determined to write a romantic semi-fantastic
-legendary opera, like _Der Freischütz_, and, in doing so, naturally
-followed in the footsteps of Weber. He certainly treats these legendary
-subjects with particular felicity, and I fancy there is more spontaneity
-in the music of _Robert le Diable_, and _Dinorah_, than in any other
-that he has composed; but this does not alter the fact that such
-subjects were first treated in music, and in a thoroughly congenial
-manner, by Karl Maria von Weber. Without considering how far Meyerbeer,
-in _Robert le Diable_, has borrowed his instrumentation and harmonic
-combinations from Weber, there can be no doubt about its being a work of
-much the same class as _Der Freischütz_; and it would have been looked
-upon as quite of that class, had it been produced, like _Der
-Freischütz_, with spoken dialogue, and with the popular characters more
-in relief.
-
-_Robert le Diable_, converted into a grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie, on the 21st of November, 1831. Dr. Véron, in his "Mémoires
-d'un Bourgeois de Paris," has given a most interesting account of all
-the circumstances which attended the rehearsals and first representation
-of this celebrated work. Dr. Véron had just undertaken the management of
-the Académie; and to have such an opera as _Robert le Diable_, with
-which to mark the commencement of his reign, was a piece of rare good
-fortune. The libretto, the music, the ballet, were all full of interest,
-and many of the airs had the advantage (in Paris) of being somewhat in
-the French style. The applause with which this, the best constructed of
-all M. Meyerbeer's works, was received, went on increasing from act to
-act; and, altogether, the success it obtained was immense, and, in some
-respects, unprecedented.
-
-Nourrit played the part of "Robert," Madame Cinti Damoreau that of
-"Isabelle." Mademoiselle Dorus and Levasseur were the "Alice" and the
-"Bertram." In the _pas de cinq_ of the second act, Noblet, Montessu, and
-Perrot appeared; and in the nuns' scene, the troop of resuscitated
-virgins was led by the graceful and seductive Taglioni. All the scenery
-was admirably painted, especially that of the moonlight _tableau_ in the
-third act. The costumes were rich and brilliant, the _mise en scčne_,
-generally, was remarkable for its completeness; in short, every one
-connected with the "getting up" of the opera from Habeneck, the musical
-conductor, to the property-men, gas-fitters and carpenters, whose names
-history has not preserved, did their utmost to ensure its success.
-
-In 1832, _Robert le Diable_ was brought out at the King's Theatre, with
-the principal parts sustained, as in Paris, by Nourrit, Levasseur, and
-Madame Damoreau. The part of "Alice" appears to have been given to
-Mademoiselle de Méric. This opera met with no success at the King's
-Theatre, and was scarcely better received at Covent Garden, where an
-English version was performed, with such alterations in Meyerbeer's
-music as will easily be conceived by those who remember how the works of
-Rossini, and, indeed, all foreign composers, were treated at this time,
-on the English stage.
-
-[Sidenote: ROBERT LE DIABLE.]
-
-In 1832, and, indeed, many years afterwards, when _Robert_ and _Les
-Huguenots_ had been efficiently represented in London by German
-companies, Meyerbeer's music was still most severely handled by some of
-our best musical critics. At present there is perhaps an inclination to
-go to the other extreme; but, at all events, full justice has now been
-rendered to M. Meyerbeer's musical genius. Let us hear what Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe (whose opinion I do not regard as one of authority, but only as
-an interesting index to that of the connoisseurs of the old school), has
-to say of the first, and, on the whole, the most celebrated of
-Meyerbeer's operas. He entertains the greatest admiration for _Don
-Giovanni_, _Fidelio_, _Der Freischütz_, and _Euryanthe_; but neither the
-subject, nor even the music of _Robert le Diable_, pleases him in the
-least. "Never," he says, "did I see a more disagreeable or disgusting
-performance. The sight of the resurrection of a whole convent of nuns,
-who rise from their graves, and begin dancing, like so many bacchants,
-is revolting; and a sacred service in a church, accompanied by an organ
-on the stage, not very decorous. Neither does the music of Meyerbeer
-compensate for a fable, which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability.
-Of course, I was not tempted to hear it again in its original form, and
-it did credit to the taste of the English public, that it was not
-endured at the Opera House, and was acted only a very few nights."
-
-Meyerbeer's second grand opera, _Les Huguenots_, was produced at the
-Académie Royale on the 26th of January, 1836, after twenty-eight full
-rehearsals, occasioning a delay which cost the composer a fine of thirty
-thousand francs. The expense of getting up the _Huguenots_ (in scenery,
-dresses, properties, &c.), amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand
-francs.
-
-[Sidenote: LES HUGUENOTS.]
-
-In London, and I believe everywhere on the continent except in Paris,
-the most popular of M. Meyerbeer's three grand operas is _Les
-Huguenots_. At the Académie, _Robert le Diable_ seems still to carry
-away the palm. Of late years, the admirable performance of Mario and
-Grisi, and of Titiens and Giuglini, in the duet of the fourth act, has
-had an immense effect in increasing the popularity of _Les Huguenots_
-with the English. This duet, the septett for male voices, the blessing
-of the daggers and the whole of the dramatic and animated scene of which
-it forms part, are certainly magnificent compositions; but the duet for
-"Raoul" and "Valentine" is the very soul of the work. At the theatres of
-Italy, the opera in question is generally "cut" with a free hand; and it
-is so long, that even after plentiful excisions an immense deal of
-music, and of fine music, still remains. But who would go to hear _Les
-Huguenots_, if the duet of the fourth act were omitted, or if the
-performance stopped at the end of act III.? On the other hand, the
-fourth act alone would always attract an audience; for, looked upon as a
-work by itself, it is by far the most dramatic, the most moving of all
-M. Meyerbeer's compositions. The construction of this act is most
-creditable to the librettist; while the composer, in filling up, and
-giving musical life to the librettist's design, has shown the very
-highest genius. It ends with a scene for two personages, but the whole
-act is of one piece. While the daggers are being distributed, while the
-plans of the chief agents in the massacre are being developed in so
-striking and forcible a manner, the scene between the alarmed "Raoul"
-and the terrified "Valentine" is, throughout, anticipated; and equally
-necessary for the success of the duet, from a musical as well as from a
-dramatic point of view, is the massive concerted piece by which this
-duet is preceded. To a composer, incapable or less capable than M.
-Meyerbeer, of turning to advantage the admirable but difficult situation
-here presented, there would, of course, have been the risk of an
-anti-climax; there was the danger that, after a stageful of fanatical
-soldiers and monks, crying out at the top of their voices for blood, it
-would be impossible further to impress the audience by any known musical
-means. Meyerbeer, however, has had recourse to the expression of an
-entirely different kind of emotion, or rather a series of emotions, full
-of admirable variations and gradations; and everyone who has heard the
-great duet of _Les Huguenots_ knows how wonderfully he has succeeded. It
-has been said that the idea of this scene originated with Nourrit. In
-any case, it was an idea which Scribe lost no time in profiting by, and
-the question does not in any way affect the transcendent merit of the
-composer.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Le Prophčte_, M. Meyerbeer's third grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie on the 16th of April, 1849, with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and
-Castellan, in the principal characters. This opera, like _Les
-Huguenots_, has been performed with great success in London. The part of
-"Jean" has given the two great tenors of the Royal Italian Opera--Mario
-and Tamberlik--opportunities of displaying many of their highest
-qualities as dramatic singers. The magnificent Covent Garden orchestra
-achieves a triumph quite of its own, in the grand march of the
-coronation scene; and the opera enables the management to display all
-its immense resources in the scenic department.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GUSTAVE III.]
-
-In passing from _Masaniello_ to Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, and from
-Rossini to Meyerbeer, we have lost sight too soon of the greatest
-composer France ever produced, and one who is ranked in all countries
-among the first composers of the century. I mean, of course, M. Auber,
-of whose works I should have more to say, if I had not determined, in
-this brief "History of the Opera" to pay but little attention to the
-French "Opéra Comique," which, with the exception of a very few examples
-(all by M. Auber)[96] is not a _genre_ that has been accepted anywhere
-out of France. In sketching, however, the history of the Grand Opera,
-it would be impossible to omit _Gustave III._ _Gustave ou le Bal
-Masqué_, composed on one of the two librettos returned to M. Scribe by
-Rossini,[97] was performed for the first time on the 27th of February,
-1833. This admirable work is not nearly so well known in England, or
-even in France, as it deserves to be. The government of Louis Philippe
-seems to have thought it imprudent to familiarize the Parisians with
-regicide, by exhibiting it to them three or four times a week on the
-stage, as the main incident of a very interesting drama; and after a
-certain number of representations, _Gustave_, which, taken altogether,
-is certainly Auber's masterpiece, was cut down to the ball-scene. In
-England, no one objected to the theatrical assassination of _Gustavus_;
-but unfortunately, also, no scruple was made about mutilating and
-murdering Auber's music. In short, the _Gustavus_ of Auber was far more
-cruelly ill-treated in London than the Gustavus of Sweden at his own
-masqued ball. Mr. Gye ought to produce _Gustavus_ at the Royal Italian
-Opera, where, for the first time in England, it would be worthily
-represented. The frequenters of this theatre have long been expecting
-it, though I am not aware that it has ever been officially promised.
-
-The original caste of _Gustave_ included Nourrit, Levasseur, Massol,
-Dabadie, Dupont, Mademoiselle Falcon, Mademoiselle Dorus, and Madame
-Dabadie. Nourrit, the original "Guillaume Tell," the original "Robert,"
-the original "Raoul," the original "Gustave," was then at the height of
-his fame; but he was destined to be challenged four years afterwards by
-a very formidable rival. He was the first, and the only first tenor at
-the Académie Royale de Musique, where he had been singing with a zeal
-and ardour equal to his genius for the last sixteen years, when the
-management engaged Duprez, to divide the principal parts with the
-vocalist already in office. After his long series of triumphs, Nourrit
-had no idea of sharing his laurels in this manner; nor was he at all
-sure that he was not about to be deprived of them altogether. "One of
-the two must succeed at the expense of the other," he declared; and
-knowing the attraction of novelty for the public, he was not at all sure
-that the unfortunate one would not be himself.
-
-"Duprez knows me," he said, "and comes to sing where I am. I do not know
-him, and naturally fear his approach." After thinking over the matter
-for a few days he resolved to leave the theatre. He chose for his last
-appearance the second act of _Armide_, in which "Renaud," the character
-assigned to the tenor, has to exclaim to the warrior, "Artemidore"--
-
-    "Allez, allez remplir ma place,
-     Aux lieux d'oů mon malheur me chasse," &c.
-
-To which "Artemidore" replies--
-
-    "Sans vous que peut on entreprendre?
-     Celui qui vous bannit ne pourra se défendre
-     De souhaiter votre retour."
-
-[Sidenote: NOURRIT.]
-
-The scene was very appropriate to the position of the singer who was
-about to be succeeded by Duprez. The public felt this equally with
-Nourrit himself, and testified their sympathy for the departing Renaud,
-by the most enthusiastic applause.
-
-Nourrit took his farewell of the French public on the 1st of April,
-1837, and on the 17th of the same month Duprez made his _début_ at the
-Académie, as "Arnold," in _William Tell_. The latter singer had already
-appeared at the Comédie Française, where, at the age of fifteen, he was
-entrusted with the soprano solos in the choruses of _Athalie_, and
-afterwards at the Odéon, where he played the parts of "Almaviva," in the
-_Barber of Seville_, and Ottavio," in _Don Juan_. He then visited Italy
-for a short time, returned to Paris, and was engaged at the Opéra
-Comique. Here his style was much admired, but his singing, on the whole,
-produced no great impression on the public. He once more crossed the
-Alps, studied assiduously, performed at various theatres in a great
-number of operas, and by incessant practice, and thanks also to the
-wonderful effect of the climate on his voice, attained the highest
-position on the Italian stage, and was the favourite tenor of Italy at a
-time when Rubini was singing every summer in London, and every winter in
-Paris. Before visiting Italy the second time, Duprez was a "light
-tenor," and was particularly remarkable for the "agility" of his
-execution. A long residence in a southern climate appears to have quite
-changed the nature of his voice; a transformation, however, which must
-have been considerably aided by the nature of his studies. He returned
-to France a _tenore robusto_, an impressive, energetic singer, excelling
-in the declamatory style, and in many respects the greatest dramatic
-vocalist the French had ever heard. As an actor, however, he was not
-equal to Nourrit, whose demeanour as an operatic hero is said to have
-been perfection. _Guillaume Tell_, with Duprez, in the part of "Arnold,"
-commenced a new career, and Rossini's great work now obtained from the
-general public that applause which, on its first production, it had, for
-the most part, received only from connoisseurs.
-
-[Sidenote: NOURRIT.]
-
-In the meanwhile, Nourrit, after performing with great success at
-Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyons, and elsewhere, went to Italy, and was
-engaged first at Milan, and afterwards at Florence and Naples. At each
-city fresh triumphs awaited him, but an incident occurred at Naples
-which sorely troubled the equanimity of the failing singer, whose mind,
-as we have seen, had already been disturbed by painful presentiments.
-Nourrit, to be sure, was only "failing" in this sense, that he was
-losing confidence in his own powers, which, however, by all accounts,
-remained undiminished to the last. He was a well-educated and a highly
-accomplished man, and besides being an excellent musician, possessed
-considerable literary talent, and a thorough knowledge of dramatic
-effect.[98] He had prepared two librettos, in which the part adapted
-for the tenor would serve to exhibit his double talent as an actor and
-as a singer. One of these musical dramas was founded on Corneille's
-_Polyeucte_, and, in the hands of Donizetti, became _I Martiri_; but
-just when it was about to be produced, the Neapolitan censorship forbade
-its production on the ground of the unfitness of religious subjects for
-stage representation. Nourrit was much dejected at being thus prevented
-from appearing in a part composed specially for him at his own
-suggestion, and in which he felt sure he would be seen and heard to the
-greatest advantage. A deep melancholy, such as he had already suffered
-from at Marseilles, to an extent which alarmed all his friends, now
-settled upon him. He appeared, and was greatly applauded, in
-Mercadante's _Il Giuramento_, and in Bellini's _Norma_, but soon
-afterwards his despondency was increased, and assumed an irritated form,
-from a notion that the applause the Neapolitans bestowed upon him was
-ironical.
-
-Nothing could alter his conviction on this point, which at last had the
-effect of completely unsettling his mind--unless it be more correct to
-say that mental derangement was itself the cause of the unhappy
-delusion. Finally, after a performance given for the benefit of another
-singer, in which Nourrit took part, his malady increased to such an
-extent that on his return home he became delirious, threw himself out of
-a window, at five in the morning, and was picked up in the street quite
-dead. This deplorable event occurred on the 8th of March, 1889.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The late "Académie Royale de Musique," the Théatre Italien of Paris, and
-all the chief opera houses of Italy are connected inseparably with the
-history of Opera in England. All the great works written by Rossini and
-Meyerbeer for the Académie have since been represented in London; the
-same singers for nearly half a century past have for the most part sung
-alternately at the Italian operas of Paris and of London; finally, from
-Italy we have drawn the great majority of the works represented at our
-best musical theatres, and nearly all our finest singers.
-
-[Sidenote: GERMAN OPERA.]
-
-German opera, in the meanwhile, stands in a certain way apart. Germany,
-compared with Italy, has sent us very few great singers. We have never
-looked to Germany for a constant supply of operas, and, indeed, Germany
-has not produced altogether half a dozen thoroughly German operas (that
-is to say, founded on German libretti, and written for German singers
-and German audiences), which have ever become naturalized in this
-country, or, indeed, anywhere out of their native land. Moreover, the
-most celebrated of the said _thoroughly_ German operas, such as
-_Fidelio_ and _Der Freischütz_, exercised no such influence on
-contemporary dramatic music as to give their composers a well-marked
-place in the operatic history of the present century, such as clearly
-belongs to Rossini. Beethoven, with his one great masterpiece, stands
-quite alone, and in the same way, Weber, with his strongly marked
-individuality has nothing in common with his contemporaries; and, living
-at the same time as Rossini, neither affected, nor was affected, by the
-style of a composer whose influence all the composers of the Italian
-school experienced. Accordingly, and that I may not entangle too much
-the threads of my narrative, I will now, having followed Rossini to
-Paris, and given some account of his successors at the French Opera,
-proceed to speak of Donizetti and Bellini, who were followers of Rossini
-in every sense. Of Weber and Beethoven, who are not in any way
-associated with the Rossini school, and only through the accident of
-birth with the Rossini period, I must speak in a later chapter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-DONIZETTI AND BELLINI.
-
-
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, had a horror
-of Rossini's music, and took care that all his printed works in the
-library should be placed beyond the reach of the young and innocent
-pupils. He was determined to preserve them, as far as possible, from the
-corrupt but seductive influence of this composer's brilliant,
-extravagant, meretricious style. But Donizetti, who at this time was
-studying at Naples, had heard several of the proscribed operas, and was
-most anxious to examine, on the music paper, the causes of the effects
-which had so delighted his ear at the theatre. The desired scores were
-on the highest shelf of the library; and the careful, conscientious
-librarian had removed the ladder by means of which alone it seemed
-possible to get to them.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-Donizetti stood watching the shelves which held the operas of Rossini
-like a cat before a bird cage; but the ladder was locked up, and the key
-in safe keeping in Sigismondi's pocket. Under a northern climate, the
-proper mode of action for Donizetti would have been to invite the jailor
-to a banquet, ply him with wine, and rob him of his keys as soon as he
-had reached a sufficiently advanced state of intoxication. Being in
-Italy, Donizetti should have made love to Sigismondi's daughter, and
-persuaded her to steal the keys from the old man during his mid-day
-_siesta_. Perhaps, however, Sigismondi was childless, or his family may
-have consisted only of sons; in any case, the young musician adopted
-neither of the schemes, by combining which the troubadour Blondel was
-enabled to release from captivity his adored Richard.[99] He resorted to
-a means which, if not wonderfully ingenious, was at least to the point,
-and which promised to be successful. He climbed, monkey-like, or
-cat-like, not to abandon our former simile, to the top shelf, and had
-his claws on the _Barber of Seville_, when who should enter the library
-but Sigismondi.
-
-The old man was fairly shocked at this perversity on the part of Gaetan
-Donizetti, reputed the best behaved student of the Academy. His morals
-would be corrupted, his young blood poisoned!--but fortunately the
-librarian had arrived in time, and he might yet be saved.
-
-Donizetti sprang to the ground with his prey--the full score of the
-_Barber of Seville_--in his clutches. He was about to devour it, when a
-hand touched him on the shoulder: he turned round, and before him stood
-the austere Sigismondi.
-
-The old librarian spoke to Gaetan as to a son; appealed to his sense of
-propriety, his honour, his conscience; and asked him, almost with tears
-in his eyes, how he could so far forget himself as to come secretly into
-the library to read forbidden books--and Rossini's above all? He pointed
-out the terrible effects of the course upon which the youthful Donizetti
-had so nearly entered; reminded him that one brass instrument led to
-another; and that when once he had given himself up to violent
-orchestration, there was no saying where he would stop.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-Donizetti could not or would not argue with the venerable and determined
-Sigismondi. At least, he did not oppose him; but he inquired whether, as
-a lesson in cacophony, it was not worth while just to look at Rossini's
-notorious productions. He reminded his stern adviser, that he had
-already studied good models under Mayer, Pilotti, and Mattei, and that
-it was natural he should now wish to complete his musical education, by
-learning what to avoid. He quoted the well known case of the Spartans
-and their Helots; inquired, with some emotion, whether the frightful
-example of Rossini was not sufficient to deter any well meaning
-composer, with a little strength of character, from following in his
-unholy path; and finally declared, with undisguised indignation, that
-Rossini ought to be made the object of a serious study, so that once for
-all his musical iniquities might be exposed and his name rendered a
-bye-word among the lovers and cultivators of pure, unsophisticated art!
-
-"Come to my arms, Gaetano," cried Sigismondi, much moved. "I can refuse
-nothing to a young man like you, now that I know your excellent
-intentions. A musician, who is imbued with the true principles of his
-art, may look upon the picture of Rossini's depravity not only without
-danger, but with positive advantage. Some it might weaken and
-destroy;--_you_ it can only fortify and uphold. Let us open these
-monstrous scores; their buffooneries may amuse us for an hour.
-
-"_Il Barbiere di Siviglia!_ I have not much to say about that,"
-commenced Sigismondi. "It is a trifle; besides, full justice was done to
-it at Rome. The notion of re-setting one of the master-pieces of the
-great Paisiello,--what audacity! No wonder it was hissed!"
-
-"Under Paisiello's direction," suggested Donizetti.
-
-"All a calumny, my young friend; pure calumny, I can assure you. There
-are so many Don Basilios in the musical world! Rossini's music was
-hissed because it was bad and because it recalled to the public
-Paisiello's, which was good." "But I have heard," rejoined Donizetti,
-"that at the second representation there was a great deal of applause,
-and that the enthusiasm of the audience at last reached such a point,
-that they honoured Rossini with a torch-light procession and conducted
-him home in triumph."
-
-"An invention of the newspapers," replied Sigismondi; "I believe there
-was a certain clique present prepared to support the composer through
-everything, but the public had already expressed its opinion. Never mind
-this musical burlesque, and let us take a glance at one of Rossini's
-serious operas."
-
-Donizetti wished for nothing better. This time he had no occasion to
-scale the shelf in his former feline style. The librarian produced the
-key of the mysterious closet in which the ladder was kept. The young
-musician ran up to the Rossini shelf like a lamp-lighter and brought
-down with him not one but half-a-dozen volumes.
-
-"Too many, too many," said Sigismondi, "one would have been quite
-enough. Well, let us open _Otello_."
-
-In the score which the old and young musician proposed to examine
-together, the three trombone parts, according to the Italian custom,
-were written on one and the same staff, thus 1ş, 2ş, 3ş _tromboni_.
-Sigismondi began his lecture on the enormities of Rossini as displayed
-in _Otello_ by reading the list of the instruments employed.
-
-"_Flutes_, two flutes; well there is not much harm in that. No one will
-hear them; only, with diabolical perfidy, one of these modern flutists
-will be sure to take a _piccolo_ and pierce all sensitive ears with his
-shrill whistling.
-
-"_Hautboys_, two hautboys; also good. Here Rossini follows the old
-school. I say nothing against his two hautboys; indeed, I quite approve
-of them.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-"_Clarionets!_ a barbarous invention, which the _Tedeschi_ might have
-kept them for themselves. They may be very good pipes for calling cows,
-but should be used for nothing else.
-
-"_Bassoons_; useless instruments, or nearly so. Our good masters
-employed them for strengthening the bass; but now the bassoon has
-acquired such importance, that solos are written for it. This is also a
-German innovation. Mozart would have done well to have left the bassoon
-in its original obscurity.
-
-"1st and 2nd _Horns_; very good. Horns and hautboys combine admirably. I
-say nothing against Rossini's horns.
-
-"3rd and 4th _Horns_! How many horns does the man want? _Quattro Corni,
-Corpo di Bacco!_ The greatest of our composers have always been
-contented with two. Shades of Pergolese, of Leo, of Jomelli! How they
-must shudder at the bare mention of such a thing. Four horns! Are we at
-a hunting party? Four horns! Enough to blow us to perdition."
-
-The indignation and rage of the old musician went on increasing as he
-followed the gradual development of a _crescendo_ until he arrived at
-the explosion of the _fortissimo_. Then Sigismondi uttered a cry of
-despair, struck the score violently with his fist, upset the table which
-the imprudent Donizetti had loaded with the nefarious productions of
-Rossini, raised his hands to heaven and rushed from the room,
-exclaiming, "a hundred and twenty-three trombones! A hundred and
-twenty-three trombones!"
-
-Donizetti followed the performer and endeavoured to explain the mistake.
-
-"Not 123 trombones, but 1st, 2nd, 3rd trombones," he gently observed.
-Sigismondi however, would not hear another word, and disappeared from
-the library crying "a hundred and twenty-three trombones," to the last.
-
-Donizetti came back, lifted up the table, placed the scores upon it and
-examined them in peace. He then, in his turn, concealed them so that he
-might be able another time to find them whenever he pleased without
-clambering up walls or intriguing to get possession of ladders.
-
-[Sidenote: ANNA BOLENA.]
-
-The inquiring student of the Conservatory of Naples was born, in 1798,
-at Bergamo, and when he was seventeen years of age was put to study
-under Mayer, who, before the appearance of Rossini, shared with Paer the
-honour of being the most popular composer of the day. His first opera
-_Enrico di Borgogna_ was produced at Venice in 1818, and obtained so
-much success that the composer was entrusted with another commission for
-the same city in the following year. After writing an opera for Mantua
-in 1819 _Il Falegname di Livonia_, Donizetti visited Rome, where his
-_Zoraide di Granata_ procured him an exemption from the conscription and
-the honour of being carried in triumph and crowned at the Capitol.
-Hitherto he may be said to have owed his success chiefly to his skilful
-imitation of Rossini's style, and it was not until 1830, when _Anna
-Bolena_ was produced at Milan (and when, curiously enough, Rossini had
-just written his last opera), that he exhibited any striking signs of
-original talent. This work, which is generally regarded as Donizetti's
-master-piece, or at least was some time ago (for of late years no one
-has had an opportunity of hearing it), was composed for Pasta and
-Rubini, and was first represented for Pasta's benefit in 1831. It was in
-this opera that Lablache gained his first great triumph in London.
-
-Donizetti visited Paris in 1835, and there produced his _Marino
-Faliero_, which contains several spirited and characteristic pieces,
-such as the opening chorus of workmen in the Arsenal and the gondolier
-chorus at the commencement of the second act. The charming _Elisir
-d'Amore_, the most graceful, melodious, moreover the most
-characteristic, and in many respects the best of all Donizetti's works,
-was written for Milan in 1832. In this work Signor Mario made his
-re-appearance at the Italian Opera of Paris in 1839; he had previously
-sung for some time at the Académie Royale in _Robert_ and other operas.
-
-_Lucia di Lammermoor_, Donizetti's most popular opera, containing some
-of the most beautiful melodies in the sentimental style that he has
-composed, and altogether his best finale, was produced at Naples in
-1835. The part of "Edgardo" was composed specially for Duprez, that of
-"Lucia" for Persiani.
-
-The pretty little opera or operetta entitled _Il Campanello di Notte_
-was written under very interesting circumstances to save a little
-Neapolitan theatre from ruin. Donizetti heard that the establishment was
-in a failing condition, and that the performers were without money and
-in great distress. He sought them out, supplied their immediate wants,
-and one of the singers happening to say that if Donizetti would give
-them a new opera, their fortunes would be made: "As to that," replied
-the Maestro, "you shall have one within a week." To begin with, a
-libretto was necessary, but none was to be had. The composer, however,
-possessed considerable literary talent, and recollecting a vaudeville
-which he had seen some years before in Paris, called _La Sonnette de
-Nuit_, he took that for his subject, re-arranged it in an operatic form,
-and in nine days the libretto was written, the music composed, the parts
-learnt, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. It would have been
-difficult to have given a greater proof of generosity, and of fertility
-and versatility of talent. I may here mention that Donizetti designed,
-and wrote the words, as well as the music of the last act of the
-_Lucia_; that the last act of _La Favorite_ was also an afterthought of
-his; and that he himself translated into Italian the libretti of Betly
-and _La Fille du Regiment_.
-
-[Sidenote: VICTOR HUGO AT THE OPERA.]
-
-When _Lucrezia Borgia_ (written for Milan in 1834) was produced in
-Paris, in 1840, Victor Hugo, the author of the admirable tragedy on
-which it is founded, contested the right of the Italian librettists, to
-borrow their plots from French dramas; maintaining that the
-representation of such libretti in France constituted an infringement of
-the French dramatists' "_droits d'auteur_." He gained his action, and
-_Lucrezia Borgia_ became, at the Italian Opera of Paris, _La Rinegata_,
-the Italians at the court of Pope Alexander the Sixth being
-metamorphosed into Turks. A French version of _Lucrezia Borgia_ was
-prepared for the provinces, and entitled _Nizza di Grenada_.
-
-[Sidenote: AUTHORS' RIGHTS.]
-
-A year or two afterwards, Verdi's _Hernani_ experienced the same fate at
-the Théâtre Italien as _Lucrezia Borgia_. Then the original authors of
-_La Pie Voleuse_, _La Grace de Dieu_, &c., followed Victor Hugo's
-example, and objected to the performance of _La Gazza Ladra_ and _Linda
-di Chamouni_, &c. Finally, an arrangement was made, and at present
-exists, by which Italian operas founded on French dramas may be
-performed in Paris on condition of an indemnity being paid to the French
-dramatists. Marsolier, the author of the Opéra Comique, entitled _Nina,
-ou la Folle par Amour_, set to music by Dalayrac, had applied for an
-injunction twenty-three years before, to prevent the representation of
-Paisiello's _Nina_, in Paris; but the Italian disappeared before the
-question was tried. The principle, however, of an author's right of
-property in a work, or any portion of a work, had been established
-nearly two centuries before. In a "privilege" granted to St. Amant in
-1653, for the publication of his _Moise Sauvé_, it is expressly
-forbidden to extract from that "epic poem" subjects for novels and
-plays. These cautions proved unnecessary, as the work so strictly
-protected contained no available materials for plays, novels, or any
-other species of literary composition, including even "epic poems;" but
-_Moise Sauvé_ has nevertheless been the salvation of several French
-authors whose property might otherwise have been trespassed upon to a
-considerable extent. Nevertheless, the principle of an author's sole,
-inalienable interest in the incidents he may have invented or combined,
-without reference to the new form in which they may be presented,
-cannot, as a matter of course, be entertained anywhere; but the system
-of "author's rights" so energetically fought for and conquered by
-Beaumarchais has a very wide application in France, and only the other
-day it was decided that the translators and arrangers of _Le Nozze di
-Figaro_, for the Théâtre Lyrique must share their receipts with the
-descendants and heirs of the author of _Le Mariage de Figaro_. It will
-appear monstrous to many persons in England who cannot conceive of
-property otherwise than of a material, palpable kind, that
-Beaumarchais's representatives should enjoy any interest in a work
-produced three-quarters of a century ago; but as his literary
-productions possess an actual, easily attainable value, it would be
-difficult to say who ought to profit by it, if not those who, under any
-system of laws, would benefit by whatever other possessions he might
-have left. It may be a slight advantage to society, in an almost
-inappreciable degree, that "author's rights" should cease after a
-certain period; but, if so, the same principle ought to be applied to
-other forms of created value. The case was well put by M. de Vigny, in
-the "Revue des Deux Mondes," in advocating the claims of a
-grand-daughter, or great grand-daughter of Sedaine. He pointed out, that
-if the dramatist in question, who was originally an architect, had built
-a palace, and it had lasted until the present day, no one would have
-denied that it descended naturally to his heirs; and that as, instead of
-building in stone, he devoted himself to the construction of operas and
-plays, the results of his talent and industry ought equally to be
-regarded as the inalienable property of his descendants.
-
-[Sidenote: LA FAVORITE.]
-
-But to return to _Lucrezia Borgia_, which, with _Lucia_ and _La
-Favorite_, may be ranked amongst the most successful of Donizetti's
-productions. The favour with which _Lucrezia_ is received by audiences
-of all kinds may be explained, in addition to the merit of much of the
-music, by the manner in which the principal parts are distributed, so
-that the cast, to be efficient, must always include four leading
-singers, each of whom has been well-provided for by the composer. It
-contains less recitative than any of Rossini's operas--a great
-advantage, from a popular point of view, it having been shown by
-experience that the public of the present day do not care for recitative
-(especially when they do not understand a word of it), but like to pass
-as quickly as possible from one musical piece to another. From an
-artistic point of view the shortness of Donizetti's recitatives is not
-at all to be regretted, for the simple reason that he has never written
-any at all comparable to those of Rossini, whose dramatic genius he was
-far from possessing. The most striking situation in the drama, a
-thoroughly musical situation of which a great composer, or even an
-energetic, passionate, melo-dramatic composer, like Verdi, would have
-made a great deal, is quite lost in the hands of Donizetti. The
-_Brindisi_ is undeniably pretty, and was never considered vulgar until
-it had been vulgarised. But Donizetti has shown no dramatic power in the
-general arrangement of the principal scene, and the manner in which the
-drinking song is interrupted by the funeral chorus, has rather a
-disagreeable, than a terrible or a solemn effect. The finale to the
-first act, or "prologue," is finely treated, but "Gennaro's" dying scene
-and song, is the most dramatic portion of the work, which it ought to
-terminate, but unfortunately does not. I think it might be shown that
-_Lucrezia_ marks the distance about half way between the style of
-Rossini and that of Verdi. Not that it is so much inferior to the works
-of the former, or so much superior to those of the latter; but that
-among Donizetti's later operas, portions of _Maria di Rohan_ (Vienna,
-1843), might almost have been written by the composer of _Rigoletto_;
-whereas, the resemblance for good or for bad, between these two
-musicians, of the decadence, is not nearly so remarkable, if we compare
-_Lucrezia Borgia_ with one of Verdi's works. Still, in _Lucrezia_ we
-already notice that but little space is accorded to recitative, which
-in the _Trovatore_ finds next to none; we meet with choruses written in
-the manner afterwards adopted by Verdi, and persisted in by him to the
-exclusion of all other modes; while as regards melody, we should
-certainly rather class the tenor's air in _I Lombardi_ with that in
-_Lucrezia Borgia_, than the latter with any air ever composed by
-Rossini.
-
-When Donizetti revisited Paris in 1840, he produced in succession _I
-Martiri_ (the work written for Nourrit and objected to by the Neapolitan
-censorship), _La Fille du Regiment_, written for the Opéra Comique, and
-_La Favorite_, composed in the first instance for the Théâtre de la
-Renaissance, but re-arranged for the Académie, when the brief existence
-of the Théâtre de la Renaissance had come to an end. As long as it
-lasted, this establishment, opened for the representation of foreign
-operas in the French language, owed its passing prosperity entirely to a
-French version of the _Lucia_.
-
-Jenny Lind, Sontag, Alboni, have all appeared in _La Figlia del
-Reggimento_ with great success; but when this work was first produced in
-Paris, with Madame Thillon in the principal part, it was not received
-with any remarkable favour. It is full of smooth, melodious, and highly
-animated music, but is, perhaps, wanting in that piquancy of which the
-French are such great admirers, and which rendered the duet for the
-vivandičres, in Meyerbeer's _Etoile du Nord_, so much to their taste.
-_L'Ange de Nigida_, converted into _La Favorite_ (and founded in the
-first instance on a French drama, _Le Comte de Commingues_) was brought
-out at the Académie, without any expense in scenery and "getting up,"
-and achieved a decided success. This was owing partly to the pretty
-choral airs at the commencement, partly to the baritone's cavatina
-(admirably sung by Barroilhet, who made his _début_ in the part of
-"Alphonse"); but, above all, to the fourth act, with its beautiful
-melody for the tenor, and its highly dramatic scene for the tenor and
-soprano, including a final duet, which, if not essentially dramatic in
-itself, occurs at least in a most dramatic situation.
-
-The whole of the fourth act of _La Favorite_, except the cavatina, _Ange
-si pur_, which originally belonged to the Duc d'Albe, and the _andante_
-of the duet, which was added at the rehearsals, was written in three
-hours. Donizetti had been dining at the house of a friend, who was
-engaged in the evening to go to a party. On leaving the house, the host,
-after many apologies for absenting himself, intreated Donizetti to
-remain, and finish his coffee, which Donizetti, being inordinately fond
-of that stimulant, took care to do. He asked at the same time for some
-music paper, began his fourth act, and finding himself in the vein for
-composition, went on writing until he had completed it. He had just put
-the final stroke to the celebrated "_Viens dans une autre patrie_," when
-his friend returned, at one in the morning, and congratulated him on the
-excellent manner in which he had employed his time.
-
-[Sidenote: L'ELISIR D'AMORE.]
-
-After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which last city he wrote
-_Linda di Chamouni_, Donizetti returned to Paris, and in 1843 composed
-_Don Pasquale_ for the Théâtre Italien, and _Don Sebastien_ for the
-Académie. The lugubrious drama to which the music of _Don Sebastien_ is
-wedded, proved fatal to its success. On the other hand, the brilliant
-gaiety of _Don Pasquale_, rendered doubly attractive by the admirable
-execution of Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, delighted all who
-heard it. The pure musical beauty of the serenade, and of the quartett,
-one of the finest pieces of concerted music Donizetti ever wrote, were
-even more admired than the lively animated dialogue-scenes, which are in
-Donizetti's very best style; and the two pieces just specified, as well
-as the baritone's cavatina, _Bella siccome un angelo_, aided the general
-success of the work, not only by their own intrinsic merit, but also by
-the contrast they present to the comic conversational music, and the
-buffo airs of the bass. The music of _Don Pasquale_ is probably the
-cleverest Donizetti ever wrote; but it wants the _charm_ which belongs
-to that of his _Elisir d'Amore_, around which a certain sentiment, a
-certain atmosphere of rustic poetry seems to hang, especially when we
-are listening to the music of "Nemorino" or "Norina." Even the comic
-portions in the _Elisir_ are full of grace, as for instance, the
-admirable duet between "Norina" and "Dulcamara;" and the whole work
-possesses what is called "colour," that is to say, each character is
-well painted by the music, which, moreover, is always appropriate to
-the general scene. To look for "colour," or for any kind of poetry in a
-modern drawing-room piece of intrigue, like _Don Pasquale_, with the
-notaries of real life, and with lovers in black coats, would be absurd.
-I may mention that the libretto of _Don Pasquale_ is a re-arrangement of
-Pavesi's _Ser Marcantonio_ (was "_Ser_" _Marcantonio_ an Englishman?)
-produced in 1813.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S REPERTOIRE.]
-
-In the same year that Donizetti brought out _Don Pasquale_ in Paris, he
-produced _Maria di Rohan_ at Vienna. The latter work contains an
-admirable part for the baritone, which has given Ronconi the opportunity
-of showing that he is not only an excellent buffo, but is also one of
-the finest tragic actors on the stage. The music of _Maria di Rohan_ is
-highly dramatic: that is to say, very appropriate to the various
-personages, and to the great "situations" of the piece. In pourtraying
-the rage of the jealous husband, the composer exhibits all that
-earnestness and vigour for which Verdi has since been praised--somewhat
-sparingly, it is true, but praised nevertheless by his admirers. The
-contralto part, on the other hand, is treated with remarkable elegance,
-and contains more graceful melodies than Verdi is in the habit of
-composing. I do not say that Donizetti is in all respects superior to
-Verdi; indeed, it seems to me that he has not produced any one opera so
-thoroughly dramatic as _Rigoletto_; but as Donizetti and Verdi are
-sometimes contrasted, and as it was the fashion during Donizetti's
-lifetime, to speak of his music as light and frivolous, I wish to
-remark that in one of his latest operas he wrote several scenes, which,
-if written by Verdi, would be said to be in that composer's best style.
-
-Donizetti's last opera, _Catarina Comaro_, was produced in Naples in the
-year 1844. This was his sixty-third dramatic work, counting those only
-which have been represented. There are still two operas of Donizetti's
-in existence, which the public have not heard. One, a piece in one act,
-composed for the Opéra Comique, and which is said every now and then to
-be on the point of being performed; the other, _Le Duc d'Albe_, which,
-as before-mentioned, was written for the Académie Royale, on one of the
-two libretti returned by Rossini to Scribe, after the composer of
-_William Tell_ came to his mysterious resolution of retiring from
-operatic life.
-
-Of Donizetti's sixty-three operas, about two-thirds are quite unknown to
-England, and of the nine or ten which may still be said to keep the
-stage, the earliest produced, _Anna Bolena_, is the composer's
-thirty-second work. _Anna Bolena_, _L'Elisir d'Amore_, _Lucrezia
-Borgia_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, and _Roberto Devereux_, are included
-between the numbers 31 and 52, while between the numbers 53 and 62, _La
-Fille du Regiment_, _La Favorite_, _Linda di Chamouni_, _Don Pasquale_,
-and _Maria di Rohan_, are found. The first five of Donizetti's most
-popular operas, were produced between the years 1830 and 1840; the last
-five between the years 1840 and 1844. Donizetti appears, then, to have
-produced his best serious operas during the middle period of his
-career--unless it be considered that _La Favorite_, _Linda di Chamouni_,
-and _Maria di Rohan_, are superior to _Anna Bolena_, _Lucrezia Borgia_,
-and _Lucia di Lammermoor_; and to the same epoch belongs _L'Elisir
-d'Amore_, which in my opinion is the freshest, most graceful, and most
-melodious of his comic operas, though some may prefer _La Fille du
-Regiment_ or _Don Pasquale_, both full of spirit and animation.
-
-It is also tolerably clear, from an examination of Donizetti's works in
-the order in which they were produced, that during the last four or five
-years of his artistic life he produced more than his average number of
-operas, possessing such merit that they have taken their place in the
-repertoires of the principal opera houses of Europe. Donizetti had lost
-nothing either in fertility or in power, while he appeared in some
-respects to be modifying and improving his style. Thus, in the Swiss
-opera of _Linda di Chamouni_ (Vienna, 1842), we find, especially in the
-music of the contralto part, a considerable amount of local colour--an
-important dramatic element which Donizetti had previously overlooked,
-or, at least, had not turned to any account; while _Maria di Rohan_
-contains the best dramatic music of a passionate kind that Donizetti has
-ever written.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S DEATH.]
-
-In composing, Donizetti made no use of the pianoforte, and wrote, as may
-be imagined, with great rapidity, never stopping to make a correction,
-though he is celebrated among the modern Italian composers for the
-accuracy of his style. Curiously enough, he never went to work without
-having a small ivory scraper by his side; and any one who has studied
-intellectual peculiarities will understand, that once wanting this
-instrument, he might have felt it necessary to scratch out notes and
-passages every minute. Mr. J. Wrey Mould, in his interesting "memoir,"
-tells us that this ivory scraper was given to Donizetti by his father
-when he consented, after a long and strenuous opposition, to his
-becoming a musician. An unfilial son might have looked upon the present
-as not conveying the highest possible compliment that could be paid him.
-The old gentleman, however, was quite right in impressing upon the
-bearer of his name, that having once resolved to be a composer, he had
-better make up his mind to produce as little rubbish as possible.
-
-The first signs of the dreadful malady to which Donizetti ultimately
-succumbed, manifested themselves during his last visit to Paris, in
-1845. Fits of absence of mind, followed by hallucinations and all the
-symptoms of mental derangement followed one another rapidly, and with
-increasing intensity. In January, 1846, it was found necessary to place
-the unfortunate composer in an asylum at Ivry, and in the autumn of
-1847, his medical advisers recommended as a final experiment, that he
-should be removed to Bergamo, in the hope that the air and scenes of his
-birth-place would have a favourable influence in dispelling, or, at
-least, diminishing the profound melancholy to which he was now subject.
-During his journey, however, he was attacked by paralysis, and his
-illness assumed a desperate and incurable character.
-
-Donizetti was received at Bergamo by the Maestro Dolci, one of his
-dearest friends. Here paralysis again attacked him, and a few days
-afterwards, on the 8th of April, 1848, he expired, in his fifty-second
-year, having, during the twenty-seven years of his life, as a composer,
-written sixty-four operas; several masses and vesper services; and
-innumerable pieces of chamber music, including, besides arias,
-cavatinas, and vocal concerted pieces, a dozen quartetts for stringed
-instruments, a series of songs and duets, entitled _Les soirées du
-Pausilippe_, a cantata entitled _la Morte d'Ugolino_, &c., &c.
-
-Antoine, Donizetti's attendant at Ivry, became much attached to him, and
-followed him to Bergamo, whence he forwarded to M. Adolphe Adam, a
-letter describing his illustrious patient's last moments, and the public
-honours paid to his memory at the funeral.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S DEATH.]
-
-"More than four thousand persons," he relates, "were present at the
-ceremony. The procession was composed of the numerous clergy of Bergamo;
-the most illustrious members of the community and its environs, and of
-the civic guard of the town and suburbs. The discharges of musketry,
-mingled with the light of three or four hundred large torches,
-presented a fine effect--the whole was enhanced by the presence of
-three military bands, and the most propitious weather it was possible to
-behold. The service commenced at ten o'clock in the morning, and did not
-conclude until half-past two. The young gentlemen of Bergamo insisted on
-bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-citizen, although the
-cemetery in which they finally rested lay at a distance of a
-league-and-a-half from the town. The road there was crowded along its
-whole length by people who came from the surrounding country to witness
-the procession--and, to give due praise to the inhabitants of Bergamo,
-never, hitherto, had such great honours been bestowed upon any member of
-that city."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Bellini, who was Donizetti's contemporary, but who was born nine years
-after him, and died thirteen years before, was a native of Sicily. His
-father was an organist at Catania, and under him the future composer of
-_Norma_ and _La Sonnambula_, took his first lessons in music. A Sicilian
-nobleman, struck by the signs of genius which young Bellini evinced at
-an early age, persuaded his father to send him to Naples, supporting his
-arguments with an offer to pay his expenses at the celebrated
-Conservatorio. Here one of Bellini's fellow pupils was Mercadante, the
-future composer of _Il Giuramento_, an opera which, in spite of the
-frequent attempts of the Italian singers to familiarize the English
-public with its numerous beauties, has never been much liked in this
-country. I do not say that it has not been justly appreciated on the
-whole, but that the grace of some of the melodies, the acknowledged
-merit of the orchestration and the elegance and distinction which seem
-to me to characterize the composer's style generally, have not been
-accepted as compensating for his want of passion and of that spontaneity
-without which the expression of strong emotion of any kind is naturally
-impossible. Mercadante could never have written _Rigoletto_, but,
-probably, a composer of inferior natural gifts to Verdi might, with a
-taste for study and a determination to bring his talent to perfection,
-have produced a work of equal artistic merit to _Il Giuramento_. And
-here we must take leave of Mercadante, whose place in the history of the
-opera is not a considerable one, and who, to the majority of English
-amateurs, is known only by his _Bella adorata_, a melody of which Verdi
-has shown his estimation by borrowing it, diluting it, and re-arranging
-it with a new accompaniment for the tenor's song in _Luisa Miller_.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-I should think Mercadante must have written better exercises, and passed
-better examinations at the Conservatorio than his young friend Bellini,
-though the latter must have begun at an earlier age to compose operas.
-Bellini's first dramatic work was written and performed while he was
-still a student. Encouraged by its success, he next composed music to a
-libretto already "set" by Generali, and entitled _Adelson e Salvino_.
-_Adelson_ was represented before the illustrious Barbaja, who was at
-that time manager of the two most celebrated theatres in Italy, the St.
-Carlo at Naples, and La Scala at Milan,--as well as of the Italian opera
-at Vienna, to say nothing of some smaller operatic establishments also
-under his rule. The great impresario, struck by Bellini's promise,
-commissioned him to write an opera for Naples, and, in 1826, his _Bianca
-e Fernando_ was produced at the St. Carlo. This work was so far
-successful, that it obtained a considerable amount of applause from the
-public, while it inspired Barbaja with so much confidence that he
-entrusted the young composer, now twenty years of age, with the libretto
-of _il Pirata_, to be composed for La Scala. The tenor part was written
-specially for Rubini, who retired into the country with Bellini, and
-studied, as they were produced, the simple, touching airs which he
-afterwards delivered on the stage with such admirable expression.
-
-_Il Pirata_ was received with enthusiasm by the audiences of La Scala,
-and the composer was requested to write another work for the same
-theatre. _La Straniera_ was brought out at Milan in 1828, the principal
-parts being entrusted to Donzelli, Tamburini, and Madame Tosi. This,
-Bellini's third work, appears, on the whole, to have maintained, but
-scarcely to have advanced, his reputation. Nevertheless, when it was
-represented in London soon after its original production, it was by no
-means so favourably received as _Il Pirato_ had been.
-
-Bellini's _Zaira_, executed at Parma, in 1829, was a failure--soon,
-however, to be redeemed by his fifth work, _Il Capuletti ed i
-Montecchi_, which was written for Venice, and was received with all
-possible expressions of approbation. In London, the new operatic version
-of _Romeo and Juliet_ was not particularly admired, and owed what
-success it obtained entirely to the acting and singing of Madame Pasta
-in the principal part. It may be mentioned that the libretto of
-Bellini's _I Montecchi_ had already served his master, Zingarelli, for
-his opera of _Romeo e Julietta_.
-
-[Sidenote: LA SONNAMBULA.]
-
-The time had now arrived at which Bellini was to produce his
-master-pieces, _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_; the former of which was
-written for _La Scala_, in 1831, the latter, for the same theatre, in
-the year following. The success of _La Sonnambula_ has been great
-everywhere, but nowhere so great as in England, where it has been
-performed in English and in Italian, oftener than any other two or
-perhaps three operas, while probably no songs, certainly no songs by a
-foreign composer, were ever sold in such large numbers as _All is lost_
-and _Do not mingle_. The libretto of _La Sonnambula_, by Romani, is one
-of the most interesting and touching, and one of the best suited for
-musical illustration in the whole _répertoire_ of _libretti_. To the
-late M. Scribe, belongs the merit of having invented the charming story
-on which Romani's and Bellini's opera is founded; and it is worthy of
-remark that he had already presented it in two different dramatic forms
-before any one was struck with its capabilities for musical treatment. A
-thoroughly, essentially, dramatic story can be presented on the stage in
-any and every form; with music, with dialogue, or with nothing but dumb
-action. Tried by this test, the plots of a great number of merely well
-written comedies would prove worthless; and so in substance they are. On
-the other hand, the vaudeville of _La Somnambula_, became, as
-re-arranged by M. Scribe, the ballet of _La Somnambule_, (one of the
-prettiest, by the way, from a choregraphic point of view ever produced);
-which, in the hands of Romani, became the libretto of an opera; which
-again, vulgarly treated, has been made into a burlesque; and, loftily
-treated, might be changed (I will not say elevated, for the operatic
-form is poetical enough), into a tragedy.
-
-The beauties of _La Sonnambula_, so full of pure melody and of emotional
-music, of the most simple and touching kind, can be appreciated by every
-one; by the most learned musician and the most untutored amateur, or
-rather let us say by any play-goer, who, not having been born deaf to
-the voice of music, hears an opera for the first time in his life. It
-was given, however, to an English critic, to listen to this opera, as
-natural and as unmistakably beautiful as a bed of wild flowers, through
-a special ear-trumpet of his own; and in number 197 of the most
-widely-circulated of our literary journals, the following remarks on
-_La Sonnambula_ appeared. With the exception of one or two pretty
-_motivi_, exquisitely given by Pasta and Rubini, the music is sometimes
-scarcely on a level with that of _Il Pirata_, and often sinks below it;
-there is a general thinness and want of effect in the instrumentation
-not calculated to make us overlook the other defects of this
-composition, which, in our humble judgment, are compensated by no
-redeeming beauties. Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of
-grandeur, no touch of true pathos in the common place workings of his
-mind. He cannot reach the _Opera semi-seria_; he should confine his
-powers to the lowest walk of the musical drama, the one act _Opera
-buffa_."
-
-Equally ill fared _Norma_ at the hands of another musical critic to
-whose "reminiscences" I have often had to refer, but who tells us that
-he did not hear the work in question himself. He speaks of it simply as
-a production of which the scene is laid in _Wales_, and adds that "it
-was not liked."
-
-Yet _Norma_ has been a good deal liked since its first production at
-Milan, now nearly thirty years ago; and from Madame Pasta's first to
-Madame Grisi's last appearance in the principal part, no great singer
-with any pretension to tragic power has considered her claims fully
-recognised until she has succeeded in the part of the Druid priestess.
-
-[Sidenote: I PURITANI.]
-
-_Beatrice di Tenda_, Bellini's next opera after _Norma_, cannot be
-reckoned among his best works. It was written for Venice, in 1833, and
-was performed in England for the first time, in 1836. It met with no
-very great success in Italy or elsewhere.
-
-In 1834, Bellini went to Paris, having been requested to write an opera
-for the excellent Théâtre Italien of that capital. The company at the
-period in question, included Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini and Lablache, all
-of whom were provided with parts in the new work. _I Puritani_, was
-played for the first time in London, for Grisi's benefit, in 1835, and
-with precisely the same distribution of characters as in Paris. The
-"_Puritani_ Season" is still remembered by old habitués, as one of the
-most brilliant of these latter days. Rubini's romance in the first act
-_A te o cara_, Grisi's _Polonaise_, _Son vergin vezzosa_ and the grand
-duet for Tamburini and Lablache, produced the greatest enthusiasm in all
-our musical circles, and the last movement of the duet was treated by
-"arrangers" for the piano, in every possible form. This is the movement,
-(destined, too soon, to find favour in the eyes of omnibus conductors,
-and all the worst amateurs of the cornet), of which Rossini wrote from
-Paris to a friend at Milan; "I need not describe the duet for the two
-basses, you must have heard it where you are."
-
-_I Puritani_ was Bellini's last opera. The season after its production
-he retired to the house of a Mr. Lewis at Puteaux, and there, while
-studying his art with an ardour which never deserted him, was attacked
-by a fatal illness. "From his youth up," says Mr. J. W. Mould, in his
-interesting "Memoir of Bellini;" "Vincenzo's eagerness in his art was
-such as to keep him at the piano day and night, till he was obliged
-forcibly to leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him through his
-short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it, brought on
-the dysentery, which closed his brilliant career, peopling his last
-hours with the figures of those to whom his works were so largely
-indebted for their success. During the moments of delirium which
-preceded his death, he was constantly speaking of Lablache, Tamburini
-and Grisi, and one of his last recognisable impressions was, that he was
-present at a brilliant representation of his last opera, at the Salle
-Favart. His earthly career closed on Wednesday, the 23rd of September,
-1835."
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI'S DEATH.]
-
-Thus died Bellini, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. Immediately
-after his death, and on the very eve of his interment, the Théâtre
-Italien re-opened with the _Puritani_. "The work," says the writer from
-whom I have just quoted, "was listened to throughout with a sad
-attention, betraying evidently how the general thoughts of both audience
-and artists were pre-occupied with the mournful fate of him so recently
-amongst them, now extended senseless, soulless, and mute, upon his
-funeral bier. The solemn and mournful chords which commence the opera,
-excited a sorrowful emotion in the breasts of both those who sang and
-those who heard. The feeling in which the orchestra and chorus
-participated, ex-tended itself to the principal artists concerned, and
-the foremost amongst them displayed neither that vigour nor that
-neatness of execution which Paris was so accustomed to accept at their
-hands; Tamburini in particular, was so broken down by the death of the
-young friend, whose presence amongst them spurred the glorious quartett
-on the season before, to such unprecedented exertions, that his
-magnificent organ, superb vocalisation were often considerably at fault
-during the evening, and his interrupted accent, joined to the melancholy
-depicted on the countenances of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache, sent those
-to their homes with an aching heart who had presented themselves to that
-evening's hearing of _I Puritani_, previously disposed, moreover, to
-attend the mournful ceremony of the morrow."
-
-A committee of Bellini's friends, including Rossini, Cherubini, Paer,
-and Carafa, undertook the general direction of the funeral of which the
-musical department was entrusted to M. Habeneck the _chef d'orchestre_
-of the Académie Royale. The expenses of the ceremony were defrayed by M.
-Panseron, of the Théâtre Italien. The most remarkable piece for the
-programme of the funeral music, was a lacrymosa for four voices, without
-accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn was united to the
-beautiful melody (and of a thoroughly religious character), sung by the
-tenor in the third act of the _Puritani_. This lacrymosa was executed by
-Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and Lablache. The service was performed in
-the church of the Invalides, and Bellini's remains were interred in the
-cemetery of Pčre la Chaise.
-
-Rossini had always shown the greatest affection for Bellini; and Rosario
-Bellini, a few weeks after his son's death, wrote a letter to the great
-composer, thanking him for the almost paternal kindness which he had
-shown to young Vincenzo during his lifetime, and for the honour he had
-paid to his memory when he was no more. After speaking of the grief and
-despair in which the loss of his beloved son had plunged him, the old
-man expressed himself as follows:--
-
-"You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labours;
-you took him under your protection; you neglected nothing that could
-increase his glory and his welfare. After my son's death what have you
-not done to honour his memory and render it dear to posterity! I learnt
-this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude for your
-excessive kindness, as well as for that of a number of distinguished
-artistes, which also I shall never forget. Pray, sir, be my interpreter,
-and tell these artistes that the father and family of Bellini, as well
-as our compatriots of Catana, will cherish an imperishable recollection
-of this generous conduct. I shall never cease to remember how much you
-did for my son; I shall make known everywhere, in the midst of my tears,
-what an affectionate heart belongs to the great Rossini; and how kind,
-hospitable, and full of feeling are the artistes of France."
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI AND DONIZETTI.]
-
-If we compare Bellini with Donizetti, we find that the latter was the
-more prolific of the two, judging simply by the number of works
-produced; inasmuch as Donizetti, at the age of twenty-eight, had already
-produced thirteen operas; whereas the number of Bellini's dramatic
-works, when he died in his twenty-ninth year, amounted only to nine. But
-of the baker's dozen thrown off by Donizetti at so early an age, not one
-made any impression on the public, or on musicians, such as was caused
-by _I Capuletti_, or _Il Pirata_, or _La Straniera_, to say nothing of
-_I Puritani_, which, in the opinion of many good judges, holds forth
-greater promise of dramatic excellence than is contained in any other of
-Bellini's works, including those masterpieces in two such different
-styles, _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_. When Donizetti had been composing
-for a dozen years, and had produced thirty one operas (_Anna Bolena_ was
-his thirty-second), he had still written nothing which could be ranked
-on an equality with Bellini's second-rate works, such as _Il Pirata_ and
-_I Capuletti_; and during the second half of Donizetti's operatic
-career, not one work of his in three met with the success which
-(_Beatrice_ alone excepted) attended all Bellini's operas, as soon as
-Bellini had once passed that merely experimental period when, to fail,
-is, for a composer of real ability, to learn how not to fail a second
-time. I do not say that the composer of _Lucrezia_, _Lucia_, and _Elisir
-d'Amore_ is so vastly inferior to the composer of _La Sonnambula_ and
-_Norma_; but, simply, that Donizetti, during the first dozen years of
-his artistic life, did not approach the excellence shown by the young
-Bellini during the nine years which made up the whole of his brief
-musical career. More than that, Donizetti never produced a musical
-tragedy equal to _Norma_, nor a musical pastoral equal to _La
-Sonnambula_; while, dramatic considerations apart, he cannot be compared
-to Bellini as an inventor of melody. Indeed, it would be difficult in
-the whole range of opera to name three works which contain so many
-simple, tender, touching airs, of a refined character, yet possessing
-all the elements of popularity (in short, airs whose beauty is
-universally appreciable) as _Norma_, _La Sonnambula_, and _I Puritani_.
-The simplicity of Bellini's melodies is one of their chief
-characteristics; and this was especially remarkable, at a time when
-Rossini's imitators were exaggerating the florid style of their model in
-every air they produced.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI'S SINGERS.]
-
-Most of the great singers of the modern school,--indeed, all who have
-appeared since and including Madame Pasta, have gained their reputation
-chiefly in Bellini's and Donizetti's operas. They formed their style, it
-is true, by singing Rossini's music; but as the public will not listen
-for ever even to such operas as _Il Barbiere_ and _Semiramide_, it was
-necessary to provide the new vocalists from time to time with new parts;
-and thus "Amina" and "Anna Bolena" were written for Pasta; "Elvino,"
-&c., for Rubini; "Edgardo," in the _Lucia_, for Duprez; a complete
-quartett of parts in _I Puritani_, for Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and
-Lablache. Since Donizetti's _Don Pasquale_, composed for Grisi, Mario
-(Rubini's successor), Tamburini, and Lablache, no work of any importance
-has been composed for the Italian Opera of Paris--nor of London either,
-I may add, in spite of Verdi's _I Masnadieri_, and Halévy's _La
-Tempesta_, both manufactured expressly for Her Majesty's Theatre.
-
-I have already spoken of Pasta's and Malibran's successes in Rossini's
-operas. The first part written for Pasta by Bellini was that of "Amina"
-in the _Sonnambula_; the second, that of "Norma." But though Pasta
-"created" these characters, she was destined to be surpassed in both of
-them by the former Marietta Garcia, now returned from America, and known
-everywhere as Malibran. This vocalist, by all accounts the most poetic
-and impassioned of all the great singers of her period, arrived in Italy
-just when _I Capuletti_, _La Sonnambula_, and _Norma_, were at the
-height of their popularity--thanks, in a great measure, to the admirable
-manner in which the part of the heroine in each of these works was
-represented by Pasta. Malibran appeared as "Amina," as "Norma," and also
-as "Romeo," in _I Capuletti_. She "interpreted" the characters (to
-borrow an expression, which is admissible, in this case, from the jargon
-of French musical critics) in her own manner, and very ingeniously
-brought into relief just those portions of the music of each which were
-not rendered prominent in the Pasta versions. The new singer was
-applauded enthusiastically. The public were really grateful to her for
-bringing to light beauties which, but for her, would have remained in
-the shade. But it was also thought that Malibran feared her illustrious
-rival and predecessor too much, to attempt _her_ readings. This was just
-the impression she wished to produce; and when she saw that the public
-had made up its mind on the subject, she changed her tactics, followed
-Pasta's interpretation, and beat her on her own ground. She excelled
-wherever Pasta had excelled, and proved herself on the whole superior to
-her. Finally, she played the parts of "Norma" and "Amina" in her first
-and second manner combined. This rendered her triumph decisive.
-
-Now Malibran commenced a triumphal progress through Italy. Wherever she
-sang, showers of bouquets and garlands fell at her feet; the horses were
-taken from her carriage on her leaving the theatre, and she was dragged
-home amid the shouts of an admiring crowd. These so-called
-"ovations"[100] were renewed at every operatic city in Italy; and
-managers disputed, in a manner previously unexampled, the honour and
-profit of engaging the all-successful vocalist.
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-The director of the Trieste opera gave Malibran four thousand francs a
-night, and at the end of her engagement pressed her to accept a set of
-diamonds. Malibran refused, observing, that what she had already
-received was amply sufficient for her services, and more than she would
-ever have thought of asking for them, had not the terms been proposed by
-the director himself.
-
-"Accept my present all the same," replied the liberal _impresario_; "I
-can afford to offer you this little souvenir. It will remind you that I
-made an excellent thing out of your engagement, and it may, perhaps,
-help to induce you to come here again."
-
-"The actions of this fiery existence," says M. Castil Blaze, "would
-appear fabulous if we had not seen Marietta amongst us, fulfilling her
-engagements at the theatre, resisting all the fatigue of the rehearsals,
-of the representations, after galloping morning and evening in the Bois
-de Boulogne, so as to tire out two horses. She used to breakfast during
-the rehearsals on the stage. I said to her, one morning, at the
-theatre:--'_Marietta carissima, non morrai. Che farň, dunque? Nemica
-sorte! Creperai._'
-
-"Her travels, her excursions, her studies, her performances might have
-filled the lives of two artists, and two very complete lives, moreover.
-She starts for Sinigaglia, during the heat of July, in man's clothes,
-takes her seat on the box of the carriage, drives the horses; scorched
-by the sun of Italy, covered with dust, she arrives, jumps into the
-sea, swims like a dolphin, and then goes to her hotel to dress. At
-Brussels, she is applauded as a French Rosěna, delivering the prose of
-Beaumarchais as Mademoiselle Mars would have delivered it. She leaves
-Brussels for London, comes back to Paris, travels about in Brie, and
-returns to London, not like a courier, but like a dove on the wing. We
-all know what the life of a singer is in the capital of England, the
-life of a dramatic singer of the highest talent. After a rehearsal at
-the opera, she may have three or four matinée's to attend; and when the
-curtain falls, and she can escape from the theatre, there are soirées
-which last till day-break. Malibran kept all these engagements, and,
-moreover, gave Sunday to her friends; this day of absolute rest to all
-England, was to Marietta only another day of excitement."
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-Malibran spoke Spanish, Italian, French, English, and a little German,
-and acted and sang in the first four of these languages. In London, she
-appeared in an English version of _La Sonnambula_ (1838), when her
-representation of the character of "Amina" created a general enthusiasm
-such as can scarcely have been equalled during the "Jenny Lind
-mania,"--perfect vocalist as was Jenny Lind. Malibran appears, however,
-to have been a more impassioned singer, and was certainly a finer
-actress than the Swedish Nightingale. "Never losing sight of the
-simplicity of the character," says a writer in describing her
-performance in _La Sonnambula_, "she gave irresistible grace and force
-to the pathetic passages with which it abounds, and excited the feeling
-of the audience to as high pitch as can be perceived. Her sleep-walking
-scenes, in which the slightest amount of exaggeration or want of caution
-would have destroyed the whole effect, were played with exquisite
-discrimination; she sang the airs with refined taste and great power;
-her voice, which was remarkable, rather for its flexibility and
-sweetness than for its volume, was as pure as ever, and her style
-displayed that high cultivation and luxuriance which marked the school
-in which she was educated, and which is almost identified with the name
-she formerly bore."
-
-Drury Lane was the last theatre at which Madame Malibran sang; but the
-last notes she ever uttered were heard at Manchester, where she
-performed only in oratorios and at concerts. Before leaving London,
-Madame Malibran had a fall from her horse, and all the time she was
-singing at Manchester, she was suffering from its effects. She had
-struck her head, and the violence of the blow, together with the general
-shock to her nerves, without weakening any of her faculties, seemed to
-have produced that feverish excitement which gave such tragic poetry to
-her last performances. At first, she would take no precautions, though
-inflammation of the brain was to be feared, and, indeed, might be said
-to have already declared itself. She continued to sing, and never was
-her voice more pure and melodious, never was her execution more daring
-and dazzling, never before had she sung with such inspiration and with a
-passion which communicated itself in so electric a manner to her
-audience. She was bled; not one of the doctors appears to have had
-sufficient strength of mind to enforce that absolute rest which everyone
-must have known was necessary for her existence, and she still went on
-singing. There were no signs of any loss of physical power, while her
-nervous force appeared to have increased. The last time she ever sang,
-she executed the duet from _Andronico_, with Madame Caradori, who, by a
-very natural sympathy, appeared herself to have received something of
-that almost supernatural fire which was burning within the breast of
-Malibran, and which was now fast consuming her. The public applauded
-with ecstacy, and as the general excitement increased, the marvellous
-vocalisation of the dying singer became almost miraculous. She
-improvised a final cadence, which was the climax of her triumph and of
-her life. The bravos of the audience were not at an end when she had
-already sunk exhausted into the arms of Madame Alessandri, who carried
-her, fainting, into the artist's room. She was removed immediately to
-the hotel. It was now impossible to save her, and so convinced of this
-was her husband, that almost before she had breathed her last, he was on
-his way to Paris, the better to secure every farthing of her property!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-Rubini, though he first gained his immense reputation by his mode of
-singing the airs of _Il Pirata_, _Anna Bolena_, and _La Sonnambula_,
-formed his style in the first instance, on the operas of Rossini. This
-vocalist, however, sang and acted in a great many different capacities
-before he was recognised as the first of all first tenors. At the age of
-twelve Rubini made his début at the theatre of Romano, his native town,
-in a woman's part. This curious _prima donna_ afterwards sat down at the
-door of the theatre, between two candles, and behind a plate, in which
-the admiring public deposited their offerings to the fair bénéficiare.
-She is said to have been perfectly satisfied with the receipts and with
-the praise accorded to her for her first performance. Rubini afterwards
-went to Bergamo, where he was engaged to play the violin in the
-orchestra between the acts of comedies, and to sing in the choruses
-during the operatic season. A drama was to be brought out in which a
-certain cavatina was introduced. The manager was in great trouble to
-find a singer to whom this air could be entrusted. Rubini was mentioned,
-the manager offered him a few shillings to sing it, the bargain was
-made, and the new vocalist was immensely applauded. This air was the
-production of Lamberti. Rubini kept it, and many years afterwards, when
-he was at the height of his reputation, was fond of singing it in memory
-of his first composer.
-
-In 1835, twenty-three years after Rubini's first engagement at Bergamo,
-the tenor of the Théâtre Italien of Paris was asked to intercede for a
-chorus-singer, who expected to be dismissed from the establishment. He
-told the unhappy man to write a letter to the manager, and then gave it
-the irresistible weight of his recommendation by signing it "Rubini,
-_Ancien Choriste_."
-
-After leaving Bergamo, Rubini was engaged as second tenor in an operatic
-company of no great importance. He next joined a wandering troop, and
-among other feats he is said to have danced in a ballet somewhere in
-Piedmont, where, for his pains, he was violently hissed.
-
-In 1814, he was engaged at Pavia as tenor, where he received about
-thirty-six shillings a month. Sixteen years afterwards, Rubini and his
-wife were offered an engagement of six thousand pounds, and at last the
-services of Rubini alone were retained at the Italian Opera of St.
-Petersburgh, at the rate of twenty thousand pounds a year.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-Rubini was such a great singer, and possessed such admirable powers of
-expression, especially in pathetic airs (it was well said of him,
-"_qu'il avait des larmes dans la voix_,") that he may be looked upon as,
-in some measure, the creator of the operatic style which succeeded that
-of the Rossinian period up to the production of _Semiramide_, the last
-of Rossini's works, written specially for Italy. The florid mode of
-vocalization had been carried to an excess when Rubini showed what
-effect he could produce by singing melodies of a simple emotional
-character, without depending at all on vocalization merely as such. It
-has already been mentioned that Bellini wrote _Il Pirato_ with Rubini at
-his side, and it is very remarkable that Donizetti never achieved any
-great success, and was never thought to have exhibited any style of his
-own until he produced _Anna Bolena_, in which the tenor part was
-composed expressly for Rubini. Every one who is acquainted with _Anna
-Bolena_, will understand how much Rossini's mode of singing the airs,
-_Ogni terra ove_, &c., and _Vivi tu_, must have contributed to the
-immense favour with which it was received.
-
-Rubini will long be remembered as the tenor of the incomparable quartett
-for whom the _Puritani_ was written, and who performed together in it
-for seven consecutive years in Paris and in London. Rubini disappeared
-from the West in 1841, and was replaced in the part of "Arturo," by
-Mario. Tamburini was the next to disappear, and then Lablache. Neither
-Riccardo nor Giorgio have since found thoroughly efficient
-representatives, and now we have lost with Grisi the original "Elvira,"
-without knowing precisely where another is to come from.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI'S BROKEN CLAVICLE.]
-
-Before taking leave of Rubini, I must mention a sort of duel he once had
-with a rebellious B flat, the history of which has been related at
-length by M. Castil Blaze, in the _Revue de Paris_. Pacini's _Talismano_
-had just been produced with great success at _la Scala_. Rubini made his
-entry in this opera with an accompanied recitative, which the public
-always applauded enthusiastically. One phrase in particular, which the
-singer commenced by attacking the high B flat without preparation, and,
-holding it for a considerable period, excited their admiration to the
-highest point. Since Farinelli's celebrated trumpet song, no one note
-had ever obtained such a success as their wonderful B flat of Rubini's.
-The public of Milan went in crowds to hear it, and having heard it,
-never failed to encore it. _Un 'altra volta!_ resounded through the
-house almost before the magic note itself had ceased to ring. The great
-singer had already distributed fourteen B flats among his admiring
-audiences, when, eager for the fifteenth and sixteenth, the Milanese
-thronged to their magnificent theatre to be present at the eighth
-performance of _Il Talismano_. The orchestra executed the brief prelude
-which announced the entry of the tenor. Rubini appeared, raised his eyes
-to heaven, extended his arms, planted himself firmly on his calves,
-inflated his breast, opened his mouth, and sought, by the usual means,
-to pronounce the wished-for B flat. But no B flat would come. _Os habet,
-et non clamabit._ Rubini was dumb; the public did their best to
-encourage the disconsolate singer, applauded him, cheered him, and gave
-him courage to attack the unhappy B flat a second time. On this
-occasion, Rubini was victorious. Determined to catch the fugitive note,
-which for a moment had escaped him, the singer brought all the muscular
-force of his immense lungs into play, struck the B flat, and threw it
-out among the audience with a vigour which surprised and delighted them.
-In the meanwhile, the tenor was by no means equally pleased with the
-triumph he had just gained. He felt, that in exerting himself to the
-utmost, he had injured himself in a manner which might prove very
-serious. Something in the mechanism of his voice had given way. He had
-felt the fracture at the time. He had, indeed, conquered the B flat, but
-at what an expense; that of a broken clavicle!
-
-However, he continued his scene. He was wounded, but triumphant, and in
-his artistic elation he forgot the positive physical injury he had
-sustained. On leaving the stage he sent for the surgeon of the theatre,
-who, by inspecting and feeling Rubini's clavicle, convinced himself that
-it was indeed fractured. The bone had been unable to resist the tension
-of the singer's lungs. Rubini may have been said to have swelled his
-voice until it burst one of its natural barriers.
-
-"It seems to me," said the wounded tenor, "that a man can go on singing
-with a broken clavicle."
-
-"Certainly," replied the doctor, "you have just proved it."
-
-"How long would it take to mend it?" he enquired.
-
-"Two months, if you remained perfectly quiet during the whole time."
-
-"Two months! And I have only sung seven times. I should have to give up
-my engagement. Can a person live comfortably with a broken clavicle?"
-
-"Very comfortably indeed. If you take care not to lift any weight you
-will experience no disagreeable effects."
-
-"Ah! there is my cue," exclaimed Rubini; "I shall go on singing."
-
-"Rubini went on singing," says M. Castil Blaze, "and I do not think any
-one who heard him in 1831 could tell that he was listening to a wounded
-singer--wounded gloriously on the field of battle. As a musical doctor I
-was allowed to touch his wound, and I remarked on the left side of the
-clavicle a solution of continuity, three or four lines[101] in extent
-between the two parts of the fractured bone. I related the adventure in
-the _Revue de Paris_, and three hundred persons went to Rubini's house
-to touch the wound, and verify my statement."
-
-[Sidenote: TAMBURINI.]
-
-Two other vocalists are mentioned in the history of music, who not only
-injured themselves in singing, but actually died of their injuries.
-Fabris had shown himself an unsuccessful rival of the celebrated
-Guadagni, when his master, determined that he should gain a complete
-victory, composed expressly for him an air of the greatest difficulty,
-which the young singer was to execute at the San Carlo Theatre, at
-Naples. Fabris protested that he could not sing, or that if so, it would
-cost him his life; but he yielded to his master's iron will, attacked
-the impossible air, and died on the stage of hćmorrhage of the lungs. In
-the same manner, an air which the tenor Labitte was endeavouring to
-execute at the Lion's theatre, in 1820, was the cause of his own
-execution.
-
-I have spoken of the versatility of talent displayed by Rubini in his
-youth. Tamburini and Lablache were equally expert singers in every
-style. In the year 1822 Tamburini was engaged at Palermo, where, on the
-last day of the carnival, the public attend, or used to attend, the
-Opera, with drums, trumpets, saucepans, shovels, and all kinds of
-musical and unmusical instruments--especially noisy ones. On this
-tumultuous evening, Tamburini, already a great favourite with the
-Palermitans, had to sing in Mercadante's _Elisa e Claudio_. The public
-received him with a salvo of their carnavalesque artillery, when
-Tamburini, finding that it was impossible to make himself heard in the
-ordinary way, determined to execute his part in falsetto; and, the
-better to amuse the public, commenced singing with the voice of a
-soprano sfogato. The astonished audience laid their instruments aside to
-listen to the novel and entirely unexpected accents of their _basso
-cantante_. Tamburini's falsetto was of wonderful purity, and in using it
-he displayed the same agility for which he was remarkable when employing
-his ordinary thoroughly masculine voice. The Palermitans were interested
-by this novel display of vocal power, and were, moreover, pleased at
-Tamburini's readiness and ingenuity in replying to their seemingly
-unanswerable charivari. But the poor _prima donna_ was unable to enter
-into the joke at all. She even imagined that the turbulent
-demonstrations with which she was received whenever she made her
-appearance, were intended to insult her, and long before the opera was
-at an end she refused to continue her part. The manager was in great
-alarm, for he knew that the public would not stand upon any ceremony
-that evening; and that, if the performance were interrupted by anything
-but their own noise, they would probably break everything in the
-theatre. Tamburini rushed to the _prima donna's_ room. Madame Lipparini,
-the lady in question, had already left the theatre, but she had also
-left the costume of "Elisa" behind. The ingenious baritone threw off his
-coat, contrived, by stretching and splitting, to get on "Elisa's" satin
-dress, clapped her bonnet over his own wig, and thus equipped appeared
-on the stage, ready to take the part of the unhappy and now fugitive
-Lipparini. The audience applauded with one accord the entry of the
-strangest "Elisa" ever seen. Her dress came only half way down her legs,
-the sleeves did not extend anywhere near her wrists. The soprano, who at
-a moment's notice had replaced Madame Lipparini, had the largest hands
-and feet a _prima donna_ was ever known to possess.
-
-[Sidenote: TAMBURINI.]
-
-The band had played the ritornello of "Elisa's" cavatina a dozen times,
-and the most turbulent among the assembly had actually got up from their
-seats, and were ready to scale the orchestra, and jump on the stage,
-when Tamburini rushed on in the costume above described. After
-curtseying to the audience, pressing one hand to his heart, and with
-the other wiping away the tears of gratitude he was supposed to shed for
-the enthusiastic reception accorded to him, he commenced the cavatina,
-and went through it admirably; burlesquing it a little for the sake of
-the costume, but singing it, nevertheless, with marvellous expression,
-and displaying executive power far superior to any that Madame Lipparini
-herself could have shown. As long as there were only airs to sing,
-Tamburini got on easily enough. He devoted his soprano voice to "Elisa,"
-while the "Count" remained still a basso, the singer performing his
-ordinary part in his ordinary voice. But a duet for "Elisa" and the
-"Count" was approaching; and the excited amateurs, now oblivious of
-their drums, kettles, and kettle-drums, were speculating with anxious
-interest as to how Tamburini would manage to be soprano and
-basso-cantante in the same piece. The vocalist found no difficulty in
-executing the duet. He performed both parts--the bass replying to the
-soprano, and the soprano to the bass--with the most perfect precision.
-The double representative even made a point of passing from right to
-left and from left to right, according as he was the father-in-law or
-the daughter. This was the crowning success. The opera was now listened
-to with pleasure and delight to the very end; and it was not until the
-fall of the curtain that the audience re-commenced their charivari, by
-way of testifying their admiration for Tamburini, who was called upwards
-of a dozen times on to the stage. This was not all: they were so
-grieved at the idea of losing him, that they entreated him to appear
-again in the ballet. He did so, and gained fresh applause by his
-performance in a _pas de quatre_ with the Taglionis and Mademoiselle
-Rinaldini.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LABLACHE.]
-
-Lablache was scarcely seventeen years of age, and had just finished his
-studies at the Conservatorio of Naples when he was engaged as
-"Neapolitan buffo" at the little San Carlino theatre. Here two
-performances were given every day, one in the afternoon, the other in
-the evening, while the morning was devoted to rehearsals. Lablache
-supported the fatigue caused by this system without his voice suffering
-the slightest injury, though all the other members of the company were
-obliged to throw up their engagements before the year was out, and
-several of them never recovered their voices. He had been five months at
-San Carlino when he married Teresa Pinotti, daughter of an actor engaged
-at the theatre, and one of the greatest comedians of Italy. This union
-appears to have had a great effect on Lablache's fate. His wife saw what
-genius he possessed, and thought of all possible means to get him away
-from San Carlino, an establishment which she justly regarded as unworthy
-of him. Lablache, for his part, would have remained there all his life,
-playing the part of Neapolitan buffo, without thinking of the brilliant
-position within his reach. There was at that time a celebrated
-Neapolitan buffo, named Mililotti, who, Madame Lablache thought, might
-advantageously replace her husband. She not only procured an engagement
-for Lablache's rival at the San Carlino theatre, but is even said to
-have packed the house the first night of his appearance (or
-re-appearance, for he was already known to the Neapolitans) so as to
-ensure him a favourable reception. Her intelligent love would,
-doubtless, have caused her to hiss her husband, had not Mililotti's
-success been sufficiently great to convince Lablache that he might as
-well seek his fortune elsewhere, and in a higher sphere. He had some
-hesitation, however, about singing in the Tuscan language, accustomed as
-he was to the Neapolitan jargon, but his wife determined him to make the
-change, and procured an engagement for him in Sicily. Arrived at
-Messina, however, he continued for some time to appear as Neapolitan
-buffo, a line for which he had always had a great predilection, and in
-which, spite of the forced success of Mililotti, he had no equal.
-
-Lablache will be generally remembered as a true basso; but, before
-appearing as "Bartolo" in the _Barber of Seville_, he for many years
-played the part of "Figaro." I have seen it stated that Lablache has
-played not only the bass and baritone, but also the tenor part in
-Rossini's great comic opera; but I do not believe that he ever appeared
-as "Count Almaviva." I have said that he performed bass parts (the
-Neapolitan buffo was always a bass), when he first made his _début_; and
-during the last five-and-twenty years of his career, his
-voice--marvellously even and sound from one end to the other--had at the
-same time no extraordinary compass; but from G to E all his notes were
-full, clear, and sonorous, as the tones of a bronze bell. Indeed, this
-bell-like quality of the great basso's voice, is said on one occasion to
-have been the cause of considerable alarm to his wife, who, hearing its
-deep boom in the middle of the night, imagined, as she started from her
-slumbers, that the house was on fire. This was the period of the great
-popularity of _I Puritani_, when Grisi, accompanied by Lablache, was in
-the habit of singing the polacca three times a week at the opera, and
-about twice a day at morning concerts. Lablache, after executing his
-part of this charming and popular piece three times in nine hours, was
-so haunted by it, that he continued to ring out his sounding _staccato_
-accompaniment in his sleep. Fortunately, Madame Lablache succeeded in
-stopping this somnambulistic performance before the engines arrived.
-
-[Sidenote: LABLACHE.]
-
-Like all complete artists, like Malibran, like Ronconi, like Garrick,
-the great type of the class, Lablache was equally happy in serious and
-in comic parts. Though Malibran is chiefly remembered in England by her
-almost tragic rendering of the part of "Amina" in the _Sonnambula_, many
-persons who have heard her in all her _répertoire_, assure me that she
-exhibited the greatest talent in comic opera, or in such lively "half
-character" parts as "Norina" in the _Elixir of Love_, and "Zerlina" in
-_Don Giovanni_. Lord Mount Edgcumbe declares, after speaking of her
-performance of "Semiramide" ("Semiramide" has also been mentioned as one
-of Malibran's best parts) that "in characters of less energy she is much
-better, and best of all in the comic opera. She even condescended," he
-adds, "to make herself a buffa caricata, and take the third and least
-important part in Cimarosa's _Matrimonio Segretto_, that of an old woman
-(the Mrs. Heidelberg of the _Clandestine Marriage_), generally acted by
-the lowest singer of the company. From an insignificant character she
-raised it to a prominent one, and very greatly added to the effect of
-that excellent opera." So of Lablache, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, after
-remarking that his voice was "not only of deeper compass than almost any
-ever heard, but, when he chose, absolutely stentorian," tells his
-readers that "he was a most excellent actor, especially in comic operas,
-in which he was (as I am told) as highly diverting as any of the most
-laughable comedians." Yet the character in which Lablache himself, and
-not Lablache's reputation, produced so favourable an impression on this
-writer--not very favourably impressed by any singers, or any music
-towards the close of his life--was "Assur" in _Semiramide!_ Who that
-remembers Lablache as "Bartolo"--that remembers the prominence and the
-genuine humour which he gave to that slight and colourless part--can
-deny that he was one of the greatest of comic actors? And did he not
-communicate the same importance to the minor character of "Oroveso" in
-_Norma_, in which nothing could be more tragic and impressive than his
-scene with the repentant dying priestess in the last act? What a
-picture, too, was his "Henry VIII." in _Anna Bolena_! A picture which
-Lablache himself composed from a careful study of the costume worn by
-the original, and for which nature had certainly supplied him in the
-first place with a most suitable form. Think, again, of his superb
-grandeur as "Maometto," of his touching dignity as "Desdemona's" father;
-then forget both these characters, and recollect how perfect, how unique
-a "Leporello" was this same Lablache. One of our best critics has taken
-objection to Lablache's version of this last-named part--though, of
-course, without objecting to his actual performance, which he as well,
-or better than any one else, knows to have been almost beyond praise.
-But it has been said that Lablache (and if Lablache, then all his
-predecessors in the same character) indulged in an unbecoming spirit of
-burlesque during the last scene of _Don Giovanni_, in which the statue
-seizes the hero with his strong hand, and takes him down a practicable
-trap-door to eternal torments. "Leporello," however, is a burlesque
-character, and a buffoon throughout; cowardly, superstitious, greedy,
-with all possible low qualities developed to a ludicrous extent, and
-thus presenting a fine dramatic contrast to his master, who possesses
-all the noble qualities, except faith--this one great flaw rendering all
-the use he makes of valour, generosity, and love of woman, an abuse.
-"Leporello" is always thinking of the bad end which he is sure awaits
-him unless he quits the service of a master whom he is afraid to leave;
-always thinking, too, of maccaroni, money, and the wages which "Don
-Juan" certainly will not pay him, if he is taken to the infernal regions
-before his next quarter is due. "_Mes gages, mes gages_," cries the
-"Sganarelle" of Moličre's comedy, and "Sganarelle" and "Leporello" are
-one and the same person. We may be sure that Moličre and Lablache are
-right, and that Herr Formes, with his new reading of a good old part is
-wrong. At the same time it is natural and allowable that a singer who
-cannot be comic should be serious.
-
-In addition to his other great accomplishments, Lablache possessed that
-of being able to whistle in a style that many a piccolo player would
-have envied. He could whistle all Rode's variations as perfectly as
-Louisa Pyne sings them. As to the vibratory force of his full voice, it
-was such that to have allowed Lablache to sing in a green house might
-have been a dangerous experiment. Chéron, a celebrated French bass, is
-said to have been able to burst a tumbler into a thousand pieces, by
-sounding, within a fragile and doubtless sympathetic glass, some
-particular note. Equally interesting, in connexion with a glass, is a
-performance in which I have seen the veteran,[102] but still almost
-juvenile basso, Signor Badiali, indulge. The artist takes a glass of
-particularly good claret, drinks it, and, while in the act of
-swallowing, sings a scale. The first time his execution is not quite
-perfect. He repeats the performance with a full glass, a loud voice, and
-without missing a note or a drop. To convince his friends that there is
-no deception, he offers to go through this refreshing species of
-vocalization a third time; after which, if the supply of wine on the
-table happens to be limited, and the servants gone to bed, the audience
-generally declares itself satisfied.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME GRISI.]
-
-Giulia Grisi, the last of the celebrated Puritani quartett, first
-distinguished herself by her performance of the part of "Adalgisa," in
-_Norma_, when that opera was produced at Milan, in 1832. Giulia or
-Giulietta Grisi, is the younger sister of Giuditta Grisi, also a singer,
-but to whom Giulietta was superior in all respects; and she is the elder
-sister of Carlotta Grisi, who, from an ordinary vocalist, became, under
-the tuition of Perrot, the most charming dancer of her time. When Madame
-Grisi first appeared, lord Mount Edgcumbe having ceased himself to
-attend the opera, tells us that she possessed "a handsome person, sweet,
-yet powerful voice, considerable execution, and still more expression;"
-that "she is an excellent singer, and excellent actress;" in short, is
-described to be as nearly perfect as possible, and is almost a greater
-favorite than even Pasta or Malibran. In his _Pencillings by the Way_,
-Mr. N. P. Willis writes, after seeing Grisi, who had then first appeared
-at the King's Theatre, in the year 1833; "she is young, very pretty,
-and an admirable actress--three great advantages to a singer; her voice
-is under absolute command, and she manages it beautifully; but it wants
-the infusion of soul--the gushing uncontrollable passionate feeling of
-Malibran. You merely feel that Grisi is an accomplished artist, while
-Malibran melts all your criticism into love and admiration. I am easily
-moved by music, but I come away without much enthusiasm for the present
-passion of London." The impression conveyed by Mr. N. P. Willis is not
-precisely that which I received from hearing Grisi fourteen or fifteen
-years afterwards, and up to her last season. Of late years, at least,
-Madame Grisi has shown herself above all "a passionate singer," though
-as "accomplished artists" superior to her, if not in force at least in
-delicacy of expression, she has, from the time of Madame Sontag to that
-of Madame Bosio, had plenty of superiors. It seems to us, in the present
-day, that the "incontrollable passionate feeling of Grisi," is just what
-we admire her for in "Norma," beyond doubt her best character; but it is
-none the less interesting, or perhaps the more interesting for that very
-reason, to know what a man of taste in poetry and the drama, and who had
-heard all the best singers of his time, thought of Madame Grisi at a
-period when her most striking qualifications may have been different
-from what they are now. She was at all events a great singer and actress
-then, in 1833, and is a great actress and singer now, in 1861--the year
-of her final retirement from the stage.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-     ROSSINI--SPOHR--BEETHOVEN--WEBER AND HOFFMANN.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI.]
-
-Bellini and Donizetti were contemporaries of Rossini; so were Paisiello
-and Cimarosa; so are M. Verdi and M. Meyerbeer; but Rossini has outlived
-most of them, and will certainly outlive them all. It is now forty-eight
-years since _Tancredi_, forty-five since _Otello_, and forty-five since
-_Il Barbiere di Siviglia_ were written. With the exception of Cimarosa's
-_Matrimonio Segretto_, which at long intervals may still occasionally be
-heard, the works of Rossini's Italian predecessors have been thrown into
-utter obscurity by the light of his superior genius. Let us make all due
-allowances for such change of taste as must result in music, as in all
-things, from the natural changeableness of the human disposition; still
-no variation has taken place in the estimation in which Rossini's works
-are held. It was to be expected that a musician of equal genius, coming
-after Paisiello and his compeers, young and vigorous, when they were old
-and exhausted, would in time completely eclipse them, even in respect to
-those works which they had written in their best days; but the
-remarkable thing is, that Rossini so re-modelled Italian opera, and gave
-to the world so many admirable examples of his own new style, that to
-opera-goers of the last thirty years he may be said to be the most
-ancient of those Italian composers who are not absolutely forgotten. At
-the same time, after hearing _William Tell_, it is impossible to deny
-that Rossini is also the most modern of operatic composers. That is to
-say, that since _William Tell_ was produced, upwards of thirty years
-ago, the art of writing dramatic music has not advanced a step. Other
-composers have written admirable operas during Rossini's time; but if no
-Italian _opera seria_, produced prior to _Otello_, can be compared to
-_Otello_; if no opera, subsequent to _William Tell_, can be ranked on a
-level with _William Tell_; if rivals have arisen, and Rossini's operas
-of five-and-forty years ago still continue to be admired and applauded;
-above all, if a singer,[103] the favourite heroine of a composer[104]
-who is so boastfully modern that he fancies he belongs to the next age,
-and who is nothing if not an innovator; if even this ultra modern
-heroine appears, when she wishes really to distinguish herself in a
-Rossinian opera of 1813;[105] then it follows that of our actual
-operatic period, and dating from the early part of the present century,
-Rossini is simply the Alpha and the Omega. Undoubtedly his works are
-full of beauty, gaiety, life, and of much poetry of a positive,
-passionate kind, but they are wanting in spiritualism, or rather they
-do not possess spirituality, and exhibit none of the poetry of romance.
-It would be difficult to say precisely in what the "romantic"
-consists;--and I am here reminded that several French writers have
-spoken of Rossini as a composer of the "romantic school," simply (as I
-imagine) because his works attained great popularity in France at the
-same time as those of Victor Hugo and his followers, and because he gave
-the same extension to the opera which the cultivators and naturalisers
-in France of the Shakspearian drama gave, _after_ Rossini, to their
-plays.[106] I may safely say, however, that with the "romantic," as an
-element of poetry, we always associate somewhat of melancholy and
-vagueness, and of dreaminess, if not of actual mystery. A bright
-passionate love-song of Rossini's is no more "romantic" than is a
-magnificent summer's day under an Italian sky; but Schubert's well known
-_Serenade_ is essentially "romantic;" and Schubert, as well as Hoffmann,
-(a composer of whom I shall afterwards have a few words to say), is
-decidedly of the same school as Weber, who is again of the same school,
-or rather of the same class, as Schubert and Beethoven, in so far that
-not one of the three ever visited Italy, or was influenced, further than
-was absolutely inevitable, by Italian composers.
-
-[Sidenote: SPOHR.]
-
-As a romantic composer Weber may almost be said to stand alone. As a
-thoroughly German composer he belongs to the same class as Beethoven and
-Spohr. Spohr, greatly as his symphonies and chamber compositions are
-admired, has yet never established himself in public favour as an
-operatic composer--at least not in England, nor indeed anywhere out of
-Germany. I may add, that in Germany itself, the land above all others of
-scientific music, the works which keep possession of the stage are, for
-the most part, those which the public also love to applaud in other
-countries. The truth is, that the success of an opera is seldom in
-proportion to its abstract musical merit, just as the success of a drama
-does not depend, or depends but very little, on the manner in which it
-is written. We have seen plays by Browning, Taylor (I mean the author of
-Philip Von Artevelde), Leigh Hunt, and other most distinguished writers,
-prove failures; while dramas and comedies put together by actors and
-playwrights have met with great success. This success is not to be
-undervalued; all I mean to say is, that it is not necessarily gained by
-the best writers in the drama, or by the best composers in the opera;
-though the best composers and the best writers ought to take care to
-achieve it in every department in which they present themselves. In the
-meanwhile, Spohr's dramatic works, with all their beauties, have never
-taken root in this country; while even Beethoven's _Fidelio_, one of the
-greatest of operas, does not occupy any clearly marked space in the
-history of opera; nor is it as an operatic composer that Beethoven has
-gained his immense celebrity.
-
-[Sidenote: BEETHOVEN.]
-
-All London opera-goers remember Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli's admirable
-performance in _Fidelio_; and like Mademoiselle Cruvelli (or Cruwel),
-all the great German singers who have visited England--with the single
-exception of Mademoiselle Titiens--have some time or other played the
-part of the heroine in Beethoven's famous dramatic work: but _Fidelio_
-has never been translated into English or French,--has never been played
-by any thoroughly Italian company, and admired, as it must always be by
-musicians--nor has ever excited any great enthusiasm among the English
-public, except when it has been executed by an entire company of
-Germans,--the only people who can do justice to its magnificent
-choruses. It is a work apart in more than one sense, and it has not had
-that perceptible influence on the works which have succeeded it, either
-in Germany or in other countries, that has been exercised by Weber's
-operas in Germany, and by Rossini's everywhere. For full particulars
-respecting Beethoven and his three styles, and _Fidelio_ and its three
-overtures, the reader may be referred to the works published at St.
-Petersburgh by M. Lenz in 1852 (_Beethoven et ses trois styles_), at
-Coblentz, by Dr. Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries in 1838, and at Munster, by
-Schindler (that friend of Beethoven's, who, according to the malicious
-Heine, wrote "_Ami de Beethoven_" on his card), in 1845. Schindler's
-book is the sourse of nearly all the biographical particulars since
-published respecting Beethoven; that of M. Lenz is chiefly remarkable
-for the inflated nonsense it contains in the shape of criticism. Thus
-Beethoven's third style is said to be "_un jugement porté sur le cosmos
-humain, et non plus une participation ŕ ses impressions_,"--words which,
-I confess, I do not know how to render into intelligible English. His
-symphonies in general are "events of universal history rather than
-musical productions of more or less merit." Those who have read M.
-Lenz's extravagant production, will remember that he attacks here and
-there M. Oulibicheff, author of the "Life of Mozart," published at
-Moscow in 1844. M. Oulibicheff replied in a work devoted specially to
-Beethoven (and to M. Lenz), published at St. Petersburgh in 1854;[107]
-in which he is said by our best critics not to have done full justice to
-Beethoven, though he well maintains his assertion; an assertion which
-appears to me quite unassailable, that the composer of _Don Juan_
-combined all the merits of all the schools which had preceded him. I
-have already endeavoured, in more than one place, to impress this truth
-upon such of my readers as might not be sufficiently sensible of it, and
-moreover, that all the important operatic reforms attributed to the
-successors of Mozart, and especially to Rossini, belong to Mozart
-himself, who from his eminence dominates equally over the present and
-the past.
-
-[Sidenote: BORROWED THEMES.]
-
-Karl Maria von Weber has had a very different influence on the opera
-from that exercised by Beethoven and Spohr; and so much of his method of
-operatic composition as could easily be imitated has found abundance of
-imitators. Thus Weber's plan of taking the principal melodies for his
-overtures from the operas which they are to precede, has been very
-generally followed; so also has his system of introducing national airs,
-more or less modified, when his great object is to give to his work a
-national colour.[108] This process, which produces admirable results in
-the hands of a composer of intelligence and taste, becomes, when adopted
-by inferior musicians, simply a convenient mode of plagiarism. Without
-for one moment ranking Rossini, Bellini, or Donizetti in the latter
-class, I may nevertheless observe, that the cavatina of _La Gazza Ladra_
-is founded on an air sung by the peasants of Sicily; that the melody of
-the trio in the _Barber of Seville_ (_Zitti, Zitti_), is Simon's air in
-the _Seasons_, note for note; that _Di tanti palpiti_ was originally a
-Roman Catholic hymn; that the music of _La Sonnambula_ is full of
-reminiscences of the popular music of Sicily; and that Donizetti has
-also had recourse to national airs for the tunes of his choruses in _La
-Favorite_. In the above instances, which might easily be multiplied the
-composers seem to me rather to have suited their own personal
-convenience, than to have aimed at giving any particular "colour" to
-their works. However that may be, I feel obliged to them for my part for
-having brought to light beautiful melodies, which but for them might
-have remained in obscurity, as I also do to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
-and Mendelssohn, for the admirable use they also have occasionally made
-of popular themes. It appears to me, however, (to speak now of operatic
-composers alone) that there is a great difference between borrowing an
-air from an oratorio, a collection of national music, or any other
-source, simply because it happens to be beautiful, and doing so because
-it is appropriate to a particular personage or scene. We may not blame,
-but we cannot praise Rossini for taking a melody of Haydn's for his
-_Zitti, Zitti_, instead of inventing one for himself; nor was there any
-particular merit, except that of civility, in giving "Berta," in the
-same opera, a Russian air to sing, which Rossini had heard at the house
-of a Russian lady residing at Rome, for whom he had a certain
-admiration. But the _Ranz des Vaches_, introduced with such admirable
-effect into _Guillaume Tell_, where it is marvellously embellished, and
-yet loses nothing of its original character; this _Ranz des Vaches_ at
-once transports us amongst the Swiss mountains. So Luther's hymn is in
-its proper place in the _Huguenots_;[109] so is the Persian air, made
-the subject of a chorus of Persian beauties by the Russian composer
-Glinka, in his _Rouslan e Loudmila_; so also is the Arabian march (first
-published by Niebuhr in his "Travels in Arabia"), played behind the
-scenes by the guards of the seraglio in _Oberon_, and the old Spanish
-romance employed as the foundation to the overture of _Preciosa_.
-
-[Sidenote: WEBER.]
-
-Weber had a fondness not only for certain instrumental combinations and
-harmonic effects, but also for particular instruments, such as the
-clarionet and the horn, and particular chords (which caused Beethoven to
-say that Weber's _Euryanthe_ was a collection of diminished sevenths).
-There are certain rhythms too, which, if Weber did not absolutely
-invent, he has employed so happily, and has shown such a marked liking
-for them (not only in his operas, but also in his pianoforte
-compositions, and other instrumental works), that they may almost be
-said to belong to him. With regard to the orchestral portion of his
-operas generally, I may remark that Weber, though too high-souled a poet
-to fall into the error of direct imitation of external noises, has yet
-been able to suggest most charmingly and poetically, such vague natural
-sounds as the rustling of the leaves of the forest, and the murmuring of
-the waves of the sea. Finally, to speak of what defies analysis, but to
-assert what every one who has listened to Weber's music will I think
-admit, his music is full of that ideality and spirituality which in
-literature is regarded in the present day, if not as the absolute
-essence of poetry, at least, as one of its most essential elements. Read
-Weber's life, study his letters, listen again and again to his music,
-and you will find that he was a conscientious, dutiful, religious man,
-with a thoroughly musical organization, great imaginative powers,
-inexhaustible tenderness, and a deep, intuitive appreciation of all that
-is most beautiful in popular legends. He was an artist of the highest
-order, and with him art was truly a religion. He believed in its
-ennobling effect, and that it was to be used only for ennobling
-purposes. Thus, to have departed from the poetic exigencies of a subject
-to gratify the caprice of a singer, or to attain the momentary applause
-of the public would, to Weber, with the faith he held, have been a
-heresy and a crime.
-
-Weber has not precisely founded a school, but his influence is
-perceptible in some of the works of Mendelssohn, (as, for instance, in
-the overture to a _Midsummer Night's Dream_) and in many portions of
-Meyerbeer's operas, especially in the fantastic music of _Robert le
-Diable_, and in certain passages of _Dinorah_--a legend which Weber
-himself would have loved to treat. Meyerbeer is said to have borrowed
-many of his instrumental combinations from Weber; but in speaking of the
-points of resemblance between the two composers, I was thinking not of
-details of style, but of the general influence of Weber's thought and
-manner. If Auber is indebted to Weber it is simply for the idea of
-making the overture out of the airs of an opera, and of colouring the
-melodic portion by the introduction of national airs. Only while Weber
-gives to his operas a becoming national or poetic colour throughout, the
-musical tints in M. Auber's dramatic works are often by no means in
-harmony. The Italian airs in _La Muette_ are appropriate enough, and the
-whole of that work is in good keeping; but in the _Domino Noir_,
-charming opera as it is, no one can help noticing that Spanish songs,
-and songs essentially French, follow one another in the most abrupt
-manner. As nothing can be more Spanish than the second movement of
-"Angčle's" scene (in the third act) so nothing can be more French, more
-Parisian, more vaudevillistic than the first.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHÜTZ.]
-
-But to return to Weber and his operas. _Der Freischütz_, decidedly the
-most important of all Weber's works, and which expresses in a more
-remarkable manner than any other of his dramatic productions the natural
-bent of his genius, was performed for the first time at Berlin in 1821.
-_Euryanthe_ was produced at Vienna in 1823, and _Oberon_ at London in
-1826. _Der Freischütz_ is certainly the most perfect German opera that
-exists; not that it is a superior work to _Don Giovanni_, but that _Don
-Giovanni_ is less a German than a universal opera; whereas _Der
-Freischütz_ is essentially of Germany, by its subject, by the
-physiognomy of the personages introduced, and by the general character
-of the music. There is this resemblance, however, between _Don Giovanni_
-and _Der Freischütz_: that in each the composer had met with a libretto
-peculiarly suited to his genius--the librettist having first conceived
-the plan of the opera, and having long carried its germ in his mind.
-Lorenzo da Ponte, in his memoirs (of which an interesting account was
-published some years ago by M. Scudo, the accomplished critic of the
-_Revue des Deux Mondes_) states, that he had long thought of Don Juan as
-an admirable subject for an opera, of which he felt the poetic
-truthfulness only too well, from reflecting on his own career; and that
-he suggested it to Mozart, not only because he appreciated that
-composer's high dramatic genius, but also because he had studied his
-mental and moral nature; and saw, from his simplicity, his loftiness of
-character, and his reverential, religious disposition, that he would do
-full justice to the marvellous legend. Frederic Kind has also published
-a little volume ("Der Freischütz-Buch"), in which he explains how the
-circumstances of his life led him to meditate from an early age on such
-legends as that which Weber has treated in his master-piece. When Weber
-was introduced to Kind, he was known as the director of the Opera at
-Prague, and also, and above all, as the composer of numerous popular and
-patriotic choruses, which were sung by all Germany during the national
-war of 1813. He had not at this time produced any opera; nor had Kind,
-a poet of some reputation, ever written the libretto of one. Kind was
-unwilling at first to attempt a style in which he did not feel at all
-sure of success. One day, however, taking up a book, he said to Weber:
-"There ought to be some thing here that would suit us, and especially
-you, who have already treated popular subjects." He at the same time
-handed to the musician a collection of legends, directing his attention
-in particular to Apel's Freischütz. Weber, who already knew the story,
-was delighted with the suggestion. "Divine! divine!" he exclaimed with
-enthusiasm; and the poet at once commenced his libretto.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHÜTZ.]
-
-No great work ever obtained a more complete and immediate triumph than
-_Der Freischütz_; and within a few years of its production at Berlin it
-was translated and re-produced in all the principal capitals of Europe.
-It was played at London in English, at Paris in French, and at both
-cities in German. In London it became so popular, that at the height of
-its first success a gentleman, in advertising for a servant, is said to
-have found it necessary to stipulate that he should _not_ be able to
-whistle the airs from _Der Freischütz_. In Paris, its fate was curious,
-and in some respects almost inexplicable. It was brought out in 1824 at
-the Odéon, in its original form, and was hissed. Whether the intelligent
-French audience objected to the undeniable improbability of the chief
-incidents in the drama, or whether the originality of the music offended
-their unprepared ears, or whatever may have been the cause, Weber's
-master-piece was damned. Its translator, M. Castil Blaze, withdrew it,
-but determined to offer it to the critical public of the Odéon in
-another form. He did not hesitate to remodel _Der Freischütz_, changing
-the order of the pieces, cutting out such beauties as the French thought
-laughable, interpolating here and there such compositions of his own as
-he thought would please them, and finally presenting them this
-remarkable medley (which, however, still consisted mainly of airs and
-choruses by Weber) nine days after the failure of _Der Freischütz_,
-under the title of _Robin des Bois_. The opera, as decomposed and
-recomposed by M. Castil Blaze, was so successful, that it was
-represented three hundred and fifty-seven times at the Odéon. Moreover,
-it had already been played sixty times at the Opéra Comique, when the
-French Dramatic Authors' Society interfered to prevent its further
-representation at that theatre, on the ground that it had not been
-specially written for it. M. Castil Blaze, in the version he has himself
-published of this curious affair, tells us, that his first version of
-_Der Freischütz_, in which his "respect for the work and the author had
-prevented him from making the least change" was "_sifflé_, _meurtri_,
-_bafoué_, _navré_, _moqué_, _conspué_, _turlupiné_, _hué_, _vilipendié_,
-_terrassé_, _déchiré_, _lacéré_, _cruellement enfoncé_, _jusqu'au
-troisiéme dessous_." This, and the after success of his modified
-version, justified him, he thinks, in depriving Weber's work of all its
-poetry, and reducing it to the level of the comprehension of a French
-musical audience in the year 1824.
-
-Strangely enough, when Berlioz's version of _Der Freischütz_ was
-produced at the Académie in 1841, it met with scarcely more success than
-had been obtained by _Der Freischütz_ in its original musical form at
-the Odéon. The recitatives added by M. Berlioz, if not objectionable in
-themselves, are at least to be condemned in so far that they are not
-Weber's, that they prolong the music beyond Weber's intentions, and,
-above all, that they change the entire character of the work. I cannot
-think, after Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, that recitative is an inappropriate
-language in the mouths of peasants. Recitative of an heroic character,
-would be so, no doubt; but not such as a composer of genius, or even of
-taste or talent, would write for them. Nevertheless, Weber conceived his
-master-piece as a species of melodrama, in which the personages were now
-to sing, now to speak, "through the music," (to adopt an expressive
-theatrical phrase), now to speak without any musical accompaniment at
-all. If, at a theatre devoted exclusively to the performance of grand
-opera, it is absolutely necessary to replace the spoken dialogue by
-recitative, then this dialogue should, at least, be so compressed as to
-reduce the amount of added recitative to a minimum quantity. _Der
-Freischütz_, however, will always be heard to the greatest advantage in
-the form in which it was originally produced. The pauses between the
-pieces of music have, it must be remembered, been all premeditated, and
-their effect taken into account by the composer.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHÜTZ.]
-
-But the transformations of _Der Freischütz_ are not yet at an end. Six
-years ago M. Castil Blaze re-arranged his _Robin des Bois_ once more,
-restored what he had previously cut out, cut out what he had himself
-added to Weber's music, and produced his version, No. 3 (which must have
-differed very little, if at all, from his unfortunate version, No. 1),
-at the Théâtre Lyrique.
-
-Every season, too, it is rumoured that _Der Freischütz_ is to be
-produced at one of the Italian theatres of London, with Mademoiselle
-Titiens or Madame Csillag in the principal part. When managers are tired
-of tiring the public with perpetual variations between Verdi and
-Meyerbeer, (to whose monstrously long operas my sole but sufficient
-objection is, that there is too much of them, and--with the exception of
-the charming _Dinorah_--that they are stuffed full of ballets,
-processions, and other pretexts for unnecessary scenic display), then we
-shall assuredly have an opportunity of hearing once more in England the
-masterpiece of the chief of all the composers of the romantic and
-legendary school. In such a case, who will supply the necessary
-recitatives? Those of M. Berlioz have been tried, and found wanting. Mr.
-Costa's were not a whit more satisfactory. M. Alary, the mutilator of
-_Don Giovanni_, would surely not be encouraged to try his hand on
-Weber's masterpiece? Meyerbeer, between whose genius and that of Weber,
-considerable affinity exists, is, perhaps, the only composer of the
-present day whom it would be worth while to ask to write recitatives for
-_Der Freischütz_. The additions would have to be made with great
-discretion, so as not to encumber the opera; but who would venture to
-give a word of advice, if the work were undertaken by M. Meyerbeer?
-
-Weber's _Preciosa_ was produced at Berlin in 1820, a year before _Der
-Freischütz_, which latter opera appears to have occupied its composer
-four years--undoubtedly the four years best spent of all his artistic
-life. The libretto of _Preciosa_ is founded on Cervantes' _Gipsy of
-Madrid_, (of which M. Louis Viardot has published an excellent French
-translation); and here Weber, faithful to his system has given abundant
-"colour" to his work, in which the Spanish romance introduced into the
-overture, and the Gipsies' march are, with the waltz (which may be said
-to be in Weber's personal style), the most striking and characteristic
-pieces.
-
-[Sidenote: EURYANTHE.]
-
-_Euryanthe_ was written for Vienna, where it was represented for the
-first time in 1823, the part of "Euryanthe" being filled by Mademoiselle
-Sontag, that of "Adolar," by Heitzinger. The libretto of this opera,
-composed by a lady, Madame Wilhelmine de Chézy is by no means
-interesting, and the dulness of the poem, though certainly not
-communicated to the music, has caused the latter to suffer from the mere
-fact of being attached to it. _Euryanthe_ was received coldly by the
-public of Vienna, and was called by its wits--professors of the
-"_calembourg d'ŕ-peu-prčs_"--_Ennuyante_. If such facetiousness as this
-was thought enlivening, it is easy to understand how Weber's music was
-considered the reverse. I have already mentioned Beethoven's remark
-about _Euryanthe_ being "a collection of diminished sevenths." Weber was
-naturally not enchanted with this observation; indeed it is said to
-have pained him exceedingly, and some days after the first production of
-_Euryanthe_ he paid a visit to Beethoven, in order to submit the score
-to his judgment. Beethoven received him kindly, but said to him, with a
-certain roughness which was habitual to him: "You should have come to me
-before the representation, not afterwards...." Nevertheless," he added,
-"I advise you to treat _Euryanthe_ as I did _Fidelio_; that is to say,
-cut out a third."
-
-_Euryanthe_, however, soon met with the success it deserved, not only at
-Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig, but at Vienna itself, where the part
-created by Mademoiselle Sontag was performed in 1825 by Madame
-Schroeder-Devrient, in a manner which excited general enthusiasm. The
-passionate duet between "Adolar" and "Euryanthe," in the second act, as
-sung by Heitzinger and Madame Schroeder, would alone have sufficed to
-attract the public of Vienna to Weber's opera, now that it was revived.
-
-_Oberon_, Weber's last opera, was composed for Covent Garden Theatre, in
-1826. Some ingenious depreciators of English taste have discovered that
-Weber died from grief, caused by the coldness with which this work was
-received by the London public. With regard to this subject, I cannot do
-better than quote the excellent remarks of M. Scudo. After mentioning
-that _Oberon_ was received with enthusiasm on its first production at
-Covent Garden--that it was "appreciated by those who were worthy of
-comprehending it"--and that an English musical journal, the
-_Harmonicon_, "published a remarkable article, in which all the beauties
-of the score were brought out with great taste," he observes that "it is
-impossible to quote an instance of a great man in literature, or in the
-arts, whose merit was entirely overlooked by his contemporaries;" while,
-"as for the death of Weber, it may be explained by fatigue, by grief,
-without doubt, but, above all, by an organic disease, from which he had
-suffered for years." At the same time "the enthusiasm exhibited by the
-public, at the first representation of _Oberon_, did not keep at the
-same height at the following representations. The master-piece of the
-German composer experienced much the same fate as _William Tell_ in
-Paris."
-
-[Sidenote: OBERON.]
-
-Weber himself, in a letter written to his wife, on the very night of the
-first performance, says:--"My dear Lina; thanks to God and to his all
-powerful will, I obtained this evening the greatest success in my life.
-The emotion produced in my breast by such a triumph, is more than I can
-describe. To God alone belongs the glory. When I entered the orchestra,
-the house, crammed to the roof, burst into a frenzy of applause. Hats
-and handkerchiefs were waved in the air. The overture had to be executed
-twice, as had also several of the pieces in the opera itself. The air
-which Braham sings in the first act was encored; so was Fatima's
-romance, and a quartett in the second act. The public even wished to
-hear the finale over again. In the third act, Fatima's ballad was
-re-demanded. At the end of the representation I was called on to the
-stage by the enthusiastic acclamations of the public, an honour which
-no composer had ever before obtained in England. All went excellently,
-and every one around me was happy."
-
-In spite of the enthusiasm inspired by Weber's works in England, when
-they were first produced, and for some years afterwards, we have now but
-rarely an opportunity of hearing one of them. _Oberon_, it is true, was
-brought out at Her Majesty's Theatre at the end of last season, when,
-not being able to achieve miracles, it did not save the manager from
-bankruptcy; but the existence of Weber's other works seems to be
-forgotten by our directors, English as well as Italian, though from time
-to time a rumour goes about, which proves to be a rumour and nothing
-more, that _Der Freischütz_ is to be performed by one of our Italian
-companies. In the meanwhile Weber has found an abundance of appreciation
-in France, where, at the ably and artistically-conducted Théâtre
-Lyrique, _Der Freischütz_, _Oberon_, _Euryanthe_ and _Preciosa_ have all
-been brought out, and performed with remarkable success during the last
-few years.
-
-A composer, whose works present many points of analogy with those of
-Weber, and which therefore belong essentially to the German romantic
-school, is Hoffmann--far better known by his tales than by his
-_Miserere_, his _Requiem_, his airs and choruses for Werner's _Crusade
-of the Baltic_, or his operas of _Love and Jealousy_, the _Canon of
-Milan_, or _Undine_. This last production has always been regarded as
-his master-piece. Indeed, with _Undine_, Hoffmann obtained his one great
-musical success; and it is easy to account for the marked favour with
-which that work was received in Germany. In the first place the
-fantastic nature of the subject was eminently suited to the peculiar
-genius of the composer. Then he possessed the advantage of having an
-excellent _libretto_, written by Lamotte-Fouqué, the author of the
-original tale; and, finally, the opera was admirably executed at the
-Royal Theatre of Berlin. Probably not one of my readers has heard
-Hoffmann's _Undine_, which was brought out in 1817, and I believe was
-never revived, though much of the music, for a time, enjoyed
-considerable popularity, and the composition, as a whole, was warmly and
-publicly praised by no less a personage than Karl Maria von Weber
-himself. On the other hand, _Undine_, and Hoffmann's music generally,
-have been condemned by Sir Walter Scott, who is reported not to have
-been able to distinguish one melody from another, though he had, of
-course, a profound admiration for Scotch ballads of all kinds. M. Fétis,
-too, after informing us that Hoffmann "gave music lessons, painted
-enormous pictures, and wrote _licentious novels_ (where are Hoffmann's
-licentious novels?) without succeeding in making himself remarked in any
-style," goes on to assure us, without ever having heard _Undine_, that
-although there were "certain parts" in which genius was evinced, yet
-"want of connexion, of conformity, of conception, and of plan, might be
-observed throughout;" and that "the judgment of the best critics was,
-that such a work could not be classed among those compositions which
-mark an epoch in art."
-
-[Sidenote: HOFFMANN'S UNDINE.]
-
-Weber had studied criticism less perhaps than M. Fétis; but he knew
-more about creativeness, and in an article on the opera of _Undine_, so
-far from complaining of any "want of connexion, of conformity, of
-conception, and of plan," the author of _Der Freischütz_ says: "This
-work seems really to have been composed at one inspiration, and I do not
-remember, after hearing it several times, that any passage ever recalled
-me for a single minute from the circle of magic images that the artist
-evoked in my soul. Yes, from the beginning to the end, the author
-sustains the interest so powerfully, by the musical development of his
-theme, that after but a single hearing one really seizes the _ensemble_
-of the work; and detail disappears in the _naďveté_ and modesty of his
-art. With rare renunciation, such as can be appreciated only by him who
-knows what it costs to sacrifice the triumph of a momentary success, M.
-Hoffmann has disdained to enrich some pieces at the expense of others,
-which it is so easy to do by giving them an importance, which does not
-belong to them as members of the entire work. The composer always
-advances, visibly guided by this one aspiration--to be always truthful,
-and keep up the dramatic action without ceasing, instead of checking or
-fettering it in its rapid progress. Diverse and strongly marked as are
-the characters of the different personages, there is, nevertheless,
-something which surrounds them all; it is that fabulous life, full of
-phantoms, and those soft whisperings of terror, which belong so
-peculiarly to the fantastic. Kühleborn is the character most strikingly
-put in relief, both by the choice of the melodies, and by the
-instrumentation which, never leaving him, always announces his sinister
-approach.[110] This is quite right, Kühleborn appearing, if not as
-destiny itself, at least as its appointed instrument. After him comes
-_Undine_, the charming daughter of the waves, which, made sonorous, now
-murmur and break in harmonious roulades, now powerful and commanding,
-announce her power. The 'arietta' of the second act, treated with rare
-and subtle grace, seems to me a thorough success, and to render the
-character perfectly. 'Hildebrand,' so passionate, yet full of
-hesitation, and allowing himself to be carried away by each amorous
-desire, and the pious and simple priest, with his grave choral melody,
-are the next in importance. In the back-ground are Bertalda, the
-fisherman, and his wife, and the duke and duchess. The strains sung by
-the suite of the latter breathe a joyous, animated life, and are
-developed with admirable gaiety; thus forming a contrast with the sombre
-choruses of the spirits of the earth and water, which are full of harsh,
-strange progressions. The end of the opera, in which the composer
-displays, as if to crown his work, all his abundance of harmony in the
-double chorus in eight parts, appears to me grandly conceived and
-perfectly rendered. He has expressed the words--'good night to all the
-cares and to all the magnificence of the earth'--with true loftiness,
-and with a soft melancholy, which, in spite of the tragic conclusion of
-the piece, leaves behind a delicious impression of calm and
-consolation. The overture and the final chorus which enclose the work
-here give one another the hand. The former, which evokes and opens the
-world of wonders, commences softly, goes on increasing, then bursts
-forth with passion; the latter is introduced without brusqueness, but
-mixes up with the action, and calms and satisfies it completely. The
-entire work is one of the most _spiritual_ that these latter times have
-given us. It is the result of the most perfect and intimate
-comprehension of the subject, completed by a series of ideas profoundly
-reflected upon, and by the intelligent use of all the material resources
-of art; the whole rendered into a magnificent work by beautiful and
-admirably developed melodies."
-
-M. Berlioz has said of Hoffmann's music, adding, however, that he had
-not heard a note of it, that it was "_de la musique de littérateur_." M.
-Fétis, having heard about as much of it, has said a great deal more;
-but, after what has been written concerning Hoffmann's principal opera
-by such a master and judge as Karl Maria von Weber, neither the opinion
-of M. Fétis, nor of M. Berlioz, can be of any value on the subject. The
-merit of Hoffmann's music has probably been denied, because the world is
-not inclined to believe that the same man can be a great writer and also
-a great musician. Perhaps it is this perversity of human nature that
-makes us disposed to hold M. Berlioz in so little esteem as an author;
-and I have no doubt that there are many who would be equally unwilling
-to allow M. Fétis any tolerable rank as a composer.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX,
-
-HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
-
-
-A.
-
-Abbaye of Longchamp, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the, ii. 49.
-
-Academiciens, of the Paris opera, ii. 47.
-
-Académie Royale de Musique, of Paris, numerous works produced
-    at the, i. 13, 14;
-  its institution, 15;
-  its system of conscription, 77;
-  privileges of its members, 77;
-  its state of morality, 81, 82;
-  its absurd privileges, 86, 87;
-  its chief singers, 223;
-  operatic disturbances at the, ii. 36-38;
-  destroyed by fire, 41;
-  management and proceedings of the, 55;
-  prices for private boxes, 56;
-  effect of the French Revolution on the, 56 _et seq_;
-  its changes of name, 57, 194 note;
-  Opera National substituted, 59. (See OPERA).
-
-Academy of Music (See ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC).
-
-"Actor's Remonstrance," a tract, i. 81.
-
-Actresses, their prodigality under the French regency, i. 82, 83.
-
-Addison, Joseph, on the Italian Opera in England, i. 53-58;
-  the justness of his views on operatic representations, 62;
-  his satirical remarks on the French Opera, 66;
-  on the Italian Opera, 113;
-  his critique on Nicolini and the lion, 118-122;
-  his humorous critique on "Rinaldo" and the operatic sparrows, 123-126;
-  his unfavourable opinion of Opera, 127;
-  his critique on Milton, 128.
-
-Aguiari, Lucrezia, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Albert, the French dancer, ii. 111, 112.
-
-Alboni, Madame, the Italian vocalist, ii. 162.
-
-Algarotti's work on the Opera, i. 2.
-
-_Almahide_, opera of, i. 117.
-
-_Ambleto_, opera of, i. 127, 128.
-
-Ambrogetti, the celebrated baritone, ii. 108;
-  the first performer of _Giovanni_ in London, 108.
-
-_Anna Bolena_, of Donizetti, ii. 232;
-  the author's master-piece, 233.
-
-_Antiochus_, opera of, i. 127.
-
-Antoine de Baif, privileged to establish an Academy of Music, i. 15.
-
-Antony ŕ Wood, on the operatic drama, i. 37.
-
-Arbuthnot, Dr., on the failure of Italian operas, i. 148.
-
-Archilei, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Arnauld, Abbé, his passionate exclamation, i. 64.
-
-Arnaud, Abbe, an admirer of Gluck, i. 287, 288.
-
-Arnould, Sophie, the celebrated singer, i. 223;
-  biographical notices of, 226 _et seq._;
-  her talents, wit, and beauty, 226-230;
-  her death, 231;
-  anecdote of, ii. 35;
-  accused of aristocratic sympathies, 70;
-  pensioned by Fouché, 79.
-
-_Arsinoe_, opera of, played by Mrs. Tofts, i. 107;
-  critique on the play, 108, 109.
-
-Atto, the Italian tenor, i. 183, 184.
-
-Auber, his opera of _Masaniello_, i. 14;
-  the follower of Rossini, ii. 202;
-  his _Gustave III._, 219.
-
-Authors, regulations for their admission to the opera of Paris, i. 79, 80.
-
-
-B.
-
-B flat, of Rubini, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Badiali, Signor, his curious performance with a drinking glass, ii. 278, 279.
-
-Balfe's libretti, founded on French pieces, i. 214.
-
-Ball, Hughes, marries Mercandotti, ii. 120.
-
-Ballet, introduction and progress of the, i. 70 _et seq._;
-  Lulli's great attention to the, 72;
-  propriety of its following the Opera, 251;
-  great attention paid to it by the Italians, 251.
-
-Ballet d'Action, invented by the Duchess du Maine, i. 77;
-  soon afterwards imported into England, 77;
-  never naturalised in this country, 77.
-
-Ballet-dancers, important persons in France previous to the Revolution, ii. 53.
-
-Ballets, origin of, i. 18;
-  the most brilliant part of the Open at Paris, 258.
-
-Balon, the ballet-dancer, i. 78.
-
-Banti Mdlle., the celebrated vocalist, ii. 10;
-  biographical notices of, 10-12.
-
-_Barber of Seville_, by Rossini, ii. 144 _et seq._
-
-_Bardi_, G., Count of Vernio, musical assemblies of, i. 5.
-
-Baroni, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Barwick, Ann, her arrest for creating a disturbance, i. 105.
-
-Bassi, the baritone singer, ii. 105.
-
-Bastille, taking of the, ii. 54.
-
-_Beatrice di Tenda_, of Bellini, ii. 252.
-
-Beaujoyeux's _Ballet Comique de la Royne_, i. 71.
-
-Beaumarchais, the musical composer, his bon-mot on operatic music, i. 53;
-  refuses letters of nobility, 221;
-  the court music-master, 291;
-  music-master to the daughters of Louis XV., ii. 39;
-  anecdote of, 39.
-
-Beaupré, the comic dancer, ii. 68.
-
-Beethoven, the German composer, i. 221, ii. 285, 286;
-  accepts fifty ducats in preference to the cross of some order, i. 221;
-  his _Fidelio_, ii. 286;
-  his three styles, 286;
-  critiques on his works, 286, 287;
-  his advice to Weber, 299.
-
-_Beggar's Opera_, the touchstone of English taste, i. 148.
-
-Belissent, M. de, anecdote of, i. 262.
-
-Bellini, the musical composer, i. 212;
-  his _Sonnambula_ grounded upon _Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_, 212;
-  biographical notices of, ii. 247 _et seq._;
-  his various productions, 249-253;
-  _I Puritani_ his last opera, 253;
-  his death, 254;
-  sorrow caused thereby, 255;
-  letter from his father on his lamented death, 256;
-  compared with Donizetti, 257;
-  his singers, 259.
-
-Beneditti, Signor, performer at the Opera in 1720, i. 159;
-  his capricious temper, 160.
-
-Benini, Madame, _the altra prima donna_, goes to Paris, ii. 3;
-  her exquisite voice, 3.
-
-Beranger, on the decline of the drama, i. 65.
-
-Bergamo, theatre at, ii. 265.
-
-Berlioz's version of _Der Freischütz_, ii. 296;
-  his opinion of Hoffmann's music, 306.
-
-Bernacchi, Signor, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Bernadotte, at Udine, ii. 91.
-
-Bernard, S., the court banker of Paris, i. 92;
-  his munificence to actresses, 92.
-
-Bernardi. (See SENESINO.)
-
-Bernier, the musical composer, anecdote of, i. 85.
-
-Bernino, the scenic painter and decorator, i. 179.
-
-Berri, duke de, assassinated, ii. 190.
-
-Bertatti's _Matrimonio Segretto_, ii. 97.
-
-Bertin, E., the French critic, ii. 158.
-
-Bertoldi, Signora, the Italian singer and actress, i. 163.
-
-Berton, manager of the Paris Opera, i. 291.
-
-_Bianca e Fernando_ of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Bias, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Bigottini, the French dancer, ii. 111, 112.
-
-Bilboquet, humorous anecdote of, i. 188, 190.
-
-Billington, Mrs., the operatic singer, ii. 12;
-  her performance, 13;
-  among the first class of singers, 28.
-
-Blaze, M. Castil, historian of the French Opera, i. 301;
-  on the removal of the Opera near the National Library, ii. 71;
-  his published description of Mddle. Sallé's performances, 93-96, 99;
-  his adaptation of Weber's _Der Freischütz_, 297.
-
-_Bohemian Girl_, not original, i. 213;
-  sources whence taken, 213.
-
-Boisgerard, M., ballet-master and negociator of the King's
-    Theatre, ii. 110, 111;
-  his daring exploit in liberating Sir Sidney Smith from the Temple, 117, 118.
-
-Bolton, Duke of, marries Miss Lavinia Fenton, i. 138.
-
-Bonaparte, Napoleon, introduced to Mddle. Montansier, ii. 74;
-  grants her an indemnity, 75;
-  natural effect of his campaigns in Italy to create a taste
-     for Italian music, 79;
-  his prompt engagement and liberal offers to Madame Paer
-    and M. Brizzi, 80, 81;
-  rewards Paisiello, 82;
-  plots for assassinating, 179, 182;
-  a good friend to the Opera, 193.
-
-Bontempi's account of Masocci's school of singing, i. 184.
-
-Borrowed Themes, ii. 289.
-
-Bouillon, Duke de, his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-Bourdon, Leonard, the republican dramatist, ii. 67.
-
-Braham, the distinguished operatic singer, ii. 14.
-
-Brambilla, Mdlle., biographical notices of, ii. 173.
-
-Brevets, granted by the French court for admission to the Opera, ii. 48;
-  evils resulting therefrom, 48;
-  not required of the fishwomen and charcoal-men of Paris,
-     who were always present at the Opera on certain fetes, 49.
-
-Brizzi, M., the vocalist, ii. 80;
-  engaged by Bonaparte, 80, 81.
-
-Broschi, Carlo. (See FARINELLI.)
-
-Brydone's anecdote of Gabrielli, the vocalist, i. 195, 197.
-
-Bull, Dr. J., the national anthem attributed to, i. 165, 166.
-
-Buononcini, the musical composer, i. 109;
-  his first opera produced in 1720, 145;
-  his _Griselda_ in 1722, 146;
-  his last opera of _Astyanax_, 146;
-  his piracy and disgrace, 146;
-  his continental career and death, 147.
-
-Buret, Mddle., execution of, ii. 76.
-
-Burlington, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-Burney, Dr., at Vienna, i. 198;
-  at Berlin, 199.
-
-
-C.
-
-Caccini, the Italian musician, i. 5;
-  composer of the music to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-Caccini, Francesca, daughter of the composer Caccini, i. 8.
-
-Caffarelli, the singer, biographical notices of, i. 191;
-  his quarrel with Metastasio, 192.
-
-Caldus, his unfortunate speculation in the Pantheon, ii. 125.
-
-Calsabigi, the librettist, i. 212.
-
-Camargo, Mdlle., the celebrated French danseuse, i. 89;
-  her exquisite skill, 90.
-
-Cambert, his French opera, i. 15;
-  driven to London, 16;
-  his arrival in London, 28;
-  his favourable reception, 28;
-  English version of his _Ariadne_, 28;
-  his death and character, 28.
-
-Cambronne, General, anecdote of, i. 17, _note_.
-
-_Camilla_, music of, i. 109;
-  critique on the opera of, 109, 110.
-
-_Campanello di Notte_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Campion, Miss, the vocalist, i. 139;
-  the Duke of Devonshire's inscription to her memory, i. 139.
-
-Campistron, one of Lulli's librettists, i. 22.
-
-Camporese, Madame, the Italian vocalist, ii. 160.
-
-Campra, J., orchestral conductor of the Marseilles opera, i. 87;
-  anecdote of, 88.
-
-_Capuletti ed i Montecchi_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 257.
-
-Caradori, the vocalist, ii. 264.
-
-Carestini, the Italian singer, i. 164.
-
-Carey, H., the national anthem attributed to, i. 166.
-
-Carpentras school of music, i. 6.
-
-Catalani, the vocal queen of the age, ii. 16;
-  her extraordinary powers, 17, 19;
-  biographical notices of, 18-20;
-  Napoleon's munificent offer to, 18;
-  draft of a contract between her and Mr. Ebers of the King's Theatre, 23-25;
-  her retirement and death, 26;
-  enormous sums paid to, 132.
-
-_Caterina Comaro_ of Donizetti, ii. 243.
-
-Catherine the Great of Russia, her interview with the vocalist
-    Gabrielli, i. 198;
-  introduces the Italian Opera into St. Petersburgh, 199.
-
-Cavaliere, Emilio del, a musician of Rome, i. 5.
-
-Chambers, the banker, mortgagee of the King's Theatre, ii. 128, 130.
-
-Chamfort, the republican, commits suicide, ii. 76.
-
-Chantilly, Mdlle. (See FAVART).
-
-Chapel-Masters, their strange readings, i. 44.
-
-Chappell, W., on the origin of the national anthem, i. 166.
-
-Charbonniers of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes, ii. 49.
-
-Charles II., his patronage of operatic music, i. 33.
-
-Charles VI. of Germany, his musical taste, i. 182.
-
-Charles VII. of Germany, a musician, and the great patron
-     of the opera at Vienna, i. 181.
-
-Charles Edward, the young Pretender, arrested at the Académie
-     Musique, and expelled from France, i. 234.
-
-Chasse, the, baritone singer, i. 223;
-  biographical notices of, 223-5.
-
-Chaumette, the sanguinary republican, ii. 73.
-
-Cheron, the celebrated French bass, ii. 279;
-  the vibratory force of his voice, 279.
-
-Cherubini's "Abencerrages," ii. 189.
-
-Chorus of opera, i. 47;
-  French invention imported into England, 77;
-  introduction of the, 180.
-
-Cimarosa, the operatic composer, ii. 29-31;
-  invited to St. Petersburgh, 87;
-  his _Nozze di Figaro_, 96;
-  his _Matrimonio Segretto_ produced at the request of Leopold II., 96.
-
-Clayton, the musical composer, and author of _Arsinoe_, i. 108;
-  his spleen against Handel, 129, 132, 133.
-
-Clement IX., the author of seven _libretti_, i. 3.
-
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, i. 22.
-
-Colbran, Mdlle., the singer, ii. 95, 96;
-  married to Rossini, 166;
-  biographical notices of, 167.
-
-Coleman, Mrs., the actress, i. 30, 31.
-
-Comic opera of France, i. 236, 237.
-
-Consulate, state of the French opera under the, ii. 178 _et seq._;
-  operatic plots under the, 179, 180;
-  the arts did not flourish under the, 183.
-
-Convention, state of the opera under the, ii. 75;
-  its receipts confiscated by the, 75;
-  its sanguinary proceedings, 75, 76.
-
-"Conversion of St. Paul," played in music at Rome, i. 3.
-
-Copyright, Victor Hugo's claims to against the Italian
-    librettists, ii. 234, 235;
-  principles of, 235;
-  rights of authors, 237.
-
-Coqueau, musician and writer, guillotined, ii. 76.
-
-Corbetta, F., the musical teacher of Louis XIV., i. 75.
-
-Corsi, Giascomi, i. 5.
-
-Costume, ludicrous dispute respecting, i. 161, 162;
-  of visitors to the London Opera, ii. 136, 137;
-  letter respecting, 138.
-
-Coulon, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Country dances introduced into England, i. 78;
-  fondness for, 78.
-
-Covent Garden Theatre, performances at, i. 101.
-
-"Credo," strange readings of the by two chapel masters, i. 44.
-
-Crescentini, the singer, his capricious temper, i. 161, 162.
-
-_Crociato in Egitto_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 206, 207;
-  Lord Edgcumbe's description of the music, 208;
-  the principal part played by Velluti, 209.
-
-Croix, Abbé de la, i. 86.
-
-Cromwell, his patronage of music, i. 32;
-  anecdotes of, 32, 33.
-
-Cruvelli, Mdlle., her admirable performance in _Fidelio_, ii. 286.
-
-Curiosity, wonderful instance of, i. 39.
-
-Cuzzoni, the vocalist, her exquisite qualifications, i. 151, 152;
-  memoir of, 152;
-  her partizans, 153;
-  leaves England, 154;
-  returns to London, 155;
-  her melancholy end, 155.
-
-
-D.
-
-_Dafne_, the first complete opera, i. 5, 7;
-  new music composed to the libretto of, 6, 7.
-
-_Dame aux Camélias_, its representation prohibited, i. 37.
-
-Dancer and the musician, i. 88.
-
-Dancers of the French opera, i. 77, 296;
-  their position previous to the Revolution, ii. 53;
-  diplomatic negociations for engaging, 110, 111;
-  engagements of in London, 112;
-  further negociations about their return, 115, 116;
-  treaty respecting their future engagements, 115.
-
-Dancing, at the French court, i. 72;
-  language of, 250;
-  the fourth part of the fine arts at the Paris Opera, 259.
-  (See BALLET).
-
-D'Antin, Duc, appointed manager of the French opera, i. 79.
-
-Dauberval, the dancer, i. 300.
-
-Davenant, Sir Wm., opens a theatre, i. 30, 36;
-  actors engaged by him, 30, 31.
-
-David, the Conventional painter, ii. 72.
-
-Davide, the operatic actor of Venice, ii. 158;
-  enthusiasm excited by, 159.
-
-Decorations of the stage, i. 63.
-
-De Lauragais, anecdote of, i. 277, 278.
-
-Delany, Lady, her account of Anastasia Robinson afterwards Lady
-     Peterborough, i. 134-138.
-
-Delawar, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-D'Entraigues, Count, married to Madame Huberti, ii. 94;
-  murder of, 95.
-
-_Der Freischütz_, of Weber, represented at the French Opera, ii. 198;
-  compared with _Robert le Diable_, 213;
-  remarks on, 291 _et seq._;
-  compared with _Don Giovanni_, 293;
-  its complete success, 294;
-  remodelled by M. Blaze, and entitled _Robin des Bois_, 295.
-
-Deschamps, Mdlle., the French figurante, i. 83;
-  her prodigality, 83.
-
-Desmatins, Mdlle., the actress, i. 24, 25.
-
-Despreaux, the violinist, commits suicide, ii. 76.
-
-_Devin du Village_, of Rousseau, i. 261;
-  music presumed to be the production of Granet, i. 262, 263;
-  anecdotes of the, 262.
-
-De Vismes, of the Paris Opera, i. 291;
-  ii. 38.
-
-Devonshire, Wm., duke of, his inscription to the memory
-    of Miss Campion, i. 139.
-
-D'Hennin, Prince, his rupture with Gluck, i. 275, 276;
-  a favourite butt for witticism, 276.
-
-Divertissements, propriety of their accompanying operatic performances, i. 25.
-
-"Di tanti Palpiti," originally a Roman Catholic hymn, ii. 289.
-
-_Dinorah_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 296, 297.
-
-_Don Giovanni_, of Mozart, ii. 100-109;
-  its original cast at Prague, 104;
-  the performers of the character in London, 108;
-  general cast of characters in the opera, 108, 109;
-  compared with _Der Freischütz_, 293.
-
-_Don Pasquale_, of Donizetti, ii. 241;
-  libretto of, 242.
-
-_Don Sebastien_, of Donizetti, ii. 241.
-
-Donizetti, the musical composer, i. 112;
-  his _Elizir d'Amore_, grounded upon _Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_, 112;
-  his _Lucrezia_, founded on _Lucrece Borgia_, 213;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 226 _et seq._;
-  his early admiration of Rossini's works, 230;
-  biographical notices of, 232;
-  his various works, 232 _et seq._, 239 _et seq._;
-  his rapidity of composition, 240;
-  his last opera, _Catarina Comaro_, 243;
-  the author of sixty-three operas, 243;
-  critique on his works, 243, 244;
-  his illness and death, 245, 246;
-  his numerous compositions, 246;
-  compared with Bellini, 257.
-
-Drama, Beranger on the decline of the, i. 65.
-
-Dramatic ballet. (See BALLET).
-
-Dresden, theatre of, the first opera in Europe, and the best
-     vocalists engaged from them, i. 172, 173;
-  ii. 80, 81, 87.
-
-Dryden, his political opera of _Albion and Albanius_, i. 29;
-  his character of Grabut, 29.
-
-Du Barry, Madame, her opposition to Gluck, and support of
-    Piccinni, i. 279, 280;
-  mistress of Louis XV., ii. 48.
-
-Dubuisson, the librettist, guillotined, ii. 75.
-
-_Duc d'Albe_, of Donizetti, ii. 243.
-
-Duelling, i. 107;
-  among women, 225, _et note_.
-
-Dumenil, the tenor, i. 24.
-
-Duparc, Eliz., the soprano singer, nicknamed "La Francesina," i. 187.
-
-Dupre, the violinist, exchanges the violin for the ballet, i. 88, 89, 91.
-
-Durastanti, Madame, the celebrated vocalist, i. 158, 159.
-
-
-E.
-
-Ebers, Mr., of the King's Theatre, ii. 22;
-  draft of a contract between him and Madame Catalani, 23-25;
-  is opinions on the state of the opera, 109;
-  his negociation respecting the Paris dancers, 115;
-  takes the management of the King's Theatre, 129;
-  his selection of operas and singers, 129;
-  his losses, 129, 130;
-  his retirement, 130.
-
-Eclecticism, the present age of, i. 286.
-
-Edelman, the musician, executed, ii. 76.
-
-Edgar, Sir John, his attack on a company of French actors, i. 159, 160.
-
-Eglantine, Fabre d', the librettist, guillotined, ii. 76.
-
-_Elisir d'Amore_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Empire, state of the French opera under the, ii. 178 _et seq._;
-  the arts did not flourish under the, 183.
-
-England, Italian opera introduced into, i. 9, 104 _et seq._;
-  state of the opera at the end of the eighteenth and beginning
-     of the nineteenth century, ii. 1 _et seq._;
-  the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably connected
-     with the history of opera in, 224.
-
-English, the Italians have a genius for music superior to, i. 56;
-  have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, 56.
-
-English opera, account of, i. 9;
-  its failures, 10;
-  services rendered by Handel to, 215;
-  has no history, 215.
-
-"Enraged Musicians," letters from, i. 129, 133.
-
-_Enrico di Borgogna_, of Donizetti, ii. 232.
-
-_Euridice_, opera of, i. 5, 6.
-
-_Euryanthe_ of Weber, ii. 292, 298;
-  its great success, 299.
-
-
-F.
-
-Fabri, Signor, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Fabris, death of, from overstrained singing, ii. 270.
-
-Farinelli, Carlo Boschi, the Italian singer, i. 159;
-  the magic and commanding powers of his voice, 164, 189;
-  biographical notices of, 185, 186, 188-191;
-  his single note, 189.
-
-Farnesino, theatre at Paris, i. 177.
-
-Faustina, the vocalist, i. 150:
-  her exquisite qualifications, 151, 152;
-  memoir of, 152;
-  her artizans, 153;
-  returns to Italy, 155;
-  married to Hasse, the musical composer, 155, 156;
-  her successful career at the Dresden Opera, 156;
-  her death, 158.
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni, disputes respecting, i. 149 _et seq._;
-  their respective merits, 150, 151.
-
-Favart, his satirical description of the French Opera, i. 65.
-
-Favart, Madame, of the Opera Comique, i. 231;
-  her love for Marshal Saxe, 232, 233.
-
-_Favorite_, by Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-Fel, Mdlle, a singer of the Academie, i. 223.
-
-Female singers, the most celebrated, i. 8.
-
-Fénélon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.
-
-Fenton, Lavinia, married to the Duke of Bolton, i. 138;
-  her accomplishments, 138.
-
-Ferri, Balthazar, the most distinguished singer of his day, i. 174.
-
-Ferriere, Chev. de, anecdotes of, ii. 77, 78.
-
-Feuds, among musicians and actors, i. 149 _et seq._
-
-Fiddles, of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-_Fidelio_, of Beethoven, 286.
-
-_Fille du Regiment_, by Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-Finales, Piccinni the originator, ii. 32;
-  time usually occupied by them, 32, 33.
-
-First Consul of France, plots for assassinating, ii. 179, 182.
-
-Fodor, Madame, the celebrated cantatrice, ii, 92;
-  anecdote of 93;
-  biographical notices of, 160.
-
-Fontenelle, author of "Thetis and
-Pelee," revisits the Academie, i. 235.
-
-Forst, the singer, refuses letters of nobility, i. 221.
-
-France, Italian Opera introduced into, i. 8;
-  but rejected, 9, 11;
-  introduction of the Opera into England, 12 _et seq._;
-  French Opera not founded by Lulli, 13, 14;
-  nobles of, invited to stage performances by Louis XIV., 75;
-  morality of the stage, 81, 82;
-  her dramatic music dates from 1774, 216;
-  history of the Opera in, abounds in excellent anecdotes, 232;
-  state of the Opera after the departure of Gluck, ii. 84 _et seq._;
-  after the Revolution, 46 _et seq._;
-  under the Consulate, the Empire, and the Restoration, 178 _et seq._;
-  the arts did not flourish under the Consulate and the Empire, 183;
-  has party songs, but no national air, 201.
-
-Frangipani, Cornelio, drama by, i. 4.
-
-Frederick the Great introduces the Italian Opera into Berlin, i. 199;
-  his favourite composers, 199;
-  officiated as conductor of the orchestra, 199.
-
-French actors, company of, in London, in 1720, i. 159.
-
-French Court, ballets at the, i. 70, 71.
-
-French Opera, Favart's satirical description of the, i. 65;
-  from the time of Lulli to the death of Rameau, i. 217;
-  the various pieces produced at the, ii. 195 _et seq._
-  (See FRANCE).
-
-French Society at its very worst during the reign of Louis XVI., ii. 48;
-  operatic and religious fetes, 49.
-
-Fronsac, duke de, his depravity, i. 76.
-
-
-G.
-
-Gabrielli, Catarina, the vocalist, i. 188;
-  biographical notices of, 195 _et seq._
-
-Gabrielli, Francesca, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Gagliano composes the music to the opera of _Dafne_, i. 6.
-
-Galileo, Vincent, inventor of recitative, i. 5.
-
-Galuppi, musical composer, i. 170, 171;
-  musical director at the Russian Court, 198.
-
-Garcia, the tenor performer of "Don Giovanni," in London, ii. 108;
-  anecdote of, 144, 145.
-
-Garcia, Mademoiselle, (See MALIBRAN.)
-
-Gardel, the ballet-master, ii. 75.
-
-Garrick, his opinion of Sophie Arnould at Paris, i. 227;
-  of French descent, 227 _note_.
-
-_Gazza Ladra_, by Rossini, ii. 160.
-
-German Opera, the forms of, perfected by Keiser, i. 6;
-  originated from Mozart, ii. 99 _et seq._;
-  its celebrated composers, 106.
-
-Germans, music of the, i. 268, 269.
-
-Germany, Italian Opera introduced into, i. 10;
-  her opera during the republican and Napoleonic wars, ii. 86;
-  has sent us few singers as compared with Italy, 224;
-  state of her opera, 225;
-  the land of scientific music, 285.
-
-_Giovanni_, of Mozart, i. 13.
-
-Glass, broken to pieces by the vibratory force of particular notes, ii. 279.
-
-Glinka, the Russian composer, ii. 290.
-
-Gluck, the musical composer, i. 12;
-  works of, 13;
-  the estimation in which his works were held, 181;
-  merits of, as compared with Piccinni, 267;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 270 _et seq._;
-  his _Alcestis_ and _Orpheus_, 272;
-  his _Iphigenia in Aulis_, acted at Paris with immense success, 273;
-  success of his _Orpheus_, 278;
-  his _Alcestis_, 279;
-  his death, 295;
-  state of the Opera in France after his departure, ii. 34;
-  anecdote of, 39;
-  benefitted French opera in different ways, 40.
-
-Gluck and Piccinni, contests respecting, in Paris, i. 150.
-
-"God save the king," origin of the anthem, i. 165, 166.
-
-Goddess of Reason, personated by the actresses of the Opera, ii. 67.
-
-Grabut, the musical composer, i. 28, 29;
-  Dryden's character of him, 29.
-
-Grammont, count de, extract from his memoirs, i. 73.
-
-Granet, the musical composer, i. 261;
-  author of the music to Rousseau's _Devin du Village_, 262;
-  his death, 265.
-
-Grassini, the singer, ii. 14.
-
-Greek Plays, first specimens of operas, 3.
-
-Greek Theatre, i. 240;
-  music of the, 241.
-
-Greeks, their language and accent, i. 241;
-  their lyric style, 241:
-  their music a real recitative, 241;
-  absurdities of their dramas, 244.
-
-Grisi, Giulia, the accomplished vocalist, ii. 280, 281;
-  her family connexions, 280;
-  her vocal powers, 281;
-  "Norma" her best character, 281.
-
-Grossi, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Guadigni, the vocalist, biographical notices of, i. 194.
-
-Guéméné, prince de, his insolvency, ii. 51;
-  feeling letter of the operatic vocalists to, 51.
-
-Guglielmi, the operatic composer, ii. 29;
-  his success at Naples, 30.
-
-_Guillaume Tell_, its first performance at the French Opera, ii. 198;
-  cut down from three to five acts, 198;
-  Rossini's last opera, 201.
-
-Guimard, Madeline, the celebrated danseuse, i. 288, 296;
-  accident to, 296;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 297 _et seq._;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 34, 35;
-  her narrow escape from being burnt to death, 41;
-  her reappearance at the Opera, 77.
-
-Guinguenée, the French librettist, i. 293.
-
-_Gustave III._ of Auber, ii. 219.
-
-
-H.
-
-_Hamlet_, set to music, i. 127;
-  its absurdity, 128.
-
-Handel, G. F., at Paris, i. 86;
-  in London, 97, 100-3;
-  his _Pastor Fido_ played at the Haymarket Theatre, i. 102;
-  his great improvement of the Italian Opera, 108;
-  success of his _Rinaldo_, 116;
-  his arrival in England, 122;
-  brings out his _Rinaldo and Armide_, 123;
-  Clayton's spleen against, 129, 132, 133;
-  the Italian operas under his direction, 140 _et seq._;
-  his career as an operatic composer and director, 140;
-  wrote his last opera, _Deidamia_, 141;
-  biographical account of, 141 _et seq._;
-  his duel with Mattheson of the Hamburgh Theatre, 142;
-  his _Rinaldo_, _Pastor Fido_, and _Amadigi_, 142;
-  direction of the Royal Academy of Music confided to him, 144;
-  his first opera at the Royal Academy was _Radamisto_, 144;
-  his next opera, _Muzio Scevola_, 145;
-  his various operatic pieces played at the Royal Academy of Music, 146;
-  his services to English Opera, 215;
-  appointed to the management of the King's Theatre, 163;
-  names of the Italian performers engaged by him, 163;
-  his rival Porpora, and the difficulties with which he had to contend, 167;
-  abandons dramatic music after having written thirty-five Italian operas, 168;
-  his operas now become obsolete, and unadapted to modern times, 168, 169;
-  success of the operatic airs, which he introduced into his oratorios, 169;
-  position of the Italian Opera under his presidency, 170, 171;
-  his great musical genius, and the grandeur of his oratorios, 172.
-
-Harmony, preferable to simple declamation, i. 45, 46.
-
-Hasse, the musical composer, i. 155;
-  marries the vocalist Faustina, 156;
-  appointed director of the Dresden Opera, 156;
-  his death, 158;
-  a librettist, 212.
-
-Hauteroche, humour of exhausted, i. 49.
-
-Haydn, his opinion of Mozart's work, ii. 102.
-
-Haymarket Theatre, Handel's _Pastor Fido_ played at, i. 102.
-
-Hébert, the sanguinary republican, ii. 68, 73.
-
-Heidegger, appointed manager of the King's Theatre, i. 163;
-  his "puff direct," 163.
-
-Henriot, the sanguinary republican, ii. 62, 72.
-
-Hingston, the musician, patronised by Cromwell, i. 32.
-
-Hoffman, the musical composer, ii. 301;
-  his _Undine_, 301-305;
-  Berlioz's opinion of his music, 305.
-
-Huberti, Madame, the singer, ii. 43, 94;
-  her marriage and horrible death, 94.
-
-Hugo, Victor, his dramas made the groundwork of Italian librettists, i. 213;
-  his actions against them for violation of copyright, ii. 234, 235.
-
-_Huguenots_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 216.
-
-_Hydaspes_, opera of, i. 117;
-  Addison's critique on, 118, 119.
-
-
-I.
-
-_Il Pirato_, of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Insanity, Steele's remarks on, i. 111, 112.
-
-Interludes, banished from the operas, i. 250.
-
-_Iphigenia in Aulis_, by Gluck, i. 273;
-  its introduction on the Paris stage, and immense success, 273, 274.
-
-_Iphigenia in Tauris_, a rival opera, composed by Piccinni, i. 291, 292.
-
-Italian librettists, Victor Hugo's actions against for copyright, ii. 234, 235.
-
-Italian opera, introduced into France under the auspices of
-     Cardinal Mazarin, i. 8;
-  rejected by the French, 9, 11;
-  introduced into England, 9, 11;
-  into Germany, 10;
-  into all parts of Europe, 10;
-  introduced into England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 54;
-  Addison's critical remarks on, 55-8;
-  attempts to engage the company of London at the French Academie, 26:
-  raised to excellence by Handel in London, 103;
-  history of its introduction into England, 104 _et seq._;
-  Steele's hatred to, 113;
-  a complete failure in London, 147-149;
-  its position under Handel, and subsequently, 170, 171;
-  various operas produced, 170, 171;
-  established at Berlin and St. Petersburgh, 199;
-  its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited
-     in Marcello's satire, "Teatro a la Modo," 204-12;
-  the company performing alternately in London and in Paris, ii. 2;
-  its position during the Republican and Napoleonic wars, 86.
-
-Italian plays, of the earliest period, called by the
-     general name of "Opera," i. 2.
-
-Italian singers, establish themselves everywhere but in France, i. 173;
-  company of engaged by Mdlle. Montansier, ii. 79;
-  unsuccessful, 79.
-
-Italians, their genius for music above that of the English, i. 56;
-  music of the, 268, 269.
-
-Italy, modern, earliest musical dramas of, i. 3, 6, 7.
-
-
-J.
-
-Jeliotte, the tenor singer, i. 223.
-
-Jesuits' church at Paris, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the, ii. 49;
-  their theatre near the, 50.
-
-Jomelli, anecdote related by, i. 44;
-  director of the Stutgardt opera, 178;
-  sets _Didone_ to music, 212.
-
-
-K.
-
-Kalkbrenner, a pasticcio by, unsuccessful, ii. 85;
-  his _Don Giovanni_, 184.
-
-Keiser, the operatic composer;
-  author of _Ismene and Basilius_, i. 6, 141.
-
-Kelly, Michael, the singer, ii. 128.
-
-Kind, Frederick, ii. 293;
-  Weber's introduction to, 293.
-
-King's Theatre, performances at, and assemblies, i. 101;
-  opened under Heidegger, 163;
-  celebrated vocalists at the, ii. 4;
-  destroyed by fire, 6;
-  rebuilt and re-opened, 8;
-  its negociations with the Parisian operatists, 110, 111;
-  Mr. Taylor the proprietor, 121;
-  the theatre closed, 125;
-  quarrels of the proprietors, 126;
-  re-opened under Waters, 127;
-  again closed, 129;
-  Mr. Eber's management, 129;
-  selection of operas and singers for the, 129;
-  management of Messrs. Laporte and Laurent, 130;
-  its position and character in 1789, 131;
-  enormous prices paid for private boxes and admission, 132, 133;
-  sale of the tickets at reduced prices, 133, 134;
-  costume of visitors, 136, 137.
-
-
-L.
-
-Labitte, death of, from overstrained singing, ii. 270.
-
-Lablache, the basso singer, the "Leporello" of _Don Giovanni_, ii. 108, 109;
-  biographical notices of, 274-278;
-  his versatile powers, 277, 278;
-  his great whistling accomplishments, 279;
-  his characters of "Bartolo" and "Figaro," 275.
-
-Lachnick, the musician, ii. 183, 184.
-
-Lacombe, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-_La Cenerentola_, opera of, ii. 162.
-
-La Fare, Marq. de, author of the _Panthée_, i. 85.
-
-Lafontaine, his want of success as a librettist, i. 21;
-  anecdote of, 21.
-
-Lafontaine, Mdlle., the celebrated ballerina at the French Opera, i. 72.
-
-Laguerre, Mdlle., the vocalist, i. 281;
-  the actress, i. 294.
-
-Lainez, the poet, i. 27;
-  the singer, ii. 69.
-
-"_La Marseillaise_," borrowed from Germany, ii. 201.
-
-Lamartine, M. de, his faultiness in history, ii. 61, _note_.
-
-Lamb, Charles, anecdote of, i. 21.
-
-Laniere, musical composer and engraver, i. 30.
-
-"_La Parisienne_," of Nourrit, ii. 201.
-
-Laporte and Laurent, Messieurs, managers of the London opera house, ii. 130.
-
-Larrivée, the vocalist, i. 223, 274.
-
-_La Straniera_, of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Lauragais, Count de, anecdotes of, i. 229, 230;
-  ii. 77, 78;
-  his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-_La Vestale_, of Spontini, ii. 186, 187.
-
-Law, M., introduces wax into the candelabra of the French Opera, i. 84;
-  breaking up of his financial schemes, 84;
-  favoured by the Duke of Orleans, 84.
-
-Lays, a furious democrat, and chief manager of the French Opera, ii. 66;
-  treated with public indignation, 77.
-
-Leclair, exchanges the ballet for the violin, i. 88, 89.
-
-Lefevre, the republican singer, hissed off the stage, ii. 70.
-
-Legal disputes among musicians, i. 87, 88.
-
-Legroscino, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-Lemaure, Mdlle., the actress, i. 92.
-
-Lenoir, the architect of the Paris Opera, ii. 43.
-
-Lenz, the biographer of Beethoven, ii. 287.
-
-Leopold I., Emperor of Germany, his devotedness to music, i. 174.
-
-Leopold II., of Germany, his liberality to Cimarosa, ii. 96;
-  his public approbation of _Il Matrimonio Segretto_, 97.
-
-Lettres de Cachet, issued, to command certain persons to join the Opera, i. 76.
-
-Libretti of English writers, i. 213;
-  of the French, 214.
-
-Librettists of the eighteenth century, i. 212 _et seq._
-
-Libretto, no opera intelligible without one, i. 40;
-  the words should be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, 41.
-
-Limeuil, Madame, death of, i. 23.
-
-Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, i. 164.
-
-Lind, Jenny, the hangman's admiration of, ii. 64.
-
-_Linda di Chamouni_, of Donizetti, ii. 241.
-
-Lion, Nicolini's contest with the, at the Haymarket, i. 118;
-  Addison's satirical critique on the, 119-122.
-
-Lipparini, Madame, the _prima donna_ at Palermo, ii. 271, 272.
-
-Lise, Mddle., anecdote of, ii. 36.
-
-Lock, the musical composer, i. 28.
-
-London Opera, manners and customs of the, half a century ago, ii. 122 _et seq._
-  (See KING'S THEATRE.)
-
-Lorenzo da Ponte, ii. 293.
-
-Lotti, the Venetian composer, i. 146.
-
-Louis XIV., a great actor, i. 73;
-  in the habit of singing and dancing in the court ballets, 74;
-  retires from the stage, 74;
-  returns to it, 75;
-  the various characters assumed by him, 75.
-
-Louis XV., his heartless conduct at the theatre, i. 81;
-  his meanness to his daughter's music-masters, ii. 39;
-  French society at the very worst during his reign, 48.
-
-Louis XVI., his flight from Paris, ii. 57;
-  his death, and state of the Opera at the time of, 61.
-
-_Lucia di Lammermoor_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-_Lucrezia Borgia_, of Donizetti, ii. 234, 237;
-  Victor Hugo's action against the author for breach of copyright, 234.
-
-Lulli, French Opera not founded by, i. 13, 14;
-  his intrigues, 16;
-  his _Cadmus and Hermione_, 16;
-  originally a scullion in the service of Madame de Montpensier, 16;
-  his disgrace, 17;
-  his elevation by Louis XIV., 17, 18;
-  intrusted with them music of the ballets, 18;
-  a buffoon, 18;
-  various mistakes of, 18 _et seq._;
-  his intemperate habits, 24;
-  his great attention to the ballet, 72;
-  tumult at the representation of his _Aloeste_, 85;
-  history of French Opera dates from the time of, 217;
-  his singular death, 217;
-  his operas, 217, 218.
-
-Lyric drama, remarks on the, i. 236, 237;
-  Rousseau's critique on, 243.
-
-
-M.
-
-_M. de Pourceaugnac_, performance of, i. 19.
-
-Machinery of the Opera at Paris, i. 255.
-
-Maillard, Mdlle., the _prima donna_, of the Paris Opera, ii. 66;
-  requested to personate the Goddess of Reason, 67;
-  compelled to sing republican songs, 69;
-  suspected by the republicans, 69.
-
-Mailly's _Akébar, Roi de Mogol_, i. 15.
-
-Maine, Duchess du, her passion for theatrical and musical performances, i. 77;
-  her lotteries, 78.
-
-Malibran, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 69;
-  biographical notices of, 174, 175;
-  her triumphal progress through Italy, 260, 261;
-  characteristic anecdotes of, 261-264;
-  her activity and great acquirements, 262;
-  her death, 264.
-
-Mara, Madame, the celebrated vocalist, i. 200;
-  biographical notices of, 200-3;
-  appointed _prima donna_ of the Berlin theatre, 201;
-  at the King's Theatre, ii. 4;
-  her distinguished performances, 5;
-  biographical notices of, 5-9;
-  among the first class of singers, 28.
-
-Mara and Todi, Mesdames, quarrels between the admirers of, i. 150, 203.
-
-Marcello's satire, _Teatro a la Modo_, i. 204-12.
-
-Margarita de l'Epine, the Italian vocalist, i. 104;
-  at Drury Lane, 108.
-
-_Maria di Rohan_, of Donizetti, ii. 242.
-
-Marie Antoinette, the enthusiastic patroness of Gluck, i. 275;
-  patronizes Piccinni, 290;
-  her visit to the Académie and Opera Comique, ii. 58, 59;
-  popular cries against, 59;
-  obliged to fly, 59;
-  her execution, 61.
-
-Mariette, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i, 82.
-
-_Marino Faliero_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Mario, the actor, in the character of the _Duke of Mantua_, i. 39;
-  a performer of _Don Giovanni_ in London, ii. 108.
-
-Marmontel, the librettist, i. 287, 289;
-  the admirer of Piccinni, 289.
-
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mdlle. Petit, i. 82.
-
-Marsolier, of the Opera Comique, ii. 235.
-
-Martinella, Catarina, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Martini's _Cosa Rara_, ii. 102.
-
-_Martiri_, of Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-_Masaniello_, market scene in, i. 47;
-  effects of its representation in Paris, ii. 200.
-
-_Matrimonio Segretto_, comic opera of, ii. 96-100;
-  its successful performance before Leopold II., 97.
-
-Mattheson, the musical composer and conductor of the
-     orchestra at the Hamburgh theatre, i. 141, 142;
-  his duel with Handel, 142.
-
-Maupin, Mdlle., the operatic actress, i. 26;
-  the Lola Montes of her day, 26.
-
-Mayer, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-Mazarin, Cardinal, introduces Italian Opera into France, i. 8;
-  into Paris, 14.
-
-Maze, Mdlle., the danseuse, her melancholy suicide, &c., i. 84.
-
-Mazocci's school of singing at Rome, i. 184.
-
-Melun, Count de, his depravity, i. 76.
-
-Menestrier, on the origin of the Italian Opera, i. 3.
-
-Mengozzi, the tenor singer, visits Paris, ii. 3.
-
-Mercadante, the musical composer, ii. 247, 248.
-
-Mercandotti, Maria, the charming Spanish danseuse, ii. 119;
-  married to Mr. Hughes Ball, 120.
-
-Merighi, Signora, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Merulo, Claudio, the musical composer, i. 4.
-
-Metastasio, the poet and librettist, i. 175, 212;
-  his quarrel with Caffarelli, i. 191.
-
-Meyerbeer, the successor of Rossini at the Académie, ii. 202;
-  a composer who defies classification, 206;
-  his different productions, 206;
-  biographical notices of, 206, 207;
-  his _Robert le Diable_, 207, 211 _et seq._;
-  his _Huguenots_, 216;
-  his _Prophete_, 218.
-
-Mililotti, the Neapolitan buffo, ii. 274, 275.
-
-Mingotti, the celebrated vocalist of the Dresden opera, i. 156;
-  her opinion of the London public, 197.
-
-Minuet, introduced into England, i. 73.
-
-Moliere, the friend of Lulli, i. 19;
-  his disagreement with him, 20;
-  his _Amants Magnifiques_, 65.
-
-Montagu, Lady Wortley, her description of the Vienna theatre, i. 175.
-
-Montansier, Mdlle., 71, 72;
-  denounced by the republicans for building a theatre, 73;
-  imprisoned, 73;
-  her nocturnal assemblies, 73;
-  Napoleon introduced to her, 74;
-  her marriage, 74;
-  receives indemnity for her losses, 75;
-  engaged by Napoleon to form an Italian operatic company, 79;
-  is unsuccessful, 79.
-
-Montessu, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Monteverde, the musical composer, i. 7;
-  his improvements in orchestral music, 7;
-  the score of his _Orfeo_, 7, 23;
-  produces his _Arianna_ at Venice, 8;
-  his great popularity, 8.
-
-Moreau, the musical composer, i. 27.
-
-Morel, the librettist, ii. 183.
-
-Morelli, the bass-singer, visits Paris, ii. 3.
-
-Mormoro, Madame, personates the Goddess of Reason, ii. 67.
-
-_Mosé in Egitto_, by Rossini, ii. 163.
-
-Mount Edgcumbe, Lord, author of "Musical Reminiscences," i. 299, 300;
-  his notices of celebrated vocalists, ii. 5, 6, 8, 11, _et passim_;
-  his description of the King's Theatre in 1789, 131.
-
-Mouret, the musical composer, i. 78.
-
-Mozart, the musical composer, i. 12;
-  works of, 13;
-  reception of his _Nozze di Figaro_, ii. 98;
-  his _Seraglio_, 99;
-  founder of the German operatic school at Vienna, 99 _et seq._;
-  his _Don Giovanni_, 100-109;
-  its original cast at Prague, 104;
-  Salieri his great rival, 101, 102;
-  his genius fully acknowledged, but his music not at first appreciated, 107;
-  _Musette de Portici_, the first important work to which
-     the French Opera owes its celebrity, 195;
-  translated and played with great success in England, 197, 198;
-  his fortunes affected by the revolutionary character of the plot, 200.
-
-Music of the operatic works of the sixteenth century, i. 4, 5;
-  Woolfenbuttel school of, 6;
-  Carpentras school of, 6;
-  of the drama, its importance, 45, 46;
-  the language of the masses, 46;
-  its powerful effects in dramatic representations, 47;
-  its powers as an art, 59, 60;
-  capabilities of, 169;
-  Marcello's satirical advice respecting, 204-12;
-  of the Greeks, 241;
-  a real recitative, 241;
-  an imitative art, 245, 248;
-  of the Italians and the Germans, 268, 269;
-  on expression in, ii. 83;
-  did not flourish under the French Republic or Empire, 84;
-  different schools of, 284.
-
-Musical composers, who adorned the end of the eighteenth and
-     the beginning of the nineteenth century, ii. 31, 32;
-  their peculiar characteristics, 141.
-
-Musical compositions, different adaptations of, ii. 83, 84.
-
-Musical instruments of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-Musical pieces, danger of performing under the Republican regime, ii. 67.
-
-Musical plays of the fifteenth century, i. 2.
-
-Musical valets of the seventeenth century, i. 23, 24.
-
-Musician, his contest with the dancer, i. 88;
-  his task of imitation greater than that of the painter, 249.
-
-Musicians of the French Opera, privileges of the, i. 77;
-  of Italy, nicknames given to, 86-8;
-  the "three enraged" ones, 129, 133.
-
-_Muzio Scevola_, produced at the Royal Academy of Music, i. 145.
-
-_Mysteres d'Isis_, opera of the, ii. 183.
-
-
-N.
-
-Napoleon, his munificent offers to Catalani, ii. 18.
-
-Napoleons, both of them good friends to the Opera, ii. 193, 194.
-
-Nasolini, the musical composer, ii. 12.
-
-National anthem, story respecting the, i. 165;
-  on the origin of the, 166.
-
-National styles, i. 214, 215.
-
-Nicknames given to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters
-    of Italy, i. 186-8.
-
-Nicolini, a great actor, i. 61;
-  a sopranist, 117;
-  Addison's critique on his combat with a lion at the Haymarket, 118-122.
-
-Nobles of France, operatic actors, i. 76;
-  abuses arising from the system, 76.
-
-Noblet, Mdlle., the French danseuse, ii. 111-13;
-  negociations respecting her benefit, 113, 114.
-
-_Norma_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 252, 257.
-
-Nose-pulling, i. 106.
-
-Nourrit, Adolphe, the celebrated tenor, a performer of
-     "Don Giovanni" in London, ii. 108;
-  makes his appearance at Paris, 195;
-  his _La Parisienne_, 201;
-  his professional engagements, 221, 222;
-  his melancholy death, 223, 224.
-
-Noverre, the celebrated ballet master, i. 178.
-
-_Nozze de Figaro_, of Mozart, ii. 98-103.
-
-_Nuits de Sceaux_, or _Nuits Blanches_, of the Duchess du Maine, i. 77, 78.
-
-
-O.
-
-_Oberon_ of Weber, ii, 299, 301.
-
-Olivieri, primo basso at Udine, ii. 89.
-
-OPERA, history of the, i. 1 _et seq._;
-  meaning and character of, 1, 2;
-  Wagner's definition, 1, _et note_;
-  the earliest Italian plays, called by the general name of, 2;
-  the title afterwards applied to lyrical dramas, 2;
-  proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the sixteenth century, 2;
-  first specimens of in the Greek plays, 3;
-  operatic composers and singers, 4-8;
-  its success promoted by the musical genius of Monteverde, 8;
-  taken under the patronage of the most illustrious nobles, 8;
-  the most celebrated female singers connected with, 8;
-  Italian opera introduced into France under the auspices of
-     Cardinal Mazarin, 8;
-  into England at the commencement of the eighteenth century, 9, 54;
-  into Germany, 10;
-  flourishing state of during the eighteenth century, 10;
-  history of its introduction into France and England, 12 _et seq._;
-  not founded by Lulli, 13, 14;
-  the first English opera ten years later than the first French one, 31;
-  the leading actors, 31;
-  the nature of and its merits as compared with other
-     forms of the drama, 36 _et seq._;
-  unintelligibility of, 37;
-  music in a dramatic form, 38;
-  the words ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, 41;
-  unnaturalness of, 45;
-  chorus of, 47;
-  Addison's articles on, 53-58;
-  and the drama, 61;
-  Beranger on the decline of the, 65;
-  Panard's remarks on the, 67;
-  his song on what may be seen at the, 67;
-  Louis XIV. and the nobles of France actors in, 73-78;
-  lettres de cachet issued, commanding certain persons to join the, 76, 77;
-  privileges of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging to the, 77;
-  state of, under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, 79;
-  the scene of frequent disturbances, 80;
-  etiquette respecting the visits of young ladies to the, 92, 93;
-  introduction of the Italian Opera into England, 104 _et seq._;
-  under Handel, 140;
-  its position under Handel, and subsequently, 170, 171;
-  general view of in Europe in the eighteenth century,
-     until the appearance of Gluck, 172;
-  its appearance at Vienna, 175, 181;
-  its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited
-     in Marcello's celebrated satire "Teatro a la Modo," 204-12;
-  history of French opera from Lulli to the death of Rameau, 217 _et seq._;
-  history of, in France, during the eighteenth century,
-     abounds in excellent anecdotes, 232 _et seq._;
-  different kinds of, 236, 237;
-  Rousseau's definition, and critical remarks on, 239 _et seq._;
-  of the Greeks, 243 _et seq._;
-  early periods of, 245;
-  subjects of, 247;
-  Rousseau's description of, at Paris, 251 _et seq._;
-  ludicrous caricature of, 252-260;
-  its monstrous scenery, machinery, and decorations, 255;
-  audience of the, 257;
-  history of, in England, at the end of the eighteenth century,
-     and beginning of the nineteenth, ii. 1 _et seq._;
-  at Versailles, 3;
-  King's Theatre, 4, 5;
-  notices of the most celebrated singers, 3-33;
-  the Pantheon enterprise, 6, 7;
-  state of in France after the departure of Gluck, 35 _et seq._;
-  at Paris, frequently burnt down and rebuilt, 42;
-  of the "Romantic" school, 45;
-  its condition before and after the Revolution, 46 _et seq._;
-  strange customs connected therewith, 49;
-  great singers of the, at the Jesuits' church and theatre at Paris, 50;
-  dangerous to write anything about in Paris previous to the Revolution, 54;
-  its decline after the Revolution commenced, 56 _et seq._;
-  the National Opera of Paris, 62;
-  history of, under the Republic of France, 62 _et seq._;
-  state of the, under the Convention, 75;
-  its receipts confiscated, and its artists guillotined, 75, 76;
-  under Napoleon, 79;
-  state of in Italy, Germany, and Russia, during the Republican
-     and Napoleonic wars, 87 _et seq._;
-  its difficulties arising from the continued wars, 109;
-  diplomatists and dancers, 111;
-  Terpsichorean treaty, 115;
-  manners and customs of, half a century ago, 121 _et seq._;
-  Mr. Ebers's management in 1821, 129;
-  the King's Theatre in 1789, 131, _et seq._;
-  costume of, in 1861, 137;
-  Rossini and his period, 143;
-  his _Barber of Seville_, and other operatic pieces, 144-163.
-    (See ROSSINI).
-  Madame Pasta, 170; Madame Pisaroni, 172;
-  Madlle. Sontag, 175;
-  its position in France under the Consulate, Empire, and
-     Restoration, 178 _et seq._;
-  plots for assassinating the First Consul at the, 179, 182;
-  assassination of the Duke de Berri at the, 190;
-  its temporary suspension, 193;
-  the Napoleons good friends to the, 193, 194;
-  the different pieces produced at Paris, 195, 196;
-  Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, 201;
-  rehearsals, 207;
-  Nourrit, 221;
-  the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably
-     connected with the history of opera in England, 224;
-  Donizetti and Bellini, 226, _et seq._, 257;
-  author's rights, 237;
-  different schools of, 284.
-
-Opera Comique, of France, i. 236, 237.
-
-Opera, French, Favart's satirical description of, i. 65.
-
-Opera National, substituted for that of the Academie Royale, ii. 59;
-  programme issued by the directors, 62;
-  change of site, 71.
-
-Opera singers, badly paid in the 17th century, i. 25.
-
-Operatic feuds, i. 105.
-
-Operatic incongruity at Paris, i. 253.
-
-Opitz, translator of the opera of Dafne, i. 6.
-
-Orchestra, instrumental music being deficient in the 17th century, i. 7;
-  Monteverde's improvements, 7.
-
-_Orfeo_, of Monteverde, music of, produced at Rome in 1440, i. 3, 13.
-
-Orleans, duke of, state of the Opera under his regency, i. 79;
-  his sincere love of music and literature, 85, 86;
-  his death, 86.
-
-_Otello_, by Rossini, ii. 157.
-
-Oulibicheff, M., his notices of Mozart, ii. 101;
-  the biographer of Beethoven, 287;
-  Lenz's attack on, 287.
-
-Oxenford's _Robin Hood_, i. 214.
-
-
-P.
-
-Pacchierotti, the celebrated male soprano, ii. 7.
-
-Pacini's _Talismano_, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Paer, the musical composer, ii. 32;
-  plays the part of basso, 90, 91;
-  success of his Laodicea, 98.
-
-Paer, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 80;
-  engaged by Bonaparte, 80, 81, 88;
-  anecdote of, 89.
-
-Painters of Italy, nicknames given to, i. 186-8.
-
-Paisiello, the operatic composer, ii. 2, 29, 30, 31, 82;
-  his interview with Bonaparte, 82;
-  liberally rewarded, 82, 83;
-  at St. Petersburgh, 87.
-
-Panard, his satirical remarks on the Opera, i. 67;
-  song on what he had seen at the Opera, 67.
-
-Pantheon of London converted to the use of the Opera, ii. 6, 7;
-  its company, 7;
-  burnt down, 8;
-  opening of the, 125;
-  an unfortunate speculation, 125.
-
-Paris, absurd regulations of the Theatres at, i. 86, 87;
-  Rousseau's descriptions of the Opera at, 251, 252-260;
-  contests in, respecting the merits of Gluck and Piccinni, 267;
-  its operatic company towards the end of the 18th century, ii. 3;
-  the opera burnt down at different times, 42;
-  National Library of, proposed to be burnt, 71, 72;
-  the various operatic pieces produced at, 195 _et seq._
-
-Parisian public manners and customs of the time of Louis XIV., i. 75 _et seq._;
-  the turbulent and dissipated habits, 80.
-
-Pasta, Madame, the celebrated singer, ii. 168;
-  her representation of Rossini's _Semiramide_, 168, 169;
-  biographical notices of, 170.
-
-Pelissier, Mdlle., the prima donna of Paris, i. 82;
-  her prodigality, 83.
-
-Pembroke, Countess of, the leader of a party against the
-     vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-Pergolese, the musical composer, i. 9, 170;
-  his _Serva Padrona_ hissed from the stage, 9;
-  at St. Petersburgh, ii. 88.
-
-Peri, the Italian musician, i. 5;
-  composer of the music to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-Perrin, French Operas of, i. 15.
-
-Peruzzi, Balthazar, his wonderful skill in scenic decoration, i. 3, 4.
-
-Peter the Great, his visit to the French Opera, i. 81.
-
-Peterborough, lord, account of his marriage with Miss
-    Anastasia Robinson, i. 134-138.
-
-Petit, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i. 82.
-
-Petits Violins du Roi, a band formed by Lulli, i. 17.
-
-Phillips, Ambrose, the plagiarist, i. 115.
-
-Piccinni, the musical composer, i. 212;
-  merits of, as compared with Gluck, 267;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 280 _et seq._;
-  his natural genius for music, 284;
-  success of his _Donne Dispetose_ and other operatic pieces, 285 _et seq._;
-  his arrival at Paris, 287;
-  his contests with the Gluckists, 288 _et seq._;
-  his _Orlando_, 289;
-  his rival opera of _Iphigenia in Tauris_, 291, 292;
-  ruined by the French Revolution, 295;
-  his death, 295;
-  the originator of the popular musical finales, ii. 32.
-
-_Pietra del Paragone_, of Rossini, ii. 151.
-
-Pinotti, Teresa, the celebrated comedian, ii. 274.
-
-Pisaroni, Madame, biographical notices of, ii. 172.
-
-Pleasantries of the drama exploded, i. 49;
-  their antiquity and harmlessness, 49.
-
-Poissardes of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes, ii. 49.
-
-_Pomone_, the first French Opera heard in Paris, i. 15.
-
-Ponceau, Seigneur de, (See CHASSE).
-
-Porpora, the musical composer, i. 44, 100;
-  his perversion of the "Credo", 44;
-  director of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 164;
-  singers engaged by him, 167.
-
-Porte St. Martin Theatre at Paris, ii. 42.
-
-_Preciosa_, of Weber, ii. 298.
-
-Prevost, Mdlle. the ballet dancer, i. 78, 89;
-  her jealousy of Mdlle. de Camargo, 90.
-
-Prima donnas, Marcello's satirical instructions respecting, i. 211.
-
-_Prophete_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 218.
-
-Purcell, the writer of English operas, i. 9;
-  his _King Arthur_, 14;
-  his dramatic music, 29;
-  his operatic compositions, 33;
-  his death, 34;
-  his talents, 34.
-
-_Pygmalion_, of Mdlle. Sallé, 93, 94.
-
-_Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, Scarlatti's opera of, i. 117.
-
-
-Q.
-
-Quantz, the celebrated flute player, i. 151;
-  his account of the Faustina and Cuzzoni contests, 151, 153.
-
-Quin, James, the musician, anecdote of, i. 32.
-
-Quinault, one of Lulli's librettists, i. 22.
-
-
-R.
-
-Racine, merits of, i. 115, 116.
-
-Rameau, J. P., the great French composer, i. 13, 212;
-  opinions of Dr. Burney and Grimm on his compositions, 213;
-  memoirs of, 213 _et seq._;
-  letters of nobility granted to him, 220;
-  his music, 222;
-  his death and funeral, 222, 223.
-
-_Ranz des Vaches_, ii. 289, 290.
-
-Recitative, on the use of, in opera, ii. 296.
-
-Rehearsals at the French opera, ii. 207;
-  in London, 208.
-
-Reign of Terror, a fearful time for artists and art, ii. 71;
-  its numerous victims, 76, 77.
-
-Republic of France, changes effected, in the Opera by the, ii. 64, 65.
-
-Republican celebrities, their direction of the Opera National, ii. 62, 63, 74;
-  changes effected by, in operatic pieces, 64, 65.
-
-Revolution in France, state of the Opera at the period, ii. 34 _et seq._ 55;
-  its effect on the Academie, 56 _et seq._;
-  musicians and singers who fell victims to its fury, 76, 77.
-
-Rey, the musical composer, and conductor of the Paris orchestra, ii. 41.
-
-Righini, the operatic composer, ii. 104.
-
-_Rigoletto_, operatic music of, i. 47, 48.
-
-_Rinaldo and Armida_, by Handel, i. 123;
-  operatic sparrows of, 123-126.
-
-Rinuccini, Ottavio, the Italian poet, i. 5;
-  author of the libretto to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-_Robert le Diable_, of Meyerbeer, new version of a chorus in, i. 42;
-  remarks on, ii. 202, 211 _et seq._;
-  compared with _Der Freischutz_, 213;
-  brought out at the King's Theatre, 214.
-
-Robespierre, fall of, ii. 76.
-
-_Robin des Bois_, an adaptation of Weber's _Der Freischutz_, ii. 295-297.
-
-Robinson, Anastasia, the celebrated vocalist, i. 134;
-  privately married to the Earl of Peterborough, 134;
-  Lady Delany's account of, 134-138.
-
-Robinson, Mr., father of Lady Peterborough, i. 135;
-  death of, 136.
-
-Rochois, Martha le, the vocalist, i. 25.
-
-"Romantic School" of the opera, ii. 284.
-
-Rossi, the Italian librettist, i. 128.
-
-Rossini, the operatic composer. ii. 31;
-  history of his period, 140 _et seq._;
-  the greatest of Italian composers, 142;
-  his biographers, 143;
-  his _Barber of Seville_, 144;
-  historical anecdotes of, 144 _et seq._;
-  comparison of, with Mozart and Beaumarchais, 149;
-  his _Pietra del Paragone_, 151;
-  his innovations, 153, 155; _Tancredi_ and _Otello_, 156, 157;
-  his _Gazza Ladra_, 160;
-  his _Mosé in Egitto_, 163;
-  married to Mdlle. Colbran, 166;
-  his _Semiramide_ played by Madame Pasta and others, 168, 169;
-  his _Siege de Corinth_, 189;
-  his _Viaggio a Reims_, 195;
-  _Guillaume Tell_ his last opera, 201;
-  succeeded by Meyerbeer at the Academie, 202;
-  his followers, 203, 204;
-  his retirement, 205;
-  Donizetti's early admiration of, 226;
-  Sigismondi's horror of his works, and his adverse criticisms, 228 _et seq._;
-  his musical genius and powers, 282;
-  his _William Tell_, 283;
-  the most modern of operatic composers, 283;
-  the alpha and the omega of our operatic period, 283.
-
-_Rouslan e Loudmila_, of Glinka, ii. 290.
-
-Rousseau, J. J., a critic and a composer of music, i. 238 _et seq._;
-  his "Dictionnaire de Musique," 239;
-  his definition of Opera, 239;
-  his critical dissertation on the Opera in France during
-     the eighteenth century, 239-250;
-  his opinions on dancing and the ballet, 250;
-  author of the _Devin du Village_, 261,
-    but Granet the musical composer, 262, 263;
-  his advice to Mdlle. Theodore, 300.
-
-Rousseau, Pierre, anecdote of, i. 262;
-  accuses Jean J. Rousseau of fraud, 265.
-
-Royal Academy of Music formed in London, i. 142;
-  liberally patronized, 143;
-  confided to Handel, 144;
-  the various operas produced at, 144, 145;
-  involved in difficulties, 145;
-  finally closed, 146;
-  a complete failure, 147.
-
-Rubini, the celebrated tenor singer, ii. 249, 264, 265;
-  the fellow-student of Bellini, 249;
-  biographical notices of, 265, 266;
-  his great emoluments, 266;
-  his B flat, 267, 268;
-  his broken clavicle, 269.
-
-Rue Richelieu, opera in closed after the assassination of the
-     Duc de Berri, ii. 193.
-
-Russia, opera in, during the republican and Napoleonic wars, ii. 87.
-
-
-S.
-
-Sacchini, the musical composer, i. 212; ii. 2, 31, 40;
-  works of, 40;
-  his _Chimčne_ played at the Paris Opera, 43;
-  his _OEdipe ŕ Colosse_, 44.
-
-Sacred musical plays of the fifteenth century, i. 2.
-
-_Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica_, of Algarotte, i. 2;
-  St. Evremond's comedy of _Les Operas_, i. 50.
-
-St. Leger, Mdlles. de, executed for playing the piano, ii. 69.
-
-St. Montant, M. de, a musical enthusiast, i. 87.
-
-St. Petersburg, opera at, ii. 87, 88.
-
-Salieri, the operatic composer, ii. 2, 32, 40, 100;
-  brings out his _Danaides_, 44;
-  the rival of Mozart, 101;
-  his _Assur_, 101, 102.
-
-Sallé, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse, i. 91;
-  her proposed reforms in stage costume, 91;
-  noticed by Voltaire, Fontenelle, and others, 92;
-  her first appearance in London, 93;
-  her alterations in stage costume, 93;
-  performance of her _Pygmalion_, and her great success, 98 _et seq._;
-  enthusiasm at her benefit in London, 98, 99;
-  announcement of her first arrival in England, 101.
-
-Saxe, Marshal, the great favourite of the ladies, i. 232, 233;
-  his love for Madame Favart, 233, 234.
-
-Scarlatti's opera of _Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, i. 117.
-
-Scenery, the great attraction in operatic representations, i. 3;
-  the art carried to great perfection at Rome, 3, 4;
-  of the opera of Paris, 252.
-
-Schoelcher, M. Victor, biographer of Handel, i. 97;
-  on the origin of "God save the king," 165.
-
-Schindler, the biographer of Beethoven, ii. 287.
-
-Schmaling, Mdlle. (See MARA).
-
-Schools, the different ones, ii. 284.
-
-Schroeder-Devrient, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 299.
-
-Schutz, the musical composer, i. 6.
-
-Scribe, M., the librettist, i. 212, ii. 250;
-  his comic operas, i. 212.
-
-Scudo, the critic, ii. 293.
-
-_Semiramide_, of Rossini, ii. 168;
-  represented by Madame Pasta and others, 168, 169.
-
-Senesino, Signor, the sopranist, i. 158, 159;
-  quarrels with Handel, and joins the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 164.
-
-_Serva Padrona_, opera of, hissed from the French stage, i. 9.
-
-Servandoni, of the Tuileries theatre, i. 63;
-  his scenic decorations, 177, 179.
-
-Shakspeare's dramas, i. 61.
-
-_Siege de Corinthe_, produced at the French Opera, ii. 195.
-
-_Siege of Thionville_, its gratuitous performance for
-     the amusement of the _sans culottes_, ii. 66.
-
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, ii. 226;
-  his pious horror of Rossini's works, and his adverse criticisms, 228, 229.
-
-Singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, i. 8, 182, 183 _et seq._;
-  their capricious tempers, 161;
-  Lord Mount Edgcumbe's "Reminiscences" of, ii. 28;
-  divided into two classes, 28;
-  exposed to the threats of the Republicans, 69.
-
-Singers of Italy, found in all parts of Europe, i. 10, 172 _et seq._;
-  nicknames given to, 186-8.
-
-Singers of the French Opera, privileges of the, i. 77.
-
-Singing in dramatic representations, its powerful effects, i. 47;
-  humorous satire on, 50, 51;
-  Mazocci's school of, 184;
-  Marcello's satirical advice respecting, 204-12;
-  deaths caused by, ii. 270.
-
-Smith, J., the husband of Mrs. Tofts, i. 111.
-
-Smith, Sir Sidney, his liberation from the French prison
-     by Boisgerard, ii. 117, 118.
-
-Sobriquets, applied to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters
-     of Italy, i. 186-8.
-
-Song, difficulty of writing to declamation in modern languages, i. 240.
-
-Song of Solomon, considered the earliest opera on record, i. 3.
-
-_Sonnambula_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 251, 257.
-
-Sontag, Mdlle., biographical notices of, ii. 174.
-
-Soubise, Prince de, i. 299;
-  his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-Sounds, art of combining agreeably, i. 239;
-  of a speaking voice, 240.
-
-Sparrows, operatic, at the Haymarket, i. 123-126.
-
-Spectator. (See ADDISON).
-
-Spitting, i. 107.
-
-Spohr, the celebrated German composer, ii. 285.
-
-Spontini, the musical composer, ii. 183;
-  his _Finta Filosofa_, 185;
-  his _La Vestale_, and _Fernand Cortez_, 186, 187;
-  his animosity towards Meyerbeer, 188.
-
-Stage of France, its state of morality, i. 81, 82.
-
-Stage costume, Mdlles. Sallé's proposed reforms in, i. 93;
-  her alterations in, 93.
-
-Stage decoration, i. 63, 178, 179, 180.
-
-Stage plays, ordinances for the suppression of, i. 31.
-
-Steele, on insanity, i. 111, 112;
-  his hatred of the Italian Opera, 113;
-  his chagrin at the success of Handel's _Rinaldo_, 116;
-  his insults to operatic singers, 117;
-  on the operatic sparrows and chaffinches at the Haymarket, 126;
-  his unfavourable opinion of opera, 126, 127.
-
-Stockholm, opera at, ii. 87.
-
-Storace, Mrs., the prima donna of the King's Theatre, ii. 3;
-  biographical notices of, 4.
-
-Storace, Stephen, musical director of the King's Theatre, ii. 4.
-
-Strada, Signora, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Stradella, the vocalist and operatic composer, i. 183.
-
-Strozzi, Pietro, i. 5.
-
-Stutgardt, magnificence of the theatres at, i. 178.
-
-Styx, how to cross the, i. 85.
-
-Subligny, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse, i. 92.
-
-Swift, his celebrated epigram on Buononcini and Handel, i. 64.
-
-
-T.
-
-_Talismano_, of Pacini, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Talmont, princess de, letter from, 235.
-
-Tamburini, the singer, performer of "Don Giovanni" in London, ii. 108;
-  biographical notices of, 271-4;
-  his grotesque personation of the absent _prima donna_, 272-274;
-  his versatile powers, 273.
-
-_Tancredi_, by Rossini, ii. 152, 156, 157.
-
-Taylor, Mr., proprietor and manager of the King's Theatre, ii. 121;
-  humorous anecdotes of, 122 _et seq._;
-  his quarrel with Mr. Waters, 126;
-  driven from the theatre, 126;
-  ends his days in prison, 127;
-  his anonymous letter respecting Waters, 128.
-
-_Teatro a la Modo_, Marcello's satire of i. 204-12.
-
-Terence, the first production of his _Eunuchus_, ii. 90.
-
-Terpsichorean treaty, ii. 115.
-
-Theatre, at Stutgardt, i. 178;
-  at Venice, 180; at Vienna, 181;
-  of the jesuits, at Paris, ii. 50.
-
-Théâtre des Arts, of Paris, ii. 194;
-  its frequent changes of name, 194, _n._
-
-Théâtre d'Opéra, of Paris, ii. 193.
-
-Theatres in the open air, i. 176, 177;
-  of immense size, 177 _et seq._;
-  scenic decorations of, 178, 179;
-  at Venice, 180;
-  number of in Paris during the Reign of Terror, ii. 71.
-
-Théodore, Mdlle., the accomplished danseuse, i. 300;
-  imprisoned, ii. 54.
-
-Thévanard, the operatic singer, i. 79.
-
-Thillon, Madame, ii. 239.
-
-Tintoretto, the musical composer, refuses the honour of knighthood, i. 221.
-
-Tofts, Mrs. the vocalist, and rival of Margarita de l'Epine, i. 105;
-  letter from, 105;
-  plays "Arsinoe" at Drury Lane, 107;
-  her insanity, 110, 111.
-
-Tosi, Signor, his observations on Mesdames Faustina and Cuzzoni, i. 151.
-
-Trial, the comic tenor, death of, ii. 76.
-
-Tribou, the French harmonist, i. 83;
-  his versatile talents, 83.
-
-_Triomphe de Trajan_, opera of, ii. 189.
-
-Tuileries, the last _concert spirituel_ at the theatre of the, ii. 57.
-
-
-U
-
-_Undine_, of Hoffman, ii. 301-305.
-
-
-V
-
-Valabrčque, M., the husband of Catalani, ii. 20;
-  draft of a contract between him and Mr. Ebers, 23-25;
-  anecdote of his stupidity, 26, 27.
-
-Valentini, Regina, the celebrated vocalist, i. 156;
-  married to Mingotti, 156.
-
-Varennes, Mdlle., the French danseuse, ii. 112.
-
-Velluti, a tenor singer of great powers, ii. 209;
-  played the principal part in _Il Crociato_, 209;
-  biographical notices of, 210;
-  his first debut and performance in London, 211.
-
-Venice, the opera of, and its scenic decorations, i. 180.
-
-Verdi, Signor, the musical composer, i. 213, 268; ii. 99, _note_;
-  his _Ernani_ and _Rigoletto_ founded on _Hernani_ and
-    _Le Roi s'amuse_, i. 213;
-  his _Ernani_ prohibited the stage, ii. 235.
-
-Versailles, ballets at, i. 70, 71;
-  the London Italian company perform at, ii. 3.
-
-Vestris, Gaetan, the dancer, anecdotes of, i. 278; ii. 37;
-  founder of the family, i. 301.
-
-Vestris, Auguste, son of Gaetan the dancer, i. 301;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 35, 37;
-  his extravagant expenditure, 53.
-
-Vestris, the prince of Guéméné, compelled to dance as a sans culotte, ii. 69.
-
-Vestrises, biographical notices of the family, i. 302.
-
-_Viaggio a Reims_, by Rossini, written for the coronation
-    of Charles X., ii. 195.
-
-Victor Hugo, his copyright action against Donizetti, ii. 284, 285.
-
-Vienna, establishment of the Italian opera in, i. 174;
-  its great writers and composers, 175;
-  Lady Wortley Montagu's description of its magnificent theatre, 175;
-  opera at, a first-rate musical theatre, 181;
-  great patronage of the imperial family, 181.
-
-Viagnoni, the singer, ii. 14.
-
-Violins of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-Virtuosi of the seventeenth century, i. 183.
-
-Vivien, the horn player, i. 184.
-
-Vocalists of Paris, their generous letter to Prince de Guéméné, ii. 51.
-  (See SINGERS.)
-
-Voice, speaking, sounds of a, i. 240.
-
-
-W.
-
-Wagner's definition of the word "Opera," i. 1 _et note_.
-
-Wallace, V., the eminent composer, i. 42;
-  critique on a passage in his _Maritana_, i. 42, 43;
-  his _Maritana_ and _Lurline_ founded on the French, 214.
-
-Warsaw, the opera of closed, ii. 54.
-
-Warton, Dr. J., his character of the Duchess of Bolton, i. 138.
-
-Waters, Mr., joint proprietor of the King's Theatre, ii. 109, 125;
-  quarrels with Taylor, his partner, 126;
-  re-opens the Opera, 127;
-  makes a purchase of it, 127;
-  his retirement, 129.
-
-Weber, Karl Maria Von, a romantic composer, ii. 285;
-  belongs to the same class as Beethoven and Spohr, 285;
-  his influence on the Opera, 288;
-  his fondness for particular instruments, 290;
-  characteristics of his music, 291;
-  his resemblance to Meyerbeer, 292;
-  his _Der Freischutz_, and its great success, 292 _et seq._;
-  his various operas, 298 _et seq._;
-  his _Oberon_, 301.
-
-_William Tell_, of Rossini, no subsequent opera to be ranked with, ii. 283.
-
-Williams, Sir Charles, anecdote of, i. 157.
-
-Wolfenbuttel school of music, i. 6.
-
-Women, duelling among, i. 225 _et note_.
-
-Wurtemburg, Duke, brilliancy of his court, i. 178.
-
-
-Z.
-
-_Zaira_, of Bellini, ii. 250.
-
-_Zelmira_, of Rossini, ii. 165;
-  its music, 167.
-
-Zeno, Apostolo, the operatic writer, i. 175;
-  a librettist, 212.
-
-Zingarelli, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-FINIS.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext
-transcriber:
-
-_La Dame Camélias_ was to have been played=>_La Dame aux Camélias_ was
-to have been played
-
-J'ai vu le soliel et la lune=>J'ai vu le soleil et la lune
-
-of an Italian, who, adandoning=>of an Italian, who, abandoning
-
-old newspapers before before me=>old newspapers before me
-
-One the contrary, it gives=>On the contrary, it gives
-
-the banquet with the apparation of the murdered=>the banquet with the
-apparition of the murdered
-
-DUCAL CONNAISSEURS=>DUCAL CONNOISSEURS
-
-Hamburg theatre, where operas had been performed=>Hamburgh theatre,
-where operas had been performed
-
-Woffenbüttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh=>Wolfenbüttel caused
-the directors of the Hamburgh
-
-retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolesi, Jomelli,=>retirement, operas
-by Galuppi, Pergolese, Jomelli,
-
-Guingueneé, at Piccinni's request=>Guinguenée, at Piccinni's request
-
-"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le dieu de la danse_=>"If,"
-said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le diou de la danse_
-
-works, had to perform in the _Clemenzo di Tito_=>works, had to perform
-in the _Clemenza di Tito_
-
-Gluck benefitted French opera in two ways=>Gluck benefited French opera
-in two ways
-
-Bernadotte wore he would have Paer, and no one else=>Bernadotte swore he
-would have Paer, and no one else
-
-"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of music=>"The
-administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music
-
-by lord Fife--a keen-eyed connoisseur=>by Lord Fife--a keen-eyed
-connoisseur
-
-For the one hundred and eighty pound boxas=>For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes
-
-meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up Water's=>meanwhile Mr. Chambers had
-bought up Waters's
-
-prima uomo=>primo uomo
-
-Madeimoselle=>Mademoiselle
-
-Hadyn=>Haydn
-
-LA MUETTE DE PARTICI=>LA MUETTE DE PORTICI {2}
-
-La Muette di Portici=>La Muette de Portici
-
-threw himself out of window, at five in the morning=>threw himself out
-of a window, at five in the morning
-
-the opera performed, and the theatre saved=>the opera perfomed, and the
-theatre saved
-
-so that the cast, to be efficient=>so that the caste, to be efficient
-
-The young gentlemen of Burgamo=>The young gentlemen of Bergamo
-
-Il Puritani=>I Puritani
-
-general enthusiam=>general enthusiasm
-
-Schindler's book is the course of nearly=>Schindler's book is the sourse
-of nearly
-
-Berlioz's version of Der Freischutz=>Berlioz's version of Der Freischütz
-
-Dame aux Camelias=>Dame aux Camélias
-
-Der Freischutz, of Weber=>Der Freischütz, of Weber
-
-Mailly's Akebar=>Mailly's Akébar
-
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mddlle. Petit=>Marre, Abbé de la, defends
-Mdlle. Petit
-
-Singers of the seventeenth and eightteenth centuries=>Singers of the
-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
-
-Fenelon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.=>Fénélon, Chev. de,
-accidentally killed, i. 81.
-
-of Cimarosa, Paesiello, Anfossi=>of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi
-
-where are Hoffman's licentious novels=>where are Hoffmann's licentious
-novels
-
-his opinion of Hoffman's music, 306.=>his opinion of Hoffmann's music,
-306.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Wagner calls the composer of an opera "the sculptor _or_
-upholsterer," (which is complimentary to sculptors,) and the writer of
-the words "the architect." I would rather say that the writer of the
-words produces a sketch, on which the composer paints a picture.
-
-Since writing the above I find that the greatest of French poets
-describes an admirable _libretto_ of his own as "_un canevas d'opéra
-plus ou moins bien disposé pour que l'oeuvre musicale s'y superpose
-heureusement_;" and again, "_une trame qui ne demande pas mieux que de
-se dérober sous cette riche et éblouissante broderie qui s'appelle la
-musique_." (Preface to Victor Hugo's _Esmeralda_.)
-
-[2] Ménestrier, des representations en musique, anciennes et modernes,
-page 23.
-
-[3] See Vol. II.
-
-[4] Cambronne, by the way is said to have been very much annoyed at the
-invention of "_La garde meurt et ne se rend pas_;" and with reason, for
-he didn't die and he _did_ surrender.
-
-[5] "_The battle or defeat of the Swiss on the day of Marignan._"
-
-[6] This was Heine's own joke.
-
-[7] And this, Beaumarchais's.
-
-[8] _La Dame aux Camélias_ was to have been played at the St. James's
-Theatre last summer, with Madame Doche in the principal part; but its
-representation was forbidden by the licenser.
-
-[9] _Spectator_, No. 18.
-
-[10] "Life of Handel," by Victor Schoelcher.
-
-[11] I adhere to the custom of calling Margarita de l'Epine by her
-pretty Christian name, without any complimentary prefix, and of styling
-her probably more dignified competitor, Mrs. Tofts. Thus in later times
-it has been the fashion to say, Jenny Lind, and even Giulia Grisi, but
-not Theresa Titiens or Henrietta Sontag.
-
-[12] _Spectator_, No. 261.
-
-[13] Burnt down in 1789. The present edifice was erected from designs by
-Michael Novosielski, (who, to judge from his name, must have been a
-Russian or a Pole), in 1790. Altered and enlarged by Nash and Repton, in
-1816--18.
-
-[14] It is to be regretted, however, that in sneering at an Italian
-librettist who called Handel "The Orpheus of our age," Addison thought
-fit to speak of the great composer with neither politeness, nor wit, nor
-even accuracy, as "Mynheer."--_Spectator_, No. V.
-
-[15] The same trenchant critics who attribute Addison's satire of the
-Opera to the failure of his _Rosamond_, explain Steele's attacks by his
-position as patentee of Drury Lane Theatre. Here, however, dates come to
-our assistance. The jocose paper on Mrs. Toft's insanity appeared in the
-_Tatler_, in 1709. The attacks of the unhappy Clayton on Handel (see
-following pages) were published under Steele's auspices in the
-_Spectator_, in 1711-12. Steele did not succeed Collier as manager or
-patentee of Drury Lane, together with Wilks, Doggett, and Cibber, until
-1714.
-
-[16] _Spectator_, 290.
-
-[17] The Queen's gardeners.
-
-[18] _Tatler_, No. 113.
-
-[19] _Spectator_, No. 285.
-
-[20] It is also known that both profited by the study of Scarlatti's
-works.
-
-[21] See Chapter II.
-
-[22] Quoted by Mr. Hogarth, in his Memoirs of the Opera.
-
-[23] _The Theatre._ From Tuesday, March 8th, to Saturday March 12th,
-1720.
-
-[24] See a letter of Dr. Harrington's (referred to by Mr. Chappell), in
-the _Monthly Magazine_, Vol. XI., page 386.
-
-[25] "Memoirs of the Opera," Vol. I., page 371.
-
-[26] The sopranists--a species of singers which ceased to be "formed"
-after Pope Clement XIV. sanctioned the introduction of female vocalists
-into the churches of Rome, and at the same time recommended theatrical
-directors to have women's parts in their operas performed by women. This
-was in 1769.
-
-[27] The _Dictionnaire Musicale_ was not published until some years
-afterwards.
-
-[28] Le Vieux Neuf, par Edouard Fournier, t. ii., p. 293.
-
-[29] See _Moliére Musicien_, by Castil Blaze; t. ii, p. 26.
-
-[30] Choruses were introduced in the earliest Italian Operas, but they
-do not appear to have formed essential parts of the dramas represented.
-
-[31] With the important exception, however, of _Don Giovanni_, written
-for, and performed for the first time, at Prague.
-
-[32] Vocal agility, not gymnastics.
-
-[33] Of Faustina and Cuzzoni, whose histories are so intimately
-connected with that of the Royal Academy of Music, I have spoken in the
-preceding chapter on "The Italian Opera under Handel."
-
-[34] The copious title of this work is given by M. Castil Blaze, in his
-"Histoire de l'Opéra Italien." I cannot obtain the book itself, but Mr.
-Hogarth, in his "Memoirs of the Opera," gives a very full account of it,
-from which I extract a few pages.
-
-[35] F. Halévy, Origines de l'Opéra en France (in the volume entitled
-"Souvenirs et Portraits: Etudes sur les beaux Arts").
-
-[36] By M. Castil Blaze, "Histoire de l'Académie Royale de Musique,"
-vol. i. p. 116.
-
-[37] For a copy of his Mass, No. 2.
-
-[38] It was precisely because persons joining the Opera did _not_
-thereby lose their nobility, that M. de Camargo consented to allow his
-daughter to appear there. See page 89 of this volume.
-
-[39] Among other instances of duels between women may be cited a combat
-with daggers, which took place between the abbess of a convent at
-Venice, and a lady who claimed the admiration of the Abbé de Pomponne; a
-combat with swords between Marotte Beaupré and Catherine des Urlis,
-actresses at the Hotel de Bourgogne, where the duel took place, on the
-stage (came of quarrel unknown); and a combat on horseback, with
-pistols, about a greyhound, between two ladies whom the historian
-Robinet designates under the names of Mélinte and Prélamie, and in which
-Mélinte was wounded.
-
-[40] Castil Blaze.
-
-[41] It is not so generally known, by the way, as it should be, that
-Garrick was of French origin. The name of his father, who left France
-after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in England and
-married an Englishwoman, was Carric. (See "the Eighth Commandment," by
-Charles Reade.) On the other hand we must not forget that one of
-Moličre's (Poquelin's) ancestors in the male line was an archer of the
-Scottish guard, and that Montaigne was of English descent.
-
-[42] One of Mademoiselle Guimard's principal admirers was de Jarente,
-Titular Bishop of Orleans, who held "_la feuilles des bénéfices_," and
-frequently disposed of them in accordance with the suggestions of his
-young friend.
-
-[43] French audiences owe something to the Count de Lauragais who, by
-paying an immense sum of money as compensation, procured the abolition
-of the seats on the stage. Previously, the _habitués_ were in the habit
-of crowding the stage to such an extent, that an actor was sometimes
-obliged to request the public to open a way for him before he could make
-his entry.
-
-[44] Compare this with the Duke of Wellington keeping foxhounds in the
-Peninsula, and observe the characteristic pastimes of English and French
-generals. So, in our House of Commons, there is always an adjournment
-over the Derby day; in France, nothing used to empty the Chamber of
-Deputies so much as a new opera; and during the last French republic,
-when a question affecting its very existence was about to be discussed,
-the Assemblée Nationale was quite deserted, from the anxiety of the
-members to be present at the first representation of the _Prophčte_.
-
-[45] On this subject see _ante_, page 1.
-
-[46] "Gods and devils," says Arteaga, "were banished from the stage as
-soon as poets discovered the art of making men speak with
-dignity."--_Rivoluzioni del teatro Italiano._
-
-[47] Published by John Chapman, London.
-
-[48] Addison gives some such description of the French Opera in No. 29
-of the _Spectator_.
-
-[49] The origin of this absurd title has been already explained (page
-15).
-
-[50] _Moličre Musicien_, par Castil Blaze, vol. II., p. 409.
-
-[51] Gluck's name proves nothing to the contrary. The Slavonian
-languages are such unknown tongues, and so unpronounceable to the West
-of Europe that Slavonians have in numerous instances Latinised their
-names like Copernicus (a Pole), or Gallicised them like Chopin (also a
-Pole), or above all, have Germanised them like Guttenberg (a native of
-Kutna Gora in Bohemia), Schwarzenberg (from Tcherna Gora, the Black
-Mountain).
-
-[52] We have a right to suppose that the priest did not exactly know for
-whose arm the mass was ordered.
-
-[53] Of which, the best account I have met with is given in the memoirs
-of Fleury the actor.
-
-[54] From 1821 to 1828.
-
-[55] For an interesting account of the production of this work, see
-"Beaumarchais's Life and Times," by Louis de Loménie. See also the
-Preface to _Tarare_, in Beaumarchais's "Dramatic Works."
-
-[56] See vol I.
-
-[57] _Question._ Quelle est la meilleure? _Answer._ C'est Mara.
-_Rejoinder._ C'est bientôt dit (_bien Todi_).--(From a joke-book of the
-period).
-
-[58] A celebrated male soprano, and one of the last of the tribe.
-
-[59] Some writers speak of Mara as a violinist, others as a
-violoncellist.
-
-[60] Banti was born at Crema, in 1757.
-
-[61] Nasolini, a composer of great promise, died at a very early age.
-
-[62] All three sopranists.
-
-[63] It will be remembered that Berton, the director of the French
-Academy, entertained Gluck and Piccinni in a similar manner. (See vol.
-I.)
-
-[64] We sometimes hear complaints of the want of munificence shown by
-modern constitutional sovereigns, in their dealings with artists and
-musicians. At least, however, they pay them. Louis XV. and Louis XVI.
-not only did not pay their daughters' music-masters, but allowed the
-royal young ladies to sponge upon them for what music they required.
-
-[65] In chronicling the material changes that have taken place at the
-French Opera, I must not forgot the story of the new curtain, displayed
-for the first time, in 1753, or rather the admirable inscription
-suggested for it by Diderot--_Hic Marsias Apollinem._ Pergolese's
-_Servante Maitresse_ (_La Serva padrona_) had just been "_écorchée_" by
-the orchestra of the Académie.
-
-[66] Mémoires Secrčtes, vol. xxi., page 121.
-
-[67] This prevented me, when I was in Warsaw, from hearing M.
-Moniuszko's Polish opera of _Halka_.
-
-[68] To say that a theatre is "full" in the present day, means very
-little. The play-bills and even the newspapers speak of "a full house"
-when it is half empty. If a theatre is tolerably full, it is said to be
-"crowded" or "crammed;" if quite full, "crammed to suffocation." And
-that even in the coldest weather!
-
-[69] M. de Lamartine before writing the _History of the Restoration_,
-did not even take the trouble to find out whether or not the Duke of
-Wellington led a cavalry charge at the Battle of Waterloo. The same
-author, in his _History of the Girondist_, gives an interesting picture
-of Charlotte Corday's house at Caen, considered as a ruin. Being at Caen
-some years ago, I had no trouble in finding Charlotte Corday's house,
-but looked in vain for the moss, the trickling water, &c., introduced by
-M. de Lamartine in his poetical, but somewhat too fanciful description.
-The house was "in good repair," as the auctioneers say, and persons who
-had lived a great many years in the same street assured me that they had
-never known it as a ruin.--S. E.
-
-[70] There was a Marquis de Louvois, but he was employed as a
-scene-shifter.
-
-[71] It was built chiefly with the money of Danton and Sébastian
-Lacroix.
-
-[72] Twenty-eight thousand francs a year, to which Napoleon always added
-twelve thousand in presents, with an annual _congé_ of four months.
-
-[73] According to M. Thiers, the pretended copies of the secret
-articles, sold to the English Government, were not genuine, and the
-money paid for them was "_mal gagné_."
-
-[74] Alexander II. gives Verdi an honorarium of 80,000 roubles for the
-opera he is now writing for St. Petersburg. The work, of course, remains
-Signor Verdi's property.
-
-[75] Nouvelle Biographie de Mozart. Moscou, 1843.
-
-[76] There are numerous analogies between the various Spanish legends of
-Don Juan, the Anglo-Saxon and German legends of Faust, and the Polish
-legend of Twardowski. It might be shown that they were all begotten by
-the legend of Theophilus of Syracuse, and that their latest descendant
-is _Punch_ of London.
-
-[77] Madame Alboni has appeared as Zerlina, and sings the music of this,
-as of every other part that she undertakes, to perfection; but she is
-not so intimately associated with the character as the other vocalists
-mentioned above.
-
-[78] Waters appears to have spent nearly all the money he made during
-the seasons of 1814 and 1815, in improving the house.
-
-[79] After receiving, the first year she sang in London, two thousand
-guineas, (five hundred more than was paid to Banti,) she declared that
-her price was ridiculously low, and that to retain her "_ci voglioni
-molte mila lira sterline_." She demanded and obtained five thousand.
-
-[80] There is a scientific German mind and a romantic German mind, and I
-perhaps need scarcely say, that Weber's music appears to me thoroughly
-German, in the sense in which the legends and ballads of Germany belong
-thoroughly to that country.
-
-[81] As for instance where _Semiramide_ is described as an opera written
-in the German style!
-
-[82] It would be absurd to say that if Rossini had set the _Marriage of
-Figaro_ to music, he would have produced a finer work than Mozart's
-masterpiece on the same subject; but Rossini's genius, by its comic
-side, is far more akin to that of Beaumarchais, than is Mozart's. Mozart
-has given a tender poetic character to many portions of his _Marriage of
-Figaro_, which the original comedy does not possess at all. In
-particular, he has so elevated the part of "Cherubino" by pure and
-beautiful melodies, as to have completely transformed it. It is surely
-no disparagement to Mozart, to say, that he took a higher view of life
-than Beaumarchais was capable of?
-
-I may add, that, in comparing Rossini with Beaumarchais, it must always
-be remembered that the former possesses the highest dramatic talent of a
-serious, passionate kind--witness _Otello_ and _William Tell_; whereas
-Beaumarchais's serious dramatic works, such as _La Mčre Coupable_, _Les
-Deux Amis_, and _Eugénie_ (the best of the three), are very inferior
-productions.
-
-[83] The serious opera consisted of the following persons: the _primo
-uomo_ (_soprano_), _prima donna_, and tenor; the _secondo uomo_
-(_soprano_), _seconda donna_ and _ultima parte_, (bass). The company for
-the comic opera consisted of the _primo buffo_ (tenor), _prima buffa_,
-_buffo caricato_ (bass), _seconda buffa_ and _ultima parte_ (bass).
-There were also the _uomo serio_ and _donna seria_, generally the second
-man and woman of the serious opera.
-
-[84] The San Carlo, Benedetti Theatre, &c., are named after the parishes
-in which they are built.
-
-[85] Particularly celebrated for her performance of the brilliant part
-of the heroine in _La Cenerentola_, which, however, was not written for
-her.
-
-[86] When Madame Pasta sang at concerts, after her retirement from the
-stage, her favourite air was still Tancredi's _Di tanti palpiti_.
-
-[87] Mémorial de Sainte Hélčne.
-
-[88] "Lutčce" par Henri Heine (a French version, by Heine himself, of
-his letters from Paris to the _Allgemeine Zeitung_).
-
-[89] He persisted in this declaration, in spite of his judges, who were
-not ashamed to resort to torture, in the hope of extracting a full
-confession from him. The thumb-screw and the rack were not, it is true,
-employed; but sentinels were stationed in the wretched man's cell, with
-orders not to allow him a moment's sleep, until he confessed.
-
-[90] The Académie Royale became the Opéra National; the Opéra National,
-after its establishment in the abode of the former Théâtre National,
-became the Théâtre des Arts; and the Théâtre des Arts, the Théâtre de la
-République et des Arts. Napoleon's Théâtre des Arts became soon
-afterwards the Académie Impériale, the Académie Impériale the Académie
-Royale, the Académie Royale the Académie Nationale, the Académie
-Nationale once more the Académie Impériale, and the Académie Impériale
-simply the Théâtre de l'Opera, by far the best title that could be given
-to it.
-
-[91] I was in Paris at the time, but, I forget the specific objections
-urged by the doctor against the _Freischütz_ set before him at the
-"Académie Nationale," as the theatre was then called. Doubtless,
-however, he did not, among other changes, approve of added recitatives.
-
-[92] No. 1.--_Vive Henri IV._ No. 2.--_La Marseillaise._ No.
-3.--_Partant pour la Syrie._ No. 4.--_La Parisienne._ No. 5.--_Partant
-pour la Syrie_ (encored). No. 6.--?
-
-[93] Mozart, Cimarosa, Weber, Hérold, Bellini, and Mendelssohn.
-
-[94] In the case of _Il Crociato_, however, the model was an Italian
-one.
-
-[95] Rossini's natural inability to sympathize with sopranists is one
-more great point in his favour.
-
-[96] For instance: _Fra Diavolo_ and _Les Diamans la Couronne_.
-
-[97] The second, _Le Duc d'Albe_, was entrusted to Donizetti, who died
-without completing the score.
-
-[98] Nourrit was the author of _la Sylphide_, one of the most
-interesting and best designed ballets ever produced; that is to say, he
-composed the libretto for which Taglioni arranged the groups and dances.
-
-[99] See Raynouard's veracious "Histoire des Troubadours."
-
-[100] When are we to hear the last of the "ovations" which singers are
-said to receive when they obtain, or even do not obtain, any very
-triumphant success? A great many singers in the present day would be
-quite hurt if a journal were simply to record their "triumph." An
-"ovation" seems to them much more important; and it cannot be said that
-this misapprehension is entirely their fault.
-
-[101] That is to say, a quarter or a third part of an inch.
-
-[102] "What a pity I did not think of this city fifty years ago!"
-exclaimed Signor Badiali, when he made his first appearance in London,
-in 1859.
-
-[103] Joanna Wagner.
-
-[104] Richard Wagner.
-
-[105] Tancredi.
-
-[106] Once more, I may mention that the "romantic opera" (in the sense
-in which the French say "romantic drama,") was founded by Da Ponte and
-Mozart, the former furnishing the plan, the latter constructing the
-work--"The Opera of Operas."
-
-[107] The gist of M. Lenz's accusations against M. Oulibicheff amounts
-to this: that the latter, believing Mozart to have attained perfection
-in music, considered it impossible to go beyond him. "_Ou ce caractčre
-d'universalité que Mozart imprime ŕ quelques-un de ses plus grandes
-chefs-d'oeuvre_," says M. Oulibicheff. "_M'avait paru le progrčs
-immense que la musique attendait pour se constituer
-définitivement,--pour se constituer, avais-je dit, et non pour ne plus
-avancer._" According to M. Lenz, on the other hand, Mozart's
-master-pieces (after those which M. Lenz discovers among his latest
-compositions), are what preparatory studies are to a great work.
-
-[108] New form of his overtures, national melodies, &c.--(_Straker_).
-Love of traditions, melancholy, fanciful, spiritual; also
-popular.--(_Der Freischütz_).
-
-[109] I will not here enter into the question whether or not Meyerbeer
-desecrated this hymn by introducing it into an opera. Such was the
-opinion of Mendelssohn, who thought that but for Meyerbeer and the
-_Huguenots_, Luther's hymn might have been befittingly introduced in an
-oratorio which he intended to compose on the subject of the Reformation.
-
-[110] Another proof that this device is not new in the hands of Herr
-Wagner.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Opera from its Origin
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Opera from its Origin in
-Italy to the present Time, by Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time
-       With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe
-
-Author: Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-Release Date: July 8, 2012 [EBook #40164]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE OPERA ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
-produced from scanned images of public domain material
-from the Google Print project.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY
-
-OF
-
-THE OPERA,
-
-from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
-
-WITH ANECDOTES
-
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.
-
-BY
-
-SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,
-
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.
-
-"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"
-     "WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"
-
-VOL. I. & VOL. II.
-
-LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.
-
-1862.
-
-[_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._]
-
-LONDON: LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS VOLUME I.
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-
-Preface, Prelude, Prologue, Introduction, Overture, &c.--The
-Origin of the Opera in Italy, and its introduction into Germany.--Its
-History in Europe; Division of the subject                             1
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-Introduction of the Opera into France and England                     12
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-On the Nature of the Opera, and its Merits as compared with
-other forms of the Drama                                              36
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-Introduction and progress of the Ballet                               70
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-Introduction of the Italian Opera into England                       104
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-The Italian Opera under Handel                                       140
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-General view of the Opera in Europe in the Eighteenth Century,
-until the appearance of Gluck                                        172
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-French Opera from Lulli to the Death of Rameau                       217
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-Rousseau as a Critic and as a Composer of Music                      238
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-Gluck and Piccinni in Paris                                          267
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY OF THE OPERA.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-     PREFACE, PRELUDE, PROLOGUE, INTRODUCTION, OVERTURE, ETC.--THE
-     ORIGIN OF THE OPERA IN ITALY, AND ITS INTRODUCTION INTO
-     GERMANY.--ITS HISTORY IN EUROPE; DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.
-
-
-It has often been said, and notably, by J. J. Rousseau, and after him,
-with characteristic exaggeration, by R. Wagner, that "Opera" does not
-mean so much a musical work, as a musical, poetical, and spectacular
-work all at once; that "Opera" in fact, is "the work," _par excellence_,
-to the production of which all the arts are necessary.[1] The very
-titles of the earliest operas prove this notion to be incorrect. The
-earliest Italian plays of a mixed character, not being constructed
-according to the ancient rules of tragedy and comedy, were called by the
-general name of "Opera," the nature of the "work" being more
-particularly indicated by some such epithet or epithets as _regia_,
-_comica_, _tragica_, _scenica_, _sacra_, _esemplare_, _regia ed
-esemplare_, _&c._; and in the case of a lyrical drama, the words _per
-musica_, _scenica per musica_, _regia ed esemplare per musica_, were
-added, or the production was styled _opera musicale_ alone. In time the
-mixed plays (which were imitated from the Spanish) fell into disrepute
-in Italy, while the title of "Opera" was still applied to lyrical
-dramas, but not without "musicale," or "in musica" after it. This was
-sufficiently vague, but people soon found it troublesome, or thought it
-useless, to say _opera musicale_, when opera by itself conveyed, if it
-did not express, their meaning, and thus dramatic works in music came to
-be called "Operas." Algarotte's work on the Opera (translated into
-French, and entitled _Essai sur l'Opéra_) is called in the original
-_Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica_. "Opera in music" would in the present
-day sound like a pleonasm, but it is as well to consider the true
-meaning of words, when we find them not merely perverted, but in their
-perverted sense made the foundation of ridiculous theories.
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIRST OPERA]
-
-The Opera proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the 15th century as
-the modern drama proceeds from the mediæval mysteries. Ménestrier,
-however, the Jesuit father, assigns to it a far greater antiquity, and
-considers the Song of Solomon to be the earliest Opera on record,
-founding his opinion on these words of St. JĂ©rĂ´me, translated from
-Origen:--_Epithalamium, libellus, id est nuptiale carmen, in modum mihi
-videtur dramatis a Solomone conscriptus quem cecinit instar nubentis
-sponsæ_.[2]
-
-Others see the first specimens of opera in the Greek plays; but the
-earliest musical dramas of modern Italy, from which the Opera of the
-present day is descended directly, and in an unbroken line, are
-"mysteries" differing only from the dramatic mysteries in so far that
-the dialogue in them was sung instead of being spoken. "The Conversion
-of St. Paul" was played in music, at Rome, in 1440. The first profane
-subject treated operatically, was the descent of Orpheus into hell; the
-music of this _Orfeo_, which was produced also at Rome, in 1480, was by
-Angelo Poliziano, the libretto by Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.
-The popes kept up an excellent theatre, and Clement IX. was himself the
-author of seven _libretti_.
-
-At this time the great attraction in operatic representations was the
-scenery--a sign of infancy then, as it is a sign of decadence now. At
-the very beginning of the sixteenth century, Balthazar Peruzzi, the
-decorator of the papal theatre, had carried his art to such perfection,
-that the greatest painters of the day were astonished at his
-performances. His representations of architecture and the illusions of
-height and distance which his knowledge of perspective enabled him to
-produce, were especially admired. Vasari has told us how Titian, at the
-Palace of la Farnesina, was so struck by the appearance of solidity
-given by Peruzzi to his designs in profile, that he was not satisfied,
-until he had ascended a ladder and touched them, that they were not
-actually in relief. "One can scarcely conceive," says the historian of
-the painters, in speaking of Peruzzi's scenic decorations, "with what
-ability, in so limited a space, he represented such a number of houses,
-palaces, porticoes, entablatures, profiles, and all with such an aspect
-of reality that the spectator fancied himself transported into the
-middle of a public square, to such a point was the illusion carried.
-Moreover, Balthazar, the better to produce these results, understood, in
-an admirable manner the disposition of light as well as all the
-machinery connected with theatrical changes and effects."
-
-[Sidenote: DAFNE.]
-
-In 1574, Claudio Merulo, organist at St. Mark's, of Venice, composed the
-music of a drama by Cornelio Frangipani, which was performed in the
-Venetian Council Chamber in presence of Henry III. of France. The music
-of the operatic works of this period appears to have possessed but
-little if any dramatic character, and to have consisted almost
-exclusively of choruses in the madrigal style, which was so
-successfully cultivated about the same time in England. Emilio del
-Cavaliere, a celebrated musician of Rome, made an attempt to introduce
-appropriateness of expression into these choruses, and his reform,
-however incomplete, attracted the attention of Giovanni Bardi, Count of
-Vernio. This nobleman used to assemble in his palace all the most
-distinguished musicians of Florence, among whom were Mei, Caccini, and
-Vincent Galileo, the father of the astronomer. Vincent Galileo was
-himself a discoverer, and helped, at the Count of Vernio's musical
-meetings, to invent recitative--an invention of comparative
-insignificance, but which in the system of modern opera plays as
-important a part, perhaps, as the rotation of the earth does in that of
-the celestial spheres.
-
-Two other Florentine noblemen, Pietro Strozzi and Giacomo Corsi,
-encouraged by the example of Bardi, and determined to give the musical
-drama its fullest development in the new form that it had assumed,
-engaged Ottavio Rinuccini, one of the first poets of the period, with
-Peri and Caccini, two of the best musicians, to compose an opera which
-was entitled _Dafne_, and was performed for the first time in the Corsi
-Palace, at Florence, in 1597.
-
-_Dafne_ appears to have been the first complete opera. It was considered
-a masterpiece both from the beauty of the music and from the interest of
-the drama; and on its model the same authors composed their opera of
-_Euridice_, which was represented publicly at Florence on the occasion
-of the marriage of Henry IV. of France, with Marie de Medicis, in 1600.
-Each of the five acts of _Euridice_ concludes with a chorus, the
-dialogue is in recitative, and one of the characters, "Tircis," sings an
-air which is introduced by an instrumental prelude.
-
-New music was composed to the libretto of _Dafne_ by Gagliano in 1608,
-when the opera thus rearranged was performed at Mantua; and in 1627 the
-same piece was translated by Opitz, "the father of the lyric stage in
-Germany," as he is called, set to music by Schutz, and represented at
-Dresden on the occasion of the marriage of the Landgrave of Hesse with
-the sister of John-George I., Elector of Saxony. It was not, however,
-until 1692 that Keiser appeared and perfected the forms of the German
-Opera. Keiser was scarcely nineteen years of age when he produced at the
-Court of WolfenbĂĽttel, _Ismene_ and _Basilius_, the former styled a
-Pastoral, the latter an opera. It is said reproachfully, and as if
-facetiously, of a common-place German musician in the present day, that
-he is "of the WolfenbĂĽttel school," just as it is considered comic in
-France to taunt a singer or player with having come from Carpentras. It
-is curious that WolfenbĂĽttel in Germany, and Carpentras in France (as I
-shall show in the next chapter), were the cradles of Opera in their
-respective countries.
-
-[Sidenote: MONTEVERDE, AND HIS ORCHESTRA.]
-
-To return to the Opera in Italy. The earliest musical drama, then, with
-choruses, recitatives, airs, and instrumental preludes was _Dafne_, by
-Rinuccini as librettist, and Caccini and Peri as composers; but the
-orchestra which accompanied this work consisted only of a harpsichord, a
-species of guitar called a chitarone, a lyre, and a lute. When
-Monteverde appeared, he introduced the modern scale, and changed the
-whole harmonic system of his predecessors. He at the same time gave far
-greater importance in his operas to the accompaniments, and increased to
-a remarkable extent the number of musicians in the orchestra, which
-under his arrangement included every kind of instrument known at the
-time. Many of Monteverde's instruments are now obsolete. This composer,
-the unacknowledged prototype of our modern cultivators of orchestral
-effects, made use of a separate combination of instruments to announce
-the entry and return of each personage in his operas; a dramatic means
-employed afterwards by Hoffmann in his _Undine_,[3] and in the present
-day with pretended novelty by Richard Wagner. This newest orchestral
-device is also the oldest. The score of Monteverde's _Orfeo_, produced
-in 1608, contains parts for two harpsichords, two lyres or violas with
-thirteen strings, ten violas, three bass violas, two double basses, a
-double harp (with two rows of strings), two French violins, besides
-guitars, organs, a flute, clarions, and even trombones. The bass violas
-accompanied Orpheus, the violas Eurydice, the trombones Pluto, the small
-organ Apollo; Charon, strangely enough, sang to the music of the
-guitar.
-
-Monteverde, having become chapel master at the church of St. Mark,
-produced at Venice _Arianna_, of which _Rinuccini_ had written the
-libretto. This was followed by other works of the same kind, which were
-produced with great magnificence, until the fame of the Venetian operas
-spread throughout Italy, and by the middle of the seventeenth century
-the new entertainment was established at Venice, Bologna, Rome, Turin,
-Naples, and Messina. Popes, cardinals and the most illustrious nobles
-took the Opera under their protection, and the dukes of Mantua and
-Modena distinguished themselves by the munificence of their patronage.
-
-Among the most celebrated of the female singers of this period were
-Catarina Martinella of Rome, Archilei, Francesca Caccini (daughter of
-the composer of that name and herself the author of an operatic score),
-Adriana Baroni, of Mantua, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, whose
-praises have been sung by Milton in his three Latin poems "Ad Leonoram
-Romæ canentem."
-
-[Sidenote: THE ITALIAN OPERA ABROAD.]
-
-The Italian opera, as we shall afterwards see, was introduced into
-France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin, who as the Abbé Mazarini,
-had visited all the principal theatres of Italy by the express command
-of Richelieu, and had studied their system with a view to the more
-perfect representation of the cardinal-minister's tragedies. The
-Italian Opera he introduced on his own account, and it was, on the
-whole, very inhospitably received. Indeed, from the establishment of the
-French Opera under Cambert and his successor Lulli, in the latter half
-of the seventeenth century, until the end of the eighteenth, the French
-were unable to understand or unwilling to acknowledge the immense
-superiority of the Italians in everything pertaining to music. In 1752
-Pergolese's _Serva Padrona_ was the cause of the celebrated dispute
-between the partisans of French and Italian Opera, and the end of it was
-that _La Serva Padrona_ was hissed, and the two singers who appeared in
-it driven from Paris.
-
-In England the Italian Opera was introduced in the first years of the
-eighteenth century, and under Handel, who arrived in London in 1710,
-attained the greatest perfection. Since the production of Handel's last
-dramatic work, in 1740, the Italian Opera has continued to be
-represented in London with scarcely noticeable intervals until the
-present day, and, on the whole, with remarkable excellence.
-
-Of English Opera a far less satisfactory account can be given. Its
-traditions exist by no means in an unbroken line. Purcell wrote English
-operas, and was far in advance of all the composers of his time, except,
-no doubt, those of Italy, who, we must remember were his masters, though
-he did not slavishly copy them. Since then, we have had composers (for
-the stage, I mean) who have utterly failed; composers, like Dr. Arne,
-who have written Anglo-Italian operas; composers of "ballad operas,"
-which are not operas at all; composers of imitation-operas of all kinds;
-and lastly, the composers of the present day, by whom the long
-wished-for English Opera will perhaps at last be established.
-
-In Germany, which, since the time of Handel and Hasse, has produced an
-abundance of great composers for the stage, the national opera until
-Gluck (including Gluck's earlier works), was imitated almost entirely
-from that of Italy; and the Italian method of singing being the true and
-only method has always prevailed.
-
-Throughout the eighteenth century, we find the great Italian singers
-travelling to all parts of Europe and carrying with them the operas of
-the best Italian masters. In each of the countries where the opera has
-been cultivated, it has had a different history, but from the beginning
-until the end of the eighteenth century, the Italian Opera flourished in
-Italy, and also in Germany and in England; whereas France persisted in
-rejecting the musical teaching of a foreign land until the utter
-insufficiency of her own operatic system became too evident to be any
-longer denied. She remained separated from the rest of Europe in a
-musical sense until the time of the Revolution, as she has since and
-from very different reasons been separated from it politically.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA IN FRANCE.]
-
-Nevertheless, the history of the Opera in France is of great interest,
-like the history of every other art in that country which has engaged
-the attention of its ingenious amateurs and critics. Only, for a
-considerable period it must be treated apart.
-
-In the course of this narrative sketch, which does not claim to be a
-scientific history, I shall pursue, as far as possible, the
-chronological method; but it is one which the necessities of the subject
-will often cause me to depart from.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-INTRODUCTION OF THE OPERA INTO FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
-
-     French Opera not founded by Lulli.--Lulli's elevation from the
-     kitchen to the orchestra.--Lulli, M. de Pourceaugnac, and Louis
-     XIV.--Buffoonery rewarded.--A disreputable tenor.--Virtuous
-     precaution of a _prima donna_.--Orthography of a stage Queen.--A
-     cure for love.--Mademoiselle de Maupin.--A composer of sacred
-     music.--Food for cattle.--Cambert in England.--The first English
-     Opera.--Music under Cromwell.--Music under Charles II.--Grabut and
-     Dryden.--Purcell.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ORFEO AND DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-In a general view of the history of the Opera, the central figures would
-be Gluck and Mozart. Before Gluck's time the operatic art was in its
-infancy, and since the death of Mozart, no operas have been produced
-equal to that composer's masterpieces. Mozart must have commenced his
-_Idomeneo_, the first of his celebrated works, the very year that Gluck
-retired to Vienna, after giving to the Parisians his _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_; but, though contemporaries in the strict sense of the word,
-Gluck and Mozart can scarcely be looked upon as belonging to the same
-musical epoch. The compositions of the former, however immortal, have at
-least an antique cast. Those of the latter have quite a modern air; and
-it must appear to the audiences of the present day that far more than
-twenty-three years separate _Orfeo_ from _Don Giovanni_, though that is
-the precise interval which elapsed between the production of the opera
-by which Gluck, and of the one by which Mozart, is best known in this
-country. Gluck, after a century and a half of opera, so far surpassed
-all his predecessors that no work by a composer anterior to him is ever
-performed. Lulli wrote an _Armide_, which was followed by Rameau's
-_Armide_, which was followed by Gluck's _Armide_; and Monteverde wrote
-an _Orfeo_ a hundred and fifty years before Gluck produced the _Orfeo_
-which was played only the other night at the Royal Italian Opera. The
-_Orfeo_, then, of our existing operatic repertory takes us back through
-its subject to the earliest of regular Italian operas, and similarly
-Gluck, through his _Armide_ appears as the successor of Rameau, who was
-the successor of Lulli, who usually passes for the founder of the Opera
-in France, a country where it is particularly interesting to trace the
-progress of that entertainment, inasmuch as it can be observed at one
-establishment, which has existed continuously for two hundred years, and
-which, under the title of Académie Royale, Académie Nationale, and
-Académie Impériale (it has now gone by each of those names twice), has
-witnessed the production of more operatic masterpieces than any other
-theatre in any city in the world. To convince the reader of the truth of
-this latter assertion I need only remind him of the works produced at
-the Académie Royale by Gluck and Piccinni immediately before the
-Revolution; and of the _Masaniello_ of Auber, the _William Tell_ of
-Rossini, and the _Robert the Devil_ of Meyerbeer,--all written for the
-said Académie within sixteen years of the termination of the Napoleonic
-wars. Neither Naples, nor Milan, nor Prague, nor Vienna, nor Munich, nor
-Dresden, nor Berlin, has individually seen the birth of so many great
-operatic works by different masters, though, of course, if judged by the
-number of great composers to whom they have given birth, both Germany
-and Italy must be ranked infinitely higher than France. Indeed, if we
-compare France with our own country, we find, it is true, that an opera
-in the national language was established there earlier than here, though
-in the first instance only as a private entertainment; but, on the other
-hand, the French, until Gluck's time, had never any composers, native or
-adopted, at all comparable to our Purcell, who produced his _King
-Arthur_ as far back as 1691.
-
-Lulli is generally said to have introduced Opera into France, and,
-indeed, is represented in a picture, well known to Parisian opera-goers,
-receiving a privilege from the hands of Louis XIV. as a reward and
-encouragement for his services in that respect. This privilege, however,
-was neither deserved nor obtained in the manner supposed. Cardinal
-Mazarin introduced Italian Opera into Paris in 1645, when Lulli was only
-twelve years of age; and the first French Opera, entitled Akébar, Roi de
-Mogol, words and music by the Abbé Mailly, was brought out the year
-following in the Episcopal Palace of Carpentras, under the direction of
-Cardinal Bichi, Urban the Eighth's legate. Clement VII. had already
-appeared as a librettist, and it has been said that Urban VIII. himself
-recommended the importation of the Opera into France; so that the real
-father of the lyric stage in that country was certainly not a scullion,
-and may have been a Pope.
-
-[Sidenote: THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC.]
-
-The second French Opera was _La Pastorale en musique_, words by Perrin,
-music by Cambert, which was privately represented at Issy; and the third
-_Pomone_, also by Perrin and Cambert, which was publicly performed in
-Paris in 1671--the year in which was produced, at the same theatre,
-_Psyché_, a _tragédie-ballet_, by the two greatest dramatic poets France
-has ever produced, Molière and Corneille. _Pomone_ was the first French
-Opera heard by the Parisian public, and it was to the Abbé Perrin, its
-author, and not to Lulli, that the patent of the Royal Academy of Music
-was granted. A privilege for establishing an Academy of Music had been
-conceded a hundred years before by Charles IX. to Antoine de Baif,--the
-word "_Académie_" being used as an equivalent for "_Accademia_," the
-Italian for concert. Perrin's license appears to have been a renewal, as
-to form, of de Baif's, and thus originated the eminently absurd title
-which the chief operatic theatre of Paris has retained ever since. The
-Academy of Music is of course an academy in the sense in which the
-Théâtre Français is a college of declamation, and the Palais Royal
-Theatre a school of morality; but no one need seek to justify its title
-because it is known to owe its existence to a confusion of terms.
-
-Six French operas had been performed before Lulli, supported by Madame
-de Montespan, succeeded in depriving Perrin of his "privilege," and
-securing it for himself--at the very moment when Perrin and Cambert were
-about to bring out their _Ariane_, of which the representation was
-stopped. The success of Lulli's intrigue drove Cambert to London, where
-he was received with much favour by Charles II., and appointed director
-of the Court music, an office which he retained until his death. Lulli's
-first opera, written in conjunction with Quinault, being the seventh
-produced on the French stage, was _Cadmus and Hermione_ (1673).
-
-[Sidenote: LULLI'S DISGRACE.]
-
-The life of the fortunate, unscrupulous, but really talented scullion,
-to whom is falsely attributed the honour of having founded the Opera in
-France, has often been narrated, and for the most part very
-inaccurately. Every one knows that he arrived from Italy to enter the
-service of Mademoiselle de Montpensier as page, and that he was degraded
-by that lady to the back kitchen: but it is not so generally known that
-he was only saved through the influence of Madame de Montespan from a
-shameful and horrible death on the Place de Grève, where his accomplice
-was actually burned and his ashes thrown to the winds. Mademoiselle de
-Montpensier, in one of her letters, speaks of Lulli asking for his
-congé; but it is quite certain that he was dismissed, though it would be
-as impossible to give a complete account of the causes of his dismissal
-as to publish the original of the needlessly elaborate reply attributed
-to a certain French general at Waterloo.[4] We may mention, however,
-that Lulli had composed a song which was a good deal sung at the court,
-and at which the Princess had every right to be offended. A French
-dramatist has made this affair of the song the subject of a very
-ingenious little piece, which was represented in English some years
-since at the Adelphi Theatre, but in which the exact nature of the
-objectionable composition is of course not indicated. Suffice it to say,
-that Lulli was discharged, and that Louis XIV., hearing the libellous
-air, and finding it to his taste, showed so little regard for
-Mademoiselle de Montpensier's feelings, as to take the young musician
-into his own service. There were no vacancies in the king's band, and it
-was, moreover, a point of etiquette that the court-fiddlers should buy
-their places; so to save trouble, and, perhaps, from a suspicion that
-his ordinary players were a set of impostors, his majesty commissioned
-Lulli to form a band of his own, to which the name of "_Les petits
-violons du roi_" was given. The little fiddles soon became more expert
-musicians than the big ones, and Louis was so pleased with the little
-fiddle-in-chief, that he entrusted him with the superintendence of the
-music of his ballets. These ballets, which corresponded closely enough
-to our English masques, were entertainments not of dancing only, but
-also of vocal and instrumental music; the name was apparently derived
-from the Italian _ballata_, the parent of our own "ballad."
-
-Lulli also composed music for the interludes and songs in Molière's
-comedies, in which he sometimes appeared himself as a singer, and even
-as a burlesque actor. Once, when the musical arrangements were not quite
-ready for a ballet, in which the king was to play four parts--the House
-of France, Pluto, Mars and the Sun--he replied, on receiving a command
-to proceed with the piece--"_Le roi est le maitre; il peut attendre tant
-qu'il lui plaira._" His majesty did not, as I have seen it stated, laugh
-at the facetious impertinence of his musician. On the contrary, he was
-seriously offended; and great was Lulli's alarm when he found that
-neither the House of France, nor Pluto, nor Mars, nor the Sun, would
-smile at the pleasantries with which, as the performance went on, he
-endeavoured to atone for his unbecoming speech. The wrath of the Great
-Monarch was not to be appeased, and Lulli's enemies already began to
-rejoice at his threatened downfall.
-
-[Sidenote: LULLI A BUFFOON.]
-
-Fortunately, Molière was at Versailles. Lulli asked him at the
-conclusion of the ballet to announce a performance of _M. de
-Pourceaugnac_, a piece which never failed to divert Louis; and it was
-arranged that just before the rise of the curtain Molière should excuse
-himself, on the score of a sudden indisposition, from appearing in the
-principal character. When there seemed to be no chance of _M. de
-Pourceaugnac_ being played, Lulli, that the king might not be
-disappointed, nobly volunteered to undertake the part of the hero, and
-exerted himself in an unprecedented manner to do it justice. But his
-majesty, who generally found the troubles of the Limousin gentleman so
-amusing, on this occasion did not even smile. The great scene was about
-to begin; the scene in which the apothecaries, armed with their terrible
-weapons, attack M. de Pourceaugnac and chase him round the stage. Louis
-looked graver than ever. Then the comedian, as a last hope, rushed from
-the back of the stage to the foot lights, sprang into the orchestra,
-alighted on the harpsichord, and smashed it into a thousand pieces. "By
-this fall he rose." Probably he hurt himself, but no matter; on looking
-round he saw the Great Monarch in convulsions of laughter. Encouraged by
-his success, he climbed back through the prompter's box on to the stage;
-the royal mirth increased, and Lulli was now once more reinstated in the
-good graces of his sovereign.
-
-Molière had a high opinion of Lulli's facetious powers. "_Fais nous
-rire, Baptiste_," he would say, and it cannot have been any sort of joke
-that would have excited the laughter of the greatest of comic writers.
-Nevertheless, he fell out with Lulli when the latter attained the
-"privilege" of the Opera, and, profiting by the monopoly which it
-secured to him, forbade the author of _Tartuffe_ to introduce more than
-two singers in his interludes, or to employ more than six violins in his
-orchestra. Accordingly, Molière entrusted the composition of the music
-for the _Malade Imaginaire_, to Charpentier. The songs and symphonies of
-all his other pieces, with the exception of _MĂ©licerte_, were composed
-by Lulli.
-
-The story of Lulli's obtaining letters of nobility through the
-excellence of his buffoonery in the part of the Muphti, in the
-_Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ has often been told. This was in 1670, but once
-a noble, and director of the Royal Academy of Music, he showed but
-little disposition to contribute to the diversion of others, even by the
-exercise of his legitimate art. Not only did he refuse to play the
-violin, but he would not even have one in his house. To overcome Lulli's
-repugnance in this respect, Marshal de Gramont hit upon a very ingenious
-plan. He used to make one of his servants who possessed the gift of
-converting music into noise, play the violin in Lulli's presence. Upon
-this, the highly susceptible musician would snatch the instrument from
-the valet's hands, and restore the murdered melody to life and beauty;
-then, excited by the pleasure of producing music, he forgot all around
-him, and continued to play to the great delight of the marshal.
-
-Many curious stories are told of Lafontaine's want of success as a
-librettist; Lulli refused three of his operas, one after the other,
-_Daphné_, _Astrée_, and _Acis et Galathée_--the _Acis et Galathée_ set
-to music by Lulli being the work of Campistron. At the first
-representation of _Astrée_, of which the music had been written by
-Colasse (a composer who imitated and often plagiarised from Lulli),
-Lafontaine was present in a box behind some ladies who did not know him.
-He kept exclaiming every moment, "Detestable! detestable!"
-
-[Sidenote: LAFONTAINE'S IMPARTIALITY.]
-
-Tired of hearing the same thing repeated so many times, the ladies at
-last turned round and said, "It is really not so bad. The author is a
-man of considerable wit; it is written by M. de la Fontaine."
-
-"_Cela ne vaut pas le diable_," replied the _librettist_, "and this
-Lafontaine of whom you speak is an ass. I am Lafontaine, and ought to
-know."
-
-After the first act he left the theatre and went into the Café Marion,
-where he fell asleep. One of his friends came in, and surprised to see
-him, said--"M. de la Fontaine! How is this? Ought you not to be at the
-first performance of your opera?"
-
-The author awoke, and said, with a yawn--"I've been; and the first act
-was so dull that I had not the courage to wait for the other. I admire
-the patience of these Parisians!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Compare this with the similar conduct of an English humourist, Charles
-Lamb, who, meeting with no greater success as a dramatist than
-Lafontaine, was equally astonished at the patience of the public, and
-remained in the pit to hiss his own farce.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, and Campistron, one of Lulli's
-librettists--when Quinault was not in the way--occasionally worked
-together, and with no very favourable result. Hence, mutual reproaches,
-each attributing the failure of the opera to the stupidity of the other.
-This suggested the following epigram, which, under similar
-circumstances, has been often imitated:--
-
-        "Entre Campistron et Colasse,
-        Grand débat s'émeut au Parnasse,
-    Sur ce que l'opéra n'a pas un sort heureux.
-    De son mauvais succès nul ne se croit coupable.
-    L'un dit que la musique est plate et misérable,
-    L'autre que la conduite et les vers sont affreux;
-    Et le grand Apollon, toujours juge Ă©quitable,
-        Trouve qu'ils ont raison tous deux."
-
-Quinault was by far the most successful of Lulli's librettists, in spite
-of the contempt with which his verses were always treated by Boileau.
-Boileau liked Lulli's music, but when he entered the Opera, and was
-asked where he would sit, he used to reply, "Put me in some place where
-I shall not be able to hear the words."
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIDDLE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-Lulli must have had sad trouble with his orchestra, for in his time a
-violinist was looked upon as merely an adjunct to a dancing-master.
-There was a king of the fiddles, without whose permission no cat-gut
-could be scraped; and in selling his licenses to dancing-masters and the
-musicians of ball-rooms, the ruler of the bows does not appear to have
-required any proof of capacity from his clients. Even the simple
-expedient of shifting was unknown to Lulli's violinists, and for years
-after his death, to reach the C above the line was a notable feat. The
-pit quite understood the difficulty, and when the dreaded _démanchement_
-had to be accomplished, would indulge in sarcastic shouts of "_gare
-l'ut! gare l'ut!_"
-
-The violin was not in much repute in the 17th, and still less in the
-16th, century. The lute was a classical instrument; the harp was the
-instrument of the Troubadours; but the fiddle was fit only for servants,
-and fiddlers and servants were classed together.
-
-"Such a one," says Malherbe, "who seeks for his ancestors among heroes
-is the son of a lacquey or a fiddler."
-
-BrantĂ´me, relating the death of Mademoiselle de Limeuil, one of the
-Queen's maids of honour, who expired, poor girl, to a violin
-accompaniment, expresses himself as follows:--
-
-"When the hour of her death had arrived, she sent for her valet, such as
-all the maids of honour have; and he was called Julien, and played very
-well on the violin. 'Julien,' said she, 'take your violin and play to me
-continually, until you see me dead, the _Defeat of the Swiss_,[5] as
-well as you are able; and when you are at the passage _All is lost_,
-sound it four or five times as piteously as you can; which the other
-did, while she herself assisted him with her voice. She recited it
-twice, and then turning on the other side of her pillow said to her
-companions, 'All is lost this time, as well I know,' and thus died."
-
-These musical valets were as much slaves as the ancient flute players of
-the Roman nobles, and were bought, sold, and exchanged like horses and
-dogs. When their services were not required at home, masters and
-mistresses who were generously inclined would allow their fiddlers to go
-out and play in the streets on their own account.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Strange tales are told of the members of Lulli's company. Duménil, the
-tenor, used to steal jewellery from the soprano and contralto of the
-troop, and get intoxicated with the baritone. This eccentric virtuoso is
-said to have drunk six bottles of champagne every night he performed,
-and to have improved gradually until about the fifth. Duménil, after one
-of his voyages to England, which he visited several times, lost his
-voice. Then, seeing no reason why he should moderate his intemperance at
-all, he gave himself up unrestrainedly to drinking, and died.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC ORTHOGRAPHY.]
-
-Mdlle. Desmâtins, the original representative of _Armide_ was chiefly
-celebrated for her beauty, her love of good living, her corpulence, and
-her bad grammar. She it was who wrote the celebrated letter
-communicating to a friend the death of her child, "_Notre anfan ai
-maure, vien de boneure, le mien ai de te voire._" Mlle. Desmâtins took
-so much pleasure in representing royal personages that she assumed the
-(theatrical) costume and demeanour of a queen in her own household, sat
-on a throne, and made her attendants serve her on their knees. Another
-vocalist, Marthe le Rochois, accused of grave flirtation with a bassoon,
-justified herself by showing a promise of marriage, which the gallant
-instrumentalist had written on the back of an ace of spades.
-
-The Opera singers of this period were not particularly well paid, and
-history relates that Mlles. Aubry and Verdier, being engaged for the
-same line of business, had to live in the same room and sleep in the
-same bed.
-
-Marthe Le Rochois was fond of giving advice to her companions. "Inspire
-yourself with the situation," she said to Desmâtins, who had to
-represent Medea abandoned by Jason; "fancy yourself in the poor woman's
-place. If you were deserted by a lover, whom you adored," added Marthe,
-thinking, no doubt, of the bassoon, "what should you do?" "I should look
-out for another," replied the ingenuous girl.
-
-But by far the most distinguished operatic actress of this period was
-Mlle. de Maupin, now better known through Théophile Gauthier's
-scandalous, but brilliant and vigorously written romance, than by her
-actual adventures and exploits, which, however, were sufficiently
-remarkable. Among the most amusing of her escapades, were her assaults
-upon Duménil and Thévenard, the before-mentioned tenor and baritone of
-the Academie. Dressed in male attire she went up to the former one night
-in the Place des Victoires, caned him, deprived him of his watch and
-snuff-box, and the next day produced the trophies at the theatre just as
-the plundered vocalist was boasting that he had been attacked by three
-robbers, and had put them all to flight. She is said to have terrified
-the latter to such a degree that he remained three weeks hiding from her
-in the Palais Royal.
-
-Mlle. de Maupin was in many respects the Lola Montes of her day, but
-with more beauty, more talent, more power, and more daring. When she
-appeared as Minerva, in Lulli's _Cadmus_, and taking off her helmet to
-the public, showed all her beautiful light brown hair, which hung in
-luxuriant tresses over her shoulders, the audience were in ecstacies of
-delight. With less talent, and less powers of fascination, she would
-infallibly have been executed for the numerous fatal duels in which she
-was engaged, and might even have been burnt alive for invading the
-sanctity of a convent at Avignon, to say nothing of her attempting to
-set fire to it. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that Lola Montes
-was the Mlle. Maupin of _her_ day; a Maupin of a century which is
-moderate in its passions and its vices as in other things.
-
-[Sidenote: A COMPOSER OF SACRED MUSIC.]
-
-Moreau, the successor of Lulli, is chiefly known as having written the
-music for the choruses of Racine's _Esther_, (1689). These choruses,
-re-arranged by Perne, were performed in 1821, at the Conservatoire of
-Paris, and were much applauded. Racine, in his preface to _Esther_,
-says, "I cannot finish this preface without rendering justice to the
-author of the music, and confessing frankly that his (choral) songs
-formed one of the greatest attractions of the piece. All connoisseurs
-are agreed that for a long time no airs have been heard more touching,
-or more suitable to the words." Nevertheless, Madame de Maintenon's
-special composer was not eminently religious in his habits. The musician
-whose hymns were sung by the daughters of Sion and of St. Cyr sought his
-inspiration at a tavern in the Rue St. Jacques, in company with the poet
-Lainez and with most of the singers and dancers of the period. No member
-of the Opera rode past the Cabaret de la Barre Royale without tying his
-horse up in the yard and going in for a moment to have a word and a
-glass with Moreau. Sometimes the moment became an hour, sometimes
-several. The horses of Létang and Favier, dancers at the Académie, after
-being left eight hours in the court-yard without food, gnawed through
-their bridles, and, looking no doubt for the stable, found their way
-into a bed-room, where they devoured the contents of a dilapidated straw
-mattrass. "We must all live," said Lainez, when he saw a mattrass
-charged for among the items of the repast, and he hastened to offer the
-unfortunate animals a ration of wine.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH MUSIC IN ENGLAND.]
-
-When Cambert arrived in London he found Charles II. and his Court fully
-disposed to patronise any sort of importation from France. Naturally,
-then, the founder of French Opera was well received. Even Lock, in many
-of his pieces, had imitated the French style; and though he had been
-employed to compose the music for the public entry of Charles II., at
-the Restoration, and was afterwards appointed composer in ordinary to
-His Majesty, Cambert, immediately on his arrival, was made master of the
-king's band; and two years afterwards an English version of his
-_Ariadne_ was produced. "You knew Cambert," says de Vizé, in _Le Mercure
-Galant_; "he has just died in London (1677), where he received many
-favours from the King of England and from the greatest noblemen of his
-Court, who had a high opinion of his genius. What they have seen of his
-works has not belied the reputation he had acquired in France. It is to
-him we owe the establishment of the operas that are now represented. The
-music of those of _Pomona_, and of the _Pains and Pleasures of Love_, is
-by him, and since that time we have had no recitative in France that has
-appeared new." In several English books, Grabut, who accompanied
-Cambert to England, is said to have arranged the music of _Ariadne_, and
-even to have composed it; but this is manifestly an error. This same
-Grabut wrote the music to Dryden's celebrated political opera _Albion
-and Albanius_, which was performed at the Duke's Theatre in 1685, and of
-which the representations were stopped by the news of Monmouth's
-invasion. Purcell, who was only fifteen years of age when _Ariadne_ was
-produced, was now twenty-six, and had written a great deal of admirable
-dramatic music. Probably the public thought that to him, and not to the
-Frenchman, might have been confided the task of setting _Albion and
-Albanius_, for in the preface to that work Dryden says, as if
-apologetically, that "during the rehearsal the king had publicly
-declared more than once, that the composition and choruses were more
-just and more beautiful than any he had heard in England." Then after a
-warm commendation of Grabut Dryden adds, "This I say, not to flatter
-him, but to do him right; because among some English musicians, and
-their scholars, who are sure to judge after them, the imputation of
-being a Frenchman is enough to make a party who maliciously endeavour to
-decry him. But the knowledge of Latin and Italian poets, both of which
-he possesses, besides his skill in music, and his being acquainted with
-all the performances of the French operas, adding to these the good
-sense to which he is born, have raised him to a degree above any man who
-shall pretend to be his rival on our stage. When any of our countrymen
-excel him, I shall be glad, for the sake of Old England, to be shown my
-error: in the meantime, let virtue be commended, though in the person of
-a stranger."
-
-Neither Grabut nor Cambert was the first composer who produced a
-complete opera in England. During the Commonwealth, in 1656, Sir William
-Davenant had obtained permission to open a theatre for the performance
-of operas, in a large room, at the back of Rutland House, in the upper
-end of Aldersgate Street; and, long before, the splendid court masques
-of James I. and Charles I. had given opportunities for the development
-of recitative, which was first composed in England by an Italian, named
-Laniere, an eminent musician, painter and engraver. The Opera had been
-established in Italy since the beginning of the century, and we have
-seen that in 1607, Monteverde wrote his _Orfeo_ for the court of Mantua.
-But it was still known in England and France only through the accounts,
-respectively, of Evelyn and of St. Evrémond.
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIRST ENGLISH OPERA.]
-
-The first English opera produced at Sir William Davenant's theatre, the
-year of its opening, was _The Siege of Rhodes_, "made a representation
-by the art of perspective in scenes, and the story sung in recitative
-music." There were five changes of scene, according to the ancient
-dramatic distinctions made for time, and there were seven performers.
-The part of "Solyman" was taken by Captain Henry Cook, that of "Ianthe"
-by Mrs. Coleman, who appears to have been the first actress on the
-English stage--in the sense in which Heine was the first poet of his
-century (having been born on the 1st of January, 1800)[6] and
-Beaumarchais the first poet in Paris (to a person entering the city from
-the Porte St. Antoine).[7] The remaining five parts were "doubled." That
-of the "Admiral" was taken by Mr. Peter Rymon, and Matthew Lock, the
-future composer of the music to _Macbeth_; that of "Mustapha," by Mr.
-Thomas Blagrave, and Henry Purcell, the father of the composer of _King
-Arthur_, and himself an accomplished musician. The vocal music of the
-first and fifth "entries" or acts, was composed by Henry Lawes; that of
-the second and third, by Captain Henry Cook, afterwards master of the
-children of the Chapel Royal; that of the fourth, by Lock. The
-instrumental music was by Dr. Charles Coleman and George Hudson, and was
-performed by an orchestra of six musicians.
-
-The first English opera then was produced, ten years later than the
-first French opera; but the _Siege of Rhodes_ was performed publicly,
-whereas, it was not until fifteen years afterwards (1671) that the first
-public performance of a French opera (Cambert's _Pomone_) took place.
-Ordinances for the suppression of stage plays had been in force in
-England since 1642, and in 1643, a tract was printed under the title of
-_The Actor's Remonstrance_, showing to what distress the musicians of
-the theatre had been already reduced. The writer says, "But musike that
-was held so delectable and precious that they scorned to come to a
-tavern under twenty shillings salary for two hours, now wander with
-their instruments under their cloaks (I mean such as have any) to all
-houses of good fellowship, saluting every room where there is company
-with 'will you have any musike, gentlemen.'" In 1648, moreover, a
-provost-marshal was appointed with power to seize upon all ballad
-singers, and to suppress stage plays.
-
-Nevertheless, Oliver Cromwell was a great lover of music. He is said to
-have "entertained the most skilful in that science in his pay and
-family;" and it is known that he engaged Hingston, a celebrated
-musician, formerly in the service of Charles, at a salary of one hundred
-a-year--the Hingston, at whose house Sir Roger l'Estrange was playing,
-and continued to play when Oliver entered the room, which gained for
-this _virtuoso_ the title of "Oliver's fiddler." Antony Ă  Wood, also
-tells a story of Cromwell's love of music. James Quin, one of the senior
-students of Christ Church, with a bass voice, "very strong and exceeding
-trouling," had been turned out of his place by the visitors, but, "being
-well acquainted with some great men of those times that loved music,
-they introduced him into the company of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector,
-who loved a good voice and instrumental music well. He heard him sing
-with great delight, liquored him with sack, and in conclusion, said,
-'Mr. Quin, you have done well, what shall I do for you?' To which Quin
-made answer, 'That your highness would be pleased to restore me to my
-student's place,' which he did accordingly." But the best proof that can
-be given of Oliver Cromwell's love for music is the simple fact that,
-under his government, and with his special permission, the Opera was
-founded in this country.
-
-[Sidenote: CROMWELL'S LOVE OF MUSIC.]
-
-We have seen that in Charles II's reign, the court reserved its
-patronage almost exclusively for French music, or music in the French
-style. When Cambert arrived in London, our Great Purcell (born, 1659)
-was still a child. He produced his first opera, _Dido and Æneas_, the
-year of Cambert's death (1677); but, although, in the meanwhile, he
-wrote a quantity of vocal and instrumental music of all kinds, and
-especially for the stage, it was not until after the death of Charles
-that he associated himself with Dryden in the production of those
-musical dramas (not operas in the proper sense of the word) by which he
-is chiefly known.
-
-In 1690, Purcell composed music for _The Tempest_, altered and
-shamefully disfigured by Dryden and Davenant.
-
-[Sidenote: PURCELL.]
-
-In 1691, _King Arthur_, which contains Purcell's finest music, was
-produced with immense success. The war-song of the Britons, _Come if you
-Dare_, and the concluding duet and chorus, _Britons strike Home_, have
-survived the rest of the work. The former piece in particular is well
-known to concert-goers of the present day, from the excellent singing
-of Mr. Sims Reeves. Purcell died at the age of thirty-six, the age at
-which Mozart and Raphael were lost to the world, and has not yet found a
-successor. He was not only the most original, and the most dramatic, but
-also the most thoroughly English of our native composers. In the
-dedication of the music of the _Prophetess_ to the Duke of Somerset,
-Purcell himself says, "Music is yet but in its nonage, a forward child,
-which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England, when the
-masters of it shall find more encouragement. 'Tis now learning Italian,
-which is its best master, and studying a little of the French air to
-give it somewhat more of gaiety and fashion." Here Purcell spoke in all
-modesty, for though his style may have been formed in some measure on
-French models, "there is," says Dr. Burney, "a latent power and force in
-his expression of English words, whatever be the subject, that will make
-an unprejudiced native of this island feel more than all the elegance,
-grace and refinement of modern music, less happily applied, can do; and
-this pleasure is communicated to us, not by the symmetry or rhythm of
-modern melody, but by his having tuned to the true accents of our mother
-tongue, those notes of passion which an inhabitant of this island would
-breathe in such situations as the words describe. And these indigenous
-expressions of passion Purcell had the power to enforce by the energy of
-modulation, which, on some occasions, was bold, affecting and sublime.
-Handel," he adds, "who flourished in a less barbarous age for his art,
-has been acknowledged Purcell's superior in many particulars; but in
-none more than the art and grandeur of his choruses, the harmony and
-texture of his organ fugues, as well as his great style of concertos;
-the ingenuity of his accompaniments to his songs and choruses; and even
-in the general melody of the airs themselves; yet, in the accent,
-passion and expression of _English words_, the vocal music of Purcell
-is, sometimes, to my feelings, as superior to Handel's as an original
-poem to a translation."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-ON THE NATURE OF THE OPERA, AND ITS MERITS AS COMPARED WITH OTHER FORMS
-OF THE DRAMA.
-
-     Opera admired for its unintelligibility.--The use of words in
-     opera.--An inquisitive amateur.--New version of a chorus in Robert
-     le Diable.--Strange readings of the _Credo_ by two chapel
-     masters.--Dramatic situations and effects peculiar to the
-     Opera.--Pleasantries directed against the Opera; their antiquity
-     and harmlessness.--_Les Opéras_ by St. Evrémond.--Beaumarchais's
-     _mot_.--Addison on the Italian Opera in England.--Swift's
-     epigram.--BĂ©ranger on the decline of the drama.--What may be seen
-     at the Opera.
-
-
-[Sidenote: UNINTELLIGIBILITY OF OPERA.]
-
-When Sir William Davenant obtained permission from Cromwell to open his
-theatre for the performance of operas, Antony Ă  Wood wrote that, "Though
-Oliver Cromwell had now prohibited all other theatrical representations,
-he allowed of this because being in an unknown language it could not
-corrupt the morals of the people." Thereupon it has been imagined that
-Antony Ă  Wood must have supposed Sir William Davenant's performances to
-have been in the Italian tongue, as if he could not have regarded music
-as an unknown language, and have concluded that a drama conducted in
-music would for that reason be unintelligible. Nevertheless, in the
-present day we have a censor who refuses to permit the representation
-of _La Dame aux Camélias_ in English, or even in French,[8] but who
-tolerates the performance of _La Traviata_, (which, I need hardly say,
-is the _Dame aux Camélias_ set to music) in Italian, and, I believe,
-even in English; thinking, no doubt, like Antony Ă  Wood, that in an
-operatic form it cannot be understood, and therefore cannot corrupt the
-morals of the people. Since Antony Ă  Wood's time a good deal of stupid,
-unmeaning verse has been written in operas, and sometimes when the words
-have not been of themselves unintelligible, they have been rendered
-nearly so by the manner in which they have been set to music, to say
-nothing of the final obscurity given to them by the imperfect
-enunciation of the singers. The mere fact, however, of a dramatic piece
-being performed in music does not make it unintelligible, but, on the
-contrary, increases the sphere of its intelligibility, giving it a more
-universal interest and rendering it an entertainment appreciable by
-persons of all countries. This in itself is not much to boast of, for
-the entertainment of the _ballet_ is independent of language to a still
-greater extent; and _La Gitana_ or _Esmeralda_ can be as well understood
-by an Englishman at the Opera House of Berlin or of Moscow as at Her
-Majesty's Theatre in London; while perhaps the most universally
-intelligible drama ever performed is that of Punch, even when the brief
-dialogue which adorns its pantomime is inaudible.
-
-Opera is _music in a dramatic form_; and people go to the theatre and
-listen to it as if it were so much prose. They have even been known to
-complain during or after the performance that they could not hear the
-words, as if it were through the mere logical meaning of the words that
-the composer proposed to excite the emotion of the audience. The only
-pity is that it is necessary in an opera to have words at all, but it is
-evident that a singer could not enter into the spirit of a dramatic
-situation if he had a mere string of meaningless syllables or any sort
-of inappropriate nonsense to utter. He must first produce an illusion on
-himself, or he will produce none on the audience, and he must,
-therefore, fully inspire himself with the sentiment, logical as well as
-musical, of what he has to sing. Otherwise, all we want to know about
-the words of _Casta diva_ (to take examples from the most popular, as
-also one of the very finest of Italian operas) is that it is a prayer to
-a goddess; of the Druids' chorus, that it is chorus of Druids; of the
-trio, that "Norma" having confronted "Pollio" with "Adalgisa," is
-reproaching him indignantly and passionately with his perfidy; of the
-duet that "Norma" is confiding her children to "Adalgisa's" care; of the
-scene with "Pollio," that "Norma" is again reproaching him, but in a
-different spirit, with sadness and bitterness, and with the compressed
-sorrow of a woman who is wounded to the heart and must soon die. I may
-be in error, however, for though I have seen _Norma_ fifty times, I have
-never examined the _libretto_, and of the whole piece know scarcely more
-than the two words which I have already paraded before the
-public--"_Casta Diva._"
-
-[Sidenote: WONDERFUL INSTANCE OF CURIOSITY.]
-
-One night, at the Royal Italian Opera, when Mario was playing the part
-of the "Duke of Mantua" in _Rigoletto_, and was singing the commencement
-of the duet with "Gilda," a man dressed in black and white like every
-one else, said to me gravely, "I do not understand Italian. Can you tell
-me what he is saying to her?"
-
-"He is telling her that he loves her," I answered briefly.
-
-"What is he saying now?" asked this inquisitive amateur two minutes
-afterwards.
-
-"He is telling her that he loves her," I repeated.
-
-"Why, he said that before!" objected this person who had apparently come
-to the opera with the view of gaining some kind of valuable information
-from the performers. Poor Bosio was the "Gilda," but my horny-eared
-neighbour wondered none the less that the Duke could not say "I love
-you," in three words.
-
-"He will say it again," I answered, "and then she will say it, and then
-they will say it together; indeed, they will say nothing else for the
-next five minutes, and when you hear them exclaim 'addio' with one
-voice, and go on repeating it, it will still mean the same thing."
-
-What benighted amateur was this who wanted to know the words of a
-beautiful duet; and is there much difference between such a one and the
-man who would look at the texture of a canvas to see what the painting
-on it was worth?
-
-Let it be admitted that as a rule no opera is intelligible without a
-libretto; but is a drama always intelligible without a play-bill? A
-libretto, for general use, need really be no larger than an ordinary
-programme; and it would be a positive advantage if it contained merely a
-sketch of the plot with the subject, and perhaps the first line of all
-the principal songs.
-
-[Sidenote: IMITATIVE MUSIC.]
-
-Then the foolish amateur would not run the risk of having his attention
-diverted from the music by the words, and would be more likely to give
-himself up to the enjoyment of the opera in a rational and legitimate
-manner. Another advantage of keeping the words from the public would be,
-that composers, full of the grossest prose, but priding themselves on
-their fancy, would at last see the inutility as well as the pettiness of
-picking out one particular word in a line, and "illustrating" it: thus
-imitating a sound when their aim should be to depict a sentiment. Even
-the illustrious Purcell has sinned in this respect, and Meyerbeer,
-innumerable times, though always displaying remarkable ingenuity, and as
-much good taste as is compatible with an error against both taste and
-reason. It is a pity that great musicians should descend to such
-anti-poetical, and, indeed, nonsensical trivialities; but when inferior
-ones are unable to let a singer wish she were a bird, without imitating
-a bird's chirruping on the piccolo, or allude in the most distant manner
-to the trumpet's sound, without taking it as a hint to introduce a short
-flourish on that instrument, I cannot help thinking of those
-literal-minded pictorial illustrators who follow a precisely analogous
-process, and who, for example, in picturing the scene in which "Macbeth"
-exclaims--"Throw physic to the dogs," would represent a man throwing
-bottles of medicine to a pack of hounds. What a treat, by the way, it
-would be to hear a setting of Othello's farewell to war by a determined
-composer of imitative picturesque music! How "ear-piercing" would be his
-fifes! How "spirit-stirring" his drums.
-
-The words of an opera ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be
-heard. They should be poetical that they may inspire first the composer
-and afterwards the singer; and they should be ryhthmical and sonorous in
-order that the latter may be able to sing them with due effect. Above
-all they ought not to be ridiculous, lest the public should hear them
-and laugh at the music, just where it was intended that it should affect
-them to tears. Everything ought to be good at the opera down to the
-rosin of the fiddlers, and including the words of the libretto. Even the
-chorus should have tolerable verses to sing, though no one would be
-likely ever to hear them. Indeed, it is said that at the Grand Opera of
-Paris, by a tradition now thirty years old, the opening chorus in
-_Robert le Diable_ is always sung to those touching lines--which I
-confess I never heard on the other side of the orchestra:--
-
-    La sou-| pe aux choux | se fait dans la mar |-mite
-    Dans la | marmi-|-te on fait la soupe aux | choux.
-
-I have said nothing about the duty of the composer in selecting his
-libretto and setting it to music, but of course if he be a man of taste
-he will not willingly accept a collection of nonsense verses. English
-composers, however, have not much choice in this respect, and all we can
-ask of them is that they will do their best with what they have been
-able to obtain; not indulging in too many repetitions, and not tiring
-the singer and provoking such of the audience as may wish to "catch" the
-words by setting more than half a dozen notes to the same monosyllable
-especially if the monosyllable occurs in the middle of a line, and the
-vowel e, or worse still, i, in the middle of the monosyllable. One of
-our most eminent composers, Mr. Vincent Wallace, has given us a striking
-example of the fault I am speaking of in his well-known trio--"Turn on
-old Time thy hour-glass" (_Maritana_) in which, according to the music,
-the scanning of the first half line is as follows:--
-
-    TĹ­rn ĹŤn | ĹŹld TÄ« | Ä­-Ä« || Ä­-Ä­-Ä­--ime | &c.
-
-[Sidenote: WORDS FOR MUSIC.]
-
-To be sure Time is infinite, but seven sounds do not convey the notion
-of infinity; and even if they did, it would not be any the more pleasant
-for a singer to have to take a five note leap, and then execute five
-other notes on a vowel which cannot be uttered without closing the
-throat. If I had been in Mr. Vincent Wallace's place, I should, at all
-events, have insisted on Mr. Fitzball making one change. Instead of "Old
-Time," he should have inserted "Old Parr."
-
-    Tŭrn ōn | ŏld P�-| �-� || �-�-�-arr | &c.,
-
-would not have been more intelligible to the audience than--"Turn on old
-Ti-i-i-i-i-i-ime, &c., and it would have been a thousand times easier to
-sing. Nor in spite of the little importance I attach to the phraseology
-of the libretto when listening to "music in a dramatic form," would I,
-if I were a composer, accept such a line as--
-
-    "When the proud land of Poland was ploughed by the hoof,"
-
-with a suspension of sense after the word hoof. No; the librettist might
-take his hoof elsewhere. It should not appear in _my_ Opera; at least,
-not in lieu of a plough. Mr. Balfe should tell such poets to keep such
-ploughs for themselves.
-
-    Sic vos _pro_ vobis fertis aratra boves,
-
-he might say to them.
-
-The singer ought certainly to understand what he is singing, and still
-more certainly should the composer understand what he is composing; but
-the sight of Latin reminds me that both have sometimes failed to do so,
-and from no one's fault but their own. Jomelli used to tell a story of
-an Italian chapel-master, who gave to one of his solo singers the phrase
-_Genitum non factum_, to which the chorus had to reply _Factum non
-genitum_. This transposition seemed ingenious and picturesque to the
-composer, and suited a contrast of rhythm which he had taken great pains
-to produce. It was probably due only to the bad enunciation of the
-choristers that he was not burned alive.
-
-Porpora, too, narrowly escaped the terrors of the inquisition; and but
-for his avowed and clearly-proved ignorance of Latin would have made a
-bad end of it, for a similar, though not quite so ludicrous a blunder as
-the one perpetrated by Jomelli's friend. He had been accustomed to add
-_non_ and _si_ to the verses of his libretto when the music required it,
-and in setting the creed found it convenient to introduce a _non_. This
-novel version of the Belief commenced--_Credo, non credo, non credo in
-Deum_, and it was well for Porpora that he was able to convince the
-inquisitors of his inability to understand it.
-
-[Sidenote: UNNATURALNESS OF OPERA.]
-
-Another chapel-master of more recent times is said, in composing a mass,
-to have given a delightfully pastoral character to his "Agnus Dei." To
-him "a little learning" had indeed proved "a dangerous thing." He had,
-somehow, ascertained that "agnus" meant "lamb," and had forthwith gone
-to work with pipe and cornemuse to give appropriate "picturesqueness" to
-his accompaniments.
-
-Besides accusations of unintelligibility and of _contra-sense_ (as for
-instance when a girl sentenced to death sings in a lively strain), the
-Opera has been attacked as essentially absurd, and it is satisfactory to
-know that these attacks date from its first introduction into England
-and France. To some it appears monstrous that men and women should be
-represented on the stage singing, when it is notorious that in actual
-life they communicate in the speaking voice. Opera was declared to be
-unnatural as compared with drama. In other words, it was thought natural
-that Desdemona should express her grief in melodious verse, but
-unnatural that she should do so in pure melody. (For the sake of the
-comparison I must suppose Rossini's _Otello_ to have been written long
-before its time). Persons, with any pretence to reason, have long ceased
-to urge such futile objections against a delightful entertainment which,
-as I shall endeavour to show, is in some respects the finest form the
-drama has assumed. Gresset answered these music-haters well in his
-_Discours sur l'harmonie_.--"After all," he says, "if we study nature do
-we not find more fidelity to appropriateness at the Opera than on the
-tragic stage where the hero speaks the language of declamatory poetry?
-Has not harmony always been much better able than simple declamation to
-imitate the true tones of the passions, deep sighs, sobs, bursts of
-grief, languishing tenderness, interjections of despair, the inflexions
-of pathos, and all the energy of the heart?"
-
-For the sake of enjoying the pleasures of music and of the drama in
-combination, we must adopt certain conventions, and must assume that
-song is the natural language of the men and women that we propose to
-show in our operas; as we assume in tragedy that they all talk in verse,
-in comedy that they are all witty and yet are perpetually giving one
-another opportunities for repartee; in the ballet that they all dance
-and are unable to speak at all. The form is nothing. Give us the true
-expression of natural emotion and all the rest will seem natural enough.
-Only it would be as well to introduce as many dancing characters and
-dancing situations as possible in the _ballet_--and to remember in
-particular that Roman soldiers could not with propriety figure in one;
-for a ballet on the subject of "Les Horaces" was once actually produced
-in France, in which the Horatii and the Curiatii danced a double _pas de
-trois_; and so in the tragedy the chief passages ought not to be London
-coal-heavers or Parisian water-carriers; and similarly in the Opera,
-scenes and situations should be avoided which in no way suggest singing.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERATIC CHORUS.]
-
-And let me now inform the ignorant opponents of the Opera, that there
-are certain grand dramatic effects attainable on the lyric stage, which,
-without the aid of music, could not possibly be produced. Music has
-often been defined; here is a new definition of it. It is _the language
-of masses_--the only language that masses can speak and be understood.
-On the old stage a crowd could not cry "Down with the tyrant!" or "We
-will!" or even "Yes," and "No," with any intelligibility. There is some
-distance between this state of things and the "Blessing of the daggers"
-in the _Huguenots_, or the prayer of the Israelites in _Moses_. On the
-old stage we could neither have had the prayer (unless it were recited
-by a single voice, which would be worse than nothing) before the
-passage, nor the thanksgiving, which, in the Opera, is sung immediately
-after the Red Sea has been crossed; but above all we could not obtain
-the sublime effect produced by the contrast between the two songs; the
-same song, and yet how different! the difference between minor and
-major, between a psalm of humble supplication and a hymn of jubilant
-gratitude. This is the change of key at which, according to Stendhal,
-the women of Rome fainted in such numbers. It cannot be heard without
-emotion, even in England, and we do not think any one, even a professed
-enemy of Opera, would ask himself during the performance of the prayer
-in _Mosé_, whether it was natural or not that the Israelites should sing
-either before or after crossing the Red Sea.
-
-Again, how could the animation of the market scene in _Masaniello_ be
-rendered so well as by means of music? In concerted pieces, moreover,
-the Opera possesses a means of dramatic effect quite as powerful and as
-peculiar to itself as its choruses. The finest situation in _Rigoletto_
-(to take an example from one of the best known operas of the day) is
-that in which the quartet occurs. Here, three persons express
-simultaneously the different feelings which are excited in the breast of
-each by the presence of a fourth in the house of an assassin, while the
-cause of all this emotion is gracefully making love to one of the three,
-who is the assassin's sister. The amorous fervour of the "Duke," the
-careless gaiety of "Maddalena," the despair of "Gilda," the vengeful
-rage of "Rigoletto," are all told most dramatically in the combined
-songs of the four personages named, while the spectator derives an
-additional pleasure from the art by which these four different songs are
-blended into harmony. A magnificent quartet, of which, however, the
-model existed long before in _Don Giovanni_.
-
-All this is, of course, very unnatural. It would be so much more natural
-that the "Duke of Mantua" should first make a long speech to
-"Maddalena;" that "Maddalena" should then answer him; that afterwards
-both should remain silent while "Gilda," of whose presence outside the
-tavern they are unaware, sobs forth her lamentations at the perfidy of
-her betrayer; and that finally the "Duke," "Maddalena," and "Gilda," by
-some inexplicable agreement, should not say a word while "Rigoletto" is
-congratulating himself on the prospect of being speedily revenged on the
-libertine who has robbed him of his daughter. In the old drama, perfect
-sympathy between two lovers can scarcely be expressed (or rather
-symbolized) so vividly as through the "_ensemble_" of the duet, where
-the two voices are joined so as to form but one harmony. We are
-sometimes inclined to think that even the balcony duet between "Romeo"
-and "Juliet" ought to be in music; and certainly no living dramatist
-could render the duet in music between "Valentine and Raoul" adequately
-into either prose or verse. Talk of music destroying the drama,--why it
-is from love of the drama that so many persons go to the opera every
-night.
-
-[Sidenote: EXPLODED PLEASANTRIES.]
-
-But is it not absurd to hear a man say, "Good morning," "How do you do?"
-in music? Most decidedly; and therefore ordinary, common-place, and
-trivial remarks should be excluded from operas, as from poetical dramas
-and from poetry of all kinds except comic and burlesque verse. It was
-not reserved for the unmusical critics of the present day to discover
-that it would be grotesque to utter such a phrase as "Give me my boots,"
-in recitative, and that such a line as "Waiter, a cutlet nicely
-browned," could not be advantageously set to music. All this sort of
-humour was exhausted long ago by Hauteroche, in his _Crispin Musicien_,
-which was brought out in Paris three years after the establishment of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, and revived in the time of Rameau (1735)
-by Palaprat, in his _Concert Ridicule_ and _Ballet Extravagant_
-(1689-90), of which the author afterwards said that they were "the
-source of all the badinage that had since been applauded in more than
-twenty comedies; that is to say, the interminable pleasantries on the
-subject of the Opera;" and by St. Evrémond, in his comedy entitled _Les
-Opéras_, which he wrote during his residence in London.
-
-In St. Evrémond's piece, which was published but not played,
-"Chrisotine" is, so to speak, opera-struck. She thinks of nothing but
-Lulli, or "Baptiste," as she affectionately calls him, after the manner
-of Louis XVI. and his Court; sings all day long, and in fact has
-altogether abandoned speech for song. "Perrette," the servant, tells
-"Chrisotine" that her father wishes to see her. "Why disturb me at my
-songs," replies the young lady, singing all the time. The attendant
-complains to the father, that "Chrisotine" will not answer her in
-ordinary spoken language, and that she sings about the house all day
-long. "Chrisotine" corroborates "Perrette's" statement, by addressing a
-little _cavatina_ to her parent, in which she protests against the
-harshness of those who would hinder her from singing the tender loves of
-"Hermione" and "Cadmus."
-
-"Speak like other people, Chrisotine," exclaims old "Chrisard," or I
-will issue such an edict against operas that they shall never be spoken
-of again where I have any authority."
-
-"My father, Baptiste; opera, my duty to my parents; how am I to decide
-between you?" exclaims the young girl, with a tragic indecision as
-painful as that of Arnold, the son of Tell, hesitating between his
-Matilda and his native land.
-
-[Sidenote: ST. EVREMOND'S BURLESQUE.]
-
-"You hesitate between Baptiste and your father," cries the old
-gentleman. "_O tempora! O mores!_" (only in French).
-
-"Tender mother! Cruel father! and you, O Cadmus! Unhappy Cadmus! I shall
-see you no more," sings "Chrisotine;" and soon afterwards she adds,
-still singing, that she "would rather die than speak like the vulgar. It
-is a new fashion at the court (she continues), and since the last opera
-no one speaks otherwise than in song. When one gentleman meets another
-in the morning, it would be grossly impolite not to sing to
-him:--'_Monsieur comment vous portez vous?_' to which the other would
-reply--'_Je me porte Ă  votre service._'
-
-"FIRST GENTLEMAN.--'_Après diner, que ferons nous?_'
-
-"SECOND GENTLEMAN.--'_Allons voir la belle Clarisse._'
-
-"The most ordinary things are sung in this manner, and in polite society
-people don't know what it means to speak otherwise than in music."
-
-_Chrisard._--"Do people of quality sing when they are with ladies?"
-
-_Chrisotine._--"Sing! sing! I should like to see a man of the world
-endeavour to entertain company with mere talk in the old style. He would
-be looked upon as one of a by-gone period. The servants would laugh at
-him."
-
-_Chrisard._--"And in the town?"
-
-_Chrisotine._--"All persons of any importance imitate the court. It is
-only in the Rue St. Denis and St. Honoré and on the Bridge of Notre
-Dame that the old custom is still kept up. There people buy and sell
-without singing. But at Gauthier's, at the Orangery; at all the shops
-where the ladies of the court buy dresses, ornaments and jewels, all
-business is carried on in music, and if the dealers did not sing their
-goods would be confiscated. People say that a severe edict has been
-issued to that effect. They appoint no Provost of Trade now unless he is
-a musician, and until M. Lulli has examined him to see whether he is
-capable of understanding and enforcing the rules of harmony."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The above scene, be it observed, is not the work of an ignorant
-detractor of opera, of a brute insensible to the charms of music, but is
-the production of St. Evrémond, one of the very first men, on our side
-of the Alps, who called attention to the beauties of the new musical
-drama, just established in Italy, and which, when he first wrote on the
-subject, had not yet been introduced into France. St. Evrémond had too
-much sense to decry the Opera on account of such improbabilities as must
-inevitably belong to every form of the drama--which is the expression of
-life, but which need not for that reason be restricted exclusively to
-the language of speech, any more than tragedy need be confined to the
-diction of prose, or comedy to the inane platitudes of ordinary
-conversation. At all events, there is no novelty, and above all no wit,
-in repeating seriously the pleasantries of St. Evrémond, which, we
-repeat, were those of a man who really loved the object of his
-good-natured and agreeable raillery.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-Indeed, most of the men who have written things against the Opera that
-are still remembered have liked the Opera, and have even been the
-authors of operas themselves. "_Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine
-d'ĂŞtre dit on le chante_," is said by the Figaro of Beaumarchais--of
-Beaumarchais, who gave lessons in singing and on the harpsichord to
-Louis XV.'s daughters, who was an enthusiastic admirer of Gluck's
-operas, and who wrote specially for that composer the libretto of
-_Tarare_, which, however, was not set to music by him, but by Salieri,
-Gluck's favourite pupil. Beaumarchais knew well enough--and _Tarare_ in
-a negative manner proves it--that not only "what is not worth the
-trouble of saying" cannot be sung, but that very often such trivialities
-as can with propriety be spoken in a drama would, set to music, produce
-a ludicrous effect. Witness the lines in St. Evrémond's _Les Opéras_--
-
-    "_Monsieur comment vous portez vous?_"
-    "_Je me porte Ă  votre service_"--
-
-which might form part of a comedy, but which in an opera would be
-absurd, and would therefore not be introduced into one, except by a
-foolish librettist, (who would for a certainty get hissed), or by a wit
-like St. Evrémond, wishing to amuse himself by exaggerating to a
-ridiculous point the latest fashionable mania of the day.
-
-Addison's admirably humorous articles on Italian Opera in the
-_Spectator_ are often spoken of by musicians as ill-natured and unjust,
-and are ascribed--unjustly and even meanly, as it seems to me--to the
-author's annoyance at the failure of his _Rosamond_, which had been set
-to music by an incapable person named Clayton. Addison could afford to
-laugh at the ill-success of his _Rosamond_, as La Fontaine laughed at
-that of _Astrée_; and to assert that his excellent pleasantries on the
-subject of Italian Opera, then newly established in London, had for
-their origin the base motives usually imputed to him by musicians, is to
-give any one the right to say of _them_ that this one abuses modern
-Italian music, which the public applaud, because his own English music
-has never been tolerated or that that one expresses the highest opinion
-of English composers because he himself composes and is an Englishman.
-To impute such motives would be to assume, as is assumed in the case of
-Addison, that no one blames except in revenge for some personal loss, or
-praises except in the hope of some personal gain. And after all, what
-_has_ Addison said against the Opera, an entertainment which he
-certainly enjoyed, or he would not have attended it so often or have
-devoted so many excellent papers to it? Let us turn to the _Spectator_
-and see.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-Italian Opera was introduced into England at the beginning of the 18th
-century, the first work performed entirely in the Italian language being
-_Almahide_, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, and which
-was produced in 1710, with Valentini, Nicolini, Margarita de l'Epine,
-Cassani and "Signora Isabella," in the principal parts. Previously, for
-about three years, it had been the custom for Italian and English
-vocalists to sing each in their own language. "The king,[9] or hero of
-the play," says Addison, "generally spoke in Italian, and his slaves
-answered him in English; the lover frequently made his court, and gained
-the heart of his princess in a language which she did not understand.
-One would have thought it very difficult to have carried on dialogues in
-this manner without an interpreter between the persons that conversed
-together; but this was the state of the English stage for about three
-years.
-
-"At length, the audience got tired of understanding half the opera, and,
-therefore, to ease themselves entirely of the fatigue of thinking, have
-so ordered it at present, that the whole opera is performed in an
-unknown tongue. We no longer understand the language of our own stage,
-insomuch, that I have often been afraid, when I have seen our Italian
-performers chattering in the vehemence of action, that they have been
-calling us names and abusing us among themselves; but I hope, since we
-do put such entire confidence in them, they will not talk against us
-before our faces, though they may do it with the same safety as if it
-were behind our backs. In the meantime, I cannot forbear thinking how
-naturally an historian who writes two or three hundred years hence, and
-does not know the taste of his wise forefathers, will make the following
-reflection:--In the beginning of the 18th century, the Italian tongue
-was so well understood in England, that operas were acted on the public
-stage in that language.
-
-"One scarce knows how to be serious in the confutation of an absurdity
-that shows itself at the first sight. It does not want any great measure
-of sense to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice; but what makes
-it the more astonishing, it is not the taste of the rabble, but of
-persons of the greatest politeness, which has established it.
-
-"If the Italians have a genius for music above the English, the English
-have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, and
-capable of giving the mind a much nobler entertainment. Would one think
-it was possible (at a time when an author lived that was able to write
-the _Phedra and Hippolitus_) for a people to be so stupidly fond of the
-Italian opera as scarce to give a third day's hearing to that admirable
-tragedy? Music is, certainly, a very agreeable entertainment; but if it
-would take entire possession of our ears, if it would make us incapable
-of hearing sense, if it would exclude arts that have much greater
-tendency to the refinement of human nature, I must confess I would allow
-it no better quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his
-commonwealth.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-"At present, our notions of music are so very uncertain, that we do not
-know what it is we like; only, in general, we are transported with
-anything that is not English; so it be of foreign growth, let it be
-Italian, French, or High Dutch, it is the same thing. In short, our
-English music is quite rooted out, and nothing yet planted in its
-stead."
-
-The _Spectator_ was written from day to day, and was certainly not
-intended for _our_ entertainment; yet, who can fail to be amused at the
-description of the stage king "who spoke in Italian and his slaves
-answered him in English;" and of the lover who "frequently made his
-court and gained the heart of his princess in a language which she did
-not understand?" What, too, in this style of humour, can be better than
-the notion of the audience getting tired of understanding half the
-opera, and, to ease themselves of the trouble of thinking, so ordering
-it that the whole opera is performed in an unknown tongue; or of the
-performers who, for all the audience knew to the contrary, might be
-calling them names and abusing them among themselves; or of the probable
-reflection of the future historian, that "in the beginning of the 18th
-century the Italian tongue was so well understood in England that operas
-were acted on the public stage in that language?" On the other hand, we
-have not, it is true, heard yet of any historian publishing the remark
-suggested by Addison; probably, because those historians who go to the
-opera--and who does not?--are quite aware that to understand an Italian
-opera, it is not at all necessary to have a knowledge of the Italian
-language. The Italian singers might abuse us at their ease, especially
-in concerted pieces, and in grand finales; but they might in the same
-way, and equally, without fear of detection, abuse their own countrymen.
-Our English vocalists, too, might indulge in the same gratification in
-England, and have I not mentioned that at the Grand Opera of Paris--
-
-    '_La soupe aux choux se fait dans la marmite._'
-
-has been sung in place of Scribe's words in the opening chorus of
-_Robert le Diable_; and if _La soupe_, &c., why not anything else? But
-it is a great mistake to inquire too closely into the foundation on
-which a joke stands, when the joke itself is good; and I am almost
-ashamed, as it is, of having said so much on the subject of Addison's
-pleasantries, when the pleasantries spoke so well for themselves. One
-might almost as well write an essay to prove seriously that language was
-_not_ given to man "to conceal his thoughts."
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AS AN ART.]
-
-The only portion of the paper from which I have extracted the above
-observations that can be treated in perfect seriousness, is that which
-begins--"If the Italians have a genius for music, &c.," and ends--"I
-would allow it no better quarter than Plato has done," &c. Now the
-recent political condition of Italy sufficiently proves that music could
-not save a country from national degradation; but neither could painting
-nor an admirable poetic literature. It is also better, no doubt, that a
-man should learn his duty to God and to his neighbour, than that he
-should cultivate a taste for harmony, but why not do both; and above
-all, why compare like with unlike? The "performances of a much higher
-nature" than music undeniably exist, but they do not answer the same
-end. The more general science on which that of astronomy rests may be a
-nobler study than music, but there is nothing consoling or _per se_
-elevating in mathematics. Poetry, again, would by most persons be
-classed higher than music, though the effect of half poetry, and of
-imaginative literature generally, is to place the reader in a state of
-reverie such as music induces more immediately and more perfectly. The
-enjoyment of art--by which we do not mean its production, or its
-critical examination, but the pure enjoyment of the artistic result--has
-nothing strictly intellectual in it; no man could grow wise by looking
-at Raphael or listening to Mozart. Nor does he derive any important
-intellectual ideas from many of our most beautiful poems, but simply
-emotion, of an elevated kind, such as is given by fine music. Music is
-evidently not didactic, and painting can only teach, in the ordinary
-sense of the word, what every one already knows; though, of course, a
-painter may depict certain aspects of nature and of the human face,
-previously unobserved and unimagined, just as the composer, in giving a
-musical expression to certain sentiments and passions, can rouse in us
-emotions previously dormant, or never experienced before with so much
-intensity. But the fine arts cannot communicate abstract truths--from
-which it chiefly follows that no right-minded artist ever uses them with
-such an aim; though there is no saying what some wild enthusiasts will
-not endeavour to express, and other enthusiasts equally wild pretend to
-see, in symphonies and in big symbolical pictures. If Addison meant to
-insinuate that _Phædra and Hippolytus_ was a much higher performance
-than any possible opera, he was decidedly in error. But he had not heard
-_Don Juan_, _William Tell_, and _Der FreischĂĽtz_; to which no one in the
-present day, unless musically deaf, could prefer an English translation
-of _Phèdre_. It would be unfair to lay too much stress on the fact that
-the music of Handel still lives, and with no declining life, whereas the
-tragedies of Racine, resuscitated by Mademoiselle Rachel, have not been
-heard of since the death of that admirable actress; Addison was only
-acquainted with the earliest of Handel's operas, and these _are_
-forgotten, as indeed are most of his others, with the exception, here
-and there, of a few detached airs.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND DRAMA.]
-
-In the sentence commencing "Music is certainly a very agreeable
-entertainment, but," &c., Addison says what every one, who would care to
-see one of Shakespeare's plays properly acted (not much cared for,
-however, in Addison's time), must feel now. Let us have perfect
-representations of Opera by all means; but it is a sad and a disgraceful
-thing, that in his own native country the works of the greatest
-dramatist who ever lived should be utterly neglected as far as their
-stage representation is concerned. It is absurd to pretend that the
-Opera is the sole cause of this. Operas, magnificently put upon the
-stage, are played in England, at least at one theatre, with remarkable
-_completeness_ of excellence, and, at more than one, with admirable
-singers in the principal and even in the minor parts. Shakespeare's
-dramas, when they are played at all, are thrown on to the stage anyhow.
-This would not matter so much, but our players, even in _Hamlet_, where
-they are especially cautioned against it, have neither the sense nor the
-good taste to avoid exaggeration and rant, to which, they maintain, the
-public are now so accustomed, that a tragedian acting naturally would
-make no impression. Their conventionality, moreover, makes them keep to
-certain stage "traditions," which are frequently absurd, while their
-vanity is so egregious that one who imagines himself a first-rate actor
-(in a day when there are no first-rate actors) will not take what he is
-pleased to consider a second-rate part. Our stage has no tragedian who
-could embody the jealousy of "Otello," as Ronconi embodies that of
-"Chevreuse" in _Maria di Rohan_, nor could half a dozen actors of equal
-reputation be persuaded in any piece to appear in half a dozen parts of
-various degrees of prominence, though this is what constantly takes
-place at the Opera.
-
-In Addison's time, Nicolini was a far greater actor than any who was in
-the habit of appearing on the English stage; indeed, this alone can
-account for the success of the ridiculous opera of _Hydaspes_, in which
-Nicolini played the principal part, and of which I shall give some
-account in the proper place. Doubtless also, it had much to do with the
-success of Italian Opera generally, which, when Addison commenced
-writing about it in the _Spectator_, was supported by no great composer,
-and was constructed on such frameworks as one would imagine could only
-have been imagined by a lunatic or by a pantomime writer struck serious.
-If Addison had not been fond of music, and moreover a very just critic,
-he would have dismissed the Italian Opera, such as it existed during the
-first days of the _Spectator_, as a hopeless mass of absurdity.
-
-[Sidenote: STAGE DECORATION.]
-
-Every one must in particular admit the justness of Addison's views
-respecting the incongruity of operatic scenery; indeed, his observations
-on that subject might with advantage be republished now and then in the
-present day. "What a field of raillery," he says, "would they [the wits
-of King Charles's time] have been let into had they been entertained
-with painted dragons spitting wildfire, enchanted chariots drawn by
-Flanders mares, and real cascades in artificial landscapes! A little
-skill in criticism would inform us, that shadows and realities ought not
-to be mixed together in the same piece; and that the scenes which are
-designed as the representations of nature should be filled with
-resemblances, and not with the things themselves. If one would represent
-a wide champaign country, filled with herds and flocks, it would be
-ridiculous to draw the country only upon the scenes, and to crowd
-several parts of the stage with sheep and oxen. This is joining together
-inconsistencies, and making the decoration partly real and partly
-imaginary. I would recommend what I have here said to the directors as
-well as the admirers, of our modern opera."
-
-In the matter of stage decoration we have "learned nothing and forgotten
-nothing" since the beginning of the 18th century. Servandoni, at the
-theatre of the Tuileries, which contained some seven thousand persons,
-introduced as elaborate and successful mechanical devices as any that
-have been known since his time; but then as now the real and artificial
-were mixed together, by which the general picture is necessarily
-rendered absurd, or rather no general picture is produced. Independently
-of the fact that the reality of the natural objects makes the
-artificiality of the manufactured ones unnecessarily evident as when the
-branches of real trees are agitated by a gust of wind, while those of
-pasteboard trees remain fixed--it is difficult in making use of natural
-objects on the stage to observe with any accuracy the laws of proportion
-and perspective, so that to the eye the realities of which the manager
-is so proud, are, after all, strikingly unreal. The peculiar conditions
-too, under which theatrical scenery is viewed, should always be taken
-into account. Thus, "real water," which used at one time to be announced
-as such a great attraction at some of our minor playhouses, does not
-look like water on the stage, but has a dull, black, inky, appearance,
-quite sufficient to render it improbable that any despondent heroine,
-whatever her misfortune, would consent to drown herself in it.
-
-The most contemptuous thing ever written against the Opera, or rather
-against music in general, is Swift's celebrated epigram on the Handel
-and Buononcini disputes:--
-
-    "Some say that Signor Buononcini
-     Compared to Handel is a ninny;
-     While others say that to him, Handel
-     Is hardly fit to hold a candle.
-     Strange that such difference should be,
-     'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee."
-
-Capital, telling lines, no doubt, though is it not equally strange that
-there should be such a difference between one piece of painted canvas
-and another, or between a statue by Michael Angelo and the figure of a
-Scotchman outside a tobacconist's shop? These differences exist, and it
-proves nothing against art that savages and certain exceptional natures
-among civilized men are unable to perceive them. We wonder how the Dean
-of St. Patrick's would have got on with the Abbé Arnauld, who was so
-impressed with the sublimity of one of the pieces in Gluck's
-_Iphigénie_, that he exclaimed, "With that air one might found a new
-religion!"
-
-[Sidenote: BERANGER ON THE DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.]
-
-One of the wittiest poems written against our modern love of music
-(cultivated, it must be admitted, to a painful extent by many incapable
-amateurs) is the lament by BĂ©ranger, in which the poet, after
-complaining that the convivial song is despised as not sufficiently
-artistic, and that in the presence of the opera the drama itself is fast
-disappearing, exclaims:
-
-    Si nous t'enterrons
-      Bel art dramatique,
-    Pour toi nous dirons
-      La messe en musique.
-
-Without falling into the same error as those who have accused Addison of
-a selfish and interested animosity towards the Opera, I may remark that
-song-writers have often very little sympathy for any kind of music
-except that which can be easily subjected to words, as in narrative
-ballads, and to a certain extent ballads of all kinds. When a man says
-"I don't care much for music, but I like a good song," we may generally
-infer that he does not care for music at all. So play-wrights have a
-liking for music when it can be introduced as an ornament into their
-pieces, but not when it is made the most important element in the
-drama--indeed, the drama itself.
-
-Favart, the author of numerous opera-books, has left a good satirical
-description in verse of French opera. It ends as follows:--
-
-      Quiconque voudra
-      Faire un opéra,
-      Emprunte Ă  Pluton,
-      Son peuple démon;
-      Qu'il tire des cieux
-      Un couple de dieux,
-      Qu'il y joigne un héros
-      Tendre jusqu' aux os.
-      Lardez votre sujet,
-      D'un Ă©ternel ballet.
-    Amenez au milieu d'une fĂŞte
-        La tempĂŞte,
-        Une bĂŞte,
-      Que quelqu'un tûra
-      Dès qu'il la verra.
-      Quiconque voudra faire un opéra
-      Fuira de la raison
-      Le triste poison.
-      Il fera chanter
-      Concerter et sauter
-      Et puis le reste ira,
-      Tout comme il pourra.
-
-[Sidenote: PANARD ON THE OPERA.]
-
-This, from a man whose operas did not fail, but on the contrary, were
-highly successful, is rather too bad. But the author of the ill-fated
-"Rosamond" himself visited the French Opera, and has left an account of
-it, which corresponds closely enough to Favart's poetical description.
-"I have seen a couple of rivers," he says, (No. 29 of the _Spectator_)
-"appear in red stockings, and Alpheus, instead of having his head
-covered with sedge and bulrushes, making love in a fair, full-bottomed,
-periwig, and a plume of feathers, but with a voice so full of shakes and
-quavers that I should have thought the murmurs of a country brook the
-much more agreeable music. I remember the last opera I saw in that merry
-nation was the "Rape of Proserpine," where Pluto, to make the more
-tempting figure, puts himself in a French equipage, and brings
-Ascalaphus along with him as his _valet de chambre_." This is what we
-call folly and impertinence, but what the French look upon as gay and
-polite."
-
-Addison's account agrees with Favart's song and also with one by Panard,
-which contains this stanza:--
-
-    "J'ai vu le soleil et la lune
-     Qui faissient des discours en l'air
-     _J'ai vu le terrible Neptune_
-     _Sortir tout frisé de la mer_."
-
-Panard's song, which occurs at the end of a vaudeville produced in 1733,
-entitled _Le départ de l'Opéra_, refers to scenes behind as well as
-before the curtain. It could not be translated with any effect, but I
-may offer the reader the following modernized imitation of it, and so
-conclude the present chapter.
-
-    WHAT MAY BE SEEN AT THE OPERA.
-
-    I've seen Semiramis, the queen;
-      I've seen the Mysteries of Isis;
-    A lady full of health I've seen
-      Die in her dressing-gown, of phthisis.
-
-    I've seen a wretched lover sigh,
-      "_Fra poco_" he a corpse would be,
-    Transfix himself, and then--not die,
-      But coolly sing an air in D.
-
-    I've seen a father lose his child,
-      Nor seek the robbers' flight to stay;
-    But, in a voice extremely mild,
-      Kneel down upon the stage and pray.
-
-    I've seen "Otello" stab his wife;
-      The "Count di Luna" fight his brother;
-    "Lucrezia" take her own son's life;
-      And "John of Leyden" cut his mother.
-
-    I've seen a churchyard yield its dead,
-      And lifeless nuns in life rejoice;
-    I've seen a statue bow its head,
-      And listened to its trombone voice.
-
-    I've seen a herald sound alarms,
-      Without evincing any fright:
-    Have seen an army cry "To arms"
-      For half an hour, and never fight.
-
-    I've seen a naiad drinking beer;
-      I've seen a goddess fined a crown;
-    And pirate bands, who knew no fear,
-      By the stage manager put down;
-
-    Seen angels in an awful rage,
-      And slaves receive more court than queens,
-    And huntresses upon the stage
-      Themselves pursued behind the scenes.
-
-    I've seen a maid despond in A,
-      Fly the perfidious one in B,
-    Come back to see her wedding day,
-      And perish in a minor key.
-
-    I've seen the realm of bliss eternal,
-      (The songs accompanied by harps);
-    I've seen the land of pains infernal,
-      With demons shouting in six sharps!
-
-[Sidenote: PANARD AT THE OPERA.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF THE BALLET.
-
-     The Ballets of Versailles.--Louis XIV. astonished at his own
-     importance.--Louis retires from the stage; congratulations
-     addressed to him on the subject; he re-appears.--Privileges of
-     Opera dancers and singers.--Manners and customs of the Parisian
-     public.--The Opera under the regency.--Four ways of presenting a
-     petition.--Law and the financial scheme.--Charon and paper
-     money.--The Duke of Orleans as a composer.--An orchestra in a court
-     of justice.--Handel in Paris.--Madame Sallé; her reform in the
-     Ballet, and her first appearance in London.
-
-
-[Sidenote: A CORPS OF NOBLES.]
-
-After the Opera comes the Ballet. Indeed, the two are so intimately
-mixed together that it would be impossible in giving the history of the
-one to omit all mention of the other. The Ballet, as the name
-sufficiently denotes, comes to us from the French, and in the sense of
-an entertainment exclusively in dancing, dates from the foundation of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, or soon afterwards. During the first
-half of the 17th century, and even earlier, ballets were performed at
-the French court, under the direction of an Italian, who, abandoning his
-real name of Baltasarini, had adopted that of Beaujoyeux. He it was who
-in 1581 produced the "_Ballet Comique de la Royne_," to celebrate the
-marriage of the Duc de Joyeuse. This piece, which was magnificently
-appointed, and of which the representation is said to have cost
-3,600,000 francs, was an entertainment consisting of songs, dances, and
-spoken dialogue, and appears to have been the model of the masques which
-were afterwards until the middle of the 17th century represented in
-England, and of most of the ballets performed in France until about the
-same period. There were dancers engaged at the French Opera from its
-very commencement, but it was difficult to obtain them in any numbers,
-and, worst of all, there were no female dancers to be found. The company
-of vocalists could easily be recruited from the numerous cathedral
-choirs; for the Ballet there were only the dancing-masters of the
-capital to select from, the profession of dancing-mistress not having
-yet been invented. Nymphs, dryads, and shepherdesses were for some time
-represented by young boys, who, like the fauns, satyrs, and all the rest
-of the dancing troop wore masks. At last, however, in 1681, Terpsichore
-was worthily represented by dancers of her own sex, and an aristocratic
-corps de ballet was formed, with Madame la Dauphine, the Princess de
-Conti, and Mdlle. de Nantes as principal dancers, supported by the
-Dauphin, the Prince de Conti and the Duke de Vermandois. They appeared
-in the _Triomphe de l'Amour_, and the astounding exhibition was fully
-appreciated. Previously, the ladies of the court, when they appeared in
-ballets, had confined themselves to reciting verses, which sometimes,
-moreover, were said for them by an orator engaged for the purpose. To
-see a court lady dancing on the stage was quite a novelty; hence, no
-doubt, the success of that spectacle.
-
-[Sidenote: QUADRILLES AND COUNTRY DANCES.]
-
-The first celebrated _ballerina_ at the French Opera was Mademoiselle La
-Fontaine, styled _la reine de la danse_--a title of which the value was
-somewhat diminished by the fact that there were only three other
-professional danseuses in Paris. Lulli, however, paid great attention to
-the ballet, and under his direction it soon gained importance. To Lulli,
-who occasionally officiated as ballet-master, is due the introduction of
-rapid style of dancing, which must have contrasted strongly with the
-stately solemn steps that were alone in favour at the Court during the
-early days of Louis XIV's reign. The minuet-loving Louis had notoriously
-an aversion for gay brilliant music. Thus he failed altogether to
-appreciate the talent of "little Baptiste" not Lulli, but Anet, a pupil
-of Corelli, who is said to have played the sonatas of his master very
-gracefully, and with an "agility" which at that time was considered
-prodigious. The Great Monarch preferred the heavy monotonous strains of
-his own Baptiste, the director of the Opera. It may here be not out of
-place to mention that Lulli's introduction of a lively mode of dancing
-into France (it was only in his purely operatic music that he was so
-lugubriously serious) took place simultaneously with the importation
-from England of the country-dance--and corrupted into _contre-danse_,
-which is now the French for quadrille. Moreover, when the French took
-our country-dance, a name which some etymologists would curiously enough
-derive from its meaningless corruption--we adopted their minuet which
-was first executed in England by the Marquis de Flamarens, at the Court
-of Charles II. The passion of our English noblemen for country-dances is
-recorded as follows in the memoirs of the Count de Grammont:--"Russel
-was one of the most vigorous dancers in England, I mean for
-country-dances (_contre-danses_). He had a collection of two or three
-hundred arranged in tables, which he danced from the book; and to prove
-that he was not old, he sometimes danced till he was exhausted. His
-dancing was a good deal like his clothes; it had been out of fashion
-twenty years."
-
-Every one knows that Louis XIV. was a great actor; and even his mother,
-Anne of Austria, appeared on the stage at the Court of Madrid to the
-astonishment and indignation of the Spaniards, who said that she was
-lost for them, and that it was not as Infanta of Spain, but as Queen of
-France, that she had performed.
-
-On the occasion of Louis XIV.'s marriage with Marie Therèse, the
-celebrated expression _Il n'y plus de Pyrenées_ was illustrated by a
-ballet, in which a French nymph and a Spanish nymph sang a duet while
-half the dancers were dressed in the French and half in the Spanish
-costume.
-
-Like other illustrious stars, Louis XIV. took his farewell of the stage
-more than once before he finally left it. His Histrionic Majesty was in
-the habit both of singing and dancing in the court ballets, and took
-great pleasure in reciting such graceful compliments to himself as the
-following:--
-
-    "Plus brilliant et mieux fait que tous les dieux ensemble
-     La terre ni le ciel n'ont rien qui me ressemble."
-                          (_Thétis et Pélée._--Benserade. 1654),
-
-       "Il n'est rien de si grand dans toute la nature
-        Selon l'âme et le cœur au point où je me vois;
-        De la terre et de moi qui prendra la mesure
-        Trouvera que la terre est moins grande que moi."
-                     (_L'Impatience._--Benserade. 1661).
-
-On the 15th February, 1669, Louis XIV. sustained his favourite character
-of the Sun, in _Flora_, the eighteenth ballet in which he had played a
-part--and the next day solemnly announced that his dancing days were
-over, and that he would exhibit himself no more. The king had not only
-given his royal word, but for nine months had kept it, when Racine
-produced his _Britannicus_, in which the following lines are spoken by
-"Narcisse" in reference to Nero's performances in the amphitheatre.
-
-    Pour toute ambition pour vertu singulière
-    Il excelle à conduire un char dans la carrière;
-    A disputer des prix indignes des ses mains,
-    A se donner lui-mĂŞme en spectacle aux Romains,
-    A venir prodiguer sa voix sur un théâtre
-    A réciter des chants qu'il veut qu'on idolâtre;
-    Tandis que des soldats, de moments en moments,
-    Vont arracher pour lui des applaudissements.
-
-[Sidenote: LOUIS RETURNS TO THE STAGE.]
-
-The above lines have often been quoted as an example of virtuous
-audacity on the part of Racine, who, however, did not write them until
-the monarch who at one time did not hesitate to "_se donner lui mĂŞme en
-spectacle_, &c.," had confessed his fault and vowed never to repeat it;
-so that instead of a lofty rebuke, the verses were in fact an indirect
-compliment neatly and skilfully conveyed. So far from profiting by
-Racine's condemnation of Nero's frivolity and shamelessness, and
-retiring conscience-stricken from the stage (of which he had already
-taken a theatrical farewell) Louis XIV. reappeared the year afterwards,
-in _Les amants magnifiques_, a _Comédie-ballet_, composed by Molière and
-himself, in which the king figured and was applauded as author,
-ballet-master, dancer, mime, singer, and performer on the flute and
-guitar. He had taken lessons on the latter instrument from the
-celebrated Francisco Corbetta, who afterwards made a great sensation in
-England at the Court of Charles II.
-
-If Louis XIV. did not scruple to assume the part of an actor himself,
-neither did he think it unbecoming that his nobles should do the same,
-even in presence of the general public and on the stage of the Grand
-Opera. "We wish, and it pleases us," he says in the letters patent
-granted to the Abbé Perrin, the first director of the Académie Royale de
-Musique (1669) "that all gentlemen (_gentilshommes_) and ladies may sing
-in the said pieces and representations of our Royal Academy without
-being considered for that reason to derogate from their titles of
-nobility, or from their privileges, rights and immunities." Among the
-nobles who profited by this permission and appeared either as singers,
-or as dancers at the Opera, were the Seigneur du Porceau, and Messieurs
-de Chasré and Borel de Miracle; and Mesdemoiselles de Castilly, de Saint
-Christophe, and de Camargo. Another privilege accorded to the Opera was
-of such an infamous nature that were it not for positive proof we could
-scarcely believe it to have existed. It had full control, then, over all
-persons whose names were once inscribed on its books; and if a young
-girl went of her own accord, or was persuaded into presenting herself at
-the Opera, or was led away from her parents and her name entered on the
-lists by her seducer--then in neither case had her family any further
-power over her. _Lettres de cachet_ even were issued, commanding the
-persons named therein to join the Opera; and thus the Count de Melun got
-possession of both the Camargos. The Duke de Fronsac was enabled to
-perpetrate a similar act of villany. He it is who is alluded to in the
-following lines by Gilbert:--
-
-    "Qu'on la séduise! Il dit: ses eunuques discrets,
-     Philosophes abbés, philosophes valets,
-     Intriguent, sèment l'or, trompent les yeux d'un père,
-     Elle cède, on l'enlève; en vain gémit sa mère.
-    _Echue à l'Opéra par un rapt solennel,_
-    _Sa honte la dérobe au pouvoir paternel._"
-
-[Sidenote: INVENTION OF THE BALLET.]
-
-As for men they were sent to the Opera as they were sent to the
-Bastille. Several amateurs, abbés and others, the beauty of whose voices
-had been remarked, were arrested by virtue of _lettres de cachet_, and
-forced to appear at the Académie Royale de Musique, which had its
-conscription like the army and navy. On the other hand, we have seen
-that the pupils and associates of the Académie enjoyed certain
-privileges, such as freedom from parental restraint and the right of
-being immoral; to which was afterwards added that of setting creditors
-at defiance. The pensions of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging
-to the Opera were exempted from all liability to seizure for debt.
-
-The dramatic ballet, or _ballet d'action_, was invented by the Duchess
-du Maine. We soon afterwards imported it into England as, in Opera, we
-imported the chorus, which was also a French invention, and one for
-which the musical drama can scarcely be too grateful. The dramatic
-_ballet_, however, has never been naturalized in this country. It still
-crosses over to us occasionally, and when we are tired of it goes back
-again to its native land; but even as an exotic, it has never fairly
-taken root in English soil.
-
-The Duchess du Maine was celebrated for her _Nuits de Sceaux_, or _Nuits
-Blanches_, as they were called, which the nobles of Louis XIV.'s Court
-found as delightful as they found Versailles dull. The Duchess used to
-get up lotteries among her most favoured guests, in which the prizes
-were so many permissions to give a magnificent entertainment. The
-letters of the alphabet were placed in a box, and the one who drew O had
-to get up an opera; C stood for a comedy; B for a ballet; and so on. The
-hostess of Sceaux had not only a passion for theatrical performances,
-but also a great love of literature, and the idea occurred to her of
-realising on the stage of her own theatre something like one of those
-pantomimes of antiquity of which she had read the descriptions with so
-much pleasure. Accordingly, she took the fourth act of _Les Horaces_,
-had it set to music by Mouret, just as if it were to be sung, and caused
-this music to be executed by the orchestra alone, while Balon and
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who were celebrated as dancers, but had never
-attempted pantomime before, played in dumb show the part of the last
-Horatius, and of Camilla, the sister of the Curiatii. The actor and
-actress entered completely into the spirit of the new drama, and
-performed with such truthfulness and warmth of emotion as to affect the
-spectators to tears.
-
-Mouret, the musical director of _Les Nuits Blanches_, composed several
-operas and _ballets_ for the Académie; but when the establishment at
-Sceaux was broken up, after the discovery of the Spanish conspiracy, in
-which the Duchess du Maine was implicated, he considered himself ruined,
-went mad and died at Charenton in the lunatic asylum.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE FREE LIST.]
-
-"Long live the Regent, who would rather go to the Opera than to the
-Mass," was the cry when on the death of Louis XIV., the reins of
-government were assumed by the Duke of Orleans. At this time the whole
-expenses of the Opera, including chorus, ballet, musicians, scene
-painters, decorators, &c.--from the prima donna to the
-bill-sticker--amounted only to 67,000 francs a year, being considerably
-less than half what is given now to a first-rate soprano alone. The
-first act of the Regent in connexion with the Opera was to take its
-direction out of the hands of musicians, and appoint the Duc d'Antin
-manager. The new _impresario_, wishing to reward Thévanard, who was at
-that time the best singer in France, offered him the sum of 600 francs.
-Thévanard indignantly refused it, saying "that it was a suitable
-present, at most, for his valet," upon which d'Antin proposed to
-imprison the singer for his insolence, but abstained from doing so, for
-fear of irritating the public with whom Thévanard was a prodigious
-favourite. He, however, resigned the direction of the Opera, saying that
-he "wished to have nothing more to do with such _canaille_."
-
-The next operatic edict of the Regent had reference to the admission of
-authors, who hitherto had enjoyed the privilege of free entry to the
-pit. In 1718 the Regent raised them to the amphitheatre--not as a mark
-of respect, but in order that they might be the more readily detected
-and expelled in case of their forming cabals to hiss the productions of
-their rivals, which, standing up in the pit in the midst of a dense
-crowd, they had been able to do with impunity. Even to the present day,
-when authors exchange applause much more freely than hisses, the
-regulations of the French theatre do not admit them to the pit, though
-they have free access to every other part of the house.
-
-At the commencement of the 18th century, the Opera was the scene of
-frequent disturbances. The Count de Talleyrand, MM. de Montmorency,
-Gineste, and others, endeavouring to force their way into the theatre
-during a rehearsal, were repulsed by the guard, and Gineste killed. The
-Abbés Hourlier and Barentin insulted M. Fieubet; they were about to come
-to blows when the guard separated them and carried off the obstreperous
-ecclesiastics to For l'Evèque, where they were confined for a fortnight.
-On their release Hourlier and Barentin, accompanied by a third abbé,
-took their places in the balcony over the stage, and began to sing,
-louder even than the actors, maintaining, when called to order, that the
-Opera was established for no other purpose, and that if they had a right
-to sing anywhere, it was at the Académie de Musique.
-
-[Sidenote: PETER THE GREAT AT THE OPERA.]
-
-A balustrade separated the stage balconies from the stage, but continual
-attempts were made to get over it, and even to break into the actresses'
-dressing rooms, which were guarded by sentinels. At this period about a
-third of the _habitués_ used to make their appearance in a state of
-intoxication, the example being set by the Regent himself, who could
-proceed direct from his residence in the Palais Royal to the Opera,
-which adjoined it. To the first of the Regent's masked balls the
-Councillor of State, Rouillé, is said to have gone drunk from personal
-inclination, and the Duke de Noailles in the same condition, out of
-compliment to the administrator of the kingdom.
-
-When Peter the Great visited the French Opera, in 1717, he does not
-appear to have been intoxicated, but he went to sleep. When he was asked
-whether the performance had wearied him, he is said to have replied,
-that on the contrary he liked it to excess, and had gone to sleep from
-motives of prudence. This story, however, does not quite accord with the
-fact that Peter introduced public theatrical performances into Russia,
-and encouraged his nobles to attend them.
-
-Nothing illustrates better the heartless selfishness of Louis XV. than
-his conduct, not at the Opera, but at his own theatre in the Louvre,
-immediately after the occurrence of a terrible and fatal accident. The
-Chevalier de Fénélon, an ensign in the palace guard, in endeavouring to
-climb from one box to another, lost his fooling, and fell headlong on to
-a spiked balustrade, where he remained transfixed through the neck. The
-theatre was stained with blood in a horrible manner, and the unfortunate
-chevalier was removed from the balustrade a dead man. Just then, the
-Very Christian king made his appearance. He gave the signal for the
-performance to commence, and the orchestra struck up as if nothing had
-happened.
-
-Some idea of the morality of the French stage during the regency and
-the reign of Louis XV., may be formed from the fact that, in spite of
-the great license accorded to the members of the Académie, or at least,
-tolerated and encouraged by the law, it was found absolutely necessary
-in 1734 to expel the _prima donna_ Mademoiselle PĂ©lissier, who had
-shocked even the management of the Opera. She was, however, received
-with open arms in London. Let us not be too hard on our neighbours.
-
-Soon afterwards, Mademoiselle Petit, a dancer, was exiled for negligence
-of attire and indiscretion behind the scenes. I must add that this
-negligence was extreme. The most curious part of the affair, was that
-the Abbé de la Marre, author of several _libretti_, undertook the young
-lady's defence, and published a pamphlet in justification of her
-conduct, which is to be found among his _Ĺ’uvres diverses_.
-
-Another _danseuse_, however, named Mariette, ruled at the Opera like a
-little autocrat. "The Princess," as she was named, from the regard the
-Prince de Carignan, titular director of the academy, was known to
-entertain for her, applied to the actual managers, Lecomte and
-Lebœuf, for a payment of salary which she had already received, and
-which they naturally refused to give twice. Upon this they were not only
-dismissed from their places (which they had purchased) but were exiled
-by _lettres de cachet_.
-
-[Sidenote: PELISSIER AT TABLE.]
-
-The prodigality of favourite and favoured actresses under the regency
-was extreme. The before-mentioned Mademoiselle PĂ©lissier and her friend
-Mademoiselle Deschamps, both gluttonous to excess, were noted for their
-contempt of all ordinary food, and of everything that happened to be
-nearly in season, or at all accessible, not merely to vulgar citizens,
-but to the generality of opulent sensualists. It is not said that they
-aspired to the dissolution of pearls in their sauces, but if green peas
-were served to them when the price of the dish was less than sixty
-francs, they sent them away in disdain. Mademoiselle PĂ©lissier was in
-the receipt of 4,000 francs (ÂŁ160) a year from the Opera. Mademoiselle
-Deschamps, who was only a figurante, contrived to get on with a salary
-of only sixteen pounds. And yet we have seen that they were neither of
-them economical.
-
-One of the most facetious members of the Académie under the regency, was
-Tribou, a performer, who seems to have been qualified for every branch
-of the histrionic profession, and to have possessed a certain literary
-talent besides. This humourist had some favour to ask of the Duke of
-Orleans. He presented a petition to him, and after the regent had read
-it, said gravely--
-
-"If your Highness would like to read it again, here is the same thing in
-verse."
-
-"Let me see it," said the Duke.
-
-Tribou presented his petition in verse, and afterwards expressed his
-readiness to sing it. He sang, and no sooner had he finished, than he
-added--
-
-"If _mon Seigneur_ will permit me, I shall be happy to dance it."
-
-"Dance it?" exclaimed the regent; "by all means!"
-
-When Tribou had concluded his _pas_, the duke confessed that he had
-never before heard of a petition being either danced or sung, and for
-the love of novelty, granted the actor his request.
-
-During the regency, wax was substituted for tallow in the candelabra of
-the Opera. This improvement was due to Law, who gave a large sum of
-money to the Académie for that special purpose. On the other hand,
-Mademoiselle Mazé, one of the prettiest dancers at the Opera, was ruined
-three years afterwards by the failure of this operatic benefactor's
-financial scheme. The poor girl put on her rouge, her mouches, and her
-silk stockings, and in her gayest attire, drowned herself publicly in
-the middle of the day at La Grenouillière.
-
-[Sidenote: HOW TO CROSS THE STYX.]
-
-After the break up of Law's system, the regent, terrified by the murmurs
-and imprecations of the Parisians, endeavoured to turn the whole current
-of popular hatred against the minister, by dismissing him from the
-administration of the finances. When Law presented himself at the Palais
-Royal, the regent refused to receive him; but the same evening, he
-admitted him by a private door, apologized to him, and tried to console
-him. Two days afterwards, he accompanied Law to the Opera; but to
-preserve him from the fury of the people, he was obliged to have him
-conducted home by a party of the Swiss guard.
-
-In the fourth act of Lulli's _Alceste_, Charon admits into his bark
-those shades who are able to pay their passage across the Styx, and
-sends back those who have no money.
-
-"Give him some bank notes," exclaimed a man in the pit to one of these
-penniless shades. The audience took up the cry, and the scene between
-Charon and the shades was, at subsequent representations, the cause of
-so much tumult, that it was found necessary to withdraw the piece.
-
-The Duke of Orleans appears to have had a sincere love of music, for he
-composed an opera himself, entitled _Panthée_, of which the words were
-written by the Marquis de La Fare. _Panthée_ was produced at the Duke's
-private theatre. After the performance, the musician, Campra, said to
-the composer,
-
-"The music, your Highness, is excellent, but the poem is detestable."
-
-The regent called La Fare.
-
-"Ask Campra," he said, "what he thinks of the Opera; I am sure he will
-tell you that the poem is admirable, and the music worthless. We must
-conclude that the whole affair is as bad as it can be."
-
-The Duke of Orleans had written a motet for five voices, which he wished
-to send to the Emperor Leopold, but before doing so, entrusted it for
-revision to Bernier, the composer. Bernier handed the manuscript to the
-Abbé de la Croix, whom the regent found examining it while Bernier
-himself was in the next room regaling himself with his friends. The
-immediate consequences of this discovery were a box on the ear for
-Bernier, and ten louis for de La Croix.
-
-The Regent also devoted some attention to the study of antiquity. He
-occupied himself in particular with inquiries into the nature of the
-music of the Greeks, and with the construction of an instrument which
-was to resemble their lyre.
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC IN COURT.]
-
-To the same prince was due the excellent idea of engaging the celebrated
-Italian Opera Company of London, at that time under the direction of
-Handel, to give a series of performances at the Académie. A treaty was
-actually signed in presence of M. de Maurepas, the minister, by which
-Buononcini the conductor, Francesca Cuzzoni, Margarita Durastanti,
-Francesco Bernardi, surnamed _Senesino_, Gaetano Bernesta, and Guiseppe
-Boschi were to come to Paris in 1723, and give twelve representations of
-one or two Italian Operas, as they thought fit. Francine, the director
-of the Académie, engaged to pay them 35,000 francs, and to furnish new
-dresses to the principal performers. This treaty was not executed,
-probably through some obstacle interposed by Francine; for the manager
-signed it against his will, and on the 2nd of December following, the
-regent, with whom it had originated, died. The absurd privileges secured
-to the Académie Royale, and the consequent impossibility of giving
-satisfactory performances of Italian Opera elsewhere than at the chief
-lyrical theatre must have done much to check the progress of dramatic
-music in France. From time to time Italian singers were suffered to make
-their appearance at the Grand Opera; but at the regular Italian Theatre
-established in Paris, as at the Comédie Française, singing was only
-permitted under prescribed conditions, and the orchestra was strictly
-limited, by severe penalties, rigidly enforced, to a certain number of
-instruments, of which not more than six could be violins, or of the
-violin family.
-
-At the Comédie Italienne an ass appeared on the stage, and began to
-bray.
-
-"Silence," exclaimed Arlechinno, "music is forbidden here."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the distinguished amateurs of the period of the regency was M. de
-Saint Montant, who played admirably on the viola, and had taught his
-sons and daughters to do the same. Being concerned in a law suit, which
-had to be tried at Nimes, he went with his family of musicians to visit
-the judges, laid his case before them, one after the other, and by way
-of peroration, gave them each a concert, with which they were so
-delighted that they decided unanimously in favour of M. de Saint
-Montant.
-
-A law suit had previously been decided somewhat in the same manner, but
-much more logically, in favour of Joseph Campra, brother of the composer
-of that name, who was the conductor of the orchestra at the Opera of
-Marseilles. The manager refused to pay the musicians on the ground that
-they did not play well enough. In consequence, he was summoned by the
-entire band, who, when they appeared in court, begged through Campra
-that they might be allowed to plead their own cause. The judges granted
-the desired permission, upon which the instrumentalists drew themselves
-up in orchestral order and under the direction of Campra commenced an
-overture of Lulli's. The execution of this piece so delighted the
-tribunal that with one voice it condemned the director to pay the sum
-demanded of him.
-
-A still more curious dispute between a violinist and a dancer was
-settled in a satisfactory way for both parties. The dancer was on the
-stage rehearsing a new step. The violinist was in the orchestra
-performing the necessary musical accompaniment.
-
-"Your scraping is enough to drive a man mad," said the dancer.
-
-"Very likely," said the musician, "and your jumping is only worthy of a
-clown. Perhaps as you have such a very delicate ear," he added, "and
-nature has refused you the slightest grace, you would like to take my
-place in the orchestra?"
-
-[Sidenote: LA CAMARGO.]
-
-"Your awkwardness with the bow makes me doubt whether your most useful
-limbs may not be your legs," replied the dancer. "You will never do any
-good where you are. Why do you not try your fortune in the ballet? Give
-me your violin," he continued, "and come up on to the stage. I know the
-scale already. You can teach me to play minuets, and I will show you how
-to dance them."
-
-The proposed interchange of good offices took place, and with the
-happiest results. The unmusical fiddler, whose name was Dupré, acquired
-great celebrity in the ballet, and LĂ©clair, the awkward dancer, became
-the chief of the French school of violin playing.
-
-Marie-Anne Cupis de Camargo did not lose so much time in discovering her
-true vocation. She gave evidence of her genius for the ballet while she
-was still in the cradle, and was scarcely six months old when the
-variety of her gestures, the grace of her movements, and the precision
-with which she marked the rhythm of the tunes her father played on the
-violin led all who saw her to believe that she would one day be a great
-dancer. The young Camargo, who belonged to a noble family of Spanish
-origin, made her _début_ at the Académie in 1726, and at once achieved a
-decided success. People used to fight at the doors to obtain admittance
-the nights she performed; all the new fashions were introduced under her
-name, and in a very short space of time her shoemaker made his fortune.
-All the ladies of the court insisted on wearing shoes _Ă  la Camargo_.
-But the triumph of one dancer is the despair of another. Mademoiselle
-Prévost, who was the queen of the ballet until Mademoiselle de Camargo
-appeared was not prepared to be dethroned by a _débutante_. She was so
-alarmed by the young girl's success that she did her utmost to keep her
-in the background, and contrived before long to get her placed among
-the _figurantes_. But in spite of this loss of rank, Mademoiselle de
-Camargo soon found an opportunity of distinguishing herself. In a
-certain ballet, she formed one of a group of demons, and was standing on
-the stage waiting for Dumoulin, who had to dance a _pas seul_, when the
-orchestra began the soloist's air and continued to play it, though still
-no Dumoulin appeared. Mademoiselle de Camargo was seized with a sudden
-inspiration. She left the demoniac ranks, improvised a step in the place
-of the one that should have been danced by Dumoulin and executed it with
-so much grace and spirit that the audience were in raptures.
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who had previously given lessons to young Camargo,
-now refused to have anything to do with her, and the two _danseuses_
-were understood to be rivals both by the public and by one another. The
-chief characteristics of Camargo's dancing were grace, gaiety, and above
-all prodigious lightness, which was the more remarkable at this period
-from the fact that the mode chiefly cultivated at the Opera was one of
-solemn dignity. However, she had not been long on the stage before she
-learned to adopt from her masters and from the other dancers whatever
-good points their particular styles presented, and thus formed a style
-of her own which was pronounced perfection.
-
-[Sidenote: STAGE COSTUME.]
-
-Mademoiselle de Camargo, in spite of her charming vivacity when dancing,
-was of a melancholy mood off the stage. She was not remarkably pretty,
-but her face was highly expressive, her figure exquisite, her hands and
-feet of the most delicate proportions, and she possessed considerable
-wit. Dupré, the ex-violinist, who had leaped at a bound from the
-orchestra to the stage, was in the habit of dancing with Camargo, and
-also with Mademoiselle Sallé, another celebrity of this epoch, who
-afterwards visited London, where she produced the first complete _ballet
-d'action_ ever represented, and at the same time introduced an important
-reform in theatrical costume.
-
-The art of stage decoration had made considerable progress, even before
-the Opera was founded, but it was not until long after Mademoiselle
-Sallé had given the example in London that any reasonable principles
-were observed in the selection and design of theatrical dresses. In
-1730, warriors of all kinds, Greek, Roman, and Assyrian, used to appear
-on the French stage in tunics belaced and beribboned, in cuirasses, and
-in powdered wigs bearing tails a yard long, surmounted by helmets with
-plumes of prodigious height. The tails, of which there were four, two in
-front and two behind, were neatly plaited and richly pomatumed, and when
-the warrior became animated, and waved his arm or shook his head, a
-cloud of hair powder escaped from his wig. It appeared to Mademoiselle
-Sallé, who, besides being an admirable dancer, was a woman of taste in
-all matters of art, that this sort of thing was absurd; but the reforms
-she suggested were looked upon as ridiculous innovations, and nearly
-half a century elapsed before they were adopted in France.
-
-This ingenious _ballerina_ enjoyed the friendship and regard of many of
-the most distinguished writers of her time. Voltaire celebrated her in
-verse, and when she went to London she took with her a letter of
-introduction from Fontenelle to Montesquieu, who was then ambassador at
-the English Court. Another danseuse, Mademoiselle Subligny came to
-England with letters of introduction from Thiriot and the Abbé Dubois to
-Locke. The illustrious metaphysician had no great appreciation of
-Mademoiselle de Subligny's talent, but he was civil and attentive to her
-out of regard to his friends, who were also hers, and, in the words of
-Fontenelle, constituted himself her "_homme d'affaires_."
-
-[Sidenote: PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES.]
-
-Mademoiselle Sallé was not only esteemed by literature, she was adored
-by finance, and Samuel Bernard, the Court banker and money lender, gave
-her a hundred golden louis for dancing before the guests at the marriage
-of his daughter with the President Molé. The same opulent amateur sent a
-thousand francs to Mademoiselle Lemaure, by way of thanking her for
-resuming the part of "DĂ©lie," in the "Les FĂŞtes Grecques et Romaines,"
-on the occasion of the Duchess de Mirepoix's marriage. I must mention
-that at this period it was not the custom in good society for young
-ladies to appear at the Opera before their marriage. Their mothers were
-determined either to keep their daughters out of harm's way, or to
-escape a dangerous rivalry as long as possible; but once attached to a
-husband the newly-married girl could show herself at the Opera as often
-as she pleased, and it was a point of etiquette that through the Opera
-she should make her entrance into fashionable life. These _débutantes_
-of the audience department presented themselves to the public in their
-richest attire, in their most brilliant diamonds; and if the effect was
-good the gentlemen in the pit testified their approbation by clapping
-their hands.
-
-But to return to Mademoiselle Sallé. What she proposed to introduce
-then, and did introduce into London, in addition to her own admirable
-dancing, were complete dramatic ballets, with the personages attired in
-the costumes of the country and time to which the subject belonged. To
-give some notion of the absurdity of stage costumes at this period we
-may mention that forty-two years afterwards, when Mademoiselle Sallé's
-reform had still had no effect in France, the "Galathea," in Rousseau's
-_Pygmalion_, wore a damask dress, made in the Polish style, over a
-basket hoop, and on her head on enormous _pouf_, surmounted by three
-ostrich feathers!
-
-In her own _Pygmalion_, Mademoiselle Sallé carried out her new principle
-by appearing, not in a Polish costume, nor in a Louis Quinze dress, but
-in drapery imitated as closely as possible from the statues of
-antiquity. Of her performance, and of _Pygmalion_ generally, a good
-account is given in the following letter, written by a correspondent in
-London, under the date of March 15th, 1734, to the "Mercure de France."
-In the style we do not recognise the author of the "Essay on the
-Decadence of the Romans," and of the "Spirit of Laws," but it is just
-possible that M. de Montesquieu may have responded to M. de Fontenelle's
-letter of introduction, by writing a favourable criticism of the
-bearer's performance, for the "influential journal" in which the notice
-actually appeared.
-
-"Mdlle. Sallé," says the London correspondent, "without considering the
-embarrassing position in which she places me, desires me to give you an
-account of her success. I have to tell you in what manner she has
-rendered the fable of Pygmalion, and that of Ariadne and Bacchus; and of
-the applause with which these two ballets of her composition have been
-received by the Court of England.
-
-"Pygmalion has now been represented for nearly two months, and the
-public is never tired of it. The subject is developed in the following
-manner.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE.]
-
-"Pygmalion comes into his studio with his pupils, who perform a
-characteristic dance, chisel and mallet in hand. Pygmalion tells them to
-draw aside a curtain at the back of the studio, which, like the front is
-adorned with statues. The one in the middle above all the others
-attracts the looks and admiration of every one. Pygmalion gazes at it
-and sighs; he touches its feet, presses its waist, adorns its arms with
-precious bracelets, and covers its neck with diamonds, and, kissing the
-hands of his dear statue, shows that he is passionately in love with it.
-The amorous sculptor expresses his distress in pantomime, falls into a
-state of reverie, and then throwing himself at the feet of a statue of
-Venus, prays to the goddess to animate his beloved figure.
-
-"The goddess answers his prayer. Three flashes of light are seen, and to
-an appropriate symphony the marble beauty emerges by degrees from her
-state of insensibility. To the surprise of Pygmalion and his pupils she
-becomes animated, and evinces her astonishment at her new existence, and
-at the objects by which she is surrounded. The delighted Pygmalion
-extends his hand to her; she feels, so to speak, the ground beneath her
-with her feet, and takes some timid steps in the most elegant attitudes
-that sculpture could suggest. Pygmalion dances before her, as if to
-instruct her; she repeats her master's steps, from the easiest to the
-most difficult. He endeavours to inspire her with the tenderness he
-feels himself, and succeeds in making her share that sentiment. You can
-understand, sir, what all the passages of this action become, executed
-and danced with the fine and delicate grace of Mdlle. Sallé. She
-ventured to appear without basket, without skirt, without a dress, in
-her natural hair, and with no ornament on her head. She wore nothing, in
-addition to her boddice and under-petticoat, but a simple robe of
-muslin, arranged in drapery after the model of a Greek statue.
-
-"You cannot doubt, sir, of the prodigious success this ingenious ballet,
-so well executed, obtained. At the request of the king, the queen, the
-royal family, and all the court, it will be performed on the occasion
-of Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, for which all the boxes and places in
-the theatre and amphitheatre have been taken for a month past. The
-benefit takes place on the first of April.
-
-"Do not expect that I can describe to you Ariadne like Pygmalion: its
-beauties are more noble and more difficult to relate; the expressions
-and sentiments are those of the profoundest grief, despair, rage and
-utter dejection; in a word all the great passions perfectly declaimed by
-means of dances, attitudes and gestures suggested by the position of a
-woman who is abandoned by the man she loves. You may announce, sir, that
-Mademoiselle Sallé becomes in this piece the rival of the Journets, the
-Duclos, and the Lecouvreurs. The English, who preserve so tender a
-recollection of their famous Oldfield, whom they have just laid in
-Westminster Abbey among their great statesmen (!) look upon her as
-resuscitated in Mademoiselle Sallé when she represents Ariadne.
-
-"P. S. The first of this month the Prince of Orange, accompanied by the
-Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland and the Princesses, went to
-Covent Garden Theatre [Théâtre du _Commun Jardin_ the French newspaper
-has it] to see the tragedy of King Henry IV., when there was a numerous
-assembly; and all the receipts of the representation were for the
-benefit of Mademoiselle Sallé."
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE.]
-
-[Sidenote: A PROFITABLE PERFORMANCE.]
-
-M. Castil Blaze, who publishes the whole of the above letter, with the
-exception of the postscript, in his history of the Académie Royale, is
-wrong in concluding from Mademoiselle Sallé having appeared at Covent
-Garden, that she was engaged to dance there by Handel, who was at that
-time director of the Queen's Theatre (reign of Anne) in the Haymarket.
-M. Victor Schœlcher may also be in error when, in speaking of the
-absurd fable that Handel being in Paris heard a canticle by Lulli,[10]
-and coming back to England gave it to the English, as God Save the King,
-he assures us that Handel never set foot in Paris at all. It is certain
-that Handel went to Italy to engage new singers in 1733, and it is by no
-means improbable that he passed through Paris on his way. At all events,
-M. Castil Blaze assures us that in that year he visited the Académie
-Royale de Musique, and that "while lavishing sarcasms and raillery on
-our French Opera," he appreciated the talent of Mademoiselle Sallé. "A
-thousand crowns (three thousand francs) was the sum," he continues,
-"that the _virtuose_ asked for composing two ballets and dancing in them
-at London _during the carnival_ of 1734. The director of a rival
-enterprise watched for her arrival in that city, and offered her three
-thousand guineas instead of the three thousand crowns which she had
-agreed to accept from Handel; adding that nothing prevented her from
-making this change, inasmuch as she had signed no engagement. 'And my
-word,' answered the amiable dancer; 'is my word to count for nothing?'
-This reply, applauded and circulated from mouth to mouth, prepared
-Mademoiselle Sallé's success, and had the most fortunate influence on
-the representation given for her benefit. All the London journals gave
-magnificent accounts of the triumphs of Marie Taglioni, and of the marks
-of admiration and gratitude that she received. Equally flattering
-descriptions reached us from the icy banks of the Neva. Mere trifles,
-_niaiseries, debolleze_! This _furore_, this enthusiasm, this
-fanaticism, this royal, imperial liberality was very little, or rather
-was nothing, in comparison with the homage which the sons of Albion
-offered to and lavished upon the divine Sallé. History tells us that at
-the representation given for her benefit people fought at the doors of
-the theatre; that an infinity of amateurs were obliged to conquer at the
-point of the sword, or at least with their fists, the places which had
-been sold to them by auction, and at exorbitant prices. As Mademoiselle
-Sallé made her last curtsey and smiled upon the pit with the most
-charming grace, furious applause burst forth from all parts and seemed
-to shake the theatre to its foundation. While the whirlwind howled,
-while the thunder roared, a hailstorm of purses, full of gold, fell upon
-the stage, and a shower of bonbons followed in the same direction. These
-bonbons, manufactured at London, were of a singular kind; guineas--not
-like the doubloons, the louis d'or in paste, that are exhibited in the
-shop-windows of our confectioners, but good, genuine guineas in metal
-of Peru, well and solidly bound together--formed the sweetmeat; the
-_papillote_ was a bank-note. Projectiles a thousand times, and again a
-thousand times precious. Arguments which sounded still when the fugitive
-tempest of applause was at an end. Our favourite _virtuoses_ place now
-on their heads, after pressing them for a moment to their hearts, the
-wreaths thrown to them by an electrified public. Mademoiselle Sallé put
-the proofs of gratitude offered by her host of admirers into her pockets
-or rather into bags. The light and playful troop of little Loves who
-hovered around the new dancer, picked up the precious sugar-plums as
-they fell, and eight dancing satyrs carried away in cadence the
-improvised treasures. This performance brought Mademoiselle Sallé more
-than two hundred thousand francs."
-
-What M. Castil Blaze tells us about the bonbons of guineas and
-bank-notes may or may not be true--I have no means of judging--but it is
-not very likely that eight dancing satyrs appeared on the stage at
-Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, inasmuch as the ballet given on that
-occasion was not _Bacchus and Ariadne_, as M. Castil Blaze evidently
-supposes, but _Pygmalion_. The London correspondent of the _Mercure de
-France_ has mentioned that _Pygmalion_ was to be performed by desire of
-"the king and the queen, the royal family, and all the court," and
-naturally that was the piece selected. According to the letter in the
-_Mercure_ the benefit was fixed for the first of April; indeed, the
-writer in his postscript speaks of it as having taken place on that day,
-but he says nothing about purses of gold, nor does he speak of guineas
-wrapped up in bank-notes.
-
-It appears from the _Daily Journal_ that Mademoiselle Sallé took her
-benefit on the 21st of March (which would be April 1, New Style), when
-the first piece was _Henry IV., with the humours of Sir John Falstaff_,
-and the second _Pigmalion_ (with a _Pig_). It was announced that on this
-occasion "servants would be permitted to keep places on the stage,"
-whereas in most of the Covent Garden play bills of the period the
-following paragraph appears:--"It is desired that no person will take it
-ill their not being admitted behind the scenes, it being impossible to
-perform the entertainment unless these passages are kept clear."
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE AND HANDEL.]
-
-At this time Handel was at the Queen's Theatre, and it was not until the
-next year, long after Mademoiselle Sallé had left England, that he moved
-to Covent Garden. The rival who is represented as having offered such
-magnificent terms to Mademoiselle Sallé with the view of tempting her
-from her allegiance to Handel, must have been, if any one, Porpora;
-though if M. Castil Blaze could have identified him as that celebrated
-composer he would certainly have mentioned the name. Porpora, who
-arrived in England in 1733, was in 1734 director of the "Nobility's
-Theatre" in Lincoln's-Inn Fields.
-
-The following is the announcement of Mademoiselle Sallé's first
-appearance in England:--
-
-     "AT THE THEATRE ROYAL COVENT GARDEN, On Monday, 11th March, will be
-     performed a Comedy, called "_The_ WAY _of the_ WORLD, by the late
-     Mr. Congreve, with entertainments of dancing, particularly the
-     Scottish dance by Mr. Glover and Mrs. Laguerre, Mr. le Sac, and
-     Miss Boston, M. de la Garde and Mrs. Ogden.
-
-     "The French Sailor and his Lass, by Mademoiselle Sallé and Mr.
-     Malter.
-
-     "The Nassau, by Mr. Glover and Miss Rogers, Mr. Pelling and Miss
-     Nona, Mr. Le Sac and Mrs. Ogden, Mr. de la Garde and Miss Batson.
-
-     "With a new dance, called _Pigmalion_, performed by Mr. Malter and
-     Mademoiselle Sallé, M. Dupré, Mr. Pelling, Mr. Duke, Mr. le Sac,
-     Mr. Newhouse, and M. de la Garde.
-
-     "No servants will be permitted to keep places on the stage."
-
-It appears that at the King's Theatre on the night of Mademoiselle
-Sallé's benefit, at Covent Garden, there was "an assembly." "Two
-tickets," says the advertisement, "will be delivered to every
-subscriber, this day, at White's Chocholate House, in St. James's
-Street, paying the subscription-money; and if any tickets remain more
-than are subscribed for, they will be delivered the same day at the
-Opera office in the Haymarket, at six and twenty shillings each.
-
-"Every ticket will admit either one gentleman or two ladies.
-
-"N. B.--Five different doors will be opened at twelve for the company to
-go out, where chairs will easily be had.
-
-N. B.--To prevent a crowd there will be but 700 tickets printed."
-
-I find from the collection of old newspapers before me, that Handel,
-whose _Ariadne_ was first produced and whose _Pastor Fido_ was revived
-in 1734, is called in the playbills of the King's Theatre "Mr. Handell."
-The following is the announcement of the performance given at that
-establishment on the 4th June, 1734, "being the last time of performing
-till after the holidays."
-
-"AT the KING'S THEATRE in the HAYMARKET, on Tuesday next, being the 4th
-day of June will be performed an Opera called
-
-PASTOR FIDO,
-
-Composed by Mr. Handell, intermixed with Choruses.
-
-The Scenery after a particular manner.
-
-Pit and Boxes will be put together, and no persons to be admitted
-without tickets, which will be delivered that day at the Office of the
-Haymarket, at half a guinea each.
-
-GALLERY FIVE SHILLINGS.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. HANDELL.]
-
-BY HIS MAJESTY'S COMMAND.
-
-No persons whatever to be admitted behind the scenes.
-
-To begin at half an hour after six o'clock."
-
-Handel had now been twenty-four years in London where he had raised the
-Italian Opera to a pitch of excellence unequalled elsewhere in Europe,
-except perhaps at Dresden, which during the first half of the 18th
-century was universally celebrated for the perfection of its operatic
-performances at the Court Theatre directed by Hasse. But of the
-introduction of Italian Opera into England, and especially of the
-arrival of Handel, his operatic enterprises, his successes and his
-failures, I must speak in another chapter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-INTRODUCTION OF ITALIAN OPERA INTO ENGLAND.
-
-     Operatic Feuds.--Objections to Nose-pulling.--Arsinoe.--Camilla and
-     the Boar.--Steele on insanity.--Handel and Clayton.--Nicolini and
-     the lion.--Rinaldo and the sparrows.--Hamlet set to music.--Three
-     enraged musicians.--Three charming singers.
-
-
-It was not until the close of the 17th century that England was visited
-by any Italian singers of note, among the first of whom was the
-well-known Margarita de l'Epine. This vocalist's name frequently occurs
-in the current literature of the period, and Swift in his "Journal to
-Stella" speaks in his own graceful way of having heard "Margarita and
-her sister and another drab, and a parcel of fiddlers at Windsor." This
-was in 1711, nineteen years after her arrival in England--a proof that
-even then Italian singers, who had once obtained the favour of the
-English public, were determined to profit by it as long as possible.
-Margarita was an excellent musician, and a virtuous and amiable woman;
-but she was ugly and was called Hecate by her husband, who had married
-her for her money.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC FEUDS.]
-
-The history of the Opera in England is, more than in any other country,
-the history of feuds and rivalries between theatres and singers. The
-rival of Margarita de l'Epine was Mrs. Tofts, who in 1703 was singing
-English and Italian songs at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
-Instead of enjoying the talent of both, the London public began to
-dispute as to which was the best; and what was still more absurd, to
-create disturbances at the very theatres where they sang, so that the
-English party prevented Margarita de l'Epine from being heard, while the
-Italians drowned the voice of Mrs. Tofts.[11] Once, when the amiable
-Margarita was singing at Drury Lane, she was not only hissed and hooted,
-but an orange was thrown at her by a woman who was recognised as being
-or having been in the service of the English vocalist. Hence
-considerable scandal and the following public statement which appeared
-in the _Daily Courant_ of February 8th, 1704.
-
-"Ann Barwick having occasioned a disturbance at the Theatre Royal on
-Saturday last, the 5th of February, and being thereupon taken into
-custody, Mrs. Tofts, in vindication of her innocencey, sent a letter to
-Mr. Rich, master of the said Theatre, which is as followeth:--'Sir, I
-was very much surprised when I was informed that Ann Barwick, who was
-lately my servant, had committed a rudeness last night at the playhouse
-by throwing of oranges and hissing when Mrs. L'Epine, the Italian
-gentlewoman, sang. I hope no one will think it was in the least with my
-privity, as I assure you it was not. I abhor such practices, and I hope
-you will cause her to be prosecuted that she may be punished as she
-deserves. I am, sir, your humble servant, KATHARINE TOFTS.'"
-
-[Sidenote: ARSINOE.]
-
-At this period the unruly critics of the pit behaved with as little
-ceremony to those who differed from them among the audience as to those
-performers whom they disliked on the stage. In proof of this, we may
-quote a portion of the very amusing letter written by a linen-draper
-named Heywood (under the signature of James Easy), to the
-_Spectator_,[12] on the subject of nose-pulling. "A friend of mine, the
-other night, applauding what a graceful exit Mr. Wilkes made," says Mr.
-Easy, "one of these nose-wringers overhearing him, pulled him by the
-nose. I was in the pit the other night," he adds, "when it was very
-crowded. A gentleman leaning upon me, and very heavily, I civilly
-requested him to remove his hand; for which he pulled me by the nose. I
-would not resent it in so public a place, because I was unwilling to
-create a disturbance; but have since reflected upon it as a thing that
-is unmanly and disingenuous, renders the nose-puller odious, and makes
-the person pulled by the nose look little and contemptible. This
-grievance I humbly request you will endeavour to redress."
-
-Fifty years later, at the Grand Opera of Paris, a gentleman in the pit
-applauded the dancing of Mademoiselle Asselin. "_Il faut ĂŞtre bien bĂŞte
-pour applaudir une telle sauteuse_," said his neighbour, upon which a
-challenge was given and received, the two amateurs went out and fought,
-when the aggressor fell mortally wounded.
-
-In the letters of Frenchmen and Englishmen from Italy, describing the
-Italian theatres of the eighteenth century, we read neither of pelting
-with oranges, nor of nose-pulling, nor of duelling. One of the most
-remarkable things in the demeanour of the audience appears to have been
-the unceremonious manner in which the aristocratic occupants of the
-boxes behaved towards the people in the pit. The nobles, who were
-somewhat given to expectoration, thought nothing of spitting down into
-the parterre, and "what is still more extraordinary," says Baretti, who
-notices this curious habit, "those who received it on their faces and
-heads, did not seem to resent it much." We are told, however, that "they
-made the most curious grimaces in the world."
-
-But to return to the rival singers of London. In 1705, then, Mrs. Tofts
-and Margarita were both engaged at Drury Lane; the former taking the
-principal part in _Arsinoe_, which was performed in English, the latter
-singing Italian songs before and after the Opera. _Arsinoe_ ("the first
-Opera," says the _Spectator_, "that gave us a taste for Italian music")
-was the composition of Clayton, the _maestro_ who afterwards wrote music
-for Addison's unfortunate _Rosamond_, and who described the purpose and
-character of his first work in the following words:--"The design of this
-entertainment being to introduce the Italian manner of singing to the
-English stage, which has not been before attempted, I was obliged to
-have an Italian Opera translated, in which the words, however mean in
-several places, suited much better with that manner of music than others
-more poetical would do. The style of this music is to express the
-passions, which is the soul of music, and though the voices are not
-equal to the Italian, yet I have engaged the best that were to be found
-in England; and I have not been wanting, to the utmost of my diligence,
-in the instructing of them. The music, being recitative, may not at
-first meet with that general acceptation, as is to be hoped for, from
-the audience's being better acquainted with it; but if this attempt
-shall be a means of bringing this manner of music to be used in my
-native country, I shall think my study and pains very well employed."
-
-[Sidenote: CAMILLA AND THE BOAR]
-
-Mr. Hogarth, in his interesting "Memoirs of the Opera," remarks that
-"though _Arsinoe_ is utterly unworthy of criticism, yet there is
-something amusing in the folly of the composer. The very first song may
-be taken as a specimen. The words are--
-
-    Queen of Darkness, sable night,
-    Ease a wandering lover's pain;
-      Guide me, lead me
-    Where the nymph whom I adore,
-      Sleeping, dreaming,
-    Thinks of love and me no more.
-
-The first two lines are spoken in a meagre sort of recitative. Then
-there is a miserable air, the first part of which consists of the next
-two lines, and concludes with a perfect close. The second part of the
-air is on the last two lines; after which, there is, as usual, a _da
-capo_, and the first part is repeated; the song finishing in the middle
-of a sentence,--
-
-    "Guide me, lead me
-     Where the nymph whom I adore"--
-
-which, I venture to say, has not been beaten by Bunn, or Fitzball, or
-any of our worst librettists at their worst moments.
-
-The music of _Camilla_, the second opera in the Italian style, performed
-in England, was by Marco Antonio Buononcini, the brother of Handel's
-future rival. The work was produced at the original Opera House, erected
-by Sir John Vanburgh, on the site of the present building, in 1705.[13]
-It was sung half in English and half in Italian. Mrs. Tofts played the
-part of "Camilla," and kept to _her_ mother tongue. Valentini played
-that of the hero, and kept to his. Both the Buononcinis were composers
-of high ability and the music of _Camilla_ is said to have been very
-beautiful. The melodies given to the two principal singers were
-original, expressive, and well harmonized. Mrs. Tofts' impersonation of
-the Amazonian lady was much admired by persons of taste, and there was a
-part for a pig which threw the vulgar into ecstacies.
-
-"Mr. Spectator," wrote a correspondent, "your having been so humble as
-to take notice of the epistles of the animal, embolden me, who am the
-wild boar that was killed by Mrs. Tofts, to represent to you that I
-think I was hardly used in not having the part of the lion in Hydaspes
-given to me. It would have been but a natural step for me to have
-personated that noble creature, after having behaved myself to
-satisfaction in the part above mentioned; but that of a lion is too
-great a character for one that never trode the stage before but upon two
-legs. As for the little resistance I made, I hope it may be excused when
-it is considered that the dart was thrown at me by so fair a hand. I
-must confess I had but just put on my brutality; and Camilla's charms
-were such, that beholding her erect mien, hearing her charming voice,
-and astonished with her graceful motion, I could not keep up to my
-assumed fierceness, but died like a man."
-
-[Sidenote: STEELE ON INSANITY.]
-
-Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage in 1709, in consequence of mental
-derangement. We have seen Mademoiselle Desmâtins, half fancying in her
-excessive, vanity that she was really the queen or princess she had been
-representing the same night on the stage, and ordering the servants, on
-her return home, to prepare her throne and serve her on their bended
-knees. Poor Mrs. Tofts laboured under a similar delusion; only, in her
-case, it was not a moral malady, but the hallucination of a diseased
-intellect. "In the meridian of her beauty," says Hawkins, in his History
-of Music, "and possessed of a large sum of money, which she had acquired
-by singing, Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage, and was married to Mr. Joseph
-Smith, a gentleman, who being appointed consul for the English nation,
-at Venice, she went thither with him. Mr. Smith was a great collector of
-books, and patron of the arts. He lived in great state and magnificence;
-but the disorder of his wife returning, she dwelt sequestered from the
-world, in a remote part of the house, and had a large garden to range
-in, in which she would frequently walk, singing and giving way to that
-innocent frenzy which had seized her in the early part of her life."
-
-The terrible affliction, which had fallen upon the favourite operatic
-vocalist, is touched upon by Steele, with singular want of feeling, of
-taste, and even of common decency, in No. 20 of the _Tatler_. "The
-theatre," he says, "is breaking, and there is a great desolation among
-the gentlemen and ladies who were the ornaments of the town, and used to
-shine in plumes and diadems, the heroes being most of them pressed, and
-the queens beating hemp." Then with more brutality than humour he adds,
-"The great revolutions of this nature bring to my mind the distress of
-the unfortunate 'Camilla,' who has had the ill luck to break before her
-voice, and to disappear at a time when her beauty was in the height of
-its bloom. This lady entered so thoroughly into the great characters she
-acted, that when she had finished her part she could not think of
-retrenching her equipage, but would appear in her own lodgings with the
-same magnificence as she did upon the stage. This greatness of soul has
-reduced that unhappy princess to a voluntary retirement, where she now
-passes her time among the woods and forests, thinking on the crowns and
-sceptres she has lost, and often humming over in her solitude:--
-
-    'I was born of royal race,
-     Yet must wander in disgrace, &c.'
-
-"But for fear of being overheard, and her quality known, she usually
-sings it in Italian:--
-
-    'Nacqui al regno, nacqui al trono,
-     E pur sono,
-     Sventatura pastorella.'"
-
-[Sidenote: STEELE AND DRURY LANE.]
-
-It is "the Christian soldier" who wrote this; who rejoiced in this
-anti-christian and cowardly spirit at the dark calamity which had
-befallen an amiable and charming vocalist, whose only fault was that
-she had aided the fortunes of a theatre abhorred by Steele. And what
-cause had Steele for detesting the Italian Opera with the unreasonable
-and really stupid hatred which he displayed towards it? Addison, as it
-seems to me, has been most unfairly attacked for his strictures on the
-operatic performances of his day. They were often just, they were never
-ill-natured, and they were always enveloped in such a delightful garb of
-humour, that there is not a sentence, certainly not a whole paper, and
-scarcely even a phrase,[14] in all he has published about the Opera,
-that a musician, unless already "enraged," would wish unwritten. It is
-unreasonable and unworthy to connect Addison's pleasantries on the
-subject of _Arsinoe_, _Camilla_, _Hydaspes_, and _Rinaldo_, with the
-failure of his _Rosamond_, which, as the reader is aware, was set to
-music by the ignorant impostor called Clayton. Addison, it is true, did
-not write any of his admirably humorous papers about the Italian Opera
-until after the production of _Rosamond_, but it was not until some time
-afterwards that the _Spectator_ first appeared. St. Evrémond, who was a
-great lover of the Opera, wrote much more against it than Addison. In
-fact, the new entertainment was the subject of the day. It was full of
-incongruities, and naturally recommended itself to the attention of
-wits; and we all know that, as a rule, wits do not deal in praise. All
-that _Rosamond_ proves is, that Addison liked the Opera or he would
-never have written it.
-
-But about this Christian Soldier who endeavours to convince his readers
-that music is a thing to be despised because it does not appeal to the
-understanding, and who laughs at the misfortunes of a poor lunatic
-because she is no longer able to attract the public by her singing from
-the dramatic theatre in which he took so deep an interest, and of which
-he afterwards became patentee?[15]
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL V. AMBROSE PHILLIPS.]
-
-Of course, if music appealed only to the understanding, mad Saul would
-have found no solace in the tones of David's harp, and it would be
-hideously irreverent to imagine the angels of heaven singing hymns to
-their Creator. Steele, of course, knew this, and also that the pleasure
-given by music is not a mere physical sensation, to be enjoyed as an
-Angora cat enjoys the smell of flowers, but he seems to have thought it
-was his duty (as it afterwards became his interest) to write up the
-drama and write down the Opera at all hazards. Powerful penmanship it
-must have been, however, that would have put down Handel, or that would
-have kept up Mr. Ambrose Phillips. It would have been easier, at least
-it would have been more successful, to have gone upon the other tack. We
-all know Handel, and (if the expression be permitted) he becomes more
-immortal every day. Steele, it is true, did not hold his music in any
-esteem, but Mozart, a competent judge in such matters, _did_, and
-reckoned it an honour to write additional accompaniments to the elder
-master's greatest work. And who was this Ambrose Phillips? some reader,
-not necessarily ignorant of his country's literature, may ask. He was
-Racine's thief. He stole _Andromaque_, and gave it to the English as his
-own, calling it prosaically and stupidly "The Distrest Mother," which is
-as if we should call "Abel" "The Uncivil Brother," or "Philoctetes" "The
-Man with the Bad Foot," or "Prometheus," "The Gentleman with the Liver
-Complaint." Steele wrote a paper[16] on the reading of this new tragedy,
-in which he declares that "the style of the play is such as becomes
-those of the first education, and the sentiments worthy of those of the
-highest figure." He also says, "I congratulate the age that they are at
-last to see truth and human life represented in the incidents which
-concern heroes and heroines."
-
-Translated Racine was very popular just then with writers who regarded
-Shakespeare as a dealer in the false sublime. "Would one think it was
-possible," asks Addison, "at a time when an author lived that was able
-to write the _Phedra and Hippolytus_ (translate _Phèdre_, that is to
-say), for a people to be so stupidly fond of the Italian Opera as scarce
-to give a third day's hearing to that admirable tragedy."
-
-Sensible people! It seems quite possible to us in the present day that
-they should have preferred Handel's music to Racine's rhymed prose,
-rendered into English rhymes by a man who had nothing of the poetical
-spirit which Racine, though writing in an unpoetical language, certainly
-possessed.
-
-The triumphant success of Handel's _Rinaldo_ was felt deeply by Steele
-and by the _Spectator's_ favourite composer Clayton, a bad musician, and
-apart from the practice of his art, as base a scoundrel as ever libelled
-a great man. But of course critics who besides expatiating on the
-blemishes of Shakespeare dwelt on the beauties of Racine as improved by
-Phillips, would be sure to enjoy the cacophony of Clayton;
-
-    "Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina Mævi."
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-However we must leave the chivalrous Steele and his faithful minstrel
-for the present. We have done with the writer's triumphant gloating over
-the insanity of the poor _prima donna_. We shall presently see the
-musician publishing impudent falsehoods, under the auspices of his
-literary patron, concerning Handel and his genius, and endeavouring,
-always with the same protection, to form a cabal for the avowed purpose
-of driving him from the country which he was so greatly benefiting.
-
-Before Handel's arrival in England Steele had not only insulted operatic
-singers, but in recording the success of Scarlatti's _Pyrrhus and
-Demetrius_, had openly proclaimed his chagrin thereat. "This
-intelligence," he says, "is not very agreeable to our friends of the
-theatre."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, in which the celebrated Nicolini made his first
-appearance, was the last opera performed partly in English and partly in
-Italian.
-
-In 1710, _Almahide_, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, was
-played entirely in the Italian language, with Valentine, Nicolini,
-Margarita de l'Epine, Cassani, and "Signora Isabella" (Isabella
-Girardean), in the principal parts. The same year _Hydaspes_ was
-produced. This marvellous work, which is not likely to be forgotten by
-readers of the _Spectator_, was brought out under the direction of
-Nicolini, the sopranist, who performed the part of the hero. The other
-singers were those included in the cast of _Almahide_, with the addition
-of Lawrence, an English tenor, who was in the habit of singing in
-Italian operas, and of whom it was humourously said by Addison, in his
-proposition for an opera in Greek, that he "could learn to speak the
-language as well as he does Italian in a fortnight's time." "Hydaspes"
-is a sort of profane Daniel, who being thrown into an amphitheatre to be
-devoured by a lion, is saved not by faith, but by love; the presence of
-his mistress among the spectators inspiring him with such courage, that
-after appealing to the monster in a minor key, and telling him that he
-may tear his bosom but cannot touch his heart, he attacks him in the
-relative major, and strangles him.
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-"There is nothing of late years," says Addison, in one of the most
-amusing of his papers on the Opera, "that has afforded matter of greater
-amusement to the town than Signior Nicolini's combat with a lion in the
-Haymarket, which has been very often exhibited to the general
-satisfaction of most of the nobility and gentry in the kingdom of Great
-Britain." Upon the first rumour of this intended combat, it was
-confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both galleries,
-that there would be a tame lion sent from the tower every Opera night,
-in order to be killed by Hydaspes; this report, though altogether so
-universally prevalent in the upper regions of the play-house, that some
-of the most refined politicians in those parts of the audience gave it
-out in whisper, that the lion was a cousin-german of the tiger who made
-his appearance in King William's days, and that the stage would be
-supplied with lions at the public expense, during the whole session.
-Many likewise were the conjectures of the treatment which this lion was
-to meet with from the hands of Signior Nicolini; some supposed that he
-was to subdue him in recitative, as Orpheus used to serve the wild
-beasts in his time, and afterwards to knock him on the head; some
-fancied that the lion would not pretend to lay his paws upon the hero,
-by reason of the received opinion, that a lion will not hurt a virgin.
-Several who pretended to have seen the Opera in Italy, had informed
-their friends, that the lion was to act a part in high Dutch, and roar
-twice or thrice to a thorough bass, before he fell at the feet of
-Hydaspes. To clear up a matter that was so variously reported, I have
-made it my business to examine whether this pretended lion is really the
-savage he appears to be, or only a counterfeit.
-
-"But before I communicate my discoveries, I must acquaint the reader
-that upon my walking behind the scenes last winter, as I was thinking on
-something else, I accidentally justled against a monstrous animal that
-extremely startled me, and upon my nearer survey much surprised, told me
-in a gentle voice that I might come by him if I pleased, 'for,' says he,
-'I do not intend to hurt any body.' I thanked him very kindly, and
-passed by him; and in a little time after saw him leap upon the stage,
-and act his part with very great applause. It has been observed by
-several, that the lion has changed his manner of acting twice or thrice
-since his first appearance; which will not seem strange, when I acquaint
-my reader that the lion has been changed upon the audience three several
-times. The first lion was a candle-snuffer, who being a fellow of a
-testy choleric temper, overdid his part, and would not suffer himself to
-be killed so easily as he ought to have done; besides, it was observed
-of him, that he grew more surly every time he came out of the lion; and
-having dropped some words in ordinary conversation, as if he had not
-fought his best, and that he suffered himself to be thrown upon his back
-in the scuffle, and that he would wrestle with Mr. Nicolini for what he
-pleased, out of his lion's skin, it was thought proper to discard him;
-and it is verily believed to this day, that had he been brought upon the
-stage another time, he would certainly have done mischief. Besides, it
-was objected against the first lion, that he reared himself so high upon
-his hinder paws, and walked in so erect a posture, that he looked more
-like an old man than a lion.
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-"The second lion was a tailor by trade, who belonged to the play-house,
-and had the character of a mild and peaceable man in his profession. If
-the former was too furious, this was too sheepish for his part; insomuch
-that after a short modest walk upon the stage, he would fall at the
-first touch of Hydaspes, without grappling with him, and giving him an
-opportunity of showing his variety of Italian trips. It is said, indeed,
-that he once gave him a rip in his flesh colour doublet; but this was
-only to make work for himself, in his private character of a tailor. I
-must not omit that it was this second lion who treated me with so much
-humanity behind the scenes. The acting lion at present is, as I am
-informed, a country gentleman who does it for his diversion, but desires
-his name may be concealed. He says, very handsomely, in his own excuse,
-that he does not act for gain; that he indulges an innocent pleasure in
-it; and that it is better to pass away an evening in this manner, than
-in gaming and drinking; but at the same time says, with a very agreeable
-raillery upon himself, and that if his name should be known, the
-ill-natured world might call him 'the ass in the lion's skin.' This
-gentleman's temper is made out of such a happy mixture of the mild and
-the choleric, that he outdoes both his predecessors, and has drawn
-together greater audiences than have been known in the memory of man.
-
-"I must not conclude my narrative without taking notice of a groundless
-report that has been raised to a gentleman's disadvantage, of whom I
-must declare myself an admirer; namely, that Signior Nicolini and the
-lion have been sitting peaceably by one another, and smoking a pipe
-together, behind the scenes; by which their enemies would insinuate, it
-is but a sham combat which they represent upon the stage; but upon
-enquiry I find, that if any such correspondence has passed between them,
-it was not till the combat was over, when the lion was to be looked upon
-as dead, according to the received rules of the drama. Besides, this is
-what is practised every day in Westminster Hall, where nothing is more
-usual than to see a couple of lawyers, who have been tearing each other
-to pieces in the court, embracing one another.
-
-"I would not be thought, in any part of this relation, to reflect upon
-Signior Nicolini, who, in acting this part, only complies with the
-wretched taste of his audience; he knows very well that the lion has
-many more admirers than himself; as they say of the famous equestrian
-statue on the Pont Neuf at Paris, that more people go to see the horse
-than the king who sits upon it. On the contrary, it gives me a just
-indignation to see a person whose action gives new majesty to kings,
-resolution to heroes, and softness to lovers, thus sinking from the
-greatness of his behaviour, and degraded into the character of a London
-'prentice. I have often wished that our tragedians would copy after this
-great master in action. Could they make the same use of their arms and
-legs, and inform their faces with as significant looks and passions, how
-glorious would an English tragedy appear with that action which is
-capable of giving dignity to the forced thoughts, cold conceits, and
-unnatural expressions of an Italian Opera! In the meantime, I have
-related this combat of the lion, to show what are at present the
-reigning entertainments of the politer part of Great Britain."
-
-[Sidenote: RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.]
-
-But the operatic year of 1710 is remarkable for something more than the
-production of Almahide and Hydaspes; for in 1710 Handel arrived in
-England, and the year after brought out his Rinaldo, the first of the
-thirty-five operas which he gave to the English stage. For Handel we are
-indebted to Hanover. It was at Hanover that the English noblemen who
-invited him to London first met the great composer; and it was the
-Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I., who granted him permission to
-come, and who when he in his turn arrived in England to assume the
-crown, added considerably to the pension which Queen Anne had already
-granted to the former chapel-master of the Hanoverian court. In 1710 the
-director of the theatre in the Haymarket was Aaron Hill, who no sooner
-heard of Handel's arrival in London than he went to him, and requested
-him to compose an opera for his establishment. Handel consented, and
-Hill furnished him with a plan, sketched out by himself, on the subject
-of _Rinaldo and Armida_ in Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, the writing of
-the _libretto_ being entrusted to an Italian poet of some note named
-Rossi. In the advertisements of this opera Handel's name does not
-appear; not at least in that which calls attention to its first
-representation and which simply sets forth that "at the Queen's Theatre
-in the Haymarket will be performed a new opera called _Rinaldo_."
-
-It was in _Rinaldo_ that the celebrated operatic sparrows made their
-first appearance on the stage--with what success may be gathered from
-the following notice of their performance, which I extract from No. 5 of
-the _Spectator_.
-
-"As I was walking in the streets about a fortnight ago," says Addison,
-"I saw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his
-shoulder; and as I was wondering with myself what use he would put them
-to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the same
-curiosity. Upon his asking him what he had upon his shoulder, he told
-him that he had been buying sparrows for the opera. 'Sparrows, for the
-opera,' says his friend, licking his lips, 'What! are they to be
-roasted?' 'No, no,' says the other, 'they are to enter towards the end
-of the first act, and to fly about the stage.'
-
-[Sidenote: RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.]
-
-"This strange dialogue wakened my curiosity so far that I immediately
-bought the opera, by which means I perceived the sparrows were to act
-the part of singing birds in a delightful grove, though upon a nearer
-inquiry I found the sparrows put the same trick upon the audience that
-Sir Martin Mar-all practised upon his mistress; for though they flew in
-sight, the music proceeded from a concert of flageolets and bird-calls,
-which were planted behind the scenes. At the same time I made this
-discovery, I found by the discourse of the actors, that there were great
-designs on foot for the improvement of the Opera; that it had been
-proposed to break down a part of the wall, and to surprise the audience
-with a party of a hundred horse; and that there was actually a project
-of bringing the New River into the house, to be employed in jetteaus and
-waterworks. This project, as I have since heard, is postponed till the
-summer season, when it is thought that the coolness which proceeds from
-fountains and cascades will be more acceptable and refreshing to people
-of quality. In the meantime, to find out a more agreeable entertainment
-for the winter season, the opera of _Rinaldo_ is filled with thunder and
-lightning, illuminations, and fireworks; which the audience may look
-upon without catching cold, and indeed without much danger of being
-burnt; for there are several engines filled with water, and ready to
-play at a minute's warning, in case any such accident should happen.
-However, as I have a very great friendship for the owner of this
-theatre, I hope that he has been wise enough to insure his house before
-he would let this opera be acted in it.
-
-"But to return to the sparrows. There have been so many flights of them
-let loose in this opera, that it is feared the house will never get rid
-of them; and that in other plays they may make their entrance in very
-wrong and improper scenes, so as to be seen flying in a lady's
-bedchamber, or perching upon a king's throne; besides the inconveniences
-which the heads of the audience may sometimes suffer from them. I am
-credibly informed, that there was once a design of casting into an opera
-the story of 'Whittington and his Cat,' and that in order to it there
-had been set together a great quantity of mice, but Mr. Rich, the
-proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently considered that it would be
-impossible for the cat to kill them all, and that consequently the
-princes of the stage might be as much infested with mice as the prince
-of the island was before the cat's arrival upon it, for which reason he
-would not permit it to be acted in his house. And, indeed, I cannot
-blame him; for as he said very well upon that occasion, 'I do not hear
-that any of the performers in our opera pretend to equal the famous pied
-piper who made all the mice of a great town in Germany follow his music,
-and by that means cleared the place of those noxious little animals.'
-
-"Before I dismiss this paper, I must inform my reader that I hear that
-there is a treaty on foot between London and Wise,[17] (who will be
-appointed gardeners of the playhouse) to furnish the opera of _Rinaldo
-and Armida_ with an orange grove; and that the next time it is acted the
-singing birds will be impersonated by tom tits: the undertakers being
-resolved to spare neither pains nor money for the gratification of their
-audience."
-
-[Sidenote: HAMLET SET TO MUSIC.]
-
-Steele, in No. 14 of the _Spectator_, tells us that--"The sparrows and
-chaffinches at the Haymarket fly, as yet, very irregularly over the
-stage; and instead of perching on the trees and performing their parts,
-these young actors either get into the galleries or put out the
-candles," for which and other reasons equally good, he decides that Mr.
-Powell's Puppet-show is preferable as a place of entertainment to the
-Opera, and that Handel's _Rinaldo_ is inferior as a production of art to
-a puppet-show drama. Indeed, though Steele, in the _Tatler_, and Addison
-in the _Spectator_, have said very civil things about Nicolini, neither
-of them appears to have been impressed in the slightest degree by
-Handel's music, nor does it even seem to have occurred to them that the
-composer's share in producing an opera was by any means considerable.
-Steele, thought the Opera a decidedly "unintellectual" entertainment
-(how much purely intellectual enjoyment is there, we wonder, in the
-pleasure derived from the contemplation of a virgin, by Raphael, and
-what is the meaning in criticising art of looking at it merely in its
-intellectual aspect?); but he at the same time bears testimony to the
-high (æsthetic) gratification he derived from the performance of
-Nicolini, who "by the grace and propriety of his action and gesture,
-does honour to the human figure," and who "sets off the character he
-bears in an opera by his action as much as he does the words of it by
-his voice."[18]
-
-In 1711, in addition to Handel's _Rinaldo_, _Antiochus_, an opera, by
-Apostolo Zeno and Gasparini, was performed, and about the same time, or
-soon afterwards, _Ambleto_, by the same author and composer, was brought
-out. If we smile at Signor Verdi for attempting to turn _Macbeth_ into
-an opera, what are we to say to Zeno's and Gasparini's experiment with
-the far more unsuitable tragedy of _Hamlet_? In _Macbeth_, the songs and
-choruses of witches, the banquet with the apparition of the murdered
-Banquo, and above all, the sleep-walking scene might well inspire a
-composer of genius; but a "Hamlet" without philosophy, or, worse still,
-a "Hamlet" who searches his own soul to orchestral accompaniments--this
-must indeed be absurd. I learn from Dr. Burney, that _Ambleto_ was
-written for Venice, that it was represented at the Queen's Theatre, in
-London, and that "the overture had four movements ending with a jig!" An
-overture to _Hamlet_ "ending with a jig!" To think that this was
-tolerated, and that we are shocked in the present day by burlesques put
-forth as such! The _Spectator_, while apparently keeping a sharp look
-out for all that is ridiculous, or that can be represented as ridiculous
-in the operatic performances of the day, has not a word to say against
-_Ambleto_. But it must be remembered that since Milton's time, "Nature's
-sweetest child" had ceased to be appreciated in England even by the most
-esteemed writers--who, however, for the most part, if they were not good
-critics, could claim no literary merit beyond that of style. In a paper
-on Milton, one of whose noblest sonnets is in praise of Shakespeare,
-Addison, after showing how, by certain verbal expedients, bathos may be
-avoided and sublimity attained, calmly points to the works of Lee and
-Shakespeare as affording instances of the false sublime[19], adding
-coolly that, "_in these authors_ the affectation of greatness often
-hurts the perspicuity of the style."
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-I have spoken of Steele's and Clayton's consternation, at the success of
-_Rinaldo_. Some months after the production of that work, the despicable
-Clayton, supported by two musicians named Nicolino Haym, and Charles
-Dieupart, (who were becomingly indignant at a foreigner like Handel
-presuming to entertain a British audience), wrote a letter to the
-_Spectator_, which Steele published in No. 258 of that journal,
-introducing it by a preface, full of wisdom, in which it is set forth
-that "pleasure and recreation of one kind or other are absolutely
-necessary to relieve our minds and bodies from too constant attention
-and labour," and that, "where public diversions are tolerated, it
-behoves persons of distinction, with their power and example, to preside
-over them in such a manner as to check anything that tends to the
-corruption of manners, or which is too mean or trivial for the
-entertainment of reasonable creatures." The letter from the "enraged
-musicians" is described as coming "from three persons who, as soon as
-named, will be thought capable of advancing the present state of
-music"--that is to say, of superseding Handel. But the same perverse
-public, which in spite of the _Spectator's_ remonstrances, preferred
-_Rinaldo_ to translated Racine, persisted in admiring Handel's music,
-and in paying no heed whatever to the cacophony of Clayton. Here is the
-letter from the three miserable musicasters to their patron and
-fellow-conspirator.
-
-"We, whose names are subscribed, think you the properest person to
-signify what we have to offer the town in behalf of ourselves, and the
-art which we profess,--music. We conceive hopes of your favour from the
-speculations on the mistakes which the town run into with regard to
-their pleasure of this kind; and believing your method of judging is,
-that you consider music only valuable, as it is agreeable to and
-heightens the purpose of poetry, we consent that it is not only the true
-way of relishing that pleasure, but also that without it a composure of
-music is the same thing as a poem, where all the rules of poetical
-numbers are observed, though the words have no sense or meaning; to say
-it shorter, mere musical sounds in our art are no other than
-nonsense-verses are in poetry." [A beautiful melody then, apart from
-words, said no more to these musicians, and to the patron whose idiotic
-theory they are so proud to have adopted than a set of nonsense-verses!]
-"Music, therefore, is to aggravate what is intended by poetry; it must
-always have some passion or sentiment to express, or else violins,
-voices, or any other organs of sound, afford an entertainment very
-little above the rattles of children. It was from this opinion of the
-matter, that when Mr. Clayton had finished his studies in Italy, and
-brought over the Opera of _Arsinoe_, that Mr. Haym and Mr. Dieupart, who
-had the honour to be well-known and received among the nobility and
-gentry, were zealously inclined to assist, by their solicitations, in
-introducing so elegant an entertainment, as the Italian music grafted
-upon English poetry." [Such poetry, for instance, as
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-    "Guide me, lead me,
-     Where the nymph whom I adore
-
-which occurred in Clayton's _Arsinoe_--Haym, it may be remembered, was
-the ingenious musician who arranged _Pyrrhus and Demetrius_ for the
-Anglo-Italian stage, when half of the music was sung in one language,
-and half in the other.] "For this end," continue the precious trio, "Mr.
-Dieupart and Mr. Haym, according to their several opportunities,
-promoted the introduction of _Arsinoe_, and did it to the best advantage
-so great a novelty would allow. It is not proper to trouble you with
-particulars of the just complaints we all of us have to make; but so it
-is that without regard to our obliging pains, we are all equally set
-aside in the present opera. Our application, therefore, to you is only
-to insert this letter in your paper, that the town may know we have all
-three joined together to make entertainments of music for the future at
-Mr. Clayton's house, in York Buildings. What we promise ourselves is, to
-make a subscription of two guineas, for eight times, and that the
-entertainment, with the names of the authors of the poetry, may be
-printed, to be sold in the house, with an account of the several authors
-of the vocal as well as the instrumental music for each night; the money
-to be paid at the receipt of the tickets, at Mr. Charles Lulli's. It
-will, we hope, sir, be easily allowed that we are capable of undertaking
-to exhibit, by our joint force and different qualifications, all that
-can be done in music" [how charmingly modest!] "but lest you should
-think so dry a thing as an account of our proposal should be a matter
-unworthy of your paper, which generally contains something of public
-use, give us leave to say, that favouring our design is no less than
-reviving an art, which runs to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge. We aim at establishing some settled notion of
-what is music, at recovering from neglect and want very many families
-who depend upon it, at making all foreigners who pretend to succeed in
-England to learn the language of it as we ourselves have done, and not
-be so insolent as to expect a whole nation, a refined and learned
-nation, should submit to learn theirs. In a word, Mr. Spectator, with
-all deference and humility, we hope to behave ourselves in this
-undertaking in such a manner, that all Englishmen who have any skill in
-music may be furthered in it for their profit or diversion by what new
-things we shall produce; never pretending to surpass others, or
-asserting that anything which is a science is not attainable by all men
-of all nations who have proper genius for it. We say, sir, what we hope
-for, it is not expected will arrive to us by contemning others, but
-through the utmost diligence recommending ourselves."
-
-Poor Clayton seems, here and there, to have really fancied that it was
-his mission to put down Handel, and stuck to him for some time in most
-pertinacious style. One is reminded of the writer who endeavoured to
-turn Wilhelm Meister into ridicule, and of the epigram which that
-attempt suggested to Goethe, ending:--
-
-    "Hat doch die Wallfisch seine Laus."
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-But Clayton was really a creator, and proposed nothing less than "to
-revive an art which was running to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge." One would have thought that this was going a
-little too far. Handel affecting knowledge--Handel a barbarian? Surely
-Steele in giving the sanction of his name to such assertions as these,
-puts himself in a lower position even than Voltaire uttering his
-celebrated dictum about the genius of Shakespeare; for after all,
-Voltaire was the first Frenchman to discover any beauties in Shakespeare
-at all, and it was in defending him against the stupid prejudices of
-Laharpe that he made use of the unfortunate expression with which he has
-so often been reproached, and which he put forward in the form of a
-concession to his adversary.
-
-Clayton and his second fiddles returned to the attack a few weeks
-afterwards (January 18th, 1712). "It is industriously insinuated," they
-complained, "that our intention is to destroy operas in general, but we
-beg of you (that is to say, the _Spectator_, as represented by Steele,
-who signs the number with his T) to insert this explanation of ourselves
-in your paper. Our purpose is only to improve our circumstances by
-improving the art which we profess" [the knaves are getting candid]. "We
-see it utterly destroyed at present, and as we were the persons who
-introduced operas, we think it a groundless imputation that we should
-set up against the Opera itself," &c., &c.
-
-What became of Clayton, Haym, and Dieupart, and their speculation, I do
-not know, nor do I think that any one can care. At all events, even with
-the assistance of Steele and the _Spectator_ they did not extinguish
-Handel.
-
-The most celebrated vocalist at the theatre in the Haymarket, from the
-arrival of Handel in England until after the formation of the Royal
-Academy of Music, in 1720, was Anastasia Robinson, a _contralto_, who
-was remarkable as much for her graceful acting as for her expressive
-singing. She made her first appearance in a _pasticcio_ called _Creso_,
-in 1714, and continued singing in the operas of Handel and other
-composers until 1724, when she contracted a private marriage with the
-Earl of Peterborough and retired from the stage. Lady Delany, an
-intimate friend of Lady Peterborough, communicated the following account
-of her marriage and the circumstances under which it was made, to Dr.
-Burney, who publishes it in his "History of Music."
-
-[Sidenote: ANASTASIA ROBINSON.]
-
-"Mrs. Anastasia Robinson was of middling stature, not handsome, but of a
-pleasing, modest countenance, with large blue eyes. Her deportment was
-easy, unaffected, and graceful. Her manner and address very engaging,
-and her behaviour on all occasions that of a gentlewoman, with perfect
-propriety. She was not only liked by all her acquaintance, but loved and
-caressed by persons of the highest rank, with whom she appeared always
-equal, without assuming. Her father's house, in Golden Square was
-frequented by all the men of genius and refined taste of the times.
-Among the number of persons of distinction who frequented Mr. Robinson's
-house, and seemed to distinguish his daughter in a particular manner,
-were the Earl of Peterborough and General H--. The latter had shown a
-long attachment to her, and his attentions were so remarkable that they
-seemed more than the effects of common politeness; and as he was a very
-agreeable man, and in good circumstances, he was favourably received,
-not doubting but that his intentions were honourable. A declaration of a
-very contrary nature was treated with the contempt it deserved, though
-Mrs. Robinson was very much prepossessed in his favour.
-
-"Soon after this, Lord Peterborough endeavoured to convince her of his
-partial regard for her; but, agreeable and artful as he was, she
-remained very much upon her guard, which rather increased than
-diminished his admiration and passion for her. Yet still his pride
-struggled with his inclination, for all this time she was engaged to
-sing in public, a circumstance very grievous to her; but, urged by the
-best of motives, she submitted to it, in order to assist her parents,
-whose fortune was much reduced by Mr. Robinson's loss of sight, which
-deprived him of the benefit of his profession as a painter.
-
-"At length Lord Peterborough made his declaration to her on honourable
-terms. He found it would be in vain to make proposals on any other, and
-as he omitted no circumstance that could engage her esteem and
-gratitude, she accepted them. He earnestly requested her keeping it a
-secret till a more convenient time for him to make it known, to which
-she readily consented, having a perfect confidence in his honour.
-
-"Mrs. A. Robinson had a sister, a very pretty accomplished woman, who
-married D'Arbuthnot's brother. After the death of Mr. Robinson, Lord
-Peterborough took a house near Fulham, in the neighbourhood of his own
-villa at Parson's-green, where he settled Mrs. Robinson and her mother.
-They never lived under the same roof, till the earl, being seized with a
-violent fit of illness, solicited her to attend him at Mount Bevis, near
-Southampton, which she refused with firmness, but upon condition that,
-though still denied to take his name, she might be permitted to wear her
-wedding-ring; to which, finding her inexorable, he at length consented.
-
-[Sidenote: ANASTASIA ROBINSON.]
-
-"His haughty spirit was still reluctant to the making a declaration that
-would have done justice to so worthy a character as the person to whom
-he was now united; and indeed his uncontrollable temper and high opinion
-of his own actions made him a very awful husband, ill suited to Lady
-Peterborough's good sense, amiable temper, and delicate sentiments. She
-was a Roman Catholic, but never gave offence to those of a contrary
-opinion, though very strict in what she thought her duty. Her excellent
-principles and fortitude of mind supported her through many severe
-trials in her conjugal state. But at last he prevailed on himself to do
-her justice, instigated, it is supposed by his bad state of health,
-which obliged him to seek another climate, and she absolutely refused to
-go with him unless he declared his marriage. Her attendance on him in
-this illness nearly cost her her life.
-
-"He appointed a day for all his nearest relations to meet him at the
-apartment over the gateway of St. James's palace, belonging to Mr.
-Poyntz, who was married to Lord Peterborough's niece, and at that time
-preceptor of Prince William, afterwards Duke of Cumberland. He also
-appointed Lady Peterborough to be there at the same time. When they were
-all assembled, he began a most eloquent oration, enumerating all the
-virtues and perfections of Mrs. A. Robinson, and the rectitude of her
-conduct during his long acquaintance with her, for which he acknowledged
-his great obligation and sincere attachment, declaring he was determined
-to do her that justice which he ought to have done long ago, which was
-presenting her to all his family as his wife. He spoke this harangue
-with so much energy, and in parts so pathetically, that Lady
-Peterborough, not being apprised of his intentions, was so affected that
-she fainted away in the midst of the company.
-
-"After Lord Peterborough's death, she lived a very retired life, chiefly
-at Mount Bevis, and was seldom prevailed on to leave that habitation but
-by the Duchess of Portland, who was always happy to have her company at
-Bulstrode, when she could obtain it, and often visited her at her own
-house.
-
-"Among Lord Peterborough's papers, she found his memoirs, written by
-himself, in which he declared he had been guilty of such actions as
-would have reflected very much upon his character, for which reason she
-burnt them. This, however, contributed to complete the excellency of her
-principles, though it did not fail giving offence to the curious
-inquirers after anecdotes of so remarkable a character as that of the
-Earl of Peterborough."
-
-[Sidenote: DUCAL CONNOISSEURS.]
-
-The deserved good fortune of Anastasia Robinson reminds me of the
-careers of two other vocalists of this period, one of them owed her
-elevation to a fortunate accident; while the third, though she entered
-upon the same possible road to the peerage as the second, yet never
-attained it. "The Duke of Bolton," says Swift, in one of his letters,
-"has run away with Polly Peachum, having settled four hundred a year on
-her during pleasure, and upon disagreement, two hundred more." This was
-the charming Lavinia Fenton, the original Polly of the Beggars' Opera,
-between whom and the Duke the disagreement anticipated by the amiable
-Swift never took place. Twenty-three years after the elopement, the
-Duke's wife died, and Lavinia then became the Duchess of Bolton. She
-was, according to the account given of her by Dr. Joseph Warton, "a very
-accomplished and most agreeable companion; had much wit, good strong
-sense, and a just taste in polite literature.
-
-Her person was agreeable and well made," continues Dr. Warton, "though I
-think she never could be called a beauty. I have had the pleasure of
-being at table with her, when her conversation was much admired by the
-first character of the age, particularly by old Lord Bathurst and Lord
-Granville."
-
-The beautiful Miss Campion, who was singing about the same time as Mrs.
-Tofts, and who died in 1706, when she was only eighteen, did _not_
-become the Duchess of Devonshire; but the heart-broken old Duke, who
-appears to have been most fervently attached to her, buried her in his
-family vault in the church of Latimers, Buckinghamshire, and placed a
-Latin inscription on her monument, testifying that she was wise beyond
-her years, and bountiful to the poor even beyond her abilities; and at
-the theatre, where she had some times acted, modest and pure; but being
-seized with a hectic fever, she had submitted to her fate with a firm
-confidence and Christian piety; and that William, Duke of Devonshire,
-had, upon her beloved remains, erected this tomb as sacred to her
-memory.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE ITALIAN OPERA UNDER HANDEL.
-
-     Handel at Hamburgh.--Handel in London.--The Queen's Theatre.--The
-     Royal Academy of Music.--Operatic Feuds.--Porpora and the
-     Nobility's Opera.
-
-
-The great dates of Handel's career as an operatic composer and director
-are:--
-
-1711, when he produced _Rinaldo_, his first opera, at the Queen's
-Theatre, in the Haymarket;
-
-1720, when the Royal Academy of Music was established under his
-management at the same theatre, (which, with the accession of George I.,
-had become "the King's");
-
-1734, when in commencing the season at the King's Theatre with a new
-company, he had to contend against the "Nobility's Opera" just opened at
-the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, under the direction of Porpora;
-
-1735, when he moved to Covent Garden, Porpora and "la nobilita
-Britannica" going at the same time to the King's Theatre.
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.]
-
-Both operas failed in 1737, and Handel then went back to the King's
-Theatre, for which he wrote his last opera _Deidamia_ in 1740.
-
-Of Handel's arrival in England, and of the manner in which his first
-opera was received, I have spoken in the preceding chapter. Of his
-previous life in Germany but little is recorded; indeed, he left that
-country at the age of twenty-five. It is known, however, that he was for
-some time engaged at the Hamburgh theatre, where operas had been
-performed in the German language since 1678. Rinuccini's _Dafne_, set to
-music by Schutz, was represented, as has been already mentioned, at
-Dresden in 1627, (or according to other accounts 1630); but this was a
-private affair in honour of a court marriage, and the first opera
-produced in Germany in public, and in the German language, was Thiele's
-_Adam and Eve_, which was given at Hamburgh in 1678. The reputation of
-Keiser at the court of WolfenbĂĽttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh
-Theatre, towards the close of the century, to send and offer him an
-engagement; he accepted it, and in the course of twenty-seven years
-produced as many as one hundred and sixty operas. Mattheson states that
-both Handel and Hasse (who was afterwards director of the celebrated
-Dresden Opera) formed their styles on that of Keiser.[20] Mattheson,
-himself a composer, succeeded Keiser as conductor of the orchestra at
-the Hamburgh Theatre, holding that post, however, conjointly with
-Handel, whose quarrel and duel with Mattheson have often been related.
-Handel was presiding in the orchestra while Mattheson was on the stage
-performing in an opera of his own composition. The opera being
-concluded, Mattheson proposed to take Handel's place at the harpsichord,
-which the latter refused to give up. The rival conductors quarrelled as
-they were leaving the theatre. The quarrel led to a blow and the blow to
-a fight with swords in the market place, which was terminated by
-Mattheson breaking the point of his sword on one of his antagonist's
-buttons, or as others have it, on the score of his own opera, which
-Handel carried beneath his coat.
-
-Handel went from Hamburgh to Hanover, where, as we have seen, he
-received an invitation from some English noblemen to visit London, and,
-with the permission and encouragement of the Elector, accepted it.
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.]
-
-Handel's _Rinaldo_ was followed at the King's Theatre by his _Il Pastor
-Fido_ (1712), his _Teseo_ (1713), and his _Amadigi_ (1715). Soon after
-the production of _Amadigi_, the performances at the King's Theatre seem
-to have ceased until 1720, when the "Royal Academy of Music" was formed.
-This so-called "Academy" was the result of a project to establish a
-permanent Italian opera in London. It was supported by a number of the
-nobility, with George I. at their head, and a fund of ÂŁ50,000 was
-raised among the subscribers, to which the king contributed ÂŁ1,000. The
-management of the "Academy" was entrusted to a governor, a deputy
-governor, and twenty directors, (why not to a head master and
-assistants?) and for the first year the Duke of Newcastle was appointed
-governor; Lord Bingley, deputy governor; while among the directors were
-the Dukes of Portland and Queensberry, the Earls of Burlington, Stair
-and Waldegrave, Lords Chetwynd and Stanhope, Sir John Vanburgh,
-(architect of the theatre), Generals Dormer, Wade, and Hunter, &c. The
-worse than unmeaning title given to the new opera was of course imitated
-from the French; the governor, deputy governor, and directors being
-doubtless unacquainted with the circumstances under which the French
-Opera received the misnomer which it still retains.[21] They might have
-known, however, that the "Académie Royale" of Paris, at that time under
-the direction of Rameau, was held in very little esteem, except by the
-French themselves, as an operatic theatre, and moreover, that Italian
-music was never performed there at all. Indeed, for half a century
-afterwards, the French execrated Italian music and would not listen to
-Italian singers--which gives us some notion of what musical taste in
-France must have been at the time of our Royal Academy being founded.
-The title would have been absurd even if the French Opera had been the
-finest in Europe; as it was nothing of the kind, and as it was,
-moreover, sworn to its own native psalmody, to give such a title to an
-Italian theatre, supported by musicians and singers of the greatest
-excellence, was a triple absurdity. Strangely enough, even in the
-present day, the Americans, as ingenious as the English of George I.'s
-reign, call their magnificent Italian Opera House at New York the
-Academy of Music. As a matter of association, it would be far more
-reasonable to call it the "St. Charles's Theatre," or the "Scale
-Theatre."
-
-The musical direction of our Royal Academy of Music was confided to
-Handel, who, besides composing for the theatre himself, engaged
-Buononcini and Ariosti to write for it. He also proceeded to Dresden,
-already celebrated throughout Europe for the excellence of its Italian
-Opera, and engaged Senesino, Berenstadt, Boschi, and Signora Durastanti.
-
-Handel's first opera at the Royal Academy of Music was _Radamisto_,
-which was hailed on its production as its composer's masterpiece. "It
-seems," says Dr. Burney, "as if he was not insensible of its worth, as
-he dedicated a book of the words to the king, George I., subscribing
-himself his Majesty's 'most faithful subject,' which, as he was neither
-a Hanoverian by birth, nor a native of England, seems to imply his
-having been naturalised here by a bill in Parliament."
-
-[Sidenote: ACADEMIES OF MUSIC.]
-
-Buononcini, (who, compared with Handel, was a ninny, though others said
-that to him Handel was scarcely fit to hold a candle, &c.) produced his
-first opera also in 1720. It was received with much favour, and by the
-Buononcinists with enthusiasm.
-
-The next opera was _Muzio Scevola_, composed by Handel, Buononcini, and
-Ariosti together. It is said that the task of joint production was
-imposed upon the three musicians by the masters of the Academy, by way
-of competitive examination, and with a view to test the abilities of
-each in a decisive manner. If there were any grounds for believing the
-story, it might be asked, who among the directors were thought, or
-thought themselves qualified to act as judges in so difficult and
-delicate a matter.
-
-In the meanwhile the opera of the three composers did but little good to
-the theatre, which, in spite of its admirable company, was found a
-losing speculation, after a little more than a year, to the extent of
-ÂŁ15,000. Thirty-five thousand pounds remained to be paid up, but the
-rest of the subscription money was not forthcoming, and the directors
-were unable to obtain it until after they had advertised in the
-newspapers that defaulters would be proceeded against "with the utmost
-rigour of the law."
-
-A new mode of subscription was then devised, by which tickets were
-granted for the season of fifty performances on receipt of ten guineas
-down, and an engagement to pay five guineas more on the 1st of February,
-and a second five guineas on the 1st of May. Thus originated the
-operatic subscription list which has been continued with certain
-modifications, and with a few short intervals, up to the present day.
-
-Buononcini's _Griselda_, which passes for his best opera, was produced
-in 1722, with Anastasia Robinson in the part of the heroine. Handel's
-_Ottone_ and _Flavio_ were brought out in 1723; his _Giulio Cesare_ and
-_Tamerlano_ in 1724; his _Rodelinda_ in 1725; his _Scipione_ and
-_Alessandro_ in 1726; his _Admeto_ and _Ricardo_ in 1727; his _Siroe_
-and _Tolomeo_ in 1728--when the Royal Academy of Music, which had been
-carried on with varying success, and on the whole with considerable ill
-success, finally closed.
-
-[Sidenote: FAILURE OF ITALIAN OPERA IN LONDON.]
-
-Buononcini's last opera, _Astyanax_, was produced in 1727, after which
-the Duchess of Marlborough, his constant patroness, gave the composer a
-pension of five hundred a year. A few years afterwards, however, he
-stole a madrigal, the invention of a Venetian named Lotti, and the theft
-having been discovered and clearly proved, Buononcini left the country
-in disgrace. Similar thefts are practised in the present day, but with
-discretion and with ingeniously worded title pages. Buononcini should
-have simply called his plagiarism a "Venetian Madrigal, dedicated to the
-Duchess of Marlborough by G. Buononcini." This unfortunate composer,
-whom Swift had certainly described in a prophetic spirit as "a ninny,"
-left England in 1733, with an Italian Count whose title appears to have
-been about as authentic as Buononcini's madrigal, and who pretended to
-possess the art of making gold, but abstained from practising it
-otherwise than by swindling. Buononcini was for a time the dupe of this
-impostor. In the meanwhile he continued the exercise of his profession,
-at Paris, where we lose sight of him. In 1748, however, he went to
-Vienna, and by command of the Emperor composed the music for the
-festivities given in celebration of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Thence
-he proceeded with Montecelli, the composer, to Venice, where the affair
-of the madrigal was probably by this time forgotten. At all events, no
-importance was attached to it, and Buononcini was engaged to write an
-opera for the Carnival. He was at this time nearly ninety years of age.
-The date of his death is not recorded, but Dr. Burney tells us that he
-is supposed to have lived till nearly a hundred.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BEGGARS' OPERA.]
-
-Besides the annual subscriptions, to the Royal Academy of Music the
-whole of the original capital of ÂŁ50,000 was spent in seven years. In
-spite, then, of the admirable works produced by Handel, the unrivalled
-company by which they were executed, and the immense sums of money
-lavished upon the entertainment generally, the Italian Opera in London
-proved in 1728 what it had proved twelve years before, a positive and
-unmistakable failure. This could scarcely have been owing, as has been
-surmised, to the violence of the disputes concerning the merits of
-Handel and Buononcini, the composers, or of Faustina and Cuzzoni, the
-singers, for the natural effect of such contests would have been to keep
-up an interest in the performances. Probably few at that time had any
-real love for Italian music. A certain number, no doubt, attended the
-Italian Opera for the sake of fashion, but the greater majority of the
-theatre-going public were quite indifferent to its charms. Dr.
-Arbuthnot, one of the few literary men of the day who seems to have
-really cared for music, writes as follows, in the _London Journal_,
-under the date of March 23rd, 1728:--"As there is nothing which
-surprises all true lovers of music more than the neglect into which the
-Italian operas are at present fallen, so I cannot but think it a very
-extraordinary instance of the fickle and inconstant temper of the
-English nation, a failing which they have always been endeavouring to
-cast upon their neighbours in France, but to which they themselves have
-just as good a title, as will appear to any one who will take the
-trouble to consult our historians." He points out that after adopting
-the Italian Opera with eagerness, we began, as soon as we had obtained
-it in perfection, to make it a pretext for disputes instead of enjoying
-it, and concludes that it was supported among us for a time, not from
-genuine taste, but simply from fashion. He observes that _The Beggars'
-Opera_, then just produced, was "a touchstone to try British taste on,"
-and that it has "proved effectual in discovering our true inclinations,
-which, however artfully they may have been disguised for a while, will
-one time or another, start up and disclose themselves. Æsop's story of
-the cat, who, at the petition of her lover, was changed into a fine
-woman, is pretty well known, notwithstanding which alteration, we find
-that upon the appearance of a mouse, she could not resist the temptation
-of springing out of her husband's arms to pursue it, though it was on
-the very wedding night. Our English audience have been for some time
-returning to their cattish nature, of which some particular sounds from
-the gallery have given us sufficient warning. And since they have so
-openly declared themselves, I must only desire that they will not think
-they can put on the fine woman again just when they please, but content
-themselves with their skill in caterwauling. For my own part, I cannot
-think it would be any loss to real lovers of music, if all those false
-friends who have made pretensions to it only in compliance with the
-fashion, would separate themselves from them; provided our Italian Opera
-could be brought under such regulations as to go on without them. We
-might then be able to sit and enjoy an entertainment of this sort, free
-from those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres, without
-any regard, not only to performers, but even to the presence of Majesty
-itself. In short, my comfort is, that though so great a desertion may
-force us so to contract the expenses of our operas, as would put an end
-to our having them in as great perfection as at present, yet we shall be
-able at least to hear them without interruption."
-
-The Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes, to which Arbuthnot alludes, where he
-speaks of "those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres,"
-appear to have been quite as violent as those with which the names of
-Handel and Buononcini are associated. Most of this musical party-warfare
-(of which the most notorious examples are those just mentioned, the
-Gluck and Piccinni contests in Paris, and the quarrels between the
-admirers of Madame Mara and Madame Todi in the same city) has been
-confined to England and France, though a very pretty quarrel was once
-got up at the Dresden Theatre, between the followers of Faustina, at
-that time the wife of Hasse the composer, and Mingotti. The Italians
-have shown themselves changeable and capricious, and have often hissed
-one night those whom they have applauded the night afterwards; but, in
-the Italian Theatres, we find no instances of systematic partisanship
-maintained obstinately and stolidly for years, and I fancy that it is
-only among unmusical nations, or in an unmusical age, that anything of
-the kind takes place. The ardour and duration of such disputes are
-naturally in proportion to the ignorance and folly of the disputants. In
-science, or even in art, where the principles of art are well
-understood, they are next to impossible. Self-styled connoisseurs,
-however, with neither taste nor knowledge can go on squabbling about
-composers and singers, especially if they never listen to them, to all
-eternity.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni were both admirable vocalists, and in entirely
-different styles, so that there was not even the shadow of a pretext
-for praising one at the expense of the other. Tosi, their contemporary,
-in his _Osservazzioni sopra il Canto Figurato_,[22] thus compares them:
-"The one," he says (meaning Faustina), "is inimitable for a privileged
-gift of singing and enchanting the world with an astonishing felicity in
-executing difficulties with a brilliancy I know not whether derived from
-nature or art, which pleases to excess. The delightful soothing
-cantabile of the other, joined to the sweetness of a fine voice, a
-perfect intonation, strictness of time, and the rarest productions of
-genius in her embellishments, are qualifications as peculiar and
-uncommon as they are difficult to be imitated. The pathos of the one and
-the rapidity of the other are distinctly characteristic. What a
-beautiful mixture it would be, if the excellences of these two angelic
-beings could be united in a single individual!"
-
-Quantz, the celebrated flute-player, and teacher of that instrument to
-Frederic the Great, came to London in 1727, and heard Handel's _Admeto_
-executed to perfection at the Royal Academy of Music. The principal
-parts were filled by Senesino, Cuzzoni and Faustina, and Quantz's
-account of the two latter agrees, with that given by Signor Tosi.
-Cuzzoni had a soft limpid voice, a pure intonation, a perfect shake. Her
-style was simple, noble and touching. In allegro movements, her rapidity
-of execution was not remarkable, &c., &c. Her acting was cold, and
-though she was very beautiful, her beauty produced no effect on the
-stage. Faustina, on the other hand, was passionate and full of
-expression, as an actress, while as a vocalist she was remarkable for
-the fluency and brilliancy of her articulation, and could sing with ease
-what would have been considered difficult passages for the violin. Her
-rapid repetition of the same note--(the violin "_tremolo_") was one of
-her most surprising feats. This artifice was afterwards imitated with
-the greatest success by Farinelli, Monticelli, Visconti, and the
-charming Mingotti, and at a later period, Madame Catalani produced some
-of her greatest effects in the same style.
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni made their first appearance together at Venice in
-1719. In 1725, Faustina went to Vienna, and met with an enthusiastic
-reception from the habitués of the Court Theatre. She left Vienna the
-same year for London, where she arrived when Cuzzoni's reputation was at
-its height.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Cuzzoni made her first appearance in London in 1723, and was a member of
-Handel's company when the singers were engaged, at the suggestion of the
-regent, to give a series of performances in Paris; this engagement,
-which was due in the first instance to the solicitations of the
-Marchioness de Prie, was, as I have already mentioned, never carried
-out. Whether the Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes originated with a cabal
-against the singer in possession of the public favour, or whether the
-admirers of the accepted favorite felt it their duty to support her by
-attacking all new comers, is not by any means clear; but Faustina had
-scarcely arrived when the feud commenced. Quanta tells us that as soon
-as one began to sing, the partisans of the other began to hiss. The
-Cuzzoni party, which was headed by the Countess of Pembroke, made a
-point of hissing whenever Faustina appeared. Faustina, who if not
-better-looking, was more agreeable than Cuzzoni, had most of the men on
-her side. Her patronesses were the Countess of Burlington and Lady
-Delawar.
-
-The most remarkable of the many disturbances caused by the rivalry
-between these two singers (forced upon them as it was) took place in
-June 1727. The _London Journal_ of June 10th in that year, tells us in
-its description of the affair, that "the contention at first was only
-carried on by hissing on one side and clapping on the other, but
-proceeded at length to the melodious use of cat-calls and other
-accompaniments which manifested the zeal and politeness of that
-illustrious assembly." We are further informed that the Princess
-Catherine was there, but neither her Royal Highness's presence, nor the
-laws of decorum could restrain the glorious ardour of the combatants.
-The appearance of Faustina appears to have been the signal for the
-commencement of this disgraceful riot, to judge from the following
-epigram on the proceedings of the night.
-
-    "Old poets sing that beasts did dance,
-       Whenever Orpheus played;
-     So to Faustina's charming voice
-       Wise Pembroke's asses brayed."
-
-Cuzzoni had also her poet, and her departure from England was the
-occasion of the following pretty but silly lines, addressed to her by
-Ambrose Phillips:--
-
-    "Little Syren of the stage,
-       Charmer of an idle age,
-     Empty warbler, breathing lyre,
-       Wanton gale of fond desire;
-     Bane of every manly art,
-       Sweet enfeebler of the heart,
-     O, too pleasing is thy strain,
-       Hence to Southern climes again!
-     Tuneful mischief, vocal spell,
-       To this island bid farewell;
-     Leave us as we ought to be,
-       Leave the Britons rough and free."
-
-
-The Britons had shown themselves sufficiently "rough and free," while
-Cuzzoni was singing to them. The circumstances of this vocalist's
-leaving London were rather curious, and show to what an extent the
-Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes must have disgusted the directors of the
-Academy; the caprice of one of them must also have irritated Handel
-considerably, for it is related that once when Cuzzoni, at a rehearsal,
-positively refused to sing an air that Handel had written for her, she
-could only be convinced of the necessity of doing so by the composer
-threatening to throw her out of the window. It was known that each was
-about to sign a new contract, and Cuzzoni's patronesses made her take an
-oath not to accept lower terms than Faustina. The directors ingeniously
-and politely took advantage of this, and offered her exactly one guinea
-less.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Cuzzoni made her retreat, and Faustina remained in possession of the
-field of battle.
-
-However, Faustina, after the failure of the Academy in the following
-year, herself returned to Italy, and met her rival at Venice in 1729,
-and again, in 1730. Cuzzoni returned to London in 1734, and sang at the
-Opera in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, established under the direction of
-Porpora, in opposition to Handel. She visited London a third time in
-1750, when a concert was given for her benefit; but the poor little
-syren was now old and infirm; she had lost her voice, and even the
-enemies of Faustina would not come to applaud her. This stage queen had
-a most melancholy end. From England she went to Holland, where she was
-imprisoned for debt, being allowed, however, to go out in the evenings
-(doubtless under the guardianship of a jailer) and sing at the theatres,
-by which means she gained enough money to obtain her liberation. Having
-quite lost her voice, she is said to have maintained herself for some
-time at Bologna by button-making. The manner of her death is not known;
-but probably she had the same end as those stage-queens mentioned by the
-dramatic critic in _Candide_: "_On les adore quand elles sont belles, on
-les jette a la voirie quand elles sont mortes_."
-
-The career of Faustina on the other hand did not belie her auspicious
-name. In 1727, at Venice, she met Hasse, whose music owed much of its
-success to her admirable singing. The composer fell in love with this
-charming vocalist, married her, and in 1730 accepted an offer from
-Augustus, King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, to direct the Opera of
-Dresden. Here Faustina renewed her successes, and for fifteen years
-reigned with undisputed supremacy at the Court Theatre. Then, however, a
-new Cuzzoni appeared in the person of Signora Mingotti.
-
-[Sidenote: MINGOTTI.]
-
-Regina Valentini, a pupil and domestic at the Convent of the Ursulines,
-possessed a beautiful voice, but so little taste for household work,
-that to avoid its drudgery and the ridicule to which her inability to go
-through it exposed her, she resolved to make what profit she could out
-of her singing. Old Mingotti, the manager, was willing enough to aid her
-in this laudable enterprise; and accordingly married her and put her
-under the tuition of Porpora, the future opponent of Handel, and actual
-rival of Hasse. In due time Mingotti made her first appearance at the
-Dresden Opera, when her singing called forth almost unanimous applause;
-we say "almost," because Hasse and some of his personal friends
-persisted in denying her talent. The successful _débutante_ was offered
-a lucrative engagement at Naples, where she created the greatest
-enthusiasm by her performance of the part of _Aristea_ in the
-_Olimpiade_, with music by Galuppi. Mingotti was now the great singer of
-the day; she received propositions from managers in all parts of Europe,
-but decided to return to the scene of her earnest triumphs at Dresden.
-This was in 1748.
-
-Haase was then composing his _Demofonte_. He knew well enough the
-strong, and thought he had remarked the weak, points in Mingotti's
-voice; and, in order to show the latter to the greatest possible
-disadvantage, provided the unsuspecting singer with an adagio which rose
-and fell upon the very notes which he considered the most doubtful in
-her unusually perfect organ. To render the vocalist's deficiencies as
-apparent as possible, he did the next thing to making her sing the
-insidious _adagio_ without accompaniment; for the only accompaniment he
-wrote for it was a _pizzicato_ of violins. Regina at the very first
-rehearsal, understood the snare, said nothing about it, but studied her
-_adagio_ till she sang it with such perfection that what had been
-intended to discover her weakness only served in the most striking
-manner to exhibit her strength. The air which was to have ruined
-Mingotti's reputation brought her the greatest success she had ever
-obtained. Her execution was so faultless that Faustina herself could
-find nothing to say against it. A story is told of Sir Charles Williams,
-the English Minister at the Court of Dresden, who had taken a prominent
-part in the Hasse and Faustina cabal, and had been in the habit of
-saying that Mingotti was doubtless a brilliant singer, but that in the
-expressive style and in passages of sustained notes she was heard to
-disadvantage--a story is told of this candid and gentlemanly critic
-going to Mingotti after she had sung her treacherous solo, and
-apologizing to her publicly for ever having entertained a doubt as to
-the completeness of her talent.
-
-Hasse remained thirty-three years in the service of the Elector and made
-the Dresden Opera the first in Europe; but in 1763 the troubles of
-unhappy Poland having begun, he retired with Faustina on a small pension
-to Vienna and thence to Venice, where they both died in the year 1783,
-Hasse being then eighty-four years of age and his wife ninety.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The most celebrated of the other singers at the Royal Academy of Music
-were Durastanti and Senesino, both of whom were engaged by Handel at
-Dresden, and appeared in London at the opening of the new establishment.
-In 1723, however, Cuzzoni arrived, and Durastanti, acknowledging the
-superior merit of that singer, took her departure. At least the
-acknowledgment was made for her in a song written by Pope, which she
-addressed to the audience at her farewell performance, and which ended
-with this couplet:--
-
-    "But let old charmers yield to new;
-     Happy soil, adieu, adieu!"
-
-[Sidenote: SENESINO.]
-
-Either singers were very different then from what they are now, or
-Durastanti could not have understood these lines, which, strangely
-enough, are said to have been written by Pope at the desire of her
-patron, the Earl of Peterborough. Surely Anastasia Robinson, the future
-Countess, would not have thanked the earl for such a compliment, in
-however perfect a style it might have been expressed. Madame Durastanti
-appears to have been much esteemed in England, and I read in the
-_Evening Post_ of March 7th, 1721, that "Last Thursday, His Majesty was
-pleased to stand godfather, and the Princess and the Lady Bruce
-godmothers, to a daughter of Mrs. Durastanti, chief singer in the opera
-house. The Marquis Visconti for the king, and the Lady Lichfield for the
-princess."
-
-Senesino, successor to Nicolini, and the second of the noble order of
-sopranists who appeared in England, was the principal contralto singer
-("_modo vir, modo fœmina_") in Handel's operas, until 1726, when the
-state of his health compelled him to return to Italy. He came back to
-England in 1730, and resumed his position at the King's Theatre, under
-Handel. In 1733, when the rival company was formed at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, Senesino joined it, but retired after the appearance of
-Farinelli, who at once eclipsed all other singers.
-
-Steele's journal, _The Theatre_, entertains us with a brief account of
-the vanity of one Signor Beneditti, who appears to have performed
-principal parts, at least for a time, at the Opera in 1720. The paper,
-which is written by Sir Richard Steele's coadjutor, Sir John Edgar,
-commences with a furious onslaught on a company of French actors, who
-were at that time performing in London, and of whose opening
-representation we are told that "if we are any longer to march on two
-legs, and not be quite prone, and on all four like the other animals"
-we must "assume manhood and humane indignation against so barbarous an
-affront. But I foresee," continues Sir John,[23] "that the theatre is to
-be utterly destroyed, and sensation is to banish reflection as sound is
-to beat down sense. The head and the heart are to be moved no more, but
-the basest parts of the body to be hereafter the sole instruments of
-human delight. A regular, orderly, and well-governed company of actors,
-that lived in reputation and credit and under decent settlement are to
-be torn to pieces and made vagabond, to make room for even foreign
-vagrants, who deserved no reception but in Bridewell, even before they
-affronted the assembly, composed of British nobility and gentry, with
-representations that could introduce nothing of even French except, &c.
-....Though the French are so boisterous and void of all moderation or
-temper in their conduct, the Italians are a more tractable and elegant
-nation. If the French players have laid aside all shame, the Italian
-singers are as eminently nice and delicate, which the reader will
-observe from the following account I have received from the Haymarket.
-
-[Sidenote: CAPRICES OF SINGERS.]
-
-     "'Sir,--
-
-     "'It happened in casting parts for the new opera, Signor Beneditti
-     conceived he had been greatly injured, and applied to the board of
-     directors for redress. He set forth in the recitative tone, the
-     nearest approaching to ordinary speech, that he had never acted
-     anything in any other opera below the character of a sovereign, and
-     now he was to be appointed to be captain of a guard. On these
-     representations, we directed that he should make love to Zenobia,
-     with proper limitations. The chairman signified to him that the
-     board had made him a lover, but he must be content to be an
-     unfortunate one, and be rejected by his mistress. He expressed
-     himself very easy under this, and seemed to rejoice that,
-     considering the inconstancy of women, he could only feign, not
-     pursue the passion to extremity. He muttered very much against
-     making him only the guard to the character he had formerly appeared
-     in,'" &c.
-
-A small and not uninteresting volume might be written about the caprices
-of singers and their behaviour under real or imaginary slights. One of
-the best stories of the kind is told of Crescentini, who, three-quarters
-of a century later, at the first representation of _Gli Orazi e
-Curiazi_, observed immediately before the commencement of the
-performance, that the costume of _Orazio_ was more magnificent than his
-own. He sent for the stage manager, and burning with rage, addressed him
-as follows:--
-
-"_Perche_," he commenced, "avez vous donné _oun_ habit blanc à ce
-_mossiou_; et _che_ vous m'en avez gratifié _d'oun_ vert?"
-
-It was explained to the singer that there was a tradition at the
-Comédie Francaise by which the costume of the principal Horatius was
-white and that of the chief of the Curiatii, green.
-
-"_Perché_ la _bordoure rouze_ à un _primo tenore_, el la _bordoure_
-noire Ă  _oun primo virtuoso_?" continued the incensed sopranist.
-
-"No one was thinking," replied the stage manager, "of your positions as
-singers; our only object was to make the costumes as correct as
-possible."
-
-"Votre _ousaze_ et votre _ezatitoude_ sont des imbéciles," exclaimed
-Crescentini; "_zé mé lagnérai_ de votre condouite envers moi. Quant à
-vous, _mossiou_ Brizzi _fate-mi il piacere_ dé vous déshabiller _subito_
-et dé mé fairé passer _questo vestito in baratto dou_ mien qué zé vais
-vous envoyer. _Per Bacco!_ non _si dirĂ  qu'oun tenore_ aura _parou miou
-vétou qu'oun primo oumo, surtout_ quand ce _primo virtuoso_ est Girolamo
-Crescentini d'Urbino."
-
-An exchange took place on the spot, and throughout the evening a
-Curiatius, six feet high, was seen wearing a little Roman costume, which
-looked as if it would burst with each movement of the singer, while a
-diminutive Horatius was attired in a long Alban tunic, of which the
-skirt trailed along the ground.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AND HEIDEGGER.]
-
-But the singers are taking us away from the Opera. Let us return to
-Handel, all of whose vocalists together, admirable as they were, could
-not save the Royal Academy of Music from ruin. After the final failure
-of that enterprise in 1728, the directors entered into an arrangement
-with Heidegger for opening the King's Theatre under their joint
-management. Handel went to Italy to engage new singers, but did not make
-a very brilliant selection. Heidegger, nevertheless, did his duty as a
-manager, and introduced the principal members of the new company to
-public notice in the following "puff direct," which, for cool unadorned
-impudence, has not been surpassed even in the present day. "Mr. Handel,
-who is just returned from Italy, has contracted with the following
-persons to perform in the Italian Operas, Signor Bernacchi, who is
-esteemed the best singer in Italy; Signora Merighi, a woman of a very
-fine presence, an excellent actress, and a very good singer, with a
-counter-tenor voice; Signora Strada, who hath a very fine treble voice,
-a person of singular merit; Signor Annibale Pio Fabri, a most excellent
-tenor, and a fine voice; his wife, who performs a man's part well;
-Signora Bertoldi, who has a very fine treble voice, she is also a very
-genteel actress, both in men and women's parts; a bass voice, from
-Hamburgh, there being none worth engaging in Italy."
-
-I fancy this was an attempt to carry on Italian Opera at a reduced
-expenditure, for as soon as the speculation began to fail, the popular
-Senesino was again engaged. Handel had had a serious quarrel with this
-singer, but when a manager is in want of a star, and a star is tempted
-with a lucrative engagement, personal feelings are not taken into
-account. They ought to have been, however, in this particular case, at
-least by Handel, for the breach between the composer and the singer was
-renewed, and Senesino left the King's Theatre to join the company which
-was being formed at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of
-Porpora.
-
-Handel now set out once more for Italy, but again failed to engage any
-singers of celebrity, with the exception of Carestini, whom he heard at
-Bologna at the same time as Farinelli. That he should have preferred the
-former to the latter seems unaccountable, for by the common consent of
-musicians, critics, and the public, Farinelli, wherever he sang, was
-pronounced the greatest singer of his time, and it appears certain that
-no singer ever affected an audience in so powerful a manner. The
-passionate (and slightly blasphemous) exclamation of the entranced
-Englishwoman, "One God and one Farinelli," together with the almost
-magical effect of Farinelli's voice in tranquilising the half demented
-Ferdinand VI., seems to show that his singing must have been something
-like the music of patriarchal times; which charmed serpents, and which
-in a later age throws highly impressionable women into convulsions.
-
-[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]
-
-I have already mentioned that in going or returning to Italy this last
-time, Handel appears to have passed through Paris, and to have paid a
-contemptuous sort of attention to French music. It is then, if ever,
-that he should be accused of having stolen for our national anthem, an
-air left by Lulli--which _he_ did not, and which Lulli _could_ not have
-composed. The ridiculous story which would make our English patriotic
-hymn an adaptation from the French, is told for the first time I believe
-in the Duchess of Perth's letters. But instead of "_God save the Queen_"
-being translated from a canticle sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, the
-pretended canticle is a translation of "God save the Queen." Here is the
-French version--
-
-    "Grand Dieu, sauvez le Roi!
-    Grand Dieu, vengez le Roi!
-            Vive le Roi!
-    Que toujours glorieux
-    Louis victorieux
-    Voie ses ennemis
-            Toujours soumis.
-
-If it could be proved that this "canticle" was sung by the Ladies of St.
-Cyr, England could no longer claim the authorship of "_God save the
-Queen_," as far, at least, as the words are concerned; and it is evident
-that the words, which are scarcely readable as poetry, though excellent
-for singing, were written either for or with the music. M. Castil Blaze,
-however (in _Molière Musicien_, Vol. I., page 501), points out that "_si
-l'on ignorait que la musique de cet air est, non pas de Handel, comme
-plusieurs l'ont assuré mais de Henri Carey la version Française
-prouverait du moins que cette melódie, scandée en sdruccioli ne peut
-appartenir au siècle de Louis XIV.; nos vers à glissades etaient
-parfaitement inconnus de Quinault et de Lulli, de Bernard et de
-Rameau_."
-
-[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]
-
-Mr. Schœlcher, like many other writers, attributes "_God save the
-King_" to Dr. John Bull, but Mr. W. Chappell, in his "Popular Music of
-the Olden Time," has shown that Dr. John Bull did not compose it in its
-present form, and that in all probability Henry Carey did, and that
-words and music together, as we know it in the present day, our national
-anthem dates only from 1740. Lulli did not compose it, but it was not
-composed before his time, nor before Handel's either. The air has been
-so altered, or rather, developed, by the various composers who have
-handled it since a simple chant on the four words "God save the King"
-was harmonised by Dr. John Bull, and afterwards converted from an
-indifferent tune into an admirable one (through the fortunate blundering
-of a copyist, as it has been surmised), that it may almost be said to
-have grown. What an interesting thing to be able to establish the fact
-of its gradual formation, like the political system of that nation to
-whose triumphs it has long been an indispensable accompaniment! But how
-humiliating to find that somebody marked in Dr. Bull's manuscript a
-sharp where there should have been no sharp, and that our glorious
-anthem owes its existence to a mistake! Mr. Chappell prints three or
-four ballads and part songs in his work, beginning at the reign of James
-I., either or all of which may have been the foundation of "_God save
-the King_," but it appears certain that our national hymn in its present
-form was first sung, and almost note for note as it is sung now, by H.
-Carey, in 1740, in celebration of the taking of Portobello by Admiral
-Vernon.[24]
-
-Handel did not compose "_God save the King_;" but he had good reason for
-singing it, considering the steady and liberal patronage he received
-from our three first Georges. When, after the expiration of his contract
-with Heidegger, he removed to Covent Garden, in 1735, still carrying on
-the war against Porpora (who removed at the same time to the King's
-Theatre), George II. subscribed ÂŁ1,000 towards the expenses of Handel's
-management, and it was the support of the King and the Royal Family that
-enabled him to combat the influence that was brought to bear against him
-by the aristocracy. Handel, according to Arbuthnot, owed his failure, in
-a great measure, the first time, to the _Beggars' Opera_. The second
-time, on the other hand, it was the _Nobility's_ Opera that ruined him.
-Handel, as we have seen, had only Carestini to depend upon. Porpora, his
-rival, had secured two established favourites, Cuzzoni and Senesino
-(both members of Handel's old company at the Academy), and had,
-moreover, engaged Farinelli, by far the greatest singer of the epoch.
-Nevertheless, Porpora failed almost at the same time as Handel, and at
-the end of the year 1737, there was no Italian Opera at all in London.
-
-Handel joined Heidegger once more in 1738, at the King's Theatre. In two
-years he wrote four operas, of which the fourth, _Deidamia_, was the
-last he ever produced. After this he abandoned dramatic music, and, as a
-composer of Oratorios, entered upon what was to him a far higher career.
-Handel was at this time fifty-six years of age, and since his arrival in
-England, in 1711, he had written no less than thirty-five Italian
-operas.
-
-[Sidenote: CAPABILITIES OF MUSIC.]
-
-Handel's Italian operas, as such, are now quite obsolete. The air from
-_Admeto_ is occasionally heard at a concert, and Handel is known to have
-introduced some of his operatic melodies into his Oratorios, but there
-is no chance of any one of his operas ever being reproduced in a
-complete form. They were never known out of England, and in this country
-were soon laid aside after their composer had fairly retired from
-theatrical management. I think Mr. Hogarth[25] is only speaking with his
-usual judiciousness, when he observes, that "whatever pleasure they must
-have given to the audiences of that age, they would fail to do so
-now.... The music of the principal parts," he continues, "were written
-for a class of voices which no longer exists,[26] and for these parts no
-performers could now be found. A series of recitatives and airs, with
-only an occasional duet, and a concluding chorus of the slightest kind,
-would appear meagre and dull to ears accustomed to the brilliant
-concerted pieces and finales of the modern stage; and Handel's
-accompaniments would appear thin and poor amidst the richness and
-variety of the modern orchestra. The vocal parts, too, are to a great
-extent, in an obsolete taste. Many of the airs are mere strings of dry,
-formal divisions and unmeaning passages of execution, calculated to show
-off the powers of the fashionable singers; and many others, admirable in
-their design, and containing the finest traits of melody and expression,
-are spun out a wearisome length, and deformed by the cumbrous trappings
-with which they are loaded. Musical phrases, too, when Handel used them,
-had the charm of novelty, have become familiar and common through
-repetition by his successors."
-
-Among the airs which Handel has taken from his Operas and introduced
-into his Oratorios, may be mentioned _Rendi l' sereno al ciglio_, from
-_Sosarme_, now known as _Lord, remember David_, and _Dove sei amato
-bene_, in _Rodelinda_, which has been converted into _Holy, Holy, Lord
-God Almighty_. That these changes have been made with perfect success,
-proves, if any proof were still wanted by those who have ever given a
-minute's consideration to the subject, that there is no such thing as
-absolute definite expression in music. The music of an impassioned love
-song will seem equally appropriate as that of a fervent prayer, except
-to those who have already associated it intimately in their memories
-with the words to which it has first been written. A positive feeling
-of joy, or of grief, of exultation, or of depression, of liveliness, or
-of solemnity, can be expressed by musical means without the assistance
-of words, but not mixed feelings, into which several shades of sentiment
-enter--at least not with definiteness; though once indicated by the
-words, they will obtain from music the most admirable colours which will
-even appear to have been invented expressly and solely for them. Gluck
-arranged old music to suit new verses quite as much, or more, than
-Handel--even Gluck who maintained that music ought to convey the precise
-signification, not only of a dramatic situation, but of the very words
-of a song, phrase by phrase, if not word by word.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AND OUR ITALIAN OPERA.]
-
-During the period of Handel's presidency over our Italian Opera, works
-not only by Handel and his colleagues, but also by Scarlatti, Hasse,
-Porpora, Vinci, Veracini, and other composers were produced at the
-King's Theatre, at Covent Garden, and at Porpora's Theatre in Lincoln's
-Inn Fields. After Handel's retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolese,
-Jomelli, Gluck, and Piccinni, were performed, and the most distinguished
-singers in Europe continued to visit London. In 1741, when the Earl of
-Middlesex undertook the management of the King's Theatre, Galuppi was
-engaged as composer, and produced several operas: among others,
-_Penelope_, _Scipione_, and _Enrico_. In 1742, the _Olimpiade_, with
-music by Pergolese (a pupil of Hasse, and the future composer of the
-celebrated _Serva Padrona_) was brought out. After Galuppi's return to
-Italy, in 1744, the best of his new operas continued to be produced in
-London. His _Mondo della Luna_ was represented in 1760, when the English
-public were delighted with the gaiety of the music, and with the
-charming acting and singing of Signora Paganini. The year afterwards a
-still greater success was achieved with the same composer's _Filosofo di
-Campagna_, which, says Dr. Burney, "surpassed in musical merit all the
-comic operas that were performed in England till the _Buona Figliola_."
-Not only were Gluck's earlier and comparatively unimportant works
-performed in London soon after their first production at Vienna, but his
-_Orfeo_, the first of those great works written in the style which we
-always associate with Gluck's name, was represented in London in 1770,
-four years before Gluck went to Paris. Indeed, ever since the arrival of
-Handel in this country, London has been celebrated for its Italian
-Opera, whereas the French had no regular continuous performances of
-Italian Opera until nearly a hundred years afterwards. Handel did much
-to create a taste for this species of entertainment, and by the
-excellent execution which he took care every opera produced under his
-direction should receive, he set an example to his successors of which
-the value can scarcely be over-estimated, and which it must be admitted
-has, on the whole, been followed with intelligence and enterprise.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-     GENERAL VIEW OF THE OPERA IN EUROPE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL
-     THE APPEARANCE OF GLUCK.
-
-     Great Italian Singers.--Ferri in Sweden.--Opera in Vienna.--Scenic
-     decorations.--Singers of the Eighteenth Century.--Singers'
-     nicknames.--Farinelli's one note.
-
-
-[Sidenote: QUEEN CHRISTINA AND FERRI.]
-
-Handel, by his great musical genius, conferred a two-fold benefit on the
-country of his adoption. He endowed it with a series of Oratorios which
-stand alone in their grandeur, for which the English of the present day
-are deeply grateful, and for which ages to come will honour his name;
-and before writing a note of his great sacred works, during the thirty
-years which he devoted to the production and superintendence of Italian
-Opera in England, he raised that entertainment to a pitch of excellence
-unequalled elsewhere, except perhaps at the magnificent Dresden Theatre,
-which, for upwards of a quarter of a century was directed by the
-celebrated Hasse, and where Augustus, of Saxony, took care that the
-finest musicians and singers in Europe should be engaged.
-
-Rousseau, in the _Dictionnaire Musicale_, under the head of "Orchestra,"
-writing in 1754[27], says:--
-
-"The first orchestra in Europe in respect to the number and science of
-the symphonists, is that of Naples. But the orchestra of the opera of
-the King of Poland, at Dresden, directed by the illustrious Hasse, is
-better distributed, and forms a better _ensemble_."
-
-Most of Handel's and Porpora's best vocalists were engaged from the
-Dresden Theatre, but the great Italian singers had already become
-citizens of the world, and settled or established themselves temporarily
-as their interests dictated in Germany, England, Spain, or elsewhere,
-and at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were Italian Operas
-at Naples, Turin, Dresden, Vienna, London, Madrid, and even
-Algiers--everywhere but in France, which, as has already been pointed
-out, did not accept the musical civilisation of Italy until it had been
-adopted by every other country in Europe, including Russia. The great
-composers, and above all, the great singers who abounded in this
-fortunate century, went to and fro in Europe, from south to north, from
-east to west, and were welcomed everywhere but in Paris, where, until a
-few years before the Revolution, it seemed to form part of the national
-honour to despise Italian music.
-
-As far back as 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden sent a vessel of war to
-Italy, to bring to her Court Balthazar Ferri, the most distinguished
-singer of his day. Ferri, as Rousseau, quoting from Mancini, tells us in
-his "Musical Dictionary," could without taking breath ascend and descend
-two octaves of the chromatic scale, performing a shake on every note
-unaccompanied, and with such precision that if at any time the note on
-which the singer was shaking was verified by an instrument, it was found
-to be perfectly in tune.
-
-Ferri was in the service of three kings of Poland and two emperors of
-Germany. At Venice he was decorated with the Order of St. Mark; at
-Vienna he was crowned King of Musicians; at London, while he was singing
-in a masque, he was presented by an unknown hand with a superb emerald;
-and the Florentines, when he was about to visit their city, went in
-thousands to meet him, at three leagues distance from the gates.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA IN VIENNA.]
-
-The Italian Opera was established in Vienna under the Emperor Leopold
-I., with great magnificence, so much so indeed, that for many years
-afterwards it was far more celebrated as a spectacle than as a musical
-entertainment. Nevertheless, Leopold was a most devoted lover of music,
-and remained so until his death, as the history of his last moments
-sufficiently shows. We have seen a French maid of honour die to the
-fiddling of her page; the Emperor of Germany expired to the
-accompaniment of a full orchestra. Feeling that his end was approaching
-he sent for his musicians, and ordered them to commence a symphony,
-which they went on playing until he died.
-
-Apostolo Zeno, whom Rousseau calls the Corneille, and Metastasio, whom
-he terms the Racine of the Opera, both resided for many years at Vienna,
-and wrote many of their best pieces for its theatre. Several of Zeno's,
-and a great number of Metastasio's works have been set to music over and
-over again, but when they were first brought out at Vienna, many of them
-appear to have obtained success more as grand dramatic spectacles than
-as operas. During the latter half of the eighteenth century, Vienna
-witnessed the production of some of the greatest master-pieces of the
-musical drama (for instance, the _Orpheus_, _Alcestis_, &c., of Gluck,
-and the _Marriage of Figaro_, of Mozart); but when Handel was in England
-directing the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, and when the Dresden
-Opera was in full musical glory (before as well as after the arrival of
-Hasse), the Court Theatre of Vienna was above all remarkable for its
-immense size, for the splendour of its decorations, and for the general
-costliness and magnificence of its spectacles. Lady Mary Wortley
-Montague visited the Opera, at Vienna, in 1716, and sent the following
-account of it to Pope.
-
-"I have been last Sunday at the Opera, which was performed in the garden
-of the Favorita; and I was so much pleased with it, I have not yet
-repented my seeing it. Nothing of the kind was ever more magnificent,
-and I can easily believe what I am told, that the decorations and
-habits cost the Emperor thirty thousand pounds sterling. The stage was
-built over a very large canal, and at the beginning of the second act
-divided into two parts, discovering the water, on which there
-immediately came, from different parts, two fleets of little gilded
-vessels that gave the representation of a naval fight. It is not easy to
-imagine the beauty of this scene, which I took particular notice of. But
-all the rest were perfectly fine in their kind. The story of the Opera
-is the enchantment of Alcina, which gives opportunities for a great
-variety of machines, and changes of scenes which are performed with
-surprising swiftness. The theatre is so large that it is hard to carry
-the eye to the end of it, and the habits in the utmost magnificence to
-the number of one hundred and eight. No house could hold such large
-decorations; but the ladies all sitting in the open air exposes them to
-great inconveniences, for there is but one canopy for the Imperial
-Family, and the first night it was represented, a shower of rain
-happening, the opera was broken off, and the company crowded away in
-such confusion that I was almost squeezed to death."
-
-[Sidenote: SCENIC DECORATIONS.]
-
-One of these open air theatres, though doubtless on a much smaller scale
-than that of Vienna, stood in the garden of the Tuileries, at Paris, at
-the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was embowered in trees and
-covered with creeping plants, and the performances took place there in
-the day-time. These garden theatres were known to the Romans, witness
-the following lines of Ovid:--
-
-    "Illic quas tulerant nemorosa palatia, frondes
-     Simpliciter positæ; scena sine arte fuit."
-             _De Arte Amandi_, Liber I., v. 105.
-
-I myself saw a little theatre of the kind, in 1856, at Flensburgh, in
-Denmark. There was a pleasure-ground in front, with benches and chairs
-for the audience. The stage door at the back opened into a cabbage
-garden. The performances, which consisted of a comedy and farce took
-place in the afternoon, and ended at dusk.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-I have already spoken of the magnificence and perfection of the scenic
-pictures exhibited at the Italian theatres in the very first days of the
-Opera. In the early part of the seventeenth century immense theatres
-were constructed so as to admit of the most elaborate spectacular
-displays. The Farnesino Theatre, at Parma, built for dramas,
-tournaments, and spectacles of all kinds, and which is now a ruin,
-contained at least fifty thousand spectators.[28]
-
-In the 18th century the Italians seem to have thought more of the music
-of their operas, and to have left the vanities of theatrical decorations
-to the Germans.
-
-Servandoni, for some time scene painter and decorator at the Académie
-Royale of Paris not finding that theatre sufficiently vast for his
-designs, sought a new field for his ambition at the Opera-House of
-Dresden, where Augustus of Poland engaged him to superintend the
-arrangement of the stage. Servandoni painted a number of admirable
-scenes for this theatre, in the midst of which four hundred mounted
-horsemen were able to manœuvre with ease.
-
-In 1760 the Court of the Duke of Wurtemburg, at Stuttgardt, was the most
-brilliant in Europe, owing partly, no doubt, to the enormous subsidies
-received by the Duke from France for a body of ten thousand men, which
-he maintained at the service of that power. The Duke had a French
-theatre, and two Italian theatres, one for Opera Seria, and the other
-for Opera Buffa. The celebrated Noverre was his ballet-master, and there
-were a hundred dancers in the _corps de ballet_, besides twenty
-principal ones, each of whom had been first dancer at one of the chief
-theatres of Italy. Jomelli was chapel-master and director of the Opera
-at Stuttgardt from 1754 until 1773.
-
-[Sidenote: SCENIC DECORATIONS.]
-
-In the way of stage decorations, theatrical effects, and the various
-other spectacular devices by which managers still seek to attract to
-their Operas those who are unable to appreciate good music, we have made
-no progress since the 17th century. We have, to be sure, gas and the
-electric light, which were not known to our forefathers; but St.
-Evrémond tells us that in Louis the XIV.'s time the sun and moon were
-so well represented at the Académie Royale, that the Ambassador of
-Guinea, assisting at one of its performances, leant forward in his box,
-when those orbs appeared and religiously saluted them. To be sure, this
-anecdote may be classed with one I have heard in Russia, of an actor
-who, playing the part of a bear in a grand melodrama, in which a storm
-was introduced, crossed himself devoutly at each clap of thunder; but
-the stories of Servandoni's and Bernino's decorations are no fables.
-Like the other great masters of stage effect in Italy, Bernino was an
-architect, a sculptor and a painter. His sunsets are said to have been
-marvellous; and in a spectacular piece of his composition, entitled _The
-Inundation of the Tiber_, a mass of water was seen to come in from the
-back of the stage, gradually approaching the orchestra and washing down
-everything that impeded its onward course, until at last the audience,
-believing the inundation to be real, rose in terror and were about to
-rush from the theatre. Traps, however, were ready to be opened in all
-parts of the stage. The Neptune of the troubled theatrical waves gave
-the word,
-
-   ----"_et dicto citiùs tumida æquora placat_."
-
-But in Italy, even at the time when such wonders were being effected in
-the way of stage decorations, the music of an opera was still its prime
-attraction; indeed, there were theatres for operas and theatres for
-spectacular dramas, and it is a mistake to attempt the union of the two
-in any great excellence, inasmuch as the one naturally interferes with
-and diverts attention from the other.
-
-Of Venice and its music, in the days when grand hunts, charges of
-cavalry, triumphal processions in which hundreds of horsemen took part,
-and ships traversing the ocean, and proceeding full sail to the
-discovery of America were introduced on to the stage;[29] of Venice and
-its music even at this highly decorative period, St. Evrémond has given
-us a brief but very satisfactory account in the following doggrel:--
-
-    "A Venise rien n'est Ă©gal:
-     Sept opéras, le carneval;
-     Et la merveille, l'excellence,
-     Point de chœurs et jamais de danse,
-     Dans les maisons, souvent concert,
-     OĂą tout se chante Ă  livre ouvert."
-
-The operatic chorus, as has already been observed, is an invention
-claimed by the French[30]; on the other hand, from the very foundation
-of the Académie Royale, the French rendered their Operas ridiculous by
-introducing _ballets_ into the middle of them. We shall find Rousseau
-calling attention to this absurd custom which still prevails at the
-Académie, where if even _Fidelio_ was to be produced, it would be
-considered necessary to "enliven" one or more of the scenes with a
-_divertissement_--so unchanging and unchangeable are the revolutionary
-French in all that is futile.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA AT VIENNA.]
-
-We have seen that in the first years of the 18th century, the Opera at
-Vienna was chiefly remarkable for its size, and the splendour and
-magnificence of its scenery. But it soon became a first-rate musical
-theatre; and it was there, as every one who takes an interest in music
-knows, that nearly all the masterpieces of Gluck and Mozart[31] were
-produced. The French sometimes speak of Gluck's great works as if they
-belonged exclusively to the repertory of their Académie. I have already
-mentioned that four years before Gluck went to Paris (1774), his _Orfeo_
-was played in London. This opera was brought out at Vienna in 1764, when
-it was performed twenty-eight times in succession. The success of
-_Alceste_ was still greater; and after its production in 1768, no other
-opera was played for two years. At this period, the imperial family did
-not confine the interest they took in the Opera to mere patronage; four
-Austrian archduchesses, sisters of the Emperor Charles VII., themselves
-appeared on the stage, and performed, among other pieces, in the
-_Egeria_ of Metastasio and Hasse, and even in Gluck's works. Charles
-VII. himself played on the harpsichord and the violoncello; and the
-Empress mother, then seventy years of age, once said, in conversing with
-Faustina (Hasse's widow at that time), "I am the oldest dramatic singer
-in Europe; I made my _début_ when I was five years old." Charles VI.
-too, Leopold's successor, if not a musician, had, at least, considerable
-taste in music; and Farinelli informed Dr. Burney that he was much
-indebted to this sovereign for an admonition he once received from him.
-The Emperor told the singer that his performance was surprising, and,
-indeed, prodigious; but that all was unavailing as long as he did not
-succeed in touching the heart. It would appear that at this time
-Farinelli's style was wanting in simplicity and expressiveness; but an
-artist of the intelligence and taste which his correspondence with
-Metastasio proves him to have possessed, would be sure to correct
-himself of any such failings the moment his attention was called to
-them.
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The 18th century produced a multitude of great singers. Their voices
-have gone with them; but we know from the music they sang, from the
-embellishments and cadences which have been noted down, and which are as
-good evidence now as when they were first executed, that those
-_virtuosi_ had brought the vocal art to a perfection of which, in these
-later days, we meet with only the rarest examples. Is music to be
-written for the sake of singers, or are singers to learn to sing for the
-sake of music? Of the two propositions, I decidedly prefer the latter;
-but it must, at the same time, be remarked, that unless the executive
-qualities of the singer be studied to a considerable extent, the singer
-will soon cease to pay much attention to his execution. Continue to give
-him singable music, however difficult, and he will continue to learn to
-sing, counting the difficulties to be overcome only as so many
-opportunities for new triumphs; but if the music given to him is such as
-can, perhaps even _must_, be shouted, it is to be expected that he will
-soon cease to study the intricacies and delicacies of his art; and in
-time, if music truly vocal be put before him, he will be unable to sing.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The great singers of the 17th century, to judge from the cantilenas of
-Caccini's, Peri's, and Monteverde's operas, must have cultivated
-expression rather than ornamentation; though what Mancini tells us about
-the singing of Balthazar Ferri, and the manner in which it was received,
-proves that the florid, highly-adorned style was also in vogue. These
-early Italian _virtuosi_ (a name which they adopted at the beginning of
-the 17th century to distinguish themselves from mere actors) not only
-possessed great acquirements as singers, but were also excellent
-musicians; and many of them displayed great ability in matters quite
-unconnected with their profession. Stradella, the only vocalist of whom
-it is recorded that his singing saved his life, composed an opera, _La
-Forza dell Amor paterno_, of which the manifold beauties caused him to
-be proclaimed "beyond comparison the first Apollo of music:" the
-following inscription being stamped by authority on the published
-score--"_Bastando il dirti, che il concerto di si perfetta melodia sia
-valore d'un Alessandro, civè del Signor Stradella, riconoscinto senza
-contrasto per il primo Apollo della musica._" Atto, an Italian tenor,
-who came to Paris with Leonora Baroni, and who had apartments given him
-in Cardinal Mazarin's palace, was afterwards entrusted by that minister
-with a political mission to the court of Bavaria, which, however, it
-must be remembered, was just then presided over, not by an elector, but
-by an electoress. Farinelli became the confidential adviser, if not the
-actual minister (as has been often stated, but without foundation) of
-the king of Spain. In the present day, the only _virtuoso_ I know of
-(the name has now a more general signification) who has been entrusted
-with _quasi_-diplomatic functions is Vivier, the first horn player, and,
-in his own way, the first humorist of the age; I believe it is no secret
-that this facetious _virtuoso_ fills the office of secretary to his
-Excellency Vely Pasha.
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-Bontempi, in his _Historia Musica_, gives the following account of the
-school of singing directed by Mazzocchi, at Rome, in 1620: "At the
-schools of Rome, the pupils were obliged to give up one hour every day
-to the singing of difficult passages till they were well acquainted with
-them; another to the practice of the shake; another to feats of
-agility;[32] another to the study of letters; another to vocal
-exercises, under the direction of a master, and before a looking-glass,
-so that they might be certain they were making no disagreeable movement
-of the muscles of the face, of the forehead, of the eyes, or of the
-mouth. So much for the occupation of the morning. In the afternoon,
-half-an-hour was devoted to the theory of singing; another half-hour to
-counterpoint; an hour to hearing the rules of composition, and putting
-them in practice on their tablets; another to the study of letters; and
-the rest of the day to practising the harpsichord, to the composition of
-some psalm, motet, canzonetta, or any other piece according to the
-scholar's own ideas.
-
-"Such were the ordinary exercises of the school in days when the
-scholars did not leave the house. When they went out, they often walked
-towards Monte Mario, and sang where they could hear the echo of their
-notes, so that each might judge by the response of the justness of his
-execution. They, moreover, sang at all the musical solemnities of the
-Roman Churches; following, and observing with attention the manner and
-style of an infinity of great singers who lived under the pontificate of
-Urban VIII., so that they could afterwards render an account of their
-observations to the master, who, the better to impress the result of
-these studies on the minds of his pupils, added whatever remarks and
-cautions he thought necessary."
-
-With such a system as the above, it would have been impossible,
-supposing the students to have possessed any natural disposition for
-singing, not to have produced good singers. We have spoken already of
-some of the best vocalists of the 18th century; of Faustina, Cuzzoni,
-and Mingotti; of Nicolini, Senesino, and Farinelli. Of Farinelli's life,
-however (which was so interesting that it has afforded to a German
-composer the subject of one opera, to M. M. Scribe and Auber, that of
-another, _La part du Diable_, and to M. Scribe the plan of "_Carlo
-Broschi_," a tale), I must give a few more particulars; and this will
-also be a convenient opportunity for sketching the careers of some two
-or three others of the great Italian singers of this epoch, such as
-Caffarelli, Gabrielli, Guadagni, &c.
-
-First, as to his name. It is generally said that Carlo Broschi owed his
-appellation of Farinelli to the circumstance of his father having been a
-miller, or a flour merchant. This, however, is pure conjecture. No one
-knows or cares who Carlo Broschi's father was, but he was called
-"Farinelli," because he was the recognised _protégé_ of the Farina
-family; just as another singer, who was known to be one of Porpora's
-favorite pupils, was named "Porporino."
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS' NICKNAMES.]
-
-Descriptive nicknames were given to the celebrated musicians as well as
-to the celebrated painters of Italy. Numerous composers and singers owed
-their sobriquets
-
-  TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY; as--
-
-  _Il Sassone_ (Hasse), born at Bergendorf, in Saxony;
-  _Portogallo_ (Simao);
-  _Lo Spagnuolo_ (Vincent Martin);
-  _L'Inglesina_ (Cecilia Davies);
-  _La Francesina_ (Elizabeth Duparc), who, after singing
-  for some years with success in Italy and at London,
-  was engaged by Handel in 1745, to take the principal
-  soprano parts in his oratorios:
-
-  TO THEIR NATIVE TOWN; as--
-
-  _Buranello_, of Burano (Galuppi);
-  _Pergolese_, of Pergola (Jesi);
-  _La Ferrarese_, of Ferrara (Francesca Gabrielli);
-  _Senesino_, of Sienna (Bernardi):
-
-  TO THE PROFESSION OF THEIR PARENTS; as--
-
-  _La Cochetta_ (Catarina), whose father was cook
-  to Prince Gabrielli, at Rome:
-
-  TO THE PLACE THEY INHABITED; as--
-
-  _Checca della Laguna_, (Francesca of the Lagune):
-
-  TO THE NAME OF THEIR MASTER; as--
-
-  _Caffarelli_ (Majorano), pupil of Caffaro;
-  _Gizziello_ (Conti), pupil of Gizzi;
-  _Porporino_ (Hubert), pupil of Porpora:
-
-  TO THE NAME OF THEIR PATRON; as--
-
-  _Farinelli_ (Carlo Broschi), protected by the Farinas,
-  of Naples;
-  _Gabrielli_ (Catarina), protected by Prince Gabrielli;
-
-  _Cusanimo_ (Carestini), protected by the Cusani
-  family of Milan:
-
-  TO THE PART IN WHICH THEY HAD PARTICULARLY
-  DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES; as--
-
-  _Siface_ (Grossi), who had obtained a triumphant
-  success, as that personage, in Scarlatti's _Mitridate_.
-
-But the most astonishing of all these nicknames was that given to
-Lucrezia Aguiari, who, being a natural child, was called publicly, in
-the playbills and in the newspapers, _La Bastardina_, or _La
-Bastardella_.
-
-Catarina, called Gabrielli, a singer to be ranked with the Faustinas and
-Cuzzonis, naturally became disgusted with her appellation of _la
-cocchetta_ (little cook) as soon as she had acquired a little celebrity.
-She accordingly assumed the name of Prince Gabrielli, her patron;
-Francesca Gabrielli, who was in no way related to the celebrated
-Catarina, keeping to that of _Ferrarese_, or _Gabriellina_, as she was
-sometimes called.
-
-But to return to my short anecdotal biographies of a few of these
-singers.[33] Carlo Broschi, then, called "Farinelli," first
-distinguished himself, at the age of seventeen, in a bravura with an
-_obligato_ trumpet accompaniment, which Porpora, his master, wrote
-expressly for him, and for a German trumpet-player whose skill on that
-instrument was prodigious. The air commenced with a sustained note,
-given by the trumpet. This note was then taken up by the vocalist, who
-held it with consummate art for such a length of time that the audience
-fell into raptures with the beauty and fulness of his voice. The note
-was then attacked, and held successively by the player and the singer,
-_pianissimo_, _crescendo_, _forte_, _fortissimo_, _diminuendo_, _
-smorzando_, _perdendosi_--of which the effect may be imagined from the
-delirious transports of the lady who, on hearing this one note several
-times repeated, hastened to proclaim in the same breath the unity of the
-Deity and the uniqueness of Farinelli. This trumpet song occurs
-originally in Porpora's _Eomene_; and Farinelli sang it for the first
-time at Rome, in 1722. In London, in 1734, he introduced it in Hasse's
-_Artaserse_, the opera in which he made his _début_, at the Lincoln's
-Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, his old preceptor.
-
-[Sidenote: FARINELLI'S ONE NOTE.]
-
-I, who have heard a good many fine singers, and one or two whose voices
-I shall not easily forget, must confess myself unable to understand the
-enthusiasm caused by Farinelli's one note, however wonderful the art
-that produced it, however exquisite the gradations of sound which gave
-it colour, and perhaps a certain appearance of life; for one musical
-sound is, after all, not music. Bilboquet, in Dumersan and Varin's
-admirable burlesque comedy of _Les Saltimbanques_, would, perhaps, have
-understood it; and, really, when I read of the effect Farinelli
-produced by keeping to one note, I cannot help thinking of the
-directions given by the old humorist and scoundrel to an incompetent
-_débutant_ on the trombone. The amateur has the instrument put into his
-hands, and, with great difficulty, succeeds in bringing out one note;
-but, to save his life, he could not produce two. "Never mind," says
-Bilboquet, "one note is enough. Keep on playing it, and people who are
-fond of that note will be delighted." How little the authors of _Les
-Saltimbanques_ knew that one note had delighted and enchanted thousands!
-Not only is truth stranger than fiction, but reality is more grotesque
-even than a burlesque fancy.
-
-Farinelli visited Paris in 1737, and sang before Louis XV., who,
-according to Riccoboni, was delighted, though His Majesty cared very
-little for music, and least of all for Italian music. It is also said
-that, on the whole, Farinelli was by no means satisfied with his
-reception in Paris, nor with the general distaste of the French for the
-music of his country; and some writers go so far as to maintain that the
-ill-will he always showed to France during his residence, in a
-confidential position, at the Court of Madrid, was attributable to his
-irritating recollections of his visit to the French capital. In 1752,
-the Duke de Duras was charged with a secret mission to the Spanish Court
-(concerning an alliance with France), which is supposed to have
-miscarried through the influence of Farinelli; but there were plenty of
-good reasons, independently of any personal dislike he may have had for
-the French, for advising Ferdinand VI. to maintain his good
-understanding with the cabinets of Vienna, London, and Turin.
-
-[Sidenote: FARINELLI AT MADRID.]
-
-Ferdinand's favourite singer remained ten years in his service; soothing
-and consoling him with his songs, and, after a time, giving him valuable
-political advice. Farinelli's quasi-ministerial functions did not
-prevent him from continuing to sing every day. Every day, for ten years,
-the same thing! Or rather, the same things, for His Majesty's particular
-collection included as many as four different airs. Two of them were by
-Hasse, _Pallido il sole_ and _Per questo dulce amplesso_. The third was
-a minuet, on which Farinelli improvised variations. It has been
-calculated that during the ten years he sang the same airs, and never
-anything else, about three thousand six hundred times. If Ferdinand VI.
-had not, in the first instance, been half insane, surely this would have
-driven him mad.
-
-Caffarelli, hearing of Farinelli's success at Madrid, is said to have
-made this curious observation: "He deserves to be Prime Minister; he has
-an admirable voice."
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC DUEL.]
-
-Caffarelli was regarded as Farinelli's rival; and some critics,
-including Porpora, who had taught both, considered him the greatest
-singer of the two. This sopranist was notorious for his intolerable
-insolence, of which numerous anecdotes are told. He would affect
-indisposition, when persons of great importance were anxious to hear
-him sing, and had engaged him for that purpose. "Omnibus hoc vitium
-cantoribus;" but it may be said Caffarelli was capricious and
-overbearing to an unusual extent. Metastasio, in one of his letters,
-tells us that at a rehearsal which had been ordered at the Opera of
-Vienna, all the performers obeyed the summons except Caffarelli; he
-appeared, however, at the end of the rehearsal, and asked the company
-with a very disdainful air, "What was the use of these rehearsals?" The
-conductor answered, in a voice of authority, "that no one was called
-upon to account to him for what was done; that he ought to be glad that
-his failure in attendance had been suffered; that his presence or
-absence was of little consequence to the success of the opera; but that
-whatever he chose to do himself, he ought, at least, to let others do
-their duty." Caffarelli, in a great rage, exclaimed "that he who had
-ordered such a rehearsal was a solemn coxcomb." At this, all the
-patience and dignity of the poet forsook him; "and getting into a
-towering passion, he honoured the singer with all those glorious titles
-which Caffarelli had earned in various parts of Europe, and slightly
-touched, but in lively colours, some of the most memorable particulars
-of his life; nor was he likely soon to come to a close; but the hero of
-the panegyric, cutting the thread of his own praise, boldly called out
-to his eulogist: 'Follow me, if thou hast courage, to a place where
-there is none to assist thee, * * * * * The bystanders tremble; each
-calls on his tutelar saint, expecting every moment to see poetical and
-vocal blood besprinkle the harpsichords and double basses. But at length
-the Signora Tesi, rising from under her canopy, where, till now, she had
-remained a most tranquil spectator, walked with a slow and stately step
-towards the combatants; when, O sovereign power of beauty! the frantic
-Caffarelli, even in the fiercest paroxysm of his wrath, captivated and
-appeased by this unexpected tenderness, runs with rapture to meet her;
-lays his sword at her feet; begs pardon for his error; and generously
-sacrificing to her his vengeance, seals, with a thousand kisses upon her
-hand, his protestations of obedience, respect and humility. The nymph
-signifies her forgiveness by a nod; the poet sheathes his sword; the
-spectators begin to breathe again; and the tumultuous assembly breaks up
-amid the joyous sounds of laughter."
-
-Of Caffarelli a curious, and as it seems to me fabulous, story is told
-to the effect that for five years Porpora allowed him to sing nothing
-but a series of scales and exercises, all of which were written down on
-one sheet of paper. According to this anecdote, Caffarelli, with a
-patience which did not distinguish him in after life, asked seriously
-after his five years' scale practice, when he was likely to get beyond
-the rudiments of his art,--upon which Porpora suddenly exclaimed:--"Young
-man you have nothing more to learn, you are the greatest singer in the
-world." In London, however, coming after Farinelli, Caffarelli did not
-meet with anything like the same success.
-
-At Turin, when the Prince of Savoy told Caffarelli, after praising him
-greatly, that the princess thought it hardly possible any singer could
-please after Farinelli, "To night," exclaimed the sopranist, in the
-fulness of his vanity, "she shall hear two Farinellis."
-
-What would the English lady have said to this, who maintained that there
-was but "_one_ Farinelli?"
-
-At sixty-five years of age, Caffarelli was still singing; but he had
-made an enormous fortune--had purchased nothing less than a dukedom for
-his nephew, and had built himself a superb palace, over the entrance of
-which he placed the following modest inscription:--
-
-    "Amphion THEBAS, ego domum."
-
-    "Ille eum, sine tu!"
-
-wrote a commentator beneath it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Guadagni was the "creator" of the parts of _Telemacco_ and _Orfeo_, in
-the operas by Gluck, bearing those names. He sang in London in 1766, at
-Venice the year afterwards, when he was made a Knight of St. Mark; at
-Potsdam before the King of Prussia, in 1776, &c. Guadagni amassed a
-large fortune, though he was at the same time noted for his generosity.
-He has the credit of having lent large sums of money to men of good
-family, who had ruined themselves. One of these impoverished gentlemen
-said, after borrowing the sum of a hundred sequins from him--
-
-"I only want it as a loan, I shall repay you."
-
-"That is not my intention," replied the singer; "if I wanted to have it
-back, I should not lend it to you."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GABRIELLI.]
-
-Gabrielli (Catarina) is described by Brydone, in his tour through
-Sicily, in a letter, dated Palermo, July 27, 1770. She was at this time
-upwards of thirty, but on the stage appeared to be scarcely eighteen;
-and Brydone considers her to have been "the most dangerous syren of
-modern times," adding, that she has made more conquests than any woman
-living. "She was wonderfully capricious," he continues, "and neither
-interest nor flattery, nor threats, nor punishment, had any power to
-control her. Instead of singing her airs as other actresses do, for the
-most part she hums them over _a mezza voce_, and no art whatever is
-capable of making her sing when she does not choose it. The most
-successful expedient has ever been found to prevail on her favourite
-lover (for she always has one) to place himself in the centre of the pit
-or the front box, and if they are on good terms, which is seldom the
-case, she will address her tender airs to him, and exert herself to the
-utmost. Her present inamorato promised to give us this specimen of his
-power over her. He took his seat accordingly, but Gabrielli, probably
-suspecting the connivance, would take no notice of him, so that even
-this expedient does not always succeed. The viceroy, who is fond of
-music, has tried every method with her to no purpose. Some time ago he
-gave a great dinner, and sent an invitation to Gabrielli to be of the
-party. Every other person came at the hour of invitation. The viceroy
-ordered dinner to be put back, and sent to let her know that the company
-had all arrived. The messenger found her reading in bed. She said she
-was sorry for having made the company wait, and begged he would make her
-apology, but really she had entirely forgotten her engagement. The
-viceroy would have forgiven this piece of insolence, but when the
-company went to the Opera, Gabrielli repeated her part with the utmost
-negligence and indifference, and sang all her airs in what they call
-_sotto voce_, that is, so low that they can scarcely be heard. The
-viceroy was offended; but as he is a good tempered man, he was loth to
-enforce his authority; but at last, by a perseverance in this insolent
-stubbornness, she obliged him to threaten her with punishment in case
-she any longer refused to sing. On this she grew more obstinate than
-ever, declaring that force and authority would never succeed with her;
-that he might make her cry, but never could make her sing. The viceroy
-then sent her to prison, where she remained twelve days; during which
-time she gave magnificent entertainments every day, paid the debts of
-all the poor prisoners, and distributed large sums in charity. The
-viceroy was obliged to give up struggling with her, and she was at last
-set at liberty amidst the acclamations of the poor."
-
-[Sidenote: GABRIELLI.]
-
-Gabrielli said at this time that she should never dare to appear in
-England, alleging as her reason that if, in a fit of caprice, which
-might at any time attack her, she refused to sing, or lost her temper
-and insulted the audience, they were said to be so ferocious that they
-would probably murder her. She asserted, however, and, doubtless, with
-truth, that it was not always caprice which prevented her singing, and
-that she was often really indisposed and unable to sing, when the public
-imagined that she absented herself from the theatre from caprice alone.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mingotti used to say that the London public would admit that any one
-might have a cold, a head-ache, or a fever, except a singer. In the
-present day, our audiences often show the most unjustifiable anger
-because, while half the people in a concert room are coughing and
-sneezing, some favourite vocalist, with an exceptionally delicate
-larynx, is unable to sing an air, of which the execution would be sure
-to fatigue the voice even in its healthiest condition.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-To Brydone's anecdotes of Gabrielli we may add another. The ambassador
-of France at the court of Vienna was violently in love with our
-capricious and ungovernable vocalist. In a fit of jealousy, he attempted
-to stab her, and Gabrielli was only saved from transfixion by the
-whalebone of her stays. As it was, she was slightly wounded. The
-ambassador threw himself at the singer's feet and obtained her
-forgiveness, on condition of giving up his sword, on which the offended
-_prima donna_ proposed to engrave the following words:--"_The sword
-of----, who on such a day in such a year, dared to strike La
-Gabrielli._" Metastasio, however, succeeded in persuading her to abandon
-this intention.
-
-In 1767 Gabrielli went to Parma, but wearied by the attentions of the
-Infant, Don Philip ("her accursed hunch back"--_gobbo maladetto_--as she
-called him), she escaped in secret the following year to St.
-Petersburgh, where Catherine II. had invited her some time before. When
-the empress enquired what terms the celebrated singer expected, the sum
-of five thousand ducats was named.
-
-"Five thousand ducats," replied Catherine; "not one of my field marshals
-receives so much."
-
-"Her majesty had better ask her field marshals to sing," said Gabrielli.
-
-Catherine gave the five thousand ducats. "Whether the great Souvaroff's
-jealousy was excited, is not recorded.
-
-At this time the composer Galuppi was musical director at the Russian
-court. He went to St. Petersburgh in 1766, and had just returned when
-Dr. Burney saw him at Venice. Among the other great composers who
-visited Russia in Catherine's reign were Cimarosa and Paisiello, the
-latter of whom produced his _Barbiere di Siviglia_, at St. Petersburgh,
-in 1780.
-
-Most of the celebrated Italian vocalists of the 18th century visited
-Vienna, Dresden, London and Madrid, as well as the principal cities of
-their own country, and sometimes even Paris, where both Farinelli and
-Caffarelli sang, but only at concerts. "I had hoped," says Rousseau,
-"that Caffarelli would give us at the 'Concert Spirituel' some specimen
-of grand recitative, and of the pathetic style of singing, that
-pretended connoisseurs might hear once for all what they have so often
-pronounced an opinion upon; but from his reasons for doing nothing of
-the kind I found that he understood his audience better than I did."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA IN PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.]
-
-It was not until the accession of Frederick the Great, warrior, flute
-player, and severe protector of the arts in general, that the Italian
-Opera was established in Berlin; and it had been reserved for Catherine
-the Great to introduce it into St. Petersburgh. In proportion as the
-Opera grew in Prussia and Russia it faded in Poland, and its decay at
-the court of the Elector of Saxony was followed shortly afterwards by
-the first signs of the infamous partition.
-
-Frederick the Great's favourite composers were Hasse, Agricola, and
-Graun, the last of whom wrote a great number of Italian operas for the
-Berlin Theatre. When Dr. Burney was at Berlin, in 1772, there were fifty
-performers in the orchestra. There was a large chorus, and a numerous
-ballet, and several principal singers of great merit. The king defrayed
-the expenses of the whole establishment. He also officiated as general
-conductor, standing in the pit behind the chef d'orchestre, so as to
-have a view of the score, and drilling his musical troops in true
-military fashion. We are told that if any mistake was committed on the
-stage, or in the orchestra, the king stopped the offender, and
-admonished him; and it is really satisfactory to know, that if a singer
-ventured to alter a single passage in his part (which almost every
-singer does in the present day) His Majesty severely reprimanded him,
-and ordered him to keep to the notes written by the composer. It was not
-the Opera of Paris, nor of London, nor of New York that should have been
-called the Academy, but evidently that of Berlin.
-
-The celebrated Madame Mara sang for many years at the Berlin Opera. When
-her father Herr Schmaling first endeavoured to get her engaged by the
-king of Prussia, Frederick sent his principal singer Morelli to hear her
-and report upon her merits.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC MARTINET.]
-
-"She sings like a German," said the prejudiced Morelli, and the king,
-who declared that he should as soon expect to receive pleasure from the
-neighing of his horse as from a German singer, paid no further attention
-to Schmaling's application. The daughter, however, had heard of the
-king's sarcasm, and was determined to prove how ill-founded it was.
-Mademoiselle Schmaling made her _début_ with great success at Dresden,
-and afterwards, in 1771, went to Berlin. The king, when the young
-vocalist was presented to him, after a few uncourteous observations,
-asked her if she could sing at sight, and placed before her a very
-difficult bravura song. Mademoiselle Schmaling executed it to
-perfection, upon which Frederick paid her a multitude of compliments,
-made her a handsome present, and appointed her _prima donna_ of his
-company.
-
-When Madame Mara in 1780 wished to visit England with her husband, (who
-was a dissipated violoncellist, belonging to the Berlin orchestra) the
-king positively prohibited their departure, and on their escaping to
-Vienna, sent a despatch to the Emperor Joseph II., requesting him to
-arrest the fugitives and send them back. The emperor, however, merely
-gave them a hint that they had better get out of Vienna as soon as
-possible, when he would inform the king that his messenger had arrived
-too late. Afterwards, as soon as it was thought she could do so with
-safety, Madame Mara made her appearance at the Viennese Opera and sang
-there with great success for nearly two years.
-
-According to another version of Madame Mara's flight, she was arrested
-before she had passed the Prussian frontier, and separated from her
-husband, who was shut up in a fortress, and instead of performing on the
-violoncello in the orchestra of the Opera, was made to play the drum at
-the head of a regiment. The tears of the singer had no effect upon the
-inflexible monarch, and it was only by giving up a portion of her salary
-(so at least runs this anecdote of dubious authenticity) that she could
-obtain M. Mara's liberation. In any case it is certain that the position
-of this "_prima donna_" by no means "_assoluta_," at the court of a
-very absolute king, was by no means an agreeable one, and that she had
-not occupied it many years before she endeavoured to liberate herself
-from it by every device in her power, including such disobedience of
-orders as she hoped would entail her prompt dismissal. On one occasion,
-when the Cæsarevitch, afterwards Paul I., was at Berlin, and Madame Mara
-was to take the principal part in an opera given specially in his
-honour, she pretended to be ill, and sent word to the theatre that she
-would be unable to appear. The king informed her on the morning of the
-day fixed for the performance that she had better get well, for that
-well or ill she would have to sing. Nevertheless Madame Mara remained at
-home and in bed. Two hours before the time fixed for the commencement of
-the opera, a carriage, escorted by a few dragoons, stopped at her door,
-and an officer entered her room to announce that he had orders from His
-Majesty to bring her alive or dead to the theatre.
-
-"But you see I am in bed, and cannot get up," remonstrated the vocalist.
-
-"In that case I must take the bed too," was the reply.
-
-It was impossible not to obey. Bathed in tears she allowed herself to be
-taken to her dressing room, put on her costume, but resolved at the same
-time to sing in such a manner that the king should repent of his
-violence. She conformed to her determination throughout the first act,
-but it then occurred to her that the Russian grand duke would carry
-away a most unworthy opinion of her talent. She quite changed her
-tactics, sang with all possible brilliancy, and is reported in
-particular to have sustained a shake for such a length of time and with
-such wonderful modulations of voice, that his Imperial Highness was
-enchanted, and applauded the singer enthusiastically.
-
-[Sidenote: THE MARATISTES AND TODISTES.]
-
-In Paris Madame Mara was received with enthusiasm, and founded the
-celebrated party of the Maratistes, to which was opposed the almost
-equally distinguished sect of the Todistes. Madame Todi was a
-Portuguese, and she and Madame Mara were the chief, though contending,
-attractions at the Concert Spirituel of Paris, in 1782. These rivalries
-between singers have occasioned, in various countries and at various
-times, a good many foolish verses and _mots_. The Mara and Todi
-disputes, however, inspired one really good stanza, which is as
-follows:--
-
-    "Todi par sa voix touchante,
-       De doux pleurs mouille mes yeux;
-     Mara plus vive, plus brillante,
-       M'Ă©tonne, me transporte aux cieux.
-     L'une ravit et l'autre enchante,
-       Mais celle qui plait le mieux,
-     Est toujours celle qui chante."
-
-Of Madame Mara's performances in London, where she obtained her greatest
-and most enduring triumphs, I shall speak in another chapter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-A good notion of the weak points in the Opera in Italy during the early
-part of the 18th century is given, that is to say, is conveyed
-ironically, in the celebrated satire by Marcello, entitled _Teatro a la
-Moda, &c., &c._[34]
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-The author begins by telling the poet, that "there is no occasion for
-his reading, or having read, the old Greek and Latin authors: for this
-good reason, that the ancients never read any of the works of the
-moderns. He will not ask any questions about the ability of the
-performers, but will rather inquire whether the theatre is provided with
-a good bear, a good lion, a good nightingale, good thunder, lightning
-and earthquakes. He will introduce a magnificent show in his last scene,
-and conclude with the usual chorus in honour of the sun, the moon or the
-manager. In dedicating his libretto to some great personage, he will
-select him for his riches rather than his learning, and will give a
-share of the gratuity to his patron's cook, or maître d'hôtel, from whom
-he will obtain all his titles, that he may blazon them on his title
-pages with an &c., &c. He will exalt the great man's family and
-ancestors; make an abundant use of such phrases as liberality and
-generosity of soul; and if he can find any subject of eulogy (as is
-often the case), he will say, that he is silent through fear of hurting
-his patron's modesty; but that fame, with her hundred brazen trumpets,
-will spread his immortal name from pole to pole. He will do well to
-protest to the reader that his opera was composed in his youth, and may
-add that it was written in a few days: by this he will show that he is a
-true modern, and has a proper contempt for the antiquated precept,
-_nonumque prematur in annum_. He may add, too, that he became a poet
-solely for his amusement, and to divert his mind from graver
-occupations; but that he had published his work by the advice of his
-friends and the command of his patrons, and by no means from any love of
-praise or desire of profit. He will take care not to neglect the usual
-explanation of the three great points of every drama, the place, time,
-and action; the place, signifying in such and such a theatre; the time,
-from eight to twelve o'clock at night; the action, the ruin of the
-manager. The incidents of the piece should consist of dungeons, daggers,
-poison, boar-hunts, earthquakes, sacrifices, madness, and so forth;
-because the people are always greatly moved by such unexpected things. A
-good _modern_ poet ought to know nothing about music, because the
-ancients, according to Strabo, Pliny, &c., thought this knowledge
-necessary. At the rehearsals he should never tell his meaning to any of
-the performers, wisely reflecting that they always want to do everything
-in their own way. If a husband and wife are discovered in prison, and
-one of them is led away to die, it is indispensable that the other
-remain to sing an air, which should be to lively words, to relieve the
-feelings of the audience, and make them understand that the whole
-affair is a joke. If two of the characters make love, or plot a
-conspiracy, it should always be in the presence of servants and
-attendants. The part of a father or tyrant, when it is the principal
-character, should always be given to a soprano; reserving the tenors and
-basses for captains of the guard, confidants, shepherds, messengers, and
-so forth.
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-"The modern composer is told that there is no occasion for his being
-master of the principles of composition, a little practice being all
-that is necessary. He need not know anything of poetry, or give himself
-any trouble about the meaning of the words, or even the quantities of
-the syllables. Neither is it necessary that he should study the
-properties of the stringed or wind instruments; if he can play on the
-harpsichord, it will do very well. It will, however, be not amiss for
-him to have been for some years a violin-player, or music-copier for
-some celebrated composer, whose original scenes he may treasure up, and
-thus supply himself with subjects for his airs, recitations, or
-choruses. He will by no means think of reading the opera through, but
-will compose it line by line; using for the airs, _motivi_ which he has
-lying by him; and if the words do not go well below the notes, he will
-torment the poet till they are altered to his mind. When the singer
-comes to a cadence, the composer will make all the instruments stop,
-leaving it to the singer to do whatever he pleases. He will serve the
-manager on very low terms, considering the thousands of crowns that the
-singers cost him:--he will, therefore, content himself with an inferior
-salary to the lowest of these, provided that he is not wronged by the
-bear, the attendants or the scene-shifters being put above him. When he
-is walking with the singers, he will always give them the wall, keep his
-hat in his hand, and remain a step in the rear; considering that the
-lowest of them, on the stage, is at least a general, a captain of the
-guards, or some such personage. All the airs should be formed of the
-same materials--long divisions, holding notes, and repetitions of
-insignificant words, as amore, amore, impero, impero, Europa, Europa,
-furori, furori, orgoglio, orgoglio, &c.; and therefore the composer
-should have before him a memorandum of the things necessary for the
-termination of every air. This will enable him to eschew variety, which
-is no longer in use. After ending a recitative in a flat key, he will
-suddenly begin an air in three or four sharps; and this by way of
-novelty. If the modern composer wishes to write in four parts, two of
-them must proceed in unison or octave, only taking care that there shall
-be a diversity of movement; so that if the one part proceeds by minims
-or crotchets, the other will be in quavers or semiquavers. He will charm
-the audience with airs, accompanied by the stringed instruments
-_pizzicati_ or _con sordini_, trumpets, and other effective
-contrivances. He will not compose airs with a simple bass accompaniment,
-because this is no longer the custom; and, besides, he would take as
-much time to compose one of these as a dozen with the orchestra. The
-modern composer will oblige the manager to furnish him with a large
-orchestra of violins, oboes, horns, &c., saving him rather the expense
-of double basses, of which there is no occasion to make any use, except
-in tuning at the outset. The overture will be a movement in the French
-style, or a prestissimo in semiquavers in a major key, to which will
-succeed a _piano_ in the minor; concluding with a minuet, gavot or jig,
-again in the major key. In this manner the composer will avoid all
-fugues, syncopations, and treatment of subjects, as being antiquated
-contrivances, quite banished from modern music. The modern composer will
-be most attentive to all the ladies of the theatre, supplying them with
-plenty of old songs transposed to suit their voices, and telling each of
-them that the Opera is supported by her talent alone. He will bring
-every night some of his friends, and seat them in the orchestra; giving
-the double bass or violoncello (as being the most useless instruments)
-leave of absence to make room for them.
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-"The singer is informed that there is no occasion for having practised
-the solfeggio; because he would thus be in danger of acquiring a firm
-voice, just intonation, and the power of singing in tune; things wholly
-useless in modern music. Nor is it very necessary that he should be able
-to read or write, know how to pronounce the words or understand their
-meaning, provided he can run divisions, make shakes, cadences, &c. He
-will always complain of his part, saying that it is not in his way,
-that the airs are not in his style, and so on; and he will sing an air
-by some other composer, protesting that at such a court, or in the
-presence of such a great personage, that air carried away all the
-applause, and he was obliged to repeat it a dozen times in an evening.
-At the rehearsals he will merely hum his airs, and will insist on having
-the time in his own way. He will stand with one hand in his waistcoat
-and the other in his breeches' pocket, and take care not to allow a
-syllable to be heard. He will always keep his hat on his head, though a
-person of quality should speak to him, in order to avoid catching cold;
-and he will not bow his head to anybody, remembering the kings, princes,
-and emperors whom he is in the habit of personating. On the stage he
-will sing with shut teeth, doing all he can to prevent a word he says
-from being understood, and, in the recitatives, paying no respect either
-to commas or periods. While another performer is reciting a soliloquy or
-singing an air, he will be saluting the company in the boxes, or
-listening with musicians in the orchestra, or the attendants; because
-the audience knows very well that he is Signor So-and-so, the _musico_,
-and not Prince Zoroastro, whom he is representing. A modern virtuoso
-will be hard to prevail on to sing at a private party. When he arrives
-he will walk up to the mirror, settle his wig, draw down his ruffles,
-and pull up his cravat to show his diamond brooch. He will then touch
-the harpsichord very carelessly, and begin his air three or four times,
-as if he could not recollect it. Having granted this great favour, he
-will begin talking (by way of gathering applause) with some lady,
-telling her stories about his travels, correspondence and professional
-intrigues; all the while ogling his companion with passionate glances,
-and throwing back the curls of his peruke, sometimes on one shoulder,
-sometimes on the other. He will every minute offer the lady snuff in a
-different box, in one of which he will point out his own portrait; and
-will show her some magnificent diamond, the gift of a distinguished
-patron, saying that he would offer it for her acceptance were it not for
-delicacy. Thus he will, perhaps, make an impression on her heart, and,
-at all events, make a great figure in the eyes of the company. In the
-society of the literary men, however eminent, he will always take
-precedence, because, with most people, the singer has the credit of
-being an artist, while the literary man has no consideration at all. He
-will even advise them to embrace his profession, as the singer has
-plenty of money as well as fame, while the man of letters is very apt to
-die of hunger. If the singer is a bass, he should constantly sing tenor
-passages as high as he can. If a tenor, he ought to go as low as he can
-in the scale of the bass, or get up, with a falsetto voice, into the
-regions of the contralto, without minding whether he sings through his
-nose or his throat. He will pay his court to all the principal
-_cantatrici_ and their protectors; and need not despair, by means of
-his talent and exemplary modesty, to acquire the title of a count,
-marquis, or chevalier.
-
-"The _prima donna_ receives ample instructions in her duties both on and
-off the stage. She is taught how to make engagements and to screw the
-manager up to exorbitant terms; how to obtain the "protection" of rash
-amateurs, who are to attend her at all times, pay her expenses, make her
-presents, and submit to her caprices. She is taught to be careless at
-rehearsals, to be insolent to the other performers, and to perform all
-manner of musical absurdities on the stage. She must have a music-master
-to teach her variations, passages and embellishments to her airs; and
-some familiar friend, an advocate or a doctor, to teach her how to move
-her arms, turn her head, and use her handkerchief, without telling her
-why, for that would only confuse her head. She is to endeavour to vary
-her airs every night; and though the variations may be at cross purposes
-with the bass, or the violin part, or the harmony of the accompaniments,
-that matters little, as a modern conductor is deaf and dumb. In her airs
-and recitatives, in action, she will take care every night to use the
-same motions of her hand, her head, her fan, and her handkerchief. If
-she orders a character to be put in chains, and addresses him in an air
-of rage or disdain, during the symphony she should talk and laugh with
-him, point out to him people in the boxes, and show how very little she
-is in earnest. She will get hold of a new passage in rapid triplets, and
-introduce it in all her airs, quick, slow, lively, or sad; and the
-higher she can rise in the scale, the surer she will be of having all
-the principal parts allotted her," &c., &c.
-
-Enough, however, of this excellent but somewhat fatiguing irony; and let
-me conclude this chapter with a few words about the librettists of the
-18th century. The best _libretti_ of Apostolo Zeno, Calsabigi and
-Metastasio, such as the _Demofonte_, the _Artaserse_, the _Didone_, and
-above all the _Olimpiade_, have been set to music by dozens of
-composers. Piccinni, and Sacchini each composed music twice to the
-_Olimpiade_; Jomelli set _Didone_ twice and _Demofonte_ twice; Hasse
-wrote two operas on the _libretto_ of the _Nittetti_, two on that of
-_Artemisia_, two on _Artaserse_, and three on _Arminio_. The excellence
-of these opera-books in a dramatic point of view is sufficiently shown
-by the fact that many of them, including Metastasio's _Didone_,
-_Issipile_ and _Artaserse_ have been translated into French, and played
-with success as tragedies. The _Clemenza di Tito_, by the same author
-(which in a modified form became the _libretto_ of Mozart's last opera)
-was translated into Russian and performed at the Moscow Theatre during
-the reign of the Empress Elizabeth.
-
-In the present day, several of Scribe's best comic operas have been
-converted into comic dramas for the English stage, while others by the
-same author have been made the groundwork of Italian _libretti_. Thus
-_Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_ are the originals of Donizetti's
-_Elisir d'amore_ and Bellini's _Sonnambula_. Several of Victor Hugo's
-admirably constructed dramas have also been laid under contribution by
-the Italian librettists of the present day. Donizetti's _Lucrezia_ is
-founded on _Lucrèce Borgia_; Verdi's _Ernani_ on _Hernani_, his
-_Rigoletto_ on _Le Roi s'amuse_.
-
-[Sidenote: LIBRETTI.]
-
-Our English writers of _libretti_ are about as original as the rest of
-our dramatists. _The Bohemian Girl_ is not only identical in subject
-with _La Gitana_, but is a translation of an unpublished opera founded
-on that _ballet_ and written by M. St. George. The English version is
-evidently called _The Bohemian Girl_ from M. St. George having entitled
-his manuscript opera _La Bohémienne_, and from Mr. Bunn having mistaken
-the meaning of the word. It is less astonishing that the manager of a
-theatre should commit such an error than that no one should hitherto
-have pointed it out. The heroine of the opera is not a Bohemian, but a
-gipsey; and Bohemia has nothing to do with the piece, the action taking
-place in some portion of the "fair land of Poland," which, as the
-librettist informs us, was "trod by the hoof;" though whether in
-Russian, in Austrian or in Prussian Poland we are not informed. _La
-Zingara_ has often been played at Vienna, and I have seen _La Gitana_ at
-Moscow. Probably the Austrians lay the scene of the drama in the
-Russian, and the Russians in the Austrian, dominions. Fortunately, Mr.
-Balfe has given no particular colour to the music of his _Bohemian
-Girl_, which, as far as can be judged from the melodies sung by her, is
-as much (and as little) a Bohemian girl as a gipsey girl, or a Polish
-girl, or indeed any other girl. The _libretti_ of Mr. Balfe's
-_Satanella_, _Rose of Castille_, _Maid of Honour_, _Bondsman_, &c., are
-all founded on French pieces. Mr. Wallace's _Maritana_, is, I need
-hardly say, founded on the French drama of _Don Cæsar de Bazan_. But
-there is unmistakeable originality in the _libretto_ of this composer's
-_Lurline_, though the chief incidents are, of course, taken from the
-well-known German legend on which Mendelsohn commenced writing his opera
-of _Loreley_.
-
-[Sidenote: NATIONAL STYLES.]
-
-One of the very few good original _libretti_ in the English language is
-that of _Robin Hood_, by Mr. Oxenford. The best of all English libretti,
-in point of literary merit, being probably Dryden's _Albion and
-Albanius_, while the best French libretto in all respects is decidedly
-Victor Hugo's _Esmeralda_. Mr. Macfarren has, in many places, given
-quite an English character to the music of _Robin Hood_, though, in
-doing so, he has not (as has been asserted) founded a national style of
-operatic music; for the same style applied to subjects not English might
-be found as inappropriate as the music of _The Barber of Seville_ would
-be adapted to _Tom and Jerry_. A great deal can be written and very
-little decided about this question of nationality of style in music. If
-Auber's style is French, (instead of being his own, as I should say)
-what was that of Rameau? If "The Marseillaise" is such a thoroughly
-French air (as every one admits), how is it that it happens to be an
-importation from Germany? The Royalist song of "Pauvre Jacques" passed
-for French, but it was Dibdin's "Poor Jack." How is it that "Malbrook"
-sounds so French, and "We won't go home till morning" so English--an
-attempt, by the way, having been made to show that the airs common to
-both these songs were sung originally by the Spanish Moors? I fancy the
-great point, after all, is to write good music; and if it be written to
-good English words, full of English rhythm and cadence, it will, from
-that alone, derive a sufficiently English character.
-
-Handel appears to me to have done far greater service to English Opera
-than Arne or any of our English and pseudo-English operatic composers
-whose works are now utterly forgotten, except by musical antiquaries;
-for Handel established Italian Opera among us on a grand artistic scale,
-and since then, at Her Majesty's Theatre, and subsequently at the
-comparatively new Royal Italian Opera, all the finest works, whether of
-the Italian, the German, or the French school, have been brought out as
-fast as they have been produced abroad, and, on the whole, in very
-excellent style. English Opera has no history, no unbroken line of
-traditions; it has no regular sequence of operatic weeks by native
-composers; but at our Italian Opera Houses, the whole history of
-dramatic music has been exemplified, and from Gluck to Verdi is still
-exemplified in the present day. We take no note, it is true, of the old
-French composers,--Lulli, who begat Rameau, and Rameau, who begat no
-one--and for the reason just indicated. There are plenty of amusing
-stories about the _Académie Royale_ from its very foundation, but the
-true history of dramatic music in France dates from the arrival of Gluck
-in Paris in 1774.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-FRENCH OPERA FROM LULLI TO THE DEATH OF RAMEAU.
-
-     Ramists and Lullists.--Rameau's Letters of nobility.--His
-     death.--Affairs of honour and love.--Sophie Arnould.--Madame
-     Favart.--Charles Edward at the Académie.
-
-
-Lulli died in Paris, March 22nd, 1687, at the age of fifty-four. In
-beating time with his walking stick during the performance of a _Te
-Deum_ which he had composed to celebrate the convalescence of Louis
-XIV., he struck his foot, and with so much violence that he died from
-the effects of the blow. It is said[35] that this _Te Deum_ produced a
-great sensation, and that Lulli died satisfied, like a general expiring
-on the battle field immediately after a victory.
-
-All Lulli's operas are in five acts, but they are very short. "The
-drama," says M. Halévy, "comprises but a small number of scenes; the
-pieces are of a briefness to be envied; it is music summarized; two
-phrases make an air. The task of the composer then was far from being
-what it is now. The secret had not yet been discovered of those pieces,
-those finales which have since been so admirably developed, linking
-together in one well-conceived whole, a variety of situations which
-assist the inspiration of the composer and sometimes call it forth.
-There is certainly more music in one of the finales of a modern work
-than in the five acts of an opera of Lulli's. We may add that the art of
-instrumentation, since carried to such a high degree of brilliancy, was
-then confined within very narrow limits, or rather this art did not
-exist. The violins, violas, bass viols, hautboys, which at first formed
-the entire arsenal of the composer, seldom did more than follow the
-voices. Lulli, moreover, wrote only the vocal part and the bass of his
-compositions. His pupils, Lalouette and Colasse, who were conductors
-(_chefs d'orchestre_, or, as was said at that time, _batteurs de
-mesure_) under his orders, filled up the orchestral parts in accordance
-with his indications. This explains how, in the midst of all the details
-with which he had to occupy himself, he could write such a great number
-of works; but it does not diminish the idea one must form of his
-facility, his intelligence, and his genius, for these works, rapidly as
-they were composed, kept possession of the stage for more than a
-century."
-
-The next great composer, in France, to Lulli, in point of time, was
-Rameau. "Rameau" (in the words of the author from whom I have just
-quoted, and whose opinion on such a subject cannot be too highly valued)
-"elevated and strengthened the art; his harmonies were more solidly
-woven, his orchestra was richer, his instrumentation more skilful, his
-colouring more decided."
-
-Dr. Burney, however, in his account of the French Opera of his period
-(when Rameau's works were constantly being performed) speaks of the
-music as monotonous in the extreme and without ryhthm or expression.
-Indeed, he found nothing at the French Opera to admire but the dancing
-and the decorations, and these alone (he tells us) seemed to give
-pleasure to the audience. Nevertheless, the French journals of the
-middle of the 18th century constantly informed their readers that Rameau
-was the first musician in Europe, "though," as Grimm remarked, "Europe
-scarcely knew the name of her first musician, knew none of his operas,
-and could not have tolerated them on her stages."
-
-[Sidenote: RAMISTS AND LULLISTS.]
-
-Jean Phillippe Rameau was born the 25th September, 1683, at Dijon. He
-studied music under the direction of his father, Jean Rameau, an
-organist, and afterwards visited Italy, but does not appear to have
-appreciated Italian music. On his return to France he wrote the music of
-an opera founded on the _Phèdre_ of Racine, and entitled _Hippolyte et
-Aricie_. This work, which was produced in 1733, was received with much
-applause and a good deal of hissing, but on the whole it obtained a
-great success which was not diminished in the end by having been
-contested in the first instance. Rameau had soon so many admirers of his
-own, and met with so much opposition from the admirers of Lulli that two
-parties of Lullists and of Ramists were formed. This was the first of
-those foolish musical feuds of which Paris has witnessed so many, though
-scarcely more than London. Indeed, London had already seen the disputes
-between the partisans of Mrs. Tofts, the English singer, and Margarita
-l'Epine, the Italian, as well as the more celebrated Handel and
-Buononcini contests, and the quarrels between the friends of Faustina
-and Cuzzoni. However, when Rameau produced his _Castor and Pollux_, in
-1737, he was generally admitted by his compatriots to be the greatest
-composer of the day, not only in France, but in all Europe--which, as
-Grimm observed, was not acquainted with him. Gluck, however, is said[36]
-to have expressed his admiration of the chorus, _Que tout gémisse_, and
-M. Castil Blaze assures us, that "the fine things which this work
-(_Castor and Pollux_) contains, would please in the present day."
-
-Great honours were paid to Rameau by Louis XV., who granted him letters
-of nobility, and that only to render him worthy of a still higher mark
-of favour, the order of St. Michael. The composer on receiving his
-patent did not take the trouble to register it, upon which the king,
-thinking Rameau was afraid of the expense, offered to defray all the
-necessary charges himself. "Let me have the money, your Majesty," said
-Rameau, "and I will apply it to some more useful purpose. Letters of
-nobility to me? _Castor_ and _Dardanus_ gave them to me long ago!"
-
-[Sidenote: RAMEAU'S LETTERS OF NOBILITY.]
-
-Rameau's letters of nobility were invalidated by not being registered,
-but the order of St. Michael was given to him all the same.
-
-The badge of the same order was refused unconditionally by Beaumarchais,
-when it was offered to him by the Baron de Breteuil, minister of Louis
-XVI., the author of the _Marriage of Figaro_ observing that men whose
-merit was acknowledged had no need of decorations.
-
-Thus, too, Tintoretto refused knighthood at the hands of Henry III. of
-France (of what value, by the way, was the barren compliment to Sir
-Antony Vandyke, whom every one knows as a painter, and no one, scarcely,
-as a knight)? Thus, the celebrated singer, Forst, of Mies, in Bohemia,
-refused letters of nobility from Joseph I., Emperor of Germany, but
-accepted a pension of three hundred florins, which was offered to him in
-its place; and thus Beethoven being asked by the Prince von Hatzfeld,
-Prussian ambassador at Vienna, whether he would rather have a
-subscription of fifty ducats, which was due to him,[37] or the cross of
-some order, replied briefly, with all readiness of determination--"Fifty
-ducats!"
-
-Besides being a very successful operatic composer, (he wrote thirty-six
-works for the stage, of which twenty-two were represented at the
-Académie Royale), Rameau was an admirable performer on the organ and
-harpsichord, and wrote a great deal of excellent music for those two
-instruments. He, moreover, distinguished himself by his important
-discoveries in the science of harmony, which he published, defended, and
-explained, in twenty works, more or less copious.
-
-"Rameau's music," says M. Castil Blaze, "marks (in France) a progress.
-Not that this master improved the taste of our nation: he possessed none
-himself. Although he had visited the north of Italy, he had no idea that
-it was possible to sing better than the hack-vocalists of our Opera.
-Rameau never understood anything of Italian music; accordingly he did
-not bring the forms of melody to perfection among us. The success of
-Rameau was due to the fact, that he gave more life, warmth, and
-movement, to our dramatic music. His ryhthmical airs (when the
-irregularity of the words did not trouble him too much), the free,
-energetic, and even daring character of his choruses, the richness of
-his orchestra, raised this master at last to the highest rank, which he
-maintained until his death. All this, however, is relative, comparative.
-I must tell you in confidence, that these choruses, this orchestra, were
-very badly constructed, and often incorrect in point of harmony.
-Observe, too, if you please, that I do not go beyond our own frontiers,
-lest I should meet a Scarlatti, a Handel, a Jomelli, a Pergolese, a
-Sebastian Bach, and twenty other rivals, too formidable for our
-compatriot, as regards operas, religious dramas, cantatas, and
-symphonies."
-
-[Sidenote: DEATH OF RAMEAU.]
-
-Rameau died in 1764. The Opera undertook the direction of his funeral,
-and caused a service for the repose of his soul to be celebrated in the
-church of the Oratory. Several pieces from _Castor_ and _Pollux_, and
-other of his lyrical works, had been arranged for the ceremony, and were
-introduced into the mass. The music was executed by the orchestra and
-chorus of the Opera, both of which were doubled for the occasion. In
-1766, on the second anniversary of Rameau's death, a mortuary mass,
-written by Philidor, the celebrated chess player and composer (but one
-of those minor composers of whose works it does not enter into our
-limited plan to speak), was performed in the same church.
-
-The chief singers of the Académie during the greater portion of Rameau's
-career as a composer, were Jéliotte, Chassé, and Mademoiselle de Fel.
-JĂ©liotte retired in 1775, and for nine years the French Opera was
-without a respectable tenor. Chassé (baritone), and Mademoiselle de Fel,
-were replaced, about the same time, by Larrivée, and the celebrated
-Sophie Arnould, both of whom appeared afterwards in Gluck's operas.
-
-Claude Louis de Chassé, Seigneur de Ponceau, a gentleman of a good
-Breton family, gave up a commission in the army in 1721, to join the
-Opera. He succeeded equally as a singer and as an actor, and also
-distinguished himself by his skill in arranging tableaux. He it was who
-first introduced on to the French stage immense masses of men, and
-taught them to manœuvre with precision. Louis XV. was so pleased
-with the evolutions of Chassé's theatrical troops in an opera
-represented at Fontainbleau, that he afterwards addressed him always as
-"General." In 1738, Chassé left the Académie on the pretext that the
-histrionic profession was not suited to a man of gentle birth.[38] But
-the true reason is said to have been that having saved a considerable
-sum of money, he found he could afford to throw up his engagement.
-However, he invested the greater part of his fortune in a speculation
-which failed, and was obliged to return to the stage a few years after
-he had declared his intention of abandoning it for ever. On his
-reappearance, the "gentlemanliness" of Chassé's execution was noticed,
-but in a sarcastic, not a complimentary spirit.
-
-    "Ce n'est plus cette voix tonnante
-     Ce ne sont plus ses grands Ă©clats;
-     C'est un gentilhomme qui chante
-     Et qui ne se fatigue pas--"
-
-were lines circulated on the occasion of the Seigneur du Ponceau's
-return to the Académie, where, however, he continued to sing with
-success for a dozen years afterwards.
-
-[Sidenote: AFFAIRS OF HONOUR AND LOVE.]
-
-JĂ©liotte was one of the great favourites of fashionable Parisian society
-(at least, among the women); but Chassé (also among the women) was one
-of the most admired men in France. Among other triumphs of the same
-kind, he had the honour of causing a duel between a Polish and a French
-lady, who fought with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne. The latter was
-wounded rather seriously, and on her recovery, was confined in a
-convent, while her adversary was ordered to quit France. During the
-little trouble which this affair caused in the polite world, Chassé
-remained at home, reclining on a sofa after the manner of a delicate,
-sensitive woman who has had the misfortune to see two of her adorers
-risk their lives for her. In this style he received the visits of all
-who came to compliment him on his good luck. Louis XV. thought it worth
-while to send the Duke de Richelieu to tell him to put an end to his
-affectation.
-
-"Explain to his Majesty," said Chassé to the Duke, "that it is not my
-fault, but that of Providence, which has made me the most popular man in
-the kingdom."
-
-"Let me tell you, coxcomb, that you are only the third," said the Duke.
-"I come next to the king."
-
-It was indeed a fact that Madame de Polignac, and Madame de Nesle had
-already fought for the affection of the Duke de Richelieu, when Madame
-de Nesle received a wound in the shoulder.[39]
-
-Sophie Arnould was a discovery made by the Princess of Modena at the Val
-de Grâce, whither her royal highness had retired, according to the
-fashion of the time, to atone, during a portion of Lent, for the sins
-she had committed during the Carnival, and where she chanced to hear the
-young girl singing a vesper hymn. The Princess spoke of Mademoiselle
-Arnould's talents at the court, and, in spite of her mother's
-opposition, (the parents kept a lodging house somewhere in Paris) she
-was inscribed on the list of choristers at the king's chapel. Madame de
-Pompadour, already struck by the beauty of her eyes, which are said to
-have been enchantingly expressive, exclaimed when she heard her sing,
-"_Il y a lĂ , de quoi faire une princesse._"
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-Sophie Arnould (a charming name, which the bearer thereof owed in part
-to her own good taste, and in no way to her godfathers and godmothers,
-who christened her Anne-Madeleine) made her _début_ in the year 1757, at
-the age of thirteen. She wore a lilac dress, embroidered in silver. Her
-talent, combined with her wonderful beauty, ensured her immediate
-success, and before she had been on the stage a fortnight, all Paris was
-in love with her. When she was announced to sing, the doors of the Opera
-were besieged by such crowds that Fréron declared he scarcely thought
-persons would give themselves so much trouble to enter into paradise.
-The fascinating Sophie was as witty as she was beautiful, and her _mots_
-(the most striking of which are quoted by M. A. Houssaye in his _Galerie
-du 18me. Siècle_), were repeated by all the fashionable poets and
-philosophers of Paris. Her suppers soon became celebrated, but her life
-of pleasure did not cause her to forget the Opera. She is said to have
-sung with "a limpid and melodious voice," and to have acted with "all
-the grace and sentiment of a practiced comédienne."[40] Garrick saw her
-when he was in Paris, and declared that she was the only actress on the
-French stage who had really touched his heart.[41]
-
-As an instance of the effect her singing had upon the public, I may
-mention that in 1772, Mademoiselle Arnould refused to perform one
-evening, and made her appearance among the audience, saying that she had
-come to take a lesson of her rival, Mademoiselle Beaumesnil; that the
-minister, de la Vrillière, instead of sending the capricious and
-facetious vocalist to For-l'Evèque, in accordance with the request of
-the directors, contented himself with reprimanding her; that a party
-was formed to hiss her violently the next night of her appearance, as a
-punishment for her impertinence; but that directly Sophie Arnould began
-to sing, the conspirators were disarmed, and instead of hissing,
-applauded her.
-
-On the 1st of April, 1778, the day of Voltaire's coronation at the
-Comédie Française, all the most celebrated actresses in Paris went to
-compliment him. He returned their visits directly afterwards, and his
-conversation with Sophie Arnould at the opera, is said to have been a
-speaking duet of the most marvellous lightness and brilliancy.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When poor Sophie was getting old she continued to sing, and the Abbé
-Galiani said of her voice that it was "the finest asthma he had ever
-heard." This remark, however, belongs to the list of sharp things said
-during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, described at some length in the
-next chapter but one, and in which Sophie Arnould played an important
-part.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mademoiselle Arnould's _mots_ seem to me, for the most part, not very
-susceptible of satisfactory translation. I will quote a few of them in
-Sophie's own language.
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-Of the celebrated dancer, Madeleine Guimard, concerning whom I shall
-have something to say a few pages further on, Sophie Arnould, reflecting
-on Madeleine's remarkable thinness, observed "_ce petit ver Ă  soie
-devrait ĂŞtre plus gras, elle ronge une si bonne feuille._"[42]
-
-Sophie was born in the room where Admiral Coligny was assassinated, and
-where the Duchess de Montbazon lived for some time. "_Je suis venue au
-monde par une porte célèbre_," she said.
-
-One day, when a very dull work, Rameau's _Zoroastre_, was going to be
-played at the Académie, Beaumarchais, whose tedious drama _Les deux
-amis_ had just been brought out at the Comédie Française, remarked to
-Sophie Arnould that there would be no people at the opera that evening,
-
-"_Je vous demande pardon_," was the reply, "_vos deux amis nous en
-enverront._"
-
-Seeing the portraits of Sully and Choiseul on the same snuff-box, she
-exclaimed, "_C'est la recette et la dépense._"
-
-To a lady, whose beauty was her only recommendation, and who complained
-that so many men made love to her, she said, "_Eh ma chère il vous est
-si facile des les Ă©loigner; vous n'avez qu'Ă  parler._"
-
-Sophie's affection for the Count de Lauragais, the most celebrated and,
-seemingly, the most agreeable of her admirers, is said to have lasted
-four years. This constancy was mutual, and the historians of the French
-Opera speak of it as something not only unique but inexplicable and
-almost miraculous. At last Mademoiselle Arnould, unwilling, perhaps, to
-appear too original, determined to break with the Count; the mode,
-however, of the rupture was by no means devoid of originality. One day,
-by Mademoiselle Arnould's orders, a carriage was sent to the Hotel de
-Lauragais, containing lace, ornaments, boxes of jewellery--and two
-children; everything in fact that she owed to the Count. The Countess
-was even more generous than Sophie. She accepted the children, and sent
-back the lace, the jewellery, and the carriage.
-
-A little while afterwards the Count de Lauragais fell in love with a
-very pretty _débutante_ in the ballet department of the Opera. Sophie
-Arnould asked him how he was getting on with his new passion. The Count
-confessed that he had not made much progress in her affections, and
-complained that he always found a certain knight of Malta in her
-apartments when he called upon her.
-
-"You may well fear him," said Sophie, "_Il est lĂ  pour chasser les
-infidèles._"
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-This certainly looks like a direct reproach of inconstancy, and from
-Sophie's sending the Count back all his presents, it is tolerably clear
-that she felt herself aggrieved. He was of a violently jealous
-disposition, though he had no cause for jealousy as far as Sophie was
-concerned. Indeed, she appears naturally to have been of a romantic
-disposition, and a tendency to romance though it may mislead a girl yet
-does not deprave her.
-
-We shall meet with the charming Sophie again during the Gluck and
-Piccinni period, and once again when the revolution had invaded the
-Opera, and had ruined some of the chief operatic celebrities. During her
-last illness, in telling her confessor the unedifying story of her life,
-she had to speak of the jealous fury of the Count de Lauragais, whom she
-had really loved.[43]
-
-"My poor child, how much you have suffered!" said the kind priest.
-
-"_Ah! c'Ă©tait le bon temps! j'Ă©tait si malheureuse!_" exclaimed Sophie.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Sophie Arnould's rival and successor at the Opera was Mademoiselle
-Laguerre, who, if she had not the wit of Sophie, had considerably more
-than her prudence, and who died, leaving a fortune of about ÂŁ180,000.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the celebrated French singers of the 18th century, Madame Favart
-must not be forgotten. This vocalist was for many years the glory and
-the chief support of the Opéra Comique, which, in 1762, combined with
-the Comédie Italienne to form but one establishment. There was so much
-similarity in the styles of the performances at these two operatic
-theatres, that for seven years before the union was effected, the
-favourite piece at the one house was _La Serva Padrona_, at the other,
-_La Servante Maitresse_, that is to say, Pergolese's favourite work
-translated into French.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME FAVART.]
-
-The history of the Opera in France during the latter half of the 18th
-century abounds in excellent anecdotes; and several very interesting
-ones are told of Marshal Saxe. This brave man was much loved by the
-beautiful women of his day. In M. Scribe's admirable play of _Adrienne
-Lecouvreur_, Maurice de Saxe is made to say, that whatever celebrity he
-may attain, his name will never be mentioned without recalling that of
-Adrienne Lecouvreur. Some genealogist, without affectation, ought to
-tell us how many persons illustrious in the arts are descendants of
-Marshal Saxe, or of Adrienne Lecouvreur, or of both. It would be an
-interesting list, at the head of which the names of George Sand, and of
-Francœur the mathematician, might figure. But I was about to say,
-that the mention of the great Maurice de Saxe recalled to me not only
-Adrienne Lecouvreur, but also the charming Fifine Desaigles, one of the
-fairest and most fascinating of _blondes_, the beautiful and talented
-Madame Favart, and a good many other theatrical fair ones. When the
-Marshal died, poor Fifine went into mourning for him, and wore black,
-even on the stage, for as many days as it appeared to her that his
-passionate affection for her had lasted. It is uncertain whether or not
-the warrior's love for Madame Favart was returned. The Marshal said it
-was; the lady said it was not; the lady's husband said he didn't know.
-The best story told about Marshal Saxe and Madame Favart, or rather
-Mademoiselle Chantilly, which was at that time her name, is one relating
-to her elopement with Favart from Maestricht, during the siege.
-Mademoiselle Chantilly was a member of the operatic _troupe_ engaged by
-the Marshal to follow the army of Flanders,[44] and of which Favart was
-the director. Marshal Saxe became deeply enamoured of the young _prima
-donna_, and made proposals to her of a nature partly flattering, partly
-the reverse. Mademoiselle Chantilly, however, preferred Favart, and
-contrived to escape with him one dark and stormy night. Indeed, so
-tempestuous was it, that a bridge, which formed the communication
-between the main body of the army and a corps on the other side of the
-river, was carried away, leaving the detached regiments quite at the
-mercy of the enemy. The next morning an officer visited the Marshal in
-his tent, and found him in a state of great grief and agitation.
-
-"It is a sad affair, no doubt," said the visitor; "but it can be
-remedied."
-
-"Remedied!" exclaimed the distressed hero; "no; all hope is lost; I am
-in despair!"
-
-The officer showed that the bridge might be repaired in such and such a
-manner; upon which, the great commander, whom no military disaster could
-depress, but who was now profoundly afflicted by the loss of a very
-charming singer, replied--
-
-"Are you talking about the bridge? That can be mended in a couple of
-hours. I was thinking of Chantilly. Perfidious girl! she has deserted
-me!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the historical persons who figured at the Académie Musique about
-the middle of the 18th century, we must not forget Charles Edward, who
-was taken prisoner there. The Duke de Biron had been ordered to see to
-his arrest, and on the evening of the 11th December, when it was known
-that he intended to visit the Opera, surrounded the building with twelve
-hundred guards as soon as the Young Pretender had entered it. The prince
-was taken to Vincennes, and kept there four days. He was then liberated,
-and expelled from France in accordance with the terms of the treaty of
-1748, so humiliating to the French arms.
-
-[Sidenote: CHARLES EDWARD AT THE ACADEMIE.]
-
-The servants of the Young Pretender, and with them one of the retinue of
-the Princess de Talmont, whose antiquated charms had detained the
-Chevalier de St. Georges at Paris, were sent to the Bastille, upon which
-the princess wrote the following letter to M. de Maurepas:--
-
-"The king, sir, has just covered himself with immortal glory by
-arresting Prince Edward. I have no doubt but that His Majesty will order
-a _Te Deum_ to be sung, to thank God for so brilliant a victory. But as
-Placide, my lacquey, taken in this memorable expedition, can add nothing
-to His Majesty's laurels, I beg you to send him back to me."
-
-"The only Englishman the regiment of French guards has taken throughout
-the war!" exclaimed the Princess de Conti, when she heard of the arrest.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-There was a curious literary apparition at the Académie in 1750, on the
-occasion of the revival of _Thétis et Pélée_, when Fontenelle, the
-author of the libretto of that opera, entered a box, and sat down just
-where he had taken his place sixty years before, on the first night of
-its production. The public, delighted, no doubt, to see that men could
-live so long, and get so much enjoyment out of life, applauded with
-enthusiasm.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH COMIC OPERA.]
-
-In this necessarily incomplete history of the Opera (anything like a
-full narrative of its rise and progress, with particulars of the lives
-of all the great composers and singers, would fill ten large volumes and
-would probably not find a hundred readers) there are some forms of the
-lyric drama to which I can scarcely do more than allude. My great
-difficulty is to know what to omit, but I think that in addressing
-English readers I am justified in passing hastily over the Pulcinella
-Operas of Italy and the Opéra Comique of France. I shall say very little
-about the ballad operas of England, which are no longer played, which
-led to nothing, and which do not interest me personally. The lowest
-style of Italian comic opera, again, has not only exercised no
-influence, but has never attained even a moderate amount of success in
-this country. Not so the Opéra Comique of France, if Auber is to be
-taken as its representative. But the author of the _Muette de Portici_,
-_Gustave III._, and _Fra Diavolo_, is not only the greatest dramatic
-composer France has produced, but one of the greatest dramatic composers
-of the century. By his masterly concerted pieces and finales he has
-given an importance to the _Opéra Comique_ which it did not possess
-before his time, and if he had never written works of that class at all
-he would still be one of the favourite composers of the English public,
-esteemed and studied by musicians, and admired by all classes. The
-French historians of the Opéra Comique show that, as regards the
-dramatic form, it has its origin in the _vaudeville_, many of the old
-_opéras comiques_ being, in fact, little more than _vaudevilles_, with
-original airs in place of songs adapted to tunes already known. In a
-musical point of view, however, the French owe their lyrical comedy to
-the Italians. Monsigny, Philidor, Grétry, the founders of the style,
-were felicitous imitators of the Pergoleses, the Leos, the Vincis, and
-the Piccinnis. "In _Le Déserteur_, _Le Roi et le Fermier_, _Le Maréchal
-Ferrant_, _Le Tableau Parlant_, we are struck," says M. Scudo, the
-excellent musical critic of the _RĂ©vue des Deux Mondes_, "as Dr. Burney
-was, in 1770, to find more than one recollection of _La Serva Padrona_,
-_La Cecchina_, and other opera buffas by the first masters of the
-Neapolitan school. The influence of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi, may be
-remarked in the works of Dalayrac, Berton, Boieldieu, and Nicolo.
-Boieldieu afterwards imitated Rossini to some extent in _La Dame
-Blanche_, but the chief followers of this great Italian master in France
-have been HĂ©rold and Auber." This brings us down to the present day,
-when we find Meyerbeer, the composer of great choral and orchestral
-schemes, the cultivator of musico-dramatic "effects" on a large scale,
-writing for the Opéra Comique; and in spite of the spoken dialogue in
-the _Etoile du Nord_ and the _Pardon de Ploermel_, it is impossible not
-to place those important and broadly conceived lyrical dramas in the
-class of grand opera.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-ROUSSEAU AS A CRITIC AND AS A COMPOSER OF MUSIC.
-
-     The Musical Dictionary.--Account of the French Opera from the
-     Nouvelle HĂ©loise.--Le devin du Village.--Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
-     Granet of Lyons.
-
-
-Rousseau, a man of a decidedly musical organisation, who, during his
-residence in Italy, learnt, as he tells us in the _Confessions_, to love
-the music of Italy; who wrote so earnestly and so well in favour of that
-music, and against the psalmody of Lulli and Rameau, in his celebrated
-_Lettre sur la Musique Française_; and who had sufficient candour, or,
-rather let us say, a sufficiently sincere love of art to express the
-enthusiasm he felt for Gluck when all the other writers in France, who
-had ever praised Italian music, felt bound to depreciate him blindly,
-for the greater glory of Piccinni; this Rousseau, who cared more for
-music than for truth or honour, and who has now been proved to have
-stolen from two obscure, but not altogether unknown, composers the music
-which he represented to be his own, in _Pygmalion_, and the _Devin du
-Village_, has given in his _Dictionnaire Musicale_, in the
-before-mentioned _Lettre sur la Musique Française_, but above all in
-the _Nouvelle HĂ©loise_, the best general account that can be obtained of
-the Opera in France during the middle of the 18th century. I will begin
-with Rousseau's article on the Opera (omitting only the end, which
-relates to the ballet), from the _Dictionnaire Musicale_:--
-
-[Sidenote: ROUSSEAU'S DEFINITION OF OPERA.]
-
-"An opera is a dramatic and lyrical spectacle, designed to combine the
-enchantments of all the fine arts by the representation of some
-passionate action through sensations so agreeable as to excite both
-interest and illusion.[45]
-
-"The constituent parts of an opera are the poem, the music, and the
-decoration. By poetry, the spectacle speaks to the mind; by music, to
-the ear; and by painting, to the eye: all combining, through different
-organs, to make the same impression on the heart. Of these three parts,
-my subject only allows me to consider the first and last with reference
-to the second.
-
-"The art of combining sounds agreeably may be regarded under two
-different aspects. As an institution of nature, music confines its
-effects to the senses, to the physical pleasure which results from
-melody, harmony, and rhythm. Such is usually the music of churches; such
-are the airs suited to dancing and songs. But as the essential part of a
-lyrical scene, aiming principally at imitation, music becomes one of the
-fine arts, and is capable of painting all pictures; of exciting all
-sentiments; of competing with poetry; of endowing her with new
-strength; of embellishing her with new charms; and of triumphing over
-her while placing the crown on her head.
-
-"The sounds of a speaking voice, being neither harmonious nor sustained,
-are inappreciable, and cannot, consequently, connect themselves
-agreeably with the singing voice, or with instruments, at least in
-modern languages. It was different with the Greeks. Their language was
-so accentuated that its inflections, in a long declamation, formed,
-spontaneously as it were, musical intervals, distinctly appreciable.
-Thus it may be said that their theatrical pieces were a species of
-opera; and it was for this very reason that they could have no operas
-properly so called.
-
-"But the difficulty of uniting song to declamation in modern languages
-explains how it is that the intervention of music has given to the lyric
-poem a character quite different from that of tragedy or comedy, and
-made it a third species of drama, having its particular rules. The
-differences alluded to cannot be determined without a perfect knowledge
-of music, of the means of identifying it with words, and of its natural
-relations to the human heart--details which belong less to the artist
-than to the philosopher.
-
-[Sidenote: GREEK MUSIC.]
-
-"Confining myself, therefore, on this subject to a few observations
-rather historical than didactic, I remark, first, that the Greek theatre
-had not, like ours, any lyrical feature, for that which they called so,
-had not the slightest resemblance to what we call so.
-
-Their language had so much accent that, in a concert of voices, there
-was little noise, whilst all their poetry was musical, and all their
-music declamatory. Thus, song with them was hardly more than sustained
-discourse. They really sang their verses, as they declared at the head
-of their poems, a practice which gave the Romans, and afterwards the
-moderns, the ridiculous habit of saying, _I sing_, when nothing is sung.
-That which the Greeks called the lyric style was a pompous and florid
-strain of heroic poesy, accompanied by the lyre. It is certain, too,
-that their tragedies were recited in a manner very similar to singing,
-and that they were accompanied by instruments, and had choruses.
-
-"But if, on that account, it should he inferred that they were operas
-like ours, then it must be supposed that their operas were without airs,
-for it appears to me unquestionable that the Greek music, without
-excepting even the instrumental, was a real recitative. It is true that
-this recitative, uniting the charm of musical sounds to all the harmony
-of poetry, and to all the force of declamation, must have had much more
-energy than the modern recitative, which can hardly acquire one of these
-advantages but at the expense of the others. In our living languages,
-which partake for the most part of the rudeness of their native
-climates, the application of music to speech is much less natural than
-it was with the Greeks. An uncertain prosody agrees ill with regularity
-of measure; deaf and dumb syllables, hard articulations, sounds not
-sonorous, with little variation, and no suppleness, cannot but with
-great difficulty be consorted with melody; and a poetry cadenced solely
-by the number of syllables, whilst it gets but a very faint harmony in
-musical rhythm, is constantly opposed to the diversity of that rhythm's
-values and movements. These are the difficulties which were to be
-overcome, or eluded, in the invention of the lyrical poem. The effort,
-therefore, of its inventors was to form, by a nice selection of words,
-by choice turns of expression, and by varied metres, a particular
-language; and this language, called lyrical, is rich or poor in
-proportion to the softness or harshness of that from which it is
-derived.
-
-"Having thus prepared a language for music, the question was next to
-apply music to this language, and to render it so apt for the purposes
-of the lyrical scene that the whole, vocal and instrumental, should be
-taken for one and the same idiom. This produced the necessity of
-continuous singing,--a necessity the greater in proportion as the
-language employed should be unmusical, as the less a language has of
-softness and accentuation, the more the alternate change from song to
-speech shocks the ear.
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AND LANGUAGE.]
-
-"This mode of uniting music to poetry sufficed to produce interest and
-illusion among the Greeks, because it was natural; and, for the contrary
-reason, it cannot have the like effect on us. In listening to a
-hypothetical and constrained language, we can hardly conceive what the
-singers would say, so that with much noise they excite little emotion.
-Hence the further necessity of bringing physical to the aid of moral
-pleasure, and of supplying, by the charm of harmony, the lack of
-distinctness of meaning and energy of expression. Thus, the less the
-heart was touched the more need there was to flatter the ear, and from
-sensation was sought the delight which sentiment could not furnish.
-Hence the origin of airs, choruses, symphonies, and of that enchanting
-melody which often embellishes modern music at the expense of its poetic
-accompaniment.
-
-"At the birth of the Opera, its inventors, to elude that which seemed
-unnatural, as an imitation of human life, in the union of music with
-speech, transferred their scenes from earth to heaven, and to hell. Not
-knowing how to make men speak, they made gods and devils, instead of
-heroes and shepherds, sing. Thus magic and marvels became speedily the
-stock in trade of the lyrical theatre. Yet, in spite of every effort to
-fascinate the eyes, whilst multitudes of instruments and of voices
-bewildered the ear, the action of every piece remained cold, and all its
-scenes were totally void of interest. As there was no plot which,
-however intricate, could not be easily unravelled by the intervention of
-some god, the spectator quietly abandoned to the poet the task of
-delivering his hero from his greatest dangers. Thus immense machinery
-produced little effect, for the imitation was always grossly defective
-and coarse. A supernatural action had in it no human interest, and the
-senses refused to yield to an illusion, in which the heart had no part.
-It would have been difficult to weary an assembly at greater cost than
-was done by these first operas.
-
-But the spectacle, imperfect as it was, was for a long time the
-admiration of its contemporaries. They congratulated themselves on so
-fine a discovery. Here, they said, is a new principle added to that of
-Aristotle; here is admiration added to terror and pity. They were not
-aware that the apparent riches of which they boasted were but a sign of
-sterility, like flowers which cover the fields before harvest. It was
-because they could not touch the heart that they aimed at surprising,
-and their pretended admiration was, in fact, but a puerile astonishment
-of which they ought to have been ashamed. A false air of magnificence
-and enchantments, sorceries, chimeras, extravagances the most insane, so
-imposed upon them that, with the best faith in the world, they spoke
-with respect and enthusiasm of a theatre which merited nothing but
-hisses: as if there were more merit in making the king of gods utter the
-stupidest platitudes than there would be in attributing the same to the
-lowest of mortals; or as if the valets of Molière were not infinitely
-preferable to the heroes of Pradon.
-
-[Sidenote: EARLY OPERAS.]
-
-"Although the author of these first operas had had hardly any other
-object than to dazzle the eye and to astound the ear, it could scarcely
-happen that the musician did not sometimes endeavour to express, by his
-art, some sentiments diffused through the piece in performance. The
-songs of nymphs, the hymns of priests, the shouts of warriors, infernal
-outcries did not so completely fill up these barbarous dramas as to
-leave no moments or situations of interest when the spectator was
-disposed to be moved. Thus it soon began to be felt, that independently
-of the musical declamation, often ill adapted to the language employed,
-the musical movement of harmony and of songs was not alien to the words
-which were to be uttered, and that consequently the effect of music
-alone, hitherto confined to the senses, could reach the heart. Melody,
-which was at first only separated from poetry by necessity, profited by
-this independence to adopt beauties absolutely and purely musical;
-harmony, improved and carried to perfection, opened to it new means of
-pleasing and of moving; and the measure, freed from the embarrassment of
-poetic rhythm, acquired a sort of cadence of its own.
-
-"Music, having thus become a third imitative art, had speedily its own
-language, its expressions, its pictures, altogether independent of
-poetry. Symphony also learnt to speak without the aid of words; and
-sentiments often came from the orchestra quite as distinctly and vividly
-expressed as they could be by the mouths of actors. Spectators then,
-beginning to get disgusted with all the tinsel of fairy land, of puerile
-machinery, and of fantastic images of things never seen, looked for the
-imitation of nature in pictures more interesting and more true. Up to
-this time the Opera had been constituted as it alone could be; for what
-better use, at the theatre, could be made of a kind of music which could
-paint nothing than by employing it in the representation of things which
-could not exist? But as soon as music learnt to paint and to speak the
-charms of sentiment, it brought into contempt those of the Wand; the
-theatre was purged of its garden of mythology, interest was substituted
-for astonishment; the machines of poets and of carpenters were
-destroyed; and the lyric drama assumed a more noble and less gigantic
-character. All that could move the heart was employed with success, and
-gods were driven from the stage on which men were represented[46]....
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC SUBJECTS.]
-
-"This reform was followed by another not less important. The Opera, it
-was felt, should represent nothing cold or intellectual--nothing that
-the spectator could witness with sufficient tranquillity to reflect on
-what he saw. And it is in this especially that the essential difference
-between the lyric drama and pure tragedy consists. All political
-deliberations, all plots, conspiracies, explanations, recitals,
-sententious maxims--in a word, all which speaks to the reason was
-banished from the theatre of the heart, with all _jeux d'esprit_,
-madrigals, and other pleasant conceits, which suppose some activity of
-thought. On the contrary, to depict all the energies of sentiments, all
-the violence of the passions, was made the principal object of this
-drama: for the illusion which makes its charm is destroyed as soon as
-the author and actor leave the spectator a moment to himself. It is on
-this principle that the modern Opera is established. Apostolo Zeno, the
-Corneille of Italy, and his tender pupil, who is its Racine,
-[Metastasio] have opened and carried to its perfection this new career
-of the dramatic art. They have brought the heroes of history on a
-theatre which seemed only adapted to exhibit the phantoms of fable....
-
-"Having tried and felt her strength, music, able to walk alone, began to
-disdain the poetry she had to accompany. To enhance her own value, she
-drew from herself beauties of which her companion had hitherto had a
-share. She still professes, it is true, to express her ideas and
-sentiments; but she assumes, so to speak, an independent language, and
-though the object of the poet and of the musician is the same, they are
-too much separated in their labours, to produce at once two images,
-resembling each other, yet distinct, without mutual injury. Thus it
-happens, that if the musician has more art than the poet, he effaces
-him; and the actor, seeing the spectator sacrifice the words to the
-music, sacrifices in his turn theatrical gesture and action to song and
-brilliancy of voice, which transforms a dramatic entertainment into a
-mere concert....
-
-"Such are the defects which the absolute perfection of music, and its
-defective application to language, may introduce into the Opera. And
-here it may be remarked that the languages the most apt to conform to
-all the laws of measure and of melody are those in which the duality of
-which I have spoken is the least apparent, because music, lending itself
-to the ideas of poetry, poetry yields, in its turn, to the inflections
-of music, so that when music ceases to observe the rhythm, the accent
-and the harmony of verses, verses syllable themselves, and submit to the
-cadence of musical measure and accent. But when a language has neither
-softness nor flexibility, the harshness of its poetry hinders its
-subjection to music; a good recitation of verses is obstructed even by
-the sweetness of the melody accompanying it; and one is conscious, in
-the forced union of the two arts, of a perpetual constraint which shocks
-the ear, and which destroys at once the charm of melody and the effect
-of declamation. For this defect there is no remedy; and to apply, by
-compulsion, music to a language which is not musical, is to give it more
-harshness than it would otherwise have....
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AND PAINTING.]
-
-"Although music, as an imitative art, has more connection with poetry
-than with painting, this latter is not obliged, as poetry is, at the
-theatre, to make a double representation of the same object; because the
-one expresses the sentiments of men, and the other gives pictures merely
-of the places where they are, which strengthens much the illusion of the
-whole spectacle.... But it must be acknowledged that the task of the
-musician is greater than that of the painter. The imitation expressed by
-painting is always cold, because it wants that succession of ideas and
-of impressions which increasingly kindle the soul, all its portraiture
-being conveyed to the mind at a first look. It is a great advantage,
-also, to a musician that he can paint things which cannot be heard,
-whilst the painter cannot paint those which cannot be seen; and the
-greatest prodigy of an art which has no life but in movement is, that it
-is able to give even an image of repose. Sleep, the quietude of night,
-solitude, and silence, are among the number of music's pictures.
-Sometimes noise produces the effect of silence and silence the effect of
-noise, as when one falls asleep at a monotonous reading and wakes up the
-moment the reader stops.... Further, whilst the painter can derive
-nothing from the musician, the skilful musician will not leave the
-studio of the painter without profit. Not only can he, at his will,
-agitate the sea, excite the flames of a conflagration, make rivulets run
-and murmur, bring down the rain and swell it to torrents, but he can
-augment the horrors of the frightful desert, darken the walls of a
-subterranean prison, calm the storm, make the air tranquil and the sky
-serene, and shed from the orchestra the freshest fragrance of the
-sweetest bowers.
-
-"We have seen how the union of the three arts we have mentioned
-constitute the lyric scene. Some have been tempted to introduce a
-fourth, of which I have now to speak.
-
-"The question is to know whether dancing, being a language, and
-consequently capable of becoming an imitative art, should not enter with
-the other three into the action of the lyrical drama, or whether it
-would not rather interrupt and suspend this action and spoil the effect
-and the unity of the whole piece.
-
-"But here, I think, there can be no question at all. For every one feels
-that the interest of a successive action depends upon the continuance
-and growing increase of the impression its representation makes on us.
-But by breaking off a spectacle and introducing other spectacles which
-have nothing to do with it, the principal subject is divided into
-independent parts, with no link of connection between them; and the more
-agreeable the inserted spectacles are, the greater must be the deformity
-produced by the mutilation of the whole.... It is for this reason that
-the Italians have at last banished these interludes from their operas.
-They are, separately considered, a species of spectacle very pleasing,
-very piquante, and quite natural, but so misplaced in the midst of a
-tragic action, that the two exhibitions injure each other mutually, and
-the one can never interest but at the expense of the other."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE BALLET.]
-
-Rousseau then suggests that the ballet should come after the opera,
-which, as every one knows, is the rule at the Italian Opera houses of
-London, and which appears to me a far preferable arrangement to that of
-the French Académie, where no lyrical work is considered complete
-without a _divertissement_ introduced anyhow into the middle of it, or
-of the Italian theatres where it is still the custom to perform short
-ballets or _divertissements_ between the acts of the opera. Italy, the
-country of the Vestrises, of the Taglionis, and in the present day I may
-add of Rosati, has always bestowed much care on the production of its
-_ballets_. I have mentioned (Chapter I.), that the opera in its infancy
-owed much to the protection of the Popes. The Papal Government in the
-present day is said to pay special attention to the _ballet_, and to
-watch with paternal solicitude the _pirouettes_ and _jetés battus_ of
-the _danseuses_. At least I find a passage to that effect in a work
-entitled "La Rome des Papes,"[47] the writer declaring that cardinals
-and bishops attend the Operas of Italy to see that the _ballerine_ swing
-their legs within certain limits.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Having seen Rousseau's views of the Opera as it might be, let us now
-turn to his description of the Opera of Paris as it actually was; a
-description put into the mouth of St. Preux, the hero of his _Nouvelle
-HĂ©loise_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Before I tell you what I think of this famous theatre, I will tell you
-what is said here about it; the judgment of connoisseurs may correct
-mine, if I am wrong.
-
-"The Opera of Paris passes at Paris for the most pompous, the most
-voluptuous, the most admirable spectacle that human art has ever
-invented. It is, say its admirers, the most superb monument of the
-magnificence of Louis XIV.; and one is not so free as you may think to
-express an opinion on so important a subject. Here you may dispute about
-everything except music and the Opera; on these topics alone it is
-dangerous not to dissemble. French music is defended, too, by a very
-rigorous inquisition, and the first thing intimated as a warning, to
-strangers who visit this country, is that all foreigners admit, there is
-nothing in this world so fine as the Opera of Paris. The fact is,
-discreet people hold their tongues, and dare only laugh in their
-sleeves.
-
-"It must, however, be conceded, that not only all the marvels of nature,
-but many other marvels, much greater, which no one has ever seen, are
-represented, at great cost, at this theatre; and certainly Pope[48] must
-have alluded to it when he describes one on which was seen gods,
-hobgoblins, monsters, kings, shepherds, fairies, fury, joy, fire, a jig,
-a battle, and a ball.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC INCONGRUITY.]
-
-"This magnificent assemblage, so well organized, is in fact regarded as
-though it contained all the things it represents. When a temple appears,
-the spectators are seized with a holy respect, and if the goddess be at
-all pretty, they become at once half pagan. They are not so difficult
-here as they are at the _Comédie Francaise_. There the audience cannot
-indue a comedian with his part: at the Opera, they cannot separate the
-actor from his. They revolt against a reasonable illusion, and yield to
-others in proportion as they are absurd and clumsy. Or, perhaps, they
-find it easier to form an idea of gods than of heroes. Jupiter having a
-different nature from ours, we may think about him just as we please:
-but Cato was a man; and how many men are they who have any right to
-believe that Cato could have existed?
-
-"The Opera is not then here as elsewhere, a company of comedians paid to
-entertain the public; its members are, it is true, people whom the
-public pay, and who exhibit themselves before it; but all this changes
-its nature and name, for these dramatists form a Royal Academy of
-Music,[49] a species of sovereign court, which judges without appeal in
-its own cause, and is otherwise by no means particular about justice or
-truth....
-
-"Having now told you what others say of this brilliant spectacle, I will
-tell you at present what I have seen myself.
-
-"Imagine an enclosure fifteen feet broad, and long in proportion; this
-enclosure is the theatre. On its two sides are placed at intervals
-screens, on which are grossly painted the objects which the scene is
-about to represent. At the back of the enclosure hangs a great curtain,
-painted in like manner and nearly always pierced and torn that it may
-represent at a little distance gulfs on the earth or holes in the sky.
-Every one who passes behind this stage, or touches the curtain, produces
-a sort of earthquake, which has a double effect. The sky is made of
-certain blueish rags suspended from poles or from cords, as linen may be
-seen hung out to dry in any washerwoman's yard. The sun, for it is seen
-here sometimes, is a lighted torch in a lantern. The cars of the gods
-and goddesses are composed of four rafters, squared and hung on a thick
-rope in the form of a swing or see-saw; between the rafters is a
-cross-plank on which the god sits down, and in front hangs a piece of
-coarse cloth well dirtied, which acts the part of clouds for the
-magnificent car. One may see towards the bottom of the machine, two or
-three stinking candles, badly snuffed, which, whilst the great personage
-dementedly presents himself swinging in his see-saw, fumigate him with
-an incense worthy of his dignity. The agitated sea is composed of long
-angular lanterns of cloth and blue pasteboard, strung on parallel spits,
-which are turned by little blackguard boys. The thunder is a heavy cart
-rolled over an arch, and is not the least agreeable instrument one
-hears. The flashes of lightning are made of pinches of resin thrown on a
-flame; and the thunder is a cracker at the end of a fusee.
-
-[Sidenote: SCENERY AND DECORATIONS.]
-
-"The theatre is moreover furnished with little square traps, which,
-opening at need, announce that the demons are about to issue from their
-cave. When they have to rise into the air, little demons of stuffed
-brown cloth are substituted for them, or sometimes real chimney sweeps,
-who swing about suspended on ropes till they are majestically lost in
-the rags of which I have spoken. The accidents, however, which not
-unfrequently happen are sometimes as tragic as farcical. When the ropes
-break, then infernal spirits and immortal gods fall together, and lame
-and occasionally kill one another. Add to all this, the monsters, which
-render some scenes very pathetic, such as dragons, lizards, tortoises,
-crocodiles and large toads, who promenade the theatre with a menacing
-air, and display at the Opera all the temptations of St. Anthony. Each
-of these figures is animated by a lout of a Savoyard, who has not even
-intelligence enough to play the beast.
-
-"Such, my cousin, is the august machinery of the Opera, as I have
-observed it from the pit with the aid of my glass; for you must not
-imagine that all this apparatus is hidden, and produces an imposing
-effect. I have only described what I have seen myself, and what any
-other spectator may see. I am assured, however, that there are a
-prodigious number of machines employed to put the whole spectacle in
-motion, and I have been invited several times to examine them; but I
-have never been curious to learn how little things are performed by
-great means.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"I will not speak to you of the music; you know it. But you can form no
-idea of the frightful cries, the long bellowings with which the theatre
-resounds daring the representation. One sees actresses nearly in
-convulsions, tearing yelps and howls violently out of their lungs,
-closed hands pressed on their breasts, heads thrown back, faces
-inflamed, veins swollen, and stomachs panting. I know not which of the
-two, the eye or the ear, is most agreeably affected by this ugly
-display; and, what is really inconceivable, it is these shriekings alone
-that the audience applaud. By the clapping of their hands they might be
-taken for deaf people delighted at catching some shrill piercing sound.
-For my part, I am convinced that they applaud the outcries of an actress
-at the Opera as they would the feats of a tumbler or a rope-dancer at a
-fair. The sensation produced by this screaming is both revolting and
-painful; one actually suffers whilst it lasts, but is so glad to see it
-all over without accident as willingly to testify joy. Imagine this
-style of singing employed to express the delicate gallantry and
-tenderness of Quinault! Imagine the muses, the graces, the loves, Venus
-herself, expressing themselves in this way, and judge the effect! As for
-devils, it might pass, for this music has something infernal in it, and
-is not ill-adapted to such beings.
-
-[Sidenote: THE AUDIENCE]
-
-"To these exquisite sounds those of the orchestra are most worthily
-married. Conceive an endless charivari of instruments without melody, a
-drawling and perpetual rumble of basses, the most lugubrious and
-fatiguing I have ever heard, and which I have never been able to
-support for half an hour without a violent headache. All this forms a
-species of psalmody in which there is generally neither melody nor
-measure. But should a lively air spring up, oh, then, the sensation is
-universal; you then hear the whole pit in movement, painfully following,
-and with great noise, some certain performer in the orchestra. Charmed
-to feel for a moment a cadence, which they understand so little, their
-ears, voices, arms, feet, their entire bodies, agitated all over, run
-after the measure always about to escape them; while the Italians and
-Germans, who are deeply affected by music, follow it without effort, and
-never need beat the time. But in this country the musical organ is
-extremely hard; voices have no softness, their inflections are sharp and
-strong, and their tones all reluctant and forced; and there is no
-cadence, no melodious accent in the airs of the people; their military
-instruments, their regimental fifes, their horns, and hautbois, their
-street singers, and _guinguette_ violins, are all so false as to shock
-the least delicate ear. Talents are not given indiscriminately to all
-men, and the French seem to me of all people to have the least aptitude
-for music. My Lord Edward says that the English are not better gifted in
-this respect; but the difference is, that they know it, and do not care
-about it; whilst the French would relinquish a thousand just titles to
-praise, rather than confess, that they are not the first musicians in
-the world. There are even those here who would willingly regard music
-as a state interest, because, perhaps, the cutting of two chords of the
-lyre of Timotheus was so regarded at Sparta.--But to return to my
-description.
-
-"I have yet to speak of the ballets, the most brilliant part of the
-opera. Considered separately, they form agreeable, magnificent, and
-truly theatrical spectacles; but it is as constituent parts of operatic
-pieces that I now allude to them. You know the operas of Quinault. You
-know how this sort of diversion is there introduced. His successors, in
-imitating, have surpassed him in absurdity. In every act the action is
-generally interrupted at the most interesting moment, by a dance given
-to the actors who are seated, while the public stand up to look on. It
-thus happens that the _dramatis personæ_ are absolutely forgotten. The
-way in which these fĂŞtes are brought about is very simple: Is the prince
-joyous? his courtiers participate in his joy, and dance. Is he sad? he
-must be cheered up, and they dance again. I do not know whether it is
-the fashion at our court to give balls to kings when they are out of
-humour; but I know that one cannot too much admire the stoicism of the
-monarchs of the buskin who listen to songs, and enjoy _entrechats_, and
-_pirouettes_, while their crowns are in danger, their lives in peril,
-and their fate is being decided behind the curtain. But there are many
-other occasions for dances: the gravest actions in life are performed in
-dancing.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BALLET]
-
-"Priests dance, soldiers dance, gods dance, devils dance; there is
-dancing even at interments,--dancing _Ă propos_ of everything.
-
-"Dancing is there the fourth of the fine arts constituting the lyrical
-scene. The three others are imitative; but what does this imitate?
-Nothing. It is then quite extraneous when employed in this manner, for
-what have minuets and rigadoons to do in a tragedy? I will say more. It
-would not be less misplaced, even if it imitated something, because of
-all the unities that of language is the most indispensable; and an
-action or an opera performed, half in singing and half in dancing, would
-be even more ridiculous than one written half in French and half in
-Italian.
-
-"Not content with introducing dancing as an essential part of the
-lyrical scene, the Academicians have sometimes even made it its
-principal subject; and they have operas, called _ballets_, which so ill
-respond to their title, that dancing is just as much out of its place in
-them as in the others. Most of these ballets form as many separate
-subjects as there are acts, and these subjects are linked together by
-certain metaphysical relations, which the spectator could never
-conceive, if the author did not take care to explain them to him in the
-prologue. The seasons, the ages, the senses, the elements, what
-connexion have these things with dancing? and what can they offer,
-through such a medium, to the imagination? Some of the pieces referred
-to are even purely allegorical, as the Carnival, and Folly; and these
-are the most insupportable of all, because, with much cleverness and
-piquancy they have neither sentiments nor pictures, nor situations, nor
-warmth, nor interest, nor anything that music can take hold of, to
-flatter the heart or to produce illusion. In these pretended ballets,
-the action always passes in singing, whilst dancing always interrupts
-the action. But as these performances have still less interest than the
-tragedies, the interruptions are less remarked. Thus defect serves to
-hide defect, and the great art of the author is, in order to make his
-ballet endurable, to make his piece as dull as possible....
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"After all, perhaps, the French ought not to have a better operatic
-drama than they have, at least, with respect to execution; not that they
-are not capable of appreciating what is good, but because the bad amuses
-them more. They feel more gratification in satirising than in
-applauding; the pleasure of criticising more than compensates them for
-the _ennui_ of witnessing a stupid composition, and they would rather
-mockingly pelt a performance after they have left the theatre, than
-enjoy themselves while there."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-I have already remarked that, although in his _Lettre sur la Musique
-Française_, Rousseau had praised the melody of the Italians as much as
-he had condemned the dreary psalmody of the French, he expressed the
-highest admiration for the genius of Gluck. He never missed a
-representation of _Orphée_, and said, in allusion to the gratification
-that work had afforded him, that "after all there was something in life
-worth living for, since in two hours so much genuine pleasure could be
-obtained." He observed that Gluck seemed to have come to France in order
-to give the lie to his proposition that good music could never be set to
-French words. At another time he observed that every one complained of
-Gluck's want of melody, but that for his part he thought it issued from
-all his pores.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Now let us turn to the _Devin du Village_, of which both words and music
-are generally attributed to Jean Jacques Rousseau; that Rousseau who, in
-the _Confessions_, reproaches himself so bitterly with having stolen a
-ribbon (it is true he had accused an innocent young girl of the theft,
-and, by implication, of something more), who passes complacently over a
-hundred mean and disgusting acts which he acknowledges to have
-committed, and who ends by declaring that any one who may come to the
-conclusion that he, Rousseau, is, "_un malhonnĂŞte homme_," is himself "a
-man to be smothered," (_un homme Ă  Ă©touffer_).
-
-_Le Devin du Village_ is undoubtedly the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau,
-as far as the libretto is concerned; but M. Castil Blaze has shown, on
-what appears to me very good evidence,[50] that the music was the
-production of Granet, a composer residing at Lyons.
-
-One day in the year 1751, Pierre Rousseau, called Rousseau of Toulouse,
-to distinguish him from the numerous other Rousseaus living in Paris,
-and known as the director of the _Journal Encyclopédique_, received a
-parcel containing a quantity of manuscript music, which, on examination,
-turned out to be the score of an opera. It was accompanied by a letter
-addressed, like the parcel itself, to "M. Rousseau, _homme de lettres_,
-demeurant Ă  Paris," in which a person signing himself Granet, and
-writing from Lyons, expressed a hope that his music would be found
-worthy of the illustrious author's words; that he had given appropriate
-expression to the tender sentiments of Colette and Colin, &c. Pierre
-Rousseau, though a journalist, understood music. He knew that Granet's
-letter was intended for Jean Jacques, and that he ought to return it,
-with the music, to the post-office, but the score of the _Devin du
-Village_, from the little he had seen of it, interested him, and he not
-only kept it until he had made himself familiar with it from beginning
-to end, but even showed it to a friend, M. de Belissent, one of the
-conservators of the Royal Library, and a man of great musical
-acquirements. As soon as Pierre Rousseau and De Belissent had quite
-finished with the _Devin du Village_, they sent it back to the
-post-office, whence it was forwarded to its true destination.
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-Jean Jacques had been expecting Granet's music, and, on receiving the
-opera in a complete form, took it to La Vaubalière, the farmer-general,
-and offered it to him, directly or indirectly, as a suitable piece for
-Madame de Pompadour's theatre at Versailles, where several operettas had
-already been produced. La Vaubalière was anxious to maintain himself in
-the good graces of the favourite, and purchased for her entertainment
-the right of representing the _Devin du Village_. This handsome present
-cost the gallant financier the sum of six thousand francs. However, the
-opera was performed, was wonderfully successful, and was afterwards
-produced at the Académie, when Rousseau received four thousand francs
-more; so at least says M. Castil Blaze, who appears to have derived his
-information from the books of the theatre, though according to
-Rousseau's own statement in the _Confessions_, the Opera sent him only
-fifty _louis_, which he declares he never asked for, but which he does
-not pretend to have returned.
-
-Rousseau "confesses," with studied detail, how the music of each piece
-in the _Devin du Village_ occurred to him; how he at one time thought of
-burning the whole affair (a conceit, by the way, which has since been
-rendered common-place by amateur authors in their prefaces); how his
-friends succeeded in persuading him to do nothing of the kind; and how,
-at last, he wrote the drama and sketched out the whole of the music in
-six days, so that when he arrived with his work in Paris, he had nothing
-to add but the recitative and the "_remplissage_" by which he probably
-meant the orchestral parts. In the next page he tells us that he would
-have given anything in the world if he could only have had the _Devin du
-Village_ performed for himself alone, and have listened to it with
-closed doors, as Lulli is reported to have listened to his _Armide_,
-executed for his sole gratification. This pleasure might, perhaps, have
-been enjoyed by Rousseau if he had really composed the music himself,
-for when the Académie produced his second _Devin du Village_, of which
-the music was undoubtedly his own, the public positively refused to
-listen to it, and hissed it until it was withdrawn. If the director had
-persisted in representing the piece the theatre would doubtless have
-been deserted by every one but the composer.
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-But to return to the original score which, as Rousseau himself informs
-us, wanted nothing when he arrived in Paris except what he calls the
-"_remplissage_" and the recitative. He had intended, he says, to have
-_Le Devin_ performed at the Opera, but M. de Cury, the intendant of the
-Menus Plaisirs, was determined it should first be brought out at the
-Court. A duel was very nearly taking place between the two directors,
-when it was at last decided by Rousseau himself, that Fontainebleau,
-Madame de Pompadour, and La Vaubalière should have the preference.
-Whether Granet had omitted to write recitative or not, it is a
-remarkable fact that recitative was wanted when the piece came to be
-rehearsed, and that Rousseau allowed JĂ©liotte, the singer, to supply it.
-This he mentions himself, as also that he was not present at any of the
-rehearsals--for it is at rehearsals above all, that a sham composer
-runs the chance of being detected. It is an easy thing for any man to
-say that he has composed an opera, but it may be difficult for him to
-correct a very simple error made by the copyist in transcribing the
-parts. However, Rousseau admits that he attended no rehearsals except
-the last, and that he did not compose the recitative, which, be it
-observed, the singers required forthwith, and which had to be written
-almost beneath their eyes.
-
-But what was Granet doing in the meanwhile? it will be asked. In the
-meanwhile Granet had died. And Pierre Rousseau and his friend M. de
-Bellissent? Rousseau, of Toulouse, supported by the Conservator of the
-Royal Library, accused Jean Jacques openly of fraud in the columns of
-the _Journal Encyclopédique_. These accusations were repeated on all
-sides, until at last Rousseau undertook to reply to them by composing
-new music to the _Devin du Village_. This new music the Opera refused to
-perform, and with some reason, for it appears (as the reader has seen)
-to have been detestable. It was not executed until after Rousseau's
-death, and at the special request of his widow, when, in the words of
-Grimm, "all the new airs were hooted without the slightest regard for
-the memory of the author."
-
-It is this utter failure of the second edition of the _Devin du Village_
-which convinces me more than anything else that the first was not from
-the hand of Rousseau. But let us not say that he was "_un malhonnĂŞte
-homme_." Probably the conscientious author of the Contrat Social adopted
-the children of others by way of compensation for having sent his own to
-the Enfants Trouvés.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-GLUCK AND PICCINNI IN PARIS.
-
-     Gluck at Vienna.--Iphigenia in Aulis.--A rehearsal at Sophie
-     Arnould's.--Gluck and Vestris.--Piccinni in Italy.--Piccinni in
-     Paris.--The two Iphigenias.--Iphigenia in Champagne.--Madeleine
-     Guimard, Vestris, and the Ballet.
-
-
-Fifteen years before the French Revolution, of which, in the present
-day, every one can trace the gradual approach, the important question
-that occupied the capital of France was not the emancipation of the
-peasants, nor the reorganisation of the judicial system, nor the
-equalisation of the taxes all over the country; it was simply the merit
-of Gluck as compared with Piccinni, and of Piccinni as compared with
-Gluck. Paris was divided into two camps, each of which had its own
-special music. The German master was declared by the partisans of the
-Italian to be severe, unmelodious and heavy: by his own friends he was
-considered profound, full of inspiration and eminently dramatic.
-Piccinni, on the other hand, was accused by his enemies of frivolity and
-insipidity, while his supporters maintained that his melodies touched
-the heart, and that it was not the province of music to appeal to the
-intellect. Fundamentally, the dispute was that which still exists as to
-the superiority of German or Italian music. Severe classicists continue
-to despise modern Italian composers as unintellectual, and the Italians
-still sneer at the music of Germany as the "music of mathematics."
-Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi have been undervalued in succession by the
-critics of Germany, France and England; and although there can be no
-question as to the inferiority of the last to the first-named of these
-composers, Signor Verdi, if he pays any attention to the attacks of
-which he is so constantly the object, can always console himself by
-reflecting that, after all, not half so much has been said against his
-operas as it was once the fashion to say against Rossini's. The
-Italians, on the other hand, can be fairly reproached with this, that,
-to the present day, they have never appreciated _Don Giovanni_. They
-consent to play it in London, Paris and St. Petersburgh because the
-musical public of the capitals know the work and are convinced that
-nothing finer has ever been written; (this is, however, less in Paris
-than in the other two capitals of the Italian Opera), but the singers
-themselves do not in their hearts like Mozart. They are kind enough to
-execute his music, because they are well paid for it, but that is all.
-
-[Sidenote: GERMAN AND ITALIAN MUSIC.]
-
-In the present century, which is above all an age of eclecticism, we
-find the natural descendants of Piccinni going over to the Gluckists,
-while the legitimate inheritors of Gluck abandon their succession to
-adopt the facile forms and sometimes unmeaning if melodious phrases of
-the Piccinnists. Certainly there are no traces of the grand old German
-school in the light popular music of Herr Flotow (who, if not a German,
-is a Germanised Russian); and, on the other hand, Signor Verdi in his
-emphatic moments quite belies his Italian origin; indeed, there are
-passages in several of this composer's operas which may be traced
-directly not to Rossini, but to Meyerbeer.
-
-The history of the quarrels between the Gluckists and Piccinnists has no
-importance in connection with art. These disputes led to no sound
-criticism, nor have the attacks and replies on either side added
-anything to what was already known on the subject of music as applied to
-the expression and illustration of human passion. As for deciding
-between Gluckism and Piccinnism (I say nothing about the men, who
-certainly were not equal in point of genius), that is impossible. It is
-almost a question of organisation. It may be remarked, however, that no
-composer ever began as a Gluckist (so to speak) and ended as a
-Piccinnist, whereas Rossini, in his last and greatest work, approaches
-the German style, and even Donizetti, in his latest and most dramatic
-operas, exhibits somewhat of the same tendency. It will be remembered,
-too, that the great Mozart, and in our own day Meyerbeer, wrote their
-earlier operas in the Italian mode, and abandoned it when they
-recognised its insufficiency for dramatic purposes. Indeed, Gluck's own
-style, as we shall presently see, underwent a similar change. But it
-would be rash to conclude from these instances, that Italians, writing
-in the Italian style, have produced no great dramatic music. Rossini's
-_Otello_ and Bellini's _Norma_ at once suggest themselves as convincing
-proofs of the contrary.
-
-All that remains now of the Gluck _versus_ Piccinni contest is a number
-of anecdotes, which are amusing, as showing the height musical
-enthusiasm and musical prejudice had reached in Paris at an epoch when
-music and the arts generally were about the last things that should have
-occupied the French. But before calling attention to a few of the
-principal incidents in this harmonious civil war, let me sketch the
-early career of each of the great leaders.
-
-Gluck was born, in 1712, of Bohemian parents, so that he was almost
-certainly not of German but of Slavonian origin.[51] Young Gluck learnt
-the scale simultaneously with the alphabet (why should not all children
-be taught to read from music-notes as they are taught to read from
-ordinary typography?) and soon afterwards received lessons on the
-violoncello, which, however, were put a stop to by the death of his
-father.
-
-[Sidenote: CHILDHOOD OF GLUCK.]
-
-Little Christopher was left an orphan at a very early age. Fortunately,
-he had made sufficient progress on the violoncello to obtain an
-engagement with a company of wandering musicians. Thus he contrived to
-exist until the troupe had wandered as far as Vienna, where his talent
-attracted the attention of a few sympathetic and generous men, who
-enabled him to complete his musical education in peace.
-
-After studying harmony and counterpoint, Gluck determined to leave the
-capital of Germany for Italy; for in those days no one was accounted a
-musician who had not derived a certain amount of his inspiration from
-Italian sources. After studying four years under the celebrated Martini,
-he felt that the time had come for him to produce a work of his own. His
-"Artaxerxes" was given at Milan with success, and this opera was
-followed by seven others, which were brought out either at Venice,
-Cremona or Turin. Five years sufficed for Gluck to make an immense name
-in Italy. His reputation even extended to the other countries of Europe
-and the offers he received from the English were sufficiently liberal to
-tempt the rising composer to pay a visit to London. Here, however, he
-had to contend with the genius and celebrity of Handel, compared with
-whom he was as yet but a composer of mediocrity. He returned to Vienna
-not very well pleased with his reception in England, and soon afterwards
-made his appearance once more in Italy, where he produced five other
-works, all of which were successful. Hitherto Gluck's style had been
-quite in accordance with the Italian taste, and the Italians did not
-think of reproaching him with any want of melody. On the contrary, they
-applauded his works, as if they had been signed by one of their most
-esteemed masters. But if the Italians were satisfied with Gluck, Gluck
-was not satisfied with the Italians; and it was not until he had left
-Italy, that he discovered his true vein.
-
-Gluck was forty-six years of age when he brought out his _Alcestis_, the
-first work composed in the style which is now regarded as peculiarly his
-own. _Alcestis_, and _Orpheus_, by which it was followed, created a
-great sensation in Germany, and when the Chevalier Gluck composed a work
-"by command," in honour of the Emperor Joseph's marriage, it was played,
-not perhaps by the greatest artists in Germany, but certainly by the
-most distinguished, for the principal parts were distributed among four
-arch-duchesses and an arch-duke. Where are the dukes and duchesses now
-who could play, not with success, but without disastrous failure, in an
-opera by Gluck?
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AT VIENNA.]
-
-It so happened that at Vienna, attached to the French embassy, lived a
-certain M. du Rollet, who was in the habit of considering himself a
-poet. To him Gluck confided his project of visiting Paris, and composing
-for the French stage. Du Rollet not only encouraged the musician in his
-intentions, but even promised him a libretto of his own writing. The
-libretto was not good--indeed what _libretto_ is?--except, perhaps, some
-of Scribe's _libretti_ for the light operas of Auber. But it must be
-remembered that the _Opéra Comique_ is only a development of the
-vaudeville; and in the entire catalogue of serious operas, with the
-exception of Metastasio's, a few by Romani and Da Ponte's _Don Giovanni_
-(with a Mozart to interpret it), it is not easy to find any which, in a
-literary and poetical sense, are not absurd. However, Du Rollet
-arranged, or disarranged, Racine's _Iphigénie_, to suit the requirements
-of the lyric stage, and handed over "the book" to the Chevalier Gluck.
-
-_Iphigenia in Aulis_ was composed in less than a year; but to write an
-opera is one thing, to get it produced another. At that time the French
-Opera was a close borough, in the hands of half a dozen native
-composers, whose nationality was for the most part their only merit.
-These musicians were not in the habit of positively refusing all chance
-to foreign competitors; but they interposed all sorts of delays between
-the acceptance and the production of their works, and did their best
-generally to prevent their success. However, the Dauphiness Marie
-Antoinette, had undertaken to introduce the great German composer to
-Paris, and she smoothed the way for him so effectually, that soon after
-his arrival in the French capital, _Iphigenia in Aulis_ was accepted,
-and actually put into rehearsal.
-
-Gluck now found a terrible and apparently insurmountable obstacle to his
-success in the ignorance and obstinacy of the orchestra. He was not the
-man to be satisfied with slovenly execution, and many and severe were
-the lessons he had to give the French musicians, in the course of almost
-as many rehearsals as Meyerbeer requires in the present day, before he
-felt justified in announcing his work as ready for representation. The
-young Princess had requested the lieutenant of police to take the
-necessary precautions against disturbances; and she herself, accompanied
-by the Dauphin, the Count and Countess of Provence, the Duchesses of
-Chartres and of Bourbon, and the Princess de Lamballe, entered the
-theatre before the public were admitted. The ministers and all the
-Court, with the exception of the king (Louis XV.) and Madame Du Barry
-were present. Sophie Arnould was the Iphigenia, and is said to have been
-admirable in that character, though the charming Sophie seems to have
-owed most of her success to her acting rather than to her singing.
-
-The first night of _Iphigenia_, Larrivée, who took the part of
-Agamemnon, actually abstained from singing through his nose. This is
-mentioned by the critics and memorialists of the time as something
-incredible, and almost supernatural. It appears that Larrivée, in spite
-of his nasal twang, was considered a very fine singer. The public of the
-pit used to applaud him, but they would also say, when he had just
-finished one of his airs, "That nose has really a magnificent voice!"
-
-[Sidenote: IPHIGENIA IN AULIS.]
-
-The success of _Iphigenia_ was prodigious. Marie Antoinette herself gave
-the signal of the applause, and it mattered little to the courtiers
-whether they understood Gluck's grand, simple music, or not.
-
-All they had to do, and all they did, was to follow the example of the
-Dauphiness.
-
-Never did poet, artist, or musician have a more enthusiastic patroness
-than Marie Antoinette. She not only encouraged Gluck herself, but
-visited with her severe displeasure all who ventured to treat him
-disrespectfully. And it must be remembered that in those days a _Grand
-Seigneur_ paid a great artist, or a great writer, just what amount of
-respect he thought fit. Thus, one _Grand Seigneur_ had Voltaire caned
-(and afterwards from pride or from cowardice refused his challenge),
-while another struck Beaumarchais, and, after insulting him in the court
-of justice over which he presided, summoned him to leave the bench and
-come outside, that he might assassinate him.
-
-The first person with whom Gluck came to an open rupture was the Prince
-d'Hennin, the "Prince of Dwarfs," as he was called. The chevalier, in
-spite of his despotic, unyielding nature, could not help giving way to
-the charming Sophie Arnould, who, with a caprice permitted to her alone,
-insisted on the rehearsals of _Orpheus_ taking place in her own
-apartments. The orchestra was playing, and Sophie Arnould was singing,
-when suddenly the door opened, and in walked the Prince d'Hennin. This
-was not a grand rehearsal, and all the vocalists were seated.
-
-"I believe," said the _Grand Seigneur_, addressing Sophie Arnould in the
-middle of her air, "that it is the custom in France to rise when any
-one enters the room, especially if it be a person of some
-consideration?"
-
-Gluck leaped from his seat with rage, rushed towards the intruder, and
-with his eyes flashing fire, said to him:--
-
-"The custom in Germany, sir, is to rise only for those whom we esteem."
-
-Then turning to Sophie, he added:--
-
-"I perceive, Mademoiselle, that you are not mistress in your own house.
-I leave you, and shall never set foot here again."
-
-When the story was told to Marie Antoinette, she was indignant with the
-Prince, and compelled him to make amends to the chevalier for the insult
-offered to him. The Prince's pride must have suffered terribly; for he
-had to pay a visit to the composer, and to thank him for having assured
-him in the plainest terms, that he looked upon him with great contempt.
-
-This Prince d'Hennin was a favourite butt for the wit of the vivacious
-Count de Lauragais, who, as the reader, perhaps, remembers, was one of
-Sophie Arnould's earliest and most devoted admirers. One day when the
-interesting Sophie was unwell, the Count asked her physician whether it
-was not especially necessary to think of her spirits, and to keep away
-everything that might tend to have a depressing effect upon them.
-
-The doctor answered the Count's sagacious question in the affirmative.
-
-[Sidenote: THE PRINCE D'HENNIN.]
-
-"Above all," continued De Lauragais, "do you not consider it of the
-greatest importance that the Prince d'Hennin should not be allowed to
-visit her?"
-
-The physician admitted that it would be as well she should not see the
-prince; but De Lauragais was not satisfied with this, and he at last
-persuaded the obliging doctor to put his opinion in the form of a direct
-recommendation. In other words, he made him write a prescription for
-Mdlle. Arnould, forbidding her to have any conversation with the Prince
-d'Hennin. This prescription he sent to the prince's house, with a letter
-calling his particular attention to it, and entreating him, for the sake
-of Mdlle. Arnould's health, not to forget the injunction it contained.
-The consequence was a duel, which, however, was attended with no bad
-results, for, in the evening, the insultor and the insulted met at
-Sophie Arnould's house.
-
-It now became the fashion at the Court to attend the rehearsals of
-_Orpheus_, which took place once more in the theatre. On these
-occasions, the doors were besieged long before the performance
-commenced; and numbers of persons were unable to gain admission. To see
-Gluck at a rehearsal was infinitely more interesting than to see him at
-one of the ordinary public representations. The composer had certain
-habits; and from these he would not depart for any one. Thus, on
-entering the orchestra, he would take his coat off to conduct at ease in
-his shirt sleeves. Then he would remove his wig, and replace it by a
-cotton night-cap of the remotest fashion. When the rehearsal was at an
-end, he had no necessity to trouble himself about the articles of dress
-which he had laid aside, for there was a general contest between the
-dukes and princes of the Court as to who should hand them to him.
-_Orpheus_ is said to have been quite as successful as _Iphigenia_. One
-thing, however, which sometimes makes me doubt the completeness of this
-success, in a musical point of view, is the recorded fact, that "_the
-ballet_, especially, was very fine." The _ballet_ is certainly not the
-first thing we think of in _William Tell_, or even in _Robert_. It
-appears that Gluck himself objected positively to the introduction of
-dancing into the opera of _Orpheus_. He held, and with evident reason,
-that it would interfere with the seriousness and pathos of the general
-action, and would, in short, spoil the piece. He was overruled by the
-"_Diou_ de la Danse." What could Gluck's opinion be worth in the eyes of
-Auguste or of Gaetan Vestris, who held that there were only three great
-men in Europe--Voltaire, Frederick of Prussia, and himself. No! the
-dancer was determined to have his "_Chacone_," and he was as obstinate,
-indeed, more obstinate, than Gluck himself.
-
-"Write me the music of a _chacone_, Monsieur Gluck," said the god of
-dancing.
-
-"A chacone!" exclaimed the indignant composer; "Do you think the Greeks,
-whose manners we are endeavouring to depict, knew what a chacone was?"
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND VESTRIS.]
-
-"Did they not!" replied Vestris, astonished at the information; and in a
-tone of compassion, he added, "Then they are much to be pitied."
-
-_Alcestis_, on its first production, did not meet with so much success
-as _Orpheus_ and _Iphigenia_. The piece itself was singularly
-uninteresting; and this was made the pretext for a host of epigrams, of
-which the sting fell, not upon the author, but upon the composer.
-However, after a few representations, _Alcestis_ began to attract the
-public quite as much as the two previous works had done. Gluck's
-detractors were discomfited, and the theatre was filled every evening
-with his admirers. At this juncture, the composer of _Alcestis_ was
-thrown into great distress by the death of his favourite niece. He left
-Paris, and his enemies, who had been unable to vanquish, now resolved to
-replace him.
-
-I have said that Madame Du Barry did not honour the representation of
-Gluck's operas with her presence. It was, in fact, she who headed the
-opposition against him. She was mortified at not having some favourite
-musician of her own to patronize when the Dauphiness had hers, and now
-resolved to send to Italy for Piccinni, in the hope that when Gluck
-returned, he would find himself neglected for the already celebrated
-Italian composer. Baron de Breteuil, the French ambassador at Rome, was
-instructed to offer Piccinni an annual salary of two thousand crowns if
-he would go to Paris, and reside there. The Italian needed no pressing,
-for he was as anxious to visit the French capital as Gluck himself had
-been. Just then, however, Louis XV. died, by which the patroness of the
-German composer, from Dauphiness, became Queen. Madame Du Barry's party
-hesitated about bringing over a composer to whom they fancied Marie
-Antoinette must be as hostile as they themselves were to Gluck. But the
-Marquis Caraccioli, the Neapolitan ambassador at the Court of France,
-had now taken the matter in hand, and from mere excess of patriotism,
-had determined that Piccinni should make his appearance in Paris to
-destroy the reputation of the German at a single blow. As for Marie
-Antoinette, she not only did not think of opposing the Italian, but,
-when he arrived, received him most graciously, and showed him every
-possible kindness. But before introducing Piccinni to our readers as the
-rival of Gluck in Paris, let us take a glance at his previous career in
-his native land.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLAS PICCINNI.]
-
-Nicolas Piccinni, who was not less than fifty years of age when he left
-Naples, for Paris, with the avowed purpose of outrivalling Gluck, was
-born at Bari, in the Neapolitan territory, in 1728. His father was a
-musician, and apparently an unsuccessful one, for he endeavoured to
-disgust his son with the art he had himself practised, and absolutely
-forbade him to touch any musical instrument. No doubt this injunction of
-the father produced just the contrary of the effect intended. The
-child's natural inclination for music became the more invincible the
-more it was repressed, and little Nicolas contrived, every day, to
-devote a few hours in secret to the study of the harpsichord, the piano
-of that day. He knew nothing of music, but guided by his own instinct,
-learnt something of its mysteries simply by experimenting (for it was
-nothing more) on the instrument which his father had been imprudent
-enough, as he would have said himself, to leave within his reach.
-Gradually he learnt to play such airs as he happened to remember, and,
-probably without being aware himself of the process he was pursuing,
-studied the art of combining notes in a manner agreeable to the ear; in
-other words, he acquired some elementary notions of harmony. And still
-his father flattered himself that little Nicolas cared nothing for
-music, and that nothing could ever make him a musician.
-
-One day, old Piccinni had occasion to visit the Bishop of Bari. He took
-his son with him, but left the little boy in one room while he conversed
-on private business with His Eminence in another. Now it chanced that in
-the room where Nicolas was left there was a magnificent harpsichord, and
-the temptation was really too great for him. Harpsichords were not made
-merely to be looked at, he doubtless thought. He went to the instrument,
-examined it carefully, and struck a note. The tone was superb.
-
-Next he ventured upon a few notes in succession; and, then, how he
-longed to play an entire air!
-
-There was no help for it; he must, at all events, play a few bars with
-both hands. The harpsichord at home was execrable, and this one was
-admirable--made by the Broadwood of harpsichord makers. He began, but,
-carried away by the melody, soon forgot where he was, and what he was
-doing.
-
-The Bishop, and especially Piccinni _père_, were thunderstruck. There
-was a roughness and poverty about the accompaniment which showed that
-the young performer was far from having completed his studies in
-harmony; but, at the same time, there was no mistaking the fire, the
-true emotion, which characterised his playing. The father thought of
-going into a violent passion, but the Bishop would not hear of such a
-thing.
-
-"Music is evidently the child's true vocation," said the worthy
-ecclesiastic; "He must be a musician, and one day, perhaps, will be a
-great composer."
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI AT NAPLES.]
-
-The Bishop now would not let old Piccinni rest until he promised to send
-his son to the Conservatory of Music, directed by the celebrated Leo.
-The father was obliged to consent, and Nicolas was sent off to Naples.
-Here he was confided to the care of an inferior professor, who was by no
-means aware of the child's precocious talent. The latter was soon
-disgusted with the routine of the class, and conceived the daring
-project of composing a mass, being at the time scarcely acquainted even
-with the rudiments of composition. He was conscious of the audacity of
-the undertaking, and therefore confided it to no one; but, somehow or
-other, the news got abroad that little Nicolas had composed a grand
-mass, and, before long, Leo himself heard of it.
-
-Then the great professor sent for the little pupil, who arrived
-trembling from head to foot, thinking apparently that for a boy of his
-age to compose a mass was a species of crime.
-
-Leo was grave, but not so severe as the young composer had expected.
-
-"You have written a mass?" he commenced.
-
-"Excuse me, sir, I could not help it;" said the youthful Piccinni.
-
-"Let me see it?"
-
-Nicolas went to his room for the score, and brought it back, together
-with the orchestral parts all carefully copied out.
-
-After casting a rapid glance at the manuscript, Leo went into the
-concert-room, assembled an orchestra, and distributed the orchestral
-parts among the requisite number of executants.
-
-Little Nicolas was in a state of great trepidation, for he saw plainly
-that the professor was laughing at him. It was impossible to run away,
-or he would doubtless have made his escape. Leo advanced towards him,
-handed him the score, and with imperturbable gravity, requested him to
-take his place at the desk in front of the orchestra. Nicolas, with the
-courage of despair, took up his position, and gave the signal to the
-orchestra which the merciless professor had placed under his command.
-After his first emotion had passed away, Nicolas continued to beat time,
-fancying that, after all, what he had composed, though doubtless bad,
-was, perhaps, not ridiculous. The mass was executed from beginning to
-end. As he approached the finale, all the young musician's fears
-returned. He looked at the professor, and saw that he did not seem to be
-in the slightest degree impressed by the performance. What _did_ he,
-what _could_ he think of such a production?
-
-"I pardon you this time," said the terrible _maestro_, when the last
-chord had been struck; "but if ever you do such a thing again I will
-punish you in such a manner that you will remember it as long as you
-live. Instead of studying the principles of your art, you give yourself
-up to all the wildness of your imagination, and when you have tutored
-your ill-regulated ideas into something like shape, you produce what you
-call a mass, and think, no doubt, that you have composed a masterpiece."
-
-Nicolas burst into tears, and then began to tell Leo how he had been
-annoyed by the dry and pedantic instruction of the sub-professor. Leo,
-who, with all his coldness of manner, had a heart, clasped the boy in
-his arms, told him not to be disheartened, but to persevere, for that he
-had real talent; and finally promised that from that moment he himself
-would superintend his studies.
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI AND DURANTE.]
-
-Leo died, and was succeeded by Durante, who used to say of young
-Piccinni, "The others are my pupils, but this one is my son." Twelve
-years after his entrance into the Conservatory the most promising of its
-_alumni_ left it and set about the composition of an opera. As Piccinni
-was introduced by Prince Vintimille, the director of the theatre then
-in vogue was unable to refuse him a hearing; but he represented to His
-Highness the certainty of the young composer's work turning out a
-failure. Piccinni's patron was not wanting in generosity.
-
-"How much can you lose by his opera," he said to the manager, "supposing
-it should be a complete _fiasco_?"
-
-The manager named a sum equivalent to three hundred and twenty pounds.
-
-"There is the money, then," said the prince, handing him at the same
-time a purse. "If the _Donne Dispetose_ (that was the name of Piccinni's
-opera) should prove a failure, you may keep the money, otherwise you can
-return it to me."
-
-Logroscino was the favorite Italian composer of that day, and great was
-the excitement when it was heard that the next new opera to be produced
-was not of his writing. Evidently, his friends had only one course open
-to them. They decided to hiss Logroscino's rival.
-
-But the Florentine public had reckoned without Piccinni's genius. They
-could not hiss a man whose music delighted them, and Piccinni's _Donne
-Dispetose_ threw them into ecstacies. Those who had come to hoot
-remained to applaud. Piccinni's reputation had commenced, and it went on
-increasing until at last his was the most popular name in all musical
-Italy.
-
-Five years afterwards, Piccinni (who in the meanwhile had produced two
-other operas) gave his celebrated _Cecchina_, otherwise _La Buona
-Figliuola_, at Rome. The success of this work, of which the libretto is
-founded on the story of _Pamela_, was almost unprecedented. It was
-played everywhere in Italy, even at the marionette theatres; and still
-there was not sufficient room for the public, who were all dying to see
-it. This little opera filled every playhouse in the Italian peninsula,
-and it had taken Piccinni ten days to write! The celebrated Tonelli,
-who, being an Italian, had naturally heard of its success, happened to
-pass through Rome when it was being played there. He was not by any
-means persuaded that the music was good because the public applauded it;
-but after hearing the melodious opera from beginning to end, he turned
-to his friends and said, in a tone of sincere conviction, "This Piccinni
-is a true inventor!"
-
-Of course the _Cecchina_ was heard of in France. Indeed, it was the
-great reputation achieved by that opera which first rendered the
-Parisians anxious to hear Piccinni, and which inspired Madame Du Barry
-with the hope that in the Neapolitan composer she might find a
-successful rival to the great German musician patronised by Marie
-Antoinette.
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND PICCINNI.]
-
-Piccinni, after accepting the invitation to dispute the prize of
-popularity in Paris with Gluck, resolved to commence a new opera
-forthwith, and had no sooner reached the French capital than he asked
-one of the most distinguished authors of the day to furnish him with a
-_libretto_. Marmontel, to whom the request was made, gave him his
-_Roland_, which was the Roland of Quinault cut down from five acts to
-three. Unfortunately, Piccinni did not understand a word of French.
-Marmontel was therefore obliged to write beneath each French word its
-Italian equivalent, which caused it to be said that he was not only
-Piccinni's poet, but also his dictionary.
-
-Gluck was in Germany when Piccinni arrived, and on hearing of the
-manœuvres of Madame du Barry and the Marquis Caraccioli to supplant
-him in the favour of the Parisian public, he fell into a violent
-passion, and wrote a furious letter on the subject, which was made
-public. Above all, he was enraged at the Academy having accepted from
-his adversary an opera on the subject of Roland, for he had agreed to
-compose an _Orlando_ for them himself.
-
-"Do you know that the Chevalier is coming back to us with an _Armida_
-and an _Orlando_ in his portfolio?" said the Abbé Arnaud, one of Gluck's
-most fervent admirers.
-
-"But Piccinni is also at work at an _Orlando_?" replied one of the
-Piccinnists.
-
-"So much the better," returned the Abbé, "for then we shall have an
-_Orlando_ and also an _Orlandino_."
-
-Marmontel heard of this _mot_, which caused him to address some
-unpleasant observations to the Abbé the first time he met him in
-society.
-
-But the Abbé was not to be silenced. One night, when Gluck's _Alceste_
-was being played, he happened to occupy the next seat to Marmontel.
-_Alceste_ played by Mademoiselle Lesueur, has, at the end of the second
-act, to exclaim--
-
-"_Il me déchire le cœur._"
-
-"_Ah, Mademoiselle_," said the Academician quite aloud, "_vous me
-déchirez les oreilles._"
-
-"What a fortunate thing for you, Sir," said the Abbé, "if you could get
-new ones."
-
-Of course the two armies had their generals. Among those of the
-Piccinnists were some of the greatest literary men of the
-day--Marmontel, La Harpe, D'Alembert, &c. The only writers on Gluck's
-side were Suard, and the Abbé Arnaud, for Rousseau, much as he admired
-Gluck, cannot be reckoned among his partisans. Suard, who wrote under a
-pseudonym, generally contrived to raise the laugh against his
-adversaries. The Abbé Arnaud, as we have seen, used to defend his
-composer in society, and constituted himself his champion wherever there
-appeared to be the least necessity, or even opportunity, of doing so.
-Volumes upon volumes were written on each side; but of course no one was
-converted.
-
-The Gluckists persisted in saying that Piccinni would never be able to
-compose anything better than concert music.
-
-The Piccinnists, on the other hand, denied that Gluck had the gift of
-melody, though they readily admitted that he had this advantage over his
-adversary--he made a great deal more noise.
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND PICCINNI.]
-
-In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Piccinni's _Orlando_, or
-_Orlandino_, as the Abbé Arnaud called it, were not going on favourably.
-The orchestra, which had been subdued by the energetic Gluck, rebelled
-against Piccinni, who was quite in despair at the vast inferiority of
-the French to the Italian musicians.
-
-"Everything goes wrong," he said to Marmontel; "there is nothing to be
-done with them."
-
-Marmontel was then obliged to interfere himself. Profiting by Piccinni's
-forbearance, directors, singers, and musicians were in the habit of
-treating him with the coolest indifference. Once, when Marmontel went to
-rehearsal, he found that none of the principal singers were present, and
-that the opera was to be rehearsed with "doubles." The author of the
-_libretto_ was furious, and said he would never suffer the work of the
-greatest musician in Italy to be left to the execution of "doubles."
-Upon this, Mademoiselle Bourgeois had the audacity to tell the
-Academician that, after all, he was but the double of Quinault, whose
-_Roland_ (as we have seen) he had abridged. One of the chorus singers,
-too, explained, that for his part he was not double at all, and that it
-was a fortunate thing for M. Marmontel's shoulders that such was the
-case.
-
-At last, when all seemed ready, and the day had been fixed for the first
-representation, up came Vestris, the god of dancing, with a request for
-some _ballet_ music. It was for the thin but fascinating Madeleine
-Guimard, who was not in the habit of being refused. Piccinni, without
-delay, set about the music of her _pas_, and produced a gavot, which
-was considered one of the most charming things in the Opera.
-
-When Piccinni started for the theatre, the night of the first
-representation, he took leave of his family as if he had been going to
-execution. His wife and son wept abundantly, and all his friends were in
-a state of despair.
-
-"Come, my children," said Piccinni, at last; "this is unreasonable.
-Remember that we are not among savages. We are living with the politest
-and kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a musician, they
-will, at all events, respect me as a man and a stranger."
-
-Piccinni's success was complete. It was impossible for the Gluckists to
-deny it. Accordingly they said that they had never disputed Piccinni's
-grace, nor his gift of melody, though his talent was spoiled by a
-certain softness and effeminacy, which was observable in all his
-productions.
-
-Marie Antoinette, whom Madame du Barry and her clique had looked upon as
-the natural enemy of Piccinni, because she was the avowed patroness of
-Gluck, astonished both the cabals by sending for the Italian composer
-and appointing him her singing-master. This was, doubtless, a great
-honour for Piccinni, though a very unprofitable one; for he was not only
-not paid for his lessons, but incurred considerable expense in going to
-and from the palace, to say nothing of the costly binding of the operas
-and other music, which he presented to the royal circle.
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI'S SUCCESS.]
-
-Beaumarchais had found precisely the same disadvantages attaching to the
-post of Court music-master, when, in his youth, he gave lessons to the
-daughters of Louis XV.
-
-When Berton assumed the management of the Opera, he determined to make
-the rival masters friends, and invited them to a magnificent supper,
-where they were placed side by side. Gluck drank like a man and a
-German, and before the supper was finished, was on thoroughly
-confidential terms with his neighbour.
-
-"The French are very good people," said he to Piccinni, "but they make
-me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they can't sing."
-
-The reconciliation appeared to be quite sincere; but the fact was, the
-quarrel was not between two men, but between two parties. When the
-direction of the Opera passed from the hands of Berton into those of
-Devismes, a project of the latter, for making Piccinni and Gluck compose
-an opera, at the same time, on the same subject, brought their
-respective admirers once more into open collision. "Here," said Devismes
-to Piccinni, "is a libretto on the story of Iphigenia in Tauris. M.
-Gluck will treat the same subject; and the French public will then, for
-the first time, have the pleasure of hearing two operas founded upon the
-same incidents, and introducing the same characters, but composed by two
-masters of entirely different schools."
-
-"But," objected Piccinni, "if Gluck's opera is played first, the public
-will think so much of it that they will not listen to mine."
-
-"To avoid that inconvenience," replied the director, "we will play yours
-first."
-
-"But Gluck will not permit it."
-
-"I give you my word of honour," said Devismes, "that your opera shall be
-put into rehearsal and brought out as soon as it is finished, and before
-Gluck's."
-
-Piccinni went home, and at once set to work.
-
-He had just finished his two first acts when he heard that Gluck had
-come back from Germany with his _Iphigenia in Tauris_ completed.
-However, he had received the director's promise that his Iphigenia
-should be produced first, and, relying upon Devismes's word of honour,
-Piccinni merely resolved to finish his opera as quickly as possible, so
-that the management might not be inconvenienced by having to wait for
-it, now that Gluck's work, which was to come second, was ready for
-production.
-
-Piccinni had not quite completed his _Iphigenia_, when, to his horror,
-he heard that Gluck's was already in rehearsal! He rushed to Devismes,
-reminded him of his promise, reproached him with want of faith, but all
-to no purpose. The director of the Opera declared that he had received a
-"command" to produce Gluck's work immediately, and that he had nothing
-to do but to obey. He was very sorry, was in despair, &c.; but it was
-absolutely necessary to play M. Gluck's opera first.
-
-[Sidenote: THE TWO IPHIGENIAS.]
-
-Piccinni felt that he was lost. He went to his friends, and told them
-the whole affair.
-
-"In the first place," said Guinguenée, the writer, "let me look at the
-poem?" The poem was not merely bad, it was ridiculous. The manager had
-taken advantage of Piccinni's ignorance of the French language to impose
-upon him a _libretto_ full of absurdities and common-places, such as no
-sensible schoolboy would have put his name to. Guinguenée, at Piccinni's
-request, re-wrote the whole piece--greatly, of course, to the annoyance
-of the original author.
-
-In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Gluck's _Iphigenia_ were continued.
-At the first of these, in the scene where _Orestes_, left alone in
-prison, throws himself on a bench saying "L_e calme rentre dans mon
-cœur_," the orchestra hesitated as if struck by the apparent
-contradiction in the accompaniment, which is still of an agitated
-character, though "Orestes" has declared that his heart is calm. "Go
-on!" exclaimed Gluck; "he lies! He has killed his mother!"
-
-The musicians of the Académie had a right, so many at a time, to find
-substitutes to take their places at rehearsals. Not one profited by this
-permission while _Iphigenia_ was being brought out.
-
-The _Iphigenia in Tauris_ is known to be Gluck's masterpiece, and it is
-by that wonderful work and by _Orpheus_ that most persons judge of his
-talent in the present day. Compared with the German's profound, serious,
-and admirably dramatic production, Piccinni's _Iphigenia_ stood but
-little chance. In the first place, it was inferior to it; in the second,
-the public were so delighted with Gluck's opera that they were not
-disposed to give even a fair trial to another written on the same
-subject. However, Piccinni's work was produced, and was listened to with
-attention. An air, sung by _Pylades_ to _Orestes_, was especially
-admired, but on the whole the public seemed to be reserving their
-judgment until the second representation.
-
-The next evening came; but when the curtain drew up, Piccinni
-discovered, to his great alarm, that something had happened to
-Mademoiselle Laguerre, who was entrusted with the principal part.
-_Iphigenia_ was unable to stand upright. She rolled first to one side,
-then to the other; hesitated, stammered, repeated the words, made eyes
-at the pit; in short, Mdlle. Laguerre was intoxicated!
-
-"This is not 'Iphigenia in Tauris,'" said Sophie Arnould; "this is
-'Iphigenia in Champagne.'"
-
-That night, the facetious heroine was sent, by order of the king, to
-sleep at For-l'Evèque, where she was detained two days. A little
-imprisonment appears to have done her good. The evening of her
-re-appearance, Mademoiselle Laguerre, with considerable tact, applied a
-couplet expressive of remorse to her own peculiar situation, and,
-moreover, sang divinely.
-
-[Sidenote: IPHIGENIA IN CHAMPAGNE.]
-
-While the Gluck and Piccinni disputes were at their height, a story is
-told of one amateur, doubtless not without sympathizers, who retired in
-disgust to the country and sang the praises of the birds and their
-gratuitous performances in a poem, which ended as follows:--
-
-    LĂ  n'est point d'art, d'ennui scientifique;
-    Piccinni, Gluck n'ont point noté les airs;
-    Nature seule en dicta la musique,
-    Et Marmontel n'en a pas fait les vers.
-
-The contest between Gluck and Piccinni (or rather between the Gluckists
-and Piccinnists) was brought to an end by the death of the former. An
-attempt was afterwards made to set up Sacchini against Piccinni; but
-Sacchini being, as regards the practice of his art, as much a Piccinnist
-as a Gluckist, this manœuvre could not be expected to have much
-success.
-
-The French revolution ruined Piccinni, who thereupon retired to Italy.
-Seven years afterwards he returned to France, and, having occasion to
-present a petition to Napoleon, was graciously received by the First
-Consul in the Palace of the Luxembourg.
-
-"Sit down," said Napoleon to Piccinni, who was standing; "a man of your
-merit stands in no one's presence."
-
-Piccinni now retired to Passy; but he was an old man, his health had
-forsaken him, and, in a few months, he died, and was buried in the
-cemetery of the suburb which he had chosen for his retreat.
-
-In the present day, Gluck appears to have vanquished Piccinni, because,
-at long intervals, one of Gluck's grandly constructed operas is
-performed, whereas the music of his former rival is never heard at all.
-But this, by no means, proves that Piccinni's melodies were not
-charming, and that the connoisseurs of the eighteenth century were not
-right in applauding them. The works that endure are not those which
-contain the greatest number of beauties, but those of which the form is
-most perfect. Gluck was a composer of larger conceptions, and of more
-powerful genius than his Italian rival; and it may be said that he built
-up monuments of stone while Piccinni was laying out parterres of
-flowers. But if the flowers were beautiful while they lasted, what does
-it matter to the eighteenth century that they are dead now, when even
-the marble temples of Gluck are antiquated and moss-grown?
-
-I cannot take leave of the Gluck and Piccinni period without saying a
-few words about its principal dancers, foremost among whom stood
-Madeleine Guimard, the thin, the fascinating, the ever young, and the
-two Vestrises--Gaetan, the Julius of that Cæsar-like family, and Auguste
-its Augustus.
-
-One evening when Madeleine Guimard was dancing in _Les fĂŞtes de l'hymen
-et de l'amour_, a very heavy cloud fell from the theatrical heavens upon
-one of her beautiful arms, and broke it. A mass was said for
-Mademoiselle Guimard's broken arm in the church of Notre Dame.[52]
-
-[Sidenote: MADELEINE GUIMARD.]
-
-Houdon, the sculptor, moulded Mademoiselle Guimard's foot.
-
-Fragonard, the painter, decorated Mademoiselle Guimard's magnificent,
-luxuriously-furnished hotel. In his mural pictures he made a point of
-introducing the face and figure of the divinity of the place, until at
-last he fell in love with his model, and, presuming so far as to show
-signs of jealousy, was replaced by David--yes Louis David, the fierce
-and virtuous republican!
-
-David, the great painter of the republic and of the empire was, of
-course, at this time, but a very young man. He was, in fact, only a
-student, and Madeleine Guimard, finding that the decoration of her
-"Temple of Terpsichore" (as the _danseuse's_ artistic and voluptuous
-palace was called) did not quite satisfy his aspirations, gave him the
-stipend he was to have received for covering her walls with fantastic
-designs, to continue his studies in the classical style according to his
-own ideas.
-
-This was charity of a really thoughtful and delicate kind. As an
-instance of simple bountiful generosity and kindheartedness, I may
-mention Madeleine Guimard's conduct during the severe winter of 1768,
-when she herself visited all the poor in her neighbourhood, and gave to
-each destitute family enough to live on for a year. Marmontel, deeply
-affected by this beneficence, addressed the celebrated epistle to her
-beginning--
-
-    _"Est il bien vrai, jeune et belle damnée," &c._
-
-"Not yet Magdalen repentant, but already Magdalen charitable," exclaimed
-a preacher in allusion to Madeleine Guimard's good action, (which soon
-became known all over Paris, though the dancer herself had not said a
-word about it); and he added, "the hand which knows so well how to give
-alms will not be rejected by St. Peter when it knocks at the gate of
-Paradise."
-
-Madeleine Guimard, with all her powers of fascination, was not beautiful
-nor even pretty, and she was notoriously thin. Byron used to say of thin
-women, that if they were old, they reminded him of spiders, if young and
-pretty, of dried butterflies. Madeleine Guimard's theatrical friends, of
-course, compared her to a spider. Behind the scenes she was known as
-_L'araignée_. Another of her names was _La squelette des grâces_. Sophie
-Arnould, it will be remembered, called her "a little silk-worm," for the
-sake of the joke about "_la feuille_," and once, when she was dancing
-between two male dancers in a _pas de trois_ representing two satyrs
-fighting for a nymph, an uncivil spectator said of the exhibition that
-it was like "two dogs fighting for a bone."
-
-[Sidenote: MADELINE GUIMARD.]
-
-Madeleine Guimard is said to have preserved her youth and beauty in a
-marvellous manner, besides which, she had such a perfect acquaintance
-with all the mysteries of the toilet, that by the arts of dress and
-adornment alone, she could have made herself look young when she was
-already beginning to grow old. Marie-Antoinette used to consult her
-about her costume and the arrangement of her hair, and once when, for
-insubordination at the theatre, she had been ordered to For-l'Evèque,
-the _danseuse_ is reported to have said to her maid, "never mind,
-Gothon, I have written to the Queen to tell her that I have discovered a
-style of _coiffure_; we shall be free before the evening."
-
-I have not space to describe Mademoiselle Guimard's private theatre,[53]
-nor to speak of her _liaison_ with the Prince de Soubise, nor of her
-elopement with a German prince, whom the Prince de Soubise pursued,
-wounding him and killing three of his servants, nor of her ultimate
-marriage with a humble "professor of graces" at the Conservatory of
-Paris. I must mention, however, that in her decadence Madeleine Guimard
-visited London (a dozen Princes de Soubise would have followed her with
-drawn swords if she had attempted to leave Paris during her prime); and
-that Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the author of the interesting "Musical
-Reminiscences," saw her dance at the King's Theatre in the year 1789.
-This was the year of the taking of the Bastille, when a Parisian artist
-might well have been glad to make a little tour abroad. The dancers who
-had appeared at the beginning of the season had been insufferably bad,
-and the manager was at last compelled to send to Paris for more and
-better performers. Amongst them, says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "came the
-famous Mademoiselle Guimard, then near sixty years old, but still full
-of grace and gentility, and she had never possessed more." Madeleine
-Guimard had ceased to be the rage in Paris for nearly ten years, ("_Vers
-1780_," says M. A. Houssaye, in his "Galerie du Dix-huitième Siècle",
-_elle tomba peu Ă  peu dans l'oubli_"), but she was not sixty or even
-fifty years of age when she came to London. M. Castil Blaze, an
-excellent authority in such matters, tells us in his "_Histoire de
-l'Académie Royale de Musique_," that she was born in 1743.
-
-[Sidenote: THE VESTRIS FAMILY.]
-
-By way of contrast to Madeleine Guimard, I may call attention to
-Mademoiselle Théodore, a young, pretty and accomplished _danseuse_, who
-hesitated before she embraced a theatrical career, and actually
-consulted Jean Jacques Rousseau on the subject; who remained virtuous
-even on the boards of the Académie Royale; and who married Dauberval,
-the celebrated dancer, as any respectable _bourgeoise_ (if Dauberval had
-not been a dancer) might have done. Perhaps some aspiring but timid and
-scrupulous Mademoiselle Théodore of the present day would like to know
-what Rousseau thought about the perils of the stage? He replied to the
-letter of the _danseuse_ that he could give her no advice as to her
-conduct if she determined to join the Opera; that in his own quiet path
-he found it difficult to lead a pure irreproachable life: how then
-could he guide her in one which was surrounded with dangers and
-temptations?
-
-Vestris, I mean Vestris the First, the founder of the family, was as
-celebrated as Mademoiselle Guimard for his youthfulness in old age. M.
-Castil Blaze, the historian of the French Opera, saw him fifty-two years
-after his _début_ at the Académie, which took place in 1748, and
-declares that he danced with as much success as ever, going through the
-steps of the minuet "_avec autant de grâce que de noblesse_." Gaetan
-left the stage soon after the triumphant success of his son Auguste, but
-re-appeared and took part in certain special performances in 1795, 1799
-and 1800. On the occasion of the young Vestris's _début_, his father, in
-court dress, sword at side, and hat in hand, appeared with him on the
-stage. After a short but dignified address to the public on the
-importance of the art he professed, and the hopes he had formed of the
-inheritor of his name, he turned to Auguste and said, "Now, my son,
-exhibit your talent to the public! Your father is looking at you!"
-
-The Vestris family, which was very numerous, and very united, always
-went in a body to the opera when Auguste danced, and at other times made
-a point of stopping away. "Auguste is a better dancer than I am," the
-old Vestris would say; "he had Gaetan Vestris for his father, an
-advantage which nature refused me."
-
-"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le dieu de la danse_ (a title
-which he had himself given him) touches the ground from time to time, he
-does so in order not to humiliate his comrades."
-
-This notion appears to have inspired Moore with the lines he addressed
-in London to a celebrated dancer.
-
-                  "---- You'd swear
-    When her delicate feet in the dance twinkle round,
-    That her steps are of light, that her home is the air,
-    And she only _par complaisance_ touches the ground."
-
-[Sidenote: THE VESTRIS FAMILY.]
-
-The Vestrises (whose real name was _Vestri_) came from Florence. Gaetan,
-known as _le beau Vestris_, had three brothers, all dancers, and this
-illustrious family has had representatives for upwards of a century in
-the best theatres of Italy, France and England. The last celebrated
-dancer of the name who appeared in England, was Charles Vestris, whose
-wife was the sister of Ronzi di Begnis. Charles Vestris was Auguste's
-nephew. His father, Auguste's brother, was Stefano Vestris, a stage poet
-of no ability, and Mr. Ebers, in his "Seven Years of the King's
-Theatre,"[54] tells us (giving us therein another proof of the excellent
-_esprit de famille_ which always animated the Vestrises) that when
-Charles Vestris and his wife entered into their annual engagement, "the
-poet was invariably included in the agreement, at a rate of
-remuneration for his services to which his consanguinity to those
-performers was his chief title."
-
-We can form some notion of Auguste Vestris's style from that of Perrot
-(now ballet-master at the St. Petersburgh Opera), who was his favourite
-pupil, and who is certainly by far the most graceful and expressive
-dancer that the opera goers of the present day have seen.
-
-END OF VOL. I.
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY
-
-OF
-
-THE OPERA,
-
-from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
-
-WITH ANECDOTES
-
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.
-
-BY
-
-SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,
-
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.
-
-
-"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"
-    "WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"
-
-VOL II.
-
-LONDON:
-
-WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.
-
-1862.
-
-(_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._)
-
-LONDON:
-
-LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS VOLUME II.
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-
-The Opera in England at the end of the Eighteenth and beginning
-of the Nineteenth Century                                              1
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-Opera in France after the departure of Gluck                          34
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-The French Opera before and after the Revolution                      46
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-Opera in Italy, Germany and Russia, during and in connection
-with the Republican and Napoleonic Wars.--Paisiello, Paer,
-Cimarosa, Mozart.--The Marriage of Figaro.--Don Giovanni              86
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-Manners and Customs at the London Opera half a century
-since                                                                121
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-Rossini and his Period                                               140
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-Opera in France under the Consulate, Empire and Restoration          178
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-Donizetti and Bellini                                                226
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-Rossini--Spohr--Beethoven--Weber and Hoffmann                        282
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY OF THE OPERA.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-     THE OPERA IN ENGLAND AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND BEGINNING OF
-     THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
-
-
-Hitherto I have been obliged to trace the origin and progress of the
-Opera in various parts of Europe. At present there is one Opera for all
-the world, that is to say, the same operatic works are performed every
-where, if not,
-
-    "De Paris Ă  PĂ©kin, de Japon jusqu'Ă  Rome,"
-
-at least, in a great many other equally distant cities, and which
-Boileau never heard of; as, for instance, from St. Petersburgh to
-Philadelphia, and from New Orleans to Melbourne. But for the French
-Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, the universality of Opera would
-have been attained long since. The directors of the French Opera, after
-producing the works of Gluck and Piccinni, found it impossible, as we
-shall see in the next chapter, to attract the public by means of the
-ancient _répertoire_, and were obliged to call in the modern Italian
-composers to their aid. An Italian troop was engaged to perform at the
-Académie Royale, alternately with the French company, and the best opera
-buffas of Piccinni, Traetta, Paisiello, and Anfossi were represented,
-first in Italian, and afterwards in French. Sacchini and Salieri were
-engaged to compose operas on French texts specially for the Académie. In
-1787, Salieri's _Tarare_ (libretto by Beaumarchais),[55] was brought out
-with immense success; the same year, the same theatre saw the production
-of Paisiello's _Il re Teodoro_, translated into French; and, also the
-same year, Paisiello's _Marchese di Tulipano_ was played at Versailles,
-by a detachment from the Italian company engaged at our own King's
-Theatre.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AT VERSAILLES.]
-
-This is said to have been the first instance of an Italian troop
-performing alternately in London and in Paris. A proposition had been
-made under the Regency of Philip of Orleans, for the engagement of
-Handel's celebrated company;[56] but, although the agreement was drawn
-up and signed, from various causes, and principally through the jealousy
-of the "Academicians," it was never carried out. The London-Italian
-company of 1787 performed at Versailles, before the Court and a large
-number of aristocratic subscribers, many of whom had been solicited to
-support the enterprise by the queen herself. Storace, the _prima donna
-assoluta_ of the King's Theatre, would not accompany the other singers
-to Paris. Madame Benini, however, the _altra prima donna_ went, and
-delighted the French amateurs. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his interesting
-volume of "Musical Reminiscences," tells us that she "had a voice of
-exquisite sweetness, and a finished taste and neatness in her manner of
-singing; but that she had so little power, that she could not be heard
-to advantage in so large a theatre: her performance in a small one was
-perfect." Among the other vocalists who made the journey from London to
-Paris, were Mengozzi the tenor, who was Madame Benini's husband, and
-Morelli the bass. "The latter had a voice of great power, and good
-quality, and he was a very good actor. Having been running footman to
-Lord Cowper at Florence," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "he could not
-be a great musician." Benini, Mengozzi, and Morelli, again visited Paris
-in 1788, but did not make their appearance there in 1789, the year of
-the taking of the Bastille. The _répertoire_ of these singers included
-operas by Paisiello, Cimarosa, Sarti, and Anfossi, and they were
-particularly successful in Paisiello's _Gli Schiavi per Amore_. When
-this opera was produced in London in 1787 (with Storace, not Benini, in
-the principal female part), it was so much admired that it ran to the
-end of the season without any change. Another Italian company gave
-several series of performances in Paris between 1789 and 1792, and then
-for nine years France was without any Italian Opera at all.
-
-Storace was by birth and parentage, on her mother's side, English; but
-she went early to Italy, "and," says the author from whom I have just
-quoted, "was never heard in this country till her reputation as the
-first buffa of her time was fully established." Her husband was Fisher,
-a violinist (whose portrait has been painted by Reynolds); but she never
-bore his name, and the marriage was rapidly followed by a separation.
-Mrs. Storace settled entirely in England, and after quitting the King's
-Theatre accepted an engagement at Drury Lane. Here English Opera was
-raised to a pitch of excellence previously unknown, thanks to her
-singing, together with that of Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. Bland, Kelly, and
-Bannister. The musical director was Mrs. Storace's brother, Stephen
-Storace, the arranger of the pasticcios entitled the _Haunted Tower_,
-and the _Siege of Belgrade_.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME MARA.]
-
-Madame Mara made her first appearance at the King's Theatre the year
-before Storace's _début_. She had previously sung in London at the
-Pantheon Concerts, and at the second Handel Festival (1785), in
-Westminster Abbey. I have already spoken of this vocalist's
-performances and adventures at the court of Frederick the Great, at
-Vienna, and at Paris, where her worshippers at the Concerts Spirituels
-formed themselves into the sect of "Maratistes," as opposed to that of
-the "Todistes," or believers in Madame Todi.[57]
-
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, during a visit to Paris, heard Madame Mara at one
-of the Concerts Spirituels, in the old theatre of the Tuileries. She had
-just returned from the Handel Commemoration, and sang, among other
-things, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," which was announced in the
-bills as being "Musique de Handel, paroles de _Milton_." "The French,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "had not the taste to like it."
-
-The first opera in which Madame Mara appeared at the King's Theatre was
-_Didone_, a pasticcio, in which four songs of different characters, by
-Sacchini, Piccinni, and two other composers, were introduced. She
-afterwards sang with Miss Cecilia Davies (_L'Inglesina_) in Sacchini's
-_Perseo_.
-
-At this period Handel's operas were already so much out of fashion,
-though esteemed as highly as ever by musicians and by the more venerable
-of connoisseurs, that when _Giulio Cesare_ was revived, with Mara and
-Rubinelli (both of whom sang the music incomparably well), in the
-principal parts, it had no success with the general public; nor were
-any of Handel's operas afterwards performed at the King's Theatre.
-_Giulio Cesare_, in which many of the most favourite songs from Handel's
-other operas ("Verdi prati," "Dove sei," "Rendi sereno il ciglio," and
-others) were interpolated, answered the purpose for which it was
-produced, and attracted George III. two or three times to the theatre.
-Moreover (to quote Lord Mount Edgcumbe's words), "it filled the house,
-by attracting the exclusive lovers of the old style, who held cheap all
-other operatic performances."
-
-[Sidenote: THE PANTHEON.]
-
-In 1789 (the year in which the supposed sexagenarian, Madeleine Guimard,
-"still full of grace and gentility," made her appearance) the King's
-Theatre was burnt to the ground--not without a suspicion of its having
-been maliciously set on fire, which was increased by the suspected
-person soon after committing suicide. Arrangements were made for
-carrying on the Opera at the little theatre in the Haymarket, where Mara
-was engaged as the first woman in serious operas, and Storace in comic.
-The company afterwards moved to the Pantheon, "which," says Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "in its original state was the largest and most beautiful room
-in London, and a very model of fine architecture. It was the
-chef-d'Ĺ“uvre of Wyatt, who himself contrived and executed its
-transformation, taking care not to injure any part of the building, and
-so concealing the columns and closing its dome, that it might be easily
-restored after its temporary purpose was answered, it being then in
-contemplation to erect an entirely new and magnificent opera-house
-elsewhere, a project which could never be realised. Mr. Wyatt, by this
-conversion, produced one of the prettiest, and by far the most genteel
-and comfortable theatres I ever saw, of a moderate size and excellent
-shape, and admirably adapted both for seeing and hearing. There the
-regular Opera was successfully carried on, with two very good companies
-and ballets. Pacchierotti, Mara, and Lazzarini, a very pleasing singer
-with a sweet tenor voice, being at the head of the serious; and
-Casentini, a pretty woman and genteel actress, with Lazzarini, for
-tenor, Morelli and Ciprani principal buffos, composing the comic. This
-was the first time that Pacchierotti[58] had met with a good _prima
-donna_ since Madame Lebrun, and his duettos with Mara were the most
-perfect pieces of execution I ever heard. The operas in which they
-performed together were Sacchini's _Rinaldo_ and Bertoni's _Quinto
-Fabio_ revived, and a charming new one by Sarti, called _Idalide_, or
-_La Vergine del Sole_. The best comic were La Molinara, and La bella
-Pescatrice, by Guglielmi. On the whole I never enjoyed the opera so much
-as at this theatre."
-
-The Pantheon enterprise, however, like most operatic speculations in
-England, did not pay, and at the end of the first season (1791) the
-manager had incurred debts to the amount of thirty thousand pounds. In
-the meanwhile the King's Theatre had been rebuilt, but the proprietor,
-now that the Opera was established at the Pantheon, found himself unable
-to obtain a license for dramatic performances, and had to content
-himself with giving concerts at which the principal singer was the
-celebrated David. It was proposed that the new Opera house should take
-the debts of the Pantheon, and with them its operatic license, but the
-offer was not accepted, and in 1792 the Pantheon was destroyed by
-fire--in this case the result, clearly, of accident.
-
-At last the schism which had divided the musical world was put an end
-to, and an arrangement was made for opening the King's Theatre in the
-winter of 1793. There was not time to bring over a new company, but one
-was formed out of the singers already in London, with Mara at their head
-and with Kelly for the tenor.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. MARA.]
-
-Mara was now beginning to decline in voice and in popularity. When she
-was no longer engaged at the Italian Opera, she sang at concerts and for
-a short time at Covent Garden, where she appeared as "Polly" in _The
-Beggars' Opera_. She afterwards sang with the Drury Lane company while
-they performed at the King's Theatre during the rebuilding of their own
-house, which had been pulled down to be succeeded by a much larger one.
-She appeared in an English serious opera, called _Dido_, "in which,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "she retained one song of her _Didone_, the
-brilliant _bravura_, _Son Regina_. It did not greatly succeed, though
-the music was good and well sung. This is not surprising," he adds, "the
-serious opera being ill suited to our stage, and our language to
-recitative. None ever succeeded but Dr. Arne's _Artaxerxes_, which was,
-at first, supported by some Italian singers, Tenducci being the original
-Arbaces." It is noticeable that in the aforesaid English _Dido_ Kelly
-was the tenor, while Mrs. Crouch took the part of first man, which at
-this time in Italy was always given to a sopranist.
-
-Madame Mara's husband, the ex-violinist of the Berlin orchestra, appears
-never to have been a good musician, and always an idle drunkard. His
-wife at last got disgusted with his habits, and probably, also, with his
-performance on the violin,[59] for she went off with a flute-player
-named Florio to Russia, where she lived for many years. When she was
-about seventy she re-appeared in England and gave a concert at the
-King's Theatre, but without any sort of success. Her wonderful powers
-were said to have returned, but when she sang her voice was generally
-compared to a penny trumpet. Madame Mara then returned to Moscow, where
-she suffered greatly by the fire of 1812. She afterwards resided at some
-town in the Baltic provinces, and died there at a very advanced age.
-
-The next great vocalist who visited England after Mara's _début_, was
-Banti. She had commenced life as a street singer; but her fine voice
-having attracted the attention of De Vismes, the director of the
-Académie, he told her to come to him at the Opera, where the future
-_prima donna_, after hearing an air of Sacchini's three times, sang it
-perfectly from beginning to end. De Vismes at once engaged her; and soon
-afterwards she made her first appearance with the most brilliant
-success. Although Banti was now put under the best masters, she was of
-such an indolent, careless disposition, that she never could be got to
-learn even the first elements of music. Nevertheless, she was so happily
-endowed by nature, that it gave her no trouble to perfect herself in the
-most difficult parts; and whatever she sang, she rendered with the most
-charming expression imaginable. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, who does not
-mention the fact of her having sung at the French Opera, says that Banti
-was the most delightful singer he ever heard (though, when she appeared
-at the King's Theatre in 1799, she must have been forty-two years of
-age[60]); and tells us that, "in her, genius supplied the place of
-science; and the most correct ear, with the most exquisite taste,
-enabled her to sing with more effect, more expression, and more apparent
-knowledge of her art, than many much better professors."
-
-[Sidenote: BANTI.]
-
-It is said of Banti, that when she was singing in Paris, though she
-never made the slightest mistake in concerted pieces, she sometimes
-executed her airs after a very strange fashion. For instance: in the
-_allegro_ of a cavatina, after singing the principal motive, and the
-intermediary phrase or "second part," she would, in a fit of absence,
-re-commence the air from the very beginning; go on with it until the
-turning point at the end of the second part; again re-commence and
-continue this proceeding, until at last the conductor warned her that
-next time she had better think of terminating the piece. In the
-meanwhile the public, delighted with Banti's voice, is said to have been
-quite satisfied with this novel mode of performance.
-
-Banti made her _début_ in England in Bianchi's _Semiramide_, in which
-she introduced an air from one of Guglielmi's oratorios, with a violin
-_obbligato_ accompaniment, played first by Cramer, afterward by Viotti,
-Salomon, and Weichsell, the brother of Mrs. Billington. This song was of
-great length, and very fatiguing; but Banti was always encored in it,
-and never omitted to repeat it.
-
-At her benefit in the following year (1800) Banti performed in an opera,
-founded on the _Zenobia_ of Metastasio, by Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the
-author of the interesting "Reminiscences," to which, in the course of
-the present chapter I shall frequently have to refer. The "first man's"
-part was allotted to Roselli, a sopranist, who, however, had to transfer
-it to Viganoni, a tenor. Roselli, whose voice was failing him, soon
-afterwards left the country; and no other male soprano made his
-appearance at the King's Theatre until the arrival of Velluti, who sang
-twenty-five years afterwards in Meyerbeer's _Crociato_.
-
-Banti's favourite operas were Gluck's _Alceste_, in which she was called
-upon to repeat three of her airs every night; the _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_, by the same author; Paisiello's _Elfrida_, and _Nina_ or _La
-Pazza per Amore_; Nasolini's[61] _Mitridate_; and several operas by
-Bianchi, composed expressly for her.
-
-Before Banti's departure from England, she prevailed on Mrs. Billington
-to perform with her on the night of her benefit, leaving to the latter
-the privilege of assuming the principal character in any opera she might
-select. _Merope_ was chosen. Mrs. Billington took the part of the
-heroine, and Banti that of "Polifonte," though written for a tenor
-voice. The curiosity to hear these two celebrated singers in the same
-piece was so great, that the theatre was filled with what we so often
-read of in the newspapers, but so seldom see in actual life,--"an
-overflowing audience;" many ladies being obliged, for want of better
-places, to find seats on the stage.
-
-Banti died at Bologna, in 1806, bequeathing her larynx (of extraordinary
-size) to the town, the municipality of which caused it to be duly
-preserved in a glass bottle. Poor woman! she had by time dissipated the
-whole of her fortune, and had nothing else to leave.
-
-[Sidenote: MRS. BILLINGTON.]
-
-Mrs. Billington, Banti's contemporary, after singing not only in
-England, but at all the best theatres of Italy, left the stage in 1809.
-In 1794, while she was engaged at Naples, at the San Carlo, a violent
-eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place, which the Neapolitans attributed
-to the presence of an English heretic on their stage. Mrs. Billington's
-friends were even alarmed for her personal safety, when, fortunately,
-the eruption ceased, and the audience, relieved of their superstitious
-fears, applauded the admirable vocalist in all liberty and confidence.
-Mrs. Billington was an excellent musician, and before coming out as a
-singer had distinguished herself in early life (when Miss Weichsell) as
-a pianoforte player. She appears to have been but an indifferent
-actress, and, in her singing, to have owed her success less to her
-expression than to her "agility," which is said to have been marvellous.
-Her execution was distinguished by the utmost neatness and precision.
-Her voice was sweet and flexible, but not remarkable for fulness of
-tone, which formed the great beauty of Banti's singing. Mrs. Billington
-appeared with particular success in Bach's _Clemenza di Scipione_, in
-which the part of the heroine had been originally played in England by
-Miss Davies (_L'Inglesina_); Paisiello's _Elfrida_; Winter's _Armida_,
-and _Castore e Polluce_; and Mozart's _Clemenza di Tito_--the first of
-that master's works ever performed in England. At this time, neither the
-_Nozze di Figaro_, nor Mozart's other masterpiece, _Don Giovanni_
-(produced at Prague in 1787), seem to have been at all known either in
-England or in France.
-
-After Banti's departure from England, and while Mrs. Billington was
-still at the King's Theatre, Grassini was engaged to sing alternately
-with the latter vocalist. She made her first appearance in _La Vergine
-del Sole_ an opera by Mayer (the future preceptor of Donizetti), but in
-this work she succeeded more through her acting and her beauty than by
-her singing. Indeed, so equivocal was her reception, that on the
-occasion of her benefit, she felt it desirable to ask Mrs. Billington to
-appear with her. Mrs. Billington consented; and Winter composed an opera
-called _Il Ratto di Proserpina_, specially for the rival singers, Mrs.
-Billington taking the part of "Ceres," and Grassini that of
-"Proserpine." Now the tide of favour suddenly turned, and we are told
-that Grassini's performance gained all the applause; and that "her
-graceful figure, her fine expression of face, together with the sweet
-manner in which she sang several simple airs, stamped her at once the
-reigning favourite." Indeed, not only was Grassini rapturously applauded
-in public, but she was "taken up by the first society, _fĂŞted_,
-caressed, and introduced as a regular guest in most of the fashionable
-assemblies." "Of her _private_ claims to that distinction," adds Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, "it is best to be silent; but her manners and exterior
-behaviour were proper and genteel."
-
-[Sidenote: BRAHAM.]
-
-At this period 1804-5, the tenors at the King's Theatre were Viganoni
-and Braham. Respecting the latter, who, in England, France and Italy, in
-English and in Italian operas, on the stage and in concert rooms, must
-have sung altogether for something like half a century, I must again
-quote the author of "Musical Reminiscences," who heard him in his prime.
-"All must acknowledge," he says, "that his voice is of the finest
-quality, of great power and occasional sweetness. It is equally certain
-that he has great knowledge of music, and _can_ sing extremely well. It
-is therefore the more to be regretted that he should ever do otherwise;
-that he should ever quit the natural register of his voice by raising it
-to an unpleasant falsetto, or force it by too violent exertion; that he
-should depart from a good style, and correct taste, which he knows and
-can follow as well as any man, to adopt at times the over-florid and
-frittered Italian manner; at others, to fall into the coarseness and
-vulgarity of the English. The fact is, that he can be two distinct
-singers, according to the audience before whom he performs, and that to
-gain applause he condescends to sing as ill at the playhouse as he has
-done well at the Opera. His compositions have the same variety, and he
-can equally write a popular noisy song for the one, or its very
-opposite, for the other. A duetto of his, introduced into the opera of
-_Gli Orazj_, sung by himself and Grassini, had great beauty, and was in
-excellent taste. * * * * Braham has done material injury to English
-singing, by producing a host of imitators. What is in itself not good,
-but may be endured from a fine performer, becomes insufferable in bad
-imitation. Catalani has done less mischief, only because her powers are
-_unique_, and her astonishing execution unattainable. Many men endeavour
-to rival Braham, no woman can aspire to being a Catalani."
-
-When both Grassini and Mrs. Billington retired, (1806), the place of
-both was supplied by the celebrated Catalani, the vocal queen of her
-time. She made her first appearance in Portogallo's _Semiramide_, (which
-is said to have been a very inferior opera to Bianchi's, on the same
-subject), and, among other works, had to perform in the _Clemenza di
-Tito_, of Mozart, whose music she is said to have disliked on the ground
-that it kept the singer too much under the control of the orchestra.
-Nevertheless, she introduced the _Nozze di Figaro_ into England, and
-herself played the part of "Susanna" with admirable success.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI.]
-
-"Her voice," says Ferrari (Jacques Godefroi, a pupil of Paisiello), "was
-sonorous, powerful, and full of charm and suavity. This organ, of so
-rare a beauty, might be compared for splendour to the voice of Banti;
-for expression, to that of Grassini; for sweet energy, to that of Pasta;
-uniting the delicious flexibility of Sontag to the three registers of
-Malibran. Madame Catalani had formed her style on that of Pacchierotti,
-Marchesi, Crescentini;[62] her groups, roulades, triplets, and
-_mordenti_, were of admirable perfection; her well articulated
-execution lost nothing of its purity in the most rapid and most
-difficult passages. She animated the singers, the chorus, the orchestra,
-even in the finales and concerted pieces. Her beautiful notes rose above
-and dominated the _ensemble_ of the voices and instruments; nor could
-Beethoven, Rossini or any other musical Lucifer, have covered this
-divine voice with the tumult of the orchestra. Our _virtuosa_ was not a
-profound musician; but, guided by what she did know, and by her
-practised ear, she could learn in a moment the most complicated pieces."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Her firm, strong, brilliant, voluminous voice was of a most agreeable
-_timbre_," says Castil Blase; "it was an admirable soprano of prodigious
-compass, from _la_ to the upper _sol_, marvellous in point of agility,
-and producing a sensation difficult to describe. Madame Catalani's
-manner of singing left something to desire in the noble, broad,
-sustained style. Mesdames Grassini and Barilli surpassed her on this
-point, but with regard to difficulties of execution and _brio_, Madame
-Catalani could ring out one of her favourite airs and exclaim, _Son
-Regina!_ She was then without a rival. I never heard anything like it.
-She excelled in chromatic passages, ascending and descending, of extreme
-rapidity. Her execution, marvellous in audacity, made talents of the
-first order pale before it, and instrumentalists no longer dared figure
-by her side. When Tulou, however, presented himself, his flute was
-applauded with enthusiasm after Madame Catalani's voice. The experiment
-was a dangerous one, and the victory was only the more brilliant for the
-adventurous young artist. There was no end to the compliments addressed
-to him on his success."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On her way to London, in the summer of 1806, Catalani, whose reputation
-was then at its height, passed through Paris, and sang before the
-Emperor at St. Cloud. Napoleon gave her 5,000 francs for this
-performance, besides a pension of 1,200 francs, and the use of the
-Opera, with all expences paid, for two concerts, of which the receipts
-amounted to 49,000 francs. The French emperor, during his victorious
-career, had acquired the habit of carrying off singers as captives, and
-enrolling them, in spite of themselves, in his musical service. The same
-dictatorial system, however, failed when applied to Catalani.
-
-"Where are you going, that you wish to leave Paris?" said Napoleon.
-
-"To London, Sire," answered the singer.
-
-"You must remain in Paris," replied Napoleon, "you will be well paid and
-your talents will be better appreciated here. You will have a hundred
-thousand francs a year, and two months' leave of absence. That is
-settled. Adieu, Madame."
-
-Catalani went away without daring to say that she did not mean to break
-her engagement with the manager of the King's Theatre. In order to keep
-it she was obliged to embark secretly at Morlaix.
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI.]
-
-I have spoken of this celebrated vocalist's first appearance in London,
-and, having given an Italian and a French account of her singing, I may
-as well complete the description by quoting the remarks made by an
-Englishman, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, on her voice and style of execution.
-
-"It is well known," he says, "that her voice is of a most uncommon
-quality, and capable of exertions almost supernatural. Her throat seems
-endued (as has been remarked by medical men) with a power of expansion
-and muscular motion by no means usual, and when she throws out all her
-voice to the utmost, it has a volume and strength that are quite
-surprising, while its agility in divisions, running up and down the
-scale in semi-tones, and its compass in jumping over two octaves at
-once, are equally astonishing. It were to be wished she was less lavish
-in the display of these wonderful powers, and sought to please more than
-to surprise; but her taste is vicious, her excessive love of ornament
-spoiling every simple air, and her greatest delight (indeed her chief
-merit) being in songs of a bold and spirited character, where much is
-left to her discretion (or indiscretion) without being confined by
-accompaniment, but in which she can indulge in _ad libitum_ passages
-with a luxuriance and redundancy no other singer ever possessed, or if
-possessing, ever practised, and which she carries to a fantastical
-excess. She is fond of singing variations on some known simple air, and
-latterly has pushed this taste to the very height of absurdity, by
-singing, even without words, variations composed for the fiddle."
-
-Allusion is here doubtless made to the _air varié_ by Pierre Rode, the
-violinist, which, from Catalani to Alboni and our own Louisa Pyne, has
-been such a favourite show-piece with all vocalists of brilliant
-executive powers, more especially in England. The vocal variations on
-Rode's air, however, were written in London, specially for Catalani, by
-Drouet the flute-player.
-
-Catalani returned to Paris in October, 1815, when there was no longer
-any chance of Napoleon reproaching her for her abrupt departure nine
-years before. She solicited and obtained the "privilege" of the Italian
-theatre; but here the celebrated system of her husband, M. Valabrèque
-(in which the best possible operatic company consisted only of _ma femme
-et trois ou quatre poupées_) quite broke down. Madame Catalani gave up
-the theatre, with the subvention of 160,000 francs allowed her by the
-government, in 1818, M. Valabrèque having previously enunciated in a
-pamphlet the reasons which led to this abandonment. Great expenses had
-been incurred in fitting up the theatre, and, moreover, the management
-had been forced to pay its rent. The pamphlet concluded with a paragraph
-which was scarcely civil on the part of a foreigner who had been most
-hospitably received, towards a nation situated as France was just then.
-It is sufficiently curious to be quoted.
-
-[Sidenote: M. VALABREQUE.]
-
-"Consider, moreover," said the discomforted director, or rather the
-discomforted husband of the directress, "that in the time when several
-provinces beyond the mountains belonged to France, twenty thousand
-Italians were constantly attracted to the capital and supplied numerous
-audiences for the Italian theatre; that, moreover, the artists who were
-chiefly remarked at the theatres of Milan, Florence, Venice and Genoa,
-could be engaged for Paris by order of the government, and that in such
-a case the administration was reimbursed for a portion of the extra
-engagements."
-
-Catalani had left the King's Theatre in 1813, two years before she
-assumed the management of the Italian Theatre of Paris. With some brief
-intervals she had been singing in London since 1806, and after quitting
-England, she was for many years without appearing on any stage, if we
-except the short period during which she directed the Théâtre Feydau.
-Her terms were so inordinate that managers were naturally afraid of
-them, and Catalani found it more to her advantage to travel about
-Europe, giving concerts at which she was the sole performer of
-importance, than to accept such an engagement as could be offered to her
-at a theatre. She gave several concerts of this kind in England, whither
-she returned twice after she had ceased to appear at the Opera. She is
-said to have obtained more success in England than in any other country,
-and least of all in Italy.
-
-When she appeared at the King's Theatre in 1824, and sang in Mayer's
-_Fanatico per la Musica_, the frequenters of the Opera, who remembered
-her performance in the same work eighteen years before, were surprised
-that so long an interval had produced so little change in the singer.
-The success of the first night was prodigious; but Mr. Ebers (in his
-"Seven Years of the King's Theatre"), tells us that "repetitions of this
-opera, again and again, diminished the audiences most perceptibly,
-though some new air was on each performance introduced, to display the
-power of the Catalani. * * * In this opera the sweet and soothing voice
-of Caradori was an agreeable relief to the bewildering force of the
-great wonder."
-
-In one season of four months in London, Madame Catalani, by her system
-of concerts, gained upwards of ten thousand pounds, and doubled that sum
-during a subsequent tour in the provinces, in Ireland and Scotland. She
-sang for the last time in public at Dublin, in 1828.
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI'S AGREEMENT]
-
-As to the sort of engagement she approved of, some notion may be formed
-from the following draft of a contract submitted by her to Mr. Ebers in
-1826:----
-
-     "_Conditions between Mr. Ebers and M. P. de Valabrèque._
-
-     "1. Every box and every admission shall be considered as belonging
-     to the management. The free admissions shall be given with paper
-     orders, and differently shaped from the paid tickets. Their number
-     shall be limited. The manager, as well as Madame Catalani, shall
-     each have a good box.
-
-     "2. Madame Catalani shall choose and direct the operas in which she
-     is to sing; she shall likewise have the choice of the performers in
-     them; she will have no orders to receive from any one; she will
-     find all her own dresses.
-
-     "3. Madame Catalani shall have two benefits, to be divided with the
-     manager; Madame Catalani's share shall be free: she will fix her
-     own days.
-
-     "4. Madame Catalani and her husband shall have a right to
-     superintend the receipts.
-
-     "5. Every six weeks Madame Catalani shall receive the payment of
-     her share of the receipts, and of the subscription.
-
-     "6. Madame Catalani shall sing at no other place but the King's
-     Theatre, during the season; in the concerts or oratorios, where she
-     may sing, she will be entitled to no other share but that specified
-     as under.
-
-     "7. During the season, Madame Catalani shall be at liberty to go to
-     Bath, Oxford, or Cambridge.
-
-     "8. Madame Catalani shall not sing oftener than her health will
-     allow her. She promises to contribute to the utmost of her power to
-     the good of the theatre. On his side, Mr. Ebers engages to treat
-     Madame Catalani with every possible care.
-
-     "9. This engagement, and these conditions, will be binding for this
-     season, which will begin and end and continue during all the
-     seasons that the theatre shall be under the management of Mr.
-     Ebers, unless Madame Catalani's health, or state of her voice,
-     should not allow her to continue.
-
-     [Sidenote: CATALANI'S AGREEMENT]
-
-     "10. Madame Catalani, in return for the conditions above mentioned,
-     shall receive the half part of the amount of all the receipts which
-     shall be made in the course of the season, including the
-     subscription to the boxes, the amount of those sold separately, the
-     monies received at the doors of the theatre, and of the
-     concert-room; in short, the said half part of the general receipts
-     of the theatre for the season.
-
-     "11. It is well understood that Madame Catalani's share shall be
-     free from every kind of deduction, it being granted her in lieu of
-     salary. It is likewise well understood, that every expense of the
-     theatre during the season shall be Mr. Ebers'; such as the rent of
-     the theatre, the performers' salaries, the tradespeople's bills; in
-     short, every possible expense; and Madame Catalani shall be
-     entirely exonerated from any one charge.
-
-     "This engagement shall be translated into English, taking care that
-     the conditions shall remain precisely as in the original, and shall
-     be so worded as to stipulate that Madame Catalani, on receiving her
-     share of the receipts of the theatre, shall in no ways whatever be
-     considered as partner of the manager of the establishment.
-
-     "12. The present engagement being made with the full approbation of
-     both parties, Mr. Ebers and M. Valabrèque pledge their word of
-     honour to fulfil it in every one of its parts."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-I must now add that Madame Catalani, by all accounts, possessed an
-excellent disposition, that her private life was irreproachable, and
-that while gaining immense sums, she also gave immense sums away in
-charity. Indeed, the proceeds of her concerts, for the benefit of the
-poor and sick have been estimated at eighty thousand pounds, besides
-which she performed numerous acts of generosity towards individuals. Nor
-does she appear to have possessed that excessive and exclusive
-admiration for Madame Catalani's talent which was certainly entertained
-by her husband, M. Valabrèque. Otherwise there can be no truth in the
-well known story of her giving, by way of homage, the shawl which had
-just been presented to her by the Empress of Russia, to a Moscow
-gipsey--one of those singing _tsigankie_ who execute with such
-originality and true expression their own characteristic melodies.
-
-After having delighted the world for thirty-five years, Madame Catalani
-retired to a charming villa near Florence. The invasion of the cholera
-made her leave this retreat and go to Paris; where, in 1849, in her
-seventieth year, she fell a victim to the very scourge she had hoped to
-avoid.
-
-[Sidenote: CELEBRATED SINGERS.]
-
-As for the husband, Valabrèque, he appears to have been mean, officious,
-conceited (of his wife's talent!) and generally stupid. M. Castil Blaze
-solemnly affirms, that when Madame Catalani was rehearsing at the
-Italian Opera of Paris an air which she was to sing in the evening to a
-pianoforte accompaniment, she found the instrument too high, and told
-Valabrèque to see that it was lowered; upon which (declares M. Blase)
-Valabrèque called for a carpenter and caused the unfortunate piano's
-feet to be amputated!
-
-"Still too high?" cried Madame Catalani's husband, when he was accused
-in the evening of having neglected her orders. "Why, how much did you
-lower it, Charles?" addressing the carpenter.
-
-"Two inches, Sir," was the reply.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The historian of the above anecdote calls Tamburini, Lablache, and
-Tadolini, as well as Rossini and Berryer, the celebrated advocate, to
-witness that the mutilated instrument had afterward four knobs of wood
-glued to its legs by the same Charles who executed in so faithful a
-manner M. Valabrèque's absurd behest. It continued to wear these pattens
-until its existence was terminated in the fire of 1838--in which by the
-way, the composer of _William Tell_, who at that time nominally directed
-the theatre, and who had apartments on the third floor, would inevitably
-have perished had he not left Paris for Italy the day before!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Before concluding this chapter, I will refer once more to the "Musical
-Reminiscences" of Lord Mount Edgcumbe, whose opinions on singers seem
-to me more valuable than those he has expressed about contemporary
-composers, and who had frequent and constant opportunities of hearing
-the five great female vocalists engaged at the King's Theatre, between
-the years 1786 and 1814.
-
-"They may be divided," he says, "into two classes, of which Madame Mara
-and Mrs. Billington form the first; and they were in most respects so
-similar, that the same observations will apply equally to both. Both
-were excellent musicians, thoroughly skilled in their profession; both
-had voices of uncommon sweetness and agility, particularly suited to the
-bravura style, and executed to perfection and with good taste, every
-thing they sung. But neither was an Italian, and consequently both were
-deficient in recitative: neither had much feeling or theatrical talent,
-and they were absolutely null as actresses; therefore they were more
-calculated to give pleasure in the concert-room than on the stage.
-
-The other three, on the contrary, had great and distinguished dramatic
-talents, and seemed born for the theatrical profession. They were all
-likewise but indifferently skilled in music, supplying by genius what
-they wanted in science, and thereby producing the greatest and most
-striking effects on the stage: these are their points of resemblance.
-Their distinctive differences, I should say, were these: Grassini was
-all grace, Catalani all fire, Banti all feeling."
-
-[Sidenote: GUGLIELMI.]
-
-The composers, in whose music the above singers chiefly excelled, were
-Gluck, Piccinni, Guglielmi, Cimarosa, and Paisiello. We have seen that
-"Susanna" in the _Nozze di Figaro_, was one of Catalani's favourite
-parts; but as yet Mozart's music was very little known in England, and
-it was not until 1817 that his _Don Giovanni_ was produced at the King's
-Theatre.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-After Gluck and Piccinni, the most admired composers, and the natural
-successors of the two great rivals in point of time, were Cimarosa and
-Paisiello. Guglielmi was considerably their senior, and on returning to
-Naples in 1777, after having spent fifteen years away from his country,
-in Vienna, and in London, he found that his two younger competitors had
-quite supplanted him in public favour. His works, composed between the
-years 1755 and 1762, had become antiquated, and were no longer
-performed. All this, instead of discouraging the experienced musician
-(Guglielmi was then fifty years of age) only inspired him with fresh
-energy. He found, however, a determined and unscrupulous adversary in
-Paisiello, who filled the theatre with his partisans the night on which
-Guglielmi was to produce his _Serva innamorata_, and occasioned such a
-disturbance, that for some time it was impossible to attend to the
-music.
-
-The noise was especially great at the commencement of a certain
-quintett, on which, it was said, the success of the work depended.
-Guglielmi was celebrated for the ingenuity and beauty of his concerted
-pieces, but there did not seem to be much chance, as affairs stood on
-this particular evening, of his quintett being heard at all.
-Fortunately, while it was being executed, the door of the royal box
-opened, and the king appeared. Instantly the most profound silence
-reigned throughout the theatre, the piece was recommenced, and Guglielmi
-was saved. More than that, the enthusiasm of the audience was raised,
-and went on increasing to such a point, that at the end of the
-performance the composer was taken from his box, and carried home in
-triumph to his hotel.
-
-From this moment Paisiello, with all his jealousy, was obliged to
-discontinue his intrigues against a musician, whom Naples had once more
-adopted. Cimarosa had taken no part in the plot against Guglielmi; but
-he was by no means delighted with Guglielmi's success. Prince San
-Severo, who admired the works of all three, invited them to a
-magnificent banquet where he made them embrace one another, and swear
-eternal friendship.[63] Let us hope that he was not the cause of either
-of them committing perjury.
-
-[Sidenote: FINALES.]
-
-Paisiello seems to have been an intriguer all his life, and to have been
-constantly in dread of rivals; though he probably had less reason to
-fear them than any other composer of the period. However, at the age of
-seventy-five, when he had given up writing altogether, we find him, a
-few months before his death, getting up a cabal against the youthful
-Rossini, who was indeed destined to eclipse him, and to efface even the
-memory of his _Barbiere di Siviglia_, by his own admirable opera on the
-same subject. It is as if, painting on the same canvas, he had simply
-painted out the work of his predecessor.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Cimarosa, though he may have possessed a more dignified sense than
-Paisiello of what was due to himself, had less vanity. A story is told
-of a painter wishing to flatter the composer of _Il Matrimonio
-Segretto_, and saying that he looked upon him as superior to Mozart.
-
-"Superior to Mozart!" exclaimed Cimarosa. "What should you think, Sir,
-of a musician, who told you that you were a greater painter than
-Raphael?"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the other composers who adorned the end of the eighteenth and the
-beginning of the nineteenth century, may be mentioned Sacchini, the
-successor of Piccinni in Paris; Salieri, the envious rival of Mozart,
-and (in Paris) the successor of Gluck; Paer, in whose _Camilla_ Rossini
-played the child's part at the age of seven (1799); Mayer, the future
-master of Donizetti; and Zingarelli, the future master of Bellini, one
-of whose operas was founded on the same _libretto_ which afterwards
-served the pupil for his _Capuletti i Montecchi_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Piccinni is not connected in any direct manner with the present day; but
-it is nevertheless to Piccinni that we owe the first idea of those
-magnificent finales which, more than half a century afterwards,
-contributed so much to the success of Rossini's operas, and of which the
-first complete specimens, including several movements with changes of
-key and of rhythm, occur in _La Cecchina ossia la Buona Figliuola_,
-produced at Rome in 1760.
-
-Logroscino, who sometimes passes as the inventor of these finales, and
-who lived a quarter of a century earlier, wrote them only on one theme.
-
-The composer who introduced dramatic finales into serious opera, was
-Paisiello.
-
-It may interest the reader to know, that the finale of _Don Giovanni_
-lasts fifteen minutes.
-
-That of the _Barber of Seville_ lasts twenty-one minutes and a-half.
-
-That of _Otello_ lasts twenty-four minutes.
-
-[Sidenote: FINALES.]
-
-The quintett of _Gazza Ladra_ lasts twenty-seven minutes.
-
-The finale of _Semiramide_ lasts half an hour--or perhaps a minute or
-two less, if we allow for the increased velocity at which quick
-movements are "taken" by the conductors of the present day.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-OPERA IN FRANCE, AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF GLUCK.
-
-
-A few months before Gluck left Paris for the last time, an insurrection
-broke out at the Opera. The revolutionary spirit was abroad in Paris.
-The success of the American War of Independence, the tumultuous meetings
-of the French Parliament, the increasing resistance to authority which
-now manifested itself everywhere in France; all these stimulants to
-revolt seem to have taken effect on the singers and dancers of the
-Académie. The company resolved to carry on the theatre itself, for its
-own benefit, and the director, Devismes, was called upon to abdicate.
-The principal insurgents held what they called "Congress," at the house
-of Madeleine Guimard, and the God of Dancing, Auguste Vestris, declared
-loudly that he was the Washington of the affair.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE GUIMARD.]
-
-Every day some fresh act of insubordination was committed, and the
-chiefs of the plot had to be forced to appear on the stage by the
-direct interference of the police.
-
-"The minister desires me to dance," said Mademoiselle Guimard on one of
-these occasions; "_eh bien qu'il y prenne garde, je pourrais bien le
-faire sauter_."
-
-The influential leader just named conducted the intrigue with great
-skill and discretion.
-
-"One thing, above all!" she said to her fellow conspirators; "no
-combined resignations,--that is what ruined the Parliament."
-
-To the minister, Amelot, the destroyer and reconstructor of the
-Parliament of Dijon, Sophie Arnould observed, in reference to his
-interference with the affairs of the Académie---
-
-"You should remember, that it is easier to compose a parliament than to
-compose an opera."
-
-Auguste Vestris having spoken very insolently to Devismes, the latter
-said to him---
-
-"Do you know, sir, to whom you are speaking?"
-
-"To whom? to the farmer of my talent," replied the dancer.
-
-Things were brought to a crisis by the _fĂŞtes_ given to celebrate the
-birth of Marie Antoinette's first child, December, 1778. The city of
-Paris proposed to spend enormous sums in festivities and illuminations;
-but the king and queen benevolently suggested that, instead of being
-wasted in useless display, the money should be given away in marriage
-portions to a hundred deserving young girls; and their majesties gave
-fifty thousand francs themselves for the same object. Losing sight of
-the Opera for the moment, I must relate, in as few words as possible, a
-charming little anecdote that is told of one of the applicants for a
-dowry. Lise was the name of this innocent and _naĂŻve_ young person, who,
-on being asked some question respecting her lover, replied, that she had
-none; and that she thought the municipality provided everything! The
-municipality found the necessary admirer, and could have had no
-difficulty in doing so, if we may judge from the graceful bust of Lise,
-executed in marble by the celebrated sculptor, Houdon.
-
-The Académie, which at this time belonged to the city, determined to
-follow its example, and to give away at least one marriage portion.
-Twelve hundred francs were subscribed and placed in the hands of
-Mademoiselle Guimard, the treasurer elect. The nuptial banquet was to
-take place at the winter Vauxhall (_Gallicè_ "Wauxhall"); and all Paris
-was in a state of eager excitement to be present at what promised to be
-a most brilliant and original entertainment. It was not allowed,
-however, to take place, the authorities choosing to look upon it as a
-parody of the _fĂŞte_ given by the city.
-
-[Sidenote: AUGUSTE VESTRIS.]
-
-The doors of the "Wauxhall" being closed to the subscribers,
-Mademoiselle Guimard invited them to meet at her palace, in the Chaussée
-d'Antin. The municipality again interfered; and in the middle of the
-banquet Vestris and Dauberval were arrested by _lettres de cachet_ and
-taken to For-l'Evèque, on the ground that they had refused to dance the
-Tuesday previous in the _divertissement_ of _Armide_.
-
-Gaetan Vestris was present at the arrest of his son, and excited the
-mirth of the assembly by the pompous, though affectionate, manner in
-which he bade him farewell. After embracing him tenderly, he said--
-
-"Go, Augustus; go to prison. This is the grandest day of your life! Take
-my carriage, and ask for the room of my friend, the King of Poland; and
-live magnificently--charge everything to me."
-
-On another occasion, when Gaetan was not so well pleased with his
-Augustus, he said to him:
-
-"What! the Queen of France does her duty, by requesting you to dance
-before the King of Sweden, and you do not do yours? You shall no longer
-bear my name. I will have no misunderstanding between the house of
-Vestris and the house of Bourbon; they have hitherto always lived on
-good terms."
-
-For his refusal to dance, Augustus was this time sentenced to six
-months' imprisonment; but the opera goers were so eager for his
-re-appearance that he was set free long before the expiration of the
-appointed term.
-
-He made his _rentrée_ amid the groans and hisses of the audience, who
-seemed determined to give him a lesson for his impertinence.
-
-Then Gaetan, magnificently attired, appeared on the stage, and addressed
-the public as follows:--
-
-"You wish my son to go down on his knees. I do not say that he does not
-deserve your displeasure; but remember, that the dancer whom you have so
-often applauded has not studied the _pose_ you now require of him."
-
-"Let him speak; let him endeavour to justify himself," cried a voice
-from the pit.
-
-"He _shall_ speak; he _shall_ justify himself," replied the father. And,
-turning to his son, he added: "Dance, Auguste!"
-
-Auguste danced; and every one in the theatre applauded.
-
-The orchestra took no part in the operatic insurrection; and we have
-seen that the musicians were not invited to contribute anything to the
-dowry, offered by the Académie to virtue in love and in distress. De
-Vismes proposed to reward his instrumentalists by giving up to them a
-third of the receipts from some special representation of Gluck's
-_Iphigénie en Tauride_. The band rejected the offer, as not sufficiently
-liberal, and by refusing to play on the evening in question, made the
-performance a failure.
-
-The Academic revolt was at last put an end to, by the city of Paris
-cancelling de Vismes's lease, and taking upon itself the management of
-the theatre, de Vismes receiving a large sum in compensation, and the
-appointment of director at a fixed salary.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BEAUMARCHAIS AND GLUCK.]
-
-Beaumarchais, while assisting the national revolution with the _Marriage
-of Figaro_, is known to have aided in a more direct manner the
-revolution which was now imminent at the opera. It is said, that he was
-anxious to establish an operatic republic in the hope of being made
-president of it himself. He is known to have been a good musician. I
-have spoken of his having held the honourable, if not lucrative, post of
-music-master to the daughters of Louis XV. (by whom he was as well paid
-as was Piccinni by that monarch's successor);[64] and a better proof of
-his talent is afforded, by his having composed all the music of his
-_Barber of Seville_ and _Marriage of Figaro_, except the air of
-_Malbrook_ in the latter comedy.
-
-Beaumarchais had been much impressed by the genius of Gluck. He met him
-one evening in the _foyer_ of the Opera, and spoke to him so clearly and
-so well about music that the great composer said to him: "You must
-surely be M. de Beaumarchais." They agreed to write an opera together,
-and some years afterwards, when Gluck had left Paris for Vienna, the
-poet sent the composer the _libretto_ of _Tarare_. Gluck wrote to say
-that he was delighted with the work, but that he was now too old to
-undertake the task of setting it to music, and would entrust it to his
-favourite pupil, Salieri.
-
-Gluck benefited French opera in two ways. He endowed the Académie with
-several master-pieces, and moreover, destroyed, or was the main
-instrument in destroying, its old _répertoire_, which after the works of
-Gluck and Piccinni was found intolerable. It was now no longer the
-fashion to exclude foreign composers from the first musical theatre in
-France, and Gluck and Piccinni were followed by Sacchini and Salieri.
-Strange to say, Sacchini, when he first made his appearance at the
-Académie with his _Olympiade_, was deprived of a hearing through the
-jealousy of Gluck, who, on being informed, at Vienna, that the work in
-question was in rehearsal, hurried to Paris and had influence enough to
-get it withdrawn. Worse than this, when the _Olympiade_ was produced at
-the Comédie Italienne, with great success, Gluck and his partisans put a
-stop to the representation by enforcing one of the privileges of the
-Académie, which rendered it illegal for any other theatre to perform
-operas with choruses or with more than seven singers on the stage.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK.]
-
-No work by Sacchini or Salieri was produced at the Académie until after
-the theatre in the Palais Royal was burnt down, in 1781. In this fire,
-which took place about eighteen months after Gluck had retired from
-Paris, and five months after the production of Piccinni's _Iphigenia in
-Tauris_, the old _répertoire_ would seem to have been consumed, for no
-opera by Lulli was afterwards played in France, and only one by
-Rameau,--_Castor and Pollux_, which, revived in 1791, was not favourably
-received.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-It was in June, 1781, after a representation of Gluck's _Orphée_, that
-the Académie Royale was burnt to the ground. _Coronis_ (music by Rey,
-the conductor of the orchestra) was the last piece of the evening, and
-before it was finished, during the _divertissement_, one of the scenes
-caught fire. Dauberval, the principal dancer, had enough presence of
-mind to order the curtain down at once. The public wanted no more of
-_Coronis_, and went quietly away without calling for the conclusion of
-Rey's opera, and without having the least idea of what was taking place
-behind the curtain. In the meanwhile the fire had spread on the stage
-beyond the possibility of extinction. Singers, dancers, musicians, and
-scene-shifters, rushed in terror from the theatre, and about a dozen
-persons, who were unable to escape, perished in the conflagration.
-Madeleine Guimard was nearly burnt to death in her dressing-room, which
-was surrounded by flames. One of the carpenters, however, penetrated
-into her _loge_, wrapped her up in a counterpane (she was entirely
-undressed), and bore her triumphantly through the fire to a place of
-safety.
-
-"Save my child! save my child!" cried Rey, in despair; and as soon as he
-saw the score of _Coronis_ out of danger he went away, giving the flames
-full permission to burn everything else. All the manuscripts were saved,
-thanks to the courageous exertions of Lefebrvre, the librarian, who
-remained below in the music room even while the stage was burning, until
-the last sheet had been removed.
-
-"The Opera is burnt down," said a Parisian to a Parisian the next
-morning.
-
-"So much the better," was the reply. "It had been there such a time!"
-
-This remark was ingenious but not true, for the Académie Royale de
-Musique had only been standing eighteen years. It was burnt down before,
-in 1768, on which occasion Voltaire, in a letter to M. d'Argental, wrote
-as follows: "_on dit que ce spectacle Ă©tait si mauvais qu'il fallait tĂ´t
-ou tard que la vengeance divine éclatât_." The theatre destroyed by fire
-in 1763[65] was in the Palais Royal, and it was reconstructed on the
-same spot. After the fire of 1781, the Porte St. Martin theatre was
-built, and the Opera was carried on there ten years, after which it was
-removed to the opera-house in the Rue Richelieu, which was pulled down
-after the assassination of the Duc de Berri. But we are advancing beyond
-the limits of the present chapter.
-
-[Sidenote: THE NEW OPERA HOUSE.]
-
-The new Opera House was built in eighty-six days. The members of the
-company received orders not to leave Paris, and during the interval
-were paid their salaries regularly as if for performing. The work began
-on the 2nd of August, and was finished on the 27th of October. Lenoir,
-the architect, had told Marie Antoinette that the theatre could be
-completed in time for the first performance to take place on the 30th of
-October.
-
-"Say the 31st," replied the queen; "and if on that day I receive the key
-of my box, I promise you the Order of St. Michael in exchange."
-
-The key was sent to her majesty on the 26th, who not only decorated
-Lenoir with the _cordon_ of St. Michael, but also conferred on him a
-pension of six thousand francs; and on the 27th the theatre was opened
-to the public.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1784, Sacchini's _Chimène_, adapted from _Il Gran Cid_, an opera he
-had written for the King's Theatre in 1778, was produced at the Académie
-with great success. The principal part in this work was sustained by
-Huberti, a singer much admired by Piccinni, who wrote some airs in the
-_cantabile_ style specially for her, and said that, without her, his
-opera of _Dido_, in which she played the principal part, was "without
-Dido." M. Castil Blaze tells us that she was the first true singer who
-appeared at the Académie. Grimm declares, that she sang like Todi and
-acted like Clairon. Finally, when Madame de Saint Huberti was performing
-at Strasburgh, in 1787, a young officer of artillery, named Napoleon
-Bonaparte, addressed the following witty and complimentary verses to
-her:--
-
-    "Romains qui vous vantez d'une illustre origine
-     Voyez d'où dépendait votre empire naissant:
-     Didon n'eut pas de charme assez puissant
-     Pour arrĂŞter la fuite oĂą son amant s'obstine;
-     Mais si l'autre Didon, ornement de ces lieux,
-       Eût été reine de Carthage,
-     Il eût, pour la servir, abandonné ces dieux,
-     Et votre beau pays serait encore sauvage."
-
-Sacchini's first opera, _Ĺ’dipe Ă  Colosse_, was not produced at the
-Académie until 1787, a few months after his death. It was now no
-question, of whether he was a worthy successor of Gluck or a formidable
-opponent to Piccinni. His opera was admired for itself, and the public
-applauded it with genuine enthusiasm.
-
-[Sidenote: SALIERI.]
-
-In the meanwhile, Salieri, the direct inheritor of Gluck's mantle (as
-far as that poetic garment could be transferred by the mere will of the
-original possessor) had brought out his _Danaides_--announced at first
-as the work of Gluck himself and composed under his auspices. Salieri
-had also set _Tarare_ to music. "This is the first _libretto_ of modern
-times," says M. Castil Blaze, "in which the author has ventured to join
-buffoonery to tragedy--a happy alliance, which permits the musician to
-vary his colours and display all the resources of genius and art." The
-routine-lovers of the French Académie, the pedants, the blunderers,
-were indignant with the new work; and its author entrusted Figaro with
-the task of defending it.
-
-"Either you must write nothing interesting," said Figaro, "or fools will
-run you down."
-
-The same author then notices, as a remarkable coincidence, that
-"Beaumarchais and Da Ponte, at four hundred leagues distance from one
-another, invented, at the same time, the class of opera since known as
-"romantic." Beaumarchais's _Tarare_ had been intended for Gluck; Da
-Ponte's _Don Giovanni_, as every one knows, found its true composer in
-Mozart.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-THE FRENCH OPERA BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
-
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA DURING THE CONVENTION.]
-
-A complete history of the French Opera would include something like a
-history of French society, if not of France generally. It would, at
-least, show the effect of the great political changes which the country
-has undergone, and would remind us here and there of her celebrated
-victories, and occasionally even of her reverses. Under the despotism,
-we have seen how a simple _lettre de cachet_ sufficed to condemn an
-_abbé_ with a good voice, or a young girl with a pretty face, to the
-Opera, just as a person obnoxious to the state or to any very
-influential personage was sent to the Bastille. During the Regency, half
-the audience at the Opera went there drunk; and almost until the period
-of the Revolution the _abbés_, the _mousquetaires_, and the _grands
-seigneurs_, quarrelled, fought, and behaved in many respects as if the
-theatre were, not their own private house, but their own particular
-tap-room. Music profited by the Revolution, in so far that the
-privileges of the Académie were abolished, and, as a natural
-consequence, a number of new musical works produced at a variety of
-theatres which would otherwise never have seen the light; but the
-position of singers and dancers was by no means a pleasant one under the
-Convention, and the tyranny of the republican chiefs was far more
-oppressive, and of a more brutal kind, than any that had been exercised
-at the Académie in the days of the monarchy. The disobedient daughters,
-whose admirers got them "inscribed" on the books of the Opera so as to
-free them from parental control, would, under another system, have run
-away from home. No one, in practice, was injured very much by the
-regulation, scandalous and immoral as it undoubtedly was; for, before
-the name was put down, all the harm, in most cases, was already done.
-Sophie Arnould, it is true, is said to have been registered at the Opera
-without the consent of her mother, and, what seems very
-extraordinary--not at the suggestion of a lover; but Madame Arnould was
-quite reconciled to her daughter's being upon the stage before she
-eloped with the Count de Lauragais. To put the case briefly: the
-_académiciens_ (and above all, the _académiciennes_) in the immoral
-atmosphere of the court, were fĂŞted, flattered, and grew rich, though,
-owing to their boundless extravagance, they often died poor: whereas,
-during the republic, they met with neither sympathy nor respect, and in
-the worst days of the Convention lived, in a more literal sense than
-would be readily imagined, almost beneath the shadow of the guillotine.
-
-In favour of the old French society, when it was at its very worst, that
-is to say, during the reign of Louis XV., it may be mentioned that the
-king's mistresses did not venture to brave general opinion, so far as to
-present themselves publicly at the Opera. Madame Dubarry announced more
-than once that she intended to visit the Académie, and went so far as to
-take boxes for herself and suite, but at the last moment her courage (if
-courage and not shamelessness be the proper word) failed her, and she
-stayed away. On the other hand, towards the end of this reign, the
-licentiousness of the court had become so great, that brevets,
-conferring the rights and privileges of married ladies on ladies
-unmarried, were introduced. Any young girl who held a "_brevet de dame_"
-could present herself at the Opera, which etiquette would otherwise have
-rendered impossible. "The number of these brevets," says _Bachaumont_,
-"increased prodigiously under Louis XVI., and very young persons have
-been known to obtain them. Freed thus from the modesty, simplicity, and
-retirement of the virginal state, they give themselves up with impunity
-to all sorts of scandals. * * * Such disorder has opened the eyes of the
-government; and this prince, the friend of decency and morality, has at
-last shown himself very particular on the subject. It is now only by the
-greatest favour that one of these brevets can be obtained."[66]
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC AND RELIGIOUS FETES.]
-
-No _brevets_ were required of the fishwomen and charcoal men of Paris,
-who, on certain fĂŞtes, such as the Sovereign's birth day, were always
-present at the gratuitous performances given at the Opera. On these
-occasions the balcony was always reserved for them, the _charbonniers_
-being placed on the king's side, the _poissardes_ on the queen's. At the
-close of the representation the performers invited their favoured guests
-on to the stage, the orchestra played the airs from some popular ballet,
-and a grand ball took place, in which the _charbonniers_ chose their
-partners from among the operatic _danseuses_, while the _poissardes_
-gave their hands to Vestris, Dauberval, &c.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-During Passion week and Easter, the Opera was shut, but the great
-operatic vocalists could be heard elsewhere, either at the Jesuits'
-church or at the Abbaye of Longchamp, to which latter establishment it
-is generally imagined that the Parisian public used to be attracted by
-the singing of the nuns. What is far more extraordinary is, that the
-Parisians always laboured under that delusion themselves. "The
-Parisians," says M. Castil Blaze, in his "History of the Grand Opera,"
-"always such fine connoisseurs in music, never penetrated the mystery of
-this incognito. The railing and the green curtain, behind which the
-voices were concealed, sufficed to render the singers unrecognisable to
-the _dilettanti_ who heard them constantly at the opera."
-
-Adjoining the Jesuits' church was a theatre, also belonging to the
-Jesuits, for which, between the years 1659 and 1761, eighty pieces of
-various kinds, including tragedies, operas and ballets, were written.
-Some of these productions were in Latin, some in French, some in Latin
-and French together. The _virtuosi_ of the Académie used to perform in
-them and afterwards proceed to the church to sing motets. "This church
-is so much the church of the Opera," says Freneuse, "that those who do
-not go to one console themselves by attending vespers at the other,
-where they find the same thing at less cost." He adds, that "an actor
-newly engaged, would not think himself fully recognised unless asked to
-sing for the Jesuits." As for the actresses, "in their honor the price
-which would be given at the door of the opera is given for a chair in
-the church. People look out for Urgande, Arcabonne, Armide, and applaud
-them. (I have seen them applaud la Moreau and la Chérat, at the midnight
-mass.) These performances replace those which are suspended at the
-opera."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BEHIND THE SCENES.]
-
-There would be no end to this chapter (and many persons would think it
-better not written) if I were to enter into details on the subject of
-the relations between the singers and dancers of the Académie, and the
-Grands Seigneurs of the period. I may observe, however, that the latter
-appear to have been far more generous, without being more vicious, and
-that they seem to have lived in better taste than their modern
-imitators, who usually ruin themselves by means of race-horses, or, in
-France, on the Stock Exchange. The Count de Lauragais paid an immense
-sum to the directors of the Académie, to compensate them for abolishing
-the seats on the stage (probably impertinent visitors used to annoy him
-by staring at Sophie Arnould); the Duke de Bouillon spent nine hundred
-thousand livres on Mademoiselle la Guerre (Gluck's _Iphigénie_); the
-Prince de Soubise nearly as much on Mademoiselle Guimard--who at least
-gave a portion of it away in charity, and who, as we have seen, was an
-intelligent patroness of David, the painter.
-
-When the Prince de Guéméné became insolvent, the Prince de Soubise, his
-father-in-law, ceased to attend the Opera. There were three thousand
-creditors, and the debts amounted to forty million livres. The heads of
-the family felt called upon to make a sacrifice, and the Prince de
-Soubise was no longer in a position to give _petits soupers_ to his
-_protégées_ at the Académie. Under these circumstances, the "ladies of
-the _ballet_" assembled in the dressing-room of Mademoiselle Guimard,
-their chief, and prepared the following touching, and really very
-becoming letter, to their embarrassed patron:--
-
-     "Monseigneur,
-
-     "Accustomed to see you amongst us at the representations at the
-     Lyrical Theatre, we have observed with the most bitter regret that
-     you not only tear yourself away from the pleasures of the
-     performance, but also that none of us are now invited to the little
-     suppers you used so frequently to give, in which we had turn by
-     turn the happiness of interesting you. Report has only too well
-     informed us of the cause of your seclusion, and of your just grief.
-     Hitherto we have feared to importune you, allowing sensibility to
-     give way to respect. We should not dare, even now, to break
-     silence, without the pressing motive to which our delicacy is
-     unable any longer to resist.
-
-     "We had flattered ourselves, Monseigneur, that the Prince de
-     Guéméné's bankruptcy, to employ an expression which is re-echoed in
-     the _foyers_, the clubs, the newspapers of France, and all Europe,
-     would not be so considerable, so enormous, as was announced; and,
-     above all, that the wise precautions taken by the King to assure
-     the claimants the amount of their debts, and to avoid expenses and
-     depredations more fatal even than the insolvency itself, would not
-     disappoint the general expectation. But affairs are doubtless in
-     such disorder, that there is now no hope. We judge of it by the
-     generous sacrifices to which the heads of your illustrious house,
-     following your example, have resigned themselves. We should think
-     ourselves guilty of ingratitude, Monseigneur, if we were not to
-     imitate you in seconding your humanity, and if we were not to
-     return you the pensions which your munificence has lavished upon
-     us. Apply these revenues, Monseigneur, to the consolation of so
-     many retired officers, so many poor men of letters, so many
-     unfortunate servants whom M. le Prince de Guéméné drags into ruin
-     with him.
-
-     "As for us, we have other resources: and we shall have lost
-     nothing, Monseigneur, if we preserve your esteem. We shall even
-     have gained, if, by refusing your gifts now, we force our
-     detractors to agree that we were not unworthy of them. "We are,
-     with profound respect,
-
-     "Monseigneur,
-
-     "Your most Serene Highness's very humble and
-
-     "devoted Servants,
-
-     "GUIMARD, HEINEL," &c.
-
-     With twenty other names.
-
-[Sidenote: GENEROSITY OF THE BALLET.]
-
-Auguste Vestris spent and owed a great deal of money; the father
-honoured the engagements of the young dancer, but threatened him with
-imprisonment if he did not alter his conduct, and concluded by
-saying:--"Understand, Sir, that I will have no Guéméné in _my_ family."
-
-Although ballet dancers were important persons in those days, they were
-as nothing compared to the institution to which they belonged. Figaro,
-in his celebrated soliloquy, observes, with reference to the great
-liberty of the press accorded by the government, that provided he does
-not speak of a great many very different things, among which the Opera
-is included, he is at liberty to publish whatever he likes "under the
-inspection of three or four censors." Beaumarchais was more serious
-than would be generally supposed, in including the Opera among the
-subjects which a writer dared not touch upon, or, if so, only with the
-greatest respect. Rousseau tells us in more than one place, that it was
-considered dangerous to say anything against the Opera; and Mademoiselle
-Théodore (the interesting _danseuse_ before-mentioned, who consulted the
-fantastic moralist on the conduct she ought to pursue as a member of the
-ballet), was actually imprisoned, and exiled from Paris for eighteen
-days, because she had ventured to ridicule the management of the
-Académie, in some letters addressed to a private friend. The author of
-the _Nouvelle HĂ©loise_ should have warned her to be more careful.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND REVOLUTION.]
-
-On the 12th July, 1789, the bills were torn down from the doors of the
-Opera. The Parisians were about to take the Bastille. Having taken it,
-they allowed the Académie to continue its performance, and it re-opened
-on the 21st of the same month. In Warsaw, during the "demonstrations" of
-last March, the Opera was closed. It remains closed now[67] (end of
-November), and will re-open--neither Russians nor Poles can say when! No
-one tears the bills down, because no one thinks of putting them up; it
-being perfectly understood by the administration, (which is a department
-of the Government), that the Warsaw public are not disposed at present
-for amusement of any kind.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1789, the revolutionary spirit manifested itself among the company
-engaged at the French Opera. An anonymous letter--or rather a letter in
-the name of all the company, printed, but not signed--was addressed to
-the administration of the theatre. It pointed out a number of abuses,
-and bore this epigraph, strongly redolent of the period: "_Tu dors
-Brutus, et Rome est dans les fers!_"
-
-In 1790 the city of Paris assumed once more the management of the
-Académie, the artistic direction being entrusted to a committee composed
-of the chiefs of the various departments, and of the principal singers
-and dancers. One of the novelties produced was a "melodrama founded on
-passages from the Scriptures," called "The Taking of the Bastille,"
-written specially for Notre Dame, where it was performed for the first
-time, and where it was followed by a grand _Te Deum_. In this _Te Deum_
-few of the lovers of the Opera could have joined, for one of the first
-effects of the revolution was naturally to drive the best singers and
-dancers away from Paris. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that Mademoiselle
-Guimard was dancing in London in 1789. Madame Huberti, who was, by all
-accounts, the best singer the French had ever heard at the Académie,
-left Paris early in 1790.
-
-We know how injurious a distant war, a dissolution of parliament, a
-death in the royal family are to the fortunes of an operatic season in
-London. Fancy what must have been the effect of the French revolution on
-the Académie after 1789! The subscription list for boxes showed, in a
-few years, a diminution of from 475,000 _livres_ to 000,000! Some of the
-subscribers had gone into exile, more or less voluntary, some had been
-banished, others had been guillotined. M. Castil Blaze, from whose
-interesting works I have obtained a great number of particulars
-concerning the French Opera at the time of the revolution, tells us that
-the Queen used to pay 7,000 livres for her box. The Duke d'Orléans paid
-7,000 for his own private box, and joined the Duke de Choiseul and
-Necker in a subscription of 3,200 francs for another. The Princess de
-Lamballe and Madame de Genlis gave 3,600 francs for a "post chaise;"
-(there were other boxes, called "spittoons"--the _baignoires_ of the
-present day--"cymbals," &c.; names which they evidently owed to their
-position and form). On the other hand, there were 288 free admissions,
-of which, thirty-two were given to authors, and eight to newspapers--_La
-Gazette de France_, _Le Journal de Paris_, and _Le Mercure_. The
-remaining 248 were reserved for the HĂ´tel de Ville, the King's
-Household, the actors of the Comédie Française, and the singers and
-dancers of the Opera itself.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND REVOLUTION.]
-
-The howling of the _ça ira_ put an end for ever to the Concert
-Spirituel, where the Parisians for nearly eighty years had been in the
-habit of hearing excellent instrumental soloists, and some of the best
-of the Italian singers, when there was as yet no Italian Opera in Paris.
-The last _concert spirituel_ took place at the theatre of the Tuileries
-in 1791.
-
-Louis XVI. and his family fled from Paris on the 28th June, 1791. The
-next day, and before the king was brought back to the Tuileries, the
-title of the chief lyric theatre was changed, and from the "Académie
-_Royale_" became simply the "Opera." At the same time the custom was
-introduced of announcing the performers' names, which was evidently an
-advantage for the public, and which was also not without its benefit,
-for the inferior singers and dancers who, when they unexpectedly made
-their appearance to replace their betters, used often to get hissed in a
-manner which their own simple want of merit scarcely justified. "_Est ce
-que je savais qu'on lĂ cherait le Ponthieu?_" exclaimed an unhappy
-ticket-seller one evening, when an indignant amateur rushed out of the
-theatre and began to cane the recipient of his ill-spent money. We may
-fancy how Ponthieu himself must have been received inside the house.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: MARIE ANTOINETTE.]
-
-By an order of the Committee of Public Safety, dated the 16th of the
-September following, the title of the Opera was again changed to
-_Académie Royale de Musique_. This was intended as a compliment to the
-king, who had signed the Constitution on the 14th, and who was to go to
-the Opera six days afterwards. On the 20th the royal visit took place.
-"_Castor and Pollux_ was played," says M. Castil Blaze, "and not
-_Iphigénie en Aulide_, as is asserted by some ill-informed historians,
-who even go so far as to pretend that the chorus _Chantons, célébrons
-notre reine_ was, as on another occasion, hailed with transports of
-enthusiasm, and that the public called for it a second time. The house
-was well filled, but not crammed[68] (_comble_), as is proved by the
-amount of the receipts--6,686 livres, 15 sous. The same opera of
-Rameau's, vamped by Candeille, had produced 6,857 livres on the 14th of
-the preceding June. The representation of _Castor and Pollux_ in
-presence of the royal family took place on Tuesday the 20th September,
-and not on the 21st, the Wednesday, at that time, not being an opera
-night. On the 19th, Monday, the people had assisted at a _special
-performance_ of the same work given, gratuitously, in honour of the
-Constitution. The Royalists were present in great numbers at the
-representation of the 20th September, and some lines which could be
-applied to the Queen were loudly applauded. Marie-Antoinette was
-delighted, and said to the ladies who accompanied her, "You see that the
-people is really good, and wishes only to love us." Encouraged by so
-flattering a reception, she determined to go the next night to the
-Opéra Comique, but the king refused to accompany her. The piece
-performed was _Les Evénements imprévus_. In the duet of the second act,
-before singing the words "_Ah comme j'aime ma maitresse_" Madame Dugazon
-looked towards the Queen, when a number of voices cried out from the
-pit, _Plus de maitresse! Plus de maitre! Vive la liberté!_ This cry was
-answered from the boxes with _Vive la reine! Vive le roi!_ Sabres and
-sword-sticks were drawn, and a battle began.
-
-[Sidenote: FACTS AND COINCIDENCES.]
-
-The Queen escaped from the theatre in the midst of the tumult. Cries of
-_Ă  bas la reine!_ followed her to her carriage, which went off at a
-gallop, with mud and stones thrown after it. Marie Antoinette returned
-to the Tuileries in despair. On the first of October, fourteen days
-afterwards, the title of _Opéra National_ was substituted for that of
-_Académie Royale de Musique_. The Constitution being signed, there was
-no longer any reason for being civil to Louis XVI. This was the third
-change of title in less than four months. The majority of the buffoons,
-(M. Castil Blaze still speaks), "who now write histories more or less
-Girondist, or romantic of the French Revolution, do not take the trouble
-to verify their facts and dates. I have told you simply that the
-dauphiness Marie Antoinette made her first appearance at the Opera on
-the 16th June, 1773, in company with her husband. Others, more ingenious
-no doubt, substitute the 21st January for the 16th June, in order to
-establish a sort of fatality by connecting days, months and years. To
-prophecy after the event is only too easy, above all, if you take the
-liberty of advancing by five months, the day which it is desired to
-render fatal. These same buffoons, (says M. Castil Blaze), who now go to
-the Opera on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sometimes on Sunday, think
-people have done the same for the last two centuries. As they have not
-the slightest suspicion that the evenings of performance at the Académie
-Royale were changed in 1817, we find them maundering, paddling,
-splashing about, and finally altering figures and days, in order to make
-the events of the last century accord with the dates of our own epoch.
-That is why we are told that the Royal Family went for the last time to
-this theatre on Wednesday, the 21st September, 1791, instead of Tuesday,
-the 20th. Indeed how is it possible to go to the Opera on a Tuesday?
-That is why it is stated with the most laughable aplomb, that on the
-21st October, 1793, _Roland_ was performed, and on the 16th of October
-following, the _Siege of Thionville_, the _Offering to Liberty_, and the
-ballet of _Telemachus_. Each of these history-writing novelists fills or
-empties the house according to his political opinions; applauds the
-French people or deplores its blindness; but all the liberalism or
-sentiment manufactured by them is thrown away. Monday, the 21st of
-January, Wednesday the 16th of October, 1793, not being opera nights at
-that time, the Opera did not on those evenings throw open its doors to
-the public. On Tuesday, the 22nd of January, the day after the death of
-Louie XVI., _Roland_ was represented; the amount of the receipts, 492
-livres, 8 sous, proves that the house was empty. No free admissions were
-given then. On Tuesday, October the 15th, 1793, the eve of the execution
-of Marie Antoinette, the _Siege of Thionville_, the _Offering to
-Liberty_, _Telemachus_, in which "_la Citoyenne Perignon_" was to
-appear--a forced performance--only produced 3,251 livres. On Friday, the
-18th of October, the next day but one after this horrible catastrophe,
-_Armide_ and the _Offering to Liberty_--a forced performance and
-something more--produced 2,641 livres, which would have filled about a
-third of the house."[69]
-
-The 10th August, 1792, was the last day of the French monarchy. On the
-Sunday previous, during the Vespers said at the Chapel of the Tuileries
-in presence of the king, the singers with one accord tripled the sound
-of their voices when they came to the following verse in the
-_Magnificat_: _Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles_.
-Indignant at their audacity, the royalists thundered forth the _Domine
-salvum fac regem_, adding these words with increased energy and
-enthusiasm, _et reginam_! The greatest excitement and agitation
-prevailed in the Chapel during the rest of the service.
-
-To conclude the list of musical performances which have derived a gloomy
-celebrity from their connexion with the last days of Louis XVI., I may
-reproduce the programme issued by the directors of the Opéra National,
-on the first anniversary of his execution, 21st January, 1794.
-
-          IN BEHALF OF AND FOR THE PEOPLE,
-
-                    GRATIS,
-
-   In joyful commemoration of the Death of the Tyrant,
-
-             THE NATIONAL OPERA
-
-  WILL GIVE TO DAY, 6 PLUVIOSE, YEAR II., OF THE REPUBLIC,
-
-            MILTIADES AT MARATHON,
-
-           THE SIEGE OF THIONVILLE,
-
-           THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY.
-
-[Sidenote: REPUBLICAN CELEBRITIES.]
-
-The Opera under the Republic was directed, until 1792, by four
-distinguished _sans culottes_--Henriot, Chaumette, Le Rouxand HĂ©bert,
-the last named of whom had once been check-taker at the Académie! The
-others know nothing whatever of operatic affairs. The management of the
-theatre was afterwards transferred to Francœur, one of the former
-directors, associated with Cellérier, an architect; but the dethroned
-_impresarii_, accompanied by Danton and other republican amateurs,
-constantly made their appearance behind the scenes, and very frequently
-did the chief members of the company the honour of supping with them. In
-these cases the invitations, as under the ancient régime, proceeded, not
-from the artists, but from the artists' patrons; with this difference,
-however, that under the republic, the latter never paid the bill. There
-was no Duke de Bouillon now testifying his admiration of the vocal art
-to the tune of 900,000 francs;[70] there was no Prince de Soubise, to
-receive from the united ballet letters of condolence, thanks, and
-proposed pecuniary assistance; and if there _had_ been such an
-impossible phenomenon as a Count de Lauragais, what, I wonder, would he
-not have given to have been able to clear the _coulisses_ of such
-abominable intruders as the before named republican chiefs? "The chiefs
-of the republic, one and indivisible," says M. Castil Blaze, "were very
-fond of moistening their throats. Henriot, Danton, HĂ©bert, Le Roux,
-Chaumette, had hardly taken a turn in the _coulisses_ or in the _foyer_,
-before they said to such an actor or actress: We are going to your room,
-see that we are received properly." A superb collation was brought in.
-When the repast was finished and the bottles were empty, the national
-convention, the commune of Paris beat a retreat without troubling
-itself about the expense. You think, perhaps, that the dancer or the
-singer paid for the representatives of the people? Not at all; honest
-Mangin, who kept the refreshment room of the theatre, knew perfectly
-well that the actors of the Opera were not paid, that they had no sort
-of money, not even a rag of an assignat; he made a sacrifice; from
-delicacy he did not ask from the artists what he would not have dared to
-claim from the sans culottes for fear of the guillotine."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Sometimes the executioner, who, as a public official, had a right to his
-entrées, made his appearance behind the scenes, and it is said that in a
-facetious mood, he would sometimes express his opinion about the
-"execution" of the music. So, I am told, the London hangman went one
-night to the pit of Her Majesty's Theatre to hear Jenny Lind, and on
-seeing the Swedish nightingale, exclaimed, breathless with admiration
-and excitement, "What a throat to scrag!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: AGREEABLE CRITICS.]
-
-Operatic kings and queens were suppressed by the republic. Not only were
-they forbidden to appear on the stage, but even their names were not to
-be pronounced behind the scenes, and the expressions _côté du roi_,
-_côté de la reine_, were changed into _côté jardin_, _côté cour_, which
-at the theatre of the Tuileries indicated respectively the left and
-right of the stage, from the stage point of view. At first all pieces in
-which kings and queens appeared, were prohibited, but the dramas of
-_sans culottes_ origin were so stupid and disgusting, that the republic
-was absolutely obliged to return to the old monarchical _répertoire_.
-The kings, however, were turned into chiefs; princes and dukes became
-representatives of the people; seigneurs subsided into mayors; and
-substitutes more or less synonymous, were found for such offensive words
-as crown, throne, sceptre, &c. In a new republican version of a lyrical
-work represented at the Opera Comique, _le roi_ in one well known line
-was replaced by _la loi_, and the vocalist had to declaim _La loi
-passait, et le tambour battait aux champs._ A certain voluble executant,
-however, is said to have preferred the following emendation: _Le pouvoir
-exécutif passait, et le tambour battait aux champs._
-
-The scenes of most of the new operas were laid in Italy, Prussia,
-Portugal,--anywhere but in France, where it would have been
-indispensable, from a political, and impossible from a poetical, point
-of view to make the lovers address one another as _citoyen_,
-_citoyenne_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the 19th of June, 1793, the directors of the Opera having objected to
-give a gratuitous performance of _The Siege of Thionville_, the commune
-of Paris issued the following edict:
-
-"Considering that for a long time past the aristocracy has taken refuge
-in the administration of various theatres;
-
-"Considering that these gentlemen corrupt the public mind by the pieces
-they represent;
-
-"Considering that they exercise a fatal influence on the revolution;
-
-It is decreed that the _Siege of Thionville_ shall be represented gratis
-and solely for the amusement of the _sans culottes_, who, to this moment
-have been the true defenders of liberty and supporters of democracy."
-
-Soon afterwards it was proposed to shut up the Opera, but HĂ©bert, the
-ferocious Hébert, better known as _le père Duchèsne_, undertook its
-defence on the ground that it procured subsistence for a number of
-families, and "caused the agreeable arts to flourish."
-
-It was thereupon resolved "that the Opera should be encouraged and
-defended against its enemies." At the same time the managers Cellérier
-and Francœur were arrested as _suspects_. Neither of them was
-executed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE "MARATISTES" AGAIN.]
-
-The Opera was now once more placed under the direction of a committee
-chosen from among the singers and dancers, who were selected this time,
-not by reason of their artistic merit, but solely with reference to
-their political principles. Lays, one of the chief managers, was a
-furious democrat, and on one occasion insisted on Mademoiselle Maillard
-(Gluck's "Armida!") appearing in a procession as the Goddess of Reason.
-
-Mademoiselle Maillard having refused, Chaumette was appealed to. The
-arguments he employed were simple but convincing. "Well, _citoyenne_,"
-he said, "since you refuse to be a divinity, you must not be astonished
-if we treat you _as a mortal_." Fortunately for the poor prima donna,
-Mormoro, a member of the Commune of Paris, and a raging "Maratiste"
-(which has not quite the same meaning now as in the days of the
-"Todistes") claimed the obnoxious part for his unhappy wife. The
-beautiful Madame Mormoro was forced to appear in the streets of Paris in
-the light and airy costume of an antique Goddess, with the thermometer
-at twenty degrees below freezing point! "Reason" not unreasonably wept
-with annoyance throughout the ceremony.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-LĂ©onard Bourdon, called by those who knew him _LĂ©opard_ Bourdon, used
-all his influence, as a distinguished member of the Mountain, to get a
-work he had prepared for the Opera produced. His piece was called the
-_Tomb of the Impostors_, or _the Inauguration of the Temple of Truth_.
-It was printed at the expense of the Republic, but never brought out. In
-the first scene the stage represents a church, built with human skulls.
-In the sanctuary there is to be a fountain of blood. A woman enters to
-confess, the priest behaves atrociously in the confessional, &c., &c.
-The scenes and incidents throughout the drama are all in the same style,
-and the whole is dedicated in an uncomplimentary epistle to the Pope.
-LĂ©opard tormented the directors actors, and actresses, night and day, to
-produce his master-piece, and threatened, that if they were not quick
-about it, he would have a guillotine erected on the stage.
-
-This threat was not quite so vain as it might seem. A list of twenty-two
-persons engaged at the Opera (twenty-two--the fatal number during the
-Reign of Terror), had been already drawn up by HĂ©bert, as a sort of
-executioner's memorandum. When he was in a good humour he would show it
-to the singers and dancers, and say to them with easy familiarity; "I
-shall have to send you all to the guillotine some day. Two reasons have
-prevented me hitherto; in the first place you are not worth the trouble,
-in the second I want you for my amusement." These reasons were not
-considered quite satisfactory by the proscribed artists, and Beaupré, a
-comic dancer of great talent, contrived by various humorous stratagems
-(one of which, and doubtless the most readily forgiven, consisted in
-intoxicating HĂ©bert), to gain possession of the fatal list; but the day
-afterwards the republican _dilettante_ was always sufficiently recovered
-from the effects of his excessive potations to draw up another one
-exactly like it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: DANGEROUS MELODIES.]
-
-At the head of the catalogue of suspected ones figured the name of
-Lainez, whom the republicans could not pardon for the energy and
-expression with which he had sung the air _Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine_, at the last performances of _Iphigénie en Aulide_; and that of
-Mademoiselle Maillard, whose crime has been already mentioned. At this
-period it was dangerous not only to sing the words, but even to hum or
-whistle the music of such airs as the aforesaid _Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine_, _O Richard o mon roi!_ _Charmante Gabrielle_, and many others,
-among which may be mentioned _Pauvre Jacques_--an adaptation of Dibdin's
-_Poor Jack_, in which allusions had been discovered to the fate of Louis
-XVI. Indeed, to perform any kind of music might be fatal to the
-executant, and thus Mesdemoiselles de Saint LĂ©ger, two young ladies
-living in Arras, were executed for having played the piano the day that
-Valenciennes fell into the hands of the enemy.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mademoiselle Maillard, much as she detested the republicans, was forced,
-on one occasion, to sing a republican hymn. When Lainez complimented her
-on the warmth of her expression, the vigour of her execution, she
-replied, "I was burning with rage at having to sing to such monsters."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Vestris, the Prince de Guéméné of the Vestris family, he who had been
-accused by his father of wishing to produce a misunderstanding between
-the Vestrises and the Bourbons, had to dance in a _pas de trois_ as a
-_sans culottes_, between two nuns!
-
-Sophie Arnould, accused (and not quite unreasonably), of aristocratic
-sympathies, pointed indignantly to a bust of Gluck in her room, and
-asked the intelligent agents of the Republic, if it was likely she would
-keep the bust of Marat were she not a true republican?
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The vocalists of a revolutionary turn of mind would have succeeded
-better if they had possessed more talent; but the Parisian public, even
-in 1793, was not prepared to accept correctness in politics as an excuse
-for inaccuracy in singing. Lefèvre, a sixth tenor, but a bloodthirsty
-republican, insisted on being promoted to first characters, and
-threatened those whom he wished to replace with denunciations and the
-guillotine, if they kept him in a subordinate position any longer.
-Lefèvre had his wish gratified in part, but not altogether. He appeared
-as _primo tenore_, but was violently hissed by his friends, the _sans
-culottes_. He then came out as first bass, and was hissed again. In his
-rage he attributed his _fiasco_ to the machinations of the
-counter-revolution, and wanted the soldiers to come into the theatre,
-and fire upon the infamous accomplices of "Pitt and Coburg."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: AN ATROCIOUS TENOR.]
-
-This bad singer, and worse man, was one of the twelve chiefs of the
-National Guard of Paris, and on certain days had the command of the
-city. As his military rule was most oppressive, the Parisians used to
-punish him for his tyranny as a soldier, by ridiculing his monstrous
-defects as a vocalist.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Though the Reign of Terror was a fearful time for artists and art, the
-number of playhouses in Paris increased enormously. There were
-sixty-three theatres open, and in spite of war, famine, and the
-guillotine, they were always full.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1794, the opera was transferred to the Rue de la Loi (afterwards Rue
-de Richelieu), immediately opposite the National Library. With regard to
-this change of locality, let us hear what M. Castil Blaze has to say, in
-his own words.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"How was it that the opera was moved to a building exactly opposite the
-National Library, so precious and so combustible a repository of human
-knowledge? The two establishments were only separated by a street, very
-much too narrow: if the theatre caught fire, was it not sure to burn the
-library? That is what a great many persons still ask; this question has
-been re-produced a hundred times in our journals. Go back to the time
-when the house was built by Mademoiselle Montansier; read the _Moniteur
-Universel_, and you will see that it was precisely in order to expose
-this same library to the happy chances of a fire, that the great lyrical
-entertainment was transferred to its neighbourhood. The opera hung over
-it, and threatened it constantly. At this time enlightenment abounded
-to such a point, that the judicious Henriot, convinced in his innermost
-conscience that all reading was henceforth useless, had made a motion to
-burn the library. To move the opera to the Rue Richelieu--the opera,
-which twice in eighteen years had been a prey to the flames--to place it
-exactly opposite our literary treasures, was to multiply to infinity the
-chances of their being burnt.'
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mercier, in reference to the literary views of the Committee of Public
-Safety, writes in the _Nouveau Paris_, as follows:--
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The language of Omar about the Koran was not more terrible than those
-uttered by the members of the committee of public safety when they
-expressed their intentions formally, as follows:--'Yes, we will burn all
-the libraries, for nothing will be needed but the history of the
-Revolution and its laws.'" If the motion of Henriot had been carried,
-David, the great Conventional painter was ready to propose that the same
-service should be rendered to the masterpieces in the Louvre, as to the
-literary wealth of the National Library. Republican subjects, according
-to David, were alone worthy of being represented.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA AND THE NATIONAL LIBRARY.]
-
-At one of the sittings of the very council in which Henriot had already
-brought forward his motion for burning the Library, Mademoiselle
-Montansier was accused of having built the theatre in the Rue Richelieu
-with that very design. On the 14th of November, 1793, Chaumette at the
-sitting of the Commune of Paris, said--
-
-"I denounce the _Citoyenne_ Montansier. The money of the Englishman[71]
-has been largely employed in raising this edifice, and the former queen
-gave fifty thousand crowns towards it. I demand that this theatre be
-closed on account of the dangers which would result from its catching
-fire." Adopted.
-
-HĂ©bert. "I denounce _la demoiselle_ Montansier, personally; I have
-information against her. She offered me a box at her new theatre to
-procure my silence. I demand that la Montansier be arrested as a
-suspicious person." Adopted.
-
-Chaumette. "I demand, moreover, that the actors, actresses and directors
-of the Parisian theatres be subjected to the censorship of the council."
-Adopted.
-
-After deciding that the theatre in the Rue de la Loi could not be kept
-open without imperilling the existence of the National Library, and
-after imprisoning Mademoiselle Montansier for having built it, the
-Commune of Paris deliberately opened it as an opera house! Mademoiselle
-Montansier was, nevertheless, still kept in prison, and remained there
-ten months, until after the death of Robespierre.
-
-Mademoiselle Montansier's nocturnal assemblies in the Palais Royal were
-equally renowned before and after her arrest. Actors and actresses,
-gamblers, poets, representatives of the people, republican generals,
-retired aristocrats, conspicuous _sans culottes_, and celebrities of all
-kinds congregated there. Art, pleasure, politics, the new opera, the
-last execution were alike discussed by Dugazon and Barras, le père
-Duchesne and the Duke de Lauzun, Robespierre and Mademoiselle Maillard,
-the Chevalier de Saint Georges and Danton, Martainville and the Marquis
-de Chanvelin, Lays and Marat, Volange and the Duke of Orleans. From the
-names just mentioned, it will be understood that some members of this
-interesting society were from time to time found wanting. Their absence
-was not much remarked, and fresh notorieties constantly came forward to
-fill the places of those claimed by the guillotine.
-
-After Mademoiselle Montansier's liberation from prison, Napoleon
-Bonaparte was introduced to her by Dugazon and Barras. His ambition had
-not yet been excited, and Barras--who may, nevertheless, have looked
-upon him as a possible rival, and one to be dreaded--wished to get up a
-marriage between him and the fashionable but now somewhat antiquated
-syren of the Palais Royal. Everything went on well for some time. Then a
-magnificent dinner was given with the view of bringing the affair to a
-conclusion; but Bonaparte was very reserved, and Barras now saw that his
-project was not likely to succeed. At a banquet given by Mademoiselle
-Montansier, to celebrate the success of the thirteenth Vendémiaire,
-Bonaparte proposed a toast in honour of his venerable "intended," and
-soon afterwards she married Neuville.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE MONTANSIER.]
-
-Mademoiselle Montansier who had been shamefully cheated, indeed robbed,
-by the Convention, hoped to have her claims recognised by the Directory.
-Barras offered her one million, six hundred thousand francs. She refused
-it, the indemnity she demanded for the losses which she had sustained by
-the seizure of her theatre at the hands of the Convention amounting to
-seven millions. Napoleon, when first consul, caused the theatre to be
-estimated, when its value was fixed at one million three hundred
-thousand francs. After various delays, Mademoiselle Montansier received
-a partial recognition of her claim, accompanied by an order for payment,
-signed by the Emperor at Moscow.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Some readers have, probably, been unable to reconcile two facts
-mentioned above with respect to the Opera under the Convention:--1. That
-the performers were not paid; and 2. That the public attended the
-representations in immense numbers. The explanation is very simple. The
-money was stolen by the Commune of Paris. Gardel, the ballet-master,
-required fifty thousand francs for the production of a work composed by
-himself, on the subject of _William Tell_. Twice was the sum amassed
-from the receipts and professedly set apart for the unfortunate _William
-Tell_, and twice the money disappeared. It had been devoted to the
-requirements of patriots in real life.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Danton, HĂ©bert, Chaumette, Henriot, Robespierre, all administrators of
-the Opera; Dubuisson, Fabre d'Eglantine, librettists writing for the
-Opera, and both republicans had been executed during the Reign of
-Terror. Chamfort, a republican, killed himself to avoid the same fate.
-
-Coquéau, architect, musician, and writer, the author of a number of
-musical articles produced during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, was
-guillotined in the year II. of the republic.
-
-The musician, Edelman, after bringing a number of persons to the
-scaffold, including his patron and benefactor, the Baron de Diétrich,
-arrived there himself in 1794, accompanied by his brother.
-
-In the same year Despréaux, leader of the first violins at the opera in
-1782, and member of the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1793, killed himself
-from remorse.
-
-Altogether, sixteen persons belonging to the opera in various ways
-killed themselves, or were executed in 1792, '93, and '94.
-
-After the fall of Robespierre, the royalists for a time ruled the
-theatres, and avenged themselves on all actors who had made themselves
-conspicuous as revolutionists. Trial, a comic tenor, who had made a very
-serious accusation against Mademoiselle Buret, of the Comédie Italienne,
-which led to her execution, was forced to sing the _RĂ©veil du Peuple_ on
-his knees, amid the execrations of the audience. He sang it, but was
-thrown into such a state of agitation that he died from the effects.
-
-Lays, whose favourite part was that of "Oreste," in _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_, had, in the course of the opera, to declaim these verses:--
-
-    "J'ai trahi l'amitié,
-       J'ai trahi la nature;
-     Des plus noirs attentats
-       J'ai comblé la mesure."
-
-The audience of the Bordeaux theatre considered this confession so
-becoming in the mouth of the singer who had to utter it, that Lays took
-care not to give them an opportunity a second time of manifesting their
-views on the subject. Lays made his next appearance in _Ĺ’dipe Ă 
-Colone_. As in this opera he had to represent the virtuous Theseus, he
-felt sure that the public would not be able to confound him in any
-manner with the character he was supporting; but he had to submit to all
-sorts of insults during the performance, and at the fall of the curtain
-was compelled to begin the _RĂ©veil du Peuple_. After the third verse, he
-was told he was unworthy to sing such a song, and was driven from the
-stage.
-
-[Sidenote: MADELEINE GUIMARD AGAIN.]
-
-On the 23rd of January, 1796, Mademoiselle Guimard re-appeared at a
-performance given for the benefit of aged and retired artists. A number
-of veteran connoisseurs came forward on this occasion to see how the
-once charming Madeleine looked at the age of fifty-nine. After the
-ballet an old _habitué_ of Louis the Fifteenth's time called for a
-coach, drove to his lodging, and on getting out, proceeded naturally to
-pay the driver the amount of his fare.
-
-"You are joking, my dear Count," said the coachman. "Whoever heard of
-Lauragais paying the Chevalier de Ferrière for taking him home in his
-carriage?"
-
-"What! is it you?" said the Count de Lauragais.
-
-"Myself!" replied the Chevalier.
-
-The two friends embraced, and the Chevalier de Ferrière then explained
-that, when all the royalists were concealing themselves or emigrating,
-he had determined to do both. He had assumed the great coat of his
-coachman, painted a number over the arms on his carriage, and emigrated
-as far as the Boulevard, where he found plenty of customers, and passed
-uninjured and unsuspected through the Reign of Terror.
-
-"Where do you live?" said the Count.
-
-"Rue des Tuileries," replied the Chevalier, "and my horses with me. The
-poor beasts have shared all my misfortunes."
-
-"Give me the whip and reins, and get inside," cried de Lauragais.
-
-"What for?" inquired the Chevalier.
-
-"To drive you home. It is an act which, as a gentleman, I insist on
-performing; a duty I owe to my old companion and friend. Your day's work
-is over. To-morrow morning we will go to Sophie's, who expects me to
-breakfast."
-
-"Where?"
-
-"At the Hotel d'Angivillier, a caravansary of painters and musicians,
-where Fouché has granted her, on the part of the Republic, an apartment
-and a pension of two thousand four hundred francs--we should have said a
-hundred _louis_ formerly. This is called a national reward for the
-eminent services rendered by the _citoyenne_ Arnould to the country, and
-to the sovereign people at the Opera. The poor girl was greatly in need
-of it."
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD AGAIN.]
-
-Fouché had once been desperately in love with Sophie Arnould, and now
-pitied her in her distress. Thanks to her influence with the minister,
-the Chevalier Ferrière obtained an order, authorizing him to return to
-France, though he had never left Paris, except occasionally to drive a
-fare to one of the suburbs.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The natural effect of Napoleon's campaigns in Italy was to create among
-the French army a taste for Italian music. The First Consul and many of
-his generals were passionately fond of it; and a hint from the Tuileries
-in 1801 was sufficient to induce Mademoiselle Montansier to engage an
-Italian company, which performed for the first time in Paris on the 1st
-of May in the same year. The enterprise, however, was not successful;
-and in 1803 the directress, who had been arrested before because money
-was owing to her, was put in prison for owing money.
-
-If, by taking his troops to Italy, Napoleon was the means of introducing
-a taste for Italian music among the French, he provided his country with
-Italian singers in a far more direct manner. At Dresden, in 1806, he
-was delighted with the performance of Brizzi and Madame Paer in the
-opera of _Achille_, composed by the prima donna's husband.
-
-"You sing divinely, Madame Paer," said the emperor. What do they give
-you at this theatre?"
-
-"Fifteen thousand francs, Sire."
-
-"You shall receive thirty. M. Brizzi, you shall follow me on the same
-terms."
-
-"But we are engaged."
-
-"With me. You see the affair is quite settled. The Prince of Benevento
-will attend to the diplomatic part of it."
-
-[Sidenote: NAPOLEON AND PAER.]
-
-Napoleon took away _Achille_, and everything belonging to it; music,
-composer, and the two principal singers. The engagement by which the
-emperor engaged Paer as composer of his chamber music, was drawn up by
-Talleyrand, and bore his signature, approved by Napoleon, and attested
-by Maret, the secretary of state. Paer, who had been four years at
-Dresden, and who, independently of his contract, was personally much
-attached to the king of Saxony, did all in his power to avoid entering
-into Napoleon's service. Perhaps, too, he was not pleased at the
-prospect of having to follow the emperor about from one battle-field to
-another, though by a special article in the engagement offered to him,
-he was guaranteed ten francs a post, and thirty-four francs a day for
-his travelling expenses. As Paer, in spite of the compliments, and the
-liberal terms[72] offered to him by Napoleon, continued to object,
-General Clarke told the emperor that he had an excellent plan for
-getting over all difficulties, and saving the maestro from any
-reproaches of ingratitude which the king of Saxony might otherwise
-address to him. This plan consisted in placing Paer in the hands of
-_gens d'armes_, and having him conducted from camp to camp wherever the
-emperor went. No violence, however, was done to the composer. The king
-of Saxony liberated him from his engagement at the Dresden opera, and,
-moreover, signified to him that he must either follow Napoleon, or quit
-Saxony immediately. It is said that Paer was ceded by a secret treaty
-between the two sovereigns, like a fortress, or rather like a province,
-as provinces were transferred before the idea of nationality was
-invented; that is to say, without the wishes of the inhabitants being in
-any way taken into account. The king of Saxony was only too glad that
-Napoleon took nothing from him but his singers and musicians.
-
-Brizzi, the tenor, Madame Paer, the prima donna, and her husband, the
-composer, were ordered to start at once for Warsaw. In the morning, the
-emperor would attend to military and state affairs, and perhaps preside
-at a battle, for fighting was now going on in the neighbourhood of the
-Polish capital. In the evening, he had a concert at head quarters, the
-programme of which generally included several pieces by Paisiello.
-Napoleon was particularly fond of Paisiello's music, and Paer, who,
-besides being a composer, was a singer of high merit, knew a great deal
-of it by heart.
-
-Paisiello had been Napoleon's chapel-master since 1801, the emperor
-having sent for him to Naples after signing the Concordat with the Pope.
-On arriving in Paris, the cunning Italian, like an experienced courtier,
-was no sooner introduced to Napoleon than he addressed him as 'sire!'
-
-"'Sire,' what do you mean?" replied the first consul; "I am a general,
-and nothing more."
-
-"Well, General," continued the composer, "I have come to place myself at
-your majesty's orders."
-
-"I must really beg you," continued Napoleon, "not to address me in this
-manner."
-
-"Forgive me, General," answered Paisiello, "but I cannot give up the
-habit I have contracted in addressing sovereigns who, compared with you,
-seem but pigmies. However, I will not forget your commands, sire; and if
-I have been unfortunate enough to offend, I must throw myself upon your
-Majesty's indulgence."
-
-[Sidenote: EXPRESSION IN MUSIC.]
-
-Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass he wrote for
-Napoleon's coronation. Each of the masses for the imperial chapel
-brought him one thousand francs. Not much, certainly; but then it must
-be remembered that he produced as many as fourteen in two years. They
-were for the most part made up of pieces of church music, which the
-maestro had written for Italy, and when this fruitful source failed him,
-he had recourse to his numerous serious and comic operas. Thus, an air
-from the _Nittetti_ was made to do duty as a _Gloria_, another from the
-_Scuffiera_ as an _Agnus Dei_. Music depends so much upon association
-that, doubtless, only those persons who had already heard these melodies
-on the stage, found them at all inappropriate in a church. Figaro's air
-in the _Barber of Seville_ would certainly not sound well in a mass; but
-there are plenty of love songs, songs expressive of despair (if not of
-too violent a kind), songs, in short, of a sentimental and slightly
-passionate cast, which only require to be united to religious words to
-be at once and thereby endowed with a religious character. Gluck,
-himself, who is supposed by many to have believed that music was capable
-of conveying absolute, definite ideas, borrowed pieces from his old
-Italian operas to introduce into the scores he was writing, on entirely
-different subjects, for the Académie Royale of Paris. Thus, he has
-employed an air from his _Telemacco_ in the introduction to the overture
-of _Iphigénie en Aulide_. The chorus in the latter work, _Que d'attraits
-que de majesté_, is founded on the air, _Al mio spirto_, in the same
-composer's _Clemenza di Tito_. The overture to Gluck's _Telemacco_
-became that of his _Armide_. Music serves admirably to heighten the
-effect of a dramatic situation, or to give force and intensity to the
-expression of words; but the same music may often be allied with equal
-advantage to words of very different shades of meaning. Thus, the same
-melody will depict equally well the rage of a baffled conspirator, the
-jealousy of an injured and most respectable husband, and various other
-kinds of agitation; the grief of lovers about to part, the joy of lovers
-at meeting again, and other emotions of a tender nature; the despondency
-of a man firmly bent on suicide, the calm devotion of a pious woman
-entering a convent, and other feelings of a solemn class. The
-signification we discover in music also depends much upon the
-circumstances under which it is heard, and to some extent also on the
-mood we are in when hearing it.
-
-[Sidenote: TWO PASTICCIOS.]
-
-Under the republic, consulate, and empire, music did not flourish in
-France, and not even the imperial Spontini and Cherubini, in spite of
-the almost European reputation they for some time enjoyed, produced any
-works which will bear comparison with the masterpieces of their
-successors, Rossini, Auber, and Meyerbeer. During the dark artistic
-period which separates the fall of the monarchy from the restoration, a
-few interesting works were produced at the Opera Comique; but until
-Napoleon's advent to power, France neglected more than ever the music of
-Italy, and did worse than neglect that of Germany, for, in 1793, the
-directors of the Academy brought out a version of Mozart's _Marriage of
-Figaro_, in five acts, without recitative and with all the prose
-dialogue of Beaumarchais introduced. In 1806, too, a _pasticcio_ by
-Kalkbrenner, formed out of the music of Mozart's _Don Juan_, with
-improvements and additions by Kalkbrenner himself, was performed at the
-same theatre. Both these medleys met with the fate which might have been
-anticipated for them.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-     OPERA IN ITALY, GERMANY AND RUSSIA, DURING AND IN CONNECTION WITH
-     THE REPUBLICAN AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. PAISIELLO, PAER, CIMAROSA,
-     MOZART. THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. DON GIOVANNI.
-
-
-Nothing shows better the effect on art of the long continental wars at
-the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century than
-the fact that Mozart's two greatest works, written for Vienna and Prague
-immediately before the French Revolution, did not become known in
-England and France until about a quarter of a century after their
-production. Fortunate Austria, before the great break up of European
-territories and dynasties, possessed the two first musical capitals in
-Europe. Opera had already declined in Berlin, and its history, even
-under the direction of the flute-playing Frederic, possesses little
-interest for English readers after the departure or rather flight of
-Madame Mara. Italy was still the great nursery of music, but her maestri
-composed their greatest works for foreign theatres, and many of them
-were attached to foreign courts. Thus, Paisiello wrote his _Barbiere di
-Siviglia_ for St. Petersburgh, whither he had been invited by the
-Empress Catherine, and where he was succeeded by Cimarosa. Cimarosa,
-again, on his return from St. Petersburgh, wrote his masterpiece, _Il
-Matrimonio Segretto_, for the Emperor Leopold II., at Vienna. Of the
-Opera at Stockholm, we have heard nothing since the time of Queen
-Christina. The Dresden Opera, which, in the days of Handel, was the
-first in Europe, still maintained its pre-eminence at the beginning of
-the second half of the eighteenth century, when Rousseau published his
-"Musical Dictionary," and described at length the composition of its
-admirable orchestra. But the state and the resources of the kings of
-Saxony declined with the power of Poland, and the Dresden Opera, though,
-thanks to the taste which presided at the court, its performances were
-still excellent, had quite lost its peculiar celebrity long before
-Napoleon came, and carried away its last remaining glories in the shape
-of the composer, Paer, and Madame Paer and Brizzi, its two principal
-singers.
-
-[Sidenote: PAISIELLO IN RUSSIA.]
-
-The first great musical work produced in Russia, Paisiello's _Barbiere
-di Siviglia_, was performed for the first time at St. Petersburgh, in
-1780. In this opera work, of which the success soon became European, the
-composer entered thoroughly into the spirit of all Beaumarchais's best
-scenes, so admirably adapted for musical illustration. Of the solos, the
-three most admired were Almaviva's opening romance, Don Basil's _La
-Calomnia_, and the air for Don Bartholo; the other favourite pieces
-being a comic trio, in which La Jeunesse sneezes, and L'Eveillé yawns in
-the presence of the tutor (I need scarcely remark that the personages
-just named belong to Beaumarchais's comedy, and that they are not
-introduced in Rossini's opera), another trio, in which Rosina gives the
-letter to Figaro, a duet for the entry of the tenor in the assumed
-character of Don Alonzo, and a quintett, in which Don Basil is sent to
-bed, and in which the phrase _buona sera_ is treated with great
-felicity.
-
-Pergolese rendered a still greater service to Russia than did Paisiello
-by writing one of his masterpieces for its capital, when he took the
-young Bortnianski with him from St. Petersburgh to Italy, and there
-educated the greatest religious composer that Russia, not by any means
-deficient in composers, has yet known.
-
-[Sidenote: A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.]
-
-We have seen that Paisiello, some years after his return to Italy, was
-engaged by Napoleon as chapel-master, and that the services of Paer were
-soon afterwards claimed and secured by the emperor as composer of his
-chamber music. This was not the first time that Paer had been forced to
-alter his own private arrangements in consequence of the very despotic
-patronage accorded to music by the victorious leaders of the French
-army. In 1799 he was at Udine, where his wife was engaged as _prima
-donna_. Portogallo's _la Donna di genio volubile_ was about to be
-represented before a large number of the officers under the command of
-Bernadotte, when suddenly it appeared impossible to continue the
-performance owing to the very determined indisposition of the _primo
-basso_. This gentleman had gone to bed in the middle of the day
-disguised as an invalid. He declared himself seriously unwell in the
-afternoon, and in the evening sent a message to the theatre to excuse
-himself from appearing in Portogallo's opera. Paer and his wife
-understood what this meant. The performance was for Madame Paer's
-benefit; and Olivieri, the perfidious basso, from private pique, had
-determined, if possible, to prevent it taking place. Paer's spirit was
-roused by the attitude of the _primo buffo_, which was still that of a
-man confined to his bed; and he resolved to frustrate his infamous
-scheme, which, though simple, appeared certain of success, inasmuch as
-no other comic _basso_ was to be found anywhere near Udine. The audience
-was impatient, Madame Paer in tears, the manager in despair, when Paer
-desired that the performance might begin; saying, that Providence would
-send them a basso who would at least know his part, and that in any case
-Madame Paer must get ready for the first scene. Madame Paer obeyed the
-marital injunction, but in a state of great trepidation; for she had no
-confidence in the capabilities of the promised basso, and was not by any
-means sure that he even existed. The curtain was about to rise, when the
-singer who was to have fallen from the clouds walked quietly on to the
-stage, perfectly dressed for the part he was about to undertake, and
-without any sign of hesitation on his countenance. The _prima donna_
-uttered a cry of surprise, burst into a fit of laughter, and then rushed
-weeping into the arms of her husband,--for it was Paer himself who had
-undertaken to replace the treacherous Olivieri.
-
-"No," said Madame Paer; "this is impossible! It shall never be said that
-I allowed you, a great composer, who will one day be known throughout
-Europe, to act the buffoon. No! the performance must be stopped!"
-
-At this moment the final chords of the overture were heard. Poor Madame
-Paer resigned herself to her fate, and went weeping on to the stage to
-begin a comic duet with her husband, who seemed in excellent spirits,
-and commenced his part with so much _verve_ and humour, that the
-audience rewarded his exertions with a storm of applause. Paer's gaiety
-soon communicated itself to his wife. If Paer was to perform at all, it
-was necessary that his performance should outshine that of all possible
-rivals, and especially that of the miscreant Olivieri, who was now
-laughing between his sheets at the success which he fancied must have
-already attended his masterly device. The _prima donna_ had never sung
-so charmingly before, but the greatest triumph of the evening was gained
-by the new _basso_. Olivieri, who previously had been pronounced
-unapproachable in Portogallo's opera, was now looked upon as quite an
-inferior singer compared to the _buffo caricato_ who had so
-unexpectedly presented himself before the Udine public. Paer, in
-addition to his great, natural histrionic ability, knew every note of
-_la Donna_. Olivieri had studied only his own part. Paer, in directing
-the rehearsals, had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all of them,
-and gave a significance to some portions of the music which had never
-been expressed or apprehended by his now defeated, routed, utterly
-confounded rival.
-
-[Sidenote: A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.]
-
-At present comes the dark side of the picture. Olivieri, dangerously ill
-the night before, was perfectly well the next morning, and quite ready
-to resume his part in _la Donna di genio volubile_. Paer, on the other
-hand, was quite willing to give it up to him; but both reckoned without
-the military connoisseurs of Udine, and above all without Bernadotte,
-who arrived the day after Paer's great success, when all the officers of
-the staff were talking of nothing else. Olivieri was announced to appear
-in his old character; but when the bill was shown to the General, he
-declared that the original representative might go back to bed, for that
-the only buffo he would listen to was the illustrious Paer. In vain the
-director explained that the composer was not engaged as a singer, and
-that nothing but the sudden indisposition of Olivieri would have induced
-him to appear on the stage at all. Bernadotte swore he would have Paer,
-and no one else; and as the unfortunate _impresario_ continued his
-objections, he was ordered into arrest, and informed that he should
-remain in prison until the _maestro_ Paer undertook once more the part
-of "Pippo" in Portogallo's opera.
-
-The General then sent a company of grenadiers to surround Paer's house;
-but the composer had heard of what had befallen the manager, and,
-foreseeing his own probable fate, if he remained openly in Udine, had
-concealed himself, and spread a report that he was in the country.
-Lancers and hussars were dispatched in search of him, but naturally
-without effect. In the supposed absence of Paer, the army was obliged to
-accept Olivieri; and when six or seven representations of the popular
-opera had taken place and the military public had become accustomed to
-Olivieri's performance of the part of "Pippo," Paer came forth from his
-hiding place and suffered no more from the warlike dilettanti-ism of
-Bernadotte.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME FODOR AND THE COW.]
-
-There would be no end to my anecdotes if I were to attempt to give a
-complete list of all those in which musicians and singers have been made
-to figure in connection with all sorts of events during the last great
-continental war. The great vocalists, and many of the great composers of
-the day, continued to travel about from city to city, and from court to
-court, as though Europe were still in a state of profound peace.
-Sometimes, as happened once to Paer, and was nearly happening to him a
-second time, they were taken prisoners; or they found themselves shut up
-in a besieged town; and a great _cantatrice_, Madame Fodor, who chanced
-to be engaged at the Hamburg opera when Hamburg was invested, was
-actually the cause of a _sortie_ being made in her favour. On one
-occasion, while she was singing, the audience was disturbed by a cannon
-ball coming through the roof of the theatre and taking its place in the
-gallery; but the performances continued nevertheless, and the officers
-and soldiers of the garrison continued to be delighted with their
-favourite vocalist. Madame Fodor, however, on her side, was beginning to
-get tired of her position; not that she cared much about the bombardment
-which was renewed from time to time, but because the supply of milk had
-failed, cows and oxen having been alike slaughtered for the sustenance
-of the beleaguered garrison. Without milk, Madame Fodor was scarcely
-able to sing; at least, she had so accustomed herself to drink it every
-evening during the intervals of performance, that she found it
-inconvenient and painful to do without it. Hearing in what a painful
-situation their beloved vocalist found herself, the French army
-gallantly resolved to remedy it without delay. The next evening a
-_sortie_ was effected, and a cow brought back in triumph. This cow was
-kept in the property and painting room in the theatre, above the stage,
-and was lowered like a drop scene, to be milked whenever Madame Fodor
-was thirsty. So, at least, says the operatic anecdote on the subject,
-though it would perhaps have been a more convenient proceeding to have
-sent some trustworthy person to perform the milking operation up stairs.
-In any case, the cow was kept carefully shut up and under guard.
-Otherwise the animal's life would not have been safe, so great was the
-scarcity of provision in Hamburg at the time, and so great the general
-hunger for beef of any kind.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE D'ENTRAIGUES' MURDER.]
-
-Madame Huberti, after flying from Paris during the Reign of Terror,
-married the Count d'Entraigues, and would seem to have terminated her
-operatic career happily and honourably; but she was destined some years
-afterwards to die a horrible death. The countess always wore the order
-of St. Michael, which had been given to her by the then unacknowledged
-Louis XVIII., in token of the services she had rendered to the royalist
-party, by enabling her husband to escape from prison and preserving his
-portfolio which contained a number of political papers of great
-importance. The Count afterwards entered the service of Russia, and was
-entrusted by the government with several confidential missions. Hitherto
-he had been working in the interest of the Bourbons against Napoleon;
-but when the French emperor and the emperor Alexander formed an
-alliance, after the battles of Eylau and Friedland, he seems to have
-thought that his connexion with Russia ought to terminate. However this
-may have been, he found means to obtain a copy of the secret articles
-contained in the treaty of Tilsit[73] and hastened to London to
-communicate them to the English government. For this service he is said
-to have received a pension, and he now established himself in England,
-where he appears to have had continual relations with the foreign
-office. The French police heard how the Count d'Entraigues was employed
-in London, and Fouché sent over two agents to watch him and intercept
-his letters. These emissaries employed an Italian refugee, to get
-acquainted with and bribe Lorenzo, the Count's servant, who allowed his
-compatriot to read and even to take copies of the despatches frequently
-entrusted to him by his master to take to Mr. Canning. He, moreover,
-gave him a number of the Count's letters to and from other persons. One
-evening a letter was brought to M. d'Entraigues which obliged him to go
-early the next morning from his residence at Barnes to London. Lorenzo
-had observed the seal of the foreign office on the envelope, and saw
-that his treachery would soon be discovered. Everything was ready for
-the journey, when he stabbed his master, who fell to the ground mortally
-wounded. The Countess was getting into the carriage. To prevent her
-charging him with her husband's death, the servant also stabbed her, and
-a few moments afterwards, in confusion and despair, blew his own brains
-out with a pistol which he in the first instance appears to have
-intended for M. d'Entraigues. This horrible affair occurred on the 22nd
-of July, 1812.
-
-Nothing fatal happened to Madame Colbran, though she was deeply mixed up
-with politics, her name being at one time quite a party word among the
-royalists at Naples. Those who admired the king made a point of
-admiring his favourite singer. A gentleman from England asked a friend
-one night at the Naples theatre how he liked the vocalist in question.
-
-"Like her? I am a royalist," was the reply.
-
-When the revolutionists gained the upper hand, Madame Colbran was
-hissed; but the discomfiture of the popular party was always followed by
-renewed triumphs for the singer.
-
-Madame Colbran must not lead us on to her future husband, Rossini, whose
-epoch has not yet arrived. The mention of Paer's wife has already taken
-us far away from the composers in vogue at the end of the eighteenth
-century.
-
-[Sidenote: IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETTO.]
-
-Two of the three best comic operas ever produced, _Le Nozze di Figaro_
-and _Il Matrimonio Segretto_ (I need scarcely name Rossini's _Il
-Barbiere di Siviglia_ as the third), were written for Vienna within six
-years (1786-1792), and at the special request of emperors of Germany.
-Cimarosa was returning from St. Petersburgh when Leopold II., Joseph the
-Second's successor, detained him at Vienna, and invited him to compose
-something for his theatre. The _maestro_ had not much time, but he did
-his best, and the result was, _Il Matrimonio Segretto_. The Emperor was
-delighted with the work, which seemed almost to have been improvised,
-and gave the composer twelve thousand francs, or, as some say, twelve
-thousand florins; in either case, a very liberal sum for the period when
-Cimarosa, Paisiello and Gughelmi had mutually agreed, whatever more
-they might receive for their operas, never to take less than two
-thousand four hundred francs.
-
-The libretto of _Il Matrimonio Segretto_, by Bertatti, is imitated from
-that of a forgotten French operetta, _Sophie ou le Mariage Caché_, which
-is again founded on Garrick and Coleman's _Clandestine Marriage_. The
-Emperor Leopold was unable to be present at the first performance of
-Cimarosa's new work, but he heard of its enormous success, and
-determined not to miss a note at the second representation. He was in
-his box before the commencement of the overture, and listened to the
-performance throughout with the greatest attention, but without
-manifesting any opinion as to the merits of the music. As the Sovereign
-did not applaud, the brilliant audience who had assembled to hear _Il
-Matrimonio_ a second time, were obliged, by court etiquette, to remain
-silent without giving the slightest expression to the delight the music
-afforded them. This icy reception was very different to the one obtained
-by the opera the night before, when the marks of approbation from all
-parts of the house had been of the most enthusiastic kind. However, when
-the piece was at an end, the Emperor rose and said aloud--
-
-"Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is admirable, delightful,
-enchanting. I did not applaud that I might not lose a single note of
-this masterpiece. You have heard it twice, and I must have the same
-pleasure before I go to bed. Singers and musicians, pass into the next
-room! Cimarosa will come too, and will preside at the banquet prepared
-for you. When you have had sufficient rest we will begin again. I
-_encore_ the whole opera, and, in the mean while, let us applaud it as
-it deserves." Leopold clapped his hands, and for some minutes the whole
-theatre resounded with plaudits. After the banquet, the entire opera was
-repeated.
-
-The only other example of such an occurrence as the above is to be found
-in the career of Terence, whose _Eunuchus_ on its first production, was
-performed twice the same day, or, rather, once in the morning, and once
-in the evening.
-
-A similar amount of success obtained by Paer's _Laodicea_ had quite an
-opposite result; for, as nearly the whole opera was encored, piece by
-piece, it was found impossible to conclude it the same evening, and the
-performance of the last act was postponed until the next night.
-
-Mozart's _Nozze di Figaro_, produced six years before the _Matrimonio
-Segretto_, was far less justly appreciated,--indeed, at Vienna, was not
-appreciated at all. This admirable work, so full of fresh spontaneous
-melody, and of rich, varied harmony was actually hissed by the Viennese!
-They even hissed _Non piu andrai_, which seems equally calculated to
-delight the educated and the most uneducated ear. Mozart has made
-allusion to this almost incredible instance of bad taste very happily
-and ingeniously in the supper scene of _Don Giovanni_.
-
-[Sidenote: MOZART AND JOSEPH II.]
-
-Joseph II. cared only for Italian music, and never gave his entire
-approbation to anything Mozart produced, though the musicians of the
-period acknowledged him to be the greatest composer in Europe.
-
-"It is too fine for our ears," said the presumptuous Joseph, speaking to
-Mozart of the _Seraglio_. "Seriously, I think there are too many notes."
-
-"Precisely the proper number," replied the composer.
-
-The Emperor rewarded his frankness by giving him only fifty ducats for
-his opera.[74]
-
-Nevertheless, the _Seraglio_ had caused the success of one of the
-emperor's favourite enterprises. It was the first work produced at the
-German Opera, established by Joseph II., at Vienna. Until that time,
-Italian opera predominated everywhere; indeed, German opera, that is to
-say, lyric dramas in the German language, set to music by German
-composers, and sung by German singers, could not be said to exist. There
-were a number of Italian musicians living at Vienna who were quite aware
-of Mozart's superiority, and hated him for it; the more so, as by taking
-such an important part in the establishment of the German Opera, he
-threatened to diminish the reputation of the Italian school. The
-_EntfĂĽhrung aus dem Serail_ was the first blow to the supremacy of
-Italian opera. Der _Schauspieldirector_ was the second, and when, after
-the production of this latter work at the new German theatre of Vienna,
-Mozart proceeded to write the _Nozze di Figaro_ for the Italians, he
-simply placed himself in the hands of his enemies. At the first
-representation, the two first acts of the _Nozze_ were so shamefully
-executed, that the composer went in despair to the emperor to denounce
-the treachery of which he was being made the victim. Joseph had detected
-the conspiracy and was nearly as indignant as Mozart himself. He sent a
-severe message round to the stage, but the harm was now done, and the
-remainder of the opera was listened to very coldly. _Le Nozze di Figaro_
-failed at Vienna, and was not appreciated, did not even get a fair
-hearing, until it was produced some months afterwards at Prague. The
-Slavonians of Bohemia showed infinitely more good taste and intelligence
-than the Germans (led away and demoralized, however, by an Italian
-clique) at Vienna. At Prague, _le Nozze di Figaro_ caused the greatest
-enthusiasm, and Mozart replied nobly to the sympathy and admiration of
-the Bohemians. "These good people," he said, "have avenged me. They know
-how to do me justice, I must write something to please them." He kept
-his word, and the year afterwards gave them the immortal _Don Giovanni_.
-
-[Sidenote: MOZART AND SALIERI.]
-
-At the head of the clique which had sworn eternal enmity to Mozart, was
-Salieri, a musician with a sort of Pontius Pilate reputation, owing his
-infamous celebrity to the fact that his name is now inseparably coupled
-with that of the sublime composer whom he would have destroyed. Salieri
-(whom we have met with before in Paris as the would-be successor of
-Gluck) was the most learned of the Italian composers at that time
-residing in Vienna; and, therefore, must have felt the greatness of
-Mozart's genius more profoundly than any of the others. When _Don
-Giovanni_, after its success at Prague, was produced at Vienna, it was
-badly put on the stage, imperfectly rehearsed, and represented
-altogether in a very unsatisfactory manner. Nor, with improved execution
-did the audience show any disposition to appreciate its manifold
-beauties. Mozart's _Don Giovanni_ was quite eclipsed by the _Assur_ of
-his envious and malignant rival.
-
-"I will leave it to psychologists to determine," says M.
-Oulibicheff,[75] "whether the day on which Salieri triumphed publicly
-over Mozart, was the happiest or the most painful of his life. He
-triumphed, indeed, thanks to the ignorance of the Viennese, to his own
-skill as a director, (which enabled him to render the work of his rival
-scarcely recognisable), and to the entire devotion of his subordinates.
-He must have been pleased; but Salieri was not only envious, he was also
-a great musician. He had read the score of _Don Giovanni_, and you know
-that the works one reads with the greatest attention are those of one's
-enemies. With what admiration and despair it must have filled the heart
-of an artist who was even more ambitious of true glory than of mere
-renown! What must he have felt in his inmost soul! And what serpents
-must again have crawled and hissed in the wreath of laurel which was
-placed on his head! In spite of the fiasco of his opera, which he seems
-to have foreseen, and to which, at all events, he resigned himself with
-great calmness, Mozart, doubtless, more happy than his conqueror, added
-a few 'numbers,' each a masterpiece to his score. Four new pieces were
-written for it, at the request of the Viennese singers."
-
-M. Oulibicheff's compatriot Poushkin has written an admirable study on
-the subject presented above in a few suggestive phrases by Mozart's
-biographer. Unfortunately, it is impossible in these volumes to find a
-place for the Russian poet's "Mozart and Salieri."
-
-After the failure of _Don Giovanni_ at Vienna, a number of persons were
-speaking of it in a room where Haydn and the principal connoisseurs of
-the place were assembled. Every one agreed in pronouncing it a most
-estimable work, but, also, every one had something to say against it. At
-last, Haydn, who, hitherto, had not spoken a word, was asked to give his
-opinion.
-
-"I do not feel myself in a position to decide this dispute," he
-answered. "All I know and can assure you of is that Mozart is the
-greatest composer of our time."
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-As Salieri's _Assur_ completely eclipsed _Don Giovanni_, so, previously,
-did Martini's _Cosa Rara_, the _Nozze di Figaro_. Both these phenomena
-manifested themselves at Vienna, and the reader has already been
-reminded that the fate of the _Nozze di Figaro_ is alluded to in _Don
-Giovanni_. All the airs played by the hero's musicians in the supper
-scene are taken from the operas which were most in vogue when Mozart
-produced his great work; such as _La Cosa Rara_, _FrĂ  due Litiganti
-terzo gode_, and _I Pretendenti Burlati_. Leporello calls attention to
-the melodies as the orchestra on the stage plays them, and when, to
-terminate the series, the clarionets strike up _Non piu andrai_, he
-exclaims _Questo lo conosco pur troppo!_ "I know this one only too
-well!" With the exception of _Non piu andrai_, which the Viennese could
-not tolerate the first time they heard it, none of the airs introduced
-in the _Don Giovanni_ supper scene would be known in the present day,
-but for _Don Giovanni_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Don Giovanni_, composed by Mozart to _Da Ponte's_ libretto (which is
-founded on Molière's _Festin de Pierre_, which is imitated from Tirso di
-Molina's _El Burlador di Siviglia_, which seems to have had its origin
-in a very ancient legend[76]), was produced at Prague, on the 4th of
-November, 1787. The subject had already been treated in a ballet, in
-four acts, for which Gluck wrote the music (produced at Parma in 1758;
-and long before the production of Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, it had been
-dramatised in some shape or other in almost every country in Europe, and
-especially in Spain, Italy, and France, where several versions of the
-Italian _Il Convitato di Pietra_ were being played, when Molière first
-brought out his so-called _Festin de Pierre_. The original cast of _Don
-Giovanni_ at Prague was as follows:--
-
-    _Donna Anna_, Teresa Saporiti.
-    _Elvira_, Catarina Micelli.
-    _Zerlina_, Madame Bondini (Catarina Saporiti).
-    _Don Giovanni_, Bassi (Luigi).
-    _Ottavio_, Baglioni (Antonio).
-    _Leporello_, Ponziani (Felice).
-    _Don Pedro_, Lolli (Guiseppe).
-    _Masetto_, the same.
-
-Righini, of Bologna, had produced his opera of _Don Giovanni, ossia il
-Convitato di Pietra_, at Prague, only eight years before, for which
-reason the title of _Il Dissoluto Punito_ was given to Mozart's work. It
-was not until some years afterwards that it received the name by which
-it is now universally known.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-Although the part of _Don Giovanni_ was written for a baritone, tenors,
-such as Tacchinardi and Garcia, have often played it, and frequently
-with greater success than the majority of baritones have obtained. But
-no individual success of a favourite singer can compensate for the
-transpositions and changes that have to be effected in Mozart's
-masterpiece, when the character of the hero is assigned to a vocalist
-who cannot execute the music which of right belongs to it. It has been
-said that Mozart wrote the part of _Don Giovanni_ for a baritone,
-because it so happened that the baritone at the Prague theatre, Bassi,
-was the best singer of the company; but it is not to be imagined that
-the musical characterization of the personages in the most truly
-dramatic opera ever written, was the result of anything but the
-composer's well-considered design. "_Don Giovanni_ was not intended for
-Vienna, but for Prague," Mozart is reported to have said. "The truth,
-however, is," he added, "that I wrote it for myself, and a few friends."
-Accordingly, the great composer was not thinking of Bassi at the time.
-It would be easy, moreover, to show, that though the most feminine of
-male voices may suit the ordinary _jeune premier_, or _premier
-amoureux_, there is nothing tenor-like in the temperament of a _Don
-Giovanni_; deceiving all women, defying all men, breaking all laws,
-human and divine, and an unbeliever in everything--even in the power of
-equestrian statues to get off their horses, and sit down to supper.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-But, let us not consider whether or not _Fin ch' han dal vino_ is
-improved by being sung (as tenor _Don Giovannis_ sometimes sing it) a
-fourth higher than it was written by Mozart; or whether it is tolerable
-that the concerted pieces in which _Don Giovanni_ takes part should be,
-not transposed (for that would be insufficient, or, rather, would
-increase the difficulties of execution) but so altered, that in some
-passages the original design of the composer is entirely perverted. Let
-us simply repeat the maxim, on which it is impossible to lay too much
-stress, that the work of a great master should not be touched,
-re-touched, or in any manner interfered with, under any pretext. There
-is, absolutely, no excuse for managers mutilating _Don Giovanni_; not
-even the excuse that in its original form this inexhaustible opera does
-not "draw." It has already lived, and with full, unfailing life, for
-three-quarters of a century. It has survived all sorts of revolutions in
-taste, and especially in musical taste. There are now no Emperors of
-Germany. Prague has become a third-rate city. That German Opera, which
-Mozart originated with his _EntfĂĽhrung aus dem Serail_, has attained a
-grand development, and among its composers has numbered Beethoven,
-Weber, and the latter's follower, and occasional imitator, Meyerbeer.
-Rossini has appeared with his seductive melody, and his brilliant,
-sonorous orchestra. But justice is still--more than ever--done to
-Mozart. The verdict of Prague is maintained; and this year, as ten,
-twenty, forty years ago, if the manager of the Italian Opera of London,
-Paris, or St. Petersburgh, has had for some time past a series of empty
-houses, he takes an opera, seventy-four years of age, and which,
-according to all ordinary musical calculations, ought long since to have
-had, at least, one act in the grave, dresses it badly, puts it badly on
-the stage, with such scenery as would be thought unworthy of Verdi, and
-hazardous for Meyerbeer, announces _Don Giovanni_, and every place in
-the theatre is taken!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Although Mozart's genius was fully acknowledged by the greatest
-musicians, among his contemporaries (the reader already knows what Haydn
-said of him, and what Cimarosa replied when he was addressed as his
-superior), his music found an echo in the hearts of only a very small
-portion of the ordinary public. Admired at Prague, condemned at Vienna,
-unknown in the rest of Europe, it may be said, with only too much truth,
-that Mozart's master-pieces, speaking generally, met with no recognition
-until after his death; with no fitting recognition until long
-afterwards. From the slow, strong, oak-like growth of Mozart's fame, now
-flourishing, and still increasing every day, we may see, not for his
-name alone, but for his music, a continued celebrity and popularity,
-which will probably endure as long as our modern civilization. I have
-already spoken of the effects of the last general war in checking
-literary and artistic communication between the nations of Europe. This
-will, in part, account for Mozart's master-piece not having been
-performed at the Italian Opera of Paris until 1811, nor in London until
-after the peace, in 1817. In the Paris cast, the part of _Don Giovanni_
-was assigned to a tenor, Tacchinardi; and when the opera was revived at
-the same theatre (which was not until nine years afterwards),
-Tacchinardi was replaced by Garcia.
-
-The first "Don Giovanni" who appeared in London, was the celebrated
-baritone, Ambrogetti. Among the other distinguished singers who have
-appeared as "Don Giovanni," with great success, may be mentioned
-Nourrit, the tenor; Lablache (in 1832), before he had identified himself
-with the part of "Leporello;" Tamburini, and I suppose I must now add,
-Mario; though this great artist has been seen and heard to more
-advantage in other characters. The last great "Don Giovanni" known to
-the present generation was Signor Tamburini. It is a remarkable fact,
-well worth the consideration of managers, who are inclined to take
-liberties with Mozart's master-piece, that when Garcia, the tenor,
-appeared in London as "Don Giovanni," after Ambrogetti, the baritone, he
-produced comparatively but little effect; though Garcia was one of the
-most accomplished musicians, and, probably, the very best singer of his
-day.
-
-Without going back again to the original cast, I may notice among the
-most celebrated Donna Annas, Madame Ronzi de Begnis, Mademoiselle
-Sontag, Madame Grisi, Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli, and Mademoiselle
-Titiens.
-
-Among the Zerlinas, Madame Fodor, Madame Malibran, Madame Persiani[77],
-and Madame Bosio.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-Among the Don Ottavios, Rubini and Mario.
-
-Porto is said to have been particularly admirable as Masetto, and
-Angrisani and Angelini as the commandant.
-
-Certainly, no one living has heard a better Leporello than Lablache.
-
-Mr. Ebers tells us, in his "Seven Years of the King's Theatre," that
-_Don Giovanni_ was brought out by Mr. Ayrton in 1817, "in opposition to
-a vexatious cabal," and "in despite of difficulties of many kinds which
-would have deterred a less decided and persevering manager."
-Nevertheless, "it filled the boxes and benches of the theatre for the
-whole season, and restored to a flourishing condition the finances of
-the concern, which were in an almost exhausted state."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: DIPLOMATISTS AND DANCERS.]
-
-The war, so injurious to the Opera, had a still more disastrous effect
-on the ballet, a fact for which we have the authority of the manager and
-author from whom I have just quoted. "The procrastinated war," says Mr.
-Ebers, "which, until the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, had kept England and
-France in hostilities, had rendered the importation of dancers from the
-latter country almost impracticable." Mr. Waters, Mr. Ebers'
-predecessor, had repeatedly endeavoured to prevail on French dancers to
-come to England, "either with the _congés_, if attainable, or by such
-clandestine means as could be carried into effect." He failed; and we
-are told that his want of success in this respect was one cause of the
-disagreement between himself and the committee of the theatre, which led
-soon afterwards to his abandoning the management. Mr. Ebers, however,
-testifies from his own experience to the almost insuperable difficulty
-of inducing the directors of the French Opera to cede any of their
-principal performers even for a few weeks to the late enemies of their
-country. When the dancers were willing to accept the terms offered to
-them, it was impossible to obtain leave from the minister entrusted with
-the supreme direction of operatic affairs; if the minister was willing,
-then objections came from the ballet itself. It was necessary to secure
-the aid of the highest diplomatists, and the engagement of a few first
-dancers and _coryphées_ was made as important an affair as the signing
-of a treaty of commerce. The special envoy, the Cobden of the affair,
-was Monsieur Boisgerard, an ex-officer in the French army under the
-Bourbons, and actually the second ballet-master of the King's Theatre;
-but all official correspondence connected with the negotiation had to be
-transmitted through the medium of the English ambassador at Paris to the
-Baron de la Ferté. Boisgerard arrived in Paris furnished with letters of
-introduction from the five noblemen who at that time formed a "committee
-of superintendence" to aid Mr. Ebers in the management of the King's
-Theatre, and directed all his attention and energy towards forming an
-engagement with Bigottini and Noblet, the principal _danseuses_, and
-Albert, the _premier danseur_ of the French Opera. In spite of his
-excellent recommendations, of the esteem in which he was himself held by
-his numerous friends in Paris, and of the interest of a dancer named
-Deshayes, who appears to have readily joined in the conspiracy, and who
-was afterwards rewarded for his aid with a lucrative engagement as first
-ballet-master at the London Opera House--in spite of all these
-advantages it was impossible, for some time, to obtain any concessions
-from the Académie. To begin with, Bigottini, Noblet and Albert refused
-point blank to leave Paris. M. Boisgerard, however, as a ballet-master
-and a man of the world, understood that this was intended only as an
-invitation for larger offers; and finally all three were engaged,
-conditionally on their _congés_ being obtained from the directors of the
-theatre. Now the real difficulty began; now the influence of the five
-English noblemen was brought to bear; now despatches were interchanged
-between the British ambassador in Paris and the Baron de la Ferté,
-intendant of the royal theatres; now consultations took place between
-the said intendant and the Viscount de la Rochefoucault, aide-de-camp of
-the king, entrusted with the department of fine arts in the ministry of
-the king's household; and between the said artistic officer of the
-king's household and Duplanty, the administrator of the Royal Academy of
-Music, and of the Italian Opera. The result of all this negotiation
-was, that the administration first hesitated and finally refused to
-allow Mademoiselle Bigottini to visit England on any terms; but, after
-considerable trouble, the French agents in the service of Mr. Ebers
-obtained permission for Albert and Noblet to accept engagements for two
-months,--it being further arranged that, at the expiration of that
-period, they should be replaced by Coulon and Fanny Bias. Albert was to
-receive fifty pounds for every night of performance, and twenty-five
-pounds for his travelling expenses. Noblet's terms were five hundred and
-fifty pounds for the two months, with twenty-five pounds for expenses.
-Coulon and Bias were each to receive the same terms as Noblet. Three
-other dancers, Montessu, Lacombe, and Mademoiselle de Varennes, were at
-the same time given over to Mr. Ebers for an entire season, and he was
-allowed to retain all his prisoners--that is to say, those members of
-the Académie, with Mademoiselle Mélanie at their head, whom previous
-managers had taken from the French prior to the friendly and pacific
-embassy of M. Boisgerard. An attempt was made to secure the services of
-Mademoiselle Elisa, but without avail. M. and Mademoiselle Paul entered
-into an agreement, but the administration refused to ratify it;
-otherwise, with a little encouragement, Mr. Ebers would probably have
-engaged the entire ballet of the Académie Royale.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE NOBLET.]
-
-Male dancers have, I am glad to think, never been much esteemed in
-England; and Albert, though successful enough, produced nothing like the
-same impression in London which he was in the habit of causing in
-Paris. Mademoiselle Noblet's dancing, on the other hand, excited the
-greatest enthusiasm, and the subscribers made all possible exertions to
-obtain a prolongation of her _congé_ when the time for her return to the
-Académie arrived. Noblet's performance in the ballet of _Nina_ (of which
-the subject is identical with that of Paisiello's opera of the same
-name) is said to have been particularly admirable, especially for the
-great dramatic talent which she exhibited in pourtraying the heroine's
-melancholy madness. _Nina_ was announced for Mademoiselle Noblet's
-benefit, on a night not approved by the Lord Chamberlain--either because
-it interfered with some of the court regulations, or for some other
-reason not explained. The secretary to the committee of the Opera was
-directed to address a letter to the Chamberlain, representing to him how
-inconvenient it would be to postpone the benefit, as the _congé_ of the
-_bénéficiaire_ was now on the point of expiring. Lord Hertford, with
-becoming politeness, wrote the following letter, which shows with what
-deep interest the graceful dancer inspired even those who knew her only
-by reputation. The letter was addressed to the Marquis of Ailesbury, one
-of the members of the operatic committee.
-
-     "MY DEAR LORD,--I have this moment (eleven o'clock) received your
-     letter, which I have sent to the Chamberlain's office to Mr. Mash;
-     and as Mademoiselle Noblet is a very pretty woman as I am told, I
-     hope she will call there to assist in the solicitation which
-     interests her so much. Not having been for many years at the opera,
-     except for the single purpose of attending his majesty, I am no
-     judge of the propriety of her request or the objections which may
-     arise to the postponement of her benefit for one day at so short a
-     notice. I hope the fair solicitress will be prepared with an answer
-     on this part of the subject, as it is always my wish to accommodate
-     you; and I remain most sincerely your very faithful servant,
-
-     "INGRAM HERTFORD."
-
-     "Manchester Square,
-
-     _April 29th, 1821_."
-
-     Mademoiselle Noblet's benefit having taken place, the subscribers,
-     horrified at the notion that they had now, perhaps, seen her for
-     the last time, determined, in spite of all obstacles, in spite even
-     of the very explicit agreement between the director of the King's
-     Theatre and the administration of the Académie Royale, that she
-     should remain in London. The _danseuse_ was willing enough to
-     prolong her stay, but the authorities at the French Opera
-     protested. The Academy of Music was not going to be deprived in
-     this way of one of the greatest ornaments of its ballet, and the
-     Count de Caraman, on behalf of the Academy, called on the committee
-     to direct Mr. Ebers to send over to Paris, without delay, the
-     performers whose _congés_ were now at an end. The members of the
-     committee replied that they had only power to interfere as regarded
-     the choice of operas and ballets, and that they had nothing to do
-     with agreements between the manager and the performers. They added,
-     "that they had certainly employed their influence with the English
-     ambassador at Paris at the commencement of the season, to obtain
-     the best artists from that city; but it appearing that the Academy
-     was not disposed to grant _congés_ for London, even to artists, for
-     whose services the Academy had no occasion, the committee had
-     determined not again to meddle in that branch of the management."
-
-[Sidenote: TERPSICHOREAN TREATY.]
-
-The French now sent over an ambassador extraordinary, the Baron de la
-Ferté himself, to negotiate for the restoration of the deserters. It was
-decided, however, that they should be permitted to remain until the end
-of the season; and, moreover, that two first and two second dancers
-should be allowed annually to come to London, but only under the precise
-stipulations contained in the following treaty, which was signed between
-Mr. Ebers, on the one hand, and M. Duplantys on the part of Viscount de
-la Rochefoucault, on the other.
-
-"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music,
-wishing to facilitate to the administration of the theatre of London,
-the means of making known the French artists of the ballet without this
-advantage being prejudicial to the Opera of Paris;
-
-"Consents to grant to Mr. Ebers for each season, the first commencing on
-the 10th of January, and ending the 20th of April, and the second
-ending the 1st of August, two first dancers, two _figurants_, and two
-_figurantes_; but in making this concession, the administration of the
-Royal Academy of Music reserves the right of only allowing those dancers
-to leave Paris to whom it may be convenient to grant a _congé_; this
-rule applies equally to the _figurants_ and _figurantes_. None of them
-can leave the Paris theatre except by the formal permission of the
-authorities.
-
-"And in return for these concessions, Mr. Ebers promises to engage no
-dancer until he has first obtained the necessary authorization in
-accordance with his demand.
-
-"He engages not under any pretext to keep the principal dancers a longer
-time than has been agreed without a fresh permission, and above all, to
-make them no offers with the view of enticing them from their permanent
-engagements with the French authorities.
-
-"The present treaty is for the space of * * *.
-
-"In case of Mr. Ebers failing in one of the articles of the said treaty,
-the whole treaty becomes null and void."
-
-[Sidenote: BOISGERARD IN THE TEMPLE.]
-
-[Sidenote: MARIA MERCANDOTTI.]
-
-The prime mover in the diplomatic transactions which had the effect of
-securing Mademoiselle Noblet far the London Opera was, as I have said,
-the ballet master, Boisgerard, formerly an officer in the French army.
-In a chapter which is intended to show to some extent the effect on
-opera of the disturbed state of Europe consequent on the French
-Revolution, it will, perhaps, not be out of place to relate a very
-daring exploit performed by the said M. Boisgerard, which was the cause
-of his adopting an operatic career. "This gentleman," says Mr. Ebers, in
-the account published by him of his administration of the King's Theatre
-from 1821 to 1828, "was a Frenchman of good extraction, and at the
-period of the French Revolution, was attached to the royal party. When
-Sir Sidney Smith was confined in the Temple, Boisgerard acted up to his
-principles by attempting, and with great personal risk, effecting the
-escape of that distinguished officer, whose friends were making every
-effort for his liberation. Having obtained an impression of the seal of
-the Directorial Government, he affixed it to an order, forged by
-himself, for the delivery of Sir Sidney Smith into his care. Accompanied
-by a friend, disguised like himself, in the uniform of an officer of the
-revolutionary army, he did not scruple personally to present the
-fictitious document to the keeper of the Temple, who, opening a small
-closet, took thence some original document, with the writing and seal of
-which, he carefully compared the forged order. Desiring the adventurers
-to wait a few minutes, he then withdrew, and locked the door after him.
-Giving themselves up for lost, the confederate determined to resist,
-sword in hand, any attempt made to secure them. The period which thus
-elapsed, may be imagined as one of the most horrible suspense to
-Boisgerard and his companion; his own account of his feelings at the
-time was extremely interesting. Left alone, and in doubt whether each
-succeeding moment might not be attended by a discovery involving the
-safety of his life, the acuteness of his organs of sense was heightened
-to painfulness; the least noise thrilled through his brain, and the
-gloomy apartment in which he sat seemed filled with strange images. They
-preserved their self-possession, and, after the lapse of a few minutes,
-their anxiety was determined by the re-appearance of the gaoler,
-accompanied by his captive, who was delivered to Boisgerard. But here a
-new and unlooked for difficulty occurred; Sir Sidney Smith, not knowing
-Boisgerard, refused, for some time, to quit the prison; and considerable
-address was required on the part of his deliverers to overcome his
-scruples. At last, the precincts of the Temple were cleared; and, after
-going a short distance in a fiacre, then walking, then entering another
-carriage, and so on, adopting every means of baffling pursuit, the
-fugitives got to Havre, where Sir Sidney was put on board an English
-vessel. Boisgerard, on his return to Paris (for he quitted Sir Sidney at
-Havre) was a thousand times in dread of detection; tarrying at an
-_auberge_, he was asked whether he had heard the news of Sir Sidney's
-escape; the querist adding, that four persons had been arrested on
-suspicion of having been instrumental in it. However, he escaped all
-these dangers, and continued at Paris until his visit to England, which
-took place after the peace of Amiens. A pension had been granted to Sir
-Sidney Smith for his meritorious services; and, on Boisgerard's arrival
-here, a reward of a similar nature was bestowed on him through the
-influence of Sir Sidney, who took every opportunity of testifying his
-gratitude."
-
-We have already seen that though the international character of the
-Opera must always be seriously interfered with by international wars,
-the intelligent military amateur may yet be able to turn his European
-campaigning to some operatic advantage. The French officers acquired a
-taste for Italian music in Italy. So an English officer serving in the
-Peninsula, imbibed a passion for Spanish dancing, to which was due the
-choregraphic existence of the celebrated Maria Mercandotti,--by all
-accounts one of the most beautiful girls and one of the most charming
-dancers that the world ever saw. This inestimable treasure was
-discovered by Lord Fife--a keen-eyed connoisseur, who when Maria was but
-a child, foretold the position she would one day occupy, if her mother
-would but allow her to join the dancing school of the French Academy.
-Madame Mercandotti brought her daughter to England when she was fifteen.
-The young Spaniard danced a bolero one night at the Opera, repeated it a
-few days afterwards at Brighton, before Queen Charlotte, and then set
-off to Paris, where she joined the Académie. After a very short period
-of study, she made her _début_ with success, such as scarcely any dancer
-had obtained at the French Opera, since the time of La Camargo--herself,
-by the way, a Spaniard.
-
-Mademoiselle Mercandotti came to London, was received with the greatest
-enthusiasm, was the fashionable theme of one entire operatic season, had
-a number of poems, valuable presents, and offers of undying affection
-addressed to her, and ended by marrying Mr. Hughes Ball.
-
-The production of this _danseuse_ appears to have seen the last direct
-result of that scattering of the amateurs of one nation among the
-artists of another, which was produced by the European convulsions of
-from 1789 to 1815.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-     MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT THE LONDON OPERA, HALF A CENTURY SINCE.
-
-
-[Sidenote: A MANAGER IN THE BENCH.]
-
-A complete History of the Opera would include a history of operatic
-music, a history of operatic dancing, a history of the chief operatic
-theatres, and a history of operatic society. I have made no attempt to
-treat the subject on such a grand scale; but though I shall have little
-to say about the principal lyrical theatres of Europe, or of the habits
-of opera-goers as a European class, there is one great musical dramatic
-establishment, to whose fortunes I must pay some special attention, and
-concerning whose audiences much may be said that will at least interest
-an English reader. After several divided reigns at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, at Covent Garden, at the Pantheon, and at the King's Theatre,
-Italian Opera found itself, in 1793, established solely and majestically
-at the last of these houses, which I need hardly remind the reader was
-its first home in England. The management was now exercised by Mr.
-Taylor, the proprietor. This gentleman, who was originally a banker's
-clerk, appears to have had no qualification for his more exalted
-position, beyond the somewhat questionable one of a taste for
-speculation. He is described as having had "all Sheridan's deficiency of
-financial arrangement, without that extraordinary man's resources."
-Nevertheless he was no bad hand at borrowing money. All the advances,
-however, made to him by his friends, to enable him to undertake the
-management of the Opera, are said to have been repaid. Mr. Ebers, his
-not unfriendly biographer, finds it difficult to account for this, and
-can only explain it by the excellent support the Opera received at the
-period. Mr. Taylor was what in the last century was called "a humorist."
-Not that he possessed much humour, but he was a queer, eccentric man,
-and given to practical jokes, which, in the present day, would not be
-thought amusing even by the friends of those injured by them. On one
-occasion, Taylor having been prevailed upon to invite a number of
-persons to breakfast, spread a report that he intended to set them down
-to empty plates. He, moreover, recommended each of the guests, in an
-anonymous letter, to turn the tables on the would-be ingenious Taylor,
-by taking to the _déjeuner_ a supply of suitable provisions, so that the
-inhospitable inviter might be shamed and the invited enabled to feast in
-company, notwithstanding his machinations to the contrary. The manager
-enjoyed such a reputation for liberality that no one doubted the
-statement contained in the anonymous letter.
-
-Each of the guests sent or took in his carriage a certain quantity of
-eatables, and when all had arrived, the happy Taylor found his room
-filled with all the materials for a monster picnic. Breakfast _had_ been
-prepared, the guests sat down to table, some amused, others disgusted at
-the hoax which had been practised upon them, and Taylor ordered the
-game, preserved meats, lobsters, champagne, &c., into his own larder and
-wine cellar.
-
-Even while directing the affairs of the Opera, Taylor passed a
-considerable portion of his time in the King's Bench, or within its
-"rules."
-
-"How can you conduct the management of the King's Theatre," a friend
-asked him one day, "perpetually in durance as you are?"
-
-"My dear fellow," he replied, "how could I possibly conduct it if I were
-at liberty? I should be eaten up, sir--devoured. Here comes a
-dancer,--'Mr. Taylor, I want such a dress;' another, 'I want such and
-such ornaments.' One singer demands to sing in a part not allotted to
-him; another, to have an addition to his appointments. No, let me be
-shut up and they go to Masterson (Taylor's secretary); he, they are
-aware, cannot go beyond his line; but if they get at _me_--pshaw! no man
-at large can manage that theatre; and in faith," he added, "no man that
-undertakes it ought to go at large."
-
-Though Mr. Taylor lived within the "rules," the "rules" in no way
-governed him. He would frequently go away for days together into the
-country and amuse himself with fishing, of which he appears to have
-been particularly fond. At one time, while living within the "rules," he
-inherited a large sum of money, which he took care not to devote to the
-payment of his debts. He preferred investing it in land, bought an
-estate in the country (with good fishing), and lived for some months the
-quiet, peaceable life of an ardent, enthusiastic angler, until at last
-the sheriffs broke in upon his repose and carried him back captive to
-prison.
-
-But the most extraordinary exploit performed by Taylor during the period
-of his supposed incarceration, was of a political nature. He went down
-to Hull at the time of an election and actually stood for the borough.
-He was not returned--or rather he was returned to prison.
-
-[Sidenote: THE PANTHEON.]
-
-One way and another Mr. Taylor seems to have made a great deal of money
-out of the Opera; and at one time he hit upon a plan which looked at
-first as if it had only to be pursued with boldness to increase his
-income to an indefinite amount. This simple expedient consisted in
-raising the price of the subscribers' boxes. For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes he charged three hundred pounds, and so in proportion
-with all the others. A meeting of subscribers having been held, at
-which, although the expensive Catalani was engaged, it was decided that
-the proposed augmentation was not justified by the rate of the receipts
-and disbursements, and this decision having been communicated to Taylor,
-he replied, that if the subscribers resisted his just demands he would
-shut up their boxes. In consequence of this defiant conduct on the part
-of the manager, many of the subscribers withdrew from the theatre and
-prevailed upon Caldas, a Portuguese wine merchant, to re-open the
-Pantheon for the performance of concerts and all such music as could be
-executed without infringing the licence of the King's Theatre. The
-Pantheon speculation prospered at first, but the seceders from the
-King's Theatre missed their operas, and doubtless also their ballets. A
-sort of compromise was effected between them and Taylor, who persisted,
-however, in keeping up the price of his boxes; and the unfortunate
-Caldas, utterly deserted by those who had dragged him from his
-wine-cellars to expose him to the perils of musical speculation, became
-a bankrupt.
-
-Taylor was now in his turn brought to account. Waters, his partner in
-the proprietorship of the King's Theatre, had been proceeding against
-him in Chancery, and it was ordered that the partnership should be
-dissolved and the house sold. To the great annoyance of the public, the
-first step taken in the affair was to close the theatre,--the
-chancellor, who is said to have had no ear for music, having refused to
-appoint a manager.
-
-It was proposed by private friends that Taylor should cede his interest
-in the theatre to Waters; but it was difficult to bring them to any
-understanding on the subject, or even to arrange an interview between
-them. Waters prided himself on the decorum of his conduct, while Taylor
-appears to have aimed at quite a contrary reputation. All business
-transactions, prior to Taylor's arrest, had been rendered nearly
-impossible between them; because one would attend to no affairs on
-Sunday, while the other, with a just fear of writs before him, objected
-to show himself in London on any other day. The sight of Waters,
-moreover, is said to have rendered Taylor "passionate and scurrilous;"
-and while the negociations were being carried on, through
-intermediaries, between himself and his partner, he entered into a
-treaty with the lessee of the Pantheon, with the view of opening it in
-opposition to the King's Theatre.
-
-Ultimately, the management of the theatre was confided, under certain
-restrictions, to Mr. Waters; but even now possession was not given up to
-him without a struggle.
-
-[Sidenote: WITHIN THE "RULES."]
-
-When Mr. Waters' people were refused admittance by Mr. Taylor's people,
-words led to blows. The adherents of the former partners, and actual
-enemies and rivals, fought valiantly on both sides, but luck had now
-turned against Taylor, and his party were defeated and ejected. That
-night, however, when the Watersites fancied themselves secure in their
-stronghold, the Taylorites attacked them; effected a breach in the stage
-door, stormed the passage, gained admittance to the stage, and finally
-drove their enemies out into the Haymarket. The unmusical chancellor,
-whose opinion of the Opera could scarcely have been improved by the
-lawless proceeding of those connected with it, was again appealed to;
-and Waters established himself in the theatre by virtue of an order from
-the court.
-
-The series of battles at the King's Theatre terminated with the European
-war. Napoleon was at Elba, Mr. Taylor still in the Bench, when Mr.
-Waters opened the Opera, and, during the great season which followed the
-peace of 1814, gained seven thousand pounds.
-
-Taylor appears to have ended his days in prison; profiting freely by the
-"rules," and when at head quarters enjoying the society of Sir John and
-Lady Ladd. The trio seem, on the whole, to have led a very agreeable
-prison life (and, though strictly forbidden to wander from the jail
-beyond their appointed tether, appear in many respects to have been
-remarkably free.) Taylor's great natural animal spirits increased with
-the wine he consumed; and occasionally his behaviour was such as would
-certainly have shocked Waters. On one occasion, his elation is said to
-have carried him so beyond bounds, that Lady Ladd found it expedient to
-empty the tea-kettle over him.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. EBERS' MANAGEMENT.]
-
-In 1816 the Opera, by direction of the Chancellor, (it was a fortunate
-thing that this time he did not order it to be pulled down,) was again
-put up for sale, and purchased out and out by Waters for seven thousand
-one hundred and fifty pounds. As the now sole proprietor was unable to
-pay into court even the first instalment of the purchase money,[78] he
-mortgaged the theatre, with a number of houses belonging to him, to
-Chambers the banker. Taylor, who had no longer any sort of connection
-with the Opera, at present amused himself by writing anonymous letters
-to Mr. Chambers, prophesying the ruin of Waters, and giving dismal but
-grotesque pictures of the manager's penniless and bailiff-persecuted
-position. Mr. Ebers, who was a great deal mixed up with operatic affairs
-before assuming the absolute direction of the Opera, also came in for
-his share of these epistles, which every one seems to have instantly
-recognised as the production of Taylor. "If Waters is with you at
-Brompton," he once wrote to Mr. Ebers, "for God's sake send him away
-instantly, for the bailiffs (alias bloodhounds) are out after him in all
-directions; and tell Chambers not to let him stay at Enfield, because
-that is a suspected place; and so is Lee's in York Street, Westminster,
-and Di Giovanni, in Smith Street, and Reed's in Flask Lane--both in
-Chelsea. It was reported he was seen in the lane near your house an
-evening or two ago, with his eye blacked, and in the great coat and hat
-of a Chelsea pensioner." At another time, Mr. Chambers was informed that
-Michael Kelly, the singer, was at an hotel at Brighton, on the point of
-death, and desirous while he yet lived to communicate something very
-important respecting Waters. The holder of Waters' mortgage took a post
-chaise and four and hurried in great alarm to Brighton, where he found
-Michael Kelly sitting in his balcony, with a pine apple and a bottle of
-claret before him.
-
-Taylor's prophecies concerning Waters, after all, came true. His
-embarrassments increased year by year, and in 1820 an execution was put
-into the theatre at the suit of Chambers. Ten performances were yet due
-to the subscribers, when, on the evening of the 15th of August, bills
-were posted on the walls of the theatre, announcing that the Opera was
-closed. Mr. Waters did not join his former partner in the Bench, but
-retired to Calais.
-
-Mr. Ebers's management commenced in 1821. He formed an excellent
-company, of which several singers, still under engagement to Mr. Waters,
-formed part, and which included among the singers, Madame Camporese,
-Madame Vestris, Madame Ronzi de Begnis; and M. M. Ambrogetti, Angrisani,
-Begrez, and Curioni. The chief dancers (as already mentioned in the
-previous chapter), were Noblet, Fanny Bias, and Albert. The season was a
-short one, it was considered successful, though the manager but lost
-money by it. The selection of operas was admirable, and consisted of
-Paer's _Agnese_, Rossini's _Gazza Ladra_, _Tancredi_ and _Turco_ in
-_Italia_, with Mozart's _Clemenza di Tito_, _Don Giovanni_, and _Nozze
-di Figaro_. The manager's losses were already seven thousand pounds. By
-way of encouraging him, Mr. Chambers increased his rent the following
-year from three thousand one hundred and eighty pounds to ten thousand.
-It is right to add, that in the meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up
-Waters's entire interest in the Opera for eighty thousand pounds.
-Altogether, by buying and selling the theatre, Waters had cleared no
-less than seventy-three thousand pounds. Not contented with this, he no
-sooner heard of the excellent terms on which Mr. Chambers had let the
-house, than he made an application (a fruitless one), to the
-ever-to-be-tormented Chancellor, to have the deed of sale declared
-invalid.
-
-During Mr. Ebers's management, from the beginning of 1821 to the end of
-1827, he lost money regularly every year; the smallest deficit in the
-budget of any one season being that of the last, when the manager
-thought himself fortunate to be minus only three thousand pounds (within
-a few sovereigns).
-
-After Mr. Ebers's retirement, the management of the Opera was undertaken
-by Messrs. Laporte and Laurent. Mr. Laporte was succeeded by Mr. Lumley,
-the history of whose management belongs to a much later period than that
-treated of in the present chapter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-During the early part of the last century, the character of the London
-Opera House, as a fashionable place of entertainment, and in some other
-respects, appears to have considerably changed. Before the fire in
-1789, the subscription to a box for fifty representations was at the
-rate of twenty guineas a seat. The charge for pit tickets was at this
-time ten shillings and sixpence; so that a subscriber who meant to be a
-true habitué, and visited the Opera every night, saved five guineas by
-becoming a subscriber. At this time, too, the theatre was differently
-constructed, and there were only thirty-six private boxes, eighteen
-arranged in three rows on each side of the house. "The boxes," says Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, in his "Musical Reminiscences," "were then much larger
-and more commodious than they are now, and could contain with ease more
-than their allotted subscribers; far different from the miserable
-pigeon-holes of the present theatre, into which six persons can scarcely
-be squeezed, whom, in most situations, two-thirds can never see the
-stage. The front," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "was then occupied by
-open public boxes, or _amphitheatre_ (as it is called in French
-theatres), communicating with the pit. Both of these were filled,
-exclusively, with the highest classes of society; all, without
-exception, in full dress, then universally worn. The audiences thus
-assembled were considered as indisputably presenting a finer spectacle
-than any other theatre in Europe, and absolutely astonished the foreign
-performers, to whom such a sight was entirely new. At the end of the
-performance, the company of the pit and boxes repaired to the
-coffee-room, which was then the best assembly in London; private ones
-being rarely given on opera nights; and all the first society was
-regularly to be seen there. Over the front box was the five shilling
-gallery; then resorted to by respectable persons not in full dress: and
-above that an upper gallery, to which the admission was three shillings.
-Subsequently the house was encircled with private boxes; yet still the
-prices remained the same, and the pit preserved its respectability, and
-even grandeur, till the old house was burnt down in 1789."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-When the Opera was rebuilt, the number of representations for the
-season, was increased to sixty, and the subscription was at the same
-time raised to thirty guineas, so that the admission to a box still did
-not exceed the price of a pit ticket. During the second year of
-Catalani's engagement, however, when she obtained a larger salary than
-had ever been paid to a singer before, the subscription for a whole box
-with accommodation for six persons, was raised from one hundred and
-eighty to three hundred guineas. This, it will, perhaps, be remembered,
-was to some extent a cunning device of Taylor's; at least, it was
-considered so at the time by the subscribers, though the expenses of the
-theatre had much increased, and the terms on which Catalani was engaged,
-were really enormous.[79] Dr. Veron, in his interesting memoirs (to
-which, by the way, I may refer all those who desire full particulars
-respecting the management of the French Opera during the commencement of
-the Meyerbeer period) tells us that, at the end of the continental war,
-the price of the _demi-tasse_ in the cafés of Paris was raised from six
-to eight _sous_, and that it has never been lowered. So it is in
-taxation. An impost once established, unless the people absolutely
-refuse to pay it, is never taken off; and so it has been with the boxes
-at the London Opera House. The price of the best boxes once raised from
-one hundred and eighty to three hundred guineas, was never, to any
-considerable extent, diminished, and hence the custom arose of halving
-and sub-dividing the subscriptions, so that very few persons have now
-the sole ownership of a box. Hence, too, that of letting them for the
-night, and selling the tickets when the proprietor does not want them.
-This latter practice must have had the effect of lessening considerably
-the profits directly resulting from the high sums charged for the boxes.
-The price of admission to the pit being ten shillings and six-pence, the
-subscribers, through the librarians, and the librarians, who had
-themselves speculated in boxes, found it necessary in order to get rid
-of the box-tickets singly, to sell them at a reduced price. This
-explains why, for many years past, the ordinary price of pit tickets at
-the libraries and at shops of all kinds in the vicinity of the Opera,
-has been only eight shillings and six-pence. No one but a foreigner or a
-countryman, inexperienced in the ways of London, would think of paying
-ten shillings and six-pence at the theatre for admission to the pit;
-indeed, it is a species of deception to continue that charge at all,
-though it certainly does happen once or twice in a great many years that
-the public profit by the establishment of a fixed official price for pit
-tickets. Thus, during the great popularity of Jenny Lind, the box
-tickets giving the right of entry to the pit, were sold for a guinea,
-and even thirty shillings, and thousands of persons were imbecile enough
-to purchase them, whereas, at the theatre itself, anyone could, as
-usual, go into the pit by paying ten shillings and six-pence.
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-"Formerly," to go back to Lord Mount Edgcumbe's interesting remarks on
-this subject, "every lady possessing an opera box, considered it as much
-her home as her house, and was as sure to be found there, few missing
-any of the performances. If prevented from going, the _loan_ of her box
-and the gratuitous use of the tickets was a favour always cheerfully
-offered and thankfully received, as a matter of course, without any idea
-of payment. Then, too, it was a favour to ask gentlemen to belong to a
-box, when subscribing to one was actually advantageous. Now, no lady can
-propose to them to give her more than double the price of the admission
-at the door, so that having paid so exorbitantly, every one is glad to
-be re-imbursed a part, at least, of the great expense which she must
-often support alone. Boxes and tickets, therefore, are no longer given;
-they are let for what can be got; for which traffic the circulating
-libraries afford an easy accommodation. Many, too, which are not taken
-for the season, are disposed of in the same manner, and are almost put
-up to auction. Their price varying from three to eight, or even ten
-guineas, according to the performance of the evening, and other
-accidental circumstances." From these causes the whole style of the
-opera house, as regards the audience, has become changed. "The pit has
-long ceased to be the resort of ladies of fashion, and, latterly, by the
-innovations introduced, is no longer agreeable to the former male
-frequenters of it." This state of things, however, has been altered, if
-not remedied, from the opera-goers' point of view, by the introduction
-of stalls where the manager compensates himself for the slightly reduced
-price of pit tickets, by charging exactly double what was paid for
-admission to the pit under the old system.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.]
-
-On the whole, the Opera has become less aristocratic, less respectable,
-and far more expensive than of old. Those who, under the ancient system,
-paid ten shillings and six-pence to go to the pit, must now, to obtain
-the same amount of comfort, give a guinea for a stall, while "most
-improper company is sometimes to be seen even in the principal tiers;
-and tickets bearing the names of ladies of the highest class have been
-presented by those of the lowest, such as used to be admitted only to
-the hindmost rows of the gallery." The last remark belongs to Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, but it is, at least, as true now as it was thirty years ago.
-Numbers of objectionable persons go to the Opera as to all other public
-places, and I do not think it would be fair to the respectable lovers of
-music who cannot afford to pay more than a few shillings for their
-evening's entertainment, that they should be all collected in the
-gallery. It would, moreover, be placing too much power in the hands of
-the operatic officials, who already show themselves sufficiently severe
-censors in the article of dress. I do not know whether it is chiefly a
-disgrace to the English public or to the English system of operatic
-management; but it certainly is disgraceful, that a check-taker at a
-theatre should be allowed to exercise any supervision, or make the
-slightest remark concerning the costume of a gentleman choosing to
-attend that theatre, and conforming generally in his conduct and by his
-appearance to the usages of decent society. It is not found necessary to
-enforce any regulation as to dress at other opera houses, not even in
-St. Petersburgh and Moscow, where, as the theatres are directed by the
-Imperial Government, one might expect to find a more despotic code of
-laws in force than in a country like England. When an Englishman goes to
-a morning or evening concert, he does not present himself in the attire
-of a scavenger, and there is no reason for supposing that he would
-appear in any unbecoming garb, if liberty of dress were permitted to him
-at the Opera. The absurdity of the present system is that, whereas, a
-gentleman who has come to London only for a day or two, and does not
-happen to have a dress-coat in his portmanteau; who happens even to be
-dressed in exact accordance with the notions of the operatic
-check-takers, except as to his cravat, which we will suppose through the
-eccentricity of the wearer, to be black, with the smallest sprig, or
-spray, or spot of some colour on it; while such a one would be regarded
-as unworthy to enter the pit of the Opera, a waiter from an oyster-shop,
-in his inevitable black and white, reeking with the drippings of
-shell-fish, and the fumes of bad tobacco, or a drunken undertaker, fresh
-from a funeral, coming with the required number of shillings in his
-dirty hands, could not be refused admission. If the check-takers are
-empowered to inspect and decide as to the propriety of the cut and
-colour of clothes, why should they not also be allowed to examine the
-texture? On the same principle, too, the cleanliness of opera goers
-ought to be enquired into. No one, whose hair is not properly brushed,
-should be permitted to enter the stalls, and visitors to the pit should
-be compelled to show their nails.
-
-I will conclude this chapter with an extract from an epistle from a
-gentleman, who, during Mr. Ebers's management of the King's Theatre, was
-a victim to the despotic (and, in the main, unnecessary) regulations of
-which I have been speaking. I cannot say I feel any sympathy for this
-particular sufferer; but his letter is amusing. "I was dressed," he
-says, in his protest forwarded to the manager the next morning, "in a
-_superfine blue coat_, with _gold buttons_, a white waistcoat,
-fashionable tight drab pantaloons, white silk stockings, and dress
-shoes; _all worn but once a few days before at a dress concert at the
-Crown and Anchor Tavern_!" The italics, and mark of admiration, are the
-property of the gentleman in the superfine blue coat, who next proceeds
-to express his natural indignation at the idea of the manager presuming
-to "enact sumptuary laws without the intervention of the legislature,"
-and threatens him with legal proceedings, and an appeal to British jury.
-"I have mixed," he continues, "too much in genteel society, not to know
-that black breeches, or pantaloons, with black silk stockings, is a very
-prevailing full dress; and why is it so? Because it is convenient and
-economical, _for you can wear a pair of white silk stockings but once
-without washing, and a pair of black is frequently worn for weeks
-without ablution_. P. S. I have no objection to submit an inspection of
-my dress of the evening in question to you, or any competent person you
-may appoint."
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.]
-
-If this gentleman, instead of being excluded, had been admitted into the
-theatre, the silent ridicule to which his costume would have exposed
-him, would have effectually prevented him from making his appearance
-there in any such guise again. It might also have acted as a terrible
-warning to others inclined to sin in a similar manner.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-ROSSINI AND HIS PERIOD.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI.]
-
-Innovators in art, whether corrupters or improvers, are always sure to
-meet with opposition from a certain number of persons who have formed
-their tastes in some particular style which has long been a source of
-delight to them, and to interfere with which is to shock all their
-artistic sympathies. How often have we seen poets of one generation not
-ignored, but condemned and vilified by the critics and even by the poets
-themselves of the generation preceding it. Musicians seem to suffer even
-more than poets from this injustice of those who having contracted a
-special and narrow admiration for the works of their own particular
-epoch, will see no merit in the productions of any newer school that may
-arrive. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson have one and all been attacked,
-and their poetic merit denied by those who in several instances had
-given excellent proofs of their ability to appreciate poetry. Almost
-every distinguished composer of the last fifty years has met with the
-same fate, not always at the hands of the ignorant public, for it is
-this ignorant public with its naĂŻve, uncritical admiration, which has
-sometimes been the first to do justice to the critic-reviled poets and
-composers, but at those of musicians and of educated amateurs.
-Ignorance, prejudice, malice, are the causes too often assigned for the
-non-appreciation of the artist of to-day by the art-lover, partly of
-to-day, but above all of yesterday. It should be remembered however,
-that there is a conservatism in taste as in politics, and that both have
-their advantages, though the lovers of noise and of revolution may be
-unable to see them; that the extension of the suffrage, the excessive
-use of imagery, the special cultivation of brilliant orchestral effects,
-may, in the eyes of many, really seem injurious to the true interests of
-government, poetry and music; finally that as in old age we find men
-still keeping more or less to the costumes of their prime, and as the
-man who during the best days of his life has habituated himself to drink
-port, does not suddenly acquire a taste for claret, or _vice versâ_,--so
-those who had accustomed their musical stomachs to the soft strains of
-Paisiello and Cimarosa, _could not_ enjoy the sparkling, stimulating
-music of Rossini. So afterwards to the Rossinians, Donizetti poured
-forth nothing but what was insipid and frivolous; Bellini was languid
-and lackadaisical; Meyerbeer with his restlessness and violence, his new
-instruments, his drum songs, trumpet songs, fencing and pistol songs,
-tinder-box music, skating scenes and panoramic effects, was a noisy
-_charlatan_; Verdi, with his abruptness, his occasional vulgarity and
-his general melodramatic style, a mere musical Fitzball.
-
-It most not be supposed, however, that I believe in the constant
-progress of art; that I look upon Meyerbeer as equal to Weber, or Weber
-as superior to Mozart. It is quite certain that Rossini has not been
-approached in facility, in richness of invention, in gaiety, in
-brilliancy, in constructiveness, or in true dramatic power by any of the
-Italian, French, or German theatrical composers who have succeeded him,
-though nearly all have imitated him one way or another: I will exclude
-Weber alone, an original genius, belonging entirely to Germany[80] and
-to himself. It is, at least, quite certain that Rossini is by far the
-greatest of the series of Italian composers, which begins with himself
-and seems to have ended with Verdi; and yet, while neither Verdi nor
-Bellini, nor Donizetti, were at all justly appreciated in this country
-when they first made their appearance, Rossini was--not merely sneered
-at and pooh-poohed; he was for a long time condemned and abused every
-where, and on the production of some of his finest works was hissed and
-hooted in the theatres of his native land. But the human heart is not so
-black as it is sometimes painted, and the Italian audiences who whistled
-and screeched at the _Barber of Seville_ did so chiefly because they did
-not like it. It was not the sort of music which had hitherto given them
-pleasure, and therefore they were not pleased.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S BIOGRAPHERS.]
-
-Rossini had already composed several operas for various Italian theatres
-(among which may be particularly mentioned _L'Italiana in Algeri_,
-written for Venice in 1813, the composer having then just attained his
-majority) when the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ was produced at Rome for the
-Carnival of 1816. The singers were Vitarelli, Boticelli, Zamboni, Garcia
-and Mesdames Giorgi-Righetti, and Rossi. A number of different versions
-of the circumstances which attended, preceded, and followed the
-representation of this opera, have been published, but the account
-furnished by Madame Giorgi-Righetti, who introduced the music of Rossini
-to the world, is the one most to be relied upon and which I shall adopt.
-I may first of all remind the reader that a very interesting life of
-Rossini, written with great _verve_ and spirit, full of acute
-observations, but also full of misstatements and errors of all
-kinds,[81] has been published by Stendhal, who was more than its
-translator, but not its author. Stendhal's "Vie de Rossini" is founded
-on a work by the Abbé Carpani. To what extent the ingenious author of
-the treatise _De l'Amour_, and of the admirable novel _La Charteuse de
-Parme_, is indebted to the Abbé, I cannot say; but if he borrowed from
-him his supposed facts, and his opinions as a musician, he owes him all
-the worst portion of his book. The brothers Escudier have also published
-a "Vie de Rossini," which is chiefly valuable for the list of his
-works, and the dates of their production.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-To return to the _Barber of Seville_, of which the subject was
-librsuggested to Rossini by the author of the _libretto_, Sterbini.
-Sterbini proposed to arrange it for music in a new form; Rossini
-acquiesced, and the librettists went to work. The report was soon spread
-that Rossini was about to reset Paisiello's libretto. For this some
-accused Rossini of presumption, while others said that in taking
-Paisiello's subject he was behaving meanly and unjustly. This was
-absurd, for all Metastasio's lyrical dramas have been set to music by
-numbers of composers; but this fact was not likely to be taken into
-consideration by Rossini's enemies. Paisiello himself took part in the
-intrigues against the young composer, and wrote a letter from Naples,
-begging one of his friends at Rome to leave nothing undone that could
-contribute to the failure of the second _Barber_. When the night of
-representation, at the Argentina Theatre, arrived, Rossini's enemies
-were all at their posts, declaring openly what they hoped and intended
-should be the fate of the new opera. His friends, on the other hand,
-were not nearly so decided, remembering, as they did, the
-uncomplimentary manner in which Rossini's _Torvaldo_ had been received
-only a short time before. The composer, says Madame Giorgi-Righetti "was
-weak enough to allow Garcia to sing beneath Rosina's balcony a Spanish
-melody of his own arrangement. Garcia maintained, that as the scene was
-in Spain the Spanish melody would give the drama an appropriate local
-colour; but, unfortunately, the artist who reasoned so well, and who was
-such an excellent singer, forgot to tune his guitar before appearing on
-the stage as "Almaviva." He began the operation in the presence of the
-public. A string broke. The vocalist proceeded to replace it; but before
-he could do so, laughter and hisses were heard from all parts of the
-house. The Spanish air, when Garcia was at last ready to sing it, did
-not please the Italian audience, and the pit listened to it just enough
-to be able to give an ironical imitation of it afterwards.
-
-The introduction to Figaro's air seemed to be liked; but when Zamboni
-entered, with another guitar in his hand, a loud laugh was set up, and
-not a phrase of _Largo al factotum_ was heard. When Rosina made her
-appearance in the balcony, the public were quite prepared to applaud
-Madame Giorgi-Righetti in an air which they thought they had a right to
-expect from her; but only hearing her utter a phrase which led to
-nothing, the expressions of disapprobation recommenced. The duet between
-"Almaviva" and "Figaro" was accompanied throughout with hissing and
-shouting. The fate of the work seemed now decided.
-
-At length Rosina came on, and sang the _cavatina_ which had so long been
-looked for. Madame Giorgi-Righetti was young, had a fresh beautiful
-voice, and was a great favourite with the Roman public. Three long
-rounds of applause followed the conclusion of her air, and gave some
-hope that the opera might yet be saved. Rossini, who was at the
-orchestral piano, bowed to the public, then turned towards the singer,
-and whispered "_oh natura_!"
-
-This happy moment did not last, and the hisses recommenced with the duet
-between Figaro and Rosina. The noise increased, and it was impossible to
-hear a note of the finale. When the curtain fell Rossini turned towards
-the public, shrugged his shoulders and clapped his hands. The audience
-were deeply offended by this openly-expressed contempt for their
-opinion, but they made no reply at the time.
-
-The vengeance was reserved for the second act, of which not a note
-passed the orchestra. The hubbub was so great, that nothing like it was
-ever heard at any theatre. Rossini in the meanwhile remained perfectly
-calm, and afterwards went home as composed as if the work, received in
-so insulting a manner, had been the production of some other musician.
-After changing their clothes, Madame Giorgi-Righetti, Garcia, Zamboni,
-and Botticelli, went to his house to console him in his misfortune. They
-found him fast asleep.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-The next day he wrote the delightful _cavatina, Ecco ridente il cielo_,
-to replace Garcia's unfortunate Spanish air. The melody of the new solo
-was borrowed from the opening chorus of _Aureliano in Palmira_, written
-by Rossini in 1814, for Milan, and produced without success; the said
-chorus having itself figured before in the same composer's _Ciro_ in
-_Babilonia_, also unfavourably received. Garcia read his _cavatina_ as
-it was written, and sang it the same evening. Rossini, having now made
-the only alteration he thought necessary, went back to bed, and
-pretended to be ill, that he might not have to take his place in the
-evening at the piano.
-
-At the second performance, the Romans seemed disposed to listen to the
-work of which they had really heard nothing the night before. This was
-all that was needed to ensure the opera's triumphant success. Many of
-the pieces were applauded; but still no enthusiasm was exhibited. The
-music, however, pleased more and more with each succeeding
-representation, until at last the climax was reached, and _Il Barbiere_
-produced those transports of admiration among the Romans with which it
-was afterwards received in every town in Italy, and in due time
-throughout Europe. It must be added, that a great many connoisseurs at
-Rome were struck from the first moment with the innumerable beauties of
-Rossini's score, and went to his house to congratulate him on its
-excellence. As for Rossini, he was not at all surprised at the change
-which took place in public opinion. He was as certain of the success of
-his work the first night, when it was being hooted, as he was a week
-afterwards, when every one applauded it to the skies.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-In Paris, more than three years afterwards, with Garcia still playing
-the part of "Almaviva," and with Madame Ronzi de Begnis as "Rosina,"
-_Il Barbiere_ was not much better received than on its first production
-at Rome. It was less astonishing that it should fail before an audience
-of Parisians (at that time quite unacquainted with Rossini's style) than
-before a highly musical public like that of Rome. In each case, the work
-of Paisiello was made the excuse for condemning that of Rossini; but
-Rossini's _Barber_ was not treated with indignity at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris. It was simply listened to very coldly. Every one was saying,
-that after Paisiello's opera it was nothing, that the two were not to be
-compared, &c., when, fortunately, some one proposed that Paisiello's
-_Barber_ should be revived. Paer, the director of the music, and who is
-said to have been rendered very uneasy by Rossini's Italian successes,
-thought that to crush Rossini by means of his predecessor, was no bad
-idea. The St. Petersburgh _Barber_ of 1788 was brought out; but it was
-found that he had grown old and feeble; or, rather, the simplicity of
-the style was no longer admired, and the artists who had already lost
-the traditions of the school, were unable to sing the music with any
-effect. Rossini's _Barber_ has now been before the world for nearly half
-a century, and we all know whether it is old-fashioned; whether the airs
-are tedious; whether the form of the concerted pieces, and of the grand
-finale, leaves anything to be desired; whether the instrumentation is
-poor; whether, in short, on any one point, any subsequent work of the
-same kind even by Rossini himself, has surpassed, equalled, or even
-approached it. But the thirty years of Paisiello's Barber bore heavily
-upon the poor old man, and he was found sadly wanting in that gaiety and
-brilliancy which have given such celebrity to Rossini's hero, and after
-which Beaumarchais's sparkling epigrammatic dialogue appears almost
-dull.[82] Paisiello's opera was a complete failure. And when Rossini's
-_Barbiere_ was brought out again, every one was struck by the contrast.
-It profited by the very artifice which was to have destroyed it, and
-Rossini's enemies took care for the future not to establish comparisons
-between Rossini and Paisiello. Madame Ronzi de Begnis, too, had been
-replaced very advantageously by Madame Fodor. With two such admirable
-singers as Fodor and Garcia in the parts of "Rosina" and "Almaviva,"
-with Pellegrini as "Figaro," and Begnis as "Basil," the success of the
-opera increased with each representation: and though certain musical
-_quid-nuncs_ continued to shake their heads when Rossini's name was
-mentioned in a drawing-room, his reputation with the great body of the
-theatrical public was now fully established.
-
-The _tirana_ composed by Garcia _Se il mio nome saper voi bramate_,
-which he appears to have abandoned after the unfavourable manner in
-which it was received at Rome, was afterwards re-introduced into the
-_Barber_ by Rubini.
-
-The whole of the _Barber of Seville_ was composed from beginning to end
-in a month. _Ecco ridente il cielo_ (the air adapted from _Aureliano in
-Palmira_) was, as already mentioned, added after the first
-representation. The overture, moreover, had been previously written for
-_Aureliano in Palmira_, and (after the failure of that work) had been
-prefixed to _Elizabetta regina d'Inghilterra_ which met with some
-success, thanks to the admirable singing of Mademoiselle Colbran, in the
-principal character.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini took his failures very easily, and with the calm confidence of a
-man who knew he could do better things and that the public would
-appreciate them. When his _Sigismondo_ was violently hissed at Venice he
-sent a letter to his mother with a picture of a large _fiasco_,
-(bottle). His _Torvaldo e Dorliska_, which was brought out soon
-afterwards, was also hissed, but not so much.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-This time Rossini sent his mother a picture of a _fiaschetto_ (little
-bottle).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The motive of the _allegro_ in the trio of the last act of (to return
-for a moment to) the _Barber of Seville_, is, as most of my readers are
-probably aware, simply an arrangement of the bass air sung by "Simon,"
-in _Haydn's Seasons_. The comic air, sung by "Berta," the duenna, is a
-Russian dance tune, which was very fashionable in Rome, in 1816. Rossini
-is said to have introduced it into the _Barber of Seville_, out of
-compliment to some Russian lady.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini's first opera _la Pietra del Paragone_, was written when he was
-seventeen years of age, for the Scala at Milan, where it was produced in
-the autumn of 1812. He introduced the best pieces out of this work into
-the _Cenerentola_, which was brought out five years afterwards at Rome.
-Besides _la Pietra del Paragone_, he laid _il Turco in Italia_, and _la
-Gazzetta_ under contribution to enrich the score of _Cinderella_. The
-air _Miei rampolli_, the duet _un Soave non so chè_, the drinking chorus
-and the burlesque proclamation of the baron belonged originally to _la
-Pietra del Paragone_; the _sestett_, the _stretta_ of the finale, the
-duet _zitto, zitto_, to the _Turco in Italia_, (produced at Milan in
-1814), _Miei rampolli_ had also been inserted in _la Gazzetta_.
-
-The principal female part in the _Cenerentola_, though written for a
-contralto, has generally, (like those of Rosina and Isabella, and also
-written for contraltos), been sung by sopranos, such as Madame Fodor,
-Madame Cinti, Madame Sontag, &c. When sung by Mademoiselle Alboni, these
-parts are executed in every respect in conformity with the composer's
-intentions.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.]
-
-Rossini's first serious opera, or at least the first of those by which
-his name became known throughout Europe, was _Tancredi_, written for
-Venice in 1813, the year after _la Pietra del Paragone_. In this opera,
-we find indicated, if not fully carried out, all those admirable changes
-in the composition of the lyric drama which were imputed to him by his
-adversaries as so many artistic crimes. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his
-objections to Rossini's music, strange and almost inexplicable as they
-appear, yet only says in somewhat different language what is advanced by
-Rossini's admirers, in proof of his great merit. The connoisseur of a
-past epoch describes the changes introduced by Rossini into dramatic
-music, for an enemy, fairly enough; only he regards as detestable
-innovations what others have accepted as admirable reforms. It appeared
-to Rossini that the number of airs written for the so-called lyric
-dramas of his youth, delayed the action to a most wearisome extent. In
-_Tancredi_, concerted pieces in which the dramatic action is kept up,
-are introduced in situations where formerly there would have been only
-monologues. In _Tancredi_ the bass has little to do, but more than in
-the operas of the old-school, where he was kept quite in the back
-ground, the _ultima parte_ being seldom heard except in _ensembles_. By
-degrees the bass was brought forward, until at last he became an
-indispensable and frequently the principal character in all tragic
-operas. In the old opera the number of characters was limited and
-choruses were seldom introduced. Think, then, how an amateur of the
-simple, quiet old school must have been shocked by a thoroughly
-Rossinian opera, such as _Semiramide_, with its brilliant, sonorous
-instrumentation, its prominent part for the bass or baritone, its long
-elaborate finale, and above all its military band on the stage! Mozart
-had already anticipated every resource that has since been adopted by
-Rossini, but to Rossini belongs, nevertheless, the merit of having
-brought the lyric drama to perfection on the Italian stage, and forty
-and even thirty years ago it was to Rossini that its supposed
-degradation was attributed.
-
-"So great a change," says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "has taken place in the
-character of the (operatic) dramas, in the style of the music and its
-performance, that I cannot help enlarging on that subject before I
-proceed further. One of the most material alterations is, that the grand
-distinction between serious and comic operas is nearly at an end, the
-separation of the singers for their performance, entirely so.[83] Not
-only do the same sing in both, but a new species of drama has arisen, a
-kind of mongrel between them called _semi seria_, which bears the same
-analogy to the other two that that nondescript melodrama does to the
-legitimate tragedy and comedy of the English stage."
-
-And of which style specimens may be found in Shakespeare's plays and in
-Mozart's _Don Giovanni_! The union of the serious and the comic in the
-same lyric work was an innovation of Mozart's, like almost all the
-innovations attributed by Lord Mount Edgcumbe to Rossini. Indeed, nearly
-all the operatic reforms of the last three-quarters of a century that
-have endured, have had Mozart for their originator.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.]
-
-"The construction of these newly invented pieces," continues Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "is essentially different from the old. The dialogue which
-used to be carried on in recitative, and which in Metastasio's operas,
-is often so beautiful and interesting, is now cut up (and rendered
-unintelligible, if it were worth listening to), into _pezzi concertati_,
-or long singing conversations, which present a tedious succession of
-unconnected, ever-changing motivos, having nothing to do with each
-other: and if a satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, which the
-ear would like to dwell upon, to hear modulated, varied and again
-returned to, it is broken off before it is well understood, by a sudden
-transition into a totally different melody, time and key, and recurs no
-more; so that no impression can be made or recollection of it preserved.
-Single songs are almost exploded ... even the _prima donna_ who would
-formerly have complained at having less than three or four airs allotted
-to her, is now satisfied with one trifling _cavatina_ for a whole
-opera."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe has hitherto given a tolerably true account of the
-reforms introduced by Rossini into the operatic music of Italy; only,
-instead of calling Rossini's concerted pieces and finales, "a tedious
-succession of unconnected, ever-changing motivos," he ought to describe
-them as highly interesting, well connected and eminently dramatic. He
-goes on to condemn Rossini for his new distribution of characters, and
-especially for his employment of bass voices in chief parts "to the
-manifest injury of melody and total subversion of harmony, in which the
-lowest part is their peculiar province." Here, however, it occurs to
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, and he thereupon expresses his surprise, "that the
-principal characters in two of Mozart's operas should have been written
-for basses."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When the above curious, and in its way valuable, strictures on Rossini's
-music were penned, not only _Tancredi_, but also _Il Barbiere_,
-_Otello_, _La Cenerentola_, _Mosè in Egitto_, _La Gazza Ladra_, and
-other of his works had been produced. _Il Barbiere_ succeeded at once
-in England, and Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that for many years after
-the first introduction of Rossini's works into England "so entirely did
-he engross the stage, that the operas of no other master were ever to be
-heard, with the exception of those of Mozart; and of his only _Don
-Giovanni_ and _le Nozze di Figaro_ were often repeated.... Every other
-composer, past and present, was totally put aside, and these two alone
-named or thought of." Rossini, then, if wrongly applauded, was at least
-applauded in good company. It appears from Mr. Ebers's "Seven years of
-the King's Theatre," that of all the operas produced from 1821 to 1828,
-nearly half were Rossini's, or in exact numbers fourteen out of
-thirty-four, but it must be remembered that the majority of these were
-constantly repeated, whereas most of the others were brought out only
-for a few nights and then laid aside. During the period in question the
-composer whose works, next to Rossini, were most often represented, was
-Mozart with _Don Giovanni_, _Le Nozze_, _La Clemenza di Tito_, and _Cosi
-fan Tutti_. The other operas included in the repertoire were by Paer,
-Mayer, Zingarelli, Spontini, (_la Vestale_), Mercadante, Meyerbeer, (_Il
-Crociato in Egitto_) &c.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: TANCREDI.]
-
-Our consideration of the causes of Rossini's success, and want of
-success, has led us far away from the first representation of _Tancredi_
-at the theatre of La Fenice. Its success was so great, that each of its
-melodies became for the Venetians a second "Carnival of Venice;" and
-even in the law courts, the judges are said to have been obliged to
-direct the ushers to stop the singing of _Di tanti palpiti_, and _Mi
-rivedrai te rivedrò_.
-
-"I thought after hearing my opera, that the Venetians would think me
-mad," said Rossini. "Not at all; I found they were much madder than I
-was." _Tancredi_ was followed by _Aureliano_, produced at Milan in 1814,
-and, as has already been mentioned, without success. The introduction,
-however, containing the chorus from which Almaviva's _cavatina_ was
-adapted, is said to have been one of Rossini's finest pieces. _Otello_,
-the second of Rossini's important serious operas, was produced in 1816
-at Naples (Del Fondo Theatre). The principal female part, as in the
-now-forgotten _Elizabetta_, and as in a great number of subsequent
-works, was written for Mademoiselle Colbran. The other parts were
-sustained by Benedetti, Nozzari, and the celebrated Davide.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In _Otello_, Rossini continued the reforms which he had commenced in
-_Tancredi_. He made each dramatic scene one continued piece of music,
-used recitative but sparingly, and when he employed it, accompanied it
-for the first time in Italy, with the full band. The piano was now
-banished from the orchestra, forty-two years after it had been banished
-by Gluck from the orchestras of France.
-
-Davide, in the part of Otello," created the greatest enthusiasm. The
-following account of his performance is given by a French critic, M.
-Edouard Bertin, in a letter from Venice, dated 1823:--
-
-[Sidenote: OTELLO.]
-
-"Davide excites among the _dilettanti_ of this town an enthusiasm and
-delight which could scarcely be conceived without having been witnessed.
-He is a singer of the new school, full of mannerism, affectation, and
-display, abusing, like Martin, his magnificent voice with its prodigious
-compass (three octaves comprised between four B flats). He crushes the
-principal motive of an air beneath the luxuriance of his ornamentation,
-and which has no other merit than that of difficulty conquered. But he
-is also a singer full of warmth, _verve_, expression, energy, and
-musical sentiment; alone he can fill up and give life to a scene; it is
-impossible for another singer to carry away an audience as he does, and
-when he will only be simple, he is admirable; he is the Rossini of song.
-He is a great singer; the greatest I ever heard. Doubtless, the manner
-in which Garcia plays and sings the part of "Otello" is preferable,
-taking it altogether, to that of Davide. It is purer, more severe, more
-constantly dramatic; but with all his faults Davide produces more
-effect, a great deal more effect. There is something in him, I cannot
-say what, which, even when he is ridiculous, commands, enhances
-attention. He never leaves you cold; and when he does not move you, he
-astonishes you; in a word, before hearing him, I did not know what the
-power of singing really was. The enthusiasm he excites is without
-limits. In fact, his faults are not faults for Italians, who in their
-_opera seria_ do not employ what the French call the tragic style, and
-who scarcely understand us, when we tell them that a waltz or quadrille
-movement is out of place in the mouth of a Cæsar, an Assur, or an
-Otello. With them the essential thing is to please: they are only
-difficult on this point, and their indifference as to all the rest is
-really inconceivable: here is an example of it. Davide, considering
-apparently that the final duet of _Otello_ did not sufficiently show off
-his voice, determined to substitute for it a duet from _Armida_ (Amor
-possente nome), which is very pretty, but anything rather than severe.
-As it was impossible to kill Desdemona to such a tune, the Moor, after
-giving way to the most violent jealousy, sheathes his dagger, and begins
-in the most tender and graceful manner his duet with Desdemona, at the
-conclusion of which he takes her politely by the hand, and retires,
-amidst the applause and bravos of the public, who seem to think it quite
-natural that the piece should finish in this manner, or, rather, that it
-should not finish at all: for after this beautiful _dénouement_, the
-action is about as far advanced as it was in the first scene. We do not
-in France carry our love of music so far as to tolerate such absurdities
-as these, and perhaps we are right."
-
-Lord Byron saw _Otello_ at Venice, soon after its first production. He
-speaks of it in one of his letters, dated 1818, in which he condemns
-the libretto, but expresses his admiration of the music.
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ was written for Milan, and brought out at the theatre
-of "La Scala," in 1817. Four years afterwards it was produced in London
-in the spring, and Paris in the autumn. The part of "Ninetta,"
-afterwards so favourite a character with Sontag, Malibran, and Grisi,
-was sung in 1821 by Madame Camporese in London, by Madame Fodor in
-Paris. Camporese's performance was of the greatest merit, and highly
-successful. Fodor's is said to have been perfection. The part of
-"Pippo," originally written for a contralto, used at one time to be sung
-at the English and French theatres by a baritone or bass. It was not
-until some years after _La Gazza Ladra_ was produced, that a contralto
-(except for first parts), was considered an indispensable member of an
-opera company.
-
-Madame Fodor was not an Italian, but a Russian. She was married to a
-Frenchman, M. Mainvielle, and, before visiting Italy, and, until her
-_début_, had studied chiefly in Paris. Her Italian tour is said to have
-greatly improved her style, which, when she first appeared in London, in
-1816, left much to be desired. Camporese was of good birth, and was
-married to a member of the Guistiniani family. She cultivated singing in
-the first instance only as an accomplishment; but was obliged by
-circumstances to make it her profession. In Italy she sang only at
-concerts, and it was not until her arrival in England that she appeared
-on the stage. She seems to have possessed very varied powers; appearing
-at one time as "Zerlina" to Ronzi's "Donna Anna;" at another, as "Donna
-Anna," to Fodor's "Zerlina."
-
-[Sidenote: LA GAZZA LADRA.]
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ is known to be founded on a French melo-drama, _La Pie
-Voleuse_, of which the capabilities for operatic "setting," were first
-discovered by Paer. Paer had seen Mademoiselle Jenny Vertpré in _La Pie
-Voleuse_. He bought the play, and sent it to his librettist in ordinary
-at Milan, with marginal notes, showing how it ought to be divided for
-musical purposes. The opera book intended by Paer for himself was
-offered to Rossini, and by him was made the groundwork of one of his
-most brilliant productions.
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ marks another step in Rossini's progress as a composer,
-and accordingly we find Lord Mount Edgcumbe saying, soon after its
-production in England:--"Of all the operas of Rossini that have been
-performed here, that of _la Gazza Ladra_ is most peculiarly liable to
-all the objections I have made to the new style of drama, of which it is
-the most striking example." The only opera of Rossini's which Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe seems really to have liked was _Aureliano in Palmira_, written
-in the composer's earliest style, and which failed.
-
-"Its finales," (Lord Mount Edgcumbe is speaking of _La Gazza Ladra_)
-"and many of its very numerous _pezzi concertati_, are uncommonly loud,
-and the lavish use made of the noisy instruments, appears, to my
-judgment, singularly inappropriate to the subject; which, though it
-might have been rendered touching, is far from calling for such warlike
-accompaniments. Nothing can be more absurd than the manner in which this
-simple story is represented in the Italian piece, or than to be a young
-peasant servant girl, led to trial and execution, under a guard of
-soldiers, with military music." The quintett of _La Gazza Ladra_, is,
-indeed, open to a few objections from a dramatic point of view.
-"Ninetta" is afraid of compromising her father; but "Fernando" has
-already given himself up to the authorities, in order to save his
-daughter--in whose defence he does not say a word. An explanation seems
-necessary, but then the drama would be at an end. There would be no
-quintett, and we should lose one of Rossini's finest pieces. Would it be
-worth while to destroy this quintett, in order to make the opera end
-like the French melo-drama, and as the French operatic version of _La
-Gazza Ladra_ also terminates?
-
-I have already spoken of _La Cenerentola_, produced in 1817 at Rome.
-This admirable work has of late years been much neglected. The last time
-it was heard in England at Her Majesty's Theatre, Madame Alboni played
-the principal part, and excited the greatest enthusiasm by her execution
-of the final air, _Non piu mesta_ (the model of so many solos for the
-_prima donna_, introduced with or without reason, at the end of
-subsequent operas); but the cast was a very imperfect one, and the
-performance on the whole (as usual, of late years, at this theatre)
-very unsatisfactory.
-
-[Sidenote: MOSE IN EGITTO.]
-
-_Mosè in Egitto_ was produced at the San Carlo[84] Theatre, at Naples,
-in 1818; the principal female part being written again for Mademoiselle
-Colbran. In this work, two leading parts, those of "Faraoni" and "Mosè,"
-were assigned to basses. The once proscribed, or, at least contemned
-basso, was, for the first time brought forward, and honoured with full
-recognition in an Italian _opera seria_. The story of the Red Sea, and
-of the chorus sung on its banks, has often been told; but I will repeat
-it in a few words, for the benefit of those readers who may not have met
-with it before. The Passage of the Red Sea was intended to be
-particularly grand; but, instead of producing the effect anticipated, it
-was received every night with laughter. The two first acts were always
-applauded; but the Red Sea was a decided obstacle to the success of the
-third. Tottola, the librettist, came to Rossini one morning, with a
-prayer for the Israelites, which he fancied, if the composer would set
-it to music, might save the conclusion of the opera. Rossini, who was in
-bed at the time, saw at once the importance of the suggestion, wrote on
-the spur of the moment, and in a few minutes, the magnificent _Del tuo
-stellato soglio_. It was performed the same evening, and excited
-transports of admiration. The scene of the Red Sea, instead of being
-looked forward to as a source of hilarity, became now the chief
-"attraction" of the opera. The performance of the prayer produced a sort
-of frenzy among the audience, and a certain Neapolitan doctor, whose
-name has not transpired, told either Stendhal or the Abbé Carpani (on
-whose _Letters_, as before mentioned, Beyle's "Vie de Rossini par
-Stendhal" is founded), that the number of nervous indispositions among
-the ladies of Naples was increased in a remarkable manner by the change
-of key, from the minor to the major, in the last verse.
-
-_Mosè_ was brought out in London, as an oratorio, in the beginning of
-1822. Probably, dramatic action was absolutely necessary for its
-success; at all events, it failed as an oratorio. The same year it was
-produced as an opera at the King's Theatre; but with a complete
-transformation in the libretto, and under the title of _Pietro
-l'Eremita_. The opera attracted throughout the season, and no work of
-Rossini's was ever more successful on its first production in this
-country. The subscribers to the King's Theatre were in ecstacies with
-it, and one of the most distinguished supporters of the theatre, after
-assuring the manager that he deserved well of this country, offered to
-testify his gratitude by proposing him at White's!
-
-[Sidenote: MOSE IN EGITTO.]
-
-In the autumn of the same year _Mosè_ was produced at the Italian Opera
-of Paris, and in 1827, a French version of it was brought out at the
-Académie. The Red Sea appears to have been a source of trouble
-everywhere. At the Académie, forty-five thousand francs were sunk in it,
-and to so little effect, or rather with such bad effect, that the
-machinists' and decorators' waves had to be suppressed after the first
-evening. In London the Red Sea became merely a river. The river,
-however, failed quite as egregiously as the larger body of water, and
-had to be drained off before the second performance took place.
-
-_Mosè_ is quite long enough and sufficiently complete in its original
-form. Several pieces, however, out of other operas, by Rossini, were
-added to it in the London version of the work. In Paris, in accordance
-with the absurd custom (if it be not even a law) at the Académie, _Mosè_
-could not be represented without the introduction of a ballet. The
-necessary dance music was taken from _Ciro in Babilonia_ and _Armida_,
-and the opera was further strengthened as it was thought (weakened as it
-turned out), by the introduction of a new air for Mademoiselle Cinti,
-and several new choruses.
-
-The _Mosè_ of the Académie, with its four acts of music (one more than
-the original opera) was found far too long. It was admired, and for a
-little while applauded; but when it had once wearied the public, it was
-in vain that the directors reduced its dimensions. It became smaller and
-smaller, until it at last disappeared.
-
-_Zelmira_, written originally for Vienna, and which is said to have
-contained Madame Colbran Rossini's best part, was produced at Naples in
-1822. The composer and his favourite _prima donna_ were married in the
-spring of the same year at Castelnaso, near Bologna.
-
-"The recitatives of _Zelmira_" says Carpani, in his _Le Rossinane ossia
-lettere musico-teatrali_, "are the best and most dramatic that the
-Italian school has produced; their eloquence is equal to that of the
-most beautiful airs, and the spectator, equally charmed and surprised,
-listens to them from one end to the other. These recitatives are
-sustained by the orchestra; _Otello_, _Mosè in Egitto_, are written
-after the same system, but I will not attribute to Rossini the honour of
-a discovery which belongs to our neighbours. Although the French Opera
-is still barbarous from a vocal point of view, there are some points
-about it which may be advantageously borrowed. The introduction of
-accompanied recitative is of the greatest importance for our _opera
-seria_, which, in the hands of the Mayers, Paers, the Rossinis, has at
-last become dramatic."
-
-_Zelmira_ was brought out in London in 1824, under the direction of
-Rossini himself, and with Madame Colbran Rossini in the principal part.
-The reception of the composer, when he made his appearance in the
-orchestra, was most enthusiastic, and at the end of the opera, he was
-called on to the stage, which, in England, was, then, quite a novel
-compliment.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI AND GEORGE IV.]
-
-At the same time, all possible attention was paid to Rossini, in
-private, by the most distinguished persons in the country. He was
-invited by George IV. to the Pavilion at Brighton, and the King gave
-orders that when his guest entered the music room, his private band
-should play the overture to the _Barber of Seville_. The overture being
-concluded, his Majesty asked Rossini what piece he would like to hear
-next. The composer named _God save the King_.
-
-The music of _Zelmira_ was greatly admired by connoisseurs, but made no
-impression on the public, and though Madame Colbran-Rossini's
-performance is said to have been admirable, it must be remembered that
-she had already passed the zenith of her powers. Born in Madrid, in
-1785, she appears to have retired from the stage, as far as Italy was
-concerned, in 1823, after the production of _Semiramide_. At least, I
-find no account of her having sung anywhere after the season of 1824, in
-London, though her name appears in the list of the celebrated company
-assembled the same year by Barbaja, at Vienna. Mademoiselle Colbran
-figures among the sopranos with Mesdames Mainvielle-Fodor, FĂ©ron, Esther
-Mombelli,[85] Dardanelli, Sontag, Unger, Giuditta, Grisi, and Grimbaun.
-The contraltos of this unrivalled _troupe_ were Mesdames
-Cesare-Cantarelli and Eckerlin; the tenors, Davide, Nozzari, Donzelli,
-Rubini, and Cicimarra; the basses, Lablache, Bassi, Ambroggi,
-Tamburini, and Bolticelli. Rossini had undertaken to write an opera
-entitled _Ugo rè d'Italia_, for the King's Theatre. The engagement had
-been made at the beginning of the season, in January, and the work was
-repeatedly announced for performance, when, at the end of May, it was
-said to be only half finished. He had, at this time, quarrelled with the
-management, and accepted the post of director at the Italian Opera of
-Paris. The end of _Ugo rè d'Italia_ is said by Mr. Ebers to have been,
-that the score, as far as it was written, was deposited with Messrs.
-Ransom, the bankers. Messrs. Ransom, however, have informed me, that
-they never had a score of Rossini's in their possession.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-After Rossini's departure from London, his _Semiramide_, produced at
-Venice only the year before, was brought out with Madame Pasta, in the
-principal character. The part of "Semiramide" had been played at the
-_Fenice_ Theatre, by Madame Colbran; it was the last Rossini wrote for
-his wife, and _Semiramide_ was the last opera he composed for Italy.
-When we meet with Rossini again, it will be at the Académie Royale of
-Paris, as the composer of _the Siege of Corinth_, _Count Ory_, and
-_William Tell_.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S SINGERS.]
-
-The first great representative of "Semiramide" was Pasta, who has
-probably never been surpassed in that character. After performing it
-with admirable success in London, she resumed in it the year afterwards,
-1825, at the Italian Opera of Paris. Madame Pasta had already gained
-great celebrity by her representation of "Tancredi" and of "Romeo," but
-in _Semiramide_, she seems, for the first time, to have exhibited her
-genius in all its fulness.[86]
-
-The original "Arsace" was Madame Mariani, the first great "Arsace,"
-Madame Pisaroni.
-
-Since the first production of _Semiramide_, thirty years ago, all the
-most distinguished sopranos and contraltos of the day have loved to
-appear in that admirable work.
-
-Among the "Semiramides," I may mention in particular Pasta, Grisi,
-Viardot-Garcia, and Cruvelli. Although not usually given to singers who
-particularly excel in the execution of light delicate music, the part of
-"Semiramide" was also sung with success by Madame Sontag (Paris, 1829),
-and Madame Bosio (St. Petersburgh, 1855).
-
-Among the "Arsaces," may be cited Pisaroni, Brambilla, and Alboni.
-
-Malibran, with her versatile comprehensive genius, appeared both as
-"Arsace" and as "Semiramide," and was equally fortunate in each of these
-very different impersonations.
-
-I will now say a few words respecting those of the singers just named,
-whose names are more especially associated with Rossini's earliest
-successes in England.
-
-Madame Pasta having appeared in Paris with success in 1816, was engaged
-with her husband, Signor Pasta (an unsuccessful tenor), for the
-following season at the King's Theatre. She made no great impression
-that year, and was quite eclipsed by Fodor and Camporese, who were
-members of the same company. The young singer, not discouraged, but
-convinced that she had much to learn, returned to Italy, where she
-studied unremittingly for four years. She reappeared at the Italian
-Opera of Paris in 1821, as "Desdemona," in Rossini's _Otello_, then for
-the first time produced in France. Her success was complete, but her
-performance does not appear to have excited that enthusiasm which was
-afterwards caused by her representation of "Medea," in Mayer's opera of
-that name. In _Medea_, however, Pasta was everything; in _Otello_, she
-had to share her triumph with Garcia, Bordogni, and Levasseur. From this
-time, the new tragic vocalist gained constantly in public estimation.
-_Medea_ was laid aside; but Pasta gained fresh applause in every new
-part she undertook, and especially in _Tancredi_ and _Semiramide_.
-
-[Sidenote: PASTA.]
-
-Pasta made her second appearance at the King's Theatre in 1824, in the
-character of "Desdemona." Her performance, from a histrionic as well as
-from a vocal point of view, was most admirable; and the habitués could
-scarcely persuade themselves that this was the singer who had come
-before them four years previously, and had gone away without leaving a
-regret behind. When Rossini's last Italian opera was produced, the same
-season, the character of "Semiramide" was assigned to Madame Pasta, who
-now sang it for the first time. She had already represented the part of
-"Tancredi," and her three great Rossinian impersonations raised her
-reputation to the highest point. In London, Madame Pasta did not appear
-as "Medea" until 1826, when she already enjoyed the greatest celebrity.
-It was found at the King's Theatre, as at the Italian Opera of Paris,
-that Mayer's simple and frequently insipid music was not tolerable,
-after the brilliant dramatic compositions of Rossini; but Pasta's
-delineation of "Medea's" thirst for vengeance and despair, is said to
-have been sublime.
-
-A story is told of a distinguished critic persuading himself, that with
-such a power of pourtraying "Medea's" emotions, Madame Pasta must
-possess "Medea's" features; but for some such natural conformity he
-seems to have thought it impossible that she could at once, by
-intuition, enter profoundly and sympathetically into all "Medea's"
-inmost feelings. Much might be said in favour of the critic's theory; it
-is unnecessary to say a word in favour of a performance by which such a
-theory could be suggested. We are told, that the believer in the
-personal resemblance between Pasta and "Medea" was sent a journey of
-seventy miles to see a visionary portrait of "Medea," recovered from the
-ruins of Herculaneum. To rush off on such a journey with such an object,
-may not have been very reasonable; to cause the journey to be
-undertaken, was perfectly silly. Probably, it was a joke of our friend
-Taylor's.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: PISARONI.]
-
-Madame Pisaroni made her début in Italy in the year 1811, when she was
-eighteen years of age. She at first came out as a soprano, but two years
-afterwards, a severe illness having changed the nature of her voice, she
-appeared in all the most celebrated parts, written for the musicos or
-sopranists, who were now beginning to die out, and to be replaced by
-ladies with contralto voices. Madame Pisaroni was not only not
-beautiful, she was hideously ugly; I have seen her portrait, and am not
-exaggerating. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us, that another favourite
-contralto of the day Mariani (Rossini's original Arsace) was Pisaroni's
-rival "in voice, singing, and ugliness;" adding, that "in the two first
-qualities, she was certainly her inferior; though in the last it was
-difficult to know to which the preference should be given." But the
-anti-pathetic, revolting, almost insulting features of the great
-contralto, were forgotten as soon as she began to sing. As the hideous
-Wilkes boasted that he was "only a quarter of an hour behind the
-handsomest man in Europe," so Madame Pisaroni might have said, that she
-had only to deliver one phrase of music to place herself on a level with
-the most personally prepossessing vocalist of the day. This
-extraordinary singer on gaining a contralto, did not lose her original
-soprano voice. After her illness, she is said to have possessed three
-octaves (between four C's), but her best notes were now in the contralto
-register. In airs, in concerted pieces, in recitative, she was equally
-admirable. To sustain a high note, and then dazzle the audience with a
-rapid descending scale of two octaves, was for her an easy means of
-triumph. Altogether, her execution seems never to have been surpassed.
-After making her début in Paris as "Arsace," Madame Pisaroni resumed
-that part in 1829, under great difficulties. The frightfully ugly
-"Arsace" had to appear side by side with a charmingly pretty
-"Semiramide,"--the soprano part of the opera being taken by Mademoiselle
-Sontag. But in the hour of danger the poor contralto was saved by her
-thoroughly beautiful singing, and Pisaroni and Sontag, who as a vocalist
-also left nothing to desire, were equally applauded. In London, Pisaroni
-appears to have confined herself intentionally to the representation of
-male characters, appearing as "Arsace," "Malcolm," in _La Donna del
-Lago_, and "Tancredi;" but in Paris she played the principal female part
-in _L'Italiana in Algeri_, and what is more, played it with wonderful
-success.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The great part of "Arsace" was also that in which Mademoiselle Brambilla
-made her début in England in the year 1827. Brambilla, who was a pupil
-of the conservatory of Milan, had never appeared on any stage; but
-though her acting is said to have been indifferent, her lovely voice,
-her already excellent style, her youth and her great beauty, ensured
-her success.
-
-"She has the finest eyes, the sweetest voice, and the best disposition
-in the world," said a certain cardinal of the youthful Brambilla, "if
-she is discovered to possess any other merits, the safety of the
-Catholic Church will require her excommunication." After singing in
-London several years, and revisiting Italy, Brambilla was engaged in
-Paris, where she again chose the part of "Arsace," for her début.
-
-Many of our readers will probably remember that "Arsace" was also the
-character in which Mademoiselle Alboni made her first appearance in
-England, and on this side of the Alps. Until the opening night of the
-Royal Italian Opera, 1847, the English public had never heard of
-Mademoiselle Alboni; but she had only to sing the first phrase of her
-part, to call forth unanimous applause, and before the evening was at an
-end, she had quite established herself in the position which she has
-ever since held.
-
-[Sidenote: SONTAG.]
-
-Sontag and Malibran both made their first appearance in England as
-"Rosina," in the _Barber of Seville_. Several points of similarity might
-be pointed out between the romantic careers of these two wonderfully
-successful and wonderfully unfortunate vocalists. Mademoiselle Garcia
-first appeared on the stage at Naples, when she was eight years old.
-Mademoiselle Sontag was in her sixth year when she came out at
-Frankfort. Each spent her childhood and youth in singing and acting, and
-each, after obtaining a full measure of success, made an apparently
-brilliant marriage, and was thought to have quitted the stage. Both,
-however, re-appeared, one after a very short interval, the other, after
-a retirement of something like twenty years. The position of
-Mademoiselle Garcia's husband, M. Malibran, was as nothing, compared to
-that of Count Rossi, who married Mademoiselle Sontag; the former was a
-French merchant, established (not very firmly, as it afterwards
-appeared) at New York; the latter was the Sardinian Ambassador at the
-court of Vienna; but on the other hand, the Countess Rossi's end was far
-more tragic, or rather more miserable and horrible than that of Madame
-Malibran, itself sufficiently painful and heart-rending.
-
-Though Rosina appears to have been one of Mademoiselle Sontag's best, if
-not absolutely her best part, she also appeared to great advantage
-during her brief career in London and Paris, in two other Rossinian
-characters, "Desdemona" and "Semiramide." In her own country she was
-known as one of the most admirable representatives of "Agatha," in _Der
-FreischĂĽtz_, and she sang "Agatha's" great _scena_ frequently, and
-always with immense success, at concerts, in London. She also appeared
-as "Donna Anna," in _Don Giovanni_, (from the pleasing, graceful
-character of her talent, one would have fancied the part of "Zerlina"
-better suited to her), but in Italian opera all her triumphs were gained
-in the works of Rossini.
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-When Marietta Garcia made her début in London, in the _Barber of
-Seville_, she was, seriously, only just beginning her career, and was at
-that time but seventeen years of age. She appeared the same year in
-Paris, as the heroine in _Torvaldo e Dorliska_ (Rossini's
-"_fiaschetto_," now quite forgotten) and was then taken by her father on
-that disastrous American tour which ended with her marriage. Having
-crossed the Atlantic, Garcia converted his family into a complete opera
-company, of which he himself was the tenor and the excellent musical
-director (if there had only been a little more to direct). The daughter
-was the _prima donna_, the mother had to content herself with secondary
-parts, the son officiated as baritone and bass. In America, under a good
-master, but with strange subordinates, and a wretched _entourage_,
-Mademoiselle Garcia accustomed herself to represent operatic characters
-of every kind. One evening, when an uncultivated American orchestra was
-massacring Mozart's master-piece, Garcia, the "Don Giovanni" of the
-evening, became so indignant that he rushed, sword in hand, to the foot
-lights, and compelled the musicians to re-commence the finale to the
-first act, which they executed the second time with care, if not with
-skill. This was a severe school in which poor Marietta was being formed;
-but without it we should probably never have heard of her appearing one
-night as "Desdemona" or as "Arsace," the next as "Otello," or as
-"Semiramide;" nor of her gaining fresh laurels with equal certainty in
-the _Sonnambula_
-
-and in _Norma_. But we have at present only to do with that period of
-operatic history, during which, Rossini's supremacy on the Italian stage
-was unquestioned. Towards 1830, we find two new composers appearing,
-who, if they, to some extent, displaced their great predecessor, at the
-same time followed in his steps. For some dozen years, Rossini had been
-the sole support, indeed, the very life of Italian opera. Naturally, his
-works were not without their fruit, and a great part of Donizetti's and
-Bellini's music may be said to belong to Rossini, inasmuch as Rossini
-was clearly Donizetti's and Bellini's progenitor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-OPERA IN FRANCE UNDER THE CONSULATE, EMPIRE, AND RESTORATION.
-
-
-The History of the Opera, under the Consulate and the Empire, is perhaps
-more remarkable in connexion with political than with musical events.
-Few persons at present know much of Spontini's operas, though _la
-Vestale_ in its day was celebrated in Paris, London and especially in
-Berlin; nor of Cherubini's, though the overtures to _Anacreon_ and _les
-Abencerrages_ are still heard from time to time at "classical" concerts;
-but every one remembers the plot to assassinate the First Consul which
-was to have been put into execution at the Opera, and the plot to
-destroy the Emperor, the Empress and all their retinue, which was to
-take effect just outside its doors. Then there is the appearance of the
-Emperor at the Opera, after his hasty arrival in Paris from Moscow, on
-the very night before his return to meet the Russians with the allies
-who had now joined them, at Bautzen and Lutzen--the same night by the
-way on which _les Abencerrages_ was produced, with no great success.
-Then again there is the evening of the 29th of March, 1814, when
-_Iphigénie en Aulide_ was performed to an accompaniment of cannon which
-the Piccinnists, if they could only have heard it, would have declared
-very appropriate to Gluck's music; that of the 1st of April, when by
-desire, of the Russian emperor and the Prussian king, _la Vestale_ was
-represented; and finally that of the 17th of May, 1814, when _Ĺ’dipe Ă 
-Colone_ was played before Louis XVIII., who had that morning made his
-triumphal entry into Paris.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC PLOT.]
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the 10th of October, 1800, a band of republicans had sworn to
-assassinate the First Consul at the Opera. A new work was to be produced
-that evening composed by Porta to a libretto founded on Corneille's
-tragedy of _les Horaces_. The most striking scene in the piece, that in
-which the Horatii swear to conquer or perish, was to be the signal for
-action; all the lights were to be put out at the same moment, fireworks
-and grenades were to be thrown into the boxes, the pit and on to the
-stage; cries of "fire" and "murder" were to be raised from all parts of
-the house, and in the midst of the general confusion the First Consul
-was to be assassinated in his box. The leaders of the plot, to make
-certain of their cue, had contrived to be present at the rehearsal of
-the new opera, and everything was prepared for the next evening and the
-post of each conspirator duly assigned to him, when one of the number,
-conscience smitten and unable to sleep during the night of the 9th,
-went at daybreak the next morning to the Prefect of Police and informed
-him of all the details of the plot.
-
-The conspiracy said Bonaparte, some twenty years afterwards at St.
-Helena, "was revealed by a captain in the line.[87] What limit is
-there," he added, "to the combinations of folly and stupidity! This
-officer had a horror of me as Consul but adored me as general. He was
-anxious that I should be torn from my post, but he would have been very
-sorry that my life should be taken. I ought to be made prisoner, he
-said, in no way injured, and sent to the army to continue to defeat the
-enemies of France. The other conspirators laughed in his face, and when
-he saw them distribute daggers, and that they were going beyond his
-intentions, he proceeded at once to denounce the whole affair."
-
-Bonaparte, after the informer had been brought before him, suggested to
-the officers of his staff, the Prefect of Police and other functionaries
-whom he had assembled, that it would be as well not to let him appear at
-the Opera in the evening; but the general opinion was, that on the
-contrary, he should be forced to go, and ultimately it was decided that
-until the commencement of the performance everything should be allowed
-to take place as if the conspiracy had not been discovered.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC PLOT.]
-
-In the evening the First Consul went to the Opera, attended by a number
-of superior officers, all in plain clothes. The first act passed off
-quietly enough--in all probability, far too quietly to please the
-composer, for some two hundred persons among the audience, including the
-conspirators, the police and the officers attached to Bonaparte's
-person, were thinking of anything but the music of _les Horaces_. It was
-necessary, however, to pay very particular attention to the music of the
-second act in which the scene of the oath occurred.
-
-The sentinels outside the Consul's box had received orders to let no one
-approach who had not the pass word, issued an hour before for the opera
-only; and as a certain number of conspirators had taken up their
-positions in the corridors, to extinguish the lights at the signal
-agreed upon, a certain number of Bonaparte's officers were sent also
-into the corridors to prevent the execution of this manœuvre. The
-scene of the oath was approaching, when a body of police went to the
-boxes in which the leaders of the plot were assembled, found them with
-fireworks and grenades in their hands, notified to them their arrest in
-the politest manner, cautioned them against creating the slightest
-disturbance, and led them so dexterously and quietly into captivity,
-that their disappearance from the theatre was not observed, or if so,
-was doubtless attributed to the badness of Porta's music. The officers
-in the corridors carried pistols, and at the proper moment seized the
-appointed lamp-extinguishers. Then the old Horatius came forward and
-exclaimed--
-
-    "_Jurez donc devant moi, par le ciel qui m'Ă©coute._
-     _Que le dernier de vous sera mort ou vainqueur._"
-
-The orchestra "attacked" the introduction to the quartett. The fatal
-prelude must have sounded somewhat unmusical to the ear of the First
-Consul; but the conspirators were now all in custody and assembled in
-one of the vestibules on the ground floor.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LES MYSTERES D'ISIS.]
-
-On the 24th of December, 1800, the day on which the "infernal machine"
-was directed against the First Consul on his way to the Opera, a French
-version of Haydn's _Creation_ was to be executed. Indeed, the
-performance had already commenced, when, during the gentle _adagio_ of
-the introduction, the dull report of an explosion, as if of a cannon,
-was heard, but without the audience being at all alarmed. Immediately
-afterwards the First Consul appeared in his box with Lannes, Lauriston,
-Berthier, and Duroc. Madame Bonaparte, as she was getting into her
-carriage, thought of some alteration to make in her dress, and returned
-to her apartments for a few minutes. But for this delay her carriage
-would have passed before the infernal machine at the moment of its
-explosion. Ten minutes afterwards she made her appearance at the Opera
-with her daughter, Mademoiselle Hortense Beauharnais, Madame Murat, and
-Colonel Rapp. The performance of the _Creation_ continued as if nothing
-had happened; and the report, which had interfered so unexpectedly with
-the effect of the opening _adagio_, was explained in various ways; the
-account generally received in the pit being, that a grocer going into
-his cellar with a candle, had set light to a barrel of gunpowder. Two
-houses were said to have been blown up. This was at the beginning of the
-first part of the _Creation_; at the end of the second, the number had
-probably increased to half a dozen.
-
-Under the consulate and the empire, the arts did not flourish greatly in
-France; not for want of direct encouragement on the part of the ruler,
-but rather because he at the same time encouraged far above everything
-else the art of war. Until the appearance of Spontini with _la Vestale_,
-the Académie, under Napoleon Bonaparte, whether known as Bonaparte or
-Napoleon, was chiefly supported by composers who composed without
-inventing, and who, with the exception of Cherubini, were either very
-feeble originators or mere plagiarists and spoliators. Even Mozart did
-not escape the French arrangers. His _Marriage of Figaro_ had been
-brought out in 1798, with all the prose dialogue of Beaumarchais's
-comedy substituted for the recitative of the original opera. _Les
-Mystères d'Isis_, an adaptation, perversion, disarrangement of _Die
-Zauberflötte_, with several pieces suppressed, or replaced by fragments
-from the _Nozze di Figaro_, _Don Giovanni_, and Haydn's symphonies, was
-produced on the 23rd of August, 1801, under the auspices of Morel the
-librettist, and Lachnith the musician.
-
-_Les_ Misères _d'Isis_ was the appropriate name given to this sad
-medley by the musicians of the orchestra. Lachnith was far from being
-ashamed of what he had done. On the contrary, he gloried in it, and
-seemed somehow or other to have persuaded himself that the pieces which
-he had stolen from Mozart and Haydn were his own compositions. One
-evening, when he was present at the representation of _Les Mystères
-d'Isis_, he was affected to tears, and exclaimed, "No, I will compose no
-more! I could never go beyond this!"
-
-_Don Giovanni_, in the hands of Kalkbrenner, fared no better than the
-_Zauberflötte_ in those of Lachnith. It even fared worse; for
-Kalkbrenner did not content himself with spoiling the general effect of
-the work, by means of pieces introduced from Mozart's other operas, and
-from Haydn's symphonies: he mutilated it so as completely to alter its
-form, and further debased it by mixing with its pure gold the dross of
-his own vile music.
-
-[Sidenote: KALKBRENNER'S DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-In Kalkbrenner's _Don Giovanni_, the opera opened with a recitative,
-composed by Kalkbrenner himself. Next came Leporello's solo, followed by
-an interpolated romance, in the form of a serenade, which was sung by
-Don Juan, under Donna Anna's window. The struggle of Don Juan with Donna
-Anna, the entry of the commandant, his combat with Don Juan, the trio
-for the three men and all the rest of the introduction, was cut out. The
-duet of Donna Anna and Ottavio was placed at the end of the act, and as
-Don Juan had killed the commandant off the stage, it was of course
-deprived of its marvellous recitative, which, to be duly effective, must
-be declaimed by Donna Anna over the body of her father. The whole of the
-opera was treated in the same style. The first act was made to end as it
-had begun, with a few phrases of recitative of Kalkbrenner's own
-production. The greater part of the action of Da Ponte's libretto was
-related in dialogue, so that the most dramatic portion of the music lost
-all its significance. The whole opera, in short, was disfigured, cut to
-pieces, destroyed, and further defiled by the musical weeds which the
-infamous Kalkbrenner introduced among its still majestic ruins. At this
-period the supreme direction of the Opera was in the hands of a jury,
-composed of certain members of the Institute of France. It seems never
-to have occurred to this learned body that there was any impropriety in
-the trio of masques being executed by three men, and in the two soprano
-parts being given to tenors,--by which arrangement the part of Ottavio,
-Mozart's tenor, instead of being the lowest in the harmony, was made the
-highest. The said trio was sung by three archers, of course to entirely
-new words! Let us pass on to another opera, which, if not comparable to
-_Don Giovanni_, was at least a magnificent work for France in 1807, and
-which had the advantage of being admirably executed under the careful
-direction of its composer.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Spontini had already produced _La Finta Filosofa_, which, originally
-brought out at Naples, was afterwards performed at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris, without success; _La Petite Maison_, written for the Opéra
-Comique, and violently hissed; and _Milton_ also composed for the Opéra
-Comique, and favourably received. When _La Vestale_ was submitted to the
-jury of the Académie, it was refused unanimously on the ground of the
-extravagance of its style, and of the audacity of certain innovations in
-the score. Spontini appealed to the Empress Josephine, and it was owing
-to her influence, and through a direct order of the court that _La
-Vestale_ was put upon the stage. The jury was inexorable, however, as
-regarded certain portions of the work, and the composer was obliged to
-submit it to the orchestral conductor, who injured it in several places,
-but without spoiling it. Spontini wished to give the part of the tenor
-to Nourrit; but Lainez protested, went to the superintendant of the
-imperial theatres, represented that he had been first tenor and first
-lover at the Opera for thirty years, and finally received full
-permission to make love to the Vestal of the Académie.
-
-The Emperor Napoleon had the principal pieces in _La Vestale_ executed
-by his private band, nearly a year before the opera was brought out at
-the Académie. He had sufficient taste to admire the music, and predicted
-to Spontini the success it afterwards met with. He is said, in
-particular, to have praised the finale, the first dramatic finale
-written for the French Opera.
-
-[Sidenote: SPONTINI.]
-
-_La Vestale_ was received by the public with enthusiasm. It is said to
-have been admirably executed, and we know that Spontini was difficult on
-this point, for we are told by Mr. Ebers that he objected to the
-performance of _La Vestale_, in London, on the ground "that the means of
-representation there were inadequate to do justice to his composition."
-This was twenty years after it was first brought out in Paris, when all
-Rossini's finest and most elaborately constructed operas (such as
-_Semiramide_, for instance), had been played in London, and in a manner
-which quite satisfied Rossini. Probably, however, it was in the
-spectacular department that Spontini expected the King's Theatre would
-break down. However that may have been, _La Vestale_ was produced in
-London, and met with very little success. The part of "La Vestale" was
-given to a Madame Biagioli, who objected to it as not sufficiently good
-for her. From the accounts extant of this lady's powers, it is quite
-certain that Spontini, if he had heard her, would have considered her
-not nearly good enough for his music. It would, of course, have been far
-better for the composer, as for the manager and the public, if Spontini
-had consented to superintend the production of his work himself; but
-failing that, it was scandalous in defiance of his wishes to produce it
-at all. Unfortunately, this is a kind of scandal from which operatic
-managers in England have seldom shrunk.
-
-Spontini's _Fernand Cortez_, produced at the Académie in 1809, met with
-less success than _La Vestale_. In both these works, the spectacular
-element played an important part, and in _Fernand Cortez_, it was found
-necessary to introduce a number of Franconi's horses. A journalist of
-the period proposed that the following inscription should be placed
-above the doors of the theatre:--_Içi on joue l'opéra à pied et à
-cheval_.
-
-Spontini, as special composer for the Académie of grand operas with
-hippic and panoramic effects, was the predecessor of M. M. Meyerbeer,
-and Halévy; and Heine, in his "Lutèce"[88] has given us a very witty,
-and perhaps, in the main, truthful account of Spontini's animosity
-towards Meyerbeer, whom he is said to have always regarded as an
-intriguer and interloper. I may here, however, mention as a proof of the
-attractiveness of _La Vestale_ from a purely musical point of view, that
-it was once represented with great success, not only without magnificent
-or appropriate scenery, but with the scenery belonging to another piece!
-This was on the 1st of April, 1814, the day after the entry of the
-Russian and Prussian troops into Paris. _Le Triomphe de Trajan_ had been
-announced; the allied sovereigns, however, wished to hear _La Vestale_,
-and the performance was changed. But there was not time to prepare the
-scenery for Spontini's opera, and that of the said _Triomphe_ was made
-to do duty for it.
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-_Le Triomphe de Trajan_ was a work in which Napoleon's clemency to a
-treacherous or patriotic German prince was celebrated, and it has been
-said that the programme of the 1st of April was changed, because the
-allied sovereigns disliked the subject of the opera. But it was
-perfectly natural that they should wish to hear Spontini's master-piece,
-and that they should not particularly care to listen to a _pièce
-d'occasion_, set to music by a French composer of no name.
-
-I have said that Cherubini's _Abencerrages_, of which all but the
-overture is now forgotten, was produced in 1813, and that the emperor
-attended its first representation the night before his departure from
-Paris, to rejoin his troops, and if possible, check the advance of the
-victorious allies. No other work of importance was produced at the
-French Académie until Rossini's _Siège de Corinthe_ was brought out in
-1825. This, the first work written by the great Italian master specially
-for the French Opera, was represented at the existing theatre in the Rue
-Lepelletier, the opera house in the Rue Richelieu having been pulled
-down in 1820.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-In the year just mentioned, on the 13th of February, being the last
-Sunday of the Carnival, an unusually brilliant audience had assembled at
-the Académie Royale. _Le Rossignol_, an insipid, and fortunately, very
-brief production, was the opera; but the great attraction of the evening
-consisted in two ballets, _La Carnaval de Venise_, and _Les Noces de
-Gamache_. The Duke and Duchess de Berri were present, and when _Le
-Carnaval de Venise_, _Le Rossignol_, and the first act of _Les Noces de
-Gamache_, had been performed, the duchess rose to leave the theatre. Her
-husband accompanied her to the carriage, and was taking leave of her,
-intending to return to the theatre for the last act of the ballet, when
-a man crept up to him, placed his left arm on the duke's left side,
-pulled him violently towards him, and as he held him in his grasp,
-thrust a dagger through his body. The dagger entered the duke's right
-side, and the pressure of the assassin's arm, and the force with which
-the blow was given, were so great, that the weapon went through the
-lungs, and pierced the heart, a blade of six inches inflicting a wound
-nine inches long. The news of the duke's assassination spread through
-the streets of Paris as if by electricity; and M. Alexandre Dumas, in
-his interesting Memoirs, tells us almost the same thing that Balzac says
-about it in one of his novels; that it was known at the farther end of
-Paris, before a man on horseback, despatched at the moment the blow was
-struck, could possibly have reached the spot. On the other hand, M.
-Castil Blaze shows us very plainly that the terrible occurrence was not
-known within the Opera; or, at least, only to a few officials, until
-after the conclusion of the performance, which went on as if nothing had
-happened. The duke was carried into the director's room, where he was
-attended by Blancheton, the surgeon of the Opera, and at once bled in
-both arms. He, himself, drew the dagger from the wound, and observed at
-the same time that he felt it was mortal. The Count d'Artois, and the
-Duke and Duchess d'AngoulĂŞme arrived soon afterwards. There lay the
-unhappy prince, on a bed hastily arranged, and already inundated, soaked
-with blood, surrounded by his father, brother, sister, and wife, whose
-poignant anguish was from time to time alleviated by some faint ray of
-hope, destined, however, to be quickly dispelled.
-
-Five of the most celebrated doctors in Paris, with Dupuytren among the
-number, had been sent for; and as the patient was now nearly suffocating
-from internal hæmorrhage, the orifice of the wound was widened. This
-afforded some relief, and for a moment it was thought just possible that
-a recovery might be effected. Another moment, and it was evident that
-there was no hope. The duke asked to see his daughter, and embraced her
-several times; he also expressed a desire to see the king. Now the
-sacrament was administered to him, but, on the express condition exacted
-by the Archbishop of Paris, that the Opera House should afterwards be
-destroyed. Two other unacknowledged daughters of his youth were brought
-to the dying man's bedside, and received his blessing. He had already
-recommended them to the duchess's care.
-
-"Soon you will have no father," she said to them, "and I shall have
-three daughters."
-
-In the meanwhile the Spanish ballet was being continued, amidst the
-mirth and applause of the audience, who testified by their demeanour
-that it was Carnival time, and that the _jours gras_ had already
-commenced. The house was crowded, and the boleros and sequidillas with
-which the Spaniards of the Parisian ballet astonished and dazzled Don
-Quixote and his faithful knight, threw boxes, pit, and gallery, into
-ecstasies of delight.
-
-Elsewhere, in the room next his victim, stood the assassin, interrogated
-by the ministers, Decazes and Pasquier, with the bloody dagger before
-them on the table. The murderer simply declared that he had no
-accomplices,[89] and that he took all the responsibility of the crime on
-himself.
-
-At five in the morning, Louis XVIII. was by the side of his dying
-nephew. An attempt had been made, the making of which was little less
-than an insult to the king, to dissuade him from being present at the
-duke's last moments.
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-"The sight of death does not terrify me," replied His Majesty, "and I
-have a duty to perform." After begging that his murderer might be
-forgiven, and entreating the duchess not to give way to despair, the
-Duke de Berri breathed his last in the arms of the king, who closed his
-eyes at half-past six in the morning.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Opera was now to be heard no more in the Rue Richelieu. The holy
-sacrament had crossed the threshold of a profane building, and it was
-necessary that this profane building should be destroyed; indeed, a
-promise to that effect had been already given. All the theatres were
-closed for ten days, and the Opera, now homeless, did not re-commence
-its performances until upwards of two months afterwards, when it took
-possession for a time of the Théâtre Favart. In the August of the same
-year the erection of the theatre in the Rue Lepelletier was commenced.
-The present Théâtre de l'Opéra, (the absurd title of Académie having
-recently been abandoned), was intended when it was first built, to be
-but a temporary affair. Strangely enough it has lasted forty years,
-during which time it has seen solidly constructed opera-houses perish by
-fire in all parts of Europe. May the new opera-house about to be erected
-in Paris, under the auspices of Napoleon III., be equally fortunate.
-
-I am here reminded that both the Napoleons have proved themselves good
-and intelligent friends to the Opera. In the year eleven of the French
-republic, the First Consul and his two associates, the Minister of the
-French republic, the three Consuls, the Ministers of the interior and
-police, General Junot, the Secretary of State, and a few more officials
-occupied among them as many as seventeen boxes at the opera, containing
-altogether ninety-four places. Bonaparte had a report drawn up from
-which it appeared that the value of these boxes to the administration,
-was sixty thousand four hundred francs per annum, including fifteen
-thousand francs for those kept at his own disposition. Thereupon he
-added to the report the following brief, but on the whole satisfactory
-remark.
-
-"_A datter du premier nivose toutes ces loges seront payées par ceux qui
-les occupent._"
-
-The error in orthography is not the printers', but Napoleon Bonaparte's,
-and the document in which it occurs, is at present in the hands of M.
-Regnier of the Comédie Française.
-
-A month afterwards, Napoleon, or at least the consular trio of which he
-was the chief, assigned to the Opera a regular subsidy of 600,000 francs
-a year; he at the same time gave it a respectable name. Under the
-Convention it had been entitled "Théâtre de la République et des Arts;"
-the First Consul called it simply, "Théâtre des Arts," an appellation it
-had borne before.[90]
-
-Hardly had the new theatre in the Rue Lepelletier opened its doors,
-when a singer of the highest class, a tenor of the most perfect kind,
-made his appearance. This was Adolphe Nourrit, a pupil of Garcia, who,
-on the 10th of September, 1821, made his first appearance with the
-greatest success as "Pylade" in _Iphigénie en Tauride_. It was not,
-however, until Auber's _Muette de Portici_ was produced in 1828, that
-Nourrit had an opportunity of distinguishing himself in a new and
-important part.
-
-[Sidenote: LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.]
-
-_La Muette_ was the first of those important works to which the French
-Opera owes its actual celebrity in Europe. _Le Siège de Corinthe_,
-translated and adapted from _Maometto II._, with additions (including
-the admirable blessing of the flags) written specially for the Académie,
-had been brought out eighteen months before, but without much success.
-_Maometto II._ was not one of Rossini's best works, the drama on which
-it was constructed was essentially feeble and uninteresting, and the
-manner in which the whole was "arranged" for the French stage, was
-unsatisfactory in many respects. _Le Siège de Corinthe_ was greatly
-applauded the first night, but it soon ceased to have any attraction for
-the public. Rossini had previously written _Il Viaggio a Reims_ for the
-coronation of Charles X., and this work was re-produced at the Academy
-three years afterwards, with several important additions (such as the
-duet for "Isolier" and the "Count," the chorus of women, the
-unaccompanied quartett, the highly effective drinking chorus, and the
-beautiful trio of the last act), under the title of _le Comte Ory_. In
-the meanwhile _La Muette_ had been brought out, to be followed the year
-afterwards by _Guillaume Tell_, which was to be succeeded in its turn by
-Meyerbeer's _Robert le Diable_, _Les Huguenots_ and _Le Prophète_,
-(works which belong specially to the Académie and with which its modern
-reputation is intimately associated), by Auber's _Gustave III._,
-Donizetti's _la Favorite_, &c.
-
-_La Muette de Portici_ had the great advantage of enabling the Académie
-to display all its resources at once. It was brought out with
-magnificent scenery and an excellent _corps de ballet_, with a _première
-danseuse_, Mademoiselle Noblet as the heroine, with the new tenor,
-Nourrit, in the important part of the hero, and with a well taught
-chorus capable of sustaining with due effect the prominent _rĂ´le_
-assigned to it. For in the year 1828 it was quite a novelty at the
-French Opera to see the chorus taking part in the general action of the
-drama.
-
-[Sidenote: LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.]
-
-If we compare _La Muette_ with the "Grand Operas" produced subsequently
-at the Académie, we find that it differs from them all in some important
-respects. In the former, instead of a _prima donna_ we have a _prima
-ballerina_ in the principal female part. Of course the concerted pieces
-suffer by this, or rather the number of concerted pieces is diminished,
-and to the same cause may, perhaps, be attributed the absence of finales
-in _La Muette_. It chiefly owed its success (which is still renewed from
-time to time whenever it is re-produced) to the intrinsic beauty of its
-melodies and to the dramatic situations provided by the ingenious
-librettist, M. Scribe, and admirably taken advantage of by the composer.
-But the part of Fenella had also great attractions for those unmusical
-persons who are found in almost every audience in England and France,
-and for whom the chief interest in every opera consists in the
-skeleton-drama on which it is founded. To them the graceful Fenella with
-her expressive pantomime is no bad substitute for a singer whose words
-would be unintelligible to them, and whose singing, continued throughout
-the Opera, would perhaps fatigue their dull ears. These ballet-operas
-seem to have been very popular in France about the period when _La
-Muette_ was produced, the other most celebrated example of the style
-being Auber's _Le Dieu et la Bayadère_. In the present day it would be
-considered that a _prima ballerina_, introduced as a principal character
-in an opera, would interfere too much with the combinations of the
-singing personages.
-
-I need say nothing about the charming music of _La Muette_, which is
-well known to every frequenter of the Opera, further than to mention,
-that the melody of the celebrated barcarole and chorus, "_Amis, amis le
-soleil va paraitre_" had already been heard in a work of Auber's, called
-_Emma_; and that the brilliant overture had previously served as an
-instrumental preface to _Le Maçon_.
-
-_La Muette de Portici_ was translated and played with great success in
-England. But shameful liberties were taken with the piece; recitatives
-were omitted, songs were interpolated: and it was not until _Masaniello_
-was produced at the Royal Italian Opera that the English public had an
-opportunity of hearing Auber's great work without suppressions or
-additions.
-
-The greatest opera ever written for the Académie, and one of the three
-or four greatest operas ever produced, was now about to be brought out.
-_Guillaume Tell_ was represented for the first time on the 3rd of
-August, 1829. It was not unsuccessful, or even coldly received the first
-night, as has often been stated; but the result of the first few
-representations was on the whole unsatisfactory. Musicians and
-connoisseurs were struck by the great beauties of the work from the very
-beginning; but some years passed before it was fully appreciated by the
-general public. The success of the music was certainly not assisted by
-the libretto--one of the most tedious and insipid ever put together; and
-it was not until Rossini's masterpiece had been cut down from five to
-three acts, that the Parisians, as a body, took any great interest in
-it.
-
-[Sidenote: GUILLAUME TELL.]
-
-_Guillaume Tell_ is now played everywhere in the three act form. Some
-years ago a German doctor, who had paid four francs to hear _Der
-FreischĂĽtz_ at the French Opera, proceeded against the directors for the
-recovery of his money, on the plea that it had been obtained from him on
-false pretences, the work advertised as _Der FreischĂĽtz_ not being
-precisely the _Der FreischĂĽtz_[91] which Karl Maria von Weber composed.
-The doctor might amuse himself (the authorities permitting) by bringing
-an action against the managers of the Berlin theatre every time they
-produce Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_--which is often enough, and always in
-three acts.
-
-The original cast of _Guillaume Tell_ included Nourrit, Levasseur,
-Dabadie, A. Dupont, Massol, and Madame Cinti-Damoreau. The singers and
-musicians of the Opera were enthusiastic in their admiration of the new
-work, and the morning after its production assembled on the terrace of
-the house where Rossini lived and performed a selection from it in his
-honour. One distinguished artist who took no part in this ceremony had,
-nevertheless, contributed in no small degree to the success of the
-opera. This was Mademoiselle Taglioni, whose _tyrolienne_ danced to the
-music of the charming unaccompanied chorus, was of course understood and
-applauded by every one from the very first.
-
-After the first run of _Guillaume Tell_, the Opera returned to _La
-Muette de Portici_, and then for a time Auber's and Rossini's
-masterpieces were played alternate nights. On Wednesday, July 3rd, 1830,
-_La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and with a certain political
-appropriateness;--for the "days of July" were now at hand, and the
-insurrectionary spirit had already manifested itself in the streets of
-Paris. The fortunes of _La Muette de Portici_ have been affected in
-various ways by the revolutionary character of the plot. Even in London
-it was more than once made a pretext for a "demonstration" by the
-radicals of William the Fourth's time. At most of the Italian theatres
-it has been either forbidden altogether or has had to be altered
-considerably before the authorities would allow it to be played. Strange
-as it may appear, in absolute Russia it has been represented times out
-of number in its original shape, under the title of _Fenella_.
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH NATIONAL SONGS.]
-
-We have seen that _Masaniello_ was represented in Paris four days before
-the commencement of the outbreak which ended in the elder branch of the
-Bourbons being driven from the throne. On the 26th of July, _Guillaume
-Tell_ was to have been represented, but the city was in such a state of
-agitation, in consequence of the issue of the _ordonnances_, signed at
-St. Cloud the day before, that the Opera was closed. On the 27th the
-fighting began and lasted until the 29th, when the Opera was re-opened.
-On the 4th of August, _La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and created
-the greatest enthusiasm,--the public finding in almost every scene some
-reminder, and now and then a tolerably exact representation, of what had
-just taken place within a stone's throw of the theatre. _La Muette_,
-apart from its music, became now the great piece of the day; and the
-representations at the Opera were rendered still more popular by
-Nourrit singing "_La Parisienne_" every evening. The melody of this
-temporary national song, like that of its predecessor (so infinitely
-superior to it), "_La Marseillaise_" (according to Castil Blaze), was
-borrowed from Germany. France, never wanting in national spirit, has yet
-no national air. It has four party songs, not one of which can be
-considered truly patriotic, and of which the only one that possesses any
-musical merit, disfigured as it has been by its French adapters, is of
-German origin.
-
-Nourrit is said to have delivered "_La Parisienne_" with wonderful
-vigour and animation, and to this and to Casimir Delavigne's verses (or
-rather to Delavigne's name, for the verses in themselves are not very
-remarkable) may be attributed the reputation which the French national
-song, No. 4,[92] for some time enjoyed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Guillaume Tell_ is Rossini's last opera. To surpass that admirable work
-would have been difficult for its own composer, impossible for any one
-else; and Rossini appears to have resolved to terminate his artistic
-career when it had reached its climax. In carrying out this resolution,
-he has displayed a strength of character, of which it is almost
-impossible to find another instance. Many other reasons have been given
-for Rossini's abstaining from composition during so many years, such as
-the coldness with which _Guillaume Tell_ was received (when, as we have
-seen, its _immediate_ reception by those whose opinion Rossini would
-chiefly have valued, was marked by the greatest enthusiasm), and the
-success of Meyerbeer's operas, though who would think of placing the
-most successful of Meyerbeer's works on a level with _Guillaume Tell_?
-
-"_Je reviendrai quand les juifs auront fini leur sabbat_," is a speech
-(somewhat uncharacteristic of the speaker, as it seems to me),
-attributed to Rossini by M. Castil Blaze; who, however, also mentions,
-that when _Robert le Diable_ was produced, every journal in Paris said
-that it was the finest opera, _except Guillaume Tell_, that had been
-produced at the Académie for years. It appears certain, now, that
-Rossini simply made up his mind to abdicate at the height of his power.
-There were plenty of composers who could write works inferior to
-_Guillaume Tell_, and to them he left the kingdom of opera, to be
-divided as they might arrange it among themselves. He was succeeded by
-Meyerbeer at the Académie; by Donizetti and Bellini at the Italian
-opera-houses of all Europe.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini had already found a follower, and, so to speak, an original
-imitator, in Auber, whose eminently Rossinian overture to _La Muette_,
-was heard at the Académie the year before _Guillaume Tell_.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S FOLLOWERS.]
-
-I need scarcely remind the intelligent reader, that the composer of
-three master-pieces in such very different styles as _Il Barbiere_,
-_Semiramide_, and _Guillaume Tell_, might have a dozen followers, whose
-works, while all resembling in certain points those of their predecessor
-and master, should yet bear no great general resemblance to one another.
-All the composers who came immediately after Rossini, accepted, as a
-matter of course, those important changes which he had introduced in the
-treatment of the operatic drama, and to which he had now so accustomed
-the public, that a return to the style of the old Italian masters, would
-have been not merely injudicious, but intolerable. Thus, all the
-post-Rossinian composers adopted Rossini's manner of accompanying
-recitative with the full band; his substitution of dialogued pieces,
-written in measured music, with a prominent connecting part assigned to
-the orchestra, for the interminable dialogues in simple recitative,
-employed by the earlier Italian composers; his mode of constructing
-finales; and his new distribution of characters, by which basses and
-baritones become as eligible for first parts as tenors, while great
-importance is given to the chorus, which, in certain operas, according
-to the nature of the plot, becomes an important dramatic agent. I may
-repeat, by way of memorandum, what has before been observed, that nearly
-all these forms originated with Mozart, though it was reserved for
-Rossini to introduce and establish them on the Italian stage. In short,
-with the exception of the very greatest masters of Germany, all the
-composers of the last thirty or forty years, have been to some, and
-often to a very great extent, influenced by Rossini. The general truth
-of this remark is not lessened by the fact, that HĂ©rold and Auber, and
-even Donizetti and Bellini (the last, especially, in the simplicity of
-his melodies), afterwards found distinctive styles; and that Meyerbeer,
-after _Il Crociato_, took Weber, rather than Rossini, for his model--the
-composer of _Robert_ at the same time exhibiting a strongly marked
-individuality, which none of his adverse critics think of denying, and
-which is partly, no doubt, the cause of their adverse criticism.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S RETIREMENT.]
-
-What will make it appear to some persons still more astonishing, that
-Rossini should have retired after producing _Guillaume Tell_ is, that he
-had signed an agreement with the Académie, by which he engaged to write
-three grand operas for it in six years. In addition to his "author's
-rights," he was to receive ten thousand francs annually until the
-expiration of the sixth year, and the completion of the third opera. No.
-1 was _Guillaume Tell_. The librettos of Nos. 2 and 3 were _Gustave_ and
-_Le Duc d'Albe_, both of which were returned by Rossini to M. Scribe,
-perhaps, with an explanation, but with none that has ever been made
-public. Rossini was at this time thirty-seven years of age, strong and
-vigorous enough to have outlived, not only his earliest, but his latest
-compositions, had they not been the most remarkable dramatic works of
-this century. If Rossini had been a composer who produced with
-difficulty, his retirement would have been more easy to explain; but the
-difficulty with him must have been to avoid producing. The story is
-probably known to many readers of his writing a duet one morning, in
-bed, letting the music paper fall, and, rather than leave his warm
-sheets to pick it up, writing another duet, which was quite different
-from the first. A hundred similar anecdotes are told of the facility
-with which Rossini composed. Who knows but that he wished his career to
-be measured against those of so many other composers whose days were cut
-short, at about the age he had reached when he produced _Guillaume
-Tell_? A very improbable supposition, certainly, when we consider how
-little mysticism there is in the character of Rossini. However this may
-be, he ceased to write operas at about the age when many of his
-immediate predecessors and followers ceased to live.[93]
-
-And even Rossini had a narrow escape. About the critical period, when
-the composer of _Guillaume Tell_ was a little more than half way between
-thirty and forty, the Italian Theatre of Paris was burnt to the ground.
-This, at first sight, appears to have nothing to do with the question;
-but Rossini lived in the theatre, and his apartments were near the
-roof. He had started for Italy two days previously; had he remained in
-Paris, he certainly would have shared the fate of the other inmates who
-perished in the flames.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Meyerbeer is a composer who defies classification, or who, at least, may
-be classified in three different ways. As the author of the _Crociato_,
-he belongs to Italy, and the school of Rossini; _Robert le Diable_
-exhibits him as a composer chiefly of the German school, with a tendency
-to follow in the steps of Weber; but _Robert_, _les Huguenots_, _le
-Prophète_, _l'Etoile du Nord_, and, above all _Dinorah_, are also
-characteristic of the composer himself. The committee of the London
-International Exhibition has justly decided that Meyerbeer is a German
-composer, and there is no doubt about his having been born in Germany,
-and educated for some time under the same professor as Karl Maria Von
-Weber; but it is equally certain that he wrote those works to which he
-owes his great celebrity for the Académie Royale of Paris, and as we are
-just now dealing with the history of the French Opera, this, I think, is
-the proper place in which to introduce the most illustrious of living
-and working composers.
-
-[Sidenote: REHEARSALS.]
-
-"The composer of _Il Crociato in Egitto_, an amateur, is a native of
-Berlin, where his father, a Jew, who is since dead, was a banker of
-great riches. The father's name was Beer, Meyer being merely a Jewish
-prefix, which the son thought fit to incorporate with his surname. He
-was a companion of Weber, in his musical studies. He had produced other
-operas which had been well received, but none of them was followed by or
-merited the success that attended _Il Crociato_." So far Mr. Ebers, who,
-in a few words, tells us a great deal of Meyerbeer's early career. The
-said _Crociato_, written for Venice, in 1824, was afterwards produced at
-the Italian Opera of Paris in 1825, six years before _Robert le Diable_
-was brought out at the Académie. In the summer of 1825, a few months
-before its production in Paris, it was modified in London, and Mr. Ebers
-informs us that the getting up of the opera, to which nine months were
-devoted at the Théâtre Italien, occupied at the King's Theatre only one.
-Such rapid feats are familiar enough to our operatic managers and
-musical conductors. But it must be remembered that a first performance
-in England is very often less perfect than a dress rehearsal in France;
-and, moreover, that between bringing out an original work (or an old
-work, in an original style), in Paris, and bringing out the same work
-afterwards, more or less conformably to the Parisian[94] model, in
-London, there is the same difference as between composing a picture and
-merely copying one. No singers and musicians read better than those of
-the French Académie, and it is a terrible mistake to suppose that so
-much time is required at that theatre for the production of a grand
-opera on account of any difficulty in making the _artistes_ acquainted
-with their parts. _Guillaume Tell_ was many months in rehearsal, but
-the orchestra played the overture at first sight in a manner which
-astonished and delighted Rossini. The great, and I may add, the
-inevitable fault of our system of management in England is that it is
-impossible to procure for a new opera a sufficient number of rehearsals
-before it is publicly produced. It is surprising how few "repetitions"
-suffice, but they would _not_ suffice if the same perfection was thought
-necessary on the first night which is obtained at the Paris and Berlin
-Operas, and which, in London, in the case of very difficult, elaborate
-works, is not reached until after several representations.
-
-However, _Il Crociato_ was brought out in London after a month's
-rehearsal. The manager left the musical direction almost entirely in the
-hands of Velluti, who had already superintended its production at
-Venice, and Florence, and who was engaged, as a matter of course, for
-the principal part written specially for him. The opera (of which the
-cast included, besides Velluti, Mademoiselle Garcia, Madame Caradori and
-Crivelli the tenor) was very successful, and was performed ten nights
-without intermission when the "run" was brought to a termination by the
-closing of the theatre. The following account of the music by Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, shows the sort of impression it made upon the old amateurs of
-the period.
-
-[Sidenote: MEYERBEER'S CROCIATO.]
-
-It was "quite of the new school, but not copied from its founder,
-Rossini; original, odd, flighty, and it might even be termed
-_fantastic_, but at times beautiful; here and there most delightful
-melodies and harmonies occurred, but it was unequal, solos were as rare
-as in all the modern operas, but the numerous concerted pieces much
-shorter and far less noisy than Rossini's, consisting chiefly of duets
-and terzettos, with but few choruses and no overwhelming accompaniments.
-Indeed, Meyerbeer has rather gone into the contrary extreme, the
-instrumental parts being frequently so slight as to be almost meagre,
-while he has sought to produce new and striking effects from the voices
-alone."
-
-Before speaking of Meyerbeer's better known and more celebrated works, I
-must say a few words about Velluti, a singer of great powers, but of a
-peculiar kind ("_non vir sed Veluti_") who, as I have said before,
-played the principal part in _Il Crociato_. He was the last of his
-tribe, and living at a time when too much license was allowed to singers
-in the execution of the music entrusted to them, so disgusted Rossini by
-his extravagant style of ornamentation, that the composer resolved to
-write his airs in future in such elaborate detail, that to embellish
-them would be beyond the power of any singer. Be this how it may,
-Rossini did not like Velluti's singing, nor Velluti Rossini's
-music--which sufficiently proves that the last of the sopranists was not
-a musician of taste.[95] Mr. Ebers tells us that "after making the tour
-of the principal Italian and German theatres, Velluti arrived in Paris,
-where the musical taste was not prepared for him," and that, "Rossini
-being at this time engaged at Paris under his agreement to direct there,
-Velluti did not enter into his plans, and having made no engagement
-there, came over to England without any invitation, but strongly
-recommended by Lord Burghersh." The re-appearance of a musico in London
-when the race was thought to be extinct, caused a great sensation, and
-not altogether of an agreeable kind. However, the Opera was crowded the
-night of his _début_; to the old amateurs it recalled the days of
-Pacchierotti, to the young ones, it was simply a strange and unexpected
-novelty. Some are said to have come to the theatre expressly to oppose
-him, while others were there for the avowed purpose of supporting him,
-from a feeling that public opinion had dealt harshly with the
-unfortunate man. Velluti had already sung at concerts, where his
-reception was by no means favourable. Indeed, Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells
-us "that the scurrilous abuse lavished upon him before he was heard, was
-cruel and illiberal," and that "it was not till after long deliberation,
-much persuasion, and assurances of support that the manager ventured to
-engage him for the remainder of the season."
-
-[Sidenote: VELLUTI.]
-
-Velluti's demeanour on entering the stage was highly prepossessing. Mr.
-Ebers says that "it was at once graceful and dignified," and that "he
-was in look and action the son of chivalry he represented."
-
-He adds, that "his appearance was received with mingled applause and
-disapprobation; but that "the scanty symptoms of the latter were
-instantly overwhelmed." The effect produced on the audience by the first
-notes Velluti uttered was most peculiar. According to Mr. Ebers, "there
-was a something of a preternatural harshness about them, which jarred
-even more strongly on the imagination than on the ear;" though, as he
-proceeded, "the sweetness and flexibility of those of his tones which
-yet remained unimpaired by time, were fully perceived and felt." Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe informs us, that "the first note he uttered gave a shock
-of surprise, almost of disgust, to inexperienced ears;" though,
-afterwards, "his performance was listened to with great attention and
-applause throughout, with but few _audible_ expressions of
-disapprobation speedily suppressed." The general effect of his
-performance is summed up in the following words:--"To the old he brought
-back some pleasing recollections; others, to whom his voice was new,
-became reconciled to it, and sensible of his merits; whilst many
-declared, to the last, his tones gave them more pain than pleasure."
-However, he drew crowded audiences, and no opera but Meyerbeer's
-_Crociato_ was performed until the end of the season.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Some years after the production of _Il Crociato_, Meyerbeer had written
-an _opéra comique_, entitled _Robert le Diable_, which was to have been
-represented at the Ventadour Theatre, specially devoted to that kind of
-performance. The company, however, at the "Théâtre de l'Opera Comique,"
-was not found competent to execute the difficult music of _Robert_, and
-the interesting libretto by M. M. Scribe and Delavigne, was altered and
-reduced, so as to suit the Académie. The celebrated "pruning knife" was
-brought out, and vigorously applied. What remained of the dialogue was
-adapted for recitative, and the character of "Raimbaud" was cut out in
-the fourth and fifth acts. With all these suppressions, the opera, as
-newly arranged, to be recited or sung from beginning to end, was still
-very long, and not particularly intelligible. However, the legend on
-which _Robert le Diable_ is founded is well suited for musical
-illustration, and the plot, with a little attention and a careful study
-of the book, may be understood, in spite of the absence of "Raimbaud,"
-who, in the original piece, is said to have served materially to aid and
-explain the progress of the drama.
-
-[Sidenote: ROBERT LE DIABLE.]
-
-If _Robert le Diable_ had been produced at the Opéra Comique, in the
-form in which it was originally conceived, the many points of
-resemblance it presents to _Der FreischĂĽtz_ would have struck every one.
-Meyerbeer seems to have determined to write a romantic semi-fantastic
-legendary opera, like _Der FreischĂĽtz_, and, in doing so, naturally
-followed in the footsteps of Weber. He certainly treats these legendary
-subjects with particular felicity, and I fancy there is more spontaneity
-in the music of _Robert le Diable_, and _Dinorah_, than in any other
-that he has composed; but this does not alter the fact that such
-subjects were first treated in music, and in a thoroughly congenial
-manner, by Karl Maria von Weber. Without considering how far Meyerbeer,
-in _Robert le Diable_, has borrowed his instrumentation and harmonic
-combinations from Weber, there can be no doubt about its being a work of
-much the same class as _Der FreischĂĽtz_; and it would have been looked
-upon as quite of that class, had it been produced, like _Der
-FreischĂĽtz_, with spoken dialogue, and with the popular characters more
-in relief.
-
-_Robert le Diable_, converted into a grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie, on the 21st of November, 1831. Dr. Véron, in his "Mémoires
-d'un Bourgeois de Paris," has given a most interesting account of all
-the circumstances which attended the rehearsals and first representation
-of this celebrated work. Dr. VĂ©ron had just undertaken the management of
-the Académie; and to have such an opera as _Robert le Diable_, with
-which to mark the commencement of his reign, was a piece of rare good
-fortune. The libretto, the music, the ballet, were all full of interest,
-and many of the airs had the advantage (in Paris) of being somewhat in
-the French style. The applause with which this, the best constructed of
-all M. Meyerbeer's works, was received, went on increasing from act to
-act; and, altogether, the success it obtained was immense, and, in some
-respects, unprecedented.
-
-Nourrit played the part of "Robert," Madame Cinti Damoreau that of
-"Isabelle." Mademoiselle Dorus and Levasseur were the "Alice" and the
-"Bertram." In the _pas de cinq_ of the second act, Noblet, Montessu, and
-Perrot appeared; and in the nuns' scene, the troop of resuscitated
-virgins was led by the graceful and seductive Taglioni. All the scenery
-was admirably painted, especially that of the moonlight _tableau_ in the
-third act. The costumes were rich and brilliant, the _mise en scène_,
-generally, was remarkable for its completeness; in short, every one
-connected with the "getting up" of the opera from Habeneck, the musical
-conductor, to the property-men, gas-fitters and carpenters, whose names
-history has not preserved, did their utmost to ensure its success.
-
-In 1832, _Robert le Diable_ was brought out at the King's Theatre, with
-the principal parts sustained, as in Paris, by Nourrit, Levasseur, and
-Madame Damoreau. The part of "Alice" appears to have been given to
-Mademoiselle de MĂ©ric. This opera met with no success at the King's
-Theatre, and was scarcely better received at Covent Garden, where an
-English version was performed, with such alterations in Meyerbeer's
-music as will easily be conceived by those who remember how the works of
-Rossini, and, indeed, all foreign composers, were treated at this time,
-on the English stage.
-
-[Sidenote: ROBERT LE DIABLE.]
-
-In 1832, and, indeed, many years afterwards, when _Robert_ and _Les
-Huguenots_ had been efficiently represented in London by German
-companies, Meyerbeer's music was still most severely handled by some of
-our best musical critics. At present there is perhaps an inclination to
-go to the other extreme; but, at all events, full justice has now been
-rendered to M. Meyerbeer's musical genius. Let us hear what Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe (whose opinion I do not regard as one of authority, but only as
-an interesting index to that of the connoisseurs of the old school), has
-to say of the first, and, on the whole, the most celebrated of
-Meyerbeer's operas. He entertains the greatest admiration for _Don
-Giovanni_, _Fidelio_, _Der FreischĂĽtz_, and _Euryanthe_; but neither the
-subject, nor even the music of _Robert le Diable_, pleases him in the
-least. "Never," he says, "did I see a more disagreeable or disgusting
-performance. The sight of the resurrection of a whole convent of nuns,
-who rise from their graves, and begin dancing, like so many bacchants,
-is revolting; and a sacred service in a church, accompanied by an organ
-on the stage, not very decorous. Neither does the music of Meyerbeer
-compensate for a fable, which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability.
-Of course, I was not tempted to hear it again in its original form, and
-it did credit to the taste of the English public, that it was not
-endured at the Opera House, and was acted only a very few nights."
-
-Meyerbeer's second grand opera, _Les Huguenots_, was produced at the
-Académie Royale on the 26th of January, 1836, after twenty-eight full
-rehearsals, occasioning a delay which cost the composer a fine of thirty
-thousand francs. The expense of getting up the _Huguenots_ (in scenery,
-dresses, properties, &c.), amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand
-francs.
-
-[Sidenote: LES HUGUENOTS.]
-
-In London, and I believe everywhere on the continent except in Paris,
-the most popular of M. Meyerbeer's three grand operas is _Les
-Huguenots_. At the Académie, _Robert le Diable_ seems still to carry
-away the palm. Of late years, the admirable performance of Mario and
-Grisi, and of Titiens and Giuglini, in the duet of the fourth act, has
-had an immense effect in increasing the popularity of _Les Huguenots_
-with the English. This duet, the septett for male voices, the blessing
-of the daggers and the whole of the dramatic and animated scene of which
-it forms part, are certainly magnificent compositions; but the duet for
-"Raoul" and "Valentine" is the very soul of the work. At the theatres of
-Italy, the opera in question is generally "cut" with a free hand; and it
-is so long, that even after plentiful excisions an immense deal of
-music, and of fine music, still remains. But who would go to hear _Les
-Huguenots_, if the duet of the fourth act were omitted, or if the
-performance stopped at the end of act III.? On the other hand, the
-fourth act alone would always attract an audience; for, looked upon as a
-work by itself, it is by far the most dramatic, the most moving of all
-M. Meyerbeer's compositions. The construction of this act is most
-creditable to the librettist; while the composer, in filling up, and
-giving musical life to the librettist's design, has shown the very
-highest genius. It ends with a scene for two personages, but the whole
-act is of one piece. While the daggers are being distributed, while the
-plans of the chief agents in the massacre are being developed in so
-striking and forcible a manner, the scene between the alarmed "Raoul"
-and the terrified "Valentine" is, throughout, anticipated; and equally
-necessary for the success of the duet, from a musical as well as from a
-dramatic point of view, is the massive concerted piece by which this
-duet is preceded. To a composer, incapable or less capable than M.
-Meyerbeer, of turning to advantage the admirable but difficult situation
-here presented, there would, of course, have been the risk of an
-anti-climax; there was the danger that, after a stageful of fanatical
-soldiers and monks, crying out at the top of their voices for blood, it
-would be impossible further to impress the audience by any known musical
-means. Meyerbeer, however, has had recourse to the expression of an
-entirely different kind of emotion, or rather a series of emotions, full
-of admirable variations and gradations; and everyone who has heard the
-great duet of _Les Huguenots_ knows how wonderfully he has succeeded. It
-has been said that the idea of this scene originated with Nourrit. In
-any case, it was an idea which Scribe lost no time in profiting by, and
-the question does not in any way affect the transcendent merit of the
-composer.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Le Prophète_, M. Meyerbeer's third grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie on the 16th of April, 1849, with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and
-Castellan, in the principal characters. This opera, like _Les
-Huguenots_, has been performed with great success in London. The part of
-"Jean" has given the two great tenors of the Royal Italian Opera--Mario
-and Tamberlik--opportunities of displaying many of their highest
-qualities as dramatic singers. The magnificent Covent Garden orchestra
-achieves a triumph quite of its own, in the grand march of the
-coronation scene; and the opera enables the management to display all
-its immense resources in the scenic department.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GUSTAVE III.]
-
-In passing from _Masaniello_ to Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, and from
-Rossini to Meyerbeer, we have lost sight too soon of the greatest
-composer France ever produced, and one who is ranked in all countries
-among the first composers of the century. I mean, of course, M. Auber,
-of whose works I should have more to say, if I had not determined, in
-this brief "History of the Opera" to pay but little attention to the
-French "Opéra Comique," which, with the exception of a very few examples
-(all by M. Auber)[96] is not a _genre_ that has been accepted anywhere
-out of France. In sketching, however, the history of the Grand Opera,
-it would be impossible to omit _Gustave III._ _Gustave ou le Bal
-Masqué_, composed on one of the two librettos returned to M. Scribe by
-Rossini,[97] was performed for the first time on the 27th of February,
-1833. This admirable work is not nearly so well known in England, or
-even in France, as it deserves to be. The government of Louis Philippe
-seems to have thought it imprudent to familiarize the Parisians with
-regicide, by exhibiting it to them three or four times a week on the
-stage, as the main incident of a very interesting drama; and after a
-certain number of representations, _Gustave_, which, taken altogether,
-is certainly Auber's masterpiece, was cut down to the ball-scene. In
-England, no one objected to the theatrical assassination of _Gustavus_;
-but unfortunately, also, no scruple was made about mutilating and
-murdering Auber's music. In short, the _Gustavus_ of Auber was far more
-cruelly ill-treated in London than the Gustavus of Sweden at his own
-masqued ball. Mr. Gye ought to produce _Gustavus_ at the Royal Italian
-Opera, where, for the first time in England, it would be worthily
-represented. The frequenters of this theatre have long been expecting
-it, though I am not aware that it has ever been officially promised.
-
-The original caste of _Gustave_ included Nourrit, Levasseur, Massol,
-Dabadie, Dupont, Mademoiselle Falcon, Mademoiselle Dorus, and Madame
-Dabadie. Nourrit, the original "Guillaume Tell," the original "Robert,"
-the original "Raoul," the original "Gustave," was then at the height of
-his fame; but he was destined to be challenged four years afterwards by
-a very formidable rival. He was the first, and the only first tenor at
-the Académie Royale de Musique, where he had been singing with a zeal
-and ardour equal to his genius for the last sixteen years, when the
-management engaged Duprez, to divide the principal parts with the
-vocalist already in office. After his long series of triumphs, Nourrit
-had no idea of sharing his laurels in this manner; nor was he at all
-sure that he was not about to be deprived of them altogether. "One of
-the two must succeed at the expense of the other," he declared; and
-knowing the attraction of novelty for the public, he was not at all sure
-that the unfortunate one would not be himself.
-
-"Duprez knows me," he said, "and comes to sing where I am. I do not know
-him, and naturally fear his approach." After thinking over the matter
-for a few days he resolved to leave the theatre. He chose for his last
-appearance the second act of _Armide_, in which "Renaud," the character
-assigned to the tenor, has to exclaim to the warrior, "Artemidore"--
-
-    "Allez, allez remplir ma place,
-     Aux lieux d'oĂą mon malheur me chasse," &c.
-
-To which "Artemidore" replies--
-
-    "Sans vous que peut on entreprendre?
-     Celui qui vous bannit ne pourra se défendre
-     De souhaiter votre retour."
-
-[Sidenote: NOURRIT.]
-
-The scene was very appropriate to the position of the singer who was
-about to be succeeded by Duprez. The public felt this equally with
-Nourrit himself, and testified their sympathy for the departing Renaud,
-by the most enthusiastic applause.
-
-Nourrit took his farewell of the French public on the 1st of April,
-1837, and on the 17th of the same month Duprez made his _début_ at the
-Académie, as "Arnold," in _William Tell_. The latter singer had already
-appeared at the Comédie Française, where, at the age of fifteen, he was
-entrusted with the soprano solos in the choruses of _Athalie_, and
-afterwards at the Odéon, where he played the parts of "Almaviva," in the
-_Barber of Seville_, and Ottavio," in _Don Juan_. He then visited Italy
-for a short time, returned to Paris, and was engaged at the Opéra
-Comique. Here his style was much admired, but his singing, on the whole,
-produced no great impression on the public. He once more crossed the
-Alps, studied assiduously, performed at various theatres in a great
-number of operas, and by incessant practice, and thanks also to the
-wonderful effect of the climate on his voice, attained the highest
-position on the Italian stage, and was the favourite tenor of Italy at a
-time when Rubini was singing every summer in London, and every winter in
-Paris. Before visiting Italy the second time, Duprez was a "light
-tenor," and was particularly remarkable for the "agility" of his
-execution. A long residence in a southern climate appears to have quite
-changed the nature of his voice; a transformation, however, which must
-have been considerably aided by the nature of his studies. He returned
-to France a _tenore robusto_, an impressive, energetic singer, excelling
-in the declamatory style, and in many respects the greatest dramatic
-vocalist the French had ever heard. As an actor, however, he was not
-equal to Nourrit, whose demeanour as an operatic hero is said to have
-been perfection. _Guillaume Tell_, with Duprez, in the part of "Arnold,"
-commenced a new career, and Rossini's great work now obtained from the
-general public that applause which, on its first production, it had, for
-the most part, received only from connoisseurs.
-
-[Sidenote: NOURRIT.]
-
-In the meanwhile, Nourrit, after performing with great success at
-Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyons, and elsewhere, went to Italy, and was
-engaged first at Milan, and afterwards at Florence and Naples. At each
-city fresh triumphs awaited him, but an incident occurred at Naples
-which sorely troubled the equanimity of the failing singer, whose mind,
-as we have seen, had already been disturbed by painful presentiments.
-Nourrit, to be sure, was only "failing" in this sense, that he was
-losing confidence in his own powers, which, however, by all accounts,
-remained undiminished to the last. He was a well-educated and a highly
-accomplished man, and besides being an excellent musician, possessed
-considerable literary talent, and a thorough knowledge of dramatic
-effect.[98] He had prepared two librettos, in which the part adapted
-for the tenor would serve to exhibit his double talent as an actor and
-as a singer. One of these musical dramas was founded on Corneille's
-_Polyeucte_, and, in the hands of Donizetti, became _I Martiri_; but
-just when it was about to be produced, the Neapolitan censorship forbade
-its production on the ground of the unfitness of religious subjects for
-stage representation. Nourrit was much dejected at being thus prevented
-from appearing in a part composed specially for him at his own
-suggestion, and in which he felt sure he would be seen and heard to the
-greatest advantage. A deep melancholy, such as he had already suffered
-from at Marseilles, to an extent which alarmed all his friends, now
-settled upon him. He appeared, and was greatly applauded, in
-Mercadante's _Il Giuramento_, and in Bellini's _Norma_, but soon
-afterwards his despondency was increased, and assumed an irritated form,
-from a notion that the applause the Neapolitans bestowed upon him was
-ironical.
-
-Nothing could alter his conviction on this point, which at last had the
-effect of completely unsettling his mind--unless it be more correct to
-say that mental derangement was itself the cause of the unhappy
-delusion. Finally, after a performance given for the benefit of another
-singer, in which Nourrit took part, his malady increased to such an
-extent that on his return home he became delirious, threw himself out of
-a window, at five in the morning, and was picked up in the street quite
-dead. This deplorable event occurred on the 8th of March, 1889.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The late "Académie Royale de Musique," the Théatre Italien of Paris, and
-all the chief opera houses of Italy are connected inseparably with the
-history of Opera in England. All the great works written by Rossini and
-Meyerbeer for the Académie have since been represented in London; the
-same singers for nearly half a century past have for the most part sung
-alternately at the Italian operas of Paris and of London; finally, from
-Italy we have drawn the great majority of the works represented at our
-best musical theatres, and nearly all our finest singers.
-
-[Sidenote: GERMAN OPERA.]
-
-German opera, in the meanwhile, stands in a certain way apart. Germany,
-compared with Italy, has sent us very few great singers. We have never
-looked to Germany for a constant supply of operas, and, indeed, Germany
-has not produced altogether half a dozen thoroughly German operas (that
-is to say, founded on German libretti, and written for German singers
-and German audiences), which have ever become naturalized in this
-country, or, indeed, anywhere out of their native land. Moreover, the
-most celebrated of the said _thoroughly_ German operas, such as
-_Fidelio_ and _Der FreischĂĽtz_, exercised no such influence on
-contemporary dramatic music as to give their composers a well-marked
-place in the operatic history of the present century, such as clearly
-belongs to Rossini. Beethoven, with his one great masterpiece, stands
-quite alone, and in the same way, Weber, with his strongly marked
-individuality has nothing in common with his contemporaries; and, living
-at the same time as Rossini, neither affected, nor was affected, by the
-style of a composer whose influence all the composers of the Italian
-school experienced. Accordingly, and that I may not entangle too much
-the threads of my narrative, I will now, having followed Rossini to
-Paris, and given some account of his successors at the French Opera,
-proceed to speak of Donizetti and Bellini, who were followers of Rossini
-in every sense. Of Weber and Beethoven, who are not in any way
-associated with the Rossini school, and only through the accident of
-birth with the Rossini period, I must speak in a later chapter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-DONIZETTI AND BELLINI.
-
-
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, had a horror
-of Rossini's music, and took care that all his printed works in the
-library should be placed beyond the reach of the young and innocent
-pupils. He was determined to preserve them, as far as possible, from the
-corrupt but seductive influence of this composer's brilliant,
-extravagant, meretricious style. But Donizetti, who at this time was
-studying at Naples, had heard several of the proscribed operas, and was
-most anxious to examine, on the music paper, the causes of the effects
-which had so delighted his ear at the theatre. The desired scores were
-on the highest shelf of the library; and the careful, conscientious
-librarian had removed the ladder by means of which alone it seemed
-possible to get to them.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-Donizetti stood watching the shelves which held the operas of Rossini
-like a cat before a bird cage; but the ladder was locked up, and the key
-in safe keeping in Sigismondi's pocket. Under a northern climate, the
-proper mode of action for Donizetti would have been to invite the jailor
-to a banquet, ply him with wine, and rob him of his keys as soon as he
-had reached a sufficiently advanced state of intoxication. Being in
-Italy, Donizetti should have made love to Sigismondi's daughter, and
-persuaded her to steal the keys from the old man during his mid-day
-_siesta_. Perhaps, however, Sigismondi was childless, or his family may
-have consisted only of sons; in any case, the young musician adopted
-neither of the schemes, by combining which the troubadour Blondel was
-enabled to release from captivity his adored Richard.[99] He resorted to
-a means which, if not wonderfully ingenious, was at least to the point,
-and which promised to be successful. He climbed, monkey-like, or
-cat-like, not to abandon our former simile, to the top shelf, and had
-his claws on the _Barber of Seville_, when who should enter the library
-but Sigismondi.
-
-The old man was fairly shocked at this perversity on the part of Gaetan
-Donizetti, reputed the best behaved student of the Academy. His morals
-would be corrupted, his young blood poisoned!--but fortunately the
-librarian had arrived in time, and he might yet be saved.
-
-Donizetti sprang to the ground with his prey--the full score of the
-_Barber of Seville_--in his clutches. He was about to devour it, when a
-hand touched him on the shoulder: he turned round, and before him stood
-the austere Sigismondi.
-
-The old librarian spoke to Gaetan as to a son; appealed to his sense of
-propriety, his honour, his conscience; and asked him, almost with tears
-in his eyes, how he could so far forget himself as to come secretly into
-the library to read forbidden books--and Rossini's above all? He pointed
-out the terrible effects of the course upon which the youthful Donizetti
-had so nearly entered; reminded him that one brass instrument led to
-another; and that when once he had given himself up to violent
-orchestration, there was no saying where he would stop.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-Donizetti could not or would not argue with the venerable and determined
-Sigismondi. At least, he did not oppose him; but he inquired whether, as
-a lesson in cacophony, it was not worth while just to look at Rossini's
-notorious productions. He reminded his stern adviser, that he had
-already studied good models under Mayer, Pilotti, and Mattei, and that
-it was natural he should now wish to complete his musical education, by
-learning what to avoid. He quoted the well known case of the Spartans
-and their Helots; inquired, with some emotion, whether the frightful
-example of Rossini was not sufficient to deter any well meaning
-composer, with a little strength of character, from following in his
-unholy path; and finally declared, with undisguised indignation, that
-Rossini ought to be made the object of a serious study, so that once for
-all his musical iniquities might be exposed and his name rendered a
-bye-word among the lovers and cultivators of pure, unsophisticated art!
-
-"Come to my arms, Gaetano," cried Sigismondi, much moved. "I can refuse
-nothing to a young man like you, now that I know your excellent
-intentions. A musician, who is imbued with the true principles of his
-art, may look upon the picture of Rossini's depravity not only without
-danger, but with positive advantage. Some it might weaken and
-destroy;--_you_ it can only fortify and uphold. Let us open these
-monstrous scores; their buffooneries may amuse us for an hour.
-
-"_Il Barbiere di Siviglia!_ I have not much to say about that,"
-commenced Sigismondi. "It is a trifle; besides, full justice was done to
-it at Rome. The notion of re-setting one of the master-pieces of the
-great Paisiello,--what audacity! No wonder it was hissed!"
-
-"Under Paisiello's direction," suggested Donizetti.
-
-"All a calumny, my young friend; pure calumny, I can assure you. There
-are so many Don Basilios in the musical world! Rossini's music was
-hissed because it was bad and because it recalled to the public
-Paisiello's, which was good." "But I have heard," rejoined Donizetti,
-"that at the second representation there was a great deal of applause,
-and that the enthusiasm of the audience at last reached such a point,
-that they honoured Rossini with a torch-light procession and conducted
-him home in triumph."
-
-"An invention of the newspapers," replied Sigismondi; "I believe there
-was a certain clique present prepared to support the composer through
-everything, but the public had already expressed its opinion. Never mind
-this musical burlesque, and let us take a glance at one of Rossini's
-serious operas."
-
-Donizetti wished for nothing better. This time he had no occasion to
-scale the shelf in his former feline style. The librarian produced the
-key of the mysterious closet in which the ladder was kept. The young
-musician ran up to the Rossini shelf like a lamp-lighter and brought
-down with him not one but half-a-dozen volumes.
-
-"Too many, too many," said Sigismondi, "one would have been quite
-enough. Well, let us open _Otello_."
-
-In the score which the old and young musician proposed to examine
-together, the three trombone parts, according to the Italian custom,
-were written on one and the same staff, thus 1Âş, 2Âş, 3Âş _tromboni_.
-Sigismondi began his lecture on the enormities of Rossini as displayed
-in _Otello_ by reading the list of the instruments employed.
-
-"_Flutes_, two flutes; well there is not much harm in that. No one will
-hear them; only, with diabolical perfidy, one of these modern flutists
-will be sure to take a _piccolo_ and pierce all sensitive ears with his
-shrill whistling.
-
-"_Hautboys_, two hautboys; also good. Here Rossini follows the old
-school. I say nothing against his two hautboys; indeed, I quite approve
-of them.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-"_Clarionets!_ a barbarous invention, which the _Tedeschi_ might have
-kept them for themselves. They may be very good pipes for calling cows,
-but should be used for nothing else.
-
-"_Bassoons_; useless instruments, or nearly so. Our good masters
-employed them for strengthening the bass; but now the bassoon has
-acquired such importance, that solos are written for it. This is also a
-German innovation. Mozart would have done well to have left the bassoon
-in its original obscurity.
-
-"1st and 2nd _Horns_; very good. Horns and hautboys combine admirably. I
-say nothing against Rossini's horns.
-
-"3rd and 4th _Horns_! How many horns does the man want? _Quattro Corni,
-Corpo di Bacco!_ The greatest of our composers have always been
-contented with two. Shades of Pergolese, of Leo, of Jomelli! How they
-must shudder at the bare mention of such a thing. Four horns! Are we at
-a hunting party? Four horns! Enough to blow us to perdition."
-
-The indignation and rage of the old musician went on increasing as he
-followed the gradual development of a _crescendo_ until he arrived at
-the explosion of the _fortissimo_. Then Sigismondi uttered a cry of
-despair, struck the score violently with his fist, upset the table which
-the imprudent Donizetti had loaded with the nefarious productions of
-Rossini, raised his hands to heaven and rushed from the room,
-exclaiming, "a hundred and twenty-three trombones! A hundred and
-twenty-three trombones!"
-
-Donizetti followed the performer and endeavoured to explain the mistake.
-
-"Not 123 trombones, but 1st, 2nd, 3rd trombones," he gently observed.
-Sigismondi however, would not hear another word, and disappeared from
-the library crying "a hundred and twenty-three trombones," to the last.
-
-Donizetti came back, lifted up the table, placed the scores upon it and
-examined them in peace. He then, in his turn, concealed them so that he
-might be able another time to find them whenever he pleased without
-clambering up walls or intriguing to get possession of ladders.
-
-[Sidenote: ANNA BOLENA.]
-
-The inquiring student of the Conservatory of Naples was born, in 1798,
-at Bergamo, and when he was seventeen years of age was put to study
-under Mayer, who, before the appearance of Rossini, shared with Paer the
-honour of being the most popular composer of the day. His first opera
-_Enrico di Borgogna_ was produced at Venice in 1818, and obtained so
-much success that the composer was entrusted with another commission for
-the same city in the following year. After writing an opera for Mantua
-in 1819 _Il Falegname di Livonia_, Donizetti visited Rome, where his
-_Zoraide di Granata_ procured him an exemption from the conscription and
-the honour of being carried in triumph and crowned at the Capitol.
-Hitherto he may be said to have owed his success chiefly to his skilful
-imitation of Rossini's style, and it was not until 1830, when _Anna
-Bolena_ was produced at Milan (and when, curiously enough, Rossini had
-just written his last opera), that he exhibited any striking signs of
-original talent. This work, which is generally regarded as Donizetti's
-master-piece, or at least was some time ago (for of late years no one
-has had an opportunity of hearing it), was composed for Pasta and
-Rubini, and was first represented for Pasta's benefit in 1831. It was in
-this opera that Lablache gained his first great triumph in London.
-
-Donizetti visited Paris in 1835, and there produced his _Marino
-Faliero_, which contains several spirited and characteristic pieces,
-such as the opening chorus of workmen in the Arsenal and the gondolier
-chorus at the commencement of the second act. The charming _Elisir
-d'Amore_, the most graceful, melodious, moreover the most
-characteristic, and in many respects the best of all Donizetti's works,
-was written for Milan in 1832. In this work Signor Mario made his
-re-appearance at the Italian Opera of Paris in 1839; he had previously
-sung for some time at the Académie Royale in _Robert_ and other operas.
-
-_Lucia di Lammermoor_, Donizetti's most popular opera, containing some
-of the most beautiful melodies in the sentimental style that he has
-composed, and altogether his best finale, was produced at Naples in
-1835. The part of "Edgardo" was composed specially for Duprez, that of
-"Lucia" for Persiani.
-
-The pretty little opera or operetta entitled _Il Campanello di Notte_
-was written under very interesting circumstances to save a little
-Neapolitan theatre from ruin. Donizetti heard that the establishment was
-in a failing condition, and that the performers were without money and
-in great distress. He sought them out, supplied their immediate wants,
-and one of the singers happening to say that if Donizetti would give
-them a new opera, their fortunes would be made: "As to that," replied
-the Maestro, "you shall have one within a week." To begin with, a
-libretto was necessary, but none was to be had. The composer, however,
-possessed considerable literary talent, and recollecting a vaudeville
-which he had seen some years before in Paris, called _La Sonnette de
-Nuit_, he took that for his subject, re-arranged it in an operatic form,
-and in nine days the libretto was written, the music composed, the parts
-learnt, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. It would have been
-difficult to have given a greater proof of generosity, and of fertility
-and versatility of talent. I may here mention that Donizetti designed,
-and wrote the words, as well as the music of the last act of the
-_Lucia_; that the last act of _La Favorite_ was also an afterthought of
-his; and that he himself translated into Italian the libretti of Betly
-and _La Fille du Regiment_.
-
-[Sidenote: VICTOR HUGO AT THE OPERA.]
-
-When _Lucrezia Borgia_ (written for Milan in 1834) was produced in
-Paris, in 1840, Victor Hugo, the author of the admirable tragedy on
-which it is founded, contested the right of the Italian librettists, to
-borrow their plots from French dramas; maintaining that the
-representation of such libretti in France constituted an infringement of
-the French dramatists' "_droits d'auteur_." He gained his action, and
-_Lucrezia Borgia_ became, at the Italian Opera of Paris, _La Rinegata_,
-the Italians at the court of Pope Alexander the Sixth being
-metamorphosed into Turks. A French version of _Lucrezia Borgia_ was
-prepared for the provinces, and entitled _Nizza di Grenada_.
-
-[Sidenote: AUTHORS' RIGHTS.]
-
-A year or two afterwards, Verdi's _Hernani_ experienced the same fate at
-the Théâtre Italien as _Lucrezia Borgia_. Then the original authors of
-_La Pie Voleuse_, _La Grace de Dieu_, &c., followed Victor Hugo's
-example, and objected to the performance of _La Gazza Ladra_ and _Linda
-di Chamouni_, &c. Finally, an arrangement was made, and at present
-exists, by which Italian operas founded on French dramas may be
-performed in Paris on condition of an indemnity being paid to the French
-dramatists. Marsolier, the author of the Opéra Comique, entitled _Nina,
-ou la Folle par Amour_, set to music by Dalayrac, had applied for an
-injunction twenty-three years before, to prevent the representation of
-Paisiello's _Nina_, in Paris; but the Italian disappeared before the
-question was tried. The principle, however, of an author's right of
-property in a work, or any portion of a work, had been established
-nearly two centuries before. In a "privilege" granted to St. Amant in
-1653, for the publication of his _Moise Sauvé_, it is expressly
-forbidden to extract from that "epic poem" subjects for novels and
-plays. These cautions proved unnecessary, as the work so strictly
-protected contained no available materials for plays, novels, or any
-other species of literary composition, including even "epic poems;" but
-_Moise Sauvé_ has nevertheless been the salvation of several French
-authors whose property might otherwise have been trespassed upon to a
-considerable extent. Nevertheless, the principle of an author's sole,
-inalienable interest in the incidents he may have invented or combined,
-without reference to the new form in which they may be presented,
-cannot, as a matter of course, be entertained anywhere; but the system
-of "author's rights" so energetically fought for and conquered by
-Beaumarchais has a very wide application in France, and only the other
-day it was decided that the translators and arrangers of _Le Nozze di
-Figaro_, for the Théâtre Lyrique must share their receipts with the
-descendants and heirs of the author of _Le Mariage de Figaro_. It will
-appear monstrous to many persons in England who cannot conceive of
-property otherwise than of a material, palpable kind, that
-Beaumarchais's representatives should enjoy any interest in a work
-produced three-quarters of a century ago; but as his literary
-productions possess an actual, easily attainable value, it would be
-difficult to say who ought to profit by it, if not those who, under any
-system of laws, would benefit by whatever other possessions he might
-have left. It may be a slight advantage to society, in an almost
-inappreciable degree, that "author's rights" should cease after a
-certain period; but, if so, the same principle ought to be applied to
-other forms of created value. The case was well put by M. de Vigny, in
-the "Revue des Deux Mondes," in advocating the claims of a
-grand-daughter, or great grand-daughter of Sedaine. He pointed out, that
-if the dramatist in question, who was originally an architect, had built
-a palace, and it had lasted until the present day, no one would have
-denied that it descended naturally to his heirs; and that as, instead of
-building in stone, he devoted himself to the construction of operas and
-plays, the results of his talent and industry ought equally to be
-regarded as the inalienable property of his descendants.
-
-[Sidenote: LA FAVORITE.]
-
-But to return to _Lucrezia Borgia_, which, with _Lucia_ and _La
-Favorite_, may be ranked amongst the most successful of Donizetti's
-productions. The favour with which _Lucrezia_ is received by audiences
-of all kinds may be explained, in addition to the merit of much of the
-music, by the manner in which the principal parts are distributed, so
-that the cast, to be efficient, must always include four leading
-singers, each of whom has been well-provided for by the composer. It
-contains less recitative than any of Rossini's operas--a great
-advantage, from a popular point of view, it having been shown by
-experience that the public of the present day do not care for recitative
-(especially when they do not understand a word of it), but like to pass
-as quickly as possible from one musical piece to another. From an
-artistic point of view the shortness of Donizetti's recitatives is not
-at all to be regretted, for the simple reason that he has never written
-any at all comparable to those of Rossini, whose dramatic genius he was
-far from possessing. The most striking situation in the drama, a
-thoroughly musical situation of which a great composer, or even an
-energetic, passionate, melo-dramatic composer, like Verdi, would have
-made a great deal, is quite lost in the hands of Donizetti. The
-_Brindisi_ is undeniably pretty, and was never considered vulgar until
-it had been vulgarised. But Donizetti has shown no dramatic power in the
-general arrangement of the principal scene, and the manner in which the
-drinking song is interrupted by the funeral chorus, has rather a
-disagreeable, than a terrible or a solemn effect. The finale to the
-first act, or "prologue," is finely treated, but "Gennaro's" dying scene
-and song, is the most dramatic portion of the work, which it ought to
-terminate, but unfortunately does not. I think it might be shown that
-_Lucrezia_ marks the distance about half way between the style of
-Rossini and that of Verdi. Not that it is so much inferior to the works
-of the former, or so much superior to those of the latter; but that
-among Donizetti's later operas, portions of _Maria di Rohan_ (Vienna,
-1843), might almost have been written by the composer of _Rigoletto_;
-whereas, the resemblance for good or for bad, between these two
-musicians, of the decadence, is not nearly so remarkable, if we compare
-_Lucrezia Borgia_ with one of Verdi's works. Still, in _Lucrezia_ we
-already notice that but little space is accorded to recitative, which
-in the _Trovatore_ finds next to none; we meet with choruses written in
-the manner afterwards adopted by Verdi, and persisted in by him to the
-exclusion of all other modes; while as regards melody, we should
-certainly rather class the tenor's air in _I Lombardi_ with that in
-_Lucrezia Borgia_, than the latter with any air ever composed by
-Rossini.
-
-When Donizetti revisited Paris in 1840, he produced in succession _I
-Martiri_ (the work written for Nourrit and objected to by the Neapolitan
-censorship), _La Fille du Regiment_, written for the Opéra Comique, and
-_La Favorite_, composed in the first instance for the Théâtre de la
-Renaissance, but re-arranged for the Académie, when the brief existence
-of the Théâtre de la Renaissance had come to an end. As long as it
-lasted, this establishment, opened for the representation of foreign
-operas in the French language, owed its passing prosperity entirely to a
-French version of the _Lucia_.
-
-Jenny Lind, Sontag, Alboni, have all appeared in _La Figlia del
-Reggimento_ with great success; but when this work was first produced in
-Paris, with Madame Thillon in the principal part, it was not received
-with any remarkable favour. It is full of smooth, melodious, and highly
-animated music, but is, perhaps, wanting in that piquancy of which the
-French are such great admirers, and which rendered the duet for the
-vivandières, in Meyerbeer's _Etoile du Nord_, so much to their taste.
-_L'Ange de Nigida_, converted into _La Favorite_ (and founded in the
-first instance on a French drama, _Le Comte de Commingues_) was brought
-out at the Académie, without any expense in scenery and "getting up,"
-and achieved a decided success. This was owing partly to the pretty
-choral airs at the commencement, partly to the baritone's cavatina
-(admirably sung by Barroilhet, who made his _début_ in the part of
-"Alphonse"); but, above all, to the fourth act, with its beautiful
-melody for the tenor, and its highly dramatic scene for the tenor and
-soprano, including a final duet, which, if not essentially dramatic in
-itself, occurs at least in a most dramatic situation.
-
-The whole of the fourth act of _La Favorite_, except the cavatina, _Ange
-si pur_, which originally belonged to the Duc d'Albe, and the _andante_
-of the duet, which was added at the rehearsals, was written in three
-hours. Donizetti had been dining at the house of a friend, who was
-engaged in the evening to go to a party. On leaving the house, the host,
-after many apologies for absenting himself, intreated Donizetti to
-remain, and finish his coffee, which Donizetti, being inordinately fond
-of that stimulant, took care to do. He asked at the same time for some
-music paper, began his fourth act, and finding himself in the vein for
-composition, went on writing until he had completed it. He had just put
-the final stroke to the celebrated "_Viens dans une autre patrie_," when
-his friend returned, at one in the morning, and congratulated him on the
-excellent manner in which he had employed his time.
-
-[Sidenote: L'ELISIR D'AMORE.]
-
-After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which last city he wrote
-_Linda di Chamouni_, Donizetti returned to Paris, and in 1843 composed
-_Don Pasquale_ for the Théâtre Italien, and _Don Sebastien_ for the
-Académie. The lugubrious drama to which the music of _Don Sebastien_ is
-wedded, proved fatal to its success. On the other hand, the brilliant
-gaiety of _Don Pasquale_, rendered doubly attractive by the admirable
-execution of Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, delighted all who
-heard it. The pure musical beauty of the serenade, and of the quartett,
-one of the finest pieces of concerted music Donizetti ever wrote, were
-even more admired than the lively animated dialogue-scenes, which are in
-Donizetti's very best style; and the two pieces just specified, as well
-as the baritone's cavatina, _Bella siccome un angelo_, aided the general
-success of the work, not only by their own intrinsic merit, but also by
-the contrast they present to the comic conversational music, and the
-buffo airs of the bass. The music of _Don Pasquale_ is probably the
-cleverest Donizetti ever wrote; but it wants the _charm_ which belongs
-to that of his _Elisir d'Amore_, around which a certain sentiment, a
-certain atmosphere of rustic poetry seems to hang, especially when we
-are listening to the music of "Nemorino" or "Norina." Even the comic
-portions in the _Elisir_ are full of grace, as for instance, the
-admirable duet between "Norina" and "Dulcamara;" and the whole work
-possesses what is called "colour," that is to say, each character is
-well painted by the music, which, moreover, is always appropriate to
-the general scene. To look for "colour," or for any kind of poetry in a
-modern drawing-room piece of intrigue, like _Don Pasquale_, with the
-notaries of real life, and with lovers in black coats, would be absurd.
-I may mention that the libretto of _Don Pasquale_ is a re-arrangement of
-Pavesi's _Ser Marcantonio_ (was "_Ser_" _Marcantonio_ an Englishman?)
-produced in 1813.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S REPERTOIRE.]
-
-In the same year that Donizetti brought out _Don Pasquale_ in Paris, he
-produced _Maria di Rohan_ at Vienna. The latter work contains an
-admirable part for the baritone, which has given Ronconi the opportunity
-of showing that he is not only an excellent buffo, but is also one of
-the finest tragic actors on the stage. The music of _Maria di Rohan_ is
-highly dramatic: that is to say, very appropriate to the various
-personages, and to the great "situations" of the piece. In pourtraying
-the rage of the jealous husband, the composer exhibits all that
-earnestness and vigour for which Verdi has since been praised--somewhat
-sparingly, it is true, but praised nevertheless by his admirers. The
-contralto part, on the other hand, is treated with remarkable elegance,
-and contains more graceful melodies than Verdi is in the habit of
-composing. I do not say that Donizetti is in all respects superior to
-Verdi; indeed, it seems to me that he has not produced any one opera so
-thoroughly dramatic as _Rigoletto_; but as Donizetti and Verdi are
-sometimes contrasted, and as it was the fashion during Donizetti's
-lifetime, to speak of his music as light and frivolous, I wish to
-remark that in one of his latest operas he wrote several scenes, which,
-if written by Verdi, would be said to be in that composer's best style.
-
-Donizetti's last opera, _Catarina Comaro_, was produced in Naples in the
-year 1844. This was his sixty-third dramatic work, counting those only
-which have been represented. There are still two operas of Donizetti's
-in existence, which the public have not heard. One, a piece in one act,
-composed for the Opéra Comique, and which is said every now and then to
-be on the point of being performed; the other, _Le Duc d'Albe_, which,
-as before-mentioned, was written for the Académie Royale, on one of the
-two libretti returned by Rossini to Scribe, after the composer of
-_William Tell_ came to his mysterious resolution of retiring from
-operatic life.
-
-Of Donizetti's sixty-three operas, about two-thirds are quite unknown to
-England, and of the nine or ten which may still be said to keep the
-stage, the earliest produced, _Anna Bolena_, is the composer's
-thirty-second work. _Anna Bolena_, _L'Elisir d'Amore_, _Lucrezia
-Borgia_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, and _Roberto Devereux_, are included
-between the numbers 31 and 52, while between the numbers 53 and 62, _La
-Fille du Regiment_, _La Favorite_, _Linda di Chamouni_, _Don Pasquale_,
-and _Maria di Rohan_, are found. The first five of Donizetti's most
-popular operas, were produced between the years 1830 and 1840; the last
-five between the years 1840 and 1844. Donizetti appears, then, to have
-produced his best serious operas during the middle period of his
-career--unless it be considered that _La Favorite_, _Linda di Chamouni_,
-and _Maria di Rohan_, are superior to _Anna Bolena_, _Lucrezia Borgia_,
-and _Lucia di Lammermoor_; and to the same epoch belongs _L'Elisir
-d'Amore_, which in my opinion is the freshest, most graceful, and most
-melodious of his comic operas, though some may prefer _La Fille du
-Regiment_ or _Don Pasquale_, both full of spirit and animation.
-
-It is also tolerably clear, from an examination of Donizetti's works in
-the order in which they were produced, that during the last four or five
-years of his artistic life he produced more than his average number of
-operas, possessing such merit that they have taken their place in the
-repertoires of the principal opera houses of Europe. Donizetti had lost
-nothing either in fertility or in power, while he appeared in some
-respects to be modifying and improving his style. Thus, in the Swiss
-opera of _Linda di Chamouni_ (Vienna, 1842), we find, especially in the
-music of the contralto part, a considerable amount of local colour--an
-important dramatic element which Donizetti had previously overlooked,
-or, at least, had not turned to any account; while _Maria di Rohan_
-contains the best dramatic music of a passionate kind that Donizetti has
-ever written.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S DEATH.]
-
-In composing, Donizetti made no use of the pianoforte, and wrote, as may
-be imagined, with great rapidity, never stopping to make a correction,
-though he is celebrated among the modern Italian composers for the
-accuracy of his style. Curiously enough, he never went to work without
-having a small ivory scraper by his side; and any one who has studied
-intellectual peculiarities will understand, that once wanting this
-instrument, he might have felt it necessary to scratch out notes and
-passages every minute. Mr. J. Wrey Mould, in his interesting "memoir,"
-tells us that this ivory scraper was given to Donizetti by his father
-when he consented, after a long and strenuous opposition, to his
-becoming a musician. An unfilial son might have looked upon the present
-as not conveying the highest possible compliment that could be paid him.
-The old gentleman, however, was quite right in impressing upon the
-bearer of his name, that having once resolved to be a composer, he had
-better make up his mind to produce as little rubbish as possible.
-
-The first signs of the dreadful malady to which Donizetti ultimately
-succumbed, manifested themselves during his last visit to Paris, in
-1845. Fits of absence of mind, followed by hallucinations and all the
-symptoms of mental derangement followed one another rapidly, and with
-increasing intensity. In January, 1846, it was found necessary to place
-the unfortunate composer in an asylum at Ivry, and in the autumn of
-1847, his medical advisers recommended as a final experiment, that he
-should be removed to Bergamo, in the hope that the air and scenes of his
-birth-place would have a favourable influence in dispelling, or, at
-least, diminishing the profound melancholy to which he was now subject.
-During his journey, however, he was attacked by paralysis, and his
-illness assumed a desperate and incurable character.
-
-Donizetti was received at Bergamo by the Maestro Dolci, one of his
-dearest friends. Here paralysis again attacked him, and a few days
-afterwards, on the 8th of April, 1848, he expired, in his fifty-second
-year, having, during the twenty-seven years of his life, as a composer,
-written sixty-four operas; several masses and vesper services; and
-innumerable pieces of chamber music, including, besides arias,
-cavatinas, and vocal concerted pieces, a dozen quartetts for stringed
-instruments, a series of songs and duets, entitled _Les soirées du
-Pausilippe_, a cantata entitled _la Morte d'Ugolino_, &c., &c.
-
-Antoine, Donizetti's attendant at Ivry, became much attached to him, and
-followed him to Bergamo, whence he forwarded to M. Adolphe Adam, a
-letter describing his illustrious patient's last moments, and the public
-honours paid to his memory at the funeral.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S DEATH.]
-
-"More than four thousand persons," he relates, "were present at the
-ceremony. The procession was composed of the numerous clergy of Bergamo;
-the most illustrious members of the community and its environs, and of
-the civic guard of the town and suburbs. The discharges of musketry,
-mingled with the light of three or four hundred large torches,
-presented a fine effect--the whole was enhanced by the presence of
-three military bands, and the most propitious weather it was possible to
-behold. The service commenced at ten o'clock in the morning, and did not
-conclude until half-past two. The young gentlemen of Bergamo insisted on
-bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-citizen, although the
-cemetery in which they finally rested lay at a distance of a
-league-and-a-half from the town. The road there was crowded along its
-whole length by people who came from the surrounding country to witness
-the procession--and, to give due praise to the inhabitants of Bergamo,
-never, hitherto, had such great honours been bestowed upon any member of
-that city."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Bellini, who was Donizetti's contemporary, but who was born nine years
-after him, and died thirteen years before, was a native of Sicily. His
-father was an organist at Catania, and under him the future composer of
-_Norma_ and _La Sonnambula_, took his first lessons in music. A Sicilian
-nobleman, struck by the signs of genius which young Bellini evinced at
-an early age, persuaded his father to send him to Naples, supporting his
-arguments with an offer to pay his expenses at the celebrated
-Conservatorio. Here one of Bellini's fellow pupils was Mercadante, the
-future composer of _Il Giuramento_, an opera which, in spite of the
-frequent attempts of the Italian singers to familiarize the English
-public with its numerous beauties, has never been much liked in this
-country. I do not say that it has not been justly appreciated on the
-whole, but that the grace of some of the melodies, the acknowledged
-merit of the orchestration and the elegance and distinction which seem
-to me to characterize the composer's style generally, have not been
-accepted as compensating for his want of passion and of that spontaneity
-without which the expression of strong emotion of any kind is naturally
-impossible. Mercadante could never have written _Rigoletto_, but,
-probably, a composer of inferior natural gifts to Verdi might, with a
-taste for study and a determination to bring his talent to perfection,
-have produced a work of equal artistic merit to _Il Giuramento_. And
-here we must take leave of Mercadante, whose place in the history of the
-opera is not a considerable one, and who, to the majority of English
-amateurs, is known only by his _Bella adorata_, a melody of which Verdi
-has shown his estimation by borrowing it, diluting it, and re-arranging
-it with a new accompaniment for the tenor's song in _Luisa Miller_.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-I should think Mercadante must have written better exercises, and passed
-better examinations at the Conservatorio than his young friend Bellini,
-though the latter must have begun at an earlier age to compose operas.
-Bellini's first dramatic work was written and performed while he was
-still a student. Encouraged by its success, he next composed music to a
-libretto already "set" by Generali, and entitled _Adelson e Salvino_.
-_Adelson_ was represented before the illustrious Barbaja, who was at
-that time manager of the two most celebrated theatres in Italy, the St.
-Carlo at Naples, and La Scala at Milan,--as well as of the Italian opera
-at Vienna, to say nothing of some smaller operatic establishments also
-under his rule. The great impresario, struck by Bellini's promise,
-commissioned him to write an opera for Naples, and, in 1826, his _Bianca
-e Fernando_ was produced at the St. Carlo. This work was so far
-successful, that it obtained a considerable amount of applause from the
-public, while it inspired Barbaja with so much confidence that he
-entrusted the young composer, now twenty years of age, with the libretto
-of _il Pirata_, to be composed for La Scala. The tenor part was written
-specially for Rubini, who retired into the country with Bellini, and
-studied, as they were produced, the simple, touching airs which he
-afterwards delivered on the stage with such admirable expression.
-
-_Il Pirata_ was received with enthusiasm by the audiences of La Scala,
-and the composer was requested to write another work for the same
-theatre. _La Straniera_ was brought out at Milan in 1828, the principal
-parts being entrusted to Donzelli, Tamburini, and Madame Tosi. This,
-Bellini's third work, appears, on the whole, to have maintained, but
-scarcely to have advanced, his reputation. Nevertheless, when it was
-represented in London soon after its original production, it was by no
-means so favourably received as _Il Pirato_ had been.
-
-Bellini's _Zaira_, executed at Parma, in 1829, was a failure--soon,
-however, to be redeemed by his fifth work, _Il Capuletti ed i
-Montecchi_, which was written for Venice, and was received with all
-possible expressions of approbation. In London, the new operatic version
-of _Romeo and Juliet_ was not particularly admired, and owed what
-success it obtained entirely to the acting and singing of Madame Pasta
-in the principal part. It may be mentioned that the libretto of
-Bellini's _I Montecchi_ had already served his master, Zingarelli, for
-his opera of _Romeo e Julietta_.
-
-[Sidenote: LA SONNAMBULA.]
-
-The time had now arrived at which Bellini was to produce his
-master-pieces, _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_; the former of which was
-written for _La Scala_, in 1831, the latter, for the same theatre, in
-the year following. The success of _La Sonnambula_ has been great
-everywhere, but nowhere so great as in England, where it has been
-performed in English and in Italian, oftener than any other two or
-perhaps three operas, while probably no songs, certainly no songs by a
-foreign composer, were ever sold in such large numbers as _All is lost_
-and _Do not mingle_. The libretto of _La Sonnambula_, by Romani, is one
-of the most interesting and touching, and one of the best suited for
-musical illustration in the whole _répertoire_ of _libretti_. To the
-late M. Scribe, belongs the merit of having invented the charming story
-on which Romani's and Bellini's opera is founded; and it is worthy of
-remark that he had already presented it in two different dramatic forms
-before any one was struck with its capabilities for musical treatment. A
-thoroughly, essentially, dramatic story can be presented on the stage in
-any and every form; with music, with dialogue, or with nothing but dumb
-action. Tried by this test, the plots of a great number of merely well
-written comedies would prove worthless; and so in substance they are. On
-the other hand, the vaudeville of _La Somnambula_, became, as
-re-arranged by M. Scribe, the ballet of _La Somnambule_, (one of the
-prettiest, by the way, from a choregraphic point of view ever produced);
-which, in the hands of Romani, became the libretto of an opera; which
-again, vulgarly treated, has been made into a burlesque; and, loftily
-treated, might be changed (I will not say elevated, for the operatic
-form is poetical enough), into a tragedy.
-
-The beauties of _La Sonnambula_, so full of pure melody and of emotional
-music, of the most simple and touching kind, can be appreciated by every
-one; by the most learned musician and the most untutored amateur, or
-rather let us say by any play-goer, who, not having been born deaf to
-the voice of music, hears an opera for the first time in his life. It
-was given, however, to an English critic, to listen to this opera, as
-natural and as unmistakably beautiful as a bed of wild flowers, through
-a special ear-trumpet of his own; and in number 197 of the most
-widely-circulated of our literary journals, the following remarks on
-_La Sonnambula_ appeared. With the exception of one or two pretty
-_motivi_, exquisitely given by Pasta and Rubini, the music is sometimes
-scarcely on a level with that of _Il Pirata_, and often sinks below it;
-there is a general thinness and want of effect in the instrumentation
-not calculated to make us overlook the other defects of this
-composition, which, in our humble judgment, are compensated by no
-redeeming beauties. Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of
-grandeur, no touch of true pathos in the common place workings of his
-mind. He cannot reach the _Opera semi-seria_; he should confine his
-powers to the lowest walk of the musical drama, the one act _Opera
-buffa_."
-
-Equally ill fared _Norma_ at the hands of another musical critic to
-whose "reminiscences" I have often had to refer, but who tells us that
-he did not hear the work in question himself. He speaks of it simply as
-a production of which the scene is laid in _Wales_, and adds that "it
-was not liked."
-
-Yet _Norma_ has been a good deal liked since its first production at
-Milan, now nearly thirty years ago; and from Madame Pasta's first to
-Madame Grisi's last appearance in the principal part, no great singer
-with any pretension to tragic power has considered her claims fully
-recognised until she has succeeded in the part of the Druid priestess.
-
-[Sidenote: I PURITANI.]
-
-_Beatrice di Tenda_, Bellini's next opera after _Norma_, cannot be
-reckoned among his best works. It was written for Venice, in 1833, and
-was performed in England for the first time, in 1836. It met with no
-very great success in Italy or elsewhere.
-
-In 1834, Bellini went to Paris, having been requested to write an opera
-for the excellent Théâtre Italien of that capital. The company at the
-period in question, included Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini and Lablache, all
-of whom were provided with parts in the new work. _I Puritani_, was
-played for the first time in London, for Grisi's benefit, in 1835, and
-with precisely the same distribution of characters as in Paris. The
-"_Puritani_ Season" is still remembered by old habitués, as one of the
-most brilliant of these latter days. Rubini's romance in the first act
-_A te o cara_, Grisi's _Polonaise_, _Son vergin vezzosa_ and the grand
-duet for Tamburini and Lablache, produced the greatest enthusiasm in all
-our musical circles, and the last movement of the duet was treated by
-"arrangers" for the piano, in every possible form. This is the movement,
-(destined, too soon, to find favour in the eyes of omnibus conductors,
-and all the worst amateurs of the cornet), of which Rossini wrote from
-Paris to a friend at Milan; "I need not describe the duet for the two
-basses, you must have heard it where you are."
-
-_I Puritani_ was Bellini's last opera. The season after its production
-he retired to the house of a Mr. Lewis at Puteaux, and there, while
-studying his art with an ardour which never deserted him, was attacked
-by a fatal illness. "From his youth up," says Mr. J. W. Mould, in his
-interesting "Memoir of Bellini;" "Vincenzo's eagerness in his art was
-such as to keep him at the piano day and night, till he was obliged
-forcibly to leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him through his
-short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it, brought on
-the dysentery, which closed his brilliant career, peopling his last
-hours with the figures of those to whom his works were so largely
-indebted for their success. During the moments of delirium which
-preceded his death, he was constantly speaking of Lablache, Tamburini
-and Grisi, and one of his last recognisable impressions was, that he was
-present at a brilliant representation of his last opera, at the Salle
-Favart. His earthly career closed on Wednesday, the 23rd of September,
-1835."
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI'S DEATH.]
-
-Thus died Bellini, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. Immediately
-after his death, and on the very eve of his interment, the Théâtre
-Italien re-opened with the _Puritani_. "The work," says the writer from
-whom I have just quoted, "was listened to throughout with a sad
-attention, betraying evidently how the general thoughts of both audience
-and artists were pre-occupied with the mournful fate of him so recently
-amongst them, now extended senseless, soulless, and mute, upon his
-funeral bier. The solemn and mournful chords which commence the opera,
-excited a sorrowful emotion in the breasts of both those who sang and
-those who heard. The feeling in which the orchestra and chorus
-participated, ex-tended itself to the principal artists concerned, and
-the foremost amongst them displayed neither that vigour nor that
-neatness of execution which Paris was so accustomed to accept at their
-hands; Tamburini in particular, was so broken down by the death of the
-young friend, whose presence amongst them spurred the glorious quartett
-on the season before, to such unprecedented exertions, that his
-magnificent organ, superb vocalisation were often considerably at fault
-during the evening, and his interrupted accent, joined to the melancholy
-depicted on the countenances of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache, sent those
-to their homes with an aching heart who had presented themselves to that
-evening's hearing of _I Puritani_, previously disposed, moreover, to
-attend the mournful ceremony of the morrow."
-
-A committee of Bellini's friends, including Rossini, Cherubini, Paer,
-and Carafa, undertook the general direction of the funeral of which the
-musical department was entrusted to M. Habeneck the _chef d'orchestre_
-of the Académie Royale. The expenses of the ceremony were defrayed by M.
-Panseron, of the Théâtre Italien. The most remarkable piece for the
-programme of the funeral music, was a lacrymosa for four voices, without
-accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn was united to the
-beautiful melody (and of a thoroughly religious character), sung by the
-tenor in the third act of the _Puritani_. This lacrymosa was executed by
-Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and Lablache. The service was performed in
-the church of the Invalides, and Bellini's remains were interred in the
-cemetery of Père la Chaise.
-
-Rossini had always shown the greatest affection for Bellini; and Rosario
-Bellini, a few weeks after his son's death, wrote a letter to the great
-composer, thanking him for the almost paternal kindness which he had
-shown to young Vincenzo during his lifetime, and for the honour he had
-paid to his memory when he was no more. After speaking of the grief and
-despair in which the loss of his beloved son had plunged him, the old
-man expressed himself as follows:--
-
-"You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labours;
-you took him under your protection; you neglected nothing that could
-increase his glory and his welfare. After my son's death what have you
-not done to honour his memory and render it dear to posterity! I learnt
-this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude for your
-excessive kindness, as well as for that of a number of distinguished
-artistes, which also I shall never forget. Pray, sir, be my interpreter,
-and tell these artistes that the father and family of Bellini, as well
-as our compatriots of Catana, will cherish an imperishable recollection
-of this generous conduct. I shall never cease to remember how much you
-did for my son; I shall make known everywhere, in the midst of my tears,
-what an affectionate heart belongs to the great Rossini; and how kind,
-hospitable, and full of feeling are the artistes of France."
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI AND DONIZETTI.]
-
-If we compare Bellini with Donizetti, we find that the latter was the
-more prolific of the two, judging simply by the number of works
-produced; inasmuch as Donizetti, at the age of twenty-eight, had already
-produced thirteen operas; whereas the number of Bellini's dramatic
-works, when he died in his twenty-ninth year, amounted only to nine. But
-of the baker's dozen thrown off by Donizetti at so early an age, not one
-made any impression on the public, or on musicians, such as was caused
-by _I Capuletti_, or _Il Pirata_, or _La Straniera_, to say nothing of
-_I Puritani_, which, in the opinion of many good judges, holds forth
-greater promise of dramatic excellence than is contained in any other of
-Bellini's works, including those masterpieces in two such different
-styles, _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_. When Donizetti had been composing
-for a dozen years, and had produced thirty one operas (_Anna Bolena_ was
-his thirty-second), he had still written nothing which could be ranked
-on an equality with Bellini's second-rate works, such as _Il Pirata_ and
-_I Capuletti_; and during the second half of Donizetti's operatic
-career, not one work of his in three met with the success which
-(_Beatrice_ alone excepted) attended all Bellini's operas, as soon as
-Bellini had once passed that merely experimental period when, to fail,
-is, for a composer of real ability, to learn how not to fail a second
-time. I do not say that the composer of _Lucrezia_, _Lucia_, and _Elisir
-d'Amore_ is so vastly inferior to the composer of _La Sonnambula_ and
-_Norma_; but, simply, that Donizetti, during the first dozen years of
-his artistic life, did not approach the excellence shown by the young
-Bellini during the nine years which made up the whole of his brief
-musical career. More than that, Donizetti never produced a musical
-tragedy equal to _Norma_, nor a musical pastoral equal to _La
-Sonnambula_; while, dramatic considerations apart, he cannot be compared
-to Bellini as an inventor of melody. Indeed, it would be difficult in
-the whole range of opera to name three works which contain so many
-simple, tender, touching airs, of a refined character, yet possessing
-all the elements of popularity (in short, airs whose beauty is
-universally appreciable) as _Norma_, _La Sonnambula_, and _I Puritani_.
-The simplicity of Bellini's melodies is one of their chief
-characteristics; and this was especially remarkable, at a time when
-Rossini's imitators were exaggerating the florid style of their model in
-every air they produced.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI'S SINGERS.]
-
-Most of the great singers of the modern school,--indeed, all who have
-appeared since and including Madame Pasta, have gained their reputation
-chiefly in Bellini's and Donizetti's operas. They formed their style, it
-is true, by singing Rossini's music; but as the public will not listen
-for ever even to such operas as _Il Barbiere_ and _Semiramide_, it was
-necessary to provide the new vocalists from time to time with new parts;
-and thus "Amina" and "Anna Bolena" were written for Pasta; "Elvino,"
-&c., for Rubini; "Edgardo," in the _Lucia_, for Duprez; a complete
-quartett of parts in _I Puritani_, for Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and
-Lablache. Since Donizetti's _Don Pasquale_, composed for Grisi, Mario
-(Rubini's successor), Tamburini, and Lablache, no work of any importance
-has been composed for the Italian Opera of Paris--nor of London either,
-I may add, in spite of Verdi's _I Masnadieri_, and Halévy's _La
-Tempesta_, both manufactured expressly for Her Majesty's Theatre.
-
-I have already spoken of Pasta's and Malibran's successes in Rossini's
-operas. The first part written for Pasta by Bellini was that of "Amina"
-in the _Sonnambula_; the second, that of "Norma." But though Pasta
-"created" these characters, she was destined to be surpassed in both of
-them by the former Marietta Garcia, now returned from America, and known
-everywhere as Malibran. This vocalist, by all accounts the most poetic
-and impassioned of all the great singers of her period, arrived in Italy
-just when _I Capuletti_, _La Sonnambula_, and _Norma_, were at the
-height of their popularity--thanks, in a great measure, to the admirable
-manner in which the part of the heroine in each of these works was
-represented by Pasta. Malibran appeared as "Amina," as "Norma," and also
-as "Romeo," in _I Capuletti_. She "interpreted" the characters (to
-borrow an expression, which is admissible, in this case, from the jargon
-of French musical critics) in her own manner, and very ingeniously
-brought into relief just those portions of the music of each which were
-not rendered prominent in the Pasta versions. The new singer was
-applauded enthusiastically. The public were really grateful to her for
-bringing to light beauties which, but for her, would have remained in
-the shade. But it was also thought that Malibran feared her illustrious
-rival and predecessor too much, to attempt _her_ readings. This was just
-the impression she wished to produce; and when she saw that the public
-had made up its mind on the subject, she changed her tactics, followed
-Pasta's interpretation, and beat her on her own ground. She excelled
-wherever Pasta had excelled, and proved herself on the whole superior to
-her. Finally, she played the parts of "Norma" and "Amina" in her first
-and second manner combined. This rendered her triumph decisive.
-
-Now Malibran commenced a triumphal progress through Italy. Wherever she
-sang, showers of bouquets and garlands fell at her feet; the horses were
-taken from her carriage on her leaving the theatre, and she was dragged
-home amid the shouts of an admiring crowd. These so-called
-"ovations"[100] were renewed at every operatic city in Italy; and
-managers disputed, in a manner previously unexampled, the honour and
-profit of engaging the all-successful vocalist.
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-The director of the Trieste opera gave Malibran four thousand francs a
-night, and at the end of her engagement pressed her to accept a set of
-diamonds. Malibran refused, observing, that what she had already
-received was amply sufficient for her services, and more than she would
-ever have thought of asking for them, had not the terms been proposed by
-the director himself.
-
-"Accept my present all the same," replied the liberal _impresario_; "I
-can afford to offer you this little souvenir. It will remind you that I
-made an excellent thing out of your engagement, and it may, perhaps,
-help to induce you to come here again."
-
-"The actions of this fiery existence," says M. Castil Blaze, "would
-appear fabulous if we had not seen Marietta amongst us, fulfilling her
-engagements at the theatre, resisting all the fatigue of the rehearsals,
-of the representations, after galloping morning and evening in the Bois
-de Boulogne, so as to tire out two horses. She used to breakfast during
-the rehearsals on the stage. I said to her, one morning, at the
-theatre:--'_Marietta carissima, non morrai. Che farò, dunque? Nemica
-sorte! Creperai._'
-
-"Her travels, her excursions, her studies, her performances might have
-filled the lives of two artists, and two very complete lives, moreover.
-She starts for Sinigaglia, during the heat of July, in man's clothes,
-takes her seat on the box of the carriage, drives the horses; scorched
-by the sun of Italy, covered with dust, she arrives, jumps into the
-sea, swims like a dolphin, and then goes to her hotel to dress. At
-Brussels, she is applauded as a French Rosìna, delivering the prose of
-Beaumarchais as Mademoiselle Mars would have delivered it. She leaves
-Brussels for London, comes back to Paris, travels about in Brie, and
-returns to London, not like a courier, but like a dove on the wing. We
-all know what the life of a singer is in the capital of England, the
-life of a dramatic singer of the highest talent. After a rehearsal at
-the opera, she may have three or four matinée's to attend; and when the
-curtain falls, and she can escape from the theatre, there are soirées
-which last till day-break. Malibran kept all these engagements, and,
-moreover, gave Sunday to her friends; this day of absolute rest to all
-England, was to Marietta only another day of excitement."
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-Malibran spoke Spanish, Italian, French, English, and a little German,
-and acted and sang in the first four of these languages. In London, she
-appeared in an English version of _La Sonnambula_ (1838), when her
-representation of the character of "Amina" created a general enthusiasm
-such as can scarcely have been equalled during the "Jenny Lind
-mania,"--perfect vocalist as was Jenny Lind. Malibran appears, however,
-to have been a more impassioned singer, and was certainly a finer
-actress than the Swedish Nightingale. "Never losing sight of the
-simplicity of the character," says a writer in describing her
-performance in _La Sonnambula_, "she gave irresistible grace and force
-to the pathetic passages with which it abounds, and excited the feeling
-of the audience to as high pitch as can be perceived. Her sleep-walking
-scenes, in which the slightest amount of exaggeration or want of caution
-would have destroyed the whole effect, were played with exquisite
-discrimination; she sang the airs with refined taste and great power;
-her voice, which was remarkable, rather for its flexibility and
-sweetness than for its volume, was as pure as ever, and her style
-displayed that high cultivation and luxuriance which marked the school
-in which she was educated, and which is almost identified with the name
-she formerly bore."
-
-Drury Lane was the last theatre at which Madame Malibran sang; but the
-last notes she ever uttered were heard at Manchester, where she
-performed only in oratorios and at concerts. Before leaving London,
-Madame Malibran had a fall from her horse, and all the time she was
-singing at Manchester, she was suffering from its effects. She had
-struck her head, and the violence of the blow, together with the general
-shock to her nerves, without weakening any of her faculties, seemed to
-have produced that feverish excitement which gave such tragic poetry to
-her last performances. At first, she would take no precautions, though
-inflammation of the brain was to be feared, and, indeed, might be said
-to have already declared itself. She continued to sing, and never was
-her voice more pure and melodious, never was her execution more daring
-and dazzling, never before had she sung with such inspiration and with a
-passion which communicated itself in so electric a manner to her
-audience. She was bled; not one of the doctors appears to have had
-sufficient strength of mind to enforce that absolute rest which everyone
-must have known was necessary for her existence, and she still went on
-singing. There were no signs of any loss of physical power, while her
-nervous force appeared to have increased. The last time she ever sang,
-she executed the duet from _Andronico_, with Madame Caradori, who, by a
-very natural sympathy, appeared herself to have received something of
-that almost supernatural fire which was burning within the breast of
-Malibran, and which was now fast consuming her. The public applauded
-with ecstacy, and as the general excitement increased, the marvellous
-vocalisation of the dying singer became almost miraculous. She
-improvised a final cadence, which was the climax of her triumph and of
-her life. The bravos of the audience were not at an end when she had
-already sunk exhausted into the arms of Madame Alessandri, who carried
-her, fainting, into the artist's room. She was removed immediately to
-the hotel. It was now impossible to save her, and so convinced of this
-was her husband, that almost before she had breathed her last, he was on
-his way to Paris, the better to secure every farthing of her property!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-Rubini, though he first gained his immense reputation by his mode of
-singing the airs of _Il Pirata_, _Anna Bolena_, and _La Sonnambula_,
-formed his style in the first instance, on the operas of Rossini. This
-vocalist, however, sang and acted in a great many different capacities
-before he was recognised as the first of all first tenors. At the age of
-twelve Rubini made his début at the theatre of Romano, his native town,
-in a woman's part. This curious _prima donna_ afterwards sat down at the
-door of the theatre, between two candles, and behind a plate, in which
-the admiring public deposited their offerings to the fair bénéficiare.
-She is said to have been perfectly satisfied with the receipts and with
-the praise accorded to her for her first performance. Rubini afterwards
-went to Bergamo, where he was engaged to play the violin in the
-orchestra between the acts of comedies, and to sing in the choruses
-during the operatic season. A drama was to be brought out in which a
-certain cavatina was introduced. The manager was in great trouble to
-find a singer to whom this air could be entrusted. Rubini was mentioned,
-the manager offered him a few shillings to sing it, the bargain was
-made, and the new vocalist was immensely applauded. This air was the
-production of Lamberti. Rubini kept it, and many years afterwards, when
-he was at the height of his reputation, was fond of singing it in memory
-of his first composer.
-
-In 1835, twenty-three years after Rubini's first engagement at Bergamo,
-the tenor of the Théâtre Italien of Paris was asked to intercede for a
-chorus-singer, who expected to be dismissed from the establishment. He
-told the unhappy man to write a letter to the manager, and then gave it
-the irresistible weight of his recommendation by signing it "Rubini,
-_Ancien Choriste_."
-
-After leaving Bergamo, Rubini was engaged as second tenor in an operatic
-company of no great importance. He next joined a wandering troop, and
-among other feats he is said to have danced in a ballet somewhere in
-Piedmont, where, for his pains, he was violently hissed.
-
-In 1814, he was engaged at Pavia as tenor, where he received about
-thirty-six shillings a month. Sixteen years afterwards, Rubini and his
-wife were offered an engagement of six thousand pounds, and at last the
-services of Rubini alone were retained at the Italian Opera of St.
-Petersburgh, at the rate of twenty thousand pounds a year.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-Rubini was such a great singer, and possessed such admirable powers of
-expression, especially in pathetic airs (it was well said of him,
-"_qu'il avait des larmes dans la voix_,") that he may be looked upon as,
-in some measure, the creator of the operatic style which succeeded that
-of the Rossinian period up to the production of _Semiramide_, the last
-of Rossini's works, written specially for Italy. The florid mode of
-vocalization had been carried to an excess when Rubini showed what
-effect he could produce by singing melodies of a simple emotional
-character, without depending at all on vocalization merely as such. It
-has already been mentioned that Bellini wrote _Il Pirato_ with Rubini at
-his side, and it is very remarkable that Donizetti never achieved any
-great success, and was never thought to have exhibited any style of his
-own until he produced _Anna Bolena_, in which the tenor part was
-composed expressly for Rubini. Every one who is acquainted with _Anna
-Bolena_, will understand how much Rossini's mode of singing the airs,
-_Ogni terra ove_, &c., and _Vivi tu_, must have contributed to the
-immense favour with which it was received.
-
-Rubini will long be remembered as the tenor of the incomparable quartett
-for whom the _Puritani_ was written, and who performed together in it
-for seven consecutive years in Paris and in London. Rubini disappeared
-from the West in 1841, and was replaced in the part of "Arturo," by
-Mario. Tamburini was the next to disappear, and then Lablache. Neither
-Riccardo nor Giorgio have since found thoroughly efficient
-representatives, and now we have lost with Grisi the original "Elvira,"
-without knowing precisely where another is to come from.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI'S BROKEN CLAVICLE.]
-
-Before taking leave of Rubini, I must mention a sort of duel he once had
-with a rebellious B flat, the history of which has been related at
-length by M. Castil Blaze, in the _Revue de Paris_. Pacini's _Talismano_
-had just been produced with great success at _la Scala_. Rubini made his
-entry in this opera with an accompanied recitative, which the public
-always applauded enthusiastically. One phrase in particular, which the
-singer commenced by attacking the high B flat without preparation, and,
-holding it for a considerable period, excited their admiration to the
-highest point. Since Farinelli's celebrated trumpet song, no one note
-had ever obtained such a success as their wonderful B flat of Rubini's.
-The public of Milan went in crowds to hear it, and having heard it,
-never failed to encore it. _Un 'altra volta!_ resounded through the
-house almost before the magic note itself had ceased to ring. The great
-singer had already distributed fourteen B flats among his admiring
-audiences, when, eager for the fifteenth and sixteenth, the Milanese
-thronged to their magnificent theatre to be present at the eighth
-performance of _Il Talismano_. The orchestra executed the brief prelude
-which announced the entry of the tenor. Rubini appeared, raised his eyes
-to heaven, extended his arms, planted himself firmly on his calves,
-inflated his breast, opened his mouth, and sought, by the usual means,
-to pronounce the wished-for B flat. But no B flat would come. _Os habet,
-et non clamabit._ Rubini was dumb; the public did their best to
-encourage the disconsolate singer, applauded him, cheered him, and gave
-him courage to attack the unhappy B flat a second time. On this
-occasion, Rubini was victorious. Determined to catch the fugitive note,
-which for a moment had escaped him, the singer brought all the muscular
-force of his immense lungs into play, struck the B flat, and threw it
-out among the audience with a vigour which surprised and delighted them.
-In the meanwhile, the tenor was by no means equally pleased with the
-triumph he had just gained. He felt, that in exerting himself to the
-utmost, he had injured himself in a manner which might prove very
-serious. Something in the mechanism of his voice had given way. He had
-felt the fracture at the time. He had, indeed, conquered the B flat, but
-at what an expense; that of a broken clavicle!
-
-However, he continued his scene. He was wounded, but triumphant, and in
-his artistic elation he forgot the positive physical injury he had
-sustained. On leaving the stage he sent for the surgeon of the theatre,
-who, by inspecting and feeling Rubini's clavicle, convinced himself that
-it was indeed fractured. The bone had been unable to resist the tension
-of the singer's lungs. Rubini may have been said to have swelled his
-voice until it burst one of its natural barriers.
-
-"It seems to me," said the wounded tenor, "that a man can go on singing
-with a broken clavicle."
-
-"Certainly," replied the doctor, "you have just proved it."
-
-"How long would it take to mend it?" he enquired.
-
-"Two months, if you remained perfectly quiet during the whole time."
-
-"Two months! And I have only sung seven times. I should have to give up
-my engagement. Can a person live comfortably with a broken clavicle?"
-
-"Very comfortably indeed. If you take care not to lift any weight you
-will experience no disagreeable effects."
-
-"Ah! there is my cue," exclaimed Rubini; "I shall go on singing."
-
-"Rubini went on singing," says M. Castil Blaze, "and I do not think any
-one who heard him in 1831 could tell that he was listening to a wounded
-singer--wounded gloriously on the field of battle. As a musical doctor I
-was allowed to touch his wound, and I remarked on the left side of the
-clavicle a solution of continuity, three or four lines[101] in extent
-between the two parts of the fractured bone. I related the adventure in
-the _Revue de Paris_, and three hundred persons went to Rubini's house
-to touch the wound, and verify my statement."
-
-[Sidenote: TAMBURINI.]
-
-Two other vocalists are mentioned in the history of music, who not only
-injured themselves in singing, but actually died of their injuries.
-Fabris had shown himself an unsuccessful rival of the celebrated
-Guadagni, when his master, determined that he should gain a complete
-victory, composed expressly for him an air of the greatest difficulty,
-which the young singer was to execute at the San Carlo Theatre, at
-Naples. Fabris protested that he could not sing, or that if so, it would
-cost him his life; but he yielded to his master's iron will, attacked
-the impossible air, and died on the stage of hæmorrhage of the lungs. In
-the same manner, an air which the tenor Labitte was endeavouring to
-execute at the Lion's theatre, in 1820, was the cause of his own
-execution.
-
-I have spoken of the versatility of talent displayed by Rubini in his
-youth. Tamburini and Lablache were equally expert singers in every
-style. In the year 1822 Tamburini was engaged at Palermo, where, on the
-last day of the carnival, the public attend, or used to attend, the
-Opera, with drums, trumpets, saucepans, shovels, and all kinds of
-musical and unmusical instruments--especially noisy ones. On this
-tumultuous evening, Tamburini, already a great favourite with the
-Palermitans, had to sing in Mercadante's _Elisa e Claudio_. The public
-received him with a salvo of their carnavalesque artillery, when
-Tamburini, finding that it was impossible to make himself heard in the
-ordinary way, determined to execute his part in falsetto; and, the
-better to amuse the public, commenced singing with the voice of a
-soprano sfogato. The astonished audience laid their instruments aside to
-listen to the novel and entirely unexpected accents of their _basso
-cantante_. Tamburini's falsetto was of wonderful purity, and in using it
-he displayed the same agility for which he was remarkable when employing
-his ordinary thoroughly masculine voice. The Palermitans were interested
-by this novel display of vocal power, and were, moreover, pleased at
-Tamburini's readiness and ingenuity in replying to their seemingly
-unanswerable charivari. But the poor _prima donna_ was unable to enter
-into the joke at all. She even imagined that the turbulent
-demonstrations with which she was received whenever she made her
-appearance, were intended to insult her, and long before the opera was
-at an end she refused to continue her part. The manager was in great
-alarm, for he knew that the public would not stand upon any ceremony
-that evening; and that, if the performance were interrupted by anything
-but their own noise, they would probably break everything in the
-theatre. Tamburini rushed to the _prima donna's_ room. Madame Lipparini,
-the lady in question, had already left the theatre, but she had also
-left the costume of "Elisa" behind. The ingenious baritone threw off his
-coat, contrived, by stretching and splitting, to get on "Elisa's" satin
-dress, clapped her bonnet over his own wig, and thus equipped appeared
-on the stage, ready to take the part of the unhappy and now fugitive
-Lipparini. The audience applauded with one accord the entry of the
-strangest "Elisa" ever seen. Her dress came only half way down her legs,
-the sleeves did not extend anywhere near her wrists. The soprano, who at
-a moment's notice had replaced Madame Lipparini, had the largest hands
-and feet a _prima donna_ was ever known to possess.
-
-[Sidenote: TAMBURINI.]
-
-The band had played the ritornello of "Elisa's" cavatina a dozen times,
-and the most turbulent among the assembly had actually got up from their
-seats, and were ready to scale the orchestra, and jump on the stage,
-when Tamburini rushed on in the costume above described. After
-curtseying to the audience, pressing one hand to his heart, and with
-the other wiping away the tears of gratitude he was supposed to shed for
-the enthusiastic reception accorded to him, he commenced the cavatina,
-and went through it admirably; burlesquing it a little for the sake of
-the costume, but singing it, nevertheless, with marvellous expression,
-and displaying executive power far superior to any that Madame Lipparini
-herself could have shown. As long as there were only airs to sing,
-Tamburini got on easily enough. He devoted his soprano voice to "Elisa,"
-while the "Count" remained still a basso, the singer performing his
-ordinary part in his ordinary voice. But a duet for "Elisa" and the
-"Count" was approaching; and the excited amateurs, now oblivious of
-their drums, kettles, and kettle-drums, were speculating with anxious
-interest as to how Tamburini would manage to be soprano and
-basso-cantante in the same piece. The vocalist found no difficulty in
-executing the duet. He performed both parts--the bass replying to the
-soprano, and the soprano to the bass--with the most perfect precision.
-The double representative even made a point of passing from right to
-left and from left to right, according as he was the father-in-law or
-the daughter. This was the crowning success. The opera was now listened
-to with pleasure and delight to the very end; and it was not until the
-fall of the curtain that the audience re-commenced their charivari, by
-way of testifying their admiration for Tamburini, who was called upwards
-of a dozen times on to the stage. This was not all: they were so
-grieved at the idea of losing him, that they entreated him to appear
-again in the ballet. He did so, and gained fresh applause by his
-performance in a _pas de quatre_ with the Taglionis and Mademoiselle
-Rinaldini.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LABLACHE.]
-
-Lablache was scarcely seventeen years of age, and had just finished his
-studies at the Conservatorio of Naples when he was engaged as
-"Neapolitan buffo" at the little San Carlino theatre. Here two
-performances were given every day, one in the afternoon, the other in
-the evening, while the morning was devoted to rehearsals. Lablache
-supported the fatigue caused by this system without his voice suffering
-the slightest injury, though all the other members of the company were
-obliged to throw up their engagements before the year was out, and
-several of them never recovered their voices. He had been five months at
-San Carlino when he married Teresa Pinotti, daughter of an actor engaged
-at the theatre, and one of the greatest comedians of Italy. This union
-appears to have had a great effect on Lablache's fate. His wife saw what
-genius he possessed, and thought of all possible means to get him away
-from San Carlino, an establishment which she justly regarded as unworthy
-of him. Lablache, for his part, would have remained there all his life,
-playing the part of Neapolitan buffo, without thinking of the brilliant
-position within his reach. There was at that time a celebrated
-Neapolitan buffo, named Mililotti, who, Madame Lablache thought, might
-advantageously replace her husband. She not only procured an engagement
-for Lablache's rival at the San Carlino theatre, but is even said to
-have packed the house the first night of his appearance (or
-re-appearance, for he was already known to the Neapolitans) so as to
-ensure him a favourable reception. Her intelligent love would,
-doubtless, have caused her to hiss her husband, had not Mililotti's
-success been sufficiently great to convince Lablache that he might as
-well seek his fortune elsewhere, and in a higher sphere. He had some
-hesitation, however, about singing in the Tuscan language, accustomed as
-he was to the Neapolitan jargon, but his wife determined him to make the
-change, and procured an engagement for him in Sicily. Arrived at
-Messina, however, he continued for some time to appear as Neapolitan
-buffo, a line for which he had always had a great predilection, and in
-which, spite of the forced success of Mililotti, he had no equal.
-
-Lablache will be generally remembered as a true basso; but, before
-appearing as "Bartolo" in the _Barber of Seville_, he for many years
-played the part of "Figaro." I have seen it stated that Lablache has
-played not only the bass and baritone, but also the tenor part in
-Rossini's great comic opera; but I do not believe that he ever appeared
-as "Count Almaviva." I have said that he performed bass parts (the
-Neapolitan buffo was always a bass), when he first made his _début_; and
-during the last five-and-twenty years of his career, his
-voice--marvellously even and sound from one end to the other--had at the
-same time no extraordinary compass; but from G to E all his notes were
-full, clear, and sonorous, as the tones of a bronze bell. Indeed, this
-bell-like quality of the great basso's voice, is said on one occasion to
-have been the cause of considerable alarm to his wife, who, hearing its
-deep boom in the middle of the night, imagined, as she started from her
-slumbers, that the house was on fire. This was the period of the great
-popularity of _I Puritani_, when Grisi, accompanied by Lablache, was in
-the habit of singing the polacca three times a week at the opera, and
-about twice a day at morning concerts. Lablache, after executing his
-part of this charming and popular piece three times in nine hours, was
-so haunted by it, that he continued to ring out his sounding _staccato_
-accompaniment in his sleep. Fortunately, Madame Lablache succeeded in
-stopping this somnambulistic performance before the engines arrived.
-
-[Sidenote: LABLACHE.]
-
-Like all complete artists, like Malibran, like Ronconi, like Garrick,
-the great type of the class, Lablache was equally happy in serious and
-in comic parts. Though Malibran is chiefly remembered in England by her
-almost tragic rendering of the part of "Amina" in the _Sonnambula_, many
-persons who have heard her in all her _répertoire_, assure me that she
-exhibited the greatest talent in comic opera, or in such lively "half
-character" parts as "Norina" in the _Elixir of Love_, and "Zerlina" in
-_Don Giovanni_. Lord Mount Edgcumbe declares, after speaking of her
-performance of "Semiramide" ("Semiramide" has also been mentioned as one
-of Malibran's best parts) that "in characters of less energy she is much
-better, and best of all in the comic opera. She even condescended," he
-adds, "to make herself a buffa caricata, and take the third and least
-important part in Cimarosa's _Matrimonio Segretto_, that of an old woman
-(the Mrs. Heidelberg of the _Clandestine Marriage_), generally acted by
-the lowest singer of the company. From an insignificant character she
-raised it to a prominent one, and very greatly added to the effect of
-that excellent opera." So of Lablache, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, after
-remarking that his voice was "not only of deeper compass than almost any
-ever heard, but, when he chose, absolutely stentorian," tells his
-readers that "he was a most excellent actor, especially in comic operas,
-in which he was (as I am told) as highly diverting as any of the most
-laughable comedians." Yet the character in which Lablache himself, and
-not Lablache's reputation, produced so favourable an impression on this
-writer--not very favourably impressed by any singers, or any music
-towards the close of his life--was "Assur" in _Semiramide!_ Who that
-remembers Lablache as "Bartolo"--that remembers the prominence and the
-genuine humour which he gave to that slight and colourless part--can
-deny that he was one of the greatest of comic actors? And did he not
-communicate the same importance to the minor character of "Oroveso" in
-_Norma_, in which nothing could be more tragic and impressive than his
-scene with the repentant dying priestess in the last act? What a
-picture, too, was his "Henry VIII." in _Anna Bolena_! A picture which
-Lablache himself composed from a careful study of the costume worn by
-the original, and for which nature had certainly supplied him in the
-first place with a most suitable form. Think, again, of his superb
-grandeur as "Maometto," of his touching dignity as "Desdemona's" father;
-then forget both these characters, and recollect how perfect, how unique
-a "Leporello" was this same Lablache. One of our best critics has taken
-objection to Lablache's version of this last-named part--though, of
-course, without objecting to his actual performance, which he as well,
-or better than any one else, knows to have been almost beyond praise.
-But it has been said that Lablache (and if Lablache, then all his
-predecessors in the same character) indulged in an unbecoming spirit of
-burlesque during the last scene of _Don Giovanni_, in which the statue
-seizes the hero with his strong hand, and takes him down a practicable
-trap-door to eternal torments. "Leporello," however, is a burlesque
-character, and a buffoon throughout; cowardly, superstitious, greedy,
-with all possible low qualities developed to a ludicrous extent, and
-thus presenting a fine dramatic contrast to his master, who possesses
-all the noble qualities, except faith--this one great flaw rendering all
-the use he makes of valour, generosity, and love of woman, an abuse.
-"Leporello" is always thinking of the bad end which he is sure awaits
-him unless he quits the service of a master whom he is afraid to leave;
-always thinking, too, of maccaroni, money, and the wages which "Don
-Juan" certainly will not pay him, if he is taken to the infernal regions
-before his next quarter is due. "_Mes gages, mes gages_," cries the
-"Sganarelle" of Molière's comedy, and "Sganarelle" and "Leporello" are
-one and the same person. We may be sure that Molière and Lablache are
-right, and that Herr Formes, with his new reading of a good old part is
-wrong. At the same time it is natural and allowable that a singer who
-cannot be comic should be serious.
-
-In addition to his other great accomplishments, Lablache possessed that
-of being able to whistle in a style that many a piccolo player would
-have envied. He could whistle all Rode's variations as perfectly as
-Louisa Pyne sings them. As to the vibratory force of his full voice, it
-was such that to have allowed Lablache to sing in a green house might
-have been a dangerous experiment. Chéron, a celebrated French bass, is
-said to have been able to burst a tumbler into a thousand pieces, by
-sounding, within a fragile and doubtless sympathetic glass, some
-particular note. Equally interesting, in connexion with a glass, is a
-performance in which I have seen the veteran,[102] but still almost
-juvenile basso, Signor Badiali, indulge. The artist takes a glass of
-particularly good claret, drinks it, and, while in the act of
-swallowing, sings a scale. The first time his execution is not quite
-perfect. He repeats the performance with a full glass, a loud voice, and
-without missing a note or a drop. To convince his friends that there is
-no deception, he offers to go through this refreshing species of
-vocalization a third time; after which, if the supply of wine on the
-table happens to be limited, and the servants gone to bed, the audience
-generally declares itself satisfied.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME GRISI.]
-
-Giulia Grisi, the last of the celebrated Puritani quartett, first
-distinguished herself by her performance of the part of "Adalgisa," in
-_Norma_, when that opera was produced at Milan, in 1832. Giulia or
-Giulietta Grisi, is the younger sister of Giuditta Grisi, also a singer,
-but to whom Giulietta was superior in all respects; and she is the elder
-sister of Carlotta Grisi, who, from an ordinary vocalist, became, under
-the tuition of Perrot, the most charming dancer of her time. When Madame
-Grisi first appeared, lord Mount Edgcumbe having ceased himself to
-attend the opera, tells us that she possessed "a handsome person, sweet,
-yet powerful voice, considerable execution, and still more expression;"
-that "she is an excellent singer, and excellent actress;" in short, is
-described to be as nearly perfect as possible, and is almost a greater
-favorite than even Pasta or Malibran. In his _Pencillings by the Way_,
-Mr. N. P. Willis writes, after seeing Grisi, who had then first appeared
-at the King's Theatre, in the year 1833; "she is young, very pretty,
-and an admirable actress--three great advantages to a singer; her voice
-is under absolute command, and she manages it beautifully; but it wants
-the infusion of soul--the gushing uncontrollable passionate feeling of
-Malibran. You merely feel that Grisi is an accomplished artist, while
-Malibran melts all your criticism into love and admiration. I am easily
-moved by music, but I come away without much enthusiasm for the present
-passion of London." The impression conveyed by Mr. N. P. Willis is not
-precisely that which I received from hearing Grisi fourteen or fifteen
-years afterwards, and up to her last season. Of late years, at least,
-Madame Grisi has shown herself above all "a passionate singer," though
-as "accomplished artists" superior to her, if not in force at least in
-delicacy of expression, she has, from the time of Madame Sontag to that
-of Madame Bosio, had plenty of superiors. It seems to us, in the present
-day, that the "incontrollable passionate feeling of Grisi," is just what
-we admire her for in "Norma," beyond doubt her best character; but it is
-none the less interesting, or perhaps the more interesting for that very
-reason, to know what a man of taste in poetry and the drama, and who had
-heard all the best singers of his time, thought of Madame Grisi at a
-period when her most striking qualifications may have been different
-from what they are now. She was at all events a great singer and actress
-then, in 1833, and is a great actress and singer now, in 1861--the year
-of her final retirement from the stage.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-     ROSSINI--SPOHR--BEETHOVEN--WEBER AND HOFFMANN.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI.]
-
-Bellini and Donizetti were contemporaries of Rossini; so were Paisiello
-and Cimarosa; so are M. Verdi and M. Meyerbeer; but Rossini has outlived
-most of them, and will certainly outlive them all. It is now forty-eight
-years since _Tancredi_, forty-five since _Otello_, and forty-five since
-_Il Barbiere di Siviglia_ were written. With the exception of Cimarosa's
-_Matrimonio Segretto_, which at long intervals may still occasionally be
-heard, the works of Rossini's Italian predecessors have been thrown into
-utter obscurity by the light of his superior genius. Let us make all due
-allowances for such change of taste as must result in music, as in all
-things, from the natural changeableness of the human disposition; still
-no variation has taken place in the estimation in which Rossini's works
-are held. It was to be expected that a musician of equal genius, coming
-after Paisiello and his compeers, young and vigorous, when they were old
-and exhausted, would in time completely eclipse them, even in respect to
-those works which they had written in their best days; but the
-remarkable thing is, that Rossini so re-modelled Italian opera, and gave
-to the world so many admirable examples of his own new style, that to
-opera-goers of the last thirty years he may be said to be the most
-ancient of those Italian composers who are not absolutely forgotten. At
-the same time, after hearing _William Tell_, it is impossible to deny
-that Rossini is also the most modern of operatic composers. That is to
-say, that since _William Tell_ was produced, upwards of thirty years
-ago, the art of writing dramatic music has not advanced a step. Other
-composers have written admirable operas during Rossini's time; but if no
-Italian _opera seria_, produced prior to _Otello_, can be compared to
-_Otello_; if no opera, subsequent to _William Tell_, can be ranked on a
-level with _William Tell_; if rivals have arisen, and Rossini's operas
-of five-and-forty years ago still continue to be admired and applauded;
-above all, if a singer,[103] the favourite heroine of a composer[104]
-who is so boastfully modern that he fancies he belongs to the next age,
-and who is nothing if not an innovator; if even this ultra modern
-heroine appears, when she wishes really to distinguish herself in a
-Rossinian opera of 1813;[105] then it follows that of our actual
-operatic period, and dating from the early part of the present century,
-Rossini is simply the Alpha and the Omega. Undoubtedly his works are
-full of beauty, gaiety, life, and of much poetry of a positive,
-passionate kind, but they are wanting in spiritualism, or rather they
-do not possess spirituality, and exhibit none of the poetry of romance.
-It would be difficult to say precisely in what the "romantic"
-consists;--and I am here reminded that several French writers have
-spoken of Rossini as a composer of the "romantic school," simply (as I
-imagine) because his works attained great popularity in France at the
-same time as those of Victor Hugo and his followers, and because he gave
-the same extension to the opera which the cultivators and naturalisers
-in France of the Shakspearian drama gave, _after_ Rossini, to their
-plays.[106] I may safely say, however, that with the "romantic," as an
-element of poetry, we always associate somewhat of melancholy and
-vagueness, and of dreaminess, if not of actual mystery. A bright
-passionate love-song of Rossini's is no more "romantic" than is a
-magnificent summer's day under an Italian sky; but Schubert's well known
-_Serenade_ is essentially "romantic;" and Schubert, as well as Hoffmann,
-(a composer of whom I shall afterwards have a few words to say), is
-decidedly of the same school as Weber, who is again of the same school,
-or rather of the same class, as Schubert and Beethoven, in so far that
-not one of the three ever visited Italy, or was influenced, further than
-was absolutely inevitable, by Italian composers.
-
-[Sidenote: SPOHR.]
-
-As a romantic composer Weber may almost be said to stand alone. As a
-thoroughly German composer he belongs to the same class as Beethoven and
-Spohr. Spohr, greatly as his symphonies and chamber compositions are
-admired, has yet never established himself in public favour as an
-operatic composer--at least not in England, nor indeed anywhere out of
-Germany. I may add, that in Germany itself, the land above all others of
-scientific music, the works which keep possession of the stage are, for
-the most part, those which the public also love to applaud in other
-countries. The truth is, that the success of an opera is seldom in
-proportion to its abstract musical merit, just as the success of a drama
-does not depend, or depends but very little, on the manner in which it
-is written. We have seen plays by Browning, Taylor (I mean the author of
-Philip Von Artevelde), Leigh Hunt, and other most distinguished writers,
-prove failures; while dramas and comedies put together by actors and
-playwrights have met with great success. This success is not to be
-undervalued; all I mean to say is, that it is not necessarily gained by
-the best writers in the drama, or by the best composers in the opera;
-though the best composers and the best writers ought to take care to
-achieve it in every department in which they present themselves. In the
-meanwhile, Spohr's dramatic works, with all their beauties, have never
-taken root in this country; while even Beethoven's _Fidelio_, one of the
-greatest of operas, does not occupy any clearly marked space in the
-history of opera; nor is it as an operatic composer that Beethoven has
-gained his immense celebrity.
-
-[Sidenote: BEETHOVEN.]
-
-All London opera-goers remember Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli's admirable
-performance in _Fidelio_; and like Mademoiselle Cruvelli (or Cruwel),
-all the great German singers who have visited England--with the single
-exception of Mademoiselle Titiens--have some time or other played the
-part of the heroine in Beethoven's famous dramatic work: but _Fidelio_
-has never been translated into English or French,--has never been played
-by any thoroughly Italian company, and admired, as it must always be by
-musicians--nor has ever excited any great enthusiasm among the English
-public, except when it has been executed by an entire company of
-Germans,--the only people who can do justice to its magnificent
-choruses. It is a work apart in more than one sense, and it has not had
-that perceptible influence on the works which have succeeded it, either
-in Germany or in other countries, that has been exercised by Weber's
-operas in Germany, and by Rossini's everywhere. For full particulars
-respecting Beethoven and his three styles, and _Fidelio_ and its three
-overtures, the reader may be referred to the works published at St.
-Petersburgh by M. Lenz in 1852 (_Beethoven et ses trois styles_), at
-Coblentz, by Dr. Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries in 1838, and at Munster, by
-Schindler (that friend of Beethoven's, who, according to the malicious
-Heine, wrote "_Ami de Beethoven_" on his card), in 1845. Schindler's
-book is the sourse of nearly all the biographical particulars since
-published respecting Beethoven; that of M. Lenz is chiefly remarkable
-for the inflated nonsense it contains in the shape of criticism. Thus
-Beethoven's third style is said to be "_un jugement porté sur le cosmos
-humain, et non plus une participation Ă  ses impressions_,"--words which,
-I confess, I do not know how to render into intelligible English. His
-symphonies in general are "events of universal history rather than
-musical productions of more or less merit." Those who have read M.
-Lenz's extravagant production, will remember that he attacks here and
-there M. Oulibicheff, author of the "Life of Mozart," published at
-Moscow in 1844. M. Oulibicheff replied in a work devoted specially to
-Beethoven (and to M. Lenz), published at St. Petersburgh in 1854;[107]
-in which he is said by our best critics not to have done full justice to
-Beethoven, though he well maintains his assertion; an assertion which
-appears to me quite unassailable, that the composer of _Don Juan_
-combined all the merits of all the schools which had preceded him. I
-have already endeavoured, in more than one place, to impress this truth
-upon such of my readers as might not be sufficiently sensible of it, and
-moreover, that all the important operatic reforms attributed to the
-successors of Mozart, and especially to Rossini, belong to Mozart
-himself, who from his eminence dominates equally over the present and
-the past.
-
-[Sidenote: BORROWED THEMES.]
-
-Karl Maria von Weber has had a very different influence on the opera
-from that exercised by Beethoven and Spohr; and so much of his method of
-operatic composition as could easily be imitated has found abundance of
-imitators. Thus Weber's plan of taking the principal melodies for his
-overtures from the operas which they are to precede, has been very
-generally followed; so also has his system of introducing national airs,
-more or less modified, when his great object is to give to his work a
-national colour.[108] This process, which produces admirable results in
-the hands of a composer of intelligence and taste, becomes, when adopted
-by inferior musicians, simply a convenient mode of plagiarism. Without
-for one moment ranking Rossini, Bellini, or Donizetti in the latter
-class, I may nevertheless observe, that the cavatina of _La Gazza Ladra_
-is founded on an air sung by the peasants of Sicily; that the melody of
-the trio in the _Barber of Seville_ (_Zitti, Zitti_), is Simon's air in
-the _Seasons_, note for note; that _Di tanti palpiti_ was originally a
-Roman Catholic hymn; that the music of _La Sonnambula_ is full of
-reminiscences of the popular music of Sicily; and that Donizetti has
-also had recourse to national airs for the tunes of his choruses in _La
-Favorite_. In the above instances, which might easily be multiplied the
-composers seem to me rather to have suited their own personal
-convenience, than to have aimed at giving any particular "colour" to
-their works. However that may be, I feel obliged to them for my part for
-having brought to light beautiful melodies, which but for them might
-have remained in obscurity, as I also do to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
-and Mendelssohn, for the admirable use they also have occasionally made
-of popular themes. It appears to me, however, (to speak now of operatic
-composers alone) that there is a great difference between borrowing an
-air from an oratorio, a collection of national music, or any other
-source, simply because it happens to be beautiful, and doing so because
-it is appropriate to a particular personage or scene. We may not blame,
-but we cannot praise Rossini for taking a melody of Haydn's for his
-_Zitti, Zitti_, instead of inventing one for himself; nor was there any
-particular merit, except that of civility, in giving "Berta," in the
-same opera, a Russian air to sing, which Rossini had heard at the house
-of a Russian lady residing at Rome, for whom he had a certain
-admiration. But the _Ranz des Vaches_, introduced with such admirable
-effect into _Guillaume Tell_, where it is marvellously embellished, and
-yet loses nothing of its original character; this _Ranz des Vaches_ at
-once transports us amongst the Swiss mountains. So Luther's hymn is in
-its proper place in the _Huguenots_;[109] so is the Persian air, made
-the subject of a chorus of Persian beauties by the Russian composer
-Glinka, in his _Rouslan e Loudmila_; so also is the Arabian march (first
-published by Niebuhr in his "Travels in Arabia"), played behind the
-scenes by the guards of the seraglio in _Oberon_, and the old Spanish
-romance employed as the foundation to the overture of _Preciosa_.
-
-[Sidenote: WEBER.]
-
-Weber had a fondness not only for certain instrumental combinations and
-harmonic effects, but also for particular instruments, such as the
-clarionet and the horn, and particular chords (which caused Beethoven to
-say that Weber's _Euryanthe_ was a collection of diminished sevenths).
-There are certain rhythms too, which, if Weber did not absolutely
-invent, he has employed so happily, and has shown such a marked liking
-for them (not only in his operas, but also in his pianoforte
-compositions, and other instrumental works), that they may almost be
-said to belong to him. With regard to the orchestral portion of his
-operas generally, I may remark that Weber, though too high-souled a poet
-to fall into the error of direct imitation of external noises, has yet
-been able to suggest most charmingly and poetically, such vague natural
-sounds as the rustling of the leaves of the forest, and the murmuring of
-the waves of the sea. Finally, to speak of what defies analysis, but to
-assert what every one who has listened to Weber's music will I think
-admit, his music is full of that ideality and spirituality which in
-literature is regarded in the present day, if not as the absolute
-essence of poetry, at least, as one of its most essential elements. Read
-Weber's life, study his letters, listen again and again to his music,
-and you will find that he was a conscientious, dutiful, religious man,
-with a thoroughly musical organization, great imaginative powers,
-inexhaustible tenderness, and a deep, intuitive appreciation of all that
-is most beautiful in popular legends. He was an artist of the highest
-order, and with him art was truly a religion. He believed in its
-ennobling effect, and that it was to be used only for ennobling
-purposes. Thus, to have departed from the poetic exigencies of a subject
-to gratify the caprice of a singer, or to attain the momentary applause
-of the public would, to Weber, with the faith he held, have been a
-heresy and a crime.
-
-Weber has not precisely founded a school, but his influence is
-perceptible in some of the works of Mendelssohn, (as, for instance, in
-the overture to a _Midsummer Night's Dream_) and in many portions of
-Meyerbeer's operas, especially in the fantastic music of _Robert le
-Diable_, and in certain passages of _Dinorah_--a legend which Weber
-himself would have loved to treat. Meyerbeer is said to have borrowed
-many of his instrumental combinations from Weber; but in speaking of the
-points of resemblance between the two composers, I was thinking not of
-details of style, but of the general influence of Weber's thought and
-manner. If Auber is indebted to Weber it is simply for the idea of
-making the overture out of the airs of an opera, and of colouring the
-melodic portion by the introduction of national airs. Only while Weber
-gives to his operas a becoming national or poetic colour throughout, the
-musical tints in M. Auber's dramatic works are often by no means in
-harmony. The Italian airs in _La Muette_ are appropriate enough, and the
-whole of that work is in good keeping; but in the _Domino Noir_,
-charming opera as it is, no one can help noticing that Spanish songs,
-and songs essentially French, follow one another in the most abrupt
-manner. As nothing can be more Spanish than the second movement of
-"Angèle's" scene (in the third act) so nothing can be more French, more
-Parisian, more vaudevillistic than the first.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHĂśTZ.]
-
-But to return to Weber and his operas. _Der FreischĂĽtz_, decidedly the
-most important of all Weber's works, and which expresses in a more
-remarkable manner than any other of his dramatic productions the natural
-bent of his genius, was performed for the first time at Berlin in 1821.
-_Euryanthe_ was produced at Vienna in 1823, and _Oberon_ at London in
-1826. _Der FreischĂĽtz_ is certainly the most perfect German opera that
-exists; not that it is a superior work to _Don Giovanni_, but that _Don
-Giovanni_ is less a German than a universal opera; whereas _Der
-FreischĂĽtz_ is essentially of Germany, by its subject, by the
-physiognomy of the personages introduced, and by the general character
-of the music. There is this resemblance, however, between _Don Giovanni_
-and _Der FreischĂĽtz_: that in each the composer had met with a libretto
-peculiarly suited to his genius--the librettist having first conceived
-the plan of the opera, and having long carried its germ in his mind.
-Lorenzo da Ponte, in his memoirs (of which an interesting account was
-published some years ago by M. Scudo, the accomplished critic of the
-_Revue des Deux Mondes_) states, that he had long thought of Don Juan as
-an admirable subject for an opera, of which he felt the poetic
-truthfulness only too well, from reflecting on his own career; and that
-he suggested it to Mozart, not only because he appreciated that
-composer's high dramatic genius, but also because he had studied his
-mental and moral nature; and saw, from his simplicity, his loftiness of
-character, and his reverential, religious disposition, that he would do
-full justice to the marvellous legend. Frederic Kind has also published
-a little volume ("Der FreischĂĽtz-Buch"), in which he explains how the
-circumstances of his life led him to meditate from an early age on such
-legends as that which Weber has treated in his master-piece. When Weber
-was introduced to Kind, he was known as the director of the Opera at
-Prague, and also, and above all, as the composer of numerous popular and
-patriotic choruses, which were sung by all Germany during the national
-war of 1813. He had not at this time produced any opera; nor had Kind,
-a poet of some reputation, ever written the libretto of one. Kind was
-unwilling at first to attempt a style in which he did not feel at all
-sure of success. One day, however, taking up a book, he said to Weber:
-"There ought to be some thing here that would suit us, and especially
-you, who have already treated popular subjects." He at the same time
-handed to the musician a collection of legends, directing his attention
-in particular to Apel's FreischĂĽtz. Weber, who already knew the story,
-was delighted with the suggestion. "Divine! divine!" he exclaimed with
-enthusiasm; and the poet at once commenced his libretto.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHĂśTZ.]
-
-No great work ever obtained a more complete and immediate triumph than
-_Der FreischĂĽtz_; and within a few years of its production at Berlin it
-was translated and re-produced in all the principal capitals of Europe.
-It was played at London in English, at Paris in French, and at both
-cities in German. In London it became so popular, that at the height of
-its first success a gentleman, in advertising for a servant, is said to
-have found it necessary to stipulate that he should _not_ be able to
-whistle the airs from _Der FreischĂĽtz_. In Paris, its fate was curious,
-and in some respects almost inexplicable. It was brought out in 1824 at
-the Odéon, in its original form, and was hissed. Whether the intelligent
-French audience objected to the undeniable improbability of the chief
-incidents in the drama, or whether the originality of the music offended
-their unprepared ears, or whatever may have been the cause, Weber's
-master-piece was damned. Its translator, M. Castil Blaze, withdrew it,
-but determined to offer it to the critical public of the Odéon in
-another form. He did not hesitate to remodel _Der FreischĂĽtz_, changing
-the order of the pieces, cutting out such beauties as the French thought
-laughable, interpolating here and there such compositions of his own as
-he thought would please them, and finally presenting them this
-remarkable medley (which, however, still consisted mainly of airs and
-choruses by Weber) nine days after the failure of _Der FreischĂĽtz_,
-under the title of _Robin des Bois_. The opera, as decomposed and
-recomposed by M. Castil Blaze, was so successful, that it was
-represented three hundred and fifty-seven times at the Odéon. Moreover,
-it had already been played sixty times at the Opéra Comique, when the
-French Dramatic Authors' Society interfered to prevent its further
-representation at that theatre, on the ground that it had not been
-specially written for it. M. Castil Blaze, in the version he has himself
-published of this curious affair, tells us, that his first version of
-_Der FreischĂĽtz_, in which his "respect for the work and the author had
-prevented him from making the least change" was "_sifflé_, _meurtri_,
-_bafoué_, _navré_, _moqué_, _conspué_, _turlupiné_, _hué_, _vilipendié_,
-_terrassé_, _déchiré_, _lacéré_, _cruellement enfoncé_, _jusqu'au
-troisiéme dessous_." This, and the after success of his modified
-version, justified him, he thinks, in depriving Weber's work of all its
-poetry, and reducing it to the level of the comprehension of a French
-musical audience in the year 1824.
-
-Strangely enough, when Berlioz's version of _Der FreischĂĽtz_ was
-produced at the Académie in 1841, it met with scarcely more success than
-had been obtained by _Der FreischĂĽtz_ in its original musical form at
-the Odéon. The recitatives added by M. Berlioz, if not objectionable in
-themselves, are at least to be condemned in so far that they are not
-Weber's, that they prolong the music beyond Weber's intentions, and,
-above all, that they change the entire character of the work. I cannot
-think, after Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, that recitative is an inappropriate
-language in the mouths of peasants. Recitative of an heroic character,
-would be so, no doubt; but not such as a composer of genius, or even of
-taste or talent, would write for them. Nevertheless, Weber conceived his
-master-piece as a species of melodrama, in which the personages were now
-to sing, now to speak, "through the music," (to adopt an expressive
-theatrical phrase), now to speak without any musical accompaniment at
-all. If, at a theatre devoted exclusively to the performance of grand
-opera, it is absolutely necessary to replace the spoken dialogue by
-recitative, then this dialogue should, at least, be so compressed as to
-reduce the amount of added recitative to a minimum quantity. _Der
-FreischĂĽtz_, however, will always be heard to the greatest advantage in
-the form in which it was originally produced. The pauses between the
-pieces of music have, it must be remembered, been all premeditated, and
-their effect taken into account by the composer.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHĂśTZ.]
-
-But the transformations of _Der FreischĂĽtz_ are not yet at an end. Six
-years ago M. Castil Blaze re-arranged his _Robin des Bois_ once more,
-restored what he had previously cut out, cut out what he had himself
-added to Weber's music, and produced his version, No. 3 (which must have
-differed very little, if at all, from his unfortunate version, No. 1),
-at the Théâtre Lyrique.
-
-Every season, too, it is rumoured that _Der FreischĂĽtz_ is to be
-produced at one of the Italian theatres of London, with Mademoiselle
-Titiens or Madame Csillag in the principal part. When managers are tired
-of tiring the public with perpetual variations between Verdi and
-Meyerbeer, (to whose monstrously long operas my sole but sufficient
-objection is, that there is too much of them, and--with the exception of
-the charming _Dinorah_--that they are stuffed full of ballets,
-processions, and other pretexts for unnecessary scenic display), then we
-shall assuredly have an opportunity of hearing once more in England the
-masterpiece of the chief of all the composers of the romantic and
-legendary school. In such a case, who will supply the necessary
-recitatives? Those of M. Berlioz have been tried, and found wanting. Mr.
-Costa's were not a whit more satisfactory. M. Alary, the mutilator of
-_Don Giovanni_, would surely not be encouraged to try his hand on
-Weber's masterpiece? Meyerbeer, between whose genius and that of Weber,
-considerable affinity exists, is, perhaps, the only composer of the
-present day whom it would be worth while to ask to write recitatives for
-_Der FreischĂĽtz_. The additions would have to be made with great
-discretion, so as not to encumber the opera; but who would venture to
-give a word of advice, if the work were undertaken by M. Meyerbeer?
-
-Weber's _Preciosa_ was produced at Berlin in 1820, a year before _Der
-FreischĂĽtz_, which latter opera appears to have occupied its composer
-four years--undoubtedly the four years best spent of all his artistic
-life. The libretto of _Preciosa_ is founded on Cervantes' _Gipsy of
-Madrid_, (of which M. Louis Viardot has published an excellent French
-translation); and here Weber, faithful to his system has given abundant
-"colour" to his work, in which the Spanish romance introduced into the
-overture, and the Gipsies' march are, with the waltz (which may be said
-to be in Weber's personal style), the most striking and characteristic
-pieces.
-
-[Sidenote: EURYANTHE.]
-
-_Euryanthe_ was written for Vienna, where it was represented for the
-first time in 1823, the part of "Euryanthe" being filled by Mademoiselle
-Sontag, that of "Adolar," by Heitzinger. The libretto of this opera,
-composed by a lady, Madame Wilhelmine de Chézy is by no means
-interesting, and the dulness of the poem, though certainly not
-communicated to the music, has caused the latter to suffer from the mere
-fact of being attached to it. _Euryanthe_ was received coldly by the
-public of Vienna, and was called by its wits--professors of the
-"_calembourg d'à-peu-près_"--_Ennuyante_. If such facetiousness as this
-was thought enlivening, it is easy to understand how Weber's music was
-considered the reverse. I have already mentioned Beethoven's remark
-about _Euryanthe_ being "a collection of diminished sevenths." Weber was
-naturally not enchanted with this observation; indeed it is said to
-have pained him exceedingly, and some days after the first production of
-_Euryanthe_ he paid a visit to Beethoven, in order to submit the score
-to his judgment. Beethoven received him kindly, but said to him, with a
-certain roughness which was habitual to him: "You should have come to me
-before the representation, not afterwards...." Nevertheless," he added,
-"I advise you to treat _Euryanthe_ as I did _Fidelio_; that is to say,
-cut out a third."
-
-_Euryanthe_, however, soon met with the success it deserved, not only at
-Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig, but at Vienna itself, where the part
-created by Mademoiselle Sontag was performed in 1825 by Madame
-Schrœder-Devrient, in a manner which excited general enthusiasm. The
-passionate duet between "Adolar" and "Euryanthe," in the second act, as
-sung by Heitzinger and Madame Schrœder, would alone have sufficed to
-attract the public of Vienna to Weber's opera, now that it was revived.
-
-_Oberon_, Weber's last opera, was composed for Covent Garden Theatre, in
-1826. Some ingenious depreciators of English taste have discovered that
-Weber died from grief, caused by the coldness with which this work was
-received by the London public. With regard to this subject, I cannot do
-better than quote the excellent remarks of M. Scudo. After mentioning
-that _Oberon_ was received with enthusiasm on its first production at
-Covent Garden--that it was "appreciated by those who were worthy of
-comprehending it"--and that an English musical journal, the
-_Harmonicon_, "published a remarkable article, in which all the beauties
-of the score were brought out with great taste," he observes that "it is
-impossible to quote an instance of a great man in literature, or in the
-arts, whose merit was entirely overlooked by his contemporaries;" while,
-"as for the death of Weber, it may be explained by fatigue, by grief,
-without doubt, but, above all, by an organic disease, from which he had
-suffered for years." At the same time "the enthusiasm exhibited by the
-public, at the first representation of _Oberon_, did not keep at the
-same height at the following representations. The master-piece of the
-German composer experienced much the same fate as _William Tell_ in
-Paris."
-
-[Sidenote: OBERON.]
-
-Weber himself, in a letter written to his wife, on the very night of the
-first performance, says:--"My dear Lina; thanks to God and to his all
-powerful will, I obtained this evening the greatest success in my life.
-The emotion produced in my breast by such a triumph, is more than I can
-describe. To God alone belongs the glory. When I entered the orchestra,
-the house, crammed to the roof, burst into a frenzy of applause. Hats
-and handkerchiefs were waved in the air. The overture had to be executed
-twice, as had also several of the pieces in the opera itself. The air
-which Braham sings in the first act was encored; so was Fatima's
-romance, and a quartett in the second act. The public even wished to
-hear the finale over again. In the third act, Fatima's ballad was
-re-demanded. At the end of the representation I was called on to the
-stage by the enthusiastic acclamations of the public, an honour which
-no composer had ever before obtained in England. All went excellently,
-and every one around me was happy."
-
-In spite of the enthusiasm inspired by Weber's works in England, when
-they were first produced, and for some years afterwards, we have now but
-rarely an opportunity of hearing one of them. _Oberon_, it is true, was
-brought out at Her Majesty's Theatre at the end of last season, when,
-not being able to achieve miracles, it did not save the manager from
-bankruptcy; but the existence of Weber's other works seems to be
-forgotten by our directors, English as well as Italian, though from time
-to time a rumour goes about, which proves to be a rumour and nothing
-more, that _Der FreischĂĽtz_ is to be performed by one of our Italian
-companies. In the meanwhile Weber has found an abundance of appreciation
-in France, where, at the ably and artistically-conducted Théâtre
-Lyrique, _Der FreischĂĽtz_, _Oberon_, _Euryanthe_ and _Preciosa_ have all
-been brought out, and performed with remarkable success during the last
-few years.
-
-A composer, whose works present many points of analogy with those of
-Weber, and which therefore belong essentially to the German romantic
-school, is Hoffmann--far better known by his tales than by his
-_Miserere_, his _Requiem_, his airs and choruses for Werner's _Crusade
-of the Baltic_, or his operas of _Love and Jealousy_, the _Canon of
-Milan_, or _Undine_. This last production has always been regarded as
-his master-piece. Indeed, with _Undine_, Hoffmann obtained his one great
-musical success; and it is easy to account for the marked favour with
-which that work was received in Germany. In the first place the
-fantastic nature of the subject was eminently suited to the peculiar
-genius of the composer. Then he possessed the advantage of having an
-excellent _libretto_, written by Lamotte-Fouqué, the author of the
-original tale; and, finally, the opera was admirably executed at the
-Royal Theatre of Berlin. Probably not one of my readers has heard
-Hoffmann's _Undine_, which was brought out in 1817, and I believe was
-never revived, though much of the music, for a time, enjoyed
-considerable popularity, and the composition, as a whole, was warmly and
-publicly praised by no less a personage than Karl Maria von Weber
-himself. On the other hand, _Undine_, and Hoffmann's music generally,
-have been condemned by Sir Walter Scott, who is reported not to have
-been able to distinguish one melody from another, though he had, of
-course, a profound admiration for Scotch ballads of all kinds. M. FĂ©tis,
-too, after informing us that Hoffmann "gave music lessons, painted
-enormous pictures, and wrote _licentious novels_ (where are Hoffmann's
-licentious novels?) without succeeding in making himself remarked in any
-style," goes on to assure us, without ever having heard _Undine_, that
-although there were "certain parts" in which genius was evinced, yet
-"want of connexion, of conformity, of conception, and of plan, might be
-observed throughout;" and that "the judgment of the best critics was,
-that such a work could not be classed among those compositions which
-mark an epoch in art."
-
-[Sidenote: HOFFMANN'S UNDINE.]
-
-Weber had studied criticism less perhaps than M. FĂ©tis; but he knew
-more about creativeness, and in an article on the opera of _Undine_, so
-far from complaining of any "want of connexion, of conformity, of
-conception, and of plan," the author of _Der FreischĂĽtz_ says: "This
-work seems really to have been composed at one inspiration, and I do not
-remember, after hearing it several times, that any passage ever recalled
-me for a single minute from the circle of magic images that the artist
-evoked in my soul. Yes, from the beginning to the end, the author
-sustains the interest so powerfully, by the musical development of his
-theme, that after but a single hearing one really seizes the _ensemble_
-of the work; and detail disappears in the _naïveté_ and modesty of his
-art. With rare renunciation, such as can be appreciated only by him who
-knows what it costs to sacrifice the triumph of a momentary success, M.
-Hoffmann has disdained to enrich some pieces at the expense of others,
-which it is so easy to do by giving them an importance, which does not
-belong to them as members of the entire work. The composer always
-advances, visibly guided by this one aspiration--to be always truthful,
-and keep up the dramatic action without ceasing, instead of checking or
-fettering it in its rapid progress. Diverse and strongly marked as are
-the characters of the different personages, there is, nevertheless,
-something which surrounds them all; it is that fabulous life, full of
-phantoms, and those soft whisperings of terror, which belong so
-peculiarly to the fantastic. KĂĽhleborn is the character most strikingly
-put in relief, both by the choice of the melodies, and by the
-instrumentation which, never leaving him, always announces his sinister
-approach.[110] This is quite right, KĂĽhleborn appearing, if not as
-destiny itself, at least as its appointed instrument. After him comes
-_Undine_, the charming daughter of the waves, which, made sonorous, now
-murmur and break in harmonious roulades, now powerful and commanding,
-announce her power. The 'arietta' of the second act, treated with rare
-and subtle grace, seems to me a thorough success, and to render the
-character perfectly. 'Hildebrand,' so passionate, yet full of
-hesitation, and allowing himself to be carried away by each amorous
-desire, and the pious and simple priest, with his grave choral melody,
-are the next in importance. In the back-ground are Bertalda, the
-fisherman, and his wife, and the duke and duchess. The strains sung by
-the suite of the latter breathe a joyous, animated life, and are
-developed with admirable gaiety; thus forming a contrast with the sombre
-choruses of the spirits of the earth and water, which are full of harsh,
-strange progressions. The end of the opera, in which the composer
-displays, as if to crown his work, all his abundance of harmony in the
-double chorus in eight parts, appears to me grandly conceived and
-perfectly rendered. He has expressed the words--'good night to all the
-cares and to all the magnificence of the earth'--with true loftiness,
-and with a soft melancholy, which, in spite of the tragic conclusion of
-the piece, leaves behind a delicious impression of calm and
-consolation. The overture and the final chorus which enclose the work
-here give one another the hand. The former, which evokes and opens the
-world of wonders, commences softly, goes on increasing, then bursts
-forth with passion; the latter is introduced without brusqueness, but
-mixes up with the action, and calms and satisfies it completely. The
-entire work is one of the most _spiritual_ that these latter times have
-given us. It is the result of the most perfect and intimate
-comprehension of the subject, completed by a series of ideas profoundly
-reflected upon, and by the intelligent use of all the material resources
-of art; the whole rendered into a magnificent work by beautiful and
-admirably developed melodies."
-
-M. Berlioz has said of Hoffmann's music, adding, however, that he had
-not heard a note of it, that it was "_de la musique de littérateur_." M.
-FĂ©tis, having heard about as much of it, has said a great deal more;
-but, after what has been written concerning Hoffmann's principal opera
-by such a master and judge as Karl Maria von Weber, neither the opinion
-of M. FĂ©tis, nor of M. Berlioz, can be of any value on the subject. The
-merit of Hoffmann's music has probably been denied, because the world is
-not inclined to believe that the same man can be a great writer and also
-a great musician. Perhaps it is this perversity of human nature that
-makes us disposed to hold M. Berlioz in so little esteem as an author;
-and I have no doubt that there are many who would be equally unwilling
-to allow M. FĂ©tis any tolerable rank as a composer.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX,
-
-HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
-
-
-A.
-
-Abbaye of Longchamp, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the, ii. 49.
-
-Academiciens, of the Paris opera, ii. 47.
-
-Académie Royale de Musique, of Paris, numerous works produced
-    at the, i. 13, 14;
-  its institution, 15;
-  its system of conscription, 77;
-  privileges of its members, 77;
-  its state of morality, 81, 82;
-  its absurd privileges, 86, 87;
-  its chief singers, 223;
-  operatic disturbances at the, ii. 36-38;
-  destroyed by fire, 41;
-  management and proceedings of the, 55;
-  prices for private boxes, 56;
-  effect of the French Revolution on the, 56 _et seq_;
-  its changes of name, 57, 194 note;
-  Opera National substituted, 59. (See OPERA).
-
-Academy of Music (See ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC).
-
-"Actor's Remonstrance," a tract, i. 81.
-
-Actresses, their prodigality under the French regency, i. 82, 83.
-
-Addison, Joseph, on the Italian Opera in England, i. 53-58;
-  the justness of his views on operatic representations, 62;
-  his satirical remarks on the French Opera, 66;
-  on the Italian Opera, 113;
-  his critique on Nicolini and the lion, 118-122;
-  his humorous critique on "Rinaldo" and the operatic sparrows, 123-126;
-  his unfavourable opinion of Opera, 127;
-  his critique on Milton, 128.
-
-Aguiari, Lucrezia, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Albert, the French dancer, ii. 111, 112.
-
-Alboni, Madame, the Italian vocalist, ii. 162.
-
-Algarotti's work on the Opera, i. 2.
-
-_Almahide_, opera of, i. 117.
-
-_Ambleto_, opera of, i. 127, 128.
-
-Ambrogetti, the celebrated baritone, ii. 108;
-  the first performer of _Giovanni_ in London, 108.
-
-_Anna Bolena_, of Donizetti, ii. 232;
-  the author's master-piece, 233.
-
-_Antiochus_, opera of, i. 127.
-
-Antoine de Baif, privileged to establish an Academy of Music, i. 15.
-
-Antony Ă  Wood, on the operatic drama, i. 37.
-
-Arbuthnot, Dr., on the failure of Italian operas, i. 148.
-
-Archilei, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Arnauld, Abbé, his passionate exclamation, i. 64.
-
-Arnaud, Abbe, an admirer of Gluck, i. 287, 288.
-
-Arnould, Sophie, the celebrated singer, i. 223;
-  biographical notices of, 226 _et seq._;
-  her talents, wit, and beauty, 226-230;
-  her death, 231;
-  anecdote of, ii. 35;
-  accused of aristocratic sympathies, 70;
-  pensioned by Fouché, 79.
-
-_Arsinoe_, opera of, played by Mrs. Tofts, i. 107;
-  critique on the play, 108, 109.
-
-Atto, the Italian tenor, i. 183, 184.
-
-Auber, his opera of _Masaniello_, i. 14;
-  the follower of Rossini, ii. 202;
-  his _Gustave III._, 219.
-
-Authors, regulations for their admission to the opera of Paris, i. 79, 80.
-
-
-B.
-
-B flat, of Rubini, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Badiali, Signor, his curious performance with a drinking glass, ii. 278, 279.
-
-Balfe's libretti, founded on French pieces, i. 214.
-
-Ball, Hughes, marries Mercandotti, ii. 120.
-
-Ballet, introduction and progress of the, i. 70 _et seq._;
-  Lulli's great attention to the, 72;
-  propriety of its following the Opera, 251;
-  great attention paid to it by the Italians, 251.
-
-Ballet d'Action, invented by the Duchess du Maine, i. 77;
-  soon afterwards imported into England, 77;
-  never naturalised in this country, 77.
-
-Ballet-dancers, important persons in France previous to the Revolution, ii. 53.
-
-Ballets, origin of, i. 18;
-  the most brilliant part of the Open at Paris, 258.
-
-Balon, the ballet-dancer, i. 78.
-
-Banti Mdlle., the celebrated vocalist, ii. 10;
-  biographical notices of, 10-12.
-
-_Barber of Seville_, by Rossini, ii. 144 _et seq._
-
-_Bardi_, G., Count of Vernio, musical assemblies of, i. 5.
-
-Baroni, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Barwick, Ann, her arrest for creating a disturbance, i. 105.
-
-Bassi, the baritone singer, ii. 105.
-
-Bastille, taking of the, ii. 54.
-
-_Beatrice di Tenda_, of Bellini, ii. 252.
-
-Beaujoyeux's _Ballet Comique de la Royne_, i. 71.
-
-Beaumarchais, the musical composer, his bon-mot on operatic music, i. 53;
-  refuses letters of nobility, 221;
-  the court music-master, 291;
-  music-master to the daughters of Louis XV., ii. 39;
-  anecdote of, 39.
-
-Beaupré, the comic dancer, ii. 68.
-
-Beethoven, the German composer, i. 221, ii. 285, 286;
-  accepts fifty ducats in preference to the cross of some order, i. 221;
-  his _Fidelio_, ii. 286;
-  his three styles, 286;
-  critiques on his works, 286, 287;
-  his advice to Weber, 299.
-
-_Beggar's Opera_, the touchstone of English taste, i. 148.
-
-Belissent, M. de, anecdote of, i. 262.
-
-Bellini, the musical composer, i. 212;
-  his _Sonnambula_ grounded upon _Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_, 212;
-  biographical notices of, ii. 247 _et seq._;
-  his various productions, 249-253;
-  _I Puritani_ his last opera, 253;
-  his death, 254;
-  sorrow caused thereby, 255;
-  letter from his father on his lamented death, 256;
-  compared with Donizetti, 257;
-  his singers, 259.
-
-Beneditti, Signor, performer at the Opera in 1720, i. 159;
-  his capricious temper, 160.
-
-Benini, Madame, _the altra prima donna_, goes to Paris, ii. 3;
-  her exquisite voice, 3.
-
-Beranger, on the decline of the drama, i. 65.
-
-Bergamo, theatre at, ii. 265.
-
-Berlioz's version of _Der FreischĂĽtz_, ii. 296;
-  his opinion of Hoffmann's music, 306.
-
-Bernacchi, Signor, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Bernadotte, at Udine, ii. 91.
-
-Bernard, S., the court banker of Paris, i. 92;
-  his munificence to actresses, 92.
-
-Bernardi. (See SENESINO.)
-
-Bernier, the musical composer, anecdote of, i. 85.
-
-Bernino, the scenic painter and decorator, i. 179.
-
-Berri, duke de, assassinated, ii. 190.
-
-Bertatti's _Matrimonio Segretto_, ii. 97.
-
-Bertin, E., the French critic, ii. 158.
-
-Bertoldi, Signora, the Italian singer and actress, i. 163.
-
-Berton, manager of the Paris Opera, i. 291.
-
-_Bianca e Fernando_ of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Bias, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Bigottini, the French dancer, ii. 111, 112.
-
-Bilboquet, humorous anecdote of, i. 188, 190.
-
-Billington, Mrs., the operatic singer, ii. 12;
-  her performance, 13;
-  among the first class of singers, 28.
-
-Blaze, M. Castil, historian of the French Opera, i. 301;
-  on the removal of the Opera near the National Library, ii. 71;
-  his published description of Mddle. Sallé's performances, 93-96, 99;
-  his adaptation of Weber's _Der FreischĂĽtz_, 297.
-
-_Bohemian Girl_, not original, i. 213;
-  sources whence taken, 213.
-
-Boisgerard, M., ballet-master and negociator of the King's
-    Theatre, ii. 110, 111;
-  his daring exploit in liberating Sir Sidney Smith from the Temple, 117, 118.
-
-Bolton, Duke of, marries Miss Lavinia Fenton, i. 138.
-
-Bonaparte, Napoleon, introduced to Mddle. Montansier, ii. 74;
-  grants her an indemnity, 75;
-  natural effect of his campaigns in Italy to create a taste
-     for Italian music, 79;
-  his prompt engagement and liberal offers to Madame Paer
-    and M. Brizzi, 80, 81;
-  rewards Paisiello, 82;
-  plots for assassinating, 179, 182;
-  a good friend to the Opera, 193.
-
-Bontempi's account of Masocci's school of singing, i. 184.
-
-Borrowed Themes, ii. 289.
-
-Bouillon, Duke de, his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-Bourdon, Leonard, the republican dramatist, ii. 67.
-
-Braham, the distinguished operatic singer, ii. 14.
-
-Brambilla, Mdlle., biographical notices of, ii. 173.
-
-Brevets, granted by the French court for admission to the Opera, ii. 48;
-  evils resulting therefrom, 48;
-  not required of the fishwomen and charcoal-men of Paris,
-     who were always present at the Opera on certain fetes, 49.
-
-Brizzi, M., the vocalist, ii. 80;
-  engaged by Bonaparte, 80, 81.
-
-Broschi, Carlo. (See FARINELLI.)
-
-Brydone's anecdote of Gabrielli, the vocalist, i. 195, 197.
-
-Bull, Dr. J., the national anthem attributed to, i. 165, 166.
-
-Buononcini, the musical composer, i. 109;
-  his first opera produced in 1720, 145;
-  his _Griselda_ in 1722, 146;
-  his last opera of _Astyanax_, 146;
-  his piracy and disgrace, 146;
-  his continental career and death, 147.
-
-Buret, Mddle., execution of, ii. 76.
-
-Burlington, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-Burney, Dr., at Vienna, i. 198;
-  at Berlin, 199.
-
-
-C.
-
-Caccini, the Italian musician, i. 5;
-  composer of the music to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-Caccini, Francesca, daughter of the composer Caccini, i. 8.
-
-Caffarelli, the singer, biographical notices of, i. 191;
-  his quarrel with Metastasio, 192.
-
-Caldus, his unfortunate speculation in the Pantheon, ii. 125.
-
-Calsabigi, the librettist, i. 212.
-
-Camargo, Mdlle., the celebrated French danseuse, i. 89;
-  her exquisite skill, 90.
-
-Cambert, his French opera, i. 15;
-  driven to London, 16;
-  his arrival in London, 28;
-  his favourable reception, 28;
-  English version of his _Ariadne_, 28;
-  his death and character, 28.
-
-Cambronne, General, anecdote of, i. 17, _note_.
-
-_Camilla_, music of, i. 109;
-  critique on the opera of, 109, 110.
-
-_Campanello di Notte_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Campion, Miss, the vocalist, i. 139;
-  the Duke of Devonshire's inscription to her memory, i. 139.
-
-Campistron, one of Lulli's librettists, i. 22.
-
-Camporese, Madame, the Italian vocalist, ii. 160.
-
-Campra, J., orchestral conductor of the Marseilles opera, i. 87;
-  anecdote of, 88.
-
-_Capuletti ed i Montecchi_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 257.
-
-Caradori, the vocalist, ii. 264.
-
-Carestini, the Italian singer, i. 164.
-
-Carey, H., the national anthem attributed to, i. 166.
-
-Carpentras school of music, i. 6.
-
-Catalani, the vocal queen of the age, ii. 16;
-  her extraordinary powers, 17, 19;
-  biographical notices of, 18-20;
-  Napoleon's munificent offer to, 18;
-  draft of a contract between her and Mr. Ebers of the King's Theatre, 23-25;
-  her retirement and death, 26;
-  enormous sums paid to, 132.
-
-_Caterina Comaro_ of Donizetti, ii. 243.
-
-Catherine the Great of Russia, her interview with the vocalist
-    Gabrielli, i. 198;
-  introduces the Italian Opera into St. Petersburgh, 199.
-
-Cavaliere, Emilio del, a musician of Rome, i. 5.
-
-Chambers, the banker, mortgagee of the King's Theatre, ii. 128, 130.
-
-Chamfort, the republican, commits suicide, ii. 76.
-
-Chantilly, Mdlle. (See FAVART).
-
-Chapel-Masters, their strange readings, i. 44.
-
-Chappell, W., on the origin of the national anthem, i. 166.
-
-Charbonniers of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes, ii. 49.
-
-Charles II., his patronage of operatic music, i. 33.
-
-Charles VI. of Germany, his musical taste, i. 182.
-
-Charles VII. of Germany, a musician, and the great patron
-     of the opera at Vienna, i. 181.
-
-Charles Edward, the young Pretender, arrested at the Académie
-     Musique, and expelled from France, i. 234.
-
-Chasse, the, baritone singer, i. 223;
-  biographical notices of, 223-5.
-
-Chaumette, the sanguinary republican, ii. 73.
-
-Cheron, the celebrated French bass, ii. 279;
-  the vibratory force of his voice, 279.
-
-Cherubini's "Abencerrages," ii. 189.
-
-Chorus of opera, i. 47;
-  French invention imported into England, 77;
-  introduction of the, 180.
-
-Cimarosa, the operatic composer, ii. 29-31;
-  invited to St. Petersburgh, 87;
-  his _Nozze di Figaro_, 96;
-  his _Matrimonio Segretto_ produced at the request of Leopold II., 96.
-
-Clayton, the musical composer, and author of _Arsinoe_, i. 108;
-  his spleen against Handel, 129, 132, 133.
-
-Clement IX., the author of seven _libretti_, i. 3.
-
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, i. 22.
-
-Colbran, Mdlle., the singer, ii. 95, 96;
-  married to Rossini, 166;
-  biographical notices of, 167.
-
-Coleman, Mrs., the actress, i. 30, 31.
-
-Comic opera of France, i. 236, 237.
-
-Consulate, state of the French opera under the, ii. 178 _et seq._;
-  operatic plots under the, 179, 180;
-  the arts did not flourish under the, 183.
-
-Convention, state of the opera under the, ii. 75;
-  its receipts confiscated by the, 75;
-  its sanguinary proceedings, 75, 76.
-
-"Conversion of St. Paul," played in music at Rome, i. 3.
-
-Copyright, Victor Hugo's claims to against the Italian
-    librettists, ii. 234, 235;
-  principles of, 235;
-  rights of authors, 237.
-
-Coqueau, musician and writer, guillotined, ii. 76.
-
-Corbetta, F., the musical teacher of Louis XIV., i. 75.
-
-Corsi, Giascomi, i. 5.
-
-Costume, ludicrous dispute respecting, i. 161, 162;
-  of visitors to the London Opera, ii. 136, 137;
-  letter respecting, 138.
-
-Coulon, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Country dances introduced into England, i. 78;
-  fondness for, 78.
-
-Covent Garden Theatre, performances at, i. 101.
-
-"Credo," strange readings of the by two chapel masters, i. 44.
-
-Crescentini, the singer, his capricious temper, i. 161, 162.
-
-_Crociato in Egitto_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 206, 207;
-  Lord Edgcumbe's description of the music, 208;
-  the principal part played by Velluti, 209.
-
-Croix, Abbé de la, i. 86.
-
-Cromwell, his patronage of music, i. 32;
-  anecdotes of, 32, 33.
-
-Cruvelli, Mdlle., her admirable performance in _Fidelio_, ii. 286.
-
-Curiosity, wonderful instance of, i. 39.
-
-Cuzzoni, the vocalist, her exquisite qualifications, i. 151, 152;
-  memoir of, 152;
-  her partizans, 153;
-  leaves England, 154;
-  returns to London, 155;
-  her melancholy end, 155.
-
-
-D.
-
-_Dafne_, the first complete opera, i. 5, 7;
-  new music composed to the libretto of, 6, 7.
-
-_Dame aux Camélias_, its representation prohibited, i. 37.
-
-Dancer and the musician, i. 88.
-
-Dancers of the French opera, i. 77, 296;
-  their position previous to the Revolution, ii. 53;
-  diplomatic negociations for engaging, 110, 111;
-  engagements of in London, 112;
-  further negociations about their return, 115, 116;
-  treaty respecting their future engagements, 115.
-
-Dancing, at the French court, i. 72;
-  language of, 250;
-  the fourth part of the fine arts at the Paris Opera, 259.
-  (See BALLET).
-
-D'Antin, Duc, appointed manager of the French opera, i. 79.
-
-Dauberval, the dancer, i. 300.
-
-Davenant, Sir Wm., opens a theatre, i. 30, 36;
-  actors engaged by him, 30, 31.
-
-David, the Conventional painter, ii. 72.
-
-Davide, the operatic actor of Venice, ii. 158;
-  enthusiasm excited by, 159.
-
-Decorations of the stage, i. 63.
-
-De Lauragais, anecdote of, i. 277, 278.
-
-Delany, Lady, her account of Anastasia Robinson afterwards Lady
-     Peterborough, i. 134-138.
-
-Delawar, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-D'Entraigues, Count, married to Madame Huberti, ii. 94;
-  murder of, 95.
-
-_Der FreischĂĽtz_, of Weber, represented at the French Opera, ii. 198;
-  compared with _Robert le Diable_, 213;
-  remarks on, 291 _et seq._;
-  compared with _Don Giovanni_, 293;
-  its complete success, 294;
-  remodelled by M. Blaze, and entitled _Robin des Bois_, 295.
-
-Deschamps, Mdlle., the French figurante, i. 83;
-  her prodigality, 83.
-
-Desmatins, Mdlle., the actress, i. 24, 25.
-
-Despreaux, the violinist, commits suicide, ii. 76.
-
-_Devin du Village_, of Rousseau, i. 261;
-  music presumed to be the production of Granet, i. 262, 263;
-  anecdotes of the, 262.
-
-De Vismes, of the Paris Opera, i. 291;
-  ii. 38.
-
-Devonshire, Wm., duke of, his inscription to the memory
-    of Miss Campion, i. 139.
-
-D'Hennin, Prince, his rupture with Gluck, i. 275, 276;
-  a favourite butt for witticism, 276.
-
-Divertissements, propriety of their accompanying operatic performances, i. 25.
-
-"Di tanti Palpiti," originally a Roman Catholic hymn, ii. 289.
-
-_Dinorah_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 296, 297.
-
-_Don Giovanni_, of Mozart, ii. 100-109;
-  its original cast at Prague, 104;
-  the performers of the character in London, 108;
-  general cast of characters in the opera, 108, 109;
-  compared with _Der FreischĂĽtz_, 293.
-
-_Don Pasquale_, of Donizetti, ii. 241;
-  libretto of, 242.
-
-_Don Sebastien_, of Donizetti, ii. 241.
-
-Donizetti, the musical composer, i. 112;
-  his _Elizir d'Amore_, grounded upon _Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_, 112;
-  his _Lucrezia_, founded on _Lucrece Borgia_, 213;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 226 _et seq._;
-  his early admiration of Rossini's works, 230;
-  biographical notices of, 232;
-  his various works, 232 _et seq._, 239 _et seq._;
-  his rapidity of composition, 240;
-  his last opera, _Catarina Comaro_, 243;
-  the author of sixty-three operas, 243;
-  critique on his works, 243, 244;
-  his illness and death, 245, 246;
-  his numerous compositions, 246;
-  compared with Bellini, 257.
-
-Drama, Beranger on the decline of the, i. 65.
-
-Dramatic ballet. (See BALLET).
-
-Dresden, theatre of, the first opera in Europe, and the best
-     vocalists engaged from them, i. 172, 173;
-  ii. 80, 81, 87.
-
-Dryden, his political opera of _Albion and Albanius_, i. 29;
-  his character of Grabut, 29.
-
-Du Barry, Madame, her opposition to Gluck, and support of
-    Piccinni, i. 279, 280;
-  mistress of Louis XV., ii. 48.
-
-Dubuisson, the librettist, guillotined, ii. 75.
-
-_Duc d'Albe_, of Donizetti, ii. 243.
-
-Duelling, i. 107;
-  among women, 225, _et note_.
-
-Dumenil, the tenor, i. 24.
-
-Duparc, Eliz., the soprano singer, nicknamed "La Francesina," i. 187.
-
-Dupre, the violinist, exchanges the violin for the ballet, i. 88, 89, 91.
-
-Durastanti, Madame, the celebrated vocalist, i. 158, 159.
-
-
-E.
-
-Ebers, Mr., of the King's Theatre, ii. 22;
-  draft of a contract between him and Madame Catalani, 23-25;
-  is opinions on the state of the opera, 109;
-  his negociation respecting the Paris dancers, 115;
-  takes the management of the King's Theatre, 129;
-  his selection of operas and singers, 129;
-  his losses, 129, 130;
-  his retirement, 130.
-
-Eclecticism, the present age of, i. 286.
-
-Edelman, the musician, executed, ii. 76.
-
-Edgar, Sir John, his attack on a company of French actors, i. 159, 160.
-
-Eglantine, Fabre d', the librettist, guillotined, ii. 76.
-
-_Elisir d'Amore_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Empire, state of the French opera under the, ii. 178 _et seq._;
-  the arts did not flourish under the, 183.
-
-England, Italian opera introduced into, i. 9, 104 _et seq._;
-  state of the opera at the end of the eighteenth and beginning
-     of the nineteenth century, ii. 1 _et seq._;
-  the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably connected
-     with the history of opera in, 224.
-
-English, the Italians have a genius for music superior to, i. 56;
-  have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, 56.
-
-English opera, account of, i. 9;
-  its failures, 10;
-  services rendered by Handel to, 215;
-  has no history, 215.
-
-"Enraged Musicians," letters from, i. 129, 133.
-
-_Enrico di Borgogna_, of Donizetti, ii. 232.
-
-_Euridice_, opera of, i. 5, 6.
-
-_Euryanthe_ of Weber, ii. 292, 298;
-  its great success, 299.
-
-
-F.
-
-Fabri, Signor, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Fabris, death of, from overstrained singing, ii. 270.
-
-Farinelli, Carlo Boschi, the Italian singer, i. 159;
-  the magic and commanding powers of his voice, 164, 189;
-  biographical notices of, 185, 186, 188-191;
-  his single note, 189.
-
-Farnesino, theatre at Paris, i. 177.
-
-Faustina, the vocalist, i. 150:
-  her exquisite qualifications, 151, 152;
-  memoir of, 152;
-  her artizans, 153;
-  returns to Italy, 155;
-  married to Hasse, the musical composer, 155, 156;
-  her successful career at the Dresden Opera, 156;
-  her death, 158.
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni, disputes respecting, i. 149 _et seq._;
-  their respective merits, 150, 151.
-
-Favart, his satirical description of the French Opera, i. 65.
-
-Favart, Madame, of the Opera Comique, i. 231;
-  her love for Marshal Saxe, 232, 233.
-
-_Favorite_, by Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-Fel, Mdlle, a singer of the Academie, i. 223.
-
-Female singers, the most celebrated, i. 8.
-
-Fénélon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.
-
-Fenton, Lavinia, married to the Duke of Bolton, i. 138;
-  her accomplishments, 138.
-
-Ferri, Balthazar, the most distinguished singer of his day, i. 174.
-
-Ferriere, Chev. de, anecdotes of, ii. 77, 78.
-
-Feuds, among musicians and actors, i. 149 _et seq._
-
-Fiddles, of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-_Fidelio_, of Beethoven, 286.
-
-_Fille du Regiment_, by Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-Finales, Piccinni the originator, ii. 32;
-  time usually occupied by them, 32, 33.
-
-First Consul of France, plots for assassinating, ii. 179, 182.
-
-Fodor, Madame, the celebrated cantatrice, ii, 92;
-  anecdote of 93;
-  biographical notices of, 160.
-
-Fontenelle, author of "Thetis and
-Pelee," revisits the Academie, i. 235.
-
-Forst, the singer, refuses letters of nobility, i. 221.
-
-France, Italian Opera introduced into, i. 8;
-  but rejected, 9, 11;
-  introduction of the Opera into England, 12 _et seq._;
-  French Opera not founded by Lulli, 13, 14;
-  nobles of, invited to stage performances by Louis XIV., 75;
-  morality of the stage, 81, 82;
-  her dramatic music dates from 1774, 216;
-  history of the Opera in, abounds in excellent anecdotes, 232;
-  state of the Opera after the departure of Gluck, ii. 84 _et seq._;
-  after the Revolution, 46 _et seq._;
-  under the Consulate, the Empire, and the Restoration, 178 _et seq._;
-  the arts did not flourish under the Consulate and the Empire, 183;
-  has party songs, but no national air, 201.
-
-Frangipani, Cornelio, drama by, i. 4.
-
-Frederick the Great introduces the Italian Opera into Berlin, i. 199;
-  his favourite composers, 199;
-  officiated as conductor of the orchestra, 199.
-
-French actors, company of, in London, in 1720, i. 159.
-
-French Court, ballets at the, i. 70, 71.
-
-French Opera, Favart's satirical description of the, i. 65;
-  from the time of Lulli to the death of Rameau, i. 217;
-  the various pieces produced at the, ii. 195 _et seq._
-  (See FRANCE).
-
-French Society at its very worst during the reign of Louis XVI., ii. 48;
-  operatic and religious fetes, 49.
-
-Fronsac, duke de, his depravity, i. 76.
-
-
-G.
-
-Gabrielli, Catarina, the vocalist, i. 188;
-  biographical notices of, 195 _et seq._
-
-Gabrielli, Francesca, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Gagliano composes the music to the opera of _Dafne_, i. 6.
-
-Galileo, Vincent, inventor of recitative, i. 5.
-
-Galuppi, musical composer, i. 170, 171;
-  musical director at the Russian Court, 198.
-
-Garcia, the tenor performer of "Don Giovanni," in London, ii. 108;
-  anecdote of, 144, 145.
-
-Garcia, Mademoiselle, (See MALIBRAN.)
-
-Gardel, the ballet-master, ii. 75.
-
-Garrick, his opinion of Sophie Arnould at Paris, i. 227;
-  of French descent, 227 _note_.
-
-_Gazza Ladra_, by Rossini, ii. 160.
-
-German Opera, the forms of, perfected by Keiser, i. 6;
-  originated from Mozart, ii. 99 _et seq._;
-  its celebrated composers, 106.
-
-Germans, music of the, i. 268, 269.
-
-Germany, Italian Opera introduced into, i. 10;
-  her opera during the republican and Napoleonic wars, ii. 86;
-  has sent us few singers as compared with Italy, 224;
-  state of her opera, 225;
-  the land of scientific music, 285.
-
-_Giovanni_, of Mozart, i. 13.
-
-Glass, broken to pieces by the vibratory force of particular notes, ii. 279.
-
-Glinka, the Russian composer, ii. 290.
-
-Gluck, the musical composer, i. 12;
-  works of, 13;
-  the estimation in which his works were held, 181;
-  merits of, as compared with Piccinni, 267;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 270 _et seq._;
-  his _Alcestis_ and _Orpheus_, 272;
-  his _Iphigenia in Aulis_, acted at Paris with immense success, 273;
-  success of his _Orpheus_, 278;
-  his _Alcestis_, 279;
-  his death, 295;
-  state of the Opera in France after his departure, ii. 34;
-  anecdote of, 39;
-  benefitted French opera in different ways, 40.
-
-Gluck and Piccinni, contests respecting, in Paris, i. 150.
-
-"God save the king," origin of the anthem, i. 165, 166.
-
-Goddess of Reason, personated by the actresses of the Opera, ii. 67.
-
-Grabut, the musical composer, i. 28, 29;
-  Dryden's character of him, 29.
-
-Grammont, count de, extract from his memoirs, i. 73.
-
-Granet, the musical composer, i. 261;
-  author of the music to Rousseau's _Devin du Village_, 262;
-  his death, 265.
-
-Grassini, the singer, ii. 14.
-
-Greek Plays, first specimens of operas, 3.
-
-Greek Theatre, i. 240;
-  music of the, 241.
-
-Greeks, their language and accent, i. 241;
-  their lyric style, 241:
-  their music a real recitative, 241;
-  absurdities of their dramas, 244.
-
-Grisi, Giulia, the accomplished vocalist, ii. 280, 281;
-  her family connexions, 280;
-  her vocal powers, 281;
-  "Norma" her best character, 281.
-
-Grossi, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Guadigni, the vocalist, biographical notices of, i. 194.
-
-Guéméné, prince de, his insolvency, ii. 51;
-  feeling letter of the operatic vocalists to, 51.
-
-Guglielmi, the operatic composer, ii. 29;
-  his success at Naples, 30.
-
-_Guillaume Tell_, its first performance at the French Opera, ii. 198;
-  cut down from three to five acts, 198;
-  Rossini's last opera, 201.
-
-Guimard, Madeline, the celebrated danseuse, i. 288, 296;
-  accident to, 296;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 297 _et seq._;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 34, 35;
-  her narrow escape from being burnt to death, 41;
-  her reappearance at the Opera, 77.
-
-Guinguenée, the French librettist, i. 293.
-
-_Gustave III._ of Auber, ii. 219.
-
-
-H.
-
-_Hamlet_, set to music, i. 127;
-  its absurdity, 128.
-
-Handel, G. F., at Paris, i. 86;
-  in London, 97, 100-3;
-  his _Pastor Fido_ played at the Haymarket Theatre, i. 102;
-  his great improvement of the Italian Opera, 108;
-  success of his _Rinaldo_, 116;
-  his arrival in England, 122;
-  brings out his _Rinaldo and Armide_, 123;
-  Clayton's spleen against, 129, 132, 133;
-  the Italian operas under his direction, 140 _et seq._;
-  his career as an operatic composer and director, 140;
-  wrote his last opera, _Deidamia_, 141;
-  biographical account of, 141 _et seq._;
-  his duel with Mattheson of the Hamburgh Theatre, 142;
-  his _Rinaldo_, _Pastor Fido_, and _Amadigi_, 142;
-  direction of the Royal Academy of Music confided to him, 144;
-  his first opera at the Royal Academy was _Radamisto_, 144;
-  his next opera, _Muzio Scevola_, 145;
-  his various operatic pieces played at the Royal Academy of Music, 146;
-  his services to English Opera, 215;
-  appointed to the management of the King's Theatre, 163;
-  names of the Italian performers engaged by him, 163;
-  his rival Porpora, and the difficulties with which he had to contend, 167;
-  abandons dramatic music after having written thirty-five Italian operas, 168;
-  his operas now become obsolete, and unadapted to modern times, 168, 169;
-  success of the operatic airs, which he introduced into his oratorios, 169;
-  position of the Italian Opera under his presidency, 170, 171;
-  his great musical genius, and the grandeur of his oratorios, 172.
-
-Harmony, preferable to simple declamation, i. 45, 46.
-
-Hasse, the musical composer, i. 155;
-  marries the vocalist Faustina, 156;
-  appointed director of the Dresden Opera, 156;
-  his death, 158;
-  a librettist, 212.
-
-Hauteroche, humour of exhausted, i. 49.
-
-Haydn, his opinion of Mozart's work, ii. 102.
-
-Haymarket Theatre, Handel's _Pastor Fido_ played at, i. 102.
-
-HĂ©bert, the sanguinary republican, ii. 68, 73.
-
-Heidegger, appointed manager of the King's Theatre, i. 163;
-  his "puff direct," 163.
-
-Henriot, the sanguinary republican, ii. 62, 72.
-
-Hingston, the musician, patronised by Cromwell, i. 32.
-
-Hoffman, the musical composer, ii. 301;
-  his _Undine_, 301-305;
-  Berlioz's opinion of his music, 305.
-
-Huberti, Madame, the singer, ii. 43, 94;
-  her marriage and horrible death, 94.
-
-Hugo, Victor, his dramas made the groundwork of Italian librettists, i. 213;
-  his actions against them for violation of copyright, ii. 234, 235.
-
-_Huguenots_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 216.
-
-_Hydaspes_, opera of, i. 117;
-  Addison's critique on, 118, 119.
-
-
-I.
-
-_Il Pirato_, of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Insanity, Steele's remarks on, i. 111, 112.
-
-Interludes, banished from the operas, i. 250.
-
-_Iphigenia in Aulis_, by Gluck, i. 273;
-  its introduction on the Paris stage, and immense success, 273, 274.
-
-_Iphigenia in Tauris_, a rival opera, composed by Piccinni, i. 291, 292.
-
-Italian librettists, Victor Hugo's actions against for copyright, ii. 234, 235.
-
-Italian opera, introduced into France under the auspices of
-     Cardinal Mazarin, i. 8;
-  rejected by the French, 9, 11;
-  introduced into England, 9, 11;
-  into Germany, 10;
-  into all parts of Europe, 10;
-  introduced into England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 54;
-  Addison's critical remarks on, 55-8;
-  attempts to engage the company of London at the French Academie, 26:
-  raised to excellence by Handel in London, 103;
-  history of its introduction into England, 104 _et seq._;
-  Steele's hatred to, 113;
-  a complete failure in London, 147-149;
-  its position under Handel, and subsequently, 170, 171;
-  various operas produced, 170, 171;
-  established at Berlin and St. Petersburgh, 199;
-  its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited
-     in Marcello's satire, "Teatro a la Modo," 204-12;
-  the company performing alternately in London and in Paris, ii. 2;
-  its position during the Republican and Napoleonic wars, 86.
-
-Italian plays, of the earliest period, called by the
-     general name of "Opera," i. 2.
-
-Italian singers, establish themselves everywhere but in France, i. 173;
-  company of engaged by Mdlle. Montansier, ii. 79;
-  unsuccessful, 79.
-
-Italians, their genius for music above that of the English, i. 56;
-  music of the, 268, 269.
-
-Italy, modern, earliest musical dramas of, i. 3, 6, 7.
-
-
-J.
-
-Jeliotte, the tenor singer, i. 223.
-
-Jesuits' church at Paris, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the, ii. 49;
-  their theatre near the, 50.
-
-Jomelli, anecdote related by, i. 44;
-  director of the Stutgardt opera, 178;
-  sets _Didone_ to music, 212.
-
-
-K.
-
-Kalkbrenner, a pasticcio by, unsuccessful, ii. 85;
-  his _Don Giovanni_, 184.
-
-Keiser, the operatic composer;
-  author of _Ismene and Basilius_, i. 6, 141.
-
-Kelly, Michael, the singer, ii. 128.
-
-Kind, Frederick, ii. 293;
-  Weber's introduction to, 293.
-
-King's Theatre, performances at, and assemblies, i. 101;
-  opened under Heidegger, 163;
-  celebrated vocalists at the, ii. 4;
-  destroyed by fire, 6;
-  rebuilt and re-opened, 8;
-  its negociations with the Parisian operatists, 110, 111;
-  Mr. Taylor the proprietor, 121;
-  the theatre closed, 125;
-  quarrels of the proprietors, 126;
-  re-opened under Waters, 127;
-  again closed, 129;
-  Mr. Eber's management, 129;
-  selection of operas and singers for the, 129;
-  management of Messrs. Laporte and Laurent, 130;
-  its position and character in 1789, 131;
-  enormous prices paid for private boxes and admission, 132, 133;
-  sale of the tickets at reduced prices, 133, 134;
-  costume of visitors, 136, 137.
-
-
-L.
-
-Labitte, death of, from overstrained singing, ii. 270.
-
-Lablache, the basso singer, the "Leporello" of _Don Giovanni_, ii. 108, 109;
-  biographical notices of, 274-278;
-  his versatile powers, 277, 278;
-  his great whistling accomplishments, 279;
-  his characters of "Bartolo" and "Figaro," 275.
-
-Lachnick, the musician, ii. 183, 184.
-
-Lacombe, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-_La Cenerentola_, opera of, ii. 162.
-
-La Fare, Marq. de, author of the _Panthée_, i. 85.
-
-Lafontaine, his want of success as a librettist, i. 21;
-  anecdote of, 21.
-
-Lafontaine, Mdlle., the celebrated ballerina at the French Opera, i. 72.
-
-Laguerre, Mdlle., the vocalist, i. 281;
-  the actress, i. 294.
-
-Lainez, the poet, i. 27;
-  the singer, ii. 69.
-
-"_La Marseillaise_," borrowed from Germany, ii. 201.
-
-Lamartine, M. de, his faultiness in history, ii. 61, _note_.
-
-Lamb, Charles, anecdote of, i. 21.
-
-Laniere, musical composer and engraver, i. 30.
-
-"_La Parisienne_," of Nourrit, ii. 201.
-
-Laporte and Laurent, Messieurs, managers of the London opera house, ii. 130.
-
-Larrivée, the vocalist, i. 223, 274.
-
-_La Straniera_, of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Lauragais, Count de, anecdotes of, i. 229, 230;
-  ii. 77, 78;
-  his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-_La Vestale_, of Spontini, ii. 186, 187.
-
-Law, M., introduces wax into the candelabra of the French Opera, i. 84;
-  breaking up of his financial schemes, 84;
-  favoured by the Duke of Orleans, 84.
-
-Lays, a furious democrat, and chief manager of the French Opera, ii. 66;
-  treated with public indignation, 77.
-
-Leclair, exchanges the ballet for the violin, i. 88, 89.
-
-Lefevre, the republican singer, hissed off the stage, ii. 70.
-
-Legal disputes among musicians, i. 87, 88.
-
-Legroscino, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-Lemaure, Mdlle., the actress, i. 92.
-
-Lenoir, the architect of the Paris Opera, ii. 43.
-
-Lenz, the biographer of Beethoven, ii. 287.
-
-Leopold I., Emperor of Germany, his devotedness to music, i. 174.
-
-Leopold II., of Germany, his liberality to Cimarosa, ii. 96;
-  his public approbation of _Il Matrimonio Segretto_, 97.
-
-Lettres de Cachet, issued, to command certain persons to join the Opera, i. 76.
-
-Libretti of English writers, i. 213;
-  of the French, 214.
-
-Librettists of the eighteenth century, i. 212 _et seq._
-
-Libretto, no opera intelligible without one, i. 40;
-  the words should be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, 41.
-
-Limeuil, Madame, death of, i. 23.
-
-Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, i. 164.
-
-Lind, Jenny, the hangman's admiration of, ii. 64.
-
-_Linda di Chamouni_, of Donizetti, ii. 241.
-
-Lion, Nicolini's contest with the, at the Haymarket, i. 118;
-  Addison's satirical critique on the, 119-122.
-
-Lipparini, Madame, the _prima donna_ at Palermo, ii. 271, 272.
-
-Lise, Mddle., anecdote of, ii. 36.
-
-Lock, the musical composer, i. 28.
-
-London Opera, manners and customs of the, half a century ago, ii. 122 _et seq._
-  (See KING'S THEATRE.)
-
-Lorenzo da Ponte, ii. 293.
-
-Lotti, the Venetian composer, i. 146.
-
-Louis XIV., a great actor, i. 73;
-  in the habit of singing and dancing in the court ballets, 74;
-  retires from the stage, 74;
-  returns to it, 75;
-  the various characters assumed by him, 75.
-
-Louis XV., his heartless conduct at the theatre, i. 81;
-  his meanness to his daughter's music-masters, ii. 39;
-  French society at the very worst during his reign, 48.
-
-Louis XVI., his flight from Paris, ii. 57;
-  his death, and state of the Opera at the time of, 61.
-
-_Lucia di Lammermoor_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-_Lucrezia Borgia_, of Donizetti, ii. 234, 237;
-  Victor Hugo's action against the author for breach of copyright, 234.
-
-Lulli, French Opera not founded by, i. 13, 14;
-  his intrigues, 16;
-  his _Cadmus and Hermione_, 16;
-  originally a scullion in the service of Madame de Montpensier, 16;
-  his disgrace, 17;
-  his elevation by Louis XIV., 17, 18;
-  intrusted with them music of the ballets, 18;
-  a buffoon, 18;
-  various mistakes of, 18 _et seq._;
-  his intemperate habits, 24;
-  his great attention to the ballet, 72;
-  tumult at the representation of his _Aloeste_, 85;
-  history of French Opera dates from the time of, 217;
-  his singular death, 217;
-  his operas, 217, 218.
-
-Lyric drama, remarks on the, i. 236, 237;
-  Rousseau's critique on, 243.
-
-
-M.
-
-_M. de Pourceaugnac_, performance of, i. 19.
-
-Machinery of the Opera at Paris, i. 255.
-
-Maillard, Mdlle., the _prima donna_, of the Paris Opera, ii. 66;
-  requested to personate the Goddess of Reason, 67;
-  compelled to sing republican songs, 69;
-  suspected by the republicans, 69.
-
-Mailly's _Akébar, Roi de Mogol_, i. 15.
-
-Maine, Duchess du, her passion for theatrical and musical performances, i. 77;
-  her lotteries, 78.
-
-Malibran, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 69;
-  biographical notices of, 174, 175;
-  her triumphal progress through Italy, 260, 261;
-  characteristic anecdotes of, 261-264;
-  her activity and great acquirements, 262;
-  her death, 264.
-
-Mara, Madame, the celebrated vocalist, i. 200;
-  biographical notices of, 200-3;
-  appointed _prima donna_ of the Berlin theatre, 201;
-  at the King's Theatre, ii. 4;
-  her distinguished performances, 5;
-  biographical notices of, 5-9;
-  among the first class of singers, 28.
-
-Mara and Todi, Mesdames, quarrels between the admirers of, i. 150, 203.
-
-Marcello's satire, _Teatro a la Modo_, i. 204-12.
-
-Margarita de l'Epine, the Italian vocalist, i. 104;
-  at Drury Lane, 108.
-
-_Maria di Rohan_, of Donizetti, ii. 242.
-
-Marie Antoinette, the enthusiastic patroness of Gluck, i. 275;
-  patronizes Piccinni, 290;
-  her visit to the Académie and Opera Comique, ii. 58, 59;
-  popular cries against, 59;
-  obliged to fly, 59;
-  her execution, 61.
-
-Mariette, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i, 82.
-
-_Marino Faliero_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Mario, the actor, in the character of the _Duke of Mantua_, i. 39;
-  a performer of _Don Giovanni_ in London, ii. 108.
-
-Marmontel, the librettist, i. 287, 289;
-  the admirer of Piccinni, 289.
-
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mdlle. Petit, i. 82.
-
-Marsolier, of the Opera Comique, ii. 235.
-
-Martinella, Catarina, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Martini's _Cosa Rara_, ii. 102.
-
-_Martiri_, of Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-_Masaniello_, market scene in, i. 47;
-  effects of its representation in Paris, ii. 200.
-
-_Matrimonio Segretto_, comic opera of, ii. 96-100;
-  its successful performance before Leopold II., 97.
-
-Mattheson, the musical composer and conductor of the
-     orchestra at the Hamburgh theatre, i. 141, 142;
-  his duel with Handel, 142.
-
-Maupin, Mdlle., the operatic actress, i. 26;
-  the Lola Montes of her day, 26.
-
-Mayer, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-Mazarin, Cardinal, introduces Italian Opera into France, i. 8;
-  into Paris, 14.
-
-Maze, Mdlle., the danseuse, her melancholy suicide, &c., i. 84.
-
-Mazocci's school of singing at Rome, i. 184.
-
-Melun, Count de, his depravity, i. 76.
-
-Menestrier, on the origin of the Italian Opera, i. 3.
-
-Mengozzi, the tenor singer, visits Paris, ii. 3.
-
-Mercadante, the musical composer, ii. 247, 248.
-
-Mercandotti, Maria, the charming Spanish danseuse, ii. 119;
-  married to Mr. Hughes Ball, 120.
-
-Merighi, Signora, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Merulo, Claudio, the musical composer, i. 4.
-
-Metastasio, the poet and librettist, i. 175, 212;
-  his quarrel with Caffarelli, i. 191.
-
-Meyerbeer, the successor of Rossini at the Académie, ii. 202;
-  a composer who defies classification, 206;
-  his different productions, 206;
-  biographical notices of, 206, 207;
-  his _Robert le Diable_, 207, 211 _et seq._;
-  his _Huguenots_, 216;
-  his _Prophete_, 218.
-
-Mililotti, the Neapolitan buffo, ii. 274, 275.
-
-Mingotti, the celebrated vocalist of the Dresden opera, i. 156;
-  her opinion of the London public, 197.
-
-Minuet, introduced into England, i. 73.
-
-Moliere, the friend of Lulli, i. 19;
-  his disagreement with him, 20;
-  his _Amants Magnifiques_, 65.
-
-Montagu, Lady Wortley, her description of the Vienna theatre, i. 175.
-
-Montansier, Mdlle., 71, 72;
-  denounced by the republicans for building a theatre, 73;
-  imprisoned, 73;
-  her nocturnal assemblies, 73;
-  Napoleon introduced to her, 74;
-  her marriage, 74;
-  receives indemnity for her losses, 75;
-  engaged by Napoleon to form an Italian operatic company, 79;
-  is unsuccessful, 79.
-
-Montessu, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Monteverde, the musical composer, i. 7;
-  his improvements in orchestral music, 7;
-  the score of his _Orfeo_, 7, 23;
-  produces his _Arianna_ at Venice, 8;
-  his great popularity, 8.
-
-Moreau, the musical composer, i. 27.
-
-Morel, the librettist, ii. 183.
-
-Morelli, the bass-singer, visits Paris, ii. 3.
-
-Mormoro, Madame, personates the Goddess of Reason, ii. 67.
-
-_Mosé in Egitto_, by Rossini, ii. 163.
-
-Mount Edgcumbe, Lord, author of "Musical Reminiscences," i. 299, 300;
-  his notices of celebrated vocalists, ii. 5, 6, 8, 11, _et passim_;
-  his description of the King's Theatre in 1789, 131.
-
-Mouret, the musical composer, i. 78.
-
-Mozart, the musical composer, i. 12;
-  works of, 13;
-  reception of his _Nozze di Figaro_, ii. 98;
-  his _Seraglio_, 99;
-  founder of the German operatic school at Vienna, 99 _et seq._;
-  his _Don Giovanni_, 100-109;
-  its original cast at Prague, 104;
-  Salieri his great rival, 101, 102;
-  his genius fully acknowledged, but his music not at first appreciated, 107;
-  _Musette de Portici_, the first important work to which
-     the French Opera owes its celebrity, 195;
-  translated and played with great success in England, 197, 198;
-  his fortunes affected by the revolutionary character of the plot, 200.
-
-Music of the operatic works of the sixteenth century, i. 4, 5;
-  Woolfenbuttel school of, 6;
-  Carpentras school of, 6;
-  of the drama, its importance, 45, 46;
-  the language of the masses, 46;
-  its powerful effects in dramatic representations, 47;
-  its powers as an art, 59, 60;
-  capabilities of, 169;
-  Marcello's satirical advice respecting, 204-12;
-  of the Greeks, 241;
-  a real recitative, 241;
-  an imitative art, 245, 248;
-  of the Italians and the Germans, 268, 269;
-  on expression in, ii. 83;
-  did not flourish under the French Republic or Empire, 84;
-  different schools of, 284.
-
-Musical composers, who adorned the end of the eighteenth and
-     the beginning of the nineteenth century, ii. 31, 32;
-  their peculiar characteristics, 141.
-
-Musical compositions, different adaptations of, ii. 83, 84.
-
-Musical instruments of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-Musical pieces, danger of performing under the Republican regime, ii. 67.
-
-Musical plays of the fifteenth century, i. 2.
-
-Musical valets of the seventeenth century, i. 23, 24.
-
-Musician, his contest with the dancer, i. 88;
-  his task of imitation greater than that of the painter, 249.
-
-Musicians of the French Opera, privileges of the, i. 77;
-  of Italy, nicknames given to, 86-8;
-  the "three enraged" ones, 129, 133.
-
-_Muzio Scevola_, produced at the Royal Academy of Music, i. 145.
-
-_Mysteres d'Isis_, opera of the, ii. 183.
-
-
-N.
-
-Napoleon, his munificent offers to Catalani, ii. 18.
-
-Napoleons, both of them good friends to the Opera, ii. 193, 194.
-
-Nasolini, the musical composer, ii. 12.
-
-National anthem, story respecting the, i. 165;
-  on the origin of the, 166.
-
-National styles, i. 214, 215.
-
-Nicknames given to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters
-    of Italy, i. 186-8.
-
-Nicolini, a great actor, i. 61;
-  a sopranist, 117;
-  Addison's critique on his combat with a lion at the Haymarket, 118-122.
-
-Nobles of France, operatic actors, i. 76;
-  abuses arising from the system, 76.
-
-Noblet, Mdlle., the French danseuse, ii. 111-13;
-  negociations respecting her benefit, 113, 114.
-
-_Norma_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 252, 257.
-
-Nose-pulling, i. 106.
-
-Nourrit, Adolphe, the celebrated tenor, a performer of
-     "Don Giovanni" in London, ii. 108;
-  makes his appearance at Paris, 195;
-  his _La Parisienne_, 201;
-  his professional engagements, 221, 222;
-  his melancholy death, 223, 224.
-
-Noverre, the celebrated ballet master, i. 178.
-
-_Nozze de Figaro_, of Mozart, ii. 98-103.
-
-_Nuits de Sceaux_, or _Nuits Blanches_, of the Duchess du Maine, i. 77, 78.
-
-
-O.
-
-_Oberon_ of Weber, ii, 299, 301.
-
-Olivieri, primo basso at Udine, ii. 89.
-
-OPERA, history of the, i. 1 _et seq._;
-  meaning and character of, 1, 2;
-  Wagner's definition, 1, _et note_;
-  the earliest Italian plays, called by the general name of, 2;
-  the title afterwards applied to lyrical dramas, 2;
-  proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the sixteenth century, 2;
-  first specimens of in the Greek plays, 3;
-  operatic composers and singers, 4-8;
-  its success promoted by the musical genius of Monteverde, 8;
-  taken under the patronage of the most illustrious nobles, 8;
-  the most celebrated female singers connected with, 8;
-  Italian opera introduced into France under the auspices of
-     Cardinal Mazarin, 8;
-  into England at the commencement of the eighteenth century, 9, 54;
-  into Germany, 10;
-  flourishing state of during the eighteenth century, 10;
-  history of its introduction into France and England, 12 _et seq._;
-  not founded by Lulli, 13, 14;
-  the first English opera ten years later than the first French one, 31;
-  the leading actors, 31;
-  the nature of and its merits as compared with other
-     forms of the drama, 36 _et seq._;
-  unintelligibility of, 37;
-  music in a dramatic form, 38;
-  the words ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, 41;
-  unnaturalness of, 45;
-  chorus of, 47;
-  Addison's articles on, 53-58;
-  and the drama, 61;
-  Beranger on the decline of the, 65;
-  Panard's remarks on the, 67;
-  his song on what may be seen at the, 67;
-  Louis XIV. and the nobles of France actors in, 73-78;
-  lettres de cachet issued, commanding certain persons to join the, 76, 77;
-  privileges of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging to the, 77;
-  state of, under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, 79;
-  the scene of frequent disturbances, 80;
-  etiquette respecting the visits of young ladies to the, 92, 93;
-  introduction of the Italian Opera into England, 104 _et seq._;
-  under Handel, 140;
-  its position under Handel, and subsequently, 170, 171;
-  general view of in Europe in the eighteenth century,
-     until the appearance of Gluck, 172;
-  its appearance at Vienna, 175, 181;
-  its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited
-     in Marcello's celebrated satire "Teatro a la Modo," 204-12;
-  history of French opera from Lulli to the death of Rameau, 217 _et seq._;
-  history of, in France, during the eighteenth century,
-     abounds in excellent anecdotes, 232 _et seq._;
-  different kinds of, 236, 237;
-  Rousseau's definition, and critical remarks on, 239 _et seq._;
-  of the Greeks, 243 _et seq._;
-  early periods of, 245;
-  subjects of, 247;
-  Rousseau's description of, at Paris, 251 _et seq._;
-  ludicrous caricature of, 252-260;
-  its monstrous scenery, machinery, and decorations, 255;
-  audience of the, 257;
-  history of, in England, at the end of the eighteenth century,
-     and beginning of the nineteenth, ii. 1 _et seq._;
-  at Versailles, 3;
-  King's Theatre, 4, 5;
-  notices of the most celebrated singers, 3-33;
-  the Pantheon enterprise, 6, 7;
-  state of in France after the departure of Gluck, 35 _et seq._;
-  at Paris, frequently burnt down and rebuilt, 42;
-  of the "Romantic" school, 45;
-  its condition before and after the Revolution, 46 _et seq._;
-  strange customs connected therewith, 49;
-  great singers of the, at the Jesuits' church and theatre at Paris, 50;
-  dangerous to write anything about in Paris previous to the Revolution, 54;
-  its decline after the Revolution commenced, 56 _et seq._;
-  the National Opera of Paris, 62;
-  history of, under the Republic of France, 62 _et seq._;
-  state of the, under the Convention, 75;
-  its receipts confiscated, and its artists guillotined, 75, 76;
-  under Napoleon, 79;
-  state of in Italy, Germany, and Russia, during the Republican
-     and Napoleonic wars, 87 _et seq._;
-  its difficulties arising from the continued wars, 109;
-  diplomatists and dancers, 111;
-  Terpsichorean treaty, 115;
-  manners and customs of, half a century ago, 121 _et seq._;
-  Mr. Ebers's management in 1821, 129;
-  the King's Theatre in 1789, 131, _et seq._;
-  costume of, in 1861, 137;
-  Rossini and his period, 143;
-  his _Barber of Seville_, and other operatic pieces, 144-163.
-    (See ROSSINI).
-  Madame Pasta, 170; Madame Pisaroni, 172;
-  Madlle. Sontag, 175;
-  its position in France under the Consulate, Empire, and
-     Restoration, 178 _et seq._;
-  plots for assassinating the First Consul at the, 179, 182;
-  assassination of the Duke de Berri at the, 190;
-  its temporary suspension, 193;
-  the Napoleons good friends to the, 193, 194;
-  the different pieces produced at Paris, 195, 196;
-  Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, 201;
-  rehearsals, 207;
-  Nourrit, 221;
-  the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably
-     connected with the history of opera in England, 224;
-  Donizetti and Bellini, 226, _et seq._, 257;
-  author's rights, 237;
-  different schools of, 284.
-
-Opera Comique, of France, i. 236, 237.
-
-Opera, French, Favart's satirical description of, i. 65.
-
-Opera National, substituted for that of the Academie Royale, ii. 59;
-  programme issued by the directors, 62;
-  change of site, 71.
-
-Opera singers, badly paid in the 17th century, i. 25.
-
-Operatic feuds, i. 105.
-
-Operatic incongruity at Paris, i. 253.
-
-Opitz, translator of the opera of Dafne, i. 6.
-
-Orchestra, instrumental music being deficient in the 17th century, i. 7;
-  Monteverde's improvements, 7.
-
-_Orfeo_, of Monteverde, music of, produced at Rome in 1440, i. 3, 13.
-
-Orleans, duke of, state of the Opera under his regency, i. 79;
-  his sincere love of music and literature, 85, 86;
-  his death, 86.
-
-_Otello_, by Rossini, ii. 157.
-
-Oulibicheff, M., his notices of Mozart, ii. 101;
-  the biographer of Beethoven, 287;
-  Lenz's attack on, 287.
-
-Oxenford's _Robin Hood_, i. 214.
-
-
-P.
-
-Pacchierotti, the celebrated male soprano, ii. 7.
-
-Pacini's _Talismano_, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Paer, the musical composer, ii. 32;
-  plays the part of basso, 90, 91;
-  success of his Laodicea, 98.
-
-Paer, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 80;
-  engaged by Bonaparte, 80, 81, 88;
-  anecdote of, 89.
-
-Painters of Italy, nicknames given to, i. 186-8.
-
-Paisiello, the operatic composer, ii. 2, 29, 30, 31, 82;
-  his interview with Bonaparte, 82;
-  liberally rewarded, 82, 83;
-  at St. Petersburgh, 87.
-
-Panard, his satirical remarks on the Opera, i. 67;
-  song on what he had seen at the Opera, 67.
-
-Pantheon of London converted to the use of the Opera, ii. 6, 7;
-  its company, 7;
-  burnt down, 8;
-  opening of the, 125;
-  an unfortunate speculation, 125.
-
-Paris, absurd regulations of the Theatres at, i. 86, 87;
-  Rousseau's descriptions of the Opera at, 251, 252-260;
-  contests in, respecting the merits of Gluck and Piccinni, 267;
-  its operatic company towards the end of the 18th century, ii. 3;
-  the opera burnt down at different times, 42;
-  National Library of, proposed to be burnt, 71, 72;
-  the various operatic pieces produced at, 195 _et seq._
-
-Parisian public manners and customs of the time of Louis XIV., i. 75 _et seq._;
-  the turbulent and dissipated habits, 80.
-
-Pasta, Madame, the celebrated singer, ii. 168;
-  her representation of Rossini's _Semiramide_, 168, 169;
-  biographical notices of, 170.
-
-Pelissier, Mdlle., the prima donna of Paris, i. 82;
-  her prodigality, 83.
-
-Pembroke, Countess of, the leader of a party against the
-     vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-Pergolese, the musical composer, i. 9, 170;
-  his _Serva Padrona_ hissed from the stage, 9;
-  at St. Petersburgh, ii. 88.
-
-Peri, the Italian musician, i. 5;
-  composer of the music to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-Perrin, French Operas of, i. 15.
-
-Peruzzi, Balthazar, his wonderful skill in scenic decoration, i. 3, 4.
-
-Peter the Great, his visit to the French Opera, i. 81.
-
-Peterborough, lord, account of his marriage with Miss
-    Anastasia Robinson, i. 134-138.
-
-Petit, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i. 82.
-
-Petits Violins du Roi, a band formed by Lulli, i. 17.
-
-Phillips, Ambrose, the plagiarist, i. 115.
-
-Piccinni, the musical composer, i. 212;
-  merits of, as compared with Gluck, 267;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 280 _et seq._;
-  his natural genius for music, 284;
-  success of his _Donne Dispetose_ and other operatic pieces, 285 _et seq._;
-  his arrival at Paris, 287;
-  his contests with the Gluckists, 288 _et seq._;
-  his _Orlando_, 289;
-  his rival opera of _Iphigenia in Tauris_, 291, 292;
-  ruined by the French Revolution, 295;
-  his death, 295;
-  the originator of the popular musical finales, ii. 32.
-
-_Pietra del Paragone_, of Rossini, ii. 151.
-
-Pinotti, Teresa, the celebrated comedian, ii. 274.
-
-Pisaroni, Madame, biographical notices of, ii. 172.
-
-Pleasantries of the drama exploded, i. 49;
-  their antiquity and harmlessness, 49.
-
-Poissardes of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes, ii. 49.
-
-_Pomone_, the first French Opera heard in Paris, i. 15.
-
-Ponceau, Seigneur de, (See CHASSE).
-
-Porpora, the musical composer, i. 44, 100;
-  his perversion of the "Credo", 44;
-  director of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 164;
-  singers engaged by him, 167.
-
-Porte St. Martin Theatre at Paris, ii. 42.
-
-_Preciosa_, of Weber, ii. 298.
-
-Prevost, Mdlle. the ballet dancer, i. 78, 89;
-  her jealousy of Mdlle. de Camargo, 90.
-
-Prima donnas, Marcello's satirical instructions respecting, i. 211.
-
-_Prophete_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 218.
-
-Purcell, the writer of English operas, i. 9;
-  his _King Arthur_, 14;
-  his dramatic music, 29;
-  his operatic compositions, 33;
-  his death, 34;
-  his talents, 34.
-
-_Pygmalion_, of Mdlle. Sallé, 93, 94.
-
-_Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, Scarlatti's opera of, i. 117.
-
-
-Q.
-
-Quantz, the celebrated flute player, i. 151;
-  his account of the Faustina and Cuzzoni contests, 151, 153.
-
-Quin, James, the musician, anecdote of, i. 32.
-
-Quinault, one of Lulli's librettists, i. 22.
-
-
-R.
-
-Racine, merits of, i. 115, 116.
-
-Rameau, J. P., the great French composer, i. 13, 212;
-  opinions of Dr. Burney and Grimm on his compositions, 213;
-  memoirs of, 213 _et seq._;
-  letters of nobility granted to him, 220;
-  his music, 222;
-  his death and funeral, 222, 223.
-
-_Ranz des Vaches_, ii. 289, 290.
-
-Recitative, on the use of, in opera, ii. 296.
-
-Rehearsals at the French opera, ii. 207;
-  in London, 208.
-
-Reign of Terror, a fearful time for artists and art, ii. 71;
-  its numerous victims, 76, 77.
-
-Republic of France, changes effected, in the Opera by the, ii. 64, 65.
-
-Republican celebrities, their direction of the Opera National, ii. 62, 63, 74;
-  changes effected by, in operatic pieces, 64, 65.
-
-Revolution in France, state of the Opera at the period, ii. 34 _et seq._ 55;
-  its effect on the Academie, 56 _et seq._;
-  musicians and singers who fell victims to its fury, 76, 77.
-
-Rey, the musical composer, and conductor of the Paris orchestra, ii. 41.
-
-Righini, the operatic composer, ii. 104.
-
-_Rigoletto_, operatic music of, i. 47, 48.
-
-_Rinaldo and Armida_, by Handel, i. 123;
-  operatic sparrows of, 123-126.
-
-Rinuccini, Ottavio, the Italian poet, i. 5;
-  author of the libretto to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-_Robert le Diable_, of Meyerbeer, new version of a chorus in, i. 42;
-  remarks on, ii. 202, 211 _et seq._;
-  compared with _Der Freischutz_, 213;
-  brought out at the King's Theatre, 214.
-
-Robespierre, fall of, ii. 76.
-
-_Robin des Bois_, an adaptation of Weber's _Der Freischutz_, ii. 295-297.
-
-Robinson, Anastasia, the celebrated vocalist, i. 134;
-  privately married to the Earl of Peterborough, 134;
-  Lady Delany's account of, 134-138.
-
-Robinson, Mr., father of Lady Peterborough, i. 135;
-  death of, 136.
-
-Rochois, Martha le, the vocalist, i. 25.
-
-"Romantic School" of the opera, ii. 284.
-
-Rossi, the Italian librettist, i. 128.
-
-Rossini, the operatic composer. ii. 31;
-  history of his period, 140 _et seq._;
-  the greatest of Italian composers, 142;
-  his biographers, 143;
-  his _Barber of Seville_, 144;
-  historical anecdotes of, 144 _et seq._;
-  comparison of, with Mozart and Beaumarchais, 149;
-  his _Pietra del Paragone_, 151;
-  his innovations, 153, 155; _Tancredi_ and _Otello_, 156, 157;
-  his _Gazza Ladra_, 160;
-  his _Mosé in Egitto_, 163;
-  married to Mdlle. Colbran, 166;
-  his _Semiramide_ played by Madame Pasta and others, 168, 169;
-  his _Siege de Corinth_, 189;
-  his _Viaggio a Reims_, 195;
-  _Guillaume Tell_ his last opera, 201;
-  succeeded by Meyerbeer at the Academie, 202;
-  his followers, 203, 204;
-  his retirement, 205;
-  Donizetti's early admiration of, 226;
-  Sigismondi's horror of his works, and his adverse criticisms, 228 _et seq._;
-  his musical genius and powers, 282;
-  his _William Tell_, 283;
-  the most modern of operatic composers, 283;
-  the alpha and the omega of our operatic period, 283.
-
-_Rouslan e Loudmila_, of Glinka, ii. 290.
-
-Rousseau, J. J., a critic and a composer of music, i. 238 _et seq._;
-  his "Dictionnaire de Musique," 239;
-  his definition of Opera, 239;
-  his critical dissertation on the Opera in France during
-     the eighteenth century, 239-250;
-  his opinions on dancing and the ballet, 250;
-  author of the _Devin du Village_, 261,
-    but Granet the musical composer, 262, 263;
-  his advice to Mdlle. Theodore, 300.
-
-Rousseau, Pierre, anecdote of, i. 262;
-  accuses Jean J. Rousseau of fraud, 265.
-
-Royal Academy of Music formed in London, i. 142;
-  liberally patronized, 143;
-  confided to Handel, 144;
-  the various operas produced at, 144, 145;
-  involved in difficulties, 145;
-  finally closed, 146;
-  a complete failure, 147.
-
-Rubini, the celebrated tenor singer, ii. 249, 264, 265;
-  the fellow-student of Bellini, 249;
-  biographical notices of, 265, 266;
-  his great emoluments, 266;
-  his B flat, 267, 268;
-  his broken clavicle, 269.
-
-Rue Richelieu, opera in closed after the assassination of the
-     Duc de Berri, ii. 193.
-
-Russia, opera in, during the republican and Napoleonic wars, ii. 87.
-
-
-S.
-
-Sacchini, the musical composer, i. 212; ii. 2, 31, 40;
-  works of, 40;
-  his _Chimène_ played at the Paris Opera, 43;
-  his _Ĺ’dipe Ă  Colosse_, 44.
-
-Sacred musical plays of the fifteenth century, i. 2.
-
-_Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica_, of Algarotte, i. 2;
-  St. Evremond's comedy of _Les Operas_, i. 50.
-
-St. Leger, Mdlles. de, executed for playing the piano, ii. 69.
-
-St. Montant, M. de, a musical enthusiast, i. 87.
-
-St. Petersburg, opera at, ii. 87, 88.
-
-Salieri, the operatic composer, ii. 2, 32, 40, 100;
-  brings out his _Danaides_, 44;
-  the rival of Mozart, 101;
-  his _Assur_, 101, 102.
-
-Sallé, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse, i. 91;
-  her proposed reforms in stage costume, 91;
-  noticed by Voltaire, Fontenelle, and others, 92;
-  her first appearance in London, 93;
-  her alterations in stage costume, 93;
-  performance of her _Pygmalion_, and her great success, 98 _et seq._;
-  enthusiasm at her benefit in London, 98, 99;
-  announcement of her first arrival in England, 101.
-
-Saxe, Marshal, the great favourite of the ladies, i. 232, 233;
-  his love for Madame Favart, 233, 234.
-
-Scarlatti's opera of _Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, i. 117.
-
-Scenery, the great attraction in operatic representations, i. 3;
-  the art carried to great perfection at Rome, 3, 4;
-  of the opera of Paris, 252.
-
-Schœlcher, M. Victor, biographer of Handel, i. 97;
-  on the origin of "God save the king," 165.
-
-Schindler, the biographer of Beethoven, ii. 287.
-
-Schmaling, Mdlle. (See MARA).
-
-Schools, the different ones, ii. 284.
-
-Schrœder-Devrient, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 299.
-
-Schutz, the musical composer, i. 6.
-
-Scribe, M., the librettist, i. 212, ii. 250;
-  his comic operas, i. 212.
-
-Scudo, the critic, ii. 293.
-
-_Semiramide_, of Rossini, ii. 168;
-  represented by Madame Pasta and others, 168, 169.
-
-Senesino, Signor, the sopranist, i. 158, 159;
-  quarrels with Handel, and joins the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 164.
-
-_Serva Padrona_, opera of, hissed from the French stage, i. 9.
-
-Servandoni, of the Tuileries theatre, i. 63;
-  his scenic decorations, 177, 179.
-
-Shakspeare's dramas, i. 61.
-
-_Siege de Corinthe_, produced at the French Opera, ii. 195.
-
-_Siege of Thionville_, its gratuitous performance for
-     the amusement of the _sans culottes_, ii. 66.
-
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, ii. 226;
-  his pious horror of Rossini's works, and his adverse criticisms, 228, 229.
-
-Singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, i. 8, 182, 183 _et seq._;
-  their capricious tempers, 161;
-  Lord Mount Edgcumbe's "Reminiscences" of, ii. 28;
-  divided into two classes, 28;
-  exposed to the threats of the Republicans, 69.
-
-Singers of Italy, found in all parts of Europe, i. 10, 172 _et seq._;
-  nicknames given to, 186-8.
-
-Singers of the French Opera, privileges of the, i. 77.
-
-Singing in dramatic representations, its powerful effects, i. 47;
-  humorous satire on, 50, 51;
-  Mazocci's school of, 184;
-  Marcello's satirical advice respecting, 204-12;
-  deaths caused by, ii. 270.
-
-Smith, J., the husband of Mrs. Tofts, i. 111.
-
-Smith, Sir Sidney, his liberation from the French prison
-     by Boisgerard, ii. 117, 118.
-
-Sobriquets, applied to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters
-     of Italy, i. 186-8.
-
-Song, difficulty of writing to declamation in modern languages, i. 240.
-
-Song of Solomon, considered the earliest opera on record, i. 3.
-
-_Sonnambula_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 251, 257.
-
-Sontag, Mdlle., biographical notices of, ii. 174.
-
-Soubise, Prince de, i. 299;
-  his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-Sounds, art of combining agreeably, i. 239;
-  of a speaking voice, 240.
-
-Sparrows, operatic, at the Haymarket, i. 123-126.
-
-Spectator. (See ADDISON).
-
-Spitting, i. 107.
-
-Spohr, the celebrated German composer, ii. 285.
-
-Spontini, the musical composer, ii. 183;
-  his _Finta Filosofa_, 185;
-  his _La Vestale_, and _Fernand Cortez_, 186, 187;
-  his animosity towards Meyerbeer, 188.
-
-Stage of France, its state of morality, i. 81, 82.
-
-Stage costume, Mdlles. Sallé's proposed reforms in, i. 93;
-  her alterations in, 93.
-
-Stage decoration, i. 63, 178, 179, 180.
-
-Stage plays, ordinances for the suppression of, i. 31.
-
-Steele, on insanity, i. 111, 112;
-  his hatred of the Italian Opera, 113;
-  his chagrin at the success of Handel's _Rinaldo_, 116;
-  his insults to operatic singers, 117;
-  on the operatic sparrows and chaffinches at the Haymarket, 126;
-  his unfavourable opinion of opera, 126, 127.
-
-Stockholm, opera at, ii. 87.
-
-Storace, Mrs., the prima donna of the King's Theatre, ii. 3;
-  biographical notices of, 4.
-
-Storace, Stephen, musical director of the King's Theatre, ii. 4.
-
-Strada, Signora, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Stradella, the vocalist and operatic composer, i. 183.
-
-Strozzi, Pietro, i. 5.
-
-Stutgardt, magnificence of the theatres at, i. 178.
-
-Styx, how to cross the, i. 85.
-
-Subligny, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse, i. 92.
-
-Swift, his celebrated epigram on Buononcini and Handel, i. 64.
-
-
-T.
-
-_Talismano_, of Pacini, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Talmont, princess de, letter from, 235.
-
-Tamburini, the singer, performer of "Don Giovanni" in London, ii. 108;
-  biographical notices of, 271-4;
-  his grotesque personation of the absent _prima donna_, 272-274;
-  his versatile powers, 273.
-
-_Tancredi_, by Rossini, ii. 152, 156, 157.
-
-Taylor, Mr., proprietor and manager of the King's Theatre, ii. 121;
-  humorous anecdotes of, 122 _et seq._;
-  his quarrel with Mr. Waters, 126;
-  driven from the theatre, 126;
-  ends his days in prison, 127;
-  his anonymous letter respecting Waters, 128.
-
-_Teatro a la Modo_, Marcello's satire of i. 204-12.
-
-Terence, the first production of his _Eunuchus_, ii. 90.
-
-Terpsichorean treaty, ii. 115.
-
-Theatre, at Stutgardt, i. 178;
-  at Venice, 180; at Vienna, 181;
-  of the jesuits, at Paris, ii. 50.
-
-Théâtre des Arts, of Paris, ii. 194;
-  its frequent changes of name, 194, _n._
-
-Théâtre d'Opéra, of Paris, ii. 193.
-
-Theatres in the open air, i. 176, 177;
-  of immense size, 177 _et seq._;
-  scenic decorations of, 178, 179;
-  at Venice, 180;
-  number of in Paris during the Reign of Terror, ii. 71.
-
-Théodore, Mdlle., the accomplished danseuse, i. 300;
-  imprisoned, ii. 54.
-
-Thévanard, the operatic singer, i. 79.
-
-Thillon, Madame, ii. 239.
-
-Tintoretto, the musical composer, refuses the honour of knighthood, i. 221.
-
-Tofts, Mrs. the vocalist, and rival of Margarita de l'Epine, i. 105;
-  letter from, 105;
-  plays "Arsinoe" at Drury Lane, 107;
-  her insanity, 110, 111.
-
-Tosi, Signor, his observations on Mesdames Faustina and Cuzzoni, i. 151.
-
-Trial, the comic tenor, death of, ii. 76.
-
-Tribou, the French harmonist, i. 83;
-  his versatile talents, 83.
-
-_Triomphe de Trajan_, opera of, ii. 189.
-
-Tuileries, the last _concert spirituel_ at the theatre of the, ii. 57.
-
-
-U
-
-_Undine_, of Hoffman, ii. 301-305.
-
-
-V
-
-Valabrèque, M., the husband of Catalani, ii. 20;
-  draft of a contract between him and Mr. Ebers, 23-25;
-  anecdote of his stupidity, 26, 27.
-
-Valentini, Regina, the celebrated vocalist, i. 156;
-  married to Mingotti, 156.
-
-Varennes, Mdlle., the French danseuse, ii. 112.
-
-Velluti, a tenor singer of great powers, ii. 209;
-  played the principal part in _Il Crociato_, 209;
-  biographical notices of, 210;
-  his first debut and performance in London, 211.
-
-Venice, the opera of, and its scenic decorations, i. 180.
-
-Verdi, Signor, the musical composer, i. 213, 268; ii. 99, _note_;
-  his _Ernani_ and _Rigoletto_ founded on _Hernani_ and
-    _Le Roi s'amuse_, i. 213;
-  his _Ernani_ prohibited the stage, ii. 235.
-
-Versailles, ballets at, i. 70, 71;
-  the London Italian company perform at, ii. 3.
-
-Vestris, Gaetan, the dancer, anecdotes of, i. 278; ii. 37;
-  founder of the family, i. 301.
-
-Vestris, Auguste, son of Gaetan the dancer, i. 301;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 35, 37;
-  his extravagant expenditure, 53.
-
-Vestris, the prince of Guéméné, compelled to dance as a sans culotte, ii. 69.
-
-Vestrises, biographical notices of the family, i. 302.
-
-_Viaggio a Reims_, by Rossini, written for the coronation
-    of Charles X., ii. 195.
-
-Victor Hugo, his copyright action against Donizetti, ii. 284, 285.
-
-Vienna, establishment of the Italian opera in, i. 174;
-  its great writers and composers, 175;
-  Lady Wortley Montagu's description of its magnificent theatre, 175;
-  opera at, a first-rate musical theatre, 181;
-  great patronage of the imperial family, 181.
-
-Viagnoni, the singer, ii. 14.
-
-Violins of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-Virtuosi of the seventeenth century, i. 183.
-
-Vivien, the horn player, i. 184.
-
-Vocalists of Paris, their generous letter to Prince de Guéméné, ii. 51.
-  (See SINGERS.)
-
-Voice, speaking, sounds of a, i. 240.
-
-
-W.
-
-Wagner's definition of the word "Opera," i. 1 _et note_.
-
-Wallace, V., the eminent composer, i. 42;
-  critique on a passage in his _Maritana_, i. 42, 43;
-  his _Maritana_ and _Lurline_ founded on the French, 214.
-
-Warsaw, the opera of closed, ii. 54.
-
-Warton, Dr. J., his character of the Duchess of Bolton, i. 138.
-
-Waters, Mr., joint proprietor of the King's Theatre, ii. 109, 125;
-  quarrels with Taylor, his partner, 126;
-  re-opens the Opera, 127;
-  makes a purchase of it, 127;
-  his retirement, 129.
-
-Weber, Karl Maria Von, a romantic composer, ii. 285;
-  belongs to the same class as Beethoven and Spohr, 285;
-  his influence on the Opera, 288;
-  his fondness for particular instruments, 290;
-  characteristics of his music, 291;
-  his resemblance to Meyerbeer, 292;
-  his _Der Freischutz_, and its great success, 292 _et seq._;
-  his various operas, 298 _et seq._;
-  his _Oberon_, 301.
-
-_William Tell_, of Rossini, no subsequent opera to be ranked with, ii. 283.
-
-Williams, Sir Charles, anecdote of, i. 157.
-
-Wolfenbuttel school of music, i. 6.
-
-Women, duelling among, i. 225 _et note_.
-
-Wurtemburg, Duke, brilliancy of his court, i. 178.
-
-
-Z.
-
-_Zaira_, of Bellini, ii. 250.
-
-_Zelmira_, of Rossini, ii. 165;
-  its music, 167.
-
-Zeno, Apostolo, the operatic writer, i. 175;
-  a librettist, 212.
-
-Zingarelli, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-FINIS.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext
-transcriber:
-
-_La Dame Camélias_ was to have been played=>_La Dame aux Camélias_ was
-to have been played
-
-J'ai vu le soliel et la lune=>J'ai vu le soleil et la lune
-
-of an Italian, who, adandoning=>of an Italian, who, abandoning
-
-old newspapers before before me=>old newspapers before me
-
-One the contrary, it gives=>On the contrary, it gives
-
-the banquet with the apparation of the murdered=>the banquet with the
-apparition of the murdered
-
-DUCAL CONNAISSEURS=>DUCAL CONNOISSEURS
-
-Hamburg theatre, where operas had been performed=>Hamburgh theatre,
-where operas had been performed
-
-WoffenbĂĽttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh=>WolfenbĂĽttel caused
-the directors of the Hamburgh
-
-retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolesi, Jomelli,=>retirement, operas
-by Galuppi, Pergolese, Jomelli,
-
-Guingueneé, at Piccinni's request=>Guinguenée, at Piccinni's request
-
-"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le dieu de la danse_=>"If,"
-said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le diou de la danse_
-
-works, had to perform in the _Clemenzo di Tito_=>works, had to perform
-in the _Clemenza di Tito_
-
-Gluck benefitted French opera in two ways=>Gluck benefited French opera
-in two ways
-
-Bernadotte wore he would have Paer, and no one else=>Bernadotte swore he
-would have Paer, and no one else
-
-"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of music=>"The
-administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music
-
-by lord Fife--a keen-eyed connoisseur=>by Lord Fife--a keen-eyed
-connoisseur
-
-For the one hundred and eighty pound boxas=>For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes
-
-meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up Water's=>meanwhile Mr. Chambers had
-bought up Waters's
-
-prima uomo=>primo uomo
-
-Madeimoselle=>Mademoiselle
-
-Hadyn=>Haydn
-
-LA MUETTE DE PARTICI=>LA MUETTE DE PORTICI {2}
-
-La Muette di Portici=>La Muette de Portici
-
-threw himself out of window, at five in the morning=>threw himself out
-of a window, at five in the morning
-
-the opera performed, and the theatre saved=>the opera perfomed, and the
-theatre saved
-
-so that the cast, to be efficient=>so that the caste, to be efficient
-
-The young gentlemen of Burgamo=>The young gentlemen of Bergamo
-
-Il Puritani=>I Puritani
-
-general enthusiam=>general enthusiasm
-
-Schindler's book is the course of nearly=>Schindler's book is the sourse
-of nearly
-
-Berlioz's version of Der Freischutz=>Berlioz's version of Der FreischĂĽtz
-
-Dame aux Camelias=>Dame aux Camélias
-
-Der Freischutz, of Weber=>Der FreischĂĽtz, of Weber
-
-Mailly's Akebar=>Mailly's Akébar
-
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mddlle. Petit=>Marre, Abbé de la, defends
-Mdlle. Petit
-
-Singers of the seventeenth and eightteenth centuries=>Singers of the
-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
-
-Fenelon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.=>Fénélon, Chev. de,
-accidentally killed, i. 81.
-
-of Cimarosa, Paesiello, Anfossi=>of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi
-
-where are Hoffman's licentious novels=>where are Hoffmann's licentious
-novels
-
-his opinion of Hoffman's music, 306.=>his opinion of Hoffmann's music,
-306.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Wagner calls the composer of an opera "the sculptor _or_
-upholsterer," (which is complimentary to sculptors,) and the writer of
-the words "the architect." I would rather say that the writer of the
-words produces a sketch, on which the composer paints a picture.
-
-Since writing the above I find that the greatest of French poets
-describes an admirable _libretto_ of his own as "_un canevas d'opéra
-plus ou moins bien disposé pour que l'œuvre musicale s'y superpose
-heureusement_;" and again, "_une trame qui ne demande pas mieux que de
-se dérober sous cette riche et éblouissante broderie qui s'appelle la
-musique_." (Preface to Victor Hugo's _Esmeralda_.)
-
-[2] MĂ©nestrier, des representations en musique, anciennes et modernes,
-page 23.
-
-[3] See Vol. II.
-
-[4] Cambronne, by the way is said to have been very much annoyed at the
-invention of "_La garde meurt et ne se rend pas_;" and with reason, for
-he didn't die and he _did_ surrender.
-
-[5] "_The battle or defeat of the Swiss on the day of Marignan._"
-
-[6] This was Heine's own joke.
-
-[7] And this, Beaumarchais's.
-
-[8] _La Dame aux Camélias_ was to have been played at the St. James's
-Theatre last summer, with Madame Doche in the principal part; but its
-representation was forbidden by the licenser.
-
-[9] _Spectator_, No. 18.
-
-[10] "Life of Handel," by Victor Schœlcher.
-
-[11] I adhere to the custom of calling Margarita de l'Epine by her
-pretty Christian name, without any complimentary prefix, and of styling
-her probably more dignified competitor, Mrs. Tofts. Thus in later times
-it has been the fashion to say, Jenny Lind, and even Giulia Grisi, but
-not Theresa Titiens or Henrietta Sontag.
-
-[12] _Spectator_, No. 261.
-
-[13] Burnt down in 1789. The present edifice was erected from designs by
-Michael Novosielski, (who, to judge from his name, must have been a
-Russian or a Pole), in 1790. Altered and enlarged by Nash and Repton, in
-1816--18.
-
-[14] It is to be regretted, however, that in sneering at an Italian
-librettist who called Handel "The Orpheus of our age," Addison thought
-fit to speak of the great composer with neither politeness, nor wit, nor
-even accuracy, as "Mynheer."--_Spectator_, No. V.
-
-[15] The same trenchant critics who attribute Addison's satire of the
-Opera to the failure of his _Rosamond_, explain Steele's attacks by his
-position as patentee of Drury Lane Theatre. Here, however, dates come to
-our assistance. The jocose paper on Mrs. Toft's insanity appeared in the
-_Tatler_, in 1709. The attacks of the unhappy Clayton on Handel (see
-following pages) were published under Steele's auspices in the
-_Spectator_, in 1711-12. Steele did not succeed Collier as manager or
-patentee of Drury Lane, together with Wilks, Doggett, and Cibber, until
-1714.
-
-[16] _Spectator_, 290.
-
-[17] The Queen's gardeners.
-
-[18] _Tatler_, No. 113.
-
-[19] _Spectator_, No. 285.
-
-[20] It is also known that both profited by the study of Scarlatti's
-works.
-
-[21] See Chapter II.
-
-[22] Quoted by Mr. Hogarth, in his Memoirs of the Opera.
-
-[23] _The Theatre._ From Tuesday, March 8th, to Saturday March 12th,
-1720.
-
-[24] See a letter of Dr. Harrington's (referred to by Mr. Chappell), in
-the _Monthly Magazine_, Vol. XI., page 386.
-
-[25] "Memoirs of the Opera," Vol. I., page 371.
-
-[26] The sopranists--a species of singers which ceased to be "formed"
-after Pope Clement XIV. sanctioned the introduction of female vocalists
-into the churches of Rome, and at the same time recommended theatrical
-directors to have women's parts in their operas performed by women. This
-was in 1769.
-
-[27] The _Dictionnaire Musicale_ was not published until some years
-afterwards.
-
-[28] Le Vieux Neuf, par Edouard Fournier, t. ii., p. 293.
-
-[29] See _Moliére Musicien_, by Castil Blaze; t. ii, p. 26.
-
-[30] Choruses were introduced in the earliest Italian Operas, but they
-do not appear to have formed essential parts of the dramas represented.
-
-[31] With the important exception, however, of _Don Giovanni_, written
-for, and performed for the first time, at Prague.
-
-[32] Vocal agility, not gymnastics.
-
-[33] Of Faustina and Cuzzoni, whose histories are so intimately
-connected with that of the Royal Academy of Music, I have spoken in the
-preceding chapter on "The Italian Opera under Handel."
-
-[34] The copious title of this work is given by M. Castil Blaze, in his
-"Histoire de l'Opéra Italien." I cannot obtain the book itself, but Mr.
-Hogarth, in his "Memoirs of the Opera," gives a very full account of it,
-from which I extract a few pages.
-
-[35] F. Halévy, Origines de l'Opéra en France (in the volume entitled
-"Souvenirs et Portraits: Etudes sur les beaux Arts").
-
-[36] By M. Castil Blaze, "Histoire de l'Académie Royale de Musique,"
-vol. i. p. 116.
-
-[37] For a copy of his Mass, No. 2.
-
-[38] It was precisely because persons joining the Opera did _not_
-thereby lose their nobility, that M. de Camargo consented to allow his
-daughter to appear there. See page 89 of this volume.
-
-[39] Among other instances of duels between women may be cited a combat
-with daggers, which took place between the abbess of a convent at
-Venice, and a lady who claimed the admiration of the Abbé de Pomponne; a
-combat with swords between Marotte Beaupré and Catherine des Urlis,
-actresses at the Hotel de Bourgogne, where the duel took place, on the
-stage (came of quarrel unknown); and a combat on horseback, with
-pistols, about a greyhound, between two ladies whom the historian
-Robinet designates under the names of Mélinte and Prélamie, and in which
-MĂ©linte was wounded.
-
-[40] Castil Blaze.
-
-[41] It is not so generally known, by the way, as it should be, that
-Garrick was of French origin. The name of his father, who left France
-after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in England and
-married an Englishwoman, was Carric. (See "the Eighth Commandment," by
-Charles Reade.) On the other hand we must not forget that one of
-Molière's (Poquelin's) ancestors in the male line was an archer of the
-Scottish guard, and that Montaigne was of English descent.
-
-[42] One of Mademoiselle Guimard's principal admirers was de Jarente,
-Titular Bishop of Orleans, who held "_la feuilles des bénéfices_," and
-frequently disposed of them in accordance with the suggestions of his
-young friend.
-
-[43] French audiences owe something to the Count de Lauragais who, by
-paying an immense sum of money as compensation, procured the abolition
-of the seats on the stage. Previously, the _habitués_ were in the habit
-of crowding the stage to such an extent, that an actor was sometimes
-obliged to request the public to open a way for him before he could make
-his entry.
-
-[44] Compare this with the Duke of Wellington keeping foxhounds in the
-Peninsula, and observe the characteristic pastimes of English and French
-generals. So, in our House of Commons, there is always an adjournment
-over the Derby day; in France, nothing used to empty the Chamber of
-Deputies so much as a new opera; and during the last French republic,
-when a question affecting its very existence was about to be discussed,
-the Assemblée Nationale was quite deserted, from the anxiety of the
-members to be present at the first representation of the _Prophète_.
-
-[45] On this subject see _ante_, page 1.
-
-[46] "Gods and devils," says Arteaga, "were banished from the stage as
-soon as poets discovered the art of making men speak with
-dignity."--_Rivoluzioni del teatro Italiano._
-
-[47] Published by John Chapman, London.
-
-[48] Addison gives some such description of the French Opera in No. 29
-of the _Spectator_.
-
-[49] The origin of this absurd title has been already explained (page
-15).
-
-[50] _Molière Musicien_, par Castil Blaze, vol. II., p. 409.
-
-[51] Gluck's name proves nothing to the contrary. The Slavonian
-languages are such unknown tongues, and so unpronounceable to the West
-of Europe that Slavonians have in numerous instances Latinised their
-names like Copernicus (a Pole), or Gallicised them like Chopin (also a
-Pole), or above all, have Germanised them like Guttenberg (a native of
-Kutna Gora in Bohemia), Schwarzenberg (from Tcherna Gora, the Black
-Mountain).
-
-[52] We have a right to suppose that the priest did not exactly know for
-whose arm the mass was ordered.
-
-[53] Of which, the best account I have met with is given in the memoirs
-of Fleury the actor.
-
-[54] From 1821 to 1828.
-
-[55] For an interesting account of the production of this work, see
-"Beaumarchais's Life and Times," by Louis de Loménie. See also the
-Preface to _Tarare_, in Beaumarchais's "Dramatic Works."
-
-[56] See vol I.
-
-[57] _Question._ Quelle est la meilleure? _Answer._ C'est Mara.
-_Rejoinder._ C'est bientĂ´t dit (_bien Todi_).--(From a joke-book of the
-period).
-
-[58] A celebrated male soprano, and one of the last of the tribe.
-
-[59] Some writers speak of Mara as a violinist, others as a
-violoncellist.
-
-[60] Banti was born at Crema, in 1757.
-
-[61] Nasolini, a composer of great promise, died at a very early age.
-
-[62] All three sopranists.
-
-[63] It will be remembered that Berton, the director of the French
-Academy, entertained Gluck and Piccinni in a similar manner. (See vol.
-I.)
-
-[64] We sometimes hear complaints of the want of munificence shown by
-modern constitutional sovereigns, in their dealings with artists and
-musicians. At least, however, they pay them. Louis XV. and Louis XVI.
-not only did not pay their daughters' music-masters, but allowed the
-royal young ladies to sponge upon them for what music they required.
-
-[65] In chronicling the material changes that have taken place at the
-French Opera, I must not forgot the story of the new curtain, displayed
-for the first time, in 1753, or rather the admirable inscription
-suggested for it by Diderot--_Hic Marsias Apollinem._ Pergolese's
-_Servante Maitresse_ (_La Serva padrona_) had just been "_écorchée_" by
-the orchestra of the Académie.
-
-[66] Mémoires Secrètes, vol. xxi., page 121.
-
-[67] This prevented me, when I was in Warsaw, from hearing M.
-Moniuszko's Polish opera of _Halka_.
-
-[68] To say that a theatre is "full" in the present day, means very
-little. The play-bills and even the newspapers speak of "a full house"
-when it is half empty. If a theatre is tolerably full, it is said to be
-"crowded" or "crammed;" if quite full, "crammed to suffocation." And
-that even in the coldest weather!
-
-[69] M. de Lamartine before writing the _History of the Restoration_,
-did not even take the trouble to find out whether or not the Duke of
-Wellington led a cavalry charge at the Battle of Waterloo. The same
-author, in his _History of the Girondist_, gives an interesting picture
-of Charlotte Corday's house at Caen, considered as a ruin. Being at Caen
-some years ago, I had no trouble in finding Charlotte Corday's house,
-but looked in vain for the moss, the trickling water, &c., introduced by
-M. de Lamartine in his poetical, but somewhat too fanciful description.
-The house was "in good repair," as the auctioneers say, and persons who
-had lived a great many years in the same street assured me that they had
-never known it as a ruin.--S. E.
-
-[70] There was a Marquis de Louvois, but he was employed as a
-scene-shifter.
-
-[71] It was built chiefly with the money of Danton and SĂ©bastian
-Lacroix.
-
-[72] Twenty-eight thousand francs a year, to which Napoleon always added
-twelve thousand in presents, with an annual _congé_ of four months.
-
-[73] According to M. Thiers, the pretended copies of the secret
-articles, sold to the English Government, were not genuine, and the
-money paid for them was "_mal gagné_."
-
-[74] Alexander II. gives Verdi an honorarium of 80,000 roubles for the
-opera he is now writing for St. Petersburg. The work, of course, remains
-Signor Verdi's property.
-
-[75] Nouvelle Biographie de Mozart. Moscou, 1843.
-
-[76] There are numerous analogies between the various Spanish legends of
-Don Juan, the Anglo-Saxon and German legends of Faust, and the Polish
-legend of Twardowski. It might be shown that they were all begotten by
-the legend of Theophilus of Syracuse, and that their latest descendant
-is _Punch_ of London.
-
-[77] Madame Alboni has appeared as Zerlina, and sings the music of this,
-as of every other part that she undertakes, to perfection; but she is
-not so intimately associated with the character as the other vocalists
-mentioned above.
-
-[78] Waters appears to have spent nearly all the money he made during
-the seasons of 1814 and 1815, in improving the house.
-
-[79] After receiving, the first year she sang in London, two thousand
-guineas, (five hundred more than was paid to Banti,) she declared that
-her price was ridiculously low, and that to retain her "_ci voglioni
-molte mila lira sterline_." She demanded and obtained five thousand.
-
-[80] There is a scientific German mind and a romantic German mind, and I
-perhaps need scarcely say, that Weber's music appears to me thoroughly
-German, in the sense in which the legends and ballads of Germany belong
-thoroughly to that country.
-
-[81] As for instance where _Semiramide_ is described as an opera written
-in the German style!
-
-[82] It would be absurd to say that if Rossini had set the _Marriage of
-Figaro_ to music, he would have produced a finer work than Mozart's
-masterpiece on the same subject; but Rossini's genius, by its comic
-side, is far more akin to that of Beaumarchais, than is Mozart's. Mozart
-has given a tender poetic character to many portions of his _Marriage of
-Figaro_, which the original comedy does not possess at all. In
-particular, he has so elevated the part of "Cherubino" by pure and
-beautiful melodies, as to have completely transformed it. It is surely
-no disparagement to Mozart, to say, that he took a higher view of life
-than Beaumarchais was capable of?
-
-I may add, that, in comparing Rossini with Beaumarchais, it must always
-be remembered that the former possesses the highest dramatic talent of a
-serious, passionate kind--witness _Otello_ and _William Tell_; whereas
-Beaumarchais's serious dramatic works, such as _La Mère Coupable_, _Les
-Deux Amis_, and _Eugénie_ (the best of the three), are very inferior
-productions.
-
-[83] The serious opera consisted of the following persons: the _primo
-uomo_ (_soprano_), _prima donna_, and tenor; the _secondo uomo_
-(_soprano_), _seconda donna_ and _ultima parte_, (bass). The company for
-the comic opera consisted of the _primo buffo_ (tenor), _prima buffa_,
-_buffo caricato_ (bass), _seconda buffa_ and _ultima parte_ (bass).
-There were also the _uomo serio_ and _donna seria_, generally the second
-man and woman of the serious opera.
-
-[84] The San Carlo, Benedetti Theatre, &c., are named after the parishes
-in which they are built.
-
-[85] Particularly celebrated for her performance of the brilliant part
-of the heroine in _La Cenerentola_, which, however, was not written for
-her.
-
-[86] When Madame Pasta sang at concerts, after her retirement from the
-stage, her favourite air was still Tancredi's _Di tanti palpiti_.
-
-[87] Mémorial de Sainte Hélène.
-
-[88] "Lutèce" par Henri Heine (a French version, by Heine himself, of
-his letters from Paris to the _Allgemeine Zeitung_).
-
-[89] He persisted in this declaration, in spite of his judges, who were
-not ashamed to resort to torture, in the hope of extracting a full
-confession from him. The thumb-screw and the rack were not, it is true,
-employed; but sentinels were stationed in the wretched man's cell, with
-orders not to allow him a moment's sleep, until he confessed.
-
-[90] The Académie Royale became the Opéra National; the Opéra National,
-after its establishment in the abode of the former Théâtre National,
-became the Théâtre des Arts; and the Théâtre des Arts, the Théâtre de la
-République et des Arts. Napoleon's Théâtre des Arts became soon
-afterwards the Académie Impériale, the Académie Impériale the Académie
-Royale, the Académie Royale the Académie Nationale, the Académie
-Nationale once more the Académie Impériale, and the Académie Impériale
-simply the Théâtre de l'Opera, by far the best title that could be given
-to it.
-
-[91] I was in Paris at the time, but, I forget the specific objections
-urged by the doctor against the _FreischĂĽtz_ set before him at the
-"Académie Nationale," as the theatre was then called. Doubtless,
-however, he did not, among other changes, approve of added recitatives.
-
-[92] No. 1.--_Vive Henri IV._ No. 2.--_La Marseillaise._ No.
-3.--_Partant pour la Syrie._ No. 4.--_La Parisienne._ No. 5.--_Partant
-pour la Syrie_ (encored). No. 6.--?
-
-[93] Mozart, Cimarosa, Weber, HĂ©rold, Bellini, and Mendelssohn.
-
-[94] In the case of _Il Crociato_, however, the model was an Italian
-one.
-
-[95] Rossini's natural inability to sympathize with sopranists is one
-more great point in his favour.
-
-[96] For instance: _Fra Diavolo_ and _Les Diamans la Couronne_.
-
-[97] The second, _Le Duc d'Albe_, was entrusted to Donizetti, who died
-without completing the score.
-
-[98] Nourrit was the author of _la Sylphide_, one of the most
-interesting and best designed ballets ever produced; that is to say, he
-composed the libretto for which Taglioni arranged the groups and dances.
-
-[99] See Raynouard's veracious "Histoire des Troubadours."
-
-[100] When are we to hear the last of the "ovations" which singers are
-said to receive when they obtain, or even do not obtain, any very
-triumphant success? A great many singers in the present day would be
-quite hurt if a journal were simply to record their "triumph." An
-"ovation" seems to them much more important; and it cannot be said that
-this misapprehension is entirely their fault.
-
-[101] That is to say, a quarter or a third part of an inch.
-
-[102] "What a pity I did not think of this city fifty years ago!"
-exclaimed Signor Badiali, when he made his first appearance in London,
-in 1859.
-
-[103] Joanna Wagner.
-
-[104] Richard Wagner.
-
-[105] Tancredi.
-
-[106] Once more, I may mention that the "romantic opera" (in the sense
-in which the French say "romantic drama,") was founded by Da Ponte and
-Mozart, the former furnishing the plan, the latter constructing the
-work--"The Opera of Operas."
-
-[107] The gist of M. Lenz's accusations against M. Oulibicheff amounts
-to this: that the latter, believing Mozart to have attained perfection
-in music, considered it impossible to go beyond him. "_Ou ce caractère
-d'universalité que Mozart imprime à quelques-un de ses plus grandes
-chefs-d'œuvre_," says M. Oulibicheff. "_M'avait paru le progrès
-immense que la musique attendait pour se constituer
-définitivement,--pour se constituer, avais-je dit, et non pour ne plus
-avancer._" According to M. Lenz, on the other hand, Mozart's
-master-pieces (after those which M. Lenz discovers among his latest
-compositions), are what preparatory studies are to a great work.
-
-[108] New form of his overtures, national melodies, &c.--(_Straker_).
-Love of traditions, melancholy, fanciful, spiritual; also
-popular.--(_Der FreischĂĽtz_).
-
-[109] I will not here enter into the question whether or not Meyerbeer
-desecrated this hymn by introducing it into an opera. Such was the
-opinion of Mendelssohn, who thought that but for Meyerbeer and the
-_Huguenots_, Luther's hymn might have been befittingly introduced in an
-oratorio which he intended to compose on the subject of the Reformation.
-
-[110] Another proof that this device is not new in the hands of Herr
-Wagner.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Opera from its Origin in
-Italy to the present Time, by Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time
-       With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe
-
-Author: Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-Release Date: July 8, 2012 [EBook #40164]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE OPERA ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
-produced from scanned images of public domain material
-from the Google Print project.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY
-
-OF
-
-THE OPERA,
-
-from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
-
-WITH ANECDOTES
-
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.
-
-BY
-
-SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,
-
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.
-
-"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"
-     "WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"
-
-VOL. I. & VOL. II.
-
-LONDON: WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.
-
-1862.
-
-[_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._]
-
-LONDON: LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS VOLUME I.
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-
-Preface, Prelude, Prologue, Introduction, Overture, &c.--The
-Origin of the Opera in Italy, and its introduction into Germany.--Its
-History in Europe; Division of the subject                             1
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-Introduction of the Opera into France and England                     12
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-On the Nature of the Opera, and its Merits as compared with
-other forms of the Drama                                              36
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-Introduction and progress of the Ballet                               70
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-Introduction of the Italian Opera into England                       104
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-The Italian Opera under Handel                                       140
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-General view of the Opera in Europe in the Eighteenth Century,
-until the appearance of Gluck                                        172
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-French Opera from Lulli to the Death of Rameau                       217
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-Rousseau as a Critic and as a Composer of Music                      238
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-Gluck and Piccinni in Paris                                          267
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY OF THE OPERA.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER I.
-
-     PREFACE, PRELUDE, PROLOGUE, INTRODUCTION, OVERTURE, ETC.--THE
-     ORIGIN OF THE OPERA IN ITALY, AND ITS INTRODUCTION INTO
-     GERMANY.--ITS HISTORY IN EUROPE; DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.
-
-
-It has often been said, and notably, by J. J. Rousseau, and after him,
-with characteristic exaggeration, by R. Wagner, that "Opera" does not
-mean so much a musical work, as a musical, poetical, and spectacular
-work all at once; that "Opera" in fact, is "the work," _par excellence_,
-to the production of which all the arts are necessary.[1] The very
-titles of the earliest operas prove this notion to be incorrect. The
-earliest Italian plays of a mixed character, not being constructed
-according to the ancient rules of tragedy and comedy, were called by the
-general name of "Opera," the nature of the "work" being more
-particularly indicated by some such epithet or epithets as _regia_,
-_comica_, _tragica_, _scenica_, _sacra_, _esemplare_, _regia ed
-esemplare_, _&c._; and in the case of a lyrical drama, the words _per
-musica_, _scenica per musica_, _regia ed esemplare per musica_, were
-added, or the production was styled _opera musicale_ alone. In time the
-mixed plays (which were imitated from the Spanish) fell into disrepute
-in Italy, while the title of "Opera" was still applied to lyrical
-dramas, but not without "musicale," or "in musica" after it. This was
-sufficiently vague, but people soon found it troublesome, or thought it
-useless, to say _opera musicale_, when opera by itself conveyed, if it
-did not express, their meaning, and thus dramatic works in music came to
-be called "Operas." Algarotte's work on the Opera (translated into
-French, and entitled _Essai sur l'Opéra_) is called in the original
-_Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica_. "Opera in music" would in the present
-day sound like a pleonasm, but it is as well to consider the true
-meaning of words, when we find them not merely perverted, but in their
-perverted sense made the foundation of ridiculous theories.
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIRST OPERA]
-
-The Opera proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the 15th century as
-the modern drama proceeds from the medićval mysteries. Ménestrier,
-however, the Jesuit father, assigns to it a far greater antiquity, and
-considers the Song of Solomon to be the earliest Opera on record,
-founding his opinion on these words of St. Jérôme, translated from
-Origen:--_Epithalamium, libellus, id est nuptiale carmen, in modum mihi
-videtur dramatis a Solomone conscriptus quem cecinit instar nubentis
-sponsć_.[2]
-
-Others see the first specimens of opera in the Greek plays; but the
-earliest musical dramas of modern Italy, from which the Opera of the
-present day is descended directly, and in an unbroken line, are
-"mysteries" differing only from the dramatic mysteries in so far that
-the dialogue in them was sung instead of being spoken. "The Conversion
-of St. Paul" was played in music, at Rome, in 1440. The first profane
-subject treated operatically, was the descent of Orpheus into hell; the
-music of this _Orfeo_, which was produced also at Rome, in 1480, was by
-Angelo Poliziano, the libretto by Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.
-The popes kept up an excellent theatre, and Clement IX. was himself the
-author of seven _libretti_.
-
-At this time the great attraction in operatic representations was the
-scenery--a sign of infancy then, as it is a sign of decadence now. At
-the very beginning of the sixteenth century, Balthazar Peruzzi, the
-decorator of the papal theatre, had carried his art to such perfection,
-that the greatest painters of the day were astonished at his
-performances. His representations of architecture and the illusions of
-height and distance which his knowledge of perspective enabled him to
-produce, were especially admired. Vasari has told us how Titian, at the
-Palace of la Farnesina, was so struck by the appearance of solidity
-given by Peruzzi to his designs in profile, that he was not satisfied,
-until he had ascended a ladder and touched them, that they were not
-actually in relief. "One can scarcely conceive," says the historian of
-the painters, in speaking of Peruzzi's scenic decorations, "with what
-ability, in so limited a space, he represented such a number of houses,
-palaces, porticoes, entablatures, profiles, and all with such an aspect
-of reality that the spectator fancied himself transported into the
-middle of a public square, to such a point was the illusion carried.
-Moreover, Balthazar, the better to produce these results, understood, in
-an admirable manner the disposition of light as well as all the
-machinery connected with theatrical changes and effects."
-
-[Sidenote: DAFNE.]
-
-In 1574, Claudio Merulo, organist at St. Mark's, of Venice, composed the
-music of a drama by Cornelio Frangipani, which was performed in the
-Venetian Council Chamber in presence of Henry III. of France. The music
-of the operatic works of this period appears to have possessed but
-little if any dramatic character, and to have consisted almost
-exclusively of choruses in the madrigal style, which was so
-successfully cultivated about the same time in England. Emilio del
-Cavaliere, a celebrated musician of Rome, made an attempt to introduce
-appropriateness of expression into these choruses, and his reform,
-however incomplete, attracted the attention of Giovanni Bardi, Count of
-Vernio. This nobleman used to assemble in his palace all the most
-distinguished musicians of Florence, among whom were Mei, Caccini, and
-Vincent Galileo, the father of the astronomer. Vincent Galileo was
-himself a discoverer, and helped, at the Count of Vernio's musical
-meetings, to invent recitative--an invention of comparative
-insignificance, but which in the system of modern opera plays as
-important a part, perhaps, as the rotation of the earth does in that of
-the celestial spheres.
-
-Two other Florentine noblemen, Pietro Strozzi and Giacomo Corsi,
-encouraged by the example of Bardi, and determined to give the musical
-drama its fullest development in the new form that it had assumed,
-engaged Ottavio Rinuccini, one of the first poets of the period, with
-Peri and Caccini, two of the best musicians, to compose an opera which
-was entitled _Dafne_, and was performed for the first time in the Corsi
-Palace, at Florence, in 1597.
-
-_Dafne_ appears to have been the first complete opera. It was considered
-a masterpiece both from the beauty of the music and from the interest of
-the drama; and on its model the same authors composed their opera of
-_Euridice_, which was represented publicly at Florence on the occasion
-of the marriage of Henry IV. of France, with Marie de Medicis, in 1600.
-Each of the five acts of _Euridice_ concludes with a chorus, the
-dialogue is in recitative, and one of the characters, "Tircis," sings an
-air which is introduced by an instrumental prelude.
-
-New music was composed to the libretto of _Dafne_ by Gagliano in 1608,
-when the opera thus rearranged was performed at Mantua; and in 1627 the
-same piece was translated by Opitz, "the father of the lyric stage in
-Germany," as he is called, set to music by Schutz, and represented at
-Dresden on the occasion of the marriage of the Landgrave of Hesse with
-the sister of John-George I., Elector of Saxony. It was not, however,
-until 1692 that Keiser appeared and perfected the forms of the German
-Opera. Keiser was scarcely nineteen years of age when he produced at the
-Court of Wolfenbüttel, _Ismene_ and _Basilius_, the former styled a
-Pastoral, the latter an opera. It is said reproachfully, and as if
-facetiously, of a common-place German musician in the present day, that
-he is "of the Wolfenbüttel school," just as it is considered comic in
-France to taunt a singer or player with having come from Carpentras. It
-is curious that Wolfenbüttel in Germany, and Carpentras in France (as I
-shall show in the next chapter), were the cradles of Opera in their
-respective countries.
-
-[Sidenote: MONTEVERDE, AND HIS ORCHESTRA.]
-
-To return to the Opera in Italy. The earliest musical drama, then, with
-choruses, recitatives, airs, and instrumental preludes was _Dafne_, by
-Rinuccini as librettist, and Caccini and Peri as composers; but the
-orchestra which accompanied this work consisted only of a harpsichord, a
-species of guitar called a chitarone, a lyre, and a lute. When
-Monteverde appeared, he introduced the modern scale, and changed the
-whole harmonic system of his predecessors. He at the same time gave far
-greater importance in his operas to the accompaniments, and increased to
-a remarkable extent the number of musicians in the orchestra, which
-under his arrangement included every kind of instrument known at the
-time. Many of Monteverde's instruments are now obsolete. This composer,
-the unacknowledged prototype of our modern cultivators of orchestral
-effects, made use of a separate combination of instruments to announce
-the entry and return of each personage in his operas; a dramatic means
-employed afterwards by Hoffmann in his _Undine_,[3] and in the present
-day with pretended novelty by Richard Wagner. This newest orchestral
-device is also the oldest. The score of Monteverde's _Orfeo_, produced
-in 1608, contains parts for two harpsichords, two lyres or violas with
-thirteen strings, ten violas, three bass violas, two double basses, a
-double harp (with two rows of strings), two French violins, besides
-guitars, organs, a flute, clarions, and even trombones. The bass violas
-accompanied Orpheus, the violas Eurydice, the trombones Pluto, the small
-organ Apollo; Charon, strangely enough, sang to the music of the
-guitar.
-
-Monteverde, having become chapel master at the church of St. Mark,
-produced at Venice _Arianna_, of which _Rinuccini_ had written the
-libretto. This was followed by other works of the same kind, which were
-produced with great magnificence, until the fame of the Venetian operas
-spread throughout Italy, and by the middle of the seventeenth century
-the new entertainment was established at Venice, Bologna, Rome, Turin,
-Naples, and Messina. Popes, cardinals and the most illustrious nobles
-took the Opera under their protection, and the dukes of Mantua and
-Modena distinguished themselves by the munificence of their patronage.
-
-Among the most celebrated of the female singers of this period were
-Catarina Martinella of Rome, Archilei, Francesca Caccini (daughter of
-the composer of that name and herself the author of an operatic score),
-Adriana Baroni, of Mantua, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, whose
-praises have been sung by Milton in his three Latin poems "Ad Leonoram
-Romć canentem."
-
-[Sidenote: THE ITALIAN OPERA ABROAD.]
-
-The Italian opera, as we shall afterwards see, was introduced into
-France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin, who as the Abbé Mazarini,
-had visited all the principal theatres of Italy by the express command
-of Richelieu, and had studied their system with a view to the more
-perfect representation of the cardinal-minister's tragedies. The
-Italian Opera he introduced on his own account, and it was, on the
-whole, very inhospitably received. Indeed, from the establishment of the
-French Opera under Cambert and his successor Lulli, in the latter half
-of the seventeenth century, until the end of the eighteenth, the French
-were unable to understand or unwilling to acknowledge the immense
-superiority of the Italians in everything pertaining to music. In 1752
-Pergolese's _Serva Padrona_ was the cause of the celebrated dispute
-between the partisans of French and Italian Opera, and the end of it was
-that _La Serva Padrona_ was hissed, and the two singers who appeared in
-it driven from Paris.
-
-In England the Italian Opera was introduced in the first years of the
-eighteenth century, and under Handel, who arrived in London in 1710,
-attained the greatest perfection. Since the production of Handel's last
-dramatic work, in 1740, the Italian Opera has continued to be
-represented in London with scarcely noticeable intervals until the
-present day, and, on the whole, with remarkable excellence.
-
-Of English Opera a far less satisfactory account can be given. Its
-traditions exist by no means in an unbroken line. Purcell wrote English
-operas, and was far in advance of all the composers of his time, except,
-no doubt, those of Italy, who, we must remember were his masters, though
-he did not slavishly copy them. Since then, we have had composers (for
-the stage, I mean) who have utterly failed; composers, like Dr. Arne,
-who have written Anglo-Italian operas; composers of "ballad operas,"
-which are not operas at all; composers of imitation-operas of all kinds;
-and lastly, the composers of the present day, by whom the long
-wished-for English Opera will perhaps at last be established.
-
-In Germany, which, since the time of Handel and Hasse, has produced an
-abundance of great composers for the stage, the national opera until
-Gluck (including Gluck's earlier works), was imitated almost entirely
-from that of Italy; and the Italian method of singing being the true and
-only method has always prevailed.
-
-Throughout the eighteenth century, we find the great Italian singers
-travelling to all parts of Europe and carrying with them the operas of
-the best Italian masters. In each of the countries where the opera has
-been cultivated, it has had a different history, but from the beginning
-until the end of the eighteenth century, the Italian Opera flourished in
-Italy, and also in Germany and in England; whereas France persisted in
-rejecting the musical teaching of a foreign land until the utter
-insufficiency of her own operatic system became too evident to be any
-longer denied. She remained separated from the rest of Europe in a
-musical sense until the time of the Revolution, as she has since and
-from very different reasons been separated from it politically.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA IN FRANCE.]
-
-Nevertheless, the history of the Opera in France is of great interest,
-like the history of every other art in that country which has engaged
-the attention of its ingenious amateurs and critics. Only, for a
-considerable period it must be treated apart.
-
-In the course of this narrative sketch, which does not claim to be a
-scientific history, I shall pursue, as far as possible, the
-chronological method; but it is one which the necessities of the subject
-will often cause me to depart from.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER II.
-
-INTRODUCTION OF THE OPERA INTO FRANCE AND ENGLAND.
-
-     French Opera not founded by Lulli.--Lulli's elevation from the
-     kitchen to the orchestra.--Lulli, M. de Pourceaugnac, and Louis
-     XIV.--Buffoonery rewarded.--A disreputable tenor.--Virtuous
-     precaution of a _prima donna_.--Orthography of a stage Queen.--A
-     cure for love.--Mademoiselle de Maupin.--A composer of sacred
-     music.--Food for cattle.--Cambert in England.--The first English
-     Opera.--Music under Cromwell.--Music under Charles II.--Grabut and
-     Dryden.--Purcell.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ORFEO AND DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-In a general view of the history of the Opera, the central figures would
-be Gluck and Mozart. Before Gluck's time the operatic art was in its
-infancy, and since the death of Mozart, no operas have been produced
-equal to that composer's masterpieces. Mozart must have commenced his
-_Idomeneo_, the first of his celebrated works, the very year that Gluck
-retired to Vienna, after giving to the Parisians his _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_; but, though contemporaries in the strict sense of the word,
-Gluck and Mozart can scarcely be looked upon as belonging to the same
-musical epoch. The compositions of the former, however immortal, have at
-least an antique cast. Those of the latter have quite a modern air; and
-it must appear to the audiences of the present day that far more than
-twenty-three years separate _Orfeo_ from _Don Giovanni_, though that is
-the precise interval which elapsed between the production of the opera
-by which Gluck, and of the one by which Mozart, is best known in this
-country. Gluck, after a century and a half of opera, so far surpassed
-all his predecessors that no work by a composer anterior to him is ever
-performed. Lulli wrote an _Armide_, which was followed by Rameau's
-_Armide_, which was followed by Gluck's _Armide_; and Monteverde wrote
-an _Orfeo_ a hundred and fifty years before Gluck produced the _Orfeo_
-which was played only the other night at the Royal Italian Opera. The
-_Orfeo_, then, of our existing operatic repertory takes us back through
-its subject to the earliest of regular Italian operas, and similarly
-Gluck, through his _Armide_ appears as the successor of Rameau, who was
-the successor of Lulli, who usually passes for the founder of the Opera
-in France, a country where it is particularly interesting to trace the
-progress of that entertainment, inasmuch as it can be observed at one
-establishment, which has existed continuously for two hundred years, and
-which, under the title of Académie Royale, Académie Nationale, and
-Académie Impériale (it has now gone by each of those names twice), has
-witnessed the production of more operatic masterpieces than any other
-theatre in any city in the world. To convince the reader of the truth of
-this latter assertion I need only remind him of the works produced at
-the Académie Royale by Gluck and Piccinni immediately before the
-Revolution; and of the _Masaniello_ of Auber, the _William Tell_ of
-Rossini, and the _Robert the Devil_ of Meyerbeer,--all written for the
-said Académie within sixteen years of the termination of the Napoleonic
-wars. Neither Naples, nor Milan, nor Prague, nor Vienna, nor Munich, nor
-Dresden, nor Berlin, has individually seen the birth of so many great
-operatic works by different masters, though, of course, if judged by the
-number of great composers to whom they have given birth, both Germany
-and Italy must be ranked infinitely higher than France. Indeed, if we
-compare France with our own country, we find, it is true, that an opera
-in the national language was established there earlier than here, though
-in the first instance only as a private entertainment; but, on the other
-hand, the French, until Gluck's time, had never any composers, native or
-adopted, at all comparable to our Purcell, who produced his _King
-Arthur_ as far back as 1691.
-
-Lulli is generally said to have introduced Opera into France, and,
-indeed, is represented in a picture, well known to Parisian opera-goers,
-receiving a privilege from the hands of Louis XIV. as a reward and
-encouragement for his services in that respect. This privilege, however,
-was neither deserved nor obtained in the manner supposed. Cardinal
-Mazarin introduced Italian Opera into Paris in 1645, when Lulli was only
-twelve years of age; and the first French Opera, entitled Akébar, Roi de
-Mogol, words and music by the Abbé Mailly, was brought out the year
-following in the Episcopal Palace of Carpentras, under the direction of
-Cardinal Bichi, Urban the Eighth's legate. Clement VII. had already
-appeared as a librettist, and it has been said that Urban VIII. himself
-recommended the importation of the Opera into France; so that the real
-father of the lyric stage in that country was certainly not a scullion,
-and may have been a Pope.
-
-[Sidenote: THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC.]
-
-The second French Opera was _La Pastorale en musique_, words by Perrin,
-music by Cambert, which was privately represented at Issy; and the third
-_Pomone_, also by Perrin and Cambert, which was publicly performed in
-Paris in 1671--the year in which was produced, at the same theatre,
-_Psyché_, a _tragédie-ballet_, by the two greatest dramatic poets France
-has ever produced, Moličre and Corneille. _Pomone_ was the first French
-Opera heard by the Parisian public, and it was to the Abbé Perrin, its
-author, and not to Lulli, that the patent of the Royal Academy of Music
-was granted. A privilege for establishing an Academy of Music had been
-conceded a hundred years before by Charles IX. to Antoine de Baif,--the
-word "_Académie_" being used as an equivalent for "_Accademia_," the
-Italian for concert. Perrin's license appears to have been a renewal, as
-to form, of de Baif's, and thus originated the eminently absurd title
-which the chief operatic theatre of Paris has retained ever since. The
-Academy of Music is of course an academy in the sense in which the
-Théâtre Français is a college of declamation, and the Palais Royal
-Theatre a school of morality; but no one need seek to justify its title
-because it is known to owe its existence to a confusion of terms.
-
-Six French operas had been performed before Lulli, supported by Madame
-de Montespan, succeeded in depriving Perrin of his "privilege," and
-securing it for himself--at the very moment when Perrin and Cambert were
-about to bring out their _Ariane_, of which the representation was
-stopped. The success of Lulli's intrigue drove Cambert to London, where
-he was received with much favour by Charles II., and appointed director
-of the Court music, an office which he retained until his death. Lulli's
-first opera, written in conjunction with Quinault, being the seventh
-produced on the French stage, was _Cadmus and Hermione_ (1673).
-
-[Sidenote: LULLI'S DISGRACE.]
-
-The life of the fortunate, unscrupulous, but really talented scullion,
-to whom is falsely attributed the honour of having founded the Opera in
-France, has often been narrated, and for the most part very
-inaccurately. Every one knows that he arrived from Italy to enter the
-service of Mademoiselle de Montpensier as page, and that he was degraded
-by that lady to the back kitchen: but it is not so generally known that
-he was only saved through the influence of Madame de Montespan from a
-shameful and horrible death on the Place de Grčve, where his accomplice
-was actually burned and his ashes thrown to the winds. Mademoiselle de
-Montpensier, in one of her letters, speaks of Lulli asking for his
-congé; but it is quite certain that he was dismissed, though it would be
-as impossible to give a complete account of the causes of his dismissal
-as to publish the original of the needlessly elaborate reply attributed
-to a certain French general at Waterloo.[4] We may mention, however,
-that Lulli had composed a song which was a good deal sung at the court,
-and at which the Princess had every right to be offended. A French
-dramatist has made this affair of the song the subject of a very
-ingenious little piece, which was represented in English some years
-since at the Adelphi Theatre, but in which the exact nature of the
-objectionable composition is of course not indicated. Suffice it to say,
-that Lulli was discharged, and that Louis XIV., hearing the libellous
-air, and finding it to his taste, showed so little regard for
-Mademoiselle de Montpensier's feelings, as to take the young musician
-into his own service. There were no vacancies in the king's band, and it
-was, moreover, a point of etiquette that the court-fiddlers should buy
-their places; so to save trouble, and, perhaps, from a suspicion that
-his ordinary players were a set of impostors, his majesty commissioned
-Lulli to form a band of his own, to which the name of "_Les petits
-violons du roi_" was given. The little fiddles soon became more expert
-musicians than the big ones, and Louis was so pleased with the little
-fiddle-in-chief, that he entrusted him with the superintendence of the
-music of his ballets. These ballets, which corresponded closely enough
-to our English masques, were entertainments not of dancing only, but
-also of vocal and instrumental music; the name was apparently derived
-from the Italian _ballata_, the parent of our own "ballad."
-
-Lulli also composed music for the interludes and songs in Moličre's
-comedies, in which he sometimes appeared himself as a singer, and even
-as a burlesque actor. Once, when the musical arrangements were not quite
-ready for a ballet, in which the king was to play four parts--the House
-of France, Pluto, Mars and the Sun--he replied, on receiving a command
-to proceed with the piece--"_Le roi est le maitre; il peut attendre tant
-qu'il lui plaira._" His majesty did not, as I have seen it stated, laugh
-at the facetious impertinence of his musician. On the contrary, he was
-seriously offended; and great was Lulli's alarm when he found that
-neither the House of France, nor Pluto, nor Mars, nor the Sun, would
-smile at the pleasantries with which, as the performance went on, he
-endeavoured to atone for his unbecoming speech. The wrath of the Great
-Monarch was not to be appeased, and Lulli's enemies already began to
-rejoice at his threatened downfall.
-
-[Sidenote: LULLI A BUFFOON.]
-
-Fortunately, Moličre was at Versailles. Lulli asked him at the
-conclusion of the ballet to announce a performance of _M. de
-Pourceaugnac_, a piece which never failed to divert Louis; and it was
-arranged that just before the rise of the curtain Moličre should excuse
-himself, on the score of a sudden indisposition, from appearing in the
-principal character. When there seemed to be no chance of _M. de
-Pourceaugnac_ being played, Lulli, that the king might not be
-disappointed, nobly volunteered to undertake the part of the hero, and
-exerted himself in an unprecedented manner to do it justice. But his
-majesty, who generally found the troubles of the Limousin gentleman so
-amusing, on this occasion did not even smile. The great scene was about
-to begin; the scene in which the apothecaries, armed with their terrible
-weapons, attack M. de Pourceaugnac and chase him round the stage. Louis
-looked graver than ever. Then the comedian, as a last hope, rushed from
-the back of the stage to the foot lights, sprang into the orchestra,
-alighted on the harpsichord, and smashed it into a thousand pieces. "By
-this fall he rose." Probably he hurt himself, but no matter; on looking
-round he saw the Great Monarch in convulsions of laughter. Encouraged by
-his success, he climbed back through the prompter's box on to the stage;
-the royal mirth increased, and Lulli was now once more reinstated in the
-good graces of his sovereign.
-
-Moličre had a high opinion of Lulli's facetious powers. "_Fais nous
-rire, Baptiste_," he would say, and it cannot have been any sort of joke
-that would have excited the laughter of the greatest of comic writers.
-Nevertheless, he fell out with Lulli when the latter attained the
-"privilege" of the Opera, and, profiting by the monopoly which it
-secured to him, forbade the author of _Tartuffe_ to introduce more than
-two singers in his interludes, or to employ more than six violins in his
-orchestra. Accordingly, Moličre entrusted the composition of the music
-for the _Malade Imaginaire_, to Charpentier. The songs and symphonies of
-all his other pieces, with the exception of _Mélicerte_, were composed
-by Lulli.
-
-The story of Lulli's obtaining letters of nobility through the
-excellence of his buffoonery in the part of the Muphti, in the
-_Bourgeois Gentilhomme_ has often been told. This was in 1670, but once
-a noble, and director of the Royal Academy of Music, he showed but
-little disposition to contribute to the diversion of others, even by the
-exercise of his legitimate art. Not only did he refuse to play the
-violin, but he would not even have one in his house. To overcome Lulli's
-repugnance in this respect, Marshal de Gramont hit upon a very ingenious
-plan. He used to make one of his servants who possessed the gift of
-converting music into noise, play the violin in Lulli's presence. Upon
-this, the highly susceptible musician would snatch the instrument from
-the valet's hands, and restore the murdered melody to life and beauty;
-then, excited by the pleasure of producing music, he forgot all around
-him, and continued to play to the great delight of the marshal.
-
-Many curious stories are told of Lafontaine's want of success as a
-librettist; Lulli refused three of his operas, one after the other,
-_Daphné_, _Astrée_, and _Acis et Galathée_--the _Acis et Galathée_ set
-to music by Lulli being the work of Campistron. At the first
-representation of _Astrée_, of which the music had been written by
-Colasse (a composer who imitated and often plagiarised from Lulli),
-Lafontaine was present in a box behind some ladies who did not know him.
-He kept exclaiming every moment, "Detestable! detestable!"
-
-[Sidenote: LAFONTAINE'S IMPARTIALITY.]
-
-Tired of hearing the same thing repeated so many times, the ladies at
-last turned round and said, "It is really not so bad. The author is a
-man of considerable wit; it is written by M. de la Fontaine."
-
-"_Cela ne vaut pas le diable_," replied the _librettist_, "and this
-Lafontaine of whom you speak is an ass. I am Lafontaine, and ought to
-know."
-
-After the first act he left the theatre and went into the Café Marion,
-where he fell asleep. One of his friends came in, and surprised to see
-him, said--"M. de la Fontaine! How is this? Ought you not to be at the
-first performance of your opera?"
-
-The author awoke, and said, with a yawn--"I've been; and the first act
-was so dull that I had not the courage to wait for the other. I admire
-the patience of these Parisians!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Compare this with the similar conduct of an English humourist, Charles
-Lamb, who, meeting with no greater success as a dramatist than
-Lafontaine, was equally astonished at the patience of the public, and
-remained in the pit to hiss his own farce.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, and Campistron, one of Lulli's
-librettists--when Quinault was not in the way--occasionally worked
-together, and with no very favourable result. Hence, mutual reproaches,
-each attributing the failure of the opera to the stupidity of the other.
-This suggested the following epigram, which, under similar
-circumstances, has been often imitated:--
-
-        "Entre Campistron et Colasse,
-        Grand débat s'émeut au Parnasse,
-    Sur ce que l'opéra n'a pas un sort heureux.
-    De son mauvais succčs nul ne se croit coupable.
-    L'un dit que la musique est plate et misérable,
-    L'autre que la conduite et les vers sont affreux;
-    Et le grand Apollon, toujours juge équitable,
-        Trouve qu'ils ont raison tous deux."
-
-Quinault was by far the most successful of Lulli's librettists, in spite
-of the contempt with which his verses were always treated by Boileau.
-Boileau liked Lulli's music, but when he entered the Opera, and was
-asked where he would sit, he used to reply, "Put me in some place where
-I shall not be able to hear the words."
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIDDLE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-Lulli must have had sad trouble with his orchestra, for in his time a
-violinist was looked upon as merely an adjunct to a dancing-master.
-There was a king of the fiddles, without whose permission no cat-gut
-could be scraped; and in selling his licenses to dancing-masters and the
-musicians of ball-rooms, the ruler of the bows does not appear to have
-required any proof of capacity from his clients. Even the simple
-expedient of shifting was unknown to Lulli's violinists, and for years
-after his death, to reach the C above the line was a notable feat. The
-pit quite understood the difficulty, and when the dreaded _démanchement_
-had to be accomplished, would indulge in sarcastic shouts of "_gare
-l'ut! gare l'ut!_"
-
-The violin was not in much repute in the 17th, and still less in the
-16th, century. The lute was a classical instrument; the harp was the
-instrument of the Troubadours; but the fiddle was fit only for servants,
-and fiddlers and servants were classed together.
-
-"Such a one," says Malherbe, "who seeks for his ancestors among heroes
-is the son of a lacquey or a fiddler."
-
-Brantôme, relating the death of Mademoiselle de Limeuil, one of the
-Queen's maids of honour, who expired, poor girl, to a violin
-accompaniment, expresses himself as follows:--
-
-"When the hour of her death had arrived, she sent for her valet, such as
-all the maids of honour have; and he was called Julien, and played very
-well on the violin. 'Julien,' said she, 'take your violin and play to me
-continually, until you see me dead, the _Defeat of the Swiss_,[5] as
-well as you are able; and when you are at the passage _All is lost_,
-sound it four or five times as piteously as you can; which the other
-did, while she herself assisted him with her voice. She recited it
-twice, and then turning on the other side of her pillow said to her
-companions, 'All is lost this time, as well I know,' and thus died."
-
-These musical valets were as much slaves as the ancient flute players of
-the Roman nobles, and were bought, sold, and exchanged like horses and
-dogs. When their services were not required at home, masters and
-mistresses who were generously inclined would allow their fiddlers to go
-out and play in the streets on their own account.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Strange tales are told of the members of Lulli's company. Duménil, the
-tenor, used to steal jewellery from the soprano and contralto of the
-troop, and get intoxicated with the baritone. This eccentric virtuoso is
-said to have drunk six bottles of champagne every night he performed,
-and to have improved gradually until about the fifth. Duménil, after one
-of his voyages to England, which he visited several times, lost his
-voice. Then, seeing no reason why he should moderate his intemperance at
-all, he gave himself up unrestrainedly to drinking, and died.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC ORTHOGRAPHY.]
-
-Mdlle. Desmâtins, the original representative of _Armide_ was chiefly
-celebrated for her beauty, her love of good living, her corpulence, and
-her bad grammar. She it was who wrote the celebrated letter
-communicating to a friend the death of her child, "_Notre anfan ai
-maure, vien de boneure, le mien ai de te voire._" Mlle. Desmâtins took
-so much pleasure in representing royal personages that she assumed the
-(theatrical) costume and demeanour of a queen in her own household, sat
-on a throne, and made her attendants serve her on their knees. Another
-vocalist, Marthe le Rochois, accused of grave flirtation with a bassoon,
-justified herself by showing a promise of marriage, which the gallant
-instrumentalist had written on the back of an ace of spades.
-
-The Opera singers of this period were not particularly well paid, and
-history relates that Mlles. Aubry and Verdier, being engaged for the
-same line of business, had to live in the same room and sleep in the
-same bed.
-
-Marthe Le Rochois was fond of giving advice to her companions. "Inspire
-yourself with the situation," she said to Desmâtins, who had to
-represent Medea abandoned by Jason; "fancy yourself in the poor woman's
-place. If you were deserted by a lover, whom you adored," added Marthe,
-thinking, no doubt, of the bassoon, "what should you do?" "I should look
-out for another," replied the ingenuous girl.
-
-But by far the most distinguished operatic actress of this period was
-Mlle. de Maupin, now better known through Théophile Gauthier's
-scandalous, but brilliant and vigorously written romance, than by her
-actual adventures and exploits, which, however, were sufficiently
-remarkable. Among the most amusing of her escapades, were her assaults
-upon Duménil and Thévenard, the before-mentioned tenor and baritone of
-the Academie. Dressed in male attire she went up to the former one night
-in the Place des Victoires, caned him, deprived him of his watch and
-snuff-box, and the next day produced the trophies at the theatre just as
-the plundered vocalist was boasting that he had been attacked by three
-robbers, and had put them all to flight. She is said to have terrified
-the latter to such a degree that he remained three weeks hiding from her
-in the Palais Royal.
-
-Mlle. de Maupin was in many respects the Lola Montes of her day, but
-with more beauty, more talent, more power, and more daring. When she
-appeared as Minerva, in Lulli's _Cadmus_, and taking off her helmet to
-the public, showed all her beautiful light brown hair, which hung in
-luxuriant tresses over her shoulders, the audience were in ecstacies of
-delight. With less talent, and less powers of fascination, she would
-infallibly have been executed for the numerous fatal duels in which she
-was engaged, and might even have been burnt alive for invading the
-sanctity of a convent at Avignon, to say nothing of her attempting to
-set fire to it. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that Lola Montes
-was the Mlle. Maupin of _her_ day; a Maupin of a century which is
-moderate in its passions and its vices as in other things.
-
-[Sidenote: A COMPOSER OF SACRED MUSIC.]
-
-Moreau, the successor of Lulli, is chiefly known as having written the
-music for the choruses of Racine's _Esther_, (1689). These choruses,
-re-arranged by Perne, were performed in 1821, at the Conservatoire of
-Paris, and were much applauded. Racine, in his preface to _Esther_,
-says, "I cannot finish this preface without rendering justice to the
-author of the music, and confessing frankly that his (choral) songs
-formed one of the greatest attractions of the piece. All connoisseurs
-are agreed that for a long time no airs have been heard more touching,
-or more suitable to the words." Nevertheless, Madame de Maintenon's
-special composer was not eminently religious in his habits. The musician
-whose hymns were sung by the daughters of Sion and of St. Cyr sought his
-inspiration at a tavern in the Rue St. Jacques, in company with the poet
-Lainez and with most of the singers and dancers of the period. No member
-of the Opera rode past the Cabaret de la Barre Royale without tying his
-horse up in the yard and going in for a moment to have a word and a
-glass with Moreau. Sometimes the moment became an hour, sometimes
-several. The horses of Létang and Favier, dancers at the Académie, after
-being left eight hours in the court-yard without food, gnawed through
-their bridles, and, looking no doubt for the stable, found their way
-into a bed-room, where they devoured the contents of a dilapidated straw
-mattrass. "We must all live," said Lainez, when he saw a mattrass
-charged for among the items of the repast, and he hastened to offer the
-unfortunate animals a ration of wine.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH MUSIC IN ENGLAND.]
-
-When Cambert arrived in London he found Charles II. and his Court fully
-disposed to patronise any sort of importation from France. Naturally,
-then, the founder of French Opera was well received. Even Lock, in many
-of his pieces, had imitated the French style; and though he had been
-employed to compose the music for the public entry of Charles II., at
-the Restoration, and was afterwards appointed composer in ordinary to
-His Majesty, Cambert, immediately on his arrival, was made master of the
-king's band; and two years afterwards an English version of his
-_Ariadne_ was produced. "You knew Cambert," says de Vizé, in _Le Mercure
-Galant_; "he has just died in London (1677), where he received many
-favours from the King of England and from the greatest noblemen of his
-Court, who had a high opinion of his genius. What they have seen of his
-works has not belied the reputation he had acquired in France. It is to
-him we owe the establishment of the operas that are now represented. The
-music of those of _Pomona_, and of the _Pains and Pleasures of Love_, is
-by him, and since that time we have had no recitative in France that has
-appeared new." In several English books, Grabut, who accompanied
-Cambert to England, is said to have arranged the music of _Ariadne_, and
-even to have composed it; but this is manifestly an error. This same
-Grabut wrote the music to Dryden's celebrated political opera _Albion
-and Albanius_, which was performed at the Duke's Theatre in 1685, and of
-which the representations were stopped by the news of Monmouth's
-invasion. Purcell, who was only fifteen years of age when _Ariadne_ was
-produced, was now twenty-six, and had written a great deal of admirable
-dramatic music. Probably the public thought that to him, and not to the
-Frenchman, might have been confided the task of setting _Albion and
-Albanius_, for in the preface to that work Dryden says, as if
-apologetically, that "during the rehearsal the king had publicly
-declared more than once, that the composition and choruses were more
-just and more beautiful than any he had heard in England." Then after a
-warm commendation of Grabut Dryden adds, "This I say, not to flatter
-him, but to do him right; because among some English musicians, and
-their scholars, who are sure to judge after them, the imputation of
-being a Frenchman is enough to make a party who maliciously endeavour to
-decry him. But the knowledge of Latin and Italian poets, both of which
-he possesses, besides his skill in music, and his being acquainted with
-all the performances of the French operas, adding to these the good
-sense to which he is born, have raised him to a degree above any man who
-shall pretend to be his rival on our stage. When any of our countrymen
-excel him, I shall be glad, for the sake of Old England, to be shown my
-error: in the meantime, let virtue be commended, though in the person of
-a stranger."
-
-Neither Grabut nor Cambert was the first composer who produced a
-complete opera in England. During the Commonwealth, in 1656, Sir William
-Davenant had obtained permission to open a theatre for the performance
-of operas, in a large room, at the back of Rutland House, in the upper
-end of Aldersgate Street; and, long before, the splendid court masques
-of James I. and Charles I. had given opportunities for the development
-of recitative, which was first composed in England by an Italian, named
-Laniere, an eminent musician, painter and engraver. The Opera had been
-established in Italy since the beginning of the century, and we have
-seen that in 1607, Monteverde wrote his _Orfeo_ for the court of Mantua.
-But it was still known in England and France only through the accounts,
-respectively, of Evelyn and of St. Evrémond.
-
-[Sidenote: THE FIRST ENGLISH OPERA.]
-
-The first English opera produced at Sir William Davenant's theatre, the
-year of its opening, was _The Siege of Rhodes_, "made a representation
-by the art of perspective in scenes, and the story sung in recitative
-music." There were five changes of scene, according to the ancient
-dramatic distinctions made for time, and there were seven performers.
-The part of "Solyman" was taken by Captain Henry Cook, that of "Ianthe"
-by Mrs. Coleman, who appears to have been the first actress on the
-English stage--in the sense in which Heine was the first poet of his
-century (having been born on the 1st of January, 1800)[6] and
-Beaumarchais the first poet in Paris (to a person entering the city from
-the Porte St. Antoine).[7] The remaining five parts were "doubled." That
-of the "Admiral" was taken by Mr. Peter Rymon, and Matthew Lock, the
-future composer of the music to _Macbeth_; that of "Mustapha," by Mr.
-Thomas Blagrave, and Henry Purcell, the father of the composer of _King
-Arthur_, and himself an accomplished musician. The vocal music of the
-first and fifth "entries" or acts, was composed by Henry Lawes; that of
-the second and third, by Captain Henry Cook, afterwards master of the
-children of the Chapel Royal; that of the fourth, by Lock. The
-instrumental music was by Dr. Charles Coleman and George Hudson, and was
-performed by an orchestra of six musicians.
-
-The first English opera then was produced, ten years later than the
-first French opera; but the _Siege of Rhodes_ was performed publicly,
-whereas, it was not until fifteen years afterwards (1671) that the first
-public performance of a French opera (Cambert's _Pomone_) took place.
-Ordinances for the suppression of stage plays had been in force in
-England since 1642, and in 1643, a tract was printed under the title of
-_The Actor's Remonstrance_, showing to what distress the musicians of
-the theatre had been already reduced. The writer says, "But musike that
-was held so delectable and precious that they scorned to come to a
-tavern under twenty shillings salary for two hours, now wander with
-their instruments under their cloaks (I mean such as have any) to all
-houses of good fellowship, saluting every room where there is company
-with 'will you have any musike, gentlemen.'" In 1648, moreover, a
-provost-marshal was appointed with power to seize upon all ballad
-singers, and to suppress stage plays.
-
-Nevertheless, Oliver Cromwell was a great lover of music. He is said to
-have "entertained the most skilful in that science in his pay and
-family;" and it is known that he engaged Hingston, a celebrated
-musician, formerly in the service of Charles, at a salary of one hundred
-a-year--the Hingston, at whose house Sir Roger l'Estrange was playing,
-and continued to play when Oliver entered the room, which gained for
-this _virtuoso_ the title of "Oliver's fiddler." Antony ŕ Wood, also
-tells a story of Cromwell's love of music. James Quin, one of the senior
-students of Christ Church, with a bass voice, "very strong and exceeding
-trouling," had been turned out of his place by the visitors, but, "being
-well acquainted with some great men of those times that loved music,
-they introduced him into the company of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector,
-who loved a good voice and instrumental music well. He heard him sing
-with great delight, liquored him with sack, and in conclusion, said,
-'Mr. Quin, you have done well, what shall I do for you?' To which Quin
-made answer, 'That your highness would be pleased to restore me to my
-student's place,' which he did accordingly." But the best proof that can
-be given of Oliver Cromwell's love for music is the simple fact that,
-under his government, and with his special permission, the Opera was
-founded in this country.
-
-[Sidenote: CROMWELL'S LOVE OF MUSIC.]
-
-We have seen that in Charles II's reign, the court reserved its
-patronage almost exclusively for French music, or music in the French
-style. When Cambert arrived in London, our Great Purcell (born, 1659)
-was still a child. He produced his first opera, _Dido and Ćneas_, the
-year of Cambert's death (1677); but, although, in the meanwhile, he
-wrote a quantity of vocal and instrumental music of all kinds, and
-especially for the stage, it was not until after the death of Charles
-that he associated himself with Dryden in the production of those
-musical dramas (not operas in the proper sense of the word) by which he
-is chiefly known.
-
-In 1690, Purcell composed music for _The Tempest_, altered and
-shamefully disfigured by Dryden and Davenant.
-
-[Sidenote: PURCELL.]
-
-In 1691, _King Arthur_, which contains Purcell's finest music, was
-produced with immense success. The war-song of the Britons, _Come if you
-Dare_, and the concluding duet and chorus, _Britons strike Home_, have
-survived the rest of the work. The former piece in particular is well
-known to concert-goers of the present day, from the excellent singing
-of Mr. Sims Reeves. Purcell died at the age of thirty-six, the age at
-which Mozart and Raphael were lost to the world, and has not yet found a
-successor. He was not only the most original, and the most dramatic, but
-also the most thoroughly English of our native composers. In the
-dedication of the music of the _Prophetess_ to the Duke of Somerset,
-Purcell himself says, "Music is yet but in its nonage, a forward child,
-which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England, when the
-masters of it shall find more encouragement. 'Tis now learning Italian,
-which is its best master, and studying a little of the French air to
-give it somewhat more of gaiety and fashion." Here Purcell spoke in all
-modesty, for though his style may have been formed in some measure on
-French models, "there is," says Dr. Burney, "a latent power and force in
-his expression of English words, whatever be the subject, that will make
-an unprejudiced native of this island feel more than all the elegance,
-grace and refinement of modern music, less happily applied, can do; and
-this pleasure is communicated to us, not by the symmetry or rhythm of
-modern melody, but by his having tuned to the true accents of our mother
-tongue, those notes of passion which an inhabitant of this island would
-breathe in such situations as the words describe. And these indigenous
-expressions of passion Purcell had the power to enforce by the energy of
-modulation, which, on some occasions, was bold, affecting and sublime.
-Handel," he adds, "who flourished in a less barbarous age for his art,
-has been acknowledged Purcell's superior in many particulars; but in
-none more than the art and grandeur of his choruses, the harmony and
-texture of his organ fugues, as well as his great style of concertos;
-the ingenuity of his accompaniments to his songs and choruses; and even
-in the general melody of the airs themselves; yet, in the accent,
-passion and expression of _English words_, the vocal music of Purcell
-is, sometimes, to my feelings, as superior to Handel's as an original
-poem to a translation."
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER III.
-
-ON THE NATURE OF THE OPERA, AND ITS MERITS AS COMPARED WITH OTHER FORMS
-OF THE DRAMA.
-
-     Opera admired for its unintelligibility.--The use of words in
-     opera.--An inquisitive amateur.--New version of a chorus in Robert
-     le Diable.--Strange readings of the _Credo_ by two chapel
-     masters.--Dramatic situations and effects peculiar to the
-     Opera.--Pleasantries directed against the Opera; their antiquity
-     and harmlessness.--_Les Opéras_ by St. Evrémond.--Beaumarchais's
-     _mot_.--Addison on the Italian Opera in England.--Swift's
-     epigram.--Béranger on the decline of the drama.--What may be seen
-     at the Opera.
-
-
-[Sidenote: UNINTELLIGIBILITY OF OPERA.]
-
-When Sir William Davenant obtained permission from Cromwell to open his
-theatre for the performance of operas, Antony ŕ Wood wrote that, "Though
-Oliver Cromwell had now prohibited all other theatrical representations,
-he allowed of this because being in an unknown language it could not
-corrupt the morals of the people." Thereupon it has been imagined that
-Antony ŕ Wood must have supposed Sir William Davenant's performances to
-have been in the Italian tongue, as if he could not have regarded music
-as an unknown language, and have concluded that a drama conducted in
-music would for that reason be unintelligible. Nevertheless, in the
-present day we have a censor who refuses to permit the representation
-of _La Dame aux Camélias_ in English, or even in French,[8] but who
-tolerates the performance of _La Traviata_, (which, I need hardly say,
-is the _Dame aux Camélias_ set to music) in Italian, and, I believe,
-even in English; thinking, no doubt, like Antony ŕ Wood, that in an
-operatic form it cannot be understood, and therefore cannot corrupt the
-morals of the people. Since Antony ŕ Wood's time a good deal of stupid,
-unmeaning verse has been written in operas, and sometimes when the words
-have not been of themselves unintelligible, they have been rendered
-nearly so by the manner in which they have been set to music, to say
-nothing of the final obscurity given to them by the imperfect
-enunciation of the singers. The mere fact, however, of a dramatic piece
-being performed in music does not make it unintelligible, but, on the
-contrary, increases the sphere of its intelligibility, giving it a more
-universal interest and rendering it an entertainment appreciable by
-persons of all countries. This in itself is not much to boast of, for
-the entertainment of the _ballet_ is independent of language to a still
-greater extent; and _La Gitana_ or _Esmeralda_ can be as well understood
-by an Englishman at the Opera House of Berlin or of Moscow as at Her
-Majesty's Theatre in London; while perhaps the most universally
-intelligible drama ever performed is that of Punch, even when the brief
-dialogue which adorns its pantomime is inaudible.
-
-Opera is _music in a dramatic form_; and people go to the theatre and
-listen to it as if it were so much prose. They have even been known to
-complain during or after the performance that they could not hear the
-words, as if it were through the mere logical meaning of the words that
-the composer proposed to excite the emotion of the audience. The only
-pity is that it is necessary in an opera to have words at all, but it is
-evident that a singer could not enter into the spirit of a dramatic
-situation if he had a mere string of meaningless syllables or any sort
-of inappropriate nonsense to utter. He must first produce an illusion on
-himself, or he will produce none on the audience, and he must,
-therefore, fully inspire himself with the sentiment, logical as well as
-musical, of what he has to sing. Otherwise, all we want to know about
-the words of _Casta diva_ (to take examples from the most popular, as
-also one of the very finest of Italian operas) is that it is a prayer to
-a goddess; of the Druids' chorus, that it is chorus of Druids; of the
-trio, that "Norma" having confronted "Pollio" with "Adalgisa," is
-reproaching him indignantly and passionately with his perfidy; of the
-duet that "Norma" is confiding her children to "Adalgisa's" care; of the
-scene with "Pollio," that "Norma" is again reproaching him, but in a
-different spirit, with sadness and bitterness, and with the compressed
-sorrow of a woman who is wounded to the heart and must soon die. I may
-be in error, however, for though I have seen _Norma_ fifty times, I have
-never examined the _libretto_, and of the whole piece know scarcely more
-than the two words which I have already paraded before the
-public--"_Casta Diva._"
-
-[Sidenote: WONDERFUL INSTANCE OF CURIOSITY.]
-
-One night, at the Royal Italian Opera, when Mario was playing the part
-of the "Duke of Mantua" in _Rigoletto_, and was singing the commencement
-of the duet with "Gilda," a man dressed in black and white like every
-one else, said to me gravely, "I do not understand Italian. Can you tell
-me what he is saying to her?"
-
-"He is telling her that he loves her," I answered briefly.
-
-"What is he saying now?" asked this inquisitive amateur two minutes
-afterwards.
-
-"He is telling her that he loves her," I repeated.
-
-"Why, he said that before!" objected this person who had apparently come
-to the opera with the view of gaining some kind of valuable information
-from the performers. Poor Bosio was the "Gilda," but my horny-eared
-neighbour wondered none the less that the Duke could not say "I love
-you," in three words.
-
-"He will say it again," I answered, "and then she will say it, and then
-they will say it together; indeed, they will say nothing else for the
-next five minutes, and when you hear them exclaim 'addio' with one
-voice, and go on repeating it, it will still mean the same thing."
-
-What benighted amateur was this who wanted to know the words of a
-beautiful duet; and is there much difference between such a one and the
-man who would look at the texture of a canvas to see what the painting
-on it was worth?
-
-Let it be admitted that as a rule no opera is intelligible without a
-libretto; but is a drama always intelligible without a play-bill? A
-libretto, for general use, need really be no larger than an ordinary
-programme; and it would be a positive advantage if it contained merely a
-sketch of the plot with the subject, and perhaps the first line of all
-the principal songs.
-
-[Sidenote: IMITATIVE MUSIC.]
-
-Then the foolish amateur would not run the risk of having his attention
-diverted from the music by the words, and would be more likely to give
-himself up to the enjoyment of the opera in a rational and legitimate
-manner. Another advantage of keeping the words from the public would be,
-that composers, full of the grossest prose, but priding themselves on
-their fancy, would at last see the inutility as well as the pettiness of
-picking out one particular word in a line, and "illustrating" it: thus
-imitating a sound when their aim should be to depict a sentiment. Even
-the illustrious Purcell has sinned in this respect, and Meyerbeer,
-innumerable times, though always displaying remarkable ingenuity, and as
-much good taste as is compatible with an error against both taste and
-reason. It is a pity that great musicians should descend to such
-anti-poetical, and, indeed, nonsensical trivialities; but when inferior
-ones are unable to let a singer wish she were a bird, without imitating
-a bird's chirruping on the piccolo, or allude in the most distant manner
-to the trumpet's sound, without taking it as a hint to introduce a short
-flourish on that instrument, I cannot help thinking of those
-literal-minded pictorial illustrators who follow a precisely analogous
-process, and who, for example, in picturing the scene in which "Macbeth"
-exclaims--"Throw physic to the dogs," would represent a man throwing
-bottles of medicine to a pack of hounds. What a treat, by the way, it
-would be to hear a setting of Othello's farewell to war by a determined
-composer of imitative picturesque music! How "ear-piercing" would be his
-fifes! How "spirit-stirring" his drums.
-
-The words of an opera ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be
-heard. They should be poetical that they may inspire first the composer
-and afterwards the singer; and they should be ryhthmical and sonorous in
-order that the latter may be able to sing them with due effect. Above
-all they ought not to be ridiculous, lest the public should hear them
-and laugh at the music, just where it was intended that it should affect
-them to tears. Everything ought to be good at the opera down to the
-rosin of the fiddlers, and including the words of the libretto. Even the
-chorus should have tolerable verses to sing, though no one would be
-likely ever to hear them. Indeed, it is said that at the Grand Opera of
-Paris, by a tradition now thirty years old, the opening chorus in
-_Robert le Diable_ is always sung to those touching lines--which I
-confess I never heard on the other side of the orchestra:--
-
-    La sou-| pe aux choux | se fait dans la mar |-mite
-    Dans la | marmi-|-te on fait la soupe aux | choux.
-
-I have said nothing about the duty of the composer in selecting his
-libretto and setting it to music, but of course if he be a man of taste
-he will not willingly accept a collection of nonsense verses. English
-composers, however, have not much choice in this respect, and all we can
-ask of them is that they will do their best with what they have been
-able to obtain; not indulging in too many repetitions, and not tiring
-the singer and provoking such of the audience as may wish to "catch" the
-words by setting more than half a dozen notes to the same monosyllable
-especially if the monosyllable occurs in the middle of a line, and the
-vowel e, or worse still, i, in the middle of the monosyllable. One of
-our most eminent composers, Mr. Vincent Wallace, has given us a striking
-example of the fault I am speaking of in his well-known trio--"Turn on
-old Time thy hour-glass" (_Maritana_) in which, according to the music,
-the scanning of the first half line is as follows:--
-
-    T[)u]rn [=o]n | [)o]ld T[=i] | [)i]-[=i] || [)i]-[)i]-[)i]--ime | &c.
-
-[Sidenote: WORDS FOR MUSIC.]
-
-To be sure Time is infinite, but seven sounds do not convey the notion
-of infinity; and even if they did, it would not be any the more pleasant
-for a singer to have to take a five note leap, and then execute five
-other notes on a vowel which cannot be uttered without closing the
-throat. If I had been in Mr. Vincent Wallace's place, I should, at all
-events, have insisted on Mr. Fitzball making one change. Instead of "Old
-Time," he should have inserted "Old Parr."
-
-    T[)u]rn [=o]n | [)o]ld P[=a]-| [)a]-[=a] || [)a]-[)a]-[)a]-arr | &c.,
-
-would not have been more intelligible to the audience than--"Turn on old
-Ti-i-i-i-i-i-ime, &c., and it would have been a thousand times easier to
-sing. Nor in spite of the little importance I attach to the phraseology
-of the libretto when listening to "music in a dramatic form," would I,
-if I were a composer, accept such a line as--
-
-    "When the proud land of Poland was ploughed by the hoof,"
-
-with a suspension of sense after the word hoof. No; the librettist might
-take his hoof elsewhere. It should not appear in _my_ Opera; at least,
-not in lieu of a plough. Mr. Balfe should tell such poets to keep such
-ploughs for themselves.
-
-    Sic vos _pro_ vobis fertis aratra boves,
-
-he might say to them.
-
-The singer ought certainly to understand what he is singing, and still
-more certainly should the composer understand what he is composing; but
-the sight of Latin reminds me that both have sometimes failed to do so,
-and from no one's fault but their own. Jomelli used to tell a story of
-an Italian chapel-master, who gave to one of his solo singers the phrase
-_Genitum non factum_, to which the chorus had to reply _Factum non
-genitum_. This transposition seemed ingenious and picturesque to the
-composer, and suited a contrast of rhythm which he had taken great pains
-to produce. It was probably due only to the bad enunciation of the
-choristers that he was not burned alive.
-
-Porpora, too, narrowly escaped the terrors of the inquisition; and but
-for his avowed and clearly-proved ignorance of Latin would have made a
-bad end of it, for a similar, though not quite so ludicrous a blunder as
-the one perpetrated by Jomelli's friend. He had been accustomed to add
-_non_ and _si_ to the verses of his libretto when the music required it,
-and in setting the creed found it convenient to introduce a _non_. This
-novel version of the Belief commenced--_Credo, non credo, non credo in
-Deum_, and it was well for Porpora that he was able to convince the
-inquisitors of his inability to understand it.
-
-[Sidenote: UNNATURALNESS OF OPERA.]
-
-Another chapel-master of more recent times is said, in composing a mass,
-to have given a delightfully pastoral character to his "Agnus Dei." To
-him "a little learning" had indeed proved "a dangerous thing." He had,
-somehow, ascertained that "agnus" meant "lamb," and had forthwith gone
-to work with pipe and cornemuse to give appropriate "picturesqueness" to
-his accompaniments.
-
-Besides accusations of unintelligibility and of _contra-sense_ (as for
-instance when a girl sentenced to death sings in a lively strain), the
-Opera has been attacked as essentially absurd, and it is satisfactory to
-know that these attacks date from its first introduction into England
-and France. To some it appears monstrous that men and women should be
-represented on the stage singing, when it is notorious that in actual
-life they communicate in the speaking voice. Opera was declared to be
-unnatural as compared with drama. In other words, it was thought natural
-that Desdemona should express her grief in melodious verse, but
-unnatural that she should do so in pure melody. (For the sake of the
-comparison I must suppose Rossini's _Otello_ to have been written long
-before its time). Persons, with any pretence to reason, have long ceased
-to urge such futile objections against a delightful entertainment which,
-as I shall endeavour to show, is in some respects the finest form the
-drama has assumed. Gresset answered these music-haters well in his
-_Discours sur l'harmonie_.--"After all," he says, "if we study nature do
-we not find more fidelity to appropriateness at the Opera than on the
-tragic stage where the hero speaks the language of declamatory poetry?
-Has not harmony always been much better able than simple declamation to
-imitate the true tones of the passions, deep sighs, sobs, bursts of
-grief, languishing tenderness, interjections of despair, the inflexions
-of pathos, and all the energy of the heart?"
-
-For the sake of enjoying the pleasures of music and of the drama in
-combination, we must adopt certain conventions, and must assume that
-song is the natural language of the men and women that we propose to
-show in our operas; as we assume in tragedy that they all talk in verse,
-in comedy that they are all witty and yet are perpetually giving one
-another opportunities for repartee; in the ballet that they all dance
-and are unable to speak at all. The form is nothing. Give us the true
-expression of natural emotion and all the rest will seem natural enough.
-Only it would be as well to introduce as many dancing characters and
-dancing situations as possible in the _ballet_--and to remember in
-particular that Roman soldiers could not with propriety figure in one;
-for a ballet on the subject of "Les Horaces" was once actually produced
-in France, in which the Horatii and the Curiatii danced a double _pas de
-trois_; and so in the tragedy the chief passages ought not to be London
-coal-heavers or Parisian water-carriers; and similarly in the Opera,
-scenes and situations should be avoided which in no way suggest singing.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERATIC CHORUS.]
-
-And let me now inform the ignorant opponents of the Opera, that there
-are certain grand dramatic effects attainable on the lyric stage, which,
-without the aid of music, could not possibly be produced. Music has
-often been defined; here is a new definition of it. It is _the language
-of masses_--the only language that masses can speak and be understood.
-On the old stage a crowd could not cry "Down with the tyrant!" or "We
-will!" or even "Yes," and "No," with any intelligibility. There is some
-distance between this state of things and the "Blessing of the daggers"
-in the _Huguenots_, or the prayer of the Israelites in _Moses_. On the
-old stage we could neither have had the prayer (unless it were recited
-by a single voice, which would be worse than nothing) before the
-passage, nor the thanksgiving, which, in the Opera, is sung immediately
-after the Red Sea has been crossed; but above all we could not obtain
-the sublime effect produced by the contrast between the two songs; the
-same song, and yet how different! the difference between minor and
-major, between a psalm of humble supplication and a hymn of jubilant
-gratitude. This is the change of key at which, according to Stendhal,
-the women of Rome fainted in such numbers. It cannot be heard without
-emotion, even in England, and we do not think any one, even a professed
-enemy of Opera, would ask himself during the performance of the prayer
-in _Mosé_, whether it was natural or not that the Israelites should sing
-either before or after crossing the Red Sea.
-
-Again, how could the animation of the market scene in _Masaniello_ be
-rendered so well as by means of music? In concerted pieces, moreover,
-the Opera possesses a means of dramatic effect quite as powerful and as
-peculiar to itself as its choruses. The finest situation in _Rigoletto_
-(to take an example from one of the best known operas of the day) is
-that in which the quartet occurs. Here, three persons express
-simultaneously the different feelings which are excited in the breast of
-each by the presence of a fourth in the house of an assassin, while the
-cause of all this emotion is gracefully making love to one of the three,
-who is the assassin's sister. The amorous fervour of the "Duke," the
-careless gaiety of "Maddalena," the despair of "Gilda," the vengeful
-rage of "Rigoletto," are all told most dramatically in the combined
-songs of the four personages named, while the spectator derives an
-additional pleasure from the art by which these four different songs are
-blended into harmony. A magnificent quartet, of which, however, the
-model existed long before in _Don Giovanni_.
-
-All this is, of course, very unnatural. It would be so much more natural
-that the "Duke of Mantua" should first make a long speech to
-"Maddalena;" that "Maddalena" should then answer him; that afterwards
-both should remain silent while "Gilda," of whose presence outside the
-tavern they are unaware, sobs forth her lamentations at the perfidy of
-her betrayer; and that finally the "Duke," "Maddalena," and "Gilda," by
-some inexplicable agreement, should not say a word while "Rigoletto" is
-congratulating himself on the prospect of being speedily revenged on the
-libertine who has robbed him of his daughter. In the old drama, perfect
-sympathy between two lovers can scarcely be expressed (or rather
-symbolized) so vividly as through the "_ensemble_" of the duet, where
-the two voices are joined so as to form but one harmony. We are
-sometimes inclined to think that even the balcony duet between "Romeo"
-and "Juliet" ought to be in music; and certainly no living dramatist
-could render the duet in music between "Valentine and Raoul" adequately
-into either prose or verse. Talk of music destroying the drama,--why it
-is from love of the drama that so many persons go to the opera every
-night.
-
-[Sidenote: EXPLODED PLEASANTRIES.]
-
-But is it not absurd to hear a man say, "Good morning," "How do you do?"
-in music? Most decidedly; and therefore ordinary, common-place, and
-trivial remarks should be excluded from operas, as from poetical dramas
-and from poetry of all kinds except comic and burlesque verse. It was
-not reserved for the unmusical critics of the present day to discover
-that it would be grotesque to utter such a phrase as "Give me my boots,"
-in recitative, and that such a line as "Waiter, a cutlet nicely
-browned," could not be advantageously set to music. All this sort of
-humour was exhausted long ago by Hauteroche, in his _Crispin Musicien_,
-which was brought out in Paris three years after the establishment of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, and revived in the time of Rameau (1735)
-by Palaprat, in his _Concert Ridicule_ and _Ballet Extravagant_
-(1689-90), of which the author afterwards said that they were "the
-source of all the badinage that had since been applauded in more than
-twenty comedies; that is to say, the interminable pleasantries on the
-subject of the Opera;" and by St. Evrémond, in his comedy entitled _Les
-Opéras_, which he wrote during his residence in London.
-
-In St. Evrémond's piece, which was published but not played,
-"Chrisotine" is, so to speak, opera-struck. She thinks of nothing but
-Lulli, or "Baptiste," as she affectionately calls him, after the manner
-of Louis XVI. and his Court; sings all day long, and in fact has
-altogether abandoned speech for song. "Perrette," the servant, tells
-"Chrisotine" that her father wishes to see her. "Why disturb me at my
-songs," replies the young lady, singing all the time. The attendant
-complains to the father, that "Chrisotine" will not answer her in
-ordinary spoken language, and that she sings about the house all day
-long. "Chrisotine" corroborates "Perrette's" statement, by addressing a
-little _cavatina_ to her parent, in which she protests against the
-harshness of those who would hinder her from singing the tender loves of
-"Hermione" and "Cadmus."
-
-"Speak like other people, Chrisotine," exclaims old "Chrisard," or I
-will issue such an edict against operas that they shall never be spoken
-of again where I have any authority."
-
-"My father, Baptiste; opera, my duty to my parents; how am I to decide
-between you?" exclaims the young girl, with a tragic indecision as
-painful as that of Arnold, the son of Tell, hesitating between his
-Matilda and his native land.
-
-[Sidenote: ST. EVREMOND'S BURLESQUE.]
-
-"You hesitate between Baptiste and your father," cries the old
-gentleman. "_O tempora! O mores!_" (only in French).
-
-"Tender mother! Cruel father! and you, O Cadmus! Unhappy Cadmus! I shall
-see you no more," sings "Chrisotine;" and soon afterwards she adds,
-still singing, that she "would rather die than speak like the vulgar. It
-is a new fashion at the court (she continues), and since the last opera
-no one speaks otherwise than in song. When one gentleman meets another
-in the morning, it would be grossly impolite not to sing to
-him:--'_Monsieur comment vous portez vous?_' to which the other would
-reply--'_Je me porte ŕ votre service._'
-
-"FIRST GENTLEMAN.--'_Aprčs diner, que ferons nous?_'
-
-"SECOND GENTLEMAN.--'_Allons voir la belle Clarisse._'
-
-"The most ordinary things are sung in this manner, and in polite society
-people don't know what it means to speak otherwise than in music."
-
-_Chrisard._--"Do people of quality sing when they are with ladies?"
-
-_Chrisotine._--"Sing! sing! I should like to see a man of the world
-endeavour to entertain company with mere talk in the old style. He would
-be looked upon as one of a by-gone period. The servants would laugh at
-him."
-
-_Chrisard._--"And in the town?"
-
-_Chrisotine._--"All persons of any importance imitate the court. It is
-only in the Rue St. Denis and St. Honoré and on the Bridge of Notre
-Dame that the old custom is still kept up. There people buy and sell
-without singing. But at Gauthier's, at the Orangery; at all the shops
-where the ladies of the court buy dresses, ornaments and jewels, all
-business is carried on in music, and if the dealers did not sing their
-goods would be confiscated. People say that a severe edict has been
-issued to that effect. They appoint no Provost of Trade now unless he is
-a musician, and until M. Lulli has examined him to see whether he is
-capable of understanding and enforcing the rules of harmony."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The above scene, be it observed, is not the work of an ignorant
-detractor of opera, of a brute insensible to the charms of music, but is
-the production of St. Evrémond, one of the very first men, on our side
-of the Alps, who called attention to the beauties of the new musical
-drama, just established in Italy, and which, when he first wrote on the
-subject, had not yet been introduced into France. St. Evrémond had too
-much sense to decry the Opera on account of such improbabilities as must
-inevitably belong to every form of the drama--which is the expression of
-life, but which need not for that reason be restricted exclusively to
-the language of speech, any more than tragedy need be confined to the
-diction of prose, or comedy to the inane platitudes of ordinary
-conversation. At all events, there is no novelty, and above all no wit,
-in repeating seriously the pleasantries of St. Evrémond, which, we
-repeat, were those of a man who really loved the object of his
-good-natured and agreeable raillery.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-Indeed, most of the men who have written things against the Opera that
-are still remembered have liked the Opera, and have even been the
-authors of operas themselves. "_Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine
-d'ętre dit on le chante_," is said by the Figaro of Beaumarchais--of
-Beaumarchais, who gave lessons in singing and on the harpsichord to
-Louis XV.'s daughters, who was an enthusiastic admirer of Gluck's
-operas, and who wrote specially for that composer the libretto of
-_Tarare_, which, however, was not set to music by him, but by Salieri,
-Gluck's favourite pupil. Beaumarchais knew well enough--and _Tarare_ in
-a negative manner proves it--that not only "what is not worth the
-trouble of saying" cannot be sung, but that very often such trivialities
-as can with propriety be spoken in a drama would, set to music, produce
-a ludicrous effect. Witness the lines in St. Evrémond's _Les Opéras_--
-
-    "_Monsieur comment vous portez vous?_"
-    "_Je me porte ŕ votre service_"--
-
-which might form part of a comedy, but which in an opera would be
-absurd, and would therefore not be introduced into one, except by a
-foolish librettist, (who would for a certainty get hissed), or by a wit
-like St. Evrémond, wishing to amuse himself by exaggerating to a
-ridiculous point the latest fashionable mania of the day.
-
-Addison's admirably humorous articles on Italian Opera in the
-_Spectator_ are often spoken of by musicians as ill-natured and unjust,
-and are ascribed--unjustly and even meanly, as it seems to me--to the
-author's annoyance at the failure of his _Rosamond_, which had been set
-to music by an incapable person named Clayton. Addison could afford to
-laugh at the ill-success of his _Rosamond_, as La Fontaine laughed at
-that of _Astrée_; and to assert that his excellent pleasantries on the
-subject of Italian Opera, then newly established in London, had for
-their origin the base motives usually imputed to him by musicians, is to
-give any one the right to say of _them_ that this one abuses modern
-Italian music, which the public applaud, because his own English music
-has never been tolerated or that that one expresses the highest opinion
-of English composers because he himself composes and is an Englishman.
-To impute such motives would be to assume, as is assumed in the case of
-Addison, that no one blames except in revenge for some personal loss, or
-praises except in the hope of some personal gain. And after all, what
-_has_ Addison said against the Opera, an entertainment which he
-certainly enjoyed, or he would not have attended it so often or have
-devoted so many excellent papers to it? Let us turn to the _Spectator_
-and see.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-Italian Opera was introduced into England at the beginning of the 18th
-century, the first work performed entirely in the Italian language being
-_Almahide_, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, and which
-was produced in 1710, with Valentini, Nicolini, Margarita de l'Epine,
-Cassani and "Signora Isabella," in the principal parts. Previously, for
-about three years, it had been the custom for Italian and English
-vocalists to sing each in their own language. "The king,[9] or hero of
-the play," says Addison, "generally spoke in Italian, and his slaves
-answered him in English; the lover frequently made his court, and gained
-the heart of his princess in a language which she did not understand.
-One would have thought it very difficult to have carried on dialogues in
-this manner without an interpreter between the persons that conversed
-together; but this was the state of the English stage for about three
-years.
-
-"At length, the audience got tired of understanding half the opera, and,
-therefore, to ease themselves entirely of the fatigue of thinking, have
-so ordered it at present, that the whole opera is performed in an
-unknown tongue. We no longer understand the language of our own stage,
-insomuch, that I have often been afraid, when I have seen our Italian
-performers chattering in the vehemence of action, that they have been
-calling us names and abusing us among themselves; but I hope, since we
-do put such entire confidence in them, they will not talk against us
-before our faces, though they may do it with the same safety as if it
-were behind our backs. In the meantime, I cannot forbear thinking how
-naturally an historian who writes two or three hundred years hence, and
-does not know the taste of his wise forefathers, will make the following
-reflection:--In the beginning of the 18th century, the Italian tongue
-was so well understood in England, that operas were acted on the public
-stage in that language.
-
-"One scarce knows how to be serious in the confutation of an absurdity
-that shows itself at the first sight. It does not want any great measure
-of sense to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice; but what makes
-it the more astonishing, it is not the taste of the rabble, but of
-persons of the greatest politeness, which has established it.
-
-"If the Italians have a genius for music above the English, the English
-have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, and
-capable of giving the mind a much nobler entertainment. Would one think
-it was possible (at a time when an author lived that was able to write
-the _Phedra and Hippolitus_) for a people to be so stupidly fond of the
-Italian opera as scarce to give a third day's hearing to that admirable
-tragedy? Music is, certainly, a very agreeable entertainment; but if it
-would take entire possession of our ears, if it would make us incapable
-of hearing sense, if it would exclude arts that have much greater
-tendency to the refinement of human nature, I must confess I would allow
-it no better quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his
-commonwealth.
-
-[Sidenote: ADDISON ON THE OPERA.]
-
-"At present, our notions of music are so very uncertain, that we do not
-know what it is we like; only, in general, we are transported with
-anything that is not English; so it be of foreign growth, let it be
-Italian, French, or High Dutch, it is the same thing. In short, our
-English music is quite rooted out, and nothing yet planted in its
-stead."
-
-The _Spectator_ was written from day to day, and was certainly not
-intended for _our_ entertainment; yet, who can fail to be amused at the
-description of the stage king "who spoke in Italian and his slaves
-answered him in English;" and of the lover who "frequently made his
-court and gained the heart of his princess in a language which she did
-not understand?" What, too, in this style of humour, can be better than
-the notion of the audience getting tired of understanding half the
-opera, and, to ease themselves of the trouble of thinking, so ordering
-it that the whole opera is performed in an unknown tongue; or of the
-performers who, for all the audience knew to the contrary, might be
-calling them names and abusing them among themselves; or of the probable
-reflection of the future historian, that "in the beginning of the 18th
-century the Italian tongue was so well understood in England that operas
-were acted on the public stage in that language?" On the other hand, we
-have not, it is true, heard yet of any historian publishing the remark
-suggested by Addison; probably, because those historians who go to the
-opera--and who does not?--are quite aware that to understand an Italian
-opera, it is not at all necessary to have a knowledge of the Italian
-language. The Italian singers might abuse us at their ease, especially
-in concerted pieces, and in grand finales; but they might in the same
-way, and equally, without fear of detection, abuse their own countrymen.
-Our English vocalists, too, might indulge in the same gratification in
-England, and have I not mentioned that at the Grand Opera of Paris--
-
-    '_La soupe aux choux se fait dans la marmite._'
-
-has been sung in place of Scribe's words in the opening chorus of
-_Robert le Diable_; and if _La soupe_, &c., why not anything else? But
-it is a great mistake to inquire too closely into the foundation on
-which a joke stands, when the joke itself is good; and I am almost
-ashamed, as it is, of having said so much on the subject of Addison's
-pleasantries, when the pleasantries spoke so well for themselves. One
-might almost as well write an essay to prove seriously that language was
-_not_ given to man "to conceal his thoughts."
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AS AN ART.]
-
-The only portion of the paper from which I have extracted the above
-observations that can be treated in perfect seriousness, is that which
-begins--"If the Italians have a genius for music, &c.," and ends--"I
-would allow it no better quarter than Plato has done," &c. Now the
-recent political condition of Italy sufficiently proves that music could
-not save a country from national degradation; but neither could painting
-nor an admirable poetic literature. It is also better, no doubt, that a
-man should learn his duty to God and to his neighbour, than that he
-should cultivate a taste for harmony, but why not do both; and above
-all, why compare like with unlike? The "performances of a much higher
-nature" than music undeniably exist, but they do not answer the same
-end. The more general science on which that of astronomy rests may be a
-nobler study than music, but there is nothing consoling or _per se_
-elevating in mathematics. Poetry, again, would by most persons be
-classed higher than music, though the effect of half poetry, and of
-imaginative literature generally, is to place the reader in a state of
-reverie such as music induces more immediately and more perfectly. The
-enjoyment of art--by which we do not mean its production, or its
-critical examination, but the pure enjoyment of the artistic result--has
-nothing strictly intellectual in it; no man could grow wise by looking
-at Raphael or listening to Mozart. Nor does he derive any important
-intellectual ideas from many of our most beautiful poems, but simply
-emotion, of an elevated kind, such as is given by fine music. Music is
-evidently not didactic, and painting can only teach, in the ordinary
-sense of the word, what every one already knows; though, of course, a
-painter may depict certain aspects of nature and of the human face,
-previously unobserved and unimagined, just as the composer, in giving a
-musical expression to certain sentiments and passions, can rouse in us
-emotions previously dormant, or never experienced before with so much
-intensity. But the fine arts cannot communicate abstract truths--from
-which it chiefly follows that no right-minded artist ever uses them with
-such an aim; though there is no saying what some wild enthusiasts will
-not endeavour to express, and other enthusiasts equally wild pretend to
-see, in symphonies and in big symbolical pictures. If Addison meant to
-insinuate that _Phćdra and Hippolytus_ was a much higher performance
-than any possible opera, he was decidedly in error. But he had not heard
-_Don Juan_, _William Tell_, and _Der Freischütz_; to which no one in the
-present day, unless musically deaf, could prefer an English translation
-of _Phčdre_. It would be unfair to lay too much stress on the fact that
-the music of Handel still lives, and with no declining life, whereas the
-tragedies of Racine, resuscitated by Mademoiselle Rachel, have not been
-heard of since the death of that admirable actress; Addison was only
-acquainted with the earliest of Handel's operas, and these _are_
-forgotten, as indeed are most of his others, with the exception, here
-and there, of a few detached airs.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND DRAMA.]
-
-In the sentence commencing "Music is certainly a very agreeable
-entertainment, but," &c., Addison says what every one, who would care to
-see one of Shakespeare's plays properly acted (not much cared for,
-however, in Addison's time), must feel now. Let us have perfect
-representations of Opera by all means; but it is a sad and a disgraceful
-thing, that in his own native country the works of the greatest
-dramatist who ever lived should be utterly neglected as far as their
-stage representation is concerned. It is absurd to pretend that the
-Opera is the sole cause of this. Operas, magnificently put upon the
-stage, are played in England, at least at one theatre, with remarkable
-_completeness_ of excellence, and, at more than one, with admirable
-singers in the principal and even in the minor parts. Shakespeare's
-dramas, when they are played at all, are thrown on to the stage anyhow.
-This would not matter so much, but our players, even in _Hamlet_, where
-they are especially cautioned against it, have neither the sense nor the
-good taste to avoid exaggeration and rant, to which, they maintain, the
-public are now so accustomed, that a tragedian acting naturally would
-make no impression. Their conventionality, moreover, makes them keep to
-certain stage "traditions," which are frequently absurd, while their
-vanity is so egregious that one who imagines himself a first-rate actor
-(in a day when there are no first-rate actors) will not take what he is
-pleased to consider a second-rate part. Our stage has no tragedian who
-could embody the jealousy of "Otello," as Ronconi embodies that of
-"Chevreuse" in _Maria di Rohan_, nor could half a dozen actors of equal
-reputation be persuaded in any piece to appear in half a dozen parts of
-various degrees of prominence, though this is what constantly takes
-place at the Opera.
-
-In Addison's time, Nicolini was a far greater actor than any who was in
-the habit of appearing on the English stage; indeed, this alone can
-account for the success of the ridiculous opera of _Hydaspes_, in which
-Nicolini played the principal part, and of which I shall give some
-account in the proper place. Doubtless also, it had much to do with the
-success of Italian Opera generally, which, when Addison commenced
-writing about it in the _Spectator_, was supported by no great composer,
-and was constructed on such frameworks as one would imagine could only
-have been imagined by a lunatic or by a pantomime writer struck serious.
-If Addison had not been fond of music, and moreover a very just critic,
-he would have dismissed the Italian Opera, such as it existed during the
-first days of the _Spectator_, as a hopeless mass of absurdity.
-
-[Sidenote: STAGE DECORATION.]
-
-Every one must in particular admit the justness of Addison's views
-respecting the incongruity of operatic scenery; indeed, his observations
-on that subject might with advantage be republished now and then in the
-present day. "What a field of raillery," he says, "would they [the wits
-of King Charles's time] have been let into had they been entertained
-with painted dragons spitting wildfire, enchanted chariots drawn by
-Flanders mares, and real cascades in artificial landscapes! A little
-skill in criticism would inform us, that shadows and realities ought not
-to be mixed together in the same piece; and that the scenes which are
-designed as the representations of nature should be filled with
-resemblances, and not with the things themselves. If one would represent
-a wide champaign country, filled with herds and flocks, it would be
-ridiculous to draw the country only upon the scenes, and to crowd
-several parts of the stage with sheep and oxen. This is joining together
-inconsistencies, and making the decoration partly real and partly
-imaginary. I would recommend what I have here said to the directors as
-well as the admirers, of our modern opera."
-
-In the matter of stage decoration we have "learned nothing and forgotten
-nothing" since the beginning of the 18th century. Servandoni, at the
-theatre of the Tuileries, which contained some seven thousand persons,
-introduced as elaborate and successful mechanical devices as any that
-have been known since his time; but then as now the real and artificial
-were mixed together, by which the general picture is necessarily
-rendered absurd, or rather no general picture is produced. Independently
-of the fact that the reality of the natural objects makes the
-artificiality of the manufactured ones unnecessarily evident as when the
-branches of real trees are agitated by a gust of wind, while those of
-pasteboard trees remain fixed--it is difficult in making use of natural
-objects on the stage to observe with any accuracy the laws of proportion
-and perspective, so that to the eye the realities of which the manager
-is so proud, are, after all, strikingly unreal. The peculiar conditions
-too, under which theatrical scenery is viewed, should always be taken
-into account. Thus, "real water," which used at one time to be announced
-as such a great attraction at some of our minor playhouses, does not
-look like water on the stage, but has a dull, black, inky, appearance,
-quite sufficient to render it improbable that any despondent heroine,
-whatever her misfortune, would consent to drown herself in it.
-
-The most contemptuous thing ever written against the Opera, or rather
-against music in general, is Swift's celebrated epigram on the Handel
-and Buononcini disputes:--
-
-    "Some say that Signor Buononcini
-     Compared to Handel is a ninny;
-     While others say that to him, Handel
-     Is hardly fit to hold a candle.
-     Strange that such difference should be,
-     'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee."
-
-Capital, telling lines, no doubt, though is it not equally strange that
-there should be such a difference between one piece of painted canvas
-and another, or between a statue by Michael Angelo and the figure of a
-Scotchman outside a tobacconist's shop? These differences exist, and it
-proves nothing against art that savages and certain exceptional natures
-among civilized men are unable to perceive them. We wonder how the Dean
-of St. Patrick's would have got on with the Abbé Arnauld, who was so
-impressed with the sublimity of one of the pieces in Gluck's
-_Iphigénie_, that he exclaimed, "With that air one might found a new
-religion!"
-
-[Sidenote: BERANGER ON THE DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.]
-
-One of the wittiest poems written against our modern love of music
-(cultivated, it must be admitted, to a painful extent by many incapable
-amateurs) is the lament by Béranger, in which the poet, after
-complaining that the convivial song is despised as not sufficiently
-artistic, and that in the presence of the opera the drama itself is fast
-disappearing, exclaims:
-
-    Si nous t'enterrons
-      Bel art dramatique,
-    Pour toi nous dirons
-      La messe en musique.
-
-Without falling into the same error as those who have accused Addison of
-a selfish and interested animosity towards the Opera, I may remark that
-song-writers have often very little sympathy for any kind of music
-except that which can be easily subjected to words, as in narrative
-ballads, and to a certain extent ballads of all kinds. When a man says
-"I don't care much for music, but I like a good song," we may generally
-infer that he does not care for music at all. So play-wrights have a
-liking for music when it can be introduced as an ornament into their
-pieces, but not when it is made the most important element in the
-drama--indeed, the drama itself.
-
-Favart, the author of numerous opera-books, has left a good satirical
-description in verse of French opera. It ends as follows:--
-
-      Quiconque voudra
-      Faire un opéra,
-      Emprunte ŕ Pluton,
-      Son peuple démon;
-      Qu'il tire des cieux
-      Un couple de dieux,
-      Qu'il y joigne un héros
-      Tendre jusqu' aux os.
-      Lardez votre sujet,
-      D'un éternel ballet.
-    Amenez au milieu d'une fęte
-        La tempęte,
-        Une bęte,
-      Que quelqu'un tűra
-      Dčs qu'il la verra.
-      Quiconque voudra faire un opéra
-      Fuira de la raison
-      Le triste poison.
-      Il fera chanter
-      Concerter et sauter
-      Et puis le reste ira,
-      Tout comme il pourra.
-
-[Sidenote: PANARD ON THE OPERA.]
-
-This, from a man whose operas did not fail, but on the contrary, were
-highly successful, is rather too bad. But the author of the ill-fated
-"Rosamond" himself visited the French Opera, and has left an account of
-it, which corresponds closely enough to Favart's poetical description.
-"I have seen a couple of rivers," he says, (No. 29 of the _Spectator_)
-"appear in red stockings, and Alpheus, instead of having his head
-covered with sedge and bulrushes, making love in a fair, full-bottomed,
-periwig, and a plume of feathers, but with a voice so full of shakes and
-quavers that I should have thought the murmurs of a country brook the
-much more agreeable music. I remember the last opera I saw in that merry
-nation was the "Rape of Proserpine," where Pluto, to make the more
-tempting figure, puts himself in a French equipage, and brings
-Ascalaphus along with him as his _valet de chambre_." This is what we
-call folly and impertinence, but what the French look upon as gay and
-polite."
-
-Addison's account agrees with Favart's song and also with one by Panard,
-which contains this stanza:--
-
-    "J'ai vu le soleil et la lune
-     Qui faissient des discours en l'air
-     _J'ai vu le terrible Neptune_
-     _Sortir tout frisé de la mer_."
-
-Panard's song, which occurs at the end of a vaudeville produced in 1733,
-entitled _Le départ de l'Opéra_, refers to scenes behind as well as
-before the curtain. It could not be translated with any effect, but I
-may offer the reader the following modernized imitation of it, and so
-conclude the present chapter.
-
-    WHAT MAY BE SEEN AT THE OPERA.
-
-    I've seen Semiramis, the queen;
-      I've seen the Mysteries of Isis;
-    A lady full of health I've seen
-      Die in her dressing-gown, of phthisis.
-
-    I've seen a wretched lover sigh,
-      "_Fra poco_" he a corpse would be,
-    Transfix himself, and then--not die,
-      But coolly sing an air in D.
-
-    I've seen a father lose his child,
-      Nor seek the robbers' flight to stay;
-    But, in a voice extremely mild,
-      Kneel down upon the stage and pray.
-
-    I've seen "Otello" stab his wife;
-      The "Count di Luna" fight his brother;
-    "Lucrezia" take her own son's life;
-      And "John of Leyden" cut his mother.
-
-    I've seen a churchyard yield its dead,
-      And lifeless nuns in life rejoice;
-    I've seen a statue bow its head,
-      And listened to its trombone voice.
-
-    I've seen a herald sound alarms,
-      Without evincing any fright:
-    Have seen an army cry "To arms"
-      For half an hour, and never fight.
-
-    I've seen a naiad drinking beer;
-      I've seen a goddess fined a crown;
-    And pirate bands, who knew no fear,
-      By the stage manager put down;
-
-    Seen angels in an awful rage,
-      And slaves receive more court than queens,
-    And huntresses upon the stage
-      Themselves pursued behind the scenes.
-
-    I've seen a maid despond in A,
-      Fly the perfidious one in B,
-    Come back to see her wedding day,
-      And perish in a minor key.
-
-    I've seen the realm of bliss eternal,
-      (The songs accompanied by harps);
-    I've seen the land of pains infernal,
-      With demons shouting in six sharps!
-
-[Sidenote: PANARD AT THE OPERA.]
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IV.
-
-INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF THE BALLET.
-
-     The Ballets of Versailles.--Louis XIV. astonished at his own
-     importance.--Louis retires from the stage; congratulations
-     addressed to him on the subject; he re-appears.--Privileges of
-     Opera dancers and singers.--Manners and customs of the Parisian
-     public.--The Opera under the regency.--Four ways of presenting a
-     petition.--Law and the financial scheme.--Charon and paper
-     money.--The Duke of Orleans as a composer.--An orchestra in a court
-     of justice.--Handel in Paris.--Madame Sallé; her reform in the
-     Ballet, and her first appearance in London.
-
-
-[Sidenote: A CORPS OF NOBLES.]
-
-After the Opera comes the Ballet. Indeed, the two are so intimately
-mixed together that it would be impossible in giving the history of the
-one to omit all mention of the other. The Ballet, as the name
-sufficiently denotes, comes to us from the French, and in the sense of
-an entertainment exclusively in dancing, dates from the foundation of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, or soon afterwards. During the first
-half of the 17th century, and even earlier, ballets were performed at
-the French court, under the direction of an Italian, who, abandoning his
-real name of Baltasarini, had adopted that of Beaujoyeux. He it was who
-in 1581 produced the "_Ballet Comique de la Royne_," to celebrate the
-marriage of the Duc de Joyeuse. This piece, which was magnificently
-appointed, and of which the representation is said to have cost
-3,600,000 francs, was an entertainment consisting of songs, dances, and
-spoken dialogue, and appears to have been the model of the masques which
-were afterwards until the middle of the 17th century represented in
-England, and of most of the ballets performed in France until about the
-same period. There were dancers engaged at the French Opera from its
-very commencement, but it was difficult to obtain them in any numbers,
-and, worst of all, there were no female dancers to be found. The company
-of vocalists could easily be recruited from the numerous cathedral
-choirs; for the Ballet there were only the dancing-masters of the
-capital to select from, the profession of dancing-mistress not having
-yet been invented. Nymphs, dryads, and shepherdesses were for some time
-represented by young boys, who, like the fauns, satyrs, and all the rest
-of the dancing troop wore masks. At last, however, in 1681, Terpsichore
-was worthily represented by dancers of her own sex, and an aristocratic
-corps de ballet was formed, with Madame la Dauphine, the Princess de
-Conti, and Mdlle. de Nantes as principal dancers, supported by the
-Dauphin, the Prince de Conti and the Duke de Vermandois. They appeared
-in the _Triomphe de l'Amour_, and the astounding exhibition was fully
-appreciated. Previously, the ladies of the court, when they appeared in
-ballets, had confined themselves to reciting verses, which sometimes,
-moreover, were said for them by an orator engaged for the purpose. To
-see a court lady dancing on the stage was quite a novelty; hence, no
-doubt, the success of that spectacle.
-
-[Sidenote: QUADRILLES AND COUNTRY DANCES.]
-
-The first celebrated _ballerina_ at the French Opera was Mademoiselle La
-Fontaine, styled _la reine de la danse_--a title of which the value was
-somewhat diminished by the fact that there were only three other
-professional danseuses in Paris. Lulli, however, paid great attention to
-the ballet, and under his direction it soon gained importance. To Lulli,
-who occasionally officiated as ballet-master, is due the introduction of
-rapid style of dancing, which must have contrasted strongly with the
-stately solemn steps that were alone in favour at the Court during the
-early days of Louis XIV's reign. The minuet-loving Louis had notoriously
-an aversion for gay brilliant music. Thus he failed altogether to
-appreciate the talent of "little Baptiste" not Lulli, but Anet, a pupil
-of Corelli, who is said to have played the sonatas of his master very
-gracefully, and with an "agility" which at that time was considered
-prodigious. The Great Monarch preferred the heavy monotonous strains of
-his own Baptiste, the director of the Opera. It may here be not out of
-place to mention that Lulli's introduction of a lively mode of dancing
-into France (it was only in his purely operatic music that he was so
-lugubriously serious) took place simultaneously with the importation
-from England of the country-dance--and corrupted into _contre-danse_,
-which is now the French for quadrille. Moreover, when the French took
-our country-dance, a name which some etymologists would curiously enough
-derive from its meaningless corruption--we adopted their minuet which
-was first executed in England by the Marquis de Flamarens, at the Court
-of Charles II. The passion of our English noblemen for country-dances is
-recorded as follows in the memoirs of the Count de Grammont:--"Russel
-was one of the most vigorous dancers in England, I mean for
-country-dances (_contre-danses_). He had a collection of two or three
-hundred arranged in tables, which he danced from the book; and to prove
-that he was not old, he sometimes danced till he was exhausted. His
-dancing was a good deal like his clothes; it had been out of fashion
-twenty years."
-
-Every one knows that Louis XIV. was a great actor; and even his mother,
-Anne of Austria, appeared on the stage at the Court of Madrid to the
-astonishment and indignation of the Spaniards, who said that she was
-lost for them, and that it was not as Infanta of Spain, but as Queen of
-France, that she had performed.
-
-On the occasion of Louis XIV.'s marriage with Marie Therčse, the
-celebrated expression _Il n'y plus de Pyrenées_ was illustrated by a
-ballet, in which a French nymph and a Spanish nymph sang a duet while
-half the dancers were dressed in the French and half in the Spanish
-costume.
-
-Like other illustrious stars, Louis XIV. took his farewell of the stage
-more than once before he finally left it. His Histrionic Majesty was in
-the habit both of singing and dancing in the court ballets, and took
-great pleasure in reciting such graceful compliments to himself as the
-following:--
-
-    "Plus brilliant et mieux fait que tous les dieux ensemble
-     La terre ni le ciel n'ont rien qui me ressemble."
-                          (_Thétis et Pélée._--Benserade. 1654),
-
-       "Il n'est rien de si grand dans toute la nature
-        Selon l'âme et le coeur au point oů je me vois;
-        De la terre et de moi qui prendra la mesure
-        Trouvera que la terre est moins grande que moi."
-                     (_L'Impatience._--Benserade. 1661).
-
-On the 15th February, 1669, Louis XIV. sustained his favourite character
-of the Sun, in _Flora_, the eighteenth ballet in which he had played a
-part--and the next day solemnly announced that his dancing days were
-over, and that he would exhibit himself no more. The king had not only
-given his royal word, but for nine months had kept it, when Racine
-produced his _Britannicus_, in which the following lines are spoken by
-"Narcisse" in reference to Nero's performances in the amphitheatre.
-
-    Pour toute ambition pour vertu singuličre
-    Il excelle ŕ conduire un char dans la carričre;
-    A disputer des prix indignes des ses mains,
-    A se donner lui-męme en spectacle aux Romains,
-    A venir prodiguer sa voix sur un théâtre
-    A réciter des chants qu'il veut qu'on idolâtre;
-    Tandis que des soldats, de moments en moments,
-    Vont arracher pour lui des applaudissements.
-
-[Sidenote: LOUIS RETURNS TO THE STAGE.]
-
-The above lines have often been quoted as an example of virtuous
-audacity on the part of Racine, who, however, did not write them until
-the monarch who at one time did not hesitate to "_se donner lui męme en
-spectacle_, &c.," had confessed his fault and vowed never to repeat it;
-so that instead of a lofty rebuke, the verses were in fact an indirect
-compliment neatly and skilfully conveyed. So far from profiting by
-Racine's condemnation of Nero's frivolity and shamelessness, and
-retiring conscience-stricken from the stage (of which he had already
-taken a theatrical farewell) Louis XIV. reappeared the year afterwards,
-in _Les amants magnifiques_, a _Comédie-ballet_, composed by Moličre and
-himself, in which the king figured and was applauded as author,
-ballet-master, dancer, mime, singer, and performer on the flute and
-guitar. He had taken lessons on the latter instrument from the
-celebrated Francisco Corbetta, who afterwards made a great sensation in
-England at the Court of Charles II.
-
-If Louis XIV. did not scruple to assume the part of an actor himself,
-neither did he think it unbecoming that his nobles should do the same,
-even in presence of the general public and on the stage of the Grand
-Opera. "We wish, and it pleases us," he says in the letters patent
-granted to the Abbé Perrin, the first director of the Académie Royale de
-Musique (1669) "that all gentlemen (_gentilshommes_) and ladies may sing
-in the said pieces and representations of our Royal Academy without
-being considered for that reason to derogate from their titles of
-nobility, or from their privileges, rights and immunities." Among the
-nobles who profited by this permission and appeared either as singers,
-or as dancers at the Opera, were the Seigneur du Porceau, and Messieurs
-de Chasré and Borel de Miracle; and Mesdemoiselles de Castilly, de Saint
-Christophe, and de Camargo. Another privilege accorded to the Opera was
-of such an infamous nature that were it not for positive proof we could
-scarcely believe it to have existed. It had full control, then, over all
-persons whose names were once inscribed on its books; and if a young
-girl went of her own accord, or was persuaded into presenting herself at
-the Opera, or was led away from her parents and her name entered on the
-lists by her seducer--then in neither case had her family any further
-power over her. _Lettres de cachet_ even were issued, commanding the
-persons named therein to join the Opera; and thus the Count de Melun got
-possession of both the Camargos. The Duke de Fronsac was enabled to
-perpetrate a similar act of villany. He it is who is alluded to in the
-following lines by Gilbert:--
-
-    "Qu'on la séduise! Il dit: ses eunuques discrets,
-     Philosophes abbés, philosophes valets,
-     Intriguent, sčment l'or, trompent les yeux d'un pčre,
-     Elle cčde, on l'enlčve; en vain gémit sa mčre.
-    _Echue ŕ l'Opéra par un rapt solennel,_
-    _Sa honte la dérobe au pouvoir paternel._"
-
-[Sidenote: INVENTION OF THE BALLET.]
-
-As for men they were sent to the Opera as they were sent to the
-Bastille. Several amateurs, abbés and others, the beauty of whose voices
-had been remarked, were arrested by virtue of _lettres de cachet_, and
-forced to appear at the Académie Royale de Musique, which had its
-conscription like the army and navy. On the other hand, we have seen
-that the pupils and associates of the Académie enjoyed certain
-privileges, such as freedom from parental restraint and the right of
-being immoral; to which was afterwards added that of setting creditors
-at defiance. The pensions of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging
-to the Opera were exempted from all liability to seizure for debt.
-
-The dramatic ballet, or _ballet d'action_, was invented by the Duchess
-du Maine. We soon afterwards imported it into England as, in Opera, we
-imported the chorus, which was also a French invention, and one for
-which the musical drama can scarcely be too grateful. The dramatic
-_ballet_, however, has never been naturalized in this country. It still
-crosses over to us occasionally, and when we are tired of it goes back
-again to its native land; but even as an exotic, it has never fairly
-taken root in English soil.
-
-The Duchess du Maine was celebrated for her _Nuits de Sceaux_, or _Nuits
-Blanches_, as they were called, which the nobles of Louis XIV.'s Court
-found as delightful as they found Versailles dull. The Duchess used to
-get up lotteries among her most favoured guests, in which the prizes
-were so many permissions to give a magnificent entertainment. The
-letters of the alphabet were placed in a box, and the one who drew O had
-to get up an opera; C stood for a comedy; B for a ballet; and so on. The
-hostess of Sceaux had not only a passion for theatrical performances,
-but also a great love of literature, and the idea occurred to her of
-realising on the stage of her own theatre something like one of those
-pantomimes of antiquity of which she had read the descriptions with so
-much pleasure. Accordingly, she took the fourth act of _Les Horaces_,
-had it set to music by Mouret, just as if it were to be sung, and caused
-this music to be executed by the orchestra alone, while Balon and
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who were celebrated as dancers, but had never
-attempted pantomime before, played in dumb show the part of the last
-Horatius, and of Camilla, the sister of the Curiatii. The actor and
-actress entered completely into the spirit of the new drama, and
-performed with such truthfulness and warmth of emotion as to affect the
-spectators to tears.
-
-Mouret, the musical director of _Les Nuits Blanches_, composed several
-operas and _ballets_ for the Académie; but when the establishment at
-Sceaux was broken up, after the discovery of the Spanish conspiracy, in
-which the Duchess du Maine was implicated, he considered himself ruined,
-went mad and died at Charenton in the lunatic asylum.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE FREE LIST.]
-
-"Long live the Regent, who would rather go to the Opera than to the
-Mass," was the cry when on the death of Louis XIV., the reins of
-government were assumed by the Duke of Orleans. At this time the whole
-expenses of the Opera, including chorus, ballet, musicians, scene
-painters, decorators, &c.--from the prima donna to the
-bill-sticker--amounted only to 67,000 francs a year, being considerably
-less than half what is given now to a first-rate soprano alone. The
-first act of the Regent in connexion with the Opera was to take its
-direction out of the hands of musicians, and appoint the Duc d'Antin
-manager. The new _impresario_, wishing to reward Thévanard, who was at
-that time the best singer in France, offered him the sum of 600 francs.
-Thévanard indignantly refused it, saying "that it was a suitable
-present, at most, for his valet," upon which d'Antin proposed to
-imprison the singer for his insolence, but abstained from doing so, for
-fear of irritating the public with whom Thévanard was a prodigious
-favourite. He, however, resigned the direction of the Opera, saying that
-he "wished to have nothing more to do with such _canaille_."
-
-The next operatic edict of the Regent had reference to the admission of
-authors, who hitherto had enjoyed the privilege of free entry to the
-pit. In 1718 the Regent raised them to the amphitheatre--not as a mark
-of respect, but in order that they might be the more readily detected
-and expelled in case of their forming cabals to hiss the productions of
-their rivals, which, standing up in the pit in the midst of a dense
-crowd, they had been able to do with impunity. Even to the present day,
-when authors exchange applause much more freely than hisses, the
-regulations of the French theatre do not admit them to the pit, though
-they have free access to every other part of the house.
-
-At the commencement of the 18th century, the Opera was the scene of
-frequent disturbances. The Count de Talleyrand, MM. de Montmorency,
-Gineste, and others, endeavouring to force their way into the theatre
-during a rehearsal, were repulsed by the guard, and Gineste killed. The
-Abbés Hourlier and Barentin insulted M. Fieubet; they were about to come
-to blows when the guard separated them and carried off the obstreperous
-ecclesiastics to For l'Evčque, where they were confined for a fortnight.
-On their release Hourlier and Barentin, accompanied by a third abbé,
-took their places in the balcony over the stage, and began to sing,
-louder even than the actors, maintaining, when called to order, that the
-Opera was established for no other purpose, and that if they had a right
-to sing anywhere, it was at the Académie de Musique.
-
-[Sidenote: PETER THE GREAT AT THE OPERA.]
-
-A balustrade separated the stage balconies from the stage, but continual
-attempts were made to get over it, and even to break into the actresses'
-dressing rooms, which were guarded by sentinels. At this period about a
-third of the _habitués_ used to make their appearance in a state of
-intoxication, the example being set by the Regent himself, who could
-proceed direct from his residence in the Palais Royal to the Opera,
-which adjoined it. To the first of the Regent's masked balls the
-Councillor of State, Rouillé, is said to have gone drunk from personal
-inclination, and the Duke de Noailles in the same condition, out of
-compliment to the administrator of the kingdom.
-
-When Peter the Great visited the French Opera, in 1717, he does not
-appear to have been intoxicated, but he went to sleep. When he was asked
-whether the performance had wearied him, he is said to have replied,
-that on the contrary he liked it to excess, and had gone to sleep from
-motives of prudence. This story, however, does not quite accord with the
-fact that Peter introduced public theatrical performances into Russia,
-and encouraged his nobles to attend them.
-
-Nothing illustrates better the heartless selfishness of Louis XV. than
-his conduct, not at the Opera, but at his own theatre in the Louvre,
-immediately after the occurrence of a terrible and fatal accident. The
-Chevalier de Fénélon, an ensign in the palace guard, in endeavouring to
-climb from one box to another, lost his fooling, and fell headlong on to
-a spiked balustrade, where he remained transfixed through the neck. The
-theatre was stained with blood in a horrible manner, and the unfortunate
-chevalier was removed from the balustrade a dead man. Just then, the
-Very Christian king made his appearance. He gave the signal for the
-performance to commence, and the orchestra struck up as if nothing had
-happened.
-
-Some idea of the morality of the French stage during the regency and
-the reign of Louis XV., may be formed from the fact that, in spite of
-the great license accorded to the members of the Académie, or at least,
-tolerated and encouraged by the law, it was found absolutely necessary
-in 1734 to expel the _prima donna_ Mademoiselle Pélissier, who had
-shocked even the management of the Opera. She was, however, received
-with open arms in London. Let us not be too hard on our neighbours.
-
-Soon afterwards, Mademoiselle Petit, a dancer, was exiled for negligence
-of attire and indiscretion behind the scenes. I must add that this
-negligence was extreme. The most curious part of the affair, was that
-the Abbé de la Marre, author of several _libretti_, undertook the young
-lady's defence, and published a pamphlet in justification of her
-conduct, which is to be found among his _OEuvres diverses_.
-
-Another _danseuse_, however, named Mariette, ruled at the Opera like a
-little autocrat. "The Princess," as she was named, from the regard the
-Prince de Carignan, titular director of the academy, was known to
-entertain for her, applied to the actual managers, Lecomte and
-Leboeuf, for a payment of salary which she had already received, and
-which they naturally refused to give twice. Upon this they were not only
-dismissed from their places (which they had purchased) but were exiled
-by _lettres de cachet_.
-
-[Sidenote: PELISSIER AT TABLE.]
-
-The prodigality of favourite and favoured actresses under the regency
-was extreme. The before-mentioned Mademoiselle Pélissier and her friend
-Mademoiselle Deschamps, both gluttonous to excess, were noted for their
-contempt of all ordinary food, and of everything that happened to be
-nearly in season, or at all accessible, not merely to vulgar citizens,
-but to the generality of opulent sensualists. It is not said that they
-aspired to the dissolution of pearls in their sauces, but if green peas
-were served to them when the price of the dish was less than sixty
-francs, they sent them away in disdain. Mademoiselle Pélissier was in
-the receipt of 4,000 francs (Ł160) a year from the Opera. Mademoiselle
-Deschamps, who was only a figurante, contrived to get on with a salary
-of only sixteen pounds. And yet we have seen that they were neither of
-them economical.
-
-One of the most facetious members of the Académie under the regency, was
-Tribou, a performer, who seems to have been qualified for every branch
-of the histrionic profession, and to have possessed a certain literary
-talent besides. This humourist had some favour to ask of the Duke of
-Orleans. He presented a petition to him, and after the regent had read
-it, said gravely--
-
-"If your Highness would like to read it again, here is the same thing in
-verse."
-
-"Let me see it," said the Duke.
-
-Tribou presented his petition in verse, and afterwards expressed his
-readiness to sing it. He sang, and no sooner had he finished, than he
-added--
-
-"If _mon Seigneur_ will permit me, I shall be happy to dance it."
-
-"Dance it?" exclaimed the regent; "by all means!"
-
-When Tribou had concluded his _pas_, the duke confessed that he had
-never before heard of a petition being either danced or sung, and for
-the love of novelty, granted the actor his request.
-
-During the regency, wax was substituted for tallow in the candelabra of
-the Opera. This improvement was due to Law, who gave a large sum of
-money to the Académie for that special purpose. On the other hand,
-Mademoiselle Mazé, one of the prettiest dancers at the Opera, was ruined
-three years afterwards by the failure of this operatic benefactor's
-financial scheme. The poor girl put on her rouge, her mouches, and her
-silk stockings, and in her gayest attire, drowned herself publicly in
-the middle of the day at La Grenouilličre.
-
-[Sidenote: HOW TO CROSS THE STYX.]
-
-After the break up of Law's system, the regent, terrified by the murmurs
-and imprecations of the Parisians, endeavoured to turn the whole current
-of popular hatred against the minister, by dismissing him from the
-administration of the finances. When Law presented himself at the Palais
-Royal, the regent refused to receive him; but the same evening, he
-admitted him by a private door, apologized to him, and tried to console
-him. Two days afterwards, he accompanied Law to the Opera; but to
-preserve him from the fury of the people, he was obliged to have him
-conducted home by a party of the Swiss guard.
-
-In the fourth act of Lulli's _Alceste_, Charon admits into his bark
-those shades who are able to pay their passage across the Styx, and
-sends back those who have no money.
-
-"Give him some bank notes," exclaimed a man in the pit to one of these
-penniless shades. The audience took up the cry, and the scene between
-Charon and the shades was, at subsequent representations, the cause of
-so much tumult, that it was found necessary to withdraw the piece.
-
-The Duke of Orleans appears to have had a sincere love of music, for he
-composed an opera himself, entitled _Panthée_, of which the words were
-written by the Marquis de La Fare. _Panthée_ was produced at the Duke's
-private theatre. After the performance, the musician, Campra, said to
-the composer,
-
-"The music, your Highness, is excellent, but the poem is detestable."
-
-The regent called La Fare.
-
-"Ask Campra," he said, "what he thinks of the Opera; I am sure he will
-tell you that the poem is admirable, and the music worthless. We must
-conclude that the whole affair is as bad as it can be."
-
-The Duke of Orleans had written a motet for five voices, which he wished
-to send to the Emperor Leopold, but before doing so, entrusted it for
-revision to Bernier, the composer. Bernier handed the manuscript to the
-Abbé de la Croix, whom the regent found examining it while Bernier
-himself was in the next room regaling himself with his friends. The
-immediate consequences of this discovery were a box on the ear for
-Bernier, and ten louis for de La Croix.
-
-The Regent also devoted some attention to the study of antiquity. He
-occupied himself in particular with inquiries into the nature of the
-music of the Greeks, and with the construction of an instrument which
-was to resemble their lyre.
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC IN COURT.]
-
-To the same prince was due the excellent idea of engaging the celebrated
-Italian Opera Company of London, at that time under the direction of
-Handel, to give a series of performances at the Académie. A treaty was
-actually signed in presence of M. de Maurepas, the minister, by which
-Buononcini the conductor, Francesca Cuzzoni, Margarita Durastanti,
-Francesco Bernardi, surnamed _Senesino_, Gaetano Bernesta, and Guiseppe
-Boschi were to come to Paris in 1723, and give twelve representations of
-one or two Italian Operas, as they thought fit. Francine, the director
-of the Académie, engaged to pay them 35,000 francs, and to furnish new
-dresses to the principal performers. This treaty was not executed,
-probably through some obstacle interposed by Francine; for the manager
-signed it against his will, and on the 2nd of December following, the
-regent, with whom it had originated, died. The absurd privileges secured
-to the Académie Royale, and the consequent impossibility of giving
-satisfactory performances of Italian Opera elsewhere than at the chief
-lyrical theatre must have done much to check the progress of dramatic
-music in France. From time to time Italian singers were suffered to make
-their appearance at the Grand Opera; but at the regular Italian Theatre
-established in Paris, as at the Comédie Française, singing was only
-permitted under prescribed conditions, and the orchestra was strictly
-limited, by severe penalties, rigidly enforced, to a certain number of
-instruments, of which not more than six could be violins, or of the
-violin family.
-
-At the Comédie Italienne an ass appeared on the stage, and began to
-bray.
-
-"Silence," exclaimed Arlechinno, "music is forbidden here."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the distinguished amateurs of the period of the regency was M. de
-Saint Montant, who played admirably on the viola, and had taught his
-sons and daughters to do the same. Being concerned in a law suit, which
-had to be tried at Nimes, he went with his family of musicians to visit
-the judges, laid his case before them, one after the other, and by way
-of peroration, gave them each a concert, with which they were so
-delighted that they decided unanimously in favour of M. de Saint
-Montant.
-
-A law suit had previously been decided somewhat in the same manner, but
-much more logically, in favour of Joseph Campra, brother of the composer
-of that name, who was the conductor of the orchestra at the Opera of
-Marseilles. The manager refused to pay the musicians on the ground that
-they did not play well enough. In consequence, he was summoned by the
-entire band, who, when they appeared in court, begged through Campra
-that they might be allowed to plead their own cause. The judges granted
-the desired permission, upon which the instrumentalists drew themselves
-up in orchestral order and under the direction of Campra commenced an
-overture of Lulli's. The execution of this piece so delighted the
-tribunal that with one voice it condemned the director to pay the sum
-demanded of him.
-
-A still more curious dispute between a violinist and a dancer was
-settled in a satisfactory way for both parties. The dancer was on the
-stage rehearsing a new step. The violinist was in the orchestra
-performing the necessary musical accompaniment.
-
-"Your scraping is enough to drive a man mad," said the dancer.
-
-"Very likely," said the musician, "and your jumping is only worthy of a
-clown. Perhaps as you have such a very delicate ear," he added, "and
-nature has refused you the slightest grace, you would like to take my
-place in the orchestra?"
-
-[Sidenote: LA CAMARGO.]
-
-"Your awkwardness with the bow makes me doubt whether your most useful
-limbs may not be your legs," replied the dancer. "You will never do any
-good where you are. Why do you not try your fortune in the ballet? Give
-me your violin," he continued, "and come up on to the stage. I know the
-scale already. You can teach me to play minuets, and I will show you how
-to dance them."
-
-The proposed interchange of good offices took place, and with the
-happiest results. The unmusical fiddler, whose name was Dupré, acquired
-great celebrity in the ballet, and Léclair, the awkward dancer, became
-the chief of the French school of violin playing.
-
-Marie-Anne Cupis de Camargo did not lose so much time in discovering her
-true vocation. She gave evidence of her genius for the ballet while she
-was still in the cradle, and was scarcely six months old when the
-variety of her gestures, the grace of her movements, and the precision
-with which she marked the rhythm of the tunes her father played on the
-violin led all who saw her to believe that she would one day be a great
-dancer. The young Camargo, who belonged to a noble family of Spanish
-origin, made her _début_ at the Académie in 1726, and at once achieved a
-decided success. People used to fight at the doors to obtain admittance
-the nights she performed; all the new fashions were introduced under her
-name, and in a very short space of time her shoemaker made his fortune.
-All the ladies of the court insisted on wearing shoes _ŕ la Camargo_.
-But the triumph of one dancer is the despair of another. Mademoiselle
-Prévost, who was the queen of the ballet until Mademoiselle de Camargo
-appeared was not prepared to be dethroned by a _débutante_. She was so
-alarmed by the young girl's success that she did her utmost to keep her
-in the background, and contrived before long to get her placed among
-the _figurantes_. But in spite of this loss of rank, Mademoiselle de
-Camargo soon found an opportunity of distinguishing herself. In a
-certain ballet, she formed one of a group of demons, and was standing on
-the stage waiting for Dumoulin, who had to dance a _pas seul_, when the
-orchestra began the soloist's air and continued to play it, though still
-no Dumoulin appeared. Mademoiselle de Camargo was seized with a sudden
-inspiration. She left the demoniac ranks, improvised a step in the place
-of the one that should have been danced by Dumoulin and executed it with
-so much grace and spirit that the audience were in raptures.
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who had previously given lessons to young Camargo,
-now refused to have anything to do with her, and the two _danseuses_
-were understood to be rivals both by the public and by one another. The
-chief characteristics of Camargo's dancing were grace, gaiety, and above
-all prodigious lightness, which was the more remarkable at this period
-from the fact that the mode chiefly cultivated at the Opera was one of
-solemn dignity. However, she had not been long on the stage before she
-learned to adopt from her masters and from the other dancers whatever
-good points their particular styles presented, and thus formed a style
-of her own which was pronounced perfection.
-
-[Sidenote: STAGE COSTUME.]
-
-Mademoiselle de Camargo, in spite of her charming vivacity when dancing,
-was of a melancholy mood off the stage. She was not remarkably pretty,
-but her face was highly expressive, her figure exquisite, her hands and
-feet of the most delicate proportions, and she possessed considerable
-wit. Dupré, the ex-violinist, who had leaped at a bound from the
-orchestra to the stage, was in the habit of dancing with Camargo, and
-also with Mademoiselle Sallé, another celebrity of this epoch, who
-afterwards visited London, where she produced the first complete _ballet
-d'action_ ever represented, and at the same time introduced an important
-reform in theatrical costume.
-
-The art of stage decoration had made considerable progress, even before
-the Opera was founded, but it was not until long after Mademoiselle
-Sallé had given the example in London that any reasonable principles
-were observed in the selection and design of theatrical dresses. In
-1730, warriors of all kinds, Greek, Roman, and Assyrian, used to appear
-on the French stage in tunics belaced and beribboned, in cuirasses, and
-in powdered wigs bearing tails a yard long, surmounted by helmets with
-plumes of prodigious height. The tails, of which there were four, two in
-front and two behind, were neatly plaited and richly pomatumed, and when
-the warrior became animated, and waved his arm or shook his head, a
-cloud of hair powder escaped from his wig. It appeared to Mademoiselle
-Sallé, who, besides being an admirable dancer, was a woman of taste in
-all matters of art, that this sort of thing was absurd; but the reforms
-she suggested were looked upon as ridiculous innovations, and nearly
-half a century elapsed before they were adopted in France.
-
-This ingenious _ballerina_ enjoyed the friendship and regard of many of
-the most distinguished writers of her time. Voltaire celebrated her in
-verse, and when she went to London she took with her a letter of
-introduction from Fontenelle to Montesquieu, who was then ambassador at
-the English Court. Another danseuse, Mademoiselle Subligny came to
-England with letters of introduction from Thiriot and the Abbé Dubois to
-Locke. The illustrious metaphysician had no great appreciation of
-Mademoiselle de Subligny's talent, but he was civil and attentive to her
-out of regard to his friends, who were also hers, and, in the words of
-Fontenelle, constituted himself her "_homme d'affaires_."
-
-[Sidenote: PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES.]
-
-Mademoiselle Sallé was not only esteemed by literature, she was adored
-by finance, and Samuel Bernard, the Court banker and money lender, gave
-her a hundred golden louis for dancing before the guests at the marriage
-of his daughter with the President Molé. The same opulent amateur sent a
-thousand francs to Mademoiselle Lemaure, by way of thanking her for
-resuming the part of "Délie," in the "Les Fętes Grecques et Romaines,"
-on the occasion of the Duchess de Mirepoix's marriage. I must mention
-that at this period it was not the custom in good society for young
-ladies to appear at the Opera before their marriage. Their mothers were
-determined either to keep their daughters out of harm's way, or to
-escape a dangerous rivalry as long as possible; but once attached to a
-husband the newly-married girl could show herself at the Opera as often
-as she pleased, and it was a point of etiquette that through the Opera
-she should make her entrance into fashionable life. These _débutantes_
-of the audience department presented themselves to the public in their
-richest attire, in their most brilliant diamonds; and if the effect was
-good the gentlemen in the pit testified their approbation by clapping
-their hands.
-
-But to return to Mademoiselle Sallé. What she proposed to introduce
-then, and did introduce into London, in addition to her own admirable
-dancing, were complete dramatic ballets, with the personages attired in
-the costumes of the country and time to which the subject belonged. To
-give some notion of the absurdity of stage costumes at this period we
-may mention that forty-two years afterwards, when Mademoiselle Sallé's
-reform had still had no effect in France, the "Galathea," in Rousseau's
-_Pygmalion_, wore a damask dress, made in the Polish style, over a
-basket hoop, and on her head on enormous _pouf_, surmounted by three
-ostrich feathers!
-
-In her own _Pygmalion_, Mademoiselle Sallé carried out her new principle
-by appearing, not in a Polish costume, nor in a Louis Quinze dress, but
-in drapery imitated as closely as possible from the statues of
-antiquity. Of her performance, and of _Pygmalion_ generally, a good
-account is given in the following letter, written by a correspondent in
-London, under the date of March 15th, 1734, to the "Mercure de France."
-In the style we do not recognise the author of the "Essay on the
-Decadence of the Romans," and of the "Spirit of Laws," but it is just
-possible that M. de Montesquieu may have responded to M. de Fontenelle's
-letter of introduction, by writing a favourable criticism of the
-bearer's performance, for the "influential journal" in which the notice
-actually appeared.
-
-"Mdlle. Sallé," says the London correspondent, "without considering the
-embarrassing position in which she places me, desires me to give you an
-account of her success. I have to tell you in what manner she has
-rendered the fable of Pygmalion, and that of Ariadne and Bacchus; and of
-the applause with which these two ballets of her composition have been
-received by the Court of England.
-
-"Pygmalion has now been represented for nearly two months, and the
-public is never tired of it. The subject is developed in the following
-manner.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE.]
-
-"Pygmalion comes into his studio with his pupils, who perform a
-characteristic dance, chisel and mallet in hand. Pygmalion tells them to
-draw aside a curtain at the back of the studio, which, like the front is
-adorned with statues. The one in the middle above all the others
-attracts the looks and admiration of every one. Pygmalion gazes at it
-and sighs; he touches its feet, presses its waist, adorns its arms with
-precious bracelets, and covers its neck with diamonds, and, kissing the
-hands of his dear statue, shows that he is passionately in love with it.
-The amorous sculptor expresses his distress in pantomime, falls into a
-state of reverie, and then throwing himself at the feet of a statue of
-Venus, prays to the goddess to animate his beloved figure.
-
-"The goddess answers his prayer. Three flashes of light are seen, and to
-an appropriate symphony the marble beauty emerges by degrees from her
-state of insensibility. To the surprise of Pygmalion and his pupils she
-becomes animated, and evinces her astonishment at her new existence, and
-at the objects by which she is surrounded. The delighted Pygmalion
-extends his hand to her; she feels, so to speak, the ground beneath her
-with her feet, and takes some timid steps in the most elegant attitudes
-that sculpture could suggest. Pygmalion dances before her, as if to
-instruct her; she repeats her master's steps, from the easiest to the
-most difficult. He endeavours to inspire her with the tenderness he
-feels himself, and succeeds in making her share that sentiment. You can
-understand, sir, what all the passages of this action become, executed
-and danced with the fine and delicate grace of Mdlle. Sallé. She
-ventured to appear without basket, without skirt, without a dress, in
-her natural hair, and with no ornament on her head. She wore nothing, in
-addition to her boddice and under-petticoat, but a simple robe of
-muslin, arranged in drapery after the model of a Greek statue.
-
-"You cannot doubt, sir, of the prodigious success this ingenious ballet,
-so well executed, obtained. At the request of the king, the queen, the
-royal family, and all the court, it will be performed on the occasion
-of Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, for which all the boxes and places in
-the theatre and amphitheatre have been taken for a month past. The
-benefit takes place on the first of April.
-
-"Do not expect that I can describe to you Ariadne like Pygmalion: its
-beauties are more noble and more difficult to relate; the expressions
-and sentiments are those of the profoundest grief, despair, rage and
-utter dejection; in a word all the great passions perfectly declaimed by
-means of dances, attitudes and gestures suggested by the position of a
-woman who is abandoned by the man she loves. You may announce, sir, that
-Mademoiselle Sallé becomes in this piece the rival of the Journets, the
-Duclos, and the Lecouvreurs. The English, who preserve so tender a
-recollection of their famous Oldfield, whom they have just laid in
-Westminster Abbey among their great statesmen (!) look upon her as
-resuscitated in Mademoiselle Sallé when she represents Ariadne.
-
-"P. S. The first of this month the Prince of Orange, accompanied by the
-Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland and the Princesses, went to
-Covent Garden Theatre [Théâtre du _Commun Jardin_ the French newspaper
-has it] to see the tragedy of King Henry IV., when there was a numerous
-assembly; and all the receipts of the representation were for the
-benefit of Mademoiselle Sallé."
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE.]
-
-[Sidenote: A PROFITABLE PERFORMANCE.]
-
-M. Castil Blaze, who publishes the whole of the above letter, with the
-exception of the postscript, in his history of the Académie Royale, is
-wrong in concluding from Mademoiselle Sallé having appeared at Covent
-Garden, that she was engaged to dance there by Handel, who was at that
-time director of the Queen's Theatre (reign of Anne) in the Haymarket.
-M. Victor Schoelcher may also be in error when, in speaking of the
-absurd fable that Handel being in Paris heard a canticle by Lulli,[10]
-and coming back to England gave it to the English, as God Save the King,
-he assures us that Handel never set foot in Paris at all. It is certain
-that Handel went to Italy to engage new singers in 1733, and it is by no
-means improbable that he passed through Paris on his way. At all events,
-M. Castil Blaze assures us that in that year he visited the Académie
-Royale de Musique, and that "while lavishing sarcasms and raillery on
-our French Opera," he appreciated the talent of Mademoiselle Sallé. "A
-thousand crowns (three thousand francs) was the sum," he continues,
-"that the _virtuose_ asked for composing two ballets and dancing in them
-at London _during the carnival_ of 1734. The director of a rival
-enterprise watched for her arrival in that city, and offered her three
-thousand guineas instead of the three thousand crowns which she had
-agreed to accept from Handel; adding that nothing prevented her from
-making this change, inasmuch as she had signed no engagement. 'And my
-word,' answered the amiable dancer; 'is my word to count for nothing?'
-This reply, applauded and circulated from mouth to mouth, prepared
-Mademoiselle Sallé's success, and had the most fortunate influence on
-the representation given for her benefit. All the London journals gave
-magnificent accounts of the triumphs of Marie Taglioni, and of the marks
-of admiration and gratitude that she received. Equally flattering
-descriptions reached us from the icy banks of the Neva. Mere trifles,
-_niaiseries, debolleze_! This _furore_, this enthusiasm, this
-fanaticism, this royal, imperial liberality was very little, or rather
-was nothing, in comparison with the homage which the sons of Albion
-offered to and lavished upon the divine Sallé. History tells us that at
-the representation given for her benefit people fought at the doors of
-the theatre; that an infinity of amateurs were obliged to conquer at the
-point of the sword, or at least with their fists, the places which had
-been sold to them by auction, and at exorbitant prices. As Mademoiselle
-Sallé made her last curtsey and smiled upon the pit with the most
-charming grace, furious applause burst forth from all parts and seemed
-to shake the theatre to its foundation. While the whirlwind howled,
-while the thunder roared, a hailstorm of purses, full of gold, fell upon
-the stage, and a shower of bonbons followed in the same direction. These
-bonbons, manufactured at London, were of a singular kind; guineas--not
-like the doubloons, the louis d'or in paste, that are exhibited in the
-shop-windows of our confectioners, but good, genuine guineas in metal
-of Peru, well and solidly bound together--formed the sweetmeat; the
-_papillote_ was a bank-note. Projectiles a thousand times, and again a
-thousand times precious. Arguments which sounded still when the fugitive
-tempest of applause was at an end. Our favourite _virtuoses_ place now
-on their heads, after pressing them for a moment to their hearts, the
-wreaths thrown to them by an electrified public. Mademoiselle Sallé put
-the proofs of gratitude offered by her host of admirers into her pockets
-or rather into bags. The light and playful troop of little Loves who
-hovered around the new dancer, picked up the precious sugar-plums as
-they fell, and eight dancing satyrs carried away in cadence the
-improvised treasures. This performance brought Mademoiselle Sallé more
-than two hundred thousand francs."
-
-What M. Castil Blaze tells us about the bonbons of guineas and
-bank-notes may or may not be true--I have no means of judging--but it is
-not very likely that eight dancing satyrs appeared on the stage at
-Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, inasmuch as the ballet given on that
-occasion was not _Bacchus and Ariadne_, as M. Castil Blaze evidently
-supposes, but _Pygmalion_. The London correspondent of the _Mercure de
-France_ has mentioned that _Pygmalion_ was to be performed by desire of
-"the king and the queen, the royal family, and all the court," and
-naturally that was the piece selected. According to the letter in the
-_Mercure_ the benefit was fixed for the first of April; indeed, the
-writer in his postscript speaks of it as having taken place on that day,
-but he says nothing about purses of gold, nor does he speak of guineas
-wrapped up in bank-notes.
-
-It appears from the _Daily Journal_ that Mademoiselle Sallé took her
-benefit on the 21st of March (which would be April 1, New Style), when
-the first piece was _Henry IV., with the humours of Sir John Falstaff_,
-and the second _Pigmalion_ (with a _Pig_). It was announced that on this
-occasion "servants would be permitted to keep places on the stage,"
-whereas in most of the Covent Garden play bills of the period the
-following paragraph appears:--"It is desired that no person will take it
-ill their not being admitted behind the scenes, it being impossible to
-perform the entertainment unless these passages are kept clear."
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE SALLE AND HANDEL.]
-
-At this time Handel was at the Queen's Theatre, and it was not until the
-next year, long after Mademoiselle Sallé had left England, that he moved
-to Covent Garden. The rival who is represented as having offered such
-magnificent terms to Mademoiselle Sallé with the view of tempting her
-from her allegiance to Handel, must have been, if any one, Porpora;
-though if M. Castil Blaze could have identified him as that celebrated
-composer he would certainly have mentioned the name. Porpora, who
-arrived in England in 1733, was in 1734 director of the "Nobility's
-Theatre" in Lincoln's-Inn Fields.
-
-The following is the announcement of Mademoiselle Sallé's first
-appearance in England:--
-
-     "AT THE THEATRE ROYAL COVENT GARDEN, On Monday, 11th March, will be
-     performed a Comedy, called "_The_ WAY _of the_ WORLD, by the late
-     Mr. Congreve, with entertainments of dancing, particularly the
-     Scottish dance by Mr. Glover and Mrs. Laguerre, Mr. le Sac, and
-     Miss Boston, M. de la Garde and Mrs. Ogden.
-
-     "The French Sailor and his Lass, by Mademoiselle Sallé and Mr.
-     Malter.
-
-     "The Nassau, by Mr. Glover and Miss Rogers, Mr. Pelling and Miss
-     Nona, Mr. Le Sac and Mrs. Ogden, Mr. de la Garde and Miss Batson.
-
-     "With a new dance, called _Pigmalion_, performed by Mr. Malter and
-     Mademoiselle Sallé, M. Dupré, Mr. Pelling, Mr. Duke, Mr. le Sac,
-     Mr. Newhouse, and M. de la Garde.
-
-     "No servants will be permitted to keep places on the stage."
-
-It appears that at the King's Theatre on the night of Mademoiselle
-Sallé's benefit, at Covent Garden, there was "an assembly." "Two
-tickets," says the advertisement, "will be delivered to every
-subscriber, this day, at White's Chocholate House, in St. James's
-Street, paying the subscription-money; and if any tickets remain more
-than are subscribed for, they will be delivered the same day at the
-Opera office in the Haymarket, at six and twenty shillings each.
-
-"Every ticket will admit either one gentleman or two ladies.
-
-"N. B.--Five different doors will be opened at twelve for the company to
-go out, where chairs will easily be had.
-
-N. B.--To prevent a crowd there will be but 700 tickets printed."
-
-I find from the collection of old newspapers before me, that Handel,
-whose _Ariadne_ was first produced and whose _Pastor Fido_ was revived
-in 1734, is called in the playbills of the King's Theatre "Mr. Handell."
-The following is the announcement of the performance given at that
-establishment on the 4th June, 1734, "being the last time of performing
-till after the holidays."
-
-"AT the KING'S THEATRE in the HAYMARKET, on Tuesday next, being the 4th
-day of June will be performed an Opera called
-
-PASTOR FIDO,
-
-Composed by Mr. Handell, intermixed with Choruses.
-
-The Scenery after a particular manner.
-
-Pit and Boxes will be put together, and no persons to be admitted
-without tickets, which will be delivered that day at the Office of the
-Haymarket, at half a guinea each.
-
-GALLERY FIVE SHILLINGS.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. HANDELL.]
-
-BY HIS MAJESTY'S COMMAND.
-
-No persons whatever to be admitted behind the scenes.
-
-To begin at half an hour after six o'clock."
-
-Handel had now been twenty-four years in London where he had raised the
-Italian Opera to a pitch of excellence unequalled elsewhere in Europe,
-except perhaps at Dresden, which during the first half of the 18th
-century was universally celebrated for the perfection of its operatic
-performances at the Court Theatre directed by Hasse. But of the
-introduction of Italian Opera into England, and especially of the
-arrival of Handel, his operatic enterprises, his successes and his
-failures, I must speak in another chapter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER V.
-
-INTRODUCTION OF ITALIAN OPERA INTO ENGLAND.
-
-     Operatic Feuds.--Objections to Nose-pulling.--Arsinoe.--Camilla and
-     the Boar.--Steele on insanity.--Handel and Clayton.--Nicolini and
-     the lion.--Rinaldo and the sparrows.--Hamlet set to music.--Three
-     enraged musicians.--Three charming singers.
-
-
-It was not until the close of the 17th century that England was visited
-by any Italian singers of note, among the first of whom was the
-well-known Margarita de l'Epine. This vocalist's name frequently occurs
-in the current literature of the period, and Swift in his "Journal to
-Stella" speaks in his own graceful way of having heard "Margarita and
-her sister and another drab, and a parcel of fiddlers at Windsor." This
-was in 1711, nineteen years after her arrival in England--a proof that
-even then Italian singers, who had once obtained the favour of the
-English public, were determined to profit by it as long as possible.
-Margarita was an excellent musician, and a virtuous and amiable woman;
-but she was ugly and was called Hecate by her husband, who had married
-her for her money.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC FEUDS.]
-
-The history of the Opera in England is, more than in any other country,
-the history of feuds and rivalries between theatres and singers. The
-rival of Margarita de l'Epine was Mrs. Tofts, who in 1703 was singing
-English and Italian songs at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
-Instead of enjoying the talent of both, the London public began to
-dispute as to which was the best; and what was still more absurd, to
-create disturbances at the very theatres where they sang, so that the
-English party prevented Margarita de l'Epine from being heard, while the
-Italians drowned the voice of Mrs. Tofts.[11] Once, when the amiable
-Margarita was singing at Drury Lane, she was not only hissed and hooted,
-but an orange was thrown at her by a woman who was recognised as being
-or having been in the service of the English vocalist. Hence
-considerable scandal and the following public statement which appeared
-in the _Daily Courant_ of February 8th, 1704.
-
-"Ann Barwick having occasioned a disturbance at the Theatre Royal on
-Saturday last, the 5th of February, and being thereupon taken into
-custody, Mrs. Tofts, in vindication of her innocencey, sent a letter to
-Mr. Rich, master of the said Theatre, which is as followeth:--'Sir, I
-was very much surprised when I was informed that Ann Barwick, who was
-lately my servant, had committed a rudeness last night at the playhouse
-by throwing of oranges and hissing when Mrs. L'Epine, the Italian
-gentlewoman, sang. I hope no one will think it was in the least with my
-privity, as I assure you it was not. I abhor such practices, and I hope
-you will cause her to be prosecuted that she may be punished as she
-deserves. I am, sir, your humble servant, KATHARINE TOFTS.'"
-
-[Sidenote: ARSINOE.]
-
-At this period the unruly critics of the pit behaved with as little
-ceremony to those who differed from them among the audience as to those
-performers whom they disliked on the stage. In proof of this, we may
-quote a portion of the very amusing letter written by a linen-draper
-named Heywood (under the signature of James Easy), to the
-_Spectator_,[12] on the subject of nose-pulling. "A friend of mine, the
-other night, applauding what a graceful exit Mr. Wilkes made," says Mr.
-Easy, "one of these nose-wringers overhearing him, pulled him by the
-nose. I was in the pit the other night," he adds, "when it was very
-crowded. A gentleman leaning upon me, and very heavily, I civilly
-requested him to remove his hand; for which he pulled me by the nose. I
-would not resent it in so public a place, because I was unwilling to
-create a disturbance; but have since reflected upon it as a thing that
-is unmanly and disingenuous, renders the nose-puller odious, and makes
-the person pulled by the nose look little and contemptible. This
-grievance I humbly request you will endeavour to redress."
-
-Fifty years later, at the Grand Opera of Paris, a gentleman in the pit
-applauded the dancing of Mademoiselle Asselin. "_Il faut ętre bien bęte
-pour applaudir une telle sauteuse_," said his neighbour, upon which a
-challenge was given and received, the two amateurs went out and fought,
-when the aggressor fell mortally wounded.
-
-In the letters of Frenchmen and Englishmen from Italy, describing the
-Italian theatres of the eighteenth century, we read neither of pelting
-with oranges, nor of nose-pulling, nor of duelling. One of the most
-remarkable things in the demeanour of the audience appears to have been
-the unceremonious manner in which the aristocratic occupants of the
-boxes behaved towards the people in the pit. The nobles, who were
-somewhat given to expectoration, thought nothing of spitting down into
-the parterre, and "what is still more extraordinary," says Baretti, who
-notices this curious habit, "those who received it on their faces and
-heads, did not seem to resent it much." We are told, however, that "they
-made the most curious grimaces in the world."
-
-But to return to the rival singers of London. In 1705, then, Mrs. Tofts
-and Margarita were both engaged at Drury Lane; the former taking the
-principal part in _Arsinoe_, which was performed in English, the latter
-singing Italian songs before and after the Opera. _Arsinoe_ ("the first
-Opera," says the _Spectator_, "that gave us a taste for Italian music")
-was the composition of Clayton, the _maestro_ who afterwards wrote music
-for Addison's unfortunate _Rosamond_, and who described the purpose and
-character of his first work in the following words:--"The design of this
-entertainment being to introduce the Italian manner of singing to the
-English stage, which has not been before attempted, I was obliged to
-have an Italian Opera translated, in which the words, however mean in
-several places, suited much better with that manner of music than others
-more poetical would do. The style of this music is to express the
-passions, which is the soul of music, and though the voices are not
-equal to the Italian, yet I have engaged the best that were to be found
-in England; and I have not been wanting, to the utmost of my diligence,
-in the instructing of them. The music, being recitative, may not at
-first meet with that general acceptation, as is to be hoped for, from
-the audience's being better acquainted with it; but if this attempt
-shall be a means of bringing this manner of music to be used in my
-native country, I shall think my study and pains very well employed."
-
-[Sidenote: CAMILLA AND THE BOAR]
-
-Mr. Hogarth, in his interesting "Memoirs of the Opera," remarks that
-"though _Arsinoe_ is utterly unworthy of criticism, yet there is
-something amusing in the folly of the composer. The very first song may
-be taken as a specimen. The words are--
-
-    Queen of Darkness, sable night,
-    Ease a wandering lover's pain;
-      Guide me, lead me
-    Where the nymph whom I adore,
-      Sleeping, dreaming,
-    Thinks of love and me no more.
-
-The first two lines are spoken in a meagre sort of recitative. Then
-there is a miserable air, the first part of which consists of the next
-two lines, and concludes with a perfect close. The second part of the
-air is on the last two lines; after which, there is, as usual, a _da
-capo_, and the first part is repeated; the song finishing in the middle
-of a sentence,--
-
-    "Guide me, lead me
-     Where the nymph whom I adore"--
-
-which, I venture to say, has not been beaten by Bunn, or Fitzball, or
-any of our worst librettists at their worst moments.
-
-The music of _Camilla_, the second opera in the Italian style, performed
-in England, was by Marco Antonio Buononcini, the brother of Handel's
-future rival. The work was produced at the original Opera House, erected
-by Sir John Vanburgh, on the site of the present building, in 1705.[13]
-It was sung half in English and half in Italian. Mrs. Tofts played the
-part of "Camilla," and kept to _her_ mother tongue. Valentini played
-that of the hero, and kept to his. Both the Buononcinis were composers
-of high ability and the music of _Camilla_ is said to have been very
-beautiful. The melodies given to the two principal singers were
-original, expressive, and well harmonized. Mrs. Tofts' impersonation of
-the Amazonian lady was much admired by persons of taste, and there was a
-part for a pig which threw the vulgar into ecstacies.
-
-"Mr. Spectator," wrote a correspondent, "your having been so humble as
-to take notice of the epistles of the animal, embolden me, who am the
-wild boar that was killed by Mrs. Tofts, to represent to you that I
-think I was hardly used in not having the part of the lion in Hydaspes
-given to me. It would have been but a natural step for me to have
-personated that noble creature, after having behaved myself to
-satisfaction in the part above mentioned; but that of a lion is too
-great a character for one that never trode the stage before but upon two
-legs. As for the little resistance I made, I hope it may be excused when
-it is considered that the dart was thrown at me by so fair a hand. I
-must confess I had but just put on my brutality; and Camilla's charms
-were such, that beholding her erect mien, hearing her charming voice,
-and astonished with her graceful motion, I could not keep up to my
-assumed fierceness, but died like a man."
-
-[Sidenote: STEELE ON INSANITY.]
-
-Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage in 1709, in consequence of mental
-derangement. We have seen Mademoiselle Desmâtins, half fancying in her
-excessive, vanity that she was really the queen or princess she had been
-representing the same night on the stage, and ordering the servants, on
-her return home, to prepare her throne and serve her on their bended
-knees. Poor Mrs. Tofts laboured under a similar delusion; only, in her
-case, it was not a moral malady, but the hallucination of a diseased
-intellect. "In the meridian of her beauty," says Hawkins, in his History
-of Music, "and possessed of a large sum of money, which she had acquired
-by singing, Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage, and was married to Mr. Joseph
-Smith, a gentleman, who being appointed consul for the English nation,
-at Venice, she went thither with him. Mr. Smith was a great collector of
-books, and patron of the arts. He lived in great state and magnificence;
-but the disorder of his wife returning, she dwelt sequestered from the
-world, in a remote part of the house, and had a large garden to range
-in, in which she would frequently walk, singing and giving way to that
-innocent frenzy which had seized her in the early part of her life."
-
-The terrible affliction, which had fallen upon the favourite operatic
-vocalist, is touched upon by Steele, with singular want of feeling, of
-taste, and even of common decency, in No. 20 of the _Tatler_. "The
-theatre," he says, "is breaking, and there is a great desolation among
-the gentlemen and ladies who were the ornaments of the town, and used to
-shine in plumes and diadems, the heroes being most of them pressed, and
-the queens beating hemp." Then with more brutality than humour he adds,
-"The great revolutions of this nature bring to my mind the distress of
-the unfortunate 'Camilla,' who has had the ill luck to break before her
-voice, and to disappear at a time when her beauty was in the height of
-its bloom. This lady entered so thoroughly into the great characters she
-acted, that when she had finished her part she could not think of
-retrenching her equipage, but would appear in her own lodgings with the
-same magnificence as she did upon the stage. This greatness of soul has
-reduced that unhappy princess to a voluntary retirement, where she now
-passes her time among the woods and forests, thinking on the crowns and
-sceptres she has lost, and often humming over in her solitude:--
-
-    'I was born of royal race,
-     Yet must wander in disgrace, &c.'
-
-"But for fear of being overheard, and her quality known, she usually
-sings it in Italian:--
-
-    'Nacqui al regno, nacqui al trono,
-     E pur sono,
-     Sventatura pastorella.'"
-
-[Sidenote: STEELE AND DRURY LANE.]
-
-It is "the Christian soldier" who wrote this; who rejoiced in this
-anti-christian and cowardly spirit at the dark calamity which had
-befallen an amiable and charming vocalist, whose only fault was that
-she had aided the fortunes of a theatre abhorred by Steele. And what
-cause had Steele for detesting the Italian Opera with the unreasonable
-and really stupid hatred which he displayed towards it? Addison, as it
-seems to me, has been most unfairly attacked for his strictures on the
-operatic performances of his day. They were often just, they were never
-ill-natured, and they were always enveloped in such a delightful garb of
-humour, that there is not a sentence, certainly not a whole paper, and
-scarcely even a phrase,[14] in all he has published about the Opera,
-that a musician, unless already "enraged," would wish unwritten. It is
-unreasonable and unworthy to connect Addison's pleasantries on the
-subject of _Arsinoe_, _Camilla_, _Hydaspes_, and _Rinaldo_, with the
-failure of his _Rosamond_, which, as the reader is aware, was set to
-music by the ignorant impostor called Clayton. Addison, it is true, did
-not write any of his admirably humorous papers about the Italian Opera
-until after the production of _Rosamond_, but it was not until some time
-afterwards that the _Spectator_ first appeared. St. Evrémond, who was a
-great lover of the Opera, wrote much more against it than Addison. In
-fact, the new entertainment was the subject of the day. It was full of
-incongruities, and naturally recommended itself to the attention of
-wits; and we all know that, as a rule, wits do not deal in praise. All
-that _Rosamond_ proves is, that Addison liked the Opera or he would
-never have written it.
-
-But about this Christian Soldier who endeavours to convince his readers
-that music is a thing to be despised because it does not appeal to the
-understanding, and who laughs at the misfortunes of a poor lunatic
-because she is no longer able to attract the public by her singing from
-the dramatic theatre in which he took so deep an interest, and of which
-he afterwards became patentee?[15]
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL V. AMBROSE PHILLIPS.]
-
-Of course, if music appealed only to the understanding, mad Saul would
-have found no solace in the tones of David's harp, and it would be
-hideously irreverent to imagine the angels of heaven singing hymns to
-their Creator. Steele, of course, knew this, and also that the pleasure
-given by music is not a mere physical sensation, to be enjoyed as an
-Angora cat enjoys the smell of flowers, but he seems to have thought it
-was his duty (as it afterwards became his interest) to write up the
-drama and write down the Opera at all hazards. Powerful penmanship it
-must have been, however, that would have put down Handel, or that would
-have kept up Mr. Ambrose Phillips. It would have been easier, at least
-it would have been more successful, to have gone upon the other tack. We
-all know Handel, and (if the expression be permitted) he becomes more
-immortal every day. Steele, it is true, did not hold his music in any
-esteem, but Mozart, a competent judge in such matters, _did_, and
-reckoned it an honour to write additional accompaniments to the elder
-master's greatest work. And who was this Ambrose Phillips? some reader,
-not necessarily ignorant of his country's literature, may ask. He was
-Racine's thief. He stole _Andromaque_, and gave it to the English as his
-own, calling it prosaically and stupidly "The Distrest Mother," which is
-as if we should call "Abel" "The Uncivil Brother," or "Philoctetes" "The
-Man with the Bad Foot," or "Prometheus," "The Gentleman with the Liver
-Complaint." Steele wrote a paper[16] on the reading of this new tragedy,
-in which he declares that "the style of the play is such as becomes
-those of the first education, and the sentiments worthy of those of the
-highest figure." He also says, "I congratulate the age that they are at
-last to see truth and human life represented in the incidents which
-concern heroes and heroines."
-
-Translated Racine was very popular just then with writers who regarded
-Shakespeare as a dealer in the false sublime. "Would one think it was
-possible," asks Addison, "at a time when an author lived that was able
-to write the _Phedra and Hippolytus_ (translate _Phčdre_, that is to
-say), for a people to be so stupidly fond of the Italian Opera as scarce
-to give a third day's hearing to that admirable tragedy."
-
-Sensible people! It seems quite possible to us in the present day that
-they should have preferred Handel's music to Racine's rhymed prose,
-rendered into English rhymes by a man who had nothing of the poetical
-spirit which Racine, though writing in an unpoetical language, certainly
-possessed.
-
-The triumphant success of Handel's _Rinaldo_ was felt deeply by Steele
-and by the _Spectator's_ favourite composer Clayton, a bad musician, and
-apart from the practice of his art, as base a scoundrel as ever libelled
-a great man. But of course critics who besides expatiating on the
-blemishes of Shakespeare dwelt on the beauties of Racine as improved by
-Phillips, would be sure to enjoy the cacophony of Clayton;
-
-    "Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina Mćvi."
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-However we must leave the chivalrous Steele and his faithful minstrel
-for the present. We have done with the writer's triumphant gloating over
-the insanity of the poor _prima donna_. We shall presently see the
-musician publishing impudent falsehoods, under the auspices of his
-literary patron, concerning Handel and his genius, and endeavouring,
-always with the same protection, to form a cabal for the avowed purpose
-of driving him from the country which he was so greatly benefiting.
-
-Before Handel's arrival in England Steele had not only insulted operatic
-singers, but in recording the success of Scarlatti's _Pyrrhus and
-Demetrius_, had openly proclaimed his chagrin thereat. "This
-intelligence," he says, "is not very agreeable to our friends of the
-theatre."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, in which the celebrated Nicolini made his first
-appearance, was the last opera performed partly in English and partly in
-Italian.
-
-In 1710, _Almahide_, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, was
-played entirely in the Italian language, with Valentine, Nicolini,
-Margarita de l'Epine, Cassani, and "Signora Isabella" (Isabella
-Girardean), in the principal parts. The same year _Hydaspes_ was
-produced. This marvellous work, which is not likely to be forgotten by
-readers of the _Spectator_, was brought out under the direction of
-Nicolini, the sopranist, who performed the part of the hero. The other
-singers were those included in the cast of _Almahide_, with the addition
-of Lawrence, an English tenor, who was in the habit of singing in
-Italian operas, and of whom it was humourously said by Addison, in his
-proposition for an opera in Greek, that he "could learn to speak the
-language as well as he does Italian in a fortnight's time." "Hydaspes"
-is a sort of profane Daniel, who being thrown into an amphitheatre to be
-devoured by a lion, is saved not by faith, but by love; the presence of
-his mistress among the spectators inspiring him with such courage, that
-after appealing to the monster in a minor key, and telling him that he
-may tear his bosom but cannot touch his heart, he attacks him in the
-relative major, and strangles him.
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-"There is nothing of late years," says Addison, in one of the most
-amusing of his papers on the Opera, "that has afforded matter of greater
-amusement to the town than Signior Nicolini's combat with a lion in the
-Haymarket, which has been very often exhibited to the general
-satisfaction of most of the nobility and gentry in the kingdom of Great
-Britain." Upon the first rumour of this intended combat, it was
-confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both galleries,
-that there would be a tame lion sent from the tower every Opera night,
-in order to be killed by Hydaspes; this report, though altogether so
-universally prevalent in the upper regions of the play-house, that some
-of the most refined politicians in those parts of the audience gave it
-out in whisper, that the lion was a cousin-german of the tiger who made
-his appearance in King William's days, and that the stage would be
-supplied with lions at the public expense, during the whole session.
-Many likewise were the conjectures of the treatment which this lion was
-to meet with from the hands of Signior Nicolini; some supposed that he
-was to subdue him in recitative, as Orpheus used to serve the wild
-beasts in his time, and afterwards to knock him on the head; some
-fancied that the lion would not pretend to lay his paws upon the hero,
-by reason of the received opinion, that a lion will not hurt a virgin.
-Several who pretended to have seen the Opera in Italy, had informed
-their friends, that the lion was to act a part in high Dutch, and roar
-twice or thrice to a thorough bass, before he fell at the feet of
-Hydaspes. To clear up a matter that was so variously reported, I have
-made it my business to examine whether this pretended lion is really the
-savage he appears to be, or only a counterfeit.
-
-"But before I communicate my discoveries, I must acquaint the reader
-that upon my walking behind the scenes last winter, as I was thinking on
-something else, I accidentally justled against a monstrous animal that
-extremely startled me, and upon my nearer survey much surprised, told me
-in a gentle voice that I might come by him if I pleased, 'for,' says he,
-'I do not intend to hurt any body.' I thanked him very kindly, and
-passed by him; and in a little time after saw him leap upon the stage,
-and act his part with very great applause. It has been observed by
-several, that the lion has changed his manner of acting twice or thrice
-since his first appearance; which will not seem strange, when I acquaint
-my reader that the lion has been changed upon the audience three several
-times. The first lion was a candle-snuffer, who being a fellow of a
-testy choleric temper, overdid his part, and would not suffer himself to
-be killed so easily as he ought to have done; besides, it was observed
-of him, that he grew more surly every time he came out of the lion; and
-having dropped some words in ordinary conversation, as if he had not
-fought his best, and that he suffered himself to be thrown upon his back
-in the scuffle, and that he would wrestle with Mr. Nicolini for what he
-pleased, out of his lion's skin, it was thought proper to discard him;
-and it is verily believed to this day, that had he been brought upon the
-stage another time, he would certainly have done mischief. Besides, it
-was objected against the first lion, that he reared himself so high upon
-his hinder paws, and walked in so erect a posture, that he looked more
-like an old man than a lion.
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLINI AND THE LION.]
-
-"The second lion was a tailor by trade, who belonged to the play-house,
-and had the character of a mild and peaceable man in his profession. If
-the former was too furious, this was too sheepish for his part; insomuch
-that after a short modest walk upon the stage, he would fall at the
-first touch of Hydaspes, without grappling with him, and giving him an
-opportunity of showing his variety of Italian trips. It is said, indeed,
-that he once gave him a rip in his flesh colour doublet; but this was
-only to make work for himself, in his private character of a tailor. I
-must not omit that it was this second lion who treated me with so much
-humanity behind the scenes. The acting lion at present is, as I am
-informed, a country gentleman who does it for his diversion, but desires
-his name may be concealed. He says, very handsomely, in his own excuse,
-that he does not act for gain; that he indulges an innocent pleasure in
-it; and that it is better to pass away an evening in this manner, than
-in gaming and drinking; but at the same time says, with a very agreeable
-raillery upon himself, and that if his name should be known, the
-ill-natured world might call him 'the ass in the lion's skin.' This
-gentleman's temper is made out of such a happy mixture of the mild and
-the choleric, that he outdoes both his predecessors, and has drawn
-together greater audiences than have been known in the memory of man.
-
-"I must not conclude my narrative without taking notice of a groundless
-report that has been raised to a gentleman's disadvantage, of whom I
-must declare myself an admirer; namely, that Signior Nicolini and the
-lion have been sitting peaceably by one another, and smoking a pipe
-together, behind the scenes; by which their enemies would insinuate, it
-is but a sham combat which they represent upon the stage; but upon
-enquiry I find, that if any such correspondence has passed between them,
-it was not till the combat was over, when the lion was to be looked upon
-as dead, according to the received rules of the drama. Besides, this is
-what is practised every day in Westminster Hall, where nothing is more
-usual than to see a couple of lawyers, who have been tearing each other
-to pieces in the court, embracing one another.
-
-"I would not be thought, in any part of this relation, to reflect upon
-Signior Nicolini, who, in acting this part, only complies with the
-wretched taste of his audience; he knows very well that the lion has
-many more admirers than himself; as they say of the famous equestrian
-statue on the Pont Neuf at Paris, that more people go to see the horse
-than the king who sits upon it. On the contrary, it gives me a just
-indignation to see a person whose action gives new majesty to kings,
-resolution to heroes, and softness to lovers, thus sinking from the
-greatness of his behaviour, and degraded into the character of a London
-'prentice. I have often wished that our tragedians would copy after this
-great master in action. Could they make the same use of their arms and
-legs, and inform their faces with as significant looks and passions, how
-glorious would an English tragedy appear with that action which is
-capable of giving dignity to the forced thoughts, cold conceits, and
-unnatural expressions of an Italian Opera! In the meantime, I have
-related this combat of the lion, to show what are at present the
-reigning entertainments of the politer part of Great Britain."
-
-[Sidenote: RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.]
-
-But the operatic year of 1710 is remarkable for something more than the
-production of Almahide and Hydaspes; for in 1710 Handel arrived in
-England, and the year after brought out his Rinaldo, the first of the
-thirty-five operas which he gave to the English stage. For Handel we are
-indebted to Hanover. It was at Hanover that the English noblemen who
-invited him to London first met the great composer; and it was the
-Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I., who granted him permission to
-come, and who when he in his turn arrived in England to assume the
-crown, added considerably to the pension which Queen Anne had already
-granted to the former chapel-master of the Hanoverian court. In 1710 the
-director of the theatre in the Haymarket was Aaron Hill, who no sooner
-heard of Handel's arrival in London than he went to him, and requested
-him to compose an opera for his establishment. Handel consented, and
-Hill furnished him with a plan, sketched out by himself, on the subject
-of _Rinaldo and Armida_ in Tasso's _Jerusalem Delivered_, the writing of
-the _libretto_ being entrusted to an Italian poet of some note named
-Rossi. In the advertisements of this opera Handel's name does not
-appear; not at least in that which calls attention to its first
-representation and which simply sets forth that "at the Queen's Theatre
-in the Haymarket will be performed a new opera called _Rinaldo_."
-
-It was in _Rinaldo_ that the celebrated operatic sparrows made their
-first appearance on the stage--with what success may be gathered from
-the following notice of their performance, which I extract from No. 5 of
-the _Spectator_.
-
-"As I was walking in the streets about a fortnight ago," says Addison,
-"I saw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his
-shoulder; and as I was wondering with myself what use he would put them
-to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the same
-curiosity. Upon his asking him what he had upon his shoulder, he told
-him that he had been buying sparrows for the opera. 'Sparrows, for the
-opera,' says his friend, licking his lips, 'What! are they to be
-roasted?' 'No, no,' says the other, 'they are to enter towards the end
-of the first act, and to fly about the stage.'
-
-[Sidenote: RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.]
-
-"This strange dialogue wakened my curiosity so far that I immediately
-bought the opera, by which means I perceived the sparrows were to act
-the part of singing birds in a delightful grove, though upon a nearer
-inquiry I found the sparrows put the same trick upon the audience that
-Sir Martin Mar-all practised upon his mistress; for though they flew in
-sight, the music proceeded from a concert of flageolets and bird-calls,
-which were planted behind the scenes. At the same time I made this
-discovery, I found by the discourse of the actors, that there were great
-designs on foot for the improvement of the Opera; that it had been
-proposed to break down a part of the wall, and to surprise the audience
-with a party of a hundred horse; and that there was actually a project
-of bringing the New River into the house, to be employed in jetteaus and
-waterworks. This project, as I have since heard, is postponed till the
-summer season, when it is thought that the coolness which proceeds from
-fountains and cascades will be more acceptable and refreshing to people
-of quality. In the meantime, to find out a more agreeable entertainment
-for the winter season, the opera of _Rinaldo_ is filled with thunder and
-lightning, illuminations, and fireworks; which the audience may look
-upon without catching cold, and indeed without much danger of being
-burnt; for there are several engines filled with water, and ready to
-play at a minute's warning, in case any such accident should happen.
-However, as I have a very great friendship for the owner of this
-theatre, I hope that he has been wise enough to insure his house before
-he would let this opera be acted in it.
-
-"But to return to the sparrows. There have been so many flights of them
-let loose in this opera, that it is feared the house will never get rid
-of them; and that in other plays they may make their entrance in very
-wrong and improper scenes, so as to be seen flying in a lady's
-bedchamber, or perching upon a king's throne; besides the inconveniences
-which the heads of the audience may sometimes suffer from them. I am
-credibly informed, that there was once a design of casting into an opera
-the story of 'Whittington and his Cat,' and that in order to it there
-had been set together a great quantity of mice, but Mr. Rich, the
-proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently considered that it would be
-impossible for the cat to kill them all, and that consequently the
-princes of the stage might be as much infested with mice as the prince
-of the island was before the cat's arrival upon it, for which reason he
-would not permit it to be acted in his house. And, indeed, I cannot
-blame him; for as he said very well upon that occasion, 'I do not hear
-that any of the performers in our opera pretend to equal the famous pied
-piper who made all the mice of a great town in Germany follow his music,
-and by that means cleared the place of those noxious little animals.'
-
-"Before I dismiss this paper, I must inform my reader that I hear that
-there is a treaty on foot between London and Wise,[17] (who will be
-appointed gardeners of the playhouse) to furnish the opera of _Rinaldo
-and Armida_ with an orange grove; and that the next time it is acted the
-singing birds will be impersonated by tom tits: the undertakers being
-resolved to spare neither pains nor money for the gratification of their
-audience."
-
-[Sidenote: HAMLET SET TO MUSIC.]
-
-Steele, in No. 14 of the _Spectator_, tells us that--"The sparrows and
-chaffinches at the Haymarket fly, as yet, very irregularly over the
-stage; and instead of perching on the trees and performing their parts,
-these young actors either get into the galleries or put out the
-candles," for which and other reasons equally good, he decides that Mr.
-Powell's Puppet-show is preferable as a place of entertainment to the
-Opera, and that Handel's _Rinaldo_ is inferior as a production of art to
-a puppet-show drama. Indeed, though Steele, in the _Tatler_, and Addison
-in the _Spectator_, have said very civil things about Nicolini, neither
-of them appears to have been impressed in the slightest degree by
-Handel's music, nor does it even seem to have occurred to them that the
-composer's share in producing an opera was by any means considerable.
-Steele, thought the Opera a decidedly "unintellectual" entertainment
-(how much purely intellectual enjoyment is there, we wonder, in the
-pleasure derived from the contemplation of a virgin, by Raphael, and
-what is the meaning in criticising art of looking at it merely in its
-intellectual aspect?); but he at the same time bears testimony to the
-high (ćsthetic) gratification he derived from the performance of
-Nicolini, who "by the grace and propriety of his action and gesture,
-does honour to the human figure," and who "sets off the character he
-bears in an opera by his action as much as he does the words of it by
-his voice."[18]
-
-In 1711, in addition to Handel's _Rinaldo_, _Antiochus_, an opera, by
-Apostolo Zeno and Gasparini, was performed, and about the same time, or
-soon afterwards, _Ambleto_, by the same author and composer, was brought
-out. If we smile at Signor Verdi for attempting to turn _Macbeth_ into
-an opera, what are we to say to Zeno's and Gasparini's experiment with
-the far more unsuitable tragedy of _Hamlet_? In _Macbeth_, the songs and
-choruses of witches, the banquet with the apparition of the murdered
-Banquo, and above all, the sleep-walking scene might well inspire a
-composer of genius; but a "Hamlet" without philosophy, or, worse still,
-a "Hamlet" who searches his own soul to orchestral accompaniments--this
-must indeed be absurd. I learn from Dr. Burney, that _Ambleto_ was
-written for Venice, that it was represented at the Queen's Theatre, in
-London, and that "the overture had four movements ending with a jig!" An
-overture to _Hamlet_ "ending with a jig!" To think that this was
-tolerated, and that we are shocked in the present day by burlesques put
-forth as such! The _Spectator_, while apparently keeping a sharp look
-out for all that is ridiculous, or that can be represented as ridiculous
-in the operatic performances of the day, has not a word to say against
-_Ambleto_. But it must be remembered that since Milton's time, "Nature's
-sweetest child" had ceased to be appreciated in England even by the most
-esteemed writers--who, however, for the most part, if they were not good
-critics, could claim no literary merit beyond that of style. In a paper
-on Milton, one of whose noblest sonnets is in praise of Shakespeare,
-Addison, after showing how, by certain verbal expedients, bathos may be
-avoided and sublimity attained, calmly points to the works of Lee and
-Shakespeare as affording instances of the false sublime[19], adding
-coolly that, "_in these authors_ the affectation of greatness often
-hurts the perspicuity of the style."
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-I have spoken of Steele's and Clayton's consternation, at the success of
-_Rinaldo_. Some months after the production of that work, the despicable
-Clayton, supported by two musicians named Nicolino Haym, and Charles
-Dieupart, (who were becomingly indignant at a foreigner like Handel
-presuming to entertain a British audience), wrote a letter to the
-_Spectator_, which Steele published in No. 258 of that journal,
-introducing it by a preface, full of wisdom, in which it is set forth
-that "pleasure and recreation of one kind or other are absolutely
-necessary to relieve our minds and bodies from too constant attention
-and labour," and that, "where public diversions are tolerated, it
-behoves persons of distinction, with their power and example, to preside
-over them in such a manner as to check anything that tends to the
-corruption of manners, or which is too mean or trivial for the
-entertainment of reasonable creatures." The letter from the "enraged
-musicians" is described as coming "from three persons who, as soon as
-named, will be thought capable of advancing the present state of
-music"--that is to say, of superseding Handel. But the same perverse
-public, which in spite of the _Spectator's_ remonstrances, preferred
-_Rinaldo_ to translated Racine, persisted in admiring Handel's music,
-and in paying no heed whatever to the cacophony of Clayton. Here is the
-letter from the three miserable musicasters to their patron and
-fellow-conspirator.
-
-"We, whose names are subscribed, think you the properest person to
-signify what we have to offer the town in behalf of ourselves, and the
-art which we profess,--music. We conceive hopes of your favour from the
-speculations on the mistakes which the town run into with regard to
-their pleasure of this kind; and believing your method of judging is,
-that you consider music only valuable, as it is agreeable to and
-heightens the purpose of poetry, we consent that it is not only the true
-way of relishing that pleasure, but also that without it a composure of
-music is the same thing as a poem, where all the rules of poetical
-numbers are observed, though the words have no sense or meaning; to say
-it shorter, mere musical sounds in our art are no other than
-nonsense-verses are in poetry." [A beautiful melody then, apart from
-words, said no more to these musicians, and to the patron whose idiotic
-theory they are so proud to have adopted than a set of nonsense-verses!]
-"Music, therefore, is to aggravate what is intended by poetry; it must
-always have some passion or sentiment to express, or else violins,
-voices, or any other organs of sound, afford an entertainment very
-little above the rattles of children. It was from this opinion of the
-matter, that when Mr. Clayton had finished his studies in Italy, and
-brought over the Opera of _Arsinoe_, that Mr. Haym and Mr. Dieupart, who
-had the honour to be well-known and received among the nobility and
-gentry, were zealously inclined to assist, by their solicitations, in
-introducing so elegant an entertainment, as the Italian music grafted
-upon English poetry." [Such poetry, for instance, as
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-    "Guide me, lead me,
-     Where the nymph whom I adore
-
-which occurred in Clayton's _Arsinoe_--Haym, it may be remembered, was
-the ingenious musician who arranged _Pyrrhus and Demetrius_ for the
-Anglo-Italian stage, when half of the music was sung in one language,
-and half in the other.] "For this end," continue the precious trio, "Mr.
-Dieupart and Mr. Haym, according to their several opportunities,
-promoted the introduction of _Arsinoe_, and did it to the best advantage
-so great a novelty would allow. It is not proper to trouble you with
-particulars of the just complaints we all of us have to make; but so it
-is that without regard to our obliging pains, we are all equally set
-aside in the present opera. Our application, therefore, to you is only
-to insert this letter in your paper, that the town may know we have all
-three joined together to make entertainments of music for the future at
-Mr. Clayton's house, in York Buildings. What we promise ourselves is, to
-make a subscription of two guineas, for eight times, and that the
-entertainment, with the names of the authors of the poetry, may be
-printed, to be sold in the house, with an account of the several authors
-of the vocal as well as the instrumental music for each night; the money
-to be paid at the receipt of the tickets, at Mr. Charles Lulli's. It
-will, we hope, sir, be easily allowed that we are capable of undertaking
-to exhibit, by our joint force and different qualifications, all that
-can be done in music" [how charmingly modest!] "but lest you should
-think so dry a thing as an account of our proposal should be a matter
-unworthy of your paper, which generally contains something of public
-use, give us leave to say, that favouring our design is no less than
-reviving an art, which runs to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge. We aim at establishing some settled notion of
-what is music, at recovering from neglect and want very many families
-who depend upon it, at making all foreigners who pretend to succeed in
-England to learn the language of it as we ourselves have done, and not
-be so insolent as to expect a whole nation, a refined and learned
-nation, should submit to learn theirs. In a word, Mr. Spectator, with
-all deference and humility, we hope to behave ourselves in this
-undertaking in such a manner, that all Englishmen who have any skill in
-music may be furthered in it for their profit or diversion by what new
-things we shall produce; never pretending to surpass others, or
-asserting that anything which is a science is not attainable by all men
-of all nations who have proper genius for it. We say, sir, what we hope
-for, it is not expected will arrive to us by contemning others, but
-through the utmost diligence recommending ourselves."
-
-Poor Clayton seems, here and there, to have really fancied that it was
-his mission to put down Handel, and stuck to him for some time in most
-pertinacious style. One is reminded of the writer who endeavoured to
-turn Wilhelm Meister into ridicule, and of the epigram which that
-attempt suggested to Goethe, ending:--
-
-    "Hat doch die Wallfisch seine Laus."
-
-[Sidenote: THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.]
-
-But Clayton was really a creator, and proposed nothing less than "to
-revive an art which was running to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge." One would have thought that this was going a
-little too far. Handel affecting knowledge--Handel a barbarian? Surely
-Steele in giving the sanction of his name to such assertions as these,
-puts himself in a lower position even than Voltaire uttering his
-celebrated dictum about the genius of Shakespeare; for after all,
-Voltaire was the first Frenchman to discover any beauties in Shakespeare
-at all, and it was in defending him against the stupid prejudices of
-Laharpe that he made use of the unfortunate expression with which he has
-so often been reproached, and which he put forward in the form of a
-concession to his adversary.
-
-Clayton and his second fiddles returned to the attack a few weeks
-afterwards (January 18th, 1712). "It is industriously insinuated," they
-complained, "that our intention is to destroy operas in general, but we
-beg of you (that is to say, the _Spectator_, as represented by Steele,
-who signs the number with his T) to insert this explanation of ourselves
-in your paper. Our purpose is only to improve our circumstances by
-improving the art which we profess" [the knaves are getting candid]. "We
-see it utterly destroyed at present, and as we were the persons who
-introduced operas, we think it a groundless imputation that we should
-set up against the Opera itself," &c., &c.
-
-What became of Clayton, Haym, and Dieupart, and their speculation, I do
-not know, nor do I think that any one can care. At all events, even with
-the assistance of Steele and the _Spectator_ they did not extinguish
-Handel.
-
-The most celebrated vocalist at the theatre in the Haymarket, from the
-arrival of Handel in England until after the formation of the Royal
-Academy of Music, in 1720, was Anastasia Robinson, a _contralto_, who
-was remarkable as much for her graceful acting as for her expressive
-singing. She made her first appearance in a _pasticcio_ called _Creso_,
-in 1714, and continued singing in the operas of Handel and other
-composers until 1724, when she contracted a private marriage with the
-Earl of Peterborough and retired from the stage. Lady Delany, an
-intimate friend of Lady Peterborough, communicated the following account
-of her marriage and the circumstances under which it was made, to Dr.
-Burney, who publishes it in his "History of Music."
-
-[Sidenote: ANASTASIA ROBINSON.]
-
-"Mrs. Anastasia Robinson was of middling stature, not handsome, but of a
-pleasing, modest countenance, with large blue eyes. Her deportment was
-easy, unaffected, and graceful. Her manner and address very engaging,
-and her behaviour on all occasions that of a gentlewoman, with perfect
-propriety. She was not only liked by all her acquaintance, but loved and
-caressed by persons of the highest rank, with whom she appeared always
-equal, without assuming. Her father's house, in Golden Square was
-frequented by all the men of genius and refined taste of the times.
-Among the number of persons of distinction who frequented Mr. Robinson's
-house, and seemed to distinguish his daughter in a particular manner,
-were the Earl of Peterborough and General H--. The latter had shown a
-long attachment to her, and his attentions were so remarkable that they
-seemed more than the effects of common politeness; and as he was a very
-agreeable man, and in good circumstances, he was favourably received,
-not doubting but that his intentions were honourable. A declaration of a
-very contrary nature was treated with the contempt it deserved, though
-Mrs. Robinson was very much prepossessed in his favour.
-
-"Soon after this, Lord Peterborough endeavoured to convince her of his
-partial regard for her; but, agreeable and artful as he was, she
-remained very much upon her guard, which rather increased than
-diminished his admiration and passion for her. Yet still his pride
-struggled with his inclination, for all this time she was engaged to
-sing in public, a circumstance very grievous to her; but, urged by the
-best of motives, she submitted to it, in order to assist her parents,
-whose fortune was much reduced by Mr. Robinson's loss of sight, which
-deprived him of the benefit of his profession as a painter.
-
-"At length Lord Peterborough made his declaration to her on honourable
-terms. He found it would be in vain to make proposals on any other, and
-as he omitted no circumstance that could engage her esteem and
-gratitude, she accepted them. He earnestly requested her keeping it a
-secret till a more convenient time for him to make it known, to which
-she readily consented, having a perfect confidence in his honour.
-
-"Mrs. A. Robinson had a sister, a very pretty accomplished woman, who
-married D'Arbuthnot's brother. After the death of Mr. Robinson, Lord
-Peterborough took a house near Fulham, in the neighbourhood of his own
-villa at Parson's-green, where he settled Mrs. Robinson and her mother.
-They never lived under the same roof, till the earl, being seized with a
-violent fit of illness, solicited her to attend him at Mount Bevis, near
-Southampton, which she refused with firmness, but upon condition that,
-though still denied to take his name, she might be permitted to wear her
-wedding-ring; to which, finding her inexorable, he at length consented.
-
-[Sidenote: ANASTASIA ROBINSON.]
-
-"His haughty spirit was still reluctant to the making a declaration that
-would have done justice to so worthy a character as the person to whom
-he was now united; and indeed his uncontrollable temper and high opinion
-of his own actions made him a very awful husband, ill suited to Lady
-Peterborough's good sense, amiable temper, and delicate sentiments. She
-was a Roman Catholic, but never gave offence to those of a contrary
-opinion, though very strict in what she thought her duty. Her excellent
-principles and fortitude of mind supported her through many severe
-trials in her conjugal state. But at last he prevailed on himself to do
-her justice, instigated, it is supposed by his bad state of health,
-which obliged him to seek another climate, and she absolutely refused to
-go with him unless he declared his marriage. Her attendance on him in
-this illness nearly cost her her life.
-
-"He appointed a day for all his nearest relations to meet him at the
-apartment over the gateway of St. James's palace, belonging to Mr.
-Poyntz, who was married to Lord Peterborough's niece, and at that time
-preceptor of Prince William, afterwards Duke of Cumberland. He also
-appointed Lady Peterborough to be there at the same time. When they were
-all assembled, he began a most eloquent oration, enumerating all the
-virtues and perfections of Mrs. A. Robinson, and the rectitude of her
-conduct during his long acquaintance with her, for which he acknowledged
-his great obligation and sincere attachment, declaring he was determined
-to do her that justice which he ought to have done long ago, which was
-presenting her to all his family as his wife. He spoke this harangue
-with so much energy, and in parts so pathetically, that Lady
-Peterborough, not being apprised of his intentions, was so affected that
-she fainted away in the midst of the company.
-
-"After Lord Peterborough's death, she lived a very retired life, chiefly
-at Mount Bevis, and was seldom prevailed on to leave that habitation but
-by the Duchess of Portland, who was always happy to have her company at
-Bulstrode, when she could obtain it, and often visited her at her own
-house.
-
-"Among Lord Peterborough's papers, she found his memoirs, written by
-himself, in which he declared he had been guilty of such actions as
-would have reflected very much upon his character, for which reason she
-burnt them. This, however, contributed to complete the excellency of her
-principles, though it did not fail giving offence to the curious
-inquirers after anecdotes of so remarkable a character as that of the
-Earl of Peterborough."
-
-[Sidenote: DUCAL CONNOISSEURS.]
-
-The deserved good fortune of Anastasia Robinson reminds me of the
-careers of two other vocalists of this period, one of them owed her
-elevation to a fortunate accident; while the third, though she entered
-upon the same possible road to the peerage as the second, yet never
-attained it. "The Duke of Bolton," says Swift, in one of his letters,
-"has run away with Polly Peachum, having settled four hundred a year on
-her during pleasure, and upon disagreement, two hundred more." This was
-the charming Lavinia Fenton, the original Polly of the Beggars' Opera,
-between whom and the Duke the disagreement anticipated by the amiable
-Swift never took place. Twenty-three years after the elopement, the
-Duke's wife died, and Lavinia then became the Duchess of Bolton. She
-was, according to the account given of her by Dr. Joseph Warton, "a very
-accomplished and most agreeable companion; had much wit, good strong
-sense, and a just taste in polite literature.
-
-Her person was agreeable and well made," continues Dr. Warton, "though I
-think she never could be called a beauty. I have had the pleasure of
-being at table with her, when her conversation was much admired by the
-first character of the age, particularly by old Lord Bathurst and Lord
-Granville."
-
-The beautiful Miss Campion, who was singing about the same time as Mrs.
-Tofts, and who died in 1706, when she was only eighteen, did _not_
-become the Duchess of Devonshire; but the heart-broken old Duke, who
-appears to have been most fervently attached to her, buried her in his
-family vault in the church of Latimers, Buckinghamshire, and placed a
-Latin inscription on her monument, testifying that she was wise beyond
-her years, and bountiful to the poor even beyond her abilities; and at
-the theatre, where she had some times acted, modest and pure; but being
-seized with a hectic fever, she had submitted to her fate with a firm
-confidence and Christian piety; and that William, Duke of Devonshire,
-had, upon her beloved remains, erected this tomb as sacred to her
-memory.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VI.
-
-THE ITALIAN OPERA UNDER HANDEL.
-
-     Handel at Hamburgh.--Handel in London.--The Queen's Theatre.--The
-     Royal Academy of Music.--Operatic Feuds.--Porpora and the
-     Nobility's Opera.
-
-
-The great dates of Handel's career as an operatic composer and director
-are:--
-
-1711, when he produced _Rinaldo_, his first opera, at the Queen's
-Theatre, in the Haymarket;
-
-1720, when the Royal Academy of Music was established under his
-management at the same theatre, (which, with the accession of George I.,
-had become "the King's");
-
-1734, when in commencing the season at the King's Theatre with a new
-company, he had to contend against the "Nobility's Opera" just opened at
-the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, under the direction of Porpora;
-
-1735, when he moved to Covent Garden, Porpora and "la nobilita
-Britannica" going at the same time to the King's Theatre.
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.]
-
-Both operas failed in 1737, and Handel then went back to the King's
-Theatre, for which he wrote his last opera _Deidamia_ in 1740.
-
-Of Handel's arrival in England, and of the manner in which his first
-opera was received, I have spoken in the preceding chapter. Of his
-previous life in Germany but little is recorded; indeed, he left that
-country at the age of twenty-five. It is known, however, that he was for
-some time engaged at the Hamburgh theatre, where operas had been
-performed in the German language since 1678. Rinuccini's _Dafne_, set to
-music by Schutz, was represented, as has been already mentioned, at
-Dresden in 1627, (or according to other accounts 1630); but this was a
-private affair in honour of a court marriage, and the first opera
-produced in Germany in public, and in the German language, was Thiele's
-_Adam and Eve_, which was given at Hamburgh in 1678. The reputation of
-Keiser at the court of Wolfenbüttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh
-Theatre, towards the close of the century, to send and offer him an
-engagement; he accepted it, and in the course of twenty-seven years
-produced as many as one hundred and sixty operas. Mattheson states that
-both Handel and Hasse (who was afterwards director of the celebrated
-Dresden Opera) formed their styles on that of Keiser.[20] Mattheson,
-himself a composer, succeeded Keiser as conductor of the orchestra at
-the Hamburgh Theatre, holding that post, however, conjointly with
-Handel, whose quarrel and duel with Mattheson have often been related.
-Handel was presiding in the orchestra while Mattheson was on the stage
-performing in an opera of his own composition. The opera being
-concluded, Mattheson proposed to take Handel's place at the harpsichord,
-which the latter refused to give up. The rival conductors quarrelled as
-they were leaving the theatre. The quarrel led to a blow and the blow to
-a fight with swords in the market place, which was terminated by
-Mattheson breaking the point of his sword on one of his antagonist's
-buttons, or as others have it, on the score of his own opera, which
-Handel carried beneath his coat.
-
-Handel went from Hamburgh to Hanover, where, as we have seen, he
-received an invitation from some English noblemen to visit London, and,
-with the permission and encouragement of the Elector, accepted it.
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.]
-
-Handel's _Rinaldo_ was followed at the King's Theatre by his _Il Pastor
-Fido_ (1712), his _Teseo_ (1713), and his _Amadigi_ (1715). Soon after
-the production of _Amadigi_, the performances at the King's Theatre seem
-to have ceased until 1720, when the "Royal Academy of Music" was formed.
-This so-called "Academy" was the result of a project to establish a
-permanent Italian opera in London. It was supported by a number of the
-nobility, with George I. at their head, and a fund of Ł50,000 was
-raised among the subscribers, to which the king contributed Ł1,000. The
-management of the "Academy" was entrusted to a governor, a deputy
-governor, and twenty directors, (why not to a head master and
-assistants?) and for the first year the Duke of Newcastle was appointed
-governor; Lord Bingley, deputy governor; while among the directors were
-the Dukes of Portland and Queensberry, the Earls of Burlington, Stair
-and Waldegrave, Lords Chetwynd and Stanhope, Sir John Vanburgh,
-(architect of the theatre), Generals Dormer, Wade, and Hunter, &c. The
-worse than unmeaning title given to the new opera was of course imitated
-from the French; the governor, deputy governor, and directors being
-doubtless unacquainted with the circumstances under which the French
-Opera received the misnomer which it still retains.[21] They might have
-known, however, that the "Académie Royale" of Paris, at that time under
-the direction of Rameau, was held in very little esteem, except by the
-French themselves, as an operatic theatre, and moreover, that Italian
-music was never performed there at all. Indeed, for half a century
-afterwards, the French execrated Italian music and would not listen to
-Italian singers--which gives us some notion of what musical taste in
-France must have been at the time of our Royal Academy being founded.
-The title would have been absurd even if the French Opera had been the
-finest in Europe; as it was nothing of the kind, and as it was,
-moreover, sworn to its own native psalmody, to give such a title to an
-Italian theatre, supported by musicians and singers of the greatest
-excellence, was a triple absurdity. Strangely enough, even in the
-present day, the Americans, as ingenious as the English of George I.'s
-reign, call their magnificent Italian Opera House at New York the
-Academy of Music. As a matter of association, it would be far more
-reasonable to call it the "St. Charles's Theatre," or the "Scale
-Theatre."
-
-The musical direction of our Royal Academy of Music was confided to
-Handel, who, besides composing for the theatre himself, engaged
-Buononcini and Ariosti to write for it. He also proceeded to Dresden,
-already celebrated throughout Europe for the excellence of its Italian
-Opera, and engaged Senesino, Berenstadt, Boschi, and Signora Durastanti.
-
-Handel's first opera at the Royal Academy of Music was _Radamisto_,
-which was hailed on its production as its composer's masterpiece. "It
-seems," says Dr. Burney, "as if he was not insensible of its worth, as
-he dedicated a book of the words to the king, George I., subscribing
-himself his Majesty's 'most faithful subject,' which, as he was neither
-a Hanoverian by birth, nor a native of England, seems to imply his
-having been naturalised here by a bill in Parliament."
-
-[Sidenote: ACADEMIES OF MUSIC.]
-
-Buononcini, (who, compared with Handel, was a ninny, though others said
-that to him Handel was scarcely fit to hold a candle, &c.) produced his
-first opera also in 1720. It was received with much favour, and by the
-Buononcinists with enthusiasm.
-
-The next opera was _Muzio Scevola_, composed by Handel, Buononcini, and
-Ariosti together. It is said that the task of joint production was
-imposed upon the three musicians by the masters of the Academy, by way
-of competitive examination, and with a view to test the abilities of
-each in a decisive manner. If there were any grounds for believing the
-story, it might be asked, who among the directors were thought, or
-thought themselves qualified to act as judges in so difficult and
-delicate a matter.
-
-In the meanwhile the opera of the three composers did but little good to
-the theatre, which, in spite of its admirable company, was found a
-losing speculation, after a little more than a year, to the extent of
-Ł15,000. Thirty-five thousand pounds remained to be paid up, but the
-rest of the subscription money was not forthcoming, and the directors
-were unable to obtain it until after they had advertised in the
-newspapers that defaulters would be proceeded against "with the utmost
-rigour of the law."
-
-A new mode of subscription was then devised, by which tickets were
-granted for the season of fifty performances on receipt of ten guineas
-down, and an engagement to pay five guineas more on the 1st of February,
-and a second five guineas on the 1st of May. Thus originated the
-operatic subscription list which has been continued with certain
-modifications, and with a few short intervals, up to the present day.
-
-Buononcini's _Griselda_, which passes for his best opera, was produced
-in 1722, with Anastasia Robinson in the part of the heroine. Handel's
-_Ottone_ and _Flavio_ were brought out in 1723; his _Giulio Cesare_ and
-_Tamerlano_ in 1724; his _Rodelinda_ in 1725; his _Scipione_ and
-_Alessandro_ in 1726; his _Admeto_ and _Ricardo_ in 1727; his _Siroe_
-and _Tolomeo_ in 1728--when the Royal Academy of Music, which had been
-carried on with varying success, and on the whole with considerable ill
-success, finally closed.
-
-[Sidenote: FAILURE OF ITALIAN OPERA IN LONDON.]
-
-Buononcini's last opera, _Astyanax_, was produced in 1727, after which
-the Duchess of Marlborough, his constant patroness, gave the composer a
-pension of five hundred a year. A few years afterwards, however, he
-stole a madrigal, the invention of a Venetian named Lotti, and the theft
-having been discovered and clearly proved, Buononcini left the country
-in disgrace. Similar thefts are practised in the present day, but with
-discretion and with ingeniously worded title pages. Buononcini should
-have simply called his plagiarism a "Venetian Madrigal, dedicated to the
-Duchess of Marlborough by G. Buononcini." This unfortunate composer,
-whom Swift had certainly described in a prophetic spirit as "a ninny,"
-left England in 1733, with an Italian Count whose title appears to have
-been about as authentic as Buononcini's madrigal, and who pretended to
-possess the art of making gold, but abstained from practising it
-otherwise than by swindling. Buononcini was for a time the dupe of this
-impostor. In the meanwhile he continued the exercise of his profession,
-at Paris, where we lose sight of him. In 1748, however, he went to
-Vienna, and by command of the Emperor composed the music for the
-festivities given in celebration of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Thence
-he proceeded with Montecelli, the composer, to Venice, where the affair
-of the madrigal was probably by this time forgotten. At all events, no
-importance was attached to it, and Buononcini was engaged to write an
-opera for the Carnival. He was at this time nearly ninety years of age.
-The date of his death is not recorded, but Dr. Burney tells us that he
-is supposed to have lived till nearly a hundred.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BEGGARS' OPERA.]
-
-Besides the annual subscriptions, to the Royal Academy of Music the
-whole of the original capital of Ł50,000 was spent in seven years. In
-spite, then, of the admirable works produced by Handel, the unrivalled
-company by which they were executed, and the immense sums of money
-lavished upon the entertainment generally, the Italian Opera in London
-proved in 1728 what it had proved twelve years before, a positive and
-unmistakable failure. This could scarcely have been owing, as has been
-surmised, to the violence of the disputes concerning the merits of
-Handel and Buononcini, the composers, or of Faustina and Cuzzoni, the
-singers, for the natural effect of such contests would have been to keep
-up an interest in the performances. Probably few at that time had any
-real love for Italian music. A certain number, no doubt, attended the
-Italian Opera for the sake of fashion, but the greater majority of the
-theatre-going public were quite indifferent to its charms. Dr.
-Arbuthnot, one of the few literary men of the day who seems to have
-really cared for music, writes as follows, in the _London Journal_,
-under the date of March 23rd, 1728:--"As there is nothing which
-surprises all true lovers of music more than the neglect into which the
-Italian operas are at present fallen, so I cannot but think it a very
-extraordinary instance of the fickle and inconstant temper of the
-English nation, a failing which they have always been endeavouring to
-cast upon their neighbours in France, but to which they themselves have
-just as good a title, as will appear to any one who will take the
-trouble to consult our historians." He points out that after adopting
-the Italian Opera with eagerness, we began, as soon as we had obtained
-it in perfection, to make it a pretext for disputes instead of enjoying
-it, and concludes that it was supported among us for a time, not from
-genuine taste, but simply from fashion. He observes that _The Beggars'
-Opera_, then just produced, was "a touchstone to try British taste on,"
-and that it has "proved effectual in discovering our true inclinations,
-which, however artfully they may have been disguised for a while, will
-one time or another, start up and disclose themselves. Ćsop's story of
-the cat, who, at the petition of her lover, was changed into a fine
-woman, is pretty well known, notwithstanding which alteration, we find
-that upon the appearance of a mouse, she could not resist the temptation
-of springing out of her husband's arms to pursue it, though it was on
-the very wedding night. Our English audience have been for some time
-returning to their cattish nature, of which some particular sounds from
-the gallery have given us sufficient warning. And since they have so
-openly declared themselves, I must only desire that they will not think
-they can put on the fine woman again just when they please, but content
-themselves with their skill in caterwauling. For my own part, I cannot
-think it would be any loss to real lovers of music, if all those false
-friends who have made pretensions to it only in compliance with the
-fashion, would separate themselves from them; provided our Italian Opera
-could be brought under such regulations as to go on without them. We
-might then be able to sit and enjoy an entertainment of this sort, free
-from those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres, without
-any regard, not only to performers, but even to the presence of Majesty
-itself. In short, my comfort is, that though so great a desertion may
-force us so to contract the expenses of our operas, as would put an end
-to our having them in as great perfection as at present, yet we shall be
-able at least to hear them without interruption."
-
-The Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes, to which Arbuthnot alludes, where he
-speaks of "those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres,"
-appear to have been quite as violent as those with which the names of
-Handel and Buononcini are associated. Most of this musical party-warfare
-(of which the most notorious examples are those just mentioned, the
-Gluck and Piccinni contests in Paris, and the quarrels between the
-admirers of Madame Mara and Madame Todi in the same city) has been
-confined to England and France, though a very pretty quarrel was once
-got up at the Dresden Theatre, between the followers of Faustina, at
-that time the wife of Hasse the composer, and Mingotti. The Italians
-have shown themselves changeable and capricious, and have often hissed
-one night those whom they have applauded the night afterwards; but, in
-the Italian Theatres, we find no instances of systematic partisanship
-maintained obstinately and stolidly for years, and I fancy that it is
-only among unmusical nations, or in an unmusical age, that anything of
-the kind takes place. The ardour and duration of such disputes are
-naturally in proportion to the ignorance and folly of the disputants. In
-science, or even in art, where the principles of art are well
-understood, they are next to impossible. Self-styled connoisseurs,
-however, with neither taste nor knowledge can go on squabbling about
-composers and singers, especially if they never listen to them, to all
-eternity.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni were both admirable vocalists, and in entirely
-different styles, so that there was not even the shadow of a pretext
-for praising one at the expense of the other. Tosi, their contemporary,
-in his _Osservazzioni sopra il Canto Figurato_,[22] thus compares them:
-"The one," he says (meaning Faustina), "is inimitable for a privileged
-gift of singing and enchanting the world with an astonishing felicity in
-executing difficulties with a brilliancy I know not whether derived from
-nature or art, which pleases to excess. The delightful soothing
-cantabile of the other, joined to the sweetness of a fine voice, a
-perfect intonation, strictness of time, and the rarest productions of
-genius in her embellishments, are qualifications as peculiar and
-uncommon as they are difficult to be imitated. The pathos of the one and
-the rapidity of the other are distinctly characteristic. What a
-beautiful mixture it would be, if the excellences of these two angelic
-beings could be united in a single individual!"
-
-Quantz, the celebrated flute-player, and teacher of that instrument to
-Frederic the Great, came to London in 1727, and heard Handel's _Admeto_
-executed to perfection at the Royal Academy of Music. The principal
-parts were filled by Senesino, Cuzzoni and Faustina, and Quantz's
-account of the two latter agrees, with that given by Signor Tosi.
-Cuzzoni had a soft limpid voice, a pure intonation, a perfect shake. Her
-style was simple, noble and touching. In allegro movements, her rapidity
-of execution was not remarkable, &c., &c. Her acting was cold, and
-though she was very beautiful, her beauty produced no effect on the
-stage. Faustina, on the other hand, was passionate and full of
-expression, as an actress, while as a vocalist she was remarkable for
-the fluency and brilliancy of her articulation, and could sing with ease
-what would have been considered difficult passages for the violin. Her
-rapid repetition of the same note--(the violin "_tremolo_") was one of
-her most surprising feats. This artifice was afterwards imitated with
-the greatest success by Farinelli, Monticelli, Visconti, and the
-charming Mingotti, and at a later period, Madame Catalani produced some
-of her greatest effects in the same style.
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni made their first appearance together at Venice in
-1719. In 1725, Faustina went to Vienna, and met with an enthusiastic
-reception from the habitués of the Court Theatre. She left Vienna the
-same year for London, where she arrived when Cuzzoni's reputation was at
-its height.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Cuzzoni made her first appearance in London in 1723, and was a member of
-Handel's company when the singers were engaged, at the suggestion of the
-regent, to give a series of performances in Paris; this engagement,
-which was due in the first instance to the solicitations of the
-Marchioness de Prie, was, as I have already mentioned, never carried
-out. Whether the Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes originated with a cabal
-against the singer in possession of the public favour, or whether the
-admirers of the accepted favorite felt it their duty to support her by
-attacking all new comers, is not by any means clear; but Faustina had
-scarcely arrived when the feud commenced. Quanta tells us that as soon
-as one began to sing, the partisans of the other began to hiss. The
-Cuzzoni party, which was headed by the Countess of Pembroke, made a
-point of hissing whenever Faustina appeared. Faustina, who if not
-better-looking, was more agreeable than Cuzzoni, had most of the men on
-her side. Her patronesses were the Countess of Burlington and Lady
-Delawar.
-
-The most remarkable of the many disturbances caused by the rivalry
-between these two singers (forced upon them as it was) took place in
-June 1727. The _London Journal_ of June 10th in that year, tells us in
-its description of the affair, that "the contention at first was only
-carried on by hissing on one side and clapping on the other, but
-proceeded at length to the melodious use of cat-calls and other
-accompaniments which manifested the zeal and politeness of that
-illustrious assembly." We are further informed that the Princess
-Catherine was there, but neither her Royal Highness's presence, nor the
-laws of decorum could restrain the glorious ardour of the combatants.
-The appearance of Faustina appears to have been the signal for the
-commencement of this disgraceful riot, to judge from the following
-epigram on the proceedings of the night.
-
-    "Old poets sing that beasts did dance,
-       Whenever Orpheus played;
-     So to Faustina's charming voice
-       Wise Pembroke's asses brayed."
-
-Cuzzoni had also her poet, and her departure from England was the
-occasion of the following pretty but silly lines, addressed to her by
-Ambrose Phillips:--
-
-    "Little Syren of the stage,
-       Charmer of an idle age,
-     Empty warbler, breathing lyre,
-       Wanton gale of fond desire;
-     Bane of every manly art,
-       Sweet enfeebler of the heart,
-     O, too pleasing is thy strain,
-       Hence to Southern climes again!
-     Tuneful mischief, vocal spell,
-       To this island bid farewell;
-     Leave us as we ought to be,
-       Leave the Britons rough and free."
-
-
-The Britons had shown themselves sufficiently "rough and free," while
-Cuzzoni was singing to them. The circumstances of this vocalist's
-leaving London were rather curious, and show to what an extent the
-Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes must have disgusted the directors of the
-Academy; the caprice of one of them must also have irritated Handel
-considerably, for it is related that once when Cuzzoni, at a rehearsal,
-positively refused to sing an air that Handel had written for her, she
-could only be convinced of the necessity of doing so by the composer
-threatening to throw her out of the window. It was known that each was
-about to sign a new contract, and Cuzzoni's patronesses made her take an
-oath not to accept lower terms than Faustina. The directors ingeniously
-and politely took advantage of this, and offered her exactly one guinea
-less.
-
-[Sidenote: FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.]
-
-Cuzzoni made her retreat, and Faustina remained in possession of the
-field of battle.
-
-However, Faustina, after the failure of the Academy in the following
-year, herself returned to Italy, and met her rival at Venice in 1729,
-and again, in 1730. Cuzzoni returned to London in 1734, and sang at the
-Opera in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, established under the direction of
-Porpora, in opposition to Handel. She visited London a third time in
-1750, when a concert was given for her benefit; but the poor little
-syren was now old and infirm; she had lost her voice, and even the
-enemies of Faustina would not come to applaud her. This stage queen had
-a most melancholy end. From England she went to Holland, where she was
-imprisoned for debt, being allowed, however, to go out in the evenings
-(doubtless under the guardianship of a jailer) and sing at the theatres,
-by which means she gained enough money to obtain her liberation. Having
-quite lost her voice, she is said to have maintained herself for some
-time at Bologna by button-making. The manner of her death is not known;
-but probably she had the same end as those stage-queens mentioned by the
-dramatic critic in _Candide_: "_On les adore quand elles sont belles, on
-les jette a la voirie quand elles sont mortes_."
-
-The career of Faustina on the other hand did not belie her auspicious
-name. In 1727, at Venice, she met Hasse, whose music owed much of its
-success to her admirable singing. The composer fell in love with this
-charming vocalist, married her, and in 1730 accepted an offer from
-Augustus, King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, to direct the Opera of
-Dresden. Here Faustina renewed her successes, and for fifteen years
-reigned with undisputed supremacy at the Court Theatre. Then, however, a
-new Cuzzoni appeared in the person of Signora Mingotti.
-
-[Sidenote: MINGOTTI.]
-
-Regina Valentini, a pupil and domestic at the Convent of the Ursulines,
-possessed a beautiful voice, but so little taste for household work,
-that to avoid its drudgery and the ridicule to which her inability to go
-through it exposed her, she resolved to make what profit she could out
-of her singing. Old Mingotti, the manager, was willing enough to aid her
-in this laudable enterprise; and accordingly married her and put her
-under the tuition of Porpora, the future opponent of Handel, and actual
-rival of Hasse. In due time Mingotti made her first appearance at the
-Dresden Opera, when her singing called forth almost unanimous applause;
-we say "almost," because Hasse and some of his personal friends
-persisted in denying her talent. The successful _débutante_ was offered
-a lucrative engagement at Naples, where she created the greatest
-enthusiasm by her performance of the part of _Aristea_ in the
-_Olimpiade_, with music by Galuppi. Mingotti was now the great singer of
-the day; she received propositions from managers in all parts of Europe,
-but decided to return to the scene of her earnest triumphs at Dresden.
-This was in 1748.
-
-Haase was then composing his _Demofonte_. He knew well enough the
-strong, and thought he had remarked the weak, points in Mingotti's
-voice; and, in order to show the latter to the greatest possible
-disadvantage, provided the unsuspecting singer with an adagio which rose
-and fell upon the very notes which he considered the most doubtful in
-her unusually perfect organ. To render the vocalist's deficiencies as
-apparent as possible, he did the next thing to making her sing the
-insidious _adagio_ without accompaniment; for the only accompaniment he
-wrote for it was a _pizzicato_ of violins. Regina at the very first
-rehearsal, understood the snare, said nothing about it, but studied her
-_adagio_ till she sang it with such perfection that what had been
-intended to discover her weakness only served in the most striking
-manner to exhibit her strength. The air which was to have ruined
-Mingotti's reputation brought her the greatest success she had ever
-obtained. Her execution was so faultless that Faustina herself could
-find nothing to say against it. A story is told of Sir Charles Williams,
-the English Minister at the Court of Dresden, who had taken a prominent
-part in the Hasse and Faustina cabal, and had been in the habit of
-saying that Mingotti was doubtless a brilliant singer, but that in the
-expressive style and in passages of sustained notes she was heard to
-disadvantage--a story is told of this candid and gentlemanly critic
-going to Mingotti after she had sung her treacherous solo, and
-apologizing to her publicly for ever having entertained a doubt as to
-the completeness of her talent.
-
-Hasse remained thirty-three years in the service of the Elector and made
-the Dresden Opera the first in Europe; but in 1763 the troubles of
-unhappy Poland having begun, he retired with Faustina on a small pension
-to Vienna and thence to Venice, where they both died in the year 1783,
-Hasse being then eighty-four years of age and his wife ninety.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The most celebrated of the other singers at the Royal Academy of Music
-were Durastanti and Senesino, both of whom were engaged by Handel at
-Dresden, and appeared in London at the opening of the new establishment.
-In 1723, however, Cuzzoni arrived, and Durastanti, acknowledging the
-superior merit of that singer, took her departure. At least the
-acknowledgment was made for her in a song written by Pope, which she
-addressed to the audience at her farewell performance, and which ended
-with this couplet:--
-
-    "But let old charmers yield to new;
-     Happy soil, adieu, adieu!"
-
-[Sidenote: SENESINO.]
-
-Either singers were very different then from what they are now, or
-Durastanti could not have understood these lines, which, strangely
-enough, are said to have been written by Pope at the desire of her
-patron, the Earl of Peterborough. Surely Anastasia Robinson, the future
-Countess, would not have thanked the earl for such a compliment, in
-however perfect a style it might have been expressed. Madame Durastanti
-appears to have been much esteemed in England, and I read in the
-_Evening Post_ of March 7th, 1721, that "Last Thursday, His Majesty was
-pleased to stand godfather, and the Princess and the Lady Bruce
-godmothers, to a daughter of Mrs. Durastanti, chief singer in the opera
-house. The Marquis Visconti for the king, and the Lady Lichfield for the
-princess."
-
-Senesino, successor to Nicolini, and the second of the noble order of
-sopranists who appeared in England, was the principal contralto singer
-("_modo vir, modo foemina_") in Handel's operas, until 1726, when the
-state of his health compelled him to return to Italy. He came back to
-England in 1730, and resumed his position at the King's Theatre, under
-Handel. In 1733, when the rival company was formed at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, Senesino joined it, but retired after the appearance of
-Farinelli, who at once eclipsed all other singers.
-
-Steele's journal, _The Theatre_, entertains us with a brief account of
-the vanity of one Signor Beneditti, who appears to have performed
-principal parts, at least for a time, at the Opera in 1720. The paper,
-which is written by Sir Richard Steele's coadjutor, Sir John Edgar,
-commences with a furious onslaught on a company of French actors, who
-were at that time performing in London, and of whose opening
-representation we are told that "if we are any longer to march on two
-legs, and not be quite prone, and on all four like the other animals"
-we must "assume manhood and humane indignation against so barbarous an
-affront. But I foresee," continues Sir John,[23] "that the theatre is to
-be utterly destroyed, and sensation is to banish reflection as sound is
-to beat down sense. The head and the heart are to be moved no more, but
-the basest parts of the body to be hereafter the sole instruments of
-human delight. A regular, orderly, and well-governed company of actors,
-that lived in reputation and credit and under decent settlement are to
-be torn to pieces and made vagabond, to make room for even foreign
-vagrants, who deserved no reception but in Bridewell, even before they
-affronted the assembly, composed of British nobility and gentry, with
-representations that could introduce nothing of even French except, &c.
-....Though the French are so boisterous and void of all moderation or
-temper in their conduct, the Italians are a more tractable and elegant
-nation. If the French players have laid aside all shame, the Italian
-singers are as eminently nice and delicate, which the reader will
-observe from the following account I have received from the Haymarket.
-
-[Sidenote: CAPRICES OF SINGERS.]
-
-     "'Sir,--
-
-     "'It happened in casting parts for the new opera, Signor Beneditti
-     conceived he had been greatly injured, and applied to the board of
-     directors for redress. He set forth in the recitative tone, the
-     nearest approaching to ordinary speech, that he had never acted
-     anything in any other opera below the character of a sovereign, and
-     now he was to be appointed to be captain of a guard. On these
-     representations, we directed that he should make love to Zenobia,
-     with proper limitations. The chairman signified to him that the
-     board had made him a lover, but he must be content to be an
-     unfortunate one, and be rejected by his mistress. He expressed
-     himself very easy under this, and seemed to rejoice that,
-     considering the inconstancy of women, he could only feign, not
-     pursue the passion to extremity. He muttered very much against
-     making him only the guard to the character he had formerly appeared
-     in,'" &c.
-
-A small and not uninteresting volume might be written about the caprices
-of singers and their behaviour under real or imaginary slights. One of
-the best stories of the kind is told of Crescentini, who, three-quarters
-of a century later, at the first representation of _Gli Orazi e
-Curiazi_, observed immediately before the commencement of the
-performance, that the costume of _Orazio_ was more magnificent than his
-own. He sent for the stage manager, and burning with rage, addressed him
-as follows:--
-
-"_Perche_," he commenced, "avez vous donné _oun_ habit blanc ŕ ce
-_mossiou_; et _che_ vous m'en avez gratifié _d'oun_ vert?"
-
-It was explained to the singer that there was a tradition at the
-Comédie Francaise by which the costume of the principal Horatius was
-white and that of the chief of the Curiatii, green.
-
-"_Perché_ la _bordoure rouze_ ŕ un _primo tenore_, el la _bordoure_
-noire ŕ _oun primo virtuoso_?" continued the incensed sopranist.
-
-"No one was thinking," replied the stage manager, "of your positions as
-singers; our only object was to make the costumes as correct as
-possible."
-
-"Votre _ousaze_ et votre _ezatitoude_ sont des imbéciles," exclaimed
-Crescentini; "_zé mé lagnérai_ de votre condouite envers moi. Quant ŕ
-vous, _mossiou_ Brizzi _fate-mi il piacere_ dé vous déshabiller _subito_
-et dé mé fairé passer _questo vestito in baratto dou_ mien qué zé vais
-vous envoyer. _Per Bacco!_ non _si dirŕ qu'oun tenore_ aura _parou miou
-vétou qu'oun primo oumo, surtout_ quand ce _primo virtuoso_ est Girolamo
-Crescentini d'Urbino."
-
-An exchange took place on the spot, and throughout the evening a
-Curiatius, six feet high, was seen wearing a little Roman costume, which
-looked as if it would burst with each movement of the singer, while a
-diminutive Horatius was attired in a long Alban tunic, of which the
-skirt trailed along the ground.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AND HEIDEGGER.]
-
-But the singers are taking us away from the Opera. Let us return to
-Handel, all of whose vocalists together, admirable as they were, could
-not save the Royal Academy of Music from ruin. After the final failure
-of that enterprise in 1728, the directors entered into an arrangement
-with Heidegger for opening the King's Theatre under their joint
-management. Handel went to Italy to engage new singers, but did not make
-a very brilliant selection. Heidegger, nevertheless, did his duty as a
-manager, and introduced the principal members of the new company to
-public notice in the following "puff direct," which, for cool unadorned
-impudence, has not been surpassed even in the present day. "Mr. Handel,
-who is just returned from Italy, has contracted with the following
-persons to perform in the Italian Operas, Signor Bernacchi, who is
-esteemed the best singer in Italy; Signora Merighi, a woman of a very
-fine presence, an excellent actress, and a very good singer, with a
-counter-tenor voice; Signora Strada, who hath a very fine treble voice,
-a person of singular merit; Signor Annibale Pio Fabri, a most excellent
-tenor, and a fine voice; his wife, who performs a man's part well;
-Signora Bertoldi, who has a very fine treble voice, she is also a very
-genteel actress, both in men and women's parts; a bass voice, from
-Hamburgh, there being none worth engaging in Italy."
-
-I fancy this was an attempt to carry on Italian Opera at a reduced
-expenditure, for as soon as the speculation began to fail, the popular
-Senesino was again engaged. Handel had had a serious quarrel with this
-singer, but when a manager is in want of a star, and a star is tempted
-with a lucrative engagement, personal feelings are not taken into
-account. They ought to have been, however, in this particular case, at
-least by Handel, for the breach between the composer and the singer was
-renewed, and Senesino left the King's Theatre to join the company which
-was being formed at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of
-Porpora.
-
-Handel now set out once more for Italy, but again failed to engage any
-singers of celebrity, with the exception of Carestini, whom he heard at
-Bologna at the same time as Farinelli. That he should have preferred the
-former to the latter seems unaccountable, for by the common consent of
-musicians, critics, and the public, Farinelli, wherever he sang, was
-pronounced the greatest singer of his time, and it appears certain that
-no singer ever affected an audience in so powerful a manner. The
-passionate (and slightly blasphemous) exclamation of the entranced
-Englishwoman, "One God and one Farinelli," together with the almost
-magical effect of Farinelli's voice in tranquilising the half demented
-Ferdinand VI., seems to show that his singing must have been something
-like the music of patriarchal times; which charmed serpents, and which
-in a later age throws highly impressionable women into convulsions.
-
-[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]
-
-I have already mentioned that in going or returning to Italy this last
-time, Handel appears to have passed through Paris, and to have paid a
-contemptuous sort of attention to French music. It is then, if ever,
-that he should be accused of having stolen for our national anthem, an
-air left by Lulli--which _he_ did not, and which Lulli _could_ not have
-composed. The ridiculous story which would make our English patriotic
-hymn an adaptation from the French, is told for the first time I believe
-in the Duchess of Perth's letters. But instead of "_God save the Queen_"
-being translated from a canticle sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, the
-pretended canticle is a translation of "God save the Queen." Here is the
-French version--
-
-    "Grand Dieu, sauvez le Roi!
-    Grand Dieu, vengez le Roi!
-            Vive le Roi!
-    Que toujours glorieux
-    Louis victorieux
-    Voie ses ennemis
-            Toujours soumis.
-
-If it could be proved that this "canticle" was sung by the Ladies of St.
-Cyr, England could no longer claim the authorship of "_God save the
-Queen_," as far, at least, as the words are concerned; and it is evident
-that the words, which are scarcely readable as poetry, though excellent
-for singing, were written either for or with the music. M. Castil Blaze,
-however (in _Moličre Musicien_, Vol. I., page 501), points out that "_si
-l'on ignorait que la musique de cet air est, non pas de Handel, comme
-plusieurs l'ont assuré mais de Henri Carey la version Française
-prouverait du moins que cette melódie, scandée en sdruccioli ne peut
-appartenir au sičcle de Louis XIV.; nos vers ŕ glissades etaient
-parfaitement inconnus de Quinault et de Lulli, de Bernard et de
-Rameau_."
-
-[Sidenote: THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.]
-
-Mr. Schoelcher, like many other writers, attributes "_God save the
-King_" to Dr. John Bull, but Mr. W. Chappell, in his "Popular Music of
-the Olden Time," has shown that Dr. John Bull did not compose it in its
-present form, and that in all probability Henry Carey did, and that
-words and music together, as we know it in the present day, our national
-anthem dates only from 1740. Lulli did not compose it, but it was not
-composed before his time, nor before Handel's either. The air has been
-so altered, or rather, developed, by the various composers who have
-handled it since a simple chant on the four words "God save the King"
-was harmonised by Dr. John Bull, and afterwards converted from an
-indifferent tune into an admirable one (through the fortunate blundering
-of a copyist, as it has been surmised), that it may almost be said to
-have grown. What an interesting thing to be able to establish the fact
-of its gradual formation, like the political system of that nation to
-whose triumphs it has long been an indispensable accompaniment! But how
-humiliating to find that somebody marked in Dr. Bull's manuscript a
-sharp where there should have been no sharp, and that our glorious
-anthem owes its existence to a mistake! Mr. Chappell prints three or
-four ballads and part songs in his work, beginning at the reign of James
-I., either or all of which may have been the foundation of "_God save
-the King_," but it appears certain that our national hymn in its present
-form was first sung, and almost note for note as it is sung now, by H.
-Carey, in 1740, in celebration of the taking of Portobello by Admiral
-Vernon.[24]
-
-Handel did not compose "_God save the King_;" but he had good reason for
-singing it, considering the steady and liberal patronage he received
-from our three first Georges. When, after the expiration of his contract
-with Heidegger, he removed to Covent Garden, in 1735, still carrying on
-the war against Porpora (who removed at the same time to the King's
-Theatre), George II. subscribed Ł1,000 towards the expenses of Handel's
-management, and it was the support of the King and the Royal Family that
-enabled him to combat the influence that was brought to bear against him
-by the aristocracy. Handel, according to Arbuthnot, owed his failure, in
-a great measure, the first time, to the _Beggars' Opera_. The second
-time, on the other hand, it was the _Nobility's_ Opera that ruined him.
-Handel, as we have seen, had only Carestini to depend upon. Porpora, his
-rival, had secured two established favourites, Cuzzoni and Senesino
-(both members of Handel's old company at the Academy), and had,
-moreover, engaged Farinelli, by far the greatest singer of the epoch.
-Nevertheless, Porpora failed almost at the same time as Handel, and at
-the end of the year 1737, there was no Italian Opera at all in London.
-
-Handel joined Heidegger once more in 1738, at the King's Theatre. In two
-years he wrote four operas, of which the fourth, _Deidamia_, was the
-last he ever produced. After this he abandoned dramatic music, and, as a
-composer of Oratorios, entered upon what was to him a far higher career.
-Handel was at this time fifty-six years of age, and since his arrival in
-England, in 1711, he had written no less than thirty-five Italian
-operas.
-
-[Sidenote: CAPABILITIES OF MUSIC.]
-
-Handel's Italian operas, as such, are now quite obsolete. The air from
-_Admeto_ is occasionally heard at a concert, and Handel is known to have
-introduced some of his operatic melodies into his Oratorios, but there
-is no chance of any one of his operas ever being reproduced in a
-complete form. They were never known out of England, and in this country
-were soon laid aside after their composer had fairly retired from
-theatrical management. I think Mr. Hogarth[25] is only speaking with his
-usual judiciousness, when he observes, that "whatever pleasure they must
-have given to the audiences of that age, they would fail to do so
-now.... The music of the principal parts," he continues, "were written
-for a class of voices which no longer exists,[26] and for these parts no
-performers could now be found. A series of recitatives and airs, with
-only an occasional duet, and a concluding chorus of the slightest kind,
-would appear meagre and dull to ears accustomed to the brilliant
-concerted pieces and finales of the modern stage; and Handel's
-accompaniments would appear thin and poor amidst the richness and
-variety of the modern orchestra. The vocal parts, too, are to a great
-extent, in an obsolete taste. Many of the airs are mere strings of dry,
-formal divisions and unmeaning passages of execution, calculated to show
-off the powers of the fashionable singers; and many others, admirable in
-their design, and containing the finest traits of melody and expression,
-are spun out a wearisome length, and deformed by the cumbrous trappings
-with which they are loaded. Musical phrases, too, when Handel used them,
-had the charm of novelty, have become familiar and common through
-repetition by his successors."
-
-Among the airs which Handel has taken from his Operas and introduced
-into his Oratorios, may be mentioned _Rendi l' sereno al ciglio_, from
-_Sosarme_, now known as _Lord, remember David_, and _Dove sei amato
-bene_, in _Rodelinda_, which has been converted into _Holy, Holy, Lord
-God Almighty_. That these changes have been made with perfect success,
-proves, if any proof were still wanted by those who have ever given a
-minute's consideration to the subject, that there is no such thing as
-absolute definite expression in music. The music of an impassioned love
-song will seem equally appropriate as that of a fervent prayer, except
-to those who have already associated it intimately in their memories
-with the words to which it has first been written. A positive feeling
-of joy, or of grief, of exultation, or of depression, of liveliness, or
-of solemnity, can be expressed by musical means without the assistance
-of words, but not mixed feelings, into which several shades of sentiment
-enter--at least not with definiteness; though once indicated by the
-words, they will obtain from music the most admirable colours which will
-even appear to have been invented expressly and solely for them. Gluck
-arranged old music to suit new verses quite as much, or more, than
-Handel--even Gluck who maintained that music ought to convey the precise
-signification, not only of a dramatic situation, but of the very words
-of a song, phrase by phrase, if not word by word.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: HANDEL AND OUR ITALIAN OPERA.]
-
-During the period of Handel's presidency over our Italian Opera, works
-not only by Handel and his colleagues, but also by Scarlatti, Hasse,
-Porpora, Vinci, Veracini, and other composers were produced at the
-King's Theatre, at Covent Garden, and at Porpora's Theatre in Lincoln's
-Inn Fields. After Handel's retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolese,
-Jomelli, Gluck, and Piccinni, were performed, and the most distinguished
-singers in Europe continued to visit London. In 1741, when the Earl of
-Middlesex undertook the management of the King's Theatre, Galuppi was
-engaged as composer, and produced several operas: among others,
-_Penelope_, _Scipione_, and _Enrico_. In 1742, the _Olimpiade_, with
-music by Pergolese (a pupil of Hasse, and the future composer of the
-celebrated _Serva Padrona_) was brought out. After Galuppi's return to
-Italy, in 1744, the best of his new operas continued to be produced in
-London. His _Mondo della Luna_ was represented in 1760, when the English
-public were delighted with the gaiety of the music, and with the
-charming acting and singing of Signora Paganini. The year afterwards a
-still greater success was achieved with the same composer's _Filosofo di
-Campagna_, which, says Dr. Burney, "surpassed in musical merit all the
-comic operas that were performed in England till the _Buona Figliola_."
-Not only were Gluck's earlier and comparatively unimportant works
-performed in London soon after their first production at Vienna, but his
-_Orfeo_, the first of those great works written in the style which we
-always associate with Gluck's name, was represented in London in 1770,
-four years before Gluck went to Paris. Indeed, ever since the arrival of
-Handel in this country, London has been celebrated for its Italian
-Opera, whereas the French had no regular continuous performances of
-Italian Opera until nearly a hundred years afterwards. Handel did much
-to create a taste for this species of entertainment, and by the
-excellent execution which he took care every opera produced under his
-direction should receive, he set an example to his successors of which
-the value can scarcely be over-estimated, and which it must be admitted
-has, on the whole, been followed with intelligence and enterprise.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VII.
-
-     GENERAL VIEW OF THE OPERA IN EUROPE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL
-     THE APPEARANCE OF GLUCK.
-
-     Great Italian Singers.--Ferri in Sweden.--Opera in Vienna.--Scenic
-     decorations.--Singers of the Eighteenth Century.--Singers'
-     nicknames.--Farinelli's one note.
-
-
-[Sidenote: QUEEN CHRISTINA AND FERRI.]
-
-Handel, by his great musical genius, conferred a two-fold benefit on the
-country of his adoption. He endowed it with a series of Oratorios which
-stand alone in their grandeur, for which the English of the present day
-are deeply grateful, and for which ages to come will honour his name;
-and before writing a note of his great sacred works, during the thirty
-years which he devoted to the production and superintendence of Italian
-Opera in England, he raised that entertainment to a pitch of excellence
-unequalled elsewhere, except perhaps at the magnificent Dresden Theatre,
-which, for upwards of a quarter of a century was directed by the
-celebrated Hasse, and where Augustus, of Saxony, took care that the
-finest musicians and singers in Europe should be engaged.
-
-Rousseau, in the _Dictionnaire Musicale_, under the head of "Orchestra,"
-writing in 1754[27], says:--
-
-"The first orchestra in Europe in respect to the number and science of
-the symphonists, is that of Naples. But the orchestra of the opera of
-the King of Poland, at Dresden, directed by the illustrious Hasse, is
-better distributed, and forms a better _ensemble_."
-
-Most of Handel's and Porpora's best vocalists were engaged from the
-Dresden Theatre, but the great Italian singers had already become
-citizens of the world, and settled or established themselves temporarily
-as their interests dictated in Germany, England, Spain, or elsewhere,
-and at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were Italian Operas
-at Naples, Turin, Dresden, Vienna, London, Madrid, and even
-Algiers--everywhere but in France, which, as has already been pointed
-out, did not accept the musical civilisation of Italy until it had been
-adopted by every other country in Europe, including Russia. The great
-composers, and above all, the great singers who abounded in this
-fortunate century, went to and fro in Europe, from south to north, from
-east to west, and were welcomed everywhere but in Paris, where, until a
-few years before the Revolution, it seemed to form part of the national
-honour to despise Italian music.
-
-As far back as 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden sent a vessel of war to
-Italy, to bring to her Court Balthazar Ferri, the most distinguished
-singer of his day. Ferri, as Rousseau, quoting from Mancini, tells us in
-his "Musical Dictionary," could without taking breath ascend and descend
-two octaves of the chromatic scale, performing a shake on every note
-unaccompanied, and with such precision that if at any time the note on
-which the singer was shaking was verified by an instrument, it was found
-to be perfectly in tune.
-
-Ferri was in the service of three kings of Poland and two emperors of
-Germany. At Venice he was decorated with the Order of St. Mark; at
-Vienna he was crowned King of Musicians; at London, while he was singing
-in a masque, he was presented by an unknown hand with a superb emerald;
-and the Florentines, when he was about to visit their city, went in
-thousands to meet him, at three leagues distance from the gates.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA IN VIENNA.]
-
-The Italian Opera was established in Vienna under the Emperor Leopold
-I., with great magnificence, so much so indeed, that for many years
-afterwards it was far more celebrated as a spectacle than as a musical
-entertainment. Nevertheless, Leopold was a most devoted lover of music,
-and remained so until his death, as the history of his last moments
-sufficiently shows. We have seen a French maid of honour die to the
-fiddling of her page; the Emperor of Germany expired to the
-accompaniment of a full orchestra. Feeling that his end was approaching
-he sent for his musicians, and ordered them to commence a symphony,
-which they went on playing until he died.
-
-Apostolo Zeno, whom Rousseau calls the Corneille, and Metastasio, whom
-he terms the Racine of the Opera, both resided for many years at Vienna,
-and wrote many of their best pieces for its theatre. Several of Zeno's,
-and a great number of Metastasio's works have been set to music over and
-over again, but when they were first brought out at Vienna, many of them
-appear to have obtained success more as grand dramatic spectacles than
-as operas. During the latter half of the eighteenth century, Vienna
-witnessed the production of some of the greatest master-pieces of the
-musical drama (for instance, the _Orpheus_, _Alcestis_, &c., of Gluck,
-and the _Marriage of Figaro_, of Mozart); but when Handel was in England
-directing the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, and when the Dresden
-Opera was in full musical glory (before as well as after the arrival of
-Hasse), the Court Theatre of Vienna was above all remarkable for its
-immense size, for the splendour of its decorations, and for the general
-costliness and magnificence of its spectacles. Lady Mary Wortley
-Montague visited the Opera, at Vienna, in 1716, and sent the following
-account of it to Pope.
-
-"I have been last Sunday at the Opera, which was performed in the garden
-of the Favorita; and I was so much pleased with it, I have not yet
-repented my seeing it. Nothing of the kind was ever more magnificent,
-and I can easily believe what I am told, that the decorations and
-habits cost the Emperor thirty thousand pounds sterling. The stage was
-built over a very large canal, and at the beginning of the second act
-divided into two parts, discovering the water, on which there
-immediately came, from different parts, two fleets of little gilded
-vessels that gave the representation of a naval fight. It is not easy to
-imagine the beauty of this scene, which I took particular notice of. But
-all the rest were perfectly fine in their kind. The story of the Opera
-is the enchantment of Alcina, which gives opportunities for a great
-variety of machines, and changes of scenes which are performed with
-surprising swiftness. The theatre is so large that it is hard to carry
-the eye to the end of it, and the habits in the utmost magnificence to
-the number of one hundred and eight. No house could hold such large
-decorations; but the ladies all sitting in the open air exposes them to
-great inconveniences, for there is but one canopy for the Imperial
-Family, and the first night it was represented, a shower of rain
-happening, the opera was broken off, and the company crowded away in
-such confusion that I was almost squeezed to death."
-
-[Sidenote: SCENIC DECORATIONS.]
-
-One of these open air theatres, though doubtless on a much smaller scale
-than that of Vienna, stood in the garden of the Tuileries, at Paris, at
-the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was embowered in trees and
-covered with creeping plants, and the performances took place there in
-the day-time. These garden theatres were known to the Romans, witness
-the following lines of Ovid:--
-
-    "Illic quas tulerant nemorosa palatia, frondes
-     Simpliciter positć; scena sine arte fuit."
-             _De Arte Amandi_, Liber I., v. 105.
-
-I myself saw a little theatre of the kind, in 1856, at Flensburgh, in
-Denmark. There was a pleasure-ground in front, with benches and chairs
-for the audience. The stage door at the back opened into a cabbage
-garden. The performances, which consisted of a comedy and farce took
-place in the afternoon, and ended at dusk.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-I have already spoken of the magnificence and perfection of the scenic
-pictures exhibited at the Italian theatres in the very first days of the
-Opera. In the early part of the seventeenth century immense theatres
-were constructed so as to admit of the most elaborate spectacular
-displays. The Farnesino Theatre, at Parma, built for dramas,
-tournaments, and spectacles of all kinds, and which is now a ruin,
-contained at least fifty thousand spectators.[28]
-
-In the 18th century the Italians seem to have thought more of the music
-of their operas, and to have left the vanities of theatrical decorations
-to the Germans.
-
-Servandoni, for some time scene painter and decorator at the Académie
-Royale of Paris not finding that theatre sufficiently vast for his
-designs, sought a new field for his ambition at the Opera-House of
-Dresden, where Augustus of Poland engaged him to superintend the
-arrangement of the stage. Servandoni painted a number of admirable
-scenes for this theatre, in the midst of which four hundred mounted
-horsemen were able to manoeuvre with ease.
-
-In 1760 the Court of the Duke of Wurtemburg, at Stuttgardt, was the most
-brilliant in Europe, owing partly, no doubt, to the enormous subsidies
-received by the Duke from France for a body of ten thousand men, which
-he maintained at the service of that power. The Duke had a French
-theatre, and two Italian theatres, one for Opera Seria, and the other
-for Opera Buffa. The celebrated Noverre was his ballet-master, and there
-were a hundred dancers in the _corps de ballet_, besides twenty
-principal ones, each of whom had been first dancer at one of the chief
-theatres of Italy. Jomelli was chapel-master and director of the Opera
-at Stuttgardt from 1754 until 1773.
-
-[Sidenote: SCENIC DECORATIONS.]
-
-In the way of stage decorations, theatrical effects, and the various
-other spectacular devices by which managers still seek to attract to
-their Operas those who are unable to appreciate good music, we have made
-no progress since the 17th century. We have, to be sure, gas and the
-electric light, which were not known to our forefathers; but St.
-Evrémond tells us that in Louis the XIV.'s time the sun and moon were
-so well represented at the Académie Royale, that the Ambassador of
-Guinea, assisting at one of its performances, leant forward in his box,
-when those orbs appeared and religiously saluted them. To be sure, this
-anecdote may be classed with one I have heard in Russia, of an actor
-who, playing the part of a bear in a grand melodrama, in which a storm
-was introduced, crossed himself devoutly at each clap of thunder; but
-the stories of Servandoni's and Bernino's decorations are no fables.
-Like the other great masters of stage effect in Italy, Bernino was an
-architect, a sculptor and a painter. His sunsets are said to have been
-marvellous; and in a spectacular piece of his composition, entitled _The
-Inundation of the Tiber_, a mass of water was seen to come in from the
-back of the stage, gradually approaching the orchestra and washing down
-everything that impeded its onward course, until at last the audience,
-believing the inundation to be real, rose in terror and were about to
-rush from the theatre. Traps, however, were ready to be opened in all
-parts of the stage. The Neptune of the troubled theatrical waves gave
-the word,
-
-   ----"_et dicto citiůs tumida ćquora placat_."
-
-But in Italy, even at the time when such wonders were being effected in
-the way of stage decorations, the music of an opera was still its prime
-attraction; indeed, there were theatres for operas and theatres for
-spectacular dramas, and it is a mistake to attempt the union of the two
-in any great excellence, inasmuch as the one naturally interferes with
-and diverts attention from the other.
-
-Of Venice and its music, in the days when grand hunts, charges of
-cavalry, triumphal processions in which hundreds of horsemen took part,
-and ships traversing the ocean, and proceeding full sail to the
-discovery of America were introduced on to the stage;[29] of Venice and
-its music even at this highly decorative period, St. Evrémond has given
-us a brief but very satisfactory account in the following doggrel:--
-
-    "A Venise rien n'est égal:
-     Sept opéras, le carneval;
-     Et la merveille, l'excellence,
-     Point de choeurs et jamais de danse,
-     Dans les maisons, souvent concert,
-     Oů tout se chante ŕ livre ouvert."
-
-The operatic chorus, as has already been observed, is an invention
-claimed by the French[30]; on the other hand, from the very foundation
-of the Académie Royale, the French rendered their Operas ridiculous by
-introducing _ballets_ into the middle of them. We shall find Rousseau
-calling attention to this absurd custom which still prevails at the
-Académie, where if even _Fidelio_ was to be produced, it would be
-considered necessary to "enliven" one or more of the scenes with a
-_divertissement_--so unchanging and unchangeable are the revolutionary
-French in all that is futile.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA AT VIENNA.]
-
-We have seen that in the first years of the 18th century, the Opera at
-Vienna was chiefly remarkable for its size, and the splendour and
-magnificence of its scenery. But it soon became a first-rate musical
-theatre; and it was there, as every one who takes an interest in music
-knows, that nearly all the masterpieces of Gluck and Mozart[31] were
-produced. The French sometimes speak of Gluck's great works as if they
-belonged exclusively to the repertory of their Académie. I have already
-mentioned that four years before Gluck went to Paris (1774), his _Orfeo_
-was played in London. This opera was brought out at Vienna in 1764, when
-it was performed twenty-eight times in succession. The success of
-_Alceste_ was still greater; and after its production in 1768, no other
-opera was played for two years. At this period, the imperial family did
-not confine the interest they took in the Opera to mere patronage; four
-Austrian archduchesses, sisters of the Emperor Charles VII., themselves
-appeared on the stage, and performed, among other pieces, in the
-_Egeria_ of Metastasio and Hasse, and even in Gluck's works. Charles
-VII. himself played on the harpsichord and the violoncello; and the
-Empress mother, then seventy years of age, once said, in conversing with
-Faustina (Hasse's widow at that time), "I am the oldest dramatic singer
-in Europe; I made my _début_ when I was five years old." Charles VI.
-too, Leopold's successor, if not a musician, had, at least, considerable
-taste in music; and Farinelli informed Dr. Burney that he was much
-indebted to this sovereign for an admonition he once received from him.
-The Emperor told the singer that his performance was surprising, and,
-indeed, prodigious; but that all was unavailing as long as he did not
-succeed in touching the heart. It would appear that at this time
-Farinelli's style was wanting in simplicity and expressiveness; but an
-artist of the intelligence and taste which his correspondence with
-Metastasio proves him to have possessed, would be sure to correct
-himself of any such failings the moment his attention was called to
-them.
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-The 18th century produced a multitude of great singers. Their voices
-have gone with them; but we know from the music they sang, from the
-embellishments and cadences which have been noted down, and which are as
-good evidence now as when they were first executed, that those
-_virtuosi_ had brought the vocal art to a perfection of which, in these
-later days, we meet with only the rarest examples. Is music to be
-written for the sake of singers, or are singers to learn to sing for the
-sake of music? Of the two propositions, I decidedly prefer the latter;
-but it must, at the same time, be remarked, that unless the executive
-qualities of the singer be studied to a considerable extent, the singer
-will soon cease to pay much attention to his execution. Continue to give
-him singable music, however difficult, and he will continue to learn to
-sing, counting the difficulties to be overcome only as so many
-opportunities for new triumphs; but if the music given to him is such as
-can, perhaps even _must_, be shouted, it is to be expected that he will
-soon cease to study the intricacies and delicacies of his art; and in
-time, if music truly vocal be put before him, he will be unable to sing.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The great singers of the 17th century, to judge from the cantilenas of
-Caccini's, Peri's, and Monteverde's operas, must have cultivated
-expression rather than ornamentation; though what Mancini tells us about
-the singing of Balthazar Ferri, and the manner in which it was received,
-proves that the florid, highly-adorned style was also in vogue. These
-early Italian _virtuosi_ (a name which they adopted at the beginning of
-the 17th century to distinguish themselves from mere actors) not only
-possessed great acquirements as singers, but were also excellent
-musicians; and many of them displayed great ability in matters quite
-unconnected with their profession. Stradella, the only vocalist of whom
-it is recorded that his singing saved his life, composed an opera, _La
-Forza dell Amor paterno_, of which the manifold beauties caused him to
-be proclaimed "beyond comparison the first Apollo of music:" the
-following inscription being stamped by authority on the published
-score--"_Bastando il dirti, che il concerto di si perfetta melodia sia
-valore d'un Alessandro, civč del Signor Stradella, riconoscinto senza
-contrasto per il primo Apollo della musica._" Atto, an Italian tenor,
-who came to Paris with Leonora Baroni, and who had apartments given him
-in Cardinal Mazarin's palace, was afterwards entrusted by that minister
-with a political mission to the court of Bavaria, which, however, it
-must be remembered, was just then presided over, not by an elector, but
-by an electoress. Farinelli became the confidential adviser, if not the
-actual minister (as has been often stated, but without foundation) of
-the king of Spain. In the present day, the only _virtuoso_ I know of
-(the name has now a more general signification) who has been entrusted
-with _quasi_-diplomatic functions is Vivier, the first horn player, and,
-in his own way, the first humorist of the age; I believe it is no secret
-that this facetious _virtuoso_ fills the office of secretary to his
-Excellency Vely Pasha.
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.]
-
-Bontempi, in his _Historia Musica_, gives the following account of the
-school of singing directed by Mazzocchi, at Rome, in 1620: "At the
-schools of Rome, the pupils were obliged to give up one hour every day
-to the singing of difficult passages till they were well acquainted with
-them; another to the practice of the shake; another to feats of
-agility;[32] another to the study of letters; another to vocal
-exercises, under the direction of a master, and before a looking-glass,
-so that they might be certain they were making no disagreeable movement
-of the muscles of the face, of the forehead, of the eyes, or of the
-mouth. So much for the occupation of the morning. In the afternoon,
-half-an-hour was devoted to the theory of singing; another half-hour to
-counterpoint; an hour to hearing the rules of composition, and putting
-them in practice on their tablets; another to the study of letters; and
-the rest of the day to practising the harpsichord, to the composition of
-some psalm, motet, canzonetta, or any other piece according to the
-scholar's own ideas.
-
-"Such were the ordinary exercises of the school in days when the
-scholars did not leave the house. When they went out, they often walked
-towards Monte Mario, and sang where they could hear the echo of their
-notes, so that each might judge by the response of the justness of his
-execution. They, moreover, sang at all the musical solemnities of the
-Roman Churches; following, and observing with attention the manner and
-style of an infinity of great singers who lived under the pontificate of
-Urban VIII., so that they could afterwards render an account of their
-observations to the master, who, the better to impress the result of
-these studies on the minds of his pupils, added whatever remarks and
-cautions he thought necessary."
-
-With such a system as the above, it would have been impossible,
-supposing the students to have possessed any natural disposition for
-singing, not to have produced good singers. We have spoken already of
-some of the best vocalists of the 18th century; of Faustina, Cuzzoni,
-and Mingotti; of Nicolini, Senesino, and Farinelli. Of Farinelli's life,
-however (which was so interesting that it has afforded to a German
-composer the subject of one opera, to M. M. Scribe and Auber, that of
-another, _La part du Diable_, and to M. Scribe the plan of "_Carlo
-Broschi_," a tale), I must give a few more particulars; and this will
-also be a convenient opportunity for sketching the careers of some two
-or three others of the great Italian singers of this epoch, such as
-Caffarelli, Gabrielli, Guadagni, &c.
-
-First, as to his name. It is generally said that Carlo Broschi owed his
-appellation of Farinelli to the circumstance of his father having been a
-miller, or a flour merchant. This, however, is pure conjecture. No one
-knows or cares who Carlo Broschi's father was, but he was called
-"Farinelli," because he was the recognised _protégé_ of the Farina
-family; just as another singer, who was known to be one of Porpora's
-favorite pupils, was named "Porporino."
-
-[Sidenote: SINGERS' NICKNAMES.]
-
-Descriptive nicknames were given to the celebrated musicians as well as
-to the celebrated painters of Italy. Numerous composers and singers owed
-their sobriquets
-
-  TO THEIR NATIVE COUNTRY; as--
-
-  _Il Sassone_ (Hasse), born at Bergendorf, in Saxony;
-  _Portogallo_ (Simao);
-  _Lo Spagnuolo_ (Vincent Martin);
-  _L'Inglesina_ (Cecilia Davies);
-  _La Francesina_ (Elizabeth Duparc), who, after singing
-  for some years with success in Italy and at London,
-  was engaged by Handel in 1745, to take the principal
-  soprano parts in his oratorios:
-
-  TO THEIR NATIVE TOWN; as--
-
-  _Buranello_, of Burano (Galuppi);
-  _Pergolese_, of Pergola (Jesi);
-  _La Ferrarese_, of Ferrara (Francesca Gabrielli);
-  _Senesino_, of Sienna (Bernardi):
-
-  TO THE PROFESSION OF THEIR PARENTS; as--
-
-  _La Cochetta_ (Catarina), whose father was cook
-  to Prince Gabrielli, at Rome:
-
-  TO THE PLACE THEY INHABITED; as--
-
-  _Checca della Laguna_, (Francesca of the Lagune):
-
-  TO THE NAME OF THEIR MASTER; as--
-
-  _Caffarelli_ (Majorano), pupil of Caffaro;
-  _Gizziello_ (Conti), pupil of Gizzi;
-  _Porporino_ (Hubert), pupil of Porpora:
-
-  TO THE NAME OF THEIR PATRON; as--
-
-  _Farinelli_ (Carlo Broschi), protected by the Farinas,
-  of Naples;
-  _Gabrielli_ (Catarina), protected by Prince Gabrielli;
-
-  _Cusanimo_ (Carestini), protected by the Cusani
-  family of Milan:
-
-  TO THE PART IN WHICH THEY HAD PARTICULARLY
-  DISTINGUISHED THEMSELVES; as--
-
-  _Siface_ (Grossi), who had obtained a triumphant
-  success, as that personage, in Scarlatti's _Mitridate_.
-
-But the most astonishing of all these nicknames was that given to
-Lucrezia Aguiari, who, being a natural child, was called publicly, in
-the playbills and in the newspapers, _La Bastardina_, or _La
-Bastardella_.
-
-Catarina, called Gabrielli, a singer to be ranked with the Faustinas and
-Cuzzonis, naturally became disgusted with her appellation of _la
-cocchetta_ (little cook) as soon as she had acquired a little celebrity.
-She accordingly assumed the name of Prince Gabrielli, her patron;
-Francesca Gabrielli, who was in no way related to the celebrated
-Catarina, keeping to that of _Ferrarese_, or _Gabriellina_, as she was
-sometimes called.
-
-But to return to my short anecdotal biographies of a few of these
-singers.[33] Carlo Broschi, then, called "Farinelli," first
-distinguished himself, at the age of seventeen, in a bravura with an
-_obligato_ trumpet accompaniment, which Porpora, his master, wrote
-expressly for him, and for a German trumpet-player whose skill on that
-instrument was prodigious. The air commenced with a sustained note,
-given by the trumpet. This note was then taken up by the vocalist, who
-held it with consummate art for such a length of time that the audience
-fell into raptures with the beauty and fulness of his voice. The note
-was then attacked, and held successively by the player and the singer,
-_pianissimo_, _crescendo_, _forte_, _fortissimo_, _diminuendo_, _
-smorzando_, _perdendosi_--of which the effect may be imagined from the
-delirious transports of the lady who, on hearing this one note several
-times repeated, hastened to proclaim in the same breath the unity of the
-Deity and the uniqueness of Farinelli. This trumpet song occurs
-originally in Porpora's _Eomene_; and Farinelli sang it for the first
-time at Rome, in 1722. In London, in 1734, he introduced it in Hasse's
-_Artaserse_, the opera in which he made his _début_, at the Lincoln's
-Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, his old preceptor.
-
-[Sidenote: FARINELLI'S ONE NOTE.]
-
-I, who have heard a good many fine singers, and one or two whose voices
-I shall not easily forget, must confess myself unable to understand the
-enthusiasm caused by Farinelli's one note, however wonderful the art
-that produced it, however exquisite the gradations of sound which gave
-it colour, and perhaps a certain appearance of life; for one musical
-sound is, after all, not music. Bilboquet, in Dumersan and Varin's
-admirable burlesque comedy of _Les Saltimbanques_, would, perhaps, have
-understood it; and, really, when I read of the effect Farinelli
-produced by keeping to one note, I cannot help thinking of the
-directions given by the old humorist and scoundrel to an incompetent
-_débutant_ on the trombone. The amateur has the instrument put into his
-hands, and, with great difficulty, succeeds in bringing out one note;
-but, to save his life, he could not produce two. "Never mind," says
-Bilboquet, "one note is enough. Keep on playing it, and people who are
-fond of that note will be delighted." How little the authors of _Les
-Saltimbanques_ knew that one note had delighted and enchanted thousands!
-Not only is truth stranger than fiction, but reality is more grotesque
-even than a burlesque fancy.
-
-Farinelli visited Paris in 1737, and sang before Louis XV., who,
-according to Riccoboni, was delighted, though His Majesty cared very
-little for music, and least of all for Italian music. It is also said
-that, on the whole, Farinelli was by no means satisfied with his
-reception in Paris, nor with the general distaste of the French for the
-music of his country; and some writers go so far as to maintain that the
-ill-will he always showed to France during his residence, in a
-confidential position, at the Court of Madrid, was attributable to his
-irritating recollections of his visit to the French capital. In 1752,
-the Duke de Duras was charged with a secret mission to the Spanish Court
-(concerning an alliance with France), which is supposed to have
-miscarried through the influence of Farinelli; but there were plenty of
-good reasons, independently of any personal dislike he may have had for
-the French, for advising Ferdinand VI. to maintain his good
-understanding with the cabinets of Vienna, London, and Turin.
-
-[Sidenote: FARINELLI AT MADRID.]
-
-Ferdinand's favourite singer remained ten years in his service; soothing
-and consoling him with his songs, and, after a time, giving him valuable
-political advice. Farinelli's quasi-ministerial functions did not
-prevent him from continuing to sing every day. Every day, for ten years,
-the same thing! Or rather, the same things, for His Majesty's particular
-collection included as many as four different airs. Two of them were by
-Hasse, _Pallido il sole_ and _Per questo dulce amplesso_. The third was
-a minuet, on which Farinelli improvised variations. It has been
-calculated that during the ten years he sang the same airs, and never
-anything else, about three thousand six hundred times. If Ferdinand VI.
-had not, in the first instance, been half insane, surely this would have
-driven him mad.
-
-Caffarelli, hearing of Farinelli's success at Madrid, is said to have
-made this curious observation: "He deserves to be Prime Minister; he has
-an admirable voice."
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC DUEL.]
-
-Caffarelli was regarded as Farinelli's rival; and some critics,
-including Porpora, who had taught both, considered him the greatest
-singer of the two. This sopranist was notorious for his intolerable
-insolence, of which numerous anecdotes are told. He would affect
-indisposition, when persons of great importance were anxious to hear
-him sing, and had engaged him for that purpose. "Omnibus hoc vitium
-cantoribus;" but it may be said Caffarelli was capricious and
-overbearing to an unusual extent. Metastasio, in one of his letters,
-tells us that at a rehearsal which had been ordered at the Opera of
-Vienna, all the performers obeyed the summons except Caffarelli; he
-appeared, however, at the end of the rehearsal, and asked the company
-with a very disdainful air, "What was the use of these rehearsals?" The
-conductor answered, in a voice of authority, "that no one was called
-upon to account to him for what was done; that he ought to be glad that
-his failure in attendance had been suffered; that his presence or
-absence was of little consequence to the success of the opera; but that
-whatever he chose to do himself, he ought, at least, to let others do
-their duty." Caffarelli, in a great rage, exclaimed "that he who had
-ordered such a rehearsal was a solemn coxcomb." At this, all the
-patience and dignity of the poet forsook him; "and getting into a
-towering passion, he honoured the singer with all those glorious titles
-which Caffarelli had earned in various parts of Europe, and slightly
-touched, but in lively colours, some of the most memorable particulars
-of his life; nor was he likely soon to come to a close; but the hero of
-the panegyric, cutting the thread of his own praise, boldly called out
-to his eulogist: 'Follow me, if thou hast courage, to a place where
-there is none to assist thee, * * * * * The bystanders tremble; each
-calls on his tutelar saint, expecting every moment to see poetical and
-vocal blood besprinkle the harpsichords and double basses. But at length
-the Signora Tesi, rising from under her canopy, where, till now, she had
-remained a most tranquil spectator, walked with a slow and stately step
-towards the combatants; when, O sovereign power of beauty! the frantic
-Caffarelli, even in the fiercest paroxysm of his wrath, captivated and
-appeased by this unexpected tenderness, runs with rapture to meet her;
-lays his sword at her feet; begs pardon for his error; and generously
-sacrificing to her his vengeance, seals, with a thousand kisses upon her
-hand, his protestations of obedience, respect and humility. The nymph
-signifies her forgiveness by a nod; the poet sheathes his sword; the
-spectators begin to breathe again; and the tumultuous assembly breaks up
-amid the joyous sounds of laughter."
-
-Of Caffarelli a curious, and as it seems to me fabulous, story is told
-to the effect that for five years Porpora allowed him to sing nothing
-but a series of scales and exercises, all of which were written down on
-one sheet of paper. According to this anecdote, Caffarelli, with a
-patience which did not distinguish him in after life, asked seriously
-after his five years' scale practice, when he was likely to get beyond
-the rudiments of his art,--upon which Porpora suddenly exclaimed:--"Young
-man you have nothing more to learn, you are the greatest singer in the
-world." In London, however, coming after Farinelli, Caffarelli did not
-meet with anything like the same success.
-
-At Turin, when the Prince of Savoy told Caffarelli, after praising him
-greatly, that the princess thought it hardly possible any singer could
-please after Farinelli, "To night," exclaimed the sopranist, in the
-fulness of his vanity, "she shall hear two Farinellis."
-
-What would the English lady have said to this, who maintained that there
-was but "_one_ Farinelli?"
-
-At sixty-five years of age, Caffarelli was still singing; but he had
-made an enormous fortune--had purchased nothing less than a dukedom for
-his nephew, and had built himself a superb palace, over the entrance of
-which he placed the following modest inscription:--
-
-    "Amphion THEBAS, ego domum."
-
-    "Ille eum, sine tu!"
-
-wrote a commentator beneath it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Guadagni was the "creator" of the parts of _Telemacco_ and _Orfeo_, in
-the operas by Gluck, bearing those names. He sang in London in 1766, at
-Venice the year afterwards, when he was made a Knight of St. Mark; at
-Potsdam before the King of Prussia, in 1776, &c. Guadagni amassed a
-large fortune, though he was at the same time noted for his generosity.
-He has the credit of having lent large sums of money to men of good
-family, who had ruined themselves. One of these impoverished gentlemen
-said, after borrowing the sum of a hundred sequins from him--
-
-"I only want it as a loan, I shall repay you."
-
-"That is not my intention," replied the singer; "if I wanted to have it
-back, I should not lend it to you."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GABRIELLI.]
-
-Gabrielli (Catarina) is described by Brydone, in his tour through
-Sicily, in a letter, dated Palermo, July 27, 1770. She was at this time
-upwards of thirty, but on the stage appeared to be scarcely eighteen;
-and Brydone considers her to have been "the most dangerous syren of
-modern times," adding, that she has made more conquests than any woman
-living. "She was wonderfully capricious," he continues, "and neither
-interest nor flattery, nor threats, nor punishment, had any power to
-control her. Instead of singing her airs as other actresses do, for the
-most part she hums them over _a mezza voce_, and no art whatever is
-capable of making her sing when she does not choose it. The most
-successful expedient has ever been found to prevail on her favourite
-lover (for she always has one) to place himself in the centre of the pit
-or the front box, and if they are on good terms, which is seldom the
-case, she will address her tender airs to him, and exert herself to the
-utmost. Her present inamorato promised to give us this specimen of his
-power over her. He took his seat accordingly, but Gabrielli, probably
-suspecting the connivance, would take no notice of him, so that even
-this expedient does not always succeed. The viceroy, who is fond of
-music, has tried every method with her to no purpose. Some time ago he
-gave a great dinner, and sent an invitation to Gabrielli to be of the
-party. Every other person came at the hour of invitation. The viceroy
-ordered dinner to be put back, and sent to let her know that the company
-had all arrived. The messenger found her reading in bed. She said she
-was sorry for having made the company wait, and begged he would make her
-apology, but really she had entirely forgotten her engagement. The
-viceroy would have forgiven this piece of insolence, but when the
-company went to the Opera, Gabrielli repeated her part with the utmost
-negligence and indifference, and sang all her airs in what they call
-_sotto voce_, that is, so low that they can scarcely be heard. The
-viceroy was offended; but as he is a good tempered man, he was loth to
-enforce his authority; but at last, by a perseverance in this insolent
-stubbornness, she obliged him to threaten her with punishment in case
-she any longer refused to sing. On this she grew more obstinate than
-ever, declaring that force and authority would never succeed with her;
-that he might make her cry, but never could make her sing. The viceroy
-then sent her to prison, where she remained twelve days; during which
-time she gave magnificent entertainments every day, paid the debts of
-all the poor prisoners, and distributed large sums in charity. The
-viceroy was obliged to give up struggling with her, and she was at last
-set at liberty amidst the acclamations of the poor."
-
-[Sidenote: GABRIELLI.]
-
-Gabrielli said at this time that she should never dare to appear in
-England, alleging as her reason that if, in a fit of caprice, which
-might at any time attack her, she refused to sing, or lost her temper
-and insulted the audience, they were said to be so ferocious that they
-would probably murder her. She asserted, however, and, doubtless, with
-truth, that it was not always caprice which prevented her singing, and
-that she was often really indisposed and unable to sing, when the public
-imagined that she absented herself from the theatre from caprice alone.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mingotti used to say that the London public would admit that any one
-might have a cold, a head-ache, or a fever, except a singer. In the
-present day, our audiences often show the most unjustifiable anger
-because, while half the people in a concert room are coughing and
-sneezing, some favourite vocalist, with an exceptionally delicate
-larynx, is unable to sing an air, of which the execution would be sure
-to fatigue the voice even in its healthiest condition.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-To Brydone's anecdotes of Gabrielli we may add another. The ambassador
-of France at the court of Vienna was violently in love with our
-capricious and ungovernable vocalist. In a fit of jealousy, he attempted
-to stab her, and Gabrielli was only saved from transfixion by the
-whalebone of her stays. As it was, she was slightly wounded. The
-ambassador threw himself at the singer's feet and obtained her
-forgiveness, on condition of giving up his sword, on which the offended
-_prima donna_ proposed to engrave the following words:--"_The sword
-of----, who on such a day in such a year, dared to strike La
-Gabrielli._" Metastasio, however, succeeded in persuading her to abandon
-this intention.
-
-In 1767 Gabrielli went to Parma, but wearied by the attentions of the
-Infant, Don Philip ("her accursed hunch back"--_gobbo maladetto_--as she
-called him), she escaped in secret the following year to St.
-Petersburgh, where Catherine II. had invited her some time before. When
-the empress enquired what terms the celebrated singer expected, the sum
-of five thousand ducats was named.
-
-"Five thousand ducats," replied Catherine; "not one of my field marshals
-receives so much."
-
-"Her majesty had better ask her field marshals to sing," said Gabrielli.
-
-Catherine gave the five thousand ducats. "Whether the great Souvaroff's
-jealousy was excited, is not recorded.
-
-At this time the composer Galuppi was musical director at the Russian
-court. He went to St. Petersburgh in 1766, and had just returned when
-Dr. Burney saw him at Venice. Among the other great composers who
-visited Russia in Catherine's reign were Cimarosa and Paisiello, the
-latter of whom produced his _Barbiere di Siviglia_, at St. Petersburgh,
-in 1780.
-
-Most of the celebrated Italian vocalists of the 18th century visited
-Vienna, Dresden, London and Madrid, as well as the principal cities of
-their own country, and sometimes even Paris, where both Farinelli and
-Caffarelli sang, but only at concerts. "I had hoped," says Rousseau,
-"that Caffarelli would give us at the 'Concert Spirituel' some specimen
-of grand recitative, and of the pathetic style of singing, that
-pretended connoisseurs might hear once for all what they have so often
-pronounced an opinion upon; but from his reasons for doing nothing of
-the kind I found that he understood his audience better than I did."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA IN PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.]
-
-It was not until the accession of Frederick the Great, warrior, flute
-player, and severe protector of the arts in general, that the Italian
-Opera was established in Berlin; and it had been reserved for Catherine
-the Great to introduce it into St. Petersburgh. In proportion as the
-Opera grew in Prussia and Russia it faded in Poland, and its decay at
-the court of the Elector of Saxony was followed shortly afterwards by
-the first signs of the infamous partition.
-
-Frederick the Great's favourite composers were Hasse, Agricola, and
-Graun, the last of whom wrote a great number of Italian operas for the
-Berlin Theatre. When Dr. Burney was at Berlin, in 1772, there were fifty
-performers in the orchestra. There was a large chorus, and a numerous
-ballet, and several principal singers of great merit. The king defrayed
-the expenses of the whole establishment. He also officiated as general
-conductor, standing in the pit behind the chef d'orchestre, so as to
-have a view of the score, and drilling his musical troops in true
-military fashion. We are told that if any mistake was committed on the
-stage, or in the orchestra, the king stopped the offender, and
-admonished him; and it is really satisfactory to know, that if a singer
-ventured to alter a single passage in his part (which almost every
-singer does in the present day) His Majesty severely reprimanded him,
-and ordered him to keep to the notes written by the composer. It was not
-the Opera of Paris, nor of London, nor of New York that should have been
-called the Academy, but evidently that of Berlin.
-
-The celebrated Madame Mara sang for many years at the Berlin Opera. When
-her father Herr Schmaling first endeavoured to get her engaged by the
-king of Prussia, Frederick sent his principal singer Morelli to hear her
-and report upon her merits.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC MARTINET.]
-
-"She sings like a German," said the prejudiced Morelli, and the king,
-who declared that he should as soon expect to receive pleasure from the
-neighing of his horse as from a German singer, paid no further attention
-to Schmaling's application. The daughter, however, had heard of the
-king's sarcasm, and was determined to prove how ill-founded it was.
-Mademoiselle Schmaling made her _début_ with great success at Dresden,
-and afterwards, in 1771, went to Berlin. The king, when the young
-vocalist was presented to him, after a few uncourteous observations,
-asked her if she could sing at sight, and placed before her a very
-difficult bravura song. Mademoiselle Schmaling executed it to
-perfection, upon which Frederick paid her a multitude of compliments,
-made her a handsome present, and appointed her _prima donna_ of his
-company.
-
-When Madame Mara in 1780 wished to visit England with her husband, (who
-was a dissipated violoncellist, belonging to the Berlin orchestra) the
-king positively prohibited their departure, and on their escaping to
-Vienna, sent a despatch to the Emperor Joseph II., requesting him to
-arrest the fugitives and send them back. The emperor, however, merely
-gave them a hint that they had better get out of Vienna as soon as
-possible, when he would inform the king that his messenger had arrived
-too late. Afterwards, as soon as it was thought she could do so with
-safety, Madame Mara made her appearance at the Viennese Opera and sang
-there with great success for nearly two years.
-
-According to another version of Madame Mara's flight, she was arrested
-before she had passed the Prussian frontier, and separated from her
-husband, who was shut up in a fortress, and instead of performing on the
-violoncello in the orchestra of the Opera, was made to play the drum at
-the head of a regiment. The tears of the singer had no effect upon the
-inflexible monarch, and it was only by giving up a portion of her salary
-(so at least runs this anecdote of dubious authenticity) that she could
-obtain M. Mara's liberation. In any case it is certain that the position
-of this "_prima donna_" by no means "_assoluta_," at the court of a
-very absolute king, was by no means an agreeable one, and that she had
-not occupied it many years before she endeavoured to liberate herself
-from it by every device in her power, including such disobedience of
-orders as she hoped would entail her prompt dismissal. On one occasion,
-when the Cćsarevitch, afterwards Paul I., was at Berlin, and Madame Mara
-was to take the principal part in an opera given specially in his
-honour, she pretended to be ill, and sent word to the theatre that she
-would be unable to appear. The king informed her on the morning of the
-day fixed for the performance that she had better get well, for that
-well or ill she would have to sing. Nevertheless Madame Mara remained at
-home and in bed. Two hours before the time fixed for the commencement of
-the opera, a carriage, escorted by a few dragoons, stopped at her door,
-and an officer entered her room to announce that he had orders from His
-Majesty to bring her alive or dead to the theatre.
-
-"But you see I am in bed, and cannot get up," remonstrated the vocalist.
-
-"In that case I must take the bed too," was the reply.
-
-It was impossible not to obey. Bathed in tears she allowed herself to be
-taken to her dressing room, put on her costume, but resolved at the same
-time to sing in such a manner that the king should repent of his
-violence. She conformed to her determination throughout the first act,
-but it then occurred to her that the Russian grand duke would carry
-away a most unworthy opinion of her talent. She quite changed her
-tactics, sang with all possible brilliancy, and is reported in
-particular to have sustained a shake for such a length of time and with
-such wonderful modulations of voice, that his Imperial Highness was
-enchanted, and applauded the singer enthusiastically.
-
-[Sidenote: THE MARATISTES AND TODISTES.]
-
-In Paris Madame Mara was received with enthusiasm, and founded the
-celebrated party of the Maratistes, to which was opposed the almost
-equally distinguished sect of the Todistes. Madame Todi was a
-Portuguese, and she and Madame Mara were the chief, though contending,
-attractions at the Concert Spirituel of Paris, in 1782. These rivalries
-between singers have occasioned, in various countries and at various
-times, a good many foolish verses and _mots_. The Mara and Todi
-disputes, however, inspired one really good stanza, which is as
-follows:--
-
-    "Todi par sa voix touchante,
-       De doux pleurs mouille mes yeux;
-     Mara plus vive, plus brillante,
-       M'étonne, me transporte aux cieux.
-     L'une ravit et l'autre enchante,
-       Mais celle qui plait le mieux,
-     Est toujours celle qui chante."
-
-Of Madame Mara's performances in London, where she obtained her greatest
-and most enduring triumphs, I shall speak in another chapter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-A good notion of the weak points in the Opera in Italy during the early
-part of the 18th century is given, that is to say, is conveyed
-ironically, in the celebrated satire by Marcello, entitled _Teatro a la
-Moda, &c., &c._[34]
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-The author begins by telling the poet, that "there is no occasion for
-his reading, or having read, the old Greek and Latin authors: for this
-good reason, that the ancients never read any of the works of the
-moderns. He will not ask any questions about the ability of the
-performers, but will rather inquire whether the theatre is provided with
-a good bear, a good lion, a good nightingale, good thunder, lightning
-and earthquakes. He will introduce a magnificent show in his last scene,
-and conclude with the usual chorus in honour of the sun, the moon or the
-manager. In dedicating his libretto to some great personage, he will
-select him for his riches rather than his learning, and will give a
-share of the gratuity to his patron's cook, or maître d'hôtel, from whom
-he will obtain all his titles, that he may blazon them on his title
-pages with an &c., &c. He will exalt the great man's family and
-ancestors; make an abundant use of such phrases as liberality and
-generosity of soul; and if he can find any subject of eulogy (as is
-often the case), he will say, that he is silent through fear of hurting
-his patron's modesty; but that fame, with her hundred brazen trumpets,
-will spread his immortal name from pole to pole. He will do well to
-protest to the reader that his opera was composed in his youth, and may
-add that it was written in a few days: by this he will show that he is a
-true modern, and has a proper contempt for the antiquated precept,
-_nonumque prematur in annum_. He may add, too, that he became a poet
-solely for his amusement, and to divert his mind from graver
-occupations; but that he had published his work by the advice of his
-friends and the command of his patrons, and by no means from any love of
-praise or desire of profit. He will take care not to neglect the usual
-explanation of the three great points of every drama, the place, time,
-and action; the place, signifying in such and such a theatre; the time,
-from eight to twelve o'clock at night; the action, the ruin of the
-manager. The incidents of the piece should consist of dungeons, daggers,
-poison, boar-hunts, earthquakes, sacrifices, madness, and so forth;
-because the people are always greatly moved by such unexpected things. A
-good _modern_ poet ought to know nothing about music, because the
-ancients, according to Strabo, Pliny, &c., thought this knowledge
-necessary. At the rehearsals he should never tell his meaning to any of
-the performers, wisely reflecting that they always want to do everything
-in their own way. If a husband and wife are discovered in prison, and
-one of them is led away to die, it is indispensable that the other
-remain to sing an air, which should be to lively words, to relieve the
-feelings of the audience, and make them understand that the whole
-affair is a joke. If two of the characters make love, or plot a
-conspiracy, it should always be in the presence of servants and
-attendants. The part of a father or tyrant, when it is the principal
-character, should always be given to a soprano; reserving the tenors and
-basses for captains of the guard, confidants, shepherds, messengers, and
-so forth.
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-"The modern composer is told that there is no occasion for his being
-master of the principles of composition, a little practice being all
-that is necessary. He need not know anything of poetry, or give himself
-any trouble about the meaning of the words, or even the quantities of
-the syllables. Neither is it necessary that he should study the
-properties of the stringed or wind instruments; if he can play on the
-harpsichord, it will do very well. It will, however, be not amiss for
-him to have been for some years a violin-player, or music-copier for
-some celebrated composer, whose original scenes he may treasure up, and
-thus supply himself with subjects for his airs, recitations, or
-choruses. He will by no means think of reading the opera through, but
-will compose it line by line; using for the airs, _motivi_ which he has
-lying by him; and if the words do not go well below the notes, he will
-torment the poet till they are altered to his mind. When the singer
-comes to a cadence, the composer will make all the instruments stop,
-leaving it to the singer to do whatever he pleases. He will serve the
-manager on very low terms, considering the thousands of crowns that the
-singers cost him:--he will, therefore, content himself with an inferior
-salary to the lowest of these, provided that he is not wronged by the
-bear, the attendants or the scene-shifters being put above him. When he
-is walking with the singers, he will always give them the wall, keep his
-hat in his hand, and remain a step in the rear; considering that the
-lowest of them, on the stage, is at least a general, a captain of the
-guards, or some such personage. All the airs should be formed of the
-same materials--long divisions, holding notes, and repetitions of
-insignificant words, as amore, amore, impero, impero, Europa, Europa,
-furori, furori, orgoglio, orgoglio, &c.; and therefore the composer
-should have before him a memorandum of the things necessary for the
-termination of every air. This will enable him to eschew variety, which
-is no longer in use. After ending a recitative in a flat key, he will
-suddenly begin an air in three or four sharps; and this by way of
-novelty. If the modern composer wishes to write in four parts, two of
-them must proceed in unison or octave, only taking care that there shall
-be a diversity of movement; so that if the one part proceeds by minims
-or crotchets, the other will be in quavers or semiquavers. He will charm
-the audience with airs, accompanied by the stringed instruments
-_pizzicati_ or _con sordini_, trumpets, and other effective
-contrivances. He will not compose airs with a simple bass accompaniment,
-because this is no longer the custom; and, besides, he would take as
-much time to compose one of these as a dozen with the orchestra. The
-modern composer will oblige the manager to furnish him with a large
-orchestra of violins, oboes, horns, &c., saving him rather the expense
-of double basses, of which there is no occasion to make any use, except
-in tuning at the outset. The overture will be a movement in the French
-style, or a prestissimo in semiquavers in a major key, to which will
-succeed a _piano_ in the minor; concluding with a minuet, gavot or jig,
-again in the major key. In this manner the composer will avoid all
-fugues, syncopations, and treatment of subjects, as being antiquated
-contrivances, quite banished from modern music. The modern composer will
-be most attentive to all the ladies of the theatre, supplying them with
-plenty of old songs transposed to suit their voices, and telling each of
-them that the Opera is supported by her talent alone. He will bring
-every night some of his friends, and seat them in the orchestra; giving
-the double bass or violoncello (as being the most useless instruments)
-leave of absence to make room for them.
-
-[Sidenote: MARCELLO'S SATIRE.]
-
-"The singer is informed that there is no occasion for having practised
-the solfeggio; because he would thus be in danger of acquiring a firm
-voice, just intonation, and the power of singing in tune; things wholly
-useless in modern music. Nor is it very necessary that he should be able
-to read or write, know how to pronounce the words or understand their
-meaning, provided he can run divisions, make shakes, cadences, &c. He
-will always complain of his part, saying that it is not in his way,
-that the airs are not in his style, and so on; and he will sing an air
-by some other composer, protesting that at such a court, or in the
-presence of such a great personage, that air carried away all the
-applause, and he was obliged to repeat it a dozen times in an evening.
-At the rehearsals he will merely hum his airs, and will insist on having
-the time in his own way. He will stand with one hand in his waistcoat
-and the other in his breeches' pocket, and take care not to allow a
-syllable to be heard. He will always keep his hat on his head, though a
-person of quality should speak to him, in order to avoid catching cold;
-and he will not bow his head to anybody, remembering the kings, princes,
-and emperors whom he is in the habit of personating. On the stage he
-will sing with shut teeth, doing all he can to prevent a word he says
-from being understood, and, in the recitatives, paying no respect either
-to commas or periods. While another performer is reciting a soliloquy or
-singing an air, he will be saluting the company in the boxes, or
-listening with musicians in the orchestra, or the attendants; because
-the audience knows very well that he is Signor So-and-so, the _musico_,
-and not Prince Zoroastro, whom he is representing. A modern virtuoso
-will be hard to prevail on to sing at a private party. When he arrives
-he will walk up to the mirror, settle his wig, draw down his ruffles,
-and pull up his cravat to show his diamond brooch. He will then touch
-the harpsichord very carelessly, and begin his air three or four times,
-as if he could not recollect it. Having granted this great favour, he
-will begin talking (by way of gathering applause) with some lady,
-telling her stories about his travels, correspondence and professional
-intrigues; all the while ogling his companion with passionate glances,
-and throwing back the curls of his peruke, sometimes on one shoulder,
-sometimes on the other. He will every minute offer the lady snuff in a
-different box, in one of which he will point out his own portrait; and
-will show her some magnificent diamond, the gift of a distinguished
-patron, saying that he would offer it for her acceptance were it not for
-delicacy. Thus he will, perhaps, make an impression on her heart, and,
-at all events, make a great figure in the eyes of the company. In the
-society of the literary men, however eminent, he will always take
-precedence, because, with most people, the singer has the credit of
-being an artist, while the literary man has no consideration at all. He
-will even advise them to embrace his profession, as the singer has
-plenty of money as well as fame, while the man of letters is very apt to
-die of hunger. If the singer is a bass, he should constantly sing tenor
-passages as high as he can. If a tenor, he ought to go as low as he can
-in the scale of the bass, or get up, with a falsetto voice, into the
-regions of the contralto, without minding whether he sings through his
-nose or his throat. He will pay his court to all the principal
-_cantatrici_ and their protectors; and need not despair, by means of
-his talent and exemplary modesty, to acquire the title of a count,
-marquis, or chevalier.
-
-"The _prima donna_ receives ample instructions in her duties both on and
-off the stage. She is taught how to make engagements and to screw the
-manager up to exorbitant terms; how to obtain the "protection" of rash
-amateurs, who are to attend her at all times, pay her expenses, make her
-presents, and submit to her caprices. She is taught to be careless at
-rehearsals, to be insolent to the other performers, and to perform all
-manner of musical absurdities on the stage. She must have a music-master
-to teach her variations, passages and embellishments to her airs; and
-some familiar friend, an advocate or a doctor, to teach her how to move
-her arms, turn her head, and use her handkerchief, without telling her
-why, for that would only confuse her head. She is to endeavour to vary
-her airs every night; and though the variations may be at cross purposes
-with the bass, or the violin part, or the harmony of the accompaniments,
-that matters little, as a modern conductor is deaf and dumb. In her airs
-and recitatives, in action, she will take care every night to use the
-same motions of her hand, her head, her fan, and her handkerchief. If
-she orders a character to be put in chains, and addresses him in an air
-of rage or disdain, during the symphony she should talk and laugh with
-him, point out to him people in the boxes, and show how very little she
-is in earnest. She will get hold of a new passage in rapid triplets, and
-introduce it in all her airs, quick, slow, lively, or sad; and the
-higher she can rise in the scale, the surer she will be of having all
-the principal parts allotted her," &c., &c.
-
-Enough, however, of this excellent but somewhat fatiguing irony; and let
-me conclude this chapter with a few words about the librettists of the
-18th century. The best _libretti_ of Apostolo Zeno, Calsabigi and
-Metastasio, such as the _Demofonte_, the _Artaserse_, the _Didone_, and
-above all the _Olimpiade_, have been set to music by dozens of
-composers. Piccinni, and Sacchini each composed music twice to the
-_Olimpiade_; Jomelli set _Didone_ twice and _Demofonte_ twice; Hasse
-wrote two operas on the _libretto_ of the _Nittetti_, two on that of
-_Artemisia_, two on _Artaserse_, and three on _Arminio_. The excellence
-of these opera-books in a dramatic point of view is sufficiently shown
-by the fact that many of them, including Metastasio's _Didone_,
-_Issipile_ and _Artaserse_ have been translated into French, and played
-with success as tragedies. The _Clemenza di Tito_, by the same author
-(which in a modified form became the _libretto_ of Mozart's last opera)
-was translated into Russian and performed at the Moscow Theatre during
-the reign of the Empress Elizabeth.
-
-In the present day, several of Scribe's best comic operas have been
-converted into comic dramas for the English stage, while others by the
-same author have been made the groundwork of Italian _libretti_. Thus
-_Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_ are the originals of Donizetti's
-_Elisir d'amore_ and Bellini's _Sonnambula_. Several of Victor Hugo's
-admirably constructed dramas have also been laid under contribution by
-the Italian librettists of the present day. Donizetti's _Lucrezia_ is
-founded on _Lucrčce Borgia_; Verdi's _Ernani_ on _Hernani_, his
-_Rigoletto_ on _Le Roi s'amuse_.
-
-[Sidenote: LIBRETTI.]
-
-Our English writers of _libretti_ are about as original as the rest of
-our dramatists. _The Bohemian Girl_ is not only identical in subject
-with _La Gitana_, but is a translation of an unpublished opera founded
-on that _ballet_ and written by M. St. George. The English version is
-evidently called _The Bohemian Girl_ from M. St. George having entitled
-his manuscript opera _La Bohémienne_, and from Mr. Bunn having mistaken
-the meaning of the word. It is less astonishing that the manager of a
-theatre should commit such an error than that no one should hitherto
-have pointed it out. The heroine of the opera is not a Bohemian, but a
-gipsey; and Bohemia has nothing to do with the piece, the action taking
-place in some portion of the "fair land of Poland," which, as the
-librettist informs us, was "trod by the hoof;" though whether in
-Russian, in Austrian or in Prussian Poland we are not informed. _La
-Zingara_ has often been played at Vienna, and I have seen _La Gitana_ at
-Moscow. Probably the Austrians lay the scene of the drama in the
-Russian, and the Russians in the Austrian, dominions. Fortunately, Mr.
-Balfe has given no particular colour to the music of his _Bohemian
-Girl_, which, as far as can be judged from the melodies sung by her, is
-as much (and as little) a Bohemian girl as a gipsey girl, or a Polish
-girl, or indeed any other girl. The _libretti_ of Mr. Balfe's
-_Satanella_, _Rose of Castille_, _Maid of Honour_, _Bondsman_, &c., are
-all founded on French pieces. Mr. Wallace's _Maritana_, is, I need
-hardly say, founded on the French drama of _Don Cćsar de Bazan_. But
-there is unmistakeable originality in the _libretto_ of this composer's
-_Lurline_, though the chief incidents are, of course, taken from the
-well-known German legend on which Mendelsohn commenced writing his opera
-of _Loreley_.
-
-[Sidenote: NATIONAL STYLES.]
-
-One of the very few good original _libretti_ in the English language is
-that of _Robin Hood_, by Mr. Oxenford. The best of all English libretti,
-in point of literary merit, being probably Dryden's _Albion and
-Albanius_, while the best French libretto in all respects is decidedly
-Victor Hugo's _Esmeralda_. Mr. Macfarren has, in many places, given
-quite an English character to the music of _Robin Hood_, though, in
-doing so, he has not (as has been asserted) founded a national style of
-operatic music; for the same style applied to subjects not English might
-be found as inappropriate as the music of _The Barber of Seville_ would
-be adapted to _Tom and Jerry_. A great deal can be written and very
-little decided about this question of nationality of style in music. If
-Auber's style is French, (instead of being his own, as I should say)
-what was that of Rameau? If "The Marseillaise" is such a thoroughly
-French air (as every one admits), how is it that it happens to be an
-importation from Germany? The Royalist song of "Pauvre Jacques" passed
-for French, but it was Dibdin's "Poor Jack." How is it that "Malbrook"
-sounds so French, and "We won't go home till morning" so English--an
-attempt, by the way, having been made to show that the airs common to
-both these songs were sung originally by the Spanish Moors? I fancy the
-great point, after all, is to write good music; and if it be written to
-good English words, full of English rhythm and cadence, it will, from
-that alone, derive a sufficiently English character.
-
-Handel appears to me to have done far greater service to English Opera
-than Arne or any of our English and pseudo-English operatic composers
-whose works are now utterly forgotten, except by musical antiquaries;
-for Handel established Italian Opera among us on a grand artistic scale,
-and since then, at Her Majesty's Theatre, and subsequently at the
-comparatively new Royal Italian Opera, all the finest works, whether of
-the Italian, the German, or the French school, have been brought out as
-fast as they have been produced abroad, and, on the whole, in very
-excellent style. English Opera has no history, no unbroken line of
-traditions; it has no regular sequence of operatic weeks by native
-composers; but at our Italian Opera Houses, the whole history of
-dramatic music has been exemplified, and from Gluck to Verdi is still
-exemplified in the present day. We take no note, it is true, of the old
-French composers,--Lulli, who begat Rameau, and Rameau, who begat no
-one--and for the reason just indicated. There are plenty of amusing
-stories about the _Académie Royale_ from its very foundation, but the
-true history of dramatic music in France dates from the arrival of Gluck
-in Paris in 1774.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER VIII.
-
-FRENCH OPERA FROM LULLI TO THE DEATH OF RAMEAU.
-
-     Ramists and Lullists.--Rameau's Letters of nobility.--His
-     death.--Affairs of honour and love.--Sophie Arnould.--Madame
-     Favart.--Charles Edward at the Académie.
-
-
-Lulli died in Paris, March 22nd, 1687, at the age of fifty-four. In
-beating time with his walking stick during the performance of a _Te
-Deum_ which he had composed to celebrate the convalescence of Louis
-XIV., he struck his foot, and with so much violence that he died from
-the effects of the blow. It is said[35] that this _Te Deum_ produced a
-great sensation, and that Lulli died satisfied, like a general expiring
-on the battle field immediately after a victory.
-
-All Lulli's operas are in five acts, but they are very short. "The
-drama," says M. Halévy, "comprises but a small number of scenes; the
-pieces are of a briefness to be envied; it is music summarized; two
-phrases make an air. The task of the composer then was far from being
-what it is now. The secret had not yet been discovered of those pieces,
-those finales which have since been so admirably developed, linking
-together in one well-conceived whole, a variety of situations which
-assist the inspiration of the composer and sometimes call it forth.
-There is certainly more music in one of the finales of a modern work
-than in the five acts of an opera of Lulli's. We may add that the art of
-instrumentation, since carried to such a high degree of brilliancy, was
-then confined within very narrow limits, or rather this art did not
-exist. The violins, violas, bass viols, hautboys, which at first formed
-the entire arsenal of the composer, seldom did more than follow the
-voices. Lulli, moreover, wrote only the vocal part and the bass of his
-compositions. His pupils, Lalouette and Colasse, who were conductors
-(_chefs d'orchestre_, or, as was said at that time, _batteurs de
-mesure_) under his orders, filled up the orchestral parts in accordance
-with his indications. This explains how, in the midst of all the details
-with which he had to occupy himself, he could write such a great number
-of works; but it does not diminish the idea one must form of his
-facility, his intelligence, and his genius, for these works, rapidly as
-they were composed, kept possession of the stage for more than a
-century."
-
-The next great composer, in France, to Lulli, in point of time, was
-Rameau. "Rameau" (in the words of the author from whom I have just
-quoted, and whose opinion on such a subject cannot be too highly valued)
-"elevated and strengthened the art; his harmonies were more solidly
-woven, his orchestra was richer, his instrumentation more skilful, his
-colouring more decided."
-
-Dr. Burney, however, in his account of the French Opera of his period
-(when Rameau's works were constantly being performed) speaks of the
-music as monotonous in the extreme and without ryhthm or expression.
-Indeed, he found nothing at the French Opera to admire but the dancing
-and the decorations, and these alone (he tells us) seemed to give
-pleasure to the audience. Nevertheless, the French journals of the
-middle of the 18th century constantly informed their readers that Rameau
-was the first musician in Europe, "though," as Grimm remarked, "Europe
-scarcely knew the name of her first musician, knew none of his operas,
-and could not have tolerated them on her stages."
-
-[Sidenote: RAMISTS AND LULLISTS.]
-
-Jean Phillippe Rameau was born the 25th September, 1683, at Dijon. He
-studied music under the direction of his father, Jean Rameau, an
-organist, and afterwards visited Italy, but does not appear to have
-appreciated Italian music. On his return to France he wrote the music of
-an opera founded on the _Phčdre_ of Racine, and entitled _Hippolyte et
-Aricie_. This work, which was produced in 1733, was received with much
-applause and a good deal of hissing, but on the whole it obtained a
-great success which was not diminished in the end by having been
-contested in the first instance. Rameau had soon so many admirers of his
-own, and met with so much opposition from the admirers of Lulli that two
-parties of Lullists and of Ramists were formed. This was the first of
-those foolish musical feuds of which Paris has witnessed so many, though
-scarcely more than London. Indeed, London had already seen the disputes
-between the partisans of Mrs. Tofts, the English singer, and Margarita
-l'Epine, the Italian, as well as the more celebrated Handel and
-Buononcini contests, and the quarrels between the friends of Faustina
-and Cuzzoni. However, when Rameau produced his _Castor and Pollux_, in
-1737, he was generally admitted by his compatriots to be the greatest
-composer of the day, not only in France, but in all Europe--which, as
-Grimm observed, was not acquainted with him. Gluck, however, is said[36]
-to have expressed his admiration of the chorus, _Que tout gémisse_, and
-M. Castil Blaze assures us, that "the fine things which this work
-(_Castor and Pollux_) contains, would please in the present day."
-
-Great honours were paid to Rameau by Louis XV., who granted him letters
-of nobility, and that only to render him worthy of a still higher mark
-of favour, the order of St. Michael. The composer on receiving his
-patent did not take the trouble to register it, upon which the king,
-thinking Rameau was afraid of the expense, offered to defray all the
-necessary charges himself. "Let me have the money, your Majesty," said
-Rameau, "and I will apply it to some more useful purpose. Letters of
-nobility to me? _Castor_ and _Dardanus_ gave them to me long ago!"
-
-[Sidenote: RAMEAU'S LETTERS OF NOBILITY.]
-
-Rameau's letters of nobility were invalidated by not being registered,
-but the order of St. Michael was given to him all the same.
-
-The badge of the same order was refused unconditionally by Beaumarchais,
-when it was offered to him by the Baron de Breteuil, minister of Louis
-XVI., the author of the _Marriage of Figaro_ observing that men whose
-merit was acknowledged had no need of decorations.
-
-Thus, too, Tintoretto refused knighthood at the hands of Henry III. of
-France (of what value, by the way, was the barren compliment to Sir
-Antony Vandyke, whom every one knows as a painter, and no one, scarcely,
-as a knight)? Thus, the celebrated singer, Forst, of Mies, in Bohemia,
-refused letters of nobility from Joseph I., Emperor of Germany, but
-accepted a pension of three hundred florins, which was offered to him in
-its place; and thus Beethoven being asked by the Prince von Hatzfeld,
-Prussian ambassador at Vienna, whether he would rather have a
-subscription of fifty ducats, which was due to him,[37] or the cross of
-some order, replied briefly, with all readiness of determination--"Fifty
-ducats!"
-
-Besides being a very successful operatic composer, (he wrote thirty-six
-works for the stage, of which twenty-two were represented at the
-Académie Royale), Rameau was an admirable performer on the organ and
-harpsichord, and wrote a great deal of excellent music for those two
-instruments. He, moreover, distinguished himself by his important
-discoveries in the science of harmony, which he published, defended, and
-explained, in twenty works, more or less copious.
-
-"Rameau's music," says M. Castil Blaze, "marks (in France) a progress.
-Not that this master improved the taste of our nation: he possessed none
-himself. Although he had visited the north of Italy, he had no idea that
-it was possible to sing better than the hack-vocalists of our Opera.
-Rameau never understood anything of Italian music; accordingly he did
-not bring the forms of melody to perfection among us. The success of
-Rameau was due to the fact, that he gave more life, warmth, and
-movement, to our dramatic music. His ryhthmical airs (when the
-irregularity of the words did not trouble him too much), the free,
-energetic, and even daring character of his choruses, the richness of
-his orchestra, raised this master at last to the highest rank, which he
-maintained until his death. All this, however, is relative, comparative.
-I must tell you in confidence, that these choruses, this orchestra, were
-very badly constructed, and often incorrect in point of harmony.
-Observe, too, if you please, that I do not go beyond our own frontiers,
-lest I should meet a Scarlatti, a Handel, a Jomelli, a Pergolese, a
-Sebastian Bach, and twenty other rivals, too formidable for our
-compatriot, as regards operas, religious dramas, cantatas, and
-symphonies."
-
-[Sidenote: DEATH OF RAMEAU.]
-
-Rameau died in 1764. The Opera undertook the direction of his funeral,
-and caused a service for the repose of his soul to be celebrated in the
-church of the Oratory. Several pieces from _Castor_ and _Pollux_, and
-other of his lyrical works, had been arranged for the ceremony, and were
-introduced into the mass. The music was executed by the orchestra and
-chorus of the Opera, both of which were doubled for the occasion. In
-1766, on the second anniversary of Rameau's death, a mortuary mass,
-written by Philidor, the celebrated chess player and composer (but one
-of those minor composers of whose works it does not enter into our
-limited plan to speak), was performed in the same church.
-
-The chief singers of the Académie during the greater portion of Rameau's
-career as a composer, were Jéliotte, Chassé, and Mademoiselle de Fel.
-Jéliotte retired in 1775, and for nine years the French Opera was
-without a respectable tenor. Chassé (baritone), and Mademoiselle de Fel,
-were replaced, about the same time, by Larrivée, and the celebrated
-Sophie Arnould, both of whom appeared afterwards in Gluck's operas.
-
-Claude Louis de Chassé, Seigneur de Ponceau, a gentleman of a good
-Breton family, gave up a commission in the army in 1721, to join the
-Opera. He succeeded equally as a singer and as an actor, and also
-distinguished himself by his skill in arranging tableaux. He it was who
-first introduced on to the French stage immense masses of men, and
-taught them to manoeuvre with precision. Louis XV. was so pleased
-with the evolutions of Chassé's theatrical troops in an opera
-represented at Fontainbleau, that he afterwards addressed him always as
-"General." In 1738, Chassé left the Académie on the pretext that the
-histrionic profession was not suited to a man of gentle birth.[38] But
-the true reason is said to have been that having saved a considerable
-sum of money, he found he could afford to throw up his engagement.
-However, he invested the greater part of his fortune in a speculation
-which failed, and was obliged to return to the stage a few years after
-he had declared his intention of abandoning it for ever. On his
-reappearance, the "gentlemanliness" of Chassé's execution was noticed,
-but in a sarcastic, not a complimentary spirit.
-
-    "Ce n'est plus cette voix tonnante
-     Ce ne sont plus ses grands éclats;
-     C'est un gentilhomme qui chante
-     Et qui ne se fatigue pas--"
-
-were lines circulated on the occasion of the Seigneur du Ponceau's
-return to the Académie, where, however, he continued to sing with
-success for a dozen years afterwards.
-
-[Sidenote: AFFAIRS OF HONOUR AND LOVE.]
-
-Jéliotte was one of the great favourites of fashionable Parisian society
-(at least, among the women); but Chassé (also among the women) was one
-of the most admired men in France. Among other triumphs of the same
-kind, he had the honour of causing a duel between a Polish and a French
-lady, who fought with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne. The latter was
-wounded rather seriously, and on her recovery, was confined in a
-convent, while her adversary was ordered to quit France. During the
-little trouble which this affair caused in the polite world, Chassé
-remained at home, reclining on a sofa after the manner of a delicate,
-sensitive woman who has had the misfortune to see two of her adorers
-risk their lives for her. In this style he received the visits of all
-who came to compliment him on his good luck. Louis XV. thought it worth
-while to send the Duke de Richelieu to tell him to put an end to his
-affectation.
-
-"Explain to his Majesty," said Chassé to the Duke, "that it is not my
-fault, but that of Providence, which has made me the most popular man in
-the kingdom."
-
-"Let me tell you, coxcomb, that you are only the third," said the Duke.
-"I come next to the king."
-
-It was indeed a fact that Madame de Polignac, and Madame de Nesle had
-already fought for the affection of the Duke de Richelieu, when Madame
-de Nesle received a wound in the shoulder.[39]
-
-Sophie Arnould was a discovery made by the Princess of Modena at the Val
-de Grâce, whither her royal highness had retired, according to the
-fashion of the time, to atone, during a portion of Lent, for the sins
-she had committed during the Carnival, and where she chanced to hear the
-young girl singing a vesper hymn. The Princess spoke of Mademoiselle
-Arnould's talents at the court, and, in spite of her mother's
-opposition, (the parents kept a lodging house somewhere in Paris) she
-was inscribed on the list of choristers at the king's chapel. Madame de
-Pompadour, already struck by the beauty of her eyes, which are said to
-have been enchantingly expressive, exclaimed when she heard her sing,
-"_Il y a lŕ, de quoi faire une princesse._"
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-Sophie Arnould (a charming name, which the bearer thereof owed in part
-to her own good taste, and in no way to her godfathers and godmothers,
-who christened her Anne-Madeleine) made her _début_ in the year 1757, at
-the age of thirteen. She wore a lilac dress, embroidered in silver. Her
-talent, combined with her wonderful beauty, ensured her immediate
-success, and before she had been on the stage a fortnight, all Paris was
-in love with her. When she was announced to sing, the doors of the Opera
-were besieged by such crowds that Fréron declared he scarcely thought
-persons would give themselves so much trouble to enter into paradise.
-The fascinating Sophie was as witty as she was beautiful, and her _mots_
-(the most striking of which are quoted by M. A. Houssaye in his _Galerie
-du 18me. Sičcle_), were repeated by all the fashionable poets and
-philosophers of Paris. Her suppers soon became celebrated, but her life
-of pleasure did not cause her to forget the Opera. She is said to have
-sung with "a limpid and melodious voice," and to have acted with "all
-the grace and sentiment of a practiced comédienne."[40] Garrick saw her
-when he was in Paris, and declared that she was the only actress on the
-French stage who had really touched his heart.[41]
-
-As an instance of the effect her singing had upon the public, I may
-mention that in 1772, Mademoiselle Arnould refused to perform one
-evening, and made her appearance among the audience, saying that she had
-come to take a lesson of her rival, Mademoiselle Beaumesnil; that the
-minister, de la Vrilličre, instead of sending the capricious and
-facetious vocalist to For-l'Evčque, in accordance with the request of
-the directors, contented himself with reprimanding her; that a party
-was formed to hiss her violently the next night of her appearance, as a
-punishment for her impertinence; but that directly Sophie Arnould began
-to sing, the conspirators were disarmed, and instead of hissing,
-applauded her.
-
-On the 1st of April, 1778, the day of Voltaire's coronation at the
-Comédie Française, all the most celebrated actresses in Paris went to
-compliment him. He returned their visits directly afterwards, and his
-conversation with Sophie Arnould at the opera, is said to have been a
-speaking duet of the most marvellous lightness and brilliancy.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When poor Sophie was getting old she continued to sing, and the Abbé
-Galiani said of her voice that it was "the finest asthma he had ever
-heard." This remark, however, belongs to the list of sharp things said
-during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, described at some length in the
-next chapter but one, and in which Sophie Arnould played an important
-part.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mademoiselle Arnould's _mots_ seem to me, for the most part, not very
-susceptible of satisfactory translation. I will quote a few of them in
-Sophie's own language.
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-Of the celebrated dancer, Madeleine Guimard, concerning whom I shall
-have something to say a few pages further on, Sophie Arnould, reflecting
-on Madeleine's remarkable thinness, observed "_ce petit ver ŕ soie
-devrait ętre plus gras, elle ronge une si bonne feuille._"[42]
-
-Sophie was born in the room where Admiral Coligny was assassinated, and
-where the Duchess de Montbazon lived for some time. "_Je suis venue au
-monde par une porte célčbre_," she said.
-
-One day, when a very dull work, Rameau's _Zoroastre_, was going to be
-played at the Académie, Beaumarchais, whose tedious drama _Les deux
-amis_ had just been brought out at the Comédie Française, remarked to
-Sophie Arnould that there would be no people at the opera that evening,
-
-"_Je vous demande pardon_," was the reply, "_vos deux amis nous en
-enverront._"
-
-Seeing the portraits of Sully and Choiseul on the same snuff-box, she
-exclaimed, "_C'est la recette et la dépense._"
-
-To a lady, whose beauty was her only recommendation, and who complained
-that so many men made love to her, she said, "_Eh ma chčre il vous est
-si facile des les éloigner; vous n'avez qu'ŕ parler._"
-
-Sophie's affection for the Count de Lauragais, the most celebrated and,
-seemingly, the most agreeable of her admirers, is said to have lasted
-four years. This constancy was mutual, and the historians of the French
-Opera speak of it as something not only unique but inexplicable and
-almost miraculous. At last Mademoiselle Arnould, unwilling, perhaps, to
-appear too original, determined to break with the Count; the mode,
-however, of the rupture was by no means devoid of originality. One day,
-by Mademoiselle Arnould's orders, a carriage was sent to the Hotel de
-Lauragais, containing lace, ornaments, boxes of jewellery--and two
-children; everything in fact that she owed to the Count. The Countess
-was even more generous than Sophie. She accepted the children, and sent
-back the lace, the jewellery, and the carriage.
-
-A little while afterwards the Count de Lauragais fell in love with a
-very pretty _débutante_ in the ballet department of the Opera. Sophie
-Arnould asked him how he was getting on with his new passion. The Count
-confessed that he had not made much progress in her affections, and
-complained that he always found a certain knight of Malta in her
-apartments when he called upon her.
-
-"You may well fear him," said Sophie, "_Il est lŕ pour chasser les
-infidčles._"
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD.]
-
-This certainly looks like a direct reproach of inconstancy, and from
-Sophie's sending the Count back all his presents, it is tolerably clear
-that she felt herself aggrieved. He was of a violently jealous
-disposition, though he had no cause for jealousy as far as Sophie was
-concerned. Indeed, she appears naturally to have been of a romantic
-disposition, and a tendency to romance though it may mislead a girl yet
-does not deprave her.
-
-We shall meet with the charming Sophie again during the Gluck and
-Piccinni period, and once again when the revolution had invaded the
-Opera, and had ruined some of the chief operatic celebrities. During her
-last illness, in telling her confessor the unedifying story of her life,
-she had to speak of the jealous fury of the Count de Lauragais, whom she
-had really loved.[43]
-
-"My poor child, how much you have suffered!" said the kind priest.
-
-"_Ah! c'était le bon temps! j'était si malheureuse!_" exclaimed Sophie.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Sophie Arnould's rival and successor at the Opera was Mademoiselle
-Laguerre, who, if she had not the wit of Sophie, had considerably more
-than her prudence, and who died, leaving a fortune of about Ł180,000.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the celebrated French singers of the 18th century, Madame Favart
-must not be forgotten. This vocalist was for many years the glory and
-the chief support of the Opéra Comique, which, in 1762, combined with
-the Comédie Italienne to form but one establishment. There was so much
-similarity in the styles of the performances at these two operatic
-theatres, that for seven years before the union was effected, the
-favourite piece at the one house was _La Serva Padrona_, at the other,
-_La Servante Maitresse_, that is to say, Pergolese's favourite work
-translated into French.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME FAVART.]
-
-The history of the Opera in France during the latter half of the 18th
-century abounds in excellent anecdotes; and several very interesting
-ones are told of Marshal Saxe. This brave man was much loved by the
-beautiful women of his day. In M. Scribe's admirable play of _Adrienne
-Lecouvreur_, Maurice de Saxe is made to say, that whatever celebrity he
-may attain, his name will never be mentioned without recalling that of
-Adrienne Lecouvreur. Some genealogist, without affectation, ought to
-tell us how many persons illustrious in the arts are descendants of
-Marshal Saxe, or of Adrienne Lecouvreur, or of both. It would be an
-interesting list, at the head of which the names of George Sand, and of
-Francoeur the mathematician, might figure. But I was about to say,
-that the mention of the great Maurice de Saxe recalled to me not only
-Adrienne Lecouvreur, but also the charming Fifine Desaigles, one of the
-fairest and most fascinating of _blondes_, the beautiful and talented
-Madame Favart, and a good many other theatrical fair ones. When the
-Marshal died, poor Fifine went into mourning for him, and wore black,
-even on the stage, for as many days as it appeared to her that his
-passionate affection for her had lasted. It is uncertain whether or not
-the warrior's love for Madame Favart was returned. The Marshal said it
-was; the lady said it was not; the lady's husband said he didn't know.
-The best story told about Marshal Saxe and Madame Favart, or rather
-Mademoiselle Chantilly, which was at that time her name, is one relating
-to her elopement with Favart from Maestricht, during the siege.
-Mademoiselle Chantilly was a member of the operatic _troupe_ engaged by
-the Marshal to follow the army of Flanders,[44] and of which Favart was
-the director. Marshal Saxe became deeply enamoured of the young _prima
-donna_, and made proposals to her of a nature partly flattering, partly
-the reverse. Mademoiselle Chantilly, however, preferred Favart, and
-contrived to escape with him one dark and stormy night. Indeed, so
-tempestuous was it, that a bridge, which formed the communication
-between the main body of the army and a corps on the other side of the
-river, was carried away, leaving the detached regiments quite at the
-mercy of the enemy. The next morning an officer visited the Marshal in
-his tent, and found him in a state of great grief and agitation.
-
-"It is a sad affair, no doubt," said the visitor; "but it can be
-remedied."
-
-"Remedied!" exclaimed the distressed hero; "no; all hope is lost; I am
-in despair!"
-
-The officer showed that the bridge might be repaired in such and such a
-manner; upon which, the great commander, whom no military disaster could
-depress, but who was now profoundly afflicted by the loss of a very
-charming singer, replied--
-
-"Are you talking about the bridge? That can be mended in a couple of
-hours. I was thinking of Chantilly. Perfidious girl! she has deserted
-me!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the historical persons who figured at the Académie Musique about
-the middle of the 18th century, we must not forget Charles Edward, who
-was taken prisoner there. The Duke de Biron had been ordered to see to
-his arrest, and on the evening of the 11th December, when it was known
-that he intended to visit the Opera, surrounded the building with twelve
-hundred guards as soon as the Young Pretender had entered it. The prince
-was taken to Vincennes, and kept there four days. He was then liberated,
-and expelled from France in accordance with the terms of the treaty of
-1748, so humiliating to the French arms.
-
-[Sidenote: CHARLES EDWARD AT THE ACADEMIE.]
-
-The servants of the Young Pretender, and with them one of the retinue of
-the Princess de Talmont, whose antiquated charms had detained the
-Chevalier de St. Georges at Paris, were sent to the Bastille, upon which
-the princess wrote the following letter to M. de Maurepas:--
-
-"The king, sir, has just covered himself with immortal glory by
-arresting Prince Edward. I have no doubt but that His Majesty will order
-a _Te Deum_ to be sung, to thank God for so brilliant a victory. But as
-Placide, my lacquey, taken in this memorable expedition, can add nothing
-to His Majesty's laurels, I beg you to send him back to me."
-
-"The only Englishman the regiment of French guards has taken throughout
-the war!" exclaimed the Princess de Conti, when she heard of the arrest.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-There was a curious literary apparition at the Académie in 1750, on the
-occasion of the revival of _Thétis et Pélée_, when Fontenelle, the
-author of the libretto of that opera, entered a box, and sat down just
-where he had taken his place sixty years before, on the first night of
-its production. The public, delighted, no doubt, to see that men could
-live so long, and get so much enjoyment out of life, applauded with
-enthusiasm.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH COMIC OPERA.]
-
-In this necessarily incomplete history of the Opera (anything like a
-full narrative of its rise and progress, with particulars of the lives
-of all the great composers and singers, would fill ten large volumes and
-would probably not find a hundred readers) there are some forms of the
-lyric drama to which I can scarcely do more than allude. My great
-difficulty is to know what to omit, but I think that in addressing
-English readers I am justified in passing hastily over the Pulcinella
-Operas of Italy and the Opéra Comique of France. I shall say very little
-about the ballad operas of England, which are no longer played, which
-led to nothing, and which do not interest me personally. The lowest
-style of Italian comic opera, again, has not only exercised no
-influence, but has never attained even a moderate amount of success in
-this country. Not so the Opéra Comique of France, if Auber is to be
-taken as its representative. But the author of the _Muette de Portici_,
-_Gustave III._, and _Fra Diavolo_, is not only the greatest dramatic
-composer France has produced, but one of the greatest dramatic composers
-of the century. By his masterly concerted pieces and finales he has
-given an importance to the _Opéra Comique_ which it did not possess
-before his time, and if he had never written works of that class at all
-he would still be one of the favourite composers of the English public,
-esteemed and studied by musicians, and admired by all classes. The
-French historians of the Opéra Comique show that, as regards the
-dramatic form, it has its origin in the _vaudeville_, many of the old
-_opéras comiques_ being, in fact, little more than _vaudevilles_, with
-original airs in place of songs adapted to tunes already known. In a
-musical point of view, however, the French owe their lyrical comedy to
-the Italians. Monsigny, Philidor, Grétry, the founders of the style,
-were felicitous imitators of the Pergoleses, the Leos, the Vincis, and
-the Piccinnis. "In _Le Déserteur_, _Le Roi et le Fermier_, _Le Maréchal
-Ferrant_, _Le Tableau Parlant_, we are struck," says M. Scudo, the
-excellent musical critic of the _Révue des Deux Mondes_, "as Dr. Burney
-was, in 1770, to find more than one recollection of _La Serva Padrona_,
-_La Cecchina_, and other opera buffas by the first masters of the
-Neapolitan school. The influence of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi, may be
-remarked in the works of Dalayrac, Berton, Boieldieu, and Nicolo.
-Boieldieu afterwards imitated Rossini to some extent in _La Dame
-Blanche_, but the chief followers of this great Italian master in France
-have been Hérold and Auber." This brings us down to the present day,
-when we find Meyerbeer, the composer of great choral and orchestral
-schemes, the cultivator of musico-dramatic "effects" on a large scale,
-writing for the Opéra Comique; and in spite of the spoken dialogue in
-the _Etoile du Nord_ and the _Pardon de Ploermel_, it is impossible not
-to place those important and broadly conceived lyrical dramas in the
-class of grand opera.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER IX.
-
-ROUSSEAU AS A CRITIC AND AS A COMPOSER OF MUSIC.
-
-     The Musical Dictionary.--Account of the French Opera from the
-     Nouvelle Héloise.--Le devin du Village.--Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
-     Granet of Lyons.
-
-
-Rousseau, a man of a decidedly musical organisation, who, during his
-residence in Italy, learnt, as he tells us in the _Confessions_, to love
-the music of Italy; who wrote so earnestly and so well in favour of that
-music, and against the psalmody of Lulli and Rameau, in his celebrated
-_Lettre sur la Musique Française_; and who had sufficient candour, or,
-rather let us say, a sufficiently sincere love of art to express the
-enthusiasm he felt for Gluck when all the other writers in France, who
-had ever praised Italian music, felt bound to depreciate him blindly,
-for the greater glory of Piccinni; this Rousseau, who cared more for
-music than for truth or honour, and who has now been proved to have
-stolen from two obscure, but not altogether unknown, composers the music
-which he represented to be his own, in _Pygmalion_, and the _Devin du
-Village_, has given in his _Dictionnaire Musicale_, in the
-before-mentioned _Lettre sur la Musique Française_, but above all in
-the _Nouvelle Héloise_, the best general account that can be obtained of
-the Opera in France during the middle of the 18th century. I will begin
-with Rousseau's article on the Opera (omitting only the end, which
-relates to the ballet), from the _Dictionnaire Musicale_:--
-
-[Sidenote: ROUSSEAU'S DEFINITION OF OPERA.]
-
-"An opera is a dramatic and lyrical spectacle, designed to combine the
-enchantments of all the fine arts by the representation of some
-passionate action through sensations so agreeable as to excite both
-interest and illusion.[45]
-
-"The constituent parts of an opera are the poem, the music, and the
-decoration. By poetry, the spectacle speaks to the mind; by music, to
-the ear; and by painting, to the eye: all combining, through different
-organs, to make the same impression on the heart. Of these three parts,
-my subject only allows me to consider the first and last with reference
-to the second.
-
-"The art of combining sounds agreeably may be regarded under two
-different aspects. As an institution of nature, music confines its
-effects to the senses, to the physical pleasure which results from
-melody, harmony, and rhythm. Such is usually the music of churches; such
-are the airs suited to dancing and songs. But as the essential part of a
-lyrical scene, aiming principally at imitation, music becomes one of the
-fine arts, and is capable of painting all pictures; of exciting all
-sentiments; of competing with poetry; of endowing her with new
-strength; of embellishing her with new charms; and of triumphing over
-her while placing the crown on her head.
-
-"The sounds of a speaking voice, being neither harmonious nor sustained,
-are inappreciable, and cannot, consequently, connect themselves
-agreeably with the singing voice, or with instruments, at least in
-modern languages. It was different with the Greeks. Their language was
-so accentuated that its inflections, in a long declamation, formed,
-spontaneously as it were, musical intervals, distinctly appreciable.
-Thus it may be said that their theatrical pieces were a species of
-opera; and it was for this very reason that they could have no operas
-properly so called.
-
-"But the difficulty of uniting song to declamation in modern languages
-explains how it is that the intervention of music has given to the lyric
-poem a character quite different from that of tragedy or comedy, and
-made it a third species of drama, having its particular rules. The
-differences alluded to cannot be determined without a perfect knowledge
-of music, of the means of identifying it with words, and of its natural
-relations to the human heart--details which belong less to the artist
-than to the philosopher.
-
-[Sidenote: GREEK MUSIC.]
-
-"Confining myself, therefore, on this subject to a few observations
-rather historical than didactic, I remark, first, that the Greek theatre
-had not, like ours, any lyrical feature, for that which they called so,
-had not the slightest resemblance to what we call so.
-
-Their language had so much accent that, in a concert of voices, there
-was little noise, whilst all their poetry was musical, and all their
-music declamatory. Thus, song with them was hardly more than sustained
-discourse. They really sang their verses, as they declared at the head
-of their poems, a practice which gave the Romans, and afterwards the
-moderns, the ridiculous habit of saying, _I sing_, when nothing is sung.
-That which the Greeks called the lyric style was a pompous and florid
-strain of heroic poesy, accompanied by the lyre. It is certain, too,
-that their tragedies were recited in a manner very similar to singing,
-and that they were accompanied by instruments, and had choruses.
-
-"But if, on that account, it should he inferred that they were operas
-like ours, then it must be supposed that their operas were without airs,
-for it appears to me unquestionable that the Greek music, without
-excepting even the instrumental, was a real recitative. It is true that
-this recitative, uniting the charm of musical sounds to all the harmony
-of poetry, and to all the force of declamation, must have had much more
-energy than the modern recitative, which can hardly acquire one of these
-advantages but at the expense of the others. In our living languages,
-which partake for the most part of the rudeness of their native
-climates, the application of music to speech is much less natural than
-it was with the Greeks. An uncertain prosody agrees ill with regularity
-of measure; deaf and dumb syllables, hard articulations, sounds not
-sonorous, with little variation, and no suppleness, cannot but with
-great difficulty be consorted with melody; and a poetry cadenced solely
-by the number of syllables, whilst it gets but a very faint harmony in
-musical rhythm, is constantly opposed to the diversity of that rhythm's
-values and movements. These are the difficulties which were to be
-overcome, or eluded, in the invention of the lyrical poem. The effort,
-therefore, of its inventors was to form, by a nice selection of words,
-by choice turns of expression, and by varied metres, a particular
-language; and this language, called lyrical, is rich or poor in
-proportion to the softness or harshness of that from which it is
-derived.
-
-"Having thus prepared a language for music, the question was next to
-apply music to this language, and to render it so apt for the purposes
-of the lyrical scene that the whole, vocal and instrumental, should be
-taken for one and the same idiom. This produced the necessity of
-continuous singing,--a necessity the greater in proportion as the
-language employed should be unmusical, as the less a language has of
-softness and accentuation, the more the alternate change from song to
-speech shocks the ear.
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AND LANGUAGE.]
-
-"This mode of uniting music to poetry sufficed to produce interest and
-illusion among the Greeks, because it was natural; and, for the contrary
-reason, it cannot have the like effect on us. In listening to a
-hypothetical and constrained language, we can hardly conceive what the
-singers would say, so that with much noise they excite little emotion.
-Hence the further necessity of bringing physical to the aid of moral
-pleasure, and of supplying, by the charm of harmony, the lack of
-distinctness of meaning and energy of expression. Thus, the less the
-heart was touched the more need there was to flatter the ear, and from
-sensation was sought the delight which sentiment could not furnish.
-Hence the origin of airs, choruses, symphonies, and of that enchanting
-melody which often embellishes modern music at the expense of its poetic
-accompaniment.
-
-"At the birth of the Opera, its inventors, to elude that which seemed
-unnatural, as an imitation of human life, in the union of music with
-speech, transferred their scenes from earth to heaven, and to hell. Not
-knowing how to make men speak, they made gods and devils, instead of
-heroes and shepherds, sing. Thus magic and marvels became speedily the
-stock in trade of the lyrical theatre. Yet, in spite of every effort to
-fascinate the eyes, whilst multitudes of instruments and of voices
-bewildered the ear, the action of every piece remained cold, and all its
-scenes were totally void of interest. As there was no plot which,
-however intricate, could not be easily unravelled by the intervention of
-some god, the spectator quietly abandoned to the poet the task of
-delivering his hero from his greatest dangers. Thus immense machinery
-produced little effect, for the imitation was always grossly defective
-and coarse. A supernatural action had in it no human interest, and the
-senses refused to yield to an illusion, in which the heart had no part.
-It would have been difficult to weary an assembly at greater cost than
-was done by these first operas.
-
-But the spectacle, imperfect as it was, was for a long time the
-admiration of its contemporaries. They congratulated themselves on so
-fine a discovery. Here, they said, is a new principle added to that of
-Aristotle; here is admiration added to terror and pity. They were not
-aware that the apparent riches of which they boasted were but a sign of
-sterility, like flowers which cover the fields before harvest. It was
-because they could not touch the heart that they aimed at surprising,
-and their pretended admiration was, in fact, but a puerile astonishment
-of which they ought to have been ashamed. A false air of magnificence
-and enchantments, sorceries, chimeras, extravagances the most insane, so
-imposed upon them that, with the best faith in the world, they spoke
-with respect and enthusiasm of a theatre which merited nothing but
-hisses: as if there were more merit in making the king of gods utter the
-stupidest platitudes than there would be in attributing the same to the
-lowest of mortals; or as if the valets of Moličre were not infinitely
-preferable to the heroes of Pradon.
-
-[Sidenote: EARLY OPERAS.]
-
-"Although the author of these first operas had had hardly any other
-object than to dazzle the eye and to astound the ear, it could scarcely
-happen that the musician did not sometimes endeavour to express, by his
-art, some sentiments diffused through the piece in performance. The
-songs of nymphs, the hymns of priests, the shouts of warriors, infernal
-outcries did not so completely fill up these barbarous dramas as to
-leave no moments or situations of interest when the spectator was
-disposed to be moved. Thus it soon began to be felt, that independently
-of the musical declamation, often ill adapted to the language employed,
-the musical movement of harmony and of songs was not alien to the words
-which were to be uttered, and that consequently the effect of music
-alone, hitherto confined to the senses, could reach the heart. Melody,
-which was at first only separated from poetry by necessity, profited by
-this independence to adopt beauties absolutely and purely musical;
-harmony, improved and carried to perfection, opened to it new means of
-pleasing and of moving; and the measure, freed from the embarrassment of
-poetic rhythm, acquired a sort of cadence of its own.
-
-"Music, having thus become a third imitative art, had speedily its own
-language, its expressions, its pictures, altogether independent of
-poetry. Symphony also learnt to speak without the aid of words; and
-sentiments often came from the orchestra quite as distinctly and vividly
-expressed as they could be by the mouths of actors. Spectators then,
-beginning to get disgusted with all the tinsel of fairy land, of puerile
-machinery, and of fantastic images of things never seen, looked for the
-imitation of nature in pictures more interesting and more true. Up to
-this time the Opera had been constituted as it alone could be; for what
-better use, at the theatre, could be made of a kind of music which could
-paint nothing than by employing it in the representation of things which
-could not exist? But as soon as music learnt to paint and to speak the
-charms of sentiment, it brought into contempt those of the Wand; the
-theatre was purged of its garden of mythology, interest was substituted
-for astonishment; the machines of poets and of carpenters were
-destroyed; and the lyric drama assumed a more noble and less gigantic
-character. All that could move the heart was employed with success, and
-gods were driven from the stage on which men were represented[46]....
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC SUBJECTS.]
-
-"This reform was followed by another not less important. The Opera, it
-was felt, should represent nothing cold or intellectual--nothing that
-the spectator could witness with sufficient tranquillity to reflect on
-what he saw. And it is in this especially that the essential difference
-between the lyric drama and pure tragedy consists. All political
-deliberations, all plots, conspiracies, explanations, recitals,
-sententious maxims--in a word, all which speaks to the reason was
-banished from the theatre of the heart, with all _jeux d'esprit_,
-madrigals, and other pleasant conceits, which suppose some activity of
-thought. On the contrary, to depict all the energies of sentiments, all
-the violence of the passions, was made the principal object of this
-drama: for the illusion which makes its charm is destroyed as soon as
-the author and actor leave the spectator a moment to himself. It is on
-this principle that the modern Opera is established. Apostolo Zeno, the
-Corneille of Italy, and his tender pupil, who is its Racine,
-[Metastasio] have opened and carried to its perfection this new career
-of the dramatic art. They have brought the heroes of history on a
-theatre which seemed only adapted to exhibit the phantoms of fable....
-
-"Having tried and felt her strength, music, able to walk alone, began to
-disdain the poetry she had to accompany. To enhance her own value, she
-drew from herself beauties of which her companion had hitherto had a
-share. She still professes, it is true, to express her ideas and
-sentiments; but she assumes, so to speak, an independent language, and
-though the object of the poet and of the musician is the same, they are
-too much separated in their labours, to produce at once two images,
-resembling each other, yet distinct, without mutual injury. Thus it
-happens, that if the musician has more art than the poet, he effaces
-him; and the actor, seeing the spectator sacrifice the words to the
-music, sacrifices in his turn theatrical gesture and action to song and
-brilliancy of voice, which transforms a dramatic entertainment into a
-mere concert....
-
-"Such are the defects which the absolute perfection of music, and its
-defective application to language, may introduce into the Opera. And
-here it may be remarked that the languages the most apt to conform to
-all the laws of measure and of melody are those in which the duality of
-which I have spoken is the least apparent, because music, lending itself
-to the ideas of poetry, poetry yields, in its turn, to the inflections
-of music, so that when music ceases to observe the rhythm, the accent
-and the harmony of verses, verses syllable themselves, and submit to the
-cadence of musical measure and accent. But when a language has neither
-softness nor flexibility, the harshness of its poetry hinders its
-subjection to music; a good recitation of verses is obstructed even by
-the sweetness of the melody accompanying it; and one is conscious, in
-the forced union of the two arts, of a perpetual constraint which shocks
-the ear, and which destroys at once the charm of melody and the effect
-of declamation. For this defect there is no remedy; and to apply, by
-compulsion, music to a language which is not musical, is to give it more
-harshness than it would otherwise have....
-
-[Sidenote: MUSIC AND PAINTING.]
-
-"Although music, as an imitative art, has more connection with poetry
-than with painting, this latter is not obliged, as poetry is, at the
-theatre, to make a double representation of the same object; because the
-one expresses the sentiments of men, and the other gives pictures merely
-of the places where they are, which strengthens much the illusion of the
-whole spectacle.... But it must be acknowledged that the task of the
-musician is greater than that of the painter. The imitation expressed by
-painting is always cold, because it wants that succession of ideas and
-of impressions which increasingly kindle the soul, all its portraiture
-being conveyed to the mind at a first look. It is a great advantage,
-also, to a musician that he can paint things which cannot be heard,
-whilst the painter cannot paint those which cannot be seen; and the
-greatest prodigy of an art which has no life but in movement is, that it
-is able to give even an image of repose. Sleep, the quietude of night,
-solitude, and silence, are among the number of music's pictures.
-Sometimes noise produces the effect of silence and silence the effect of
-noise, as when one falls asleep at a monotonous reading and wakes up the
-moment the reader stops.... Further, whilst the painter can derive
-nothing from the musician, the skilful musician will not leave the
-studio of the painter without profit. Not only can he, at his will,
-agitate the sea, excite the flames of a conflagration, make rivulets run
-and murmur, bring down the rain and swell it to torrents, but he can
-augment the horrors of the frightful desert, darken the walls of a
-subterranean prison, calm the storm, make the air tranquil and the sky
-serene, and shed from the orchestra the freshest fragrance of the
-sweetest bowers.
-
-"We have seen how the union of the three arts we have mentioned
-constitute the lyric scene. Some have been tempted to introduce a
-fourth, of which I have now to speak.
-
-"The question is to know whether dancing, being a language, and
-consequently capable of becoming an imitative art, should not enter with
-the other three into the action of the lyrical drama, or whether it
-would not rather interrupt and suspend this action and spoil the effect
-and the unity of the whole piece.
-
-"But here, I think, there can be no question at all. For every one feels
-that the interest of a successive action depends upon the continuance
-and growing increase of the impression its representation makes on us.
-But by breaking off a spectacle and introducing other spectacles which
-have nothing to do with it, the principal subject is divided into
-independent parts, with no link of connection between them; and the more
-agreeable the inserted spectacles are, the greater must be the deformity
-produced by the mutilation of the whole.... It is for this reason that
-the Italians have at last banished these interludes from their operas.
-They are, separately considered, a species of spectacle very pleasing,
-very piquante, and quite natural, but so misplaced in the midst of a
-tragic action, that the two exhibitions injure each other mutually, and
-the one can never interest but at the expense of the other."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE BALLET.]
-
-Rousseau then suggests that the ballet should come after the opera,
-which, as every one knows, is the rule at the Italian Opera houses of
-London, and which appears to me a far preferable arrangement to that of
-the French Académie, where no lyrical work is considered complete
-without a _divertissement_ introduced anyhow into the middle of it, or
-of the Italian theatres where it is still the custom to perform short
-ballets or _divertissements_ between the acts of the opera. Italy, the
-country of the Vestrises, of the Taglionis, and in the present day I may
-add of Rosati, has always bestowed much care on the production of its
-_ballets_. I have mentioned (Chapter I.), that the opera in its infancy
-owed much to the protection of the Popes. The Papal Government in the
-present day is said to pay special attention to the _ballet_, and to
-watch with paternal solicitude the _pirouettes_ and _jetés battus_ of
-the _danseuses_. At least I find a passage to that effect in a work
-entitled "La Rome des Papes,"[47] the writer declaring that cardinals
-and bishops attend the Operas of Italy to see that the _ballerine_ swing
-their legs within certain limits.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Having seen Rousseau's views of the Opera as it might be, let us now
-turn to his description of the Opera of Paris as it actually was; a
-description put into the mouth of St. Preux, the hero of his _Nouvelle
-Héloise_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Before I tell you what I think of this famous theatre, I will tell you
-what is said here about it; the judgment of connoisseurs may correct
-mine, if I am wrong.
-
-"The Opera of Paris passes at Paris for the most pompous, the most
-voluptuous, the most admirable spectacle that human art has ever
-invented. It is, say its admirers, the most superb monument of the
-magnificence of Louis XIV.; and one is not so free as you may think to
-express an opinion on so important a subject. Here you may dispute about
-everything except music and the Opera; on these topics alone it is
-dangerous not to dissemble. French music is defended, too, by a very
-rigorous inquisition, and the first thing intimated as a warning, to
-strangers who visit this country, is that all foreigners admit, there is
-nothing in this world so fine as the Opera of Paris. The fact is,
-discreet people hold their tongues, and dare only laugh in their
-sleeves.
-
-"It must, however, be conceded, that not only all the marvels of nature,
-but many other marvels, much greater, which no one has ever seen, are
-represented, at great cost, at this theatre; and certainly Pope[48] must
-have alluded to it when he describes one on which was seen gods,
-hobgoblins, monsters, kings, shepherds, fairies, fury, joy, fire, a jig,
-a battle, and a ball.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC INCONGRUITY.]
-
-"This magnificent assemblage, so well organized, is in fact regarded as
-though it contained all the things it represents. When a temple appears,
-the spectators are seized with a holy respect, and if the goddess be at
-all pretty, they become at once half pagan. They are not so difficult
-here as they are at the _Comédie Francaise_. There the audience cannot
-indue a comedian with his part: at the Opera, they cannot separate the
-actor from his. They revolt against a reasonable illusion, and yield to
-others in proportion as they are absurd and clumsy. Or, perhaps, they
-find it easier to form an idea of gods than of heroes. Jupiter having a
-different nature from ours, we may think about him just as we please:
-but Cato was a man; and how many men are they who have any right to
-believe that Cato could have existed?
-
-"The Opera is not then here as elsewhere, a company of comedians paid to
-entertain the public; its members are, it is true, people whom the
-public pay, and who exhibit themselves before it; but all this changes
-its nature and name, for these dramatists form a Royal Academy of
-Music,[49] a species of sovereign court, which judges without appeal in
-its own cause, and is otherwise by no means particular about justice or
-truth....
-
-"Having now told you what others say of this brilliant spectacle, I will
-tell you at present what I have seen myself.
-
-"Imagine an enclosure fifteen feet broad, and long in proportion; this
-enclosure is the theatre. On its two sides are placed at intervals
-screens, on which are grossly painted the objects which the scene is
-about to represent. At the back of the enclosure hangs a great curtain,
-painted in like manner and nearly always pierced and torn that it may
-represent at a little distance gulfs on the earth or holes in the sky.
-Every one who passes behind this stage, or touches the curtain, produces
-a sort of earthquake, which has a double effect. The sky is made of
-certain blueish rags suspended from poles or from cords, as linen may be
-seen hung out to dry in any washerwoman's yard. The sun, for it is seen
-here sometimes, is a lighted torch in a lantern. The cars of the gods
-and goddesses are composed of four rafters, squared and hung on a thick
-rope in the form of a swing or see-saw; between the rafters is a
-cross-plank on which the god sits down, and in front hangs a piece of
-coarse cloth well dirtied, which acts the part of clouds for the
-magnificent car. One may see towards the bottom of the machine, two or
-three stinking candles, badly snuffed, which, whilst the great personage
-dementedly presents himself swinging in his see-saw, fumigate him with
-an incense worthy of his dignity. The agitated sea is composed of long
-angular lanterns of cloth and blue pasteboard, strung on parallel spits,
-which are turned by little blackguard boys. The thunder is a heavy cart
-rolled over an arch, and is not the least agreeable instrument one
-hears. The flashes of lightning are made of pinches of resin thrown on a
-flame; and the thunder is a cracker at the end of a fusee.
-
-[Sidenote: SCENERY AND DECORATIONS.]
-
-"The theatre is moreover furnished with little square traps, which,
-opening at need, announce that the demons are about to issue from their
-cave. When they have to rise into the air, little demons of stuffed
-brown cloth are substituted for them, or sometimes real chimney sweeps,
-who swing about suspended on ropes till they are majestically lost in
-the rags of which I have spoken. The accidents, however, which not
-unfrequently happen are sometimes as tragic as farcical. When the ropes
-break, then infernal spirits and immortal gods fall together, and lame
-and occasionally kill one another. Add to all this, the monsters, which
-render some scenes very pathetic, such as dragons, lizards, tortoises,
-crocodiles and large toads, who promenade the theatre with a menacing
-air, and display at the Opera all the temptations of St. Anthony. Each
-of these figures is animated by a lout of a Savoyard, who has not even
-intelligence enough to play the beast.
-
-"Such, my cousin, is the august machinery of the Opera, as I have
-observed it from the pit with the aid of my glass; for you must not
-imagine that all this apparatus is hidden, and produces an imposing
-effect. I have only described what I have seen myself, and what any
-other spectator may see. I am assured, however, that there are a
-prodigious number of machines employed to put the whole spectacle in
-motion, and I have been invited several times to examine them; but I
-have never been curious to learn how little things are performed by
-great means.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"I will not speak to you of the music; you know it. But you can form no
-idea of the frightful cries, the long bellowings with which the theatre
-resounds daring the representation. One sees actresses nearly in
-convulsions, tearing yelps and howls violently out of their lungs,
-closed hands pressed on their breasts, heads thrown back, faces
-inflamed, veins swollen, and stomachs panting. I know not which of the
-two, the eye or the ear, is most agreeably affected by this ugly
-display; and, what is really inconceivable, it is these shriekings alone
-that the audience applaud. By the clapping of their hands they might be
-taken for deaf people delighted at catching some shrill piercing sound.
-For my part, I am convinced that they applaud the outcries of an actress
-at the Opera as they would the feats of a tumbler or a rope-dancer at a
-fair. The sensation produced by this screaming is both revolting and
-painful; one actually suffers whilst it lasts, but is so glad to see it
-all over without accident as willingly to testify joy. Imagine this
-style of singing employed to express the delicate gallantry and
-tenderness of Quinault! Imagine the muses, the graces, the loves, Venus
-herself, expressing themselves in this way, and judge the effect! As for
-devils, it might pass, for this music has something infernal in it, and
-is not ill-adapted to such beings.
-
-[Sidenote: THE AUDIENCE]
-
-"To these exquisite sounds those of the orchestra are most worthily
-married. Conceive an endless charivari of instruments without melody, a
-drawling and perpetual rumble of basses, the most lugubrious and
-fatiguing I have ever heard, and which I have never been able to
-support for half an hour without a violent headache. All this forms a
-species of psalmody in which there is generally neither melody nor
-measure. But should a lively air spring up, oh, then, the sensation is
-universal; you then hear the whole pit in movement, painfully following,
-and with great noise, some certain performer in the orchestra. Charmed
-to feel for a moment a cadence, which they understand so little, their
-ears, voices, arms, feet, their entire bodies, agitated all over, run
-after the measure always about to escape them; while the Italians and
-Germans, who are deeply affected by music, follow it without effort, and
-never need beat the time. But in this country the musical organ is
-extremely hard; voices have no softness, their inflections are sharp and
-strong, and their tones all reluctant and forced; and there is no
-cadence, no melodious accent in the airs of the people; their military
-instruments, their regimental fifes, their horns, and hautbois, their
-street singers, and _guinguette_ violins, are all so false as to shock
-the least delicate ear. Talents are not given indiscriminately to all
-men, and the French seem to me of all people to have the least aptitude
-for music. My Lord Edward says that the English are not better gifted in
-this respect; but the difference is, that they know it, and do not care
-about it; whilst the French would relinquish a thousand just titles to
-praise, rather than confess, that they are not the first musicians in
-the world. There are even those here who would willingly regard music
-as a state interest, because, perhaps, the cutting of two chords of the
-lyre of Timotheus was so regarded at Sparta.--But to return to my
-description.
-
-"I have yet to speak of the ballets, the most brilliant part of the
-opera. Considered separately, they form agreeable, magnificent, and
-truly theatrical spectacles; but it is as constituent parts of operatic
-pieces that I now allude to them. You know the operas of Quinault. You
-know how this sort of diversion is there introduced. His successors, in
-imitating, have surpassed him in absurdity. In every act the action is
-generally interrupted at the most interesting moment, by a dance given
-to the actors who are seated, while the public stand up to look on. It
-thus happens that the _dramatis personć_ are absolutely forgotten. The
-way in which these fętes are brought about is very simple: Is the prince
-joyous? his courtiers participate in his joy, and dance. Is he sad? he
-must be cheered up, and they dance again. I do not know whether it is
-the fashion at our court to give balls to kings when they are out of
-humour; but I know that one cannot too much admire the stoicism of the
-monarchs of the buskin who listen to songs, and enjoy _entrechats_, and
-_pirouettes_, while their crowns are in danger, their lives in peril,
-and their fate is being decided behind the curtain. But there are many
-other occasions for dances: the gravest actions in life are performed in
-dancing.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BALLET]
-
-"Priests dance, soldiers dance, gods dance, devils dance; there is
-dancing even at interments,--dancing _ŕpropos_ of everything.
-
-"Dancing is there the fourth of the fine arts constituting the lyrical
-scene. The three others are imitative; but what does this imitate?
-Nothing. It is then quite extraneous when employed in this manner, for
-what have minuets and rigadoons to do in a tragedy? I will say more. It
-would not be less misplaced, even if it imitated something, because of
-all the unities that of language is the most indispensable; and an
-action or an opera performed, half in singing and half in dancing, would
-be even more ridiculous than one written half in French and half in
-Italian.
-
-"Not content with introducing dancing as an essential part of the
-lyrical scene, the Academicians have sometimes even made it its
-principal subject; and they have operas, called _ballets_, which so ill
-respond to their title, that dancing is just as much out of its place in
-them as in the others. Most of these ballets form as many separate
-subjects as there are acts, and these subjects are linked together by
-certain metaphysical relations, which the spectator could never
-conceive, if the author did not take care to explain them to him in the
-prologue. The seasons, the ages, the senses, the elements, what
-connexion have these things with dancing? and what can they offer,
-through such a medium, to the imagination? Some of the pieces referred
-to are even purely allegorical, as the Carnival, and Folly; and these
-are the most insupportable of all, because, with much cleverness and
-piquancy they have neither sentiments nor pictures, nor situations, nor
-warmth, nor interest, nor anything that music can take hold of, to
-flatter the heart or to produce illusion. In these pretended ballets,
-the action always passes in singing, whilst dancing always interrupts
-the action. But as these performances have still less interest than the
-tragedies, the interruptions are less remarked. Thus defect serves to
-hide defect, and the great art of the author is, in order to make his
-ballet endurable, to make his piece as dull as possible....
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"After all, perhaps, the French ought not to have a better operatic
-drama than they have, at least, with respect to execution; not that they
-are not capable of appreciating what is good, but because the bad amuses
-them more. They feel more gratification in satirising than in
-applauding; the pleasure of criticising more than compensates them for
-the _ennui_ of witnessing a stupid composition, and they would rather
-mockingly pelt a performance after they have left the theatre, than
-enjoy themselves while there."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-I have already remarked that, although in his _Lettre sur la Musique
-Française_, Rousseau had praised the melody of the Italians as much as
-he had condemned the dreary psalmody of the French, he expressed the
-highest admiration for the genius of Gluck. He never missed a
-representation of _Orphée_, and said, in allusion to the gratification
-that work had afforded him, that "after all there was something in life
-worth living for, since in two hours so much genuine pleasure could be
-obtained." He observed that Gluck seemed to have come to France in order
-to give the lie to his proposition that good music could never be set to
-French words. At another time he observed that every one complained of
-Gluck's want of melody, but that for his part he thought it issued from
-all his pores.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Now let us turn to the _Devin du Village_, of which both words and music
-are generally attributed to Jean Jacques Rousseau; that Rousseau who, in
-the _Confessions_, reproaches himself so bitterly with having stolen a
-ribbon (it is true he had accused an innocent young girl of the theft,
-and, by implication, of something more), who passes complacently over a
-hundred mean and disgusting acts which he acknowledges to have
-committed, and who ends by declaring that any one who may come to the
-conclusion that he, Rousseau, is, "_un malhonnęte homme_," is himself "a
-man to be smothered," (_un homme ŕ étouffer_).
-
-_Le Devin du Village_ is undoubtedly the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau,
-as far as the libretto is concerned; but M. Castil Blaze has shown, on
-what appears to me very good evidence,[50] that the music was the
-production of Granet, a composer residing at Lyons.
-
-One day in the year 1751, Pierre Rousseau, called Rousseau of Toulouse,
-to distinguish him from the numerous other Rousseaus living in Paris,
-and known as the director of the _Journal Encyclopédique_, received a
-parcel containing a quantity of manuscript music, which, on examination,
-turned out to be the score of an opera. It was accompanied by a letter
-addressed, like the parcel itself, to "M. Rousseau, _homme de lettres_,
-demeurant ŕ Paris," in which a person signing himself Granet, and
-writing from Lyons, expressed a hope that his music would be found
-worthy of the illustrious author's words; that he had given appropriate
-expression to the tender sentiments of Colette and Colin, &c. Pierre
-Rousseau, though a journalist, understood music. He knew that Granet's
-letter was intended for Jean Jacques, and that he ought to return it,
-with the music, to the post-office, but the score of the _Devin du
-Village_, from the little he had seen of it, interested him, and he not
-only kept it until he had made himself familiar with it from beginning
-to end, but even showed it to a friend, M. de Belissent, one of the
-conservators of the Royal Library, and a man of great musical
-acquirements. As soon as Pierre Rousseau and De Belissent had quite
-finished with the _Devin du Village_, they sent it back to the
-post-office, whence it was forwarded to its true destination.
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-Jean Jacques had been expecting Granet's music, and, on receiving the
-opera in a complete form, took it to La Vaubaličre, the farmer-general,
-and offered it to him, directly or indirectly, as a suitable piece for
-Madame de Pompadour's theatre at Versailles, where several operettas had
-already been produced. La Vaubaličre was anxious to maintain himself in
-the good graces of the favourite, and purchased for her entertainment
-the right of representing the _Devin du Village_. This handsome present
-cost the gallant financier the sum of six thousand francs. However, the
-opera was performed, was wonderfully successful, and was afterwards
-produced at the Académie, when Rousseau received four thousand francs
-more; so at least says M. Castil Blaze, who appears to have derived his
-information from the books of the theatre, though according to
-Rousseau's own statement in the _Confessions_, the Opera sent him only
-fifty _louis_, which he declares he never asked for, but which he does
-not pretend to have returned.
-
-Rousseau "confesses," with studied detail, how the music of each piece
-in the _Devin du Village_ occurred to him; how he at one time thought of
-burning the whole affair (a conceit, by the way, which has since been
-rendered common-place by amateur authors in their prefaces); how his
-friends succeeded in persuading him to do nothing of the kind; and how,
-at last, he wrote the drama and sketched out the whole of the music in
-six days, so that when he arrived with his work in Paris, he had nothing
-to add but the recitative and the "_remplissage_" by which he probably
-meant the orchestral parts. In the next page he tells us that he would
-have given anything in the world if he could only have had the _Devin du
-Village_ performed for himself alone, and have listened to it with
-closed doors, as Lulli is reported to have listened to his _Armide_,
-executed for his sole gratification. This pleasure might, perhaps, have
-been enjoyed by Rousseau if he had really composed the music himself,
-for when the Académie produced his second _Devin du Village_, of which
-the music was undoubtedly his own, the public positively refused to
-listen to it, and hissed it until it was withdrawn. If the director had
-persisted in representing the piece the theatre would doubtless have
-been deserted by every one but the composer.
-
-[Sidenote: LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.]
-
-But to return to the original score which, as Rousseau himself informs
-us, wanted nothing when he arrived in Paris except what he calls the
-"_remplissage_" and the recitative. He had intended, he says, to have
-_Le Devin_ performed at the Opera, but M. de Cury, the intendant of the
-Menus Plaisirs, was determined it should first be brought out at the
-Court. A duel was very nearly taking place between the two directors,
-when it was at last decided by Rousseau himself, that Fontainebleau,
-Madame de Pompadour, and La Vaubaličre should have the preference.
-Whether Granet had omitted to write recitative or not, it is a
-remarkable fact that recitative was wanted when the piece came to be
-rehearsed, and that Rousseau allowed Jéliotte, the singer, to supply it.
-This he mentions himself, as also that he was not present at any of the
-rehearsals--for it is at rehearsals above all, that a sham composer
-runs the chance of being detected. It is an easy thing for any man to
-say that he has composed an opera, but it may be difficult for him to
-correct a very simple error made by the copyist in transcribing the
-parts. However, Rousseau admits that he attended no rehearsals except
-the last, and that he did not compose the recitative, which, be it
-observed, the singers required forthwith, and which had to be written
-almost beneath their eyes.
-
-But what was Granet doing in the meanwhile? it will be asked. In the
-meanwhile Granet had died. And Pierre Rousseau and his friend M. de
-Bellissent? Rousseau, of Toulouse, supported by the Conservator of the
-Royal Library, accused Jean Jacques openly of fraud in the columns of
-the _Journal Encyclopédique_. These accusations were repeated on all
-sides, until at last Rousseau undertook to reply to them by composing
-new music to the _Devin du Village_. This new music the Opera refused to
-perform, and with some reason, for it appears (as the reader has seen)
-to have been detestable. It was not executed until after Rousseau's
-death, and at the special request of his widow, when, in the words of
-Grimm, "all the new airs were hooted without the slightest regard for
-the memory of the author."
-
-It is this utter failure of the second edition of the _Devin du Village_
-which convinces me more than anything else that the first was not from
-the hand of Rousseau. But let us not say that he was "_un malhonnęte
-homme_." Probably the conscientious author of the Contrat Social adopted
-the children of others by way of compensation for having sent his own to
-the Enfants Trouvés.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER X.
-
-GLUCK AND PICCINNI IN PARIS.
-
-     Gluck at Vienna.--Iphigenia in Aulis.--A rehearsal at Sophie
-     Arnould's.--Gluck and Vestris.--Piccinni in Italy.--Piccinni in
-     Paris.--The two Iphigenias.--Iphigenia in Champagne.--Madeleine
-     Guimard, Vestris, and the Ballet.
-
-
-Fifteen years before the French Revolution, of which, in the present
-day, every one can trace the gradual approach, the important question
-that occupied the capital of France was not the emancipation of the
-peasants, nor the reorganisation of the judicial system, nor the
-equalisation of the taxes all over the country; it was simply the merit
-of Gluck as compared with Piccinni, and of Piccinni as compared with
-Gluck. Paris was divided into two camps, each of which had its own
-special music. The German master was declared by the partisans of the
-Italian to be severe, unmelodious and heavy: by his own friends he was
-considered profound, full of inspiration and eminently dramatic.
-Piccinni, on the other hand, was accused by his enemies of frivolity and
-insipidity, while his supporters maintained that his melodies touched
-the heart, and that it was not the province of music to appeal to the
-intellect. Fundamentally, the dispute was that which still exists as to
-the superiority of German or Italian music. Severe classicists continue
-to despise modern Italian composers as unintellectual, and the Italians
-still sneer at the music of Germany as the "music of mathematics."
-Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi have been undervalued in succession by the
-critics of Germany, France and England; and although there can be no
-question as to the inferiority of the last to the first-named of these
-composers, Signor Verdi, if he pays any attention to the attacks of
-which he is so constantly the object, can always console himself by
-reflecting that, after all, not half so much has been said against his
-operas as it was once the fashion to say against Rossini's. The
-Italians, on the other hand, can be fairly reproached with this, that,
-to the present day, they have never appreciated _Don Giovanni_. They
-consent to play it in London, Paris and St. Petersburgh because the
-musical public of the capitals know the work and are convinced that
-nothing finer has ever been written; (this is, however, less in Paris
-than in the other two capitals of the Italian Opera), but the singers
-themselves do not in their hearts like Mozart. They are kind enough to
-execute his music, because they are well paid for it, but that is all.
-
-[Sidenote: GERMAN AND ITALIAN MUSIC.]
-
-In the present century, which is above all an age of eclecticism, we
-find the natural descendants of Piccinni going over to the Gluckists,
-while the legitimate inheritors of Gluck abandon their succession to
-adopt the facile forms and sometimes unmeaning if melodious phrases of
-the Piccinnists. Certainly there are no traces of the grand old German
-school in the light popular music of Herr Flotow (who, if not a German,
-is a Germanised Russian); and, on the other hand, Signor Verdi in his
-emphatic moments quite belies his Italian origin; indeed, there are
-passages in several of this composer's operas which may be traced
-directly not to Rossini, but to Meyerbeer.
-
-The history of the quarrels between the Gluckists and Piccinnists has no
-importance in connection with art. These disputes led to no sound
-criticism, nor have the attacks and replies on either side added
-anything to what was already known on the subject of music as applied to
-the expression and illustration of human passion. As for deciding
-between Gluckism and Piccinnism (I say nothing about the men, who
-certainly were not equal in point of genius), that is impossible. It is
-almost a question of organisation. It may be remarked, however, that no
-composer ever began as a Gluckist (so to speak) and ended as a
-Piccinnist, whereas Rossini, in his last and greatest work, approaches
-the German style, and even Donizetti, in his latest and most dramatic
-operas, exhibits somewhat of the same tendency. It will be remembered,
-too, that the great Mozart, and in our own day Meyerbeer, wrote their
-earlier operas in the Italian mode, and abandoned it when they
-recognised its insufficiency for dramatic purposes. Indeed, Gluck's own
-style, as we shall presently see, underwent a similar change. But it
-would be rash to conclude from these instances, that Italians, writing
-in the Italian style, have produced no great dramatic music. Rossini's
-_Otello_ and Bellini's _Norma_ at once suggest themselves as convincing
-proofs of the contrary.
-
-All that remains now of the Gluck _versus_ Piccinni contest is a number
-of anecdotes, which are amusing, as showing the height musical
-enthusiasm and musical prejudice had reached in Paris at an epoch when
-music and the arts generally were about the last things that should have
-occupied the French. But before calling attention to a few of the
-principal incidents in this harmonious civil war, let me sketch the
-early career of each of the great leaders.
-
-Gluck was born, in 1712, of Bohemian parents, so that he was almost
-certainly not of German but of Slavonian origin.[51] Young Gluck learnt
-the scale simultaneously with the alphabet (why should not all children
-be taught to read from music-notes as they are taught to read from
-ordinary typography?) and soon afterwards received lessons on the
-violoncello, which, however, were put a stop to by the death of his
-father.
-
-[Sidenote: CHILDHOOD OF GLUCK.]
-
-Little Christopher was left an orphan at a very early age. Fortunately,
-he had made sufficient progress on the violoncello to obtain an
-engagement with a company of wandering musicians. Thus he contrived to
-exist until the troupe had wandered as far as Vienna, where his talent
-attracted the attention of a few sympathetic and generous men, who
-enabled him to complete his musical education in peace.
-
-After studying harmony and counterpoint, Gluck determined to leave the
-capital of Germany for Italy; for in those days no one was accounted a
-musician who had not derived a certain amount of his inspiration from
-Italian sources. After studying four years under the celebrated Martini,
-he felt that the time had come for him to produce a work of his own. His
-"Artaxerxes" was given at Milan with success, and this opera was
-followed by seven others, which were brought out either at Venice,
-Cremona or Turin. Five years sufficed for Gluck to make an immense name
-in Italy. His reputation even extended to the other countries of Europe
-and the offers he received from the English were sufficiently liberal to
-tempt the rising composer to pay a visit to London. Here, however, he
-had to contend with the genius and celebrity of Handel, compared with
-whom he was as yet but a composer of mediocrity. He returned to Vienna
-not very well pleased with his reception in England, and soon afterwards
-made his appearance once more in Italy, where he produced five other
-works, all of which were successful. Hitherto Gluck's style had been
-quite in accordance with the Italian taste, and the Italians did not
-think of reproaching him with any want of melody. On the contrary, they
-applauded his works, as if they had been signed by one of their most
-esteemed masters. But if the Italians were satisfied with Gluck, Gluck
-was not satisfied with the Italians; and it was not until he had left
-Italy, that he discovered his true vein.
-
-Gluck was forty-six years of age when he brought out his _Alcestis_, the
-first work composed in the style which is now regarded as peculiarly his
-own. _Alcestis_, and _Orpheus_, by which it was followed, created a
-great sensation in Germany, and when the Chevalier Gluck composed a work
-"by command," in honour of the Emperor Joseph's marriage, it was played,
-not perhaps by the greatest artists in Germany, but certainly by the
-most distinguished, for the principal parts were distributed among four
-arch-duchesses and an arch-duke. Where are the dukes and duchesses now
-who could play, not with success, but without disastrous failure, in an
-opera by Gluck?
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AT VIENNA.]
-
-It so happened that at Vienna, attached to the French embassy, lived a
-certain M. du Rollet, who was in the habit of considering himself a
-poet. To him Gluck confided his project of visiting Paris, and composing
-for the French stage. Du Rollet not only encouraged the musician in his
-intentions, but even promised him a libretto of his own writing. The
-libretto was not good--indeed what _libretto_ is?--except, perhaps, some
-of Scribe's _libretti_ for the light operas of Auber. But it must be
-remembered that the _Opéra Comique_ is only a development of the
-vaudeville; and in the entire catalogue of serious operas, with the
-exception of Metastasio's, a few by Romani and Da Ponte's _Don Giovanni_
-(with a Mozart to interpret it), it is not easy to find any which, in a
-literary and poetical sense, are not absurd. However, Du Rollet
-arranged, or disarranged, Racine's _Iphigénie_, to suit the requirements
-of the lyric stage, and handed over "the book" to the Chevalier Gluck.
-
-_Iphigenia in Aulis_ was composed in less than a year; but to write an
-opera is one thing, to get it produced another. At that time the French
-Opera was a close borough, in the hands of half a dozen native
-composers, whose nationality was for the most part their only merit.
-These musicians were not in the habit of positively refusing all chance
-to foreign competitors; but they interposed all sorts of delays between
-the acceptance and the production of their works, and did their best
-generally to prevent their success. However, the Dauphiness Marie
-Antoinette, had undertaken to introduce the great German composer to
-Paris, and she smoothed the way for him so effectually, that soon after
-his arrival in the French capital, _Iphigenia in Aulis_ was accepted,
-and actually put into rehearsal.
-
-Gluck now found a terrible and apparently insurmountable obstacle to his
-success in the ignorance and obstinacy of the orchestra. He was not the
-man to be satisfied with slovenly execution, and many and severe were
-the lessons he had to give the French musicians, in the course of almost
-as many rehearsals as Meyerbeer requires in the present day, before he
-felt justified in announcing his work as ready for representation. The
-young Princess had requested the lieutenant of police to take the
-necessary precautions against disturbances; and she herself, accompanied
-by the Dauphin, the Count and Countess of Provence, the Duchesses of
-Chartres and of Bourbon, and the Princess de Lamballe, entered the
-theatre before the public were admitted. The ministers and all the
-Court, with the exception of the king (Louis XV.) and Madame Du Barry
-were present. Sophie Arnould was the Iphigenia, and is said to have been
-admirable in that character, though the charming Sophie seems to have
-owed most of her success to her acting rather than to her singing.
-
-The first night of _Iphigenia_, Larrivée, who took the part of
-Agamemnon, actually abstained from singing through his nose. This is
-mentioned by the critics and memorialists of the time as something
-incredible, and almost supernatural. It appears that Larrivée, in spite
-of his nasal twang, was considered a very fine singer. The public of the
-pit used to applaud him, but they would also say, when he had just
-finished one of his airs, "That nose has really a magnificent voice!"
-
-[Sidenote: IPHIGENIA IN AULIS.]
-
-The success of _Iphigenia_ was prodigious. Marie Antoinette herself gave
-the signal of the applause, and it mattered little to the courtiers
-whether they understood Gluck's grand, simple music, or not.
-
-All they had to do, and all they did, was to follow the example of the
-Dauphiness.
-
-Never did poet, artist, or musician have a more enthusiastic patroness
-than Marie Antoinette. She not only encouraged Gluck herself, but
-visited with her severe displeasure all who ventured to treat him
-disrespectfully. And it must be remembered that in those days a _Grand
-Seigneur_ paid a great artist, or a great writer, just what amount of
-respect he thought fit. Thus, one _Grand Seigneur_ had Voltaire caned
-(and afterwards from pride or from cowardice refused his challenge),
-while another struck Beaumarchais, and, after insulting him in the court
-of justice over which he presided, summoned him to leave the bench and
-come outside, that he might assassinate him.
-
-The first person with whom Gluck came to an open rupture was the Prince
-d'Hennin, the "Prince of Dwarfs," as he was called. The chevalier, in
-spite of his despotic, unyielding nature, could not help giving way to
-the charming Sophie Arnould, who, with a caprice permitted to her alone,
-insisted on the rehearsals of _Orpheus_ taking place in her own
-apartments. The orchestra was playing, and Sophie Arnould was singing,
-when suddenly the door opened, and in walked the Prince d'Hennin. This
-was not a grand rehearsal, and all the vocalists were seated.
-
-"I believe," said the _Grand Seigneur_, addressing Sophie Arnould in the
-middle of her air, "that it is the custom in France to rise when any
-one enters the room, especially if it be a person of some
-consideration?"
-
-Gluck leaped from his seat with rage, rushed towards the intruder, and
-with his eyes flashing fire, said to him:--
-
-"The custom in Germany, sir, is to rise only for those whom we esteem."
-
-Then turning to Sophie, he added:--
-
-"I perceive, Mademoiselle, that you are not mistress in your own house.
-I leave you, and shall never set foot here again."
-
-When the story was told to Marie Antoinette, she was indignant with the
-Prince, and compelled him to make amends to the chevalier for the insult
-offered to him. The Prince's pride must have suffered terribly; for he
-had to pay a visit to the composer, and to thank him for having assured
-him in the plainest terms, that he looked upon him with great contempt.
-
-This Prince d'Hennin was a favourite butt for the wit of the vivacious
-Count de Lauragais, who, as the reader, perhaps, remembers, was one of
-Sophie Arnould's earliest and most devoted admirers. One day when the
-interesting Sophie was unwell, the Count asked her physician whether it
-was not especially necessary to think of her spirits, and to keep away
-everything that might tend to have a depressing effect upon them.
-
-The doctor answered the Count's sagacious question in the affirmative.
-
-[Sidenote: THE PRINCE D'HENNIN.]
-
-"Above all," continued De Lauragais, "do you not consider it of the
-greatest importance that the Prince d'Hennin should not be allowed to
-visit her?"
-
-The physician admitted that it would be as well she should not see the
-prince; but De Lauragais was not satisfied with this, and he at last
-persuaded the obliging doctor to put his opinion in the form of a direct
-recommendation. In other words, he made him write a prescription for
-Mdlle. Arnould, forbidding her to have any conversation with the Prince
-d'Hennin. This prescription he sent to the prince's house, with a letter
-calling his particular attention to it, and entreating him, for the sake
-of Mdlle. Arnould's health, not to forget the injunction it contained.
-The consequence was a duel, which, however, was attended with no bad
-results, for, in the evening, the insultor and the insulted met at
-Sophie Arnould's house.
-
-It now became the fashion at the Court to attend the rehearsals of
-_Orpheus_, which took place once more in the theatre. On these
-occasions, the doors were besieged long before the performance
-commenced; and numbers of persons were unable to gain admission. To see
-Gluck at a rehearsal was infinitely more interesting than to see him at
-one of the ordinary public representations. The composer had certain
-habits; and from these he would not depart for any one. Thus, on
-entering the orchestra, he would take his coat off to conduct at ease in
-his shirt sleeves. Then he would remove his wig, and replace it by a
-cotton night-cap of the remotest fashion. When the rehearsal was at an
-end, he had no necessity to trouble himself about the articles of dress
-which he had laid aside, for there was a general contest between the
-dukes and princes of the Court as to who should hand them to him.
-_Orpheus_ is said to have been quite as successful as _Iphigenia_. One
-thing, however, which sometimes makes me doubt the completeness of this
-success, in a musical point of view, is the recorded fact, that "_the
-ballet_, especially, was very fine." The _ballet_ is certainly not the
-first thing we think of in _William Tell_, or even in _Robert_. It
-appears that Gluck himself objected positively to the introduction of
-dancing into the opera of _Orpheus_. He held, and with evident reason,
-that it would interfere with the seriousness and pathos of the general
-action, and would, in short, spoil the piece. He was overruled by the
-"_Diou_ de la Danse." What could Gluck's opinion be worth in the eyes of
-Auguste or of Gaetan Vestris, who held that there were only three great
-men in Europe--Voltaire, Frederick of Prussia, and himself. No! the
-dancer was determined to have his "_Chacone_," and he was as obstinate,
-indeed, more obstinate, than Gluck himself.
-
-"Write me the music of a _chacone_, Monsieur Gluck," said the god of
-dancing.
-
-"A chacone!" exclaimed the indignant composer; "Do you think the Greeks,
-whose manners we are endeavouring to depict, knew what a chacone was?"
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND VESTRIS.]
-
-"Did they not!" replied Vestris, astonished at the information; and in a
-tone of compassion, he added, "Then they are much to be pitied."
-
-_Alcestis_, on its first production, did not meet with so much success
-as _Orpheus_ and _Iphigenia_. The piece itself was singularly
-uninteresting; and this was made the pretext for a host of epigrams, of
-which the sting fell, not upon the author, but upon the composer.
-However, after a few representations, _Alcestis_ began to attract the
-public quite as much as the two previous works had done. Gluck's
-detractors were discomfited, and the theatre was filled every evening
-with his admirers. At this juncture, the composer of _Alcestis_ was
-thrown into great distress by the death of his favourite niece. He left
-Paris, and his enemies, who had been unable to vanquish, now resolved to
-replace him.
-
-I have said that Madame Du Barry did not honour the representation of
-Gluck's operas with her presence. It was, in fact, she who headed the
-opposition against him. She was mortified at not having some favourite
-musician of her own to patronize when the Dauphiness had hers, and now
-resolved to send to Italy for Piccinni, in the hope that when Gluck
-returned, he would find himself neglected for the already celebrated
-Italian composer. Baron de Breteuil, the French ambassador at Rome, was
-instructed to offer Piccinni an annual salary of two thousand crowns if
-he would go to Paris, and reside there. The Italian needed no pressing,
-for he was as anxious to visit the French capital as Gluck himself had
-been. Just then, however, Louis XV. died, by which the patroness of the
-German composer, from Dauphiness, became Queen. Madame Du Barry's party
-hesitated about bringing over a composer to whom they fancied Marie
-Antoinette must be as hostile as they themselves were to Gluck. But the
-Marquis Caraccioli, the Neapolitan ambassador at the Court of France,
-had now taken the matter in hand, and from mere excess of patriotism,
-had determined that Piccinni should make his appearance in Paris to
-destroy the reputation of the German at a single blow. As for Marie
-Antoinette, she not only did not think of opposing the Italian, but,
-when he arrived, received him most graciously, and showed him every
-possible kindness. But before introducing Piccinni to our readers as the
-rival of Gluck in Paris, let us take a glance at his previous career in
-his native land.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: NICOLAS PICCINNI.]
-
-Nicolas Piccinni, who was not less than fifty years of age when he left
-Naples, for Paris, with the avowed purpose of outrivalling Gluck, was
-born at Bari, in the Neapolitan territory, in 1728. His father was a
-musician, and apparently an unsuccessful one, for he endeavoured to
-disgust his son with the art he had himself practised, and absolutely
-forbade him to touch any musical instrument. No doubt this injunction of
-the father produced just the contrary of the effect intended. The
-child's natural inclination for music became the more invincible the
-more it was repressed, and little Nicolas contrived, every day, to
-devote a few hours in secret to the study of the harpsichord, the piano
-of that day. He knew nothing of music, but guided by his own instinct,
-learnt something of its mysteries simply by experimenting (for it was
-nothing more) on the instrument which his father had been imprudent
-enough, as he would have said himself, to leave within his reach.
-Gradually he learnt to play such airs as he happened to remember, and,
-probably without being aware himself of the process he was pursuing,
-studied the art of combining notes in a manner agreeable to the ear; in
-other words, he acquired some elementary notions of harmony. And still
-his father flattered himself that little Nicolas cared nothing for
-music, and that nothing could ever make him a musician.
-
-One day, old Piccinni had occasion to visit the Bishop of Bari. He took
-his son with him, but left the little boy in one room while he conversed
-on private business with His Eminence in another. Now it chanced that in
-the room where Nicolas was left there was a magnificent harpsichord, and
-the temptation was really too great for him. Harpsichords were not made
-merely to be looked at, he doubtless thought. He went to the instrument,
-examined it carefully, and struck a note. The tone was superb.
-
-Next he ventured upon a few notes in succession; and, then, how he
-longed to play an entire air!
-
-There was no help for it; he must, at all events, play a few bars with
-both hands. The harpsichord at home was execrable, and this one was
-admirable--made by the Broadwood of harpsichord makers. He began, but,
-carried away by the melody, soon forgot where he was, and what he was
-doing.
-
-The Bishop, and especially Piccinni _pčre_, were thunderstruck. There
-was a roughness and poverty about the accompaniment which showed that
-the young performer was far from having completed his studies in
-harmony; but, at the same time, there was no mistaking the fire, the
-true emotion, which characterised his playing. The father thought of
-going into a violent passion, but the Bishop would not hear of such a
-thing.
-
-"Music is evidently the child's true vocation," said the worthy
-ecclesiastic; "He must be a musician, and one day, perhaps, will be a
-great composer."
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI AT NAPLES.]
-
-The Bishop now would not let old Piccinni rest until he promised to send
-his son to the Conservatory of Music, directed by the celebrated Leo.
-The father was obliged to consent, and Nicolas was sent off to Naples.
-Here he was confided to the care of an inferior professor, who was by no
-means aware of the child's precocious talent. The latter was soon
-disgusted with the routine of the class, and conceived the daring
-project of composing a mass, being at the time scarcely acquainted even
-with the rudiments of composition. He was conscious of the audacity of
-the undertaking, and therefore confided it to no one; but, somehow or
-other, the news got abroad that little Nicolas had composed a grand
-mass, and, before long, Leo himself heard of it.
-
-Then the great professor sent for the little pupil, who arrived
-trembling from head to foot, thinking apparently that for a boy of his
-age to compose a mass was a species of crime.
-
-Leo was grave, but not so severe as the young composer had expected.
-
-"You have written a mass?" he commenced.
-
-"Excuse me, sir, I could not help it;" said the youthful Piccinni.
-
-"Let me see it?"
-
-Nicolas went to his room for the score, and brought it back, together
-with the orchestral parts all carefully copied out.
-
-After casting a rapid glance at the manuscript, Leo went into the
-concert-room, assembled an orchestra, and distributed the orchestral
-parts among the requisite number of executants.
-
-Little Nicolas was in a state of great trepidation, for he saw plainly
-that the professor was laughing at him. It was impossible to run away,
-or he would doubtless have made his escape. Leo advanced towards him,
-handed him the score, and with imperturbable gravity, requested him to
-take his place at the desk in front of the orchestra. Nicolas, with the
-courage of despair, took up his position, and gave the signal to the
-orchestra which the merciless professor had placed under his command.
-After his first emotion had passed away, Nicolas continued to beat time,
-fancying that, after all, what he had composed, though doubtless bad,
-was, perhaps, not ridiculous. The mass was executed from beginning to
-end. As he approached the finale, all the young musician's fears
-returned. He looked at the professor, and saw that he did not seem to be
-in the slightest degree impressed by the performance. What _did_ he,
-what _could_ he think of such a production?
-
-"I pardon you this time," said the terrible _maestro_, when the last
-chord had been struck; "but if ever you do such a thing again I will
-punish you in such a manner that you will remember it as long as you
-live. Instead of studying the principles of your art, you give yourself
-up to all the wildness of your imagination, and when you have tutored
-your ill-regulated ideas into something like shape, you produce what you
-call a mass, and think, no doubt, that you have composed a masterpiece."
-
-Nicolas burst into tears, and then began to tell Leo how he had been
-annoyed by the dry and pedantic instruction of the sub-professor. Leo,
-who, with all his coldness of manner, had a heart, clasped the boy in
-his arms, told him not to be disheartened, but to persevere, for that he
-had real talent; and finally promised that from that moment he himself
-would superintend his studies.
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI AND DURANTE.]
-
-Leo died, and was succeeded by Durante, who used to say of young
-Piccinni, "The others are my pupils, but this one is my son." Twelve
-years after his entrance into the Conservatory the most promising of its
-_alumni_ left it and set about the composition of an opera. As Piccinni
-was introduced by Prince Vintimille, the director of the theatre then
-in vogue was unable to refuse him a hearing; but he represented to His
-Highness the certainty of the young composer's work turning out a
-failure. Piccinni's patron was not wanting in generosity.
-
-"How much can you lose by his opera," he said to the manager, "supposing
-it should be a complete _fiasco_?"
-
-The manager named a sum equivalent to three hundred and twenty pounds.
-
-"There is the money, then," said the prince, handing him at the same
-time a purse. "If the _Donne Dispetose_ (that was the name of Piccinni's
-opera) should prove a failure, you may keep the money, otherwise you can
-return it to me."
-
-Logroscino was the favorite Italian composer of that day, and great was
-the excitement when it was heard that the next new opera to be produced
-was not of his writing. Evidently, his friends had only one course open
-to them. They decided to hiss Logroscino's rival.
-
-But the Florentine public had reckoned without Piccinni's genius. They
-could not hiss a man whose music delighted them, and Piccinni's _Donne
-Dispetose_ threw them into ecstacies. Those who had come to hoot
-remained to applaud. Piccinni's reputation had commenced, and it went on
-increasing until at last his was the most popular name in all musical
-Italy.
-
-Five years afterwards, Piccinni (who in the meanwhile had produced two
-other operas) gave his celebrated _Cecchina_, otherwise _La Buona
-Figliuola_, at Rome. The success of this work, of which the libretto is
-founded on the story of _Pamela_, was almost unprecedented. It was
-played everywhere in Italy, even at the marionette theatres; and still
-there was not sufficient room for the public, who were all dying to see
-it. This little opera filled every playhouse in the Italian peninsula,
-and it had taken Piccinni ten days to write! The celebrated Tonelli,
-who, being an Italian, had naturally heard of its success, happened to
-pass through Rome when it was being played there. He was not by any
-means persuaded that the music was good because the public applauded it;
-but after hearing the melodious opera from beginning to end, he turned
-to his friends and said, in a tone of sincere conviction, "This Piccinni
-is a true inventor!"
-
-Of course the _Cecchina_ was heard of in France. Indeed, it was the
-great reputation achieved by that opera which first rendered the
-Parisians anxious to hear Piccinni, and which inspired Madame Du Barry
-with the hope that in the Neapolitan composer she might find a
-successful rival to the great German musician patronised by Marie
-Antoinette.
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND PICCINNI.]
-
-Piccinni, after accepting the invitation to dispute the prize of
-popularity in Paris with Gluck, resolved to commence a new opera
-forthwith, and had no sooner reached the French capital than he asked
-one of the most distinguished authors of the day to furnish him with a
-_libretto_. Marmontel, to whom the request was made, gave him his
-_Roland_, which was the Roland of Quinault cut down from five acts to
-three. Unfortunately, Piccinni did not understand a word of French.
-Marmontel was therefore obliged to write beneath each French word its
-Italian equivalent, which caused it to be said that he was not only
-Piccinni's poet, but also his dictionary.
-
-Gluck was in Germany when Piccinni arrived, and on hearing of the
-manoeuvres of Madame du Barry and the Marquis Caraccioli to supplant
-him in the favour of the Parisian public, he fell into a violent
-passion, and wrote a furious letter on the subject, which was made
-public. Above all, he was enraged at the Academy having accepted from
-his adversary an opera on the subject of Roland, for he had agreed to
-compose an _Orlando_ for them himself.
-
-"Do you know that the Chevalier is coming back to us with an _Armida_
-and an _Orlando_ in his portfolio?" said the Abbé Arnaud, one of Gluck's
-most fervent admirers.
-
-"But Piccinni is also at work at an _Orlando_?" replied one of the
-Piccinnists.
-
-"So much the better," returned the Abbé, "for then we shall have an
-_Orlando_ and also an _Orlandino_."
-
-Marmontel heard of this _mot_, which caused him to address some
-unpleasant observations to the Abbé the first time he met him in
-society.
-
-But the Abbé was not to be silenced. One night, when Gluck's _Alceste_
-was being played, he happened to occupy the next seat to Marmontel.
-_Alceste_ played by Mademoiselle Lesueur, has, at the end of the second
-act, to exclaim--
-
-"_Il me déchire le coeur._"
-
-"_Ah, Mademoiselle_," said the Academician quite aloud, "_vous me
-déchirez les oreilles._"
-
-"What a fortunate thing for you, Sir," said the Abbé, "if you could get
-new ones."
-
-Of course the two armies had their generals. Among those of the
-Piccinnists were some of the greatest literary men of the
-day--Marmontel, La Harpe, D'Alembert, &c. The only writers on Gluck's
-side were Suard, and the Abbé Arnaud, for Rousseau, much as he admired
-Gluck, cannot be reckoned among his partisans. Suard, who wrote under a
-pseudonym, generally contrived to raise the laugh against his
-adversaries. The Abbé Arnaud, as we have seen, used to defend his
-composer in society, and constituted himself his champion wherever there
-appeared to be the least necessity, or even opportunity, of doing so.
-Volumes upon volumes were written on each side; but of course no one was
-converted.
-
-The Gluckists persisted in saying that Piccinni would never be able to
-compose anything better than concert music.
-
-The Piccinnists, on the other hand, denied that Gluck had the gift of
-melody, though they readily admitted that he had this advantage over his
-adversary--he made a great deal more noise.
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK AND PICCINNI.]
-
-In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Piccinni's _Orlando_, or
-_Orlandino_, as the Abbé Arnaud called it, were not going on favourably.
-The orchestra, which had been subdued by the energetic Gluck, rebelled
-against Piccinni, who was quite in despair at the vast inferiority of
-the French to the Italian musicians.
-
-"Everything goes wrong," he said to Marmontel; "there is nothing to be
-done with them."
-
-Marmontel was then obliged to interfere himself. Profiting by Piccinni's
-forbearance, directors, singers, and musicians were in the habit of
-treating him with the coolest indifference. Once, when Marmontel went to
-rehearsal, he found that none of the principal singers were present, and
-that the opera was to be rehearsed with "doubles." The author of the
-_libretto_ was furious, and said he would never suffer the work of the
-greatest musician in Italy to be left to the execution of "doubles."
-Upon this, Mademoiselle Bourgeois had the audacity to tell the
-Academician that, after all, he was but the double of Quinault, whose
-_Roland_ (as we have seen) he had abridged. One of the chorus singers,
-too, explained, that for his part he was not double at all, and that it
-was a fortunate thing for M. Marmontel's shoulders that such was the
-case.
-
-At last, when all seemed ready, and the day had been fixed for the first
-representation, up came Vestris, the god of dancing, with a request for
-some _ballet_ music. It was for the thin but fascinating Madeleine
-Guimard, who was not in the habit of being refused. Piccinni, without
-delay, set about the music of her _pas_, and produced a gavot, which
-was considered one of the most charming things in the Opera.
-
-When Piccinni started for the theatre, the night of the first
-representation, he took leave of his family as if he had been going to
-execution. His wife and son wept abundantly, and all his friends were in
-a state of despair.
-
-"Come, my children," said Piccinni, at last; "this is unreasonable.
-Remember that we are not among savages. We are living with the politest
-and kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a musician, they
-will, at all events, respect me as a man and a stranger."
-
-Piccinni's success was complete. It was impossible for the Gluckists to
-deny it. Accordingly they said that they had never disputed Piccinni's
-grace, nor his gift of melody, though his talent was spoiled by a
-certain softness and effeminacy, which was observable in all his
-productions.
-
-Marie Antoinette, whom Madame du Barry and her clique had looked upon as
-the natural enemy of Piccinni, because she was the avowed patroness of
-Gluck, astonished both the cabals by sending for the Italian composer
-and appointing him her singing-master. This was, doubtless, a great
-honour for Piccinni, though a very unprofitable one; for he was not only
-not paid for his lessons, but incurred considerable expense in going to
-and from the palace, to say nothing of the costly binding of the operas
-and other music, which he presented to the royal circle.
-
-[Sidenote: PICCINNI'S SUCCESS.]
-
-Beaumarchais had found precisely the same disadvantages attaching to the
-post of Court music-master, when, in his youth, he gave lessons to the
-daughters of Louis XV.
-
-When Berton assumed the management of the Opera, he determined to make
-the rival masters friends, and invited them to a magnificent supper,
-where they were placed side by side. Gluck drank like a man and a
-German, and before the supper was finished, was on thoroughly
-confidential terms with his neighbour.
-
-"The French are very good people," said he to Piccinni, "but they make
-me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they can't sing."
-
-The reconciliation appeared to be quite sincere; but the fact was, the
-quarrel was not between two men, but between two parties. When the
-direction of the Opera passed from the hands of Berton into those of
-Devismes, a project of the latter, for making Piccinni and Gluck compose
-an opera, at the same time, on the same subject, brought their
-respective admirers once more into open collision. "Here," said Devismes
-to Piccinni, "is a libretto on the story of Iphigenia in Tauris. M.
-Gluck will treat the same subject; and the French public will then, for
-the first time, have the pleasure of hearing two operas founded upon the
-same incidents, and introducing the same characters, but composed by two
-masters of entirely different schools."
-
-"But," objected Piccinni, "if Gluck's opera is played first, the public
-will think so much of it that they will not listen to mine."
-
-"To avoid that inconvenience," replied the director, "we will play yours
-first."
-
-"But Gluck will not permit it."
-
-"I give you my word of honour," said Devismes, "that your opera shall be
-put into rehearsal and brought out as soon as it is finished, and before
-Gluck's."
-
-Piccinni went home, and at once set to work.
-
-He had just finished his two first acts when he heard that Gluck had
-come back from Germany with his _Iphigenia in Tauris_ completed.
-However, he had received the director's promise that his Iphigenia
-should be produced first, and, relying upon Devismes's word of honour,
-Piccinni merely resolved to finish his opera as quickly as possible, so
-that the management might not be inconvenienced by having to wait for
-it, now that Gluck's work, which was to come second, was ready for
-production.
-
-Piccinni had not quite completed his _Iphigenia_, when, to his horror,
-he heard that Gluck's was already in rehearsal! He rushed to Devismes,
-reminded him of his promise, reproached him with want of faith, but all
-to no purpose. The director of the Opera declared that he had received a
-"command" to produce Gluck's work immediately, and that he had nothing
-to do but to obey. He was very sorry, was in despair, &c.; but it was
-absolutely necessary to play M. Gluck's opera first.
-
-[Sidenote: THE TWO IPHIGENIAS.]
-
-Piccinni felt that he was lost. He went to his friends, and told them
-the whole affair.
-
-"In the first place," said Guinguenée, the writer, "let me look at the
-poem?" The poem was not merely bad, it was ridiculous. The manager had
-taken advantage of Piccinni's ignorance of the French language to impose
-upon him a _libretto_ full of absurdities and common-places, such as no
-sensible schoolboy would have put his name to. Guinguenée, at Piccinni's
-request, re-wrote the whole piece--greatly, of course, to the annoyance
-of the original author.
-
-In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Gluck's _Iphigenia_ were continued.
-At the first of these, in the scene where _Orestes_, left alone in
-prison, throws himself on a bench saying "L_e calme rentre dans mon
-coeur_," the orchestra hesitated as if struck by the apparent
-contradiction in the accompaniment, which is still of an agitated
-character, though "Orestes" has declared that his heart is calm. "Go
-on!" exclaimed Gluck; "he lies! He has killed his mother!"
-
-The musicians of the Académie had a right, so many at a time, to find
-substitutes to take their places at rehearsals. Not one profited by this
-permission while _Iphigenia_ was being brought out.
-
-The _Iphigenia in Tauris_ is known to be Gluck's masterpiece, and it is
-by that wonderful work and by _Orpheus_ that most persons judge of his
-talent in the present day. Compared with the German's profound, serious,
-and admirably dramatic production, Piccinni's _Iphigenia_ stood but
-little chance. In the first place, it was inferior to it; in the second,
-the public were so delighted with Gluck's opera that they were not
-disposed to give even a fair trial to another written on the same
-subject. However, Piccinni's work was produced, and was listened to with
-attention. An air, sung by _Pylades_ to _Orestes_, was especially
-admired, but on the whole the public seemed to be reserving their
-judgment until the second representation.
-
-The next evening came; but when the curtain drew up, Piccinni
-discovered, to his great alarm, that something had happened to
-Mademoiselle Laguerre, who was entrusted with the principal part.
-_Iphigenia_ was unable to stand upright. She rolled first to one side,
-then to the other; hesitated, stammered, repeated the words, made eyes
-at the pit; in short, Mdlle. Laguerre was intoxicated!
-
-"This is not 'Iphigenia in Tauris,'" said Sophie Arnould; "this is
-'Iphigenia in Champagne.'"
-
-That night, the facetious heroine was sent, by order of the king, to
-sleep at For-l'Evčque, where she was detained two days. A little
-imprisonment appears to have done her good. The evening of her
-re-appearance, Mademoiselle Laguerre, with considerable tact, applied a
-couplet expressive of remorse to her own peculiar situation, and,
-moreover, sang divinely.
-
-[Sidenote: IPHIGENIA IN CHAMPAGNE.]
-
-While the Gluck and Piccinni disputes were at their height, a story is
-told of one amateur, doubtless not without sympathizers, who retired in
-disgust to the country and sang the praises of the birds and their
-gratuitous performances in a poem, which ended as follows:--
-
-    Lŕ n'est point d'art, d'ennui scientifique;
-    Piccinni, Gluck n'ont point noté les airs;
-    Nature seule en dicta la musique,
-    Et Marmontel n'en a pas fait les vers.
-
-The contest between Gluck and Piccinni (or rather between the Gluckists
-and Piccinnists) was brought to an end by the death of the former. An
-attempt was afterwards made to set up Sacchini against Piccinni; but
-Sacchini being, as regards the practice of his art, as much a Piccinnist
-as a Gluckist, this manoeuvre could not be expected to have much
-success.
-
-The French revolution ruined Piccinni, who thereupon retired to Italy.
-Seven years afterwards he returned to France, and, having occasion to
-present a petition to Napoleon, was graciously received by the First
-Consul in the Palace of the Luxembourg.
-
-"Sit down," said Napoleon to Piccinni, who was standing; "a man of your
-merit stands in no one's presence."
-
-Piccinni now retired to Passy; but he was an old man, his health had
-forsaken him, and, in a few months, he died, and was buried in the
-cemetery of the suburb which he had chosen for his retreat.
-
-In the present day, Gluck appears to have vanquished Piccinni, because,
-at long intervals, one of Gluck's grandly constructed operas is
-performed, whereas the music of his former rival is never heard at all.
-But this, by no means, proves that Piccinni's melodies were not
-charming, and that the connoisseurs of the eighteenth century were not
-right in applauding them. The works that endure are not those which
-contain the greatest number of beauties, but those of which the form is
-most perfect. Gluck was a composer of larger conceptions, and of more
-powerful genius than his Italian rival; and it may be said that he built
-up monuments of stone while Piccinni was laying out parterres of
-flowers. But if the flowers were beautiful while they lasted, what does
-it matter to the eighteenth century that they are dead now, when even
-the marble temples of Gluck are antiquated and moss-grown?
-
-I cannot take leave of the Gluck and Piccinni period without saying a
-few words about its principal dancers, foremost among whom stood
-Madeleine Guimard, the thin, the fascinating, the ever young, and the
-two Vestrises--Gaetan, the Julius of that Cćsar-like family, and Auguste
-its Augustus.
-
-One evening when Madeleine Guimard was dancing in _Les fętes de l'hymen
-et de l'amour_, a very heavy cloud fell from the theatrical heavens upon
-one of her beautiful arms, and broke it. A mass was said for
-Mademoiselle Guimard's broken arm in the church of Notre Dame.[52]
-
-[Sidenote: MADELEINE GUIMARD.]
-
-Houdon, the sculptor, moulded Mademoiselle Guimard's foot.
-
-Fragonard, the painter, decorated Mademoiselle Guimard's magnificent,
-luxuriously-furnished hotel. In his mural pictures he made a point of
-introducing the face and figure of the divinity of the place, until at
-last he fell in love with his model, and, presuming so far as to show
-signs of jealousy, was replaced by David--yes Louis David, the fierce
-and virtuous republican!
-
-David, the great painter of the republic and of the empire was, of
-course, at this time, but a very young man. He was, in fact, only a
-student, and Madeleine Guimard, finding that the decoration of her
-"Temple of Terpsichore" (as the _danseuse's_ artistic and voluptuous
-palace was called) did not quite satisfy his aspirations, gave him the
-stipend he was to have received for covering her walls with fantastic
-designs, to continue his studies in the classical style according to his
-own ideas.
-
-This was charity of a really thoughtful and delicate kind. As an
-instance of simple bountiful generosity and kindheartedness, I may
-mention Madeleine Guimard's conduct during the severe winter of 1768,
-when she herself visited all the poor in her neighbourhood, and gave to
-each destitute family enough to live on for a year. Marmontel, deeply
-affected by this beneficence, addressed the celebrated epistle to her
-beginning--
-
-    _"Est il bien vrai, jeune et belle damnée," &c._
-
-"Not yet Magdalen repentant, but already Magdalen charitable," exclaimed
-a preacher in allusion to Madeleine Guimard's good action, (which soon
-became known all over Paris, though the dancer herself had not said a
-word about it); and he added, "the hand which knows so well how to give
-alms will not be rejected by St. Peter when it knocks at the gate of
-Paradise."
-
-Madeleine Guimard, with all her powers of fascination, was not beautiful
-nor even pretty, and she was notoriously thin. Byron used to say of thin
-women, that if they were old, they reminded him of spiders, if young and
-pretty, of dried butterflies. Madeleine Guimard's theatrical friends, of
-course, compared her to a spider. Behind the scenes she was known as
-_L'araignée_. Another of her names was _La squelette des grâces_. Sophie
-Arnould, it will be remembered, called her "a little silk-worm," for the
-sake of the joke about "_la feuille_," and once, when she was dancing
-between two male dancers in a _pas de trois_ representing two satyrs
-fighting for a nymph, an uncivil spectator said of the exhibition that
-it was like "two dogs fighting for a bone."
-
-[Sidenote: MADELINE GUIMARD.]
-
-Madeleine Guimard is said to have preserved her youth and beauty in a
-marvellous manner, besides which, she had such a perfect acquaintance
-with all the mysteries of the toilet, that by the arts of dress and
-adornment alone, she could have made herself look young when she was
-already beginning to grow old. Marie-Antoinette used to consult her
-about her costume and the arrangement of her hair, and once when, for
-insubordination at the theatre, she had been ordered to For-l'Evčque,
-the _danseuse_ is reported to have said to her maid, "never mind,
-Gothon, I have written to the Queen to tell her that I have discovered a
-style of _coiffure_; we shall be free before the evening."
-
-I have not space to describe Mademoiselle Guimard's private theatre,[53]
-nor to speak of her _liaison_ with the Prince de Soubise, nor of her
-elopement with a German prince, whom the Prince de Soubise pursued,
-wounding him and killing three of his servants, nor of her ultimate
-marriage with a humble "professor of graces" at the Conservatory of
-Paris. I must mention, however, that in her decadence Madeleine Guimard
-visited London (a dozen Princes de Soubise would have followed her with
-drawn swords if she had attempted to leave Paris during her prime); and
-that Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the author of the interesting "Musical
-Reminiscences," saw her dance at the King's Theatre in the year 1789.
-This was the year of the taking of the Bastille, when a Parisian artist
-might well have been glad to make a little tour abroad. The dancers who
-had appeared at the beginning of the season had been insufferably bad,
-and the manager was at last compelled to send to Paris for more and
-better performers. Amongst them, says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "came the
-famous Mademoiselle Guimard, then near sixty years old, but still full
-of grace and gentility, and she had never possessed more." Madeleine
-Guimard had ceased to be the rage in Paris for nearly ten years, ("_Vers
-1780_," says M. A. Houssaye, in his "Galerie du Dix-huitičme Sičcle",
-_elle tomba peu ŕ peu dans l'oubli_"), but she was not sixty or even
-fifty years of age when she came to London. M. Castil Blaze, an
-excellent authority in such matters, tells us in his "_Histoire de
-l'Académie Royale de Musique_," that she was born in 1743.
-
-[Sidenote: THE VESTRIS FAMILY.]
-
-By way of contrast to Madeleine Guimard, I may call attention to
-Mademoiselle Théodore, a young, pretty and accomplished _danseuse_, who
-hesitated before she embraced a theatrical career, and actually
-consulted Jean Jacques Rousseau on the subject; who remained virtuous
-even on the boards of the Académie Royale; and who married Dauberval,
-the celebrated dancer, as any respectable _bourgeoise_ (if Dauberval had
-not been a dancer) might have done. Perhaps some aspiring but timid and
-scrupulous Mademoiselle Théodore of the present day would like to know
-what Rousseau thought about the perils of the stage? He replied to the
-letter of the _danseuse_ that he could give her no advice as to her
-conduct if she determined to join the Opera; that in his own quiet path
-he found it difficult to lead a pure irreproachable life: how then
-could he guide her in one which was surrounded with dangers and
-temptations?
-
-Vestris, I mean Vestris the First, the founder of the family, was as
-celebrated as Mademoiselle Guimard for his youthfulness in old age. M.
-Castil Blaze, the historian of the French Opera, saw him fifty-two years
-after his _début_ at the Académie, which took place in 1748, and
-declares that he danced with as much success as ever, going through the
-steps of the minuet "_avec autant de grâce que de noblesse_." Gaetan
-left the stage soon after the triumphant success of his son Auguste, but
-re-appeared and took part in certain special performances in 1795, 1799
-and 1800. On the occasion of the young Vestris's _début_, his father, in
-court dress, sword at side, and hat in hand, appeared with him on the
-stage. After a short but dignified address to the public on the
-importance of the art he professed, and the hopes he had formed of the
-inheritor of his name, he turned to Auguste and said, "Now, my son,
-exhibit your talent to the public! Your father is looking at you!"
-
-The Vestris family, which was very numerous, and very united, always
-went in a body to the opera when Auguste danced, and at other times made
-a point of stopping away. "Auguste is a better dancer than I am," the
-old Vestris would say; "he had Gaetan Vestris for his father, an
-advantage which nature refused me."
-
-"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le dieu de la danse_ (a title
-which he had himself given him) touches the ground from time to time, he
-does so in order not to humiliate his comrades."
-
-This notion appears to have inspired Moore with the lines he addressed
-in London to a celebrated dancer.
-
-                  "---- You'd swear
-    When her delicate feet in the dance twinkle round,
-    That her steps are of light, that her home is the air,
-    And she only _par complaisance_ touches the ground."
-
-[Sidenote: THE VESTRIS FAMILY.]
-
-The Vestrises (whose real name was _Vestri_) came from Florence. Gaetan,
-known as _le beau Vestris_, had three brothers, all dancers, and this
-illustrious family has had representatives for upwards of a century in
-the best theatres of Italy, France and England. The last celebrated
-dancer of the name who appeared in England, was Charles Vestris, whose
-wife was the sister of Ronzi di Begnis. Charles Vestris was Auguste's
-nephew. His father, Auguste's brother, was Stefano Vestris, a stage poet
-of no ability, and Mr. Ebers, in his "Seven Years of the King's
-Theatre,"[54] tells us (giving us therein another proof of the excellent
-_esprit de famille_ which always animated the Vestrises) that when
-Charles Vestris and his wife entered into their annual engagement, "the
-poet was invariably included in the agreement, at a rate of
-remuneration for his services to which his consanguinity to those
-performers was his chief title."
-
-We can form some notion of Auguste Vestris's style from that of Perrot
-(now ballet-master at the St. Petersburgh Opera), who was his favourite
-pupil, and who is certainly by far the most graceful and expressive
-dancer that the opera goers of the present day have seen.
-
-END OF VOL. I.
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY
-
-OF
-
-THE OPERA,
-
-from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.
-
-WITH ANECDOTES
-
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.
-
-BY
-
-SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,
-
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.
-
-
-"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"
-    "WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"
-
-VOL II.
-
-LONDON:
-
-WM. H. ALLEN & CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.
-
-1862.
-
-(_The right of translation and reproduction is reserved._)
-
-LONDON:
-
-LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-
-
-
-
-CONTENTS VOLUME II.
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-                                                                    PAGE
-
-The Opera in England at the end of the Eighteenth and beginning
-of the Nineteenth Century                                              1
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-Opera in France after the departure of Gluck                          34
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-The French Opera before and after the Revolution                      46
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-Opera in Italy, Germany and Russia, during and in connection
-with the Republican and Napoleonic Wars.--Paisiello, Paer,
-Cimarosa, Mozart.--The Marriage of Figaro.--Don Giovanni              86
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-Manners and Customs at the London Opera half a century
-since                                                                121
-
-CHAPTER XVI.
-
-Rossini and his Period                                               140
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-Opera in France under the Consulate, Empire and Restoration          178
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-Donizetti and Bellini                                                226
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-Rossini--Spohr--Beethoven--Weber and Hoffmann                        282
-
-
-
-
-HISTORY OF THE OPERA.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XI.
-
-     THE OPERA IN ENGLAND AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND BEGINNING OF
-     THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
-
-
-Hitherto I have been obliged to trace the origin and progress of the
-Opera in various parts of Europe. At present there is one Opera for all
-the world, that is to say, the same operatic works are performed every
-where, if not,
-
-    "De Paris ŕ Pékin, de Japon jusqu'ŕ Rome,"
-
-at least, in a great many other equally distant cities, and which
-Boileau never heard of; as, for instance, from St. Petersburgh to
-Philadelphia, and from New Orleans to Melbourne. But for the French
-Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, the universality of Opera would
-have been attained long since. The directors of the French Opera, after
-producing the works of Gluck and Piccinni, found it impossible, as we
-shall see in the next chapter, to attract the public by means of the
-ancient _répertoire_, and were obliged to call in the modern Italian
-composers to their aid. An Italian troop was engaged to perform at the
-Académie Royale, alternately with the French company, and the best opera
-buffas of Piccinni, Traetta, Paisiello, and Anfossi were represented,
-first in Italian, and afterwards in French. Sacchini and Salieri were
-engaged to compose operas on French texts specially for the Académie. In
-1787, Salieri's _Tarare_ (libretto by Beaumarchais),[55] was brought out
-with immense success; the same year, the same theatre saw the production
-of Paisiello's _Il re Teodoro_, translated into French; and, also the
-same year, Paisiello's _Marchese di Tulipano_ was played at Versailles,
-by a detachment from the Italian company engaged at our own King's
-Theatre.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AT VERSAILLES.]
-
-This is said to have been the first instance of an Italian troop
-performing alternately in London and in Paris. A proposition had been
-made under the Regency of Philip of Orleans, for the engagement of
-Handel's celebrated company;[56] but, although the agreement was drawn
-up and signed, from various causes, and principally through the jealousy
-of the "Academicians," it was never carried out. The London-Italian
-company of 1787 performed at Versailles, before the Court and a large
-number of aristocratic subscribers, many of whom had been solicited to
-support the enterprise by the queen herself. Storace, the _prima donna
-assoluta_ of the King's Theatre, would not accompany the other singers
-to Paris. Madame Benini, however, the _altra prima donna_ went, and
-delighted the French amateurs. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his interesting
-volume of "Musical Reminiscences," tells us that she "had a voice of
-exquisite sweetness, and a finished taste and neatness in her manner of
-singing; but that she had so little power, that she could not be heard
-to advantage in so large a theatre: her performance in a small one was
-perfect." Among the other vocalists who made the journey from London to
-Paris, were Mengozzi the tenor, who was Madame Benini's husband, and
-Morelli the bass. "The latter had a voice of great power, and good
-quality, and he was a very good actor. Having been running footman to
-Lord Cowper at Florence," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "he could not
-be a great musician." Benini, Mengozzi, and Morelli, again visited Paris
-in 1788, but did not make their appearance there in 1789, the year of
-the taking of the Bastille. The _répertoire_ of these singers included
-operas by Paisiello, Cimarosa, Sarti, and Anfossi, and they were
-particularly successful in Paisiello's _Gli Schiavi per Amore_. When
-this opera was produced in London in 1787 (with Storace, not Benini, in
-the principal female part), it was so much admired that it ran to the
-end of the season without any change. Another Italian company gave
-several series of performances in Paris between 1789 and 1792, and then
-for nine years France was without any Italian Opera at all.
-
-Storace was by birth and parentage, on her mother's side, English; but
-she went early to Italy, "and," says the author from whom I have just
-quoted, "was never heard in this country till her reputation as the
-first buffa of her time was fully established." Her husband was Fisher,
-a violinist (whose portrait has been painted by Reynolds); but she never
-bore his name, and the marriage was rapidly followed by a separation.
-Mrs. Storace settled entirely in England, and after quitting the King's
-Theatre accepted an engagement at Drury Lane. Here English Opera was
-raised to a pitch of excellence previously unknown, thanks to her
-singing, together with that of Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. Bland, Kelly, and
-Bannister. The musical director was Mrs. Storace's brother, Stephen
-Storace, the arranger of the pasticcios entitled the _Haunted Tower_,
-and the _Siege of Belgrade_.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME MARA.]
-
-Madame Mara made her first appearance at the King's Theatre the year
-before Storace's _début_. She had previously sung in London at the
-Pantheon Concerts, and at the second Handel Festival (1785), in
-Westminster Abbey. I have already spoken of this vocalist's
-performances and adventures at the court of Frederick the Great, at
-Vienna, and at Paris, where her worshippers at the Concerts Spirituels
-formed themselves into the sect of "Maratistes," as opposed to that of
-the "Todistes," or believers in Madame Todi.[57]
-
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, during a visit to Paris, heard Madame Mara at one
-of the Concerts Spirituels, in the old theatre of the Tuileries. She had
-just returned from the Handel Commemoration, and sang, among other
-things, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," which was announced in the
-bills as being "Musique de Handel, paroles de _Milton_." "The French,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "had not the taste to like it."
-
-The first opera in which Madame Mara appeared at the King's Theatre was
-_Didone_, a pasticcio, in which four songs of different characters, by
-Sacchini, Piccinni, and two other composers, were introduced. She
-afterwards sang with Miss Cecilia Davies (_L'Inglesina_) in Sacchini's
-_Perseo_.
-
-At this period Handel's operas were already so much out of fashion,
-though esteemed as highly as ever by musicians and by the more venerable
-of connoisseurs, that when _Giulio Cesare_ was revived, with Mara and
-Rubinelli (both of whom sang the music incomparably well), in the
-principal parts, it had no success with the general public; nor were
-any of Handel's operas afterwards performed at the King's Theatre.
-_Giulio Cesare_, in which many of the most favourite songs from Handel's
-other operas ("Verdi prati," "Dove sei," "Rendi sereno il ciglio," and
-others) were interpolated, answered the purpose for which it was
-produced, and attracted George III. two or three times to the theatre.
-Moreover (to quote Lord Mount Edgcumbe's words), "it filled the house,
-by attracting the exclusive lovers of the old style, who held cheap all
-other operatic performances."
-
-[Sidenote: THE PANTHEON.]
-
-In 1789 (the year in which the supposed sexagenarian, Madeleine Guimard,
-"still full of grace and gentility," made her appearance) the King's
-Theatre was burnt to the ground--not without a suspicion of its having
-been maliciously set on fire, which was increased by the suspected
-person soon after committing suicide. Arrangements were made for
-carrying on the Opera at the little theatre in the Haymarket, where Mara
-was engaged as the first woman in serious operas, and Storace in comic.
-The company afterwards moved to the Pantheon, "which," says Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "in its original state was the largest and most beautiful room
-in London, and a very model of fine architecture. It was the
-chef-d'oeuvre of Wyatt, who himself contrived and executed its
-transformation, taking care not to injure any part of the building, and
-so concealing the columns and closing its dome, that it might be easily
-restored after its temporary purpose was answered, it being then in
-contemplation to erect an entirely new and magnificent opera-house
-elsewhere, a project which could never be realised. Mr. Wyatt, by this
-conversion, produced one of the prettiest, and by far the most genteel
-and comfortable theatres I ever saw, of a moderate size and excellent
-shape, and admirably adapted both for seeing and hearing. There the
-regular Opera was successfully carried on, with two very good companies
-and ballets. Pacchierotti, Mara, and Lazzarini, a very pleasing singer
-with a sweet tenor voice, being at the head of the serious; and
-Casentini, a pretty woman and genteel actress, with Lazzarini, for
-tenor, Morelli and Ciprani principal buffos, composing the comic. This
-was the first time that Pacchierotti[58] had met with a good _prima
-donna_ since Madame Lebrun, and his duettos with Mara were the most
-perfect pieces of execution I ever heard. The operas in which they
-performed together were Sacchini's _Rinaldo_ and Bertoni's _Quinto
-Fabio_ revived, and a charming new one by Sarti, called _Idalide_, or
-_La Vergine del Sole_. The best comic were La Molinara, and La bella
-Pescatrice, by Guglielmi. On the whole I never enjoyed the opera so much
-as at this theatre."
-
-The Pantheon enterprise, however, like most operatic speculations in
-England, did not pay, and at the end of the first season (1791) the
-manager had incurred debts to the amount of thirty thousand pounds. In
-the meanwhile the King's Theatre had been rebuilt, but the proprietor,
-now that the Opera was established at the Pantheon, found himself unable
-to obtain a license for dramatic performances, and had to content
-himself with giving concerts at which the principal singer was the
-celebrated David. It was proposed that the new Opera house should take
-the debts of the Pantheon, and with them its operatic license, but the
-offer was not accepted, and in 1792 the Pantheon was destroyed by
-fire--in this case the result, clearly, of accident.
-
-At last the schism which had divided the musical world was put an end
-to, and an arrangement was made for opening the King's Theatre in the
-winter of 1793. There was not time to bring over a new company, but one
-was formed out of the singers already in London, with Mara at their head
-and with Kelly for the tenor.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. MARA.]
-
-Mara was now beginning to decline in voice and in popularity. When she
-was no longer engaged at the Italian Opera, she sang at concerts and for
-a short time at Covent Garden, where she appeared as "Polly" in _The
-Beggars' Opera_. She afterwards sang with the Drury Lane company while
-they performed at the King's Theatre during the rebuilding of their own
-house, which had been pulled down to be succeeded by a much larger one.
-She appeared in an English serious opera, called _Dido_, "in which,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "she retained one song of her _Didone_, the
-brilliant _bravura_, _Son Regina_. It did not greatly succeed, though
-the music was good and well sung. This is not surprising," he adds, "the
-serious opera being ill suited to our stage, and our language to
-recitative. None ever succeeded but Dr. Arne's _Artaxerxes_, which was,
-at first, supported by some Italian singers, Tenducci being the original
-Arbaces." It is noticeable that in the aforesaid English _Dido_ Kelly
-was the tenor, while Mrs. Crouch took the part of first man, which at
-this time in Italy was always given to a sopranist.
-
-Madame Mara's husband, the ex-violinist of the Berlin orchestra, appears
-never to have been a good musician, and always an idle drunkard. His
-wife at last got disgusted with his habits, and probably, also, with his
-performance on the violin,[59] for she went off with a flute-player
-named Florio to Russia, where she lived for many years. When she was
-about seventy she re-appeared in England and gave a concert at the
-King's Theatre, but without any sort of success. Her wonderful powers
-were said to have returned, but when she sang her voice was generally
-compared to a penny trumpet. Madame Mara then returned to Moscow, where
-she suffered greatly by the fire of 1812. She afterwards resided at some
-town in the Baltic provinces, and died there at a very advanced age.
-
-The next great vocalist who visited England after Mara's _début_, was
-Banti. She had commenced life as a street singer; but her fine voice
-having attracted the attention of De Vismes, the director of the
-Académie, he told her to come to him at the Opera, where the future
-_prima donna_, after hearing an air of Sacchini's three times, sang it
-perfectly from beginning to end. De Vismes at once engaged her; and soon
-afterwards she made her first appearance with the most brilliant
-success. Although Banti was now put under the best masters, she was of
-such an indolent, careless disposition, that she never could be got to
-learn even the first elements of music. Nevertheless, she was so happily
-endowed by nature, that it gave her no trouble to perfect herself in the
-most difficult parts; and whatever she sang, she rendered with the most
-charming expression imaginable. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, who does not
-mention the fact of her having sung at the French Opera, says that Banti
-was the most delightful singer he ever heard (though, when she appeared
-at the King's Theatre in 1799, she must have been forty-two years of
-age[60]); and tells us that, "in her, genius supplied the place of
-science; and the most correct ear, with the most exquisite taste,
-enabled her to sing with more effect, more expression, and more apparent
-knowledge of her art, than many much better professors."
-
-[Sidenote: BANTI.]
-
-It is said of Banti, that when she was singing in Paris, though she
-never made the slightest mistake in concerted pieces, she sometimes
-executed her airs after a very strange fashion. For instance: in the
-_allegro_ of a cavatina, after singing the principal motive, and the
-intermediary phrase or "second part," she would, in a fit of absence,
-re-commence the air from the very beginning; go on with it until the
-turning point at the end of the second part; again re-commence and
-continue this proceeding, until at last the conductor warned her that
-next time she had better think of terminating the piece. In the
-meanwhile the public, delighted with Banti's voice, is said to have been
-quite satisfied with this novel mode of performance.
-
-Banti made her _début_ in England in Bianchi's _Semiramide_, in which
-she introduced an air from one of Guglielmi's oratorios, with a violin
-_obbligato_ accompaniment, played first by Cramer, afterward by Viotti,
-Salomon, and Weichsell, the brother of Mrs. Billington. This song was of
-great length, and very fatiguing; but Banti was always encored in it,
-and never omitted to repeat it.
-
-At her benefit in the following year (1800) Banti performed in an opera,
-founded on the _Zenobia_ of Metastasio, by Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the
-author of the interesting "Reminiscences," to which, in the course of
-the present chapter I shall frequently have to refer. The "first man's"
-part was allotted to Roselli, a sopranist, who, however, had to transfer
-it to Viganoni, a tenor. Roselli, whose voice was failing him, soon
-afterwards left the country; and no other male soprano made his
-appearance at the King's Theatre until the arrival of Velluti, who sang
-twenty-five years afterwards in Meyerbeer's _Crociato_.
-
-Banti's favourite operas were Gluck's _Alceste_, in which she was called
-upon to repeat three of her airs every night; the _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_, by the same author; Paisiello's _Elfrida_, and _Nina_ or _La
-Pazza per Amore_; Nasolini's[61] _Mitridate_; and several operas by
-Bianchi, composed expressly for her.
-
-Before Banti's departure from England, she prevailed on Mrs. Billington
-to perform with her on the night of her benefit, leaving to the latter
-the privilege of assuming the principal character in any opera she might
-select. _Merope_ was chosen. Mrs. Billington took the part of the
-heroine, and Banti that of "Polifonte," though written for a tenor
-voice. The curiosity to hear these two celebrated singers in the same
-piece was so great, that the theatre was filled with what we so often
-read of in the newspapers, but so seldom see in actual life,--"an
-overflowing audience;" many ladies being obliged, for want of better
-places, to find seats on the stage.
-
-Banti died at Bologna, in 1806, bequeathing her larynx (of extraordinary
-size) to the town, the municipality of which caused it to be duly
-preserved in a glass bottle. Poor woman! she had by time dissipated the
-whole of her fortune, and had nothing else to leave.
-
-[Sidenote: MRS. BILLINGTON.]
-
-Mrs. Billington, Banti's contemporary, after singing not only in
-England, but at all the best theatres of Italy, left the stage in 1809.
-In 1794, while she was engaged at Naples, at the San Carlo, a violent
-eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place, which the Neapolitans attributed
-to the presence of an English heretic on their stage. Mrs. Billington's
-friends were even alarmed for her personal safety, when, fortunately,
-the eruption ceased, and the audience, relieved of their superstitious
-fears, applauded the admirable vocalist in all liberty and confidence.
-Mrs. Billington was an excellent musician, and before coming out as a
-singer had distinguished herself in early life (when Miss Weichsell) as
-a pianoforte player. She appears to have been but an indifferent
-actress, and, in her singing, to have owed her success less to her
-expression than to her "agility," which is said to have been marvellous.
-Her execution was distinguished by the utmost neatness and precision.
-Her voice was sweet and flexible, but not remarkable for fulness of
-tone, which formed the great beauty of Banti's singing. Mrs. Billington
-appeared with particular success in Bach's _Clemenza di Scipione_, in
-which the part of the heroine had been originally played in England by
-Miss Davies (_L'Inglesina_); Paisiello's _Elfrida_; Winter's _Armida_,
-and _Castore e Polluce_; and Mozart's _Clemenza di Tito_--the first of
-that master's works ever performed in England. At this time, neither the
-_Nozze di Figaro_, nor Mozart's other masterpiece, _Don Giovanni_
-(produced at Prague in 1787), seem to have been at all known either in
-England or in France.
-
-After Banti's departure from England, and while Mrs. Billington was
-still at the King's Theatre, Grassini was engaged to sing alternately
-with the latter vocalist. She made her first appearance in _La Vergine
-del Sole_ an opera by Mayer (the future preceptor of Donizetti), but in
-this work she succeeded more through her acting and her beauty than by
-her singing. Indeed, so equivocal was her reception, that on the
-occasion of her benefit, she felt it desirable to ask Mrs. Billington to
-appear with her. Mrs. Billington consented; and Winter composed an opera
-called _Il Ratto di Proserpina_, specially for the rival singers, Mrs.
-Billington taking the part of "Ceres," and Grassini that of
-"Proserpine." Now the tide of favour suddenly turned, and we are told
-that Grassini's performance gained all the applause; and that "her
-graceful figure, her fine expression of face, together with the sweet
-manner in which she sang several simple airs, stamped her at once the
-reigning favourite." Indeed, not only was Grassini rapturously applauded
-in public, but she was "taken up by the first society, _fęted_,
-caressed, and introduced as a regular guest in most of the fashionable
-assemblies." "Of her _private_ claims to that distinction," adds Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, "it is best to be silent; but her manners and exterior
-behaviour were proper and genteel."
-
-[Sidenote: BRAHAM.]
-
-At this period 1804-5, the tenors at the King's Theatre were Viganoni
-and Braham. Respecting the latter, who, in England, France and Italy, in
-English and in Italian operas, on the stage and in concert rooms, must
-have sung altogether for something like half a century, I must again
-quote the author of "Musical Reminiscences," who heard him in his prime.
-"All must acknowledge," he says, "that his voice is of the finest
-quality, of great power and occasional sweetness. It is equally certain
-that he has great knowledge of music, and _can_ sing extremely well. It
-is therefore the more to be regretted that he should ever do otherwise;
-that he should ever quit the natural register of his voice by raising it
-to an unpleasant falsetto, or force it by too violent exertion; that he
-should depart from a good style, and correct taste, which he knows and
-can follow as well as any man, to adopt at times the over-florid and
-frittered Italian manner; at others, to fall into the coarseness and
-vulgarity of the English. The fact is, that he can be two distinct
-singers, according to the audience before whom he performs, and that to
-gain applause he condescends to sing as ill at the playhouse as he has
-done well at the Opera. His compositions have the same variety, and he
-can equally write a popular noisy song for the one, or its very
-opposite, for the other. A duetto of his, introduced into the opera of
-_Gli Orazj_, sung by himself and Grassini, had great beauty, and was in
-excellent taste. * * * * Braham has done material injury to English
-singing, by producing a host of imitators. What is in itself not good,
-but may be endured from a fine performer, becomes insufferable in bad
-imitation. Catalani has done less mischief, only because her powers are
-_unique_, and her astonishing execution unattainable. Many men endeavour
-to rival Braham, no woman can aspire to being a Catalani."
-
-When both Grassini and Mrs. Billington retired, (1806), the place of
-both was supplied by the celebrated Catalani, the vocal queen of her
-time. She made her first appearance in Portogallo's _Semiramide_, (which
-is said to have been a very inferior opera to Bianchi's, on the same
-subject), and, among other works, had to perform in the _Clemenza di
-Tito_, of Mozart, whose music she is said to have disliked on the ground
-that it kept the singer too much under the control of the orchestra.
-Nevertheless, she introduced the _Nozze di Figaro_ into England, and
-herself played the part of "Susanna" with admirable success.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI.]
-
-"Her voice," says Ferrari (Jacques Godefroi, a pupil of Paisiello), "was
-sonorous, powerful, and full of charm and suavity. This organ, of so
-rare a beauty, might be compared for splendour to the voice of Banti;
-for expression, to that of Grassini; for sweet energy, to that of Pasta;
-uniting the delicious flexibility of Sontag to the three registers of
-Malibran. Madame Catalani had formed her style on that of Pacchierotti,
-Marchesi, Crescentini;[62] her groups, roulades, triplets, and
-_mordenti_, were of admirable perfection; her well articulated
-execution lost nothing of its purity in the most rapid and most
-difficult passages. She animated the singers, the chorus, the orchestra,
-even in the finales and concerted pieces. Her beautiful notes rose above
-and dominated the _ensemble_ of the voices and instruments; nor could
-Beethoven, Rossini or any other musical Lucifer, have covered this
-divine voice with the tumult of the orchestra. Our _virtuosa_ was not a
-profound musician; but, guided by what she did know, and by her
-practised ear, she could learn in a moment the most complicated pieces."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"Her firm, strong, brilliant, voluminous voice was of a most agreeable
-_timbre_," says Castil Blase; "it was an admirable soprano of prodigious
-compass, from _la_ to the upper _sol_, marvellous in point of agility,
-and producing a sensation difficult to describe. Madame Catalani's
-manner of singing left something to desire in the noble, broad,
-sustained style. Mesdames Grassini and Barilli surpassed her on this
-point, but with regard to difficulties of execution and _brio_, Madame
-Catalani could ring out one of her favourite airs and exclaim, _Son
-Regina!_ She was then without a rival. I never heard anything like it.
-She excelled in chromatic passages, ascending and descending, of extreme
-rapidity. Her execution, marvellous in audacity, made talents of the
-first order pale before it, and instrumentalists no longer dared figure
-by her side. When Tulou, however, presented himself, his flute was
-applauded with enthusiasm after Madame Catalani's voice. The experiment
-was a dangerous one, and the victory was only the more brilliant for the
-adventurous young artist. There was no end to the compliments addressed
-to him on his success."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On her way to London, in the summer of 1806, Catalani, whose reputation
-was then at its height, passed through Paris, and sang before the
-Emperor at St. Cloud. Napoleon gave her 5,000 francs for this
-performance, besides a pension of 1,200 francs, and the use of the
-Opera, with all expences paid, for two concerts, of which the receipts
-amounted to 49,000 francs. The French emperor, during his victorious
-career, had acquired the habit of carrying off singers as captives, and
-enrolling them, in spite of themselves, in his musical service. The same
-dictatorial system, however, failed when applied to Catalani.
-
-"Where are you going, that you wish to leave Paris?" said Napoleon.
-
-"To London, Sire," answered the singer.
-
-"You must remain in Paris," replied Napoleon, "you will be well paid and
-your talents will be better appreciated here. You will have a hundred
-thousand francs a year, and two months' leave of absence. That is
-settled. Adieu, Madame."
-
-Catalani went away without daring to say that she did not mean to break
-her engagement with the manager of the King's Theatre. In order to keep
-it she was obliged to embark secretly at Morlaix.
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI.]
-
-I have spoken of this celebrated vocalist's first appearance in London,
-and, having given an Italian and a French account of her singing, I may
-as well complete the description by quoting the remarks made by an
-Englishman, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, on her voice and style of execution.
-
-"It is well known," he says, "that her voice is of a most uncommon
-quality, and capable of exertions almost supernatural. Her throat seems
-endued (as has been remarked by medical men) with a power of expansion
-and muscular motion by no means usual, and when she throws out all her
-voice to the utmost, it has a volume and strength that are quite
-surprising, while its agility in divisions, running up and down the
-scale in semi-tones, and its compass in jumping over two octaves at
-once, are equally astonishing. It were to be wished she was less lavish
-in the display of these wonderful powers, and sought to please more than
-to surprise; but her taste is vicious, her excessive love of ornament
-spoiling every simple air, and her greatest delight (indeed her chief
-merit) being in songs of a bold and spirited character, where much is
-left to her discretion (or indiscretion) without being confined by
-accompaniment, but in which she can indulge in _ad libitum_ passages
-with a luxuriance and redundancy no other singer ever possessed, or if
-possessing, ever practised, and which she carries to a fantastical
-excess. She is fond of singing variations on some known simple air, and
-latterly has pushed this taste to the very height of absurdity, by
-singing, even without words, variations composed for the fiddle."
-
-Allusion is here doubtless made to the _air varié_ by Pierre Rode, the
-violinist, which, from Catalani to Alboni and our own Louisa Pyne, has
-been such a favourite show-piece with all vocalists of brilliant
-executive powers, more especially in England. The vocal variations on
-Rode's air, however, were written in London, specially for Catalani, by
-Drouet the flute-player.
-
-Catalani returned to Paris in October, 1815, when there was no longer
-any chance of Napoleon reproaching her for her abrupt departure nine
-years before. She solicited and obtained the "privilege" of the Italian
-theatre; but here the celebrated system of her husband, M. Valabrčque
-(in which the best possible operatic company consisted only of _ma femme
-et trois ou quatre poupées_) quite broke down. Madame Catalani gave up
-the theatre, with the subvention of 160,000 francs allowed her by the
-government, in 1818, M. Valabrčque having previously enunciated in a
-pamphlet the reasons which led to this abandonment. Great expenses had
-been incurred in fitting up the theatre, and, moreover, the management
-had been forced to pay its rent. The pamphlet concluded with a paragraph
-which was scarcely civil on the part of a foreigner who had been most
-hospitably received, towards a nation situated as France was just then.
-It is sufficiently curious to be quoted.
-
-[Sidenote: M. VALABREQUE.]
-
-"Consider, moreover," said the discomforted director, or rather the
-discomforted husband of the directress, "that in the time when several
-provinces beyond the mountains belonged to France, twenty thousand
-Italians were constantly attracted to the capital and supplied numerous
-audiences for the Italian theatre; that, moreover, the artists who were
-chiefly remarked at the theatres of Milan, Florence, Venice and Genoa,
-could be engaged for Paris by order of the government, and that in such
-a case the administration was reimbursed for a portion of the extra
-engagements."
-
-Catalani had left the King's Theatre in 1813, two years before she
-assumed the management of the Italian Theatre of Paris. With some brief
-intervals she had been singing in London since 1806, and after quitting
-England, she was for many years without appearing on any stage, if we
-except the short period during which she directed the Théâtre Feydau.
-Her terms were so inordinate that managers were naturally afraid of
-them, and Catalani found it more to her advantage to travel about
-Europe, giving concerts at which she was the sole performer of
-importance, than to accept such an engagement as could be offered to her
-at a theatre. She gave several concerts of this kind in England, whither
-she returned twice after she had ceased to appear at the Opera. She is
-said to have obtained more success in England than in any other country,
-and least of all in Italy.
-
-When she appeared at the King's Theatre in 1824, and sang in Mayer's
-_Fanatico per la Musica_, the frequenters of the Opera, who remembered
-her performance in the same work eighteen years before, were surprised
-that so long an interval had produced so little change in the singer.
-The success of the first night was prodigious; but Mr. Ebers (in his
-"Seven Years of the King's Theatre"), tells us that "repetitions of this
-opera, again and again, diminished the audiences most perceptibly,
-though some new air was on each performance introduced, to display the
-power of the Catalani. * * * In this opera the sweet and soothing voice
-of Caradori was an agreeable relief to the bewildering force of the
-great wonder."
-
-In one season of four months in London, Madame Catalani, by her system
-of concerts, gained upwards of ten thousand pounds, and doubled that sum
-during a subsequent tour in the provinces, in Ireland and Scotland. She
-sang for the last time in public at Dublin, in 1828.
-
-[Sidenote: CATALANI'S AGREEMENT]
-
-As to the sort of engagement she approved of, some notion may be formed
-from the following draft of a contract submitted by her to Mr. Ebers in
-1826:----
-
-     "_Conditions between Mr. Ebers and M. P. de Valabrčque._
-
-     "1. Every box and every admission shall be considered as belonging
-     to the management. The free admissions shall be given with paper
-     orders, and differently shaped from the paid tickets. Their number
-     shall be limited. The manager, as well as Madame Catalani, shall
-     each have a good box.
-
-     "2. Madame Catalani shall choose and direct the operas in which she
-     is to sing; she shall likewise have the choice of the performers in
-     them; she will have no orders to receive from any one; she will
-     find all her own dresses.
-
-     "3. Madame Catalani shall have two benefits, to be divided with the
-     manager; Madame Catalani's share shall be free: she will fix her
-     own days.
-
-     "4. Madame Catalani and her husband shall have a right to
-     superintend the receipts.
-
-     "5. Every six weeks Madame Catalani shall receive the payment of
-     her share of the receipts, and of the subscription.
-
-     "6. Madame Catalani shall sing at no other place but the King's
-     Theatre, during the season; in the concerts or oratorios, where she
-     may sing, she will be entitled to no other share but that specified
-     as under.
-
-     "7. During the season, Madame Catalani shall be at liberty to go to
-     Bath, Oxford, or Cambridge.
-
-     "8. Madame Catalani shall not sing oftener than her health will
-     allow her. She promises to contribute to the utmost of her power to
-     the good of the theatre. On his side, Mr. Ebers engages to treat
-     Madame Catalani with every possible care.
-
-     "9. This engagement, and these conditions, will be binding for this
-     season, which will begin and end and continue during all the
-     seasons that the theatre shall be under the management of Mr.
-     Ebers, unless Madame Catalani's health, or state of her voice,
-     should not allow her to continue.
-
-     [Sidenote: CATALANI'S AGREEMENT]
-
-     "10. Madame Catalani, in return for the conditions above mentioned,
-     shall receive the half part of the amount of all the receipts which
-     shall be made in the course of the season, including the
-     subscription to the boxes, the amount of those sold separately, the
-     monies received at the doors of the theatre, and of the
-     concert-room; in short, the said half part of the general receipts
-     of the theatre for the season.
-
-     "11. It is well understood that Madame Catalani's share shall be
-     free from every kind of deduction, it being granted her in lieu of
-     salary. It is likewise well understood, that every expense of the
-     theatre during the season shall be Mr. Ebers'; such as the rent of
-     the theatre, the performers' salaries, the tradespeople's bills; in
-     short, every possible expense; and Madame Catalani shall be
-     entirely exonerated from any one charge.
-
-     "This engagement shall be translated into English, taking care that
-     the conditions shall remain precisely as in the original, and shall
-     be so worded as to stipulate that Madame Catalani, on receiving her
-     share of the receipts of the theatre, shall in no ways whatever be
-     considered as partner of the manager of the establishment.
-
-     "12. The present engagement being made with the full approbation of
-     both parties, Mr. Ebers and M. Valabrčque pledge their word of
-     honour to fulfil it in every one of its parts."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-I must now add that Madame Catalani, by all accounts, possessed an
-excellent disposition, that her private life was irreproachable, and
-that while gaining immense sums, she also gave immense sums away in
-charity. Indeed, the proceeds of her concerts, for the benefit of the
-poor and sick have been estimated at eighty thousand pounds, besides
-which she performed numerous acts of generosity towards individuals. Nor
-does she appear to have possessed that excessive and exclusive
-admiration for Madame Catalani's talent which was certainly entertained
-by her husband, M. Valabrčque. Otherwise there can be no truth in the
-well known story of her giving, by way of homage, the shawl which had
-just been presented to her by the Empress of Russia, to a Moscow
-gipsey--one of those singing _tsigankie_ who execute with such
-originality and true expression their own characteristic melodies.
-
-After having delighted the world for thirty-five years, Madame Catalani
-retired to a charming villa near Florence. The invasion of the cholera
-made her leave this retreat and go to Paris; where, in 1849, in her
-seventieth year, she fell a victim to the very scourge she had hoped to
-avoid.
-
-[Sidenote: CELEBRATED SINGERS.]
-
-As for the husband, Valabrčque, he appears to have been mean, officious,
-conceited (of his wife's talent!) and generally stupid. M. Castil Blaze
-solemnly affirms, that when Madame Catalani was rehearsing at the
-Italian Opera of Paris an air which she was to sing in the evening to a
-pianoforte accompaniment, she found the instrument too high, and told
-Valabrčque to see that it was lowered; upon which (declares M. Blase)
-Valabrčque called for a carpenter and caused the unfortunate piano's
-feet to be amputated!
-
-"Still too high?" cried Madame Catalani's husband, when he was accused
-in the evening of having neglected her orders. "Why, how much did you
-lower it, Charles?" addressing the carpenter.
-
-"Two inches, Sir," was the reply.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The historian of the above anecdote calls Tamburini, Lablache, and
-Tadolini, as well as Rossini and Berryer, the celebrated advocate, to
-witness that the mutilated instrument had afterward four knobs of wood
-glued to its legs by the same Charles who executed in so faithful a
-manner M. Valabrčque's absurd behest. It continued to wear these pattens
-until its existence was terminated in the fire of 1838--in which by the
-way, the composer of _William Tell_, who at that time nominally directed
-the theatre, and who had apartments on the third floor, would inevitably
-have perished had he not left Paris for Italy the day before!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Before concluding this chapter, I will refer once more to the "Musical
-Reminiscences" of Lord Mount Edgcumbe, whose opinions on singers seem
-to me more valuable than those he has expressed about contemporary
-composers, and who had frequent and constant opportunities of hearing
-the five great female vocalists engaged at the King's Theatre, between
-the years 1786 and 1814.
-
-"They may be divided," he says, "into two classes, of which Madame Mara
-and Mrs. Billington form the first; and they were in most respects so
-similar, that the same observations will apply equally to both. Both
-were excellent musicians, thoroughly skilled in their profession; both
-had voices of uncommon sweetness and agility, particularly suited to the
-bravura style, and executed to perfection and with good taste, every
-thing they sung. But neither was an Italian, and consequently both were
-deficient in recitative: neither had much feeling or theatrical talent,
-and they were absolutely null as actresses; therefore they were more
-calculated to give pleasure in the concert-room than on the stage.
-
-The other three, on the contrary, had great and distinguished dramatic
-talents, and seemed born for the theatrical profession. They were all
-likewise but indifferently skilled in music, supplying by genius what
-they wanted in science, and thereby producing the greatest and most
-striking effects on the stage: these are their points of resemblance.
-Their distinctive differences, I should say, were these: Grassini was
-all grace, Catalani all fire, Banti all feeling."
-
-[Sidenote: GUGLIELMI.]
-
-The composers, in whose music the above singers chiefly excelled, were
-Gluck, Piccinni, Guglielmi, Cimarosa, and Paisiello. We have seen that
-"Susanna" in the _Nozze di Figaro_, was one of Catalani's favourite
-parts; but as yet Mozart's music was very little known in England, and
-it was not until 1817 that his _Don Giovanni_ was produced at the King's
-Theatre.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-After Gluck and Piccinni, the most admired composers, and the natural
-successors of the two great rivals in point of time, were Cimarosa and
-Paisiello. Guglielmi was considerably their senior, and on returning to
-Naples in 1777, after having spent fifteen years away from his country,
-in Vienna, and in London, he found that his two younger competitors had
-quite supplanted him in public favour. His works, composed between the
-years 1755 and 1762, had become antiquated, and were no longer
-performed. All this, instead of discouraging the experienced musician
-(Guglielmi was then fifty years of age) only inspired him with fresh
-energy. He found, however, a determined and unscrupulous adversary in
-Paisiello, who filled the theatre with his partisans the night on which
-Guglielmi was to produce his _Serva innamorata_, and occasioned such a
-disturbance, that for some time it was impossible to attend to the
-music.
-
-The noise was especially great at the commencement of a certain
-quintett, on which, it was said, the success of the work depended.
-Guglielmi was celebrated for the ingenuity and beauty of his concerted
-pieces, but there did not seem to be much chance, as affairs stood on
-this particular evening, of his quintett being heard at all.
-Fortunately, while it was being executed, the door of the royal box
-opened, and the king appeared. Instantly the most profound silence
-reigned throughout the theatre, the piece was recommenced, and Guglielmi
-was saved. More than that, the enthusiasm of the audience was raised,
-and went on increasing to such a point, that at the end of the
-performance the composer was taken from his box, and carried home in
-triumph to his hotel.
-
-From this moment Paisiello, with all his jealousy, was obliged to
-discontinue his intrigues against a musician, whom Naples had once more
-adopted. Cimarosa had taken no part in the plot against Guglielmi; but
-he was by no means delighted with Guglielmi's success. Prince San
-Severo, who admired the works of all three, invited them to a
-magnificent banquet where he made them embrace one another, and swear
-eternal friendship.[63] Let us hope that he was not the cause of either
-of them committing perjury.
-
-[Sidenote: FINALES.]
-
-Paisiello seems to have been an intriguer all his life, and to have been
-constantly in dread of rivals; though he probably had less reason to
-fear them than any other composer of the period. However, at the age of
-seventy-five, when he had given up writing altogether, we find him, a
-few months before his death, getting up a cabal against the youthful
-Rossini, who was indeed destined to eclipse him, and to efface even the
-memory of his _Barbiere di Siviglia_, by his own admirable opera on the
-same subject. It is as if, painting on the same canvas, he had simply
-painted out the work of his predecessor.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Cimarosa, though he may have possessed a more dignified sense than
-Paisiello of what was due to himself, had less vanity. A story is told
-of a painter wishing to flatter the composer of _Il Matrimonio
-Segretto_, and saying that he looked upon him as superior to Mozart.
-
-"Superior to Mozart!" exclaimed Cimarosa. "What should you think, Sir,
-of a musician, who told you that you were a greater painter than
-Raphael?"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Among the other composers who adorned the end of the eighteenth and the
-beginning of the nineteenth century, may be mentioned Sacchini, the
-successor of Piccinni in Paris; Salieri, the envious rival of Mozart,
-and (in Paris) the successor of Gluck; Paer, in whose _Camilla_ Rossini
-played the child's part at the age of seven (1799); Mayer, the future
-master of Donizetti; and Zingarelli, the future master of Bellini, one
-of whose operas was founded on the same _libretto_ which afterwards
-served the pupil for his _Capuletti i Montecchi_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Piccinni is not connected in any direct manner with the present day; but
-it is nevertheless to Piccinni that we owe the first idea of those
-magnificent finales which, more than half a century afterwards,
-contributed so much to the success of Rossini's operas, and of which the
-first complete specimens, including several movements with changes of
-key and of rhythm, occur in _La Cecchina ossia la Buona Figliuola_,
-produced at Rome in 1760.
-
-Logroscino, who sometimes passes as the inventor of these finales, and
-who lived a quarter of a century earlier, wrote them only on one theme.
-
-The composer who introduced dramatic finales into serious opera, was
-Paisiello.
-
-It may interest the reader to know, that the finale of _Don Giovanni_
-lasts fifteen minutes.
-
-That of the _Barber of Seville_ lasts twenty-one minutes and a-half.
-
-That of _Otello_ lasts twenty-four minutes.
-
-[Sidenote: FINALES.]
-
-The quintett of _Gazza Ladra_ lasts twenty-seven minutes.
-
-The finale of _Semiramide_ lasts half an hour--or perhaps a minute or
-two less, if we allow for the increased velocity at which quick
-movements are "taken" by the conductors of the present day.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XII.
-
-OPERA IN FRANCE, AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF GLUCK.
-
-
-A few months before Gluck left Paris for the last time, an insurrection
-broke out at the Opera. The revolutionary spirit was abroad in Paris.
-The success of the American War of Independence, the tumultuous meetings
-of the French Parliament, the increasing resistance to authority which
-now manifested itself everywhere in France; all these stimulants to
-revolt seem to have taken effect on the singers and dancers of the
-Académie. The company resolved to carry on the theatre itself, for its
-own benefit, and the director, Devismes, was called upon to abdicate.
-The principal insurgents held what they called "Congress," at the house
-of Madeleine Guimard, and the God of Dancing, Auguste Vestris, declared
-loudly that he was the Washington of the affair.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE GUIMARD.]
-
-Every day some fresh act of insubordination was committed, and the
-chiefs of the plot had to be forced to appear on the stage by the
-direct interference of the police.
-
-"The minister desires me to dance," said Mademoiselle Guimard on one of
-these occasions; "_eh bien qu'il y prenne garde, je pourrais bien le
-faire sauter_."
-
-The influential leader just named conducted the intrigue with great
-skill and discretion.
-
-"One thing, above all!" she said to her fellow conspirators; "no
-combined resignations,--that is what ruined the Parliament."
-
-To the minister, Amelot, the destroyer and reconstructor of the
-Parliament of Dijon, Sophie Arnould observed, in reference to his
-interference with the affairs of the Académie---
-
-"You should remember, that it is easier to compose a parliament than to
-compose an opera."
-
-Auguste Vestris having spoken very insolently to Devismes, the latter
-said to him---
-
-"Do you know, sir, to whom you are speaking?"
-
-"To whom? to the farmer of my talent," replied the dancer.
-
-Things were brought to a crisis by the _fętes_ given to celebrate the
-birth of Marie Antoinette's first child, December, 1778. The city of
-Paris proposed to spend enormous sums in festivities and illuminations;
-but the king and queen benevolently suggested that, instead of being
-wasted in useless display, the money should be given away in marriage
-portions to a hundred deserving young girls; and their majesties gave
-fifty thousand francs themselves for the same object. Losing sight of
-the Opera for the moment, I must relate, in as few words as possible, a
-charming little anecdote that is told of one of the applicants for a
-dowry. Lise was the name of this innocent and _naďve_ young person, who,
-on being asked some question respecting her lover, replied, that she had
-none; and that she thought the municipality provided everything! The
-municipality found the necessary admirer, and could have had no
-difficulty in doing so, if we may judge from the graceful bust of Lise,
-executed in marble by the celebrated sculptor, Houdon.
-
-The Académie, which at this time belonged to the city, determined to
-follow its example, and to give away at least one marriage portion.
-Twelve hundred francs were subscribed and placed in the hands of
-Mademoiselle Guimard, the treasurer elect. The nuptial banquet was to
-take place at the winter Vauxhall (_Gallicč_ "Wauxhall"); and all Paris
-was in a state of eager excitement to be present at what promised to be
-a most brilliant and original entertainment. It was not allowed,
-however, to take place, the authorities choosing to look upon it as a
-parody of the _fęte_ given by the city.
-
-[Sidenote: AUGUSTE VESTRIS.]
-
-The doors of the "Wauxhall" being closed to the subscribers,
-Mademoiselle Guimard invited them to meet at her palace, in the Chaussée
-d'Antin. The municipality again interfered; and in the middle of the
-banquet Vestris and Dauberval were arrested by _lettres de cachet_ and
-taken to For-l'Evčque, on the ground that they had refused to dance the
-Tuesday previous in the _divertissement_ of _Armide_.
-
-Gaetan Vestris was present at the arrest of his son, and excited the
-mirth of the assembly by the pompous, though affectionate, manner in
-which he bade him farewell. After embracing him tenderly, he said--
-
-"Go, Augustus; go to prison. This is the grandest day of your life! Take
-my carriage, and ask for the room of my friend, the King of Poland; and
-live magnificently--charge everything to me."
-
-On another occasion, when Gaetan was not so well pleased with his
-Augustus, he said to him:
-
-"What! the Queen of France does her duty, by requesting you to dance
-before the King of Sweden, and you do not do yours? You shall no longer
-bear my name. I will have no misunderstanding between the house of
-Vestris and the house of Bourbon; they have hitherto always lived on
-good terms."
-
-For his refusal to dance, Augustus was this time sentenced to six
-months' imprisonment; but the opera goers were so eager for his
-re-appearance that he was set free long before the expiration of the
-appointed term.
-
-He made his _rentrée_ amid the groans and hisses of the audience, who
-seemed determined to give him a lesson for his impertinence.
-
-Then Gaetan, magnificently attired, appeared on the stage, and addressed
-the public as follows:--
-
-"You wish my son to go down on his knees. I do not say that he does not
-deserve your displeasure; but remember, that the dancer whom you have so
-often applauded has not studied the _pose_ you now require of him."
-
-"Let him speak; let him endeavour to justify himself," cried a voice
-from the pit.
-
-"He _shall_ speak; he _shall_ justify himself," replied the father. And,
-turning to his son, he added: "Dance, Auguste!"
-
-Auguste danced; and every one in the theatre applauded.
-
-The orchestra took no part in the operatic insurrection; and we have
-seen that the musicians were not invited to contribute anything to the
-dowry, offered by the Académie to virtue in love and in distress. De
-Vismes proposed to reward his instrumentalists by giving up to them a
-third of the receipts from some special representation of Gluck's
-_Iphigénie en Tauride_. The band rejected the offer, as not sufficiently
-liberal, and by refusing to play on the evening in question, made the
-performance a failure.
-
-The Academic revolt was at last put an end to, by the city of Paris
-cancelling de Vismes's lease, and taking upon itself the management of
-the theatre, de Vismes receiving a large sum in compensation, and the
-appointment of director at a fixed salary.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BEAUMARCHAIS AND GLUCK.]
-
-Beaumarchais, while assisting the national revolution with the _Marriage
-of Figaro_, is known to have aided in a more direct manner the
-revolution which was now imminent at the opera. It is said, that he was
-anxious to establish an operatic republic in the hope of being made
-president of it himself. He is known to have been a good musician. I
-have spoken of his having held the honourable, if not lucrative, post of
-music-master to the daughters of Louis XV. (by whom he was as well paid
-as was Piccinni by that monarch's successor);[64] and a better proof of
-his talent is afforded, by his having composed all the music of his
-_Barber of Seville_ and _Marriage of Figaro_, except the air of
-_Malbrook_ in the latter comedy.
-
-Beaumarchais had been much impressed by the genius of Gluck. He met him
-one evening in the _foyer_ of the Opera, and spoke to him so clearly and
-so well about music that the great composer said to him: "You must
-surely be M. de Beaumarchais." They agreed to write an opera together,
-and some years afterwards, when Gluck had left Paris for Vienna, the
-poet sent the composer the _libretto_ of _Tarare_. Gluck wrote to say
-that he was delighted with the work, but that he was now too old to
-undertake the task of setting it to music, and would entrust it to his
-favourite pupil, Salieri.
-
-Gluck benefited French opera in two ways. He endowed the Académie with
-several master-pieces, and moreover, destroyed, or was the main
-instrument in destroying, its old _répertoire_, which after the works of
-Gluck and Piccinni was found intolerable. It was now no longer the
-fashion to exclude foreign composers from the first musical theatre in
-France, and Gluck and Piccinni were followed by Sacchini and Salieri.
-Strange to say, Sacchini, when he first made his appearance at the
-Académie with his _Olympiade_, was deprived of a hearing through the
-jealousy of Gluck, who, on being informed, at Vienna, that the work in
-question was in rehearsal, hurried to Paris and had influence enough to
-get it withdrawn. Worse than this, when the _Olympiade_ was produced at
-the Comédie Italienne, with great success, Gluck and his partisans put a
-stop to the representation by enforcing one of the privileges of the
-Académie, which rendered it illegal for any other theatre to perform
-operas with choruses or with more than seven singers on the stage.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GLUCK.]
-
-No work by Sacchini or Salieri was produced at the Académie until after
-the theatre in the Palais Royal was burnt down, in 1781. In this fire,
-which took place about eighteen months after Gluck had retired from
-Paris, and five months after the production of Piccinni's _Iphigenia in
-Tauris_, the old _répertoire_ would seem to have been consumed, for no
-opera by Lulli was afterwards played in France, and only one by
-Rameau,--_Castor and Pollux_, which, revived in 1791, was not favourably
-received.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-It was in June, 1781, after a representation of Gluck's _Orphée_, that
-the Académie Royale was burnt to the ground. _Coronis_ (music by Rey,
-the conductor of the orchestra) was the last piece of the evening, and
-before it was finished, during the _divertissement_, one of the scenes
-caught fire. Dauberval, the principal dancer, had enough presence of
-mind to order the curtain down at once. The public wanted no more of
-_Coronis_, and went quietly away without calling for the conclusion of
-Rey's opera, and without having the least idea of what was taking place
-behind the curtain. In the meanwhile the fire had spread on the stage
-beyond the possibility of extinction. Singers, dancers, musicians, and
-scene-shifters, rushed in terror from the theatre, and about a dozen
-persons, who were unable to escape, perished in the conflagration.
-Madeleine Guimard was nearly burnt to death in her dressing-room, which
-was surrounded by flames. One of the carpenters, however, penetrated
-into her _loge_, wrapped her up in a counterpane (she was entirely
-undressed), and bore her triumphantly through the fire to a place of
-safety.
-
-"Save my child! save my child!" cried Rey, in despair; and as soon as he
-saw the score of _Coronis_ out of danger he went away, giving the flames
-full permission to burn everything else. All the manuscripts were saved,
-thanks to the courageous exertions of Lefebrvre, the librarian, who
-remained below in the music room even while the stage was burning, until
-the last sheet had been removed.
-
-"The Opera is burnt down," said a Parisian to a Parisian the next
-morning.
-
-"So much the better," was the reply. "It had been there such a time!"
-
-This remark was ingenious but not true, for the Académie Royale de
-Musique had only been standing eighteen years. It was burnt down before,
-in 1768, on which occasion Voltaire, in a letter to M. d'Argental, wrote
-as follows: "_on dit que ce spectacle était si mauvais qu'il fallait tôt
-ou tard que la vengeance divine éclatât_." The theatre destroyed by fire
-in 1763[65] was in the Palais Royal, and it was reconstructed on the
-same spot. After the fire of 1781, the Porte St. Martin theatre was
-built, and the Opera was carried on there ten years, after which it was
-removed to the opera-house in the Rue Richelieu, which was pulled down
-after the assassination of the Duc de Berri. But we are advancing beyond
-the limits of the present chapter.
-
-[Sidenote: THE NEW OPERA HOUSE.]
-
-The new Opera House was built in eighty-six days. The members of the
-company received orders not to leave Paris, and during the interval
-were paid their salaries regularly as if for performing. The work began
-on the 2nd of August, and was finished on the 27th of October. Lenoir,
-the architect, had told Marie Antoinette that the theatre could be
-completed in time for the first performance to take place on the 30th of
-October.
-
-"Say the 31st," replied the queen; "and if on that day I receive the key
-of my box, I promise you the Order of St. Michael in exchange."
-
-The key was sent to her majesty on the 26th, who not only decorated
-Lenoir with the _cordon_ of St. Michael, but also conferred on him a
-pension of six thousand francs; and on the 27th the theatre was opened
-to the public.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1784, Sacchini's _Chimčne_, adapted from _Il Gran Cid_, an opera he
-had written for the King's Theatre in 1778, was produced at the Académie
-with great success. The principal part in this work was sustained by
-Huberti, a singer much admired by Piccinni, who wrote some airs in the
-_cantabile_ style specially for her, and said that, without her, his
-opera of _Dido_, in which she played the principal part, was "without
-Dido." M. Castil Blaze tells us that she was the first true singer who
-appeared at the Académie. Grimm declares, that she sang like Todi and
-acted like Clairon. Finally, when Madame de Saint Huberti was performing
-at Strasburgh, in 1787, a young officer of artillery, named Napoleon
-Bonaparte, addressed the following witty and complimentary verses to
-her:--
-
-    "Romains qui vous vantez d'une illustre origine
-     Voyez d'oů dépendait votre empire naissant:
-     Didon n'eut pas de charme assez puissant
-     Pour arręter la fuite oů son amant s'obstine;
-     Mais si l'autre Didon, ornement de ces lieux,
-       Eűt été reine de Carthage,
-     Il eűt, pour la servir, abandonné ces dieux,
-     Et votre beau pays serait encore sauvage."
-
-Sacchini's first opera, _OEdipe ŕ Colosse_, was not produced at the
-Académie until 1787, a few months after his death. It was now no
-question, of whether he was a worthy successor of Gluck or a formidable
-opponent to Piccinni. His opera was admired for itself, and the public
-applauded it with genuine enthusiasm.
-
-[Sidenote: SALIERI.]
-
-In the meanwhile, Salieri, the direct inheritor of Gluck's mantle (as
-far as that poetic garment could be transferred by the mere will of the
-original possessor) had brought out his _Danaides_--announced at first
-as the work of Gluck himself and composed under his auspices. Salieri
-had also set _Tarare_ to music. "This is the first _libretto_ of modern
-times," says M. Castil Blaze, "in which the author has ventured to join
-buffoonery to tragedy--a happy alliance, which permits the musician to
-vary his colours and display all the resources of genius and art." The
-routine-lovers of the French Académie, the pedants, the blunderers,
-were indignant with the new work; and its author entrusted Figaro with
-the task of defending it.
-
-"Either you must write nothing interesting," said Figaro, "or fools will
-run you down."
-
-The same author then notices, as a remarkable coincidence, that
-"Beaumarchais and Da Ponte, at four hundred leagues distance from one
-another, invented, at the same time, the class of opera since known as
-"romantic." Beaumarchais's _Tarare_ had been intended for Gluck; Da
-Ponte's _Don Giovanni_, as every one knows, found its true composer in
-Mozart.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIII.
-
-THE FRENCH OPERA BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION.
-
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA DURING THE CONVENTION.]
-
-A complete history of the French Opera would include something like a
-history of French society, if not of France generally. It would, at
-least, show the effect of the great political changes which the country
-has undergone, and would remind us here and there of her celebrated
-victories, and occasionally even of her reverses. Under the despotism,
-we have seen how a simple _lettre de cachet_ sufficed to condemn an
-_abbé_ with a good voice, or a young girl with a pretty face, to the
-Opera, just as a person obnoxious to the state or to any very
-influential personage was sent to the Bastille. During the Regency, half
-the audience at the Opera went there drunk; and almost until the period
-of the Revolution the _abbés_, the _mousquetaires_, and the _grands
-seigneurs_, quarrelled, fought, and behaved in many respects as if the
-theatre were, not their own private house, but their own particular
-tap-room. Music profited by the Revolution, in so far that the
-privileges of the Académie were abolished, and, as a natural
-consequence, a number of new musical works produced at a variety of
-theatres which would otherwise never have seen the light; but the
-position of singers and dancers was by no means a pleasant one under the
-Convention, and the tyranny of the republican chiefs was far more
-oppressive, and of a more brutal kind, than any that had been exercised
-at the Académie in the days of the monarchy. The disobedient daughters,
-whose admirers got them "inscribed" on the books of the Opera so as to
-free them from parental control, would, under another system, have run
-away from home. No one, in practice, was injured very much by the
-regulation, scandalous and immoral as it undoubtedly was; for, before
-the name was put down, all the harm, in most cases, was already done.
-Sophie Arnould, it is true, is said to have been registered at the Opera
-without the consent of her mother, and, what seems very
-extraordinary--not at the suggestion of a lover; but Madame Arnould was
-quite reconciled to her daughter's being upon the stage before she
-eloped with the Count de Lauragais. To put the case briefly: the
-_académiciens_ (and above all, the _académiciennes_) in the immoral
-atmosphere of the court, were fęted, flattered, and grew rich, though,
-owing to their boundless extravagance, they often died poor: whereas,
-during the republic, they met with neither sympathy nor respect, and in
-the worst days of the Convention lived, in a more literal sense than
-would be readily imagined, almost beneath the shadow of the guillotine.
-
-In favour of the old French society, when it was at its very worst, that
-is to say, during the reign of Louis XV., it may be mentioned that the
-king's mistresses did not venture to brave general opinion, so far as to
-present themselves publicly at the Opera. Madame Dubarry announced more
-than once that she intended to visit the Académie, and went so far as to
-take boxes for herself and suite, but at the last moment her courage (if
-courage and not shamelessness be the proper word) failed her, and she
-stayed away. On the other hand, towards the end of this reign, the
-licentiousness of the court had become so great, that brevets,
-conferring the rights and privileges of married ladies on ladies
-unmarried, were introduced. Any young girl who held a "_brevet de dame_"
-could present herself at the Opera, which etiquette would otherwise have
-rendered impossible. "The number of these brevets," says _Bachaumont_,
-"increased prodigiously under Louis XVI., and very young persons have
-been known to obtain them. Freed thus from the modesty, simplicity, and
-retirement of the virginal state, they give themselves up with impunity
-to all sorts of scandals. * * * Such disorder has opened the eyes of the
-government; and this prince, the friend of decency and morality, has at
-last shown himself very particular on the subject. It is now only by the
-greatest favour that one of these brevets can be obtained."[66]
-
-[Sidenote: OPERATIC AND RELIGIOUS FETES.]
-
-No _brevets_ were required of the fishwomen and charcoal men of Paris,
-who, on certain fętes, such as the Sovereign's birth day, were always
-present at the gratuitous performances given at the Opera. On these
-occasions the balcony was always reserved for them, the _charbonniers_
-being placed on the king's side, the _poissardes_ on the queen's. At the
-close of the representation the performers invited their favoured guests
-on to the stage, the orchestra played the airs from some popular ballet,
-and a grand ball took place, in which the _charbonniers_ chose their
-partners from among the operatic _danseuses_, while the _poissardes_
-gave their hands to Vestris, Dauberval, &c.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-During Passion week and Easter, the Opera was shut, but the great
-operatic vocalists could be heard elsewhere, either at the Jesuits'
-church or at the Abbaye of Longchamp, to which latter establishment it
-is generally imagined that the Parisian public used to be attracted by
-the singing of the nuns. What is far more extraordinary is, that the
-Parisians always laboured under that delusion themselves. "The
-Parisians," says M. Castil Blaze, in his "History of the Grand Opera,"
-"always such fine connoisseurs in music, never penetrated the mystery of
-this incognito. The railing and the green curtain, behind which the
-voices were concealed, sufficed to render the singers unrecognisable to
-the _dilettanti_ who heard them constantly at the opera."
-
-Adjoining the Jesuits' church was a theatre, also belonging to the
-Jesuits, for which, between the years 1659 and 1761, eighty pieces of
-various kinds, including tragedies, operas and ballets, were written.
-Some of these productions were in Latin, some in French, some in Latin
-and French together. The _virtuosi_ of the Académie used to perform in
-them and afterwards proceed to the church to sing motets. "This church
-is so much the church of the Opera," says Freneuse, "that those who do
-not go to one console themselves by attending vespers at the other,
-where they find the same thing at less cost." He adds, that "an actor
-newly engaged, would not think himself fully recognised unless asked to
-sing for the Jesuits." As for the actresses, "in their honor the price
-which would be given at the door of the opera is given for a chair in
-the church. People look out for Urgande, Arcabonne, Armide, and applaud
-them. (I have seen them applaud la Moreau and la Chérat, at the midnight
-mass.) These performances replace those which are suspended at the
-opera."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BEHIND THE SCENES.]
-
-There would be no end to this chapter (and many persons would think it
-better not written) if I were to enter into details on the subject of
-the relations between the singers and dancers of the Académie, and the
-Grands Seigneurs of the period. I may observe, however, that the latter
-appear to have been far more generous, without being more vicious, and
-that they seem to have lived in better taste than their modern
-imitators, who usually ruin themselves by means of race-horses, or, in
-France, on the Stock Exchange. The Count de Lauragais paid an immense
-sum to the directors of the Académie, to compensate them for abolishing
-the seats on the stage (probably impertinent visitors used to annoy him
-by staring at Sophie Arnould); the Duke de Bouillon spent nine hundred
-thousand livres on Mademoiselle la Guerre (Gluck's _Iphigénie_); the
-Prince de Soubise nearly as much on Mademoiselle Guimard--who at least
-gave a portion of it away in charity, and who, as we have seen, was an
-intelligent patroness of David, the painter.
-
-When the Prince de Guéméné became insolvent, the Prince de Soubise, his
-father-in-law, ceased to attend the Opera. There were three thousand
-creditors, and the debts amounted to forty million livres. The heads of
-the family felt called upon to make a sacrifice, and the Prince de
-Soubise was no longer in a position to give _petits soupers_ to his
-_protégées_ at the Académie. Under these circumstances, the "ladies of
-the _ballet_" assembled in the dressing-room of Mademoiselle Guimard,
-their chief, and prepared the following touching, and really very
-becoming letter, to their embarrassed patron:--
-
-     "Monseigneur,
-
-     "Accustomed to see you amongst us at the representations at the
-     Lyrical Theatre, we have observed with the most bitter regret that
-     you not only tear yourself away from the pleasures of the
-     performance, but also that none of us are now invited to the little
-     suppers you used so frequently to give, in which we had turn by
-     turn the happiness of interesting you. Report has only too well
-     informed us of the cause of your seclusion, and of your just grief.
-     Hitherto we have feared to importune you, allowing sensibility to
-     give way to respect. We should not dare, even now, to break
-     silence, without the pressing motive to which our delicacy is
-     unable any longer to resist.
-
-     "We had flattered ourselves, Monseigneur, that the Prince de
-     Guéméné's bankruptcy, to employ an expression which is re-echoed in
-     the _foyers_, the clubs, the newspapers of France, and all Europe,
-     would not be so considerable, so enormous, as was announced; and,
-     above all, that the wise precautions taken by the King to assure
-     the claimants the amount of their debts, and to avoid expenses and
-     depredations more fatal even than the insolvency itself, would not
-     disappoint the general expectation. But affairs are doubtless in
-     such disorder, that there is now no hope. We judge of it by the
-     generous sacrifices to which the heads of your illustrious house,
-     following your example, have resigned themselves. We should think
-     ourselves guilty of ingratitude, Monseigneur, if we were not to
-     imitate you in seconding your humanity, and if we were not to
-     return you the pensions which your munificence has lavished upon
-     us. Apply these revenues, Monseigneur, to the consolation of so
-     many retired officers, so many poor men of letters, so many
-     unfortunate servants whom M. le Prince de Guéméné drags into ruin
-     with him.
-
-     "As for us, we have other resources: and we shall have lost
-     nothing, Monseigneur, if we preserve your esteem. We shall even
-     have gained, if, by refusing your gifts now, we force our
-     detractors to agree that we were not unworthy of them. "We are,
-     with profound respect,
-
-     "Monseigneur,
-
-     "Your most Serene Highness's very humble and
-
-     "devoted Servants,
-
-     "GUIMARD, HEINEL," &c.
-
-     With twenty other names.
-
-[Sidenote: GENEROSITY OF THE BALLET.]
-
-Auguste Vestris spent and owed a great deal of money; the father
-honoured the engagements of the young dancer, but threatened him with
-imprisonment if he did not alter his conduct, and concluded by
-saying:--"Understand, Sir, that I will have no Guéméné in _my_ family."
-
-Although ballet dancers were important persons in those days, they were
-as nothing compared to the institution to which they belonged. Figaro,
-in his celebrated soliloquy, observes, with reference to the great
-liberty of the press accorded by the government, that provided he does
-not speak of a great many very different things, among which the Opera
-is included, he is at liberty to publish whatever he likes "under the
-inspection of three or four censors." Beaumarchais was more serious
-than would be generally supposed, in including the Opera among the
-subjects which a writer dared not touch upon, or, if so, only with the
-greatest respect. Rousseau tells us in more than one place, that it was
-considered dangerous to say anything against the Opera; and Mademoiselle
-Théodore (the interesting _danseuse_ before-mentioned, who consulted the
-fantastic moralist on the conduct she ought to pursue as a member of the
-ballet), was actually imprisoned, and exiled from Paris for eighteen
-days, because she had ventured to ridicule the management of the
-Académie, in some letters addressed to a private friend. The author of
-the _Nouvelle Héloise_ should have warned her to be more careful.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND REVOLUTION.]
-
-On the 12th July, 1789, the bills were torn down from the doors of the
-Opera. The Parisians were about to take the Bastille. Having taken it,
-they allowed the Académie to continue its performance, and it re-opened
-on the 21st of the same month. In Warsaw, during the "demonstrations" of
-last March, the Opera was closed. It remains closed now[67] (end of
-November), and will re-open--neither Russians nor Poles can say when! No
-one tears the bills down, because no one thinks of putting them up; it
-being perfectly understood by the administration, (which is a department
-of the Government), that the Warsaw public are not disposed at present
-for amusement of any kind.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1789, the revolutionary spirit manifested itself among the company
-engaged at the French Opera. An anonymous letter--or rather a letter in
-the name of all the company, printed, but not signed--was addressed to
-the administration of the theatre. It pointed out a number of abuses,
-and bore this epigraph, strongly redolent of the period: "_Tu dors
-Brutus, et Rome est dans les fers!_"
-
-In 1790 the city of Paris assumed once more the management of the
-Académie, the artistic direction being entrusted to a committee composed
-of the chiefs of the various departments, and of the principal singers
-and dancers. One of the novelties produced was a "melodrama founded on
-passages from the Scriptures," called "The Taking of the Bastille,"
-written specially for Notre Dame, where it was performed for the first
-time, and where it was followed by a grand _Te Deum_. In this _Te Deum_
-few of the lovers of the Opera could have joined, for one of the first
-effects of the revolution was naturally to drive the best singers and
-dancers away from Paris. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that Mademoiselle
-Guimard was dancing in London in 1789. Madame Huberti, who was, by all
-accounts, the best singer the French had ever heard at the Académie,
-left Paris early in 1790.
-
-We know how injurious a distant war, a dissolution of parliament, a
-death in the royal family are to the fortunes of an operatic season in
-London. Fancy what must have been the effect of the French revolution on
-the Académie after 1789! The subscription list for boxes showed, in a
-few years, a diminution of from 475,000 _livres_ to 000,000! Some of the
-subscribers had gone into exile, more or less voluntary, some had been
-banished, others had been guillotined. M. Castil Blaze, from whose
-interesting works I have obtained a great number of particulars
-concerning the French Opera at the time of the revolution, tells us that
-the Queen used to pay 7,000 livres for her box. The Duke d'Orléans paid
-7,000 for his own private box, and joined the Duke de Choiseul and
-Necker in a subscription of 3,200 francs for another. The Princess de
-Lamballe and Madame de Genlis gave 3,600 francs for a "post chaise;"
-(there were other boxes, called "spittoons"--the _baignoires_ of the
-present day--"cymbals," &c.; names which they evidently owed to their
-position and form). On the other hand, there were 288 free admissions,
-of which, thirty-two were given to authors, and eight to newspapers--_La
-Gazette de France_, _Le Journal de Paris_, and _Le Mercure_. The
-remaining 248 were reserved for the Hôtel de Ville, the King's
-Household, the actors of the Comédie Française, and the singers and
-dancers of the Opera itself.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA AND REVOLUTION.]
-
-The howling of the _ça ira_ put an end for ever to the Concert
-Spirituel, where the Parisians for nearly eighty years had been in the
-habit of hearing excellent instrumental soloists, and some of the best
-of the Italian singers, when there was as yet no Italian Opera in Paris.
-The last _concert spirituel_ took place at the theatre of the Tuileries
-in 1791.
-
-Louis XVI. and his family fled from Paris on the 28th June, 1791. The
-next day, and before the king was brought back to the Tuileries, the
-title of the chief lyric theatre was changed, and from the "Académie
-_Royale_" became simply the "Opera." At the same time the custom was
-introduced of announcing the performers' names, which was evidently an
-advantage for the public, and which was also not without its benefit,
-for the inferior singers and dancers who, when they unexpectedly made
-their appearance to replace their betters, used often to get hissed in a
-manner which their own simple want of merit scarcely justified. "_Est ce
-que je savais qu'on lŕcherait le Ponthieu?_" exclaimed an unhappy
-ticket-seller one evening, when an indignant amateur rushed out of the
-theatre and began to cane the recipient of his ill-spent money. We may
-fancy how Ponthieu himself must have been received inside the house.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: MARIE ANTOINETTE.]
-
-By an order of the Committee of Public Safety, dated the 16th of the
-September following, the title of the Opera was again changed to
-_Académie Royale de Musique_. This was intended as a compliment to the
-king, who had signed the Constitution on the 14th, and who was to go to
-the Opera six days afterwards. On the 20th the royal visit took place.
-"_Castor and Pollux_ was played," says M. Castil Blaze, "and not
-_Iphigénie en Aulide_, as is asserted by some ill-informed historians,
-who even go so far as to pretend that the chorus _Chantons, célébrons
-notre reine_ was, as on another occasion, hailed with transports of
-enthusiasm, and that the public called for it a second time. The house
-was well filled, but not crammed[68] (_comble_), as is proved by the
-amount of the receipts--6,686 livres, 15 sous. The same opera of
-Rameau's, vamped by Candeille, had produced 6,857 livres on the 14th of
-the preceding June. The representation of _Castor and Pollux_ in
-presence of the royal family took place on Tuesday the 20th September,
-and not on the 21st, the Wednesday, at that time, not being an opera
-night. On the 19th, Monday, the people had assisted at a _special
-performance_ of the same work given, gratuitously, in honour of the
-Constitution. The Royalists were present in great numbers at the
-representation of the 20th September, and some lines which could be
-applied to the Queen were loudly applauded. Marie-Antoinette was
-delighted, and said to the ladies who accompanied her, "You see that the
-people is really good, and wishes only to love us." Encouraged by so
-flattering a reception, she determined to go the next night to the
-Opéra Comique, but the king refused to accompany her. The piece
-performed was _Les Evénements imprévus_. In the duet of the second act,
-before singing the words "_Ah comme j'aime ma maitresse_" Madame Dugazon
-looked towards the Queen, when a number of voices cried out from the
-pit, _Plus de maitresse! Plus de maitre! Vive la liberté!_ This cry was
-answered from the boxes with _Vive la reine! Vive le roi!_ Sabres and
-sword-sticks were drawn, and a battle began.
-
-[Sidenote: FACTS AND COINCIDENCES.]
-
-The Queen escaped from the theatre in the midst of the tumult. Cries of
-_ŕ bas la reine!_ followed her to her carriage, which went off at a
-gallop, with mud and stones thrown after it. Marie Antoinette returned
-to the Tuileries in despair. On the first of October, fourteen days
-afterwards, the title of _Opéra National_ was substituted for that of
-_Académie Royale de Musique_. The Constitution being signed, there was
-no longer any reason for being civil to Louis XVI. This was the third
-change of title in less than four months. The majority of the buffoons,
-(M. Castil Blaze still speaks), "who now write histories more or less
-Girondist, or romantic of the French Revolution, do not take the trouble
-to verify their facts and dates. I have told you simply that the
-dauphiness Marie Antoinette made her first appearance at the Opera on
-the 16th June, 1773, in company with her husband. Others, more ingenious
-no doubt, substitute the 21st January for the 16th June, in order to
-establish a sort of fatality by connecting days, months and years. To
-prophecy after the event is only too easy, above all, if you take the
-liberty of advancing by five months, the day which it is desired to
-render fatal. These same buffoons, (says M. Castil Blaze), who now go to
-the Opera on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sometimes on Sunday, think
-people have done the same for the last two centuries. As they have not
-the slightest suspicion that the evenings of performance at the Académie
-Royale were changed in 1817, we find them maundering, paddling,
-splashing about, and finally altering figures and days, in order to make
-the events of the last century accord with the dates of our own epoch.
-That is why we are told that the Royal Family went for the last time to
-this theatre on Wednesday, the 21st September, 1791, instead of Tuesday,
-the 20th. Indeed how is it possible to go to the Opera on a Tuesday?
-That is why it is stated with the most laughable aplomb, that on the
-21st October, 1793, _Roland_ was performed, and on the 16th of October
-following, the _Siege of Thionville_, the _Offering to Liberty_, and the
-ballet of _Telemachus_. Each of these history-writing novelists fills or
-empties the house according to his political opinions; applauds the
-French people or deplores its blindness; but all the liberalism or
-sentiment manufactured by them is thrown away. Monday, the 21st of
-January, Wednesday the 16th of October, 1793, not being opera nights at
-that time, the Opera did not on those evenings throw open its doors to
-the public. On Tuesday, the 22nd of January, the day after the death of
-Louie XVI., _Roland_ was represented; the amount of the receipts, 492
-livres, 8 sous, proves that the house was empty. No free admissions were
-given then. On Tuesday, October the 15th, 1793, the eve of the execution
-of Marie Antoinette, the _Siege of Thionville_, the _Offering to
-Liberty_, _Telemachus_, in which "_la Citoyenne Perignon_" was to
-appear--a forced performance--only produced 3,251 livres. On Friday, the
-18th of October, the next day but one after this horrible catastrophe,
-_Armide_ and the _Offering to Liberty_--a forced performance and
-something more--produced 2,641 livres, which would have filled about a
-third of the house."[69]
-
-The 10th August, 1792, was the last day of the French monarchy. On the
-Sunday previous, during the Vespers said at the Chapel of the Tuileries
-in presence of the king, the singers with one accord tripled the sound
-of their voices when they came to the following verse in the
-_Magnificat_: _Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles_.
-Indignant at their audacity, the royalists thundered forth the _Domine
-salvum fac regem_, adding these words with increased energy and
-enthusiasm, _et reginam_! The greatest excitement and agitation
-prevailed in the Chapel during the rest of the service.
-
-To conclude the list of musical performances which have derived a gloomy
-celebrity from their connexion with the last days of Louis XVI., I may
-reproduce the programme issued by the directors of the Opéra National,
-on the first anniversary of his execution, 21st January, 1794.
-
-          IN BEHALF OF AND FOR THE PEOPLE,
-
-                    GRATIS,
-
-   In joyful commemoration of the Death of the Tyrant,
-
-             THE NATIONAL OPERA
-
-  WILL GIVE TO DAY, 6 PLUVIOSE, YEAR II., OF THE REPUBLIC,
-
-            MILTIADES AT MARATHON,
-
-           THE SIEGE OF THIONVILLE,
-
-           THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY.
-
-[Sidenote: REPUBLICAN CELEBRITIES.]
-
-The Opera under the Republic was directed, until 1792, by four
-distinguished _sans culottes_--Henriot, Chaumette, Le Rouxand Hébert,
-the last named of whom had once been check-taker at the Académie! The
-others know nothing whatever of operatic affairs. The management of the
-theatre was afterwards transferred to Francoeur, one of the former
-directors, associated with Cellérier, an architect; but the dethroned
-_impresarii_, accompanied by Danton and other republican amateurs,
-constantly made their appearance behind the scenes, and very frequently
-did the chief members of the company the honour of supping with them. In
-these cases the invitations, as under the ancient régime, proceeded, not
-from the artists, but from the artists' patrons; with this difference,
-however, that under the republic, the latter never paid the bill. There
-was no Duke de Bouillon now testifying his admiration of the vocal art
-to the tune of 900,000 francs;[70] there was no Prince de Soubise, to
-receive from the united ballet letters of condolence, thanks, and
-proposed pecuniary assistance; and if there _had_ been such an
-impossible phenomenon as a Count de Lauragais, what, I wonder, would he
-not have given to have been able to clear the _coulisses_ of such
-abominable intruders as the before named republican chiefs? "The chiefs
-of the republic, one and indivisible," says M. Castil Blaze, "were very
-fond of moistening their throats. Henriot, Danton, Hébert, Le Roux,
-Chaumette, had hardly taken a turn in the _coulisses_ or in the _foyer_,
-before they said to such an actor or actress: We are going to your room,
-see that we are received properly." A superb collation was brought in.
-When the repast was finished and the bottles were empty, the national
-convention, the commune of Paris beat a retreat without troubling
-itself about the expense. You think, perhaps, that the dancer or the
-singer paid for the representatives of the people? Not at all; honest
-Mangin, who kept the refreshment room of the theatre, knew perfectly
-well that the actors of the Opera were not paid, that they had no sort
-of money, not even a rag of an assignat; he made a sacrifice; from
-delicacy he did not ask from the artists what he would not have dared to
-claim from the sans culottes for fear of the guillotine."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Sometimes the executioner, who, as a public official, had a right to his
-entrées, made his appearance behind the scenes, and it is said that in a
-facetious mood, he would sometimes express his opinion about the
-"execution" of the music. So, I am told, the London hangman went one
-night to the pit of Her Majesty's Theatre to hear Jenny Lind, and on
-seeing the Swedish nightingale, exclaimed, breathless with admiration
-and excitement, "What a throat to scrag!"
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: AGREEABLE CRITICS.]
-
-Operatic kings and queens were suppressed by the republic. Not only were
-they forbidden to appear on the stage, but even their names were not to
-be pronounced behind the scenes, and the expressions _côté du roi_,
-_côté de la reine_, were changed into _côté jardin_, _côté cour_, which
-at the theatre of the Tuileries indicated respectively the left and
-right of the stage, from the stage point of view. At first all pieces in
-which kings and queens appeared, were prohibited, but the dramas of
-_sans culottes_ origin were so stupid and disgusting, that the republic
-was absolutely obliged to return to the old monarchical _répertoire_.
-The kings, however, were turned into chiefs; princes and dukes became
-representatives of the people; seigneurs subsided into mayors; and
-substitutes more or less synonymous, were found for such offensive words
-as crown, throne, sceptre, &c. In a new republican version of a lyrical
-work represented at the Opera Comique, _le roi_ in one well known line
-was replaced by _la loi_, and the vocalist had to declaim _La loi
-passait, et le tambour battait aux champs._ A certain voluble executant,
-however, is said to have preferred the following emendation: _Le pouvoir
-exécutif passait, et le tambour battait aux champs._
-
-The scenes of most of the new operas were laid in Italy, Prussia,
-Portugal,--anywhere but in France, where it would have been
-indispensable, from a political, and impossible from a poetical, point
-of view to make the lovers address one another as _citoyen_,
-_citoyenne_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the 19th of June, 1793, the directors of the Opera having objected to
-give a gratuitous performance of _The Siege of Thionville_, the commune
-of Paris issued the following edict:
-
-"Considering that for a long time past the aristocracy has taken refuge
-in the administration of various theatres;
-
-"Considering that these gentlemen corrupt the public mind by the pieces
-they represent;
-
-"Considering that they exercise a fatal influence on the revolution;
-
-It is decreed that the _Siege of Thionville_ shall be represented gratis
-and solely for the amusement of the _sans culottes_, who, to this moment
-have been the true defenders of liberty and supporters of democracy."
-
-Soon afterwards it was proposed to shut up the Opera, but Hébert, the
-ferocious Hébert, better known as _le pčre Duchčsne_, undertook its
-defence on the ground that it procured subsistence for a number of
-families, and "caused the agreeable arts to flourish."
-
-It was thereupon resolved "that the Opera should be encouraged and
-defended against its enemies." At the same time the managers Cellérier
-and Francoeur were arrested as _suspects_. Neither of them was
-executed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE "MARATISTES" AGAIN.]
-
-The Opera was now once more placed under the direction of a committee
-chosen from among the singers and dancers, who were selected this time,
-not by reason of their artistic merit, but solely with reference to
-their political principles. Lays, one of the chief managers, was a
-furious democrat, and on one occasion insisted on Mademoiselle Maillard
-(Gluck's "Armida!") appearing in a procession as the Goddess of Reason.
-
-Mademoiselle Maillard having refused, Chaumette was appealed to. The
-arguments he employed were simple but convincing. "Well, _citoyenne_,"
-he said, "since you refuse to be a divinity, you must not be astonished
-if we treat you _as a mortal_." Fortunately for the poor prima donna,
-Mormoro, a member of the Commune of Paris, and a raging "Maratiste"
-(which has not quite the same meaning now as in the days of the
-"Todistes") claimed the obnoxious part for his unhappy wife. The
-beautiful Madame Mormoro was forced to appear in the streets of Paris in
-the light and airy costume of an antique Goddess, with the thermometer
-at twenty degrees below freezing point! "Reason" not unreasonably wept
-with annoyance throughout the ceremony.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Léonard Bourdon, called by those who knew him _Léopard_ Bourdon, used
-all his influence, as a distinguished member of the Mountain, to get a
-work he had prepared for the Opera produced. His piece was called the
-_Tomb of the Impostors_, or _the Inauguration of the Temple of Truth_.
-It was printed at the expense of the Republic, but never brought out. In
-the first scene the stage represents a church, built with human skulls.
-In the sanctuary there is to be a fountain of blood. A woman enters to
-confess, the priest behaves atrociously in the confessional, &c., &c.
-The scenes and incidents throughout the drama are all in the same style,
-and the whole is dedicated in an uncomplimentary epistle to the Pope.
-Léopard tormented the directors actors, and actresses, night and day, to
-produce his master-piece, and threatened, that if they were not quick
-about it, he would have a guillotine erected on the stage.
-
-This threat was not quite so vain as it might seem. A list of twenty-two
-persons engaged at the Opera (twenty-two--the fatal number during the
-Reign of Terror), had been already drawn up by Hébert, as a sort of
-executioner's memorandum. When he was in a good humour he would show it
-to the singers and dancers, and say to them with easy familiarity; "I
-shall have to send you all to the guillotine some day. Two reasons have
-prevented me hitherto; in the first place you are not worth the trouble,
-in the second I want you for my amusement." These reasons were not
-considered quite satisfactory by the proscribed artists, and Beaupré, a
-comic dancer of great talent, contrived by various humorous stratagems
-(one of which, and doubtless the most readily forgiven, consisted in
-intoxicating Hébert), to gain possession of the fatal list; but the day
-afterwards the republican _dilettante_ was always sufficiently recovered
-from the effects of his excessive potations to draw up another one
-exactly like it.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: DANGEROUS MELODIES.]
-
-At the head of the catalogue of suspected ones figured the name of
-Lainez, whom the republicans could not pardon for the energy and
-expression with which he had sung the air _Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine_, at the last performances of _Iphigénie en Aulide_; and that of
-Mademoiselle Maillard, whose crime has been already mentioned. At this
-period it was dangerous not only to sing the words, but even to hum or
-whistle the music of such airs as the aforesaid _Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine_, _O Richard o mon roi!_ _Charmante Gabrielle_, and many others,
-among which may be mentioned _Pauvre Jacques_--an adaptation of Dibdin's
-_Poor Jack_, in which allusions had been discovered to the fate of Louis
-XVI. Indeed, to perform any kind of music might be fatal to the
-executant, and thus Mesdemoiselles de Saint Léger, two young ladies
-living in Arras, were executed for having played the piano the day that
-Valenciennes fell into the hands of the enemy.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mademoiselle Maillard, much as she detested the republicans, was forced,
-on one occasion, to sing a republican hymn. When Lainez complimented her
-on the warmth of her expression, the vigour of her execution, she
-replied, "I was burning with rage at having to sing to such monsters."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Vestris, the Prince de Guéméné of the Vestris family, he who had been
-accused by his father of wishing to produce a misunderstanding between
-the Vestrises and the Bourbons, had to dance in a _pas de trois_ as a
-_sans culottes_, between two nuns!
-
-Sophie Arnould, accused (and not quite unreasonably), of aristocratic
-sympathies, pointed indignantly to a bust of Gluck in her room, and
-asked the intelligent agents of the Republic, if it was likely she would
-keep the bust of Marat were she not a true republican?
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The vocalists of a revolutionary turn of mind would have succeeded
-better if they had possessed more talent; but the Parisian public, even
-in 1793, was not prepared to accept correctness in politics as an excuse
-for inaccuracy in singing. Lefčvre, a sixth tenor, but a bloodthirsty
-republican, insisted on being promoted to first characters, and
-threatened those whom he wished to replace with denunciations and the
-guillotine, if they kept him in a subordinate position any longer.
-Lefčvre had his wish gratified in part, but not altogether. He appeared
-as _primo tenore_, but was violently hissed by his friends, the _sans
-culottes_. He then came out as first bass, and was hissed again. In his
-rage he attributed his _fiasco_ to the machinations of the
-counter-revolution, and wanted the soldiers to come into the theatre,
-and fire upon the infamous accomplices of "Pitt and Coburg."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: AN ATROCIOUS TENOR.]
-
-This bad singer, and worse man, was one of the twelve chiefs of the
-National Guard of Paris, and on certain days had the command of the
-city. As his military rule was most oppressive, the Parisians used to
-punish him for his tyranny as a soldier, by ridiculing his monstrous
-defects as a vocalist.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Though the Reign of Terror was a fearful time for artists and art, the
-number of playhouses in Paris increased enormously. There were
-sixty-three theatres open, and in spite of war, famine, and the
-guillotine, they were always full.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In 1794, the opera was transferred to the Rue de la Loi (afterwards Rue
-de Richelieu), immediately opposite the National Library. With regard to
-this change of locality, let us hear what M. Castil Blaze has to say, in
-his own words.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"How was it that the opera was moved to a building exactly opposite the
-National Library, so precious and so combustible a repository of human
-knowledge? The two establishments were only separated by a street, very
-much too narrow: if the theatre caught fire, was it not sure to burn the
-library? That is what a great many persons still ask; this question has
-been re-produced a hundred times in our journals. Go back to the time
-when the house was built by Mademoiselle Montansier; read the _Moniteur
-Universel_, and you will see that it was precisely in order to expose
-this same library to the happy chances of a fire, that the great lyrical
-entertainment was transferred to its neighbourhood. The opera hung over
-it, and threatened it constantly. At this time enlightenment abounded
-to such a point, that the judicious Henriot, convinced in his innermost
-conscience that all reading was henceforth useless, had made a motion to
-burn the library. To move the opera to the Rue Richelieu--the opera,
-which twice in eighteen years had been a prey to the flames--to place it
-exactly opposite our literary treasures, was to multiply to infinity the
-chances of their being burnt.'
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Mercier, in reference to the literary views of the Committee of Public
-Safety, writes in the _Nouveau Paris_, as follows:--
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-"The language of Omar about the Koran was not more terrible than those
-uttered by the members of the committee of public safety when they
-expressed their intentions formally, as follows:--'Yes, we will burn all
-the libraries, for nothing will be needed but the history of the
-Revolution and its laws.'" If the motion of Henriot had been carried,
-David, the great Conventional painter was ready to propose that the same
-service should be rendered to the masterpieces in the Louvre, as to the
-literary wealth of the National Library. Republican subjects, according
-to David, were alone worthy of being represented.
-
-[Sidenote: THE OPERA AND THE NATIONAL LIBRARY.]
-
-At one of the sittings of the very council in which Henriot had already
-brought forward his motion for burning the Library, Mademoiselle
-Montansier was accused of having built the theatre in the Rue Richelieu
-with that very design. On the 14th of November, 1793, Chaumette at the
-sitting of the Commune of Paris, said--
-
-"I denounce the _Citoyenne_ Montansier. The money of the Englishman[71]
-has been largely employed in raising this edifice, and the former queen
-gave fifty thousand crowns towards it. I demand that this theatre be
-closed on account of the dangers which would result from its catching
-fire." Adopted.
-
-Hébert. "I denounce _la demoiselle_ Montansier, personally; I have
-information against her. She offered me a box at her new theatre to
-procure my silence. I demand that la Montansier be arrested as a
-suspicious person." Adopted.
-
-Chaumette. "I demand, moreover, that the actors, actresses and directors
-of the Parisian theatres be subjected to the censorship of the council."
-Adopted.
-
-After deciding that the theatre in the Rue de la Loi could not be kept
-open without imperilling the existence of the National Library, and
-after imprisoning Mademoiselle Montansier for having built it, the
-Commune of Paris deliberately opened it as an opera house! Mademoiselle
-Montansier was, nevertheless, still kept in prison, and remained there
-ten months, until after the death of Robespierre.
-
-Mademoiselle Montansier's nocturnal assemblies in the Palais Royal were
-equally renowned before and after her arrest. Actors and actresses,
-gamblers, poets, representatives of the people, republican generals,
-retired aristocrats, conspicuous _sans culottes_, and celebrities of all
-kinds congregated there. Art, pleasure, politics, the new opera, the
-last execution were alike discussed by Dugazon and Barras, le pčre
-Duchesne and the Duke de Lauzun, Robespierre and Mademoiselle Maillard,
-the Chevalier de Saint Georges and Danton, Martainville and the Marquis
-de Chanvelin, Lays and Marat, Volange and the Duke of Orleans. From the
-names just mentioned, it will be understood that some members of this
-interesting society were from time to time found wanting. Their absence
-was not much remarked, and fresh notorieties constantly came forward to
-fill the places of those claimed by the guillotine.
-
-After Mademoiselle Montansier's liberation from prison, Napoleon
-Bonaparte was introduced to her by Dugazon and Barras. His ambition had
-not yet been excited, and Barras--who may, nevertheless, have looked
-upon him as a possible rival, and one to be dreaded--wished to get up a
-marriage between him and the fashionable but now somewhat antiquated
-syren of the Palais Royal. Everything went on well for some time. Then a
-magnificent dinner was given with the view of bringing the affair to a
-conclusion; but Bonaparte was very reserved, and Barras now saw that his
-project was not likely to succeed. At a banquet given by Mademoiselle
-Montansier, to celebrate the success of the thirteenth Vendémiaire,
-Bonaparte proposed a toast in honour of his venerable "intended," and
-soon afterwards she married Neuville.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE MONTANSIER.]
-
-Mademoiselle Montansier who had been shamefully cheated, indeed robbed,
-by the Convention, hoped to have her claims recognised by the Directory.
-Barras offered her one million, six hundred thousand francs. She refused
-it, the indemnity she demanded for the losses which she had sustained by
-the seizure of her theatre at the hands of the Convention amounting to
-seven millions. Napoleon, when first consul, caused the theatre to be
-estimated, when its value was fixed at one million three hundred
-thousand francs. After various delays, Mademoiselle Montansier received
-a partial recognition of her claim, accompanied by an order for payment,
-signed by the Emperor at Moscow.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Some readers have, probably, been unable to reconcile two facts
-mentioned above with respect to the Opera under the Convention:--1. That
-the performers were not paid; and 2. That the public attended the
-representations in immense numbers. The explanation is very simple. The
-money was stolen by the Commune of Paris. Gardel, the ballet-master,
-required fifty thousand francs for the production of a work composed by
-himself, on the subject of _William Tell_. Twice was the sum amassed
-from the receipts and professedly set apart for the unfortunate _William
-Tell_, and twice the money disappeared. It had been devoted to the
-requirements of patriots in real life.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Danton, Hébert, Chaumette, Henriot, Robespierre, all administrators of
-the Opera; Dubuisson, Fabre d'Eglantine, librettists writing for the
-Opera, and both republicans had been executed during the Reign of
-Terror. Chamfort, a republican, killed himself to avoid the same fate.
-
-Coquéau, architect, musician, and writer, the author of a number of
-musical articles produced during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, was
-guillotined in the year II. of the republic.
-
-The musician, Edelman, after bringing a number of persons to the
-scaffold, including his patron and benefactor, the Baron de Diétrich,
-arrived there himself in 1794, accompanied by his brother.
-
-In the same year Despréaux, leader of the first violins at the opera in
-1782, and member of the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1793, killed himself
-from remorse.
-
-Altogether, sixteen persons belonging to the opera in various ways
-killed themselves, or were executed in 1792, '93, and '94.
-
-After the fall of Robespierre, the royalists for a time ruled the
-theatres, and avenged themselves on all actors who had made themselves
-conspicuous as revolutionists. Trial, a comic tenor, who had made a very
-serious accusation against Mademoiselle Buret, of the Comédie Italienne,
-which led to her execution, was forced to sing the _Réveil du Peuple_ on
-his knees, amid the execrations of the audience. He sang it, but was
-thrown into such a state of agitation that he died from the effects.
-
-Lays, whose favourite part was that of "Oreste," in _Iphigénie en
-Tauride_, had, in the course of the opera, to declaim these verses:--
-
-    "J'ai trahi l'amitié,
-       J'ai trahi la nature;
-     Des plus noirs attentats
-       J'ai comblé la mesure."
-
-The audience of the Bordeaux theatre considered this confession so
-becoming in the mouth of the singer who had to utter it, that Lays took
-care not to give them an opportunity a second time of manifesting their
-views on the subject. Lays made his next appearance in _OEdipe ŕ
-Colone_. As in this opera he had to represent the virtuous Theseus, he
-felt sure that the public would not be able to confound him in any
-manner with the character he was supporting; but he had to submit to all
-sorts of insults during the performance, and at the fall of the curtain
-was compelled to begin the _Réveil du Peuple_. After the third verse, he
-was told he was unworthy to sing such a song, and was driven from the
-stage.
-
-[Sidenote: MADELEINE GUIMARD AGAIN.]
-
-On the 23rd of January, 1796, Mademoiselle Guimard re-appeared at a
-performance given for the benefit of aged and retired artists. A number
-of veteran connoisseurs came forward on this occasion to see how the
-once charming Madeleine looked at the age of fifty-nine. After the
-ballet an old _habitué_ of Louis the Fifteenth's time called for a
-coach, drove to his lodging, and on getting out, proceeded naturally to
-pay the driver the amount of his fare.
-
-"You are joking, my dear Count," said the coachman. "Whoever heard of
-Lauragais paying the Chevalier de Ferričre for taking him home in his
-carriage?"
-
-"What! is it you?" said the Count de Lauragais.
-
-"Myself!" replied the Chevalier.
-
-The two friends embraced, and the Chevalier de Ferričre then explained
-that, when all the royalists were concealing themselves or emigrating,
-he had determined to do both. He had assumed the great coat of his
-coachman, painted a number over the arms on his carriage, and emigrated
-as far as the Boulevard, where he found plenty of customers, and passed
-uninjured and unsuspected through the Reign of Terror.
-
-"Where do you live?" said the Count.
-
-"Rue des Tuileries," replied the Chevalier, "and my horses with me. The
-poor beasts have shared all my misfortunes."
-
-"Give me the whip and reins, and get inside," cried de Lauragais.
-
-"What for?" inquired the Chevalier.
-
-"To drive you home. It is an act which, as a gentleman, I insist on
-performing; a duty I owe to my old companion and friend. Your day's work
-is over. To-morrow morning we will go to Sophie's, who expects me to
-breakfast."
-
-"Where?"
-
-"At the Hotel d'Angivillier, a caravansary of painters and musicians,
-where Fouché has granted her, on the part of the Republic, an apartment
-and a pension of two thousand four hundred francs--we should have said a
-hundred _louis_ formerly. This is called a national reward for the
-eminent services rendered by the _citoyenne_ Arnould to the country, and
-to the sovereign people at the Opera. The poor girl was greatly in need
-of it."
-
-[Sidenote: SOPHIE ARNOULD AGAIN.]
-
-Fouché had once been desperately in love with Sophie Arnould, and now
-pitied her in her distress. Thanks to her influence with the minister,
-the Chevalier Ferričre obtained an order, authorizing him to return to
-France, though he had never left Paris, except occasionally to drive a
-fare to one of the suburbs.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The natural effect of Napoleon's campaigns in Italy was to create among
-the French army a taste for Italian music. The First Consul and many of
-his generals were passionately fond of it; and a hint from the Tuileries
-in 1801 was sufficient to induce Mademoiselle Montansier to engage an
-Italian company, which performed for the first time in Paris on the 1st
-of May in the same year. The enterprise, however, was not successful;
-and in 1803 the directress, who had been arrested before because money
-was owing to her, was put in prison for owing money.
-
-If, by taking his troops to Italy, Napoleon was the means of introducing
-a taste for Italian music among the French, he provided his country with
-Italian singers in a far more direct manner. At Dresden, in 1806, he
-was delighted with the performance of Brizzi and Madame Paer in the
-opera of _Achille_, composed by the prima donna's husband.
-
-"You sing divinely, Madame Paer," said the emperor. What do they give
-you at this theatre?"
-
-"Fifteen thousand francs, Sire."
-
-"You shall receive thirty. M. Brizzi, you shall follow me on the same
-terms."
-
-"But we are engaged."
-
-"With me. You see the affair is quite settled. The Prince of Benevento
-will attend to the diplomatic part of it."
-
-[Sidenote: NAPOLEON AND PAER.]
-
-Napoleon took away _Achille_, and everything belonging to it; music,
-composer, and the two principal singers. The engagement by which the
-emperor engaged Paer as composer of his chamber music, was drawn up by
-Talleyrand, and bore his signature, approved by Napoleon, and attested
-by Maret, the secretary of state. Paer, who had been four years at
-Dresden, and who, independently of his contract, was personally much
-attached to the king of Saxony, did all in his power to avoid entering
-into Napoleon's service. Perhaps, too, he was not pleased at the
-prospect of having to follow the emperor about from one battle-field to
-another, though by a special article in the engagement offered to him,
-he was guaranteed ten francs a post, and thirty-four francs a day for
-his travelling expenses. As Paer, in spite of the compliments, and the
-liberal terms[72] offered to him by Napoleon, continued to object,
-General Clarke told the emperor that he had an excellent plan for
-getting over all difficulties, and saving the maestro from any
-reproaches of ingratitude which the king of Saxony might otherwise
-address to him. This plan consisted in placing Paer in the hands of
-_gens d'armes_, and having him conducted from camp to camp wherever the
-emperor went. No violence, however, was done to the composer. The king
-of Saxony liberated him from his engagement at the Dresden opera, and,
-moreover, signified to him that he must either follow Napoleon, or quit
-Saxony immediately. It is said that Paer was ceded by a secret treaty
-between the two sovereigns, like a fortress, or rather like a province,
-as provinces were transferred before the idea of nationality was
-invented; that is to say, without the wishes of the inhabitants being in
-any way taken into account. The king of Saxony was only too glad that
-Napoleon took nothing from him but his singers and musicians.
-
-Brizzi, the tenor, Madame Paer, the prima donna, and her husband, the
-composer, were ordered to start at once for Warsaw. In the morning, the
-emperor would attend to military and state affairs, and perhaps preside
-at a battle, for fighting was now going on in the neighbourhood of the
-Polish capital. In the evening, he had a concert at head quarters, the
-programme of which generally included several pieces by Paisiello.
-Napoleon was particularly fond of Paisiello's music, and Paer, who,
-besides being a composer, was a singer of high merit, knew a great deal
-of it by heart.
-
-Paisiello had been Napoleon's chapel-master since 1801, the emperor
-having sent for him to Naples after signing the Concordat with the Pope.
-On arriving in Paris, the cunning Italian, like an experienced courtier,
-was no sooner introduced to Napoleon than he addressed him as 'sire!'
-
-"'Sire,' what do you mean?" replied the first consul; "I am a general,
-and nothing more."
-
-"Well, General," continued the composer, "I have come to place myself at
-your majesty's orders."
-
-"I must really beg you," continued Napoleon, "not to address me in this
-manner."
-
-"Forgive me, General," answered Paisiello, "but I cannot give up the
-habit I have contracted in addressing sovereigns who, compared with you,
-seem but pigmies. However, I will not forget your commands, sire; and if
-I have been unfortunate enough to offend, I must throw myself upon your
-Majesty's indulgence."
-
-[Sidenote: EXPRESSION IN MUSIC.]
-
-Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass he wrote for
-Napoleon's coronation. Each of the masses for the imperial chapel
-brought him one thousand francs. Not much, certainly; but then it must
-be remembered that he produced as many as fourteen in two years. They
-were for the most part made up of pieces of church music, which the
-maestro had written for Italy, and when this fruitful source failed him,
-he had recourse to his numerous serious and comic operas. Thus, an air
-from the _Nittetti_ was made to do duty as a _Gloria_, another from the
-_Scuffiera_ as an _Agnus Dei_. Music depends so much upon association
-that, doubtless, only those persons who had already heard these melodies
-on the stage, found them at all inappropriate in a church. Figaro's air
-in the _Barber of Seville_ would certainly not sound well in a mass; but
-there are plenty of love songs, songs expressive of despair (if not of
-too violent a kind), songs, in short, of a sentimental and slightly
-passionate cast, which only require to be united to religious words to
-be at once and thereby endowed with a religious character. Gluck,
-himself, who is supposed by many to have believed that music was capable
-of conveying absolute, definite ideas, borrowed pieces from his old
-Italian operas to introduce into the scores he was writing, on entirely
-different subjects, for the Académie Royale of Paris. Thus, he has
-employed an air from his _Telemacco_ in the introduction to the overture
-of _Iphigénie en Aulide_. The chorus in the latter work, _Que d'attraits
-que de majesté_, is founded on the air, _Al mio spirto_, in the same
-composer's _Clemenza di Tito_. The overture to Gluck's _Telemacco_
-became that of his _Armide_. Music serves admirably to heighten the
-effect of a dramatic situation, or to give force and intensity to the
-expression of words; but the same music may often be allied with equal
-advantage to words of very different shades of meaning. Thus, the same
-melody will depict equally well the rage of a baffled conspirator, the
-jealousy of an injured and most respectable husband, and various other
-kinds of agitation; the grief of lovers about to part, the joy of lovers
-at meeting again, and other emotions of a tender nature; the despondency
-of a man firmly bent on suicide, the calm devotion of a pious woman
-entering a convent, and other feelings of a solemn class. The
-signification we discover in music also depends much upon the
-circumstances under which it is heard, and to some extent also on the
-mood we are in when hearing it.
-
-[Sidenote: TWO PASTICCIOS.]
-
-Under the republic, consulate, and empire, music did not flourish in
-France, and not even the imperial Spontini and Cherubini, in spite of
-the almost European reputation they for some time enjoyed, produced any
-works which will bear comparison with the masterpieces of their
-successors, Rossini, Auber, and Meyerbeer. During the dark artistic
-period which separates the fall of the monarchy from the restoration, a
-few interesting works were produced at the Opera Comique; but until
-Napoleon's advent to power, France neglected more than ever the music of
-Italy, and did worse than neglect that of Germany, for, in 1793, the
-directors of the Academy brought out a version of Mozart's _Marriage of
-Figaro_, in five acts, without recitative and with all the prose
-dialogue of Beaumarchais introduced. In 1806, too, a _pasticcio_ by
-Kalkbrenner, formed out of the music of Mozart's _Don Juan_, with
-improvements and additions by Kalkbrenner himself, was performed at the
-same theatre. Both these medleys met with the fate which might have been
-anticipated for them.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIV.
-
-     OPERA IN ITALY, GERMANY AND RUSSIA, DURING AND IN CONNECTION WITH
-     THE REPUBLICAN AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. PAISIELLO, PAER, CIMAROSA,
-     MOZART. THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. DON GIOVANNI.
-
-
-Nothing shows better the effect on art of the long continental wars at
-the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century than
-the fact that Mozart's two greatest works, written for Vienna and Prague
-immediately before the French Revolution, did not become known in
-England and France until about a quarter of a century after their
-production. Fortunate Austria, before the great break up of European
-territories and dynasties, possessed the two first musical capitals in
-Europe. Opera had already declined in Berlin, and its history, even
-under the direction of the flute-playing Frederic, possesses little
-interest for English readers after the departure or rather flight of
-Madame Mara. Italy was still the great nursery of music, but her maestri
-composed their greatest works for foreign theatres, and many of them
-were attached to foreign courts. Thus, Paisiello wrote his _Barbiere di
-Siviglia_ for St. Petersburgh, whither he had been invited by the
-Empress Catherine, and where he was succeeded by Cimarosa. Cimarosa,
-again, on his return from St. Petersburgh, wrote his masterpiece, _Il
-Matrimonio Segretto_, for the Emperor Leopold II., at Vienna. Of the
-Opera at Stockholm, we have heard nothing since the time of Queen
-Christina. The Dresden Opera, which, in the days of Handel, was the
-first in Europe, still maintained its pre-eminence at the beginning of
-the second half of the eighteenth century, when Rousseau published his
-"Musical Dictionary," and described at length the composition of its
-admirable orchestra. But the state and the resources of the kings of
-Saxony declined with the power of Poland, and the Dresden Opera, though,
-thanks to the taste which presided at the court, its performances were
-still excellent, had quite lost its peculiar celebrity long before
-Napoleon came, and carried away its last remaining glories in the shape
-of the composer, Paer, and Madame Paer and Brizzi, its two principal
-singers.
-
-[Sidenote: PAISIELLO IN RUSSIA.]
-
-The first great musical work produced in Russia, Paisiello's _Barbiere
-di Siviglia_, was performed for the first time at St. Petersburgh, in
-1780. In this opera work, of which the success soon became European, the
-composer entered thoroughly into the spirit of all Beaumarchais's best
-scenes, so admirably adapted for musical illustration. Of the solos, the
-three most admired were Almaviva's opening romance, Don Basil's _La
-Calomnia_, and the air for Don Bartholo; the other favourite pieces
-being a comic trio, in which La Jeunesse sneezes, and L'Eveillé yawns in
-the presence of the tutor (I need scarcely remark that the personages
-just named belong to Beaumarchais's comedy, and that they are not
-introduced in Rossini's opera), another trio, in which Rosina gives the
-letter to Figaro, a duet for the entry of the tenor in the assumed
-character of Don Alonzo, and a quintett, in which Don Basil is sent to
-bed, and in which the phrase _buona sera_ is treated with great
-felicity.
-
-Pergolese rendered a still greater service to Russia than did Paisiello
-by writing one of his masterpieces for its capital, when he took the
-young Bortnianski with him from St. Petersburgh to Italy, and there
-educated the greatest religious composer that Russia, not by any means
-deficient in composers, has yet known.
-
-[Sidenote: A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.]
-
-We have seen that Paisiello, some years after his return to Italy, was
-engaged by Napoleon as chapel-master, and that the services of Paer were
-soon afterwards claimed and secured by the emperor as composer of his
-chamber music. This was not the first time that Paer had been forced to
-alter his own private arrangements in consequence of the very despotic
-patronage accorded to music by the victorious leaders of the French
-army. In 1799 he was at Udine, where his wife was engaged as _prima
-donna_. Portogallo's _la Donna di genio volubile_ was about to be
-represented before a large number of the officers under the command of
-Bernadotte, when suddenly it appeared impossible to continue the
-performance owing to the very determined indisposition of the _primo
-basso_. This gentleman had gone to bed in the middle of the day
-disguised as an invalid. He declared himself seriously unwell in the
-afternoon, and in the evening sent a message to the theatre to excuse
-himself from appearing in Portogallo's opera. Paer and his wife
-understood what this meant. The performance was for Madame Paer's
-benefit; and Olivieri, the perfidious basso, from private pique, had
-determined, if possible, to prevent it taking place. Paer's spirit was
-roused by the attitude of the _primo buffo_, which was still that of a
-man confined to his bed; and he resolved to frustrate his infamous
-scheme, which, though simple, appeared certain of success, inasmuch as
-no other comic _basso_ was to be found anywhere near Udine. The audience
-was impatient, Madame Paer in tears, the manager in despair, when Paer
-desired that the performance might begin; saying, that Providence would
-send them a basso who would at least know his part, and that in any case
-Madame Paer must get ready for the first scene. Madame Paer obeyed the
-marital injunction, but in a state of great trepidation; for she had no
-confidence in the capabilities of the promised basso, and was not by any
-means sure that he even existed. The curtain was about to rise, when the
-singer who was to have fallen from the clouds walked quietly on to the
-stage, perfectly dressed for the part he was about to undertake, and
-without any sign of hesitation on his countenance. The _prima donna_
-uttered a cry of surprise, burst into a fit of laughter, and then rushed
-weeping into the arms of her husband,--for it was Paer himself who had
-undertaken to replace the treacherous Olivieri.
-
-"No," said Madame Paer; "this is impossible! It shall never be said that
-I allowed you, a great composer, who will one day be known throughout
-Europe, to act the buffoon. No! the performance must be stopped!"
-
-At this moment the final chords of the overture were heard. Poor Madame
-Paer resigned herself to her fate, and went weeping on to the stage to
-begin a comic duet with her husband, who seemed in excellent spirits,
-and commenced his part with so much _verve_ and humour, that the
-audience rewarded his exertions with a storm of applause. Paer's gaiety
-soon communicated itself to his wife. If Paer was to perform at all, it
-was necessary that his performance should outshine that of all possible
-rivals, and especially that of the miscreant Olivieri, who was now
-laughing between his sheets at the success which he fancied must have
-already attended his masterly device. The _prima donna_ had never sung
-so charmingly before, but the greatest triumph of the evening was gained
-by the new _basso_. Olivieri, who previously had been pronounced
-unapproachable in Portogallo's opera, was now looked upon as quite an
-inferior singer compared to the _buffo caricato_ who had so
-unexpectedly presented himself before the Udine public. Paer, in
-addition to his great, natural histrionic ability, knew every note of
-_la Donna_. Olivieri had studied only his own part. Paer, in directing
-the rehearsals, had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all of them,
-and gave a significance to some portions of the music which had never
-been expressed or apprehended by his now defeated, routed, utterly
-confounded rival.
-
-[Sidenote: A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.]
-
-At present comes the dark side of the picture. Olivieri, dangerously ill
-the night before, was perfectly well the next morning, and quite ready
-to resume his part in _la Donna di genio volubile_. Paer, on the other
-hand, was quite willing to give it up to him; but both reckoned without
-the military connoisseurs of Udine, and above all without Bernadotte,
-who arrived the day after Paer's great success, when all the officers of
-the staff were talking of nothing else. Olivieri was announced to appear
-in his old character; but when the bill was shown to the General, he
-declared that the original representative might go back to bed, for that
-the only buffo he would listen to was the illustrious Paer. In vain the
-director explained that the composer was not engaged as a singer, and
-that nothing but the sudden indisposition of Olivieri would have induced
-him to appear on the stage at all. Bernadotte swore he would have Paer,
-and no one else; and as the unfortunate _impresario_ continued his
-objections, he was ordered into arrest, and informed that he should
-remain in prison until the _maestro_ Paer undertook once more the part
-of "Pippo" in Portogallo's opera.
-
-The General then sent a company of grenadiers to surround Paer's house;
-but the composer had heard of what had befallen the manager, and,
-foreseeing his own probable fate, if he remained openly in Udine, had
-concealed himself, and spread a report that he was in the country.
-Lancers and hussars were dispatched in search of him, but naturally
-without effect. In the supposed absence of Paer, the army was obliged to
-accept Olivieri; and when six or seven representations of the popular
-opera had taken place and the military public had become accustomed to
-Olivieri's performance of the part of "Pippo," Paer came forth from his
-hiding place and suffered no more from the warlike dilettanti-ism of
-Bernadotte.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME FODOR AND THE COW.]
-
-There would be no end to my anecdotes if I were to attempt to give a
-complete list of all those in which musicians and singers have been made
-to figure in connection with all sorts of events during the last great
-continental war. The great vocalists, and many of the great composers of
-the day, continued to travel about from city to city, and from court to
-court, as though Europe were still in a state of profound peace.
-Sometimes, as happened once to Paer, and was nearly happening to him a
-second time, they were taken prisoners; or they found themselves shut up
-in a besieged town; and a great _cantatrice_, Madame Fodor, who chanced
-to be engaged at the Hamburg opera when Hamburg was invested, was
-actually the cause of a _sortie_ being made in her favour. On one
-occasion, while she was singing, the audience was disturbed by a cannon
-ball coming through the roof of the theatre and taking its place in the
-gallery; but the performances continued nevertheless, and the officers
-and soldiers of the garrison continued to be delighted with their
-favourite vocalist. Madame Fodor, however, on her side, was beginning to
-get tired of her position; not that she cared much about the bombardment
-which was renewed from time to time, but because the supply of milk had
-failed, cows and oxen having been alike slaughtered for the sustenance
-of the beleaguered garrison. Without milk, Madame Fodor was scarcely
-able to sing; at least, she had so accustomed herself to drink it every
-evening during the intervals of performance, that she found it
-inconvenient and painful to do without it. Hearing in what a painful
-situation their beloved vocalist found herself, the French army
-gallantly resolved to remedy it without delay. The next evening a
-_sortie_ was effected, and a cow brought back in triumph. This cow was
-kept in the property and painting room in the theatre, above the stage,
-and was lowered like a drop scene, to be milked whenever Madame Fodor
-was thirsty. So, at least, says the operatic anecdote on the subject,
-though it would perhaps have been a more convenient proceeding to have
-sent some trustworthy person to perform the milking operation up stairs.
-In any case, the cow was kept carefully shut up and under guard.
-Otherwise the animal's life would not have been safe, so great was the
-scarcity of provision in Hamburg at the time, and so great the general
-hunger for beef of any kind.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE D'ENTRAIGUES' MURDER.]
-
-Madame Huberti, after flying from Paris during the Reign of Terror,
-married the Count d'Entraigues, and would seem to have terminated her
-operatic career happily and honourably; but she was destined some years
-afterwards to die a horrible death. The countess always wore the order
-of St. Michael, which had been given to her by the then unacknowledged
-Louis XVIII., in token of the services she had rendered to the royalist
-party, by enabling her husband to escape from prison and preserving his
-portfolio which contained a number of political papers of great
-importance. The Count afterwards entered the service of Russia, and was
-entrusted by the government with several confidential missions. Hitherto
-he had been working in the interest of the Bourbons against Napoleon;
-but when the French emperor and the emperor Alexander formed an
-alliance, after the battles of Eylau and Friedland, he seems to have
-thought that his connexion with Russia ought to terminate. However this
-may have been, he found means to obtain a copy of the secret articles
-contained in the treaty of Tilsit[73] and hastened to London to
-communicate them to the English government. For this service he is said
-to have received a pension, and he now established himself in England,
-where he appears to have had continual relations with the foreign
-office. The French police heard how the Count d'Entraigues was employed
-in London, and Fouché sent over two agents to watch him and intercept
-his letters. These emissaries employed an Italian refugee, to get
-acquainted with and bribe Lorenzo, the Count's servant, who allowed his
-compatriot to read and even to take copies of the despatches frequently
-entrusted to him by his master to take to Mr. Canning. He, moreover,
-gave him a number of the Count's letters to and from other persons. One
-evening a letter was brought to M. d'Entraigues which obliged him to go
-early the next morning from his residence at Barnes to London. Lorenzo
-had observed the seal of the foreign office on the envelope, and saw
-that his treachery would soon be discovered. Everything was ready for
-the journey, when he stabbed his master, who fell to the ground mortally
-wounded. The Countess was getting into the carriage. To prevent her
-charging him with her husband's death, the servant also stabbed her, and
-a few moments afterwards, in confusion and despair, blew his own brains
-out with a pistol which he in the first instance appears to have
-intended for M. d'Entraigues. This horrible affair occurred on the 22nd
-of July, 1812.
-
-Nothing fatal happened to Madame Colbran, though she was deeply mixed up
-with politics, her name being at one time quite a party word among the
-royalists at Naples. Those who admired the king made a point of
-admiring his favourite singer. A gentleman from England asked a friend
-one night at the Naples theatre how he liked the vocalist in question.
-
-"Like her? I am a royalist," was the reply.
-
-When the revolutionists gained the upper hand, Madame Colbran was
-hissed; but the discomfiture of the popular party was always followed by
-renewed triumphs for the singer.
-
-Madame Colbran must not lead us on to her future husband, Rossini, whose
-epoch has not yet arrived. The mention of Paer's wife has already taken
-us far away from the composers in vogue at the end of the eighteenth
-century.
-
-[Sidenote: IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETTO.]
-
-Two of the three best comic operas ever produced, _Le Nozze di Figaro_
-and _Il Matrimonio Segretto_ (I need scarcely name Rossini's _Il
-Barbiere di Siviglia_ as the third), were written for Vienna within six
-years (1786-1792), and at the special request of emperors of Germany.
-Cimarosa was returning from St. Petersburgh when Leopold II., Joseph the
-Second's successor, detained him at Vienna, and invited him to compose
-something for his theatre. The _maestro_ had not much time, but he did
-his best, and the result was, _Il Matrimonio Segretto_. The Emperor was
-delighted with the work, which seemed almost to have been improvised,
-and gave the composer twelve thousand francs, or, as some say, twelve
-thousand florins; in either case, a very liberal sum for the period when
-Cimarosa, Paisiello and Gughelmi had mutually agreed, whatever more
-they might receive for their operas, never to take less than two
-thousand four hundred francs.
-
-The libretto of _Il Matrimonio Segretto_, by Bertatti, is imitated from
-that of a forgotten French operetta, _Sophie ou le Mariage Caché_, which
-is again founded on Garrick and Coleman's _Clandestine Marriage_. The
-Emperor Leopold was unable to be present at the first performance of
-Cimarosa's new work, but he heard of its enormous success, and
-determined not to miss a note at the second representation. He was in
-his box before the commencement of the overture, and listened to the
-performance throughout with the greatest attention, but without
-manifesting any opinion as to the merits of the music. As the Sovereign
-did not applaud, the brilliant audience who had assembled to hear _Il
-Matrimonio_ a second time, were obliged, by court etiquette, to remain
-silent without giving the slightest expression to the delight the music
-afforded them. This icy reception was very different to the one obtained
-by the opera the night before, when the marks of approbation from all
-parts of the house had been of the most enthusiastic kind. However, when
-the piece was at an end, the Emperor rose and said aloud--
-
-"Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is admirable, delightful,
-enchanting. I did not applaud that I might not lose a single note of
-this masterpiece. You have heard it twice, and I must have the same
-pleasure before I go to bed. Singers and musicians, pass into the next
-room! Cimarosa will come too, and will preside at the banquet prepared
-for you. When you have had sufficient rest we will begin again. I
-_encore_ the whole opera, and, in the mean while, let us applaud it as
-it deserves." Leopold clapped his hands, and for some minutes the whole
-theatre resounded with plaudits. After the banquet, the entire opera was
-repeated.
-
-The only other example of such an occurrence as the above is to be found
-in the career of Terence, whose _Eunuchus_ on its first production, was
-performed twice the same day, or, rather, once in the morning, and once
-in the evening.
-
-A similar amount of success obtained by Paer's _Laodicea_ had quite an
-opposite result; for, as nearly the whole opera was encored, piece by
-piece, it was found impossible to conclude it the same evening, and the
-performance of the last act was postponed until the next night.
-
-Mozart's _Nozze di Figaro_, produced six years before the _Matrimonio
-Segretto_, was far less justly appreciated,--indeed, at Vienna, was not
-appreciated at all. This admirable work, so full of fresh spontaneous
-melody, and of rich, varied harmony was actually hissed by the Viennese!
-They even hissed _Non piu andrai_, which seems equally calculated to
-delight the educated and the most uneducated ear. Mozart has made
-allusion to this almost incredible instance of bad taste very happily
-and ingeniously in the supper scene of _Don Giovanni_.
-
-[Sidenote: MOZART AND JOSEPH II.]
-
-Joseph II. cared only for Italian music, and never gave his entire
-approbation to anything Mozart produced, though the musicians of the
-period acknowledged him to be the greatest composer in Europe.
-
-"It is too fine for our ears," said the presumptuous Joseph, speaking to
-Mozart of the _Seraglio_. "Seriously, I think there are too many notes."
-
-"Precisely the proper number," replied the composer.
-
-The Emperor rewarded his frankness by giving him only fifty ducats for
-his opera.[74]
-
-Nevertheless, the _Seraglio_ had caused the success of one of the
-emperor's favourite enterprises. It was the first work produced at the
-German Opera, established by Joseph II., at Vienna. Until that time,
-Italian opera predominated everywhere; indeed, German opera, that is to
-say, lyric dramas in the German language, set to music by German
-composers, and sung by German singers, could not be said to exist. There
-were a number of Italian musicians living at Vienna who were quite aware
-of Mozart's superiority, and hated him for it; the more so, as by taking
-such an important part in the establishment of the German Opera, he
-threatened to diminish the reputation of the Italian school. The
-_Entführung aus dem Serail_ was the first blow to the supremacy of
-Italian opera. Der _Schauspieldirector_ was the second, and when, after
-the production of this latter work at the new German theatre of Vienna,
-Mozart proceeded to write the _Nozze di Figaro_ for the Italians, he
-simply placed himself in the hands of his enemies. At the first
-representation, the two first acts of the _Nozze_ were so shamefully
-executed, that the composer went in despair to the emperor to denounce
-the treachery of which he was being made the victim. Joseph had detected
-the conspiracy and was nearly as indignant as Mozart himself. He sent a
-severe message round to the stage, but the harm was now done, and the
-remainder of the opera was listened to very coldly. _Le Nozze di Figaro_
-failed at Vienna, and was not appreciated, did not even get a fair
-hearing, until it was produced some months afterwards at Prague. The
-Slavonians of Bohemia showed infinitely more good taste and intelligence
-than the Germans (led away and demoralized, however, by an Italian
-clique) at Vienna. At Prague, _le Nozze di Figaro_ caused the greatest
-enthusiasm, and Mozart replied nobly to the sympathy and admiration of
-the Bohemians. "These good people," he said, "have avenged me. They know
-how to do me justice, I must write something to please them." He kept
-his word, and the year afterwards gave them the immortal _Don Giovanni_.
-
-[Sidenote: MOZART AND SALIERI.]
-
-At the head of the clique which had sworn eternal enmity to Mozart, was
-Salieri, a musician with a sort of Pontius Pilate reputation, owing his
-infamous celebrity to the fact that his name is now inseparably coupled
-with that of the sublime composer whom he would have destroyed. Salieri
-(whom we have met with before in Paris as the would-be successor of
-Gluck) was the most learned of the Italian composers at that time
-residing in Vienna; and, therefore, must have felt the greatness of
-Mozart's genius more profoundly than any of the others. When _Don
-Giovanni_, after its success at Prague, was produced at Vienna, it was
-badly put on the stage, imperfectly rehearsed, and represented
-altogether in a very unsatisfactory manner. Nor, with improved execution
-did the audience show any disposition to appreciate its manifold
-beauties. Mozart's _Don Giovanni_ was quite eclipsed by the _Assur_ of
-his envious and malignant rival.
-
-"I will leave it to psychologists to determine," says M.
-Oulibicheff,[75] "whether the day on which Salieri triumphed publicly
-over Mozart, was the happiest or the most painful of his life. He
-triumphed, indeed, thanks to the ignorance of the Viennese, to his own
-skill as a director, (which enabled him to render the work of his rival
-scarcely recognisable), and to the entire devotion of his subordinates.
-He must have been pleased; but Salieri was not only envious, he was also
-a great musician. He had read the score of _Don Giovanni_, and you know
-that the works one reads with the greatest attention are those of one's
-enemies. With what admiration and despair it must have filled the heart
-of an artist who was even more ambitious of true glory than of mere
-renown! What must he have felt in his inmost soul! And what serpents
-must again have crawled and hissed in the wreath of laurel which was
-placed on his head! In spite of the fiasco of his opera, which he seems
-to have foreseen, and to which, at all events, he resigned himself with
-great calmness, Mozart, doubtless, more happy than his conqueror, added
-a few 'numbers,' each a masterpiece to his score. Four new pieces were
-written for it, at the request of the Viennese singers."
-
-M. Oulibicheff's compatriot Poushkin has written an admirable study on
-the subject presented above in a few suggestive phrases by Mozart's
-biographer. Unfortunately, it is impossible in these volumes to find a
-place for the Russian poet's "Mozart and Salieri."
-
-After the failure of _Don Giovanni_ at Vienna, a number of persons were
-speaking of it in a room where Haydn and the principal connoisseurs of
-the place were assembled. Every one agreed in pronouncing it a most
-estimable work, but, also, every one had something to say against it. At
-last, Haydn, who, hitherto, had not spoken a word, was asked to give his
-opinion.
-
-"I do not feel myself in a position to decide this dispute," he
-answered. "All I know and can assure you of is that Mozart is the
-greatest composer of our time."
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-As Salieri's _Assur_ completely eclipsed _Don Giovanni_, so, previously,
-did Martini's _Cosa Rara_, the _Nozze di Figaro_. Both these phenomena
-manifested themselves at Vienna, and the reader has already been
-reminded that the fate of the _Nozze di Figaro_ is alluded to in _Don
-Giovanni_. All the airs played by the hero's musicians in the supper
-scene are taken from the operas which were most in vogue when Mozart
-produced his great work; such as _La Cosa Rara_, _Frŕ due Litiganti
-terzo gode_, and _I Pretendenti Burlati_. Leporello calls attention to
-the melodies as the orchestra on the stage plays them, and when, to
-terminate the series, the clarionets strike up _Non piu andrai_, he
-exclaims _Questo lo conosco pur troppo!_ "I know this one only too
-well!" With the exception of _Non piu andrai_, which the Viennese could
-not tolerate the first time they heard it, none of the airs introduced
-in the _Don Giovanni_ supper scene would be known in the present day,
-but for _Don Giovanni_.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Don Giovanni_, composed by Mozart to _Da Ponte's_ libretto (which is
-founded on Moličre's _Festin de Pierre_, which is imitated from Tirso di
-Molina's _El Burlador di Siviglia_, which seems to have had its origin
-in a very ancient legend[76]), was produced at Prague, on the 4th of
-November, 1787. The subject had already been treated in a ballet, in
-four acts, for which Gluck wrote the music (produced at Parma in 1758;
-and long before the production of Mozart's _Don Giovanni_, it had been
-dramatised in some shape or other in almost every country in Europe, and
-especially in Spain, Italy, and France, where several versions of the
-Italian _Il Convitato di Pietra_ were being played, when Moličre first
-brought out his so-called _Festin de Pierre_. The original cast of _Don
-Giovanni_ at Prague was as follows:--
-
-    _Donna Anna_, Teresa Saporiti.
-    _Elvira_, Catarina Micelli.
-    _Zerlina_, Madame Bondini (Catarina Saporiti).
-    _Don Giovanni_, Bassi (Luigi).
-    _Ottavio_, Baglioni (Antonio).
-    _Leporello_, Ponziani (Felice).
-    _Don Pedro_, Lolli (Guiseppe).
-    _Masetto_, the same.
-
-Righini, of Bologna, had produced his opera of _Don Giovanni, ossia il
-Convitato di Pietra_, at Prague, only eight years before, for which
-reason the title of _Il Dissoluto Punito_ was given to Mozart's work. It
-was not until some years afterwards that it received the name by which
-it is now universally known.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-Although the part of _Don Giovanni_ was written for a baritone, tenors,
-such as Tacchinardi and Garcia, have often played it, and frequently
-with greater success than the majority of baritones have obtained. But
-no individual success of a favourite singer can compensate for the
-transpositions and changes that have to be effected in Mozart's
-masterpiece, when the character of the hero is assigned to a vocalist
-who cannot execute the music which of right belongs to it. It has been
-said that Mozart wrote the part of _Don Giovanni_ for a baritone,
-because it so happened that the baritone at the Prague theatre, Bassi,
-was the best singer of the company; but it is not to be imagined that
-the musical characterization of the personages in the most truly
-dramatic opera ever written, was the result of anything but the
-composer's well-considered design. "_Don Giovanni_ was not intended for
-Vienna, but for Prague," Mozart is reported to have said. "The truth,
-however, is," he added, "that I wrote it for myself, and a few friends."
-Accordingly, the great composer was not thinking of Bassi at the time.
-It would be easy, moreover, to show, that though the most feminine of
-male voices may suit the ordinary _jeune premier_, or _premier
-amoureux_, there is nothing tenor-like in the temperament of a _Don
-Giovanni_; deceiving all women, defying all men, breaking all laws,
-human and divine, and an unbeliever in everything--even in the power of
-equestrian statues to get off their horses, and sit down to supper.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-But, let us not consider whether or not _Fin ch' han dal vino_ is
-improved by being sung (as tenor _Don Giovannis_ sometimes sing it) a
-fourth higher than it was written by Mozart; or whether it is tolerable
-that the concerted pieces in which _Don Giovanni_ takes part should be,
-not transposed (for that would be insufficient, or, rather, would
-increase the difficulties of execution) but so altered, that in some
-passages the original design of the composer is entirely perverted. Let
-us simply repeat the maxim, on which it is impossible to lay too much
-stress, that the work of a great master should not be touched,
-re-touched, or in any manner interfered with, under any pretext. There
-is, absolutely, no excuse for managers mutilating _Don Giovanni_; not
-even the excuse that in its original form this inexhaustible opera does
-not "draw." It has already lived, and with full, unfailing life, for
-three-quarters of a century. It has survived all sorts of revolutions in
-taste, and especially in musical taste. There are now no Emperors of
-Germany. Prague has become a third-rate city. That German Opera, which
-Mozart originated with his _Entführung aus dem Serail_, has attained a
-grand development, and among its composers has numbered Beethoven,
-Weber, and the latter's follower, and occasional imitator, Meyerbeer.
-Rossini has appeared with his seductive melody, and his brilliant,
-sonorous orchestra. But justice is still--more than ever--done to
-Mozart. The verdict of Prague is maintained; and this year, as ten,
-twenty, forty years ago, if the manager of the Italian Opera of London,
-Paris, or St. Petersburgh, has had for some time past a series of empty
-houses, he takes an opera, seventy-four years of age, and which,
-according to all ordinary musical calculations, ought long since to have
-had, at least, one act in the grave, dresses it badly, puts it badly on
-the stage, with such scenery as would be thought unworthy of Verdi, and
-hazardous for Meyerbeer, announces _Don Giovanni_, and every place in
-the theatre is taken!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Although Mozart's genius was fully acknowledged by the greatest
-musicians, among his contemporaries (the reader already knows what Haydn
-said of him, and what Cimarosa replied when he was addressed as his
-superior), his music found an echo in the hearts of only a very small
-portion of the ordinary public. Admired at Prague, condemned at Vienna,
-unknown in the rest of Europe, it may be said, with only too much truth,
-that Mozart's master-pieces, speaking generally, met with no recognition
-until after his death; with no fitting recognition until long
-afterwards. From the slow, strong, oak-like growth of Mozart's fame, now
-flourishing, and still increasing every day, we may see, not for his
-name alone, but for his music, a continued celebrity and popularity,
-which will probably endure as long as our modern civilization. I have
-already spoken of the effects of the last general war in checking
-literary and artistic communication between the nations of Europe. This
-will, in part, account for Mozart's master-piece not having been
-performed at the Italian Opera of Paris until 1811, nor in London until
-after the peace, in 1817. In the Paris cast, the part of _Don Giovanni_
-was assigned to a tenor, Tacchinardi; and when the opera was revived at
-the same theatre (which was not until nine years afterwards),
-Tacchinardi was replaced by Garcia.
-
-The first "Don Giovanni" who appeared in London, was the celebrated
-baritone, Ambrogetti. Among the other distinguished singers who have
-appeared as "Don Giovanni," with great success, may be mentioned
-Nourrit, the tenor; Lablache (in 1832), before he had identified himself
-with the part of "Leporello;" Tamburini, and I suppose I must now add,
-Mario; though this great artist has been seen and heard to more
-advantage in other characters. The last great "Don Giovanni" known to
-the present generation was Signor Tamburini. It is a remarkable fact,
-well worth the consideration of managers, who are inclined to take
-liberties with Mozart's master-piece, that when Garcia, the tenor,
-appeared in London as "Don Giovanni," after Ambrogetti, the baritone, he
-produced comparatively but little effect; though Garcia was one of the
-most accomplished musicians, and, probably, the very best singer of his
-day.
-
-Without going back again to the original cast, I may notice among the
-most celebrated Donna Annas, Madame Ronzi de Begnis, Mademoiselle
-Sontag, Madame Grisi, Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli, and Mademoiselle
-Titiens.
-
-Among the Zerlinas, Madame Fodor, Madame Malibran, Madame Persiani[77],
-and Madame Bosio.
-
-[Sidenote: DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-Among the Don Ottavios, Rubini and Mario.
-
-Porto is said to have been particularly admirable as Masetto, and
-Angrisani and Angelini as the commandant.
-
-Certainly, no one living has heard a better Leporello than Lablache.
-
-Mr. Ebers tells us, in his "Seven Years of the King's Theatre," that
-_Don Giovanni_ was brought out by Mr. Ayrton in 1817, "in opposition to
-a vexatious cabal," and "in despite of difficulties of many kinds which
-would have deterred a less decided and persevering manager."
-Nevertheless, "it filled the boxes and benches of the theatre for the
-whole season, and restored to a flourishing condition the finances of
-the concern, which were in an almost exhausted state."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: DIPLOMATISTS AND DANCERS.]
-
-The war, so injurious to the Opera, had a still more disastrous effect
-on the ballet, a fact for which we have the authority of the manager and
-author from whom I have just quoted. "The procrastinated war," says Mr.
-Ebers, "which, until the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, had kept England and
-France in hostilities, had rendered the importation of dancers from the
-latter country almost impracticable." Mr. Waters, Mr. Ebers'
-predecessor, had repeatedly endeavoured to prevail on French dancers to
-come to England, "either with the _congés_, if attainable, or by such
-clandestine means as could be carried into effect." He failed; and we
-are told that his want of success in this respect was one cause of the
-disagreement between himself and the committee of the theatre, which led
-soon afterwards to his abandoning the management. Mr. Ebers, however,
-testifies from his own experience to the almost insuperable difficulty
-of inducing the directors of the French Opera to cede any of their
-principal performers even for a few weeks to the late enemies of their
-country. When the dancers were willing to accept the terms offered to
-them, it was impossible to obtain leave from the minister entrusted with
-the supreme direction of operatic affairs; if the minister was willing,
-then objections came from the ballet itself. It was necessary to secure
-the aid of the highest diplomatists, and the engagement of a few first
-dancers and _coryphées_ was made as important an affair as the signing
-of a treaty of commerce. The special envoy, the Cobden of the affair,
-was Monsieur Boisgerard, an ex-officer in the French army under the
-Bourbons, and actually the second ballet-master of the King's Theatre;
-but all official correspondence connected with the negotiation had to be
-transmitted through the medium of the English ambassador at Paris to the
-Baron de la Ferté. Boisgerard arrived in Paris furnished with letters of
-introduction from the five noblemen who at that time formed a "committee
-of superintendence" to aid Mr. Ebers in the management of the King's
-Theatre, and directed all his attention and energy towards forming an
-engagement with Bigottini and Noblet, the principal _danseuses_, and
-Albert, the _premier danseur_ of the French Opera. In spite of his
-excellent recommendations, of the esteem in which he was himself held by
-his numerous friends in Paris, and of the interest of a dancer named
-Deshayes, who appears to have readily joined in the conspiracy, and who
-was afterwards rewarded for his aid with a lucrative engagement as first
-ballet-master at the London Opera House--in spite of all these
-advantages it was impossible, for some time, to obtain any concessions
-from the Académie. To begin with, Bigottini, Noblet and Albert refused
-point blank to leave Paris. M. Boisgerard, however, as a ballet-master
-and a man of the world, understood that this was intended only as an
-invitation for larger offers; and finally all three were engaged,
-conditionally on their _congés_ being obtained from the directors of the
-theatre. Now the real difficulty began; now the influence of the five
-English noblemen was brought to bear; now despatches were interchanged
-between the British ambassador in Paris and the Baron de la Ferté,
-intendant of the royal theatres; now consultations took place between
-the said intendant and the Viscount de la Rochefoucault, aide-de-camp of
-the king, entrusted with the department of fine arts in the ministry of
-the king's household; and between the said artistic officer of the
-king's household and Duplanty, the administrator of the Royal Academy of
-Music, and of the Italian Opera. The result of all this negotiation
-was, that the administration first hesitated and finally refused to
-allow Mademoiselle Bigottini to visit England on any terms; but, after
-considerable trouble, the French agents in the service of Mr. Ebers
-obtained permission for Albert and Noblet to accept engagements for two
-months,--it being further arranged that, at the expiration of that
-period, they should be replaced by Coulon and Fanny Bias. Albert was to
-receive fifty pounds for every night of performance, and twenty-five
-pounds for his travelling expenses. Noblet's terms were five hundred and
-fifty pounds for the two months, with twenty-five pounds for expenses.
-Coulon and Bias were each to receive the same terms as Noblet. Three
-other dancers, Montessu, Lacombe, and Mademoiselle de Varennes, were at
-the same time given over to Mr. Ebers for an entire season, and he was
-allowed to retain all his prisoners--that is to say, those members of
-the Académie, with Mademoiselle Mélanie at their head, whom previous
-managers had taken from the French prior to the friendly and pacific
-embassy of M. Boisgerard. An attempt was made to secure the services of
-Mademoiselle Elisa, but without avail. M. and Mademoiselle Paul entered
-into an agreement, but the administration refused to ratify it;
-otherwise, with a little encouragement, Mr. Ebers would probably have
-engaged the entire ballet of the Académie Royale.
-
-[Sidenote: MADEMOISELLE NOBLET.]
-
-Male dancers have, I am glad to think, never been much esteemed in
-England; and Albert, though successful enough, produced nothing like the
-same impression in London which he was in the habit of causing in
-Paris. Mademoiselle Noblet's dancing, on the other hand, excited the
-greatest enthusiasm, and the subscribers made all possible exertions to
-obtain a prolongation of her _congé_ when the time for her return to the
-Académie arrived. Noblet's performance in the ballet of _Nina_ (of which
-the subject is identical with that of Paisiello's opera of the same
-name) is said to have been particularly admirable, especially for the
-great dramatic talent which she exhibited in pourtraying the heroine's
-melancholy madness. _Nina_ was announced for Mademoiselle Noblet's
-benefit, on a night not approved by the Lord Chamberlain--either because
-it interfered with some of the court regulations, or for some other
-reason not explained. The secretary to the committee of the Opera was
-directed to address a letter to the Chamberlain, representing to him how
-inconvenient it would be to postpone the benefit, as the _congé_ of the
-_bénéficiaire_ was now on the point of expiring. Lord Hertford, with
-becoming politeness, wrote the following letter, which shows with what
-deep interest the graceful dancer inspired even those who knew her only
-by reputation. The letter was addressed to the Marquis of Ailesbury, one
-of the members of the operatic committee.
-
-     "MY DEAR LORD,--I have this moment (eleven o'clock) received your
-     letter, which I have sent to the Chamberlain's office to Mr. Mash;
-     and as Mademoiselle Noblet is a very pretty woman as I am told, I
-     hope she will call there to assist in the solicitation which
-     interests her so much. Not having been for many years at the opera,
-     except for the single purpose of attending his majesty, I am no
-     judge of the propriety of her request or the objections which may
-     arise to the postponement of her benefit for one day at so short a
-     notice. I hope the fair solicitress will be prepared with an answer
-     on this part of the subject, as it is always my wish to accommodate
-     you; and I remain most sincerely your very faithful servant,
-
-     "INGRAM HERTFORD."
-
-     "Manchester Square,
-
-     _April 29th, 1821_."
-
-     Mademoiselle Noblet's benefit having taken place, the subscribers,
-     horrified at the notion that they had now, perhaps, seen her for
-     the last time, determined, in spite of all obstacles, in spite even
-     of the very explicit agreement between the director of the King's
-     Theatre and the administration of the Académie Royale, that she
-     should remain in London. The _danseuse_ was willing enough to
-     prolong her stay, but the authorities at the French Opera
-     protested. The Academy of Music was not going to be deprived in
-     this way of one of the greatest ornaments of its ballet, and the
-     Count de Caraman, on behalf of the Academy, called on the committee
-     to direct Mr. Ebers to send over to Paris, without delay, the
-     performers whose _congés_ were now at an end. The members of the
-     committee replied that they had only power to interfere as regarded
-     the choice of operas and ballets, and that they had nothing to do
-     with agreements between the manager and the performers. They added,
-     "that they had certainly employed their influence with the English
-     ambassador at Paris at the commencement of the season, to obtain
-     the best artists from that city; but it appearing that the Academy
-     was not disposed to grant _congés_ for London, even to artists, for
-     whose services the Academy had no occasion, the committee had
-     determined not again to meddle in that branch of the management."
-
-[Sidenote: TERPSICHOREAN TREATY.]
-
-The French now sent over an ambassador extraordinary, the Baron de la
-Ferté himself, to negotiate for the restoration of the deserters. It was
-decided, however, that they should be permitted to remain until the end
-of the season; and, moreover, that two first and two second dancers
-should be allowed annually to come to London, but only under the precise
-stipulations contained in the following treaty, which was signed between
-Mr. Ebers, on the one hand, and M. Duplantys on the part of Viscount de
-la Rochefoucault, on the other.
-
-"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music,
-wishing to facilitate to the administration of the theatre of London,
-the means of making known the French artists of the ballet without this
-advantage being prejudicial to the Opera of Paris;
-
-"Consents to grant to Mr. Ebers for each season, the first commencing on
-the 10th of January, and ending the 20th of April, and the second
-ending the 1st of August, two first dancers, two _figurants_, and two
-_figurantes_; but in making this concession, the administration of the
-Royal Academy of Music reserves the right of only allowing those dancers
-to leave Paris to whom it may be convenient to grant a _congé_; this
-rule applies equally to the _figurants_ and _figurantes_. None of them
-can leave the Paris theatre except by the formal permission of the
-authorities.
-
-"And in return for these concessions, Mr. Ebers promises to engage no
-dancer until he has first obtained the necessary authorization in
-accordance with his demand.
-
-"He engages not under any pretext to keep the principal dancers a longer
-time than has been agreed without a fresh permission, and above all, to
-make them no offers with the view of enticing them from their permanent
-engagements with the French authorities.
-
-"The present treaty is for the space of * * *.
-
-"In case of Mr. Ebers failing in one of the articles of the said treaty,
-the whole treaty becomes null and void."
-
-[Sidenote: BOISGERARD IN THE TEMPLE.]
-
-[Sidenote: MARIA MERCANDOTTI.]
-
-The prime mover in the diplomatic transactions which had the effect of
-securing Mademoiselle Noblet far the London Opera was, as I have said,
-the ballet master, Boisgerard, formerly an officer in the French army.
-In a chapter which is intended to show to some extent the effect on
-opera of the disturbed state of Europe consequent on the French
-Revolution, it will, perhaps, not be out of place to relate a very
-daring exploit performed by the said M. Boisgerard, which was the cause
-of his adopting an operatic career. "This gentleman," says Mr. Ebers, in
-the account published by him of his administration of the King's Theatre
-from 1821 to 1828, "was a Frenchman of good extraction, and at the
-period of the French Revolution, was attached to the royal party. When
-Sir Sidney Smith was confined in the Temple, Boisgerard acted up to his
-principles by attempting, and with great personal risk, effecting the
-escape of that distinguished officer, whose friends were making every
-effort for his liberation. Having obtained an impression of the seal of
-the Directorial Government, he affixed it to an order, forged by
-himself, for the delivery of Sir Sidney Smith into his care. Accompanied
-by a friend, disguised like himself, in the uniform of an officer of the
-revolutionary army, he did not scruple personally to present the
-fictitious document to the keeper of the Temple, who, opening a small
-closet, took thence some original document, with the writing and seal of
-which, he carefully compared the forged order. Desiring the adventurers
-to wait a few minutes, he then withdrew, and locked the door after him.
-Giving themselves up for lost, the confederate determined to resist,
-sword in hand, any attempt made to secure them. The period which thus
-elapsed, may be imagined as one of the most horrible suspense to
-Boisgerard and his companion; his own account of his feelings at the
-time was extremely interesting. Left alone, and in doubt whether each
-succeeding moment might not be attended by a discovery involving the
-safety of his life, the acuteness of his organs of sense was heightened
-to painfulness; the least noise thrilled through his brain, and the
-gloomy apartment in which he sat seemed filled with strange images. They
-preserved their self-possession, and, after the lapse of a few minutes,
-their anxiety was determined by the re-appearance of the gaoler,
-accompanied by his captive, who was delivered to Boisgerard. But here a
-new and unlooked for difficulty occurred; Sir Sidney Smith, not knowing
-Boisgerard, refused, for some time, to quit the prison; and considerable
-address was required on the part of his deliverers to overcome his
-scruples. At last, the precincts of the Temple were cleared; and, after
-going a short distance in a fiacre, then walking, then entering another
-carriage, and so on, adopting every means of baffling pursuit, the
-fugitives got to Havre, where Sir Sidney was put on board an English
-vessel. Boisgerard, on his return to Paris (for he quitted Sir Sidney at
-Havre) was a thousand times in dread of detection; tarrying at an
-_auberge_, he was asked whether he had heard the news of Sir Sidney's
-escape; the querist adding, that four persons had been arrested on
-suspicion of having been instrumental in it. However, he escaped all
-these dangers, and continued at Paris until his visit to England, which
-took place after the peace of Amiens. A pension had been granted to Sir
-Sidney Smith for his meritorious services; and, on Boisgerard's arrival
-here, a reward of a similar nature was bestowed on him through the
-influence of Sir Sidney, who took every opportunity of testifying his
-gratitude."
-
-We have already seen that though the international character of the
-Opera must always be seriously interfered with by international wars,
-the intelligent military amateur may yet be able to turn his European
-campaigning to some operatic advantage. The French officers acquired a
-taste for Italian music in Italy. So an English officer serving in the
-Peninsula, imbibed a passion for Spanish dancing, to which was due the
-choregraphic existence of the celebrated Maria Mercandotti,--by all
-accounts one of the most beautiful girls and one of the most charming
-dancers that the world ever saw. This inestimable treasure was
-discovered by Lord Fife--a keen-eyed connoisseur, who when Maria was but
-a child, foretold the position she would one day occupy, if her mother
-would but allow her to join the dancing school of the French Academy.
-Madame Mercandotti brought her daughter to England when she was fifteen.
-The young Spaniard danced a bolero one night at the Opera, repeated it a
-few days afterwards at Brighton, before Queen Charlotte, and then set
-off to Paris, where she joined the Académie. After a very short period
-of study, she made her _début_ with success, such as scarcely any dancer
-had obtained at the French Opera, since the time of La Camargo--herself,
-by the way, a Spaniard.
-
-Mademoiselle Mercandotti came to London, was received with the greatest
-enthusiasm, was the fashionable theme of one entire operatic season, had
-a number of poems, valuable presents, and offers of undying affection
-addressed to her, and ended by marrying Mr. Hughes Ball.
-
-The production of this _danseuse_ appears to have seen the last direct
-result of that scattering of the amateurs of one nation among the
-artists of another, which was produced by the European convulsions of
-from 1789 to 1815.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XV.
-
-     MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT THE LONDON OPERA, HALF A CENTURY SINCE.
-
-
-[Sidenote: A MANAGER IN THE BENCH.]
-
-A complete History of the Opera would include a history of operatic
-music, a history of operatic dancing, a history of the chief operatic
-theatres, and a history of operatic society. I have made no attempt to
-treat the subject on such a grand scale; but though I shall have little
-to say about the principal lyrical theatres of Europe, or of the habits
-of opera-goers as a European class, there is one great musical dramatic
-establishment, to whose fortunes I must pay some special attention, and
-concerning whose audiences much may be said that will at least interest
-an English reader. After several divided reigns at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, at Covent Garden, at the Pantheon, and at the King's Theatre,
-Italian Opera found itself, in 1793, established solely and majestically
-at the last of these houses, which I need hardly remind the reader was
-its first home in England. The management was now exercised by Mr.
-Taylor, the proprietor. This gentleman, who was originally a banker's
-clerk, appears to have had no qualification for his more exalted
-position, beyond the somewhat questionable one of a taste for
-speculation. He is described as having had "all Sheridan's deficiency of
-financial arrangement, without that extraordinary man's resources."
-Nevertheless he was no bad hand at borrowing money. All the advances,
-however, made to him by his friends, to enable him to undertake the
-management of the Opera, are said to have been repaid. Mr. Ebers, his
-not unfriendly biographer, finds it difficult to account for this, and
-can only explain it by the excellent support the Opera received at the
-period. Mr. Taylor was what in the last century was called "a humorist."
-Not that he possessed much humour, but he was a queer, eccentric man,
-and given to practical jokes, which, in the present day, would not be
-thought amusing even by the friends of those injured by them. On one
-occasion, Taylor having been prevailed upon to invite a number of
-persons to breakfast, spread a report that he intended to set them down
-to empty plates. He, moreover, recommended each of the guests, in an
-anonymous letter, to turn the tables on the would-be ingenious Taylor,
-by taking to the _déjeuner_ a supply of suitable provisions, so that the
-inhospitable inviter might be shamed and the invited enabled to feast in
-company, notwithstanding his machinations to the contrary. The manager
-enjoyed such a reputation for liberality that no one doubted the
-statement contained in the anonymous letter.
-
-Each of the guests sent or took in his carriage a certain quantity of
-eatables, and when all had arrived, the happy Taylor found his room
-filled with all the materials for a monster picnic. Breakfast _had_ been
-prepared, the guests sat down to table, some amused, others disgusted at
-the hoax which had been practised upon them, and Taylor ordered the
-game, preserved meats, lobsters, champagne, &c., into his own larder and
-wine cellar.
-
-Even while directing the affairs of the Opera, Taylor passed a
-considerable portion of his time in the King's Bench, or within its
-"rules."
-
-"How can you conduct the management of the King's Theatre," a friend
-asked him one day, "perpetually in durance as you are?"
-
-"My dear fellow," he replied, "how could I possibly conduct it if I were
-at liberty? I should be eaten up, sir--devoured. Here comes a
-dancer,--'Mr. Taylor, I want such a dress;' another, 'I want such and
-such ornaments.' One singer demands to sing in a part not allotted to
-him; another, to have an addition to his appointments. No, let me be
-shut up and they go to Masterson (Taylor's secretary); he, they are
-aware, cannot go beyond his line; but if they get at _me_--pshaw! no man
-at large can manage that theatre; and in faith," he added, "no man that
-undertakes it ought to go at large."
-
-Though Mr. Taylor lived within the "rules," the "rules" in no way
-governed him. He would frequently go away for days together into the
-country and amuse himself with fishing, of which he appears to have
-been particularly fond. At one time, while living within the "rules," he
-inherited a large sum of money, which he took care not to devote to the
-payment of his debts. He preferred investing it in land, bought an
-estate in the country (with good fishing), and lived for some months the
-quiet, peaceable life of an ardent, enthusiastic angler, until at last
-the sheriffs broke in upon his repose and carried him back captive to
-prison.
-
-But the most extraordinary exploit performed by Taylor during the period
-of his supposed incarceration, was of a political nature. He went down
-to Hull at the time of an election and actually stood for the borough.
-He was not returned--or rather he was returned to prison.
-
-[Sidenote: THE PANTHEON.]
-
-One way and another Mr. Taylor seems to have made a great deal of money
-out of the Opera; and at one time he hit upon a plan which looked at
-first as if it had only to be pursued with boldness to increase his
-income to an indefinite amount. This simple expedient consisted in
-raising the price of the subscribers' boxes. For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes he charged three hundred pounds, and so in proportion
-with all the others. A meeting of subscribers having been held, at
-which, although the expensive Catalani was engaged, it was decided that
-the proposed augmentation was not justified by the rate of the receipts
-and disbursements, and this decision having been communicated to Taylor,
-he replied, that if the subscribers resisted his just demands he would
-shut up their boxes. In consequence of this defiant conduct on the part
-of the manager, many of the subscribers withdrew from the theatre and
-prevailed upon Caldas, a Portuguese wine merchant, to re-open the
-Pantheon for the performance of concerts and all such music as could be
-executed without infringing the licence of the King's Theatre. The
-Pantheon speculation prospered at first, but the seceders from the
-King's Theatre missed their operas, and doubtless also their ballets. A
-sort of compromise was effected between them and Taylor, who persisted,
-however, in keeping up the price of his boxes; and the unfortunate
-Caldas, utterly deserted by those who had dragged him from his
-wine-cellars to expose him to the perils of musical speculation, became
-a bankrupt.
-
-Taylor was now in his turn brought to account. Waters, his partner in
-the proprietorship of the King's Theatre, had been proceeding against
-him in Chancery, and it was ordered that the partnership should be
-dissolved and the house sold. To the great annoyance of the public, the
-first step taken in the affair was to close the theatre,--the
-chancellor, who is said to have had no ear for music, having refused to
-appoint a manager.
-
-It was proposed by private friends that Taylor should cede his interest
-in the theatre to Waters; but it was difficult to bring them to any
-understanding on the subject, or even to arrange an interview between
-them. Waters prided himself on the decorum of his conduct, while Taylor
-appears to have aimed at quite a contrary reputation. All business
-transactions, prior to Taylor's arrest, had been rendered nearly
-impossible between them; because one would attend to no affairs on
-Sunday, while the other, with a just fear of writs before him, objected
-to show himself in London on any other day. The sight of Waters,
-moreover, is said to have rendered Taylor "passionate and scurrilous;"
-and while the negociations were being carried on, through
-intermediaries, between himself and his partner, he entered into a
-treaty with the lessee of the Pantheon, with the view of opening it in
-opposition to the King's Theatre.
-
-Ultimately, the management of the theatre was confided, under certain
-restrictions, to Mr. Waters; but even now possession was not given up to
-him without a struggle.
-
-[Sidenote: WITHIN THE "RULES."]
-
-When Mr. Waters' people were refused admittance by Mr. Taylor's people,
-words led to blows. The adherents of the former partners, and actual
-enemies and rivals, fought valiantly on both sides, but luck had now
-turned against Taylor, and his party were defeated and ejected. That
-night, however, when the Watersites fancied themselves secure in their
-stronghold, the Taylorites attacked them; effected a breach in the stage
-door, stormed the passage, gained admittance to the stage, and finally
-drove their enemies out into the Haymarket. The unmusical chancellor,
-whose opinion of the Opera could scarcely have been improved by the
-lawless proceeding of those connected with it, was again appealed to;
-and Waters established himself in the theatre by virtue of an order from
-the court.
-
-The series of battles at the King's Theatre terminated with the European
-war. Napoleon was at Elba, Mr. Taylor still in the Bench, when Mr.
-Waters opened the Opera, and, during the great season which followed the
-peace of 1814, gained seven thousand pounds.
-
-Taylor appears to have ended his days in prison; profiting freely by the
-"rules," and when at head quarters enjoying the society of Sir John and
-Lady Ladd. The trio seem, on the whole, to have led a very agreeable
-prison life (and, though strictly forbidden to wander from the jail
-beyond their appointed tether, appear in many respects to have been
-remarkably free.) Taylor's great natural animal spirits increased with
-the wine he consumed; and occasionally his behaviour was such as would
-certainly have shocked Waters. On one occasion, his elation is said to
-have carried him so beyond bounds, that Lady Ladd found it expedient to
-empty the tea-kettle over him.
-
-[Sidenote: MR. EBERS' MANAGEMENT.]
-
-In 1816 the Opera, by direction of the Chancellor, (it was a fortunate
-thing that this time he did not order it to be pulled down,) was again
-put up for sale, and purchased out and out by Waters for seven thousand
-one hundred and fifty pounds. As the now sole proprietor was unable to
-pay into court even the first instalment of the purchase money,[78] he
-mortgaged the theatre, with a number of houses belonging to him, to
-Chambers the banker. Taylor, who had no longer any sort of connection
-with the Opera, at present amused himself by writing anonymous letters
-to Mr. Chambers, prophesying the ruin of Waters, and giving dismal but
-grotesque pictures of the manager's penniless and bailiff-persecuted
-position. Mr. Ebers, who was a great deal mixed up with operatic affairs
-before assuming the absolute direction of the Opera, also came in for
-his share of these epistles, which every one seems to have instantly
-recognised as the production of Taylor. "If Waters is with you at
-Brompton," he once wrote to Mr. Ebers, "for God's sake send him away
-instantly, for the bailiffs (alias bloodhounds) are out after him in all
-directions; and tell Chambers not to let him stay at Enfield, because
-that is a suspected place; and so is Lee's in York Street, Westminster,
-and Di Giovanni, in Smith Street, and Reed's in Flask Lane--both in
-Chelsea. It was reported he was seen in the lane near your house an
-evening or two ago, with his eye blacked, and in the great coat and hat
-of a Chelsea pensioner." At another time, Mr. Chambers was informed that
-Michael Kelly, the singer, was at an hotel at Brighton, on the point of
-death, and desirous while he yet lived to communicate something very
-important respecting Waters. The holder of Waters' mortgage took a post
-chaise and four and hurried in great alarm to Brighton, where he found
-Michael Kelly sitting in his balcony, with a pine apple and a bottle of
-claret before him.
-
-Taylor's prophecies concerning Waters, after all, came true. His
-embarrassments increased year by year, and in 1820 an execution was put
-into the theatre at the suit of Chambers. Ten performances were yet due
-to the subscribers, when, on the evening of the 15th of August, bills
-were posted on the walls of the theatre, announcing that the Opera was
-closed. Mr. Waters did not join his former partner in the Bench, but
-retired to Calais.
-
-Mr. Ebers's management commenced in 1821. He formed an excellent
-company, of which several singers, still under engagement to Mr. Waters,
-formed part, and which included among the singers, Madame Camporese,
-Madame Vestris, Madame Ronzi de Begnis; and M. M. Ambrogetti, Angrisani,
-Begrez, and Curioni. The chief dancers (as already mentioned in the
-previous chapter), were Noblet, Fanny Bias, and Albert. The season was a
-short one, it was considered successful, though the manager but lost
-money by it. The selection of operas was admirable, and consisted of
-Paer's _Agnese_, Rossini's _Gazza Ladra_, _Tancredi_ and _Turco_ in
-_Italia_, with Mozart's _Clemenza di Tito_, _Don Giovanni_, and _Nozze
-di Figaro_. The manager's losses were already seven thousand pounds. By
-way of encouraging him, Mr. Chambers increased his rent the following
-year from three thousand one hundred and eighty pounds to ten thousand.
-It is right to add, that in the meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up
-Waters's entire interest in the Opera for eighty thousand pounds.
-Altogether, by buying and selling the theatre, Waters had cleared no
-less than seventy-three thousand pounds. Not contented with this, he no
-sooner heard of the excellent terms on which Mr. Chambers had let the
-house, than he made an application (a fruitless one), to the
-ever-to-be-tormented Chancellor, to have the deed of sale declared
-invalid.
-
-During Mr. Ebers's management, from the beginning of 1821 to the end of
-1827, he lost money regularly every year; the smallest deficit in the
-budget of any one season being that of the last, when the manager
-thought himself fortunate to be minus only three thousand pounds (within
-a few sovereigns).
-
-After Mr. Ebers's retirement, the management of the Opera was undertaken
-by Messrs. Laporte and Laurent. Mr. Laporte was succeeded by Mr. Lumley,
-the history of whose management belongs to a much later period than that
-treated of in the present chapter.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-During the early part of the last century, the character of the London
-Opera House, as a fashionable place of entertainment, and in some other
-respects, appears to have considerably changed. Before the fire in
-1789, the subscription to a box for fifty representations was at the
-rate of twenty guineas a seat. The charge for pit tickets was at this
-time ten shillings and sixpence; so that a subscriber who meant to be a
-true habitué, and visited the Opera every night, saved five guineas by
-becoming a subscriber. At this time, too, the theatre was differently
-constructed, and there were only thirty-six private boxes, eighteen
-arranged in three rows on each side of the house. "The boxes," says Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, in his "Musical Reminiscences," "were then much larger
-and more commodious than they are now, and could contain with ease more
-than their allotted subscribers; far different from the miserable
-pigeon-holes of the present theatre, into which six persons can scarcely
-be squeezed, whom, in most situations, two-thirds can never see the
-stage. The front," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "was then occupied by
-open public boxes, or _amphitheatre_ (as it is called in French
-theatres), communicating with the pit. Both of these were filled,
-exclusively, with the highest classes of society; all, without
-exception, in full dress, then universally worn. The audiences thus
-assembled were considered as indisputably presenting a finer spectacle
-than any other theatre in Europe, and absolutely astonished the foreign
-performers, to whom such a sight was entirely new. At the end of the
-performance, the company of the pit and boxes repaired to the
-coffee-room, which was then the best assembly in London; private ones
-being rarely given on opera nights; and all the first society was
-regularly to be seen there. Over the front box was the five shilling
-gallery; then resorted to by respectable persons not in full dress: and
-above that an upper gallery, to which the admission was three shillings.
-Subsequently the house was encircled with private boxes; yet still the
-prices remained the same, and the pit preserved its respectability, and
-even grandeur, till the old house was burnt down in 1789."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-When the Opera was rebuilt, the number of representations for the
-season, was increased to sixty, and the subscription was at the same
-time raised to thirty guineas, so that the admission to a box still did
-not exceed the price of a pit ticket. During the second year of
-Catalani's engagement, however, when she obtained a larger salary than
-had ever been paid to a singer before, the subscription for a whole box
-with accommodation for six persons, was raised from one hundred and
-eighty to three hundred guineas. This, it will, perhaps, be remembered,
-was to some extent a cunning device of Taylor's; at least, it was
-considered so at the time by the subscribers, though the expenses of the
-theatre had much increased, and the terms on which Catalani was engaged,
-were really enormous.[79] Dr. Veron, in his interesting memoirs (to
-which, by the way, I may refer all those who desire full particulars
-respecting the management of the French Opera during the commencement of
-the Meyerbeer period) tells us that, at the end of the continental war,
-the price of the _demi-tasse_ in the cafés of Paris was raised from six
-to eight _sous_, and that it has never been lowered. So it is in
-taxation. An impost once established, unless the people absolutely
-refuse to pay it, is never taken off; and so it has been with the boxes
-at the London Opera House. The price of the best boxes once raised from
-one hundred and eighty to three hundred guineas, was never, to any
-considerable extent, diminished, and hence the custom arose of halving
-and sub-dividing the subscriptions, so that very few persons have now
-the sole ownership of a box. Hence, too, that of letting them for the
-night, and selling the tickets when the proprietor does not want them.
-This latter practice must have had the effect of lessening considerably
-the profits directly resulting from the high sums charged for the boxes.
-The price of admission to the pit being ten shillings and six-pence, the
-subscribers, through the librarians, and the librarians, who had
-themselves speculated in boxes, found it necessary in order to get rid
-of the box-tickets singly, to sell them at a reduced price. This
-explains why, for many years past, the ordinary price of pit tickets at
-the libraries and at shops of all kinds in the vicinity of the Opera,
-has been only eight shillings and six-pence. No one but a foreigner or a
-countryman, inexperienced in the ways of London, would think of paying
-ten shillings and six-pence at the theatre for admission to the pit;
-indeed, it is a species of deception to continue that charge at all,
-though it certainly does happen once or twice in a great many years that
-the public profit by the establishment of a fixed official price for pit
-tickets. Thus, during the great popularity of Jenny Lind, the box
-tickets giving the right of entry to the pit, were sold for a guinea,
-and even thirty shillings, and thousands of persons were imbecile enough
-to purchase them, whereas, at the theatre itself, anyone could, as
-usual, go into the pit by paying ten shillings and six-pence.
-
-[Sidenote: THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.]
-
-"Formerly," to go back to Lord Mount Edgcumbe's interesting remarks on
-this subject, "every lady possessing an opera box, considered it as much
-her home as her house, and was as sure to be found there, few missing
-any of the performances. If prevented from going, the _loan_ of her box
-and the gratuitous use of the tickets was a favour always cheerfully
-offered and thankfully received, as a matter of course, without any idea
-of payment. Then, too, it was a favour to ask gentlemen to belong to a
-box, when subscribing to one was actually advantageous. Now, no lady can
-propose to them to give her more than double the price of the admission
-at the door, so that having paid so exorbitantly, every one is glad to
-be re-imbursed a part, at least, of the great expense which she must
-often support alone. Boxes and tickets, therefore, are no longer given;
-they are let for what can be got; for which traffic the circulating
-libraries afford an easy accommodation. Many, too, which are not taken
-for the season, are disposed of in the same manner, and are almost put
-up to auction. Their price varying from three to eight, or even ten
-guineas, according to the performance of the evening, and other
-accidental circumstances." From these causes the whole style of the
-opera house, as regards the audience, has become changed. "The pit has
-long ceased to be the resort of ladies of fashion, and, latterly, by the
-innovations introduced, is no longer agreeable to the former male
-frequenters of it." This state of things, however, has been altered, if
-not remedied, from the opera-goers' point of view, by the introduction
-of stalls where the manager compensates himself for the slightly reduced
-price of pit tickets, by charging exactly double what was paid for
-admission to the pit under the old system.
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.]
-
-On the whole, the Opera has become less aristocratic, less respectable,
-and far more expensive than of old. Those who, under the ancient system,
-paid ten shillings and six-pence to go to the pit, must now, to obtain
-the same amount of comfort, give a guinea for a stall, while "most
-improper company is sometimes to be seen even in the principal tiers;
-and tickets bearing the names of ladies of the highest class have been
-presented by those of the lowest, such as used to be admitted only to
-the hindmost rows of the gallery." The last remark belongs to Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, but it is, at least, as true now as it was thirty years ago.
-Numbers of objectionable persons go to the Opera as to all other public
-places, and I do not think it would be fair to the respectable lovers of
-music who cannot afford to pay more than a few shillings for their
-evening's entertainment, that they should be all collected in the
-gallery. It would, moreover, be placing too much power in the hands of
-the operatic officials, who already show themselves sufficiently severe
-censors in the article of dress. I do not know whether it is chiefly a
-disgrace to the English public or to the English system of operatic
-management; but it certainly is disgraceful, that a check-taker at a
-theatre should be allowed to exercise any supervision, or make the
-slightest remark concerning the costume of a gentleman choosing to
-attend that theatre, and conforming generally in his conduct and by his
-appearance to the usages of decent society. It is not found necessary to
-enforce any regulation as to dress at other opera houses, not even in
-St. Petersburgh and Moscow, where, as the theatres are directed by the
-Imperial Government, one might expect to find a more despotic code of
-laws in force than in a country like England. When an Englishman goes to
-a morning or evening concert, he does not present himself in the attire
-of a scavenger, and there is no reason for supposing that he would
-appear in any unbecoming garb, if liberty of dress were permitted to him
-at the Opera. The absurdity of the present system is that, whereas, a
-gentleman who has come to London only for a day or two, and does not
-happen to have a dress-coat in his portmanteau; who happens even to be
-dressed in exact accordance with the notions of the operatic
-check-takers, except as to his cravat, which we will suppose through the
-eccentricity of the wearer, to be black, with the smallest sprig, or
-spray, or spot of some colour on it; while such a one would be regarded
-as unworthy to enter the pit of the Opera, a waiter from an oyster-shop,
-in his inevitable black and white, reeking with the drippings of
-shell-fish, and the fumes of bad tobacco, or a drunken undertaker, fresh
-from a funeral, coming with the required number of shillings in his
-dirty hands, could not be refused admission. If the check-takers are
-empowered to inspect and decide as to the propriety of the cut and
-colour of clothes, why should they not also be allowed to examine the
-texture? On the same principle, too, the cleanliness of opera goers
-ought to be enquired into. No one, whose hair is not properly brushed,
-should be permitted to enter the stalls, and visitors to the pit should
-be compelled to show their nails.
-
-I will conclude this chapter with an extract from an epistle from a
-gentleman, who, during Mr. Ebers's management of the King's Theatre, was
-a victim to the despotic (and, in the main, unnecessary) regulations of
-which I have been speaking. I cannot say I feel any sympathy for this
-particular sufferer; but his letter is amusing. "I was dressed," he
-says, in his protest forwarded to the manager the next morning, "in a
-_superfine blue coat_, with _gold buttons_, a white waistcoat,
-fashionable tight drab pantaloons, white silk stockings, and dress
-shoes; _all worn but once a few days before at a dress concert at the
-Crown and Anchor Tavern_!" The italics, and mark of admiration, are the
-property of the gentleman in the superfine blue coat, who next proceeds
-to express his natural indignation at the idea of the manager presuming
-to "enact sumptuary laws without the intervention of the legislature,"
-and threatens him with legal proceedings, and an appeal to British jury.
-"I have mixed," he continues, "too much in genteel society, not to know
-that black breeches, or pantaloons, with black silk stockings, is a very
-prevailing full dress; and why is it so? Because it is convenient and
-economical, _for you can wear a pair of white silk stockings but once
-without washing, and a pair of black is frequently worn for weeks
-without ablution_. P. S. I have no objection to submit an inspection of
-my dress of the evening in question to you, or any competent person you
-may appoint."
-
-[Sidenote: OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.]
-
-If this gentleman, instead of being excluded, had been admitted into the
-theatre, the silent ridicule to which his costume would have exposed
-him, would have effectually prevented him from making his appearance
-there in any such guise again. It might also have acted as a terrible
-warning to others inclined to sin in a similar manner.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVI
-
-ROSSINI AND HIS PERIOD.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI.]
-
-Innovators in art, whether corrupters or improvers, are always sure to
-meet with opposition from a certain number of persons who have formed
-their tastes in some particular style which has long been a source of
-delight to them, and to interfere with which is to shock all their
-artistic sympathies. How often have we seen poets of one generation not
-ignored, but condemned and vilified by the critics and even by the poets
-themselves of the generation preceding it. Musicians seem to suffer even
-more than poets from this injustice of those who having contracted a
-special and narrow admiration for the works of their own particular
-epoch, will see no merit in the productions of any newer school that may
-arrive. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson have one and all been attacked,
-and their poetic merit denied by those who in several instances had
-given excellent proofs of their ability to appreciate poetry. Almost
-every distinguished composer of the last fifty years has met with the
-same fate, not always at the hands of the ignorant public, for it is
-this ignorant public with its naďve, uncritical admiration, which has
-sometimes been the first to do justice to the critic-reviled poets and
-composers, but at those of musicians and of educated amateurs.
-Ignorance, prejudice, malice, are the causes too often assigned for the
-non-appreciation of the artist of to-day by the art-lover, partly of
-to-day, but above all of yesterday. It should be remembered however,
-that there is a conservatism in taste as in politics, and that both have
-their advantages, though the lovers of noise and of revolution may be
-unable to see them; that the extension of the suffrage, the excessive
-use of imagery, the special cultivation of brilliant orchestral effects,
-may, in the eyes of many, really seem injurious to the true interests of
-government, poetry and music; finally that as in old age we find men
-still keeping more or less to the costumes of their prime, and as the
-man who during the best days of his life has habituated himself to drink
-port, does not suddenly acquire a taste for claret, or _vice versâ_,--so
-those who had accustomed their musical stomachs to the soft strains of
-Paisiello and Cimarosa, _could not_ enjoy the sparkling, stimulating
-music of Rossini. So afterwards to the Rossinians, Donizetti poured
-forth nothing but what was insipid and frivolous; Bellini was languid
-and lackadaisical; Meyerbeer with his restlessness and violence, his new
-instruments, his drum songs, trumpet songs, fencing and pistol songs,
-tinder-box music, skating scenes and panoramic effects, was a noisy
-_charlatan_; Verdi, with his abruptness, his occasional vulgarity and
-his general melodramatic style, a mere musical Fitzball.
-
-It most not be supposed, however, that I believe in the constant
-progress of art; that I look upon Meyerbeer as equal to Weber, or Weber
-as superior to Mozart. It is quite certain that Rossini has not been
-approached in facility, in richness of invention, in gaiety, in
-brilliancy, in constructiveness, or in true dramatic power by any of the
-Italian, French, or German theatrical composers who have succeeded him,
-though nearly all have imitated him one way or another: I will exclude
-Weber alone, an original genius, belonging entirely to Germany[80] and
-to himself. It is, at least, quite certain that Rossini is by far the
-greatest of the series of Italian composers, which begins with himself
-and seems to have ended with Verdi; and yet, while neither Verdi nor
-Bellini, nor Donizetti, were at all justly appreciated in this country
-when they first made their appearance, Rossini was--not merely sneered
-at and pooh-poohed; he was for a long time condemned and abused every
-where, and on the production of some of his finest works was hissed and
-hooted in the theatres of his native land. But the human heart is not so
-black as it is sometimes painted, and the Italian audiences who whistled
-and screeched at the _Barber of Seville_ did so chiefly because they did
-not like it. It was not the sort of music which had hitherto given them
-pleasure, and therefore they were not pleased.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S BIOGRAPHERS.]
-
-Rossini had already composed several operas for various Italian theatres
-(among which may be particularly mentioned _L'Italiana in Algeri_,
-written for Venice in 1813, the composer having then just attained his
-majority) when the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ was produced at Rome for the
-Carnival of 1816. The singers were Vitarelli, Boticelli, Zamboni, Garcia
-and Mesdames Giorgi-Righetti, and Rossi. A number of different versions
-of the circumstances which attended, preceded, and followed the
-representation of this opera, have been published, but the account
-furnished by Madame Giorgi-Righetti, who introduced the music of Rossini
-to the world, is the one most to be relied upon and which I shall adopt.
-I may first of all remind the reader that a very interesting life of
-Rossini, written with great _verve_ and spirit, full of acute
-observations, but also full of misstatements and errors of all
-kinds,[81] has been published by Stendhal, who was more than its
-translator, but not its author. Stendhal's "Vie de Rossini" is founded
-on a work by the Abbé Carpani. To what extent the ingenious author of
-the treatise _De l'Amour_, and of the admirable novel _La Charteuse de
-Parme_, is indebted to the Abbé, I cannot say; but if he borrowed from
-him his supposed facts, and his opinions as a musician, he owes him all
-the worst portion of his book. The brothers Escudier have also published
-a "Vie de Rossini," which is chiefly valuable for the list of his
-works, and the dates of their production.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-To return to the _Barber of Seville_, of which the subject was
-librsuggested to Rossini by the author of the _libretto_, Sterbini.
-Sterbini proposed to arrange it for music in a new form; Rossini
-acquiesced, and the librettists went to work. The report was soon spread
-that Rossini was about to reset Paisiello's libretto. For this some
-accused Rossini of presumption, while others said that in taking
-Paisiello's subject he was behaving meanly and unjustly. This was
-absurd, for all Metastasio's lyrical dramas have been set to music by
-numbers of composers; but this fact was not likely to be taken into
-consideration by Rossini's enemies. Paisiello himself took part in the
-intrigues against the young composer, and wrote a letter from Naples,
-begging one of his friends at Rome to leave nothing undone that could
-contribute to the failure of the second _Barber_. When the night of
-representation, at the Argentina Theatre, arrived, Rossini's enemies
-were all at their posts, declaring openly what they hoped and intended
-should be the fate of the new opera. His friends, on the other hand,
-were not nearly so decided, remembering, as they did, the
-uncomplimentary manner in which Rossini's _Torvaldo_ had been received
-only a short time before. The composer, says Madame Giorgi-Righetti "was
-weak enough to allow Garcia to sing beneath Rosina's balcony a Spanish
-melody of his own arrangement. Garcia maintained, that as the scene was
-in Spain the Spanish melody would give the drama an appropriate local
-colour; but, unfortunately, the artist who reasoned so well, and who was
-such an excellent singer, forgot to tune his guitar before appearing on
-the stage as "Almaviva." He began the operation in the presence of the
-public. A string broke. The vocalist proceeded to replace it; but before
-he could do so, laughter and hisses were heard from all parts of the
-house. The Spanish air, when Garcia was at last ready to sing it, did
-not please the Italian audience, and the pit listened to it just enough
-to be able to give an ironical imitation of it afterwards.
-
-The introduction to Figaro's air seemed to be liked; but when Zamboni
-entered, with another guitar in his hand, a loud laugh was set up, and
-not a phrase of _Largo al factotum_ was heard. When Rosina made her
-appearance in the balcony, the public were quite prepared to applaud
-Madame Giorgi-Righetti in an air which they thought they had a right to
-expect from her; but only hearing her utter a phrase which led to
-nothing, the expressions of disapprobation recommenced. The duet between
-"Almaviva" and "Figaro" was accompanied throughout with hissing and
-shouting. The fate of the work seemed now decided.
-
-At length Rosina came on, and sang the _cavatina_ which had so long been
-looked for. Madame Giorgi-Righetti was young, had a fresh beautiful
-voice, and was a great favourite with the Roman public. Three long
-rounds of applause followed the conclusion of her air, and gave some
-hope that the opera might yet be saved. Rossini, who was at the
-orchestral piano, bowed to the public, then turned towards the singer,
-and whispered "_oh natura_!"
-
-This happy moment did not last, and the hisses recommenced with the duet
-between Figaro and Rosina. The noise increased, and it was impossible to
-hear a note of the finale. When the curtain fell Rossini turned towards
-the public, shrugged his shoulders and clapped his hands. The audience
-were deeply offended by this openly-expressed contempt for their
-opinion, but they made no reply at the time.
-
-The vengeance was reserved for the second act, of which not a note
-passed the orchestra. The hubbub was so great, that nothing like it was
-ever heard at any theatre. Rossini in the meanwhile remained perfectly
-calm, and afterwards went home as composed as if the work, received in
-so insulting a manner, had been the production of some other musician.
-After changing their clothes, Madame Giorgi-Righetti, Garcia, Zamboni,
-and Botticelli, went to his house to console him in his misfortune. They
-found him fast asleep.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-The next day he wrote the delightful _cavatina, Ecco ridente il cielo_,
-to replace Garcia's unfortunate Spanish air. The melody of the new solo
-was borrowed from the opening chorus of _Aureliano in Palmira_, written
-by Rossini in 1814, for Milan, and produced without success; the said
-chorus having itself figured before in the same composer's _Ciro_ in
-_Babilonia_, also unfavourably received. Garcia read his _cavatina_ as
-it was written, and sang it the same evening. Rossini, having now made
-the only alteration he thought necessary, went back to bed, and
-pretended to be ill, that he might not have to take his place in the
-evening at the piano.
-
-At the second performance, the Romans seemed disposed to listen to the
-work of which they had really heard nothing the night before. This was
-all that was needed to ensure the opera's triumphant success. Many of
-the pieces were applauded; but still no enthusiasm was exhibited. The
-music, however, pleased more and more with each succeeding
-representation, until at last the climax was reached, and _Il Barbiere_
-produced those transports of admiration among the Romans with which it
-was afterwards received in every town in Italy, and in due time
-throughout Europe. It must be added, that a great many connoisseurs at
-Rome were struck from the first moment with the innumerable beauties of
-Rossini's score, and went to his house to congratulate him on its
-excellence. As for Rossini, he was not at all surprised at the change
-which took place in public opinion. He was as certain of the success of
-his work the first night, when it was being hooted, as he was a week
-afterwards, when every one applauded it to the skies.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-In Paris, more than three years afterwards, with Garcia still playing
-the part of "Almaviva," and with Madame Ronzi de Begnis as "Rosina,"
-_Il Barbiere_ was not much better received than on its first production
-at Rome. It was less astonishing that it should fail before an audience
-of Parisians (at that time quite unacquainted with Rossini's style) than
-before a highly musical public like that of Rome. In each case, the work
-of Paisiello was made the excuse for condemning that of Rossini; but
-Rossini's _Barber_ was not treated with indignity at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris. It was simply listened to very coldly. Every one was saying,
-that after Paisiello's opera it was nothing, that the two were not to be
-compared, &c., when, fortunately, some one proposed that Paisiello's
-_Barber_ should be revived. Paer, the director of the music, and who is
-said to have been rendered very uneasy by Rossini's Italian successes,
-thought that to crush Rossini by means of his predecessor, was no bad
-idea. The St. Petersburgh _Barber_ of 1788 was brought out; but it was
-found that he had grown old and feeble; or, rather, the simplicity of
-the style was no longer admired, and the artists who had already lost
-the traditions of the school, were unable to sing the music with any
-effect. Rossini's _Barber_ has now been before the world for nearly half
-a century, and we all know whether it is old-fashioned; whether the airs
-are tedious; whether the form of the concerted pieces, and of the grand
-finale, leaves anything to be desired; whether the instrumentation is
-poor; whether, in short, on any one point, any subsequent work of the
-same kind even by Rossini himself, has surpassed, equalled, or even
-approached it. But the thirty years of Paisiello's Barber bore heavily
-upon the poor old man, and he was found sadly wanting in that gaiety and
-brilliancy which have given such celebrity to Rossini's hero, and after
-which Beaumarchais's sparkling epigrammatic dialogue appears almost
-dull.[82] Paisiello's opera was a complete failure. And when Rossini's
-_Barbiere_ was brought out again, every one was struck by the contrast.
-It profited by the very artifice which was to have destroyed it, and
-Rossini's enemies took care for the future not to establish comparisons
-between Rossini and Paisiello. Madame Ronzi de Begnis, too, had been
-replaced very advantageously by Madame Fodor. With two such admirable
-singers as Fodor and Garcia in the parts of "Rosina" and "Almaviva,"
-with Pellegrini as "Figaro," and Begnis as "Basil," the success of the
-opera increased with each representation: and though certain musical
-_quid-nuncs_ continued to shake their heads when Rossini's name was
-mentioned in a drawing-room, his reputation with the great body of the
-theatrical public was now fully established.
-
-The _tirana_ composed by Garcia _Se il mio nome saper voi bramate_,
-which he appears to have abandoned after the unfavourable manner in
-which it was received at Rome, was afterwards re-introduced into the
-_Barber_ by Rubini.
-
-The whole of the _Barber of Seville_ was composed from beginning to end
-in a month. _Ecco ridente il cielo_ (the air adapted from _Aureliano in
-Palmira_) was, as already mentioned, added after the first
-representation. The overture, moreover, had been previously written for
-_Aureliano in Palmira_, and (after the failure of that work) had been
-prefixed to _Elizabetta regina d'Inghilterra_ which met with some
-success, thanks to the admirable singing of Mademoiselle Colbran, in the
-principal character.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini took his failures very easily, and with the calm confidence of a
-man who knew he could do better things and that the public would
-appreciate them. When his _Sigismondo_ was violently hissed at Venice he
-sent a letter to his mother with a picture of a large _fiasco_,
-(bottle). His _Torvaldo e Dorliska_, which was brought out soon
-afterwards, was also hissed, but not so much.
-
-[Sidenote: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.]
-
-This time Rossini sent his mother a picture of a _fiaschetto_ (little
-bottle).
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The motive of the _allegro_ in the trio of the last act of (to return
-for a moment to) the _Barber of Seville_, is, as most of my readers are
-probably aware, simply an arrangement of the bass air sung by "Simon,"
-in _Haydn's Seasons_. The comic air, sung by "Berta," the duenna, is a
-Russian dance tune, which was very fashionable in Rome, in 1816. Rossini
-is said to have introduced it into the _Barber of Seville_, out of
-compliment to some Russian lady.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini's first opera _la Pietra del Paragone_, was written when he was
-seventeen years of age, for the Scala at Milan, where it was produced in
-the autumn of 1812. He introduced the best pieces out of this work into
-the _Cenerentola_, which was brought out five years afterwards at Rome.
-Besides _la Pietra del Paragone_, he laid _il Turco in Italia_, and _la
-Gazzetta_ under contribution to enrich the score of _Cinderella_. The
-air _Miei rampolli_, the duet _un Soave non so chč_, the drinking chorus
-and the burlesque proclamation of the baron belonged originally to _la
-Pietra del Paragone_; the _sestett_, the _stretta_ of the finale, the
-duet _zitto, zitto_, to the _Turco in Italia_, (produced at Milan in
-1814), _Miei rampolli_ had also been inserted in _la Gazzetta_.
-
-The principal female part in the _Cenerentola_, though written for a
-contralto, has generally, (like those of Rosina and Isabella, and also
-written for contraltos), been sung by sopranos, such as Madame Fodor,
-Madame Cinti, Madame Sontag, &c. When sung by Mademoiselle Alboni, these
-parts are executed in every respect in conformity with the composer's
-intentions.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.]
-
-Rossini's first serious opera, or at least the first of those by which
-his name became known throughout Europe, was _Tancredi_, written for
-Venice in 1813, the year after _la Pietra del Paragone_. In this opera,
-we find indicated, if not fully carried out, all those admirable changes
-in the composition of the lyric drama which were imputed to him by his
-adversaries as so many artistic crimes. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his
-objections to Rossini's music, strange and almost inexplicable as they
-appear, yet only says in somewhat different language what is advanced by
-Rossini's admirers, in proof of his great merit. The connoisseur of a
-past epoch describes the changes introduced by Rossini into dramatic
-music, for an enemy, fairly enough; only he regards as detestable
-innovations what others have accepted as admirable reforms. It appeared
-to Rossini that the number of airs written for the so-called lyric
-dramas of his youth, delayed the action to a most wearisome extent. In
-_Tancredi_, concerted pieces in which the dramatic action is kept up,
-are introduced in situations where formerly there would have been only
-monologues. In _Tancredi_ the bass has little to do, but more than in
-the operas of the old-school, where he was kept quite in the back
-ground, the _ultima parte_ being seldom heard except in _ensembles_. By
-degrees the bass was brought forward, until at last he became an
-indispensable and frequently the principal character in all tragic
-operas. In the old opera the number of characters was limited and
-choruses were seldom introduced. Think, then, how an amateur of the
-simple, quiet old school must have been shocked by a thoroughly
-Rossinian opera, such as _Semiramide_, with its brilliant, sonorous
-instrumentation, its prominent part for the bass or baritone, its long
-elaborate finale, and above all its military band on the stage! Mozart
-had already anticipated every resource that has since been adopted by
-Rossini, but to Rossini belongs, nevertheless, the merit of having
-brought the lyric drama to perfection on the Italian stage, and forty
-and even thirty years ago it was to Rossini that its supposed
-degradation was attributed.
-
-"So great a change," says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "has taken place in the
-character of the (operatic) dramas, in the style of the music and its
-performance, that I cannot help enlarging on that subject before I
-proceed further. One of the most material alterations is, that the grand
-distinction between serious and comic operas is nearly at an end, the
-separation of the singers for their performance, entirely so.[83] Not
-only do the same sing in both, but a new species of drama has arisen, a
-kind of mongrel between them called _semi seria_, which bears the same
-analogy to the other two that that nondescript melodrama does to the
-legitimate tragedy and comedy of the English stage."
-
-And of which style specimens may be found in Shakespeare's plays and in
-Mozart's _Don Giovanni_! The union of the serious and the comic in the
-same lyric work was an innovation of Mozart's, like almost all the
-innovations attributed by Lord Mount Edgcumbe to Rossini. Indeed, nearly
-all the operatic reforms of the last three-quarters of a century that
-have endured, have had Mozart for their originator.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.]
-
-"The construction of these newly invented pieces," continues Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "is essentially different from the old. The dialogue which
-used to be carried on in recitative, and which in Metastasio's operas,
-is often so beautiful and interesting, is now cut up (and rendered
-unintelligible, if it were worth listening to), into _pezzi concertati_,
-or long singing conversations, which present a tedious succession of
-unconnected, ever-changing motivos, having nothing to do with each
-other: and if a satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, which the
-ear would like to dwell upon, to hear modulated, varied and again
-returned to, it is broken off before it is well understood, by a sudden
-transition into a totally different melody, time and key, and recurs no
-more; so that no impression can be made or recollection of it preserved.
-Single songs are almost exploded ... even the _prima donna_ who would
-formerly have complained at having less than three or four airs allotted
-to her, is now satisfied with one trifling _cavatina_ for a whole
-opera."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe has hitherto given a tolerably true account of the
-reforms introduced by Rossini into the operatic music of Italy; only,
-instead of calling Rossini's concerted pieces and finales, "a tedious
-succession of unconnected, ever-changing motivos," he ought to describe
-them as highly interesting, well connected and eminently dramatic. He
-goes on to condemn Rossini for his new distribution of characters, and
-especially for his employment of bass voices in chief parts "to the
-manifest injury of melody and total subversion of harmony, in which the
-lowest part is their peculiar province." Here, however, it occurs to
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, and he thereupon expresses his surprise, "that the
-principal characters in two of Mozart's operas should have been written
-for basses."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-When the above curious, and in its way valuable, strictures on Rossini's
-music were penned, not only _Tancredi_, but also _Il Barbiere_,
-_Otello_, _La Cenerentola_, _Mosč in Egitto_, _La Gazza Ladra_, and
-other of his works had been produced. _Il Barbiere_ succeeded at once
-in England, and Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that for many years after
-the first introduction of Rossini's works into England "so entirely did
-he engross the stage, that the operas of no other master were ever to be
-heard, with the exception of those of Mozart; and of his only _Don
-Giovanni_ and _le Nozze di Figaro_ were often repeated.... Every other
-composer, past and present, was totally put aside, and these two alone
-named or thought of." Rossini, then, if wrongly applauded, was at least
-applauded in good company. It appears from Mr. Ebers's "Seven years of
-the King's Theatre," that of all the operas produced from 1821 to 1828,
-nearly half were Rossini's, or in exact numbers fourteen out of
-thirty-four, but it must be remembered that the majority of these were
-constantly repeated, whereas most of the others were brought out only
-for a few nights and then laid aside. During the period in question the
-composer whose works, next to Rossini, were most often represented, was
-Mozart with _Don Giovanni_, _Le Nozze_, _La Clemenza di Tito_, and _Cosi
-fan Tutti_. The other operas included in the repertoire were by Paer,
-Mayer, Zingarelli, Spontini, (_la Vestale_), Mercadante, Meyerbeer, (_Il
-Crociato in Egitto_) &c.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: TANCREDI.]
-
-Our consideration of the causes of Rossini's success, and want of
-success, has led us far away from the first representation of _Tancredi_
-at the theatre of La Fenice. Its success was so great, that each of its
-melodies became for the Venetians a second "Carnival of Venice;" and
-even in the law courts, the judges are said to have been obliged to
-direct the ushers to stop the singing of _Di tanti palpiti_, and _Mi
-rivedrai te rivedrň_.
-
-"I thought after hearing my opera, that the Venetians would think me
-mad," said Rossini. "Not at all; I found they were much madder than I
-was." _Tancredi_ was followed by _Aureliano_, produced at Milan in 1814,
-and, as has already been mentioned, without success. The introduction,
-however, containing the chorus from which Almaviva's _cavatina_ was
-adapted, is said to have been one of Rossini's finest pieces. _Otello_,
-the second of Rossini's important serious operas, was produced in 1816
-at Naples (Del Fondo Theatre). The principal female part, as in the
-now-forgotten _Elizabetta_, and as in a great number of subsequent
-works, was written for Mademoiselle Colbran. The other parts were
-sustained by Benedetti, Nozzari, and the celebrated Davide.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-In _Otello_, Rossini continued the reforms which he had commenced in
-_Tancredi_. He made each dramatic scene one continued piece of music,
-used recitative but sparingly, and when he employed it, accompanied it
-for the first time in Italy, with the full band. The piano was now
-banished from the orchestra, forty-two years after it had been banished
-by Gluck from the orchestras of France.
-
-Davide, in the part of Otello," created the greatest enthusiasm. The
-following account of his performance is given by a French critic, M.
-Edouard Bertin, in a letter from Venice, dated 1823:--
-
-[Sidenote: OTELLO.]
-
-"Davide excites among the _dilettanti_ of this town an enthusiasm and
-delight which could scarcely be conceived without having been witnessed.
-He is a singer of the new school, full of mannerism, affectation, and
-display, abusing, like Martin, his magnificent voice with its prodigious
-compass (three octaves comprised between four B flats). He crushes the
-principal motive of an air beneath the luxuriance of his ornamentation,
-and which has no other merit than that of difficulty conquered. But he
-is also a singer full of warmth, _verve_, expression, energy, and
-musical sentiment; alone he can fill up and give life to a scene; it is
-impossible for another singer to carry away an audience as he does, and
-when he will only be simple, he is admirable; he is the Rossini of song.
-He is a great singer; the greatest I ever heard. Doubtless, the manner
-in which Garcia plays and sings the part of "Otello" is preferable,
-taking it altogether, to that of Davide. It is purer, more severe, more
-constantly dramatic; but with all his faults Davide produces more
-effect, a great deal more effect. There is something in him, I cannot
-say what, which, even when he is ridiculous, commands, enhances
-attention. He never leaves you cold; and when he does not move you, he
-astonishes you; in a word, before hearing him, I did not know what the
-power of singing really was. The enthusiasm he excites is without
-limits. In fact, his faults are not faults for Italians, who in their
-_opera seria_ do not employ what the French call the tragic style, and
-who scarcely understand us, when we tell them that a waltz or quadrille
-movement is out of place in the mouth of a Cćsar, an Assur, or an
-Otello. With them the essential thing is to please: they are only
-difficult on this point, and their indifference as to all the rest is
-really inconceivable: here is an example of it. Davide, considering
-apparently that the final duet of _Otello_ did not sufficiently show off
-his voice, determined to substitute for it a duet from _Armida_ (Amor
-possente nome), which is very pretty, but anything rather than severe.
-As it was impossible to kill Desdemona to such a tune, the Moor, after
-giving way to the most violent jealousy, sheathes his dagger, and begins
-in the most tender and graceful manner his duet with Desdemona, at the
-conclusion of which he takes her politely by the hand, and retires,
-amidst the applause and bravos of the public, who seem to think it quite
-natural that the piece should finish in this manner, or, rather, that it
-should not finish at all: for after this beautiful _dénouement_, the
-action is about as far advanced as it was in the first scene. We do not
-in France carry our love of music so far as to tolerate such absurdities
-as these, and perhaps we are right."
-
-Lord Byron saw _Otello_ at Venice, soon after its first production. He
-speaks of it in one of his letters, dated 1818, in which he condemns
-the libretto, but expresses his admiration of the music.
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ was written for Milan, and brought out at the theatre
-of "La Scala," in 1817. Four years afterwards it was produced in London
-in the spring, and Paris in the autumn. The part of "Ninetta,"
-afterwards so favourite a character with Sontag, Malibran, and Grisi,
-was sung in 1821 by Madame Camporese in London, by Madame Fodor in
-Paris. Camporese's performance was of the greatest merit, and highly
-successful. Fodor's is said to have been perfection. The part of
-"Pippo," originally written for a contralto, used at one time to be sung
-at the English and French theatres by a baritone or bass. It was not
-until some years after _La Gazza Ladra_ was produced, that a contralto
-(except for first parts), was considered an indispensable member of an
-opera company.
-
-Madame Fodor was not an Italian, but a Russian. She was married to a
-Frenchman, M. Mainvielle, and, before visiting Italy, and, until her
-_début_, had studied chiefly in Paris. Her Italian tour is said to have
-greatly improved her style, which, when she first appeared in London, in
-1816, left much to be desired. Camporese was of good birth, and was
-married to a member of the Guistiniani family. She cultivated singing in
-the first instance only as an accomplishment; but was obliged by
-circumstances to make it her profession. In Italy she sang only at
-concerts, and it was not until her arrival in England that she appeared
-on the stage. She seems to have possessed very varied powers; appearing
-at one time as "Zerlina" to Ronzi's "Donna Anna;" at another, as "Donna
-Anna," to Fodor's "Zerlina."
-
-[Sidenote: LA GAZZA LADRA.]
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ is known to be founded on a French melo-drama, _La Pie
-Voleuse_, of which the capabilities for operatic "setting," were first
-discovered by Paer. Paer had seen Mademoiselle Jenny Vertpré in _La Pie
-Voleuse_. He bought the play, and sent it to his librettist in ordinary
-at Milan, with marginal notes, showing how it ought to be divided for
-musical purposes. The opera book intended by Paer for himself was
-offered to Rossini, and by him was made the groundwork of one of his
-most brilliant productions.
-
-_La Gazza Ladra_ marks another step in Rossini's progress as a composer,
-and accordingly we find Lord Mount Edgcumbe saying, soon after its
-production in England:--"Of all the operas of Rossini that have been
-performed here, that of _la Gazza Ladra_ is most peculiarly liable to
-all the objections I have made to the new style of drama, of which it is
-the most striking example." The only opera of Rossini's which Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe seems really to have liked was _Aureliano in Palmira_, written
-in the composer's earliest style, and which failed.
-
-"Its finales," (Lord Mount Edgcumbe is speaking of _La Gazza Ladra_)
-"and many of its very numerous _pezzi concertati_, are uncommonly loud,
-and the lavish use made of the noisy instruments, appears, to my
-judgment, singularly inappropriate to the subject; which, though it
-might have been rendered touching, is far from calling for such warlike
-accompaniments. Nothing can be more absurd than the manner in which this
-simple story is represented in the Italian piece, or than to be a young
-peasant servant girl, led to trial and execution, under a guard of
-soldiers, with military music." The quintett of _La Gazza Ladra_, is,
-indeed, open to a few objections from a dramatic point of view.
-"Ninetta" is afraid of compromising her father; but "Fernando" has
-already given himself up to the authorities, in order to save his
-daughter--in whose defence he does not say a word. An explanation seems
-necessary, but then the drama would be at an end. There would be no
-quintett, and we should lose one of Rossini's finest pieces. Would it be
-worth while to destroy this quintett, in order to make the opera end
-like the French melo-drama, and as the French operatic version of _La
-Gazza Ladra_ also terminates?
-
-I have already spoken of _La Cenerentola_, produced in 1817 at Rome.
-This admirable work has of late years been much neglected. The last time
-it was heard in England at Her Majesty's Theatre, Madame Alboni played
-the principal part, and excited the greatest enthusiasm by her execution
-of the final air, _Non piu mesta_ (the model of so many solos for the
-_prima donna_, introduced with or without reason, at the end of
-subsequent operas); but the cast was a very imperfect one, and the
-performance on the whole (as usual, of late years, at this theatre)
-very unsatisfactory.
-
-[Sidenote: MOSE IN EGITTO.]
-
-_Mosč in Egitto_ was produced at the San Carlo[84] Theatre, at Naples,
-in 1818; the principal female part being written again for Mademoiselle
-Colbran. In this work, two leading parts, those of "Faraoni" and "Mosč,"
-were assigned to basses. The once proscribed, or, at least contemned
-basso, was, for the first time brought forward, and honoured with full
-recognition in an Italian _opera seria_. The story of the Red Sea, and
-of the chorus sung on its banks, has often been told; but I will repeat
-it in a few words, for the benefit of those readers who may not have met
-with it before. The Passage of the Red Sea was intended to be
-particularly grand; but, instead of producing the effect anticipated, it
-was received every night with laughter. The two first acts were always
-applauded; but the Red Sea was a decided obstacle to the success of the
-third. Tottola, the librettist, came to Rossini one morning, with a
-prayer for the Israelites, which he fancied, if the composer would set
-it to music, might save the conclusion of the opera. Rossini, who was in
-bed at the time, saw at once the importance of the suggestion, wrote on
-the spur of the moment, and in a few minutes, the magnificent _Del tuo
-stellato soglio_. It was performed the same evening, and excited
-transports of admiration. The scene of the Red Sea, instead of being
-looked forward to as a source of hilarity, became now the chief
-"attraction" of the opera. The performance of the prayer produced a sort
-of frenzy among the audience, and a certain Neapolitan doctor, whose
-name has not transpired, told either Stendhal or the Abbé Carpani (on
-whose _Letters_, as before mentioned, Beyle's "Vie de Rossini par
-Stendhal" is founded), that the number of nervous indispositions among
-the ladies of Naples was increased in a remarkable manner by the change
-of key, from the minor to the major, in the last verse.
-
-_Mosč_ was brought out in London, as an oratorio, in the beginning of
-1822. Probably, dramatic action was absolutely necessary for its
-success; at all events, it failed as an oratorio. The same year it was
-produced as an opera at the King's Theatre; but with a complete
-transformation in the libretto, and under the title of _Pietro
-l'Eremita_. The opera attracted throughout the season, and no work of
-Rossini's was ever more successful on its first production in this
-country. The subscribers to the King's Theatre were in ecstacies with
-it, and one of the most distinguished supporters of the theatre, after
-assuring the manager that he deserved well of this country, offered to
-testify his gratitude by proposing him at White's!
-
-[Sidenote: MOSE IN EGITTO.]
-
-In the autumn of the same year _Mosč_ was produced at the Italian Opera
-of Paris, and in 1827, a French version of it was brought out at the
-Académie. The Red Sea appears to have been a source of trouble
-everywhere. At the Académie, forty-five thousand francs were sunk in it,
-and to so little effect, or rather with such bad effect, that the
-machinists' and decorators' waves had to be suppressed after the first
-evening. In London the Red Sea became merely a river. The river,
-however, failed quite as egregiously as the larger body of water, and
-had to be drained off before the second performance took place.
-
-_Mosč_ is quite long enough and sufficiently complete in its original
-form. Several pieces, however, out of other operas, by Rossini, were
-added to it in the London version of the work. In Paris, in accordance
-with the absurd custom (if it be not even a law) at the Académie, _Mosč_
-could not be represented without the introduction of a ballet. The
-necessary dance music was taken from _Ciro in Babilonia_ and _Armida_,
-and the opera was further strengthened as it was thought (weakened as it
-turned out), by the introduction of a new air for Mademoiselle Cinti,
-and several new choruses.
-
-The _Mosč_ of the Académie, with its four acts of music (one more than
-the original opera) was found far too long. It was admired, and for a
-little while applauded; but when it had once wearied the public, it was
-in vain that the directors reduced its dimensions. It became smaller and
-smaller, until it at last disappeared.
-
-_Zelmira_, written originally for Vienna, and which is said to have
-contained Madame Colbran Rossini's best part, was produced at Naples in
-1822. The composer and his favourite _prima donna_ were married in the
-spring of the same year at Castelnaso, near Bologna.
-
-"The recitatives of _Zelmira_" says Carpani, in his _Le Rossinane ossia
-lettere musico-teatrali_, "are the best and most dramatic that the
-Italian school has produced; their eloquence is equal to that of the
-most beautiful airs, and the spectator, equally charmed and surprised,
-listens to them from one end to the other. These recitatives are
-sustained by the orchestra; _Otello_, _Mosč in Egitto_, are written
-after the same system, but I will not attribute to Rossini the honour of
-a discovery which belongs to our neighbours. Although the French Opera
-is still barbarous from a vocal point of view, there are some points
-about it which may be advantageously borrowed. The introduction of
-accompanied recitative is of the greatest importance for our _opera
-seria_, which, in the hands of the Mayers, Paers, the Rossinis, has at
-last become dramatic."
-
-_Zelmira_ was brought out in London in 1824, under the direction of
-Rossini himself, and with Madame Colbran Rossini in the principal part.
-The reception of the composer, when he made his appearance in the
-orchestra, was most enthusiastic, and at the end of the opera, he was
-called on to the stage, which, in England, was, then, quite a novel
-compliment.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI AND GEORGE IV.]
-
-At the same time, all possible attention was paid to Rossini, in
-private, by the most distinguished persons in the country. He was
-invited by George IV. to the Pavilion at Brighton, and the King gave
-orders that when his guest entered the music room, his private band
-should play the overture to the _Barber of Seville_. The overture being
-concluded, his Majesty asked Rossini what piece he would like to hear
-next. The composer named _God save the King_.
-
-The music of _Zelmira_ was greatly admired by connoisseurs, but made no
-impression on the public, and though Madame Colbran-Rossini's
-performance is said to have been admirable, it must be remembered that
-she had already passed the zenith of her powers. Born in Madrid, in
-1785, she appears to have retired from the stage, as far as Italy was
-concerned, in 1823, after the production of _Semiramide_. At least, I
-find no account of her having sung anywhere after the season of 1824, in
-London, though her name appears in the list of the celebrated company
-assembled the same year by Barbaja, at Vienna. Mademoiselle Colbran
-figures among the sopranos with Mesdames Mainvielle-Fodor, Féron, Esther
-Mombelli,[85] Dardanelli, Sontag, Unger, Giuditta, Grisi, and Grimbaun.
-The contraltos of this unrivalled _troupe_ were Mesdames
-Cesare-Cantarelli and Eckerlin; the tenors, Davide, Nozzari, Donzelli,
-Rubini, and Cicimarra; the basses, Lablache, Bassi, Ambroggi,
-Tamburini, and Bolticelli. Rossini had undertaken to write an opera
-entitled _Ugo rč d'Italia_, for the King's Theatre. The engagement had
-been made at the beginning of the season, in January, and the work was
-repeatedly announced for performance, when, at the end of May, it was
-said to be only half finished. He had, at this time, quarrelled with the
-management, and accepted the post of director at the Italian Opera of
-Paris. The end of _Ugo rč d'Italia_ is said by Mr. Ebers to have been,
-that the score, as far as it was written, was deposited with Messrs.
-Ransom, the bankers. Messrs. Ransom, however, have informed me, that
-they never had a score of Rossini's in their possession.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-After Rossini's departure from London, his _Semiramide_, produced at
-Venice only the year before, was brought out with Madame Pasta, in the
-principal character. The part of "Semiramide" had been played at the
-_Fenice_ Theatre, by Madame Colbran; it was the last Rossini wrote for
-his wife, and _Semiramide_ was the last opera he composed for Italy.
-When we meet with Rossini again, it will be at the Académie Royale of
-Paris, as the composer of _the Siege of Corinth_, _Count Ory_, and
-_William Tell_.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S SINGERS.]
-
-The first great representative of "Semiramide" was Pasta, who has
-probably never been surpassed in that character. After performing it
-with admirable success in London, she resumed in it the year afterwards,
-1825, at the Italian Opera of Paris. Madame Pasta had already gained
-great celebrity by her representation of "Tancredi" and of "Romeo," but
-in _Semiramide_, she seems, for the first time, to have exhibited her
-genius in all its fulness.[86]
-
-The original "Arsace" was Madame Mariani, the first great "Arsace,"
-Madame Pisaroni.
-
-Since the first production of _Semiramide_, thirty years ago, all the
-most distinguished sopranos and contraltos of the day have loved to
-appear in that admirable work.
-
-Among the "Semiramides," I may mention in particular Pasta, Grisi,
-Viardot-Garcia, and Cruvelli. Although not usually given to singers who
-particularly excel in the execution of light delicate music, the part of
-"Semiramide" was also sung with success by Madame Sontag (Paris, 1829),
-and Madame Bosio (St. Petersburgh, 1855).
-
-Among the "Arsaces," may be cited Pisaroni, Brambilla, and Alboni.
-
-Malibran, with her versatile comprehensive genius, appeared both as
-"Arsace" and as "Semiramide," and was equally fortunate in each of these
-very different impersonations.
-
-I will now say a few words respecting those of the singers just named,
-whose names are more especially associated with Rossini's earliest
-successes in England.
-
-Madame Pasta having appeared in Paris with success in 1816, was engaged
-with her husband, Signor Pasta (an unsuccessful tenor), for the
-following season at the King's Theatre. She made no great impression
-that year, and was quite eclipsed by Fodor and Camporese, who were
-members of the same company. The young singer, not discouraged, but
-convinced that she had much to learn, returned to Italy, where she
-studied unremittingly for four years. She reappeared at the Italian
-Opera of Paris in 1821, as "Desdemona," in Rossini's _Otello_, then for
-the first time produced in France. Her success was complete, but her
-performance does not appear to have excited that enthusiasm which was
-afterwards caused by her representation of "Medea," in Mayer's opera of
-that name. In _Medea_, however, Pasta was everything; in _Otello_, she
-had to share her triumph with Garcia, Bordogni, and Levasseur. From this
-time, the new tragic vocalist gained constantly in public estimation.
-_Medea_ was laid aside; but Pasta gained fresh applause in every new
-part she undertook, and especially in _Tancredi_ and _Semiramide_.
-
-[Sidenote: PASTA.]
-
-Pasta made her second appearance at the King's Theatre in 1824, in the
-character of "Desdemona." Her performance, from a histrionic as well as
-from a vocal point of view, was most admirable; and the habitués could
-scarcely persuade themselves that this was the singer who had come
-before them four years previously, and had gone away without leaving a
-regret behind. When Rossini's last Italian opera was produced, the same
-season, the character of "Semiramide" was assigned to Madame Pasta, who
-now sang it for the first time. She had already represented the part of
-"Tancredi," and her three great Rossinian impersonations raised her
-reputation to the highest point. In London, Madame Pasta did not appear
-as "Medea" until 1826, when she already enjoyed the greatest celebrity.
-It was found at the King's Theatre, as at the Italian Opera of Paris,
-that Mayer's simple and frequently insipid music was not tolerable,
-after the brilliant dramatic compositions of Rossini; but Pasta's
-delineation of "Medea's" thirst for vengeance and despair, is said to
-have been sublime.
-
-A story is told of a distinguished critic persuading himself, that with
-such a power of pourtraying "Medea's" emotions, Madame Pasta must
-possess "Medea's" features; but for some such natural conformity he
-seems to have thought it impossible that she could at once, by
-intuition, enter profoundly and sympathetically into all "Medea's"
-inmost feelings. Much might be said in favour of the critic's theory; it
-is unnecessary to say a word in favour of a performance by which such a
-theory could be suggested. We are told, that the believer in the
-personal resemblance between Pasta and "Medea" was sent a journey of
-seventy miles to see a visionary portrait of "Medea," recovered from the
-ruins of Herculaneum. To rush off on such a journey with such an object,
-may not have been very reasonable; to cause the journey to be
-undertaken, was perfectly silly. Probably, it was a joke of our friend
-Taylor's.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: PISARONI.]
-
-Madame Pisaroni made her début in Italy in the year 1811, when she was
-eighteen years of age. She at first came out as a soprano, but two years
-afterwards, a severe illness having changed the nature of her voice, she
-appeared in all the most celebrated parts, written for the musicos or
-sopranists, who were now beginning to die out, and to be replaced by
-ladies with contralto voices. Madame Pisaroni was not only not
-beautiful, she was hideously ugly; I have seen her portrait, and am not
-exaggerating. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us, that another favourite
-contralto of the day Mariani (Rossini's original Arsace) was Pisaroni's
-rival "in voice, singing, and ugliness;" adding, that "in the two first
-qualities, she was certainly her inferior; though in the last it was
-difficult to know to which the preference should be given." But the
-anti-pathetic, revolting, almost insulting features of the great
-contralto, were forgotten as soon as she began to sing. As the hideous
-Wilkes boasted that he was "only a quarter of an hour behind the
-handsomest man in Europe," so Madame Pisaroni might have said, that she
-had only to deliver one phrase of music to place herself on a level with
-the most personally prepossessing vocalist of the day. This
-extraordinary singer on gaining a contralto, did not lose her original
-soprano voice. After her illness, she is said to have possessed three
-octaves (between four C's), but her best notes were now in the contralto
-register. In airs, in concerted pieces, in recitative, she was equally
-admirable. To sustain a high note, and then dazzle the audience with a
-rapid descending scale of two octaves, was for her an easy means of
-triumph. Altogether, her execution seems never to have been surpassed.
-After making her début in Paris as "Arsace," Madame Pisaroni resumed
-that part in 1829, under great difficulties. The frightfully ugly
-"Arsace" had to appear side by side with a charmingly pretty
-"Semiramide,"--the soprano part of the opera being taken by Mademoiselle
-Sontag. But in the hour of danger the poor contralto was saved by her
-thoroughly beautiful singing, and Pisaroni and Sontag, who as a vocalist
-also left nothing to desire, were equally applauded. In London, Pisaroni
-appears to have confined herself intentionally to the representation of
-male characters, appearing as "Arsace," "Malcolm," in _La Donna del
-Lago_, and "Tancredi;" but in Paris she played the principal female part
-in _L'Italiana in Algeri_, and what is more, played it with wonderful
-success.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The great part of "Arsace" was also that in which Mademoiselle Brambilla
-made her début in England in the year 1827. Brambilla, who was a pupil
-of the conservatory of Milan, had never appeared on any stage; but
-though her acting is said to have been indifferent, her lovely voice,
-her already excellent style, her youth and her great beauty, ensured
-her success.
-
-"She has the finest eyes, the sweetest voice, and the best disposition
-in the world," said a certain cardinal of the youthful Brambilla, "if
-she is discovered to possess any other merits, the safety of the
-Catholic Church will require her excommunication." After singing in
-London several years, and revisiting Italy, Brambilla was engaged in
-Paris, where she again chose the part of "Arsace," for her début.
-
-Many of our readers will probably remember that "Arsace" was also the
-character in which Mademoiselle Alboni made her first appearance in
-England, and on this side of the Alps. Until the opening night of the
-Royal Italian Opera, 1847, the English public had never heard of
-Mademoiselle Alboni; but she had only to sing the first phrase of her
-part, to call forth unanimous applause, and before the evening was at an
-end, she had quite established herself in the position which she has
-ever since held.
-
-[Sidenote: SONTAG.]
-
-Sontag and Malibran both made their first appearance in England as
-"Rosina," in the _Barber of Seville_. Several points of similarity might
-be pointed out between the romantic careers of these two wonderfully
-successful and wonderfully unfortunate vocalists. Mademoiselle Garcia
-first appeared on the stage at Naples, when she was eight years old.
-Mademoiselle Sontag was in her sixth year when she came out at
-Frankfort. Each spent her childhood and youth in singing and acting, and
-each, after obtaining a full measure of success, made an apparently
-brilliant marriage, and was thought to have quitted the stage. Both,
-however, re-appeared, one after a very short interval, the other, after
-a retirement of something like twenty years. The position of
-Mademoiselle Garcia's husband, M. Malibran, was as nothing, compared to
-that of Count Rossi, who married Mademoiselle Sontag; the former was a
-French merchant, established (not very firmly, as it afterwards
-appeared) at New York; the latter was the Sardinian Ambassador at the
-court of Vienna; but on the other hand, the Countess Rossi's end was far
-more tragic, or rather more miserable and horrible than that of Madame
-Malibran, itself sufficiently painful and heart-rending.
-
-Though Rosina appears to have been one of Mademoiselle Sontag's best, if
-not absolutely her best part, she also appeared to great advantage
-during her brief career in London and Paris, in two other Rossinian
-characters, "Desdemona" and "Semiramide." In her own country she was
-known as one of the most admirable representatives of "Agatha," in _Der
-Freischütz_, and she sang "Agatha's" great _scena_ frequently, and
-always with immense success, at concerts, in London. She also appeared
-as "Donna Anna," in _Don Giovanni_, (from the pleasing, graceful
-character of her talent, one would have fancied the part of "Zerlina"
-better suited to her), but in Italian opera all her triumphs were gained
-in the works of Rossini.
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-When Marietta Garcia made her début in London, in the _Barber of
-Seville_, she was, seriously, only just beginning her career, and was at
-that time but seventeen years of age. She appeared the same year in
-Paris, as the heroine in _Torvaldo e Dorliska_ (Rossini's
-"_fiaschetto_," now quite forgotten) and was then taken by her father on
-that disastrous American tour which ended with her marriage. Having
-crossed the Atlantic, Garcia converted his family into a complete opera
-company, of which he himself was the tenor and the excellent musical
-director (if there had only been a little more to direct). The daughter
-was the _prima donna_, the mother had to content herself with secondary
-parts, the son officiated as baritone and bass. In America, under a good
-master, but with strange subordinates, and a wretched _entourage_,
-Mademoiselle Garcia accustomed herself to represent operatic characters
-of every kind. One evening, when an uncultivated American orchestra was
-massacring Mozart's master-piece, Garcia, the "Don Giovanni" of the
-evening, became so indignant that he rushed, sword in hand, to the foot
-lights, and compelled the musicians to re-commence the finale to the
-first act, which they executed the second time with care, if not with
-skill. This was a severe school in which poor Marietta was being formed;
-but without it we should probably never have heard of her appearing one
-night as "Desdemona" or as "Arsace," the next as "Otello," or as
-"Semiramide;" nor of her gaining fresh laurels with equal certainty in
-the _Sonnambula_
-
-and in _Norma_. But we have at present only to do with that period of
-operatic history, during which, Rossini's supremacy on the Italian stage
-was unquestioned. Towards 1830, we find two new composers appearing,
-who, if they, to some extent, displaced their great predecessor, at the
-same time followed in his steps. For some dozen years, Rossini had been
-the sole support, indeed, the very life of Italian opera. Naturally, his
-works were not without their fruit, and a great part of Donizetti's and
-Bellini's music may be said to belong to Rossini, inasmuch as Rossini
-was clearly Donizetti's and Bellini's progenitor.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVII.
-
-OPERA IN FRANCE UNDER THE CONSULATE, EMPIRE, AND RESTORATION.
-
-
-The History of the Opera, under the Consulate and the Empire, is perhaps
-more remarkable in connexion with political than with musical events.
-Few persons at present know much of Spontini's operas, though _la
-Vestale_ in its day was celebrated in Paris, London and especially in
-Berlin; nor of Cherubini's, though the overtures to _Anacreon_ and _les
-Abencerrages_ are still heard from time to time at "classical" concerts;
-but every one remembers the plot to assassinate the First Consul which
-was to have been put into execution at the Opera, and the plot to
-destroy the Emperor, the Empress and all their retinue, which was to
-take effect just outside its doors. Then there is the appearance of the
-Emperor at the Opera, after his hasty arrival in Paris from Moscow, on
-the very night before his return to meet the Russians with the allies
-who had now joined them, at Bautzen and Lutzen--the same night by the
-way on which _les Abencerrages_ was produced, with no great success.
-Then again there is the evening of the 29th of March, 1814, when
-_Iphigénie en Aulide_ was performed to an accompaniment of cannon which
-the Piccinnists, if they could only have heard it, would have declared
-very appropriate to Gluck's music; that of the 1st of April, when by
-desire, of the Russian emperor and the Prussian king, _la Vestale_ was
-represented; and finally that of the 17th of May, 1814, when _OEdipe ŕ
-Colone_ was played before Louis XVIII., who had that morning made his
-triumphal entry into Paris.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC PLOT.]
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-On the 10th of October, 1800, a band of republicans had sworn to
-assassinate the First Consul at the Opera. A new work was to be produced
-that evening composed by Porta to a libretto founded on Corneille's
-tragedy of _les Horaces_. The most striking scene in the piece, that in
-which the Horatii swear to conquer or perish, was to be the signal for
-action; all the lights were to be put out at the same moment, fireworks
-and grenades were to be thrown into the boxes, the pit and on to the
-stage; cries of "fire" and "murder" were to be raised from all parts of
-the house, and in the midst of the general confusion the First Consul
-was to be assassinated in his box. The leaders of the plot, to make
-certain of their cue, had contrived to be present at the rehearsal of
-the new opera, and everything was prepared for the next evening and the
-post of each conspirator duly assigned to him, when one of the number,
-conscience smitten and unable to sleep during the night of the 9th,
-went at daybreak the next morning to the Prefect of Police and informed
-him of all the details of the plot.
-
-The conspiracy said Bonaparte, some twenty years afterwards at St.
-Helena, "was revealed by a captain in the line.[87] What limit is
-there," he added, "to the combinations of folly and stupidity! This
-officer had a horror of me as Consul but adored me as general. He was
-anxious that I should be torn from my post, but he would have been very
-sorry that my life should be taken. I ought to be made prisoner, he
-said, in no way injured, and sent to the army to continue to defeat the
-enemies of France. The other conspirators laughed in his face, and when
-he saw them distribute daggers, and that they were going beyond his
-intentions, he proceeded at once to denounce the whole affair."
-
-Bonaparte, after the informer had been brought before him, suggested to
-the officers of his staff, the Prefect of Police and other functionaries
-whom he had assembled, that it would be as well not to let him appear at
-the Opera in the evening; but the general opinion was, that on the
-contrary, he should be forced to go, and ultimately it was decided that
-until the commencement of the performance everything should be allowed
-to take place as if the conspiracy had not been discovered.
-
-[Sidenote: AN OPERATIC PLOT.]
-
-In the evening the First Consul went to the Opera, attended by a number
-of superior officers, all in plain clothes. The first act passed off
-quietly enough--in all probability, far too quietly to please the
-composer, for some two hundred persons among the audience, including the
-conspirators, the police and the officers attached to Bonaparte's
-person, were thinking of anything but the music of _les Horaces_. It was
-necessary, however, to pay very particular attention to the music of the
-second act in which the scene of the oath occurred.
-
-The sentinels outside the Consul's box had received orders to let no one
-approach who had not the pass word, issued an hour before for the opera
-only; and as a certain number of conspirators had taken up their
-positions in the corridors, to extinguish the lights at the signal
-agreed upon, a certain number of Bonaparte's officers were sent also
-into the corridors to prevent the execution of this manoeuvre. The
-scene of the oath was approaching, when a body of police went to the
-boxes in which the leaders of the plot were assembled, found them with
-fireworks and grenades in their hands, notified to them their arrest in
-the politest manner, cautioned them against creating the slightest
-disturbance, and led them so dexterously and quietly into captivity,
-that their disappearance from the theatre was not observed, or if so,
-was doubtless attributed to the badness of Porta's music. The officers
-in the corridors carried pistols, and at the proper moment seized the
-appointed lamp-extinguishers. Then the old Horatius came forward and
-exclaimed--
-
-    "_Jurez donc devant moi, par le ciel qui m'écoute._
-     _Que le dernier de vous sera mort ou vainqueur._"
-
-The orchestra "attacked" the introduction to the quartett. The fatal
-prelude must have sounded somewhat unmusical to the ear of the First
-Consul; but the conspirators were now all in custody and assembled in
-one of the vestibules on the ground floor.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LES MYSTERES D'ISIS.]
-
-On the 24th of December, 1800, the day on which the "infernal machine"
-was directed against the First Consul on his way to the Opera, a French
-version of Haydn's _Creation_ was to be executed. Indeed, the
-performance had already commenced, when, during the gentle _adagio_ of
-the introduction, the dull report of an explosion, as if of a cannon,
-was heard, but without the audience being at all alarmed. Immediately
-afterwards the First Consul appeared in his box with Lannes, Lauriston,
-Berthier, and Duroc. Madame Bonaparte, as she was getting into her
-carriage, thought of some alteration to make in her dress, and returned
-to her apartments for a few minutes. But for this delay her carriage
-would have passed before the infernal machine at the moment of its
-explosion. Ten minutes afterwards she made her appearance at the Opera
-with her daughter, Mademoiselle Hortense Beauharnais, Madame Murat, and
-Colonel Rapp. The performance of the _Creation_ continued as if nothing
-had happened; and the report, which had interfered so unexpectedly with
-the effect of the opening _adagio_, was explained in various ways; the
-account generally received in the pit being, that a grocer going into
-his cellar with a candle, had set light to a barrel of gunpowder. Two
-houses were said to have been blown up. This was at the beginning of the
-first part of the _Creation_; at the end of the second, the number had
-probably increased to half a dozen.
-
-Under the consulate and the empire, the arts did not flourish greatly in
-France; not for want of direct encouragement on the part of the ruler,
-but rather because he at the same time encouraged far above everything
-else the art of war. Until the appearance of Spontini with _la Vestale_,
-the Académie, under Napoleon Bonaparte, whether known as Bonaparte or
-Napoleon, was chiefly supported by composers who composed without
-inventing, and who, with the exception of Cherubini, were either very
-feeble originators or mere plagiarists and spoliators. Even Mozart did
-not escape the French arrangers. His _Marriage of Figaro_ had been
-brought out in 1798, with all the prose dialogue of Beaumarchais's
-comedy substituted for the recitative of the original opera. _Les
-Mystčres d'Isis_, an adaptation, perversion, disarrangement of _Die
-Zauberflötte_, with several pieces suppressed, or replaced by fragments
-from the _Nozze di Figaro_, _Don Giovanni_, and Haydn's symphonies, was
-produced on the 23rd of August, 1801, under the auspices of Morel the
-librettist, and Lachnith the musician.
-
-_Les_ Misčres _d'Isis_ was the appropriate name given to this sad
-medley by the musicians of the orchestra. Lachnith was far from being
-ashamed of what he had done. On the contrary, he gloried in it, and
-seemed somehow or other to have persuaded himself that the pieces which
-he had stolen from Mozart and Haydn were his own compositions. One
-evening, when he was present at the representation of _Les Mystčres
-d'Isis_, he was affected to tears, and exclaimed, "No, I will compose no
-more! I could never go beyond this!"
-
-_Don Giovanni_, in the hands of Kalkbrenner, fared no better than the
-_Zauberflötte_ in those of Lachnith. It even fared worse; for
-Kalkbrenner did not content himself with spoiling the general effect of
-the work, by means of pieces introduced from Mozart's other operas, and
-from Haydn's symphonies: he mutilated it so as completely to alter its
-form, and further debased it by mixing with its pure gold the dross of
-his own vile music.
-
-[Sidenote: KALKBRENNER'S DON GIOVANNI.]
-
-In Kalkbrenner's _Don Giovanni_, the opera opened with a recitative,
-composed by Kalkbrenner himself. Next came Leporello's solo, followed by
-an interpolated romance, in the form of a serenade, which was sung by
-Don Juan, under Donna Anna's window. The struggle of Don Juan with Donna
-Anna, the entry of the commandant, his combat with Don Juan, the trio
-for the three men and all the rest of the introduction, was cut out. The
-duet of Donna Anna and Ottavio was placed at the end of the act, and as
-Don Juan had killed the commandant off the stage, it was of course
-deprived of its marvellous recitative, which, to be duly effective, must
-be declaimed by Donna Anna over the body of her father. The whole of the
-opera was treated in the same style. The first act was made to end as it
-had begun, with a few phrases of recitative of Kalkbrenner's own
-production. The greater part of the action of Da Ponte's libretto was
-related in dialogue, so that the most dramatic portion of the music lost
-all its significance. The whole opera, in short, was disfigured, cut to
-pieces, destroyed, and further defiled by the musical weeds which the
-infamous Kalkbrenner introduced among its still majestic ruins. At this
-period the supreme direction of the Opera was in the hands of a jury,
-composed of certain members of the Institute of France. It seems never
-to have occurred to this learned body that there was any impropriety in
-the trio of masques being executed by three men, and in the two soprano
-parts being given to tenors,--by which arrangement the part of Ottavio,
-Mozart's tenor, instead of being the lowest in the harmony, was made the
-highest. The said trio was sung by three archers, of course to entirely
-new words! Let us pass on to another opera, which, if not comparable to
-_Don Giovanni_, was at least a magnificent work for France in 1807, and
-which had the advantage of being admirably executed under the careful
-direction of its composer.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Spontini had already produced _La Finta Filosofa_, which, originally
-brought out at Naples, was afterwards performed at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris, without success; _La Petite Maison_, written for the Opéra
-Comique, and violently hissed; and _Milton_ also composed for the Opéra
-Comique, and favourably received. When _La Vestale_ was submitted to the
-jury of the Académie, it was refused unanimously on the ground of the
-extravagance of its style, and of the audacity of certain innovations in
-the score. Spontini appealed to the Empress Josephine, and it was owing
-to her influence, and through a direct order of the court that _La
-Vestale_ was put upon the stage. The jury was inexorable, however, as
-regarded certain portions of the work, and the composer was obliged to
-submit it to the orchestral conductor, who injured it in several places,
-but without spoiling it. Spontini wished to give the part of the tenor
-to Nourrit; but Lainez protested, went to the superintendant of the
-imperial theatres, represented that he had been first tenor and first
-lover at the Opera for thirty years, and finally received full
-permission to make love to the Vestal of the Académie.
-
-The Emperor Napoleon had the principal pieces in _La Vestale_ executed
-by his private band, nearly a year before the opera was brought out at
-the Académie. He had sufficient taste to admire the music, and predicted
-to Spontini the success it afterwards met with. He is said, in
-particular, to have praised the finale, the first dramatic finale
-written for the French Opera.
-
-[Sidenote: SPONTINI.]
-
-_La Vestale_ was received by the public with enthusiasm. It is said to
-have been admirably executed, and we know that Spontini was difficult on
-this point, for we are told by Mr. Ebers that he objected to the
-performance of _La Vestale_, in London, on the ground "that the means of
-representation there were inadequate to do justice to his composition."
-This was twenty years after it was first brought out in Paris, when all
-Rossini's finest and most elaborately constructed operas (such as
-_Semiramide_, for instance), had been played in London, and in a manner
-which quite satisfied Rossini. Probably, however, it was in the
-spectacular department that Spontini expected the King's Theatre would
-break down. However that may have been, _La Vestale_ was produced in
-London, and met with very little success. The part of "La Vestale" was
-given to a Madame Biagioli, who objected to it as not sufficiently good
-for her. From the accounts extant of this lady's powers, it is quite
-certain that Spontini, if he had heard her, would have considered her
-not nearly good enough for his music. It would, of course, have been far
-better for the composer, as for the manager and the public, if Spontini
-had consented to superintend the production of his work himself; but
-failing that, it was scandalous in defiance of his wishes to produce it
-at all. Unfortunately, this is a kind of scandal from which operatic
-managers in England have seldom shrunk.
-
-Spontini's _Fernand Cortez_, produced at the Académie in 1809, met with
-less success than _La Vestale_. In both these works, the spectacular
-element played an important part, and in _Fernand Cortez_, it was found
-necessary to introduce a number of Franconi's horses. A journalist of
-the period proposed that the following inscription should be placed
-above the doors of the theatre:--_Içi on joue l'opéra ŕ pied et ŕ
-cheval_.
-
-Spontini, as special composer for the Académie of grand operas with
-hippic and panoramic effects, was the predecessor of M. M. Meyerbeer,
-and Halévy; and Heine, in his "Lutčce"[88] has given us a very witty,
-and perhaps, in the main, truthful account of Spontini's animosity
-towards Meyerbeer, whom he is said to have always regarded as an
-intriguer and interloper. I may here, however, mention as a proof of the
-attractiveness of _La Vestale_ from a purely musical point of view, that
-it was once represented with great success, not only without magnificent
-or appropriate scenery, but with the scenery belonging to another piece!
-This was on the 1st of April, 1814, the day after the entry of the
-Russian and Prussian troops into Paris. _Le Triomphe de Trajan_ had been
-announced; the allied sovereigns, however, wished to hear _La Vestale_,
-and the performance was changed. But there was not time to prepare the
-scenery for Spontini's opera, and that of the said _Triomphe_ was made
-to do duty for it.
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-_Le Triomphe de Trajan_ was a work in which Napoleon's clemency to a
-treacherous or patriotic German prince was celebrated, and it has been
-said that the programme of the 1st of April was changed, because the
-allied sovereigns disliked the subject of the opera. But it was
-perfectly natural that they should wish to hear Spontini's master-piece,
-and that they should not particularly care to listen to a _pičce
-d'occasion_, set to music by a French composer of no name.
-
-I have said that Cherubini's _Abencerrages_, of which all but the
-overture is now forgotten, was produced in 1813, and that the emperor
-attended its first representation the night before his departure from
-Paris, to rejoin his troops, and if possible, check the advance of the
-victorious allies. No other work of importance was produced at the
-French Académie until Rossini's _Sičge de Corinthe_ was brought out in
-1825. This, the first work written by the great Italian master specially
-for the French Opera, was represented at the existing theatre in the Rue
-Lepelletier, the opera house in the Rue Richelieu having been pulled
-down in 1820.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-In the year just mentioned, on the 13th of February, being the last
-Sunday of the Carnival, an unusually brilliant audience had assembled at
-the Académie Royale. _Le Rossignol_, an insipid, and fortunately, very
-brief production, was the opera; but the great attraction of the evening
-consisted in two ballets, _La Carnaval de Venise_, and _Les Noces de
-Gamache_. The Duke and Duchess de Berri were present, and when _Le
-Carnaval de Venise_, _Le Rossignol_, and the first act of _Les Noces de
-Gamache_, had been performed, the duchess rose to leave the theatre. Her
-husband accompanied her to the carriage, and was taking leave of her,
-intending to return to the theatre for the last act of the ballet, when
-a man crept up to him, placed his left arm on the duke's left side,
-pulled him violently towards him, and as he held him in his grasp,
-thrust a dagger through his body. The dagger entered the duke's right
-side, and the pressure of the assassin's arm, and the force with which
-the blow was given, were so great, that the weapon went through the
-lungs, and pierced the heart, a blade of six inches inflicting a wound
-nine inches long. The news of the duke's assassination spread through
-the streets of Paris as if by electricity; and M. Alexandre Dumas, in
-his interesting Memoirs, tells us almost the same thing that Balzac says
-about it in one of his novels; that it was known at the farther end of
-Paris, before a man on horseback, despatched at the moment the blow was
-struck, could possibly have reached the spot. On the other hand, M.
-Castil Blaze shows us very plainly that the terrible occurrence was not
-known within the Opera; or, at least, only to a few officials, until
-after the conclusion of the performance, which went on as if nothing had
-happened. The duke was carried into the director's room, where he was
-attended by Blancheton, the surgeon of the Opera, and at once bled in
-both arms. He, himself, drew the dagger from the wound, and observed at
-the same time that he felt it was mortal. The Count d'Artois, and the
-Duke and Duchess d'Angoulęme arrived soon afterwards. There lay the
-unhappy prince, on a bed hastily arranged, and already inundated, soaked
-with blood, surrounded by his father, brother, sister, and wife, whose
-poignant anguish was from time to time alleviated by some faint ray of
-hope, destined, however, to be quickly dispelled.
-
-Five of the most celebrated doctors in Paris, with Dupuytren among the
-number, had been sent for; and as the patient was now nearly suffocating
-from internal hćmorrhage, the orifice of the wound was widened. This
-afforded some relief, and for a moment it was thought just possible that
-a recovery might be effected. Another moment, and it was evident that
-there was no hope. The duke asked to see his daughter, and embraced her
-several times; he also expressed a desire to see the king. Now the
-sacrament was administered to him, but, on the express condition exacted
-by the Archbishop of Paris, that the Opera House should afterwards be
-destroyed. Two other unacknowledged daughters of his youth were brought
-to the dying man's bedside, and received his blessing. He had already
-recommended them to the duchess's care.
-
-"Soon you will have no father," she said to them, "and I shall have
-three daughters."
-
-In the meanwhile the Spanish ballet was being continued, amidst the
-mirth and applause of the audience, who testified by their demeanour
-that it was Carnival time, and that the _jours gras_ had already
-commenced. The house was crowded, and the boleros and sequidillas with
-which the Spaniards of the Parisian ballet astonished and dazzled Don
-Quixote and his faithful knight, threw boxes, pit, and gallery, into
-ecstasies of delight.
-
-Elsewhere, in the room next his victim, stood the assassin, interrogated
-by the ministers, Decazes and Pasquier, with the bloody dagger before
-them on the table. The murderer simply declared that he had no
-accomplices,[89] and that he took all the responsibility of the crime on
-himself.
-
-At five in the morning, Louis XVIII. was by the side of his dying
-nephew. An attempt had been made, the making of which was little less
-than an insult to the king, to dissuade him from being present at the
-duke's last moments.
-
-[Sidenote: A MURDER AT THE OPERA.]
-
-"The sight of death does not terrify me," replied His Majesty, "and I
-have a duty to perform." After begging that his murderer might be
-forgiven, and entreating the duchess not to give way to despair, the
-Duke de Berri breathed his last in the arms of the king, who closed his
-eyes at half-past six in the morning.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Opera was now to be heard no more in the Rue Richelieu. The holy
-sacrament had crossed the threshold of a profane building, and it was
-necessary that this profane building should be destroyed; indeed, a
-promise to that effect had been already given. All the theatres were
-closed for ten days, and the Opera, now homeless, did not re-commence
-its performances until upwards of two months afterwards, when it took
-possession for a time of the Théâtre Favart. In the August of the same
-year the erection of the theatre in the Rue Lepelletier was commenced.
-The present Théâtre de l'Opéra, (the absurd title of Académie having
-recently been abandoned), was intended when it was first built, to be
-but a temporary affair. Strangely enough it has lasted forty years,
-during which time it has seen solidly constructed opera-houses perish by
-fire in all parts of Europe. May the new opera-house about to be erected
-in Paris, under the auspices of Napoleon III., be equally fortunate.
-
-I am here reminded that both the Napoleons have proved themselves good
-and intelligent friends to the Opera. In the year eleven of the French
-republic, the First Consul and his two associates, the Minister of the
-French republic, the three Consuls, the Ministers of the interior and
-police, General Junot, the Secretary of State, and a few more officials
-occupied among them as many as seventeen boxes at the opera, containing
-altogether ninety-four places. Bonaparte had a report drawn up from
-which it appeared that the value of these boxes to the administration,
-was sixty thousand four hundred francs per annum, including fifteen
-thousand francs for those kept at his own disposition. Thereupon he
-added to the report the following brief, but on the whole satisfactory
-remark.
-
-"_A datter du premier nivose toutes ces loges seront payées par ceux qui
-les occupent._"
-
-The error in orthography is not the printers', but Napoleon Bonaparte's,
-and the document in which it occurs, is at present in the hands of M.
-Regnier of the Comédie Française.
-
-A month afterwards, Napoleon, or at least the consular trio of which he
-was the chief, assigned to the Opera a regular subsidy of 600,000 francs
-a year; he at the same time gave it a respectable name. Under the
-Convention it had been entitled "Théâtre de la République et des Arts;"
-the First Consul called it simply, "Théâtre des Arts," an appellation it
-had borne before.[90]
-
-Hardly had the new theatre in the Rue Lepelletier opened its doors,
-when a singer of the highest class, a tenor of the most perfect kind,
-made his appearance. This was Adolphe Nourrit, a pupil of Garcia, who,
-on the 10th of September, 1821, made his first appearance with the
-greatest success as "Pylade" in _Iphigénie en Tauride_. It was not,
-however, until Auber's _Muette de Portici_ was produced in 1828, that
-Nourrit had an opportunity of distinguishing himself in a new and
-important part.
-
-[Sidenote: LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.]
-
-_La Muette_ was the first of those important works to which the French
-Opera owes its actual celebrity in Europe. _Le Sičge de Corinthe_,
-translated and adapted from _Maometto II._, with additions (including
-the admirable blessing of the flags) written specially for the Académie,
-had been brought out eighteen months before, but without much success.
-_Maometto II._ was not one of Rossini's best works, the drama on which
-it was constructed was essentially feeble and uninteresting, and the
-manner in which the whole was "arranged" for the French stage, was
-unsatisfactory in many respects. _Le Sičge de Corinthe_ was greatly
-applauded the first night, but it soon ceased to have any attraction for
-the public. Rossini had previously written _Il Viaggio a Reims_ for the
-coronation of Charles X., and this work was re-produced at the Academy
-three years afterwards, with several important additions (such as the
-duet for "Isolier" and the "Count," the chorus of women, the
-unaccompanied quartett, the highly effective drinking chorus, and the
-beautiful trio of the last act), under the title of _le Comte Ory_. In
-the meanwhile _La Muette_ had been brought out, to be followed the year
-afterwards by _Guillaume Tell_, which was to be succeeded in its turn by
-Meyerbeer's _Robert le Diable_, _Les Huguenots_ and _Le Prophčte_,
-(works which belong specially to the Académie and with which its modern
-reputation is intimately associated), by Auber's _Gustave III._,
-Donizetti's _la Favorite_, &c.
-
-_La Muette de Portici_ had the great advantage of enabling the Académie
-to display all its resources at once. It was brought out with
-magnificent scenery and an excellent _corps de ballet_, with a _premičre
-danseuse_, Mademoiselle Noblet as the heroine, with the new tenor,
-Nourrit, in the important part of the hero, and with a well taught
-chorus capable of sustaining with due effect the prominent _rôle_
-assigned to it. For in the year 1828 it was quite a novelty at the
-French Opera to see the chorus taking part in the general action of the
-drama.
-
-[Sidenote: LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.]
-
-If we compare _La Muette_ with the "Grand Operas" produced subsequently
-at the Académie, we find that it differs from them all in some important
-respects. In the former, instead of a _prima donna_ we have a _prima
-ballerina_ in the principal female part. Of course the concerted pieces
-suffer by this, or rather the number of concerted pieces is diminished,
-and to the same cause may, perhaps, be attributed the absence of finales
-in _La Muette_. It chiefly owed its success (which is still renewed from
-time to time whenever it is re-produced) to the intrinsic beauty of its
-melodies and to the dramatic situations provided by the ingenious
-librettist, M. Scribe, and admirably taken advantage of by the composer.
-But the part of Fenella had also great attractions for those unmusical
-persons who are found in almost every audience in England and France,
-and for whom the chief interest in every opera consists in the
-skeleton-drama on which it is founded. To them the graceful Fenella with
-her expressive pantomime is no bad substitute for a singer whose words
-would be unintelligible to them, and whose singing, continued throughout
-the Opera, would perhaps fatigue their dull ears. These ballet-operas
-seem to have been very popular in France about the period when _La
-Muette_ was produced, the other most celebrated example of the style
-being Auber's _Le Dieu et la Bayadčre_. In the present day it would be
-considered that a _prima ballerina_, introduced as a principal character
-in an opera, would interfere too much with the combinations of the
-singing personages.
-
-I need say nothing about the charming music of _La Muette_, which is
-well known to every frequenter of the Opera, further than to mention,
-that the melody of the celebrated barcarole and chorus, "_Amis, amis le
-soleil va paraitre_" had already been heard in a work of Auber's, called
-_Emma_; and that the brilliant overture had previously served as an
-instrumental preface to _Le Maçon_.
-
-_La Muette de Portici_ was translated and played with great success in
-England. But shameful liberties were taken with the piece; recitatives
-were omitted, songs were interpolated: and it was not until _Masaniello_
-was produced at the Royal Italian Opera that the English public had an
-opportunity of hearing Auber's great work without suppressions or
-additions.
-
-The greatest opera ever written for the Académie, and one of the three
-or four greatest operas ever produced, was now about to be brought out.
-_Guillaume Tell_ was represented for the first time on the 3rd of
-August, 1829. It was not unsuccessful, or even coldly received the first
-night, as has often been stated; but the result of the first few
-representations was on the whole unsatisfactory. Musicians and
-connoisseurs were struck by the great beauties of the work from the very
-beginning; but some years passed before it was fully appreciated by the
-general public. The success of the music was certainly not assisted by
-the libretto--one of the most tedious and insipid ever put together; and
-it was not until Rossini's masterpiece had been cut down from five to
-three acts, that the Parisians, as a body, took any great interest in
-it.
-
-[Sidenote: GUILLAUME TELL.]
-
-_Guillaume Tell_ is now played everywhere in the three act form. Some
-years ago a German doctor, who had paid four francs to hear _Der
-Freischütz_ at the French Opera, proceeded against the directors for the
-recovery of his money, on the plea that it had been obtained from him on
-false pretences, the work advertised as _Der Freischütz_ not being
-precisely the _Der Freischütz_[91] which Karl Maria von Weber composed.
-The doctor might amuse himself (the authorities permitting) by bringing
-an action against the managers of the Berlin theatre every time they
-produce Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_--which is often enough, and always in
-three acts.
-
-The original cast of _Guillaume Tell_ included Nourrit, Levasseur,
-Dabadie, A. Dupont, Massol, and Madame Cinti-Damoreau. The singers and
-musicians of the Opera were enthusiastic in their admiration of the new
-work, and the morning after its production assembled on the terrace of
-the house where Rossini lived and performed a selection from it in his
-honour. One distinguished artist who took no part in this ceremony had,
-nevertheless, contributed in no small degree to the success of the
-opera. This was Mademoiselle Taglioni, whose _tyrolienne_ danced to the
-music of the charming unaccompanied chorus, was of course understood and
-applauded by every one from the very first.
-
-After the first run of _Guillaume Tell_, the Opera returned to _La
-Muette de Portici_, and then for a time Auber's and Rossini's
-masterpieces were played alternate nights. On Wednesday, July 3rd, 1830,
-_La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and with a certain political
-appropriateness;--for the "days of July" were now at hand, and the
-insurrectionary spirit had already manifested itself in the streets of
-Paris. The fortunes of _La Muette de Portici_ have been affected in
-various ways by the revolutionary character of the plot. Even in London
-it was more than once made a pretext for a "demonstration" by the
-radicals of William the Fourth's time. At most of the Italian theatres
-it has been either forbidden altogether or has had to be altered
-considerably before the authorities would allow it to be played. Strange
-as it may appear, in absolute Russia it has been represented times out
-of number in its original shape, under the title of _Fenella_.
-
-[Sidenote: FRENCH NATIONAL SONGS.]
-
-We have seen that _Masaniello_ was represented in Paris four days before
-the commencement of the outbreak which ended in the elder branch of the
-Bourbons being driven from the throne. On the 26th of July, _Guillaume
-Tell_ was to have been represented, but the city was in such a state of
-agitation, in consequence of the issue of the _ordonnances_, signed at
-St. Cloud the day before, that the Opera was closed. On the 27th the
-fighting began and lasted until the 29th, when the Opera was re-opened.
-On the 4th of August, _La Muette de Portici_ was performed, and created
-the greatest enthusiasm,--the public finding in almost every scene some
-reminder, and now and then a tolerably exact representation, of what had
-just taken place within a stone's throw of the theatre. _La Muette_,
-apart from its music, became now the great piece of the day; and the
-representations at the Opera were rendered still more popular by
-Nourrit singing "_La Parisienne_" every evening. The melody of this
-temporary national song, like that of its predecessor (so infinitely
-superior to it), "_La Marseillaise_" (according to Castil Blaze), was
-borrowed from Germany. France, never wanting in national spirit, has yet
-no national air. It has four party songs, not one of which can be
-considered truly patriotic, and of which the only one that possesses any
-musical merit, disfigured as it has been by its French adapters, is of
-German origin.
-
-Nourrit is said to have delivered "_La Parisienne_" with wonderful
-vigour and animation, and to this and to Casimir Delavigne's verses (or
-rather to Delavigne's name, for the verses in themselves are not very
-remarkable) may be attributed the reputation which the French national
-song, No. 4,[92] for some time enjoyed.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Guillaume Tell_ is Rossini's last opera. To surpass that admirable work
-would have been difficult for its own composer, impossible for any one
-else; and Rossini appears to have resolved to terminate his artistic
-career when it had reached its climax. In carrying out this resolution,
-he has displayed a strength of character, of which it is almost
-impossible to find another instance. Many other reasons have been given
-for Rossini's abstaining from composition during so many years, such as
-the coldness with which _Guillaume Tell_ was received (when, as we have
-seen, its _immediate_ reception by those whose opinion Rossini would
-chiefly have valued, was marked by the greatest enthusiasm), and the
-success of Meyerbeer's operas, though who would think of placing the
-most successful of Meyerbeer's works on a level with _Guillaume Tell_?
-
-"_Je reviendrai quand les juifs auront fini leur sabbat_," is a speech
-(somewhat uncharacteristic of the speaker, as it seems to me),
-attributed to Rossini by M. Castil Blaze; who, however, also mentions,
-that when _Robert le Diable_ was produced, every journal in Paris said
-that it was the finest opera, _except Guillaume Tell_, that had been
-produced at the Académie for years. It appears certain, now, that
-Rossini simply made up his mind to abdicate at the height of his power.
-There were plenty of composers who could write works inferior to
-_Guillaume Tell_, and to them he left the kingdom of opera, to be
-divided as they might arrange it among themselves. He was succeeded by
-Meyerbeer at the Académie; by Donizetti and Bellini at the Italian
-opera-houses of all Europe.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Rossini had already found a follower, and, so to speak, an original
-imitator, in Auber, whose eminently Rossinian overture to _La Muette_,
-was heard at the Académie the year before _Guillaume Tell_.
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S FOLLOWERS.]
-
-I need scarcely remind the intelligent reader, that the composer of
-three master-pieces in such very different styles as _Il Barbiere_,
-_Semiramide_, and _Guillaume Tell_, might have a dozen followers, whose
-works, while all resembling in certain points those of their predecessor
-and master, should yet bear no great general resemblance to one another.
-All the composers who came immediately after Rossini, accepted, as a
-matter of course, those important changes which he had introduced in the
-treatment of the operatic drama, and to which he had now so accustomed
-the public, that a return to the style of the old Italian masters, would
-have been not merely injudicious, but intolerable. Thus, all the
-post-Rossinian composers adopted Rossini's manner of accompanying
-recitative with the full band; his substitution of dialogued pieces,
-written in measured music, with a prominent connecting part assigned to
-the orchestra, for the interminable dialogues in simple recitative,
-employed by the earlier Italian composers; his mode of constructing
-finales; and his new distribution of characters, by which basses and
-baritones become as eligible for first parts as tenors, while great
-importance is given to the chorus, which, in certain operas, according
-to the nature of the plot, becomes an important dramatic agent. I may
-repeat, by way of memorandum, what has before been observed, that nearly
-all these forms originated with Mozart, though it was reserved for
-Rossini to introduce and establish them on the Italian stage. In short,
-with the exception of the very greatest masters of Germany, all the
-composers of the last thirty or forty years, have been to some, and
-often to a very great extent, influenced by Rossini. The general truth
-of this remark is not lessened by the fact, that Hérold and Auber, and
-even Donizetti and Bellini (the last, especially, in the simplicity of
-his melodies), afterwards found distinctive styles; and that Meyerbeer,
-after _Il Crociato_, took Weber, rather than Rossini, for his model--the
-composer of _Robert_ at the same time exhibiting a strongly marked
-individuality, which none of his adverse critics think of denying, and
-which is partly, no doubt, the cause of their adverse criticism.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI'S RETIREMENT.]
-
-What will make it appear to some persons still more astonishing, that
-Rossini should have retired after producing _Guillaume Tell_ is, that he
-had signed an agreement with the Académie, by which he engaged to write
-three grand operas for it in six years. In addition to his "author's
-rights," he was to receive ten thousand francs annually until the
-expiration of the sixth year, and the completion of the third opera. No.
-1 was _Guillaume Tell_. The librettos of Nos. 2 and 3 were _Gustave_ and
-_Le Duc d'Albe_, both of which were returned by Rossini to M. Scribe,
-perhaps, with an explanation, but with none that has ever been made
-public. Rossini was at this time thirty-seven years of age, strong and
-vigorous enough to have outlived, not only his earliest, but his latest
-compositions, had they not been the most remarkable dramatic works of
-this century. If Rossini had been a composer who produced with
-difficulty, his retirement would have been more easy to explain; but the
-difficulty with him must have been to avoid producing. The story is
-probably known to many readers of his writing a duet one morning, in
-bed, letting the music paper fall, and, rather than leave his warm
-sheets to pick it up, writing another duet, which was quite different
-from the first. A hundred similar anecdotes are told of the facility
-with which Rossini composed. Who knows but that he wished his career to
-be measured against those of so many other composers whose days were cut
-short, at about the age he had reached when he produced _Guillaume
-Tell_? A very improbable supposition, certainly, when we consider how
-little mysticism there is in the character of Rossini. However this may
-be, he ceased to write operas at about the age when many of his
-immediate predecessors and followers ceased to live.[93]
-
-And even Rossini had a narrow escape. About the critical period, when
-the composer of _Guillaume Tell_ was a little more than half way between
-thirty and forty, the Italian Theatre of Paris was burnt to the ground.
-This, at first sight, appears to have nothing to do with the question;
-but Rossini lived in the theatre, and his apartments were near the
-roof. He had started for Italy two days previously; had he remained in
-Paris, he certainly would have shared the fate of the other inmates who
-perished in the flames.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Meyerbeer is a composer who defies classification, or who, at least, may
-be classified in three different ways. As the author of the _Crociato_,
-he belongs to Italy, and the school of Rossini; _Robert le Diable_
-exhibits him as a composer chiefly of the German school, with a tendency
-to follow in the steps of Weber; but _Robert_, _les Huguenots_, _le
-Prophčte_, _l'Etoile du Nord_, and, above all _Dinorah_, are also
-characteristic of the composer himself. The committee of the London
-International Exhibition has justly decided that Meyerbeer is a German
-composer, and there is no doubt about his having been born in Germany,
-and educated for some time under the same professor as Karl Maria Von
-Weber; but it is equally certain that he wrote those works to which he
-owes his great celebrity for the Académie Royale of Paris, and as we are
-just now dealing with the history of the French Opera, this, I think, is
-the proper place in which to introduce the most illustrious of living
-and working composers.
-
-[Sidenote: REHEARSALS.]
-
-"The composer of _Il Crociato in Egitto_, an amateur, is a native of
-Berlin, where his father, a Jew, who is since dead, was a banker of
-great riches. The father's name was Beer, Meyer being merely a Jewish
-prefix, which the son thought fit to incorporate with his surname. He
-was a companion of Weber, in his musical studies. He had produced other
-operas which had been well received, but none of them was followed by or
-merited the success that attended _Il Crociato_." So far Mr. Ebers, who,
-in a few words, tells us a great deal of Meyerbeer's early career. The
-said _Crociato_, written for Venice, in 1824, was afterwards produced at
-the Italian Opera of Paris in 1825, six years before _Robert le Diable_
-was brought out at the Académie. In the summer of 1825, a few months
-before its production in Paris, it was modified in London, and Mr. Ebers
-informs us that the getting up of the opera, to which nine months were
-devoted at the Théâtre Italien, occupied at the King's Theatre only one.
-Such rapid feats are familiar enough to our operatic managers and
-musical conductors. But it must be remembered that a first performance
-in England is very often less perfect than a dress rehearsal in France;
-and, moreover, that between bringing out an original work (or an old
-work, in an original style), in Paris, and bringing out the same work
-afterwards, more or less conformably to the Parisian[94] model, in
-London, there is the same difference as between composing a picture and
-merely copying one. No singers and musicians read better than those of
-the French Académie, and it is a terrible mistake to suppose that so
-much time is required at that theatre for the production of a grand
-opera on account of any difficulty in making the _artistes_ acquainted
-with their parts. _Guillaume Tell_ was many months in rehearsal, but
-the orchestra played the overture at first sight in a manner which
-astonished and delighted Rossini. The great, and I may add, the
-inevitable fault of our system of management in England is that it is
-impossible to procure for a new opera a sufficient number of rehearsals
-before it is publicly produced. It is surprising how few "repetitions"
-suffice, but they would _not_ suffice if the same perfection was thought
-necessary on the first night which is obtained at the Paris and Berlin
-Operas, and which, in London, in the case of very difficult, elaborate
-works, is not reached until after several representations.
-
-However, _Il Crociato_ was brought out in London after a month's
-rehearsal. The manager left the musical direction almost entirely in the
-hands of Velluti, who had already superintended its production at
-Venice, and Florence, and who was engaged, as a matter of course, for
-the principal part written specially for him. The opera (of which the
-cast included, besides Velluti, Mademoiselle Garcia, Madame Caradori and
-Crivelli the tenor) was very successful, and was performed ten nights
-without intermission when the "run" was brought to a termination by the
-closing of the theatre. The following account of the music by Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, shows the sort of impression it made upon the old amateurs of
-the period.
-
-[Sidenote: MEYERBEER'S CROCIATO.]
-
-It was "quite of the new school, but not copied from its founder,
-Rossini; original, odd, flighty, and it might even be termed
-_fantastic_, but at times beautiful; here and there most delightful
-melodies and harmonies occurred, but it was unequal, solos were as rare
-as in all the modern operas, but the numerous concerted pieces much
-shorter and far less noisy than Rossini's, consisting chiefly of duets
-and terzettos, with but few choruses and no overwhelming accompaniments.
-Indeed, Meyerbeer has rather gone into the contrary extreme, the
-instrumental parts being frequently so slight as to be almost meagre,
-while he has sought to produce new and striking effects from the voices
-alone."
-
-Before speaking of Meyerbeer's better known and more celebrated works, I
-must say a few words about Velluti, a singer of great powers, but of a
-peculiar kind ("_non vir sed Veluti_") who, as I have said before,
-played the principal part in _Il Crociato_. He was the last of his
-tribe, and living at a time when too much license was allowed to singers
-in the execution of the music entrusted to them, so disgusted Rossini by
-his extravagant style of ornamentation, that the composer resolved to
-write his airs in future in such elaborate detail, that to embellish
-them would be beyond the power of any singer. Be this how it may,
-Rossini did not like Velluti's singing, nor Velluti Rossini's
-music--which sufficiently proves that the last of the sopranists was not
-a musician of taste.[95] Mr. Ebers tells us that "after making the tour
-of the principal Italian and German theatres, Velluti arrived in Paris,
-where the musical taste was not prepared for him," and that, "Rossini
-being at this time engaged at Paris under his agreement to direct there,
-Velluti did not enter into his plans, and having made no engagement
-there, came over to England without any invitation, but strongly
-recommended by Lord Burghersh." The re-appearance of a musico in London
-when the race was thought to be extinct, caused a great sensation, and
-not altogether of an agreeable kind. However, the Opera was crowded the
-night of his _début_; to the old amateurs it recalled the days of
-Pacchierotti, to the young ones, it was simply a strange and unexpected
-novelty. Some are said to have come to the theatre expressly to oppose
-him, while others were there for the avowed purpose of supporting him,
-from a feeling that public opinion had dealt harshly with the
-unfortunate man. Velluti had already sung at concerts, where his
-reception was by no means favourable. Indeed, Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells
-us "that the scurrilous abuse lavished upon him before he was heard, was
-cruel and illiberal," and that "it was not till after long deliberation,
-much persuasion, and assurances of support that the manager ventured to
-engage him for the remainder of the season."
-
-[Sidenote: VELLUTI.]
-
-Velluti's demeanour on entering the stage was highly prepossessing. Mr.
-Ebers says that "it was at once graceful and dignified," and that "he
-was in look and action the son of chivalry he represented."
-
-He adds, that "his appearance was received with mingled applause and
-disapprobation; but that "the scanty symptoms of the latter were
-instantly overwhelmed." The effect produced on the audience by the first
-notes Velluti uttered was most peculiar. According to Mr. Ebers, "there
-was a something of a preternatural harshness about them, which jarred
-even more strongly on the imagination than on the ear;" though, as he
-proceeded, "the sweetness and flexibility of those of his tones which
-yet remained unimpaired by time, were fully perceived and felt." Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe informs us, that "the first note he uttered gave a shock
-of surprise, almost of disgust, to inexperienced ears;" though,
-afterwards, "his performance was listened to with great attention and
-applause throughout, with but few _audible_ expressions of
-disapprobation speedily suppressed." The general effect of his
-performance is summed up in the following words:--"To the old he brought
-back some pleasing recollections; others, to whom his voice was new,
-became reconciled to it, and sensible of his merits; whilst many
-declared, to the last, his tones gave them more pain than pleasure."
-However, he drew crowded audiences, and no opera but Meyerbeer's
-_Crociato_ was performed until the end of the season.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Some years after the production of _Il Crociato_, Meyerbeer had written
-an _opéra comique_, entitled _Robert le Diable_, which was to have been
-represented at the Ventadour Theatre, specially devoted to that kind of
-performance. The company, however, at the "Théâtre de l'Opera Comique,"
-was not found competent to execute the difficult music of _Robert_, and
-the interesting libretto by M. M. Scribe and Delavigne, was altered and
-reduced, so as to suit the Académie. The celebrated "pruning knife" was
-brought out, and vigorously applied. What remained of the dialogue was
-adapted for recitative, and the character of "Raimbaud" was cut out in
-the fourth and fifth acts. With all these suppressions, the opera, as
-newly arranged, to be recited or sung from beginning to end, was still
-very long, and not particularly intelligible. However, the legend on
-which _Robert le Diable_ is founded is well suited for musical
-illustration, and the plot, with a little attention and a careful study
-of the book, may be understood, in spite of the absence of "Raimbaud,"
-who, in the original piece, is said to have served materially to aid and
-explain the progress of the drama.
-
-[Sidenote: ROBERT LE DIABLE.]
-
-If _Robert le Diable_ had been produced at the Opéra Comique, in the
-form in which it was originally conceived, the many points of
-resemblance it presents to _Der Freischütz_ would have struck every one.
-Meyerbeer seems to have determined to write a romantic semi-fantastic
-legendary opera, like _Der Freischütz_, and, in doing so, naturally
-followed in the footsteps of Weber. He certainly treats these legendary
-subjects with particular felicity, and I fancy there is more spontaneity
-in the music of _Robert le Diable_, and _Dinorah_, than in any other
-that he has composed; but this does not alter the fact that such
-subjects were first treated in music, and in a thoroughly congenial
-manner, by Karl Maria von Weber. Without considering how far Meyerbeer,
-in _Robert le Diable_, has borrowed his instrumentation and harmonic
-combinations from Weber, there can be no doubt about its being a work of
-much the same class as _Der Freischütz_; and it would have been looked
-upon as quite of that class, had it been produced, like _Der
-Freischütz_, with spoken dialogue, and with the popular characters more
-in relief.
-
-_Robert le Diable_, converted into a grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie, on the 21st of November, 1831. Dr. Véron, in his "Mémoires
-d'un Bourgeois de Paris," has given a most interesting account of all
-the circumstances which attended the rehearsals and first representation
-of this celebrated work. Dr. Véron had just undertaken the management of
-the Académie; and to have such an opera as _Robert le Diable_, with
-which to mark the commencement of his reign, was a piece of rare good
-fortune. The libretto, the music, the ballet, were all full of interest,
-and many of the airs had the advantage (in Paris) of being somewhat in
-the French style. The applause with which this, the best constructed of
-all M. Meyerbeer's works, was received, went on increasing from act to
-act; and, altogether, the success it obtained was immense, and, in some
-respects, unprecedented.
-
-Nourrit played the part of "Robert," Madame Cinti Damoreau that of
-"Isabelle." Mademoiselle Dorus and Levasseur were the "Alice" and the
-"Bertram." In the _pas de cinq_ of the second act, Noblet, Montessu, and
-Perrot appeared; and in the nuns' scene, the troop of resuscitated
-virgins was led by the graceful and seductive Taglioni. All the scenery
-was admirably painted, especially that of the moonlight _tableau_ in the
-third act. The costumes were rich and brilliant, the _mise en scčne_,
-generally, was remarkable for its completeness; in short, every one
-connected with the "getting up" of the opera from Habeneck, the musical
-conductor, to the property-men, gas-fitters and carpenters, whose names
-history has not preserved, did their utmost to ensure its success.
-
-In 1832, _Robert le Diable_ was brought out at the King's Theatre, with
-the principal parts sustained, as in Paris, by Nourrit, Levasseur, and
-Madame Damoreau. The part of "Alice" appears to have been given to
-Mademoiselle de Méric. This opera met with no success at the King's
-Theatre, and was scarcely better received at Covent Garden, where an
-English version was performed, with such alterations in Meyerbeer's
-music as will easily be conceived by those who remember how the works of
-Rossini, and, indeed, all foreign composers, were treated at this time,
-on the English stage.
-
-[Sidenote: ROBERT LE DIABLE.]
-
-In 1832, and, indeed, many years afterwards, when _Robert_ and _Les
-Huguenots_ had been efficiently represented in London by German
-companies, Meyerbeer's music was still most severely handled by some of
-our best musical critics. At present there is perhaps an inclination to
-go to the other extreme; but, at all events, full justice has now been
-rendered to M. Meyerbeer's musical genius. Let us hear what Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe (whose opinion I do not regard as one of authority, but only as
-an interesting index to that of the connoisseurs of the old school), has
-to say of the first, and, on the whole, the most celebrated of
-Meyerbeer's operas. He entertains the greatest admiration for _Don
-Giovanni_, _Fidelio_, _Der Freischütz_, and _Euryanthe_; but neither the
-subject, nor even the music of _Robert le Diable_, pleases him in the
-least. "Never," he says, "did I see a more disagreeable or disgusting
-performance. The sight of the resurrection of a whole convent of nuns,
-who rise from their graves, and begin dancing, like so many bacchants,
-is revolting; and a sacred service in a church, accompanied by an organ
-on the stage, not very decorous. Neither does the music of Meyerbeer
-compensate for a fable, which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability.
-Of course, I was not tempted to hear it again in its original form, and
-it did credit to the taste of the English public, that it was not
-endured at the Opera House, and was acted only a very few nights."
-
-Meyerbeer's second grand opera, _Les Huguenots_, was produced at the
-Académie Royale on the 26th of January, 1836, after twenty-eight full
-rehearsals, occasioning a delay which cost the composer a fine of thirty
-thousand francs. The expense of getting up the _Huguenots_ (in scenery,
-dresses, properties, &c.), amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand
-francs.
-
-[Sidenote: LES HUGUENOTS.]
-
-In London, and I believe everywhere on the continent except in Paris,
-the most popular of M. Meyerbeer's three grand operas is _Les
-Huguenots_. At the Académie, _Robert le Diable_ seems still to carry
-away the palm. Of late years, the admirable performance of Mario and
-Grisi, and of Titiens and Giuglini, in the duet of the fourth act, has
-had an immense effect in increasing the popularity of _Les Huguenots_
-with the English. This duet, the septett for male voices, the blessing
-of the daggers and the whole of the dramatic and animated scene of which
-it forms part, are certainly magnificent compositions; but the duet for
-"Raoul" and "Valentine" is the very soul of the work. At the theatres of
-Italy, the opera in question is generally "cut" with a free hand; and it
-is so long, that even after plentiful excisions an immense deal of
-music, and of fine music, still remains. But who would go to hear _Les
-Huguenots_, if the duet of the fourth act were omitted, or if the
-performance stopped at the end of act III.? On the other hand, the
-fourth act alone would always attract an audience; for, looked upon as a
-work by itself, it is by far the most dramatic, the most moving of all
-M. Meyerbeer's compositions. The construction of this act is most
-creditable to the librettist; while the composer, in filling up, and
-giving musical life to the librettist's design, has shown the very
-highest genius. It ends with a scene for two personages, but the whole
-act is of one piece. While the daggers are being distributed, while the
-plans of the chief agents in the massacre are being developed in so
-striking and forcible a manner, the scene between the alarmed "Raoul"
-and the terrified "Valentine" is, throughout, anticipated; and equally
-necessary for the success of the duet, from a musical as well as from a
-dramatic point of view, is the massive concerted piece by which this
-duet is preceded. To a composer, incapable or less capable than M.
-Meyerbeer, of turning to advantage the admirable but difficult situation
-here presented, there would, of course, have been the risk of an
-anti-climax; there was the danger that, after a stageful of fanatical
-soldiers and monks, crying out at the top of their voices for blood, it
-would be impossible further to impress the audience by any known musical
-means. Meyerbeer, however, has had recourse to the expression of an
-entirely different kind of emotion, or rather a series of emotions, full
-of admirable variations and gradations; and everyone who has heard the
-great duet of _Les Huguenots_ knows how wonderfully he has succeeded. It
-has been said that the idea of this scene originated with Nourrit. In
-any case, it was an idea which Scribe lost no time in profiting by, and
-the question does not in any way affect the transcendent merit of the
-composer.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-_Le Prophčte_, M. Meyerbeer's third grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie on the 16th of April, 1849, with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and
-Castellan, in the principal characters. This opera, like _Les
-Huguenots_, has been performed with great success in London. The part of
-"Jean" has given the two great tenors of the Royal Italian Opera--Mario
-and Tamberlik--opportunities of displaying many of their highest
-qualities as dramatic singers. The magnificent Covent Garden orchestra
-achieves a triumph quite of its own, in the grand march of the
-coronation scene; and the opera enables the management to display all
-its immense resources in the scenic department.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: GUSTAVE III.]
-
-In passing from _Masaniello_ to Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, and from
-Rossini to Meyerbeer, we have lost sight too soon of the greatest
-composer France ever produced, and one who is ranked in all countries
-among the first composers of the century. I mean, of course, M. Auber,
-of whose works I should have more to say, if I had not determined, in
-this brief "History of the Opera" to pay but little attention to the
-French "Opéra Comique," which, with the exception of a very few examples
-(all by M. Auber)[96] is not a _genre_ that has been accepted anywhere
-out of France. In sketching, however, the history of the Grand Opera,
-it would be impossible to omit _Gustave III._ _Gustave ou le Bal
-Masqué_, composed on one of the two librettos returned to M. Scribe by
-Rossini,[97] was performed for the first time on the 27th of February,
-1833. This admirable work is not nearly so well known in England, or
-even in France, as it deserves to be. The government of Louis Philippe
-seems to have thought it imprudent to familiarize the Parisians with
-regicide, by exhibiting it to them three or four times a week on the
-stage, as the main incident of a very interesting drama; and after a
-certain number of representations, _Gustave_, which, taken altogether,
-is certainly Auber's masterpiece, was cut down to the ball-scene. In
-England, no one objected to the theatrical assassination of _Gustavus_;
-but unfortunately, also, no scruple was made about mutilating and
-murdering Auber's music. In short, the _Gustavus_ of Auber was far more
-cruelly ill-treated in London than the Gustavus of Sweden at his own
-masqued ball. Mr. Gye ought to produce _Gustavus_ at the Royal Italian
-Opera, where, for the first time in England, it would be worthily
-represented. The frequenters of this theatre have long been expecting
-it, though I am not aware that it has ever been officially promised.
-
-The original caste of _Gustave_ included Nourrit, Levasseur, Massol,
-Dabadie, Dupont, Mademoiselle Falcon, Mademoiselle Dorus, and Madame
-Dabadie. Nourrit, the original "Guillaume Tell," the original "Robert,"
-the original "Raoul," the original "Gustave," was then at the height of
-his fame; but he was destined to be challenged four years afterwards by
-a very formidable rival. He was the first, and the only first tenor at
-the Académie Royale de Musique, where he had been singing with a zeal
-and ardour equal to his genius for the last sixteen years, when the
-management engaged Duprez, to divide the principal parts with the
-vocalist already in office. After his long series of triumphs, Nourrit
-had no idea of sharing his laurels in this manner; nor was he at all
-sure that he was not about to be deprived of them altogether. "One of
-the two must succeed at the expense of the other," he declared; and
-knowing the attraction of novelty for the public, he was not at all sure
-that the unfortunate one would not be himself.
-
-"Duprez knows me," he said, "and comes to sing where I am. I do not know
-him, and naturally fear his approach." After thinking over the matter
-for a few days he resolved to leave the theatre. He chose for his last
-appearance the second act of _Armide_, in which "Renaud," the character
-assigned to the tenor, has to exclaim to the warrior, "Artemidore"--
-
-    "Allez, allez remplir ma place,
-     Aux lieux d'oů mon malheur me chasse," &c.
-
-To which "Artemidore" replies--
-
-    "Sans vous que peut on entreprendre?
-     Celui qui vous bannit ne pourra se défendre
-     De souhaiter votre retour."
-
-[Sidenote: NOURRIT.]
-
-The scene was very appropriate to the position of the singer who was
-about to be succeeded by Duprez. The public felt this equally with
-Nourrit himself, and testified their sympathy for the departing Renaud,
-by the most enthusiastic applause.
-
-Nourrit took his farewell of the French public on the 1st of April,
-1837, and on the 17th of the same month Duprez made his _début_ at the
-Académie, as "Arnold," in _William Tell_. The latter singer had already
-appeared at the Comédie Française, where, at the age of fifteen, he was
-entrusted with the soprano solos in the choruses of _Athalie_, and
-afterwards at the Odéon, where he played the parts of "Almaviva," in the
-_Barber of Seville_, and Ottavio," in _Don Juan_. He then visited Italy
-for a short time, returned to Paris, and was engaged at the Opéra
-Comique. Here his style was much admired, but his singing, on the whole,
-produced no great impression on the public. He once more crossed the
-Alps, studied assiduously, performed at various theatres in a great
-number of operas, and by incessant practice, and thanks also to the
-wonderful effect of the climate on his voice, attained the highest
-position on the Italian stage, and was the favourite tenor of Italy at a
-time when Rubini was singing every summer in London, and every winter in
-Paris. Before visiting Italy the second time, Duprez was a "light
-tenor," and was particularly remarkable for the "agility" of his
-execution. A long residence in a southern climate appears to have quite
-changed the nature of his voice; a transformation, however, which must
-have been considerably aided by the nature of his studies. He returned
-to France a _tenore robusto_, an impressive, energetic singer, excelling
-in the declamatory style, and in many respects the greatest dramatic
-vocalist the French had ever heard. As an actor, however, he was not
-equal to Nourrit, whose demeanour as an operatic hero is said to have
-been perfection. _Guillaume Tell_, with Duprez, in the part of "Arnold,"
-commenced a new career, and Rossini's great work now obtained from the
-general public that applause which, on its first production, it had, for
-the most part, received only from connoisseurs.
-
-[Sidenote: NOURRIT.]
-
-In the meanwhile, Nourrit, after performing with great success at
-Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyons, and elsewhere, went to Italy, and was
-engaged first at Milan, and afterwards at Florence and Naples. At each
-city fresh triumphs awaited him, but an incident occurred at Naples
-which sorely troubled the equanimity of the failing singer, whose mind,
-as we have seen, had already been disturbed by painful presentiments.
-Nourrit, to be sure, was only "failing" in this sense, that he was
-losing confidence in his own powers, which, however, by all accounts,
-remained undiminished to the last. He was a well-educated and a highly
-accomplished man, and besides being an excellent musician, possessed
-considerable literary talent, and a thorough knowledge of dramatic
-effect.[98] He had prepared two librettos, in which the part adapted
-for the tenor would serve to exhibit his double talent as an actor and
-as a singer. One of these musical dramas was founded on Corneille's
-_Polyeucte_, and, in the hands of Donizetti, became _I Martiri_; but
-just when it was about to be produced, the Neapolitan censorship forbade
-its production on the ground of the unfitness of religious subjects for
-stage representation. Nourrit was much dejected at being thus prevented
-from appearing in a part composed specially for him at his own
-suggestion, and in which he felt sure he would be seen and heard to the
-greatest advantage. A deep melancholy, such as he had already suffered
-from at Marseilles, to an extent which alarmed all his friends, now
-settled upon him. He appeared, and was greatly applauded, in
-Mercadante's _Il Giuramento_, and in Bellini's _Norma_, but soon
-afterwards his despondency was increased, and assumed an irritated form,
-from a notion that the applause the Neapolitans bestowed upon him was
-ironical.
-
-Nothing could alter his conviction on this point, which at last had the
-effect of completely unsettling his mind--unless it be more correct to
-say that mental derangement was itself the cause of the unhappy
-delusion. Finally, after a performance given for the benefit of another
-singer, in which Nourrit took part, his malady increased to such an
-extent that on his return home he became delirious, threw himself out of
-a window, at five in the morning, and was picked up in the street quite
-dead. This deplorable event occurred on the 8th of March, 1889.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The late "Académie Royale de Musique," the Théatre Italien of Paris, and
-all the chief opera houses of Italy are connected inseparably with the
-history of Opera in England. All the great works written by Rossini and
-Meyerbeer for the Académie have since been represented in London; the
-same singers for nearly half a century past have for the most part sung
-alternately at the Italian operas of Paris and of London; finally, from
-Italy we have drawn the great majority of the works represented at our
-best musical theatres, and nearly all our finest singers.
-
-[Sidenote: GERMAN OPERA.]
-
-German opera, in the meanwhile, stands in a certain way apart. Germany,
-compared with Italy, has sent us very few great singers. We have never
-looked to Germany for a constant supply of operas, and, indeed, Germany
-has not produced altogether half a dozen thoroughly German operas (that
-is to say, founded on German libretti, and written for German singers
-and German audiences), which have ever become naturalized in this
-country, or, indeed, anywhere out of their native land. Moreover, the
-most celebrated of the said _thoroughly_ German operas, such as
-_Fidelio_ and _Der Freischütz_, exercised no such influence on
-contemporary dramatic music as to give their composers a well-marked
-place in the operatic history of the present century, such as clearly
-belongs to Rossini. Beethoven, with his one great masterpiece, stands
-quite alone, and in the same way, Weber, with his strongly marked
-individuality has nothing in common with his contemporaries; and, living
-at the same time as Rossini, neither affected, nor was affected, by the
-style of a composer whose influence all the composers of the Italian
-school experienced. Accordingly, and that I may not entangle too much
-the threads of my narrative, I will now, having followed Rossini to
-Paris, and given some account of his successors at the French Opera,
-proceed to speak of Donizetti and Bellini, who were followers of Rossini
-in every sense. Of Weber and Beethoven, who are not in any way
-associated with the Rossini school, and only through the accident of
-birth with the Rossini period, I must speak in a later chapter.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XVIII.
-
-DONIZETTI AND BELLINI.
-
-
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, had a horror
-of Rossini's music, and took care that all his printed works in the
-library should be placed beyond the reach of the young and innocent
-pupils. He was determined to preserve them, as far as possible, from the
-corrupt but seductive influence of this composer's brilliant,
-extravagant, meretricious style. But Donizetti, who at this time was
-studying at Naples, had heard several of the proscribed operas, and was
-most anxious to examine, on the music paper, the causes of the effects
-which had so delighted his ear at the theatre. The desired scores were
-on the highest shelf of the library; and the careful, conscientious
-librarian had removed the ladder by means of which alone it seemed
-possible to get to them.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-Donizetti stood watching the shelves which held the operas of Rossini
-like a cat before a bird cage; but the ladder was locked up, and the key
-in safe keeping in Sigismondi's pocket. Under a northern climate, the
-proper mode of action for Donizetti would have been to invite the jailor
-to a banquet, ply him with wine, and rob him of his keys as soon as he
-had reached a sufficiently advanced state of intoxication. Being in
-Italy, Donizetti should have made love to Sigismondi's daughter, and
-persuaded her to steal the keys from the old man during his mid-day
-_siesta_. Perhaps, however, Sigismondi was childless, or his family may
-have consisted only of sons; in any case, the young musician adopted
-neither of the schemes, by combining which the troubadour Blondel was
-enabled to release from captivity his adored Richard.[99] He resorted to
-a means which, if not wonderfully ingenious, was at least to the point,
-and which promised to be successful. He climbed, monkey-like, or
-cat-like, not to abandon our former simile, to the top shelf, and had
-his claws on the _Barber of Seville_, when who should enter the library
-but Sigismondi.
-
-The old man was fairly shocked at this perversity on the part of Gaetan
-Donizetti, reputed the best behaved student of the Academy. His morals
-would be corrupted, his young blood poisoned!--but fortunately the
-librarian had arrived in time, and he might yet be saved.
-
-Donizetti sprang to the ground with his prey--the full score of the
-_Barber of Seville_--in his clutches. He was about to devour it, when a
-hand touched him on the shoulder: he turned round, and before him stood
-the austere Sigismondi.
-
-The old librarian spoke to Gaetan as to a son; appealed to his sense of
-propriety, his honour, his conscience; and asked him, almost with tears
-in his eyes, how he could so far forget himself as to come secretly into
-the library to read forbidden books--and Rossini's above all? He pointed
-out the terrible effects of the course upon which the youthful Donizetti
-had so nearly entered; reminded him that one brass instrument led to
-another; and that when once he had given himself up to violent
-orchestration, there was no saying where he would stop.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-Donizetti could not or would not argue with the venerable and determined
-Sigismondi. At least, he did not oppose him; but he inquired whether, as
-a lesson in cacophony, it was not worth while just to look at Rossini's
-notorious productions. He reminded his stern adviser, that he had
-already studied good models under Mayer, Pilotti, and Mattei, and that
-it was natural he should now wish to complete his musical education, by
-learning what to avoid. He quoted the well known case of the Spartans
-and their Helots; inquired, with some emotion, whether the frightful
-example of Rossini was not sufficient to deter any well meaning
-composer, with a little strength of character, from following in his
-unholy path; and finally declared, with undisguised indignation, that
-Rossini ought to be made the object of a serious study, so that once for
-all his musical iniquities might be exposed and his name rendered a
-bye-word among the lovers and cultivators of pure, unsophisticated art!
-
-"Come to my arms, Gaetano," cried Sigismondi, much moved. "I can refuse
-nothing to a young man like you, now that I know your excellent
-intentions. A musician, who is imbued with the true principles of his
-art, may look upon the picture of Rossini's depravity not only without
-danger, but with positive advantage. Some it might weaken and
-destroy;--_you_ it can only fortify and uphold. Let us open these
-monstrous scores; their buffooneries may amuse us for an hour.
-
-"_Il Barbiere di Siviglia!_ I have not much to say about that,"
-commenced Sigismondi. "It is a trifle; besides, full justice was done to
-it at Rome. The notion of re-setting one of the master-pieces of the
-great Paisiello,--what audacity! No wonder it was hissed!"
-
-"Under Paisiello's direction," suggested Donizetti.
-
-"All a calumny, my young friend; pure calumny, I can assure you. There
-are so many Don Basilios in the musical world! Rossini's music was
-hissed because it was bad and because it recalled to the public
-Paisiello's, which was good." "But I have heard," rejoined Donizetti,
-"that at the second representation there was a great deal of applause,
-and that the enthusiasm of the audience at last reached such a point,
-that they honoured Rossini with a torch-light procession and conducted
-him home in triumph."
-
-"An invention of the newspapers," replied Sigismondi; "I believe there
-was a certain clique present prepared to support the composer through
-everything, but the public had already expressed its opinion. Never mind
-this musical burlesque, and let us take a glance at one of Rossini's
-serious operas."
-
-Donizetti wished for nothing better. This time he had no occasion to
-scale the shelf in his former feline style. The librarian produced the
-key of the mysterious closet in which the ladder was kept. The young
-musician ran up to the Rossini shelf like a lamp-lighter and brought
-down with him not one but half-a-dozen volumes.
-
-"Too many, too many," said Sigismondi, "one would have been quite
-enough. Well, let us open _Otello_."
-
-In the score which the old and young musician proposed to examine
-together, the three trombone parts, according to the Italian custom,
-were written on one and the same staff, thus 1ş, 2ş, 3ş _tromboni_.
-Sigismondi began his lecture on the enormities of Rossini as displayed
-in _Otello_ by reading the list of the instruments employed.
-
-"_Flutes_, two flutes; well there is not much harm in that. No one will
-hear them; only, with diabolical perfidy, one of these modern flutists
-will be sure to take a _piccolo_ and pierce all sensitive ears with his
-shrill whistling.
-
-"_Hautboys_, two hautboys; also good. Here Rossini follows the old
-school. I say nothing against his two hautboys; indeed, I quite approve
-of them.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.]
-
-"_Clarionets!_ a barbarous invention, which the _Tedeschi_ might have
-kept them for themselves. They may be very good pipes for calling cows,
-but should be used for nothing else.
-
-"_Bassoons_; useless instruments, or nearly so. Our good masters
-employed them for strengthening the bass; but now the bassoon has
-acquired such importance, that solos are written for it. This is also a
-German innovation. Mozart would have done well to have left the bassoon
-in its original obscurity.
-
-"1st and 2nd _Horns_; very good. Horns and hautboys combine admirably. I
-say nothing against Rossini's horns.
-
-"3rd and 4th _Horns_! How many horns does the man want? _Quattro Corni,
-Corpo di Bacco!_ The greatest of our composers have always been
-contented with two. Shades of Pergolese, of Leo, of Jomelli! How they
-must shudder at the bare mention of such a thing. Four horns! Are we at
-a hunting party? Four horns! Enough to blow us to perdition."
-
-The indignation and rage of the old musician went on increasing as he
-followed the gradual development of a _crescendo_ until he arrived at
-the explosion of the _fortissimo_. Then Sigismondi uttered a cry of
-despair, struck the score violently with his fist, upset the table which
-the imprudent Donizetti had loaded with the nefarious productions of
-Rossini, raised his hands to heaven and rushed from the room,
-exclaiming, "a hundred and twenty-three trombones! A hundred and
-twenty-three trombones!"
-
-Donizetti followed the performer and endeavoured to explain the mistake.
-
-"Not 123 trombones, but 1st, 2nd, 3rd trombones," he gently observed.
-Sigismondi however, would not hear another word, and disappeared from
-the library crying "a hundred and twenty-three trombones," to the last.
-
-Donizetti came back, lifted up the table, placed the scores upon it and
-examined them in peace. He then, in his turn, concealed them so that he
-might be able another time to find them whenever he pleased without
-clambering up walls or intriguing to get possession of ladders.
-
-[Sidenote: ANNA BOLENA.]
-
-The inquiring student of the Conservatory of Naples was born, in 1798,
-at Bergamo, and when he was seventeen years of age was put to study
-under Mayer, who, before the appearance of Rossini, shared with Paer the
-honour of being the most popular composer of the day. His first opera
-_Enrico di Borgogna_ was produced at Venice in 1818, and obtained so
-much success that the composer was entrusted with another commission for
-the same city in the following year. After writing an opera for Mantua
-in 1819 _Il Falegname di Livonia_, Donizetti visited Rome, where his
-_Zoraide di Granata_ procured him an exemption from the conscription and
-the honour of being carried in triumph and crowned at the Capitol.
-Hitherto he may be said to have owed his success chiefly to his skilful
-imitation of Rossini's style, and it was not until 1830, when _Anna
-Bolena_ was produced at Milan (and when, curiously enough, Rossini had
-just written his last opera), that he exhibited any striking signs of
-original talent. This work, which is generally regarded as Donizetti's
-master-piece, or at least was some time ago (for of late years no one
-has had an opportunity of hearing it), was composed for Pasta and
-Rubini, and was first represented for Pasta's benefit in 1831. It was in
-this opera that Lablache gained his first great triumph in London.
-
-Donizetti visited Paris in 1835, and there produced his _Marino
-Faliero_, which contains several spirited and characteristic pieces,
-such as the opening chorus of workmen in the Arsenal and the gondolier
-chorus at the commencement of the second act. The charming _Elisir
-d'Amore_, the most graceful, melodious, moreover the most
-characteristic, and in many respects the best of all Donizetti's works,
-was written for Milan in 1832. In this work Signor Mario made his
-re-appearance at the Italian Opera of Paris in 1839; he had previously
-sung for some time at the Académie Royale in _Robert_ and other operas.
-
-_Lucia di Lammermoor_, Donizetti's most popular opera, containing some
-of the most beautiful melodies in the sentimental style that he has
-composed, and altogether his best finale, was produced at Naples in
-1835. The part of "Edgardo" was composed specially for Duprez, that of
-"Lucia" for Persiani.
-
-The pretty little opera or operetta entitled _Il Campanello di Notte_
-was written under very interesting circumstances to save a little
-Neapolitan theatre from ruin. Donizetti heard that the establishment was
-in a failing condition, and that the performers were without money and
-in great distress. He sought them out, supplied their immediate wants,
-and one of the singers happening to say that if Donizetti would give
-them a new opera, their fortunes would be made: "As to that," replied
-the Maestro, "you shall have one within a week." To begin with, a
-libretto was necessary, but none was to be had. The composer, however,
-possessed considerable literary talent, and recollecting a vaudeville
-which he had seen some years before in Paris, called _La Sonnette de
-Nuit_, he took that for his subject, re-arranged it in an operatic form,
-and in nine days the libretto was written, the music composed, the parts
-learnt, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. It would have been
-difficult to have given a greater proof of generosity, and of fertility
-and versatility of talent. I may here mention that Donizetti designed,
-and wrote the words, as well as the music of the last act of the
-_Lucia_; that the last act of _La Favorite_ was also an afterthought of
-his; and that he himself translated into Italian the libretti of Betly
-and _La Fille du Regiment_.
-
-[Sidenote: VICTOR HUGO AT THE OPERA.]
-
-When _Lucrezia Borgia_ (written for Milan in 1834) was produced in
-Paris, in 1840, Victor Hugo, the author of the admirable tragedy on
-which it is founded, contested the right of the Italian librettists, to
-borrow their plots from French dramas; maintaining that the
-representation of such libretti in France constituted an infringement of
-the French dramatists' "_droits d'auteur_." He gained his action, and
-_Lucrezia Borgia_ became, at the Italian Opera of Paris, _La Rinegata_,
-the Italians at the court of Pope Alexander the Sixth being
-metamorphosed into Turks. A French version of _Lucrezia Borgia_ was
-prepared for the provinces, and entitled _Nizza di Grenada_.
-
-[Sidenote: AUTHORS' RIGHTS.]
-
-A year or two afterwards, Verdi's _Hernani_ experienced the same fate at
-the Théâtre Italien as _Lucrezia Borgia_. Then the original authors of
-_La Pie Voleuse_, _La Grace de Dieu_, &c., followed Victor Hugo's
-example, and objected to the performance of _La Gazza Ladra_ and _Linda
-di Chamouni_, &c. Finally, an arrangement was made, and at present
-exists, by which Italian operas founded on French dramas may be
-performed in Paris on condition of an indemnity being paid to the French
-dramatists. Marsolier, the author of the Opéra Comique, entitled _Nina,
-ou la Folle par Amour_, set to music by Dalayrac, had applied for an
-injunction twenty-three years before, to prevent the representation of
-Paisiello's _Nina_, in Paris; but the Italian disappeared before the
-question was tried. The principle, however, of an author's right of
-property in a work, or any portion of a work, had been established
-nearly two centuries before. In a "privilege" granted to St. Amant in
-1653, for the publication of his _Moise Sauvé_, it is expressly
-forbidden to extract from that "epic poem" subjects for novels and
-plays. These cautions proved unnecessary, as the work so strictly
-protected contained no available materials for plays, novels, or any
-other species of literary composition, including even "epic poems;" but
-_Moise Sauvé_ has nevertheless been the salvation of several French
-authors whose property might otherwise have been trespassed upon to a
-considerable extent. Nevertheless, the principle of an author's sole,
-inalienable interest in the incidents he may have invented or combined,
-without reference to the new form in which they may be presented,
-cannot, as a matter of course, be entertained anywhere; but the system
-of "author's rights" so energetically fought for and conquered by
-Beaumarchais has a very wide application in France, and only the other
-day it was decided that the translators and arrangers of _Le Nozze di
-Figaro_, for the Théâtre Lyrique must share their receipts with the
-descendants and heirs of the author of _Le Mariage de Figaro_. It will
-appear monstrous to many persons in England who cannot conceive of
-property otherwise than of a material, palpable kind, that
-Beaumarchais's representatives should enjoy any interest in a work
-produced three-quarters of a century ago; but as his literary
-productions possess an actual, easily attainable value, it would be
-difficult to say who ought to profit by it, if not those who, under any
-system of laws, would benefit by whatever other possessions he might
-have left. It may be a slight advantage to society, in an almost
-inappreciable degree, that "author's rights" should cease after a
-certain period; but, if so, the same principle ought to be applied to
-other forms of created value. The case was well put by M. de Vigny, in
-the "Revue des Deux Mondes," in advocating the claims of a
-grand-daughter, or great grand-daughter of Sedaine. He pointed out, that
-if the dramatist in question, who was originally an architect, had built
-a palace, and it had lasted until the present day, no one would have
-denied that it descended naturally to his heirs; and that as, instead of
-building in stone, he devoted himself to the construction of operas and
-plays, the results of his talent and industry ought equally to be
-regarded as the inalienable property of his descendants.
-
-[Sidenote: LA FAVORITE.]
-
-But to return to _Lucrezia Borgia_, which, with _Lucia_ and _La
-Favorite_, may be ranked amongst the most successful of Donizetti's
-productions. The favour with which _Lucrezia_ is received by audiences
-of all kinds may be explained, in addition to the merit of much of the
-music, by the manner in which the principal parts are distributed, so
-that the cast, to be efficient, must always include four leading
-singers, each of whom has been well-provided for by the composer. It
-contains less recitative than any of Rossini's operas--a great
-advantage, from a popular point of view, it having been shown by
-experience that the public of the present day do not care for recitative
-(especially when they do not understand a word of it), but like to pass
-as quickly as possible from one musical piece to another. From an
-artistic point of view the shortness of Donizetti's recitatives is not
-at all to be regretted, for the simple reason that he has never written
-any at all comparable to those of Rossini, whose dramatic genius he was
-far from possessing. The most striking situation in the drama, a
-thoroughly musical situation of which a great composer, or even an
-energetic, passionate, melo-dramatic composer, like Verdi, would have
-made a great deal, is quite lost in the hands of Donizetti. The
-_Brindisi_ is undeniably pretty, and was never considered vulgar until
-it had been vulgarised. But Donizetti has shown no dramatic power in the
-general arrangement of the principal scene, and the manner in which the
-drinking song is interrupted by the funeral chorus, has rather a
-disagreeable, than a terrible or a solemn effect. The finale to the
-first act, or "prologue," is finely treated, but "Gennaro's" dying scene
-and song, is the most dramatic portion of the work, which it ought to
-terminate, but unfortunately does not. I think it might be shown that
-_Lucrezia_ marks the distance about half way between the style of
-Rossini and that of Verdi. Not that it is so much inferior to the works
-of the former, or so much superior to those of the latter; but that
-among Donizetti's later operas, portions of _Maria di Rohan_ (Vienna,
-1843), might almost have been written by the composer of _Rigoletto_;
-whereas, the resemblance for good or for bad, between these two
-musicians, of the decadence, is not nearly so remarkable, if we compare
-_Lucrezia Borgia_ with one of Verdi's works. Still, in _Lucrezia_ we
-already notice that but little space is accorded to recitative, which
-in the _Trovatore_ finds next to none; we meet with choruses written in
-the manner afterwards adopted by Verdi, and persisted in by him to the
-exclusion of all other modes; while as regards melody, we should
-certainly rather class the tenor's air in _I Lombardi_ with that in
-_Lucrezia Borgia_, than the latter with any air ever composed by
-Rossini.
-
-When Donizetti revisited Paris in 1840, he produced in succession _I
-Martiri_ (the work written for Nourrit and objected to by the Neapolitan
-censorship), _La Fille du Regiment_, written for the Opéra Comique, and
-_La Favorite_, composed in the first instance for the Théâtre de la
-Renaissance, but re-arranged for the Académie, when the brief existence
-of the Théâtre de la Renaissance had come to an end. As long as it
-lasted, this establishment, opened for the representation of foreign
-operas in the French language, owed its passing prosperity entirely to a
-French version of the _Lucia_.
-
-Jenny Lind, Sontag, Alboni, have all appeared in _La Figlia del
-Reggimento_ with great success; but when this work was first produced in
-Paris, with Madame Thillon in the principal part, it was not received
-with any remarkable favour. It is full of smooth, melodious, and highly
-animated music, but is, perhaps, wanting in that piquancy of which the
-French are such great admirers, and which rendered the duet for the
-vivandičres, in Meyerbeer's _Etoile du Nord_, so much to their taste.
-_L'Ange de Nigida_, converted into _La Favorite_ (and founded in the
-first instance on a French drama, _Le Comte de Commingues_) was brought
-out at the Académie, without any expense in scenery and "getting up,"
-and achieved a decided success. This was owing partly to the pretty
-choral airs at the commencement, partly to the baritone's cavatina
-(admirably sung by Barroilhet, who made his _début_ in the part of
-"Alphonse"); but, above all, to the fourth act, with its beautiful
-melody for the tenor, and its highly dramatic scene for the tenor and
-soprano, including a final duet, which, if not essentially dramatic in
-itself, occurs at least in a most dramatic situation.
-
-The whole of the fourth act of _La Favorite_, except the cavatina, _Ange
-si pur_, which originally belonged to the Duc d'Albe, and the _andante_
-of the duet, which was added at the rehearsals, was written in three
-hours. Donizetti had been dining at the house of a friend, who was
-engaged in the evening to go to a party. On leaving the house, the host,
-after many apologies for absenting himself, intreated Donizetti to
-remain, and finish his coffee, which Donizetti, being inordinately fond
-of that stimulant, took care to do. He asked at the same time for some
-music paper, began his fourth act, and finding himself in the vein for
-composition, went on writing until he had completed it. He had just put
-the final stroke to the celebrated "_Viens dans une autre patrie_," when
-his friend returned, at one in the morning, and congratulated him on the
-excellent manner in which he had employed his time.
-
-[Sidenote: L'ELISIR D'AMORE.]
-
-After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which last city he wrote
-_Linda di Chamouni_, Donizetti returned to Paris, and in 1843 composed
-_Don Pasquale_ for the Théâtre Italien, and _Don Sebastien_ for the
-Académie. The lugubrious drama to which the music of _Don Sebastien_ is
-wedded, proved fatal to its success. On the other hand, the brilliant
-gaiety of _Don Pasquale_, rendered doubly attractive by the admirable
-execution of Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, delighted all who
-heard it. The pure musical beauty of the serenade, and of the quartett,
-one of the finest pieces of concerted music Donizetti ever wrote, were
-even more admired than the lively animated dialogue-scenes, which are in
-Donizetti's very best style; and the two pieces just specified, as well
-as the baritone's cavatina, _Bella siccome un angelo_, aided the general
-success of the work, not only by their own intrinsic merit, but also by
-the contrast they present to the comic conversational music, and the
-buffo airs of the bass. The music of _Don Pasquale_ is probably the
-cleverest Donizetti ever wrote; but it wants the _charm_ which belongs
-to that of his _Elisir d'Amore_, around which a certain sentiment, a
-certain atmosphere of rustic poetry seems to hang, especially when we
-are listening to the music of "Nemorino" or "Norina." Even the comic
-portions in the _Elisir_ are full of grace, as for instance, the
-admirable duet between "Norina" and "Dulcamara;" and the whole work
-possesses what is called "colour," that is to say, each character is
-well painted by the music, which, moreover, is always appropriate to
-the general scene. To look for "colour," or for any kind of poetry in a
-modern drawing-room piece of intrigue, like _Don Pasquale_, with the
-notaries of real life, and with lovers in black coats, would be absurd.
-I may mention that the libretto of _Don Pasquale_ is a re-arrangement of
-Pavesi's _Ser Marcantonio_ (was "_Ser_" _Marcantonio_ an Englishman?)
-produced in 1813.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S REPERTOIRE.]
-
-In the same year that Donizetti brought out _Don Pasquale_ in Paris, he
-produced _Maria di Rohan_ at Vienna. The latter work contains an
-admirable part for the baritone, which has given Ronconi the opportunity
-of showing that he is not only an excellent buffo, but is also one of
-the finest tragic actors on the stage. The music of _Maria di Rohan_ is
-highly dramatic: that is to say, very appropriate to the various
-personages, and to the great "situations" of the piece. In pourtraying
-the rage of the jealous husband, the composer exhibits all that
-earnestness and vigour for which Verdi has since been praised--somewhat
-sparingly, it is true, but praised nevertheless by his admirers. The
-contralto part, on the other hand, is treated with remarkable elegance,
-and contains more graceful melodies than Verdi is in the habit of
-composing. I do not say that Donizetti is in all respects superior to
-Verdi; indeed, it seems to me that he has not produced any one opera so
-thoroughly dramatic as _Rigoletto_; but as Donizetti and Verdi are
-sometimes contrasted, and as it was the fashion during Donizetti's
-lifetime, to speak of his music as light and frivolous, I wish to
-remark that in one of his latest operas he wrote several scenes, which,
-if written by Verdi, would be said to be in that composer's best style.
-
-Donizetti's last opera, _Catarina Comaro_, was produced in Naples in the
-year 1844. This was his sixty-third dramatic work, counting those only
-which have been represented. There are still two operas of Donizetti's
-in existence, which the public have not heard. One, a piece in one act,
-composed for the Opéra Comique, and which is said every now and then to
-be on the point of being performed; the other, _Le Duc d'Albe_, which,
-as before-mentioned, was written for the Académie Royale, on one of the
-two libretti returned by Rossini to Scribe, after the composer of
-_William Tell_ came to his mysterious resolution of retiring from
-operatic life.
-
-Of Donizetti's sixty-three operas, about two-thirds are quite unknown to
-England, and of the nine or ten which may still be said to keep the
-stage, the earliest produced, _Anna Bolena_, is the composer's
-thirty-second work. _Anna Bolena_, _L'Elisir d'Amore_, _Lucrezia
-Borgia_, _Lucia di Lammermoor_, and _Roberto Devereux_, are included
-between the numbers 31 and 52, while between the numbers 53 and 62, _La
-Fille du Regiment_, _La Favorite_, _Linda di Chamouni_, _Don Pasquale_,
-and _Maria di Rohan_, are found. The first five of Donizetti's most
-popular operas, were produced between the years 1830 and 1840; the last
-five between the years 1840 and 1844. Donizetti appears, then, to have
-produced his best serious operas during the middle period of his
-career--unless it be considered that _La Favorite_, _Linda di Chamouni_,
-and _Maria di Rohan_, are superior to _Anna Bolena_, _Lucrezia Borgia_,
-and _Lucia di Lammermoor_; and to the same epoch belongs _L'Elisir
-d'Amore_, which in my opinion is the freshest, most graceful, and most
-melodious of his comic operas, though some may prefer _La Fille du
-Regiment_ or _Don Pasquale_, both full of spirit and animation.
-
-It is also tolerably clear, from an examination of Donizetti's works in
-the order in which they were produced, that during the last four or five
-years of his artistic life he produced more than his average number of
-operas, possessing such merit that they have taken their place in the
-repertoires of the principal opera houses of Europe. Donizetti had lost
-nothing either in fertility or in power, while he appeared in some
-respects to be modifying and improving his style. Thus, in the Swiss
-opera of _Linda di Chamouni_ (Vienna, 1842), we find, especially in the
-music of the contralto part, a considerable amount of local colour--an
-important dramatic element which Donizetti had previously overlooked,
-or, at least, had not turned to any account; while _Maria di Rohan_
-contains the best dramatic music of a passionate kind that Donizetti has
-ever written.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S DEATH.]
-
-In composing, Donizetti made no use of the pianoforte, and wrote, as may
-be imagined, with great rapidity, never stopping to make a correction,
-though he is celebrated among the modern Italian composers for the
-accuracy of his style. Curiously enough, he never went to work without
-having a small ivory scraper by his side; and any one who has studied
-intellectual peculiarities will understand, that once wanting this
-instrument, he might have felt it necessary to scratch out notes and
-passages every minute. Mr. J. Wrey Mould, in his interesting "memoir,"
-tells us that this ivory scraper was given to Donizetti by his father
-when he consented, after a long and strenuous opposition, to his
-becoming a musician. An unfilial son might have looked upon the present
-as not conveying the highest possible compliment that could be paid him.
-The old gentleman, however, was quite right in impressing upon the
-bearer of his name, that having once resolved to be a composer, he had
-better make up his mind to produce as little rubbish as possible.
-
-The first signs of the dreadful malady to which Donizetti ultimately
-succumbed, manifested themselves during his last visit to Paris, in
-1845. Fits of absence of mind, followed by hallucinations and all the
-symptoms of mental derangement followed one another rapidly, and with
-increasing intensity. In January, 1846, it was found necessary to place
-the unfortunate composer in an asylum at Ivry, and in the autumn of
-1847, his medical advisers recommended as a final experiment, that he
-should be removed to Bergamo, in the hope that the air and scenes of his
-birth-place would have a favourable influence in dispelling, or, at
-least, diminishing the profound melancholy to which he was now subject.
-During his journey, however, he was attacked by paralysis, and his
-illness assumed a desperate and incurable character.
-
-Donizetti was received at Bergamo by the Maestro Dolci, one of his
-dearest friends. Here paralysis again attacked him, and a few days
-afterwards, on the 8th of April, 1848, he expired, in his fifty-second
-year, having, during the twenty-seven years of his life, as a composer,
-written sixty-four operas; several masses and vesper services; and
-innumerable pieces of chamber music, including, besides arias,
-cavatinas, and vocal concerted pieces, a dozen quartetts for stringed
-instruments, a series of songs and duets, entitled _Les soirées du
-Pausilippe_, a cantata entitled _la Morte d'Ugolino_, &c., &c.
-
-Antoine, Donizetti's attendant at Ivry, became much attached to him, and
-followed him to Bergamo, whence he forwarded to M. Adolphe Adam, a
-letter describing his illustrious patient's last moments, and the public
-honours paid to his memory at the funeral.
-
-[Sidenote: DONIZETTI'S DEATH.]
-
-"More than four thousand persons," he relates, "were present at the
-ceremony. The procession was composed of the numerous clergy of Bergamo;
-the most illustrious members of the community and its environs, and of
-the civic guard of the town and suburbs. The discharges of musketry,
-mingled with the light of three or four hundred large torches,
-presented a fine effect--the whole was enhanced by the presence of
-three military bands, and the most propitious weather it was possible to
-behold. The service commenced at ten o'clock in the morning, and did not
-conclude until half-past two. The young gentlemen of Bergamo insisted on
-bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-citizen, although the
-cemetery in which they finally rested lay at a distance of a
-league-and-a-half from the town. The road there was crowded along its
-whole length by people who came from the surrounding country to witness
-the procession--and, to give due praise to the inhabitants of Bergamo,
-never, hitherto, had such great honours been bestowed upon any member of
-that city."
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-Bellini, who was Donizetti's contemporary, but who was born nine years
-after him, and died thirteen years before, was a native of Sicily. His
-father was an organist at Catania, and under him the future composer of
-_Norma_ and _La Sonnambula_, took his first lessons in music. A Sicilian
-nobleman, struck by the signs of genius which young Bellini evinced at
-an early age, persuaded his father to send him to Naples, supporting his
-arguments with an offer to pay his expenses at the celebrated
-Conservatorio. Here one of Bellini's fellow pupils was Mercadante, the
-future composer of _Il Giuramento_, an opera which, in spite of the
-frequent attempts of the Italian singers to familiarize the English
-public with its numerous beauties, has never been much liked in this
-country. I do not say that it has not been justly appreciated on the
-whole, but that the grace of some of the melodies, the acknowledged
-merit of the orchestration and the elegance and distinction which seem
-to me to characterize the composer's style generally, have not been
-accepted as compensating for his want of passion and of that spontaneity
-without which the expression of strong emotion of any kind is naturally
-impossible. Mercadante could never have written _Rigoletto_, but,
-probably, a composer of inferior natural gifts to Verdi might, with a
-taste for study and a determination to bring his talent to perfection,
-have produced a work of equal artistic merit to _Il Giuramento_. And
-here we must take leave of Mercadante, whose place in the history of the
-opera is not a considerable one, and who, to the majority of English
-amateurs, is known only by his _Bella adorata_, a melody of which Verdi
-has shown his estimation by borrowing it, diluting it, and re-arranging
-it with a new accompaniment for the tenor's song in _Luisa Miller_.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-I should think Mercadante must have written better exercises, and passed
-better examinations at the Conservatorio than his young friend Bellini,
-though the latter must have begun at an earlier age to compose operas.
-Bellini's first dramatic work was written and performed while he was
-still a student. Encouraged by its success, he next composed music to a
-libretto already "set" by Generali, and entitled _Adelson e Salvino_.
-_Adelson_ was represented before the illustrious Barbaja, who was at
-that time manager of the two most celebrated theatres in Italy, the St.
-Carlo at Naples, and La Scala at Milan,--as well as of the Italian opera
-at Vienna, to say nothing of some smaller operatic establishments also
-under his rule. The great impresario, struck by Bellini's promise,
-commissioned him to write an opera for Naples, and, in 1826, his _Bianca
-e Fernando_ was produced at the St. Carlo. This work was so far
-successful, that it obtained a considerable amount of applause from the
-public, while it inspired Barbaja with so much confidence that he
-entrusted the young composer, now twenty years of age, with the libretto
-of _il Pirata_, to be composed for La Scala. The tenor part was written
-specially for Rubini, who retired into the country with Bellini, and
-studied, as they were produced, the simple, touching airs which he
-afterwards delivered on the stage with such admirable expression.
-
-_Il Pirata_ was received with enthusiasm by the audiences of La Scala,
-and the composer was requested to write another work for the same
-theatre. _La Straniera_ was brought out at Milan in 1828, the principal
-parts being entrusted to Donzelli, Tamburini, and Madame Tosi. This,
-Bellini's third work, appears, on the whole, to have maintained, but
-scarcely to have advanced, his reputation. Nevertheless, when it was
-represented in London soon after its original production, it was by no
-means so favourably received as _Il Pirato_ had been.
-
-Bellini's _Zaira_, executed at Parma, in 1829, was a failure--soon,
-however, to be redeemed by his fifth work, _Il Capuletti ed i
-Montecchi_, which was written for Venice, and was received with all
-possible expressions of approbation. In London, the new operatic version
-of _Romeo and Juliet_ was not particularly admired, and owed what
-success it obtained entirely to the acting and singing of Madame Pasta
-in the principal part. It may be mentioned that the libretto of
-Bellini's _I Montecchi_ had already served his master, Zingarelli, for
-his opera of _Romeo e Julietta_.
-
-[Sidenote: LA SONNAMBULA.]
-
-The time had now arrived at which Bellini was to produce his
-master-pieces, _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_; the former of which was
-written for _La Scala_, in 1831, the latter, for the same theatre, in
-the year following. The success of _La Sonnambula_ has been great
-everywhere, but nowhere so great as in England, where it has been
-performed in English and in Italian, oftener than any other two or
-perhaps three operas, while probably no songs, certainly no songs by a
-foreign composer, were ever sold in such large numbers as _All is lost_
-and _Do not mingle_. The libretto of _La Sonnambula_, by Romani, is one
-of the most interesting and touching, and one of the best suited for
-musical illustration in the whole _répertoire_ of _libretti_. To the
-late M. Scribe, belongs the merit of having invented the charming story
-on which Romani's and Bellini's opera is founded; and it is worthy of
-remark that he had already presented it in two different dramatic forms
-before any one was struck with its capabilities for musical treatment. A
-thoroughly, essentially, dramatic story can be presented on the stage in
-any and every form; with music, with dialogue, or with nothing but dumb
-action. Tried by this test, the plots of a great number of merely well
-written comedies would prove worthless; and so in substance they are. On
-the other hand, the vaudeville of _La Somnambula_, became, as
-re-arranged by M. Scribe, the ballet of _La Somnambule_, (one of the
-prettiest, by the way, from a choregraphic point of view ever produced);
-which, in the hands of Romani, became the libretto of an opera; which
-again, vulgarly treated, has been made into a burlesque; and, loftily
-treated, might be changed (I will not say elevated, for the operatic
-form is poetical enough), into a tragedy.
-
-The beauties of _La Sonnambula_, so full of pure melody and of emotional
-music, of the most simple and touching kind, can be appreciated by every
-one; by the most learned musician and the most untutored amateur, or
-rather let us say by any play-goer, who, not having been born deaf to
-the voice of music, hears an opera for the first time in his life. It
-was given, however, to an English critic, to listen to this opera, as
-natural and as unmistakably beautiful as a bed of wild flowers, through
-a special ear-trumpet of his own; and in number 197 of the most
-widely-circulated of our literary journals, the following remarks on
-_La Sonnambula_ appeared. With the exception of one or two pretty
-_motivi_, exquisitely given by Pasta and Rubini, the music is sometimes
-scarcely on a level with that of _Il Pirata_, and often sinks below it;
-there is a general thinness and want of effect in the instrumentation
-not calculated to make us overlook the other defects of this
-composition, which, in our humble judgment, are compensated by no
-redeeming beauties. Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of
-grandeur, no touch of true pathos in the common place workings of his
-mind. He cannot reach the _Opera semi-seria_; he should confine his
-powers to the lowest walk of the musical drama, the one act _Opera
-buffa_."
-
-Equally ill fared _Norma_ at the hands of another musical critic to
-whose "reminiscences" I have often had to refer, but who tells us that
-he did not hear the work in question himself. He speaks of it simply as
-a production of which the scene is laid in _Wales_, and adds that "it
-was not liked."
-
-Yet _Norma_ has been a good deal liked since its first production at
-Milan, now nearly thirty years ago; and from Madame Pasta's first to
-Madame Grisi's last appearance in the principal part, no great singer
-with any pretension to tragic power has considered her claims fully
-recognised until she has succeeded in the part of the Druid priestess.
-
-[Sidenote: I PURITANI.]
-
-_Beatrice di Tenda_, Bellini's next opera after _Norma_, cannot be
-reckoned among his best works. It was written for Venice, in 1833, and
-was performed in England for the first time, in 1836. It met with no
-very great success in Italy or elsewhere.
-
-In 1834, Bellini went to Paris, having been requested to write an opera
-for the excellent Théâtre Italien of that capital. The company at the
-period in question, included Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini and Lablache, all
-of whom were provided with parts in the new work. _I Puritani_, was
-played for the first time in London, for Grisi's benefit, in 1835, and
-with precisely the same distribution of characters as in Paris. The
-"_Puritani_ Season" is still remembered by old habitués, as one of the
-most brilliant of these latter days. Rubini's romance in the first act
-_A te o cara_, Grisi's _Polonaise_, _Son vergin vezzosa_ and the grand
-duet for Tamburini and Lablache, produced the greatest enthusiasm in all
-our musical circles, and the last movement of the duet was treated by
-"arrangers" for the piano, in every possible form. This is the movement,
-(destined, too soon, to find favour in the eyes of omnibus conductors,
-and all the worst amateurs of the cornet), of which Rossini wrote from
-Paris to a friend at Milan; "I need not describe the duet for the two
-basses, you must have heard it where you are."
-
-_I Puritani_ was Bellini's last opera. The season after its production
-he retired to the house of a Mr. Lewis at Puteaux, and there, while
-studying his art with an ardour which never deserted him, was attacked
-by a fatal illness. "From his youth up," says Mr. J. W. Mould, in his
-interesting "Memoir of Bellini;" "Vincenzo's eagerness in his art was
-such as to keep him at the piano day and night, till he was obliged
-forcibly to leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him through his
-short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it, brought on
-the dysentery, which closed his brilliant career, peopling his last
-hours with the figures of those to whom his works were so largely
-indebted for their success. During the moments of delirium which
-preceded his death, he was constantly speaking of Lablache, Tamburini
-and Grisi, and one of his last recognisable impressions was, that he was
-present at a brilliant representation of his last opera, at the Salle
-Favart. His earthly career closed on Wednesday, the 23rd of September,
-1835."
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI'S DEATH.]
-
-Thus died Bellini, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. Immediately
-after his death, and on the very eve of his interment, the Théâtre
-Italien re-opened with the _Puritani_. "The work," says the writer from
-whom I have just quoted, "was listened to throughout with a sad
-attention, betraying evidently how the general thoughts of both audience
-and artists were pre-occupied with the mournful fate of him so recently
-amongst them, now extended senseless, soulless, and mute, upon his
-funeral bier. The solemn and mournful chords which commence the opera,
-excited a sorrowful emotion in the breasts of both those who sang and
-those who heard. The feeling in which the orchestra and chorus
-participated, ex-tended itself to the principal artists concerned, and
-the foremost amongst them displayed neither that vigour nor that
-neatness of execution which Paris was so accustomed to accept at their
-hands; Tamburini in particular, was so broken down by the death of the
-young friend, whose presence amongst them spurred the glorious quartett
-on the season before, to such unprecedented exertions, that his
-magnificent organ, superb vocalisation were often considerably at fault
-during the evening, and his interrupted accent, joined to the melancholy
-depicted on the countenances of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache, sent those
-to their homes with an aching heart who had presented themselves to that
-evening's hearing of _I Puritani_, previously disposed, moreover, to
-attend the mournful ceremony of the morrow."
-
-A committee of Bellini's friends, including Rossini, Cherubini, Paer,
-and Carafa, undertook the general direction of the funeral of which the
-musical department was entrusted to M. Habeneck the _chef d'orchestre_
-of the Académie Royale. The expenses of the ceremony were defrayed by M.
-Panseron, of the Théâtre Italien. The most remarkable piece for the
-programme of the funeral music, was a lacrymosa for four voices, without
-accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn was united to the
-beautiful melody (and of a thoroughly religious character), sung by the
-tenor in the third act of the _Puritani_. This lacrymosa was executed by
-Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and Lablache. The service was performed in
-the church of the Invalides, and Bellini's remains were interred in the
-cemetery of Pčre la Chaise.
-
-Rossini had always shown the greatest affection for Bellini; and Rosario
-Bellini, a few weeks after his son's death, wrote a letter to the great
-composer, thanking him for the almost paternal kindness which he had
-shown to young Vincenzo during his lifetime, and for the honour he had
-paid to his memory when he was no more. After speaking of the grief and
-despair in which the loss of his beloved son had plunged him, the old
-man expressed himself as follows:--
-
-"You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labours;
-you took him under your protection; you neglected nothing that could
-increase his glory and his welfare. After my son's death what have you
-not done to honour his memory and render it dear to posterity! I learnt
-this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude for your
-excessive kindness, as well as for that of a number of distinguished
-artistes, which also I shall never forget. Pray, sir, be my interpreter,
-and tell these artistes that the father and family of Bellini, as well
-as our compatriots of Catana, will cherish an imperishable recollection
-of this generous conduct. I shall never cease to remember how much you
-did for my son; I shall make known everywhere, in the midst of my tears,
-what an affectionate heart belongs to the great Rossini; and how kind,
-hospitable, and full of feeling are the artistes of France."
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI AND DONIZETTI.]
-
-If we compare Bellini with Donizetti, we find that the latter was the
-more prolific of the two, judging simply by the number of works
-produced; inasmuch as Donizetti, at the age of twenty-eight, had already
-produced thirteen operas; whereas the number of Bellini's dramatic
-works, when he died in his twenty-ninth year, amounted only to nine. But
-of the baker's dozen thrown off by Donizetti at so early an age, not one
-made any impression on the public, or on musicians, such as was caused
-by _I Capuletti_, or _Il Pirata_, or _La Straniera_, to say nothing of
-_I Puritani_, which, in the opinion of many good judges, holds forth
-greater promise of dramatic excellence than is contained in any other of
-Bellini's works, including those masterpieces in two such different
-styles, _La Sonnambula_ and _Norma_. When Donizetti had been composing
-for a dozen years, and had produced thirty one operas (_Anna Bolena_ was
-his thirty-second), he had still written nothing which could be ranked
-on an equality with Bellini's second-rate works, such as _Il Pirata_ and
-_I Capuletti_; and during the second half of Donizetti's operatic
-career, not one work of his in three met with the success which
-(_Beatrice_ alone excepted) attended all Bellini's operas, as soon as
-Bellini had once passed that merely experimental period when, to fail,
-is, for a composer of real ability, to learn how not to fail a second
-time. I do not say that the composer of _Lucrezia_, _Lucia_, and _Elisir
-d'Amore_ is so vastly inferior to the composer of _La Sonnambula_ and
-_Norma_; but, simply, that Donizetti, during the first dozen years of
-his artistic life, did not approach the excellence shown by the young
-Bellini during the nine years which made up the whole of his brief
-musical career. More than that, Donizetti never produced a musical
-tragedy equal to _Norma_, nor a musical pastoral equal to _La
-Sonnambula_; while, dramatic considerations apart, he cannot be compared
-to Bellini as an inventor of melody. Indeed, it would be difficult in
-the whole range of opera to name three works which contain so many
-simple, tender, touching airs, of a refined character, yet possessing
-all the elements of popularity (in short, airs whose beauty is
-universally appreciable) as _Norma_, _La Sonnambula_, and _I Puritani_.
-The simplicity of Bellini's melodies is one of their chief
-characteristics; and this was especially remarkable, at a time when
-Rossini's imitators were exaggerating the florid style of their model in
-every air they produced.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: BELLINI'S SINGERS.]
-
-Most of the great singers of the modern school,--indeed, all who have
-appeared since and including Madame Pasta, have gained their reputation
-chiefly in Bellini's and Donizetti's operas. They formed their style, it
-is true, by singing Rossini's music; but as the public will not listen
-for ever even to such operas as _Il Barbiere_ and _Semiramide_, it was
-necessary to provide the new vocalists from time to time with new parts;
-and thus "Amina" and "Anna Bolena" were written for Pasta; "Elvino,"
-&c., for Rubini; "Edgardo," in the _Lucia_, for Duprez; a complete
-quartett of parts in _I Puritani_, for Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and
-Lablache. Since Donizetti's _Don Pasquale_, composed for Grisi, Mario
-(Rubini's successor), Tamburini, and Lablache, no work of any importance
-has been composed for the Italian Opera of Paris--nor of London either,
-I may add, in spite of Verdi's _I Masnadieri_, and Halévy's _La
-Tempesta_, both manufactured expressly for Her Majesty's Theatre.
-
-I have already spoken of Pasta's and Malibran's successes in Rossini's
-operas. The first part written for Pasta by Bellini was that of "Amina"
-in the _Sonnambula_; the second, that of "Norma." But though Pasta
-"created" these characters, she was destined to be surpassed in both of
-them by the former Marietta Garcia, now returned from America, and known
-everywhere as Malibran. This vocalist, by all accounts the most poetic
-and impassioned of all the great singers of her period, arrived in Italy
-just when _I Capuletti_, _La Sonnambula_, and _Norma_, were at the
-height of their popularity--thanks, in a great measure, to the admirable
-manner in which the part of the heroine in each of these works was
-represented by Pasta. Malibran appeared as "Amina," as "Norma," and also
-as "Romeo," in _I Capuletti_. She "interpreted" the characters (to
-borrow an expression, which is admissible, in this case, from the jargon
-of French musical critics) in her own manner, and very ingeniously
-brought into relief just those portions of the music of each which were
-not rendered prominent in the Pasta versions. The new singer was
-applauded enthusiastically. The public were really grateful to her for
-bringing to light beauties which, but for her, would have remained in
-the shade. But it was also thought that Malibran feared her illustrious
-rival and predecessor too much, to attempt _her_ readings. This was just
-the impression she wished to produce; and when she saw that the public
-had made up its mind on the subject, she changed her tactics, followed
-Pasta's interpretation, and beat her on her own ground. She excelled
-wherever Pasta had excelled, and proved herself on the whole superior to
-her. Finally, she played the parts of "Norma" and "Amina" in her first
-and second manner combined. This rendered her triumph decisive.
-
-Now Malibran commenced a triumphal progress through Italy. Wherever she
-sang, showers of bouquets and garlands fell at her feet; the horses were
-taken from her carriage on her leaving the theatre, and she was dragged
-home amid the shouts of an admiring crowd. These so-called
-"ovations"[100] were renewed at every operatic city in Italy; and
-managers disputed, in a manner previously unexampled, the honour and
-profit of engaging the all-successful vocalist.
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-The director of the Trieste opera gave Malibran four thousand francs a
-night, and at the end of her engagement pressed her to accept a set of
-diamonds. Malibran refused, observing, that what she had already
-received was amply sufficient for her services, and more than she would
-ever have thought of asking for them, had not the terms been proposed by
-the director himself.
-
-"Accept my present all the same," replied the liberal _impresario_; "I
-can afford to offer you this little souvenir. It will remind you that I
-made an excellent thing out of your engagement, and it may, perhaps,
-help to induce you to come here again."
-
-"The actions of this fiery existence," says M. Castil Blaze, "would
-appear fabulous if we had not seen Marietta amongst us, fulfilling her
-engagements at the theatre, resisting all the fatigue of the rehearsals,
-of the representations, after galloping morning and evening in the Bois
-de Boulogne, so as to tire out two horses. She used to breakfast during
-the rehearsals on the stage. I said to her, one morning, at the
-theatre:--'_Marietta carissima, non morrai. Che farň, dunque? Nemica
-sorte! Creperai._'
-
-"Her travels, her excursions, her studies, her performances might have
-filled the lives of two artists, and two very complete lives, moreover.
-She starts for Sinigaglia, during the heat of July, in man's clothes,
-takes her seat on the box of the carriage, drives the horses; scorched
-by the sun of Italy, covered with dust, she arrives, jumps into the
-sea, swims like a dolphin, and then goes to her hotel to dress. At
-Brussels, she is applauded as a French Rosěna, delivering the prose of
-Beaumarchais as Mademoiselle Mars would have delivered it. She leaves
-Brussels for London, comes back to Paris, travels about in Brie, and
-returns to London, not like a courier, but like a dove on the wing. We
-all know what the life of a singer is in the capital of England, the
-life of a dramatic singer of the highest talent. After a rehearsal at
-the opera, she may have three or four matinée's to attend; and when the
-curtain falls, and she can escape from the theatre, there are soirées
-which last till day-break. Malibran kept all these engagements, and,
-moreover, gave Sunday to her friends; this day of absolute rest to all
-England, was to Marietta only another day of excitement."
-
-[Sidenote: MALIBRAN.]
-
-Malibran spoke Spanish, Italian, French, English, and a little German,
-and acted and sang in the first four of these languages. In London, she
-appeared in an English version of _La Sonnambula_ (1838), when her
-representation of the character of "Amina" created a general enthusiasm
-such as can scarcely have been equalled during the "Jenny Lind
-mania,"--perfect vocalist as was Jenny Lind. Malibran appears, however,
-to have been a more impassioned singer, and was certainly a finer
-actress than the Swedish Nightingale. "Never losing sight of the
-simplicity of the character," says a writer in describing her
-performance in _La Sonnambula_, "she gave irresistible grace and force
-to the pathetic passages with which it abounds, and excited the feeling
-of the audience to as high pitch as can be perceived. Her sleep-walking
-scenes, in which the slightest amount of exaggeration or want of caution
-would have destroyed the whole effect, were played with exquisite
-discrimination; she sang the airs with refined taste and great power;
-her voice, which was remarkable, rather for its flexibility and
-sweetness than for its volume, was as pure as ever, and her style
-displayed that high cultivation and luxuriance which marked the school
-in which she was educated, and which is almost identified with the name
-she formerly bore."
-
-Drury Lane was the last theatre at which Madame Malibran sang; but the
-last notes she ever uttered were heard at Manchester, where she
-performed only in oratorios and at concerts. Before leaving London,
-Madame Malibran had a fall from her horse, and all the time she was
-singing at Manchester, she was suffering from its effects. She had
-struck her head, and the violence of the blow, together with the general
-shock to her nerves, without weakening any of her faculties, seemed to
-have produced that feverish excitement which gave such tragic poetry to
-her last performances. At first, she would take no precautions, though
-inflammation of the brain was to be feared, and, indeed, might be said
-to have already declared itself. She continued to sing, and never was
-her voice more pure and melodious, never was her execution more daring
-and dazzling, never before had she sung with such inspiration and with a
-passion which communicated itself in so electric a manner to her
-audience. She was bled; not one of the doctors appears to have had
-sufficient strength of mind to enforce that absolute rest which everyone
-must have known was necessary for her existence, and she still went on
-singing. There were no signs of any loss of physical power, while her
-nervous force appeared to have increased. The last time she ever sang,
-she executed the duet from _Andronico_, with Madame Caradori, who, by a
-very natural sympathy, appeared herself to have received something of
-that almost supernatural fire which was burning within the breast of
-Malibran, and which was now fast consuming her. The public applauded
-with ecstacy, and as the general excitement increased, the marvellous
-vocalisation of the dying singer became almost miraculous. She
-improvised a final cadence, which was the climax of her triumph and of
-her life. The bravos of the audience were not at an end when she had
-already sunk exhausted into the arms of Madame Alessandri, who carried
-her, fainting, into the artist's room. She was removed immediately to
-the hotel. It was now impossible to save her, and so convinced of this
-was her husband, that almost before she had breathed her last, he was on
-his way to Paris, the better to secure every farthing of her property!
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-Rubini, though he first gained his immense reputation by his mode of
-singing the airs of _Il Pirata_, _Anna Bolena_, and _La Sonnambula_,
-formed his style in the first instance, on the operas of Rossini. This
-vocalist, however, sang and acted in a great many different capacities
-before he was recognised as the first of all first tenors. At the age of
-twelve Rubini made his début at the theatre of Romano, his native town,
-in a woman's part. This curious _prima donna_ afterwards sat down at the
-door of the theatre, between two candles, and behind a plate, in which
-the admiring public deposited their offerings to the fair bénéficiare.
-She is said to have been perfectly satisfied with the receipts and with
-the praise accorded to her for her first performance. Rubini afterwards
-went to Bergamo, where he was engaged to play the violin in the
-orchestra between the acts of comedies, and to sing in the choruses
-during the operatic season. A drama was to be brought out in which a
-certain cavatina was introduced. The manager was in great trouble to
-find a singer to whom this air could be entrusted. Rubini was mentioned,
-the manager offered him a few shillings to sing it, the bargain was
-made, and the new vocalist was immensely applauded. This air was the
-production of Lamberti. Rubini kept it, and many years afterwards, when
-he was at the height of his reputation, was fond of singing it in memory
-of his first composer.
-
-In 1835, twenty-three years after Rubini's first engagement at Bergamo,
-the tenor of the Théâtre Italien of Paris was asked to intercede for a
-chorus-singer, who expected to be dismissed from the establishment. He
-told the unhappy man to write a letter to the manager, and then gave it
-the irresistible weight of his recommendation by signing it "Rubini,
-_Ancien Choriste_."
-
-After leaving Bergamo, Rubini was engaged as second tenor in an operatic
-company of no great importance. He next joined a wandering troop, and
-among other feats he is said to have danced in a ballet somewhere in
-Piedmont, where, for his pains, he was violently hissed.
-
-In 1814, he was engaged at Pavia as tenor, where he received about
-thirty-six shillings a month. Sixteen years afterwards, Rubini and his
-wife were offered an engagement of six thousand pounds, and at last the
-services of Rubini alone were retained at the Italian Opera of St.
-Petersburgh, at the rate of twenty thousand pounds a year.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI.]
-
-Rubini was such a great singer, and possessed such admirable powers of
-expression, especially in pathetic airs (it was well said of him,
-"_qu'il avait des larmes dans la voix_,") that he may be looked upon as,
-in some measure, the creator of the operatic style which succeeded that
-of the Rossinian period up to the production of _Semiramide_, the last
-of Rossini's works, written specially for Italy. The florid mode of
-vocalization had been carried to an excess when Rubini showed what
-effect he could produce by singing melodies of a simple emotional
-character, without depending at all on vocalization merely as such. It
-has already been mentioned that Bellini wrote _Il Pirato_ with Rubini at
-his side, and it is very remarkable that Donizetti never achieved any
-great success, and was never thought to have exhibited any style of his
-own until he produced _Anna Bolena_, in which the tenor part was
-composed expressly for Rubini. Every one who is acquainted with _Anna
-Bolena_, will understand how much Rossini's mode of singing the airs,
-_Ogni terra ove_, &c., and _Vivi tu_, must have contributed to the
-immense favour with which it was received.
-
-Rubini will long be remembered as the tenor of the incomparable quartett
-for whom the _Puritani_ was written, and who performed together in it
-for seven consecutive years in Paris and in London. Rubini disappeared
-from the West in 1841, and was replaced in the part of "Arturo," by
-Mario. Tamburini was the next to disappear, and then Lablache. Neither
-Riccardo nor Giorgio have since found thoroughly efficient
-representatives, and now we have lost with Grisi the original "Elvira,"
-without knowing precisely where another is to come from.
-
-[Sidenote: RUBINI'S BROKEN CLAVICLE.]
-
-Before taking leave of Rubini, I must mention a sort of duel he once had
-with a rebellious B flat, the history of which has been related at
-length by M. Castil Blaze, in the _Revue de Paris_. Pacini's _Talismano_
-had just been produced with great success at _la Scala_. Rubini made his
-entry in this opera with an accompanied recitative, which the public
-always applauded enthusiastically. One phrase in particular, which the
-singer commenced by attacking the high B flat without preparation, and,
-holding it for a considerable period, excited their admiration to the
-highest point. Since Farinelli's celebrated trumpet song, no one note
-had ever obtained such a success as their wonderful B flat of Rubini's.
-The public of Milan went in crowds to hear it, and having heard it,
-never failed to encore it. _Un 'altra volta!_ resounded through the
-house almost before the magic note itself had ceased to ring. The great
-singer had already distributed fourteen B flats among his admiring
-audiences, when, eager for the fifteenth and sixteenth, the Milanese
-thronged to their magnificent theatre to be present at the eighth
-performance of _Il Talismano_. The orchestra executed the brief prelude
-which announced the entry of the tenor. Rubini appeared, raised his eyes
-to heaven, extended his arms, planted himself firmly on his calves,
-inflated his breast, opened his mouth, and sought, by the usual means,
-to pronounce the wished-for B flat. But no B flat would come. _Os habet,
-et non clamabit._ Rubini was dumb; the public did their best to
-encourage the disconsolate singer, applauded him, cheered him, and gave
-him courage to attack the unhappy B flat a second time. On this
-occasion, Rubini was victorious. Determined to catch the fugitive note,
-which for a moment had escaped him, the singer brought all the muscular
-force of his immense lungs into play, struck the B flat, and threw it
-out among the audience with a vigour which surprised and delighted them.
-In the meanwhile, the tenor was by no means equally pleased with the
-triumph he had just gained. He felt, that in exerting himself to the
-utmost, he had injured himself in a manner which might prove very
-serious. Something in the mechanism of his voice had given way. He had
-felt the fracture at the time. He had, indeed, conquered the B flat, but
-at what an expense; that of a broken clavicle!
-
-However, he continued his scene. He was wounded, but triumphant, and in
-his artistic elation he forgot the positive physical injury he had
-sustained. On leaving the stage he sent for the surgeon of the theatre,
-who, by inspecting and feeling Rubini's clavicle, convinced himself that
-it was indeed fractured. The bone had been unable to resist the tension
-of the singer's lungs. Rubini may have been said to have swelled his
-voice until it burst one of its natural barriers.
-
-"It seems to me," said the wounded tenor, "that a man can go on singing
-with a broken clavicle."
-
-"Certainly," replied the doctor, "you have just proved it."
-
-"How long would it take to mend it?" he enquired.
-
-"Two months, if you remained perfectly quiet during the whole time."
-
-"Two months! And I have only sung seven times. I should have to give up
-my engagement. Can a person live comfortably with a broken clavicle?"
-
-"Very comfortably indeed. If you take care not to lift any weight you
-will experience no disagreeable effects."
-
-"Ah! there is my cue," exclaimed Rubini; "I shall go on singing."
-
-"Rubini went on singing," says M. Castil Blaze, "and I do not think any
-one who heard him in 1831 could tell that he was listening to a wounded
-singer--wounded gloriously on the field of battle. As a musical doctor I
-was allowed to touch his wound, and I remarked on the left side of the
-clavicle a solution of continuity, three or four lines[101] in extent
-between the two parts of the fractured bone. I related the adventure in
-the _Revue de Paris_, and three hundred persons went to Rubini's house
-to touch the wound, and verify my statement."
-
-[Sidenote: TAMBURINI.]
-
-Two other vocalists are mentioned in the history of music, who not only
-injured themselves in singing, but actually died of their injuries.
-Fabris had shown himself an unsuccessful rival of the celebrated
-Guadagni, when his master, determined that he should gain a complete
-victory, composed expressly for him an air of the greatest difficulty,
-which the young singer was to execute at the San Carlo Theatre, at
-Naples. Fabris protested that he could not sing, or that if so, it would
-cost him his life; but he yielded to his master's iron will, attacked
-the impossible air, and died on the stage of hćmorrhage of the lungs. In
-the same manner, an air which the tenor Labitte was endeavouring to
-execute at the Lion's theatre, in 1820, was the cause of his own
-execution.
-
-I have spoken of the versatility of talent displayed by Rubini in his
-youth. Tamburini and Lablache were equally expert singers in every
-style. In the year 1822 Tamburini was engaged at Palermo, where, on the
-last day of the carnival, the public attend, or used to attend, the
-Opera, with drums, trumpets, saucepans, shovels, and all kinds of
-musical and unmusical instruments--especially noisy ones. On this
-tumultuous evening, Tamburini, already a great favourite with the
-Palermitans, had to sing in Mercadante's _Elisa e Claudio_. The public
-received him with a salvo of their carnavalesque artillery, when
-Tamburini, finding that it was impossible to make himself heard in the
-ordinary way, determined to execute his part in falsetto; and, the
-better to amuse the public, commenced singing with the voice of a
-soprano sfogato. The astonished audience laid their instruments aside to
-listen to the novel and entirely unexpected accents of their _basso
-cantante_. Tamburini's falsetto was of wonderful purity, and in using it
-he displayed the same agility for which he was remarkable when employing
-his ordinary thoroughly masculine voice. The Palermitans were interested
-by this novel display of vocal power, and were, moreover, pleased at
-Tamburini's readiness and ingenuity in replying to their seemingly
-unanswerable charivari. But the poor _prima donna_ was unable to enter
-into the joke at all. She even imagined that the turbulent
-demonstrations with which she was received whenever she made her
-appearance, were intended to insult her, and long before the opera was
-at an end she refused to continue her part. The manager was in great
-alarm, for he knew that the public would not stand upon any ceremony
-that evening; and that, if the performance were interrupted by anything
-but their own noise, they would probably break everything in the
-theatre. Tamburini rushed to the _prima donna's_ room. Madame Lipparini,
-the lady in question, had already left the theatre, but she had also
-left the costume of "Elisa" behind. The ingenious baritone threw off his
-coat, contrived, by stretching and splitting, to get on "Elisa's" satin
-dress, clapped her bonnet over his own wig, and thus equipped appeared
-on the stage, ready to take the part of the unhappy and now fugitive
-Lipparini. The audience applauded with one accord the entry of the
-strangest "Elisa" ever seen. Her dress came only half way down her legs,
-the sleeves did not extend anywhere near her wrists. The soprano, who at
-a moment's notice had replaced Madame Lipparini, had the largest hands
-and feet a _prima donna_ was ever known to possess.
-
-[Sidenote: TAMBURINI.]
-
-The band had played the ritornello of "Elisa's" cavatina a dozen times,
-and the most turbulent among the assembly had actually got up from their
-seats, and were ready to scale the orchestra, and jump on the stage,
-when Tamburini rushed on in the costume above described. After
-curtseying to the audience, pressing one hand to his heart, and with
-the other wiping away the tears of gratitude he was supposed to shed for
-the enthusiastic reception accorded to him, he commenced the cavatina,
-and went through it admirably; burlesquing it a little for the sake of
-the costume, but singing it, nevertheless, with marvellous expression,
-and displaying executive power far superior to any that Madame Lipparini
-herself could have shown. As long as there were only airs to sing,
-Tamburini got on easily enough. He devoted his soprano voice to "Elisa,"
-while the "Count" remained still a basso, the singer performing his
-ordinary part in his ordinary voice. But a duet for "Elisa" and the
-"Count" was approaching; and the excited amateurs, now oblivious of
-their drums, kettles, and kettle-drums, were speculating with anxious
-interest as to how Tamburini would manage to be soprano and
-basso-cantante in the same piece. The vocalist found no difficulty in
-executing the duet. He performed both parts--the bass replying to the
-soprano, and the soprano to the bass--with the most perfect precision.
-The double representative even made a point of passing from right to
-left and from left to right, according as he was the father-in-law or
-the daughter. This was the crowning success. The opera was now listened
-to with pleasure and delight to the very end; and it was not until the
-fall of the curtain that the audience re-commenced their charivari, by
-way of testifying their admiration for Tamburini, who was called upwards
-of a dozen times on to the stage. This was not all: they were so
-grieved at the idea of losing him, that they entreated him to appear
-again in the ballet. He did so, and gained fresh applause by his
-performance in a _pas de quatre_ with the Taglionis and Mademoiselle
-Rinaldini.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-[Sidenote: LABLACHE.]
-
-Lablache was scarcely seventeen years of age, and had just finished his
-studies at the Conservatorio of Naples when he was engaged as
-"Neapolitan buffo" at the little San Carlino theatre. Here two
-performances were given every day, one in the afternoon, the other in
-the evening, while the morning was devoted to rehearsals. Lablache
-supported the fatigue caused by this system without his voice suffering
-the slightest injury, though all the other members of the company were
-obliged to throw up their engagements before the year was out, and
-several of them never recovered their voices. He had been five months at
-San Carlino when he married Teresa Pinotti, daughter of an actor engaged
-at the theatre, and one of the greatest comedians of Italy. This union
-appears to have had a great effect on Lablache's fate. His wife saw what
-genius he possessed, and thought of all possible means to get him away
-from San Carlino, an establishment which she justly regarded as unworthy
-of him. Lablache, for his part, would have remained there all his life,
-playing the part of Neapolitan buffo, without thinking of the brilliant
-position within his reach. There was at that time a celebrated
-Neapolitan buffo, named Mililotti, who, Madame Lablache thought, might
-advantageously replace her husband. She not only procured an engagement
-for Lablache's rival at the San Carlino theatre, but is even said to
-have packed the house the first night of his appearance (or
-re-appearance, for he was already known to the Neapolitans) so as to
-ensure him a favourable reception. Her intelligent love would,
-doubtless, have caused her to hiss her husband, had not Mililotti's
-success been sufficiently great to convince Lablache that he might as
-well seek his fortune elsewhere, and in a higher sphere. He had some
-hesitation, however, about singing in the Tuscan language, accustomed as
-he was to the Neapolitan jargon, but his wife determined him to make the
-change, and procured an engagement for him in Sicily. Arrived at
-Messina, however, he continued for some time to appear as Neapolitan
-buffo, a line for which he had always had a great predilection, and in
-which, spite of the forced success of Mililotti, he had no equal.
-
-Lablache will be generally remembered as a true basso; but, before
-appearing as "Bartolo" in the _Barber of Seville_, he for many years
-played the part of "Figaro." I have seen it stated that Lablache has
-played not only the bass and baritone, but also the tenor part in
-Rossini's great comic opera; but I do not believe that he ever appeared
-as "Count Almaviva." I have said that he performed bass parts (the
-Neapolitan buffo was always a bass), when he first made his _début_; and
-during the last five-and-twenty years of his career, his
-voice--marvellously even and sound from one end to the other--had at the
-same time no extraordinary compass; but from G to E all his notes were
-full, clear, and sonorous, as the tones of a bronze bell. Indeed, this
-bell-like quality of the great basso's voice, is said on one occasion to
-have been the cause of considerable alarm to his wife, who, hearing its
-deep boom in the middle of the night, imagined, as she started from her
-slumbers, that the house was on fire. This was the period of the great
-popularity of _I Puritani_, when Grisi, accompanied by Lablache, was in
-the habit of singing the polacca three times a week at the opera, and
-about twice a day at morning concerts. Lablache, after executing his
-part of this charming and popular piece three times in nine hours, was
-so haunted by it, that he continued to ring out his sounding _staccato_
-accompaniment in his sleep. Fortunately, Madame Lablache succeeded in
-stopping this somnambulistic performance before the engines arrived.
-
-[Sidenote: LABLACHE.]
-
-Like all complete artists, like Malibran, like Ronconi, like Garrick,
-the great type of the class, Lablache was equally happy in serious and
-in comic parts. Though Malibran is chiefly remembered in England by her
-almost tragic rendering of the part of "Amina" in the _Sonnambula_, many
-persons who have heard her in all her _répertoire_, assure me that she
-exhibited the greatest talent in comic opera, or in such lively "half
-character" parts as "Norina" in the _Elixir of Love_, and "Zerlina" in
-_Don Giovanni_. Lord Mount Edgcumbe declares, after speaking of her
-performance of "Semiramide" ("Semiramide" has also been mentioned as one
-of Malibran's best parts) that "in characters of less energy she is much
-better, and best of all in the comic opera. She even condescended," he
-adds, "to make herself a buffa caricata, and take the third and least
-important part in Cimarosa's _Matrimonio Segretto_, that of an old woman
-(the Mrs. Heidelberg of the _Clandestine Marriage_), generally acted by
-the lowest singer of the company. From an insignificant character she
-raised it to a prominent one, and very greatly added to the effect of
-that excellent opera." So of Lablache, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, after
-remarking that his voice was "not only of deeper compass than almost any
-ever heard, but, when he chose, absolutely stentorian," tells his
-readers that "he was a most excellent actor, especially in comic operas,
-in which he was (as I am told) as highly diverting as any of the most
-laughable comedians." Yet the character in which Lablache himself, and
-not Lablache's reputation, produced so favourable an impression on this
-writer--not very favourably impressed by any singers, or any music
-towards the close of his life--was "Assur" in _Semiramide!_ Who that
-remembers Lablache as "Bartolo"--that remembers the prominence and the
-genuine humour which he gave to that slight and colourless part--can
-deny that he was one of the greatest of comic actors? And did he not
-communicate the same importance to the minor character of "Oroveso" in
-_Norma_, in which nothing could be more tragic and impressive than his
-scene with the repentant dying priestess in the last act? What a
-picture, too, was his "Henry VIII." in _Anna Bolena_! A picture which
-Lablache himself composed from a careful study of the costume worn by
-the original, and for which nature had certainly supplied him in the
-first place with a most suitable form. Think, again, of his superb
-grandeur as "Maometto," of his touching dignity as "Desdemona's" father;
-then forget both these characters, and recollect how perfect, how unique
-a "Leporello" was this same Lablache. One of our best critics has taken
-objection to Lablache's version of this last-named part--though, of
-course, without objecting to his actual performance, which he as well,
-or better than any one else, knows to have been almost beyond praise.
-But it has been said that Lablache (and if Lablache, then all his
-predecessors in the same character) indulged in an unbecoming spirit of
-burlesque during the last scene of _Don Giovanni_, in which the statue
-seizes the hero with his strong hand, and takes him down a practicable
-trap-door to eternal torments. "Leporello," however, is a burlesque
-character, and a buffoon throughout; cowardly, superstitious, greedy,
-with all possible low qualities developed to a ludicrous extent, and
-thus presenting a fine dramatic contrast to his master, who possesses
-all the noble qualities, except faith--this one great flaw rendering all
-the use he makes of valour, generosity, and love of woman, an abuse.
-"Leporello" is always thinking of the bad end which he is sure awaits
-him unless he quits the service of a master whom he is afraid to leave;
-always thinking, too, of maccaroni, money, and the wages which "Don
-Juan" certainly will not pay him, if he is taken to the infernal regions
-before his next quarter is due. "_Mes gages, mes gages_," cries the
-"Sganarelle" of Moličre's comedy, and "Sganarelle" and "Leporello" are
-one and the same person. We may be sure that Moličre and Lablache are
-right, and that Herr Formes, with his new reading of a good old part is
-wrong. At the same time it is natural and allowable that a singer who
-cannot be comic should be serious.
-
-In addition to his other great accomplishments, Lablache possessed that
-of being able to whistle in a style that many a piccolo player would
-have envied. He could whistle all Rode's variations as perfectly as
-Louisa Pyne sings them. As to the vibratory force of his full voice, it
-was such that to have allowed Lablache to sing in a green house might
-have been a dangerous experiment. Chéron, a celebrated French bass, is
-said to have been able to burst a tumbler into a thousand pieces, by
-sounding, within a fragile and doubtless sympathetic glass, some
-particular note. Equally interesting, in connexion with a glass, is a
-performance in which I have seen the veteran,[102] but still almost
-juvenile basso, Signor Badiali, indulge. The artist takes a glass of
-particularly good claret, drinks it, and, while in the act of
-swallowing, sings a scale. The first time his execution is not quite
-perfect. He repeats the performance with a full glass, a loud voice, and
-without missing a note or a drop. To convince his friends that there is
-no deception, he offers to go through this refreshing species of
-vocalization a third time; after which, if the supply of wine on the
-table happens to be limited, and the servants gone to bed, the audience
-generally declares itself satisfied.
-
-[Sidenote: MADAME GRISI.]
-
-Giulia Grisi, the last of the celebrated Puritani quartett, first
-distinguished herself by her performance of the part of "Adalgisa," in
-_Norma_, when that opera was produced at Milan, in 1832. Giulia or
-Giulietta Grisi, is the younger sister of Giuditta Grisi, also a singer,
-but to whom Giulietta was superior in all respects; and she is the elder
-sister of Carlotta Grisi, who, from an ordinary vocalist, became, under
-the tuition of Perrot, the most charming dancer of her time. When Madame
-Grisi first appeared, lord Mount Edgcumbe having ceased himself to
-attend the opera, tells us that she possessed "a handsome person, sweet,
-yet powerful voice, considerable execution, and still more expression;"
-that "she is an excellent singer, and excellent actress;" in short, is
-described to be as nearly perfect as possible, and is almost a greater
-favorite than even Pasta or Malibran. In his _Pencillings by the Way_,
-Mr. N. P. Willis writes, after seeing Grisi, who had then first appeared
-at the King's Theatre, in the year 1833; "she is young, very pretty,
-and an admirable actress--three great advantages to a singer; her voice
-is under absolute command, and she manages it beautifully; but it wants
-the infusion of soul--the gushing uncontrollable passionate feeling of
-Malibran. You merely feel that Grisi is an accomplished artist, while
-Malibran melts all your criticism into love and admiration. I am easily
-moved by music, but I come away without much enthusiasm for the present
-passion of London." The impression conveyed by Mr. N. P. Willis is not
-precisely that which I received from hearing Grisi fourteen or fifteen
-years afterwards, and up to her last season. Of late years, at least,
-Madame Grisi has shown herself above all "a passionate singer," though
-as "accomplished artists" superior to her, if not in force at least in
-delicacy of expression, she has, from the time of Madame Sontag to that
-of Madame Bosio, had plenty of superiors. It seems to us, in the present
-day, that the "incontrollable passionate feeling of Grisi," is just what
-we admire her for in "Norma," beyond doubt her best character; but it is
-none the less interesting, or perhaps the more interesting for that very
-reason, to know what a man of taste in poetry and the drama, and who had
-heard all the best singers of his time, thought of Madame Grisi at a
-period when her most striking qualifications may have been different
-from what they are now. She was at all events a great singer and actress
-then, in 1833, and is a great actress and singer now, in 1861--the year
-of her final retirement from the stage.
-
-
-
-
-CHAPTER XIX.
-
-     ROSSINI--SPOHR--BEETHOVEN--WEBER AND HOFFMANN.
-
-
-[Sidenote: ROSSINI.]
-
-Bellini and Donizetti were contemporaries of Rossini; so were Paisiello
-and Cimarosa; so are M. Verdi and M. Meyerbeer; but Rossini has outlived
-most of them, and will certainly outlive them all. It is now forty-eight
-years since _Tancredi_, forty-five since _Otello_, and forty-five since
-_Il Barbiere di Siviglia_ were written. With the exception of Cimarosa's
-_Matrimonio Segretto_, which at long intervals may still occasionally be
-heard, the works of Rossini's Italian predecessors have been thrown into
-utter obscurity by the light of his superior genius. Let us make all due
-allowances for such change of taste as must result in music, as in all
-things, from the natural changeableness of the human disposition; still
-no variation has taken place in the estimation in which Rossini's works
-are held. It was to be expected that a musician of equal genius, coming
-after Paisiello and his compeers, young and vigorous, when they were old
-and exhausted, would in time completely eclipse them, even in respect to
-those works which they had written in their best days; but the
-remarkable thing is, that Rossini so re-modelled Italian opera, and gave
-to the world so many admirable examples of his own new style, that to
-opera-goers of the last thirty years he may be said to be the most
-ancient of those Italian composers who are not absolutely forgotten. At
-the same time, after hearing _William Tell_, it is impossible to deny
-that Rossini is also the most modern of operatic composers. That is to
-say, that since _William Tell_ was produced, upwards of thirty years
-ago, the art of writing dramatic music has not advanced a step. Other
-composers have written admirable operas during Rossini's time; but if no
-Italian _opera seria_, produced prior to _Otello_, can be compared to
-_Otello_; if no opera, subsequent to _William Tell_, can be ranked on a
-level with _William Tell_; if rivals have arisen, and Rossini's operas
-of five-and-forty years ago still continue to be admired and applauded;
-above all, if a singer,[103] the favourite heroine of a composer[104]
-who is so boastfully modern that he fancies he belongs to the next age,
-and who is nothing if not an innovator; if even this ultra modern
-heroine appears, when she wishes really to distinguish herself in a
-Rossinian opera of 1813;[105] then it follows that of our actual
-operatic period, and dating from the early part of the present century,
-Rossini is simply the Alpha and the Omega. Undoubtedly his works are
-full of beauty, gaiety, life, and of much poetry of a positive,
-passionate kind, but they are wanting in spiritualism, or rather they
-do not possess spirituality, and exhibit none of the poetry of romance.
-It would be difficult to say precisely in what the "romantic"
-consists;--and I am here reminded that several French writers have
-spoken of Rossini as a composer of the "romantic school," simply (as I
-imagine) because his works attained great popularity in France at the
-same time as those of Victor Hugo and his followers, and because he gave
-the same extension to the opera which the cultivators and naturalisers
-in France of the Shakspearian drama gave, _after_ Rossini, to their
-plays.[106] I may safely say, however, that with the "romantic," as an
-element of poetry, we always associate somewhat of melancholy and
-vagueness, and of dreaminess, if not of actual mystery. A bright
-passionate love-song of Rossini's is no more "romantic" than is a
-magnificent summer's day under an Italian sky; but Schubert's well known
-_Serenade_ is essentially "romantic;" and Schubert, as well as Hoffmann,
-(a composer of whom I shall afterwards have a few words to say), is
-decidedly of the same school as Weber, who is again of the same school,
-or rather of the same class, as Schubert and Beethoven, in so far that
-not one of the three ever visited Italy, or was influenced, further than
-was absolutely inevitable, by Italian composers.
-
-[Sidenote: SPOHR.]
-
-As a romantic composer Weber may almost be said to stand alone. As a
-thoroughly German composer he belongs to the same class as Beethoven and
-Spohr. Spohr, greatly as his symphonies and chamber compositions are
-admired, has yet never established himself in public favour as an
-operatic composer--at least not in England, nor indeed anywhere out of
-Germany. I may add, that in Germany itself, the land above all others of
-scientific music, the works which keep possession of the stage are, for
-the most part, those which the public also love to applaud in other
-countries. The truth is, that the success of an opera is seldom in
-proportion to its abstract musical merit, just as the success of a drama
-does not depend, or depends but very little, on the manner in which it
-is written. We have seen plays by Browning, Taylor (I mean the author of
-Philip Von Artevelde), Leigh Hunt, and other most distinguished writers,
-prove failures; while dramas and comedies put together by actors and
-playwrights have met with great success. This success is not to be
-undervalued; all I mean to say is, that it is not necessarily gained by
-the best writers in the drama, or by the best composers in the opera;
-though the best composers and the best writers ought to take care to
-achieve it in every department in which they present themselves. In the
-meanwhile, Spohr's dramatic works, with all their beauties, have never
-taken root in this country; while even Beethoven's _Fidelio_, one of the
-greatest of operas, does not occupy any clearly marked space in the
-history of opera; nor is it as an operatic composer that Beethoven has
-gained his immense celebrity.
-
-[Sidenote: BEETHOVEN.]
-
-All London opera-goers remember Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli's admirable
-performance in _Fidelio_; and like Mademoiselle Cruvelli (or Cruwel),
-all the great German singers who have visited England--with the single
-exception of Mademoiselle Titiens--have some time or other played the
-part of the heroine in Beethoven's famous dramatic work: but _Fidelio_
-has never been translated into English or French,--has never been played
-by any thoroughly Italian company, and admired, as it must always be by
-musicians--nor has ever excited any great enthusiasm among the English
-public, except when it has been executed by an entire company of
-Germans,--the only people who can do justice to its magnificent
-choruses. It is a work apart in more than one sense, and it has not had
-that perceptible influence on the works which have succeeded it, either
-in Germany or in other countries, that has been exercised by Weber's
-operas in Germany, and by Rossini's everywhere. For full particulars
-respecting Beethoven and his three styles, and _Fidelio_ and its three
-overtures, the reader may be referred to the works published at St.
-Petersburgh by M. Lenz in 1852 (_Beethoven et ses trois styles_), at
-Coblentz, by Dr. Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries in 1838, and at Munster, by
-Schindler (that friend of Beethoven's, who, according to the malicious
-Heine, wrote "_Ami de Beethoven_" on his card), in 1845. Schindler's
-book is the sourse of nearly all the biographical particulars since
-published respecting Beethoven; that of M. Lenz is chiefly remarkable
-for the inflated nonsense it contains in the shape of criticism. Thus
-Beethoven's third style is said to be "_un jugement porté sur le cosmos
-humain, et non plus une participation ŕ ses impressions_,"--words which,
-I confess, I do not know how to render into intelligible English. His
-symphonies in general are "events of universal history rather than
-musical productions of more or less merit." Those who have read M.
-Lenz's extravagant production, will remember that he attacks here and
-there M. Oulibicheff, author of the "Life of Mozart," published at
-Moscow in 1844. M. Oulibicheff replied in a work devoted specially to
-Beethoven (and to M. Lenz), published at St. Petersburgh in 1854;[107]
-in which he is said by our best critics not to have done full justice to
-Beethoven, though he well maintains his assertion; an assertion which
-appears to me quite unassailable, that the composer of _Don Juan_
-combined all the merits of all the schools which had preceded him. I
-have already endeavoured, in more than one place, to impress this truth
-upon such of my readers as might not be sufficiently sensible of it, and
-moreover, that all the important operatic reforms attributed to the
-successors of Mozart, and especially to Rossini, belong to Mozart
-himself, who from his eminence dominates equally over the present and
-the past.
-
-[Sidenote: BORROWED THEMES.]
-
-Karl Maria von Weber has had a very different influence on the opera
-from that exercised by Beethoven and Spohr; and so much of his method of
-operatic composition as could easily be imitated has found abundance of
-imitators. Thus Weber's plan of taking the principal melodies for his
-overtures from the operas which they are to precede, has been very
-generally followed; so also has his system of introducing national airs,
-more or less modified, when his great object is to give to his work a
-national colour.[108] This process, which produces admirable results in
-the hands of a composer of intelligence and taste, becomes, when adopted
-by inferior musicians, simply a convenient mode of plagiarism. Without
-for one moment ranking Rossini, Bellini, or Donizetti in the latter
-class, I may nevertheless observe, that the cavatina of _La Gazza Ladra_
-is founded on an air sung by the peasants of Sicily; that the melody of
-the trio in the _Barber of Seville_ (_Zitti, Zitti_), is Simon's air in
-the _Seasons_, note for note; that _Di tanti palpiti_ was originally a
-Roman Catholic hymn; that the music of _La Sonnambula_ is full of
-reminiscences of the popular music of Sicily; and that Donizetti has
-also had recourse to national airs for the tunes of his choruses in _La
-Favorite_. In the above instances, which might easily be multiplied the
-composers seem to me rather to have suited their own personal
-convenience, than to have aimed at giving any particular "colour" to
-their works. However that may be, I feel obliged to them for my part for
-having brought to light beautiful melodies, which but for them might
-have remained in obscurity, as I also do to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
-and Mendelssohn, for the admirable use they also have occasionally made
-of popular themes. It appears to me, however, (to speak now of operatic
-composers alone) that there is a great difference between borrowing an
-air from an oratorio, a collection of national music, or any other
-source, simply because it happens to be beautiful, and doing so because
-it is appropriate to a particular personage or scene. We may not blame,
-but we cannot praise Rossini for taking a melody of Haydn's for his
-_Zitti, Zitti_, instead of inventing one for himself; nor was there any
-particular merit, except that of civility, in giving "Berta," in the
-same opera, a Russian air to sing, which Rossini had heard at the house
-of a Russian lady residing at Rome, for whom he had a certain
-admiration. But the _Ranz des Vaches_, introduced with such admirable
-effect into _Guillaume Tell_, where it is marvellously embellished, and
-yet loses nothing of its original character; this _Ranz des Vaches_ at
-once transports us amongst the Swiss mountains. So Luther's hymn is in
-its proper place in the _Huguenots_;[109] so is the Persian air, made
-the subject of a chorus of Persian beauties by the Russian composer
-Glinka, in his _Rouslan e Loudmila_; so also is the Arabian march (first
-published by Niebuhr in his "Travels in Arabia"), played behind the
-scenes by the guards of the seraglio in _Oberon_, and the old Spanish
-romance employed as the foundation to the overture of _Preciosa_.
-
-[Sidenote: WEBER.]
-
-Weber had a fondness not only for certain instrumental combinations and
-harmonic effects, but also for particular instruments, such as the
-clarionet and the horn, and particular chords (which caused Beethoven to
-say that Weber's _Euryanthe_ was a collection of diminished sevenths).
-There are certain rhythms too, which, if Weber did not absolutely
-invent, he has employed so happily, and has shown such a marked liking
-for them (not only in his operas, but also in his pianoforte
-compositions, and other instrumental works), that they may almost be
-said to belong to him. With regard to the orchestral portion of his
-operas generally, I may remark that Weber, though too high-souled a poet
-to fall into the error of direct imitation of external noises, has yet
-been able to suggest most charmingly and poetically, such vague natural
-sounds as the rustling of the leaves of the forest, and the murmuring of
-the waves of the sea. Finally, to speak of what defies analysis, but to
-assert what every one who has listened to Weber's music will I think
-admit, his music is full of that ideality and spirituality which in
-literature is regarded in the present day, if not as the absolute
-essence of poetry, at least, as one of its most essential elements. Read
-Weber's life, study his letters, listen again and again to his music,
-and you will find that he was a conscientious, dutiful, religious man,
-with a thoroughly musical organization, great imaginative powers,
-inexhaustible tenderness, and a deep, intuitive appreciation of all that
-is most beautiful in popular legends. He was an artist of the highest
-order, and with him art was truly a religion. He believed in its
-ennobling effect, and that it was to be used only for ennobling
-purposes. Thus, to have departed from the poetic exigencies of a subject
-to gratify the caprice of a singer, or to attain the momentary applause
-of the public would, to Weber, with the faith he held, have been a
-heresy and a crime.
-
-Weber has not precisely founded a school, but his influence is
-perceptible in some of the works of Mendelssohn, (as, for instance, in
-the overture to a _Midsummer Night's Dream_) and in many portions of
-Meyerbeer's operas, especially in the fantastic music of _Robert le
-Diable_, and in certain passages of _Dinorah_--a legend which Weber
-himself would have loved to treat. Meyerbeer is said to have borrowed
-many of his instrumental combinations from Weber; but in speaking of the
-points of resemblance between the two composers, I was thinking not of
-details of style, but of the general influence of Weber's thought and
-manner. If Auber is indebted to Weber it is simply for the idea of
-making the overture out of the airs of an opera, and of colouring the
-melodic portion by the introduction of national airs. Only while Weber
-gives to his operas a becoming national or poetic colour throughout, the
-musical tints in M. Auber's dramatic works are often by no means in
-harmony. The Italian airs in _La Muette_ are appropriate enough, and the
-whole of that work is in good keeping; but in the _Domino Noir_,
-charming opera as it is, no one can help noticing that Spanish songs,
-and songs essentially French, follow one another in the most abrupt
-manner. As nothing can be more Spanish than the second movement of
-"Angčle's" scene (in the third act) so nothing can be more French, more
-Parisian, more vaudevillistic than the first.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHÜTZ.]
-
-But to return to Weber and his operas. _Der Freischütz_, decidedly the
-most important of all Weber's works, and which expresses in a more
-remarkable manner than any other of his dramatic productions the natural
-bent of his genius, was performed for the first time at Berlin in 1821.
-_Euryanthe_ was produced at Vienna in 1823, and _Oberon_ at London in
-1826. _Der Freischütz_ is certainly the most perfect German opera that
-exists; not that it is a superior work to _Don Giovanni_, but that _Don
-Giovanni_ is less a German than a universal opera; whereas _Der
-Freischütz_ is essentially of Germany, by its subject, by the
-physiognomy of the personages introduced, and by the general character
-of the music. There is this resemblance, however, between _Don Giovanni_
-and _Der Freischütz_: that in each the composer had met with a libretto
-peculiarly suited to his genius--the librettist having first conceived
-the plan of the opera, and having long carried its germ in his mind.
-Lorenzo da Ponte, in his memoirs (of which an interesting account was
-published some years ago by M. Scudo, the accomplished critic of the
-_Revue des Deux Mondes_) states, that he had long thought of Don Juan as
-an admirable subject for an opera, of which he felt the poetic
-truthfulness only too well, from reflecting on his own career; and that
-he suggested it to Mozart, not only because he appreciated that
-composer's high dramatic genius, but also because he had studied his
-mental and moral nature; and saw, from his simplicity, his loftiness of
-character, and his reverential, religious disposition, that he would do
-full justice to the marvellous legend. Frederic Kind has also published
-a little volume ("Der Freischütz-Buch"), in which he explains how the
-circumstances of his life led him to meditate from an early age on such
-legends as that which Weber has treated in his master-piece. When Weber
-was introduced to Kind, he was known as the director of the Opera at
-Prague, and also, and above all, as the composer of numerous popular and
-patriotic choruses, which were sung by all Germany during the national
-war of 1813. He had not at this time produced any opera; nor had Kind,
-a poet of some reputation, ever written the libretto of one. Kind was
-unwilling at first to attempt a style in which he did not feel at all
-sure of success. One day, however, taking up a book, he said to Weber:
-"There ought to be some thing here that would suit us, and especially
-you, who have already treated popular subjects." He at the same time
-handed to the musician a collection of legends, directing his attention
-in particular to Apel's Freischütz. Weber, who already knew the story,
-was delighted with the suggestion. "Divine! divine!" he exclaimed with
-enthusiasm; and the poet at once commenced his libretto.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHÜTZ.]
-
-No great work ever obtained a more complete and immediate triumph than
-_Der Freischütz_; and within a few years of its production at Berlin it
-was translated and re-produced in all the principal capitals of Europe.
-It was played at London in English, at Paris in French, and at both
-cities in German. In London it became so popular, that at the height of
-its first success a gentleman, in advertising for a servant, is said to
-have found it necessary to stipulate that he should _not_ be able to
-whistle the airs from _Der Freischütz_. In Paris, its fate was curious,
-and in some respects almost inexplicable. It was brought out in 1824 at
-the Odéon, in its original form, and was hissed. Whether the intelligent
-French audience objected to the undeniable improbability of the chief
-incidents in the drama, or whether the originality of the music offended
-their unprepared ears, or whatever may have been the cause, Weber's
-master-piece was damned. Its translator, M. Castil Blaze, withdrew it,
-but determined to offer it to the critical public of the Odéon in
-another form. He did not hesitate to remodel _Der Freischütz_, changing
-the order of the pieces, cutting out such beauties as the French thought
-laughable, interpolating here and there such compositions of his own as
-he thought would please them, and finally presenting them this
-remarkable medley (which, however, still consisted mainly of airs and
-choruses by Weber) nine days after the failure of _Der Freischütz_,
-under the title of _Robin des Bois_. The opera, as decomposed and
-recomposed by M. Castil Blaze, was so successful, that it was
-represented three hundred and fifty-seven times at the Odéon. Moreover,
-it had already been played sixty times at the Opéra Comique, when the
-French Dramatic Authors' Society interfered to prevent its further
-representation at that theatre, on the ground that it had not been
-specially written for it. M. Castil Blaze, in the version he has himself
-published of this curious affair, tells us, that his first version of
-_Der Freischütz_, in which his "respect for the work and the author had
-prevented him from making the least change" was "_sifflé_, _meurtri_,
-_bafoué_, _navré_, _moqué_, _conspué_, _turlupiné_, _hué_, _vilipendié_,
-_terrassé_, _déchiré_, _lacéré_, _cruellement enfoncé_, _jusqu'au
-troisiéme dessous_." This, and the after success of his modified
-version, justified him, he thinks, in depriving Weber's work of all its
-poetry, and reducing it to the level of the comprehension of a French
-musical audience in the year 1824.
-
-Strangely enough, when Berlioz's version of _Der Freischütz_ was
-produced at the Académie in 1841, it met with scarcely more success than
-had been obtained by _Der Freischütz_ in its original musical form at
-the Odéon. The recitatives added by M. Berlioz, if not objectionable in
-themselves, are at least to be condemned in so far that they are not
-Weber's, that they prolong the music beyond Weber's intentions, and,
-above all, that they change the entire character of the work. I cannot
-think, after Meyerbeer's _Dinorah_, that recitative is an inappropriate
-language in the mouths of peasants. Recitative of an heroic character,
-would be so, no doubt; but not such as a composer of genius, or even of
-taste or talent, would write for them. Nevertheless, Weber conceived his
-master-piece as a species of melodrama, in which the personages were now
-to sing, now to speak, "through the music," (to adopt an expressive
-theatrical phrase), now to speak without any musical accompaniment at
-all. If, at a theatre devoted exclusively to the performance of grand
-opera, it is absolutely necessary to replace the spoken dialogue by
-recitative, then this dialogue should, at least, be so compressed as to
-reduce the amount of added recitative to a minimum quantity. _Der
-Freischütz_, however, will always be heard to the greatest advantage in
-the form in which it was originally produced. The pauses between the
-pieces of music have, it must be remembered, been all premeditated, and
-their effect taken into account by the composer.
-
-[Sidenote: DER FREISCHÜTZ.]
-
-But the transformations of _Der Freischütz_ are not yet at an end. Six
-years ago M. Castil Blaze re-arranged his _Robin des Bois_ once more,
-restored what he had previously cut out, cut out what he had himself
-added to Weber's music, and produced his version, No. 3 (which must have
-differed very little, if at all, from his unfortunate version, No. 1),
-at the Théâtre Lyrique.
-
-Every season, too, it is rumoured that _Der Freischütz_ is to be
-produced at one of the Italian theatres of London, with Mademoiselle
-Titiens or Madame Csillag in the principal part. When managers are tired
-of tiring the public with perpetual variations between Verdi and
-Meyerbeer, (to whose monstrously long operas my sole but sufficient
-objection is, that there is too much of them, and--with the exception of
-the charming _Dinorah_--that they are stuffed full of ballets,
-processions, and other pretexts for unnecessary scenic display), then we
-shall assuredly have an opportunity of hearing once more in England the
-masterpiece of the chief of all the composers of the romantic and
-legendary school. In such a case, who will supply the necessary
-recitatives? Those of M. Berlioz have been tried, and found wanting. Mr.
-Costa's were not a whit more satisfactory. M. Alary, the mutilator of
-_Don Giovanni_, would surely not be encouraged to try his hand on
-Weber's masterpiece? Meyerbeer, between whose genius and that of Weber,
-considerable affinity exists, is, perhaps, the only composer of the
-present day whom it would be worth while to ask to write recitatives for
-_Der Freischütz_. The additions would have to be made with great
-discretion, so as not to encumber the opera; but who would venture to
-give a word of advice, if the work were undertaken by M. Meyerbeer?
-
-Weber's _Preciosa_ was produced at Berlin in 1820, a year before _Der
-Freischütz_, which latter opera appears to have occupied its composer
-four years--undoubtedly the four years best spent of all his artistic
-life. The libretto of _Preciosa_ is founded on Cervantes' _Gipsy of
-Madrid_, (of which M. Louis Viardot has published an excellent French
-translation); and here Weber, faithful to his system has given abundant
-"colour" to his work, in which the Spanish romance introduced into the
-overture, and the Gipsies' march are, with the waltz (which may be said
-to be in Weber's personal style), the most striking and characteristic
-pieces.
-
-[Sidenote: EURYANTHE.]
-
-_Euryanthe_ was written for Vienna, where it was represented for the
-first time in 1823, the part of "Euryanthe" being filled by Mademoiselle
-Sontag, that of "Adolar," by Heitzinger. The libretto of this opera,
-composed by a lady, Madame Wilhelmine de Chézy is by no means
-interesting, and the dulness of the poem, though certainly not
-communicated to the music, has caused the latter to suffer from the mere
-fact of being attached to it. _Euryanthe_ was received coldly by the
-public of Vienna, and was called by its wits--professors of the
-"_calembourg d'ŕ-peu-prčs_"--_Ennuyante_. If such facetiousness as this
-was thought enlivening, it is easy to understand how Weber's music was
-considered the reverse. I have already mentioned Beethoven's remark
-about _Euryanthe_ being "a collection of diminished sevenths." Weber was
-naturally not enchanted with this observation; indeed it is said to
-have pained him exceedingly, and some days after the first production of
-_Euryanthe_ he paid a visit to Beethoven, in order to submit the score
-to his judgment. Beethoven received him kindly, but said to him, with a
-certain roughness which was habitual to him: "You should have come to me
-before the representation, not afterwards...." Nevertheless," he added,
-"I advise you to treat _Euryanthe_ as I did _Fidelio_; that is to say,
-cut out a third."
-
-_Euryanthe_, however, soon met with the success it deserved, not only at
-Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig, but at Vienna itself, where the part
-created by Mademoiselle Sontag was performed in 1825 by Madame
-Schroeder-Devrient, in a manner which excited general enthusiasm. The
-passionate duet between "Adolar" and "Euryanthe," in the second act, as
-sung by Heitzinger and Madame Schroeder, would alone have sufficed to
-attract the public of Vienna to Weber's opera, now that it was revived.
-
-_Oberon_, Weber's last opera, was composed for Covent Garden Theatre, in
-1826. Some ingenious depreciators of English taste have discovered that
-Weber died from grief, caused by the coldness with which this work was
-received by the London public. With regard to this subject, I cannot do
-better than quote the excellent remarks of M. Scudo. After mentioning
-that _Oberon_ was received with enthusiasm on its first production at
-Covent Garden--that it was "appreciated by those who were worthy of
-comprehending it"--and that an English musical journal, the
-_Harmonicon_, "published a remarkable article, in which all the beauties
-of the score were brought out with great taste," he observes that "it is
-impossible to quote an instance of a great man in literature, or in the
-arts, whose merit was entirely overlooked by his contemporaries;" while,
-"as for the death of Weber, it may be explained by fatigue, by grief,
-without doubt, but, above all, by an organic disease, from which he had
-suffered for years." At the same time "the enthusiasm exhibited by the
-public, at the first representation of _Oberon_, did not keep at the
-same height at the following representations. The master-piece of the
-German composer experienced much the same fate as _William Tell_ in
-Paris."
-
-[Sidenote: OBERON.]
-
-Weber himself, in a letter written to his wife, on the very night of the
-first performance, says:--"My dear Lina; thanks to God and to his all
-powerful will, I obtained this evening the greatest success in my life.
-The emotion produced in my breast by such a triumph, is more than I can
-describe. To God alone belongs the glory. When I entered the orchestra,
-the house, crammed to the roof, burst into a frenzy of applause. Hats
-and handkerchiefs were waved in the air. The overture had to be executed
-twice, as had also several of the pieces in the opera itself. The air
-which Braham sings in the first act was encored; so was Fatima's
-romance, and a quartett in the second act. The public even wished to
-hear the finale over again. In the third act, Fatima's ballad was
-re-demanded. At the end of the representation I was called on to the
-stage by the enthusiastic acclamations of the public, an honour which
-no composer had ever before obtained in England. All went excellently,
-and every one around me was happy."
-
-In spite of the enthusiasm inspired by Weber's works in England, when
-they were first produced, and for some years afterwards, we have now but
-rarely an opportunity of hearing one of them. _Oberon_, it is true, was
-brought out at Her Majesty's Theatre at the end of last season, when,
-not being able to achieve miracles, it did not save the manager from
-bankruptcy; but the existence of Weber's other works seems to be
-forgotten by our directors, English as well as Italian, though from time
-to time a rumour goes about, which proves to be a rumour and nothing
-more, that _Der Freischütz_ is to be performed by one of our Italian
-companies. In the meanwhile Weber has found an abundance of appreciation
-in France, where, at the ably and artistically-conducted Théâtre
-Lyrique, _Der Freischütz_, _Oberon_, _Euryanthe_ and _Preciosa_ have all
-been brought out, and performed with remarkable success during the last
-few years.
-
-A composer, whose works present many points of analogy with those of
-Weber, and which therefore belong essentially to the German romantic
-school, is Hoffmann--far better known by his tales than by his
-_Miserere_, his _Requiem_, his airs and choruses for Werner's _Crusade
-of the Baltic_, or his operas of _Love and Jealousy_, the _Canon of
-Milan_, or _Undine_. This last production has always been regarded as
-his master-piece. Indeed, with _Undine_, Hoffmann obtained his one great
-musical success; and it is easy to account for the marked favour with
-which that work was received in Germany. In the first place the
-fantastic nature of the subject was eminently suited to the peculiar
-genius of the composer. Then he possessed the advantage of having an
-excellent _libretto_, written by Lamotte-Fouqué, the author of the
-original tale; and, finally, the opera was admirably executed at the
-Royal Theatre of Berlin. Probably not one of my readers has heard
-Hoffmann's _Undine_, which was brought out in 1817, and I believe was
-never revived, though much of the music, for a time, enjoyed
-considerable popularity, and the composition, as a whole, was warmly and
-publicly praised by no less a personage than Karl Maria von Weber
-himself. On the other hand, _Undine_, and Hoffmann's music generally,
-have been condemned by Sir Walter Scott, who is reported not to have
-been able to distinguish one melody from another, though he had, of
-course, a profound admiration for Scotch ballads of all kinds. M. Fétis,
-too, after informing us that Hoffmann "gave music lessons, painted
-enormous pictures, and wrote _licentious novels_ (where are Hoffmann's
-licentious novels?) without succeeding in making himself remarked in any
-style," goes on to assure us, without ever having heard _Undine_, that
-although there were "certain parts" in which genius was evinced, yet
-"want of connexion, of conformity, of conception, and of plan, might be
-observed throughout;" and that "the judgment of the best critics was,
-that such a work could not be classed among those compositions which
-mark an epoch in art."
-
-[Sidenote: HOFFMANN'S UNDINE.]
-
-Weber had studied criticism less perhaps than M. Fétis; but he knew
-more about creativeness, and in an article on the opera of _Undine_, so
-far from complaining of any "want of connexion, of conformity, of
-conception, and of plan," the author of _Der Freischütz_ says: "This
-work seems really to have been composed at one inspiration, and I do not
-remember, after hearing it several times, that any passage ever recalled
-me for a single minute from the circle of magic images that the artist
-evoked in my soul. Yes, from the beginning to the end, the author
-sustains the interest so powerfully, by the musical development of his
-theme, that after but a single hearing one really seizes the _ensemble_
-of the work; and detail disappears in the _naďveté_ and modesty of his
-art. With rare renunciation, such as can be appreciated only by him who
-knows what it costs to sacrifice the triumph of a momentary success, M.
-Hoffmann has disdained to enrich some pieces at the expense of others,
-which it is so easy to do by giving them an importance, which does not
-belong to them as members of the entire work. The composer always
-advances, visibly guided by this one aspiration--to be always truthful,
-and keep up the dramatic action without ceasing, instead of checking or
-fettering it in its rapid progress. Diverse and strongly marked as are
-the characters of the different personages, there is, nevertheless,
-something which surrounds them all; it is that fabulous life, full of
-phantoms, and those soft whisperings of terror, which belong so
-peculiarly to the fantastic. Kühleborn is the character most strikingly
-put in relief, both by the choice of the melodies, and by the
-instrumentation which, never leaving him, always announces his sinister
-approach.[110] This is quite right, Kühleborn appearing, if not as
-destiny itself, at least as its appointed instrument. After him comes
-_Undine_, the charming daughter of the waves, which, made sonorous, now
-murmur and break in harmonious roulades, now powerful and commanding,
-announce her power. The 'arietta' of the second act, treated with rare
-and subtle grace, seems to me a thorough success, and to render the
-character perfectly. 'Hildebrand,' so passionate, yet full of
-hesitation, and allowing himself to be carried away by each amorous
-desire, and the pious and simple priest, with his grave choral melody,
-are the next in importance. In the back-ground are Bertalda, the
-fisherman, and his wife, and the duke and duchess. The strains sung by
-the suite of the latter breathe a joyous, animated life, and are
-developed with admirable gaiety; thus forming a contrast with the sombre
-choruses of the spirits of the earth and water, which are full of harsh,
-strange progressions. The end of the opera, in which the composer
-displays, as if to crown his work, all his abundance of harmony in the
-double chorus in eight parts, appears to me grandly conceived and
-perfectly rendered. He has expressed the words--'good night to all the
-cares and to all the magnificence of the earth'--with true loftiness,
-and with a soft melancholy, which, in spite of the tragic conclusion of
-the piece, leaves behind a delicious impression of calm and
-consolation. The overture and the final chorus which enclose the work
-here give one another the hand. The former, which evokes and opens the
-world of wonders, commences softly, goes on increasing, then bursts
-forth with passion; the latter is introduced without brusqueness, but
-mixes up with the action, and calms and satisfies it completely. The
-entire work is one of the most _spiritual_ that these latter times have
-given us. It is the result of the most perfect and intimate
-comprehension of the subject, completed by a series of ideas profoundly
-reflected upon, and by the intelligent use of all the material resources
-of art; the whole rendered into a magnificent work by beautiful and
-admirably developed melodies."
-
-M. Berlioz has said of Hoffmann's music, adding, however, that he had
-not heard a note of it, that it was "_de la musique de littérateur_." M.
-Fétis, having heard about as much of it, has said a great deal more;
-but, after what has been written concerning Hoffmann's principal opera
-by such a master and judge as Karl Maria von Weber, neither the opinion
-of M. Fétis, nor of M. Berlioz, can be of any value on the subject. The
-merit of Hoffmann's music has probably been denied, because the world is
-not inclined to believe that the same man can be a great writer and also
-a great musician. Perhaps it is this perversity of human nature that
-makes us disposed to hold M. Berlioz in so little esteem as an author;
-and I have no doubt that there are many who would be equally unwilling
-to allow M. Fétis any tolerable rank as a composer.
-
-
-
-
-INDEX,
-
-HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.
-
-
-A.
-
-Abbaye of Longchamp, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the, ii. 49.
-
-Academiciens, of the Paris opera, ii. 47.
-
-Académie Royale de Musique, of Paris, numerous works produced
-    at the, i. 13, 14;
-  its institution, 15;
-  its system of conscription, 77;
-  privileges of its members, 77;
-  its state of morality, 81, 82;
-  its absurd privileges, 86, 87;
-  its chief singers, 223;
-  operatic disturbances at the, ii. 36-38;
-  destroyed by fire, 41;
-  management and proceedings of the, 55;
-  prices for private boxes, 56;
-  effect of the French Revolution on the, 56 _et seq_;
-  its changes of name, 57, 194 note;
-  Opera National substituted, 59. (See OPERA).
-
-Academy of Music (See ROYAL ACADEMY OF MUSIC).
-
-"Actor's Remonstrance," a tract, i. 81.
-
-Actresses, their prodigality under the French regency, i. 82, 83.
-
-Addison, Joseph, on the Italian Opera in England, i. 53-58;
-  the justness of his views on operatic representations, 62;
-  his satirical remarks on the French Opera, 66;
-  on the Italian Opera, 113;
-  his critique on Nicolini and the lion, 118-122;
-  his humorous critique on "Rinaldo" and the operatic sparrows, 123-126;
-  his unfavourable opinion of Opera, 127;
-  his critique on Milton, 128.
-
-Aguiari, Lucrezia, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Albert, the French dancer, ii. 111, 112.
-
-Alboni, Madame, the Italian vocalist, ii. 162.
-
-Algarotti's work on the Opera, i. 2.
-
-_Almahide_, opera of, i. 117.
-
-_Ambleto_, opera of, i. 127, 128.
-
-Ambrogetti, the celebrated baritone, ii. 108;
-  the first performer of _Giovanni_ in London, 108.
-
-_Anna Bolena_, of Donizetti, ii. 232;
-  the author's master-piece, 233.
-
-_Antiochus_, opera of, i. 127.
-
-Antoine de Baif, privileged to establish an Academy of Music, i. 15.
-
-Antony ŕ Wood, on the operatic drama, i. 37.
-
-Arbuthnot, Dr., on the failure of Italian operas, i. 148.
-
-Archilei, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Arnauld, Abbé, his passionate exclamation, i. 64.
-
-Arnaud, Abbe, an admirer of Gluck, i. 287, 288.
-
-Arnould, Sophie, the celebrated singer, i. 223;
-  biographical notices of, 226 _et seq._;
-  her talents, wit, and beauty, 226-230;
-  her death, 231;
-  anecdote of, ii. 35;
-  accused of aristocratic sympathies, 70;
-  pensioned by Fouché, 79.
-
-_Arsinoe_, opera of, played by Mrs. Tofts, i. 107;
-  critique on the play, 108, 109.
-
-Atto, the Italian tenor, i. 183, 184.
-
-Auber, his opera of _Masaniello_, i. 14;
-  the follower of Rossini, ii. 202;
-  his _Gustave III._, 219.
-
-Authors, regulations for their admission to the opera of Paris, i. 79, 80.
-
-
-B.
-
-B flat, of Rubini, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Badiali, Signor, his curious performance with a drinking glass, ii. 278, 279.
-
-Balfe's libretti, founded on French pieces, i. 214.
-
-Ball, Hughes, marries Mercandotti, ii. 120.
-
-Ballet, introduction and progress of the, i. 70 _et seq._;
-  Lulli's great attention to the, 72;
-  propriety of its following the Opera, 251;
-  great attention paid to it by the Italians, 251.
-
-Ballet d'Action, invented by the Duchess du Maine, i. 77;
-  soon afterwards imported into England, 77;
-  never naturalised in this country, 77.
-
-Ballet-dancers, important persons in France previous to the Revolution, ii. 53.
-
-Ballets, origin of, i. 18;
-  the most brilliant part of the Open at Paris, 258.
-
-Balon, the ballet-dancer, i. 78.
-
-Banti Mdlle., the celebrated vocalist, ii. 10;
-  biographical notices of, 10-12.
-
-_Barber of Seville_, by Rossini, ii. 144 _et seq._
-
-_Bardi_, G., Count of Vernio, musical assemblies of, i. 5.
-
-Baroni, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Barwick, Ann, her arrest for creating a disturbance, i. 105.
-
-Bassi, the baritone singer, ii. 105.
-
-Bastille, taking of the, ii. 54.
-
-_Beatrice di Tenda_, of Bellini, ii. 252.
-
-Beaujoyeux's _Ballet Comique de la Royne_, i. 71.
-
-Beaumarchais, the musical composer, his bon-mot on operatic music, i. 53;
-  refuses letters of nobility, 221;
-  the court music-master, 291;
-  music-master to the daughters of Louis XV., ii. 39;
-  anecdote of, 39.
-
-Beaupré, the comic dancer, ii. 68.
-
-Beethoven, the German composer, i. 221, ii. 285, 286;
-  accepts fifty ducats in preference to the cross of some order, i. 221;
-  his _Fidelio_, ii. 286;
-  his three styles, 286;
-  critiques on his works, 286, 287;
-  his advice to Weber, 299.
-
-_Beggar's Opera_, the touchstone of English taste, i. 148.
-
-Belissent, M. de, anecdote of, i. 262.
-
-Bellini, the musical composer, i. 212;
-  his _Sonnambula_ grounded upon _Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_, 212;
-  biographical notices of, ii. 247 _et seq._;
-  his various productions, 249-253;
-  _I Puritani_ his last opera, 253;
-  his death, 254;
-  sorrow caused thereby, 255;
-  letter from his father on his lamented death, 256;
-  compared with Donizetti, 257;
-  his singers, 259.
-
-Beneditti, Signor, performer at the Opera in 1720, i. 159;
-  his capricious temper, 160.
-
-Benini, Madame, _the altra prima donna_, goes to Paris, ii. 3;
-  her exquisite voice, 3.
-
-Beranger, on the decline of the drama, i. 65.
-
-Bergamo, theatre at, ii. 265.
-
-Berlioz's version of _Der Freischütz_, ii. 296;
-  his opinion of Hoffmann's music, 306.
-
-Bernacchi, Signor, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Bernadotte, at Udine, ii. 91.
-
-Bernard, S., the court banker of Paris, i. 92;
-  his munificence to actresses, 92.
-
-Bernardi. (See SENESINO.)
-
-Bernier, the musical composer, anecdote of, i. 85.
-
-Bernino, the scenic painter and decorator, i. 179.
-
-Berri, duke de, assassinated, ii. 190.
-
-Bertatti's _Matrimonio Segretto_, ii. 97.
-
-Bertin, E., the French critic, ii. 158.
-
-Bertoldi, Signora, the Italian singer and actress, i. 163.
-
-Berton, manager of the Paris Opera, i. 291.
-
-_Bianca e Fernando_ of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Bias, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Bigottini, the French dancer, ii. 111, 112.
-
-Bilboquet, humorous anecdote of, i. 188, 190.
-
-Billington, Mrs., the operatic singer, ii. 12;
-  her performance, 13;
-  among the first class of singers, 28.
-
-Blaze, M. Castil, historian of the French Opera, i. 301;
-  on the removal of the Opera near the National Library, ii. 71;
-  his published description of Mddle. Sallé's performances, 93-96, 99;
-  his adaptation of Weber's _Der Freischütz_, 297.
-
-_Bohemian Girl_, not original, i. 213;
-  sources whence taken, 213.
-
-Boisgerard, M., ballet-master and negociator of the King's
-    Theatre, ii. 110, 111;
-  his daring exploit in liberating Sir Sidney Smith from the Temple, 117, 118.
-
-Bolton, Duke of, marries Miss Lavinia Fenton, i. 138.
-
-Bonaparte, Napoleon, introduced to Mddle. Montansier, ii. 74;
-  grants her an indemnity, 75;
-  natural effect of his campaigns in Italy to create a taste
-     for Italian music, 79;
-  his prompt engagement and liberal offers to Madame Paer
-    and M. Brizzi, 80, 81;
-  rewards Paisiello, 82;
-  plots for assassinating, 179, 182;
-  a good friend to the Opera, 193.
-
-Bontempi's account of Masocci's school of singing, i. 184.
-
-Borrowed Themes, ii. 289.
-
-Bouillon, Duke de, his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-Bourdon, Leonard, the republican dramatist, ii. 67.
-
-Braham, the distinguished operatic singer, ii. 14.
-
-Brambilla, Mdlle., biographical notices of, ii. 173.
-
-Brevets, granted by the French court for admission to the Opera, ii. 48;
-  evils resulting therefrom, 48;
-  not required of the fishwomen and charcoal-men of Paris,
-     who were always present at the Opera on certain fetes, 49.
-
-Brizzi, M., the vocalist, ii. 80;
-  engaged by Bonaparte, 80, 81.
-
-Broschi, Carlo. (See FARINELLI.)
-
-Brydone's anecdote of Gabrielli, the vocalist, i. 195, 197.
-
-Bull, Dr. J., the national anthem attributed to, i. 165, 166.
-
-Buononcini, the musical composer, i. 109;
-  his first opera produced in 1720, 145;
-  his _Griselda_ in 1722, 146;
-  his last opera of _Astyanax_, 146;
-  his piracy and disgrace, 146;
-  his continental career and death, 147.
-
-Buret, Mddle., execution of, ii. 76.
-
-Burlington, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-Burney, Dr., at Vienna, i. 198;
-  at Berlin, 199.
-
-
-C.
-
-Caccini, the Italian musician, i. 5;
-  composer of the music to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-Caccini, Francesca, daughter of the composer Caccini, i. 8.
-
-Caffarelli, the singer, biographical notices of, i. 191;
-  his quarrel with Metastasio, 192.
-
-Caldus, his unfortunate speculation in the Pantheon, ii. 125.
-
-Calsabigi, the librettist, i. 212.
-
-Camargo, Mdlle., the celebrated French danseuse, i. 89;
-  her exquisite skill, 90.
-
-Cambert, his French opera, i. 15;
-  driven to London, 16;
-  his arrival in London, 28;
-  his favourable reception, 28;
-  English version of his _Ariadne_, 28;
-  his death and character, 28.
-
-Cambronne, General, anecdote of, i. 17, _note_.
-
-_Camilla_, music of, i. 109;
-  critique on the opera of, 109, 110.
-
-_Campanello di Notte_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Campion, Miss, the vocalist, i. 139;
-  the Duke of Devonshire's inscription to her memory, i. 139.
-
-Campistron, one of Lulli's librettists, i. 22.
-
-Camporese, Madame, the Italian vocalist, ii. 160.
-
-Campra, J., orchestral conductor of the Marseilles opera, i. 87;
-  anecdote of, 88.
-
-_Capuletti ed i Montecchi_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 257.
-
-Caradori, the vocalist, ii. 264.
-
-Carestini, the Italian singer, i. 164.
-
-Carey, H., the national anthem attributed to, i. 166.
-
-Carpentras school of music, i. 6.
-
-Catalani, the vocal queen of the age, ii. 16;
-  her extraordinary powers, 17, 19;
-  biographical notices of, 18-20;
-  Napoleon's munificent offer to, 18;
-  draft of a contract between her and Mr. Ebers of the King's Theatre, 23-25;
-  her retirement and death, 26;
-  enormous sums paid to, 132.
-
-_Caterina Comaro_ of Donizetti, ii. 243.
-
-Catherine the Great of Russia, her interview with the vocalist
-    Gabrielli, i. 198;
-  introduces the Italian Opera into St. Petersburgh, 199.
-
-Cavaliere, Emilio del, a musician of Rome, i. 5.
-
-Chambers, the banker, mortgagee of the King's Theatre, ii. 128, 130.
-
-Chamfort, the republican, commits suicide, ii. 76.
-
-Chantilly, Mdlle. (See FAVART).
-
-Chapel-Masters, their strange readings, i. 44.
-
-Chappell, W., on the origin of the national anthem, i. 166.
-
-Charbonniers of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes, ii. 49.
-
-Charles II., his patronage of operatic music, i. 33.
-
-Charles VI. of Germany, his musical taste, i. 182.
-
-Charles VII. of Germany, a musician, and the great patron
-     of the opera at Vienna, i. 181.
-
-Charles Edward, the young Pretender, arrested at the Académie
-     Musique, and expelled from France, i. 234.
-
-Chasse, the, baritone singer, i. 223;
-  biographical notices of, 223-5.
-
-Chaumette, the sanguinary republican, ii. 73.
-
-Cheron, the celebrated French bass, ii. 279;
-  the vibratory force of his voice, 279.
-
-Cherubini's "Abencerrages," ii. 189.
-
-Chorus of opera, i. 47;
-  French invention imported into England, 77;
-  introduction of the, 180.
-
-Cimarosa, the operatic composer, ii. 29-31;
-  invited to St. Petersburgh, 87;
-  his _Nozze di Figaro_, 96;
-  his _Matrimonio Segretto_ produced at the request of Leopold II., 96.
-
-Clayton, the musical composer, and author of _Arsinoe_, i. 108;
-  his spleen against Handel, 129, 132, 133.
-
-Clement IX., the author of seven _libretti_, i. 3.
-
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, i. 22.
-
-Colbran, Mdlle., the singer, ii. 95, 96;
-  married to Rossini, 166;
-  biographical notices of, 167.
-
-Coleman, Mrs., the actress, i. 30, 31.
-
-Comic opera of France, i. 236, 237.
-
-Consulate, state of the French opera under the, ii. 178 _et seq._;
-  operatic plots under the, 179, 180;
-  the arts did not flourish under the, 183.
-
-Convention, state of the opera under the, ii. 75;
-  its receipts confiscated by the, 75;
-  its sanguinary proceedings, 75, 76.
-
-"Conversion of St. Paul," played in music at Rome, i. 3.
-
-Copyright, Victor Hugo's claims to against the Italian
-    librettists, ii. 234, 235;
-  principles of, 235;
-  rights of authors, 237.
-
-Coqueau, musician and writer, guillotined, ii. 76.
-
-Corbetta, F., the musical teacher of Louis XIV., i. 75.
-
-Corsi, Giascomi, i. 5.
-
-Costume, ludicrous dispute respecting, i. 161, 162;
-  of visitors to the London Opera, ii. 136, 137;
-  letter respecting, 138.
-
-Coulon, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Country dances introduced into England, i. 78;
-  fondness for, 78.
-
-Covent Garden Theatre, performances at, i. 101.
-
-"Credo," strange readings of the by two chapel masters, i. 44.
-
-Crescentini, the singer, his capricious temper, i. 161, 162.
-
-_Crociato in Egitto_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 206, 207;
-  Lord Edgcumbe's description of the music, 208;
-  the principal part played by Velluti, 209.
-
-Croix, Abbé de la, i. 86.
-
-Cromwell, his patronage of music, i. 32;
-  anecdotes of, 32, 33.
-
-Cruvelli, Mdlle., her admirable performance in _Fidelio_, ii. 286.
-
-Curiosity, wonderful instance of, i. 39.
-
-Cuzzoni, the vocalist, her exquisite qualifications, i. 151, 152;
-  memoir of, 152;
-  her partizans, 153;
-  leaves England, 154;
-  returns to London, 155;
-  her melancholy end, 155.
-
-
-D.
-
-_Dafne_, the first complete opera, i. 5, 7;
-  new music composed to the libretto of, 6, 7.
-
-_Dame aux Camélias_, its representation prohibited, i. 37.
-
-Dancer and the musician, i. 88.
-
-Dancers of the French opera, i. 77, 296;
-  their position previous to the Revolution, ii. 53;
-  diplomatic negociations for engaging, 110, 111;
-  engagements of in London, 112;
-  further negociations about their return, 115, 116;
-  treaty respecting their future engagements, 115.
-
-Dancing, at the French court, i. 72;
-  language of, 250;
-  the fourth part of the fine arts at the Paris Opera, 259.
-  (See BALLET).
-
-D'Antin, Duc, appointed manager of the French opera, i. 79.
-
-Dauberval, the dancer, i. 300.
-
-Davenant, Sir Wm., opens a theatre, i. 30, 36;
-  actors engaged by him, 30, 31.
-
-David, the Conventional painter, ii. 72.
-
-Davide, the operatic actor of Venice, ii. 158;
-  enthusiasm excited by, 159.
-
-Decorations of the stage, i. 63.
-
-De Lauragais, anecdote of, i. 277, 278.
-
-Delany, Lady, her account of Anastasia Robinson afterwards Lady
-     Peterborough, i. 134-138.
-
-Delawar, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-D'Entraigues, Count, married to Madame Huberti, ii. 94;
-  murder of, 95.
-
-_Der Freischütz_, of Weber, represented at the French Opera, ii. 198;
-  compared with _Robert le Diable_, 213;
-  remarks on, 291 _et seq._;
-  compared with _Don Giovanni_, 293;
-  its complete success, 294;
-  remodelled by M. Blaze, and entitled _Robin des Bois_, 295.
-
-Deschamps, Mdlle., the French figurante, i. 83;
-  her prodigality, 83.
-
-Desmatins, Mdlle., the actress, i. 24, 25.
-
-Despreaux, the violinist, commits suicide, ii. 76.
-
-_Devin du Village_, of Rousseau, i. 261;
-  music presumed to be the production of Granet, i. 262, 263;
-  anecdotes of the, 262.
-
-De Vismes, of the Paris Opera, i. 291;
-  ii. 38.
-
-Devonshire, Wm., duke of, his inscription to the memory
-    of Miss Campion, i. 139.
-
-D'Hennin, Prince, his rupture with Gluck, i. 275, 276;
-  a favourite butt for witticism, 276.
-
-Divertissements, propriety of their accompanying operatic performances, i. 25.
-
-"Di tanti Palpiti," originally a Roman Catholic hymn, ii. 289.
-
-_Dinorah_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 296, 297.
-
-_Don Giovanni_, of Mozart, ii. 100-109;
-  its original cast at Prague, 104;
-  the performers of the character in London, 108;
-  general cast of characters in the opera, 108, 109;
-  compared with _Der Freischütz_, 293.
-
-_Don Pasquale_, of Donizetti, ii. 241;
-  libretto of, 242.
-
-_Don Sebastien_, of Donizetti, ii. 241.
-
-Donizetti, the musical composer, i. 112;
-  his _Elizir d'Amore_, grounded upon _Le Philtre_ and _La Somnambule_, 112;
-  his _Lucrezia_, founded on _Lucrece Borgia_, 213;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 226 _et seq._;
-  his early admiration of Rossini's works, 230;
-  biographical notices of, 232;
-  his various works, 232 _et seq._, 239 _et seq._;
-  his rapidity of composition, 240;
-  his last opera, _Catarina Comaro_, 243;
-  the author of sixty-three operas, 243;
-  critique on his works, 243, 244;
-  his illness and death, 245, 246;
-  his numerous compositions, 246;
-  compared with Bellini, 257.
-
-Drama, Beranger on the decline of the, i. 65.
-
-Dramatic ballet. (See BALLET).
-
-Dresden, theatre of, the first opera in Europe, and the best
-     vocalists engaged from them, i. 172, 173;
-  ii. 80, 81, 87.
-
-Dryden, his political opera of _Albion and Albanius_, i. 29;
-  his character of Grabut, 29.
-
-Du Barry, Madame, her opposition to Gluck, and support of
-    Piccinni, i. 279, 280;
-  mistress of Louis XV., ii. 48.
-
-Dubuisson, the librettist, guillotined, ii. 75.
-
-_Duc d'Albe_, of Donizetti, ii. 243.
-
-Duelling, i. 107;
-  among women, 225, _et note_.
-
-Dumenil, the tenor, i. 24.
-
-Duparc, Eliz., the soprano singer, nicknamed "La Francesina," i. 187.
-
-Dupre, the violinist, exchanges the violin for the ballet, i. 88, 89, 91.
-
-Durastanti, Madame, the celebrated vocalist, i. 158, 159.
-
-
-E.
-
-Ebers, Mr., of the King's Theatre, ii. 22;
-  draft of a contract between him and Madame Catalani, 23-25;
-  is opinions on the state of the opera, 109;
-  his negociation respecting the Paris dancers, 115;
-  takes the management of the King's Theatre, 129;
-  his selection of operas and singers, 129;
-  his losses, 129, 130;
-  his retirement, 130.
-
-Eclecticism, the present age of, i. 286.
-
-Edelman, the musician, executed, ii. 76.
-
-Edgar, Sir John, his attack on a company of French actors, i. 159, 160.
-
-Eglantine, Fabre d', the librettist, guillotined, ii. 76.
-
-_Elisir d'Amore_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Empire, state of the French opera under the, ii. 178 _et seq._;
-  the arts did not flourish under the, 183.
-
-England, Italian opera introduced into, i. 9, 104 _et seq._;
-  state of the opera at the end of the eighteenth and beginning
-     of the nineteenth century, ii. 1 _et seq._;
-  the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably connected
-     with the history of opera in, 224.
-
-English, the Italians have a genius for music superior to, i. 56;
-  have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, 56.
-
-English opera, account of, i. 9;
-  its failures, 10;
-  services rendered by Handel to, 215;
-  has no history, 215.
-
-"Enraged Musicians," letters from, i. 129, 133.
-
-_Enrico di Borgogna_, of Donizetti, ii. 232.
-
-_Euridice_, opera of, i. 5, 6.
-
-_Euryanthe_ of Weber, ii. 292, 298;
-  its great success, 299.
-
-
-F.
-
-Fabri, Signor, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Fabris, death of, from overstrained singing, ii. 270.
-
-Farinelli, Carlo Boschi, the Italian singer, i. 159;
-  the magic and commanding powers of his voice, 164, 189;
-  biographical notices of, 185, 186, 188-191;
-  his single note, 189.
-
-Farnesino, theatre at Paris, i. 177.
-
-Faustina, the vocalist, i. 150:
-  her exquisite qualifications, 151, 152;
-  memoir of, 152;
-  her artizans, 153;
-  returns to Italy, 155;
-  married to Hasse, the musical composer, 155, 156;
-  her successful career at the Dresden Opera, 156;
-  her death, 158.
-
-Faustina and Cuzzoni, disputes respecting, i. 149 _et seq._;
-  their respective merits, 150, 151.
-
-Favart, his satirical description of the French Opera, i. 65.
-
-Favart, Madame, of the Opera Comique, i. 231;
-  her love for Marshal Saxe, 232, 233.
-
-_Favorite_, by Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-Fel, Mdlle, a singer of the Academie, i. 223.
-
-Female singers, the most celebrated, i. 8.
-
-Fénélon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.
-
-Fenton, Lavinia, married to the Duke of Bolton, i. 138;
-  her accomplishments, 138.
-
-Ferri, Balthazar, the most distinguished singer of his day, i. 174.
-
-Ferriere, Chev. de, anecdotes of, ii. 77, 78.
-
-Feuds, among musicians and actors, i. 149 _et seq._
-
-Fiddles, of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-_Fidelio_, of Beethoven, 286.
-
-_Fille du Regiment_, by Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-Finales, Piccinni the originator, ii. 32;
-  time usually occupied by them, 32, 33.
-
-First Consul of France, plots for assassinating, ii. 179, 182.
-
-Fodor, Madame, the celebrated cantatrice, ii, 92;
-  anecdote of 93;
-  biographical notices of, 160.
-
-Fontenelle, author of "Thetis and
-Pelee," revisits the Academie, i. 235.
-
-Forst, the singer, refuses letters of nobility, i. 221.
-
-France, Italian Opera introduced into, i. 8;
-  but rejected, 9, 11;
-  introduction of the Opera into England, 12 _et seq._;
-  French Opera not founded by Lulli, 13, 14;
-  nobles of, invited to stage performances by Louis XIV., 75;
-  morality of the stage, 81, 82;
-  her dramatic music dates from 1774, 216;
-  history of the Opera in, abounds in excellent anecdotes, 232;
-  state of the Opera after the departure of Gluck, ii. 84 _et seq._;
-  after the Revolution, 46 _et seq._;
-  under the Consulate, the Empire, and the Restoration, 178 _et seq._;
-  the arts did not flourish under the Consulate and the Empire, 183;
-  has party songs, but no national air, 201.
-
-Frangipani, Cornelio, drama by, i. 4.
-
-Frederick the Great introduces the Italian Opera into Berlin, i. 199;
-  his favourite composers, 199;
-  officiated as conductor of the orchestra, 199.
-
-French actors, company of, in London, in 1720, i. 159.
-
-French Court, ballets at the, i. 70, 71.
-
-French Opera, Favart's satirical description of the, i. 65;
-  from the time of Lulli to the death of Rameau, i. 217;
-  the various pieces produced at the, ii. 195 _et seq._
-  (See FRANCE).
-
-French Society at its very worst during the reign of Louis XVI., ii. 48;
-  operatic and religious fetes, 49.
-
-Fronsac, duke de, his depravity, i. 76.
-
-
-G.
-
-Gabrielli, Catarina, the vocalist, i. 188;
-  biographical notices of, 195 _et seq._
-
-Gabrielli, Francesca, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Gagliano composes the music to the opera of _Dafne_, i. 6.
-
-Galileo, Vincent, inventor of recitative, i. 5.
-
-Galuppi, musical composer, i. 170, 171;
-  musical director at the Russian Court, 198.
-
-Garcia, the tenor performer of "Don Giovanni," in London, ii. 108;
-  anecdote of, 144, 145.
-
-Garcia, Mademoiselle, (See MALIBRAN.)
-
-Gardel, the ballet-master, ii. 75.
-
-Garrick, his opinion of Sophie Arnould at Paris, i. 227;
-  of French descent, 227 _note_.
-
-_Gazza Ladra_, by Rossini, ii. 160.
-
-German Opera, the forms of, perfected by Keiser, i. 6;
-  originated from Mozart, ii. 99 _et seq._;
-  its celebrated composers, 106.
-
-Germans, music of the, i. 268, 269.
-
-Germany, Italian Opera introduced into, i. 10;
-  her opera during the republican and Napoleonic wars, ii. 86;
-  has sent us few singers as compared with Italy, 224;
-  state of her opera, 225;
-  the land of scientific music, 285.
-
-_Giovanni_, of Mozart, i. 13.
-
-Glass, broken to pieces by the vibratory force of particular notes, ii. 279.
-
-Glinka, the Russian composer, ii. 290.
-
-Gluck, the musical composer, i. 12;
-  works of, 13;
-  the estimation in which his works were held, 181;
-  merits of, as compared with Piccinni, 267;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 270 _et seq._;
-  his _Alcestis_ and _Orpheus_, 272;
-  his _Iphigenia in Aulis_, acted at Paris with immense success, 273;
-  success of his _Orpheus_, 278;
-  his _Alcestis_, 279;
-  his death, 295;
-  state of the Opera in France after his departure, ii. 34;
-  anecdote of, 39;
-  benefitted French opera in different ways, 40.
-
-Gluck and Piccinni, contests respecting, in Paris, i. 150.
-
-"God save the king," origin of the anthem, i. 165, 166.
-
-Goddess of Reason, personated by the actresses of the Opera, ii. 67.
-
-Grabut, the musical composer, i. 28, 29;
-  Dryden's character of him, 29.
-
-Grammont, count de, extract from his memoirs, i. 73.
-
-Granet, the musical composer, i. 261;
-  author of the music to Rousseau's _Devin du Village_, 262;
-  his death, 265.
-
-Grassini, the singer, ii. 14.
-
-Greek Plays, first specimens of operas, 3.
-
-Greek Theatre, i. 240;
-  music of the, 241.
-
-Greeks, their language and accent, i. 241;
-  their lyric style, 241:
-  their music a real recitative, 241;
-  absurdities of their dramas, 244.
-
-Grisi, Giulia, the accomplished vocalist, ii. 280, 281;
-  her family connexions, 280;
-  her vocal powers, 281;
-  "Norma" her best character, 281.
-
-Grossi, the vocalist, i. 188.
-
-Guadigni, the vocalist, biographical notices of, i. 194.
-
-Guéméné, prince de, his insolvency, ii. 51;
-  feeling letter of the operatic vocalists to, 51.
-
-Guglielmi, the operatic composer, ii. 29;
-  his success at Naples, 30.
-
-_Guillaume Tell_, its first performance at the French Opera, ii. 198;
-  cut down from three to five acts, 198;
-  Rossini's last opera, 201.
-
-Guimard, Madeline, the celebrated danseuse, i. 288, 296;
-  accident to, 296;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 297 _et seq._;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 34, 35;
-  her narrow escape from being burnt to death, 41;
-  her reappearance at the Opera, 77.
-
-Guinguenée, the French librettist, i. 293.
-
-_Gustave III._ of Auber, ii. 219.
-
-
-H.
-
-_Hamlet_, set to music, i. 127;
-  its absurdity, 128.
-
-Handel, G. F., at Paris, i. 86;
-  in London, 97, 100-3;
-  his _Pastor Fido_ played at the Haymarket Theatre, i. 102;
-  his great improvement of the Italian Opera, 108;
-  success of his _Rinaldo_, 116;
-  his arrival in England, 122;
-  brings out his _Rinaldo and Armide_, 123;
-  Clayton's spleen against, 129, 132, 133;
-  the Italian operas under his direction, 140 _et seq._;
-  his career as an operatic composer and director, 140;
-  wrote his last opera, _Deidamia_, 141;
-  biographical account of, 141 _et seq._;
-  his duel with Mattheson of the Hamburgh Theatre, 142;
-  his _Rinaldo_, _Pastor Fido_, and _Amadigi_, 142;
-  direction of the Royal Academy of Music confided to him, 144;
-  his first opera at the Royal Academy was _Radamisto_, 144;
-  his next opera, _Muzio Scevola_, 145;
-  his various operatic pieces played at the Royal Academy of Music, 146;
-  his services to English Opera, 215;
-  appointed to the management of the King's Theatre, 163;
-  names of the Italian performers engaged by him, 163;
-  his rival Porpora, and the difficulties with which he had to contend, 167;
-  abandons dramatic music after having written thirty-five Italian operas, 168;
-  his operas now become obsolete, and unadapted to modern times, 168, 169;
-  success of the operatic airs, which he introduced into his oratorios, 169;
-  position of the Italian Opera under his presidency, 170, 171;
-  his great musical genius, and the grandeur of his oratorios, 172.
-
-Harmony, preferable to simple declamation, i. 45, 46.
-
-Hasse, the musical composer, i. 155;
-  marries the vocalist Faustina, 156;
-  appointed director of the Dresden Opera, 156;
-  his death, 158;
-  a librettist, 212.
-
-Hauteroche, humour of exhausted, i. 49.
-
-Haydn, his opinion of Mozart's work, ii. 102.
-
-Haymarket Theatre, Handel's _Pastor Fido_ played at, i. 102.
-
-Hébert, the sanguinary republican, ii. 68, 73.
-
-Heidegger, appointed manager of the King's Theatre, i. 163;
-  his "puff direct," 163.
-
-Henriot, the sanguinary republican, ii. 62, 72.
-
-Hingston, the musician, patronised by Cromwell, i. 32.
-
-Hoffman, the musical composer, ii. 301;
-  his _Undine_, 301-305;
-  Berlioz's opinion of his music, 305.
-
-Huberti, Madame, the singer, ii. 43, 94;
-  her marriage and horrible death, 94.
-
-Hugo, Victor, his dramas made the groundwork of Italian librettists, i. 213;
-  his actions against them for violation of copyright, ii. 234, 235.
-
-_Huguenots_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 216.
-
-_Hydaspes_, opera of, i. 117;
-  Addison's critique on, 118, 119.
-
-
-I.
-
-_Il Pirato_, of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Insanity, Steele's remarks on, i. 111, 112.
-
-Interludes, banished from the operas, i. 250.
-
-_Iphigenia in Aulis_, by Gluck, i. 273;
-  its introduction on the Paris stage, and immense success, 273, 274.
-
-_Iphigenia in Tauris_, a rival opera, composed by Piccinni, i. 291, 292.
-
-Italian librettists, Victor Hugo's actions against for copyright, ii. 234, 235.
-
-Italian opera, introduced into France under the auspices of
-     Cardinal Mazarin, i. 8;
-  rejected by the French, 9, 11;
-  introduced into England, 9, 11;
-  into Germany, 10;
-  into all parts of Europe, 10;
-  introduced into England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, 54;
-  Addison's critical remarks on, 55-8;
-  attempts to engage the company of London at the French Academie, 26:
-  raised to excellence by Handel in London, 103;
-  history of its introduction into England, 104 _et seq._;
-  Steele's hatred to, 113;
-  a complete failure in London, 147-149;
-  its position under Handel, and subsequently, 170, 171;
-  various operas produced, 170, 171;
-  established at Berlin and St. Petersburgh, 199;
-  its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited
-     in Marcello's satire, "Teatro a la Modo," 204-12;
-  the company performing alternately in London and in Paris, ii. 2;
-  its position during the Republican and Napoleonic wars, 86.
-
-Italian plays, of the earliest period, called by the
-     general name of "Opera," i. 2.
-
-Italian singers, establish themselves everywhere but in France, i. 173;
-  company of engaged by Mdlle. Montansier, ii. 79;
-  unsuccessful, 79.
-
-Italians, their genius for music above that of the English, i. 56;
-  music of the, 268, 269.
-
-Italy, modern, earliest musical dramas of, i. 3, 6, 7.
-
-
-J.
-
-Jeliotte, the tenor singer, i. 223.
-
-Jesuits' church at Paris, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the, ii. 49;
-  their theatre near the, 50.
-
-Jomelli, anecdote related by, i. 44;
-  director of the Stutgardt opera, 178;
-  sets _Didone_ to music, 212.
-
-
-K.
-
-Kalkbrenner, a pasticcio by, unsuccessful, ii. 85;
-  his _Don Giovanni_, 184.
-
-Keiser, the operatic composer;
-  author of _Ismene and Basilius_, i. 6, 141.
-
-Kelly, Michael, the singer, ii. 128.
-
-Kind, Frederick, ii. 293;
-  Weber's introduction to, 293.
-
-King's Theatre, performances at, and assemblies, i. 101;
-  opened under Heidegger, 163;
-  celebrated vocalists at the, ii. 4;
-  destroyed by fire, 6;
-  rebuilt and re-opened, 8;
-  its negociations with the Parisian operatists, 110, 111;
-  Mr. Taylor the proprietor, 121;
-  the theatre closed, 125;
-  quarrels of the proprietors, 126;
-  re-opened under Waters, 127;
-  again closed, 129;
-  Mr. Eber's management, 129;
-  selection of operas and singers for the, 129;
-  management of Messrs. Laporte and Laurent, 130;
-  its position and character in 1789, 131;
-  enormous prices paid for private boxes and admission, 132, 133;
-  sale of the tickets at reduced prices, 133, 134;
-  costume of visitors, 136, 137.
-
-
-L.
-
-Labitte, death of, from overstrained singing, ii. 270.
-
-Lablache, the basso singer, the "Leporello" of _Don Giovanni_, ii. 108, 109;
-  biographical notices of, 274-278;
-  his versatile powers, 277, 278;
-  his great whistling accomplishments, 279;
-  his characters of "Bartolo" and "Figaro," 275.
-
-Lachnick, the musician, ii. 183, 184.
-
-Lacombe, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-_La Cenerentola_, opera of, ii. 162.
-
-La Fare, Marq. de, author of the _Panthée_, i. 85.
-
-Lafontaine, his want of success as a librettist, i. 21;
-  anecdote of, 21.
-
-Lafontaine, Mdlle., the celebrated ballerina at the French Opera, i. 72.
-
-Laguerre, Mdlle., the vocalist, i. 281;
-  the actress, i. 294.
-
-Lainez, the poet, i. 27;
-  the singer, ii. 69.
-
-"_La Marseillaise_," borrowed from Germany, ii. 201.
-
-Lamartine, M. de, his faultiness in history, ii. 61, _note_.
-
-Lamb, Charles, anecdote of, i. 21.
-
-Laniere, musical composer and engraver, i. 30.
-
-"_La Parisienne_," of Nourrit, ii. 201.
-
-Laporte and Laurent, Messieurs, managers of the London opera house, ii. 130.
-
-Larrivée, the vocalist, i. 223, 274.
-
-_La Straniera_, of Bellini, ii. 249.
-
-Lauragais, Count de, anecdotes of, i. 229, 230;
-  ii. 77, 78;
-  his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-_La Vestale_, of Spontini, ii. 186, 187.
-
-Law, M., introduces wax into the candelabra of the French Opera, i. 84;
-  breaking up of his financial schemes, 84;
-  favoured by the Duke of Orleans, 84.
-
-Lays, a furious democrat, and chief manager of the French Opera, ii. 66;
-  treated with public indignation, 77.
-
-Leclair, exchanges the ballet for the violin, i. 88, 89.
-
-Lefevre, the republican singer, hissed off the stage, ii. 70.
-
-Legal disputes among musicians, i. 87, 88.
-
-Legroscino, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-Lemaure, Mdlle., the actress, i. 92.
-
-Lenoir, the architect of the Paris Opera, ii. 43.
-
-Lenz, the biographer of Beethoven, ii. 287.
-
-Leopold I., Emperor of Germany, his devotedness to music, i. 174.
-
-Leopold II., of Germany, his liberality to Cimarosa, ii. 96;
-  his public approbation of _Il Matrimonio Segretto_, 97.
-
-Lettres de Cachet, issued, to command certain persons to join the Opera, i. 76.
-
-Libretti of English writers, i. 213;
-  of the French, 214.
-
-Librettists of the eighteenth century, i. 212 _et seq._
-
-Libretto, no opera intelligible without one, i. 40;
-  the words should be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, 41.
-
-Limeuil, Madame, death of, i. 23.
-
-Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, i. 164.
-
-Lind, Jenny, the hangman's admiration of, ii. 64.
-
-_Linda di Chamouni_, of Donizetti, ii. 241.
-
-Lion, Nicolini's contest with the, at the Haymarket, i. 118;
-  Addison's satirical critique on the, 119-122.
-
-Lipparini, Madame, the _prima donna_ at Palermo, ii. 271, 272.
-
-Lise, Mddle., anecdote of, ii. 36.
-
-Lock, the musical composer, i. 28.
-
-London Opera, manners and customs of the, half a century ago, ii. 122 _et seq._
-  (See KING'S THEATRE.)
-
-Lorenzo da Ponte, ii. 293.
-
-Lotti, the Venetian composer, i. 146.
-
-Louis XIV., a great actor, i. 73;
-  in the habit of singing and dancing in the court ballets, 74;
-  retires from the stage, 74;
-  returns to it, 75;
-  the various characters assumed by him, 75.
-
-Louis XV., his heartless conduct at the theatre, i. 81;
-  his meanness to his daughter's music-masters, ii. 39;
-  French society at the very worst during his reign, 48.
-
-Louis XVI., his flight from Paris, ii. 57;
-  his death, and state of the Opera at the time of, 61.
-
-_Lucia di Lammermoor_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-_Lucrezia Borgia_, of Donizetti, ii. 234, 237;
-  Victor Hugo's action against the author for breach of copyright, 234.
-
-Lulli, French Opera not founded by, i. 13, 14;
-  his intrigues, 16;
-  his _Cadmus and Hermione_, 16;
-  originally a scullion in the service of Madame de Montpensier, 16;
-  his disgrace, 17;
-  his elevation by Louis XIV., 17, 18;
-  intrusted with them music of the ballets, 18;
-  a buffoon, 18;
-  various mistakes of, 18 _et seq._;
-  his intemperate habits, 24;
-  his great attention to the ballet, 72;
-  tumult at the representation of his _Aloeste_, 85;
-  history of French Opera dates from the time of, 217;
-  his singular death, 217;
-  his operas, 217, 218.
-
-Lyric drama, remarks on the, i. 236, 237;
-  Rousseau's critique on, 243.
-
-
-M.
-
-_M. de Pourceaugnac_, performance of, i. 19.
-
-Machinery of the Opera at Paris, i. 255.
-
-Maillard, Mdlle., the _prima donna_, of the Paris Opera, ii. 66;
-  requested to personate the Goddess of Reason, 67;
-  compelled to sing republican songs, 69;
-  suspected by the republicans, 69.
-
-Mailly's _Akébar, Roi de Mogol_, i. 15.
-
-Maine, Duchess du, her passion for theatrical and musical performances, i. 77;
-  her lotteries, 78.
-
-Malibran, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 69;
-  biographical notices of, 174, 175;
-  her triumphal progress through Italy, 260, 261;
-  characteristic anecdotes of, 261-264;
-  her activity and great acquirements, 262;
-  her death, 264.
-
-Mara, Madame, the celebrated vocalist, i. 200;
-  biographical notices of, 200-3;
-  appointed _prima donna_ of the Berlin theatre, 201;
-  at the King's Theatre, ii. 4;
-  her distinguished performances, 5;
-  biographical notices of, 5-9;
-  among the first class of singers, 28.
-
-Mara and Todi, Mesdames, quarrels between the admirers of, i. 150, 203.
-
-Marcello's satire, _Teatro a la Modo_, i. 204-12.
-
-Margarita de l'Epine, the Italian vocalist, i. 104;
-  at Drury Lane, 108.
-
-_Maria di Rohan_, of Donizetti, ii. 242.
-
-Marie Antoinette, the enthusiastic patroness of Gluck, i. 275;
-  patronizes Piccinni, 290;
-  her visit to the Académie and Opera Comique, ii. 58, 59;
-  popular cries against, 59;
-  obliged to fly, 59;
-  her execution, 61.
-
-Mariette, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i, 82.
-
-_Marino Faliero_, of Donizetti, ii. 233.
-
-Mario, the actor, in the character of the _Duke of Mantua_, i. 39;
-  a performer of _Don Giovanni_ in London, ii. 108.
-
-Marmontel, the librettist, i. 287, 289;
-  the admirer of Piccinni, 289.
-
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mdlle. Petit, i. 82.
-
-Marsolier, of the Opera Comique, ii. 235.
-
-Martinella, Catarina, the celebrated singer, i. 8.
-
-Martini's _Cosa Rara_, ii. 102.
-
-_Martiri_, of Donizetti, ii. 239.
-
-_Masaniello_, market scene in, i. 47;
-  effects of its representation in Paris, ii. 200.
-
-_Matrimonio Segretto_, comic opera of, ii. 96-100;
-  its successful performance before Leopold II., 97.
-
-Mattheson, the musical composer and conductor of the
-     orchestra at the Hamburgh theatre, i. 141, 142;
-  his duel with Handel, 142.
-
-Maupin, Mdlle., the operatic actress, i. 26;
-  the Lola Montes of her day, 26.
-
-Mayer, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-Mazarin, Cardinal, introduces Italian Opera into France, i. 8;
-  into Paris, 14.
-
-Maze, Mdlle., the danseuse, her melancholy suicide, &c., i. 84.
-
-Mazocci's school of singing at Rome, i. 184.
-
-Melun, Count de, his depravity, i. 76.
-
-Menestrier, on the origin of the Italian Opera, i. 3.
-
-Mengozzi, the tenor singer, visits Paris, ii. 3.
-
-Mercadante, the musical composer, ii. 247, 248.
-
-Mercandotti, Maria, the charming Spanish danseuse, ii. 119;
-  married to Mr. Hughes Ball, 120.
-
-Merighi, Signora, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Merulo, Claudio, the musical composer, i. 4.
-
-Metastasio, the poet and librettist, i. 175, 212;
-  his quarrel with Caffarelli, i. 191.
-
-Meyerbeer, the successor of Rossini at the Académie, ii. 202;
-  a composer who defies classification, 206;
-  his different productions, 206;
-  biographical notices of, 206, 207;
-  his _Robert le Diable_, 207, 211 _et seq._;
-  his _Huguenots_, 216;
-  his _Prophete_, 218.
-
-Mililotti, the Neapolitan buffo, ii. 274, 275.
-
-Mingotti, the celebrated vocalist of the Dresden opera, i. 156;
-  her opinion of the London public, 197.
-
-Minuet, introduced into England, i. 73.
-
-Moliere, the friend of Lulli, i. 19;
-  his disagreement with him, 20;
-  his _Amants Magnifiques_, 65.
-
-Montagu, Lady Wortley, her description of the Vienna theatre, i. 175.
-
-Montansier, Mdlle., 71, 72;
-  denounced by the republicans for building a theatre, 73;
-  imprisoned, 73;
-  her nocturnal assemblies, 73;
-  Napoleon introduced to her, 74;
-  her marriage, 74;
-  receives indemnity for her losses, 75;
-  engaged by Napoleon to form an Italian operatic company, 79;
-  is unsuccessful, 79.
-
-Montessu, the French dancer, ii. 112.
-
-Monteverde, the musical composer, i. 7;
-  his improvements in orchestral music, 7;
-  the score of his _Orfeo_, 7, 23;
-  produces his _Arianna_ at Venice, 8;
-  his great popularity, 8.
-
-Moreau, the musical composer, i. 27.
-
-Morel, the librettist, ii. 183.
-
-Morelli, the bass-singer, visits Paris, ii. 3.
-
-Mormoro, Madame, personates the Goddess of Reason, ii. 67.
-
-_Mosé in Egitto_, by Rossini, ii. 163.
-
-Mount Edgcumbe, Lord, author of "Musical Reminiscences," i. 299, 300;
-  his notices of celebrated vocalists, ii. 5, 6, 8, 11, _et passim_;
-  his description of the King's Theatre in 1789, 131.
-
-Mouret, the musical composer, i. 78.
-
-Mozart, the musical composer, i. 12;
-  works of, 13;
-  reception of his _Nozze di Figaro_, ii. 98;
-  his _Seraglio_, 99;
-  founder of the German operatic school at Vienna, 99 _et seq._;
-  his _Don Giovanni_, 100-109;
-  its original cast at Prague, 104;
-  Salieri his great rival, 101, 102;
-  his genius fully acknowledged, but his music not at first appreciated, 107;
-  _Musette de Portici_, the first important work to which
-     the French Opera owes its celebrity, 195;
-  translated and played with great success in England, 197, 198;
-  his fortunes affected by the revolutionary character of the plot, 200.
-
-Music of the operatic works of the sixteenth century, i. 4, 5;
-  Woolfenbuttel school of, 6;
-  Carpentras school of, 6;
-  of the drama, its importance, 45, 46;
-  the language of the masses, 46;
-  its powerful effects in dramatic representations, 47;
-  its powers as an art, 59, 60;
-  capabilities of, 169;
-  Marcello's satirical advice respecting, 204-12;
-  of the Greeks, 241;
-  a real recitative, 241;
-  an imitative art, 245, 248;
-  of the Italians and the Germans, 268, 269;
-  on expression in, ii. 83;
-  did not flourish under the French Republic or Empire, 84;
-  different schools of, 284.
-
-Musical composers, who adorned the end of the eighteenth and
-     the beginning of the nineteenth century, ii. 31, 32;
-  their peculiar characteristics, 141.
-
-Musical compositions, different adaptations of, ii. 83, 84.
-
-Musical instruments of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-Musical pieces, danger of performing under the Republican regime, ii. 67.
-
-Musical plays of the fifteenth century, i. 2.
-
-Musical valets of the seventeenth century, i. 23, 24.
-
-Musician, his contest with the dancer, i. 88;
-  his task of imitation greater than that of the painter, 249.
-
-Musicians of the French Opera, privileges of the, i. 77;
-  of Italy, nicknames given to, 86-8;
-  the "three enraged" ones, 129, 133.
-
-_Muzio Scevola_, produced at the Royal Academy of Music, i. 145.
-
-_Mysteres d'Isis_, opera of the, ii. 183.
-
-
-N.
-
-Napoleon, his munificent offers to Catalani, ii. 18.
-
-Napoleons, both of them good friends to the Opera, ii. 193, 194.
-
-Nasolini, the musical composer, ii. 12.
-
-National anthem, story respecting the, i. 165;
-  on the origin of the, 166.
-
-National styles, i. 214, 215.
-
-Nicknames given to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters
-    of Italy, i. 186-8.
-
-Nicolini, a great actor, i. 61;
-  a sopranist, 117;
-  Addison's critique on his combat with a lion at the Haymarket, 118-122.
-
-Nobles of France, operatic actors, i. 76;
-  abuses arising from the system, 76.
-
-Noblet, Mdlle., the French danseuse, ii. 111-13;
-  negociations respecting her benefit, 113, 114.
-
-_Norma_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 252, 257.
-
-Nose-pulling, i. 106.
-
-Nourrit, Adolphe, the celebrated tenor, a performer of
-     "Don Giovanni" in London, ii. 108;
-  makes his appearance at Paris, 195;
-  his _La Parisienne_, 201;
-  his professional engagements, 221, 222;
-  his melancholy death, 223, 224.
-
-Noverre, the celebrated ballet master, i. 178.
-
-_Nozze de Figaro_, of Mozart, ii. 98-103.
-
-_Nuits de Sceaux_, or _Nuits Blanches_, of the Duchess du Maine, i. 77, 78.
-
-
-O.
-
-_Oberon_ of Weber, ii, 299, 301.
-
-Olivieri, primo basso at Udine, ii. 89.
-
-OPERA, history of the, i. 1 _et seq._;
-  meaning and character of, 1, 2;
-  Wagner's definition, 1, _et note_;
-  the earliest Italian plays, called by the general name of, 2;
-  the title afterwards applied to lyrical dramas, 2;
-  proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the sixteenth century, 2;
-  first specimens of in the Greek plays, 3;
-  operatic composers and singers, 4-8;
-  its success promoted by the musical genius of Monteverde, 8;
-  taken under the patronage of the most illustrious nobles, 8;
-  the most celebrated female singers connected with, 8;
-  Italian opera introduced into France under the auspices of
-     Cardinal Mazarin, 8;
-  into England at the commencement of the eighteenth century, 9, 54;
-  into Germany, 10;
-  flourishing state of during the eighteenth century, 10;
-  history of its introduction into France and England, 12 _et seq._;
-  not founded by Lulli, 13, 14;
-  the first English opera ten years later than the first French one, 31;
-  the leading actors, 31;
-  the nature of and its merits as compared with other
-     forms of the drama, 36 _et seq._;
-  unintelligibility of, 37;
-  music in a dramatic form, 38;
-  the words ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, 41;
-  unnaturalness of, 45;
-  chorus of, 47;
-  Addison's articles on, 53-58;
-  and the drama, 61;
-  Beranger on the decline of the, 65;
-  Panard's remarks on the, 67;
-  his song on what may be seen at the, 67;
-  Louis XIV. and the nobles of France actors in, 73-78;
-  lettres de cachet issued, commanding certain persons to join the, 76, 77;
-  privileges of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging to the, 77;
-  state of, under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, 79;
-  the scene of frequent disturbances, 80;
-  etiquette respecting the visits of young ladies to the, 92, 93;
-  introduction of the Italian Opera into England, 104 _et seq._;
-  under Handel, 140;
-  its position under Handel, and subsequently, 170, 171;
-  general view of in Europe in the eighteenth century,
-     until the appearance of Gluck, 172;
-  its appearance at Vienna, 175, 181;
-  its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited
-     in Marcello's celebrated satire "Teatro a la Modo," 204-12;
-  history of French opera from Lulli to the death of Rameau, 217 _et seq._;
-  history of, in France, during the eighteenth century,
-     abounds in excellent anecdotes, 232 _et seq._;
-  different kinds of, 236, 237;
-  Rousseau's definition, and critical remarks on, 239 _et seq._;
-  of the Greeks, 243 _et seq._;
-  early periods of, 245;
-  subjects of, 247;
-  Rousseau's description of, at Paris, 251 _et seq._;
-  ludicrous caricature of, 252-260;
-  its monstrous scenery, machinery, and decorations, 255;
-  audience of the, 257;
-  history of, in England, at the end of the eighteenth century,
-     and beginning of the nineteenth, ii. 1 _et seq._;
-  at Versailles, 3;
-  King's Theatre, 4, 5;
-  notices of the most celebrated singers, 3-33;
-  the Pantheon enterprise, 6, 7;
-  state of in France after the departure of Gluck, 35 _et seq._;
-  at Paris, frequently burnt down and rebuilt, 42;
-  of the "Romantic" school, 45;
-  its condition before and after the Revolution, 46 _et seq._;
-  strange customs connected therewith, 49;
-  great singers of the, at the Jesuits' church and theatre at Paris, 50;
-  dangerous to write anything about in Paris previous to the Revolution, 54;
-  its decline after the Revolution commenced, 56 _et seq._;
-  the National Opera of Paris, 62;
-  history of, under the Republic of France, 62 _et seq._;
-  state of the, under the Convention, 75;
-  its receipts confiscated, and its artists guillotined, 75, 76;
-  under Napoleon, 79;
-  state of in Italy, Germany, and Russia, during the Republican
-     and Napoleonic wars, 87 _et seq._;
-  its difficulties arising from the continued wars, 109;
-  diplomatists and dancers, 111;
-  Terpsichorean treaty, 115;
-  manners and customs of, half a century ago, 121 _et seq._;
-  Mr. Ebers's management in 1821, 129;
-  the King's Theatre in 1789, 131, _et seq._;
-  costume of, in 1861, 137;
-  Rossini and his period, 143;
-  his _Barber of Seville_, and other operatic pieces, 144-163.
-    (See ROSSINI).
-  Madame Pasta, 170; Madame Pisaroni, 172;
-  Madlle. Sontag, 175;
-  its position in France under the Consulate, Empire, and
-     Restoration, 178 _et seq._;
-  plots for assassinating the First Consul at the, 179, 182;
-  assassination of the Duke de Berri at the, 190;
-  its temporary suspension, 193;
-  the Napoleons good friends to the, 193, 194;
-  the different pieces produced at Paris, 195, 196;
-  Rossini's _Guillaume Tell_, 201;
-  rehearsals, 207;
-  Nourrit, 221;
-  the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably
-     connected with the history of opera in England, 224;
-  Donizetti and Bellini, 226, _et seq._, 257;
-  author's rights, 237;
-  different schools of, 284.
-
-Opera Comique, of France, i. 236, 237.
-
-Opera, French, Favart's satirical description of, i. 65.
-
-Opera National, substituted for that of the Academie Royale, ii. 59;
-  programme issued by the directors, 62;
-  change of site, 71.
-
-Opera singers, badly paid in the 17th century, i. 25.
-
-Operatic feuds, i. 105.
-
-Operatic incongruity at Paris, i. 253.
-
-Opitz, translator of the opera of Dafne, i. 6.
-
-Orchestra, instrumental music being deficient in the 17th century, i. 7;
-  Monteverde's improvements, 7.
-
-_Orfeo_, of Monteverde, music of, produced at Rome in 1440, i. 3, 13.
-
-Orleans, duke of, state of the Opera under his regency, i. 79;
-  his sincere love of music and literature, 85, 86;
-  his death, 86.
-
-_Otello_, by Rossini, ii. 157.
-
-Oulibicheff, M., his notices of Mozart, ii. 101;
-  the biographer of Beethoven, 287;
-  Lenz's attack on, 287.
-
-Oxenford's _Robin Hood_, i. 214.
-
-
-P.
-
-Pacchierotti, the celebrated male soprano, ii. 7.
-
-Pacini's _Talismano_, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Paer, the musical composer, ii. 32;
-  plays the part of basso, 90, 91;
-  success of his Laodicea, 98.
-
-Paer, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 80;
-  engaged by Bonaparte, 80, 81, 88;
-  anecdote of, 89.
-
-Painters of Italy, nicknames given to, i. 186-8.
-
-Paisiello, the operatic composer, ii. 2, 29, 30, 31, 82;
-  his interview with Bonaparte, 82;
-  liberally rewarded, 82, 83;
-  at St. Petersburgh, 87.
-
-Panard, his satirical remarks on the Opera, i. 67;
-  song on what he had seen at the Opera, 67.
-
-Pantheon of London converted to the use of the Opera, ii. 6, 7;
-  its company, 7;
-  burnt down, 8;
-  opening of the, 125;
-  an unfortunate speculation, 125.
-
-Paris, absurd regulations of the Theatres at, i. 86, 87;
-  Rousseau's descriptions of the Opera at, 251, 252-260;
-  contests in, respecting the merits of Gluck and Piccinni, 267;
-  its operatic company towards the end of the 18th century, ii. 3;
-  the opera burnt down at different times, 42;
-  National Library of, proposed to be burnt, 71, 72;
-  the various operatic pieces produced at, 195 _et seq._
-
-Parisian public manners and customs of the time of Louis XIV., i. 75 _et seq._;
-  the turbulent and dissipated habits, 80.
-
-Pasta, Madame, the celebrated singer, ii. 168;
-  her representation of Rossini's _Semiramide_, 168, 169;
-  biographical notices of, 170.
-
-Pelissier, Mdlle., the prima donna of Paris, i. 82;
-  her prodigality, 83.
-
-Pembroke, Countess of, the leader of a party against the
-     vocalist Faustina, i. 153.
-
-Pergolese, the musical composer, i. 9, 170;
-  his _Serva Padrona_ hissed from the stage, 9;
-  at St. Petersburgh, ii. 88.
-
-Peri, the Italian musician, i. 5;
-  composer of the music to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-Perrin, French Operas of, i. 15.
-
-Peruzzi, Balthazar, his wonderful skill in scenic decoration, i. 3, 4.
-
-Peter the Great, his visit to the French Opera, i. 81.
-
-Peterborough, lord, account of his marriage with Miss
-    Anastasia Robinson, i. 134-138.
-
-Petit, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i. 82.
-
-Petits Violins du Roi, a band formed by Lulli, i. 17.
-
-Phillips, Ambrose, the plagiarist, i. 115.
-
-Piccinni, the musical composer, i. 212;
-  merits of, as compared with Gluck, 267;
-  biographical and anecdotal notices of, 280 _et seq._;
-  his natural genius for music, 284;
-  success of his _Donne Dispetose_ and other operatic pieces, 285 _et seq._;
-  his arrival at Paris, 287;
-  his contests with the Gluckists, 288 _et seq._;
-  his _Orlando_, 289;
-  his rival opera of _Iphigenia in Tauris_, 291, 292;
-  ruined by the French Revolution, 295;
-  his death, 295;
-  the originator of the popular musical finales, ii. 32.
-
-_Pietra del Paragone_, of Rossini, ii. 151.
-
-Pinotti, Teresa, the celebrated comedian, ii. 274.
-
-Pisaroni, Madame, biographical notices of, ii. 172.
-
-Pleasantries of the drama exploded, i. 49;
-  their antiquity and harmlessness, 49.
-
-Poissardes of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes, ii. 49.
-
-_Pomone_, the first French Opera heard in Paris, i. 15.
-
-Ponceau, Seigneur de, (See CHASSE).
-
-Porpora, the musical composer, i. 44, 100;
-  his perversion of the "Credo", 44;
-  director of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 164;
-  singers engaged by him, 167.
-
-Porte St. Martin Theatre at Paris, ii. 42.
-
-_Preciosa_, of Weber, ii. 298.
-
-Prevost, Mdlle. the ballet dancer, i. 78, 89;
-  her jealousy of Mdlle. de Camargo, 90.
-
-Prima donnas, Marcello's satirical instructions respecting, i. 211.
-
-_Prophete_, of Meyerbeer, ii. 218.
-
-Purcell, the writer of English operas, i. 9;
-  his _King Arthur_, 14;
-  his dramatic music, 29;
-  his operatic compositions, 33;
-  his death, 34;
-  his talents, 34.
-
-_Pygmalion_, of Mdlle. Sallé, 93, 94.
-
-_Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, Scarlatti's opera of, i. 117.
-
-
-Q.
-
-Quantz, the celebrated flute player, i. 151;
-  his account of the Faustina and Cuzzoni contests, 151, 153.
-
-Quin, James, the musician, anecdote of, i. 32.
-
-Quinault, one of Lulli's librettists, i. 22.
-
-
-R.
-
-Racine, merits of, i. 115, 116.
-
-Rameau, J. P., the great French composer, i. 13, 212;
-  opinions of Dr. Burney and Grimm on his compositions, 213;
-  memoirs of, 213 _et seq._;
-  letters of nobility granted to him, 220;
-  his music, 222;
-  his death and funeral, 222, 223.
-
-_Ranz des Vaches_, ii. 289, 290.
-
-Recitative, on the use of, in opera, ii. 296.
-
-Rehearsals at the French opera, ii. 207;
-  in London, 208.
-
-Reign of Terror, a fearful time for artists and art, ii. 71;
-  its numerous victims, 76, 77.
-
-Republic of France, changes effected, in the Opera by the, ii. 64, 65.
-
-Republican celebrities, their direction of the Opera National, ii. 62, 63, 74;
-  changes effected by, in operatic pieces, 64, 65.
-
-Revolution in France, state of the Opera at the period, ii. 34 _et seq._ 55;
-  its effect on the Academie, 56 _et seq._;
-  musicians and singers who fell victims to its fury, 76, 77.
-
-Rey, the musical composer, and conductor of the Paris orchestra, ii. 41.
-
-Righini, the operatic composer, ii. 104.
-
-_Rigoletto_, operatic music of, i. 47, 48.
-
-_Rinaldo and Armida_, by Handel, i. 123;
-  operatic sparrows of, 123-126.
-
-Rinuccini, Ottavio, the Italian poet, i. 5;
-  author of the libretto to _Dafne_, 7.
-
-_Robert le Diable_, of Meyerbeer, new version of a chorus in, i. 42;
-  remarks on, ii. 202, 211 _et seq._;
-  compared with _Der Freischutz_, 213;
-  brought out at the King's Theatre, 214.
-
-Robespierre, fall of, ii. 76.
-
-_Robin des Bois_, an adaptation of Weber's _Der Freischutz_, ii. 295-297.
-
-Robinson, Anastasia, the celebrated vocalist, i. 134;
-  privately married to the Earl of Peterborough, 134;
-  Lady Delany's account of, 134-138.
-
-Robinson, Mr., father of Lady Peterborough, i. 135;
-  death of, 136.
-
-Rochois, Martha le, the vocalist, i. 25.
-
-"Romantic School" of the opera, ii. 284.
-
-Rossi, the Italian librettist, i. 128.
-
-Rossini, the operatic composer. ii. 31;
-  history of his period, 140 _et seq._;
-  the greatest of Italian composers, 142;
-  his biographers, 143;
-  his _Barber of Seville_, 144;
-  historical anecdotes of, 144 _et seq._;
-  comparison of, with Mozart and Beaumarchais, 149;
-  his _Pietra del Paragone_, 151;
-  his innovations, 153, 155; _Tancredi_ and _Otello_, 156, 157;
-  his _Gazza Ladra_, 160;
-  his _Mosé in Egitto_, 163;
-  married to Mdlle. Colbran, 166;
-  his _Semiramide_ played by Madame Pasta and others, 168, 169;
-  his _Siege de Corinth_, 189;
-  his _Viaggio a Reims_, 195;
-  _Guillaume Tell_ his last opera, 201;
-  succeeded by Meyerbeer at the Academie, 202;
-  his followers, 203, 204;
-  his retirement, 205;
-  Donizetti's early admiration of, 226;
-  Sigismondi's horror of his works, and his adverse criticisms, 228 _et seq._;
-  his musical genius and powers, 282;
-  his _William Tell_, 283;
-  the most modern of operatic composers, 283;
-  the alpha and the omega of our operatic period, 283.
-
-_Rouslan e Loudmila_, of Glinka, ii. 290.
-
-Rousseau, J. J., a critic and a composer of music, i. 238 _et seq._;
-  his "Dictionnaire de Musique," 239;
-  his definition of Opera, 239;
-  his critical dissertation on the Opera in France during
-     the eighteenth century, 239-250;
-  his opinions on dancing and the ballet, 250;
-  author of the _Devin du Village_, 261,
-    but Granet the musical composer, 262, 263;
-  his advice to Mdlle. Theodore, 300.
-
-Rousseau, Pierre, anecdote of, i. 262;
-  accuses Jean J. Rousseau of fraud, 265.
-
-Royal Academy of Music formed in London, i. 142;
-  liberally patronized, 143;
-  confided to Handel, 144;
-  the various operas produced at, 144, 145;
-  involved in difficulties, 145;
-  finally closed, 146;
-  a complete failure, 147.
-
-Rubini, the celebrated tenor singer, ii. 249, 264, 265;
-  the fellow-student of Bellini, 249;
-  biographical notices of, 265, 266;
-  his great emoluments, 266;
-  his B flat, 267, 268;
-  his broken clavicle, 269.
-
-Rue Richelieu, opera in closed after the assassination of the
-     Duc de Berri, ii. 193.
-
-Russia, opera in, during the republican and Napoleonic wars, ii. 87.
-
-
-S.
-
-Sacchini, the musical composer, i. 212; ii. 2, 31, 40;
-  works of, 40;
-  his _Chimčne_ played at the Paris Opera, 43;
-  his _OEdipe ŕ Colosse_, 44.
-
-Sacred musical plays of the fifteenth century, i. 2.
-
-_Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica_, of Algarotte, i. 2;
-  St. Evremond's comedy of _Les Operas_, i. 50.
-
-St. Leger, Mdlles. de, executed for playing the piano, ii. 69.
-
-St. Montant, M. de, a musical enthusiast, i. 87.
-
-St. Petersburg, opera at, ii. 87, 88.
-
-Salieri, the operatic composer, ii. 2, 32, 40, 100;
-  brings out his _Danaides_, 44;
-  the rival of Mozart, 101;
-  his _Assur_, 101, 102.
-
-Sallé, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse, i. 91;
-  her proposed reforms in stage costume, 91;
-  noticed by Voltaire, Fontenelle, and others, 92;
-  her first appearance in London, 93;
-  her alterations in stage costume, 93;
-  performance of her _Pygmalion_, and her great success, 98 _et seq._;
-  enthusiasm at her benefit in London, 98, 99;
-  announcement of her first arrival in England, 101.
-
-Saxe, Marshal, the great favourite of the ladies, i. 232, 233;
-  his love for Madame Favart, 233, 234.
-
-Scarlatti's opera of _Pyrrhus and Demetrius_, i. 117.
-
-Scenery, the great attraction in operatic representations, i. 3;
-  the art carried to great perfection at Rome, 3, 4;
-  of the opera of Paris, 252.
-
-Schoelcher, M. Victor, biographer of Handel, i. 97;
-  on the origin of "God save the king," 165.
-
-Schindler, the biographer of Beethoven, ii. 287.
-
-Schmaling, Mdlle. (See MARA).
-
-Schools, the different ones, ii. 284.
-
-Schroeder-Devrient, Madame, the vocalist, ii. 299.
-
-Schutz, the musical composer, i. 6.
-
-Scribe, M., the librettist, i. 212, ii. 250;
-  his comic operas, i. 212.
-
-Scudo, the critic, ii. 293.
-
-_Semiramide_, of Rossini, ii. 168;
-  represented by Madame Pasta and others, 168, 169.
-
-Senesino, Signor, the sopranist, i. 158, 159;
-  quarrels with Handel, and joins the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, 164.
-
-_Serva Padrona_, opera of, hissed from the French stage, i. 9.
-
-Servandoni, of the Tuileries theatre, i. 63;
-  his scenic decorations, 177, 179.
-
-Shakspeare's dramas, i. 61.
-
-_Siege de Corinthe_, produced at the French Opera, ii. 195.
-
-_Siege of Thionville_, its gratuitous performance for
-     the amusement of the _sans culottes_, ii. 66.
-
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, ii. 226;
-  his pious horror of Rossini's works, and his adverse criticisms, 228, 229.
-
-Singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, i. 8, 182, 183 _et seq._;
-  their capricious tempers, 161;
-  Lord Mount Edgcumbe's "Reminiscences" of, ii. 28;
-  divided into two classes, 28;
-  exposed to the threats of the Republicans, 69.
-
-Singers of Italy, found in all parts of Europe, i. 10, 172 _et seq._;
-  nicknames given to, 186-8.
-
-Singers of the French Opera, privileges of the, i. 77.
-
-Singing in dramatic representations, its powerful effects, i. 47;
-  humorous satire on, 50, 51;
-  Mazocci's school of, 184;
-  Marcello's satirical advice respecting, 204-12;
-  deaths caused by, ii. 270.
-
-Smith, J., the husband of Mrs. Tofts, i. 111.
-
-Smith, Sir Sidney, his liberation from the French prison
-     by Boisgerard, ii. 117, 118.
-
-Sobriquets, applied to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters
-     of Italy, i. 186-8.
-
-Song, difficulty of writing to declamation in modern languages, i. 240.
-
-Song of Solomon, considered the earliest opera on record, i. 3.
-
-_Sonnambula_, of Bellini, ii. 250, 251, 257.
-
-Sontag, Mdlle., biographical notices of, ii. 174.
-
-Soubise, Prince de, i. 299;
-  his great expenditure, ii. 51.
-
-Sounds, art of combining agreeably, i. 239;
-  of a speaking voice, 240.
-
-Sparrows, operatic, at the Haymarket, i. 123-126.
-
-Spectator. (See ADDISON).
-
-Spitting, i. 107.
-
-Spohr, the celebrated German composer, ii. 285.
-
-Spontini, the musical composer, ii. 183;
-  his _Finta Filosofa_, 185;
-  his _La Vestale_, and _Fernand Cortez_, 186, 187;
-  his animosity towards Meyerbeer, 188.
-
-Stage of France, its state of morality, i. 81, 82.
-
-Stage costume, Mdlles. Sallé's proposed reforms in, i. 93;
-  her alterations in, 93.
-
-Stage decoration, i. 63, 178, 179, 180.
-
-Stage plays, ordinances for the suppression of, i. 31.
-
-Steele, on insanity, i. 111, 112;
-  his hatred of the Italian Opera, 113;
-  his chagrin at the success of Handel's _Rinaldo_, 116;
-  his insults to operatic singers, 117;
-  on the operatic sparrows and chaffinches at the Haymarket, 126;
-  his unfavourable opinion of opera, 126, 127.
-
-Stockholm, opera at, ii. 87.
-
-Storace, Mrs., the prima donna of the King's Theatre, ii. 3;
-  biographical notices of, 4.
-
-Storace, Stephen, musical director of the King's Theatre, ii. 4.
-
-Strada, Signora, the Italian singer, i. 163.
-
-Stradella, the vocalist and operatic composer, i. 183.
-
-Strozzi, Pietro, i. 5.
-
-Stutgardt, magnificence of the theatres at, i. 178.
-
-Styx, how to cross the, i. 85.
-
-Subligny, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse, i. 92.
-
-Swift, his celebrated epigram on Buononcini and Handel, i. 64.
-
-
-T.
-
-_Talismano_, of Pacini, ii. 267, 268.
-
-Talmont, princess de, letter from, 235.
-
-Tamburini, the singer, performer of "Don Giovanni" in London, ii. 108;
-  biographical notices of, 271-4;
-  his grotesque personation of the absent _prima donna_, 272-274;
-  his versatile powers, 273.
-
-_Tancredi_, by Rossini, ii. 152, 156, 157.
-
-Taylor, Mr., proprietor and manager of the King's Theatre, ii. 121;
-  humorous anecdotes of, 122 _et seq._;
-  his quarrel with Mr. Waters, 126;
-  driven from the theatre, 126;
-  ends his days in prison, 127;
-  his anonymous letter respecting Waters, 128.
-
-_Teatro a la Modo_, Marcello's satire of i. 204-12.
-
-Terence, the first production of his _Eunuchus_, ii. 90.
-
-Terpsichorean treaty, ii. 115.
-
-Theatre, at Stutgardt, i. 178;
-  at Venice, 180; at Vienna, 181;
-  of the jesuits, at Paris, ii. 50.
-
-Théâtre des Arts, of Paris, ii. 194;
-  its frequent changes of name, 194, _n._
-
-Théâtre d'Opéra, of Paris, ii. 193.
-
-Theatres in the open air, i. 176, 177;
-  of immense size, 177 _et seq._;
-  scenic decorations of, 178, 179;
-  at Venice, 180;
-  number of in Paris during the Reign of Terror, ii. 71.
-
-Théodore, Mdlle., the accomplished danseuse, i. 300;
-  imprisoned, ii. 54.
-
-Thévanard, the operatic singer, i. 79.
-
-Thillon, Madame, ii. 239.
-
-Tintoretto, the musical composer, refuses the honour of knighthood, i. 221.
-
-Tofts, Mrs. the vocalist, and rival of Margarita de l'Epine, i. 105;
-  letter from, 105;
-  plays "Arsinoe" at Drury Lane, 107;
-  her insanity, 110, 111.
-
-Tosi, Signor, his observations on Mesdames Faustina and Cuzzoni, i. 151.
-
-Trial, the comic tenor, death of, ii. 76.
-
-Tribou, the French harmonist, i. 83;
-  his versatile talents, 83.
-
-_Triomphe de Trajan_, opera of, ii. 189.
-
-Tuileries, the last _concert spirituel_ at the theatre of the, ii. 57.
-
-
-U
-
-_Undine_, of Hoffman, ii. 301-305.
-
-
-V
-
-Valabrčque, M., the husband of Catalani, ii. 20;
-  draft of a contract between him and Mr. Ebers, 23-25;
-  anecdote of his stupidity, 26, 27.
-
-Valentini, Regina, the celebrated vocalist, i. 156;
-  married to Mingotti, 156.
-
-Varennes, Mdlle., the French danseuse, ii. 112.
-
-Velluti, a tenor singer of great powers, ii. 209;
-  played the principal part in _Il Crociato_, 209;
-  biographical notices of, 210;
-  his first debut and performance in London, 211.
-
-Venice, the opera of, and its scenic decorations, i. 180.
-
-Verdi, Signor, the musical composer, i. 213, 268; ii. 99, _note_;
-  his _Ernani_ and _Rigoletto_ founded on _Hernani_ and
-    _Le Roi s'amuse_, i. 213;
-  his _Ernani_ prohibited the stage, ii. 235.
-
-Versailles, ballets at, i. 70, 71;
-  the London Italian company perform at, ii. 3.
-
-Vestris, Gaetan, the dancer, anecdotes of, i. 278; ii. 37;
-  founder of the family, i. 301.
-
-Vestris, Auguste, son of Gaetan the dancer, i. 301;
-  anecdotes of, ii. 35, 37;
-  his extravagant expenditure, 53.
-
-Vestris, the prince of Guéméné, compelled to dance as a sans culotte, ii. 69.
-
-Vestrises, biographical notices of the family, i. 302.
-
-_Viaggio a Reims_, by Rossini, written for the coronation
-    of Charles X., ii. 195.
-
-Victor Hugo, his copyright action against Donizetti, ii. 284, 285.
-
-Vienna, establishment of the Italian opera in, i. 174;
-  its great writers and composers, 175;
-  Lady Wortley Montagu's description of its magnificent theatre, 175;
-  opera at, a first-rate musical theatre, 181;
-  great patronage of the imperial family, 181.
-
-Viagnoni, the singer, ii. 14.
-
-Violins of the seventeenth century, i. 23.
-
-Virtuosi of the seventeenth century, i. 183.
-
-Vivien, the horn player, i. 184.
-
-Vocalists of Paris, their generous letter to Prince de Guéméné, ii. 51.
-  (See SINGERS.)
-
-Voice, speaking, sounds of a, i. 240.
-
-
-W.
-
-Wagner's definition of the word "Opera," i. 1 _et note_.
-
-Wallace, V., the eminent composer, i. 42;
-  critique on a passage in his _Maritana_, i. 42, 43;
-  his _Maritana_ and _Lurline_ founded on the French, 214.
-
-Warsaw, the opera of closed, ii. 54.
-
-Warton, Dr. J., his character of the Duchess of Bolton, i. 138.
-
-Waters, Mr., joint proprietor of the King's Theatre, ii. 109, 125;
-  quarrels with Taylor, his partner, 126;
-  re-opens the Opera, 127;
-  makes a purchase of it, 127;
-  his retirement, 129.
-
-Weber, Karl Maria Von, a romantic composer, ii. 285;
-  belongs to the same class as Beethoven and Spohr, 285;
-  his influence on the Opera, 288;
-  his fondness for particular instruments, 290;
-  characteristics of his music, 291;
-  his resemblance to Meyerbeer, 292;
-  his _Der Freischutz_, and its great success, 292 _et seq._;
-  his various operas, 298 _et seq._;
-  his _Oberon_, 301.
-
-_William Tell_, of Rossini, no subsequent opera to be ranked with, ii. 283.
-
-Williams, Sir Charles, anecdote of, i. 157.
-
-Wolfenbuttel school of music, i. 6.
-
-Women, duelling among, i. 225 _et note_.
-
-Wurtemburg, Duke, brilliancy of his court, i. 178.
-
-
-Z.
-
-_Zaira_, of Bellini, ii. 250.
-
-_Zelmira_, of Rossini, ii. 165;
-  its music, 167.
-
-Zeno, Apostolo, the operatic writer, i. 175;
-  a librettist, 212.
-
-Zingarelli, the musical composer, ii. 32.
-
-FINIS.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext
-transcriber:
-
-_La Dame Camélias_ was to have been played=>_La Dame aux Camélias_ was
-to have been played
-
-J'ai vu le soliel et la lune=>J'ai vu le soleil et la lune
-
-of an Italian, who, adandoning=>of an Italian, who, abandoning
-
-old newspapers before before me=>old newspapers before me
-
-One the contrary, it gives=>On the contrary, it gives
-
-the banquet with the apparation of the murdered=>the banquet with the
-apparition of the murdered
-
-DUCAL CONNAISSEURS=>DUCAL CONNOISSEURS
-
-Hamburg theatre, where operas had been performed=>Hamburgh theatre,
-where operas had been performed
-
-Woffenbüttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh=>Wolfenbüttel caused
-the directors of the Hamburgh
-
-retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolesi, Jomelli,=>retirement, operas
-by Galuppi, Pergolese, Jomelli,
-
-Guingueneé, at Piccinni's request=>Guinguenée, at Piccinni's request
-
-"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le dieu de la danse_=>"If,"
-said Gaetan, on another occasion, "_le diou de la danse_
-
-works, had to perform in the _Clemenzo di Tito_=>works, had to perform
-in the _Clemenza di Tito_
-
-Gluck benefitted French opera in two ways=>Gluck benefited French opera
-in two ways
-
-Bernadotte wore he would have Paer, and no one else=>Bernadotte swore he
-would have Paer, and no one else
-
-"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of music=>"The
-administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music
-
-by lord Fife--a keen-eyed connoisseur=>by Lord Fife--a keen-eyed
-connoisseur
-
-For the one hundred and eighty pound boxas=>For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes
-
-meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up Water's=>meanwhile Mr. Chambers had
-bought up Waters's
-
-prima uomo=>primo uomo
-
-Madeimoselle=>Mademoiselle
-
-Hadyn=>Haydn
-
-LA MUETTE DE PARTICI=>LA MUETTE DE PORTICI {2}
-
-La Muette di Portici=>La Muette de Portici
-
-threw himself out of window, at five in the morning=>threw himself out
-of a window, at five in the morning
-
-the opera performed, and the theatre saved=>the opera perfomed, and the
-theatre saved
-
-so that the cast, to be efficient=>so that the caste, to be efficient
-
-The young gentlemen of Burgamo=>The young gentlemen of Bergamo
-
-Il Puritani=>I Puritani
-
-general enthusiam=>general enthusiasm
-
-Schindler's book is the course of nearly=>Schindler's book is the sourse
-of nearly
-
-Berlioz's version of Der Freischutz=>Berlioz's version of Der Freischütz
-
-Dame aux Camelias=>Dame aux Camélias
-
-Der Freischutz, of Weber=>Der Freischütz, of Weber
-
-Mailly's Akebar=>Mailly's Akébar
-
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mddlle. Petit=>Marre, Abbé de la, defends
-Mdlle. Petit
-
-Singers of the seventeenth and eightteenth centuries=>Singers of the
-seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
-
-Fenelon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.=>Fénélon, Chev. de,
-accidentally killed, i. 81.
-
-of Cimarosa, Paesiello, Anfossi=>of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi
-
-where are Hoffman's licentious novels=>where are Hoffmann's licentious
-novels
-
-his opinion of Hoffman's music, 306.=>his opinion of Hoffmann's music,
-306.
-
-       *       *       *       *       *
-
-
-FOOTNOTES:
-
-[1] Wagner calls the composer of an opera "the sculptor _or_
-upholsterer," (which is complimentary to sculptors,) and the writer of
-the words "the architect." I would rather say that the writer of the
-words produces a sketch, on which the composer paints a picture.
-
-Since writing the above I find that the greatest of French poets
-describes an admirable _libretto_ of his own as "_un canevas d'opéra
-plus ou moins bien disposé pour que l'oeuvre musicale s'y superpose
-heureusement_;" and again, "_une trame qui ne demande pas mieux que de
-se dérober sous cette riche et éblouissante broderie qui s'appelle la
-musique_." (Preface to Victor Hugo's _Esmeralda_.)
-
-[2] Ménestrier, des representations en musique, anciennes et modernes,
-page 23.
-
-[3] See Vol. II.
-
-[4] Cambronne, by the way is said to have been very much annoyed at the
-invention of "_La garde meurt et ne se rend pas_;" and with reason, for
-he didn't die and he _did_ surrender.
-
-[5] "_The battle or defeat of the Swiss on the day of Marignan._"
-
-[6] This was Heine's own joke.
-
-[7] And this, Beaumarchais's.
-
-[8] _La Dame aux Camélias_ was to have been played at the St. James's
-Theatre last summer, with Madame Doche in the principal part; but its
-representation was forbidden by the licenser.
-
-[9] _Spectator_, No. 18.
-
-[10] "Life of Handel," by Victor Schoelcher.
-
-[11] I adhere to the custom of calling Margarita de l'Epine by her
-pretty Christian name, without any complimentary prefix, and of styling
-her probably more dignified competitor, Mrs. Tofts. Thus in later times
-it has been the fashion to say, Jenny Lind, and even Giulia Grisi, but
-not Theresa Titiens or Henrietta Sontag.
-
-[12] _Spectator_, No. 261.
-
-[13] Burnt down in 1789. The present edifice was erected from designs by
-Michael Novosielski, (who, to judge from his name, must have been a
-Russian or a Pole), in 1790. Altered and enlarged by Nash and Repton, in
-1816--18.
-
-[14] It is to be regretted, however, that in sneering at an Italian
-librettist who called Handel "The Orpheus of our age," Addison thought
-fit to speak of the great composer with neither politeness, nor wit, nor
-even accuracy, as "Mynheer."--_Spectator_, No. V.
-
-[15] The same trenchant critics who attribute Addison's satire of the
-Opera to the failure of his _Rosamond_, explain Steele's attacks by his
-position as patentee of Drury Lane Theatre. Here, however, dates come to
-our assistance. The jocose paper on Mrs. Toft's insanity appeared in the
-_Tatler_, in 1709. The attacks of the unhappy Clayton on Handel (see
-following pages) were published under Steele's auspices in the
-_Spectator_, in 1711-12. Steele did not succeed Collier as manager or
-patentee of Drury Lane, together with Wilks, Doggett, and Cibber, until
-1714.
-
-[16] _Spectator_, 290.
-
-[17] The Queen's gardeners.
-
-[18] _Tatler_, No. 113.
-
-[19] _Spectator_, No. 285.
-
-[20] It is also known that both profited by the study of Scarlatti's
-works.
-
-[21] See Chapter II.
-
-[22] Quoted by Mr. Hogarth, in his Memoirs of the Opera.
-
-[23] _The Theatre._ From Tuesday, March 8th, to Saturday March 12th,
-1720.
-
-[24] See a letter of Dr. Harrington's (referred to by Mr. Chappell), in
-the _Monthly Magazine_, Vol. XI., page 386.
-
-[25] "Memoirs of the Opera," Vol. I., page 371.
-
-[26] The sopranists--a species of singers which ceased to be "formed"
-after Pope Clement XIV. sanctioned the introduction of female vocalists
-into the churches of Rome, and at the same time recommended theatrical
-directors to have women's parts in their operas performed by women. This
-was in 1769.
-
-[27] The _Dictionnaire Musicale_ was not published until some years
-afterwards.
-
-[28] Le Vieux Neuf, par Edouard Fournier, t. ii., p. 293.
-
-[29] See _Moliére Musicien_, by Castil Blaze; t. ii, p. 26.
-
-[30] Choruses were introduced in the earliest Italian Operas, but they
-do not appear to have formed essential parts of the dramas represented.
-
-[31] With the important exception, however, of _Don Giovanni_, written
-for, and performed for the first time, at Prague.
-
-[32] Vocal agility, not gymnastics.
-
-[33] Of Faustina and Cuzzoni, whose histories are so intimately
-connected with that of the Royal Academy of Music, I have spoken in the
-preceding chapter on "The Italian Opera under Handel."
-
-[34] The copious title of this work is given by M. Castil Blaze, in his
-"Histoire de l'Opéra Italien." I cannot obtain the book itself, but Mr.
-Hogarth, in his "Memoirs of the Opera," gives a very full account of it,
-from which I extract a few pages.
-
-[35] F. Halévy, Origines de l'Opéra en France (in the volume entitled
-"Souvenirs et Portraits: Etudes sur les beaux Arts").
-
-[36] By M. Castil Blaze, "Histoire de l'Académie Royale de Musique,"
-vol. i. p. 116.
-
-[37] For a copy of his Mass, No. 2.
-
-[38] It was precisely because persons joining the Opera did _not_
-thereby lose their nobility, that M. de Camargo consented to allow his
-daughter to appear there. See page 89 of this volume.
-
-[39] Among other instances of duels between women may be cited a combat
-with daggers, which took place between the abbess of a convent at
-Venice, and a lady who claimed the admiration of the Abbé de Pomponne; a
-combat with swords between Marotte Beaupré and Catherine des Urlis,
-actresses at the Hotel de Bourgogne, where the duel took place, on the
-stage (came of quarrel unknown); and a combat on horseback, with
-pistols, about a greyhound, between two ladies whom the historian
-Robinet designates under the names of Mélinte and Prélamie, and in which
-Mélinte was wounded.
-
-[40] Castil Blaze.
-
-[41] It is not so generally known, by the way, as it should be, that
-Garrick was of French origin. The name of his father, who left France
-after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in England and
-married an Englishwoman, was Carric. (See "the Eighth Commandment," by
-Charles Reade.) On the other hand we must not forget that one of
-Moličre's (Poquelin's) ancestors in the male line was an archer of the
-Scottish guard, and that Montaigne was of English descent.
-
-[42] One of Mademoiselle Guimard's principal admirers was de Jarente,
-Titular Bishop of Orleans, who held "_la feuilles des bénéfices_," and
-frequently disposed of them in accordance with the suggestions of his
-young friend.
-
-[43] French audiences owe something to the Count de Lauragais who, by
-paying an immense sum of money as compensation, procured the abolition
-of the seats on the stage. Previously, the _habitués_ were in the habit
-of crowding the stage to such an extent, that an actor was sometimes
-obliged to request the public to open a way for him before he could make
-his entry.
-
-[44] Compare this with the Duke of Wellington keeping foxhounds in the
-Peninsula, and observe the characteristic pastimes of English and French
-generals. So, in our House of Commons, there is always an adjournment
-over the Derby day; in France, nothing used to empty the Chamber of
-Deputies so much as a new opera; and during the last French republic,
-when a question affecting its very existence was about to be discussed,
-the Assemblée Nationale was quite deserted, from the anxiety of the
-members to be present at the first representation of the _Prophčte_.
-
-[45] On this subject see _ante_, page 1.
-
-[46] "Gods and devils," says Arteaga, "were banished from the stage as
-soon as poets discovered the art of making men speak with
-dignity."--_Rivoluzioni del teatro Italiano._
-
-[47] Published by John Chapman, London.
-
-[48] Addison gives some such description of the French Opera in No. 29
-of the _Spectator_.
-
-[49] The origin of this absurd title has been already explained (page
-15).
-
-[50] _Moličre Musicien_, par Castil Blaze, vol. II., p. 409.
-
-[51] Gluck's name proves nothing to the contrary. The Slavonian
-languages are such unknown tongues, and so unpronounceable to the West
-of Europe that Slavonians have in numerous instances Latinised their
-names like Copernicus (a Pole), or Gallicised them like Chopin (also a
-Pole), or above all, have Germanised them like Guttenberg (a native of
-Kutna Gora in Bohemia), Schwarzenberg (from Tcherna Gora, the Black
-Mountain).
-
-[52] We have a right to suppose that the priest did not exactly know for
-whose arm the mass was ordered.
-
-[53] Of which, the best account I have met with is given in the memoirs
-of Fleury the actor.
-
-[54] From 1821 to 1828.
-
-[55] For an interesting account of the production of this work, see
-"Beaumarchais's Life and Times," by Louis de Loménie. See also the
-Preface to _Tarare_, in Beaumarchais's "Dramatic Works."
-
-[56] See vol I.
-
-[57] _Question._ Quelle est la meilleure? _Answer._ C'est Mara.
-_Rejoinder._ C'est bientôt dit (_bien Todi_).--(From a joke-book of the
-period).
-
-[58] A celebrated male soprano, and one of the last of the tribe.
-
-[59] Some writers speak of Mara as a violinist, others as a
-violoncellist.
-
-[60] Banti was born at Crema, in 1757.
-
-[61] Nasolini, a composer of great promise, died at a very early age.
-
-[62] All three sopranists.
-
-[63] It will be remembered that Berton, the director of the French
-Academy, entertained Gluck and Piccinni in a similar manner. (See vol.
-I.)
-
-[64] We sometimes hear complaints of the want of munificence shown by
-modern constitutional sovereigns, in their dealings with artists and
-musicians. At least, however, they pay them. Louis XV. and Louis XVI.
-not only did not pay their daughters' music-masters, but allowed the
-royal young ladies to sponge upon them for what music they required.
-
-[65] In chronicling the material changes that have taken place at the
-French Opera, I must not forgot the story of the new curtain, displayed
-for the first time, in 1753, or rather the admirable inscription
-suggested for it by Diderot--_Hic Marsias Apollinem._ Pergolese's
-_Servante Maitresse_ (_La Serva padrona_) had just been "_écorchée_" by
-the orchestra of the Académie.
-
-[66] Mémoires Secrčtes, vol. xxi., page 121.
-
-[67] This prevented me, when I was in Warsaw, from hearing M.
-Moniuszko's Polish opera of _Halka_.
-
-[68] To say that a theatre is "full" in the present day, means very
-little. The play-bills and even the newspapers speak of "a full house"
-when it is half empty. If a theatre is tolerably full, it is said to be
-"crowded" or "crammed;" if quite full, "crammed to suffocation." And
-that even in the coldest weather!
-
-[69] M. de Lamartine before writing the _History of the Restoration_,
-did not even take the trouble to find out whether or not the Duke of
-Wellington led a cavalry charge at the Battle of Waterloo. The same
-author, in his _History of the Girondist_, gives an interesting picture
-of Charlotte Corday's house at Caen, considered as a ruin. Being at Caen
-some years ago, I had no trouble in finding Charlotte Corday's house,
-but looked in vain for the moss, the trickling water, &c., introduced by
-M. de Lamartine in his poetical, but somewhat too fanciful description.
-The house was "in good repair," as the auctioneers say, and persons who
-had lived a great many years in the same street assured me that they had
-never known it as a ruin.--S. E.
-
-[70] There was a Marquis de Louvois, but he was employed as a
-scene-shifter.
-
-[71] It was built chiefly with the money of Danton and Sébastian
-Lacroix.
-
-[72] Twenty-eight thousand francs a year, to which Napoleon always added
-twelve thousand in presents, with an annual _congé_ of four months.
-
-[73] According to M. Thiers, the pretended copies of the secret
-articles, sold to the English Government, were not genuine, and the
-money paid for them was "_mal gagné_."
-
-[74] Alexander II. gives Verdi an honorarium of 80,000 roubles for the
-opera he is now writing for St. Petersburg. The work, of course, remains
-Signor Verdi's property.
-
-[75] Nouvelle Biographie de Mozart. Moscou, 1843.
-
-[76] There are numerous analogies between the various Spanish legends of
-Don Juan, the Anglo-Saxon and German legends of Faust, and the Polish
-legend of Twardowski. It might be shown that they were all begotten by
-the legend of Theophilus of Syracuse, and that their latest descendant
-is _Punch_ of London.
-
-[77] Madame Alboni has appeared as Zerlina, and sings the music of this,
-as of every other part that she undertakes, to perfection; but she is
-not so intimately associated with the character as the other vocalists
-mentioned above.
-
-[78] Waters appears to have spent nearly all the money he made during
-the seasons of 1814 and 1815, in improving the house.
-
-[79] After receiving, the first year she sang in London, two thousand
-guineas, (five hundred more than was paid to Banti,) she declared that
-her price was ridiculously low, and that to retain her "_ci voglioni
-molte mila lira sterline_." She demanded and obtained five thousand.
-
-[80] There is a scientific German mind and a romantic German mind, and I
-perhaps need scarcely say, that Weber's music appears to me thoroughly
-German, in the sense in which the legends and ballads of Germany belong
-thoroughly to that country.
-
-[81] As for instance where _Semiramide_ is described as an opera written
-in the German style!
-
-[82] It would be absurd to say that if Rossini had set the _Marriage of
-Figaro_ to music, he would have produced a finer work than Mozart's
-masterpiece on the same subject; but Rossini's genius, by its comic
-side, is far more akin to that of Beaumarchais, than is Mozart's. Mozart
-has given a tender poetic character to many portions of his _Marriage of
-Figaro_, which the original comedy does not possess at all. In
-particular, he has so elevated the part of "Cherubino" by pure and
-beautiful melodies, as to have completely transformed it. It is surely
-no disparagement to Mozart, to say, that he took a higher view of life
-than Beaumarchais was capable of?
-
-I may add, that, in comparing Rossini with Beaumarchais, it must always
-be remembered that the former possesses the highest dramatic talent of a
-serious, passionate kind--witness _Otello_ and _William Tell_; whereas
-Beaumarchais's serious dramatic works, such as _La Mčre Coupable_, _Les
-Deux Amis_, and _Eugénie_ (the best of the three), are very inferior
-productions.
-
-[83] The serious opera consisted of the following persons: the _primo
-uomo_ (_soprano_), _prima donna_, and tenor; the _secondo uomo_
-(_soprano_), _seconda donna_ and _ultima parte_, (bass). The company for
-the comic opera consisted of the _primo buffo_ (tenor), _prima buffa_,
-_buffo caricato_ (bass), _seconda buffa_ and _ultima parte_ (bass).
-There were also the _uomo serio_ and _donna seria_, generally the second
-man and woman of the serious opera.
-
-[84] The San Carlo, Benedetti Theatre, &c., are named after the parishes
-in which they are built.
-
-[85] Particularly celebrated for her performance of the brilliant part
-of the heroine in _La Cenerentola_, which, however, was not written for
-her.
-
-[86] When Madame Pasta sang at concerts, after her retirement from the
-stage, her favourite air was still Tancredi's _Di tanti palpiti_.
-
-[87] Mémorial de Sainte Hélčne.
-
-[88] "Lutčce" par Henri Heine (a French version, by Heine himself, of
-his letters from Paris to the _Allgemeine Zeitung_).
-
-[89] He persisted in this declaration, in spite of his judges, who were
-not ashamed to resort to torture, in the hope of extracting a full
-confession from him. The thumb-screw and the rack were not, it is true,
-employed; but sentinels were stationed in the wretched man's cell, with
-orders not to allow him a moment's sleep, until he confessed.
-
-[90] The Académie Royale became the Opéra National; the Opéra National,
-after its establishment in the abode of the former Théâtre National,
-became the Théâtre des Arts; and the Théâtre des Arts, the Théâtre de la
-République et des Arts. Napoleon's Théâtre des Arts became soon
-afterwards the Académie Impériale, the Académie Impériale the Académie
-Royale, the Académie Royale the Académie Nationale, the Académie
-Nationale once more the Académie Impériale, and the Académie Impériale
-simply the Théâtre de l'Opera, by far the best title that could be given
-to it.
-
-[91] I was in Paris at the time, but, I forget the specific objections
-urged by the doctor against the _Freischütz_ set before him at the
-"Académie Nationale," as the theatre was then called. Doubtless,
-however, he did not, among other changes, approve of added recitatives.
-
-[92] No. 1.--_Vive Henri IV._ No. 2.--_La Marseillaise._ No.
-3.--_Partant pour la Syrie._ No. 4.--_La Parisienne._ No. 5.--_Partant
-pour la Syrie_ (encored). No. 6.--?
-
-[93] Mozart, Cimarosa, Weber, Hérold, Bellini, and Mendelssohn.
-
-[94] In the case of _Il Crociato_, however, the model was an Italian
-one.
-
-[95] Rossini's natural inability to sympathize with sopranists is one
-more great point in his favour.
-
-[96] For instance: _Fra Diavolo_ and _Les Diamans la Couronne_.
-
-[97] The second, _Le Duc d'Albe_, was entrusted to Donizetti, who died
-without completing the score.
-
-[98] Nourrit was the author of _la Sylphide_, one of the most
-interesting and best designed ballets ever produced; that is to say, he
-composed the libretto for which Taglioni arranged the groups and dances.
-
-[99] See Raynouard's veracious "Histoire des Troubadours."
-
-[100] When are we to hear the last of the "ovations" which singers are
-said to receive when they obtain, or even do not obtain, any very
-triumphant success? A great many singers in the present day would be
-quite hurt if a journal were simply to record their "triumph." An
-"ovation" seems to them much more important; and it cannot be said that
-this misapprehension is entirely their fault.
-
-[101] That is to say, a quarter or a third part of an inch.
-
-[102] "What a pity I did not think of this city fifty years ago!"
-exclaimed Signor Badiali, when he made his first appearance in London,
-in 1859.
-
-[103] Joanna Wagner.
-
-[104] Richard Wagner.
-
-[105] Tancredi.
-
-[106] Once more, I may mention that the "romantic opera" (in the sense
-in which the French say "romantic drama,") was founded by Da Ponte and
-Mozart, the former furnishing the plan, the latter constructing the
-work--"The Opera of Operas."
-
-[107] The gist of M. Lenz's accusations against M. Oulibicheff amounts
-to this: that the latter, believing Mozart to have attained perfection
-in music, considered it impossible to go beyond him. "_Ou ce caractčre
-d'universalité que Mozart imprime ŕ quelques-un de ses plus grandes
-chefs-d'oeuvre_," says M. Oulibicheff. "_M'avait paru le progrčs
-immense que la musique attendait pour se constituer
-définitivement,--pour se constituer, avais-je dit, et non pour ne plus
-avancer._" According to M. Lenz, on the other hand, Mozart's
-master-pieces (after those which M. Lenz discovers among his latest
-compositions), are what preparatory studies are to a great work.
-
-[108] New form of his overtures, national melodies, &c.--(_Straker_).
-Love of traditions, melancholy, fanciful, spiritual; also
-popular.--(_Der Freischütz_).
-
-[109] I will not here enter into the question whether or not Meyerbeer
-desecrated this hymn by introducing it into an opera. Such was the
-opinion of Mendelssohn, who thought that but for Meyerbeer and the
-_Huguenots_, Luther's hymn might have been befittingly introduced in an
-oratorio which he intended to compose on the subject of the Reformation.
-
-[110] Another proof that this device is not new in the hands of Herr
-Wagner.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-The Project Gutenberg EBook of History of the Opera from its Origin in
-Italy to the present Time, by Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
-almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
-re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
-with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org/license
-
-
-Title: History of the Opera from its Origin in Italy to the present Time
-       With Anecdotes of the Most Celebrated Composers and Vocalists of Europe
-
-Author: Henry Sutherland Edwards
-
-Release Date: July 8, 2012 [EBook #40164]
-
-Language: English
-
-Character set encoding: UTF-8
-
-*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HISTORY OF THE OPERA ***
-
-
-
-
-Produced by Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed
-Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This book was
-produced from scanned images of public domain material
-from the Google Print project.)
-
-
-
-
-
-
-</pre>
-
-<hr class="full" />
-
-<p class="figcenter">
-<img src="images/cover.jpg" width="319" height="547" alt="image of the book&#39;s cover" title="" />
-</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="4" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="border:3px double gray;">
-<tr><td align="center"><a href="#vol_1_page_001"><b>Volume I</b></a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CONTENTS1"><b>Contents Volume I</b></a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><a href="#vol_2_page_001"><b>Volume II</b></a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><a href="#CONTENTS2"><b>Contents Volume II</b></a></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><a href="#INDEX"><b>Index</b></a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<h1>HISTORY<br /><br />
-<small>OF</small><br /><br />
-<big>T H E &nbsp; O P E R A,</big></h1>
-
-<p class="eng">from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="cb">WITH ANECDOTES<br />
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.<br />
-<br /><br />
-BY<br />
-<big><big>SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,</big></big><br />
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="cb">"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"<br />
-"WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="cb">VOL. I.<br /><br />
-LONDON:<br />
-W<small>M</small>. H. ALLEN &amp; CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.<br />
-&mdash;&mdash;<br />
-1862.</p>
-
-<p class="c">[<i>The right of translation and reproduction is reserved.</i>]</p>
-
-<p class="c">LONDON: LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-</p>
-
-<h2><a name="CONTENTS1" id="CONTENTS1"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:60%;">
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_I">CHAPTER I.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="right" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Preface, Prelude, Prologue, Introduction, Overture, &amp;c.&mdash;The
-Origin of the Opera in Italy, and its introduction into Germany.&mdash;Its
-History in Europe; Division of the subject </td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_001">1</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_II">CHAPTER II.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Introduction of the Opera into France and England</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_012">12</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_III">CHAPTER III.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>On the Nature of the Opera, and its Merits as compared with
-other forms of the Drama</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_036">36</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IV">CHAPTER IV.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Introduction and progress of the Ballet</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_070">70</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_V">CHAPTER V.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Introduction of the Italian Opera into England</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_104">104</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VI">CHAPTER VI.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>The Italian Opera under Handel</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_140">140</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VII">CHAPTER VII.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>General view of the Opera in Europe in the Eighteenth Century,
-until the appearance of Gluck</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_172">172</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_VIII">CHAPTER VIII.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>French Opera from Lulli to the Death of Rameau</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_217">217</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_IX">CHAPTER IX.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Rousseau as a Critic and as a Composer of Music</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_238">238</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_X">CHAPTER X.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Gluck and Piccinni in Paris</td><td align="right" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_267">267</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#INDEX">Index to Both Volumes</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_001" id="vol_1_page_001"></a></p>
-
-<h1>HISTORY OF THE OPERA.</h1>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_I" id="CHAPTER_I"></a>CHAPTER I.<br /><br />
-PREFACE, PRELUDE, PROLOGUE, INTRODUCTION, OVERTURE, ETC.&mdash;THE
-ORIGIN OF THE OPERA IN ITALY, AND ITS INTRODUCTION INTO
-GERMANY.&mdash;ITS HISTORY IN EUROPE; DIVISION OF THE SUBJECT.</h2>
-
-<p class="nind">I<small>T</small> has often been said, and notably, by J. J. Rousseau, and after him,
-with characteristic exaggeration, by R. Wagner, that "Opera" does not
-mean so much a musical work, as a musical, poetical, and spectacular
-work all at once; that "Opera" in fact, is "the work," <i>par excellence</i>,
-to the production of which all the arts are necessary.<a name="FNanchor_1_1" id="FNanchor_1_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_1_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> The very
-titles<a name="vol_1_page_002" id="vol_1_page_002"></a> of the earliest operas prove this notion to be incorrect. The
-earliest Italian plays of a mixed character, not being constructed
-according to the ancient rules of tragedy and comedy, were called by the
-general name of "Opera," the nature of the "work" being more
-particularly indicated by some such epithet or epithets as <i>regia</i>,
-<i>comica</i>, <i>tragica</i>, <i>scenica</i>, <i>sacra</i>, <i>esemplare</i>, <i>regia ed
-esemplare</i>, <i>&amp;c.</i>; and in the case of a lyrical drama, the words <i>per
-musica</i>, <i>scenica per musica</i>, <i>regia ed esemplare per musica</i>, were
-added, or the production was styled <i>opera musicale</i> alone. In time the
-mixed plays (which were imitated from the Spanish) fell into disrepute
-in Italy, while the title of "Opera" was still applied to lyrical
-dramas, but not without "musicale," or "in musica" after it. This was
-sufficiently vague, but people soon found it troublesome, or thought it
-useless, to say <i>opera musicale</i>, when opera by itself conveyed, if it
-did not express, their meaning, and thus dramatic works in music came to
-be called "Operas." Algarotte's work on the Opera (translated into
-French, and entitled <i>Essai sur l'Opéra</i>) is called in the original
-<i>Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica</i>. "Opera in music" would in the present
-day sound like a pleonasm, but it is as well to consider the true
-meaning of words, when we find them not merely perverted, but in their
-perverted sense made the foundation of ridiculous theories.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE FIRST OPERA</div>
-
-<p>The Opera proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the 15th century as
-the modern drama proceeds<a name="vol_1_page_003" id="vol_1_page_003"></a> from the mediæval mysteries. Ménestrier,
-however, the Jesuit father, assigns to it a far greater antiquity, and
-considers the Song of Solomon to be the earliest Opera on record,
-founding his opinion on these words of St. JĂ©rĂ´me, translated from
-Origen:&mdash;<i>Epithalamium, libellus, id est nuptiale carmen, in modum mihi
-videtur dramatis a Solomone conscriptus quem cecinit instar nubentis
-sponsæ</i>.<a name="FNanchor_2_2" id="FNanchor_2_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_2_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p>
-
-<p>Others see the first specimens of opera in the Greek plays; but the
-earliest musical dramas of modern Italy, from which the Opera of the
-present day is descended directly, and in an unbroken line, are
-"mysteries" differing only from the dramatic mysteries in so far that
-the dialogue in them was sung instead of being spoken. "The Conversion
-of St. Paul" was played in music, at Rome, in 1440. The first profane
-subject treated operatically, was the descent of Orpheus into hell; the
-music of this <i>Orfeo</i>, which was produced also at Rome, in 1480, was by
-Angelo Poliziano, the libretto by Cardinal Riario, nephew of Sixtus IV.
-The popes kept up an excellent theatre, and Clement IX. was himself the
-author of seven <i>libretti</i>.</p>
-
-<p>At this time the great attraction in operatic representations was the
-scenery&mdash;a sign of infancy then, as it is a sign of decadence now. At
-the very beginning of the sixteenth century, Balthazar Peruzzi, the
-decorator of the papal theatre, had carried his<a name="vol_1_page_004" id="vol_1_page_004"></a> art to such perfection,
-that the greatest painters of the day were astonished at his
-performances. His representations of architecture and the illusions of
-height and distance which his knowledge of perspective enabled him to
-produce, were especially admired. Vasari has told us how Titian, at the
-Palace of la Farnesina, was so struck by the appearance of solidity
-given by Peruzzi to his designs in profile, that he was not satisfied,
-until he had ascended a ladder and touched them, that they were not
-actually in relief. "One can scarcely conceive," says the historian of
-the painters, in speaking of Peruzzi's scenic decorations, "with what
-ability, in so limited a space, he represented such a number of houses,
-palaces, porticoes, entablatures, profiles, and all with such an aspect
-of reality that the spectator fancied himself transported into the
-middle of a public square, to such a point was the illusion carried.
-Moreover, Balthazar, the better to produce these results, understood, in
-an admirable manner the disposition of light as well as all the
-machinery connected with theatrical changes and effects."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DAFNE.</div>
-
-<p>In 1574, Claudio Merulo, organist at St. Mark's, of Venice, composed the
-music of a drama by Cornelio Frangipani, which was performed in the
-Venetian Council Chamber in presence of Henry III. of France. The music
-of the operatic works of this period appears to have possessed but
-little if any dramatic character, and to have consisted almost
-exclusively of choruses in the madrigal style, which<a name="vol_1_page_005" id="vol_1_page_005"></a> was so
-successfully cultivated about the same time in England. Emilio del
-Cavaliere, a celebrated musician of Rome, made an attempt to introduce
-appropriateness of expression into these choruses, and his reform,
-however incomplete, attracted the attention of Giovanni Bardi, Count of
-Vernio. This nobleman used to assemble in his palace all the most
-distinguished musicians of Florence, among whom were Mei, Caccini, and
-Vincent Galileo, the father of the astronomer. Vincent Galileo was
-himself a discoverer, and helped, at the Count of Vernio's musical
-meetings, to invent recitative&mdash;an invention of comparative
-insignificance, but which in the system of modern opera plays as
-important a part, perhaps, as the rotation of the earth does in that of
-the celestial spheres.</p>
-
-<p>Two other Florentine noblemen, Pietro Strozzi and Giacomo Corsi,
-encouraged by the example of Bardi, and determined to give the musical
-drama its fullest development in the new form that it had assumed,
-engaged Ottavio Rinuccini, one of the first poets of the period, with
-Peri and Caccini, two of the best musicians, to compose an opera which
-was entitled <i>Dafne</i>, and was performed for the first time in the Corsi
-Palace, at Florence, in 1597.</p>
-
-<p><i>Dafne</i> appears to have been the first complete opera. It was considered
-a masterpiece both from the beauty of the music and from the interest of
-the drama; and on its model the same authors composed their opera of
-<i>Euridice</i>, which was represented<a name="vol_1_page_006" id="vol_1_page_006"></a> publicly at Florence on the occasion
-of the marriage of Henry IV. of France, with Marie de Medicis, in 1600.
-Each of the five acts of <i>Euridice</i> concludes with a chorus, the
-dialogue is in recitative, and one of the characters, "Tircis," sings an
-air which is introduced by an instrumental prelude.</p>
-
-<p>New music was composed to the libretto of <i>Dafne</i> by Gagliano in 1608,
-when the opera thus rearranged was performed at Mantua; and in 1627 the
-same piece was translated by Opitz, "the father of the lyric stage in
-Germany," as he is called, set to music by Schutz, and represented at
-Dresden on the occasion of the marriage of the Landgrave of Hesse with
-the sister of John-George I., Elector of Saxony. It was not, however,
-until 1692 that Keiser appeared and perfected the forms of the German
-Opera. Keiser was scarcely nineteen years of age when he produced at the
-Court of WolfenbĂĽttel, <i>Ismene</i> and <i>Basilius</i>, the former styled a
-Pastoral, the latter an opera. It is said reproachfully, and as if
-facetiously, of a common-place German musician in the present day, that
-he is "of the WolfenbĂĽttel school," just as it is considered comic in
-France to taunt a singer or player with having come from Carpentras. It
-is curious that WolfenbĂĽttel in Germany, and Carpentras in France (as I
-shall show in the next chapter), were the cradles of Opera in their
-respective countries.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MONTEVERDE, AND HIS ORCHESTRA.</div>
-
-<p>To return to the Opera in Italy. The earliest musical drama, then, with
-choruses, recitatives, airs,<a name="vol_1_page_007" id="vol_1_page_007"></a> and instrumental preludes was <i>Dafne</i>, by
-Rinuccini as librettist, and Caccini and Peri as composers; but the
-orchestra which accompanied this work consisted only of a harpsichord, a
-species of guitar called a chitarone, a lyre, and a lute. When
-Monteverde appeared, he introduced the modern scale, and changed the
-whole harmonic system of his predecessors. He at the same time gave far
-greater importance in his operas to the accompaniments, and increased to
-a remarkable extent the number of musicians in the orchestra, which
-under his arrangement included every kind of instrument known at the
-time. Many of Monteverde's instruments are now obsolete. This composer,
-the unacknowledged prototype of our modern cultivators of orchestral
-effects, made use of a separate combination of instruments to announce
-the entry and return of each personage in his operas; a dramatic means
-employed afterwards by Hoffmann in his <i>Undine</i>,<a name="FNanchor_3_3" id="FNanchor_3_3"></a><a href="#Footnote_3_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a> and in the present
-day with pretended novelty by Richard Wagner. This newest orchestral
-device is also the oldest. The score of Monteverde's <i>Orfeo</i>, produced
-in 1608, contains parts for two harpsichords, two lyres or violas with
-thirteen strings, ten violas, three bass violas, two double basses, a
-double harp (with two rows of strings), two French violins, besides
-guitars, organs, a flute, clarions, and even trombones. The bass violas
-accompanied Orpheus, the violas Eurydice, the trombones Pluto, the small
-organ Apollo;<a name="vol_1_page_008" id="vol_1_page_008"></a> Charon, strangely enough, sang to the music of the
-guitar.</p>
-
-<p>Monteverde, having become chapel master at the church of St. Mark,
-produced at Venice <i>Arianna</i>, of which <i>Rinuccini</i> had written the
-libretto. This was followed by other works of the same kind, which were
-produced with great magnificence, until the fame of the Venetian operas
-spread throughout Italy, and by the middle of the seventeenth century
-the new entertainment was established at Venice, Bologna, Rome, Turin,
-Naples, and Messina. Popes, cardinals and the most illustrious nobles
-took the Opera under their protection, and the dukes of Mantua and
-Modena distinguished themselves by the munificence of their patronage.</p>
-
-<p>Among the most celebrated of the female singers of this period were
-Catarina Martinella of Rome, Archilei, Francesca Caccini (daughter of
-the composer of that name and herself the author of an operatic score),
-Adriana Baroni, of Mantua, and her daughter Leonora Baroni, whose
-praises have been sung by Milton in his three Latin poems "Ad Leonoram
-Romæ canentem."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE ITALIAN OPERA ABROAD.</div>
-
-<p>The Italian opera, as we shall afterwards see, was introduced into
-France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin, who as the Abbé Mazarini,
-had visited all the principal theatres of Italy by the express command
-of Richelieu, and had studied their system with a view to the more
-perfect representation of the<a name="vol_1_page_009" id="vol_1_page_009"></a> cardinal-minister's tragedies. The
-Italian Opera he introduced on his own account, and it was, on the
-whole, very inhospitably received. Indeed, from the establishment of the
-French Opera under Cambert and his successor Lulli, in the latter half
-of the seventeenth century, until the end of the eighteenth, the French
-were unable to understand or unwilling to acknowledge the immense
-superiority of the Italians in everything pertaining to music. In 1752
-Pergolese's <i>Serva Padrona</i> was the cause of the celebrated dispute
-between the partisans of French and Italian Opera, and the end of it was
-that <i>La Serva Padrona</i> was hissed, and the two singers who appeared in
-it driven from Paris.</p>
-
-<p>In England the Italian Opera was introduced in the first years of the
-eighteenth century, and under Handel, who arrived in London in 1710,
-attained the greatest perfection. Since the production of Handel's last
-dramatic work, in 1740, the Italian Opera has continued to be
-represented in London with scarcely noticeable intervals until the
-present day, and, on the whole, with remarkable excellence.</p>
-
-<p>Of English Opera a far less satisfactory account can be given. Its
-traditions exist by no means in an unbroken line. Purcell wrote English
-operas, and was far in advance of all the composers of his time, except,
-no doubt, those of Italy, who, we must remember were his masters, though
-he did not slavishly<a name="vol_1_page_010" id="vol_1_page_010"></a> copy them. Since then, we have had composers (for
-the stage, I mean) who have utterly failed; composers, like Dr. Arne,
-who have written Anglo-Italian operas; composers of "ballad operas,"
-which are not operas at all; composers of imitation-operas of all kinds;
-and lastly, the composers of the present day, by whom the long
-wished-for English Opera will perhaps at last be established.</p>
-
-<p>In Germany, which, since the time of Handel and Hasse, has produced an
-abundance of great composers for the stage, the national opera until
-Gluck (including Gluck's earlier works), was imitated almost entirely
-from that of Italy; and the Italian method of singing being the true and
-only method has always prevailed.</p>
-
-<p>Throughout the eighteenth century, we find the great Italian singers
-travelling to all parts of Europe and carrying with them the operas of
-the best Italian masters. In each of the countries where the opera has
-been cultivated, it has had a different history, but from the beginning
-until the end of the eighteenth century, the Italian Opera flourished in
-Italy, and also in Germany and in England; whereas France persisted in
-rejecting the musical teaching of a foreign land until the utter
-insufficiency of her own operatic system became too evident to be any
-longer denied. She remained separated from the rest of Europe in a
-musical sense until the time of the Revolution,<a name="vol_1_page_011" id="vol_1_page_011"></a> as she has since and
-from very different reasons been separated from it politically.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA IN FRANCE.</div>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, the history of the Opera in France is of great interest,
-like the history of every other art in that country which has engaged
-the attention of its ingenious amateurs and critics. Only, for a
-considerable period it must be treated apart.</p>
-
-<p>In the course of this narrative sketch, which does not claim to be a
-scientific history, I shall pursue, as far as possible, the
-chronological method; but it is one which the necessities of the subject
-will often cause me to depart from.<a name="vol_1_page_012" id="vol_1_page_012"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_II" id="CHAPTER_II"></a>CHAPTER II.<br /><br />
-<small>INTRODUCTION OF THE OPERA INTO FRANCE AND ENGLAND.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>French Opera not founded by Lulli.&mdash;Lulli's elevation from the
-kitchen to the orchestra.&mdash;Lulli, M. de Pourceaugnac, and Louis
-XIV.&mdash;Buffoonery rewarded.&mdash;A disreputable tenor.&mdash;Virtuous
-precaution of a <i>prima donna</i>.&mdash;Orthography of a stage Queen.&mdash;A
-cure for love.&mdash;Mademoiselle de Maupin.&mdash;A composer of sacred
-music.&mdash;Food for cattle.&mdash;Cambert in England.&mdash;The first English
-Opera.&mdash;Music under Cromwell.&mdash;Music under Charles II.&mdash;Grabut and
-Dryden.&mdash;Purcell.</p></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ORFEO AND DON GIOVANNI.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">I<small>N</small> a general view of the history of the Opera, the central figures would
-be Gluck and Mozart. Before Gluck's time the operatic art was in its
-infancy, and since the death of Mozart, no operas have been produced
-equal to that composer's masterpieces. Mozart must have commenced his
-<i>Idomeneo</i>, the first of his celebrated works, the very year that Gluck
-retired to Vienna, after giving to the Parisians his <i>Iphigénie en
-Tauride</i>; but, though contemporaries in the strict sense of the word,
-Gluck and Mozart can scarcely be looked upon as belonging to the same
-musical epoch. The compositions of the former, however immortal, have at
-least an antique cast. Those of the latter have quite a modern air; and
-it must appear to the<a name="vol_1_page_013" id="vol_1_page_013"></a> audiences of the present day that far more than
-twenty-three years separate <i>Orfeo</i> from <i>Don Giovanni</i>, though that is
-the precise interval which elapsed between the production of the opera
-by which Gluck, and of the one by which Mozart, is best known in this
-country. Gluck, after a century and a half of opera, so far surpassed
-all his predecessors that no work by a composer anterior to him is ever
-performed. Lulli wrote an <i>Armide</i>, which was followed by Rameau's
-<i>Armide</i>, which was followed by Gluck's <i>Armide</i>; and Monteverde wrote
-an <i>Orfeo</i> a hundred and fifty years before Gluck produced the <i>Orfeo</i>
-which was played only the other night at the Royal Italian Opera. The
-<i>Orfeo</i>, then, of our existing operatic repertory takes us back through
-its subject to the earliest of regular Italian operas, and similarly
-Gluck, through his <i>Armide</i> appears as the successor of Rameau, who was
-the successor of Lulli, who usually passes for the founder of the Opera
-in France, a country where it is particularly interesting to trace the
-progress of that entertainment, inasmuch as it can be observed at one
-establishment, which has existed continuously for two hundred years, and
-which, under the title of Académie Royale, Académie Nationale, and
-Académie Impériale (it has now gone by each of those names twice), has
-witnessed the production of more operatic masterpieces than any other
-theatre in any city in the world. To convince the reader of the truth of
-this latter assertion I need only remind him of the works produced at
-the<a name="vol_1_page_014" id="vol_1_page_014"></a> Académie Royale by Gluck and Piccinni immediately before the
-Revolution; and of the <i>Masaniello</i> of Auber, the <i>William Tell</i> of
-Rossini, and the <i>Robert the Devil</i> of Meyerbeer,&mdash;all written for the
-said Académie within sixteen years of the termination of the Napoleonic
-wars. Neither Naples, nor Milan, nor Prague, nor Vienna, nor Munich, nor
-Dresden, nor Berlin, has individually seen the birth of so many great
-operatic works by different masters, though, of course, if judged by the
-number of great composers to whom they have given birth, both Germany
-and Italy must be ranked infinitely higher than France. Indeed, if we
-compare France with our own country, we find, it is true, that an opera
-in the national language was established there earlier than here, though
-in the first instance only as a private entertainment; but, on the other
-hand, the French, until Gluck's time, had never any composers, native or
-adopted, at all comparable to our Purcell, who produced his <i>King
-Arthur</i> as far back as 1691.</p>
-
-<p>Lulli is generally said to have introduced Opera into France, and,
-indeed, is represented in a picture, well known to Parisian opera-goers,
-receiving a privilege from the hands of Louis XIV. as a reward and
-encouragement for his services in that respect. This privilege, however,
-was neither deserved nor obtained in the manner supposed. Cardinal
-Mazarin introduced Italian Opera into Paris in 1645, when Lulli was only
-twelve years of age; and the first French Opera, entitled Akébar, Roi de
-Mogol, words and<a name="vol_1_page_015" id="vol_1_page_015"></a> music by the Abbé Mailly, was brought out the year
-following in the Episcopal Palace of Carpentras, under the direction of
-Cardinal Bichi, Urban the Eighth's legate. Clement VII. had already
-appeared as a librettist, and it has been said that Urban VIII. himself
-recommended the importation of the Opera into France; so that the real
-father of the lyric stage in that country was certainly not a scullion,
-and may have been a Pope.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE ACADEMY OF MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>The second French Opera was <i>La Pastorale en musique</i>, words by Perrin,
-music by Cambert, which was privately represented at Issy; and the third
-<i>Pomone</i>, also by Perrin and Cambert, which was publicly performed in
-Paris in 1671&mdash;the year in which was produced, at the same theatre,
-<i>Psyché</i>, a <i>tragédie-ballet</i>, by the two greatest dramatic poets France
-has ever produced, Molière and Corneille. <i>Pomone</i> was the first French
-Opera heard by the Parisian public, and it was to the Abbé Perrin, its
-author, and not to Lulli, that the patent of the Royal Academy of Music
-was granted. A privilege for establishing an Academy of Music had been
-conceded a hundred years before by Charles IX. to Antoine de Baif,&mdash;the
-word "<i>Académie</i>" being used as an equivalent for "<i>Accademia</i>," the
-Italian for concert. Perrin's license appears to have been a renewal, as
-to form, of de Baif's, and thus originated the eminently absurd title
-which the chief operatic theatre of Paris has retained ever since. The
-Academy of Music is of course an academy in the sense in which the<a name="vol_1_page_016" id="vol_1_page_016"></a>
-Théâtre Français is a college of declamation, and the Palais Royal
-Theatre a school of morality; but no one need seek to justify its title
-because it is known to owe its existence to a confusion of terms.</p>
-
-<p>Six French operas had been performed before Lulli, supported by Madame
-de Montespan, succeeded in depriving Perrin of his "privilege," and
-securing it for himself&mdash;at the very moment when Perrin and Cambert were
-about to bring out their <i>Ariane</i>, of which the representation was
-stopped. The success of Lulli's intrigue drove Cambert to London, where
-he was received with much favour by Charles II., and appointed director
-of the Court music, an office which he retained until his death. Lulli's
-first opera, written in conjunction with Quinault, being the seventh
-produced on the French stage, was <i>Cadmus and Hermione</i> (1673).</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LULLI'S DISGRACE.</div>
-
-<p>The life of the fortunate, unscrupulous, but really talented scullion,
-to whom is falsely attributed the honour of having founded the Opera in
-France, has often been narrated, and for the most part very
-inaccurately. Every one knows that he arrived from Italy to enter the
-service of Mademoiselle de Montpensier as page, and that he was degraded
-by that lady to the back kitchen: but it is not so generally known that
-he was only saved through the influence of Madame de Montespan from a
-shameful and horrible death on the Place de Grève, where his accomplice
-was actually burned and his ashes thrown to the winds. Mademoiselle de
-Montpensier, in one of<a name="vol_1_page_017" id="vol_1_page_017"></a> her letters, speaks of Lulli asking for his
-congé; but it is quite certain that he was dismissed, though it would be
-as impossible to give a complete account of the causes of his dismissal
-as to publish the original of the needlessly elaborate reply attributed
-to a certain French general at Waterloo.<a name="FNanchor_4_4" id="FNanchor_4_4"></a><a href="#Footnote_4_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a> We may mention, however,
-that Lulli had composed a song which was a good deal sung at the court,
-and at which the Princess had every right to be offended. A French
-dramatist has made this affair of the song the subject of a very
-ingenious little piece, which was represented in English some years
-since at the Adelphi Theatre, but in which the exact nature of the
-objectionable composition is of course not indicated. Suffice it to say,
-that Lulli was discharged, and that Louis XIV., hearing the libellous
-air, and finding it to his taste, showed so little regard for
-Mademoiselle de Montpensier's feelings, as to take the young musician
-into his own service. There were no vacancies in the king's band, and it
-was, moreover, a point of etiquette that the court-fiddlers should buy
-their places; so to save trouble, and, perhaps, from a suspicion that
-his ordinary players were a set of impostors, his majesty commissioned
-Lulli to form a band of his own, to which the name of "<i>Les petits
-violons du roi</i>" was given. The little fiddles soon became more<a name="vol_1_page_018" id="vol_1_page_018"></a> expert
-musicians than the big ones, and Louis was so pleased with the little
-fiddle-in-chief, that he entrusted him with the superintendence of the
-music of his ballets. These ballets, which corresponded closely enough
-to our English masques, were entertainments not of dancing only, but
-also of vocal and instrumental music; the name was apparently derived
-from the Italian <i>ballata</i>, the parent of our own "ballad."</p>
-
-<p>Lulli also composed music for the interludes and songs in Molière's
-comedies, in which he sometimes appeared himself as a singer, and even
-as a burlesque actor. Once, when the musical arrangements were not quite
-ready for a ballet, in which the king was to play four parts&mdash;the House
-of France, Pluto, Mars and the Sun&mdash;he replied, on receiving a command
-to proceed with the piece&mdash;"<i>Le roi est le maitre; il peut attendre tant
-qu'il lui plaira.</i>" His majesty did not, as I have seen it stated, laugh
-at the facetious impertinence of his musician. On the contrary, he was
-seriously offended; and great was Lulli's alarm when he found that
-neither the House of France, nor Pluto, nor Mars, nor the Sun, would
-smile at the pleasantries with which, as the performance went on, he
-endeavoured to atone for his unbecoming speech. The wrath of the Great
-Monarch was not to be appeased, and Lulli's enemies already began to
-rejoice at his threatened downfall.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LULLI A BUFFOON.</div>
-
-<p>Fortunately, Molière was at Versailles. Lulli asked him at the
-conclusion of the ballet to announce a<a name="vol_1_page_019" id="vol_1_page_019"></a> performance of <i>M. de
-Pourceaugnac</i>, a piece which never failed to divert Louis; and it was
-arranged that just before the rise of the curtain Molière should excuse
-himself, on the score of a sudden indisposition, from appearing in the
-principal character. When there seemed to be no chance of <i>M. de
-Pourceaugnac</i> being played, Lulli, that the king might not be
-disappointed, nobly volunteered to undertake the part of the hero, and
-exerted himself in an unprecedented manner to do it justice. But his
-majesty, who generally found the troubles of the Limousin gentleman so
-amusing, on this occasion did not even smile. The great scene was about
-to begin; the scene in which the apothecaries, armed with their terrible
-weapons, attack M. de Pourceaugnac and chase him round the stage. Louis
-looked graver than ever. Then the comedian, as a last hope, rushed from
-the back of the stage to the foot lights, sprang into the orchestra,
-alighted on the harpsichord, and smashed it into a thousand pieces. "By
-this fall he rose." Probably he hurt himself, but no matter; on looking
-round he saw the Great Monarch in convulsions of laughter. Encouraged by
-his success, he climbed back through the prompter's box on to the stage;
-the royal mirth increased, and Lulli was now once more reinstated in the
-good graces of his sovereign.</p>
-
-<p>Molière had a high opinion of Lulli's facetious powers. "<i>Fais nous
-rire, Baptiste</i>," he would say, and it cannot have been any sort of joke
-that would<a name="vol_1_page_020" id="vol_1_page_020"></a> have excited the laughter of the greatest of comic writers.
-Nevertheless, he fell out with Lulli when the latter attained the
-"privilege" of the Opera, and, profiting by the monopoly which it
-secured to him, forbade the author of <i>Tartuffe</i> to introduce more than
-two singers in his interludes, or to employ more than six violins in his
-orchestra. Accordingly, Molière entrusted the composition of the music
-for the <i>Malade Imaginaire</i>, to Charpentier. The songs and symphonies of
-all his other pieces, with the exception of <i>MĂ©licerte</i>, were composed
-by Lulli.</p>
-
-<p>The story of Lulli's obtaining letters of nobility through the
-excellence of his buffoonery in the part of the Muphti, in the
-<i>Bourgeois Gentilhomme</i> has often been told. This was in 1670, but once
-a noble, and director of the Royal Academy of Music, he showed but
-little disposition to contribute to the diversion of others, even by the
-exercise of his legitimate art. Not only did he refuse to play the
-violin, but he would not even have one in his house. To overcome Lulli's
-repugnance in this respect, Marshal de Gramont hit upon a very ingenious
-plan. He used to make one of his servants who possessed the gift of
-converting music into noise, play the violin in Lulli's presence. Upon
-this, the highly susceptible musician would snatch the instrument from
-the valet's hands, and restore the murdered melody to life and beauty;
-then, excited by the pleasure of producing music, he forgot all around
-him, and continued to play to the great delight of the marshal.<a name="vol_1_page_021" id="vol_1_page_021"></a></p>
-
-<p>Many curious stories are told of Lafontaine's want of success as a
-librettist; Lulli refused three of his operas, one after the other,
-<i>Daphné</i>, <i>Astrée</i>, and <i>Acis et Galathée</i>&mdash;the <i>Acis et Galathée</i> set
-to music by Lulli being the work of Campistron. At the first
-representation of <i>Astrée</i>, of which the music had been written by
-Colasse (a composer who imitated and often plagiarised from Lulli),
-Lafontaine was present in a box behind some ladies who did not know him.
-He kept exclaiming every moment, "Detestable! detestable!"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LAFONTAINE'S IMPARTIALITY.</div>
-
-<p>Tired of hearing the same thing repeated so many times, the ladies at
-last turned round and said, "It is really not so bad. The author is a
-man of considerable wit; it is written by M. de la Fontaine."</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Cela ne vaut pas le diable</i>," replied the <i>librettist</i>, "and this
-Lafontaine of whom you speak is an ass. I am Lafontaine, and ought to
-know."</p>
-
-<p>After the first act he left the theatre and went into the Café Marion,
-where he fell asleep. One of his friends came in, and surprised to see
-him, said&mdash;"M. de la Fontaine! How is this? Ought you not to be at the
-first performance of your opera?"</p>
-
-<p>The author awoke, and said, with a yawn&mdash;"I've been; and the first act
-was so dull that I had not the courage to wait for the other. I admire
-the patience of these Parisians!"</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Compare this with the similar conduct of an English humourist, Charles
-Lamb, who, meeting<a name="vol_1_page_022" id="vol_1_page_022"></a> with no greater success as a dramatist than
-Lafontaine, was equally astonished at the patience of the public, and
-remained in the pit to hiss his own farce.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Colasse, Lafontaine's composer, and Campistron, one of Lulli's
-librettists&mdash;when Quinault was not in the way&mdash;occasionally worked
-together, and with no very favourable result. Hence, mutual reproaches,
-each attributing the failure of the opera to the stupidity of the other.
-This suggested the following epigram, which, under similar
-circumstances, has been often imitated:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i3">"Entre Campistron et Colasse,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">&nbsp;Grand débat s'émeut au Parnasse,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Sur ce que l'opéra n'a pas un sort heureux.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">De son mauvais succès nul ne se croit coupable.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">L'un dit que la musique est plate et misérable,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">L'autre que la conduite et les vers sont affreux;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Et le grand Apollon, toujours juge Ă©quitable,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Trouve qu'ils ont raison tous deux."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Quinault was by far the most successful of Lulli's librettists, in spite
-of the contempt with which his verses were always treated by Boileau.
-Boileau liked Lulli's music, but when he entered the Opera, and was
-asked where he would sit, he used to reply, "Put me in some place where
-I shall not be able to hear the words."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE FIDDLE IN THE SEVENTEENTH CENTURY.</div>
-
-<p>Lulli must have had sad trouble with his orchestra, for in his time a
-violinist was looked upon as merely<a name="vol_1_page_023" id="vol_1_page_023"></a> an adjunct to a dancing-master.
-There was a king of the fiddles, without whose permission no cat-gut
-could be scraped; and in selling his licenses to dancing-masters and the
-musicians of ball-rooms, the ruler of the bows does not appear to have
-required any proof of capacity from his clients. Even the simple
-expedient of shifting was unknown to Lulli's violinists, and for years
-after his death, to reach the C above the line was a notable feat. The
-pit quite understood the difficulty, and when the dreaded <i>démanchement</i>
-had to be accomplished, would indulge in sarcastic shouts of "<i>gare
-l'ut! gare l'ut!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>The violin was not in much repute in the 17th, and still less in the
-16th, century. The lute was a classical instrument; the harp was the
-instrument of the Troubadours; but the fiddle was fit only for servants,
-and fiddlers and servants were classed together.</p>
-
-<p>"Such a one," says Malherbe, "who seeks for his ancestors among heroes
-is the son of a lacquey or a fiddler."</p>
-
-<p>BrantĂ´me, relating the death of Mademoiselle de Limeuil, one of the
-Queen's maids of honour, who expired, poor girl, to a violin
-accompaniment, expresses himself as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"When the hour of her death had arrived, she sent for her valet, such as
-all the maids of honour have; and he was called Julien, and played very
-well on the violin. 'Julien,' said she, 'take your violin and play to me
-continually, until you see me<a name="vol_1_page_024" id="vol_1_page_024"></a> dead, the <i>Defeat of the Swiss</i>,<a name="FNanchor_5_5" id="FNanchor_5_5"></a><a href="#Footnote_5_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a> as
-well as you are able; and when you are at the passage <i>All is lost</i>,
-sound it four or five times as piteously as you can; which the other
-did, while she herself assisted him with her voice. She recited it
-twice, and then turning on the other side of her pillow said to her
-companions, 'All is lost this time, as well I know,' and thus died."</p>
-
-<p>These musical valets were as much slaves as the ancient flute players of
-the Roman nobles, and were bought, sold, and exchanged like horses and
-dogs. When their services were not required at home, masters and
-mistresses who were generously inclined would allow their fiddlers to go
-out and play in the streets on their own account.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Strange tales are told of the members of Lulli's company. Duménil, the
-tenor, used to steal jewellery from the soprano and contralto of the
-troop, and get intoxicated with the baritone. This eccentric virtuoso is
-said to have drunk six bottles of champagne every night he performed,
-and to have improved gradually until about the fifth. Duménil, after one
-of his voyages to England, which he visited several times, lost his
-voice. Then, seeing no reason why he should moderate his intemperance at
-all, he gave himself up unrestrainedly to drinking, and died.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERATIC ORTHOGRAPHY.</div>
-
-<p>Mdlle. Desmâtins, the original representative of<a name="vol_1_page_025" id="vol_1_page_025"></a> <i>Armide</i> was chiefly
-celebrated for her beauty, her love of good living, her corpulence, and
-her bad grammar. She it was who wrote the celebrated letter
-communicating to a friend the death of her child, "<i>Notre anfan ai
-maure, vien de boneure, le mien ai de te voire.</i>" Mlle. Desmâtins took
-so much pleasure in representing royal personages that she assumed the
-(theatrical) costume and demeanour of a queen in her own household, sat
-on a throne, and made her attendants serve her on their knees. Another
-vocalist, Marthe le Rochois, accused of grave flirtation with a bassoon,
-justified herself by showing a promise of marriage, which the gallant
-instrumentalist had written on the back of an ace of spades.</p>
-
-<p>The Opera singers of this period were not particularly well paid, and
-history relates that Mlles. Aubry and Verdier, being engaged for the
-same line of business, had to live in the same room and sleep in the
-same bed.</p>
-
-<p>Marthe Le Rochois was fond of giving advice to her companions. "Inspire
-yourself with the situation," she said to Desmâtins, who had to
-represent Medea abandoned by Jason; "fancy yourself in the poor woman's
-place. If you were deserted by a lover, whom you adored," added Marthe,
-thinking, no doubt, of the bassoon, "what should you do?" "I should look
-out for another," replied the ingenuous girl.</p>
-
-<p>But by far the most distinguished operatic actress<a name="vol_1_page_026" id="vol_1_page_026"></a> of this period was
-Mlle. de Maupin, now better known through Théophile Gauthier's
-scandalous, but brilliant and vigorously written romance, than by her
-actual adventures and exploits, which, however, were sufficiently
-remarkable. Among the most amusing of her escapades, were her assaults
-upon Duménil and Thévenard, the before-mentioned tenor and baritone of
-the Academie. Dressed in male attire she went up to the former one night
-in the Place des Victoires, caned him, deprived him of his watch and
-snuff-box, and the next day produced the trophies at the theatre just as
-the plundered vocalist was boasting that he had been attacked by three
-robbers, and had put them all to flight. She is said to have terrified
-the latter to such a degree that he remained three weeks hiding from her
-in the Palais Royal.</p>
-
-<p>Mlle. de Maupin was in many respects the Lola Montes of her day, but
-with more beauty, more talent, more power, and more daring. When she
-appeared as Minerva, in Lulli's <i>Cadmus</i>, and taking off her helmet to
-the public, showed all her beautiful light brown hair, which hung in
-luxuriant tresses over her shoulders, the audience were in ecstacies of
-delight. With less talent, and less powers of fascination, she would
-infallibly have been executed for the numerous fatal duels in which she
-was engaged, and might even have been burnt alive for invading the
-sanctity of a convent at Avignon, to say nothing of her attempting to
-set fire to it. Perhaps it would be more correct to say that Lola Montes
-was the Mlle. Maupin of <i>her</i><a name="vol_1_page_027" id="vol_1_page_027"></a> day; a Maupin of a century which is
-moderate in its passions and its vices as in other things.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A COMPOSER OF SACRED MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>Moreau, the successor of Lulli, is chiefly known as having written the
-music for the choruses of Racine's <i>Esther</i>, (1689). These choruses,
-re-arranged by Perne, were performed in 1821, at the Conservatoire of
-Paris, and were much applauded. Racine, in his preface to <i>Esther</i>,
-says, "I cannot finish this preface without rendering justice to the
-author of the music, and confessing frankly that his (choral) songs
-formed one of the greatest attractions of the piece. All connoisseurs
-are agreed that for a long time no airs have been heard more touching,
-or more suitable to the words." Nevertheless, Madame de Maintenon's
-special composer was not eminently religious in his habits. The musician
-whose hymns were sung by the daughters of Sion and of St. Cyr sought his
-inspiration at a tavern in the Rue St. Jacques, in company with the poet
-Lainez and with most of the singers and dancers of the period. No member
-of the Opera rode past the Cabaret de la Barre Royale without tying his
-horse up in the yard and going in for a moment to have a word and a
-glass with Moreau. Sometimes the moment became an hour, sometimes
-several. The horses of Létang and Favier, dancers at the Académie, after
-being left eight hours in the court-yard without food, gnawed through
-their bridles, and, looking no doubt for the stable, found their way
-into a bed-room, where they devoured the contents of a dilapidated straw
-mattrass. "We must<a name="vol_1_page_028" id="vol_1_page_028"></a> all live," said Lainez, when he saw a mattrass
-charged for among the items of the repast, and he hastened to offer the
-unfortunate animals a ration of wine.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 5%;" />
-
-<div class="sidenote">FRENCH MUSIC IN ENGLAND.</div>
-
-<p>When Cambert arrived in London he found Charles II. and his Court fully
-disposed to patronise any sort of importation from France. Naturally,
-then, the founder of French Opera was well received. Even Lock, in many
-of his pieces, had imitated the French style; and though he had been
-employed to compose the music for the public entry of Charles II., at
-the Restoration, and was afterwards appointed composer in ordinary to
-His Majesty, Cambert, immediately on his arrival, was made master of the
-king's band; and two years afterwards an English version of his
-<i>Ariadne</i> was produced. "You knew Cambert," says de Vizé, in <i>Le Mercure
-Galant</i>; "he has just died in London (1677), where he received many
-favours from the King of England and from the greatest noblemen of his
-Court, who had a high opinion of his genius. What they have seen of his
-works has not belied the reputation he had acquired in France. It is to
-him we owe the establishment of the operas that are now represented. The
-music of those of <i>Pomona</i>, and of the <i>Pains and Pleasures of Love</i>, is
-by him, and since that time we have had no recitative in France that has
-appeared new." In several English books, Grabut, who accompanied<a name="vol_1_page_029" id="vol_1_page_029"></a>
-Cambert to England, is said to have arranged the music of <i>Ariadne</i>, and
-even to have composed it; but this is manifestly an error. This same
-Grabut wrote the music to Dryden's celebrated political opera <i>Albion
-and Albanius</i>, which was performed at the Duke's Theatre in 1685, and of
-which the representations were stopped by the news of Monmouth's
-invasion. Purcell, who was only fifteen years of age when <i>Ariadne</i> was
-produced, was now twenty-six, and had written a great deal of admirable
-dramatic music. Probably the public thought that to him, and not to the
-Frenchman, might have been confided the task of setting <i>Albion and
-Albanius</i>, for in the preface to that work Dryden says, as if
-apologetically, that "during the rehearsal the king had publicly
-declared more than once, that the composition and choruses were more
-just and more beautiful than any he had heard in England." Then after a
-warm commendation of Grabut Dryden adds, "This I say, not to flatter
-him, but to do him right; because among some English musicians, and
-their scholars, who are sure to judge after them, the imputation of
-being a Frenchman is enough to make a party who maliciously endeavour to
-decry him. But the knowledge of Latin and Italian poets, both of which
-he possesses, besides his skill in music, and his being acquainted with
-all the performances of the French operas, adding to these the good
-sense to which he is born, have raised him to a degree above any man who
-shall pretend to be his rival on our<a name="vol_1_page_030" id="vol_1_page_030"></a> stage. When any of our countrymen
-excel him, I shall be glad, for the sake of Old England, to be shown my
-error: in the meantime, let virtue be commended, though in the person of
-a stranger."</p>
-
-<p>Neither Grabut nor Cambert was the first composer who produced a
-complete opera in England. During the Commonwealth, in 1656, Sir William
-Davenant had obtained permission to open a theatre for the performance
-of operas, in a large room, at the back of Rutland House, in the upper
-end of Aldersgate Street; and, long before, the splendid court masques
-of James I. and Charles I. had given opportunities for the development
-of recitative, which was first composed in England by an Italian, named
-Laniere, an eminent musician, painter and engraver. The Opera had been
-established in Italy since the beginning of the century, and we have
-seen that in 1607, Monteverde wrote his <i>Orfeo</i> for the court of Mantua.
-But it was still known in England and France only through the accounts,
-respectively, of Evelyn and of St. Evrémond.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE FIRST ENGLISH OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>The first English opera produced at Sir William Davenant's theatre, the
-year of its opening, was <i>The Siege of Rhodes</i>, "made a representation
-by the art of perspective in scenes, and the story sung in recitative
-music." There were five changes of scene, according to the ancient
-dramatic distinctions made for time, and there were seven performers.
-The part of "Solyman" was taken by Captain Henry Cook, that of "Ianthe"
-by Mrs. Coleman, who appears to<a name="vol_1_page_031" id="vol_1_page_031"></a> have been the first actress on the
-English stage&mdash;in the sense in which Heine was the first poet of his
-century (having been born on the 1st of January, 1800)<a name="FNanchor_6_6" id="FNanchor_6_6"></a><a href="#Footnote_6_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> and
-Beaumarchais the first poet in Paris (to a person entering the city from
-the Porte St. Antoine).<a name="FNanchor_7_7" id="FNanchor_7_7"></a><a href="#Footnote_7_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a> The remaining five parts were "doubled." That
-of the "Admiral" was taken by Mr. Peter Rymon, and Matthew Lock, the
-future composer of the music to <i>Macbeth</i>; that of "Mustapha," by Mr.
-Thomas Blagrave, and Henry Purcell, the father of the composer of <i>King
-Arthur</i>, and himself an accomplished musician. The vocal music of the
-first and fifth "entries" or acts, was composed by Henry Lawes; that of
-the second and third, by Captain Henry Cook, afterwards master of the
-children of the Chapel Royal; that of the fourth, by Lock. The
-instrumental music was by Dr. Charles Coleman and George Hudson, and was
-performed by an orchestra of six musicians.</p>
-
-<p>The first English opera then was produced, ten years later than the
-first French opera; but the <i>Siege of Rhodes</i> was performed publicly,
-whereas, it was not until fifteen years afterwards (1671) that the first
-public performance of a French opera (Cambert's <i>Pomone</i>) took place.
-Ordinances for the suppression of stage plays had been in force in
-England since 1642, and in 1643, a tract was printed under the title of
-<i>The Actor's Remonstrance</i>, showing to what distress the musicians of
-the theatre<a name="vol_1_page_032" id="vol_1_page_032"></a> had been already reduced. The writer says, "But musike that
-was held so delectable and precious that they scorned to come to a
-tavern under twenty shillings salary for two hours, now wander with
-their instruments under their cloaks (I mean such as have any) to all
-houses of good fellowship, saluting every room where there is company
-with 'will you have any musike, gentlemen.'" In 1648, moreover, a
-provost-marshal was appointed with power to seize upon all ballad
-singers, and to suppress stage plays.</p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, Oliver Cromwell was a great lover of music. He is said to
-have "entertained the most skilful in that science in his pay and
-family;" and it is known that he engaged Hingston, a celebrated
-musician, formerly in the service of Charles, at a salary of one hundred
-a-year&mdash;the Hingston, at whose house Sir Roger l'Estrange was playing,
-and continued to play when Oliver entered the room, which gained for
-this <i>virtuoso</i> the title of "Oliver's fiddler." Antony Ă  Wood, also
-tells a story of Cromwell's love of music. James Quin, one of the senior
-students of Christ Church, with a bass voice, "very strong and exceeding
-trouling," had been turned out of his place by the visitors, but, "being
-well acquainted with some great men of those times that loved music,
-they introduced him into the company of Oliver Cromwell, the Protector,
-who loved a good voice and instrumental music well. He heard him sing
-with great delight, liquored him with sack, and in conclusion, said,
-'Mr. Quin, you<a name="vol_1_page_033" id="vol_1_page_033"></a> have done well, what shall I do for you?' To which Quin
-made answer, 'That your highness would be pleased to restore me to my
-student's place,' which he did accordingly." But the best proof that can
-be given of Oliver Cromwell's love for music is the simple fact that,
-under his government, and with his special permission, the Opera was
-founded in this country.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CROMWELL'S LOVE OF MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>We have seen that in Charles II's reign, the court reserved its
-patronage almost exclusively for French music, or music in the French
-style. When Cambert arrived in London, our Great Purcell (born, 1659)
-was still a child. He produced his first opera, <i>Dido and Æneas</i>, the
-year of Cambert's death (1677); but, although, in the meanwhile, he
-wrote a quantity of vocal and instrumental music of all kinds, and
-especially for the stage, it was not until after the death of Charles
-that he associated himself with Dryden in the production of those
-musical dramas (not operas in the proper sense of the word) by which he
-is chiefly known.</p>
-
-<p>In 1690, Purcell composed music for <i>The Tempest</i>, altered and
-shamefully disfigured by Dryden and Davenant.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PURCELL.</div>
-
-<p>In 1691, <i>King Arthur</i>, which contains Purcell's finest music, was
-produced with immense success. The war-song of the Britons, <i>Come if you
-Dare</i>, and the concluding duet and chorus, <i>Britons strike Home</i>, have
-survived the rest of the work. The former piece in particular is well
-known to concert-goers<a name="vol_1_page_034" id="vol_1_page_034"></a> of the present day, from the excellent singing
-of Mr. Sims Reeves. Purcell died at the age of thirty-six, the age at
-which Mozart and Raphael were lost to the world, and has not yet found a
-successor. He was not only the most original, and the most dramatic, but
-also the most thoroughly English of our native composers. In the
-dedication of the music of the <i>Prophetess</i> to the Duke of Somerset,
-Purcell himself says, "Music is yet but in its nonage, a forward child,
-which gives hope of what it may be hereafter in England, when the
-masters of it shall find more encouragement. 'Tis now learning Italian,
-which is its best master, and studying a little of the French air to
-give it somewhat more of gaiety and fashion." Here Purcell spoke in all
-modesty, for though his style may have been formed in some measure on
-French models, "there is," says Dr. Burney, "a latent power and force in
-his expression of English words, whatever be the subject, that will make
-an unprejudiced native of this island feel more than all the elegance,
-grace and refinement of modern music, less happily applied, can do; and
-this pleasure is communicated to us, not by the symmetry or rhythm of
-modern melody, but by his having tuned to the true accents of our mother
-tongue, those notes of passion which an inhabitant of this island would
-breathe in such situations as the words describe. And these indigenous
-expressions of passion Purcell had the power to enforce by the energy of
-modulation, which, on some occasions, was<a name="vol_1_page_035" id="vol_1_page_035"></a> bold, affecting and sublime.
-Handel," he adds, "who flourished in a less barbarous age for his art,
-has been acknowledged Purcell's superior in many particulars; but in
-none more than the art and grandeur of his choruses, the harmony and
-texture of his organ fugues, as well as his great style of concertos;
-the ingenuity of his accompaniments to his songs and choruses; and even
-in the general melody of the airs themselves; yet, in the accent,
-passion and expression of <i>English words</i>, the vocal music of Purcell
-is, sometimes, to my feelings, as superior to Handel's as an original
-poem to a translation."<a name="vol_1_page_036" id="vol_1_page_036"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_III" id="CHAPTER_III"></a>CHAPTER III.<br /><br />
-<small>ON THE NATURE OF THE OPERA, AND ITS MERITS AS COMPARED WITH OTHER FORMS OF THE DRAMA.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>Opera admired for its unintelligibility.&mdash;The use of words in
-opera.&mdash;An inquisitive amateur.&mdash;New version of a chorus in Robert
-le Diable.&mdash;Strange readings of the <i>Credo</i> by two chapel
-masters.&mdash;Dramatic situations and effects peculiar to the
-Opera.&mdash;Pleasantries directed against the Opera; their antiquity
-and harmlessness.&mdash;<i>Les Opéras</i> by St. Evrémond.&mdash;Beaumarchais's
-<i>mot</i>.&mdash;Addison on the Italian Opera in England.&mdash;Swift's
-epigram.&mdash;BĂ©ranger on the decline of the drama.&mdash;What may be seen
-at the Opera.</p></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">UNINTELLIGIBILITY OF OPERA.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">W<small>HEN</small> Sir William Davenant obtained permission from Cromwell to open his
-theatre for the performance of operas, Antony Ă  Wood wrote that, "Though
-Oliver Cromwell had now prohibited all other theatrical representations,
-he allowed of this because being in an unknown language it could not
-corrupt the morals of the people." Thereupon it has been imagined that
-Antony Ă  Wood must have supposed Sir William Davenant's performances to
-have been in the Italian tongue, as if he could not have regarded music
-as an unknown language, and have concluded that a drama conducted in
-music would for that reason be unintelligible. Nevertheless, in the
-present day we have a<a name="vol_1_page_037" id="vol_1_page_037"></a> censor who refuses to permit the representation
-of <i>La Dame aux Camélias</i> in English, or even in French,<a name="FNanchor_8_8" id="FNanchor_8_8"></a><a href="#Footnote_8_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a> but who
-tolerates the performance of <i>La Traviata</i>, (which, I need hardly say,
-is the <i>Dame aux Camélias</i> set to music) in Italian, and, I believe,
-even in English; thinking, no doubt, like Antony Ă  Wood, that in an
-operatic form it cannot be understood, and therefore cannot corrupt the
-morals of the people. Since Antony Ă  Wood's time a good deal of stupid,
-unmeaning verse has been written in operas, and sometimes when the words
-have not been of themselves unintelligible, they have been rendered
-nearly so by the manner in which they have been set to music, to say
-nothing of the final obscurity given to them by the imperfect
-enunciation of the singers. The mere fact, however, of a dramatic piece
-being performed in music does not make it unintelligible, but, on the
-contrary, increases the sphere of its intelligibility, giving it a more
-universal interest and rendering it an entertainment appreciable by
-persons of all countries. This in itself is not much to boast of, for
-the entertainment of the <i>ballet</i> is independent of language to a still
-greater extent; and <i>La Gitana</i> or <i>Esmeralda</i> can be as well understood
-by an Englishman at the Opera House of Berlin or of Moscow as at Her
-Majesty's Theatre in London; while perhaps the most universally<a name="vol_1_page_038" id="vol_1_page_038"></a>
-intelligible drama ever performed is that of Punch, even when the brief
-dialogue which adorns its pantomime is inaudible.</p>
-
-<p>Opera is <i>music in a dramatic form</i>; and people go to the theatre and
-listen to it as if it were so much prose. They have even been known to
-complain during or after the performance that they could not hear the
-words, as if it were through the mere logical meaning of the words that
-the composer proposed to excite the emotion of the audience. The only
-pity is that it is necessary in an opera to have words at all, but it is
-evident that a singer could not enter into the spirit of a dramatic
-situation if he had a mere string of meaningless syllables or any sort
-of inappropriate nonsense to utter. He must first produce an illusion on
-himself, or he will produce none on the audience, and he must,
-therefore, fully inspire himself with the sentiment, logical as well as
-musical, of what he has to sing. Otherwise, all we want to know about
-the words of <i>Casta diva</i> (to take examples from the most popular, as
-also one of the very finest of Italian operas) is that it is a prayer to
-a goddess; of the Druids' chorus, that it is chorus of Druids; of the
-trio, that "Norma" having confronted "Pollio" with "Adalgisa," is
-reproaching him indignantly and passionately with his perfidy; of the
-duet that "Norma" is confiding her children to "Adalgisa's" care; of the
-scene with "Pollio," that "Norma" is again reproaching him, but in a
-different spirit, with sadness and bitterness,<a name="vol_1_page_039" id="vol_1_page_039"></a> and with the compressed
-sorrow of a woman who is wounded to the heart and must soon die. I may
-be in error, however, for though I have seen <i>Norma</i> fifty times, I have
-never examined the <i>libretto</i>, and of the whole piece know scarcely more
-than the two words which I have already paraded before the
-public&mdash;"<i>Casta Diva.</i>"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">WONDERFUL INSTANCE OF CURIOSITY.</div>
-
-<p>One night, at the Royal Italian Opera, when Mario was playing the part
-of the "Duke of Mantua" in <i>Rigoletto</i>, and was singing the commencement
-of the duet with "Gilda," a man dressed in black and white like every
-one else, said to me gravely, "I do not understand Italian. Can you tell
-me what he is saying to her?"</p>
-
-<p>"He is telling her that he loves her," I answered briefly.</p>
-
-<p>"What is he saying now?" asked this inquisitive amateur two minutes
-afterwards.</p>
-
-<p>"He is telling her that he loves her," I repeated.</p>
-
-<p>"Why, he said that before!" objected this person who had apparently come
-to the opera with the view of gaining some kind of valuable information
-from the performers. Poor Bosio was the "Gilda," but my horny-eared
-neighbour wondered none the less that the Duke could not say "I love
-you," in three words.</p>
-
-<p>"He will say it again," I answered, "and then she will say it, and then
-they will say it together; indeed, they will say nothing else for the
-next five<a name="vol_1_page_040" id="vol_1_page_040"></a> minutes, and when you hear them exclaim 'addio' with one
-voice, and go on repeating it, it will still mean the same thing."</p>
-
-<p>What benighted amateur was this who wanted to know the words of a
-beautiful duet; and is there much difference between such a one and the
-man who would look at the texture of a canvas to see what the painting
-on it was worth?</p>
-
-<p>Let it be admitted that as a rule no opera is intelligible without a
-libretto; but is a drama always intelligible without a play-bill? A
-libretto, for general use, need really be no larger than an ordinary
-programme; and it would be a positive advantage if it contained merely a
-sketch of the plot with the subject, and perhaps the first line of all
-the principal songs.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">IMITATIVE MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>Then the foolish amateur would not run the risk of having his attention
-diverted from the music by the words, and would be more likely to give
-himself up to the enjoyment of the opera in a rational and legitimate
-manner. Another advantage of keeping the words from the public would be,
-that composers, full of the grossest prose, but priding themselves on
-their fancy, would at last see the inutility as well as the pettiness of
-picking out one particular word in a line, and "illustrating" it: thus
-imitating a sound when their aim should be to depict a sentiment. Even
-the illustrious Purcell has sinned in this respect, and Meyerbeer,
-innumerable times, though always displaying remarkable ingenuity, and as
-much good taste as is compatible with an error against<a name="vol_1_page_041" id="vol_1_page_041"></a> both taste and
-reason. It is a pity that great musicians should descend to such
-anti-poetical, and, indeed, nonsensical trivialities; but when inferior
-ones are unable to let a singer wish she were a bird, without imitating
-a bird's chirruping on the piccolo, or allude in the most distant manner
-to the trumpet's sound, without taking it as a hint to introduce a short
-flourish on that instrument, I cannot help thinking of those
-literal-minded pictorial illustrators who follow a precisely analogous
-process, and who, for example, in picturing the scene in which "Macbeth"
-exclaims&mdash;"Throw physic to the dogs," would represent a man throwing
-bottles of medicine to a pack of hounds. What a treat, by the way, it
-would be to hear a setting of Othello's farewell to war by a determined
-composer of imitative picturesque music! How "ear-piercing" would be his
-fifes! How "spirit-stirring" his drums.</p>
-
-<p>The words of an opera ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be
-heard. They should be poetical that they may inspire first the composer
-and afterwards the singer; and they should be ryhthmical and sonorous in
-order that the latter may be able to sing them with due effect. Above
-all they ought not to be ridiculous, lest the public should hear them
-and laugh at the music, just where it was intended that it should affect
-them to tears. Everything ought to be good at the opera down to the
-rosin of the fiddlers, and including the words of the libretto. Even the
-chorus should have tolerable verses to sing, though no one<a name="vol_1_page_042" id="vol_1_page_042"></a> would be
-likely ever to hear them. Indeed, it is said that at the Grand Opera of
-Paris, by a tradition now thirty years old, the opening chorus in
-<i>Robert le Diable</i> is always sung to those touching lines&mdash;which I
-confess I never heard on the other side of the orchestra:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">La sou-| pe aux choux | se fait dans la mar |-mite<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Dans la | marmi-|-te on fait la soupe aux | choux.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>I have said nothing about the duty of the composer in selecting his
-libretto and setting it to music, but of course if he be a man of taste
-he will not willingly accept a collection of nonsense verses. English
-composers, however, have not much choice in this respect, and all we can
-ask of them is that they will do their best with what they have been
-able to obtain; not indulging in too many repetitions, and not tiring
-the singer and provoking such of the audience as may wish to "catch" the
-words by setting more than half a dozen notes to the same monosyllable
-especially if the monosyllable occurs in the middle of a line, and the
-vowel e, or worse still, i, in the middle of the monosyllable. One of
-our most eminent composers, Mr. Vincent Wallace, has given us a striking
-example of the fault I am speaking of in his well-known trio&mdash;"Turn on
-old Time thy hour-glass" (<i>Maritana</i>) in which, according to the music,
-the scanning of the first half line is as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">TĹ­rn ĹŤn | ĹŹld TÄ« | Ä­-Ä« || Ä­-Ä­-Ä­&mdash;ime | &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">WORDS FOR MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>To be sure Time is infinite, but seven sounds<a name="vol_1_page_043" id="vol_1_page_043"></a> do not convey the notion
-of infinity; and even if they did, it would not be any the more pleasant
-for a singer to have to take a five note leap, and then execute five
-other notes on a vowel which cannot be uttered without closing the
-throat. If I had been in Mr. Vincent Wallace's place, I should, at all
-events, have insisted on Mr. Fitzball making one change. Instead of "Old
-Time," he should have inserted "Old Parr."</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Tŭrn ōn | ŏld P�-| �-� || �-�-�-arr | &amp;c.,<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">would not have been more intelligible to the audience than&mdash;"Turn on old
-Ti-i-i-i-i-i-ime, &amp;c., and it would have been a thousand times easier to
-sing.
-Nor in spite of the little importance I attach to the phraseology
-of the libretto when listening to "music in a dramatic form," would I,
-if I were a composer, accept such a line as&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"When the proud land of Poland was ploughed by the hoof,"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">with a suspension of sense after the word hoof. No; the librettist might
-take his hoof elsewhere. It should not appear in <i>my</i> Opera; at least,
-not in lieu of a plough. Mr. Balfe should tell such poets to keep such
-ploughs for themselves.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Sic vos <i>pro</i> vobis fertis aratra boves,<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">he might say to them.</p>
-
-<p>The singer ought certainly to understand what he is singing, and still
-more certainly should the composer understand what he is composing; but
-the sight of Latin reminds me that both have sometimes<a name="vol_1_page_044" id="vol_1_page_044"></a> failed to do so,
-and from no one's fault but their own. Jomelli used to tell a story of
-an Italian chapel-master, who gave to one of his solo singers the phrase
-<i>Genitum non factum</i>, to which the chorus had to reply <i>Factum non
-genitum</i>. This transposition seemed ingenious and picturesque to the
-composer, and suited a contrast of rhythm which he had taken great pains
-to produce. It was probably due only to the bad enunciation of the
-choristers that he was not burned alive.</p>
-
-<p>Porpora, too, narrowly escaped the terrors of the inquisition; and but
-for his avowed and clearly-proved ignorance of Latin would have made a
-bad end of it, for a similar, though not quite so ludicrous a blunder as
-the one perpetrated by Jomelli's friend. He had been accustomed to add
-<i>non</i> and <i>si</i> to the verses of his libretto when the music required it,
-and in setting the creed found it convenient to introduce a <i>non</i>. This
-novel version of the Belief commenced&mdash;<i>Credo, non credo, non credo in
-Deum</i>, and it was well for Porpora that he was able to convince the
-inquisitors of his inability to understand it.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">UNNATURALNESS OF OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>Another chapel-master of more recent times is said, in composing a mass,
-to have given a delightfully pastoral character to his "Agnus Dei." To
-him "a little learning" had indeed proved "a dangerous thing." He had,
-somehow, ascertained that "agnus" meant "lamb," and had forthwith gone
-to work with pipe and cornemuse to give appropriate "picturesqueness" to
-his accompaniments.<a name="vol_1_page_045" id="vol_1_page_045"></a></p>
-
-<p>Besides accusations of unintelligibility and of <i>contra-sense</i> (as for
-instance when a girl sentenced to death sings in a lively strain), the
-Opera has been attacked as essentially absurd, and it is satisfactory to
-know that these attacks date from its first introduction into England
-and France. To some it appears monstrous that men and women should be
-represented on the stage singing, when it is notorious that in actual
-life they communicate in the speaking voice. Opera was declared to be
-unnatural as compared with drama. In other words, it was thought natural
-that Desdemona should express her grief in melodious verse, but
-unnatural that she should do so in pure melody. (For the sake of the
-comparison I must suppose Rossini's <i>Otello</i> to have been written long
-before its time). Persons, with any pretence to reason, have long ceased
-to urge such futile objections against a delightful entertainment which,
-as I shall endeavour to show, is in some respects the finest form the
-drama has assumed. Gresset answered these music-haters well in his
-<i>Discours sur l'harmonie</i>.&mdash;"After all," he says, "if we study nature do
-we not find more fidelity to appropriateness at the Opera than on the
-tragic stage where the hero speaks the language of declamatory poetry?
-Has not harmony always been much better able than simple declamation to
-imitate the true tones of the passions, deep sighs, sobs, bursts of
-grief, languishing tenderness, interjections of despair, the inflexions
-of pathos, and all the energy of the heart?"<a name="vol_1_page_046" id="vol_1_page_046"></a></p>
-
-<p>For the sake of enjoying the pleasures of music and of the drama in
-combination, we must adopt certain conventions, and must assume that
-song is the natural language of the men and women that we propose to
-show in our operas; as we assume in tragedy that they all talk in verse,
-in comedy that they are all witty and yet are perpetually giving one
-another opportunities for repartee; in the ballet that they all dance
-and are unable to speak at all. The form is nothing. Give us the true
-expression of natural emotion and all the rest will seem natural enough.
-Only it would be as well to introduce as many dancing characters and
-dancing situations as possible in the <i>ballet</i>&mdash;and to remember in
-particular that Roman soldiers could not with propriety figure in one;
-for a ballet on the subject of "Les Horaces" was once actually produced
-in France, in which the Horatii and the Curiatii danced a double <i>pas de
-trois</i>; and so in the tragedy the chief passages ought not to be London
-coal-heavers or Parisian water-carriers; and similarly in the Opera,
-scenes and situations should be avoided which in no way suggest singing.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE OPERATIC CHORUS.</div>
-
-<p>And let me now inform the ignorant opponents of the Opera, that there
-are certain grand dramatic effects attainable on the lyric stage, which,
-without the aid of music, could not possibly be produced. Music has
-often been defined; here is a new definition of it. It is <i>the language
-of masses</i>&mdash;the only language that masses can speak and be understood.
-On the old stage a crowd could not cry "Down with<a name="vol_1_page_047" id="vol_1_page_047"></a> the tyrant!" or "We
-will!" or even "Yes," and "No," with any intelligibility. There is some
-distance between this state of things and the "Blessing of the daggers"
-in the <i>Huguenots</i>, or the prayer of the Israelites in <i>Moses</i>. On the
-old stage we could neither have had the prayer (unless it were recited
-by a single voice, which would be worse than nothing) before the
-passage, nor the thanksgiving, which, in the Opera, is sung immediately
-after the Red Sea has been crossed; but above all we could not obtain
-the sublime effect produced by the contrast between the two songs; the
-same song, and yet how different! the difference between minor and
-major, between a psalm of humble supplication and a hymn of jubilant
-gratitude. This is the change of key at which, according to Stendhal,
-the women of Rome fainted in such numbers. It cannot be heard without
-emotion, even in England, and we do not think any one, even a professed
-enemy of Opera, would ask himself during the performance of the prayer
-in <i>Mosé</i>, whether it was natural or not that the Israelites should sing
-either before or after crossing the Red Sea.</p>
-
-<p>Again, how could the animation of the market scene in <i>Masaniello</i> be
-rendered so well as by means of music? In concerted pieces, moreover,
-the Opera possesses a means of dramatic effect quite as powerful and as
-peculiar to itself as its choruses. The finest situation in <i>Rigoletto</i>
-(to take an example from one of the best known operas of the day) is
-that<a name="vol_1_page_048" id="vol_1_page_048"></a> in which the quartet occurs. Here, three persons express
-simultaneously the different feelings which are excited in the breast of
-each by the presence of a fourth in the house of an assassin, while the
-cause of all this emotion is gracefully making love to one of the three,
-who is the assassin's sister. The amorous fervour of the "Duke," the
-careless gaiety of "Maddalena," the despair of "Gilda," the vengeful
-rage of "Rigoletto," are all told most dramatically in the combined
-songs of the four personages named, while the spectator derives an
-additional pleasure from the art by which these four different songs are
-blended into harmony. A magnificent quartet, of which, however, the
-model existed long before in <i>Don Giovanni</i>.</p>
-
-<p>All this is, of course, very unnatural. It would be so much more natural
-that the "Duke of Mantua" should first make a long speech to
-"Maddalena;" that "Maddalena" should then answer him; that afterwards
-both should remain silent while "Gilda," of whose presence outside the
-tavern they are unaware, sobs forth her lamentations at the perfidy of
-her betrayer; and that finally the "Duke," "Maddalena," and "Gilda," by
-some inexplicable agreement, should not say a word while "Rigoletto" is
-congratulating himself on the prospect of being speedily revenged on the
-libertine who has robbed him of his daughter. In the old drama, perfect
-sympathy between two lovers can scarcely be expressed (or rather
-symbolized) so vividly as through the "<i>ensemble</i>" of the<a name="vol_1_page_049" id="vol_1_page_049"></a> duet, where
-the two voices are joined so as to form but one harmony. We are
-sometimes inclined to think that even the balcony duet between "Romeo"
-and "Juliet" ought to be in music; and certainly no living dramatist
-could render the duet in music between "Valentine and Raoul" adequately
-into either prose or verse. Talk of music destroying the drama,&mdash;why it
-is from love of the drama that so many persons go to the opera every
-night.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">EXPLODED PLEASANTRIES.</div>
-
-<p>But is it not absurd to hear a man say, "Good morning," "How do you do?"
-in music? Most decidedly; and therefore ordinary, common-place, and
-trivial remarks should be excluded from operas, as from poetical dramas
-and from poetry of all kinds except comic and burlesque verse. It was
-not reserved for the unmusical critics of the present day to discover
-that it would be grotesque to utter such a phrase as "Give me my boots,"
-in recitative, and that such a line as "Waiter, a cutlet nicely
-browned," could not be advantageously set to music. All this sort of
-humour was exhausted long ago by Hauteroche, in his <i>Crispin Musicien</i>,
-which was brought out in Paris three years after the establishment of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, and revived in the time of Rameau (1735)
-by Palaprat, in his <i>Concert Ridicule</i> and <i>Ballet Extravagant</i>
-(1689-90), of which the author afterwards said that they were "the
-source of all the badinage that had since been applauded in more than
-twenty comedies; that is to say, the interminable pleasantries on the
-subject of<a name="vol_1_page_050" id="vol_1_page_050"></a> the Opera;" and by St. Evrémond, in his comedy entitled <i>Les
-Opéras</i>, which he wrote during his residence in London.</p>
-
-<p>In St. Evrémond's piece, which was published but not played,
-"Chrisotine" is, so to speak, opera-struck. She thinks of nothing but
-Lulli, or "Baptiste," as she affectionately calls him, after the manner
-of Louis XVI. and his Court; sings all day long, and in fact has
-altogether abandoned speech for song. "Perrette," the servant, tells
-"Chrisotine" that her father wishes to see her. "Why disturb me at my
-songs," replies the young lady, singing all the time. The attendant
-complains to the father, that "Chrisotine" will not answer her in
-ordinary spoken language, and that she sings about the house all day
-long. "Chrisotine" corroborates "Perrette's" statement, by addressing a
-little <i>cavatina</i> to her parent, in which she protests against the
-harshness of those who would hinder her from singing the tender loves of
-"Hermione" and "Cadmus."</p>
-
-<p>"Speak like other people, Chrisotine," exclaims old "Chrisard," or I
-will issue such an edict against operas that they shall never be spoken
-of again where I have any authority."</p>
-
-<p>"My father, Baptiste; opera, my duty to my parents; how am I to decide
-between you?" exclaims the young girl, with a tragic indecision as
-painful as that of Arnold, the son of Tell, hesitating between his
-Matilda and his native land.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ST. EVREMOND'S BURLESQUE.</div>
-
-<p>"You hesitate between Baptiste and your father,"<a name="vol_1_page_051" id="vol_1_page_051"></a> cries the old
-gentleman. "<i>O tempora! O mores!</i>" (only in French).</p>
-
-<p>"Tender mother! Cruel father! and you, O Cadmus! Unhappy Cadmus! I shall
-see you no more," sings "Chrisotine;" and soon afterwards she adds,
-still singing, that she "would rather die than speak like the vulgar. It
-is a new fashion at the court (she continues), and since the last opera
-no one speaks otherwise than in song. When one gentleman meets another
-in the morning, it would be grossly impolite not to sing to
-him:&mdash;'<i>Monsieur comment vous portez vous?</i>' to which the other would
-reply&mdash;'<i>Je me porte Ă  votre service.</i>'</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">First Gentleman.</span>&mdash;'<i>Après diner, que ferons nous?</i>'</p>
-
-<p>"<span class="smcap">Second Gentleman.</span>&mdash;'<i>Allons voir la belle Clarisse.</i>'</p>
-
-<p>"The most ordinary things are sung in this manner, and in polite society
-people don't know what it means to speak otherwise than in music."</p>
-
-<p><i>Chrisard.</i>&mdash;"Do people of quality sing when they are with ladies?"</p>
-
-<p><i>Chrisotine.</i>&mdash;"Sing! sing! I should like to see a man of the world
-endeavour to entertain company with mere talk in the old style. He would
-be looked upon as one of a by-gone period. The servants would laugh at
-him."</p>
-
-<p><i>Chrisard.</i>&mdash;"And in the town?"</p>
-
-<p><i>Chrisotine.</i>&mdash;"All persons of any importance imitate the court. It is
-only in the Rue St. Denis and St.<a name="vol_1_page_052" id="vol_1_page_052"></a> Honoré and on the Bridge of Notre
-Dame that the old custom is still kept up. There people buy and sell
-without singing. But at Gauthier's, at the Orangery; at all the shops
-where the ladies of the court buy dresses, ornaments and jewels, all
-business is carried on in music, and if the dealers did not sing their
-goods would be confiscated. People say that a severe edict has been
-issued to that effect. They appoint no Provost of Trade now unless he is
-a musician, and until M. Lulli has examined him to see whether he is
-capable of understanding and enforcing the rules of harmony."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The above scene, be it observed, is not the work of an ignorant
-detractor of opera, of a brute insensible to the charms of music, but is
-the production of St. Evrémond, one of the very first men, on our side
-of the Alps, who called attention to the beauties of the new musical
-drama, just established in Italy, and which, when he first wrote on the
-subject, had not yet been introduced into France. St. Evrémond had too
-much sense to decry the Opera on account of such improbabilities as must
-inevitably belong to every form of the drama&mdash;which is the expression of
-life, but which need not for that reason be restricted exclusively to
-the language of speech, any more than tragedy need be confined to the
-diction of prose, or comedy to the inane platitudes of ordinary
-conversation. At all events, there is no novelty, and above all no wit,
-in repeating seriously the pleasantries of St. Evrémond, which, we
-repeat,<a name="vol_1_page_053" id="vol_1_page_053"></a> were those of a man who really loved the object of his
-good-natured and agreeable raillery.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ADDISON ON THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>Indeed, most of the men who have written things against the Opera that
-are still remembered have liked the Opera, and have even been the
-authors of operas themselves. "<i>Aujourd'hui ce qui ne vaut pas la peine
-d'ĂŞtre dit on le chante</i>," is said by the Figaro of Beaumarchais&mdash;of
-Beaumarchais, who gave lessons in singing and on the harpsichord to
-Louis XV.'s daughters, who was an enthusiastic admirer of Gluck's
-operas, and who wrote specially for that composer the libretto of
-<i>Tarare</i>, which, however, was not set to music by him, but by Salieri,
-Gluck's favourite pupil. Beaumarchais knew well enough&mdash;and <i>Tarare</i> in
-a negative manner proves it&mdash;that not only "what is not worth the
-trouble of saying" cannot be sung, but that very often such trivialities
-as can with propriety be spoken in a drama would, set to music, produce
-a ludicrous effect. Witness the lines in St. Evrémond's <i>Les Opéras</i>&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"<i>Monsieur comment vous portez vous?</i>"<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">"<i>Je me porte Ă  votre service</i>"&mdash;<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">which might form part of a comedy, but which in an opera would be
-absurd, and would therefore not be introduced into one, except by a
-foolish librettist, (who would for a certainty get hissed), or by a wit
-like St. Evrémond, wishing to amuse himself by exaggerating to a
-ridiculous point the latest fashionable mania of the day.</p>
-
-<p>Addison's admirably humorous articles on Italian<a name="vol_1_page_054" id="vol_1_page_054"></a> Opera in the
-<i>Spectator</i> are often spoken of by musicians as ill-natured and unjust,
-and are ascribed&mdash;unjustly and even meanly, as it seems to me&mdash;to the
-author's annoyance at the failure of his <i>Rosamond</i>, which had been set
-to music by an incapable person named Clayton. Addison could afford to
-laugh at the ill-success of his <i>Rosamond</i>, as La Fontaine laughed at
-that of <i>Astrée</i>; and to assert that his excellent pleasantries on the
-subject of Italian Opera, then newly established in London, had for
-their origin the base motives usually imputed to him by musicians, is to
-give any one the right to say of <i>them</i> that this one abuses modern
-Italian music, which the public applaud, because his own English music
-has never been tolerated or that that one expresses the highest opinion
-of English composers because he himself composes and is an Englishman.
-To impute such motives would be to assume, as is assumed in the case of
-Addison, that no one blames except in revenge for some personal loss, or
-praises except in the hope of some personal gain. And after all, what
-<i>has</i> Addison said against the Opera, an entertainment which he
-certainly enjoyed, or he would not have attended it so often or have
-devoted so many excellent papers to it? Let us turn to the <i>Spectator</i>
-and see.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ADDISON ON THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>Italian Opera was introduced into England at the beginning of the 18th
-century, the first work performed entirely in the Italian language being
-<i>Almahide</i>, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini,<a name="vol_1_page_055" id="vol_1_page_055"></a> and which
-was produced in 1710, with Valentini, Nicolini, Margarita de l'Epine,
-Cassani and "Signora Isabella," in the principal parts. Previously, for
-about three years, it had been the custom for Italian and English
-vocalists to sing each in their own language. "The king,<a name="FNanchor_9_9" id="FNanchor_9_9"></a><a href="#Footnote_9_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a> or hero of
-the play," says Addison, "generally spoke in Italian, and his slaves
-answered him in English; the lover frequently made his court, and gained
-the heart of his princess in a language which she did not understand.
-One would have thought it very difficult to have carried on dialogues in
-this manner without an interpreter between the persons that conversed
-together; but this was the state of the English stage for about three
-years.</p>
-
-<p>"At length, the audience got tired of understanding half the opera, and,
-therefore, to ease themselves entirely of the fatigue of thinking, have
-so ordered it at present, that the whole opera is performed in an
-unknown tongue. We no longer understand the language of our own stage,
-insomuch, that I have often been afraid, when I have seen our Italian
-performers chattering in the vehemence of action, that they have been
-calling us names and abusing us among themselves; but I hope, since we
-do put such entire confidence in them, they will not talk against us
-before our faces, though they may do it with the same safety as if it
-were behind our backs. In the meantime, I cannot forbear thinking how
-naturally an historian who writes two or three hundred years<a name="vol_1_page_056" id="vol_1_page_056"></a> hence, and
-does not know the taste of his wise forefathers, will make the following
-reflection:&mdash;In the beginning of the 18th century, the Italian tongue
-was so well understood in England, that operas were acted on the public
-stage in that language.</p>
-
-<p>"One scarce knows how to be serious in the confutation of an absurdity
-that shows itself at the first sight. It does not want any great measure
-of sense to see the ridicule of this monstrous practice; but what makes
-it the more astonishing, it is not the taste of the rabble, but of
-persons of the greatest politeness, which has established it.</p>
-
-<p>"If the Italians have a genius for music above the English, the English
-have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, and
-capable of giving the mind a much nobler entertainment. Would one think
-it was possible (at a time when an author lived that was able to write
-the <i>Phedra and Hippolitus</i>) for a people to be so stupidly fond of the
-Italian opera as scarce to give a third day's hearing to that admirable
-tragedy? Music is, certainly, a very agreeable entertainment; but if it
-would take entire possession of our ears, if it would make us incapable
-of hearing sense, if it would exclude arts that have much greater
-tendency to the refinement of human nature, I must confess I would allow
-it no better quarter than Plato has done, who banishes it out of his
-commonwealth.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ADDISON ON THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>"At present, our notions of music are so very uncertain, that we do not
-know what it is we like; only,<a name="vol_1_page_057" id="vol_1_page_057"></a> in general, we are transported with
-anything that is not English; so it be of foreign growth, let it be
-Italian, French, or High Dutch, it is the same thing. In short, our
-English music is quite rooted out, and nothing yet planted in its
-stead."</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Spectator</i> was written from day to day, and was certainly not
-intended for <i>our</i> entertainment; yet, who can fail to be amused at the
-description of the stage king "who spoke in Italian and his slaves
-answered him in English;" and of the lover who "frequently made his
-court and gained the heart of his princess in a language which she did
-not understand?" What, too, in this style of humour, can be better than
-the notion of the audience getting tired of understanding half the
-opera, and, to ease themselves of the trouble of thinking, so ordering
-it that the whole opera is performed in an unknown tongue; or of the
-performers who, for all the audience knew to the contrary, might be
-calling them names and abusing them among themselves; or of the probable
-reflection of the future historian, that "in the beginning of the 18th
-century the Italian tongue was so well understood in England that operas
-were acted on the public stage in that language?" On the other hand, we
-have not, it is true, heard yet of any historian publishing the remark
-suggested by Addison; probably, because those historians who go to the
-opera&mdash;and who does not?&mdash;are quite aware that to understand an Italian
-opera, it is not at all necessary to have a knowledge of the Italian
-language.<a name="vol_1_page_058" id="vol_1_page_058"></a> The Italian singers might abuse us at their ease, especially
-in concerted pieces, and in grand finales; but they might in the same
-way, and equally, without fear of detection, abuse their own countrymen.
-Our English vocalists, too, might indulge in the same gratification in
-England, and have I not mentioned that at the Grand Opera of Paris&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">'<i>La soupe aux choux se fait dans la marmite.</i>'<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">has been sung in place of Scribe's words in the opening chorus of
-<i>Robert le Diable</i>; and if <i>La soupe</i>, &amp;c., why not anything else? But
-it is a great mistake to inquire too closely into the foundation on
-which a joke stands, when the joke itself is good; and I am almost
-ashamed, as it is, of having said so much on the subject of Addison's
-pleasantries, when the pleasantries spoke so well for themselves. One
-might almost as well write an essay to prove seriously that language was
-<i>not</i> given to man "to conceal his thoughts."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MUSIC AS AN ART.</div>
-
-<p>The only portion of the paper from which I have extracted the above
-observations that can be treated in perfect seriousness, is that which
-begins&mdash;"If the Italians have a genius for music, &amp;c.," and ends&mdash;"I
-would allow it no better quarter than Plato has done," &amp;c. Now the
-recent political condition of Italy sufficiently proves that music could
-not save a country from national degradation; but neither could painting
-nor an admirable poetic literature. It is also better, no doubt, that a
-man should learn his duty to God and to his neighbour, than that he<a name="vol_1_page_059" id="vol_1_page_059"></a>
-should cultivate a taste for harmony, but why not do both; and above
-all, why compare like with unlike? The "performances of a much higher
-nature" than music undeniably exist, but they do not answer the same
-end. The more general science on which that of astronomy rests may be a
-nobler study than music, but there is nothing consoling or <i>per se</i>
-elevating in mathematics. Poetry, again, would by most persons be
-classed higher than music, though the effect of half poetry, and of
-imaginative literature generally, is to place the reader in a state of
-reverie such as music induces more immediately and more perfectly. The
-enjoyment of art&mdash;by which we do not mean its production, or its
-critical examination, but the pure enjoyment of the artistic result&mdash;has
-nothing strictly intellectual in it; no man could grow wise by looking
-at Raphael or listening to Mozart. Nor does he derive any important
-intellectual ideas from many of our most beautiful poems, but simply
-emotion, of an elevated kind, such as is given by fine music. Music is
-evidently not didactic, and painting can only teach, in the ordinary
-sense of the word, what every one already knows; though, of course, a
-painter may depict certain aspects of nature and of the human face,
-previously unobserved and unimagined, just as the composer, in giving a
-musical expression to certain sentiments and passions, can rouse in us
-emotions previously dormant, or never experienced before with so much
-intensity. But the fine arts cannot communicate abstract<a name="vol_1_page_060" id="vol_1_page_060"></a> truths&mdash;from
-which it chiefly follows that no right-minded artist ever uses them with
-such an aim; though there is no saying what some wild enthusiasts will
-not endeavour to express, and other enthusiasts equally wild pretend to
-see, in symphonies and in big symbolical pictures. If Addison meant to
-insinuate that <i>Phædra and Hippolytus</i> was a much higher performance
-than any possible opera, he was decidedly in error. But he had not heard
-<i>Don Juan</i>, <i>William Tell</i>, and <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>; to which no one in the
-present day, unless musically deaf, could prefer an English translation
-of <i>Phèdre</i>. It would be unfair to lay too much stress on the fact that
-the music of Handel still lives, and with no declining life, whereas the
-tragedies of Racine, resuscitated by Mademoiselle Rachel, have not been
-heard of since the death of that admirable actress; Addison was only
-acquainted with the earliest of Handel's operas, and these <i>are</i>
-forgotten, as indeed are most of his others, with the exception, here
-and there, of a few detached airs.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA AND DRAMA.</div>
-
-<p>In the sentence commencing "Music is certainly a very agreeable
-entertainment, but," &amp;c., Addison says what every one, who would care to
-see one of Shakespeare's plays properly acted (not much cared for,
-however, in Addison's time), must feel now. Let us have perfect
-representations of Opera by all means; but it is a sad and a disgraceful
-thing, that in his own native country the works of the greatest
-dramatist who ever lived should be utterly neglected as far as<a name="vol_1_page_061" id="vol_1_page_061"></a> their
-stage representation is concerned. It is absurd to pretend that the
-Opera is the sole cause of this. Operas, magnificently put upon the
-stage, are played in England, at least at one theatre, with remarkable
-<i>completeness</i> of excellence, and, at more than one, with admirable
-singers in the principal and even in the minor parts. Shakespeare's
-dramas, when they are played at all, are thrown on to the stage anyhow.
-This would not matter so much, but our players, even in <i>Hamlet</i>, where
-they are especially cautioned against it, have neither the sense nor the
-good taste to avoid exaggeration and rant, to which, they maintain, the
-public are now so accustomed, that a tragedian acting naturally would
-make no impression. Their conventionality, moreover, makes them keep to
-certain stage "traditions," which are frequently absurd, while their
-vanity is so egregious that one who imagines himself a first-rate actor
-(in a day when there are no first-rate actors) will not take what he is
-pleased to consider a second-rate part. Our stage has no tragedian who
-could embody the jealousy of "Otello," as Ronconi embodies that of
-"Chevreuse" in <i>Maria di Rohan</i>, nor could half a dozen actors of equal
-reputation be persuaded in any piece to appear in half a dozen parts of
-various degrees of prominence, though this is what constantly takes
-place at the Opera.</p>
-
-<p>In Addison's time, Nicolini was a far greater actor than any who was in
-the habit of appearing on the English stage; indeed, this alone can
-account for the<a name="vol_1_page_062" id="vol_1_page_062"></a> success of the ridiculous opera of <i>Hydaspes</i>, in which
-Nicolini played the principal part, and of which I shall give some
-account in the proper place. Doubtless also, it had much to do with the
-success of Italian Opera generally, which, when Addison commenced
-writing about it in the <i>Spectator</i>, was supported by no great composer,
-and was constructed on such frameworks as one would imagine could only
-have been imagined by a lunatic or by a pantomime writer struck serious.
-If Addison had not been fond of music, and moreover a very just critic,
-he would have dismissed the Italian Opera, such as it existed during the
-first days of the <i>Spectator</i>, as a hopeless mass of absurdity.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">STAGE DECORATION.</div>
-
-<p>Every one must in particular admit the justness of Addison's views
-respecting the incongruity of operatic scenery; indeed, his observations
-on that subject might with advantage be republished now and then in the
-present day. "What a field of raillery," he says, "would they [the wits
-of King Charles's time] have been let into had they been entertained
-with painted dragons spitting wildfire, enchanted chariots drawn by
-Flanders mares, and real cascades in artificial landscapes! A little
-skill in criticism would inform us, that shadows and realities ought not
-to be mixed together in the same piece; and that the scenes which are
-designed as the representations of nature should be filled with
-resemblances, and not with the things themselves. If one would represent
-a wide champaign country, filled with<a name="vol_1_page_063" id="vol_1_page_063"></a> herds and flocks, it would be
-ridiculous to draw the country only upon the scenes, and to crowd
-several parts of the stage with sheep and oxen. This is joining together
-inconsistencies, and making the decoration partly real and partly
-imaginary. I would recommend what I have here said to the directors as
-well as the admirers, of our modern opera."</p>
-
-<p>In the matter of stage decoration we have "learned nothing and forgotten
-nothing" since the beginning of the 18th century. Servandoni, at the
-theatre of the Tuileries, which contained some seven thousand persons,
-introduced as elaborate and successful mechanical devices as any that
-have been known since his time; but then as now the real and artificial
-were mixed together, by which the general picture is necessarily
-rendered absurd, or rather no general picture is produced. Independently
-of the fact that the reality of the natural objects makes the
-artificiality of the manufactured ones unnecessarily evident as when the
-branches of real trees are agitated by a gust of wind, while those of
-pasteboard trees remain fixed&mdash;it is difficult in making use of natural
-objects on the stage to observe with any accuracy the laws of proportion
-and perspective, so that to the eye the realities of which the manager
-is so proud, are, after all, strikingly unreal. The peculiar conditions
-too, under which theatrical scenery is viewed, should always be taken
-into account. Thus, "real water," which used at one time to be announced
-as such a great attraction at some of our minor playhouses, does<a name="vol_1_page_064" id="vol_1_page_064"></a> not
-look like water on the stage, but has a dull, black, inky, appearance,
-quite sufficient to render it improbable that any despondent heroine,
-whatever her misfortune, would consent to drown herself in it.</p>
-
-<p>The most contemptuous thing ever written against the Opera, or rather
-against music in general, is Swift's celebrated epigram on the Handel
-and Buononcini disputes:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Some say that Signor Buononcini<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Compared to Handel is a ninny;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">While others say that to him, Handel<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Is hardly fit to hold a candle.<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Strange that such difference should be,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">'Twixt Tweedledum and Tweedledee."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Capital, telling lines, no doubt, though is it not equally strange that
-there should be such a difference between one piece of painted canvas
-and another, or between a statue by Michael Angelo and the figure of a
-Scotchman outside a tobacconist's shop? These differences exist, and it
-proves nothing against art that savages and certain exceptional natures
-among civilized men are unable to perceive them. We wonder how the Dean
-of St. Patrick's would have got on with the Abbé Arnauld, who was so
-impressed with the sublimity of one of the pieces in Gluck's
-<i>Iphigénie</i>, that he exclaimed, "With that air one might found a new
-religion!"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BERANGER ON THE DECLINE OF THE DRAMA.</div>
-
-<p>One of the wittiest poems written against our modern love of music
-(cultivated, it must be admitted, to a painful extent by many incapable
-amateurs) is<a name="vol_1_page_065" id="vol_1_page_065"></a> the lament by BĂ©ranger, in which the poet, after
-complaining that the convivial song is despised as not sufficiently
-artistic, and that in the presence of the opera the drama itself is fast
-disappearing, exclaims:</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Si nous t'enterrons<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Bel art dramatique,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Pour toi nous dirons<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">La messe en musique.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Without falling into the same error as those who have accused Addison of
-a selfish and interested animosity towards the Opera, I may remark that
-song-writers have often very little sympathy for any kind of music
-except that which can be easily subjected to words, as in narrative
-ballads, and to a certain extent ballads of all kinds. When a man says
-"I don't care much for music, but I like a good song," we may generally
-infer that he does not care for music at all. So play-wrights have a
-liking for music when it can be introduced as an ornament into their
-pieces, but not when it is made the most important element in the
-drama&mdash;indeed, the drama itself.</p>
-
-<p>Favart, the author of numerous opera-books, has left a good satirical
-description in verse of French opera. It ends as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i2">Quiconque voudra<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Faire un opéra,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Emprunte Ă  Pluton,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Son peuple démon;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Qu'il tire des cieux<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Un couple de dieux,<a name="vol_1_page_066" id="vol_1_page_066"></a><br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Qu'il y joigne un héros<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Tendre jusqu' aux os.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Lardez votre sujet,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">D'un Ă©ternel ballet.<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Amenez au milieu d'une fĂŞte<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">La tempĂŞte,<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Une bĂŞte,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Que quelqu'un tûra<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Dès qu'il la verra.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Quiconque voudra faire un opéra<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Fuira de la raison<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Le triste poison.<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Il fera chanter<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Concerter et sauter<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Et puis le reste ira,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Tout comme il pourra.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PANARD ON THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>This, from a man whose operas did not fail, but on the contrary, were
-highly successful, is rather too bad. But the author of the ill-fated
-"Rosamond" himself visited the French Opera, and has left an account of
-it, which corresponds closely enough to Favart's poetical description.
-"I have seen a couple of rivers," he says, (No. 29 of the <i>Spectator</i>)
-"appear in red stockings, and Alpheus, instead of having his head
-covered with sedge and bulrushes, making love in a fair, full-bottomed,
-periwig, and a plume of feathers, but with a voice so full of shakes and
-quavers that I should have thought the murmurs of a country brook the
-much more agreeable music. I remember the last opera I saw in that merry
-nation was the "Rape of Proserpine," where Pluto, to make the more
-tempting figure, puts himself in a French equipage, and brings
-Ascalaphus along with him as<a name="vol_1_page_067" id="vol_1_page_067"></a> his <i>valet de chambre</i>." This is what we
-call folly and impertinence, but what the French look upon as gay and
-polite."</p>
-
-<p>Addison's account agrees with Favart's song and also with one by Panard,
-which contains this stanza:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"J'ai vu le soleil et la lune<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Qui faissient des discours en l'air<br /></span>
-<span class="ist"><i>J'ai vu le terrible Neptune</i><br /></span>
-<span class="ist"><i>Sortir tout frisé de la mer</i>."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Panard's song, which occurs at the end of a vaudeville produced in 1733,
-entitled <i>Le départ de l'Opéra</i>, refers to scenes behind as well as
-before the curtain. It could not be translated with any effect, but I
-may offer the reader the following modernized imitation of it, and so
-conclude the present chapter.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">WHAT MAY BE SEEN AT THE OPERA.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen Semiramis, the queen;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">I've seen the Mysteries of Isis;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A lady full of health I've seen<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Die in her dressing-gown, of phthisis.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen a wretched lover sigh,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">"<i>Fra poco</i>" he a corpse would be,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Transfix himself, and then&mdash;not die,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">But coolly sing an air in D.<a name="vol_1_page_068" id="vol_1_page_068"></a><br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen a father lose his child,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Nor seek the robbers' flight to stay;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">But, in a voice extremely mild,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Kneel down upon the stage and pray.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen "Otello" stab his wife;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">The "Count di Luna" fight his brother;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">"Lucrezia" take her own son's life;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And "John of Leyden" cut his mother.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen a churchyard yield its dead,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And lifeless nuns in life rejoice;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I've seen a statue bow its head,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And listened to its trombone voice.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen a herald sound alarms,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Without evincing any fright:<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Have seen an army cry "To arms"<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">For half an hour, and never fight.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen a naiad drinking beer;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">I've seen a goddess fined a crown;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And pirate bands, who knew no fear,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">By the stage manager put down;<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Seen angels in an awful rage,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And slaves receive more court than queens,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And huntresses upon the stage<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Themselves pursued behind the scenes.<a name="vol_1_page_069" id="vol_1_page_069"></a><br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen a maid despond in A,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Fly the perfidious one in B,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Come back to see her wedding day,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">And perish in a minor key.<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">I've seen the realm of bliss eternal,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">(The songs accompanied by harps);<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">I've seen the land of pains infernal,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">With demons shouting in six sharps!<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PANARD AT THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_070" id="vol_1_page_070"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IV" id="CHAPTER_IV"></a>CHAPTER IV.<br /><br />
-<small>INTRODUCTION AND PROGRESS OF THE BALLET.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>The Ballets of Versailles.&mdash;Louis XIV. astonished at his own
-importance.&mdash;Louis retires from the stage; congratulations
-addressed to him on the subject; he re-appears.&mdash;Privileges of
-Opera dancers and singers.&mdash;Manners and customs of the Parisian
-public.&mdash;The Opera under the regency.&mdash;Four ways of presenting a
-petition.&mdash;Law and the financial scheme.&mdash;Charon and paper
-money.&mdash;The Duke of Orleans as a composer.&mdash;An orchestra in a court
-of justice.&mdash;Handel in Paris.&mdash;Madame Sallé; her reform in the
-Ballet, and her first appearance in London.</p></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A CORPS OF NOBLES.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">A<small>FTER</small> the Opera comes the Ballet. Indeed, the two are so intimately
-mixed together that it would be impossible in giving the history of the
-one to omit all mention of the other. The Ballet, as the name
-sufficiently denotes, comes to us from the French, and in the sense of
-an entertainment exclusively in dancing, dates from the foundation of
-the Académie Royale de Musique, or soon afterwards. During the first
-half of the 17th century, and even earlier, ballets were performed at
-the French court, under the direction of an Italian, who, abandoning his
-real name of Baltasarini, had adopted that of Beaujoyeux. He it was who
-in 1581 produced the "<i>Ballet Comique de<a name="vol_1_page_071" id="vol_1_page_071"></a> la Royne</i>," to celebrate the
-marriage of the Duc de Joyeuse. This piece, which was magnificently
-appointed, and of which the representation is said to have cost
-3,600,000 francs, was an entertainment consisting of songs, dances, and
-spoken dialogue, and appears to have been the model of the masques which
-were afterwards until the middle of the 17th century represented in
-England, and of most of the ballets performed in France until about the
-same period. There were dancers engaged at the French Opera from its
-very commencement, but it was difficult to obtain them in any numbers,
-and, worst of all, there were no female dancers to be found. The company
-of vocalists could easily be recruited from the numerous cathedral
-choirs; for the Ballet there were only the dancing-masters of the
-capital to select from, the profession of dancing-mistress not having
-yet been invented. Nymphs, dryads, and shepherdesses were for some time
-represented by young boys, who, like the fauns, satyrs, and all the rest
-of the dancing troop wore masks. At last, however, in 1681, Terpsichore
-was worthily represented by dancers of her own sex, and an aristocratic
-corps de ballet was formed, with Madame la Dauphine, the Princess de
-Conti, and Mdlle. de Nantes as principal dancers, supported by the
-Dauphin, the Prince de Conti and the Duke de Vermandois. They appeared
-in the <i>Triomphe de l'Amour</i>, and the astounding exhibition was fully
-appreciated. Previously, the ladies of the court, when they appeared in
-ballets, had confined<a name="vol_1_page_072" id="vol_1_page_072"></a> themselves to reciting verses, which sometimes,
-moreover, were said for them by an orator engaged for the purpose. To
-see a court lady dancing on the stage was quite a novelty; hence, no
-doubt, the success of that spectacle.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">QUADRILLES AND COUNTRY DANCES.</div>
-
-<p>The first celebrated <i>ballerina</i> at the French Opera was Mademoiselle La
-Fontaine, styled <i>la reine de la danse</i>&mdash;a title of which the value was
-somewhat diminished by the fact that there were only three other
-professional danseuses in Paris. Lulli, however, paid great attention to
-the ballet, and under his direction it soon gained importance. To Lulli,
-who occasionally officiated as ballet-master, is due the introduction of
-rapid style of dancing, which must have contrasted strongly with the
-stately solemn steps that were alone in favour at the Court during the
-early days of Louis XIV's reign. The minuet-loving Louis had notoriously
-an aversion for gay brilliant music. Thus he failed altogether to
-appreciate the talent of "little Baptiste" not Lulli, but Anet, a pupil
-of Corelli, who is said to have played the sonatas of his master very
-gracefully, and with an "agility" which at that time was considered
-prodigious. The Great Monarch preferred the heavy monotonous strains of
-his own Baptiste, the director of the Opera. It may here be not out of
-place to mention that Lulli's introduction of a lively mode of dancing
-into France (it was only in his purely operatic music that he was so
-lugubriously serious) took place simultaneously with the importation
-from England of the country-dance&mdash;and corrupted<a name="vol_1_page_073" id="vol_1_page_073"></a> into <i>contre-danse</i>,
-which is now the French for quadrille. Moreover, when the French took
-our country-dance, a name which some etymologists would curiously enough
-derive from its meaningless corruption&mdash;we adopted their minuet which
-was first executed in England by the Marquis de Flamarens, at the Court
-of Charles II. The passion of our English noblemen for country-dances is
-recorded as follows in the memoirs of the Count de Grammont:&mdash;"Russel
-was one of the most vigorous dancers in England, I mean for
-country-dances (<i>contre-danses</i>). He had a collection of two or three
-hundred arranged in tables, which he danced from the book; and to prove
-that he was not old, he sometimes danced till he was exhausted. His
-dancing was a good deal like his clothes; it had been out of fashion
-twenty years."</p>
-
-<p>Every one knows that Louis XIV. was a great actor; and even his mother,
-Anne of Austria, appeared on the stage at the Court of Madrid to the
-astonishment and indignation of the Spaniards, who said that she was
-lost for them, and that it was not as Infanta of Spain, but as Queen of
-France, that she had performed.</p>
-
-<p>On the occasion of Louis XIV.'s marriage with Marie Therèse, the
-celebrated expression <i>Il n'y plus de Pyrenées</i> was illustrated by a
-ballet, in which a French nymph and a Spanish nymph sang a duet while
-half the dancers were dressed in the French and half in the Spanish
-costume.<a name="vol_1_page_074" id="vol_1_page_074"></a></p>
-
-<p>Like other illustrious stars, Louis XIV. took his farewell of the stage
-more than once before he finally left it. His Histrionic Majesty was in
-the habit both of singing and dancing in the court ballets, and took
-great pleasure in reciting such graceful compliments to himself as the
-following:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Plus brilliant et mieux fait que tous les dieux ensemble<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">La terre ni le ciel n'ont rien qui me ressemble."<br /></span>
-<span class="i5">(<i>Thétis et Pélée.</i>&mdash;Benserade. 1654),<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i3">"Il n'est rien de si grand dans toute la nature<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">&nbsp;Selon l'âme et le cœur au point où je me vois;<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">&nbsp;De la terre et de moi qui prendra la mesure<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">&nbsp;Trouvera que la terre est moins grande que moi."<br /></span>
-<span class="i6">(<i>L'Impatience.</i>&mdash;Benserade. 1661).<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>On the 15th February, 1669, Louis XIV. sustained his favourite character
-of the Sun, in <i>Flora</i>, the eighteenth ballet in which he had played a
-part&mdash;and the next day solemnly announced that his dancing days were
-over, and that he would exhibit himself no more. The king had not only
-given his royal word, but for nine months had kept it, when Racine
-produced his <i>Britannicus</i>, in which the following lines are spoken by
-"Narcisse" in reference to Nero's performances in the amphitheatre.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Pour toute ambition pour vertu singulière<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Il excelle à conduire un char dans la carrière;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A disputer des prix indignes des ses mains,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A se donner lui-mĂŞme en spectacle aux Romains,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A venir prodiguer sa voix sur un théâtre<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">A réciter des chants qu'il veut qu'on idolâtre;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Tandis que des soldats, de moments en moments,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Vont arracher pour lui des applaudissements.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_075" id="vol_1_page_075"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LOUIS RETURNS TO THE STAGE.</div>
-
-<p>The above lines have often been quoted as an example of virtuous
-audacity on the part of Racine, who, however, did not write them until
-the monarch who at one time did not hesitate to "<i>se donner lui mĂŞme en
-spectacle</i>, &amp;c.," had confessed his fault and vowed never to repeat it;
-so that instead of a lofty rebuke, the verses were in fact an indirect
-compliment neatly and skilfully conveyed. So far from profiting by
-Racine's condemnation of Nero's frivolity and shamelessness, and
-retiring conscience-stricken from the stage (of which he had already
-taken a theatrical farewell) Louis XIV. reappeared the year afterwards,
-in <i>Les amants magnifiques</i>, a <i>Comédie-ballet</i>, composed by Molière and
-himself, in which the king figured and was applauded as author,
-ballet-master, dancer, mime, singer, and performer on the flute and
-guitar. He had taken lessons on the latter instrument from the
-celebrated Francisco Corbetta, who afterwards made a great sensation in
-England at the Court of Charles II.</p>
-
-<p>If Louis XIV. did not scruple to assume the part of an actor himself,
-neither did he think it unbecoming that his nobles should do the same,
-even in presence of the general public and on the stage of the Grand
-Opera. "We wish, and it pleases us," he says in the letters patent
-granted to the Abbé Perrin, the first director of the Académie Royale de
-Musique (1669) "that all gentlemen (<i>gentilshommes</i>) and ladies may sing
-in the said pieces and representations of our Royal Academy without
-being considered for<a name="vol_1_page_076" id="vol_1_page_076"></a> that reason to derogate from their titles of
-nobility, or from their privileges, rights and immunities." Among the
-nobles who profited by this permission and appeared either as singers,
-or as dancers at the Opera, were the Seigneur du Porceau, and Messieurs
-de Chasré and Borel de Miracle; and Mesdemoiselles de Castilly, de Saint
-Christophe, and de Camargo. Another privilege accorded to the Opera was
-of such an infamous nature that were it not for positive proof we could
-scarcely believe it to have existed. It had full control, then, over all
-persons whose names were once inscribed on its books; and if a young
-girl went of her own accord, or was persuaded into presenting herself at
-the Opera, or was led away from her parents and her name entered on the
-lists by her seducer&mdash;then in neither case had her family any further
-power over her. <i>Lettres de cachet</i> even were issued, commanding the
-persons named therein to join the Opera; and thus the Count de Melun got
-possession of both the Camargos. The Duke de Fronsac was enabled to
-perpetrate a similar act of villany. He it is who is alluded to in the
-following lines by Gilbert:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Qu'on la séduise! Il dit: ses eunuques discrets,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Philosophes abbés, philosophes valets,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Intriguent, sèment l'or, trompent les yeux d'un père,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Elle cède, on l'enlève; en vain gémit sa mère.<br /></span>
-<span class="ist"><i>Echue à l'Opéra par un rapt solennel,</i><br /></span>
-<span class="ist"><i>Sa honte la dérobe au pouvoir paternel.</i>"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">INVENTION OF THE BALLET.</div>
-
-<p>As for men they were sent to the Opera as they<a name="vol_1_page_077" id="vol_1_page_077"></a> were sent to the
-Bastille. Several amateurs, abbés and others, the beauty of whose voices
-had been remarked, were arrested by virtue of <i>lettres de cachet</i>, and
-forced to appear at the Académie Royale de Musique, which had its
-conscription like the army and navy. On the other hand, we have seen
-that the pupils and associates of the Académie enjoyed certain
-privileges, such as freedom from parental restraint and the right of
-being immoral; to which was afterwards added that of setting creditors
-at defiance. The pensions of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging
-to the Opera were exempted from all liability to seizure for debt.</p>
-
-<p>The dramatic ballet, or <i>ballet d'action</i>, was invented by the Duchess
-du Maine. We soon afterwards imported it into England as, in Opera, we
-imported the chorus, which was also a French invention, and one for
-which the musical drama can scarcely be too grateful. The dramatic
-<i>ballet</i>, however, has never been naturalized in this country. It still
-crosses over to us occasionally, and when we are tired of it goes back
-again to its native land; but even as an exotic, it has never fairly
-taken root in English soil.</p>
-
-<p>The Duchess du Maine was celebrated for her <i>Nuits de Sceaux</i>, or <i>Nuits
-Blanches</i>, as they were called, which the nobles of Louis XIV.'s Court
-found as delightful as they found Versailles dull. The Duchess used to
-get up lotteries among her most favoured guests, in which the prizes
-were so many permissions to give a magnificent entertainment.<a name="vol_1_page_078" id="vol_1_page_078"></a> The
-letters of the alphabet were placed in a box, and the one who drew O had
-to get up an opera; C stood for a comedy; B for a ballet; and so on. The
-hostess of Sceaux had not only a passion for theatrical performances,
-but also a great love of literature, and the idea occurred to her of
-realising on the stage of her own theatre something like one of those
-pantomimes of antiquity of which she had read the descriptions with so
-much pleasure. Accordingly, she took the fourth act of <i>Les Horaces</i>,
-had it set to music by Mouret, just as if it were to be sung, and caused
-this music to be executed by the orchestra alone, while Balon and
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who were celebrated as dancers, but had never
-attempted pantomime before, played in dumb show the part of the last
-Horatius, and of Camilla, the sister of the Curiatii. The actor and
-actress entered completely into the spirit of the new drama, and
-performed with such truthfulness and warmth of emotion as to affect the
-spectators to tears.</p>
-
-<p>Mouret, the musical director of <i>Les Nuits Blanches</i>, composed several
-operas and <i>ballets</i> for the Académie; but when the establishment at
-Sceaux was broken up, after the discovery of the Spanish conspiracy, in
-which the Duchess du Maine was implicated, he considered himself ruined,
-went mad and died at Charenton in the lunatic asylum.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE FREE LIST.</div>
-
-<p>"Long live the Regent, who would rather go to the Opera than to the
-Mass," was the cry when on<a name="vol_1_page_079" id="vol_1_page_079"></a> the death of Louis XIV., the reins of
-government were assumed by the Duke of Orleans. At this time the whole
-expenses of the Opera, including chorus, ballet, musicians, scene
-painters, decorators, &amp;c.&mdash;from the prima donna to the
-bill-sticker&mdash;amounted only to 67,000 francs a year, being considerably
-less than half what is given now to a first-rate soprano alone. The
-first act of the Regent in connexion with the Opera was to take its
-direction out of the hands of musicians, and appoint the Duc d'Antin
-manager. The new <i>impresario</i>, wishing to reward Thévanard, who was at
-that time the best singer in France, offered him the sum of 600 francs.
-Thévanard indignantly refused it, saying "that it was a suitable
-present, at most, for his valet," upon which d'Antin proposed to
-imprison the singer for his insolence, but abstained from doing so, for
-fear of irritating the public with whom Thévanard was a prodigious
-favourite. He, however, resigned the direction of the Opera, saying that
-he "wished to have nothing more to do with such <i>canaille</i>."</p>
-
-<p>The next operatic edict of the Regent had reference to the admission of
-authors, who hitherto had enjoyed the privilege of free entry to the
-pit. In 1718 the Regent raised them to the amphitheatre&mdash;not as a mark
-of respect, but in order that they might be the more readily detected
-and expelled in case of their forming cabals to hiss the productions of
-their rivals, which, standing up in the pit in the midst of a dense
-crowd, they had been able to do with impunity.<a name="vol_1_page_080" id="vol_1_page_080"></a> Even to the present day,
-when authors exchange applause much more freely than hisses, the
-regulations of the French theatre do not admit them to the pit, though
-they have free access to every other part of the house.</p>
-
-<p>At the commencement of the 18th century, the Opera was the scene of
-frequent disturbances. The Count de Talleyrand, MM. de Montmorency,
-Gineste, and others, endeavouring to force their way into the theatre
-during a rehearsal, were repulsed by the guard, and Gineste killed. The
-Abbés Hourlier and Barentin insulted M. Fieubet; they were about to come
-to blows when the guard separated them and carried off the obstreperous
-ecclesiastics to For l'Evèque, where they were confined for a fortnight.
-On their release Hourlier and Barentin, accompanied by a third abbé,
-took their places in the balcony over the stage, and began to sing,
-louder even than the actors, maintaining, when called to order, that the
-Opera was established for no other purpose, and that if they had a right
-to sing anywhere, it was at the Académie de Musique.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PETER THE GREAT AT THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>A balustrade separated the stage balconies from the stage, but continual
-attempts were made to get over it, and even to break into the actresses'
-dressing rooms, which were guarded by sentinels. At this period about a
-third of the <i>habitués</i> used to make their appearance in a state of
-intoxication, the example being set by the Regent himself, who could
-proceed direct from his residence<a name="vol_1_page_081" id="vol_1_page_081"></a> in the Palais Royal to the Opera,
-which adjoined it. To the first of the Regent's masked balls the
-Councillor of State, Rouillé, is said to have gone drunk from personal
-inclination, and the Duke de Noailles in the same condition, out of
-compliment to the administrator of the kingdom.</p>
-
-<p>When Peter the Great visited the French Opera, in 1717, he does not
-appear to have been intoxicated, but he went to sleep. When he was asked
-whether the performance had wearied him, he is said to have replied,
-that on the contrary he liked it to excess, and had gone to sleep from
-motives of prudence. This story, however, does not quite accord with the
-fact that Peter introduced public theatrical performances into Russia,
-and encouraged his nobles to attend them.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing illustrates better the heartless selfishness of Louis XV. than
-his conduct, not at the Opera, but at his own theatre in the Louvre,
-immediately after the occurrence of a terrible and fatal accident. The
-Chevalier de Fénélon, an ensign in the palace guard, in endeavouring to
-climb from one box to another, lost his fooling, and fell headlong on to
-a spiked balustrade, where he remained transfixed through the neck. The
-theatre was stained with blood in a horrible manner, and the unfortunate
-chevalier was removed from the balustrade a dead man. Just then, the
-Very Christian king made his appearance. He gave the signal for the
-performance to commence, and the orchestra struck up as if nothing had
-happened.</p>
-
-<p>Some idea of the morality of the French stage<a name="vol_1_page_082" id="vol_1_page_082"></a> during the regency and
-the reign of Louis XV., may be formed from the fact that, in spite of
-the great license accorded to the members of the Académie, or at least,
-tolerated and encouraged by the law, it was found absolutely necessary
-in 1734 to expel the <i>prima donna</i> Mademoiselle PĂ©lissier, who had
-shocked even the management of the Opera. She was, however, received
-with open arms in London. Let us not be too hard on our neighbours.</p>
-
-<p>Soon afterwards, Mademoiselle Petit, a dancer, was exiled for negligence
-of attire and indiscretion behind the scenes. I must add that this
-negligence was extreme. The most curious part of the affair, was that
-the Abbé de la Marre, author of several <i>libretti</i>, undertook the young
-lady's defence, and published a pamphlet in justification of her
-conduct, which is to be found among his <i>Ĺ’uvres diverses</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Another <i>danseuse</i>, however, named Mariette, ruled at the Opera like a
-little autocrat. "The Princess," as she was named, from the regard the
-Prince de Carignan, titular director of the academy, was known to
-entertain for her, applied to the actual managers, Lecomte and
-Lebœuf, for a payment of salary which she had already received, and
-which they naturally refused to give twice. Upon this they were not only
-dismissed from their places (which they had purchased) but were exiled
-by <i>lettres de cachet</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PELISSIER AT TABLE.</div>
-
-<p>The prodigality of favourite and favoured actresses under the regency
-was extreme. The before-mentioned Mademoiselle PĂ©lissier and her friend
-Mademoiselle<a name="vol_1_page_083" id="vol_1_page_083"></a> Deschamps, both gluttonous to excess, were noted for their
-contempt of all ordinary food, and of everything that happened to be
-nearly in season, or at all accessible, not merely to vulgar citizens,
-but to the generality of opulent sensualists. It is not said that they
-aspired to the dissolution of pearls in their sauces, but if green peas
-were served to them when the price of the dish was less than sixty
-francs, they sent them away in disdain. Mademoiselle PĂ©lissier was in
-the receipt of 4,000 francs (ÂŁ160) a year from the Opera. Mademoiselle
-Deschamps, who was only a figurante, contrived to get on with a salary
-of only sixteen pounds. And yet we have seen that they were neither of
-them economical.</p>
-
-<p>One of the most facetious members of the Académie under the regency, was
-Tribou, a performer, who seems to have been qualified for every branch
-of the histrionic profession, and to have possessed a certain literary
-talent besides. This humourist had some favour to ask of the Duke of
-Orleans. He presented a petition to him, and after the regent had read
-it, said gravely&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"If your Highness would like to read it again, here is the same thing in
-verse."</p>
-
-<p>"Let me see it," said the Duke.</p>
-
-<p>Tribou presented his petition in verse, and afterwards expressed his
-readiness to sing it. He sang, and no sooner had he finished, than he
-added&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"If <i>mon Seigneur</i> will permit me, I shall be happy to dance it."<a name="vol_1_page_084" id="vol_1_page_084"></a></p>
-
-<p>"Dance it?" exclaimed the regent; "by all means!"</p>
-
-<p>When Tribou had concluded his <i>pas</i>, the duke confessed that he had
-never before heard of a petition being either danced or sung, and for
-the love of novelty, granted the actor his request.</p>
-
-<p>During the regency, wax was substituted for tallow in the candelabra of
-the Opera. This improvement was due to Law, who gave a large sum of
-money to the Académie for that special purpose. On the other hand,
-Mademoiselle Mazé, one of the prettiest dancers at the Opera, was ruined
-three years afterwards by the failure of this operatic benefactor's
-financial scheme. The poor girl put on her rouge, her mouches, and her
-silk stockings, and in her gayest attire, drowned herself publicly in
-the middle of the day at La Grenouillière.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HOW TO CROSS THE STYX.</div>
-
-<p>After the break up of Law's system, the regent, terrified by the murmurs
-and imprecations of the Parisians, endeavoured to turn the whole current
-of popular hatred against the minister, by dismissing him from the
-administration of the finances. When Law presented himself at the Palais
-Royal, the regent refused to receive him; but the same evening, he
-admitted him by a private door, apologized to him, and tried to console
-him. Two days afterwards, he accompanied Law to the Opera; but to
-preserve him from the fury of the people, he was obliged to have him
-conducted home by a party of the Swiss guard.<a name="vol_1_page_085" id="vol_1_page_085"></a></p>
-
-<p>In the fourth act of Lulli's <i>Alceste</i>, Charon admits into his bark
-those shades who are able to pay their passage across the Styx, and
-sends back those who have no money.</p>
-
-<p>"Give him some bank notes," exclaimed a man in the pit to one of these
-penniless shades. The audience took up the cry, and the scene between
-Charon and the shades was, at subsequent representations, the cause of
-so much tumult, that it was found necessary to withdraw the piece.</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Orleans appears to have had a sincere love of music, for he
-composed an opera himself, entitled <i>Panthée</i>, of which the words were
-written by the Marquis de La Fare. <i>Panthée</i> was produced at the Duke's
-private theatre. After the performance, the musician, Campra, said to
-the composer,</p>
-
-<p>"The music, your Highness, is excellent, but the poem is detestable."</p>
-
-<p>The regent called La Fare.</p>
-
-<p>"Ask Campra," he said, "what he thinks of the Opera; I am sure he will
-tell you that the poem is admirable, and the music worthless. We must
-conclude that the whole affair is as bad as it can be."</p>
-
-<p>The Duke of Orleans had written a motet for five voices, which he wished
-to send to the Emperor Leopold, but before doing so, entrusted it for
-revision to Bernier, the composer. Bernier handed the manuscript to the
-Abbé de la Croix, whom the regent found examining it while Bernier
-himself was in the next room regaling himself with his friends.<a name="vol_1_page_086" id="vol_1_page_086"></a> The
-immediate consequences of this discovery were a box on the ear for
-Bernier, and ten louis for de La Croix.</p>
-
-<p>The Regent also devoted some attention to the study of antiquity. He
-occupied himself in particular with inquiries into the nature of the
-music of the Greeks, and with the construction of an instrument which
-was to resemble their lyre.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MUSIC IN COURT.</div>
-
-<p>To the same prince was due the excellent idea of engaging the celebrated
-Italian Opera Company of London, at that time under the direction of
-Handel, to give a series of performances at the Académie. A treaty was
-actually signed in presence of M. de Maurepas, the minister, by which
-Buononcini the conductor, Francesca Cuzzoni, Margarita Durastanti,
-Francesco Bernardi, surnamed <i>Senesino</i>, Gaetano Bernesta, and Guiseppe
-Boschi were to come to Paris in 1723, and give twelve representations of
-one or two Italian Operas, as they thought fit. Francine, the director
-of the Académie, engaged to pay them 35,000 francs, and to furnish new
-dresses to the principal performers. This treaty was not executed,
-probably through some obstacle interposed by Francine; for the manager
-signed it against his will, and on the 2nd of December following, the
-regent, with whom it had originated, died. The absurd privileges secured
-to the Académie Royale, and the consequent impossibility of giving
-satisfactory performances of Italian Opera elsewhere than at the chief
-lyrical theatre must have done much to check the progress<a name="vol_1_page_087" id="vol_1_page_087"></a> of dramatic
-music in France. From time to time Italian singers were suffered to make
-their appearance at the Grand Opera; but at the regular Italian Theatre
-established in Paris, as at the Comédie Française, singing was only
-permitted under prescribed conditions, and the orchestra was strictly
-limited, by severe penalties, rigidly enforced, to a certain number of
-instruments, of which not more than six could be violins, or of the
-violin family.</p>
-
-<p>At the Comédie Italienne an ass appeared on the stage, and began to
-bray.</p>
-
-<p>"Silence," exclaimed Arlechinno, "music is forbidden here."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Among the distinguished amateurs of the period of the regency was M. de
-Saint Montant, who played admirably on the viola, and had taught his
-sons and daughters to do the same. Being concerned in a law suit, which
-had to be tried at Nimes, he went with his family of musicians to visit
-the judges, laid his case before them, one after the other, and by way
-of peroration, gave them each a concert, with which they were so
-delighted that they decided unanimously in favour of M. de Saint
-Montant.</p>
-
-<p>A law suit had previously been decided somewhat in the same manner, but
-much more logically, in favour of Joseph Campra, brother of the composer
-of that name, who was the conductor of the orchestra at the Opera of
-Marseilles. The manager refused to pay the musicians on the ground that
-they did not<a name="vol_1_page_088" id="vol_1_page_088"></a> play well enough. In consequence, he was summoned by the
-entire band, who, when they appeared in court, begged through Campra
-that they might be allowed to plead their own cause. The judges granted
-the desired permission, upon which the instrumentalists drew themselves
-up in orchestral order and under the direction of Campra commenced an
-overture of Lulli's. The execution of this piece so delighted the
-tribunal that with one voice it condemned the director to pay the sum
-demanded of him.</p>
-
-<p>A still more curious dispute between a violinist and a dancer was
-settled in a satisfactory way for both parties. The dancer was on the
-stage rehearsing a new step. The violinist was in the orchestra
-performing the necessary musical accompaniment.</p>
-
-<p>"Your scraping is enough to drive a man mad," said the dancer.</p>
-
-<p>"Very likely," said the musician, "and your jumping is only worthy of a
-clown. Perhaps as you have such a very delicate ear," he added, "and
-nature has refused you the slightest grace, you would like to take my
-place in the orchestra?"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LA CAMARGO.</div>
-
-<p>"Your awkwardness with the bow makes me doubt whether your most useful
-limbs may not be your legs," replied the dancer. "You will never do any
-good where you are. Why do you not try your fortune in the ballet? Give
-me your violin," he continued, "and come up on to the stage. I know the
-scale already. You can teach me to play minuets, and I will show you how
-to dance them."<a name="vol_1_page_089" id="vol_1_page_089"></a></p>
-
-<p>The proposed interchange of good offices took place, and with the
-happiest results. The unmusical fiddler, whose name was Dupré, acquired
-great celebrity in the ballet, and LĂ©clair, the awkward dancer, became
-the chief of the French school of violin playing.</p>
-
-<p>Marie-Anne Cupis de Camargo did not lose so much time in discovering her
-true vocation. She gave evidence of her genius for the ballet while she
-was still in the cradle, and was scarcely six months old when the
-variety of her gestures, the grace of her movements, and the precision
-with which she marked the rhythm of the tunes her father played on the
-violin led all who saw her to believe that she would one day be a great
-dancer. The young Camargo, who belonged to a noble family of Spanish
-origin, made her <i>début</i> at the Académie in 1726, and at once achieved a
-decided success. People used to fight at the doors to obtain admittance
-the nights she performed; all the new fashions were introduced under her
-name, and in a very short space of time her shoemaker made his fortune.
-All the ladies of the court insisted on wearing shoes <i>Ă  la Camargo</i>.
-But the triumph of one dancer is the despair of another. Mademoiselle
-Prévost, who was the queen of the ballet until Mademoiselle de Camargo
-appeared was not prepared to be dethroned by a <i>débutante</i>. She was so
-alarmed by the young girl's success that she did her utmost to keep her
-in the background, and contrived before long to get her placed among
-the<a name="vol_1_page_090" id="vol_1_page_090"></a> <i>figurantes</i>. But in spite of this loss of rank, Mademoiselle de
-Camargo soon found an opportunity of distinguishing herself. In a
-certain ballet, she formed one of a group of demons, and was standing on
-the stage waiting for Dumoulin, who had to dance a <i>pas seul</i>, when the
-orchestra began the soloist's air and continued to play it, though still
-no Dumoulin appeared. Mademoiselle de Camargo was seized with a sudden
-inspiration. She left the demoniac ranks, improvised a step in the place
-of the one that should have been danced by Dumoulin and executed it with
-so much grace and spirit that the audience were in raptures.
-Mademoiselle Prévost, who had previously given lessons to young Camargo,
-now refused to have anything to do with her, and the two <i>danseuses</i>
-were understood to be rivals both by the public and by one another. The
-chief characteristics of Camargo's dancing were grace, gaiety, and above
-all prodigious lightness, which was the more remarkable at this period
-from the fact that the mode chiefly cultivated at the Opera was one of
-solemn dignity. However, she had not been long on the stage before she
-learned to adopt from her masters and from the other dancers whatever
-good points their particular styles presented, and thus formed a style
-of her own which was pronounced perfection.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">STAGE COSTUME.</div>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle de Camargo, in spite of her charming vivacity when dancing,
-was of a melancholy mood off the stage. She was not remarkably pretty,
-but her face was highly expressive, her figure exquisite, her<a name="vol_1_page_091" id="vol_1_page_091"></a> hands and
-feet of the most delicate proportions, and she possessed considerable
-wit. Dupré, the ex-violinist, who had leaped at a bound from the
-orchestra to the stage, was in the habit of dancing with Camargo, and
-also with Mademoiselle Sallé, another celebrity of this epoch, who
-afterwards visited London, where she produced the first complete <i>ballet
-d'action</i> ever represented, and at the same time introduced an important
-reform in theatrical costume.</p>
-
-<p>The art of stage decoration had made considerable progress, even before
-the Opera was founded, but it was not until long after Mademoiselle
-Sallé had given the example in London that any reasonable principles
-were observed in the selection and design of theatrical dresses. In
-1730, warriors of all kinds, Greek, Roman, and Assyrian, used to appear
-on the French stage in tunics belaced and beribboned, in cuirasses, and
-in powdered wigs bearing tails a yard long, surmounted by helmets with
-plumes of prodigious height. The tails, of which there were four, two in
-front and two behind, were neatly plaited and richly pomatumed, and when
-the warrior became animated, and waved his arm or shook his head, a
-cloud of hair powder escaped from his wig. It appeared to Mademoiselle
-Sallé, who, besides being an admirable dancer, was a woman of taste in
-all matters of art, that this sort of thing was absurd; but the reforms
-she suggested were looked upon as ridiculous innovations, and nearly
-half a century elapsed before they were adopted in France.<a name="vol_1_page_092" id="vol_1_page_092"></a></p>
-
-<p>This ingenious <i>ballerina</i> enjoyed the friendship and regard of many of
-the most distinguished writers of her time. Voltaire celebrated her in
-verse, and when she went to London she took with her a letter of
-introduction from Fontenelle to Montesquieu, who was then ambassador at
-the English Court. Another danseuse, Mademoiselle Subligny came to
-England with letters of introduction from Thiriot and the Abbé Dubois to
-Locke. The illustrious metaphysician had no great appreciation of
-Mademoiselle de Subligny's talent, but he was civil and attentive to her
-out of regard to his friends, who were also hers, and, in the words of
-Fontenelle, constituted himself her "<i>homme d'affaires</i>."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PHILOSOPHERS AND ACTRESSES.</div>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Sallé was not only esteemed by literature, she was adored
-by finance, and Samuel Bernard, the Court banker and money lender, gave
-her a hundred golden louis for dancing before the guests at the marriage
-of his daughter with the President Molé. The same opulent amateur sent a
-thousand francs to Mademoiselle Lemaure, by way of thanking her for
-resuming the part of "DĂ©lie," in the "Les FĂŞtes Grecques et Romaines,"
-on the occasion of the Duchess de Mirepoix's marriage. I must mention
-that at this period it was not the custom in good society for young
-ladies to appear at the Opera before their marriage. Their mothers were
-determined either to keep their daughters out of harm's way, or to
-escape a dangerous rivalry as long as possible; but once attached to a
-husband the newly-married girl could show herself at<a name="vol_1_page_093" id="vol_1_page_093"></a> the Opera as often
-as she pleased, and it was a point of etiquette that through the Opera
-she should make her entrance into fashionable life. These <i>débutantes</i>
-of the audience department presented themselves to the public in their
-richest attire, in their most brilliant diamonds; and if the effect was
-good the gentlemen in the pit testified their approbation by clapping
-their hands.</p>
-
-<p>But to return to Mademoiselle Sallé. What she proposed to introduce
-then, and did introduce into London, in addition to her own admirable
-dancing, were complete dramatic ballets, with the personages attired in
-the costumes of the country and time to which the subject belonged. To
-give some notion of the absurdity of stage costumes at this period we
-may mention that forty-two years afterwards, when Mademoiselle Sallé's
-reform had still had no effect in France, the "Galathea," in Rousseau's
-<i>Pygmalion</i>, wore a damask dress, made in the Polish style, over a
-basket hoop, and on her head on enormous <i>pouf</i>, surmounted by three
-ostrich feathers!</p>
-
-<p>In her own <i>Pygmalion</i>, Mademoiselle Sallé carried out her new principle
-by appearing, not in a Polish costume, nor in a Louis Quinze dress, but
-in drapery imitated as closely as possible from the statues of
-antiquity. Of her performance, and of <i>Pygmalion</i> generally, a good
-account is given in the following letter, written by a correspondent in
-London, under the date of March 15th, 1734, to the "Mercure de France."
-In the style we do not recognise the<a name="vol_1_page_094" id="vol_1_page_094"></a> author of the "Essay on the
-Decadence of the Romans," and of the "Spirit of Laws," but it is just
-possible that M. de Montesquieu may have responded to M. de Fontenelle's
-letter of introduction, by writing a favourable criticism of the
-bearer's performance, for the "influential journal" in which the notice
-actually appeared.</p>
-
-<p>"Mdlle. Sallé," says the London correspondent, "without considering the
-embarrassing position in which she places me, desires me to give you an
-account of her success. I have to tell you in what manner she has
-rendered the fable of Pygmalion, and that of Ariadne and Bacchus; and of
-the applause with which these two ballets of her composition have been
-received by the Court of England.</p>
-
-<p>"Pygmalion has now been represented for nearly two months, and the
-public is never tired of it. The subject is developed in the following
-manner.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADEMOISELLE SALLE.</div>
-
-<p>"Pygmalion comes into his studio with his pupils, who perform a
-characteristic dance, chisel and mallet in hand. Pygmalion tells them to
-draw aside a curtain at the back of the studio, which, like the front is
-adorned with statues. The one in the middle above all the others
-attracts the looks and admiration of every one. Pygmalion gazes at it
-and sighs; he touches its feet, presses its waist, adorns its arms with
-precious bracelets, and covers its neck with diamonds, and, kissing the
-hands of his dear statue, shows that he is passionately in love with it.
-The amorous sculptor expresses his distress in pantomime,<a name="vol_1_page_095" id="vol_1_page_095"></a> falls into a
-state of reverie, and then throwing himself at the feet of a statue of
-Venus, prays to the goddess to animate his beloved figure.</p>
-
-<p>"The goddess answers his prayer. Three flashes of light are seen, and to
-an appropriate symphony the marble beauty emerges by degrees from her
-state of insensibility. To the surprise of Pygmalion and his pupils she
-becomes animated, and evinces her astonishment at her new existence, and
-at the objects by which she is surrounded. The delighted Pygmalion
-extends his hand to her; she feels, so to speak, the ground beneath her
-with her feet, and takes some timid steps in the most elegant attitudes
-that sculpture could suggest. Pygmalion dances before her, as if to
-instruct her; she repeats her master's steps, from the easiest to the
-most difficult. He endeavours to inspire her with the tenderness he
-feels himself, and succeeds in making her share that sentiment. You can
-understand, sir, what all the passages of this action become, executed
-and danced with the fine and delicate grace of Mdlle. Sallé. She
-ventured to appear without basket, without skirt, without a dress, in
-her natural hair, and with no ornament on her head. She wore nothing, in
-addition to her boddice and under-petticoat, but a simple robe of
-muslin, arranged in drapery after the model of a Greek statue.</p>
-
-<p>"You cannot doubt, sir, of the prodigious success this ingenious ballet,
-so well executed, obtained. At the request of the king, the queen, the
-royal family,<a name="vol_1_page_096" id="vol_1_page_096"></a> and all the court, it will be performed on the occasion
-of Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, for which all the boxes and places in
-the theatre and amphitheatre have been taken for a month past. The
-benefit takes place on the first of April.</p>
-
-<p>"Do not expect that I can describe to you Ariadne like Pygmalion: its
-beauties are more noble and more difficult to relate; the expressions
-and sentiments are those of the profoundest grief, despair, rage and
-utter dejection; in a word all the great passions perfectly declaimed by
-means of dances, attitudes and gestures suggested by the position of a
-woman who is abandoned by the man she loves. You may announce, sir, that
-Mademoiselle Sallé becomes in this piece the rival of the Journets, the
-Duclos, and the Lecouvreurs. The English, who preserve so tender a
-recollection of their famous Oldfield, whom they have just laid in
-Westminster Abbey among their great statesmen (!) look upon her as
-resuscitated in Mademoiselle Sallé when she represents Ariadne.</p>
-
-<p>"P. S. The first of this month the Prince of Orange, accompanied by the
-Prince of Wales, the Duke of Cumberland and the Princesses, went to
-Covent Garden Theatre [Théâtre du <i>Commun Jardin</i> the French newspaper
-has it] to see the tragedy of King Henry IV., when there was a numerous
-assembly; and all the receipts of the representation were for the
-benefit of Mademoiselle Sallé."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADEMOISELLE SALLE.</div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A PROFITABLE PERFORMANCE.</div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_097" id="vol_1_page_097"></a>M. Castil Blaze, who publishes the whole of the above letter, with the
-exception of the postscript, in his history of the Académie Royale, is
-wrong in concluding from Mademoiselle Sallé having appeared at Covent
-Garden, that she was engaged to dance there by Handel, who was at that
-time director of the Queen's Theatre (reign of Anne) in the Haymarket.
-M. Victor Schœlcher may also be in error when, in speaking of the
-absurd fable that Handel being in Paris heard a canticle by Lulli,<a name="FNanchor_10_10" id="FNanchor_10_10"></a><a href="#Footnote_10_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a>
-and coming back to England gave it to the English, as God Save the King,
-he assures us that Handel never set foot in Paris at all. It is certain
-that Handel went to Italy to engage new singers in 1733, and it is by no
-means improbable that he passed through Paris on his way. At all events,
-M. Castil Blaze assures us that in that year he visited the Académie
-Royale de Musique, and that "while lavishing sarcasms and raillery on
-our French Opera," he appreciated the talent of Mademoiselle Sallé. "A
-thousand crowns (three thousand francs) was the sum," he continues,
-"that the <i>virtuose</i> asked for composing two ballets and dancing in them
-at London <i>during the carnival</i> of 1734. The director of a rival
-enterprise watched for her arrival in that city, and offered her three
-thousand guineas instead of the three thousand crowns which she had
-agreed to accept from Handel; adding that nothing prevented her from
-making this change, inasmuch as she had signed no engagement. 'And my
-word,' answered the<a name="vol_1_page_098" id="vol_1_page_098"></a> amiable dancer; 'is my word to count for nothing?'
-This reply, applauded and circulated from mouth to mouth, prepared
-Mademoiselle Sallé's success, and had the most fortunate influence on
-the representation given for her benefit. All the London journals gave
-magnificent accounts of the triumphs of Marie Taglioni, and of the marks
-of admiration and gratitude that she received. Equally flattering
-descriptions reached us from the icy banks of the Neva. Mere trifles,
-<i>niaiseries, debolleze</i>! This <i>furore</i>, this enthusiasm, this
-fanaticism, this royal, imperial liberality was very little, or rather
-was nothing, in comparison with the homage which the sons of Albion
-offered to and lavished upon the divine Sallé. History tells us that at
-the representation given for her benefit people fought at the doors of
-the theatre; that an infinity of amateurs were obliged to conquer at the
-point of the sword, or at least with their fists, the places which had
-been sold to them by auction, and at exorbitant prices. As Mademoiselle
-Sallé made her last curtsey and smiled upon the pit with the most
-charming grace, furious applause burst forth from all parts and seemed
-to shake the theatre to its foundation. While the whirlwind howled,
-while the thunder roared, a hailstorm of purses, full of gold, fell upon
-the stage, and a shower of bonbons followed in the same direction. These
-bonbons, manufactured at London, were of a singular kind; guineas&mdash;not
-like the doubloons, the louis d'or in paste, that are exhibited in the
-shop-windows of our confectioners, but good, genuine<a name="vol_1_page_099" id="vol_1_page_099"></a> guineas in metal
-of Peru, well and solidly bound together&mdash;formed the sweetmeat; the
-<i>papillote</i> was a bank-note. Projectiles a thousand times, and again a
-thousand times precious. Arguments which sounded still when the fugitive
-tempest of applause was at an end. Our favourite <i>virtuoses</i> place now
-on their heads, after pressing them for a moment to their hearts, the
-wreaths thrown to them by an electrified public. Mademoiselle Sallé put
-the proofs of gratitude offered by her host of admirers into her pockets
-or rather into bags. The light and playful troop of little Loves who
-hovered around the new dancer, picked up the precious sugar-plums as
-they fell, and eight dancing satyrs carried away in cadence the
-improvised treasures. This performance brought Mademoiselle Sallé more
-than two hundred thousand francs."</p>
-
-<p>What M. Castil Blaze tells us about the bonbons of guineas and
-bank-notes may or may not be true&mdash;I have no means of judging&mdash;but it is
-not very likely that eight dancing satyrs appeared on the stage at
-Mademoiselle Sallé's benefit, inasmuch as the ballet given on that
-occasion was not <i>Bacchus and Ariadne</i>, as M. Castil Blaze evidently
-supposes, but <i>Pygmalion</i>. The London correspondent of the <i>Mercure de
-France</i> has mentioned that <i>Pygmalion</i> was to be performed by desire of
-"the king and the queen, the royal family, and all the court," and
-naturally that was the piece selected. According to the letter in the
-<i>Mercure</i> the benefit was fixed for the first of April; indeed,<a name="vol_1_page_100" id="vol_1_page_100"></a> the
-writer in his postscript speaks of it as having taken place on that day,
-but he says nothing about purses of gold, nor does he speak of guineas
-wrapped up in bank-notes.</p>
-
-<p>It appears from the <i>Daily Journal</i> that Mademoiselle Sallé took her
-benefit on the 21st of March (which would be April 1, New Style), when
-the first piece was <i>Henry IV., with the humours of Sir John Falstaff</i>,
-and the second <i>Pigmalion</i> (with a <i>Pig</i>). It was announced that on this
-occasion "servants would be permitted to keep places on the stage,"
-whereas in most of the Covent Garden play bills of the period the
-following paragraph appears:&mdash;"It is desired that no person will take it
-ill their not being admitted behind the scenes, it being impossible to
-perform the entertainment unless these passages are kept clear."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADEMOISELLE SALLE AND HANDEL.</div>
-
-<p>At this time Handel was at the Queen's Theatre, and it was not until the
-next year, long after Mademoiselle Sallé had left England, that he moved
-to Covent Garden. The rival who is represented as having offered such
-magnificent terms to Mademoiselle Sallé with the view of tempting her
-from her allegiance to Handel, must have been, if any one, Porpora;
-though if M. Castil Blaze could have identified him as that celebrated
-composer he would certainly have mentioned the name. Porpora, who
-arrived in England in 1733, was in 1734 director of the "Nobility's
-Theatre" in Lincoln's-Inn Fields.<a name="vol_1_page_101" id="vol_1_page_101"></a></p>
-
-<p>The following is the announcement of Mademoiselle Sallé's first
-appearance in England:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">At the</span> THEATRE ROYAL C<small>OVENT</small> G<small>ARDEN</small>, On Monday, 11th March, will be
-performed a Comedy, called "<i>The</i> W<small>AY</small> <i>of the</i> W<small>ORLD</small>, by the late
-Mr. Congreve, with entertainments of dancing, particularly the
-Scottish dance by Mr. Glover and Mrs. Laguerre, Mr. le Sac, and
-Miss Boston, M. de la Garde and Mrs. Ogden.</p>
-
-<p>"The French Sailor and his Lass, by Mademoiselle Sallé and Mr.
-Malter.</p>
-
-<p>"The Nassau, by Mr. Glover and Miss Rogers, Mr. Pelling and Miss
-Nona, Mr. Le Sac and Mrs. Ogden, Mr. de la Garde and Miss Batson.</p>
-
-<p>"With a new dance, called <i>Pigmalion</i>, performed by Mr. Malter and
-Mademoiselle Sallé, M. Dupré, Mr. Pelling, Mr. Duke, Mr. le Sac,
-Mr. Newhouse, and M. de la Garde.</p>
-
-<p>"No servants will be permitted to keep places on the stage."</p></div>
-
-<p>It appears that at the King's Theatre on the night of Mademoiselle
-Sallé's benefit, at Covent Garden, there was "an assembly." "Two
-tickets," says the advertisement, "will be delivered to every
-subscriber, this day, at White's Chocholate House, in St. James's
-Street, paying the subscription-money; and if any tickets remain more
-than are subscribed for, they will be delivered the same day at the
-Opera office<a name="vol_1_page_102" id="vol_1_page_102"></a> in the Haymarket, at six and twenty shillings each.</p>
-
-<p>"Every ticket will admit either one gentleman or two ladies.</p>
-
-<p>"N. B.&mdash;Five different doors will be opened at twelve for the company to
-go out, where chairs will easily be had.</p>
-
-<p>N. B.&mdash;To prevent a crowd there will be but 700 tickets printed."</p>
-
-<p>I find from the collection of old newspapers before me, that Handel,
-whose <i>Ariadne</i> was first produced and whose <i>Pastor Fido</i> was revived
-in 1734, is called in the playbills of the King's Theatre "Mr. Handell."
-The following is the announcement of the performance given at that
-establishment on the 4th June, 1734, "being the last time of performing
-till after the holidays."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MR. HANDELL.</div>
-
-<p>"A<small>T</small> the KING'S THEATRE in the H<small>AYMARKET</small>, on Tuesday next, being the 4th
-day of June will be performed an Opera called</p>
-
-<p class="c">
-PASTOR FIDO,<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>Composed by Mr. Handell, intermixed with Choruses.</p>
-
-<p>The Scenery after a particular manner.</p>
-
-<p>Pit and Boxes will be put together, and no persons to be admitted
-without tickets, which will be delivered that day at the Office of the
-Haymarket, at half a guinea each.</p>
-
-<p class="c">
-GALLERY F<small>IVE</small> S<small>HILLINGS</small>.<br />
-<span class="smcap">B y &nbsp; H i s &nbsp; M a j e s t y ' s &nbsp; C O M M A N D.</span><a name="vol_1_page_103" id="vol_1_page_103"></a></p>
-
-<p>No persons whatever to be admitted behind the scenes.</p>
-
-<p>To begin at half an hour after six o'clock."</p>
-
-<p>Handel had now been twenty-four years in London where he had raised the
-Italian Opera to a pitch of excellence unequalled elsewhere in Europe,
-except perhaps at Dresden, which during the first half of the 18th
-century was universally celebrated for the perfection of its operatic
-performances at the Court Theatre directed by Hasse. But of the
-introduction of Italian Opera into England, and especially of the
-arrival of Handel, his operatic enterprises, his successes and his
-failures, I must speak in another chapter.<a name="vol_1_page_104" id="vol_1_page_104"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_V" id="CHAPTER_V"></a>CHAPTER V.<br /><br />
-<small>INTRODUCTION OF ITALIAN OPERA INTO ENGLAND.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>Operatic Feuds.&mdash;Objections to Nose-pulling.&mdash;Arsinoe.&mdash;Camilla and
-the Boar.&mdash;Steele on insanity.&mdash;Handel and Clayton.&mdash;Nicolini and
-the lion.&mdash;Rinaldo and the sparrows.&mdash;Hamlet set to music.&mdash;Three
-enraged musicians.&mdash;Three charming singers.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">I<small>T</small> was not until the close of the 17th century that England was visited
-by any Italian singers of note, among the first of whom was the
-well-known Margarita de l'Epine. This vocalist's name frequently occurs
-in the current literature of the period, and Swift in his "Journal to
-Stella" speaks in his own graceful way of having heard "Margarita and
-her sister and another drab, and a parcel of fiddlers at Windsor." This
-was in 1711, nineteen years after her arrival in England&mdash;a proof that
-even then Italian singers, who had once obtained the favour of the
-English public, were determined to profit by it as long as possible.
-Margarita was an excellent musician, and a virtuous and amiable woman;
-but she was ugly and was called Hecate by her husband, who had married
-her for her money.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERATIC FEUDS.</div>
-
-<p>The history of the Opera in England is, more than<a name="vol_1_page_105" id="vol_1_page_105"></a> in any other country,
-the history of feuds and rivalries between theatres and singers. The
-rival of Margarita de l'Epine was Mrs. Tofts, who in 1703 was singing
-English and Italian songs at the theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields.
-Instead of enjoying the talent of both, the London public began to
-dispute as to which was the best; and what was still more absurd, to
-create disturbances at the very theatres where they sang, so that the
-English party prevented Margarita de l'Epine from being heard, while the
-Italians drowned the voice of Mrs. Tofts.<a name="FNanchor_11_11" id="FNanchor_11_11"></a><a href="#Footnote_11_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a> Once, when the amiable
-Margarita was singing at Drury Lane, she was not only hissed and hooted,
-but an orange was thrown at her by a woman who was recognised as being
-or having been in the service of the English vocalist. Hence
-considerable scandal and the following public statement which appeared
-in the <i>Daily Courant</i> of February 8th, 1704.</p>
-
-<p>"Ann Barwick having occasioned a disturbance at the Theatre Royal on
-Saturday last, the 5th of February, and being thereupon taken into
-custody, Mrs. Tofts, in vindication of her innocencey, sent a letter to
-Mr. Rich, master of the said Theatre, which is as followeth:&mdash;'Sir, I
-was very much surprised when I was informed that Ann Barwick, who was<a name="vol_1_page_106" id="vol_1_page_106"></a>
-lately my servant, had committed a rudeness last night at the playhouse
-by throwing of oranges and hissing when Mrs. L'Epine, the Italian
-gentlewoman, sang. I hope no one will think it was in the least with my
-privity, as I assure you it was not. I abhor such practices, and I hope
-you will cause her to be prosecuted that she may be punished as she
-deserves. I am, sir, your humble servant, K<small>ATHARINE</small> T<small>OFTS</small>.'"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ARSINOE.</div>
-
-<p>At this period the unruly critics of the pit behaved with as little
-ceremony to those who differed from them among the audience as to those
-performers whom they disliked on the stage. In proof of this, we may
-quote a portion of the very amusing letter written by a linen-draper
-named Heywood (under the signature of James Easy), to the
-<i>Spectator</i>,<a name="FNanchor_12_12" id="FNanchor_12_12"></a><a href="#Footnote_12_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a> on the subject of nose-pulling. "A friend of mine, the
-other night, applauding what a graceful exit Mr. Wilkes made," says Mr.
-Easy, "one of these nose-wringers overhearing him, pulled him by the
-nose. I was in the pit the other night," he adds, "when it was very
-crowded. A gentleman leaning upon me, and very heavily, I civilly
-requested him to remove his hand; for which he pulled me by the nose. I
-would not resent it in so public a place, because I was unwilling to
-create a disturbance; but have since reflected upon it as a thing that
-is unmanly and disingenuous, renders the nose-puller odious, and makes
-the person pulled by the nose look little<a name="vol_1_page_107" id="vol_1_page_107"></a> and contemptible. This
-grievance I humbly request you will endeavour to redress."</p>
-
-<p>Fifty years later, at the Grand Opera of Paris, a gentleman in the pit
-applauded the dancing of Mademoiselle Asselin. "<i>Il faut ĂŞtre bien bĂŞte
-pour applaudir une telle sauteuse</i>," said his neighbour, upon which a
-challenge was given and received, the two amateurs went out and fought,
-when the aggressor fell mortally wounded.</p>
-
-<p>In the letters of Frenchmen and Englishmen from Italy, describing the
-Italian theatres of the eighteenth century, we read neither of pelting
-with oranges, nor of nose-pulling, nor of duelling. One of the most
-remarkable things in the demeanour of the audience appears to have been
-the unceremonious manner in which the aristocratic occupants of the
-boxes behaved towards the people in the pit. The nobles, who were
-somewhat given to expectoration, thought nothing of spitting down into
-the parterre, and "what is still more extraordinary," says Baretti, who
-notices this curious habit, "those who received it on their faces and
-heads, did not seem to resent it much." We are told, however, that "they
-made the most curious grimaces in the world."</p>
-
-<p>But to return to the rival singers of London. In 1705, then, Mrs. Tofts
-and Margarita were both engaged at Drury Lane; the former taking the
-principal part in <i>Arsinoe</i>, which was performed in English, the latter
-singing Italian songs before and<a name="vol_1_page_108" id="vol_1_page_108"></a> after the Opera. <i>Arsinoe</i> ("the first
-Opera," says the <i>Spectator</i>, "that gave us a taste for Italian music")
-was the composition of Clayton, the <i>maestro</i> who afterwards wrote music
-for Addison's unfortunate <i>Rosamond</i>, and who described the purpose and
-character of his first work in the following words:&mdash;"The design of this
-entertainment being to introduce the Italian manner of singing to the
-English stage, which has not been before attempted, I was obliged to
-have an Italian Opera translated, in which the words, however mean in
-several places, suited much better with that manner of music than others
-more poetical would do. The style of this music is to express the
-passions, which is the soul of music, and though the voices are not
-equal to the Italian, yet I have engaged the best that were to be found
-in England; and I have not been wanting, to the utmost of my diligence,
-in the instructing of them. The music, being recitative, may not at
-first meet with that general acceptation, as is to be hoped for, from
-the audience's being better acquainted with it; but if this attempt
-shall be a means of bringing this manner of music to be used in my
-native country, I shall think my study and pains very well employed."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CAMILLA AND THE BOAR</div>
-
-<p>Mr. Hogarth, in his interesting "Memoirs of the Opera," remarks that
-"though <i>Arsinoe</i> is utterly unworthy of criticism, yet there is
-something amusing in the folly of the composer. The very first song may
-be taken as a specimen. The words are&mdash;<a name="vol_1_page_109" id="vol_1_page_109"></a></p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">Queen of Darkness, sable night,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Ease a wandering lover's pain;<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Guide me, lead me<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Where the nymph whom I adore,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Sleeping, dreaming,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Thinks of love and me no more.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>The first two lines are spoken in a meagre sort of recitative. Then
-there is a miserable air, the first part of which consists of the next
-two lines, and concludes with a perfect close. The second part of the
-air is on the last two lines; after which, there is, as usual, a <i>da
-capo</i>, and the first part is repeated; the song finishing in the middle
-of a sentence,&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Guide me, lead me<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Where the nymph whom I adore"&mdash;<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">which, I venture to say, has not been beaten by Bunn, or Fitzball, or
-any of our worst librettists at their worst moments.</p>
-
-<p>The music of <i>Camilla</i>, the second opera in the Italian style, performed
-in England, was by Marco Antonio Buononcini, the brother of Handel's
-future rival. The work was produced at the original Opera House, erected
-by Sir John Vanburgh, on the site of the present building, in 1705.<a name="FNanchor_13_13" id="FNanchor_13_13"></a><a href="#Footnote_13_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a>
-It was sung half in English and half in Italian. Mrs. Tofts played the<a name="vol_1_page_110" id="vol_1_page_110"></a>
-part of "Camilla," and kept to <i>her</i> mother tongue. Valentini played
-that of the hero, and kept to his. Both the Buononcinis were composers
-of high ability and the music of <i>Camilla</i> is said to have been very
-beautiful. The melodies given to the two principal singers were
-original, expressive, and well harmonized. Mrs. Tofts' impersonation of
-the Amazonian lady was much admired by persons of taste, and there was a
-part for a pig which threw the vulgar into ecstacies.</p>
-
-<p>"Mr. Spectator," wrote a correspondent, "your having been so humble as
-to take notice of the epistles of the animal, embolden me, who am the
-wild boar that was killed by Mrs. Tofts, to represent to you that I
-think I was hardly used in not having the part of the lion in Hydaspes
-given to me. It would have been but a natural step for me to have
-personated that noble creature, after having behaved myself to
-satisfaction in the part above mentioned; but that of a lion is too
-great a character for one that never trode the stage before but upon two
-legs. As for the little resistance I made, I hope it may be excused when
-it is considered that the dart was thrown at me by so fair a hand. I
-must confess I had but just put on my brutality; and Camilla's charms
-were such, that beholding her erect mien, hearing her charming voice,
-and astonished with her graceful motion, I could not keep up to my
-assumed fierceness, but died like a man."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">STEELE ON INSANITY.</div>
-
-<p>Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage in 1709, in consequence of mental
-derangement. We have seen<a name="vol_1_page_111" id="vol_1_page_111"></a> Mademoiselle Desmâtins, half fancying in her
-excessive, vanity that she was really the queen or princess she had been
-representing the same night on the stage, and ordering the servants, on
-her return home, to prepare her throne and serve her on their bended
-knees. Poor Mrs. Tofts laboured under a similar delusion; only, in her
-case, it was not a moral malady, but the hallucination of a diseased
-intellect. "In the meridian of her beauty," says Hawkins, in his History
-of Music, "and possessed of a large sum of money, which she had acquired
-by singing, Mrs. Tofts quitted the stage, and was married to Mr. Joseph
-Smith, a gentleman, who being appointed consul for the English nation,
-at Venice, she went thither with him. Mr. Smith was a great collector of
-books, and patron of the arts. He lived in great state and magnificence;
-but the disorder of his wife returning, she dwelt sequestered from the
-world, in a remote part of the house, and had a large garden to range
-in, in which she would frequently walk, singing and giving way to that
-innocent frenzy which had seized her in the early part of her life."</p>
-
-<p>The terrible affliction, which had fallen upon the favourite operatic
-vocalist, is touched upon by Steele, with singular want of feeling, of
-taste, and even of common decency, in No. 20 of the <i>Tatler</i>. "The
-theatre," he says, "is breaking, and there is a great desolation among
-the gentlemen and ladies who were the ornaments of the town, and used to
-shine in plumes and diadems, the heroes being most of them<a name="vol_1_page_112" id="vol_1_page_112"></a> pressed, and
-the queens beating hemp." Then with more brutality than humour he adds,
-"The great revolutions of this nature bring to my mind the distress of
-the unfortunate 'Camilla,' who has had the ill luck to break before her
-voice, and to disappear at a time when her beauty was in the height of
-its bloom. This lady entered so thoroughly into the great characters she
-acted, that when she had finished her part she could not think of
-retrenching her equipage, but would appear in her own lodgings with the
-same magnificence as she did upon the stage. This greatness of soul has
-reduced that unhappy princess to a voluntary retirement, where she now
-passes her time among the woods and forests, thinking on the crowns and
-sceptres she has lost, and often humming over in her solitude:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">'I was born of royal race,<br /></span>
-<span class="isst">Yet must wander in disgrace, &amp;c.'<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>"But for fear of being overheard, and her quality known, she usually
-sings it in Italian:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">'Nacqui al regno, nacqui al trono,<br /></span>
-<span class="isst">E pur sono,<br /></span>
-<span class="isst">Sventatura pastorella.'"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">STEELE AND DRURY LANE.</div>
-
-<p>It is "the Christian soldier" who wrote this; who rejoiced in this
-anti-christian and cowardly spirit at the dark calamity which had
-befallen an amiable and charming vocalist, whose only fault was that
-she<a name="vol_1_page_113" id="vol_1_page_113"></a> had aided the fortunes of a theatre abhorred by Steele. And what
-cause had Steele for detesting the Italian Opera with the unreasonable
-and really stupid hatred which he displayed towards it? Addison, as it
-seems to me, has been most unfairly attacked for his strictures on the
-operatic performances of his day. They were often just, they were never
-ill-natured, and they were always enveloped in such a delightful garb of
-humour, that there is not a sentence, certainly not a whole paper, and
-scarcely even a phrase,<a name="FNanchor_14_14" id="FNanchor_14_14"></a><a href="#Footnote_14_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> in all he has published about the Opera,
-that a musician, unless already "enraged," would wish unwritten. It is
-unreasonable and unworthy to connect Addison's pleasantries on the
-subject of <i>Arsinoe</i>, <i>Camilla</i>, <i>Hydaspes</i>, and <i>Rinaldo</i>, with the
-failure of his <i>Rosamond</i>, which, as the reader is aware, was set to
-music by the ignorant impostor called Clayton. Addison, it is true, did
-not write any of his admirably humorous papers about the Italian Opera
-until after the production of <i>Rosamond</i>, but it was not until some time
-afterwards that the <i>Spectator</i> first appeared. St. Evrémond, who was a
-great lover of the Opera, wrote much more against it than Addison. In
-fact, the new entertainment was the subject of the day. It was full of
-incongruities, and naturally recommended<a name="vol_1_page_114" id="vol_1_page_114"></a> itself to the attention of
-wits; and we all know that, as a rule, wits do not deal in praise. All
-that <i>Rosamond</i> proves is, that Addison liked the Opera or he would
-never have written it.</p>
-
-<p>But about this Christian Soldier who endeavours to convince his readers
-that music is a thing to be despised because it does not appeal to the
-understanding, and who laughs at the misfortunes of a poor lunatic
-because she is no longer able to attract the public by her singing from
-the dramatic theatre in which he took so deep an interest, and of which
-he afterwards became patentee?<a name="FNanchor_15_15" id="FNanchor_15_15"></a><a href="#Footnote_15_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HANDEL V. AMBROSE PHILLIPS.</div>
-
-<p>Of course, if music appealed only to the understanding, mad Saul would
-have found no solace in the tones of David's harp, and it would be
-hideously irreverent to imagine the angels of heaven singing hymns to
-their Creator. Steele, of course, knew this, and also that the pleasure
-given by music is not a mere physical sensation, to be enjoyed as an
-Angora cat enjoys the smell of flowers, but he seems to have thought it
-was his duty (as it afterwards became his interest) to write up the
-drama and write down the<a name="vol_1_page_115" id="vol_1_page_115"></a> Opera at all hazards. Powerful penmanship it
-must have been, however, that would have put down Handel, or that would
-have kept up Mr. Ambrose Phillips. It would have been easier, at least
-it would have been more successful, to have gone upon the other tack. We
-all know Handel, and (if the expression be permitted) he becomes more
-immortal every day. Steele, it is true, did not hold his music in any
-esteem, but Mozart, a competent judge in such matters, <i>did</i>, and
-reckoned it an honour to write additional accompaniments to the elder
-master's greatest work. And who was this Ambrose Phillips? some reader,
-not necessarily ignorant of his country's literature, may ask. He was
-Racine's thief. He stole <i>Andromaque</i>, and gave it to the English as his
-own, calling it prosaically and stupidly "The Distrest Mother," which is
-as if we should call "Abel" "The Uncivil Brother," or "Philoctetes" "The
-Man with the Bad Foot," or "Prometheus," "The Gentleman with the Liver
-Complaint." Steele wrote a paper<a name="FNanchor_16_16" id="FNanchor_16_16"></a><a href="#Footnote_16_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> on the reading of this new tragedy,
-in which he declares that "the style of the play is such as becomes
-those of the first education, and the sentiments worthy of those of the
-highest figure." He also says, "I congratulate the age that they are at
-last to see truth and human life represented in the incidents which
-concern heroes and heroines."</p>
-
-<p>Translated Racine was very popular just then with writers who regarded
-Shakespeare as a dealer in the<a name="vol_1_page_116" id="vol_1_page_116"></a> false sublime. "Would one think it was
-possible," asks Addison, "at a time when an author lived that was able
-to write the <i>Phedra and Hippolytus</i> (translate <i>Phèdre</i>, that is to
-say), for a people to be so stupidly fond of the Italian Opera as scarce
-to give a third day's hearing to that admirable tragedy."</p>
-
-<p>Sensible people! It seems quite possible to us in the present day that
-they should have preferred Handel's music to Racine's rhymed prose,
-rendered into English rhymes by a man who had nothing of the poetical
-spirit which Racine, though writing in an unpoetical language, certainly
-possessed.</p>
-
-<p>The triumphant success of Handel's <i>Rinaldo</i> was felt deeply by Steele
-and by the <i>Spectator's</i> favourite composer Clayton, a bad musician, and
-apart from the practice of his art, as base a scoundrel as ever libelled
-a great man. But of course critics who besides expatiating on the
-blemishes of Shakespeare dwelt on the beauties of Racine as improved by
-Phillips, would be sure to enjoy the cacophony of Clayton;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Qui Bavium non odit amet tua carmina Mævi."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NICOLINI AND THE LION.</div>
-
-<p>However we must leave the chivalrous Steele and his faithful minstrel
-for the present. We have done with the writer's triumphant gloating over
-the insanity of the poor <i>prima donna</i>. We shall presently see the
-musician publishing impudent falsehoods, under the auspices of his
-literary patron, concerning Handel and his genius, and endeavouring,
-always with the same protection, to form a cabal for the avowed purpose
-of<a name="vol_1_page_117" id="vol_1_page_117"></a> driving him from the country which he was so greatly benefiting.</p>
-
-<p>Before Handel's arrival in England Steele had not only insulted operatic
-singers, but in recording the success of Scarlatti's <i>Pyrrhus and
-Demetrius</i>, had openly proclaimed his chagrin thereat. "This
-intelligence," he says, "is not very agreeable to our friends of the
-theatre."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p><i>Pyrrhus and Demetrius</i>, in which the celebrated Nicolini made his first
-appearance, was the last opera performed partly in English and partly in
-Italian.</p>
-
-<p>In 1710, <i>Almahide</i>, of which the music is attributed to Buononcini, was
-played entirely in the Italian language, with Valentine, Nicolini,
-Margarita de l'Epine, Cassani, and "Signora Isabella" (Isabella
-Girardean), in the principal parts. The same year <i>Hydaspes</i> was
-produced. This marvellous work, which is not likely to be forgotten by
-readers of the <i>Spectator</i>, was brought out under the direction of
-Nicolini, the sopranist, who performed the part of the hero. The other
-singers were those included in the cast of <i>Almahide</i>, with the addition
-of Lawrence, an English tenor, who was in the habit of singing in
-Italian operas, and of whom it was humourously said by Addison, in his
-proposition for an opera in Greek, that he "could learn to speak the
-language as well as he does Italian in a fortnight's time." "Hydaspes"
-is a sort of profane Daniel, who being thrown into an amphitheatre to be
-devoured by a lion, is saved not by<a name="vol_1_page_118" id="vol_1_page_118"></a> faith, but by love; the presence of
-his mistress among the spectators inspiring him with such courage, that
-after appealing to the monster in a minor key, and telling him that he
-may tear his bosom but cannot touch his heart, he attacks him in the
-relative major, and strangles him.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NICOLINI AND THE LION.</div>
-
-<p>"There is nothing of late years," says Addison, in one of the most
-amusing of his papers on the Opera, "that has afforded matter of greater
-amusement to the town than Signior Nicolini's combat with a lion in the
-Haymarket, which has been very often exhibited to the general
-satisfaction of most of the nobility and gentry in the kingdom of Great
-Britain." Upon the first rumour of this intended combat, it was
-confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both galleries,
-that there would be a tame lion sent from the tower every Opera night,
-in order to be killed by Hydaspes; this report, though altogether so
-universally prevalent in the upper regions of the play-house, that some
-of the most refined politicians in those parts of the audience gave it
-out in whisper, that the lion was a cousin-german of the tiger who made
-his appearance in King William's days, and that the stage would be
-supplied with lions at the public expense, during the whole session.
-Many likewise were the conjectures of the treatment which this lion was
-to meet with from the hands of Signior Nicolini; some supposed that he
-was to subdue him in recitative, as Orpheus used to serve the wild
-beasts in his time, and afterwards to knock him<a name="vol_1_page_119" id="vol_1_page_119"></a> on the head; some
-fancied that the lion would not pretend to lay his paws upon the hero,
-by reason of the received opinion, that a lion will not hurt a virgin.
-Several who pretended to have seen the Opera in Italy, had informed
-their friends, that the lion was to act a part in high Dutch, and roar
-twice or thrice to a thorough bass, before he fell at the feet of
-Hydaspes. To clear up a matter that was so variously reported, I have
-made it my business to examine whether this pretended lion is really the
-savage he appears to be, or only a counterfeit.</p>
-
-<p>"But before I communicate my discoveries, I must acquaint the reader
-that upon my walking behind the scenes last winter, as I was thinking on
-something else, I accidentally justled against a monstrous animal that
-extremely startled me, and upon my nearer survey much surprised, told me
-in a gentle voice that I might come by him if I pleased, 'for,' says he,
-'I do not intend to hurt any body.' I thanked him very kindly, and
-passed by him; and in a little time after saw him leap upon the stage,
-and act his part with very great applause. It has been observed by
-several, that the lion has changed his manner of acting twice or thrice
-since his first appearance; which will not seem strange, when I acquaint
-my reader that the lion has been changed upon the audience three several
-times. The first lion was a candle-snuffer, who being a fellow of a
-testy choleric temper, overdid his part, and would not suffer himself to
-be killed so easily as he ought to have done;<a name="vol_1_page_120" id="vol_1_page_120"></a> besides, it was observed
-of him, that he grew more surly every time he came out of the lion; and
-having dropped some words in ordinary conversation, as if he had not
-fought his best, and that he suffered himself to be thrown upon his back
-in the scuffle, and that he would wrestle with Mr. Nicolini for what he
-pleased, out of his lion's skin, it was thought proper to discard him;
-and it is verily believed to this day, that had he been brought upon the
-stage another time, he would certainly have done mischief. Besides, it
-was objected against the first lion, that he reared himself so high upon
-his hinder paws, and walked in so erect a posture, that he looked more
-like an old man than a lion.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NICOLINI AND THE LION.</div>
-
-<p>"The second lion was a tailor by trade, who belonged to the play-house,
-and had the character of a mild and peaceable man in his profession. If
-the former was too furious, this was too sheepish for his part; insomuch
-that after a short modest walk upon the stage, he would fall at the
-first touch of Hydaspes, without grappling with him, and giving him an
-opportunity of showing his variety of Italian trips. It is said, indeed,
-that he once gave him a rip in his flesh colour doublet; but this was
-only to make work for himself, in his private character of a tailor. I
-must not omit that it was this second lion who treated me with so much
-humanity behind the scenes. The acting lion at present is, as I am
-informed, a country gentleman who does it for his diversion, but desires
-his name may be concealed. He<a name="vol_1_page_121" id="vol_1_page_121"></a> says, very handsomely, in his own excuse,
-that he does not act for gain; that he indulges an innocent pleasure in
-it; and that it is better to pass away an evening in this manner, than
-in gaming and drinking; but at the same time says, with a very agreeable
-raillery upon himself, and that if his name should be known, the
-ill-natured world might call him 'the ass in the lion's skin.' This
-gentleman's temper is made out of such a happy mixture of the mild and
-the choleric, that he outdoes both his predecessors, and has drawn
-together greater audiences than have been known in the memory of man.</p>
-
-<p>"I must not conclude my narrative without taking notice of a groundless
-report that has been raised to a gentleman's disadvantage, of whom I
-must declare myself an admirer; namely, that Signior Nicolini and the
-lion have been sitting peaceably by one another, and smoking a pipe
-together, behind the scenes; by which their enemies would insinuate, it
-is but a sham combat which they represent upon the stage; but upon
-enquiry I find, that if any such correspondence has passed between them,
-it was not till the combat was over, when the lion was to be looked upon
-as dead, according to the received rules of the drama. Besides, this is
-what is practised every day in Westminster Hall, where nothing is more
-usual than to see a couple of lawyers, who have been tearing each other
-to pieces in the court, embracing one another.</p>
-
-<p>"I would not be thought, in any part of this relation,<a name="vol_1_page_122" id="vol_1_page_122"></a> to reflect upon
-Signior Nicolini, who, in acting this part, only complies with the
-wretched taste of his audience; he knows very well that the lion has
-many more admirers than himself; as they say of the famous equestrian
-statue on the Pont Neuf at Paris, that more people go to see the horse
-than the king who sits upon it. On the contrary, it gives me a just
-indignation to see a person whose action gives new majesty to kings,
-resolution to heroes, and softness to lovers, thus sinking from the
-greatness of his behaviour, and degraded into the character of a London
-'prentice. I have often wished that our tragedians would copy after this
-great master in action. Could they make the same use of their arms and
-legs, and inform their faces with as significant looks and passions, how
-glorious would an English tragedy appear with that action which is
-capable of giving dignity to the forced thoughts, cold conceits, and
-unnatural expressions of an Italian Opera! In the meantime, I have
-related this combat of the lion, to show what are at present the
-reigning entertainments of the politer part of Great Britain."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.</div>
-
-<p>But the operatic year of 1710 is remarkable for something more than the
-production of Almahide and Hydaspes; for in 1710 Handel arrived in
-England, and the year after brought out his Rinaldo, the first of the
-thirty-five operas which he gave to the English stage. For Handel we are
-indebted to Hanover. It was at Hanover that the English noblemen who
-invited him to London first met<a name="vol_1_page_123" id="vol_1_page_123"></a> the great composer; and it was the
-Elector of Hanover, afterwards George I., who granted him permission to
-come, and who when he in his turn arrived in England to assume the
-crown, added considerably to the pension which Queen Anne had already
-granted to the former chapel-master of the Hanoverian court. In 1710 the
-director of the theatre in the Haymarket was Aaron Hill, who no sooner
-heard of Handel's arrival in London than he went to him, and requested
-him to compose an opera for his establishment. Handel consented, and
-Hill furnished him with a plan, sketched out by himself, on the subject
-of <i>Rinaldo and Armida</i> in Tasso's <i>Jerusalem Delivered</i>, the writing of
-the <i>libretto</i> being entrusted to an Italian poet of some note named
-Rossi. In the advertisements of this opera Handel's name does not
-appear; not at least in that which calls attention to its first
-representation and which simply sets forth that "at the Queen's Theatre
-in the Haymarket will be performed a new opera called <i>Rinaldo</i>."</p>
-
-<p>It was in <i>Rinaldo</i> that the celebrated operatic sparrows made their
-first appearance on the stage&mdash;with what success may be gathered from
-the following notice of their performance, which I extract from No. 5 of
-the <i>Spectator</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"As I was walking in the streets about a fortnight ago," says Addison,
-"I saw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his
-shoulder; and as I was wondering with myself what use he would<a name="vol_1_page_124" id="vol_1_page_124"></a> put them
-to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the same
-curiosity. Upon his asking him what he had upon his shoulder, he told
-him that he had been buying sparrows for the opera. 'Sparrows, for the
-opera,' says his friend, licking his lips, 'What! are they to be
-roasted?' 'No, no,' says the other, 'they are to enter towards the end
-of the first act, and to fly about the stage.'</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RINALDO AND THE SPARROWS.</div>
-
-<p>"This strange dialogue wakened my curiosity so far that I immediately
-bought the opera, by which means I perceived the sparrows were to act
-the part of singing birds in a delightful grove, though upon a nearer
-inquiry I found the sparrows put the same trick upon the audience that
-Sir Martin Mar-all practised upon his mistress; for though they flew in
-sight, the music proceeded from a concert of flageolets and bird-calls,
-which were planted behind the scenes. At the same time I made this
-discovery, I found by the discourse of the actors, that there were great
-designs on foot for the improvement of the Opera; that it had been
-proposed to break down a part of the wall, and to surprise the audience
-with a party of a hundred horse; and that there was actually a project
-of bringing the New River into the house, to be employed in jetteaus and
-waterworks. This project, as I have since heard, is postponed till the
-summer season, when it is thought that the coolness which proceeds from
-fountains and cascades will be more acceptable and refreshing to people
-of quality. In the meantime, to find out a more agreeable entertainment<a name="vol_1_page_125" id="vol_1_page_125"></a>
-for the winter season, the opera of <i>Rinaldo</i> is filled with thunder and
-lightning, illuminations, and fireworks; which the audience may look
-upon without catching cold, and indeed without much danger of being
-burnt; for there are several engines filled with water, and ready to
-play at a minute's warning, in case any such accident should happen.
-However, as I have a very great friendship for the owner of this
-theatre, I hope that he has been wise enough to insure his house before
-he would let this opera be acted in it.</p>
-
-<p>"But to return to the sparrows. There have been so many flights of them
-let loose in this opera, that it is feared the house will never get rid
-of them; and that in other plays they may make their entrance in very
-wrong and improper scenes, so as to be seen flying in a lady's
-bedchamber, or perching upon a king's throne; besides the inconveniences
-which the heads of the audience may sometimes suffer from them. I am
-credibly informed, that there was once a design of casting into an opera
-the story of 'Whittington and his Cat,' and that in order to it there
-had been set together a great quantity of mice, but Mr. Rich, the
-proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently considered that it would be
-impossible for the cat to kill them all, and that consequently the
-princes of the stage might be as much infested with mice as the prince
-of the island was before the cat's arrival upon it, for which reason he
-would not permit it to be acted in his house. And, indeed, I cannot
-blame<a name="vol_1_page_126" id="vol_1_page_126"></a> him; for as he said very well upon that occasion, 'I do not hear
-that any of the performers in our opera pretend to equal the famous pied
-piper who made all the mice of a great town in Germany follow his music,
-and by that means cleared the place of those noxious little animals.'</p>
-
-<p>"Before I dismiss this paper, I must inform my reader that I hear that
-there is a treaty on foot between London and Wise,<a name="FNanchor_17_17" id="FNanchor_17_17"></a><a href="#Footnote_17_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a> (who will be
-appointed gardeners of the playhouse) to furnish the opera of <i>Rinaldo
-and Armida</i> with an orange grove; and that the next time it is acted the
-singing birds will be impersonated by tom tits: the undertakers being
-resolved to spare neither pains nor money for the gratification of their
-audience."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HAMLET SET TO MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>Steele, in No. 14 of the <i>Spectator</i>, tells us that&mdash;"The sparrows and
-chaffinches at the Haymarket fly, as yet, very irregularly over the
-stage; and instead of perching on the trees and performing their parts,
-these young actors either get into the galleries or put out the
-candles," for which and other reasons equally good, he decides that Mr.
-Powell's Puppet-show is preferable as a place of entertainment to the
-Opera, and that Handel's <i>Rinaldo</i> is inferior as a production of art to
-a puppet-show drama. Indeed, though Steele, in the <i>Tatler</i>, and Addison
-in the <i>Spectator</i>, have said very civil things about Nicolini, neither
-of them appears to have been impressed in the<a name="vol_1_page_127" id="vol_1_page_127"></a> slightest degree by
-Handel's music, nor does it even seem to have occurred to them that the
-composer's share in producing an opera was by any means considerable.
-Steele, thought the Opera a decidedly "unintellectual" entertainment
-(how much purely intellectual enjoyment is there, we wonder, in the
-pleasure derived from the contemplation of a virgin, by Raphael, and
-what is the meaning in criticising art of looking at it merely in its
-intellectual aspect?); but he at the same time bears testimony to the
-high (æsthetic) gratification he derived from the performance of
-Nicolini, who "by the grace and propriety of his action and gesture,
-does honour to the human figure," and who "sets off the character he
-bears in an opera by his action as much as he does the words of it by
-his voice."<a name="FNanchor_18_18" id="FNanchor_18_18"></a><a href="#Footnote_18_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a></p>
-
-<p>In 1711, in addition to Handel's <i>Rinaldo</i>, <i>Antiochus</i>, an opera, by
-Apostolo Zeno and Gasparini, was performed, and about the same time, or
-soon afterwards, <i>Ambleto</i>, by the same author and composer, was brought
-out. If we smile at Signor Verdi for attempting to turn <i>Macbeth</i> into
-an opera, what are we to say to Zeno's and Gasparini's experiment with
-the far more unsuitable tragedy of <i>Hamlet</i>? In <i>Macbeth</i>, the songs and
-choruses of witches, the banquet with the apparition of the murdered
-Banquo, and above all, the sleep-walking scene might well inspire a
-composer of genius; but a "Hamlet" without philosophy, or, worse still,
-a<a name="vol_1_page_128" id="vol_1_page_128"></a> "Hamlet" who searches his own soul to orchestral accompaniments&mdash;this
-must indeed be absurd. I learn from Dr. Burney, that <i>Ambleto</i> was
-written for Venice, that it was represented at the Queen's Theatre, in
-London, and that "the overture had four movements ending with a jig!" An
-overture to <i>Hamlet</i> "ending with a jig!" To think that this was
-tolerated, and that we are shocked in the present day by burlesques put
-forth as such! The <i>Spectator</i>, while apparently keeping a sharp look
-out for all that is ridiculous, or that can be represented as ridiculous
-in the operatic performances of the day, has not a word to say against
-<i>Ambleto</i>. But it must be remembered that since Milton's time, "Nature's
-sweetest child" had ceased to be appreciated in England even by the most
-esteemed writers&mdash;who, however, for the most part, if they were not good
-critics, could claim no literary merit beyond that of style. In a paper
-on Milton, one of whose noblest sonnets is in praise of Shakespeare,
-Addison, after showing how, by certain verbal expedients, bathos may be
-avoided and sublimity attained, calmly points to the works of Lee and
-Shakespeare as affording instances of the false sublime<a name="FNanchor_19_19" id="FNanchor_19_19"></a><a href="#Footnote_19_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a>, adding
-coolly that, "<i>in these authors</i> the affectation of greatness often
-hurts the perspicuity of the style."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.</div>
-
-<p>I have spoken of Steele's and Clayton's consternation, at the success of
-<i>Rinaldo</i>. Some months after the production of that work, the despicable
-Clayton, supported<a name="vol_1_page_129" id="vol_1_page_129"></a> by two musicians named Nicolino Haym, and Charles
-Dieupart, (who were becomingly indignant at a foreigner like Handel
-presuming to entertain a British audience), wrote a letter to the
-<i>Spectator</i>, which Steele published in No. 258 of that journal,
-introducing it by a preface, full of wisdom, in which it is set forth
-that "pleasure and recreation of one kind or other are absolutely
-necessary to relieve our minds and bodies from too constant attention
-and labour," and that, "where public diversions are tolerated, it
-behoves persons of distinction, with their power and example, to preside
-over them in such a manner as to check anything that tends to the
-corruption of manners, or which is too mean or trivial for the
-entertainment of reasonable creatures." The letter from the "enraged
-musicians" is described as coming "from three persons who, as soon as
-named, will be thought capable of advancing the present state of
-music"&mdash;that is to say, of superseding Handel. But the same perverse
-public, which in spite of the <i>Spectator's</i> remonstrances, preferred
-<i>Rinaldo</i> to translated Racine, persisted in admiring Handel's music,
-and in paying no heed whatever to the cacophony of Clayton. Here is the
-letter from the three miserable musicasters to their patron and
-fellow-conspirator.</p>
-
-<p>"We, whose names are subscribed, think you the properest person to
-signify what we have to offer the town in behalf of ourselves, and the
-art which we profess,&mdash;music. We conceive hopes of your favour from<a name="vol_1_page_130" id="vol_1_page_130"></a> the
-speculations on the mistakes which the town run into with regard to
-their pleasure of this kind; and believing your method of judging is,
-that you consider music only valuable, as it is agreeable to and
-heightens the purpose of poetry, we consent that it is not only the true
-way of relishing that pleasure, but also that without it a composure of
-music is the same thing as a poem, where all the rules of poetical
-numbers are observed, though the words have no sense or meaning; to say
-it shorter, mere musical sounds in our art are no other than
-nonsense-verses are in poetry." [A beautiful melody then, apart from
-words, said no more to these musicians, and to the patron whose idiotic
-theory they are so proud to have adopted than a set of nonsense-verses!]
-"Music, therefore, is to aggravate what is intended by poetry; it must
-always have some passion or sentiment to express, or else violins,
-voices, or any other organs of sound, afford an entertainment very
-little above the rattles of children. It was from this opinion of the
-matter, that when Mr. Clayton had finished his studies in Italy, and
-brought over the Opera of <i>Arsinoe</i>, that Mr. Haym and Mr. Dieupart, who
-had the honour to be well-known and received among the nobility and
-gentry, were zealously inclined to assist, by their solicitations, in
-introducing so elegant an entertainment, as the Italian music grafted
-upon English poetry." [Such poetry, for instance, as</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.</div>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Guide me, lead me,<br /></span>
-<span class="i1">Where the nymph whom I adore<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_131" id="vol_1_page_131"></a></p>
-
-<p class="nind">which occurred in Clayton's <i>Arsinoe</i>&mdash;Haym, it may be remembered, was
-the ingenious musician who arranged <i>Pyrrhus and Demetrius</i> for the
-Anglo-Italian stage, when half of the music was sung in one language,
-and half in the other.] "For this end," continue the precious trio, "Mr.
-Dieupart and Mr. Haym, according to their several opportunities,
-promoted the introduction of <i>Arsinoe</i>, and did it to the best advantage
-so great a novelty would allow. It is not proper to trouble you with
-particulars of the just complaints we all of us have to make; but so it
-is that without regard to our obliging pains, we are all equally set
-aside in the present opera. Our application, therefore, to you is only
-to insert this letter in your paper, that the town may know we have all
-three joined together to make entertainments of music for the future at
-Mr. Clayton's house, in York Buildings. What we promise ourselves is, to
-make a subscription of two guineas, for eight times, and that the
-entertainment, with the names of the authors of the poetry, may be
-printed, to be sold in the house, with an account of the several authors
-of the vocal as well as the instrumental music for each night; the money
-to be paid at the receipt of the tickets, at Mr. Charles Lulli's. It
-will, we hope, sir, be easily allowed that we are capable of undertaking
-to exhibit, by our joint force and different qualifications, all that
-can be done in music" [how charmingly modest!] "but lest you should
-think so dry a thing as an account of our proposal should be a matter<a name="vol_1_page_132" id="vol_1_page_132"></a>
-unworthy of your paper, which generally contains something of public
-use, give us leave to say, that favouring our design is no less than
-reviving an art, which runs to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge. We aim at establishing some settled notion of
-what is music, at recovering from neglect and want very many families
-who depend upon it, at making all foreigners who pretend to succeed in
-England to learn the language of it as we ourselves have done, and not
-be so insolent as to expect a whole nation, a refined and learned
-nation, should submit to learn theirs. In a word, Mr. Spectator, with
-all deference and humility, we hope to behave ourselves in this
-undertaking in such a manner, that all Englishmen who have any skill in
-music may be furthered in it for their profit or diversion by what new
-things we shall produce; never pretending to surpass others, or
-asserting that anything which is a science is not attainable by all men
-of all nations who have proper genius for it. We say, sir, what we hope
-for, it is not expected will arrive to us by contemning others, but
-through the utmost diligence recommending ourselves."</p>
-
-<p>Poor Clayton seems, here and there, to have really fancied that it was
-his mission to put down Handel, and stuck to him for some time in most
-pertinacious style. One is reminded of the writer who endeavoured to
-turn Wilhelm Meister into ridicule, and of the epigram which that
-attempt suggested to Goethe, ending:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Hat doch die Wallfisch seine Laus."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_133" id="vol_1_page_133"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THREE ENRAGED MUSICIANS.</div>
-
-<p>But Clayton was really a creator, and proposed nothing less than "to
-revive an art which was running to ruin by the utmost barbarism under an
-affectation of knowledge." One would have thought that this was going a
-little too far. Handel affecting knowledge&mdash;Handel a barbarian? Surely
-Steele in giving the sanction of his name to such assertions as these,
-puts himself in a lower position even than Voltaire uttering his
-celebrated dictum about the genius of Shakespeare; for after all,
-Voltaire was the first Frenchman to discover any beauties in Shakespeare
-at all, and it was in defending him against the stupid prejudices of
-Laharpe that he made use of the unfortunate expression with which he has
-so often been reproached, and which he put forward in the form of a
-concession to his adversary.</p>
-
-<p>Clayton and his second fiddles returned to the attack a few weeks
-afterwards (January 18th, 1712). "It is industriously insinuated," they
-complained, "that our intention is to destroy operas in general, but we
-beg of you (that is to say, the <i>Spectator</i>, as represented by Steele,
-who signs the number with his T) to insert this explanation of ourselves
-in your paper. Our purpose is only to improve our circumstances by
-improving the art which we profess" [the knaves are getting candid]. "We
-see it utterly destroyed at present, and as we were the persons who
-introduced operas, we think it a groundless imputation that we should
-set up against the Opera itself," &amp;c., &amp;c.<a name="vol_1_page_134" id="vol_1_page_134"></a></p>
-
-<p>What became of Clayton, Haym, and Dieupart, and their speculation, I do
-not know, nor do I think that any one can care. At all events, even with
-the assistance of Steele and the <i>Spectator</i> they did not extinguish
-Handel.</p>
-
-<p>The most celebrated vocalist at the theatre in the Haymarket, from the
-arrival of Handel in England until after the formation of the Royal
-Academy of Music, in 1720, was Anastasia Robinson, a <i>contralto</i>, who
-was remarkable as much for her graceful acting as for her expressive
-singing. She made her first appearance in a <i>pasticcio</i> called <i>Creso</i>,
-in 1714, and continued singing in the operas of Handel and other
-composers until 1724, when she contracted a private marriage with the
-Earl of Peterborough and retired from the stage. Lady Delany, an
-intimate friend of Lady Peterborough, communicated the following account
-of her marriage and the circumstances under which it was made, to Dr.
-Burney, who publishes it in his "History of Music."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ANASTASIA ROBINSON.</div>
-
-<p>"Mrs. Anastasia Robinson was of middling stature, not handsome, but of a
-pleasing, modest countenance, with large blue eyes. Her deportment was
-easy, unaffected, and graceful. Her manner and address very engaging,
-and her behaviour on all occasions that of a gentlewoman, with perfect
-propriety. She was not only liked by all her acquaintance, but loved and
-caressed by persons of the highest rank, with whom she appeared always
-equal, without<a name="vol_1_page_135" id="vol_1_page_135"></a> assuming. Her father's house, in Golden Square was
-frequented by all the men of genius and refined taste of the times.
-Among the number of persons of distinction who frequented Mr. Robinson's
-house, and seemed to distinguish his daughter in a particular manner,
-were the Earl of Peterborough and General H&mdash;. The latter had shown a
-long attachment to her, and his attentions were so remarkable that they
-seemed more than the effects of common politeness; and as he was a very
-agreeable man, and in good circumstances, he was favourably received,
-not doubting but that his intentions were honourable. A declaration of a
-very contrary nature was treated with the contempt it deserved, though
-Mrs. Robinson was very much prepossessed in his favour.</p>
-
-<p>"Soon after this, Lord Peterborough endeavoured to convince her of his
-partial regard for her; but, agreeable and artful as he was, she
-remained very much upon her guard, which rather increased than
-diminished his admiration and passion for her. Yet still his pride
-struggled with his inclination, for all this time she was engaged to
-sing in public, a circumstance very grievous to her; but, urged by the
-best of motives, she submitted to it, in order to assist her parents,
-whose fortune was much reduced by Mr. Robinson's loss of sight, which
-deprived him of the benefit of his profession as a painter.</p>
-
-<p>"At length Lord Peterborough made his declaration to her on honourable
-terms. He found it would be in vain to make proposals on any other, and
-as he<a name="vol_1_page_136" id="vol_1_page_136"></a> omitted no circumstance that could engage her esteem and
-gratitude, she accepted them. He earnestly requested her keeping it a
-secret till a more convenient time for him to make it known, to which
-she readily consented, having a perfect confidence in his honour.</p>
-
-<p>"Mrs. A. Robinson had a sister, a very pretty accomplished woman, who
-married D'Arbuthnot's brother. After the death of Mr. Robinson, Lord
-Peterborough took a house near Fulham, in the neighbourhood of his own
-villa at Parson's-green, where he settled Mrs. Robinson and her mother.
-They never lived under the same roof, till the earl, being seized with a
-violent fit of illness, solicited her to attend him at Mount Bevis, near
-Southampton, which she refused with firmness, but upon condition that,
-though still denied to take his name, she might be permitted to wear her
-wedding-ring; to which, finding her inexorable, he at length consented.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ANASTASIA ROBINSON.</div>
-
-<p>"His haughty spirit was still reluctant to the making a declaration that
-would have done justice to so worthy a character as the person to whom
-he was now united; and indeed his uncontrollable temper and high opinion
-of his own actions made him a very awful husband, ill suited to Lady
-Peterborough's good sense, amiable temper, and delicate sentiments. She
-was a Roman Catholic, but never gave offence to those of a contrary
-opinion, though very strict in what she thought her duty. Her excellent
-principles and fortitude of mind supported her through many<a name="vol_1_page_137" id="vol_1_page_137"></a> severe
-trials in her conjugal state. But at last he prevailed on himself to do
-her justice, instigated, it is supposed by his bad state of health,
-which obliged him to seek another climate, and she absolutely refused to
-go with him unless he declared his marriage. Her attendance on him in
-this illness nearly cost her her life.</p>
-
-<p>"He appointed a day for all his nearest relations to meet him at the
-apartment over the gateway of St. James's palace, belonging to Mr.
-Poyntz, who was married to Lord Peterborough's niece, and at that time
-preceptor of Prince William, afterwards Duke of Cumberland. He also
-appointed Lady Peterborough to be there at the same time. When they were
-all assembled, he began a most eloquent oration, enumerating all the
-virtues and perfections of Mrs. A. Robinson, and the rectitude of her
-conduct during his long acquaintance with her, for which he acknowledged
-his great obligation and sincere attachment, declaring he was determined
-to do her that justice which he ought to have done long ago, which was
-presenting her to all his family as his wife. He spoke this harangue
-with so much energy, and in parts so pathetically, that Lady
-Peterborough, not being apprised of his intentions, was so affected that
-she fainted away in the midst of the company.</p>
-
-<p>"After Lord Peterborough's death, she lived a very retired life, chiefly
-at Mount Bevis, and was seldom prevailed on to leave that habitation but
-by the Duchess of Portland, who was always happy to have<a name="vol_1_page_138" id="vol_1_page_138"></a> her company at
-Bulstrode, when she could obtain it, and often visited her at her own
-house.</p>
-
-<p>"Among Lord Peterborough's papers, she found his memoirs, written by
-himself, in which he declared he had been guilty of such actions as
-would have reflected very much upon his character, for which reason she
-burnt them. This, however, contributed to complete the excellency of her
-principles, though it did not fail giving offence to the curious
-inquirers after anecdotes of so remarkable a character as that of the
-Earl of Peterborough."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DUCAL CONNOISSEURS.</div>
-
-<p>The deserved good fortune of Anastasia Robinson reminds me of the
-careers of two other vocalists of this period, one of them owed her
-elevation to a fortunate accident; while the third, though she entered
-upon the same possible road to the peerage as the second, yet never
-attained it. "The Duke of Bolton," says Swift, in one of his letters,
-"has run away with Polly Peachum, having settled four hundred a year on
-her during pleasure, and upon disagreement, two hundred more." This was
-the charming Lavinia Fenton, the original Polly of the Beggars' Opera,
-between whom and the Duke the disagreement anticipated by the amiable
-Swift never took place. Twenty-three years after the elopement, the
-Duke's wife died, and Lavinia then became the Duchess of Bolton. She
-was, according to the account given of her by Dr. Joseph Warton, "a very
-accomplished and most agreeable companion; had much wit, good strong
-sense, and a just taste in polite literature.<a name="vol_1_page_139" id="vol_1_page_139"></a></p>
-
-<p>Her person was agreeable and well made," continues Dr. Warton, "though I
-think she never could be called a beauty. I have had the pleasure of
-being at table with her, when her conversation was much admired by the
-first character of the age, particularly by old Lord Bathurst and Lord
-Granville."</p>
-
-<p>The beautiful Miss Campion, who was singing about the same time as Mrs.
-Tofts, and who died in 1706, when she was only eighteen, did <i>not</i>
-become the Duchess of Devonshire; but the heart-broken old Duke, who
-appears to have been most fervently attached to her, buried her in his
-family vault in the church of Latimers, Buckinghamshire, and placed a
-Latin inscription on her monument, testifying that she was wise beyond
-her years, and bountiful to the poor even beyond her abilities; and at
-the theatre, where she had some times acted, modest and pure; but being
-seized with a hectic fever, she had submitted to her fate with a firm
-confidence and Christian piety; and that William, Duke of Devonshire,
-had, upon her beloved remains, erected this tomb as sacred to her
-memory.<a name="vol_1_page_140" id="vol_1_page_140"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VI" id="CHAPTER_VI"></a>CHAPTER VI.<br /><br />
-<small>THE ITALIAN OPERA UNDER HANDEL.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>Handel at Hamburgh.&mdash;Handel in London.&mdash;The Queen's Theatre.&mdash;The
-Royal Academy of Music.&mdash;Operatic Feuds.&mdash;Porpora and the
-Nobility's Opera.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> great dates of Handel's career as an operatic composer and director
-are:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>1711, when he produced <i>Rinaldo</i>, his first opera, at the Queen's
-Theatre, in the Haymarket;</p>
-
-<p>1720, when the Royal Academy of Music was established under his
-management at the same theatre, (which, with the accession of George I.,
-had become "the King's");</p>
-
-<p>1734, when in commencing the season at the King's Theatre with a new
-company, he had to contend against the "Nobility's Opera" just opened at
-the Theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields, under the direction of Porpora;</p>
-
-<p>1735, when he moved to Covent Garden, Porpora and "la nobilita
-Britannica" going at the same time to the King's Theatre.<a name="vol_1_page_141" id="vol_1_page_141"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.</div>
-
-<p>Both operas failed in 1737, and Handel then went back to the King's
-Theatre, for which he wrote his last opera <i>Deidamia</i> in 1740.</p>
-
-<p>Of Handel's arrival in England, and of the manner in which his first
-opera was received, I have spoken in the preceding chapter. Of his
-previous life in Germany but little is recorded; indeed, he left that
-country at the age of twenty-five. It is known, however, that he was for
-some time engaged at the Hamburgh theatre, where operas had been
-performed in the German language since 1678. Rinuccini's <i>Dafne</i>, set to
-music by Schutz, was represented, as has been already mentioned, at
-Dresden in 1627, (or according to other accounts 1630); but this was a
-private affair in honour of a court marriage, and the first opera
-produced in Germany in public, and in the German language, was Thiele's
-<i>Adam and Eve</i>, which was given at Hamburgh in 1678. The reputation of
-Keiser at the court of WolfenbĂĽttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh
-Theatre, towards the close of the century, to send and offer him an
-engagement; he accepted it, and in the course of twenty-seven years
-produced as many as one hundred and sixty operas. Mattheson states that
-both Handel and Hasse (who was afterwards director of the celebrated
-Dresden Opera) formed their styles on that of Keiser.<a name="FNanchor_20_20" id="FNanchor_20_20"></a><a href="#Footnote_20_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a> Mattheson,
-himself a composer, succeeded Keiser as conductor<a name="vol_1_page_142" id="vol_1_page_142"></a> of the orchestra at
-the Hamburgh Theatre, holding that post, however, conjointly with
-Handel, whose quarrel and duel with Mattheson have often been related.
-Handel was presiding in the orchestra while Mattheson was on the stage
-performing in an opera of his own composition. The opera being
-concluded, Mattheson proposed to take Handel's place at the harpsichord,
-which the latter refused to give up. The rival conductors quarrelled as
-they were leaving the theatre. The quarrel led to a blow and the blow to
-a fight with swords in the market place, which was terminated by
-Mattheson breaking the point of his sword on one of his antagonist's
-buttons, or as others have it, on the score of his own opera, which
-Handel carried beneath his coat.</p>
-
-<p>Handel went from Hamburgh to Hanover, where, as we have seen, he
-received an invitation from some English noblemen to visit London, and,
-with the permission and encouragement of the Elector, accepted it.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HANDEL AT HAMBURGH.</div>
-
-<p>Handel's <i>Rinaldo</i> was followed at the King's Theatre by his <i>Il Pastor
-Fido</i> (1712), his <i>Teseo</i> (1713), and his <i>Amadigi</i> (1715). Soon after
-the production of <i>Amadigi</i>, the performances at the King's Theatre seem
-to have ceased until 1720, when the "Royal Academy of Music" was formed.
-This so-called "Academy" was the result of a project to establish a
-permanent Italian opera in London. It was supported by a number of the
-nobility, with George I. at their head, and a fund of ÂŁ50,000 was
-raised<a name="vol_1_page_143" id="vol_1_page_143"></a> among the subscribers, to which the king contributed ÂŁ1,000. The
-management of the "Academy" was entrusted to a governor, a deputy
-governor, and twenty directors, (why not to a head master and
-assistants?) and for the first year the Duke of Newcastle was appointed
-governor; Lord Bingley, deputy governor; while among the directors were
-the Dukes of Portland and Queensberry, the Earls of Burlington, Stair
-and Waldegrave, Lords Chetwynd and Stanhope, Sir John Vanburgh,
-(architect of the theatre), Generals Dormer, Wade, and Hunter, &amp;c. The
-worse than unmeaning title given to the new opera was of course imitated
-from the French; the governor, deputy governor, and directors being
-doubtless unacquainted with the circumstances under which the French
-Opera received the misnomer which it still retains.<a name="FNanchor_21_21" id="FNanchor_21_21"></a><a href="#Footnote_21_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> They might have
-known, however, that the "Académie Royale" of Paris, at that time under
-the direction of Rameau, was held in very little esteem, except by the
-French themselves, as an operatic theatre, and moreover, that Italian
-music was never performed there at all. Indeed, for half a century
-afterwards, the French execrated Italian music and would not listen to
-Italian singers&mdash;which gives us some notion of what musical taste in
-France must have been at the time of our Royal Academy being founded.
-The title would have been absurd even if the French Opera had been the
-finest in Europe; as<a name="vol_1_page_144" id="vol_1_page_144"></a> it was nothing of the kind, and as it was,
-moreover, sworn to its own native psalmody, to give such a title to an
-Italian theatre, supported by musicians and singers of the greatest
-excellence, was a triple absurdity. Strangely enough, even in the
-present day, the Americans, as ingenious as the English of George I.'s
-reign, call their magnificent Italian Opera House at New York the
-Academy of Music. As a matter of association, it would be far more
-reasonable to call it the "St. Charles's Theatre," or the "Scale
-Theatre."</p>
-
-<p>The musical direction of our Royal Academy of Music was confided to
-Handel, who, besides composing for the theatre himself, engaged
-Buononcini and Ariosti to write for it. He also proceeded to Dresden,
-already celebrated throughout Europe for the excellence of its Italian
-Opera, and engaged Senesino, Berenstadt, Boschi, and Signora Durastanti.</p>
-
-<p>Handel's first opera at the Royal Academy of Music was <i>Radamisto</i>,
-which was hailed on its production as its composer's masterpiece. "It
-seems," says Dr. Burney, "as if he was not insensible of its worth, as
-he dedicated a book of the words to the king, George I., subscribing
-himself his Majesty's 'most faithful subject,' which, as he was neither
-a Hanoverian by birth, nor a native of England, seems to imply his
-having been naturalised here by a bill in Parliament."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ACADEMIES OF MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>Buononcini, (who, compared with Handel, was a ninny, though others said
-that to him Handel was<a name="vol_1_page_145" id="vol_1_page_145"></a> scarcely fit to hold a candle, &amp;c.) produced his
-first opera also in 1720. It was received with much favour, and by the
-Buononcinists with enthusiasm.</p>
-
-<p>The next opera was <i>Muzio Scevola</i>, composed by Handel, Buononcini, and
-Ariosti together. It is said that the task of joint production was
-imposed upon the three musicians by the masters of the Academy, by way
-of competitive examination, and with a view to test the abilities of
-each in a decisive manner. If there were any grounds for believing the
-story, it might be asked, who among the directors were thought, or
-thought themselves qualified to act as judges in so difficult and
-delicate a matter.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the opera of the three composers did but little good to
-the theatre, which, in spite of its admirable company, was found a
-losing speculation, after a little more than a year, to the extent of
-ÂŁ15,000. Thirty-five thousand pounds remained to be paid up, but the
-rest of the subscription money was not forthcoming, and the directors
-were unable to obtain it until after they had advertised in the
-newspapers that defaulters would be proceeded against "with the utmost
-rigour of the law."</p>
-
-<p>A new mode of subscription was then devised, by which tickets were
-granted for the season of fifty performances on receipt of ten guineas
-down, and an engagement to pay five guineas more on the 1st of February,
-and a second five guineas on the 1st of May. Thus originated the
-operatic subscription list<a name="vol_1_page_146" id="vol_1_page_146"></a> which has been continued with certain
-modifications, and with a few short intervals, up to the present day.</p>
-
-<p>Buononcini's <i>Griselda</i>, which passes for his best opera, was produced
-in 1722, with Anastasia Robinson in the part of the heroine. Handel's
-<i>Ottone</i> and <i>Flavio</i> were brought out in 1723; his <i>Giulio Cesare</i> and
-<i>Tamerlano</i> in 1724; his <i>Rodelinda</i> in 1725; his <i>Scipione</i> and
-<i>Alessandro</i> in 1726; his <i>Admeto</i> and <i>Ricardo</i> in 1727; his <i>Siroe</i>
-and <i>Tolomeo</i> in 1728&mdash;when the Royal Academy of Music, which had been
-carried on with varying success, and on the whole with considerable ill
-success, finally closed.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FAILURE OF ITALIAN OPERA IN LONDON.</div>
-
-<p>Buononcini's last opera, <i>Astyanax</i>, was produced in 1727, after which
-the Duchess of Marlborough, his constant patroness, gave the composer a
-pension of five hundred a year. A few years afterwards, however, he
-stole a madrigal, the invention of a Venetian named Lotti, and the theft
-having been discovered and clearly proved, Buononcini left the country
-in disgrace. Similar thefts are practised in the present day, but with
-discretion and with ingeniously worded title pages. Buononcini should
-have simply called his plagiarism a "Venetian Madrigal, dedicated to the
-Duchess of Marlborough by G. Buononcini." This unfortunate composer,
-whom Swift had certainly described in a prophetic spirit as "a ninny,"
-left England in 1733, with an Italian Count whose title appears to have
-been about as authentic as Buononcini's madrigal, and who pretended to
-possess the art of making gold, but<a name="vol_1_page_147" id="vol_1_page_147"></a> abstained from practising it
-otherwise than by swindling. Buononcini was for a time the dupe of this
-impostor. In the meanwhile he continued the exercise of his profession,
-at Paris, where we lose sight of him. In 1748, however, he went to
-Vienna, and by command of the Emperor composed the music for the
-festivities given in celebration of the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. Thence
-he proceeded with Montecelli, the composer, to Venice, where the affair
-of the madrigal was probably by this time forgotten. At all events, no
-importance was attached to it, and Buononcini was engaged to write an
-opera for the Carnival. He was at this time nearly ninety years of age.
-The date of his death is not recorded, but Dr. Burney tells us that he
-is supposed to have lived till nearly a hundred.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BEGGARS' OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>Besides the annual subscriptions, to the Royal Academy of Music the
-whole of the original capital of ÂŁ50,000 was spent in seven years. In
-spite, then, of the admirable works produced by Handel, the unrivalled
-company by which they were executed, and the immense sums of money
-lavished upon the entertainment generally, the Italian Opera in London
-proved in 1728 what it had proved twelve years before, a positive and
-unmistakable failure. This could scarcely have been owing, as has been
-surmised, to the violence of the disputes concerning the merits of
-Handel and Buononcini, the composers, or of Faustina and Cuzzoni, the
-singers, for the natural effect of such contests would have been to keep
-up an<a name="vol_1_page_148" id="vol_1_page_148"></a> interest in the performances. Probably few at that time had any
-real love for Italian music. A certain number, no doubt, attended the
-Italian Opera for the sake of fashion, but the greater majority of the
-theatre-going public were quite indifferent to its charms. Dr.
-Arbuthnot, one of the few literary men of the day who seems to have
-really cared for music, writes as follows, in the <i>London Journal</i>,
-under the date of March 23rd, 1728:&mdash;"As there is nothing which
-surprises all true lovers of music more than the neglect into which the
-Italian operas are at present fallen, so I cannot but think it a very
-extraordinary instance of the fickle and inconstant temper of the
-English nation, a failing which they have always been endeavouring to
-cast upon their neighbours in France, but to which they themselves have
-just as good a title, as will appear to any one who will take the
-trouble to consult our historians." He points out that after adopting
-the Italian Opera with eagerness, we began, as soon as we had obtained
-it in perfection, to make it a pretext for disputes instead of enjoying
-it, and concludes that it was supported among us for a time, not from
-genuine taste, but simply from fashion. He observes that <i>The Beggars'
-Opera</i>, then just produced, was "a touchstone to try British taste on,"
-and that it has "proved effectual in discovering our true inclinations,
-which, however artfully they may have been disguised for a while, will
-one time or another, start up and disclose themselves. Æsop's story of
-the cat, who, at the petition of her lover, was<a name="vol_1_page_149" id="vol_1_page_149"></a> changed into a fine
-woman, is pretty well known, notwithstanding which alteration, we find
-that upon the appearance of a mouse, she could not resist the temptation
-of springing out of her husband's arms to pursue it, though it was on
-the very wedding night. Our English audience have been for some time
-returning to their cattish nature, of which some particular sounds from
-the gallery have given us sufficient warning. And since they have so
-openly declared themselves, I must only desire that they will not think
-they can put on the fine woman again just when they please, but content
-themselves with their skill in caterwauling. For my own part, I cannot
-think it would be any loss to real lovers of music, if all those false
-friends who have made pretensions to it only in compliance with the
-fashion, would separate themselves from them; provided our Italian Opera
-could be brought under such regulations as to go on without them. We
-might then be able to sit and enjoy an entertainment of this sort, free
-from those disturbances which are frequent in English theatres, without
-any regard, not only to performers, but even to the presence of Majesty
-itself. In short, my comfort is, that though so great a desertion may
-force us so to contract the expenses of our operas, as would put an end
-to our having them in as great perfection as at present, yet we shall be
-able at least to hear them without interruption."</p>
-
-<p>The Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes, to which Arbuthnot alludes, where he
-speaks of "those disturbances<a name="vol_1_page_150" id="vol_1_page_150"></a> which are frequent in English theatres,"
-appear to have been quite as violent as those with which the names of
-Handel and Buononcini are associated. Most of this musical party-warfare
-(of which the most notorious examples are those just mentioned, the
-Gluck and Piccinni contests in Paris, and the quarrels between the
-admirers of Madame Mara and Madame Todi in the same city) has been
-confined to England and France, though a very pretty quarrel was once
-got up at the Dresden Theatre, between the followers of Faustina, at
-that time the wife of Hasse the composer, and Mingotti. The Italians
-have shown themselves changeable and capricious, and have often hissed
-one night those whom they have applauded the night afterwards; but, in
-the Italian Theatres, we find no instances of systematic partisanship
-maintained obstinately and stolidly for years, and I fancy that it is
-only among unmusical nations, or in an unmusical age, that anything of
-the kind takes place. The ardour and duration of such disputes are
-naturally in proportion to the ignorance and folly of the disputants. In
-science, or even in art, where the principles of art are well
-understood, they are next to impossible. Self-styled connoisseurs,
-however, with neither taste nor knowledge can go on squabbling about
-composers and singers, especially if they never listen to them, to all
-eternity.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.</div>
-
-<p>Faustina and Cuzzoni were both admirable vocalists, and in entirely
-different styles, so that there<a name="vol_1_page_151" id="vol_1_page_151"></a> was not even the shadow of a pretext
-for praising one at the expense of the other. Tosi, their contemporary,
-in his <i>Osservazzioni sopra il Canto Figurato</i>,<a name="FNanchor_22_22" id="FNanchor_22_22"></a><a href="#Footnote_22_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> thus compares them:
-"The one," he says (meaning Faustina), "is inimitable for a privileged
-gift of singing and enchanting the world with an astonishing felicity in
-executing difficulties with a brilliancy I know not whether derived from
-nature or art, which pleases to excess. The delightful soothing
-cantabile of the other, joined to the sweetness of a fine voice, a
-perfect intonation, strictness of time, and the rarest productions of
-genius in her embellishments, are qualifications as peculiar and
-uncommon as they are difficult to be imitated. The pathos of the one and
-the rapidity of the other are distinctly characteristic. What a
-beautiful mixture it would be, if the excellences of these two angelic
-beings could be united in a single individual!"</p>
-
-<p>Quantz, the celebrated flute-player, and teacher of that instrument to
-Frederic the Great, came to London in 1727, and heard Handel's <i>Admeto</i>
-executed to perfection at the Royal Academy of Music. The principal
-parts were filled by Senesino, Cuzzoni and Faustina, and Quantz's
-account of the two latter agrees, with that given by Signor Tosi.
-Cuzzoni had a soft limpid voice, a pure intonation, a perfect shake. Her
-style was simple, noble and touching. In allegro movements, her rapidity
-of execution was not remarkable, &amp;c., &amp;c. Her acting was<a name="vol_1_page_152" id="vol_1_page_152"></a> cold, and
-though she was very beautiful, her beauty produced no effect on the
-stage. Faustina, on the other hand, was passionate and full of
-expression, as an actress, while as a vocalist she was remarkable for
-the fluency and brilliancy of her articulation, and could sing with ease
-what would have been considered difficult passages for the violin. Her
-rapid repetition of the same note&mdash;(the violin "<i>tremolo</i>") was one of
-her most surprising feats. This artifice was afterwards imitated with
-the greatest success by Farinelli, Monticelli, Visconti, and the
-charming Mingotti, and at a later period, Madame Catalani produced some
-of her greatest effects in the same style.</p>
-
-<p>Faustina and Cuzzoni made their first appearance together at Venice in
-1719. In 1725, Faustina went to Vienna, and met with an enthusiastic
-reception from the habitués of the Court Theatre. She left Vienna the
-same year for London, where she arrived when Cuzzoni's reputation was at
-its height.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.</div>
-
-<p>Cuzzoni made her first appearance in London in 1723, and was a member of
-Handel's company when the singers were engaged, at the suggestion of the
-regent, to give a series of performances in Paris; this engagement,
-which was due in the first instance to the solicitations of the
-Marchioness de Prie, was, as I have already mentioned, never carried
-out. Whether the Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes originated with a cabal
-against the singer in possession of the public favour, or whether the
-admirers of the accepted favorite felt it their duty to support her by
-attacking<a name="vol_1_page_153" id="vol_1_page_153"></a> all new comers, is not by any means clear; but Faustina had
-scarcely arrived when the feud commenced. Quanta tells us that as soon
-as one began to sing, the partisans of the other began to hiss. The
-Cuzzoni party, which was headed by the Countess of Pembroke, made a
-point of hissing whenever Faustina appeared. Faustina, who if not
-better-looking, was more agreeable than Cuzzoni, had most of the men on
-her side. Her patronesses were the Countess of Burlington and Lady
-Delawar.</p>
-
-<p>The most remarkable of the many disturbances caused by the rivalry
-between these two singers (forced upon them as it was) took place in
-June 1727. The <i>London Journal</i> of June 10th in that year, tells us in
-its description of the affair, that "the contention at first was only
-carried on by hissing on one side and clapping on the other, but
-proceeded at length to the melodious use of cat-calls and other
-accompaniments which manifested the zeal and politeness of that
-illustrious assembly." We are further informed that the Princess
-Catherine was there, but neither her Royal Highness's presence, nor the
-laws of decorum could restrain the glorious ardour of the combatants.
-The appearance of Faustina appears to have been the signal for the
-commencement of this disgraceful riot, to judge from the following
-epigram on the proceedings of the night.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Old poets sing that beasts did dance,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Whenever Orpheus played;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">So to Faustina's charming voice<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Wise Pembroke's asses brayed."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_154" id="vol_1_page_154"></a></p>
-
-<p>Cuzzoni had also her poet, and her departure from England was the
-occasion of the following pretty but silly lines, addressed to her by
-Ambrose Phillips:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Little Syren of the stage,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Charmer of an idle age,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Empty warbler, breathing lyre,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Wanton gale of fond desire;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Bane of every manly art,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Sweet enfeebler of the heart,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">O, too pleasing is thy strain,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Hence to Southern climes again!<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Tuneful mischief, vocal spell,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">To this island bid farewell;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Leave us as we ought to be,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Leave the Britons rough and free."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>The Britons had shown themselves sufficiently "rough and free," while
-Cuzzoni was singing to them. The circumstances of this vocalist's
-leaving London were rather curious, and show to what an extent the
-Faustina and Cuzzoni disputes must have disgusted the directors of the
-Academy; the caprice of one of them must also have irritated Handel
-considerably, for it is related that once when Cuzzoni, at a rehearsal,
-positively refused to sing an air that Handel had written for her, she
-could only be convinced of the necessity of doing so by the composer
-threatening to throw her out of the window. It was known that each was
-about to sign a new contract, and Cuzzoni's patronesses made her take an
-oath not to accept lower terms than Faustina. The directors ingeniously
-and politely took advantage of this, and offered her exactly one guinea
-less.<a name="vol_1_page_155" id="vol_1_page_155"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FAUSTINA AND CUZZONI.</div>
-
-<p>Cuzzoni made her retreat, and Faustina remained in possession of the
-field of battle.</p>
-
-<p>However, Faustina, after the failure of the Academy in the following
-year, herself returned to Italy, and met her rival at Venice in 1729,
-and again, in 1730. Cuzzoni returned to London in 1734, and sang at the
-Opera in Lincoln's-Inn Fields, established under the direction of
-Porpora, in opposition to Handel. She visited London a third time in
-1750, when a concert was given for her benefit; but the poor little
-syren was now old and infirm; she had lost her voice, and even the
-enemies of Faustina would not come to applaud her. This stage queen had
-a most melancholy end. From England she went to Holland, where she was
-imprisoned for debt, being allowed, however, to go out in the evenings
-(doubtless under the guardianship of a jailer) and sing at the theatres,
-by which means she gained enough money to obtain her liberation. Having
-quite lost her voice, she is said to have maintained herself for some
-time at Bologna by button-making. The manner of her death is not known;
-but probably she had the same end as those stage-queens mentioned by the
-dramatic critic in <i>Candide</i>: "<i>On les adore quand elles sont belles, on
-les jette a la voirie quand elles sont mortes</i>."</p>
-
-<p>The career of Faustina on the other hand did not belie her auspicious
-name. In 1727, at Venice, she met Hasse, whose music owed much of its
-success to her admirable singing. The composer fell in love<a name="vol_1_page_156" id="vol_1_page_156"></a> with this
-charming vocalist, married her, and in 1730 accepted an offer from
-Augustus, King of Poland, and Elector of Saxony, to direct the Opera of
-Dresden. Here Faustina renewed her successes, and for fifteen years
-reigned with undisputed supremacy at the Court Theatre. Then, however, a
-new Cuzzoni appeared in the person of Signora Mingotti.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MINGOTTI.</div>
-
-<p>Regina Valentini, a pupil and domestic at the Convent of the Ursulines,
-possessed a beautiful voice, but so little taste for household work,
-that to avoid its drudgery and the ridicule to which her inability to go
-through it exposed her, she resolved to make what profit she could out
-of her singing. Old Mingotti, the manager, was willing enough to aid her
-in this laudable enterprise; and accordingly married her and put her
-under the tuition of Porpora, the future opponent of Handel, and actual
-rival of Hasse. In due time Mingotti made her first appearance at the
-Dresden Opera, when her singing called forth almost unanimous applause;
-we say "almost," because Hasse and some of his personal friends
-persisted in denying her talent. The successful <i>débutante</i> was offered
-a lucrative engagement at Naples, where she created the greatest
-enthusiasm by her performance of the part of <i>Aristea</i> in the
-<i>Olimpiade</i>, with music by Galuppi. Mingotti was now the great singer of
-the day; she received propositions from managers in all parts of Europe,
-but decided to return to the scene of her earnest triumphs at Dresden.
-This was in 1748.<a name="vol_1_page_157" id="vol_1_page_157"></a></p>
-
-<p>Haase was then composing his <i>Demofonte</i>. He knew well enough the
-strong, and thought he had remarked the weak, points in Mingotti's
-voice; and, in order to show the latter to the greatest possible
-disadvantage, provided the unsuspecting singer with an adagio which rose
-and fell upon the very notes which he considered the most doubtful in
-her unusually perfect organ. To render the vocalist's deficiencies as
-apparent as possible, he did the next thing to making her sing the
-insidious <i>adagio</i> without accompaniment; for the only accompaniment he
-wrote for it was a <i>pizzicato</i> of violins. Regina at the very first
-rehearsal, understood the snare, said nothing about it, but studied her
-<i>adagio</i> till she sang it with such perfection that what had been
-intended to discover her weakness only served in the most striking
-manner to exhibit her strength. The air which was to have ruined
-Mingotti's reputation brought her the greatest success she had ever
-obtained. Her execution was so faultless that Faustina herself could
-find nothing to say against it. A story is told of Sir Charles Williams,
-the English Minister at the Court of Dresden, who had taken a prominent
-part in the Hasse and Faustina cabal, and had been in the habit of
-saying that Mingotti was doubtless a brilliant singer, but that in the
-expressive style and in passages of sustained notes she was heard to
-disadvantage&mdash;a story is told of this candid and gentlemanly critic
-going to Mingotti after she had sung her treacherous solo, and
-apologizing to her publicly<a name="vol_1_page_158" id="vol_1_page_158"></a> for ever having entertained a doubt as to
-the completeness of her talent.</p>
-
-<p>Hasse remained thirty-three years in the service of the Elector and made
-the Dresden Opera the first in Europe; but in 1763 the troubles of
-unhappy Poland having begun, he retired with Faustina on a small pension
-to Vienna and thence to Venice, where they both died in the year 1783,
-Hasse being then eighty-four years of age and his wife ninety.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The most celebrated of the other singers at the Royal Academy of Music
-were Durastanti and Senesino, both of whom were engaged by Handel at
-Dresden, and appeared in London at the opening of the new establishment.
-In 1723, however, Cuzzoni arrived, and Durastanti, acknowledging the
-superior merit of that singer, took her departure. At least the
-acknowledgment was made for her in a song written by Pope, which she
-addressed to the audience at her farewell performance, and which ended
-with this couplet:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"But let old charmers yield to new;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Happy soil, adieu, adieu!"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SENESINO.</div>
-
-<p>Either singers were very different then from what they are now, or
-Durastanti could not have understood these lines, which, strangely
-enough, are said to have been written by Pope at the desire of her
-patron, the Earl of Peterborough. Surely Anastasia Robinson, the future
-Countess, would not have thanked the earl for such a compliment, in
-however<a name="vol_1_page_159" id="vol_1_page_159"></a> perfect a style it might have been expressed. Madame Durastanti
-appears to have been much esteemed in England, and I read in the
-<i>Evening Post</i> of March 7th, 1721, that "Last Thursday, His Majesty was
-pleased to stand godfather, and the Princess and the Lady Bruce
-godmothers, to a daughter of Mrs. Durastanti, chief singer in the opera
-house. The Marquis Visconti for the king, and the Lady Lichfield for the
-princess."</p>
-
-<p>Senesino, successor to Nicolini, and the second of the noble order of
-sopranists who appeared in England, was the principal contralto singer
-("<i>modo vir, modo fœmina</i>") in Handel's operas, until 1726, when the
-state of his health compelled him to return to Italy. He came back to
-England in 1730, and resumed his position at the King's Theatre, under
-Handel. In 1733, when the rival company was formed at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, Senesino joined it, but retired after the appearance of
-Farinelli, who at once eclipsed all other singers.</p>
-
-<p>Steele's journal, <i>The Theatre</i>, entertains us with a brief account of
-the vanity of one Signor Beneditti, who appears to have performed
-principal parts, at least for a time, at the Opera in 1720. The paper,
-which is written by Sir Richard Steele's coadjutor, Sir John Edgar,
-commences with a furious onslaught on a company of French actors, who
-were at that time performing in London, and of whose opening
-representation we are told that "if we are any longer to march on two
-legs, and not be quite prone,<a name="vol_1_page_160" id="vol_1_page_160"></a> and on all four like the other animals"
-we must "assume manhood and humane indignation against so barbarous an
-affront. But I foresee," continues Sir John,<a name="FNanchor_23_23" id="FNanchor_23_23"></a><a href="#Footnote_23_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> "that the theatre is to
-be utterly destroyed, and sensation is to banish reflection as sound is
-to beat down sense. The head and the heart are to be moved no more, but
-the basest parts of the body to be hereafter the sole instruments of
-human delight. A regular, orderly, and well-governed company of actors,
-that lived in reputation and credit and under decent settlement are to
-be torn to pieces and made vagabond, to make room for even foreign
-vagrants, who deserved no reception but in Bridewell, even before they
-affronted the assembly, composed of British nobility and gentry, with
-representations that could introduce nothing of even French except, &amp;c.
-....Though the French are so boisterous and void of all moderation or
-temper in their conduct, the Italians are a more tractable and elegant
-nation. If the French players have laid aside all shame, the Italian
-singers are as eminently nice and delicate, which the reader will
-observe from the following account I have received from the Haymarket.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CAPRICES OF SINGERS.</div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>"'Sir,&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"'It happened in casting parts for the new opera, Signor Beneditti
-conceived he had been greatly injured, and applied to the board of
-directors<a name="vol_1_page_161" id="vol_1_page_161"></a> for redress. He set forth in the recitative tone, the
-nearest approaching to ordinary speech, that he had never acted
-anything in any other opera below the character of a sovereign, and
-now he was to be appointed to be captain of a guard. On these
-representations, we directed that he should make love to Zenobia,
-with proper limitations. The chairman signified to him that the
-board had made him a lover, but he must be content to be an
-unfortunate one, and be rejected by his mistress. He expressed
-himself very easy under this, and seemed to rejoice that,
-considering the inconstancy of women, he could only feign, not
-pursue the passion to extremity. He muttered very much against
-making him only the guard to the character he had formerly appeared
-in,'" &amp;c.</p></div>
-
-<p>A small and not uninteresting volume might be written about the caprices
-of singers and their behaviour under real or imaginary slights. One of
-the best stories of the kind is told of Crescentini, who, three-quarters
-of a century later, at the first representation of <i>Gli Orazi e
-Curiazi</i>, observed immediately before the commencement of the
-performance, that the costume of <i>Orazio</i> was more magnificent than his
-own. He sent for the stage manager, and burning with rage, addressed him
-as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Perche</i>," he commenced, "avez vous donné <i>oun</i> habit blanc à ce
-<i>mossiou</i>; et <i>che</i> vous m'en avez gratifié <i>d'oun</i> vert?"</p>
-
-<p>It was explained to the singer that there was a<a name="vol_1_page_162" id="vol_1_page_162"></a> tradition at the
-Comédie Francaise by which the costume of the principal Horatius was
-white and that of the chief of the Curiatii, green.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Perché</i> la <i>bordoure rouze</i> à un <i>primo tenore</i>, el la <i>bordoure</i>
-noire Ă  <i>oun primo virtuoso</i>?" continued the incensed sopranist.</p>
-
-<p>"No one was thinking," replied the stage manager, "of your positions as
-singers; our only object was to make the costumes as correct as
-possible."</p>
-
-<p>"Votre <i>ousaze</i> et votre <i>ezatitoude</i> sont des imbéciles," exclaimed
-Crescentini; "<i>zé mé lagnérai</i> de votre condouite envers moi. Quant à
-vous, <i>mossiou</i> Brizzi <i>fate-mi il piacere</i> dé vous déshabiller <i>subito</i>
-et dé mé fairé passer <i>questo vestito in baratto dou</i> mien qué zé vais
-vous envoyer. <i>Per Bacco!</i> non <i>si dirĂ  qu'oun tenore</i> aura <i>parou miou
-vétou qu'oun primo oumo, surtout</i> quand ce <i>primo virtuoso</i> est Girolamo
-Crescentini d'Urbino."</p>
-
-<p>An exchange took place on the spot, and throughout the evening a
-Curiatius, six feet high, was seen wearing a little Roman costume, which
-looked as if it would burst with each movement of the singer, while a
-diminutive Horatius was attired in a long Alban tunic, of which the
-skirt trailed along the ground.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HANDEL AND HEIDEGGER.</div>
-
-<p>But the singers are taking us away from the Opera. Let us return to
-Handel, all of whose vocalists together, admirable as they were, could
-not save the Royal Academy of Music from ruin. After the final failure
-of that enterprise in 1728, the directors<a name="vol_1_page_163" id="vol_1_page_163"></a> entered into an arrangement
-with Heidegger for opening the King's Theatre under their joint
-management. Handel went to Italy to engage new singers, but did not make
-a very brilliant selection. Heidegger, nevertheless, did his duty as a
-manager, and introduced the principal members of the new company to
-public notice in the following "puff direct," which, for cool unadorned
-impudence, has not been surpassed even in the present day. "Mr. Handel,
-who is just returned from Italy, has contracted with the following
-persons to perform in the Italian Operas, Signor Bernacchi, who is
-esteemed the best singer in Italy; Signora Merighi, a woman of a very
-fine presence, an excellent actress, and a very good singer, with a
-counter-tenor voice; Signora Strada, who hath a very fine treble voice,
-a person of singular merit; Signor Annibale Pio Fabri, a most excellent
-tenor, and a fine voice; his wife, who performs a man's part well;
-Signora Bertoldi, who has a very fine treble voice, she is also a very
-genteel actress, both in men and women's parts; a bass voice, from
-Hamburgh, there being none worth engaging in Italy."</p>
-
-<p>I fancy this was an attempt to carry on Italian Opera at a reduced
-expenditure, for as soon as the speculation began to fail, the popular
-Senesino was again engaged. Handel had had a serious quarrel with this
-singer, but when a manager is in want of a star, and a star is tempted
-with a lucrative engagement, personal feelings are not taken into
-account. They ought to have been, however, in this particular<a name="vol_1_page_164" id="vol_1_page_164"></a> case, at
-least by Handel, for the breach between the composer and the singer was
-renewed, and Senesino left the King's Theatre to join the company which
-was being formed at the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of
-Porpora.</p>
-
-<p>Handel now set out once more for Italy, but again failed to engage any
-singers of celebrity, with the exception of Carestini, whom he heard at
-Bologna at the same time as Farinelli. That he should have preferred the
-former to the latter seems unaccountable, for by the common consent of
-musicians, critics, and the public, Farinelli, wherever he sang, was
-pronounced the greatest singer of his time, and it appears certain that
-no singer ever affected an audience in so powerful a manner. The
-passionate (and slightly blasphemous) exclamation of the entranced
-Englishwoman, "One God and one Farinelli," together with the almost
-magical effect of Farinelli's voice in tranquilising the half demented
-Ferdinand VI., seems to show that his singing must have been something
-like the music of patriarchal times; which charmed serpents, and which
-in a later age throws highly impressionable women into convulsions.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.</div>
-
-<p>I have already mentioned that in going or returning to Italy this last
-time, Handel appears to have passed through Paris, and to have paid a
-contemptuous sort of attention to French music. It is then, if ever,
-that he should be accused of having stolen for our national anthem, an
-air left by Lulli&mdash;which <i>he</i> did not, and which Lulli <i>could</i> not have
-composed.<a name="vol_1_page_165" id="vol_1_page_165"></a> The ridiculous story which would make our English patriotic
-hymn an adaptation from the French, is told for the first time I believe
-in the Duchess of Perth's letters. But instead of "<i>God save the Queen</i>"
-being translated from a canticle sung by the Ladies of St. Cyr, the
-pretended canticle is a translation of "God save the Queen." Here is the
-French version&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Grand Dieu, sauvez le Roi!<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Grand Dieu, vengez le Roi!<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Vive le Roi!<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Que toujours glorieux<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Louis victorieux<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Voie ses ennemis<br /></span>
-<span class="i4">Toujours soumis.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>If it could be proved that this "canticle" was sung by the Ladies of St.
-Cyr, England could no longer claim the authorship of "<i>God save the
-Queen</i>," as far, at least, as the words are concerned; and it is evident
-that the words, which are scarcely readable as poetry, though excellent
-for singing, were written either for or with the music. M. Castil Blaze,
-however (in <i>Molière Musicien</i>, Vol. I., page 501), points out that "<i>si
-l'on ignorait que la musique de cet air est, non pas de Handel, comme
-plusieurs l'ont assuré mais de Henri Carey la version Française
-prouverait du moins que cette melódie, scandée en sdruccioli ne peut
-appartenir au siècle de Louis XIV.; nos vers à glissades etaient
-parfaitement inconnus de Quinault et de Lulli, de Bernard et de
-Rameau</i>."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE NATIONAL ANTHEM.</div>
-
-<p>Mr. Schœlcher, like many other writers, attributes "<i>God save the
-King</i>" to Dr. John Bull, but<a name="vol_1_page_166" id="vol_1_page_166"></a> Mr. W. Chappell, in his "Popular Music of
-the Olden Time," has shown that Dr. John Bull did not compose it in its
-present form, and that in all probability Henry Carey did, and that
-words and music together, as we know it in the present day, our national
-anthem dates only from 1740. Lulli did not compose it, but it was not
-composed before his time, nor before Handel's either. The air has been
-so altered, or rather, developed, by the various composers who have
-handled it since a simple chant on the four words "God save the King"
-was harmonised by Dr. John Bull, and afterwards converted from an
-indifferent tune into an admirable one (through the fortunate blundering
-of a copyist, as it has been surmised), that it may almost be said to
-have grown. What an interesting thing to be able to establish the fact
-of its gradual formation, like the political system of that nation to
-whose triumphs it has long been an indispensable accompaniment! But how
-humiliating to find that somebody marked in Dr. Bull's manuscript a
-sharp where there should have been no sharp, and that our glorious
-anthem owes its existence to a mistake! Mr. Chappell prints three or
-four ballads and part songs in his work, beginning at the reign of James
-I., either or all of which may have been the foundation of "<i>God save
-the King</i>," but it appears certain that our national hymn in its present
-form was first sung, and almost note for note as it is sung now, by H.
-Carey, in 1740, in<a name="vol_1_page_167" id="vol_1_page_167"></a> celebration of the taking of Portobello by Admiral
-Vernon.<a name="FNanchor_24_24" id="FNanchor_24_24"></a><a href="#Footnote_24_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a></p>
-
-<p>Handel did not compose "<i>God save the King</i>;" but he had good reason for
-singing it, considering the steady and liberal patronage he received
-from our three first Georges. When, after the expiration of his contract
-with Heidegger, he removed to Covent Garden, in 1735, still carrying on
-the war against Porpora (who removed at the same time to the King's
-Theatre), George II. subscribed ÂŁ1,000 towards the expenses of Handel's
-management, and it was the support of the King and the Royal Family that
-enabled him to combat the influence that was brought to bear against him
-by the aristocracy. Handel, according to Arbuthnot, owed his failure, in
-a great measure, the first time, to the <i>Beggars' Opera</i>. The second
-time, on the other hand, it was the <i>Nobility's</i> Opera that ruined him.
-Handel, as we have seen, had only Carestini to depend upon. Porpora, his
-rival, had secured two established favourites, Cuzzoni and Senesino
-(both members of Handel's old company at the Academy), and had,
-moreover, engaged Farinelli, by far the greatest singer of the epoch.
-Nevertheless, Porpora failed almost at the same time as Handel, and at
-the end of the year 1737, there was no Italian Opera at all in London.</p>
-
-<p>Handel joined Heidegger once more in 1738, at the King's Theatre. In two
-years he wrote four operas, of which the fourth, <i>Deidamia</i>, was the<a name="vol_1_page_168" id="vol_1_page_168"></a>
-last he ever produced. After this he abandoned dramatic music, and, as a
-composer of Oratorios, entered upon what was to him a far higher career.
-Handel was at this time fifty-six years of age, and since his arrival in
-England, in 1711, he had written no less than thirty-five Italian
-operas.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CAPABILITIES OF MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>Handel's Italian operas, as such, are now quite obsolete. The air from
-<i>Admeto</i> is occasionally heard at a concert, and Handel is known to have
-introduced some of his operatic melodies into his Oratorios, but there
-is no chance of any one of his operas ever being reproduced in a
-complete form. They were never known out of England, and in this country
-were soon laid aside after their composer had fairly retired from
-theatrical management. I think Mr. Hogarth<a name="FNanchor_25_25" id="FNanchor_25_25"></a><a href="#Footnote_25_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> is only speaking with his
-usual judiciousness, when he observes, that "whatever pleasure they must
-have given to the audiences of that age, they would fail to do so
-now.... The music of the principal parts," he continues, "were written
-for a class of voices which no longer exists,<a name="FNanchor_26_26" id="FNanchor_26_26"></a><a href="#Footnote_26_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> and for these parts no
-performers could now be found. A series of recitatives and airs, with
-only an occasional duet, and a concluding chorus of the slightest kind,
-would appear meagre and dull to ears<a name="vol_1_page_169" id="vol_1_page_169"></a> accustomed to the brilliant
-concerted pieces and finales of the modern stage; and Handel's
-accompaniments would appear thin and poor amidst the richness and
-variety of the modern orchestra. The vocal parts, too, are to a great
-extent, in an obsolete taste. Many of the airs are mere strings of dry,
-formal divisions and unmeaning passages of execution, calculated to show
-off the powers of the fashionable singers; and many others, admirable in
-their design, and containing the finest traits of melody and expression,
-are spun out a wearisome length, and deformed by the cumbrous trappings
-with which they are loaded. Musical phrases, too, when Handel used them,
-had the charm of novelty, have become familiar and common through
-repetition by his successors."</p>
-
-<p>Among the airs which Handel has taken from his Operas and introduced
-into his Oratorios, may be mentioned <i>Rendi l' sereno al ciglio</i>, from
-<i>Sosarme</i>, now known as <i>Lord, remember David</i>, and <i>Dove sei amato
-bene</i>, in <i>Rodelinda</i>, which has been converted into <i>Holy, Holy, Lord
-God Almighty</i>. That these changes have been made with perfect success,
-proves, if any proof were still wanted by those who have ever given a
-minute's consideration to the subject, that there is no such thing as
-absolute definite expression in music. The music of an impassioned love
-song will seem equally appropriate as that of a fervent prayer, except
-to those who have already associated it intimately in their memories
-with the words to which<a name="vol_1_page_170" id="vol_1_page_170"></a> it has first been written. A positive feeling
-of joy, or of grief, of exultation, or of depression, of liveliness, or
-of solemnity, can be expressed by musical means without the assistance
-of words, but not mixed feelings, into which several shades of sentiment
-enter&mdash;at least not with definiteness; though once indicated by the
-words, they will obtain from music the most admirable colours which will
-even appear to have been invented expressly and solely for them. Gluck
-arranged old music to suit new verses quite as much, or more, than
-Handel&mdash;even Gluck who maintained that music ought to convey the precise
-signification, not only of a dramatic situation, but of the very words
-of a song, phrase by phrase, if not word by word.</p>
-
-<hr style="width: 5%;" />
-
-<div class="sidenote">HANDEL AND OUR ITALIAN OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>During the period of Handel's presidency over our Italian Opera, works
-not only by Handel and his colleagues, but also by Scarlatti, Hasse,
-Porpora, Vinci, Veracini, and other composers were produced at the
-King's Theatre, at Covent Garden, and at Porpora's Theatre in Lincoln's
-Inn Fields. After Handel's retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolese,
-Jomelli, Gluck, and Piccinni, were performed, and the most distinguished
-singers in Europe continued to visit London. In 1741, when the Earl of
-Middlesex undertook the management of the King's Theatre, Galuppi was
-engaged as composer, and produced several operas: among others,
-<i>Penelope</i>, <i>Scipione</i>, and <i>Enrico</i>. In 1742, the <i>Olimpiade</i>, with
-music by Pergolese (a pupil of Hasse, and the future composer<a name="vol_1_page_171" id="vol_1_page_171"></a> of the
-celebrated <i>Serva Padrona</i>) was brought out. After Galuppi's return to
-Italy, in 1744, the best of his new operas continued to be produced in
-London. His <i>Mondo della Luna</i> was represented in 1760, when the English
-public were delighted with the gaiety of the music, and with the
-charming acting and singing of Signora Paganini. The year afterwards a
-still greater success was achieved with the same composer's <i>Filosofo di
-Campagna</i>, which, says Dr. Burney, "surpassed in musical merit all the
-comic operas that were performed in England till the <i>Buona Figliola</i>."
-Not only were Gluck's earlier and comparatively unimportant works
-performed in London soon after their first production at Vienna, but his
-<i>Orfeo</i>, the first of those great works written in the style which we
-always associate with Gluck's name, was represented in London in 1770,
-four years before Gluck went to Paris. Indeed, ever since the arrival of
-Handel in this country, London has been celebrated for its Italian
-Opera, whereas the French had no regular continuous performances of
-Italian Opera until nearly a hundred years afterwards. Handel did much
-to create a taste for this species of entertainment, and by the
-excellent execution which he took care every opera produced under his
-direction should receive, he set an example to his successors of which
-the value can scarcely be over-estimated, and which it must be admitted
-has, on the whole, been followed with intelligence and enterprise.<a name="vol_1_page_172" id="vol_1_page_172"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VII" id="CHAPTER_VII"></a>CHAPTER VII.<br /><br />
-<small>GENERAL VIEW OF THE OPERA IN EUROPE IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY UNTIL
-THE APPEARANCE OF GLUCK.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>Great Italian Singers.&mdash;Ferri in Sweden.&mdash;Opera in Vienna.&mdash;Scenic
-decorations.&mdash;Singers of the Eighteenth Century.&mdash;Singers'
-nicknames.&mdash;Farinelli's one note.</p></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">QUEEN CHRISTINA AND FERRI.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">H<small>ANDEL</small>, by his great musical genius, conferred a two-fold benefit on the
-country of his adoption. He endowed it with a series of Oratorios which
-stand alone in their grandeur, for which the English of the present day
-are deeply grateful, and for which ages to come will honour his name;
-and before writing a note of his great sacred works, during the thirty
-years which he devoted to the production and superintendence of Italian
-Opera in England, he raised that entertainment to a pitch of excellence
-unequalled elsewhere, except perhaps at the magnificent Dresden Theatre,
-which, for upwards of a quarter of a century was directed by the
-celebrated Hasse, and where Augustus, of Saxony, took care that the
-finest musicians and singers in Europe should be engaged.<a name="vol_1_page_173" id="vol_1_page_173"></a></p>
-
-<p>Rousseau, in the <i>Dictionnaire Musicale</i>, under the head of "Orchestra,"
-writing in 1754<a name="FNanchor_27_27" id="FNanchor_27_27"></a><a href="#Footnote_27_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a>, says:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The first orchestra in Europe in respect to the number and science of
-the symphonists, is that of Naples. But the orchestra of the opera of
-the King of Poland, at Dresden, directed by the illustrious Hasse, is
-better distributed, and forms a better <i>ensemble</i>."</p>
-
-<p>Most of Handel's and Porpora's best vocalists were engaged from the
-Dresden Theatre, but the great Italian singers had already become
-citizens of the world, and settled or established themselves temporarily
-as their interests dictated in Germany, England, Spain, or elsewhere,
-and at the beginning of the eighteenth century there were Italian Operas
-at Naples, Turin, Dresden, Vienna, London, Madrid, and even
-Algiers&mdash;everywhere but in France, which, as has already been pointed
-out, did not accept the musical civilisation of Italy until it had been
-adopted by every other country in Europe, including Russia. The great
-composers, and above all, the great singers who abounded in this
-fortunate century, went to and fro in Europe, from south to north, from
-east to west, and were welcomed everywhere but in Paris, where, until a
-few years before the Revolution, it seemed to form part of the national
-honour to despise Italian music.</p>
-
-<p>As far back as 1645, Queen Christina of Sweden<a name="vol_1_page_174" id="vol_1_page_174"></a> sent a vessel of war to
-Italy, to bring to her Court Balthazar Ferri, the most distinguished
-singer of his day. Ferri, as Rousseau, quoting from Mancini, tells us in
-his "Musical Dictionary," could without taking breath ascend and descend
-two octaves of the chromatic scale, performing a shake on every note
-unaccompanied, and with such precision that if at any time the note on
-which the singer was shaking was verified by an instrument, it was found
-to be perfectly in tune.</p>
-
-<p>Ferri was in the service of three kings of Poland and two emperors of
-Germany. At Venice he was decorated with the Order of St. Mark; at
-Vienna he was crowned King of Musicians; at London, while he was singing
-in a masque, he was presented by an unknown hand with a superb emerald;
-and the Florentines, when he was about to visit their city, went in
-thousands to meet him, at three leagues distance from the gates.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA IN VIENNA.</div>
-
-<p>The Italian Opera was established in Vienna under the Emperor Leopold
-I., with great magnificence, so much so indeed, that for many years
-afterwards it was far more celebrated as a spectacle than as a musical
-entertainment. Nevertheless, Leopold was a most devoted lover of music,
-and remained so until his death, as the history of his last moments
-sufficiently shows. We have seen a French maid of honour die to the
-fiddling of her page; the Emperor of Germany expired to the
-accompaniment of a full orchestra. Feeling that his end was approaching
-he sent for his<a name="vol_1_page_175" id="vol_1_page_175"></a> musicians, and ordered them to commence a symphony,
-which they went on playing until he died.</p>
-
-<p>Apostolo Zeno, whom Rousseau calls the Corneille, and Metastasio, whom
-he terms the Racine of the Opera, both resided for many years at Vienna,
-and wrote many of their best pieces for its theatre. Several of Zeno's,
-and a great number of Metastasio's works have been set to music over and
-over again, but when they were first brought out at Vienna, many of them
-appear to have obtained success more as grand dramatic spectacles than
-as operas. During the latter half of the eighteenth century, Vienna
-witnessed the production of some of the greatest master-pieces of the
-musical drama (for instance, the <i>Orpheus</i>, <i>Alcestis</i>, &amp;c., of Gluck,
-and the <i>Marriage of Figaro</i>, of Mozart); but when Handel was in England
-directing the King's Theatre in the Haymarket, and when the Dresden
-Opera was in full musical glory (before as well as after the arrival of
-Hasse), the Court Theatre of Vienna was above all remarkable for its
-immense size, for the splendour of its decorations, and for the general
-costliness and magnificence of its spectacles. Lady Mary Wortley
-Montague visited the Opera, at Vienna, in 1716, and sent the following
-account of it to Pope.</p>
-
-<p>"I have been last Sunday at the Opera, which was performed in the garden
-of the Favorita; and I was so much pleased with it, I have not yet
-repented my seeing it. Nothing of the kind was ever more magnificent,
-and I can easily believe what I am told, that<a name="vol_1_page_176" id="vol_1_page_176"></a> the decorations and
-habits cost the Emperor thirty thousand pounds sterling. The stage was
-built over a very large canal, and at the beginning of the second act
-divided into two parts, discovering the water, on which there
-immediately came, from different parts, two fleets of little gilded
-vessels that gave the representation of a naval fight. It is not easy to
-imagine the beauty of this scene, which I took particular notice of. But
-all the rest were perfectly fine in their kind. The story of the Opera
-is the enchantment of Alcina, which gives opportunities for a great
-variety of machines, and changes of scenes which are performed with
-surprising swiftness. The theatre is so large that it is hard to carry
-the eye to the end of it, and the habits in the utmost magnificence to
-the number of one hundred and eight. No house could hold such large
-decorations; but the ladies all sitting in the open air exposes them to
-great inconveniences, for there is but one canopy for the Imperial
-Family, and the first night it was represented, a shower of rain
-happening, the opera was broken off, and the company crowded away in
-such confusion that I was almost squeezed to death."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SCENIC DECORATIONS.</div>
-
-<p>One of these open air theatres, though doubtless on a much smaller scale
-than that of Vienna, stood in the garden of the Tuileries, at Paris, at
-the beginning of the eighteenth century. It was embowered in trees and
-covered with creeping plants, and the performances took place there in
-the day-time. These<a name="vol_1_page_177" id="vol_1_page_177"></a> garden theatres were known to the Romans, witness
-the following lines of Ovid:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Illic quas tulerant nemorosa palatia, frondes<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Simpliciter positæ; scena sine arte fuit."<br /></span>
-<span class="i5"><i>De Arte Amandi</i>, Liber I., v. 105.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>I myself saw a little theatre of the kind, in 1856, at Flensburgh, in
-Denmark. There was a pleasure-ground in front, with benches and chairs
-for the audience. The stage door at the back opened into a cabbage
-garden. The performances, which consisted of a comedy and farce took
-place in the afternoon, and ended at dusk.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>I have already spoken of the magnificence and perfection of the scenic
-pictures exhibited at the Italian theatres in the very first days of the
-Opera. In the early part of the seventeenth century immense theatres
-were constructed so as to admit of the most elaborate spectacular
-displays. The Farnesino Theatre, at Parma, built for dramas,
-tournaments, and spectacles of all kinds, and which is now a ruin,
-contained at least fifty thousand spectators.<a name="FNanchor_28_28" id="FNanchor_28_28"></a><a href="#Footnote_28_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p>
-
-<p>In the 18th century the Italians seem to have thought more of the music
-of their operas, and to have left the vanities of theatrical decorations
-to the Germans.</p>
-
-<p>Servandoni, for some time scene painter and decorator at the Académie
-Royale of Paris not<a name="vol_1_page_178" id="vol_1_page_178"></a> finding that theatre sufficiently vast for his
-designs, sought a new field for his ambition at the Opera-House of
-Dresden, where Augustus of Poland engaged him to superintend the
-arrangement of the stage. Servandoni painted a number of admirable
-scenes for this theatre, in the midst of which four hundred mounted
-horsemen were able to manœuvre with ease.</p>
-
-<p>In 1760 the Court of the Duke of Wurtemburg, at Stuttgardt, was the most
-brilliant in Europe, owing partly, no doubt, to the enormous subsidies
-received by the Duke from France for a body of ten thousand men, which
-he maintained at the service of that power. The Duke had a French
-theatre, and two Italian theatres, one for Opera Seria, and the other
-for Opera Buffa. The celebrated Noverre was his ballet-master, and there
-were a hundred dancers in the <i>corps de ballet</i>, besides twenty
-principal ones, each of whom had been first dancer at one of the chief
-theatres of Italy. Jomelli was chapel-master and director of the Opera
-at Stuttgardt from 1754 until 1773.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SCENIC DECORATIONS.</div>
-
-<p>In the way of stage decorations, theatrical effects, and the various
-other spectacular devices by which managers still seek to attract to
-their Operas those who are unable to appreciate good music, we have made
-no progress since the 17th century. We have, to be sure, gas and the
-electric light, which were not known to our forefathers; but St.
-Evrémond tells us that in Louis the XIV.'s time the sun and moon were<a name="vol_1_page_179" id="vol_1_page_179"></a>
-so well represented at the Académie Royale, that the Ambassador of
-Guinea, assisting at one of its performances, leant forward in his box,
-when those orbs appeared and religiously saluted them. To be sure, this
-anecdote may be classed with one I have heard in Russia, of an actor
-who, playing the part of a bear in a grand melodrama, in which a storm
-was introduced, crossed himself devoutly at each clap of thunder; but
-the stories of Servandoni's and Bernino's decorations are no fables.
-Like the other great masters of stage effect in Italy, Bernino was an
-architect, a sculptor and a painter. His sunsets are said to have been
-marvellous; and in a spectacular piece of his composition, entitled <i>The
-Inundation of the Tiber</i>, a mass of water was seen to come in from the
-back of the stage, gradually approaching the orchestra and washing down
-everything that impeded its onward course, until at last the audience,
-believing the inundation to be real, rose in terror and were about to
-rush from the theatre. Traps, however, were ready to be opened in all
-parts of the stage. The Neptune of the troubled theatrical waves gave
-the word,</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">&mdash;&mdash;"<i>et dicto citiùs tumida æquora placat</i>."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>But in Italy, even at the time when such wonders were being effected in
-the way of stage decorations, the music of an opera was still its prime
-attraction; indeed, there were theatres for operas and theatres for
-spectacular dramas, and it is a mistake to attempt the union of the two
-in any great excellence,<a name="vol_1_page_180" id="vol_1_page_180"></a> inasmuch as the one naturally interferes with
-and diverts attention from the other.</p>
-
-<p>Of Venice and its music, in the days when grand hunts, charges of
-cavalry, triumphal processions in which hundreds of horsemen took part,
-and ships traversing the ocean, and proceeding full sail to the
-discovery of America were introduced on to the stage;<a name="FNanchor_29_29" id="FNanchor_29_29"></a><a href="#Footnote_29_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> of Venice and
-its music even at this highly decorative period, St. Evrémond has given
-us a brief but very satisfactory account in the following doggrel:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"A Venise rien n'est Ă©gal:<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Sept opéras, le carneval;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Et la merveille, l'excellence,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Point de chœurs et jamais de danse,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Dans les maisons, souvent concert,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">OĂą tout se chante Ă  livre ouvert."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>The operatic chorus, as has already been observed, is an invention
-claimed by the French<a name="FNanchor_30_30" id="FNanchor_30_30"></a><a href="#Footnote_30_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a>; on the other hand, from the very foundation
-of the Académie Royale, the French rendered their Operas ridiculous by
-introducing <i>ballets</i> into the middle of them. We shall find Rousseau
-calling attention to this absurd custom which still prevails at the
-Académie, where if even <i>Fidelio</i> was to be produced, it would be
-considered necessary to "enliven" one or more of the scenes with a
-<i>divertissement</i>&mdash;so unchanging and unchangeable are the revolutionary
-French in all that is futile.<a name="vol_1_page_181" id="vol_1_page_181"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE OPERA AT VIENNA.</div>
-
-<p>We have seen that in the first years of the 18th century, the Opera at
-Vienna was chiefly remarkable for its size, and the splendour and
-magnificence of its scenery. But it soon became a first-rate musical
-theatre; and it was there, as every one who takes an interest in music
-knows, that nearly all the masterpieces of Gluck and Mozart<a name="FNanchor_31_31" id="FNanchor_31_31"></a><a href="#Footnote_31_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> were
-produced. The French sometimes speak of Gluck's great works as if they
-belonged exclusively to the repertory of their Académie. I have already
-mentioned that four years before Gluck went to Paris (1774), his <i>Orfeo</i>
-was played in London. This opera was brought out at Vienna in 1764, when
-it was performed twenty-eight times in succession. The success of
-<i>Alceste</i> was still greater; and after its production in 1768, no other
-opera was played for two years. At this period, the imperial family did
-not confine the interest they took in the Opera to mere patronage; four
-Austrian archduchesses, sisters of the Emperor Charles VII., themselves
-appeared on the stage, and performed, among other pieces, in the
-<i>Egeria</i> of Metastasio and Hasse, and even in Gluck's works. Charles
-VII. himself played on the harpsichord and the violoncello; and the
-Empress mother, then seventy years of age, once said, in conversing with
-Faustina (Hasse's widow at that time), "I am the oldest dramatic singer
-in Europe; I made my <i>début</i> when I was five years old." Charles VI.<a name="vol_1_page_182" id="vol_1_page_182"></a>
-too, Leopold's successor, if not a musician, had, at least, considerable
-taste in music; and Farinelli informed Dr. Burney that he was much
-indebted to this sovereign for an admonition he once received from him.
-The Emperor told the singer that his performance was surprising, and,
-indeed, prodigious; but that all was unavailing as long as he did not
-succeed in touching the heart. It would appear that at this time
-Farinelli's style was wanting in simplicity and expressiveness; but an
-artist of the intelligence and taste which his correspondence with
-Metastasio proves him to have possessed, would be sure to correct
-himself of any such failings the moment his attention was called to
-them.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</div>
-
-<p>The 18th century produced a multitude of great singers. Their voices
-have gone with them; but we know from the music they sang, from the
-embellishments and cadences which have been noted down, and which are as
-good evidence now as when they were first executed, that those
-<i>virtuosi</i> had brought the vocal art to a perfection of which, in these
-later days, we meet with only the rarest examples. Is music to be
-written for the sake of singers, or are singers to learn to sing for the
-sake of music? Of the two propositions, I decidedly prefer the latter;
-but it must, at the same time, be remarked, that unless the executive
-qualities of the singer be studied to a considerable extent, the singer
-will soon cease to pay much attention to his execution. Continue to give
-him singable music, however difficult, and he<a name="vol_1_page_183" id="vol_1_page_183"></a> will continue to learn to
-sing, counting the difficulties to be overcome only as so many
-opportunities for new triumphs; but if the music given to him is such as
-can, perhaps even <i>must</i>, be shouted, it is to be expected that he will
-soon cease to study the intricacies and delicacies of his art; and in
-time, if music truly vocal be put before him, he will be unable to sing.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The great singers of the 17th century, to judge from the cantilenas of
-Caccini's, Peri's, and Monteverde's operas, must have cultivated
-expression rather than ornamentation; though what Mancini tells us about
-the singing of Balthazar Ferri, and the manner in which it was received,
-proves that the florid, highly-adorned style was also in vogue. These
-early Italian <i>virtuosi</i> (a name which they adopted at the beginning of
-the 17th century to distinguish themselves from mere actors) not only
-possessed great acquirements as singers, but were also excellent
-musicians; and many of them displayed great ability in matters quite
-unconnected with their profession. Stradella, the only vocalist of whom
-it is recorded that his singing saved his life, composed an opera, <i>La
-Forza dell Amor paterno</i>, of which the manifold beauties caused him to
-be proclaimed "beyond comparison the first Apollo of music:" the
-following inscription being stamped by authority on the published
-score&mdash;"<i>Bastando il dirti, che il concerto di si perfetta melodia sia
-valore d'un Alessandro, civè del Signor Stradella, riconoscinto senza
-contrasto per il primo Apollo della musica.</i>" Atto, an Italian tenor,<a name="vol_1_page_184" id="vol_1_page_184"></a>
-who came to Paris with Leonora Baroni, and who had apartments given him
-in Cardinal Mazarin's palace, was afterwards entrusted by that minister
-with a political mission to the court of Bavaria, which, however, it
-must be remembered, was just then presided over, not by an elector, but
-by an electoress. Farinelli became the confidential adviser, if not the
-actual minister (as has been often stated, but without foundation) of
-the king of Spain. In the present day, the only <i>virtuoso</i> I know of
-(the name has now a more general signification) who has been entrusted
-with <i>quasi</i>-diplomatic functions is Vivier, the first horn player, and,
-in his own way, the first humorist of the age; I believe it is no secret
-that this facetious <i>virtuoso</i> fills the office of secretary to his
-Excellency Vely Pasha.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SINGERS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.</div>
-
-<p>Bontempi, in his <i>Historia Musica</i>, gives the following account of the
-school of singing directed by Mazzocchi, at Rome, in 1620: "At the
-schools of Rome, the pupils were obliged to give up one hour every day
-to the singing of difficult passages till they were well acquainted with
-them; another to the practice of the shake; another to feats of
-agility;<a name="FNanchor_32_32" id="FNanchor_32_32"></a><a href="#Footnote_32_32" class="fnanchor">[32]</a> another to the study of letters; another to vocal
-exercises, under the direction of a master, and before a looking-glass,
-so that they might be certain they were making no disagreeable movement
-of the muscles of the face, of the forehead, of the eyes, or of the
-mouth. So much for the occupation of the morning. In the afternoon,<a name="vol_1_page_185" id="vol_1_page_185"></a>
-half-an-hour was devoted to the theory of singing; another half-hour to
-counterpoint; an hour to hearing the rules of composition, and putting
-them in practice on their tablets; another to the study of letters; and
-the rest of the day to practising the harpsichord, to the composition of
-some psalm, motet, canzonetta, or any other piece according to the
-scholar's own ideas.</p>
-
-<p>"Such were the ordinary exercises of the school in days when the
-scholars did not leave the house. When they went out, they often walked
-towards Monte Mario, and sang where they could hear the echo of their
-notes, so that each might judge by the response of the justness of his
-execution. They, moreover, sang at all the musical solemnities of the
-Roman Churches; following, and observing with attention the manner and
-style of an infinity of great singers who lived under the pontificate of
-Urban VIII., so that they could afterwards render an account of their
-observations to the master, who, the better to impress the result of
-these studies on the minds of his pupils, added whatever remarks and
-cautions he thought necessary."</p>
-
-<p>With such a system as the above, it would have been impossible,
-supposing the students to have possessed any natural disposition for
-singing, not to have produced good singers. We have spoken already of
-some of the best vocalists of the 18th century; of Faustina, Cuzzoni,
-and Mingotti; of Nicolini, Senesino, and Farinelli. Of Farinelli's life,
-however (which was so interesting that it has afforded to a<a name="vol_1_page_186" id="vol_1_page_186"></a> German
-composer the subject of one opera, to M. M. Scribe and Auber, that of
-another, <i>La part du Diable</i>, and to M. Scribe the plan of "<i>Carlo
-Broschi</i>," a tale), I must give a few more particulars; and this will
-also be a convenient opportunity for sketching the careers of some two
-or three others of the great Italian singers of this epoch, such as
-Caffarelli, Gabrielli, Guadagni, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>First, as to his name. It is generally said that Carlo Broschi owed his
-appellation of Farinelli to the circumstance of his father having been a
-miller, or a flour merchant. This, however, is pure conjecture. No one
-knows or cares who Carlo Broschi's father was, but he was called
-"Farinelli," because he was the recognised <i>protégé</i> of the Farina
-family; just as another singer, who was known to be one of Porpora's
-favorite pupils, was named "Porporino."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SINGERS' NICKNAMES.</div>
-
-<p>Descriptive nicknames were given to the celebrated musicians as well as
-to the celebrated painters of Italy. Numerous composers and singers owed
-their sobriquets</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To their Native Country; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Il Sassone</i> (Hasse), born at Bergendorf, in Saxony;</p>
-<p><i>Portogallo</i> (Simao);</p>
-<p><i>Lo Spagnuolo</i> (Vincent Martin);</p>
-<p><i>L'Inglesina</i> (Cecilia Davies);</p>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_187" id="vol_1_page_187"></a></p>
-
-<p><i>La Francesina</i> (Elizabeth Duparc), who, after singing
-for some years with success in Italy and at London,
-was engaged by Handel in 1745, to take the principal
-soprano parts in his oratorios:</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To their Native Town; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Buranello</i>, of Burano (Galuppi);</p>
-<p><i>Pergolese</i>, of Pergola (Jesi);</p>
-<p><i>La Ferrarese</i>, of Ferrara (Francesca Gabrielli);</p>
-<p><i>Senesino</i>, of Sienna (Bernardi):</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To the Profession of their Parents; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>La Cochetta</i> (Catarina), whose father was cook
-to Prince Gabrielli, at Rome:</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To the Place they Inhabited; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Checca della Laguna</i>, (Francesca of the Lagune):</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To the Name of their Master; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Caffarelli</i> (Majorano), pupil of Caffaro;</p>
-<p><i>Gizziello</i> (Conti), pupil of Gizzi;</p>
-<p><i>Porporino</i> (Hubert), pupil of Porpora:</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To the Name of their Patron; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Farinelli</i> (Carlo Broschi), protected by the Farinas,
-of Naples;</p>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_188" id="vol_1_page_188"></a></p>
-
-<p><i>Gabrielli</i> (Catarina), protected by Prince Gabrielli;</p>
-
-<p><i>Cusanimo</i> (Carestini), protected by the Cusani
-family of Milan:</p>
-
-<p class="csm">To the Part in which they had Particularly
-Distinguished themselves; as&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Siface</i> (Grossi), who had obtained a triumphant
-success, as that personage, in Scarlatti's <i>Mitridate</i>.
-</p>
-
-<p>But the most astonishing of all these nicknames was that given to
-Lucrezia Aguiari, who, being a natural child, was called publicly, in
-the playbills and in the newspapers, <i>La Bastardina</i>, or <i>La
-Bastardella</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Catarina, called Gabrielli, a singer to be ranked with the Faustinas and
-Cuzzonis, naturally became disgusted with her appellation of <i>la
-cocchetta</i> (little cook) as soon as she had acquired a little celebrity.
-She accordingly assumed the name of Prince Gabrielli, her patron;
-Francesca Gabrielli, who was in no way related to the celebrated
-Catarina, keeping to that of <i>Ferrarese</i>, or <i>Gabriellina</i>, as she was
-sometimes called.</p>
-
-<p>But to return to my short anecdotal biographies of a few of these
-singers.<a name="FNanchor_33_33" id="FNanchor_33_33"></a><a href="#Footnote_33_33" class="fnanchor">[33]</a> Carlo Broschi, then, called "Farinelli," first
-distinguished himself, at the age of seventeen, in a bravura with an
-<i>obligato</i> trumpet accompaniment, which Porpora, his master, wrote
-expressly for him, and for a German trumpet-player<a name="vol_1_page_189" id="vol_1_page_189"></a> whose skill on that
-instrument was prodigious. The air commenced with a sustained note,
-given by the trumpet. This note was then taken up by the vocalist, who
-held it with consummate art for such a length of time that the audience
-fell into raptures with the beauty and fulness of his voice. The note
-was then attacked, and held successively by the player and the singer,
-<i>pianissimo</i>, <i>crescendo</i>, <i>forte</i>, <i>fortissimo</i>, <i>diminuendo</i>, <i>
-smorzando</i>, <i>perdendosi</i>&mdash;of which the effect may be imagined from the
-delirious transports of the lady who, on hearing this one note several
-times repeated, hastened to proclaim in the same breath the unity of the
-Deity and the uniqueness of Farinelli. This trumpet song occurs
-originally in Porpora's <i>Eomene</i>; and Farinelli sang it for the first
-time at Rome, in 1722. In London, in 1734, he introduced it in Hasse's
-<i>Artaserse</i>, the opera in which he made his <i>début</i>, at the Lincoln's
-Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora, his old preceptor.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FARINELLI'S ONE NOTE.</div>
-
-<p>I, who have heard a good many fine singers, and one or two whose voices
-I shall not easily forget, must confess myself unable to understand the
-enthusiasm caused by Farinelli's one note, however wonderful the art
-that produced it, however exquisite the gradations of sound which gave
-it colour, and perhaps a certain appearance of life; for one musical
-sound is, after all, not music. Bilboquet, in Dumersan and Varin's
-admirable burlesque comedy of <i>Les Saltimbanques</i>, would, perhaps, have
-understood it; and, really, when I read of the effect Farinelli
-produced<a name="vol_1_page_190" id="vol_1_page_190"></a> by keeping to one note, I cannot help thinking of the
-directions given by the old humorist and scoundrel to an incompetent
-<i>débutant</i> on the trombone. The amateur has the instrument put into his
-hands, and, with great difficulty, succeeds in bringing out one note;
-but, to save his life, he could not produce two. "Never mind," says
-Bilboquet, "one note is enough. Keep on playing it, and people who are
-fond of that note will be delighted." How little the authors of <i>Les
-Saltimbanques</i> knew that one note had delighted and enchanted thousands!
-Not only is truth stranger than fiction, but reality is more grotesque
-even than a burlesque fancy.</p>
-
-<p>Farinelli visited Paris in 1737, and sang before Louis XV., who,
-according to Riccoboni, was delighted, though His Majesty cared very
-little for music, and least of all for Italian music. It is also said
-that, on the whole, Farinelli was by no means satisfied with his
-reception in Paris, nor with the general distaste of the French for the
-music of his country; and some writers go so far as to maintain that the
-ill-will he always showed to France during his residence, in a
-confidential position, at the Court of Madrid, was attributable to his
-irritating recollections of his visit to the French capital. In 1752,
-the Duke de Duras was charged with a secret mission to the Spanish Court
-(concerning an alliance with France), which is supposed to have
-miscarried through the influence of Farinelli; but there were plenty of
-good reasons, independently of any personal dislike<a name="vol_1_page_191" id="vol_1_page_191"></a> he may have had for
-the French, for advising Ferdinand VI. to maintain his good
-understanding with the cabinets of Vienna, London, and Turin.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FARINELLI AT MADRID.</div>
-
-<p>Ferdinand's favourite singer remained ten years in his service; soothing
-and consoling him with his songs, and, after a time, giving him valuable
-political advice. Farinelli's quasi-ministerial functions did not
-prevent him from continuing to sing every day. Every day, for ten years,
-the same thing! Or rather, the same things, for His Majesty's particular
-collection included as many as four different airs. Two of them were by
-Hasse, <i>Pallido il sole</i> and <i>Per questo dulce amplesso</i>. The third was
-a minuet, on which Farinelli improvised variations. It has been
-calculated that during the ten years he sang the same airs, and never
-anything else, about three thousand six hundred times. If Ferdinand VI.
-had not, in the first instance, been half insane, surely this would have
-driven him mad.</p>
-
-<p>Caffarelli, hearing of Farinelli's success at Madrid, is said to have
-made this curious observation: "He deserves to be Prime Minister; he has
-an admirable voice."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AN OPERATIC DUEL.</div>
-
-<p>Caffarelli was regarded as Farinelli's rival; and some critics,
-including Porpora, who had taught both, considered him the greatest
-singer of the two. This sopranist was notorious for his intolerable
-insolence, of which numerous anecdotes are told. He would affect
-indisposition, when persons of great importance<a name="vol_1_page_192" id="vol_1_page_192"></a> were anxious to hear
-him sing, and had engaged him for that purpose. "Omnibus hoc vitium
-cantoribus;" but it may be said Caffarelli was capricious and
-overbearing to an unusual extent. Metastasio, in one of his letters,
-tells us that at a rehearsal which had been ordered at the Opera of
-Vienna, all the performers obeyed the summons except Caffarelli; he
-appeared, however, at the end of the rehearsal, and asked the company
-with a very disdainful air, "What was the use of these rehearsals?" The
-conductor answered, in a voice of authority, "that no one was called
-upon to account to him for what was done; that he ought to be glad that
-his failure in attendance had been suffered; that his presence or
-absence was of little consequence to the success of the opera; but that
-whatever he chose to do himself, he ought, at least, to let others do
-their duty." Caffarelli, in a great rage, exclaimed "that he who had
-ordered such a rehearsal was a solemn coxcomb." At this, all the
-patience and dignity of the poet forsook him; "and getting into a
-towering passion, he honoured the singer with all those glorious titles
-which Caffarelli had earned in various parts of Europe, and slightly
-touched, but in lively colours, some of the most memorable particulars
-of his life; nor was he likely soon to come to a close; but the hero of
-the panegyric, cutting the thread of his own praise, boldly called out
-to his eulogist: 'Follow me, if thou hast courage, to a place where
-there is none to assist<a name="vol_1_page_193" id="vol_1_page_193"></a> thee, * * * * * The bystanders tremble; each
-calls on his tutelar saint, expecting every moment to see poetical and
-vocal blood besprinkle the harpsichords and double basses. But at length
-the Signora Tesi, rising from under her canopy, where, till now, she had
-remained a most tranquil spectator, walked with a slow and stately step
-towards the combatants; when, O sovereign power of beauty! the frantic
-Caffarelli, even in the fiercest paroxysm of his wrath, captivated and
-appeased by this unexpected tenderness, runs with rapture to meet her;
-lays his sword at her feet; begs pardon for his error; and generously
-sacrificing to her his vengeance, seals, with a thousand kisses upon her
-hand, his protestations of obedience, respect and humility. The nymph
-signifies her forgiveness by a nod; the poet sheathes his sword; the
-spectators begin to breathe again; and the tumultuous assembly breaks up
-amid the joyous sounds of laughter."</p>
-
-<p>Of Caffarelli a curious, and as it seems to me fabulous, story is told
-to the effect that for five years Porpora allowed him to sing nothing
-but a series of scales and exercises, all of which were written down on
-one sheet of paper. According to this anecdote, Caffarelli, with a
-patience which did not distinguish him in after life, asked seriously
-after his five years' scale practice, when he was likely to get beyond
-the rudiments of his art,&mdash;upon which Porpora suddenly
-exclaimed:&mdash;"Young man you have nothing more to learn, you are the
-greatest singer in the world." In<a name="vol_1_page_194" id="vol_1_page_194"></a> London, however, coming after
-Farinelli, Caffarelli did not meet with anything like the same success.</p>
-
-<p>At Turin, when the Prince of Savoy told Caffarelli, after praising him
-greatly, that the princess thought it hardly possible any singer could
-please after Farinelli, "To night," exclaimed the sopranist, in the
-fulness of his vanity, "she shall hear two Farinellis."</p>
-
-<p>What would the English lady have said to this, who maintained that there
-was but "<i>one</i> Farinelli?"</p>
-
-<p>At sixty-five years of age, Caffarelli was still singing; but he had
-made an enormous fortune&mdash;had purchased nothing less than a dukedom for
-his nephew, and had built himself a superb palace, over the entrance of
-which he placed the following modest inscription:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Amphion T<small>HEBAS</small>, ego domum."<br /></span>
-</div><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i4">"Ille eum, sine tu!"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">wrote a commentator beneath it.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Guadagni was the "creator" of the parts of <i>Telemacco</i> and <i>Orfeo</i>, in
-the operas by Gluck, bearing those names. He sang in London in 1766, at
-Venice the year afterwards, when he was made a Knight of St. Mark; at
-Potsdam before the King of Prussia, in 1776, &amp;c. Guadagni amassed a
-large fortune, though he was at the same time noted for his generosity.
-He has the credit of having lent large sums of money to men of good
-family, who had ruined themselves. One of these impoverished gentlemen
-said, after borrowing the sum of a hundred sequins from him&mdash;<a name="vol_1_page_195" id="vol_1_page_195"></a></p>
-
-<p>"I only want it as a loan, I shall repay you."</p>
-
-<p>"That is not my intention," replied the singer; "if I wanted to have it
-back, I should not lend it to you."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GABRIELLI.</div>
-
-<p>Gabrielli (Catarina) is described by Brydone, in his tour through
-Sicily, in a letter, dated Palermo, July 27, 1770. She was at this time
-upwards of thirty, but on the stage appeared to be scarcely eighteen;
-and Brydone considers her to have been "the most dangerous syren of
-modern times," adding, that she has made more conquests than any woman
-living. "She was wonderfully capricious," he continues, "and neither
-interest nor flattery, nor threats, nor punishment, had any power to
-control her. Instead of singing her airs as other actresses do, for the
-most part she hums them over <i>a mezza voce</i>, and no art whatever is
-capable of making her sing when she does not choose it. The most
-successful expedient has ever been found to prevail on her favourite
-lover (for she always has one) to place himself in the centre of the pit
-or the front box, and if they are on good terms, which is seldom the
-case, she will address her tender airs to him, and exert herself to the
-utmost. Her present inamorato promised to give us this specimen of his
-power over her. He took his seat accordingly, but Gabrielli, probably
-suspecting the connivance, would take no notice of him, so that even
-this expedient does not always succeed. The viceroy, who is fond of
-music, has tried every method with<a name="vol_1_page_196" id="vol_1_page_196"></a> her to no purpose. Some time ago he
-gave a great dinner, and sent an invitation to Gabrielli to be of the
-party. Every other person came at the hour of invitation. The viceroy
-ordered dinner to be put back, and sent to let her know that the company
-had all arrived. The messenger found her reading in bed. She said she
-was sorry for having made the company wait, and begged he would make her
-apology, but really she had entirely forgotten her engagement. The
-viceroy would have forgiven this piece of insolence, but when the
-company went to the Opera, Gabrielli repeated her part with the utmost
-negligence and indifference, and sang all her airs in what they call
-<i>sotto voce</i>, that is, so low that they can scarcely be heard. The
-viceroy was offended; but as he is a good tempered man, he was loth to
-enforce his authority; but at last, by a perseverance in this insolent
-stubbornness, she obliged him to threaten her with punishment in case
-she any longer refused to sing. On this she grew more obstinate than
-ever, declaring that force and authority would never succeed with her;
-that he might make her cry, but never could make her sing. The viceroy
-then sent her to prison, where she remained twelve days; during which
-time she gave magnificent entertainments every day, paid the debts of
-all the poor prisoners, and distributed large sums in charity. The
-viceroy was obliged to give up struggling with her, and she was at last
-set at liberty amidst the acclamations of the poor."<a name="vol_1_page_197" id="vol_1_page_197"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GABRIELLI.</div>
-
-<p>Gabrielli said at this time that she should never dare to appear in
-England, alleging as her reason that if, in a fit of caprice, which
-might at any time attack her, she refused to sing, or lost her temper
-and insulted the audience, they were said to be so ferocious that they
-would probably murder her. She asserted, however, and, doubtless, with
-truth, that it was not always caprice which prevented her singing, and
-that she was often really indisposed and unable to sing, when the public
-imagined that she absented herself from the theatre from caprice alone.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Mingotti used to say that the London public would admit that any one
-might have a cold, a head-ache, or a fever, except a singer. In the
-present day, our audiences often show the most unjustifiable anger
-because, while half the people in a concert room are coughing and
-sneezing, some favourite vocalist, with an exceptionally delicate
-larynx, is unable to sing an air, of which the execution would be sure
-to fatigue the voice even in its healthiest condition.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>To Brydone's anecdotes of Gabrielli we may add another. The ambassador
-of France at the court of Vienna was violently in love with our
-capricious and ungovernable vocalist. In a fit of jealousy, he attempted
-to stab her, and Gabrielli was only saved from transfixion by the
-whalebone of her stays. As it was, she was slightly wounded. The
-ambassador threw himself at the singer's feet and obtained her<a name="vol_1_page_198" id="vol_1_page_198"></a>
-forgiveness, on condition of giving up his sword, on which the offended
-<i>prima donna</i> proposed to engrave the following words:&mdash;"<i>The sword
-of&mdash;&mdash;, who on such a day in such a year, dared to strike La
-Gabrielli.</i>" Metastasio, however, succeeded in persuading her to abandon
-this intention.</p>
-
-<p>In 1767 Gabrielli went to Parma, but wearied by the attentions of the
-Infant, Don Philip ("her accursed hunch back"&mdash;<i>gobbo maladetto</i>&mdash;as she
-called him), she escaped in secret the following year to St.
-Petersburgh, where Catherine II. had invited her some time before. When
-the empress enquired what terms the celebrated singer expected, the sum
-of five thousand ducats was named.</p>
-
-<p>"Five thousand ducats," replied Catherine; "not one of my field marshals
-receives so much."</p>
-
-<p>"Her majesty had better ask her field marshals to sing," said Gabrielli.</p>
-
-<p>Catherine gave the five thousand ducats. "Whether the great Souvaroff's
-jealousy was excited, is not recorded.</p>
-
-<p>At this time the composer Galuppi was musical director at the Russian
-court. He went to St. Petersburgh in 1766, and had just returned when
-Dr. Burney saw him at Venice. Among the other great composers who
-visited Russia in Catherine's reign were Cimarosa and Paisiello, the
-latter of whom produced his <i>Barbiere di Siviglia</i>, at St. Petersburgh,
-in 1780.</p>
-
-<p>Most of the celebrated Italian vocalists of the 18th<a name="vol_1_page_199" id="vol_1_page_199"></a> century visited
-Vienna, Dresden, London and Madrid, as well as the principal cities of
-their own country, and sometimes even Paris, where both Farinelli and
-Caffarelli sang, but only at concerts. "I had hoped," says Rousseau,
-"that Caffarelli would give us at the 'Concert Spirituel' some specimen
-of grand recitative, and of the pathetic style of singing, that
-pretended connoisseurs might hear once for all what they have so often
-pronounced an opinion upon; but from his reasons for doing nothing of
-the kind I found that he understood his audience better than I did."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE OPERA IN PRUSSIA AND RUSSIA.</div>
-
-<p>It was not until the accession of Frederick the Great, warrior, flute
-player, and severe protector of the arts in general, that the Italian
-Opera was established in Berlin; and it had been reserved for Catherine
-the Great to introduce it into St. Petersburgh. In proportion as the
-Opera grew in Prussia and Russia it faded in Poland, and its decay at
-the court of the Elector of Saxony was followed shortly afterwards by
-the first signs of the infamous partition.</p>
-
-<p>Frederick the Great's favourite composers were Hasse, Agricola, and
-Graun, the last of whom wrote a great number of Italian operas for the
-Berlin Theatre. When Dr. Burney was at Berlin, in 1772, there were fifty
-performers in the orchestra. There was a large chorus, and a numerous
-ballet, and several principal singers of great merit. The king defrayed
-the expenses of the whole establishment. He also officiated as general
-conductor, standing in<a name="vol_1_page_200" id="vol_1_page_200"></a> the pit behind the chef d'orchestre, so as to
-have a view of the score, and drilling his musical troops in true
-military fashion. We are told that if any mistake was committed on the
-stage, or in the orchestra, the king stopped the offender, and
-admonished him; and it is really satisfactory to know, that if a singer
-ventured to alter a single passage in his part (which almost every
-singer does in the present day) His Majesty severely reprimanded him,
-and ordered him to keep to the notes written by the composer. It was not
-the Opera of Paris, nor of London, nor of New York that should have been
-called the Academy, but evidently that of Berlin.</p>
-
-<p>The celebrated Madame Mara sang for many years at the Berlin Opera. When
-her father Herr Schmaling first endeavoured to get her engaged by the
-king of Prussia, Frederick sent his principal singer Morelli to hear her
-and report upon her merits.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AN OPERATIC MARTINET.</div>
-
-<p>"She sings like a German," said the prejudiced Morelli, and the king,
-who declared that he should as soon expect to receive pleasure from the
-neighing of his horse as from a German singer, paid no further attention
-to Schmaling's application. The daughter, however, had heard of the
-king's sarcasm, and was determined to prove how ill-founded it was.
-Mademoiselle Schmaling made her <i>début</i> with great success at Dresden,
-and afterwards, in 1771, went to Berlin. The king, when the young
-vocalist was presented to him, after a few uncourteous observations,
-asked her if she could sing at sight, and placed before her a very<a name="vol_1_page_201" id="vol_1_page_201"></a>
-difficult bravura song. Mademoiselle Schmaling executed it to
-perfection, upon which Frederick paid her a multitude of compliments,
-made her a handsome present, and appointed her <i>prima donna</i> of his
-company.</p>
-
-<p>When Madame Mara in 1780 wished to visit England with her husband, (who
-was a dissipated violoncellist, belonging to the Berlin orchestra) the
-king positively prohibited their departure, and on their escaping to
-Vienna, sent a despatch to the Emperor Joseph II., requesting him to
-arrest the fugitives and send them back. The emperor, however, merely
-gave them a hint that they had better get out of Vienna as soon as
-possible, when he would inform the king that his messenger had arrived
-too late. Afterwards, as soon as it was thought she could do so with
-safety, Madame Mara made her appearance at the Viennese Opera and sang
-there with great success for nearly two years.</p>
-
-<p>According to another version of Madame Mara's flight, she was arrested
-before she had passed the Prussian frontier, and separated from her
-husband, who was shut up in a fortress, and instead of performing on the
-violoncello in the orchestra of the Opera, was made to play the drum at
-the head of a regiment. The tears of the singer had no effect upon the
-inflexible monarch, and it was only by giving up a portion of her salary
-(so at least runs this anecdote of dubious authenticity) that she could
-obtain M. Mara's liberation. In any case it is certain that the position
-of this "<i>prima donna</i>" by no<a name="vol_1_page_202" id="vol_1_page_202"></a> means "<i>assoluta</i>," at the court of a
-very absolute king, was by no means an agreeable one, and that she had
-not occupied it many years before she endeavoured to liberate herself
-from it by every device in her power, including such disobedience of
-orders as she hoped would entail her prompt dismissal. On one occasion,
-when the Cæsarevitch, afterwards Paul I., was at Berlin, and Madame Mara
-was to take the principal part in an opera given specially in his
-honour, she pretended to be ill, and sent word to the theatre that she
-would be unable to appear. The king informed her on the morning of the
-day fixed for the performance that she had better get well, for that
-well or ill she would have to sing. Nevertheless Madame Mara remained at
-home and in bed. Two hours before the time fixed for the commencement of
-the opera, a carriage, escorted by a few dragoons, stopped at her door,
-and an officer entered her room to announce that he had orders from His
-Majesty to bring her alive or dead to the theatre.</p>
-
-<p>"But you see I am in bed, and cannot get up," remonstrated the vocalist.</p>
-
-<p>"In that case I must take the bed too," was the reply.</p>
-
-<p>It was impossible not to obey. Bathed in tears she allowed herself to be
-taken to her dressing room, put on her costume, but resolved at the same
-time to sing in such a manner that the king should repent of his
-violence. She conformed to her determination throughout the first act,
-but it then occurred to her<a name="vol_1_page_203" id="vol_1_page_203"></a> that the Russian grand duke would carry
-away a most unworthy opinion of her talent. She quite changed her
-tactics, sang with all possible brilliancy, and is reported in
-particular to have sustained a shake for such a length of time and with
-such wonderful modulations of voice, that his Imperial Highness was
-enchanted, and applauded the singer enthusiastically.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE MARATISTES AND TODISTES.</div>
-
-<p>In Paris Madame Mara was received with enthusiasm, and founded the
-celebrated party of the Maratistes, to which was opposed the almost
-equally distinguished sect of the Todistes. Madame Todi was a
-Portuguese, and she and Madame Mara were the chief, though contending,
-attractions at the Concert Spirituel of Paris, in 1782. These rivalries
-between singers have occasioned, in various countries and at various
-times, a good many foolish verses and <i>mots</i>. The Mara and Todi
-disputes, however, inspired one really good stanza, which is as
-follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Todi par sa voix touchante,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">De doux pleurs mouille mes yeux;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Mara plus vive, plus brillante,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">M'Ă©tonne, me transporte aux cieux.<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">L'une ravit et l'autre enchante,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">Mais celle qui plait le mieux,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Est toujours celle qui chante."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Of Madame Mara's performances in London, where she obtained her greatest
-and most enduring triumphs, I shall speak in another chapter.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>A good notion of the weak points in the Opera in Italy during the early
-part of the 18th century is given,<a name="vol_1_page_204" id="vol_1_page_204"></a> that is to say, is conveyed
-ironically, in the celebrated satire by Marcello, entitled <i>Teatro a la
-Moda, &amp;c., &amp;c.</i><a name="FNanchor_34_34" id="FNanchor_34_34"></a><a href="#Footnote_34_34" class="fnanchor">[34]</a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MARCELLO'S SATIRE.</div>
-
-<p>The author begins by telling the poet, that "there is no occasion for
-his reading, or having read, the old Greek and Latin authors: for this
-good reason, that the ancients never read any of the works of the
-moderns. He will not ask any questions about the ability of the
-performers, but will rather inquire whether the theatre is provided with
-a good bear, a good lion, a good nightingale, good thunder, lightning
-and earthquakes. He will introduce a magnificent show in his last scene,
-and conclude with the usual chorus in honour of the sun, the moon or the
-manager. In dedicating his libretto to some great personage, he will
-select him for his riches rather than his learning, and will give a
-share of the gratuity to his patron's cook, or maître d'hôtel, from whom
-he will obtain all his titles, that he may blazon them on his title
-pages with an &amp;c., &amp;c. He will exalt the great man's family and
-ancestors; make an abundant use of such phrases as liberality and
-generosity of soul; and if he can find any subject of eulogy (as is
-often the case), he will say, that he is silent through fear of hurting
-his patron's modesty; but that fame, with her hundred brazen trumpets,
-will spread his<a name="vol_1_page_205" id="vol_1_page_205"></a> immortal name from pole to pole. He will do well to
-protest to the reader that his opera was composed in his youth, and may
-add that it was written in a few days: by this he will show that he is a
-true modern, and has a proper contempt for the antiquated precept,
-<i>nonumque prematur in annum</i>. He may add, too, that he became a poet
-solely for his amusement, and to divert his mind from graver
-occupations; but that he had published his work by the advice of his
-friends and the command of his patrons, and by no means from any love of
-praise or desire of profit. He will take care not to neglect the usual
-explanation of the three great points of every drama, the place, time,
-and action; the place, signifying in such and such a theatre; the time,
-from eight to twelve o'clock at night; the action, the ruin of the
-manager. The incidents of the piece should consist of dungeons, daggers,
-poison, boar-hunts, earthquakes, sacrifices, madness, and so forth;
-because the people are always greatly moved by such unexpected things. A
-good <i>modern</i> poet ought to know nothing about music, because the
-ancients, according to Strabo, Pliny, &amp;c., thought this knowledge
-necessary. At the rehearsals he should never tell his meaning to any of
-the performers, wisely reflecting that they always want to do everything
-in their own way. If a husband and wife are discovered in prison, and
-one of them is led away to die, it is indispensable that the other
-remain to sing an air, which should be to lively words, to relieve the
-feelings of the audience, and make them<a name="vol_1_page_206" id="vol_1_page_206"></a> understand that the whole
-affair is a joke. If two of the characters make love, or plot a
-conspiracy, it should always be in the presence of servants and
-attendants. The part of a father or tyrant, when it is the principal
-character, should always be given to a soprano; reserving the tenors and
-basses for captains of the guard, confidants, shepherds, messengers, and
-so forth.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MARCELLO'S SATIRE.</div>
-
-<p>"The modern composer is told that there is no occasion for his being
-master of the principles of composition, a little practice being all
-that is necessary. He need not know anything of poetry, or give himself
-any trouble about the meaning of the words, or even the quantities of
-the syllables. Neither is it necessary that he should study the
-properties of the stringed or wind instruments; if he can play on the
-harpsichord, it will do very well. It will, however, be not amiss for
-him to have been for some years a violin-player, or music-copier for
-some celebrated composer, whose original scenes he may treasure up, and
-thus supply himself with subjects for his airs, recitations, or
-choruses. He will by no means think of reading the opera through, but
-will compose it line by line; using for the airs, <i>motivi</i> which he has
-lying by him; and if the words do not go well below the notes, he will
-torment the poet till they are altered to his mind. When the singer
-comes to a cadence, the composer will make all the instruments stop,
-leaving it to the singer to do whatever he pleases. He will serve the
-manager on very low terms, considering the thousands<a name="vol_1_page_207" id="vol_1_page_207"></a> of crowns that the
-singers cost him:&mdash;he will, therefore, content himself with an inferior
-salary to the lowest of these, provided that he is not wronged by the
-bear, the attendants or the scene-shifters being put above him. When he
-is walking with the singers, he will always give them the wall, keep his
-hat in his hand, and remain a step in the rear; considering that the
-lowest of them, on the stage, is at least a general, a captain of the
-guards, or some such personage. All the airs should be formed of the
-same materials&mdash;long divisions, holding notes, and repetitions of
-insignificant words, as amore, amore, impero, impero, Europa, Europa,
-furori, furori, orgoglio, orgoglio, &amp;c.; and therefore the composer
-should have before him a memorandum of the things necessary for the
-termination of every air. This will enable him to eschew variety, which
-is no longer in use. After ending a recitative in a flat key, he will
-suddenly begin an air in three or four sharps; and this by way of
-novelty. If the modern composer wishes to write in four parts, two of
-them must proceed in unison or octave, only taking care that there shall
-be a diversity of movement; so that if the one part proceeds by minims
-or crotchets, the other will be in quavers or semiquavers. He will charm
-the audience with airs, accompanied by the stringed instruments
-<i>pizzicati</i> or <i>con sordini</i>, trumpets, and other effective
-contrivances. He will not compose airs with a simple bass accompaniment,
-because this is no longer the custom; and, besides, he would take as
-much time to<a name="vol_1_page_208" id="vol_1_page_208"></a> compose one of these as a dozen with the orchestra. The
-modern composer will oblige the manager to furnish him with a large
-orchestra of violins, oboes, horns, &amp;c., saving him rather the expense
-of double basses, of which there is no occasion to make any use, except
-in tuning at the outset. The overture will be a movement in the French
-style, or a prestissimo in semiquavers in a major key, to which will
-succeed a <i>piano</i> in the minor; concluding with a minuet, gavot or jig,
-again in the major key. In this manner the composer will avoid all
-fugues, syncopations, and treatment of subjects, as being antiquated
-contrivances, quite banished from modern music. The modern composer will
-be most attentive to all the ladies of the theatre, supplying them with
-plenty of old songs transposed to suit their voices, and telling each of
-them that the Opera is supported by her talent alone. He will bring
-every night some of his friends, and seat them in the orchestra; giving
-the double bass or violoncello (as being the most useless instruments)
-leave of absence to make room for them.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MARCELLO'S SATIRE.</div>
-
-<p>"The singer is informed that there is no occasion for having practised
-the solfeggio; because he would thus be in danger of acquiring a firm
-voice, just intonation, and the power of singing in tune; things wholly
-useless in modern music. Nor is it very necessary that he should be able
-to read or write, know how to pronounce the words or understand their
-meaning, provided he can run divisions, make shakes, cadences, &amp;c. He
-will always complain of<a name="vol_1_page_209" id="vol_1_page_209"></a> his part, saying that it is not in his way,
-that the airs are not in his style, and so on; and he will sing an air
-by some other composer, protesting that at such a court, or in the
-presence of such a great personage, that air carried away all the
-applause, and he was obliged to repeat it a dozen times in an evening.
-At the rehearsals he will merely hum his airs, and will insist on having
-the time in his own way. He will stand with one hand in his waistcoat
-and the other in his breeches' pocket, and take care not to allow a
-syllable to be heard. He will always keep his hat on his head, though a
-person of quality should speak to him, in order to avoid catching cold;
-and he will not bow his head to anybody, remembering the kings, princes,
-and emperors whom he is in the habit of personating. On the stage he
-will sing with shut teeth, doing all he can to prevent a word he says
-from being understood, and, in the recitatives, paying no respect either
-to commas or periods. While another performer is reciting a soliloquy or
-singing an air, he will be saluting the company in the boxes, or
-listening with musicians in the orchestra, or the attendants; because
-the audience knows very well that he is Signor So-and-so, the <i>musico</i>,
-and not Prince Zoroastro, whom he is representing. A modern virtuoso
-will be hard to prevail on to sing at a private party. When he arrives
-he will walk up to the mirror, settle his wig, draw down his ruffles,
-and pull up his cravat to show his diamond brooch. He will then touch
-the harpsichord very carelessly, and<a name="vol_1_page_210" id="vol_1_page_210"></a> begin his air three or four times,
-as if he could not recollect it. Having granted this great favour, he
-will begin talking (by way of gathering applause) with some lady,
-telling her stories about his travels, correspondence and professional
-intrigues; all the while ogling his companion with passionate glances,
-and throwing back the curls of his peruke, sometimes on one shoulder,
-sometimes on the other. He will every minute offer the lady snuff in a
-different box, in one of which he will point out his own portrait; and
-will show her some magnificent diamond, the gift of a distinguished
-patron, saying that he would offer it for her acceptance were it not for
-delicacy. Thus he will, perhaps, make an impression on her heart, and,
-at all events, make a great figure in the eyes of the company. In the
-society of the literary men, however eminent, he will always take
-precedence, because, with most people, the singer has the credit of
-being an artist, while the literary man has no consideration at all. He
-will even advise them to embrace his profession, as the singer has
-plenty of money as well as fame, while the man of letters is very apt to
-die of hunger. If the singer is a bass, he should constantly sing tenor
-passages as high as he can. If a tenor, he ought to go as low as he can
-in the scale of the bass, or get up, with a falsetto voice, into the
-regions of the contralto, without minding whether he sings through his
-nose or his throat. He will pay his court to all the principal
-<i>cantatrici</i> and their protectors; and need not despair, by means<a name="vol_1_page_211" id="vol_1_page_211"></a> of
-his talent and exemplary modesty, to acquire the title of a count,
-marquis, or chevalier.</p>
-
-<p>"The <i>prima donna</i> receives ample instructions in her duties both on and
-off the stage. She is taught how to make engagements and to screw the
-manager up to exorbitant terms; how to obtain the "protection" of rash
-amateurs, who are to attend her at all times, pay her expenses, make her
-presents, and submit to her caprices. She is taught to be careless at
-rehearsals, to be insolent to the other performers, and to perform all
-manner of musical absurdities on the stage. She must have a music-master
-to teach her variations, passages and embellishments to her airs; and
-some familiar friend, an advocate or a doctor, to teach her how to move
-her arms, turn her head, and use her handkerchief, without telling her
-why, for that would only confuse her head. She is to endeavour to vary
-her airs every night; and though the variations may be at cross purposes
-with the bass, or the violin part, or the harmony of the accompaniments,
-that matters little, as a modern conductor is deaf and dumb. In her airs
-and recitatives, in action, she will take care every night to use the
-same motions of her hand, her head, her fan, and her handkerchief. If
-she orders a character to be put in chains, and addresses him in an air
-of rage or disdain, during the symphony she should talk and laugh with
-him, point out to him people in the boxes, and show how very little she
-is in earnest. She will get hold of a new passage in rapid triplets, and
-introduce it in all her<a name="vol_1_page_212" id="vol_1_page_212"></a> airs, quick, slow, lively, or sad; and the
-higher she can rise in the scale, the surer she will be of having all
-the principal parts allotted her," &amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>Enough, however, of this excellent but somewhat fatiguing irony; and let
-me conclude this chapter with a few words about the librettists of the
-18th century. The best <i>libretti</i> of Apostolo Zeno, Calsabigi and
-Metastasio, such as the <i>Demofonte</i>, the <i>Artaserse</i>, the <i>Didone</i>, and
-above all the <i>Olimpiade</i>, have been set to music by dozens of
-composers. Piccinni, and Sacchini each composed music twice to the
-<i>Olimpiade</i>; Jomelli set <i>Didone</i> twice and <i>Demofonte</i> twice; Hasse
-wrote two operas on the <i>libretto</i> of the <i>Nittetti</i>, two on that of
-<i>Artemisia</i>, two on <i>Artaserse</i>, and three on <i>Arminio</i>. The excellence
-of these opera-books in a dramatic point of view is sufficiently shown
-by the fact that many of them, including Metastasio's <i>Didone</i>,
-<i>Issipile</i> and <i>Artaserse</i> have been translated into French, and played
-with success as tragedies. The <i>Clemenza di Tito</i>, by the same author
-(which in a modified form became the <i>libretto</i> of Mozart's last opera)
-was translated into Russian and performed at the Moscow Theatre during
-the reign of the Empress Elizabeth.</p>
-
-<p>In the present day, several of Scribe's best comic operas have been
-converted into comic dramas for the English stage, while others by the
-same author have been made the groundwork of Italian <i>libretti</i>. Thus
-<i>Le Philtre</i> and <i>La Somnambule</i> are the originals of Donizetti's
-<i>Elisir d'amore</i> and Bellini's <i>Sonnambula<a name="vol_1_page_213" id="vol_1_page_213"></a></i>. Several of Victor Hugo's
-admirably constructed dramas have also been laid under contribution by
-the Italian librettists of the present day. Donizetti's <i>Lucrezia</i> is
-founded on <i>Lucrèce Borgia</i>; Verdi's <i>Ernani</i> on <i>Hernani</i>, his
-<i>Rigoletto</i> on <i>Le Roi s'amuse</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LIBRETTI.</div>
-
-<p>Our English writers of <i>libretti</i> are about as original as the rest of
-our dramatists. <i>The Bohemian Girl</i> is not only identical in subject
-with <i>La Gitana</i>, but is a translation of an unpublished opera founded
-on that <i>ballet</i> and written by M. St. George. The English version is
-evidently called <i>The Bohemian Girl</i> from M. St. George having entitled
-his manuscript opera <i>La Bohémienne</i>, and from Mr. Bunn having mistaken
-the meaning of the word. It is less astonishing that the manager of a
-theatre should commit such an error than that no one should hitherto
-have pointed it out. The heroine of the opera is not a Bohemian, but a
-gipsey; and Bohemia has nothing to do with the piece, the action taking
-place in some portion of the "fair land of Poland," which, as the
-librettist informs us, was "trod by the hoof;" though whether in
-Russian, in Austrian or in Prussian Poland we are not informed. <i>La
-Zingara</i> has often been played at Vienna, and I have seen <i>La Gitana</i> at
-Moscow. Probably the Austrians lay the scene of the drama in the
-Russian, and the Russians in the Austrian, dominions. Fortunately, Mr.
-Balfe has given no particular colour to the music of his <i>Bohemian
-Girl</i>, which, as far as can be judged<a name="vol_1_page_214" id="vol_1_page_214"></a> from the melodies sung by her, is
-as much (and as little) a Bohemian girl as a gipsey girl, or a Polish
-girl, or indeed any other girl. The <i>libretti</i> of Mr. Balfe's
-<i>Satanella</i>, <i>Rose of Castille</i>, <i>Maid of Honour</i>, <i>Bondsman</i>, &amp;c., are
-all founded on French pieces. Mr. Wallace's <i>Maritana</i>, is, I need
-hardly say, founded on the French drama of <i>Don Cæsar de Bazan</i>. But
-there is unmistakeable originality in the <i>libretto</i> of this composer's
-<i>Lurline</i>, though the chief incidents are, of course, taken from the
-well-known German legend on which Mendelsohn commenced writing his opera
-of <i>Loreley</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NATIONAL STYLES.</div>
-
-<p>One of the very few good original <i>libretti</i> in the English language is
-that of <i>Robin Hood</i>, by Mr. Oxenford. The best of all English libretti,
-in point of literary merit, being probably Dryden's <i>Albion and
-Albanius</i>, while the best French libretto in all respects is decidedly
-Victor Hugo's <i>Esmeralda</i>. Mr. Macfarren has, in many places, given
-quite an English character to the music of <i>Robin Hood</i>, though, in
-doing so, he has not (as has been asserted) founded a national style of
-operatic music; for the same style applied to subjects not English might
-be found as inappropriate as the music of <i>The Barber of Seville</i> would
-be adapted to <i>Tom and Jerry</i>. A great deal can be written and very
-little decided about this question of nationality of style in music. If
-Auber's style is French, (instead of being his own, as I should say)
-what was that of Rameau? If "The Marseillaise" is such a thoroughly
-French air (as every one admits), how is it that it happens to be an
-importation from<a name="vol_1_page_215" id="vol_1_page_215"></a> Germany? The Royalist song of "Pauvre Jacques" passed
-for French, but it was Dibdin's "Poor Jack." How is it that "Malbrook"
-sounds so French, and "We won't go home till morning" so English&mdash;an
-attempt, by the way, having been made to show that the airs common to
-both these songs were sung originally by the Spanish Moors? I fancy the
-great point, after all, is to write good music; and if it be written to
-good English words, full of English rhythm and cadence, it will, from
-that alone, derive a sufficiently English character.</p>
-
-<p>Handel appears to me to have done far greater service to English Opera
-than Arne or any of our English and pseudo-English operatic composers
-whose works are now utterly forgotten, except by musical antiquaries;
-for Handel established Italian Opera among us on a grand artistic scale,
-and since then, at Her Majesty's Theatre, and subsequently at the
-comparatively new Royal Italian Opera, all the finest works, whether of
-the Italian, the German, or the French school, have been brought out as
-fast as they have been produced abroad, and, on the whole, in very
-excellent style. English Opera has no history, no unbroken line of
-traditions; it has no regular sequence of operatic weeks by native
-composers; but at our Italian Opera Houses, the whole history of
-dramatic music has been exemplified, and from Gluck to Verdi is still
-exemplified in the present day. We take no note, it is true, of the old
-French composers,&mdash;Lulli, who begat Rameau, and Rameau, who begat<a name="vol_1_page_216" id="vol_1_page_216"></a> no
-one&mdash;and for the reason just indicated. There are plenty of amusing
-stories about the <i>Académie Royale</i> from its very foundation, but the
-true history of dramatic music in France dates from the arrival of Gluck
-in Paris in 1774.<a name="vol_1_page_217" id="vol_1_page_217"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_VIII" id="CHAPTER_VIII"></a>CHAPTER VIII.<br /><br />
-<small>FRENCH OPERA FROM LULLI TO THE DEATH OF RAMEAU.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>Ramists and Lullists.&mdash;Rameau's Letters of nobility.&mdash;His
-death.&mdash;Affairs of honour and love.&mdash;Sophie Arnould.&mdash;Madame
-Favart.&mdash;Charles Edward at the Académie.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">L<small>ULLI</small> died in Paris, March 22nd, 1687, at the age of fifty-four. In
-beating time with his walking stick during the performance of a <i>Te
-Deum</i> which he had composed to celebrate the convalescence of Louis
-XIV., he struck his foot, and with so much violence that he died from
-the effects of the blow. It is said<a name="FNanchor_35_35" id="FNanchor_35_35"></a><a href="#Footnote_35_35" class="fnanchor">[35]</a> that this <i>Te Deum</i> produced a
-great sensation, and that Lulli died satisfied, like a general expiring
-on the battle field immediately after a victory.</p>
-
-<p>All Lulli's operas are in five acts, but they are very short. "The
-drama," says M. Halévy, "comprises but a small number of scenes; the
-pieces are of a briefness to be envied; it is music summarized; two
-phrases make an air. The task of the composer then was far from being
-what it is now. The secret had not yet been discovered of those pieces,
-those finales which have since been so admirably developed, linking
-together in one well-conceived whole, a variety of situations which
-assist the inspiration of the composer<a name="vol_1_page_218" id="vol_1_page_218"></a> and sometimes call it forth.
-There is certainly more music in one of the finales of a modern work
-than in the five acts of an opera of Lulli's. We may add that the art of
-instrumentation, since carried to such a high degree of brilliancy, was
-then confined within very narrow limits, or rather this art did not
-exist. The violins, violas, bass viols, hautboys, which at first formed
-the entire arsenal of the composer, seldom did more than follow the
-voices. Lulli, moreover, wrote only the vocal part and the bass of his
-compositions. His pupils, Lalouette and Colasse, who were conductors
-(<i>chefs d'orchestre</i>, or, as was said at that time, <i>batteurs de
-mesure</i>) under his orders, filled up the orchestral parts in accordance
-with his indications. This explains how, in the midst of all the details
-with which he had to occupy himself, he could write such a great number
-of works; but it does not diminish the idea one must form of his
-facility, his intelligence, and his genius, for these works, rapidly as
-they were composed, kept possession of the stage for more than a
-century."</p>
-
-<p>The next great composer, in France, to Lulli, in point of time, was
-Rameau. "Rameau" (in the words of the author from whom I have just
-quoted, and whose opinion on such a subject cannot be too highly valued)
-"elevated and strengthened the art; his harmonies were more solidly
-woven, his orchestra was richer, his instrumentation more skilful, his
-colouring more decided."</p>
-
-<p>Dr. Burney, however, in his account of the French<a name="vol_1_page_219" id="vol_1_page_219"></a> Opera of his period
-(when Rameau's works were constantly being performed) speaks of the
-music as monotonous in the extreme and without ryhthm or expression.
-Indeed, he found nothing at the French Opera to admire but the dancing
-and the decorations, and these alone (he tells us) seemed to give
-pleasure to the audience. Nevertheless, the French journals of the
-middle of the 18th century constantly informed their readers that Rameau
-was the first musician in Europe, "though," as Grimm remarked, "Europe
-scarcely knew the name of her first musician, knew none of his operas,
-and could not have tolerated them on her stages."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RAMISTS AND LULLISTS.</div>
-
-<p>Jean Phillippe Rameau was born the 25th September, 1683, at Dijon. He
-studied music under the direction of his father, Jean Rameau, an
-organist, and afterwards visited Italy, but does not appear to have
-appreciated Italian music. On his return to France he wrote the music of
-an opera founded on the <i>Phèdre</i> of Racine, and entitled <i>Hippolyte et
-Aricie</i>. This work, which was produced in 1733, was received with much
-applause and a good deal of hissing, but on the whole it obtained a
-great success which was not diminished in the end by having been
-contested in the first instance. Rameau had soon so many admirers of his
-own, and met with so much opposition from the admirers of Lulli that two
-parties of Lullists and of Ramists were formed. This was the first of
-those foolish musical feuds of which Paris has witnessed so many, though
-scarcely more than<a name="vol_1_page_220" id="vol_1_page_220"></a> London. Indeed, London had already seen the disputes
-between the partisans of Mrs. Tofts, the English singer, and Margarita
-l'Epine, the Italian, as well as the more celebrated Handel and
-Buononcini contests, and the quarrels between the friends of Faustina
-and Cuzzoni. However, when Rameau produced his <i>Castor and Pollux</i>, in
-1737, he was generally admitted by his compatriots to be the greatest
-composer of the day, not only in France, but in all Europe&mdash;which, as
-Grimm observed, was not acquainted with him. Gluck, however, is said<a name="FNanchor_36_36" id="FNanchor_36_36"></a><a href="#Footnote_36_36" class="fnanchor">[36]</a>
-to have expressed his admiration of the chorus, <i>Que tout gémisse</i>, and
-M. Castil Blaze assures us, that "the fine things which this work
-(<i>Castor and Pollux</i>) contains, would please in the present day."</p>
-
-<p>Great honours were paid to Rameau by Louis XV., who granted him letters
-of nobility, and that only to render him worthy of a still higher mark
-of favour, the order of St. Michael. The composer on receiving his
-patent did not take the trouble to register it, upon which the king,
-thinking Rameau was afraid of the expense, offered to defray all the
-necessary charges himself. "Let me have the money, your Majesty," said
-Rameau, "and I will apply it to some more useful purpose. Letters of
-nobility to me? <i>Castor</i> and <i>Dardanus</i> gave them to me long ago!"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RAMEAU'S LETTERS OF NOBILITY.</div>
-
-<p>Rameau's letters of nobility were invalidated by<a name="vol_1_page_221" id="vol_1_page_221"></a> not being registered,
-but the order of St. Michael was given to him all the same.</p>
-
-<p>The badge of the same order was refused unconditionally by Beaumarchais,
-when it was offered to him by the Baron de Breteuil, minister of Louis
-XVI., the author of the <i>Marriage of Figaro</i> observing that men whose
-merit was acknowledged had no need of decorations.</p>
-
-<p>Thus, too, Tintoretto refused knighthood at the hands of Henry III. of
-France (of what value, by the way, was the barren compliment to Sir
-Antony Vandyke, whom every one knows as a painter, and no one, scarcely,
-as a knight)? Thus, the celebrated singer, Forst, of Mies, in Bohemia,
-refused letters of nobility from Joseph I., Emperor of Germany, but
-accepted a pension of three hundred florins, which was offered to him in
-its place; and thus Beethoven being asked by the Prince von Hatzfeld,
-Prussian ambassador at Vienna, whether he would rather have a
-subscription of fifty ducats, which was due to him,<a name="FNanchor_37_37" id="FNanchor_37_37"></a><a href="#Footnote_37_37" class="fnanchor">[37]</a> or the cross of
-some order, replied briefly, with all readiness of determination&mdash;"Fifty
-ducats!"</p>
-
-<p>Besides being a very successful operatic composer, (he wrote thirty-six
-works for the stage, of which twenty-two were represented at the
-Académie Royale), Rameau was an admirable performer on the organ and
-harpsichord, and wrote a great deal of excellent music for those two
-instruments. He, moreover,<a name="vol_1_page_222" id="vol_1_page_222"></a> distinguished himself by his important
-discoveries in the science of harmony, which he published, defended, and
-explained, in twenty works, more or less copious.</p>
-
-<p>"Rameau's music," says M. Castil Blaze, "marks (in France) a progress.
-Not that this master improved the taste of our nation: he possessed none
-himself. Although he had visited the north of Italy, he had no idea that
-it was possible to sing better than the hack-vocalists of our Opera.
-Rameau never understood anything of Italian music; accordingly he did
-not bring the forms of melody to perfection among us. The success of
-Rameau was due to the fact, that he gave more life, warmth, and
-movement, to our dramatic music. His ryhthmical airs (when the
-irregularity of the words did not trouble him too much), the free,
-energetic, and even daring character of his choruses, the richness of
-his orchestra, raised this master at last to the highest rank, which he
-maintained until his death. All this, however, is relative, comparative.
-I must tell you in confidence, that these choruses, this orchestra, were
-very badly constructed, and often incorrect in point of harmony.
-Observe, too, if you please, that I do not go beyond our own frontiers,
-lest I should meet a Scarlatti, a Handel, a Jomelli, a Pergolese, a
-Sebastian Bach, and twenty other rivals, too formidable for our
-compatriot, as regards operas, religious dramas, cantatas, and
-symphonies."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DEATH OF RAMEAU.</div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_223" id="vol_1_page_223"></a>Rameau died in 1764. The Opera undertook the direction of his funeral,
-and caused a service for the repose of his soul to be celebrated in the
-church of the Oratory. Several pieces from <i>Castor</i> and <i>Pollux</i>, and
-other of his lyrical works, had been arranged for the ceremony, and were
-introduced into the mass. The music was executed by the orchestra and
-chorus of the Opera, both of which were doubled for the occasion. In
-1766, on the second anniversary of Rameau's death, a mortuary mass,
-written by Philidor, the celebrated chess player and composer (but one
-of those minor composers of whose works it does not enter into our
-limited plan to speak), was performed in the same church.</p>
-
-<p>The chief singers of the Académie during the greater portion of Rameau's
-career as a composer, were Jéliotte, Chassé, and Mademoiselle de Fel.
-JĂ©liotte retired in 1775, and for nine years the French Opera was
-without a respectable tenor. Chassé (baritone), and Mademoiselle de Fel,
-were replaced, about the same time, by Larrivée, and the celebrated
-Sophie Arnould, both of whom appeared afterwards in Gluck's operas.</p>
-
-<p>Claude Louis de Chassé, Seigneur de Ponceau, a gentleman of a good
-Breton family, gave up a commission in the army in 1721, to join the
-Opera. He succeeded equally as a singer and as an actor, and also
-distinguished himself by his skill in arranging tableaux. He it was who
-first introduced on to the French stage immense masses of men, and
-taught them to manœuvre with precision. Louis XV. was<a name="vol_1_page_224" id="vol_1_page_224"></a> so pleased
-with the evolutions of Chassé's theatrical troops in an opera
-represented at Fontainbleau, that he afterwards addressed him always as
-"General." In 1738, Chassé left the Académie on the pretext that the
-histrionic profession was not suited to a man of gentle birth.<a name="FNanchor_38_38" id="FNanchor_38_38"></a><a href="#Footnote_38_38" class="fnanchor">[38]</a> But
-the true reason is said to have been that having saved a considerable
-sum of money, he found he could afford to throw up his engagement.
-However, he invested the greater part of his fortune in a speculation
-which failed, and was obliged to return to the stage a few years after
-he had declared his intention of abandoning it for ever. On his
-reappearance, the "gentlemanliness" of Chassé's execution was noticed,
-but in a sarcastic, not a complimentary spirit.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Ce n'est plus cette voix tonnante<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Ce ne sont plus ses grands Ă©clats;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">C'est un gentilhomme qui chante<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Et qui ne se fatigue pas&mdash;"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">were lines circulated on the occasion of the Seigneur du Ponceau's
-return to the Académie, where, however, he continued to sing with
-success for a dozen years afterwards.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AFFAIRS OF HONOUR AND LOVE.</div>
-
-<p>JĂ©liotte was one of the great favourites of fashionable Parisian society
-(at least, among the women); but Chassé (also among the women) was one
-of the most admired men in France. Among other triumphs<a name="vol_1_page_225" id="vol_1_page_225"></a> of the same
-kind, he had the honour of causing a duel between a Polish and a French
-lady, who fought with pistols in the Bois de Boulogne. The latter was
-wounded rather seriously, and on her recovery, was confined in a
-convent, while her adversary was ordered to quit France. During the
-little trouble which this affair caused in the polite world, Chassé
-remained at home, reclining on a sofa after the manner of a delicate,
-sensitive woman who has had the misfortune to see two of her adorers
-risk their lives for her. In this style he received the visits of all
-who came to compliment him on his good luck. Louis XV. thought it worth
-while to send the Duke de Richelieu to tell him to put an end to his
-affectation.</p>
-
-<p>"Explain to his Majesty," said Chassé to the Duke, "that it is not my
-fault, but that of Providence, which has made me the most popular man in
-the kingdom."</p>
-
-<p>"Let me tell you, coxcomb, that you are only the third," said the Duke.
-"I come next to the king."</p>
-
-<p>It was indeed a fact that Madame de Polignac, and Madame de Nesle had
-already fought for the affection of the Duke de Richelieu, when Madame
-de Nesle received a wound in the shoulder.<a name="FNanchor_39_39" id="FNanchor_39_39"></a><a href="#Footnote_39_39" class="fnanchor">[39]</a><a name="vol_1_page_226" id="vol_1_page_226"></a></p>
-
-<p>Sophie Arnould was a discovery made by the Princess of Modena at the Val
-de Grâce, whither her royal highness had retired, according to the
-fashion of the time, to atone, during a portion of Lent, for the sins
-she had committed during the Carnival, and where she chanced to hear the
-young girl singing a vesper hymn. The Princess spoke of Mademoiselle
-Arnould's talents at the court, and, in spite of her mother's
-opposition, (the parents kept a lodging house somewhere in Paris) she
-was inscribed on the list of choristers at the king's chapel. Madame de
-Pompadour, already struck by the beauty of her eyes, which are said to
-have been enchantingly expressive, exclaimed when she heard her sing,
-"<i>Il y a lĂ , de quoi faire une princesse.</i>"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SOPHIE ARNOULD.</div>
-
-<p>Sophie Arnould (a charming name, which the bearer thereof owed in part
-to her own good taste, and in no way to her godfathers and godmothers,
-who christened her Anne-Madeleine) made her <i>début</i> in the year 1757, at
-the age of thirteen. She wore a lilac dress, embroidered in silver. Her
-talent, combined with her wonderful beauty, ensured her immediate
-success, and before she had been on the stage a fortnight, all Paris was
-in love with her. When she was announced to sing, the doors of the Opera
-were besieged by such crowds that Fréron declared he<a name="vol_1_page_227" id="vol_1_page_227"></a> scarcely thought
-persons would give themselves so much trouble to enter into paradise.
-The fascinating Sophie was as witty as she was beautiful, and her <i>mots</i>
-(the most striking of which are quoted by M. A. Houssaye in his <i>Galerie
-du 18me. Siècle</i>), were repeated by all the fashionable poets and
-philosophers of Paris. Her suppers soon became celebrated, but her life
-of pleasure did not cause her to forget the Opera. She is said to have
-sung with "a limpid and melodious voice," and to have acted with "all
-the grace and sentiment of a practiced comédienne."<a name="FNanchor_40_40" id="FNanchor_40_40"></a><a href="#Footnote_40_40" class="fnanchor">[40]</a> Garrick saw her
-when he was in Paris, and declared that she was the only actress on the
-French stage who had really touched his heart.<a name="FNanchor_41_41" id="FNanchor_41_41"></a><a href="#Footnote_41_41" class="fnanchor">[41]</a></p>
-
-<p>As an instance of the effect her singing had upon the public, I may
-mention that in 1772, Mademoiselle Arnould refused to perform one
-evening, and made her appearance among the audience, saying that she had
-come to take a lesson of her rival, Mademoiselle Beaumesnil; that the
-minister, de la Vrillière, instead of sending the capricious and
-facetious vocalist to For-l'Evèque, in accordance with the request of
-the directors, contented<a name="vol_1_page_228" id="vol_1_page_228"></a> himself with reprimanding her; that a party
-was formed to hiss her violently the next night of her appearance, as a
-punishment for her impertinence; but that directly Sophie Arnould began
-to sing, the conspirators were disarmed, and instead of hissing,
-applauded her.</p>
-
-<p>On the 1st of April, 1778, the day of Voltaire's coronation at the
-Comédie Française, all the most celebrated actresses in Paris went to
-compliment him. He returned their visits directly afterwards, and his
-conversation with Sophie Arnould at the opera, is said to have been a
-speaking duet of the most marvellous lightness and brilliancy.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>When poor Sophie was getting old she continued to sing, and the Abbé
-Galiani said of her voice that it was "the finest asthma he had ever
-heard." This remark, however, belongs to the list of sharp things said
-during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, described at some length in the
-next chapter but one, and in which Sophie Arnould played an important
-part.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Arnould's <i>mots</i> seem to me, for the most part, not very
-susceptible of satisfactory translation. I will quote a few of them in
-Sophie's own language.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SOPHIE ARNOULD.</div>
-
-<p>Of the celebrated dancer, Madeleine Guimard, concerning whom I shall
-have something to say a few pages further on, Sophie Arnould, reflecting
-on Madeleine's remarkable thinness, observed "<i>ce petit<a name="vol_1_page_229" id="vol_1_page_229"></a> ver Ă  soie
-devrait ĂŞtre plus gras, elle ronge une si bonne feuille.</i>"<a name="FNanchor_42_42" id="FNanchor_42_42"></a><a href="#Footnote_42_42" class="fnanchor">[42]</a></p>
-
-<p>Sophie was born in the room where Admiral Coligny was assassinated, and
-where the Duchess de Montbazon lived for some time. "<i>Je suis venue au
-monde par une porte célèbre</i>," she said.</p>
-
-<p>One day, when a very dull work, Rameau's <i>Zoroastre</i>, was going to be
-played at the Académie, Beaumarchais, whose tedious drama <i>Les deux
-amis</i> had just been brought out at the Comédie Française, remarked to
-Sophie Arnould that there would be no people at the opera that evening,</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Je vous demande pardon</i>," was the reply, "<i>vos deux amis nous en
-enverront.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>Seeing the portraits of Sully and Choiseul on the same snuff-box, she
-exclaimed, "<i>C'est la recette et la dépense.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>To a lady, whose beauty was her only recommendation, and who complained
-that so many men made love to her, she said, "<i>Eh ma chère il vous est
-si facile des les Ă©loigner; vous n'avez qu'Ă  parler.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>Sophie's affection for the Count de Lauragais, the most celebrated and,
-seemingly, the most agreeable of her admirers, is said to have lasted
-four years. This constancy was mutual, and the historians of the French
-Opera speak of it as something not only<a name="vol_1_page_230" id="vol_1_page_230"></a> unique but inexplicable and
-almost miraculous. At last Mademoiselle Arnould, unwilling, perhaps, to
-appear too original, determined to break with the Count; the mode,
-however, of the rupture was by no means devoid of originality. One day,
-by Mademoiselle Arnould's orders, a carriage was sent to the Hotel de
-Lauragais, containing lace, ornaments, boxes of jewellery&mdash;and two
-children; everything in fact that she owed to the Count. The Countess
-was even more generous than Sophie. She accepted the children, and sent
-back the lace, the jewellery, and the carriage.</p>
-
-<p>A little while afterwards the Count de Lauragais fell in love with a
-very pretty <i>débutante</i> in the ballet department of the Opera. Sophie
-Arnould asked him how he was getting on with his new passion. The Count
-confessed that he had not made much progress in her affections, and
-complained that he always found a certain knight of Malta in her
-apartments when he called upon her.</p>
-
-<p>"You may well fear him," said Sophie, "<i>Il est lĂ  pour chasser les
-infidèles.</i>"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SOPHIE ARNOULD.</div>
-
-<p>This certainly looks like a direct reproach of inconstancy, and from
-Sophie's sending the Count back all his presents, it is tolerably clear
-that she felt herself aggrieved. He was of a violently jealous
-disposition, though he had no cause for jealousy as far as Sophie was
-concerned. Indeed, she appears naturally to have been of a romantic
-disposition, and a tendency<a name="vol_1_page_231" id="vol_1_page_231"></a> to romance though it may mislead a girl yet
-does not deprave her.</p>
-
-<p>We shall meet with the charming Sophie again during the Gluck and
-Piccinni period, and once again when the revolution had invaded the
-Opera, and had ruined some of the chief operatic celebrities. During her
-last illness, in telling her confessor the unedifying story of her life,
-she had to speak of the jealous fury of the Count de Lauragais, whom she
-had really loved.<a name="FNanchor_43_43" id="FNanchor_43_43"></a><a href="#Footnote_43_43" class="fnanchor">[43]</a></p>
-
-<p>"My poor child, how much you have suffered!" said the kind priest.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Ah! c'Ă©tait le bon temps! j'Ă©tait si malheureuse!</i>" exclaimed Sophie.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Sophie Arnould's rival and successor at the Opera was Mademoiselle
-Laguerre, who, if she had not the wit of Sophie, had considerably more
-than her prudence, and who died, leaving a fortune of about ÂŁ180,000.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Among the celebrated French singers of the 18th century, Madame Favart
-must not be forgotten. This vocalist was for many years the glory and
-the chief support of the Opéra Comique, which, in 1762, combined with
-the Comédie Italienne to form but one<a name="vol_1_page_232" id="vol_1_page_232"></a> establishment. There was so much
-similarity in the styles of the performances at these two operatic
-theatres, that for seven years before the union was effected, the
-favourite piece at the one house was <i>La Serva Padrona</i>, at the other,
-<i>La Servante Maitresse</i>, that is to say, Pergolese's favourite work
-translated into French.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADAME FAVART.</div>
-
-<p>The history of the Opera in France during the latter half of the 18th
-century abounds in excellent anecdotes; and several very interesting
-ones are told of Marshal Saxe. This brave man was much loved by the
-beautiful women of his day. In M. Scribe's admirable play of <i>Adrienne
-Lecouvreur</i>, Maurice de Saxe is made to say, that whatever celebrity he
-may attain, his name will never be mentioned without recalling that of
-Adrienne Lecouvreur. Some genealogist, without affectation, ought to
-tell us how many persons illustrious in the arts are descendants of
-Marshal Saxe, or of Adrienne Lecouvreur, or of both. It would be an
-interesting list, at the head of which the names of George Sand, and of
-Francœur the mathematician, might figure. But I was about to say,
-that the mention of the great Maurice de Saxe recalled to me not only
-Adrienne Lecouvreur, but also the charming Fifine Desaigles, one of the
-fairest and most fascinating of <i>blondes</i>, the beautiful and talented
-Madame Favart, and a good many other theatrical fair ones. When the
-Marshal died, poor Fifine went into mourning for him, and wore black,
-even on the stage, for as<a name="vol_1_page_233" id="vol_1_page_233"></a> many days as it appeared to her that his
-passionate affection for her had lasted. It is uncertain whether or not
-the warrior's love for Madame Favart was returned. The Marshal said it
-was; the lady said it was not; the lady's husband said he didn't know.
-The best story told about Marshal Saxe and Madame Favart, or rather
-Mademoiselle Chantilly, which was at that time her name, is one relating
-to her elopement with Favart from Maestricht, during the siege.
-Mademoiselle Chantilly was a member of the operatic <i>troupe</i> engaged by
-the Marshal to follow the army of Flanders,<a name="FNanchor_44_44" id="FNanchor_44_44"></a><a href="#Footnote_44_44" class="fnanchor">[44]</a> and of which Favart was
-the director. Marshal Saxe became deeply enamoured of the young <i>prima
-donna</i>, and made proposals to her of a nature partly flattering, partly
-the reverse. Mademoiselle Chantilly, however, preferred Favart, and
-contrived to escape with him one dark and stormy night. Indeed, so
-tempestuous was it, that a bridge, which formed the communication
-between the main body of the army and a corps on the other side of the
-river, was carried away, leaving the detached regiments quite at the
-mercy of the enemy. The next morning an officer visited the<a name="vol_1_page_234" id="vol_1_page_234"></a> Marshal in
-his tent, and found him in a state of great grief and agitation.</p>
-
-<p>"It is a sad affair, no doubt," said the visitor; "but it can be
-remedied."</p>
-
-<p>"Remedied!" exclaimed the distressed hero; "no; all hope is lost; I am
-in despair!"</p>
-
-<p>The officer showed that the bridge might be repaired in such and such a
-manner; upon which, the great commander, whom no military disaster could
-depress, but who was now profoundly afflicted by the loss of a very
-charming singer, replied&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Are you talking about the bridge? That can be mended in a couple of
-hours. I was thinking of Chantilly. Perfidious girl! she has deserted
-me!"</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Among the historical persons who figured at the Académie Musique about
-the middle of the 18th century, we must not forget Charles Edward, who
-was taken prisoner there. The Duke de Biron had been ordered to see to
-his arrest, and on the evening of the 11th December, when it was known
-that he intended to visit the Opera, surrounded the building with twelve
-hundred guards as soon as the Young Pretender had entered it. The prince
-was taken to Vincennes, and kept there four days. He was then liberated,
-and expelled from France in accordance with the terms of the treaty of
-1748, so humiliating to the French arms.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CHARLES EDWARD AT THE ACADEMIE.</div>
-
-<p>The servants of the Young Pretender, and with them one of the retinue of
-the Princess de Talmont, whose<a name="vol_1_page_235" id="vol_1_page_235"></a> antiquated charms had detained the
-Chevalier de St. Georges at Paris, were sent to the Bastille, upon which
-the princess wrote the following letter to M. de Maurepas:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The king, sir, has just covered himself with immortal glory by
-arresting Prince Edward. I have no doubt but that His Majesty will order
-a <i>Te Deum</i> to be sung, to thank God for so brilliant a victory. But as
-Placide, my lacquey, taken in this memorable expedition, can add nothing
-to His Majesty's laurels, I beg you to send him back to me."</p>
-
-<p>"The only Englishman the regiment of French guards has taken throughout
-the war!" exclaimed the Princess de Conti, when she heard of the arrest.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>There was a curious literary apparition at the Académie in 1750, on the
-occasion of the revival of <i>Thétis et Pélée</i>, when Fontenelle, the
-author of the libretto of that opera, entered a box, and sat down just
-where he had taken his place sixty years before, on the first night of
-its production. The public, delighted, no doubt, to see that men could
-live so long, and get so much enjoyment out of life, applauded with
-enthusiasm.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FRENCH COMIC OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>In this necessarily incomplete history of the Opera (anything like a
-full narrative of its rise and progress, with particulars of the lives
-of all the great composers and singers, would fill ten large volumes and
-would probably not find a hundred readers) there are some<a name="vol_1_page_236" id="vol_1_page_236"></a> forms of the
-lyric drama to which I can scarcely do more than allude. My great
-difficulty is to know what to omit, but I think that in addressing
-English readers I am justified in passing hastily over the Pulcinella
-Operas of Italy and the Opéra Comique of France. I shall say very little
-about the ballad operas of England, which are no longer played, which
-led to nothing, and which do not interest me personally. The lowest
-style of Italian comic opera, again, has not only exercised no
-influence, but has never attained even a moderate amount of success in
-this country. Not so the Opéra Comique of France, if Auber is to be
-taken as its representative. But the author of the <i>Muette de Portici</i>,
-<i>Gustave III.</i>, and <i>Fra Diavolo</i>, is not only the greatest dramatic
-composer France has produced, but one of the greatest dramatic composers
-of the century. By his masterly concerted pieces and finales he has
-given an importance to the <i>Opéra Comique</i> which it did not possess
-before his time, and if he had never written works of that class at all
-he would still be one of the favourite composers of the English public,
-esteemed and studied by musicians, and admired by all classes. The
-French historians of the Opéra Comique show that, as regards the
-dramatic form, it has its origin in the <i>vaudeville</i>, many of the old
-<i>opéras comiques</i> being, in fact, little more than <i>vaudevilles</i>, with
-original airs in place of songs adapted to tunes already known. In a
-musical point of view, however, the French owe their lyrical comedy to
-the Italians. Monsigny, Philidor, Grétry,<a name="vol_1_page_237" id="vol_1_page_237"></a> the founders of the style,
-were felicitous imitators of the Pergoleses, the Leos, the Vincis, and
-the Piccinnis. "In <i>Le Déserteur</i>, <i>Le Roi et le Fermier</i>, <i>Le Maréchal
-Ferrant</i>, <i>Le Tableau Parlant</i>, we are struck," says M. Scudo, the
-excellent musical critic of the <i>RĂ©vue des Deux Mondes</i>, "as Dr. Burney
-was, in 1770, to find more than one recollection of <i>La Serva Padrona</i>,
-<i>La Cecchina</i>, and other opera buffas by the first masters of the
-Neapolitan school. The influence of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi, may be
-remarked in the works of Dalayrac, Berton, Boieldieu, and Nicolo.
-Boieldieu afterwards imitated Rossini to some extent in <i>La Dame
-Blanche</i>, but the chief followers of this great Italian master in France
-have been HĂ©rold and Auber." This brings us down to the present day,
-when we find Meyerbeer, the composer of great choral and orchestral
-schemes, the cultivator of musico-dramatic "effects" on a large scale,
-writing for the Opéra Comique; and in spite of the spoken dialogue in
-the <i>Etoile du Nord</i> and the <i>Pardon de Ploermel</i>, it is impossible not
-to place those important and broadly conceived lyrical dramas in the
-class of grand opera.<a name="vol_1_page_238" id="vol_1_page_238"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_IX" id="CHAPTER_IX"></a>CHAPTER IX.<br /><br />
-<small>ROUSSEAU AS A CRITIC AND AS A COMPOSER OF MUSIC.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>The Musical Dictionary.&mdash;Account of the French Opera from the
-Nouvelle HĂ©loise.&mdash;Le devin du Village.&mdash;Jean-Jacques Rousseau and
-Granet of Lyons.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">R<small>OUSSEAU</small>, a man of a decidedly musical organisation, who, during his
-residence in Italy, learnt, as he tells us in the <i>Confessions</i>, to love
-the music of Italy; who wrote so earnestly and so well in favour of that
-music, and against the psalmody of Lulli and Rameau, in his celebrated
-<i>Lettre sur la Musique Française</i>; and who had sufficient candour, or,
-rather let us say, a sufficiently sincere love of art to express the
-enthusiasm he felt for Gluck when all the other writers in France, who
-had ever praised Italian music, felt bound to depreciate him blindly,
-for the greater glory of Piccinni; this Rousseau, who cared more for
-music than for truth or honour, and who has now been proved to have
-stolen from two obscure, but not altogether unknown, composers the music
-which he represented to be his own, in <i>Pygmalion</i>, and the <i>Devin du
-Village</i>, has given in his <i>Dictionnaire Musicale</i>, in the
-before-mentioned <i>Lettre sur la Musique Française<a name="vol_1_page_239" id="vol_1_page_239"></a></i>, but above all in
-the <i>Nouvelle HĂ©loise</i>, the best general account that can be obtained of
-the Opera in France during the middle of the 18th century. I will begin
-with Rousseau's article on the Opera (omitting only the end, which
-relates to the ballet), from the <i>Dictionnaire Musicale</i>:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROUSSEAU'S DEFINITION OF OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>"An opera is a dramatic and lyrical spectacle, designed to combine the
-enchantments of all the fine arts by the representation of some
-passionate action through sensations so agreeable as to excite both
-interest and illusion.<a name="FNanchor_45_45" id="FNanchor_45_45"></a><a href="#Footnote_45_45" class="fnanchor">[45]</a></p>
-
-<p>"The constituent parts of an opera are the poem, the music, and the
-decoration. By poetry, the spectacle speaks to the mind; by music, to
-the ear; and by painting, to the eye: all combining, through different
-organs, to make the same impression on the heart. Of these three parts,
-my subject only allows me to consider the first and last with reference
-to the second.</p>
-
-<p>"The art of combining sounds agreeably may be regarded under two
-different aspects. As an institution of nature, music confines its
-effects to the senses, to the physical pleasure which results from
-melody, harmony, and rhythm. Such is usually the music of churches; such
-are the airs suited to dancing and songs. But as the essential part of a
-lyrical scene, aiming principally at imitation, music becomes one of the
-fine arts, and is capable of painting all pictures; of exciting all
-sentiments; of competing with poetry;<a name="vol_1_page_240" id="vol_1_page_240"></a> of endowing her with new
-strength; of embellishing her with new charms; and of triumphing over
-her while placing the crown on her head.</p>
-
-<p>"The sounds of a speaking voice, being neither harmonious nor sustained,
-are inappreciable, and cannot, consequently, connect themselves
-agreeably with the singing voice, or with instruments, at least in
-modern languages. It was different with the Greeks. Their language was
-so accentuated that its inflections, in a long declamation, formed,
-spontaneously as it were, musical intervals, distinctly appreciable.
-Thus it may be said that their theatrical pieces were a species of
-opera; and it was for this very reason that they could have no operas
-properly so called.</p>
-
-<p>"But the difficulty of uniting song to declamation in modern languages
-explains how it is that the intervention of music has given to the lyric
-poem a character quite different from that of tragedy or comedy, and
-made it a third species of drama, having its particular rules. The
-differences alluded to cannot be determined without a perfect knowledge
-of music, of the means of identifying it with words, and of its natural
-relations to the human heart&mdash;details which belong less to the artist
-than to the philosopher.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GREEK MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>"Confining myself, therefore, on this subject to a few observations
-rather historical than didactic, I remark, first, that the Greek theatre
-had not, like ours, any lyrical feature, for that which they called so,
-had not the slightest resemblance to what we call so.<a name="vol_1_page_241" id="vol_1_page_241"></a></p>
-
-<p>Their language had so much accent that, in a concert of voices, there
-was little noise, whilst all their poetry was musical, and all their
-music declamatory. Thus, song with them was hardly more than sustained
-discourse. They really sang their verses, as they declared at the head
-of their poems, a practice which gave the Romans, and afterwards the
-moderns, the ridiculous habit of saying, <i>I sing</i>, when nothing is sung.
-That which the Greeks called the lyric style was a pompous and florid
-strain of heroic poesy, accompanied by the lyre. It is certain, too,
-that their tragedies were recited in a manner very similar to singing,
-and that they were accompanied by instruments, and had choruses.</p>
-
-<p>"But if, on that account, it should he inferred that they were operas
-like ours, then it must be supposed that their operas were without airs,
-for it appears to me unquestionable that the Greek music, without
-excepting even the instrumental, was a real recitative. It is true that
-this recitative, uniting the charm of musical sounds to all the harmony
-of poetry, and to all the force of declamation, must have had much more
-energy than the modern recitative, which can hardly acquire one of these
-advantages but at the expense of the others. In our living languages,
-which partake for the most part of the rudeness of their native
-climates, the application of music to speech is much less natural than
-it was with the Greeks. An uncertain prosody agrees ill with regularity
-of measure; deaf and dumb syllables, hard<a name="vol_1_page_242" id="vol_1_page_242"></a> articulations, sounds not
-sonorous, with little variation, and no suppleness, cannot but with
-great difficulty be consorted with melody; and a poetry cadenced solely
-by the number of syllables, whilst it gets but a very faint harmony in
-musical rhythm, is constantly opposed to the diversity of that rhythm's
-values and movements. These are the difficulties which were to be
-overcome, or eluded, in the invention of the lyrical poem. The effort,
-therefore, of its inventors was to form, by a nice selection of words,
-by choice turns of expression, and by varied metres, a particular
-language; and this language, called lyrical, is rich or poor in
-proportion to the softness or harshness of that from which it is
-derived.</p>
-
-<p>"Having thus prepared a language for music, the question was next to
-apply music to this language, and to render it so apt for the purposes
-of the lyrical scene that the whole, vocal and instrumental, should be
-taken for one and the same idiom. This produced the necessity of
-continuous singing,&mdash;a necessity the greater in proportion as the
-language employed should be unmusical, as the less a language has of
-softness and accentuation, the more the alternate change from song to
-speech shocks the ear.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MUSIC AND LANGUAGE.</div>
-
-<p>"This mode of uniting music to poetry sufficed to produce interest and
-illusion among the Greeks, because it was natural; and, for the contrary
-reason, it cannot have the like effect on us. In listening to a
-hypothetical and constrained language, we can hardly conceive what the
-singers would say, so that with much<a name="vol_1_page_243" id="vol_1_page_243"></a> noise they excite little emotion.
-Hence the further necessity of bringing physical to the aid of moral
-pleasure, and of supplying, by the charm of harmony, the lack of
-distinctness of meaning and energy of expression. Thus, the less the
-heart was touched the more need there was to flatter the ear, and from
-sensation was sought the delight which sentiment could not furnish.
-Hence the origin of airs, choruses, symphonies, and of that enchanting
-melody which often embellishes modern music at the expense of its poetic
-accompaniment.</p>
-
-<p>"At the birth of the Opera, its inventors, to elude that which seemed
-unnatural, as an imitation of human life, in the union of music with
-speech, transferred their scenes from earth to heaven, and to hell. Not
-knowing how to make men speak, they made gods and devils, instead of
-heroes and shepherds, sing. Thus magic and marvels became speedily the
-stock in trade of the lyrical theatre. Yet, in spite of every effort to
-fascinate the eyes, whilst multitudes of instruments and of voices
-bewildered the ear, the action of every piece remained cold, and all its
-scenes were totally void of interest. As there was no plot which,
-however intricate, could not be easily unravelled by the intervention of
-some god, the spectator quietly abandoned to the poet the task of
-delivering his hero from his greatest dangers. Thus immense machinery
-produced little effect, for the imitation was always grossly defective
-and coarse. A supernatural action had in it no human interest,<a name="vol_1_page_244" id="vol_1_page_244"></a> and the
-senses refused to yield to an illusion, in which the heart had no part.
-It would have been difficult to weary an assembly at greater cost than
-was done by these first operas.</p>
-
-<p>But the spectacle, imperfect as it was, was for a long time the
-admiration of its contemporaries. They congratulated themselves on so
-fine a discovery. Here, they said, is a new principle added to that of
-Aristotle; here is admiration added to terror and pity. They were not
-aware that the apparent riches of which they boasted were but a sign of
-sterility, like flowers which cover the fields before harvest. It was
-because they could not touch the heart that they aimed at surprising,
-and their pretended admiration was, in fact, but a puerile astonishment
-of which they ought to have been ashamed. A false air of magnificence
-and enchantments, sorceries, chimeras, extravagances the most insane, so
-imposed upon them that, with the best faith in the world, they spoke
-with respect and enthusiasm of a theatre which merited nothing but
-hisses: as if there were more merit in making the king of gods utter the
-stupidest platitudes than there would be in attributing the same to the
-lowest of mortals; or as if the valets of Molière were not infinitely
-preferable to the heroes of Pradon.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">EARLY OPERAS.</div>
-
-<p>"Although the author of these first operas had had hardly any other
-object than to dazzle the eye and to astound the ear, it could scarcely
-happen that the musician did not sometimes endeavour<a name="vol_1_page_245" id="vol_1_page_245"></a> to express, by his
-art, some sentiments diffused through the piece in performance. The
-songs of nymphs, the hymns of priests, the shouts of warriors, infernal
-outcries did not so completely fill up these barbarous dramas as to
-leave no moments or situations of interest when the spectator was
-disposed to be moved. Thus it soon began to be felt, that independently
-of the musical declamation, often ill adapted to the language employed,
-the musical movement of harmony and of songs was not alien to the words
-which were to be uttered, and that consequently the effect of music
-alone, hitherto confined to the senses, could reach the heart. Melody,
-which was at first only separated from poetry by necessity, profited by
-this independence to adopt beauties absolutely and purely musical;
-harmony, improved and carried to perfection, opened to it new means of
-pleasing and of moving; and the measure, freed from the embarrassment of
-poetic rhythm, acquired a sort of cadence of its own.</p>
-
-<p>"Music, having thus become a third imitative art, had speedily its own
-language, its expressions, its pictures, altogether independent of
-poetry. Symphony also learnt to speak without the aid of words; and
-sentiments often came from the orchestra quite as distinctly and vividly
-expressed as they could be by the mouths of actors. Spectators then,
-beginning to get disgusted with all the tinsel of fairy land, of puerile
-machinery, and of fantastic images of things never seen, looked for the
-imitation of nature<a name="vol_1_page_246" id="vol_1_page_246"></a> in pictures more interesting and more true. Up to
-this time the Opera had been constituted as it alone could be; for what
-better use, at the theatre, could be made of a kind of music which could
-paint nothing than by employing it in the representation of things which
-could not exist? But as soon as music learnt to paint and to speak the
-charms of sentiment, it brought into contempt those of the Wand; the
-theatre was purged of its garden of mythology, interest was substituted
-for astonishment; the machines of poets and of carpenters were
-destroyed; and the lyric drama assumed a more noble and less gigantic
-character. All that could move the heart was employed with success, and
-gods were driven from the stage on which men were represented<a name="FNanchor_46_46" id="FNanchor_46_46"></a><a href="#Footnote_46_46" class="fnanchor">[46]</a>....</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERATIC SUBJECTS.</div>
-
-<p>"This reform was followed by another not less important. The Opera, it
-was felt, should represent nothing cold or intellectual&mdash;nothing that
-the spectator could witness with sufficient tranquillity to reflect on
-what he saw. And it is in this especially that the essential difference
-between the lyric drama and pure tragedy consists. All political
-deliberations, all plots, conspiracies, explanations, recitals,
-sententious maxims&mdash;in a word, all which speaks to the reason was
-banished from the theatre of the heart, with all <i>jeux d'esprit</i>,
-madrigals, and other pleasant conceits, which suppose some activity of<a name="vol_1_page_247" id="vol_1_page_247"></a>
-thought. On the contrary, to depict all the energies of sentiments, all
-the violence of the passions, was made the principal object of this
-drama: for the illusion which makes its charm is destroyed as soon as
-the author and actor leave the spectator a moment to himself. It is on
-this principle that the modern Opera is established. Apostolo Zeno, the
-Corneille of Italy, and his tender pupil, who is its Racine,
-[Metastasio] have opened and carried to its perfection this new career
-of the dramatic art. They have brought the heroes of history on a
-theatre which seemed only adapted to exhibit the phantoms of fable....</p>
-
-<p>"Having tried and felt her strength, music, able to walk alone, began to
-disdain the poetry she had to accompany. To enhance her own value, she
-drew from herself beauties of which her companion had hitherto had a
-share. She still professes, it is true, to express her ideas and
-sentiments; but she assumes, so to speak, an independent language, and
-though the object of the poet and of the musician is the same, they are
-too much separated in their labours, to produce at once two images,
-resembling each other, yet distinct, without mutual injury. Thus it
-happens, that if the musician has more art than the poet, he effaces
-him; and the actor, seeing the spectator sacrifice the words to the
-music, sacrifices in his turn theatrical gesture and action to song and
-brilliancy of voice, which transforms a dramatic entertainment into a
-mere concert....<a name="vol_1_page_248" id="vol_1_page_248"></a></p>
-
-<p>"Such are the defects which the absolute perfection of music, and its
-defective application to language, may introduce into the Opera. And
-here it may be remarked that the languages the most apt to conform to
-all the laws of measure and of melody are those in which the duality of
-which I have spoken is the least apparent, because music, lending itself
-to the ideas of poetry, poetry yields, in its turn, to the inflections
-of music, so that when music ceases to observe the rhythm, the accent
-and the harmony of verses, verses syllable themselves, and submit to the
-cadence of musical measure and accent. But when a language has neither
-softness nor flexibility, the harshness of its poetry hinders its
-subjection to music; a good recitation of verses is obstructed even by
-the sweetness of the melody accompanying it; and one is conscious, in
-the forced union of the two arts, of a perpetual constraint which shocks
-the ear, and which destroys at once the charm of melody and the effect
-of declamation. For this defect there is no remedy; and to apply, by
-compulsion, music to a language which is not musical, is to give it more
-harshness than it would otherwise have....</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MUSIC AND PAINTING.</div>
-
-<p>"Although music, as an imitative art, has more connection with poetry
-than with painting, this latter is not obliged, as poetry is, at the
-theatre, to make a double representation of the same object; because the
-one expresses the sentiments of men, and the other gives pictures merely
-of the places where they are, which strengthens much the illusion of the
-whole<a name="vol_1_page_249" id="vol_1_page_249"></a> spectacle.... But it must be acknowledged that the task of the
-musician is greater than that of the painter. The imitation expressed by
-painting is always cold, because it wants that succession of ideas and
-of impressions which increasingly kindle the soul, all its portraiture
-being conveyed to the mind at a first look. It is a great advantage,
-also, to a musician that he can paint things which cannot be heard,
-whilst the painter cannot paint those which cannot be seen; and the
-greatest prodigy of an art which has no life but in movement is, that it
-is able to give even an image of repose. Sleep, the quietude of night,
-solitude, and silence, are among the number of music's pictures.
-Sometimes noise produces the effect of silence and silence the effect of
-noise, as when one falls asleep at a monotonous reading and wakes up the
-moment the reader stops.... Further, whilst the painter can derive
-nothing from the musician, the skilful musician will not leave the
-studio of the painter without profit. Not only can he, at his will,
-agitate the sea, excite the flames of a conflagration, make rivulets run
-and murmur, bring down the rain and swell it to torrents, but he can
-augment the horrors of the frightful desert, darken the walls of a
-subterranean prison, calm the storm, make the air tranquil and the sky
-serene, and shed from the orchestra the freshest fragrance of the
-sweetest bowers.</p>
-
-<p>"We have seen how the union of the three arts <a name="vol_1_page_250" id="vol_1_page_250"></a>we have mentioned
-constitute the lyric scene. Some have been tempted to introduce a
-fourth, of which I have now to speak.</p>
-
-<p>"The question is to know whether dancing, being a language, and
-consequently capable of becoming an imitative art, should not enter with
-the other three into the action of the lyrical drama, or whether it
-would not rather interrupt and suspend this action and spoil the effect
-and the unity of the whole piece.</p>
-
-<p>"But here, I think, there can be no question at all. For every one feels
-that the interest of a successive action depends upon the continuance
-and growing increase of the impression its representation makes on us.
-But by breaking off a spectacle and introducing other spectacles which
-have nothing to do with it, the principal subject is divided into
-independent parts, with no link of connection between them; and the more
-agreeable the inserted spectacles are, the greater must be the deformity
-produced by the mutilation of the whole.... It is for this reason that
-the Italians have at last banished these interludes from their operas.
-They are, separately considered, a species of spectacle very pleasing,
-very piquante, and quite natural, but so misplaced in the midst of a
-tragic action, that the two exhibitions injure each other mutually, and
-the one can never interest but at the expense of the other."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BALLET.</div>
-
-<p>Rousseau then suggests that the ballet should come after the opera,
-which, as every one knows, is the rule at the Italian Opera houses of
-London, and which appears<a name="vol_1_page_251" id="vol_1_page_251"></a> to me a far preferable arrangement to that of
-the French Académie, where no lyrical work is considered complete
-without a <i>divertissement</i> introduced anyhow into the middle of it, or
-of the Italian theatres where it is still the custom to perform short
-ballets or <i>divertissements</i> between the acts of the opera. Italy, the
-country of the Vestrises, of the Taglionis, and in the present day I may
-add of Rosati, has always bestowed much care on the production of its
-<i>ballets</i>. I have mentioned (Chapter I.), that the opera in its infancy
-owed much to the protection of the Popes. The Papal Government in the
-present day is said to pay special attention to the <i>ballet</i>, and to
-watch with paternal solicitude the <i>pirouettes</i> and <i>jetés battus</i> of
-the <i>danseuses</i>. At least I find a passage to that effect in a work
-entitled "La Rome des Papes,"<a name="FNanchor_47_47" id="FNanchor_47_47"></a><a href="#Footnote_47_47" class="fnanchor">[47]</a> the writer declaring that cardinals
-and bishops attend the Operas of Italy to see that the <i>ballerine</i> swing
-their legs within certain limits.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Having seen Rousseau's views of the Opera as it might be, let us now
-turn to his description of the Opera of Paris as it actually was; a
-description put into the mouth of St. Preux, the hero of his <i>Nouvelle
-HĂ©loise</i>.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"Before I tell you what I think of this famous theatre, I will tell you
-what is said here about it; the judgment of connoisseurs may correct
-mine, if I am wrong.<a name="vol_1_page_252" id="vol_1_page_252"></a></p>
-
-<p>"The Opera of Paris passes at Paris for the most pompous, the most
-voluptuous, the most admirable spectacle that human art has ever
-invented. It is, say its admirers, the most superb monument of the
-magnificence of Louis XIV.; and one is not so free as you may think to
-express an opinion on so important a subject. Here you may dispute about
-everything except music and the Opera; on these topics alone it is
-dangerous not to dissemble. French music is defended, too, by a very
-rigorous inquisition, and the first thing intimated as a warning, to
-strangers who visit this country, is that all foreigners admit, there is
-nothing in this world so fine as the Opera of Paris. The fact is,
-discreet people hold their tongues, and dare only laugh in their
-sleeves.</p>
-
-<p>"It must, however, be conceded, that not only all the marvels of nature,
-but many other marvels, much greater, which no one has ever seen, are
-represented, at great cost, at this theatre; and certainly Pope<a name="FNanchor_48_48" id="FNanchor_48_48"></a><a href="#Footnote_48_48" class="fnanchor">[48]</a> must
-have alluded to it when he describes one on which was seen gods,
-hobgoblins, monsters, kings, shepherds, fairies, fury, joy, fire, a jig,
-a battle, and a ball.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERATIC INCONGRUITY.</div>
-
-<p>"This magnificent assemblage, so well organized, is in fact regarded as
-though it contained all the things it represents. When a temple appears,
-the spectators are seized with a holy respect, and if the goddess be at
-all pretty, they become at once half pagan. They<a name="vol_1_page_253" id="vol_1_page_253"></a> are not so difficult
-here as they are at the <i>Comédie Francaise</i>. There the audience cannot
-indue a comedian with his part: at the Opera, they cannot separate the
-actor from his. They revolt against a reasonable illusion, and yield to
-others in proportion as they are absurd and clumsy. Or, perhaps, they
-find it easier to form an idea of gods than of heroes. Jupiter having a
-different nature from ours, we may think about him just as we please:
-but Cato was a man; and how many men are they who have any right to
-believe that Cato could have existed?</p>
-
-<p>"The Opera is not then here as elsewhere, a company of comedians paid to
-entertain the public; its members are, it is true, people whom the
-public pay, and who exhibit themselves before it; but all this changes
-its nature and name, for these dramatists form a Royal Academy of
-Music,<a name="FNanchor_49_49" id="FNanchor_49_49"></a><a href="#Footnote_49_49" class="fnanchor">[49]</a> a species of sovereign court, which judges without appeal in
-its own cause, and is otherwise by no means particular about justice or
-truth....</p>
-
-<p>"Having now told you what others say of this brilliant spectacle, I will
-tell you at present what I have seen myself.</p>
-
-<p>"Imagine an enclosure fifteen feet broad, and long in proportion; this
-enclosure is the theatre. On its two sides are placed at intervals
-screens, on which are grossly painted the objects which the scene is
-about to represent. At the back of the enclosure hangs<a name="vol_1_page_254" id="vol_1_page_254"></a> a great curtain,
-painted in like manner and nearly always pierced and torn that it may
-represent at a little distance gulfs on the earth or holes in the sky.
-Every one who passes behind this stage, or touches the curtain, produces
-a sort of earthquake, which has a double effect. The sky is made of
-certain blueish rags suspended from poles or from cords, as linen may be
-seen hung out to dry in any washerwoman's yard. The sun, for it is seen
-here sometimes, is a lighted torch in a lantern. The cars of the gods
-and goddesses are composed of four rafters, squared and hung on a thick
-rope in the form of a swing or see-saw; between the rafters is a
-cross-plank on which the god sits down, and in front hangs a piece of
-coarse cloth well dirtied, which acts the part of clouds for the
-magnificent car. One may see towards the bottom of the machine, two or
-three stinking candles, badly snuffed, which, whilst the great personage
-dementedly presents himself swinging in his see-saw, fumigate him with
-an incense worthy of his dignity. The agitated sea is composed of long
-angular lanterns of cloth and blue pasteboard, strung on parallel spits,
-which are turned by little blackguard boys. The thunder is a heavy cart
-rolled over an arch, and is not the least agreeable instrument one
-hears. The flashes of lightning are made of pinches of resin thrown on a
-flame; and the thunder is a cracker at the end of a fusee.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SCENERY AND DECORATIONS.</div>
-
-<p>"The theatre is moreover furnished with little square traps, which,
-opening at need, announce that<a name="vol_1_page_255" id="vol_1_page_255"></a> the demons are about to issue from their
-cave. When they have to rise into the air, little demons of stuffed
-brown cloth are substituted for them, or sometimes real chimney sweeps,
-who swing about suspended on ropes till they are majestically lost in
-the rags of which I have spoken. The accidents, however, which not
-unfrequently happen are sometimes as tragic as farcical. When the ropes
-break, then infernal spirits and immortal gods fall together, and lame
-and occasionally kill one another. Add to all this, the monsters, which
-render some scenes very pathetic, such as dragons, lizards, tortoises,
-crocodiles and large toads, who promenade the theatre with a menacing
-air, and display at the Opera all the temptations of St. Anthony. Each
-of these figures is animated by a lout of a Savoyard, who has not even
-intelligence enough to play the beast.</p>
-
-<p>"Such, my cousin, is the august machinery of the Opera, as I have
-observed it from the pit with the aid of my glass; for you must not
-imagine that all this apparatus is hidden, and produces an imposing
-effect. I have only described what I have seen myself, and what any
-other spectator may see. I am assured, however, that there are a
-prodigious number of machines employed to put the whole spectacle in
-motion, and I have been invited several times to examine them; but I
-have never been curious to learn how little things are performed by
-great means.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"I will not speak to you of the music; you know<a name="vol_1_page_256" id="vol_1_page_256"></a> it. But you can form no
-idea of the frightful cries, the long bellowings with which the theatre
-resounds daring the representation. One sees actresses nearly in
-convulsions, tearing yelps and howls violently out of their lungs,
-closed hands pressed on their breasts, heads thrown back, faces
-inflamed, veins swollen, and stomachs panting. I know not which of the
-two, the eye or the ear, is most agreeably affected by this ugly
-display; and, what is really inconceivable, it is these shriekings alone
-that the audience applaud. By the clapping of their hands they might be
-taken for deaf people delighted at catching some shrill piercing sound.
-For my part, I am convinced that they applaud the outcries of an actress
-at the Opera as they would the feats of a tumbler or a rope-dancer at a
-fair. The sensation produced by this screaming is both revolting and
-painful; one actually suffers whilst it lasts, but is so glad to see it
-all over without accident as willingly to testify joy. Imagine this
-style of singing employed to express the delicate gallantry and
-tenderness of Quinault! Imagine the muses, the graces, the loves, Venus
-herself, expressing themselves in this way, and judge the effect! As for
-devils, it might pass, for this music has something infernal in it, and
-is not ill-adapted to such beings.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE AUDIENCE</div>
-
-<p>"To these exquisite sounds those of the orchestra are most worthily
-married. Conceive an endless charivari of instruments without melody, a
-drawling and perpetual rumble of basses, the most lugubrious and
-fatiguing I have ever heard, and which<a name="vol_1_page_257" id="vol_1_page_257"></a> I have never been able to
-support for half an hour without a violent headache. All this forms a
-species of psalmody in which there is generally neither melody nor
-measure. But should a lively air spring up, oh, then, the sensation is
-universal; you then hear the whole pit in movement, painfully following,
-and with great noise, some certain performer in the orchestra. Charmed
-to feel for a moment a cadence, which they understand so little, their
-ears, voices, arms, feet, their entire bodies, agitated all over, run
-after the measure always about to escape them; while the Italians and
-Germans, who are deeply affected by music, follow it without effort, and
-never need beat the time. But in this country the musical organ is
-extremely hard; voices have no softness, their inflections are sharp and
-strong, and their tones all reluctant and forced; and there is no
-cadence, no melodious accent in the airs of the people; their military
-instruments, their regimental fifes, their horns, and hautbois, their
-street singers, and <i>guinguette</i> violins, are all so false as to shock
-the least delicate ear. Talents are not given indiscriminately to all
-men, and the French seem to me of all people to have the least aptitude
-for music. My Lord Edward says that the English are not better gifted in
-this respect; but the difference is, that they know it, and do not care
-about it; whilst the French would relinquish a thousand just titles to
-praise, rather than confess, that they are not the first musicians in
-the world. There are even those here who<a name="vol_1_page_258" id="vol_1_page_258"></a> would willingly regard music
-as a state interest, because, perhaps, the cutting of two chords of the
-lyre of Timotheus was so regarded at Sparta.&mdash;But to return to my
-description.</p>
-
-<p>"I have yet to speak of the ballets, the most brilliant part of the
-opera. Considered separately, they form agreeable, magnificent, and
-truly theatrical spectacles; but it is as constituent parts of operatic
-pieces that I now allude to them. You know the operas of Quinault. You
-know how this sort of diversion is there introduced. His successors, in
-imitating, have surpassed him in absurdity. In every act the action is
-generally interrupted at the most interesting moment, by a dance given
-to the actors who are seated, while the public stand up to look on. It
-thus happens that the <i>dramatis personæ</i> are absolutely forgotten. The
-way in which these fĂŞtes are brought about is very simple: Is the prince
-joyous? his courtiers participate in his joy, and dance. Is he sad? he
-must be cheered up, and they dance again. I do not know whether it is
-the fashion at our court to give balls to kings when they are out of
-humour; but I know that one cannot too much admire the stoicism of the
-monarchs of the buskin who listen to songs, and enjoy <i>entrechats</i>, and
-<i>pirouettes</i>, while their crowns are in danger, their lives in peril,
-and their fate is being decided behind the curtain. But there are many
-other occasions for dances: the gravest actions in life are performed in
-dancing.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BALLET</div>
-
-<p>"Priests dance, soldiers dance, gods dance, devils<a name="vol_1_page_259" id="vol_1_page_259"></a> dance; there is
-dancing even at interments,&mdash;dancing <i>Ă propos</i> of everything.</p>
-
-<p>"Dancing is there the fourth of the fine arts constituting the lyrical
-scene. The three others are imitative; but what does this imitate?
-Nothing. It is then quite extraneous when employed in this manner, for
-what have minuets and rigadoons to do in a tragedy? I will say more. It
-would not be less misplaced, even if it imitated something, because of
-all the unities that of language is the most indispensable; and an
-action or an opera performed, half in singing and half in dancing, would
-be even more ridiculous than one written half in French and half in
-Italian.</p>
-
-<p>"Not content with introducing dancing as an essential part of the
-lyrical scene, the Academicians have sometimes even made it its
-principal subject; and they have operas, called <i>ballets</i>, which so ill
-respond to their title, that dancing is just as much out of its place in
-them as in the others. Most of these ballets form as many separate
-subjects as there are acts, and these subjects are linked together by
-certain metaphysical relations, which the spectator could never
-conceive, if the author did not take care to explain them to him in the
-prologue. The seasons, the ages, the senses, the elements, what
-connexion have these things with dancing? and what can they offer,
-through such a medium, to the imagination? Some of the pieces referred
-to are even purely allegorical, as the Carnival, and Folly; and these
-are the most<a name="vol_1_page_260" id="vol_1_page_260"></a> insupportable of all, because, with much cleverness and
-piquancy they have neither sentiments nor pictures, nor situations, nor
-warmth, nor interest, nor anything that music can take hold of, to
-flatter the heart or to produce illusion. In these pretended ballets,
-the action always passes in singing, whilst dancing always interrupts
-the action. But as these performances have still less interest than the
-tragedies, the interruptions are less remarked. Thus defect serves to
-hide defect, and the great art of the author is, in order to make his
-ballet endurable, to make his piece as dull as possible....</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"After all, perhaps, the French ought not to have a better operatic
-drama than they have, at least, with respect to execution; not that they
-are not capable of appreciating what is good, but because the bad amuses
-them more. They feel more gratification in satirising than in
-applauding; the pleasure of criticising more than compensates them for
-the <i>ennui</i> of witnessing a stupid composition, and they would rather
-mockingly pelt a performance after they have left the theatre, than
-enjoy themselves while there."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.</div>
-
-<p>I have already remarked that, although in his <i>Lettre sur la Musique
-Française</i>, Rousseau had praised the melody of the Italians as much as
-he had condemned the dreary psalmody of the French, he expressed the
-highest admiration for the genius of Gluck. He never missed a
-representation of <i>Orphée</i>,<a name="vol_1_page_261" id="vol_1_page_261"></a> and said, in allusion to the gratification
-that work had afforded him, that "after all there was something in life
-worth living for, since in two hours so much genuine pleasure could be
-obtained." He observed that Gluck seemed to have come to France in order
-to give the lie to his proposition that good music could never be set to
-French words. At another time he observed that every one complained of
-Gluck's want of melody, but that for his part he thought it issued from
-all his pores.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Now let us turn to the <i>Devin du Village</i>, of which both words and music
-are generally attributed to Jean Jacques Rousseau; that Rousseau who, in
-the <i>Confessions</i>, reproaches himself so bitterly with having stolen a
-ribbon (it is true he had accused an innocent young girl of the theft,
-and, by implication, of something more), who passes complacently over a
-hundred mean and disgusting acts which he acknowledges to have
-committed, and who ends by declaring that any one who may come to the
-conclusion that he, Rousseau, is, "<i>un malhonnĂŞte homme</i>," is himself "a
-man to be smothered," (<i>un homme Ă  Ă©touffer</i>).</p>
-
-<p><i>Le Devin du Village</i> is undoubtedly the work of Jean Jacques Rousseau,
-as far as the libretto is concerned; but M. Castil Blaze has shown, on
-what appears to me very good evidence,<a name="FNanchor_50_50" id="FNanchor_50_50"></a><a href="#Footnote_50_50" class="fnanchor">[50]</a> that the music was the
-production of Granet, a composer residing at Lyons.<a name="vol_1_page_262" id="vol_1_page_262"></a></p>
-
-<p>One day in the year 1751, Pierre Rousseau, called Rousseau of Toulouse,
-to distinguish him from the numerous other Rousseaus living in Paris,
-and known as the director of the <i>Journal Encyclopédique</i>, received a
-parcel containing a quantity of manuscript music, which, on examination,
-turned out to be the score of an opera. It was accompanied by a letter
-addressed, like the parcel itself, to "M. Rousseau, <i>homme de lettres</i>,
-demeurant Ă  Paris," in which a person signing himself Granet, and
-writing from Lyons, expressed a hope that his music would be found
-worthy of the illustrious author's words; that he had given appropriate
-expression to the tender sentiments of Colette and Colin, &amp;c. Pierre
-Rousseau, though a journalist, understood music. He knew that Granet's
-letter was intended for Jean Jacques, and that he ought to return it,
-with the music, to the post-office, but the score of the <i>Devin du
-Village</i>, from the little he had seen of it, interested him, and he not
-only kept it until he had made himself familiar with it from beginning
-to end, but even showed it to a friend, M. de Belissent, one of the
-conservators of the Royal Library, and a man of great musical
-acquirements. As soon as Pierre Rousseau and De Belissent had quite
-finished with the <i>Devin du Village</i>, they sent it back to the
-post-office, whence it was forwarded to its true destination.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.</div>
-
-<p>Jean Jacques had been expecting Granet's music, and, on receiving the
-opera in a complete form, took it to La Vaubalière, the farmer-general,
-and offered<a name="vol_1_page_263" id="vol_1_page_263"></a> it to him, directly or indirectly, as a suitable piece for
-Madame de Pompadour's theatre at Versailles, where several operettas had
-already been produced. La Vaubalière was anxious to maintain himself in
-the good graces of the favourite, and purchased for her entertainment
-the right of representing the <i>Devin du Village</i>. This handsome present
-cost the gallant financier the sum of six thousand francs. However, the
-opera was performed, was wonderfully successful, and was afterwards
-produced at the Académie, when Rousseau received four thousand francs
-more; so at least says M. Castil Blaze, who appears to have derived his
-information from the books of the theatre, though according to
-Rousseau's own statement in the <i>Confessions</i>, the Opera sent him only
-fifty <i>louis</i>, which he declares he never asked for, but which he does
-not pretend to have returned.</p>
-
-<p>Rousseau "confesses," with studied detail, how the music of each piece
-in the <i>Devin du Village</i> occurred to him; how he at one time thought of
-burning the whole affair (a conceit, by the way, which has since been
-rendered common-place by amateur authors in their prefaces); how his
-friends succeeded in persuading him to do nothing of the kind; and how,
-at last, he wrote the drama and sketched out the whole of the music in
-six days, so that when he arrived with his work in Paris, he had nothing
-to add but the recitative and the "<i>remplissage</i>" by which he probably
-meant the orchestral parts. In the next page he tells us that he would<a name="vol_1_page_264" id="vol_1_page_264"></a>
-have given anything in the world if he could only have had the <i>Devin du
-Village</i> performed for himself alone, and have listened to it with
-closed doors, as Lulli is reported to have listened to his <i>Armide</i>,
-executed for his sole gratification. This pleasure might, perhaps, have
-been enjoyed by Rousseau if he had really composed the music himself,
-for when the Académie produced his second <i>Devin du Village</i>, of which
-the music was undoubtedly his own, the public positively refused to
-listen to it, and hissed it until it was withdrawn. If the director had
-persisted in representing the piece the theatre would doubtless have
-been deserted by every one but the composer.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LE DEVIN DU VILLAGE.</div>
-
-<p>But to return to the original score which, as Rousseau himself informs
-us, wanted nothing when he arrived in Paris except what he calls the
-"<i>remplissage</i>" and the recitative. He had intended, he says, to have
-<i>Le Devin</i> performed at the Opera, but M. de Cury, the intendant of the
-Menus Plaisirs, was determined it should first be brought out at the
-Court. A duel was very nearly taking place between the two directors,
-when it was at last decided by Rousseau himself, that Fontainebleau,
-Madame de Pompadour, and La Vaubalière should have the preference.
-Whether Granet had omitted to write recitative or not, it is a
-remarkable fact that recitative was wanted when the piece came to be
-rehearsed, and that Rousseau allowed JĂ©liotte, the singer, to supply it.
-This he mentions himself, as also that he was not present at any of the
-rehearsals&mdash;for it is at rehearsals above<a name="vol_1_page_265" id="vol_1_page_265"></a> all, that a sham composer
-runs the chance of being detected. It is an easy thing for any man to
-say that he has composed an opera, but it may be difficult for him to
-correct a very simple error made by the copyist in transcribing the
-parts. However, Rousseau admits that he attended no rehearsals except
-the last, and that he did not compose the recitative, which, be it
-observed, the singers required forthwith, and which had to be written
-almost beneath their eyes.</p>
-
-<p>But what was Granet doing in the meanwhile? it will be asked. In the
-meanwhile Granet had died. And Pierre Rousseau and his friend M. de
-Bellissent? Rousseau, of Toulouse, supported by the Conservator of the
-Royal Library, accused Jean Jacques openly of fraud in the columns of
-the <i>Journal Encyclopédique</i>. These accusations were repeated on all
-sides, until at last Rousseau undertook to reply to them by composing
-new music to the <i>Devin du Village</i>. This new music the Opera refused to
-perform, and with some reason, for it appears (as the reader has seen)
-to have been detestable. It was not executed until after Rousseau's
-death, and at the special request of his widow, when, in the words of
-Grimm, "all the new airs were hooted without the slightest regard for
-the memory of the author."</p>
-
-<p>It is this utter failure of the second edition of the <i>Devin du Village</i>
-which convinces me more than anything else that the first was not from
-the hand of<a name="vol_1_page_266" id="vol_1_page_266"></a> Rousseau. But let us not say that he was "<i>un malhonnĂŞte
-homme</i>." Probably the conscientious author of the Contrat Social adopted
-the children of others by way of compensation for having sent his own to
-the Enfants Trouvés.<a name="vol_1_page_267" id="vol_1_page_267"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_X" id="CHAPTER_X"></a>CHAPTER X.<br /><br />
-<small>GLUCK AND PICCINNI IN PARIS.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>Gluck at Vienna.&mdash;Iphigenia in Aulis.&mdash;A rehearsal at Sophie
-Arnould's.&mdash;Gluck and Vestris.&mdash;Piccinni in Italy.&mdash;Piccinni in
-Paris.&mdash;The two Iphigenias.&mdash;Iphigenia in Champagne.&mdash;Madeleine
-Guimard, Vestris, and the Ballet.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">F<small>IFTEEN</small> years before the French Revolution, of which, in the present
-day, every one can trace the gradual approach, the important question
-that occupied the capital of France was not the emancipation of the
-peasants, nor the reorganisation of the judicial system, nor the
-equalisation of the taxes all over the country; it was simply the merit
-of Gluck as compared with Piccinni, and of Piccinni as compared with
-Gluck. Paris was divided into two camps, each of which had its own
-special music. The German master was declared by the partisans of the
-Italian to be severe, unmelodious and heavy: by his own friends he was
-considered profound, full of inspiration and eminently dramatic.
-Piccinni, on the other hand, was accused by his enemies of frivolity and
-insipidity, while his supporters maintained that his melodies touched
-the heart, and that it was not the province of music<a name="vol_1_page_268" id="vol_1_page_268"></a> to appeal to the
-intellect. Fundamentally, the dispute was that which still exists as to
-the superiority of German or Italian music. Severe classicists continue
-to despise modern Italian composers as unintellectual, and the Italians
-still sneer at the music of Germany as the "music of mathematics."
-Rossini, Donizetti, and Verdi have been undervalued in succession by the
-critics of Germany, France and England; and although there can be no
-question as to the inferiority of the last to the first-named of these
-composers, Signor Verdi, if he pays any attention to the attacks of
-which he is so constantly the object, can always console himself by
-reflecting that, after all, not half so much has been said against his
-operas as it was once the fashion to say against Rossini's. The
-Italians, on the other hand, can be fairly reproached with this, that,
-to the present day, they have never appreciated <i>Don Giovanni</i>. They
-consent to play it in London, Paris and St. Petersburgh because the
-musical public of the capitals know the work and are convinced that
-nothing finer has ever been written; (this is, however, less in Paris
-than in the other two capitals of the Italian Opera), but the singers
-themselves do not in their hearts like Mozart. They are kind enough to
-execute his music, because they are well paid for it, but that is all.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GERMAN AND ITALIAN MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>In the present century, which is above all an age of eclecticism, we
-find the natural descendants of Piccinni going over to the Gluckists,
-while the legitimate inheritors of Gluck abandon their succession to<a name="vol_1_page_269" id="vol_1_page_269"></a>
-adopt the facile forms and sometimes unmeaning if melodious phrases of
-the Piccinnists. Certainly there are no traces of the grand old German
-school in the light popular music of Herr Flotow (who, if not a German,
-is a Germanised Russian); and, on the other hand, Signor Verdi in his
-emphatic moments quite belies his Italian origin; indeed, there are
-passages in several of this composer's operas which may be traced
-directly not to Rossini, but to Meyerbeer.</p>
-
-<p>The history of the quarrels between the Gluckists and Piccinnists has no
-importance in connection with art. These disputes led to no sound
-criticism, nor have the attacks and replies on either side added
-anything to what was already known on the subject of music as applied to
-the expression and illustration of human passion. As for deciding
-between Gluckism and Piccinnism (I say nothing about the men, who
-certainly were not equal in point of genius), that is impossible. It is
-almost a question of organisation. It may be remarked, however, that no
-composer ever began as a Gluckist (so to speak) and ended as a
-Piccinnist, whereas Rossini, in his last and greatest work, approaches
-the German style, and even Donizetti, in his latest and most dramatic
-operas, exhibits somewhat of the same tendency. It will be remembered,
-too, that the great Mozart, and in our own day Meyerbeer, wrote their
-earlier operas in the Italian mode, and abandoned it when they
-recognised its insufficiency for dramatic purposes. Indeed, Gluck's own
-style, as we shall presently see, underwent<a name="vol_1_page_270" id="vol_1_page_270"></a> a similar change. But it
-would be rash to conclude from these instances, that Italians, writing
-in the Italian style, have produced no great dramatic music. Rossini's
-<i>Otello</i> and Bellini's <i>Norma</i> at once suggest themselves as convincing
-proofs of the contrary.</p>
-
-<p>All that remains now of the Gluck <i>versus</i> Piccinni contest is a number
-of anecdotes, which are amusing, as showing the height musical
-enthusiasm and musical prejudice had reached in Paris at an epoch when
-music and the arts generally were about the last things that should have
-occupied the French. But before calling attention to a few of the
-principal incidents in this harmonious civil war, let me sketch the
-early career of each of the great leaders.</p>
-
-<p>Gluck was born, in 1712, of Bohemian parents, so that he was almost
-certainly not of German but of Slavonian origin.<a name="FNanchor_51_51" id="FNanchor_51_51"></a><a href="#Footnote_51_51" class="fnanchor">[51]</a> Young Gluck learnt
-the scale simultaneously with the alphabet (why should not all children
-be taught to read from music-notes as they are taught to read from
-ordinary typography?) and soon afterwards received lessons on the
-violoncello, which, however, were put a stop to by the death of his
-father.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CHILDHOOD OF GLUCK.</div>
-
-<p>Little Christopher was left an orphan at a very early age. Fortunately,
-he had made sufficient progress<a name="vol_1_page_271" id="vol_1_page_271"></a> on the violoncello to obtain an
-engagement with a company of wandering musicians. Thus he contrived to
-exist until the troupe had wandered as far as Vienna, where his talent
-attracted the attention of a few sympathetic and generous men, who
-enabled him to complete his musical education in peace.</p>
-
-<p>After studying harmony and counterpoint, Gluck determined to leave the
-capital of Germany for Italy; for in those days no one was accounted a
-musician who had not derived a certain amount of his inspiration from
-Italian sources. After studying four years under the celebrated Martini,
-he felt that the time had come for him to produce a work of his own. His
-"Artaxerxes" was given at Milan with success, and this opera was
-followed by seven others, which were brought out either at Venice,
-Cremona or Turin. Five years sufficed for Gluck to make an immense name
-in Italy. His reputation even extended to the other countries of Europe
-and the offers he received from the English were sufficiently liberal to
-tempt the rising composer to pay a visit to London. Here, however, he
-had to contend with the genius and celebrity of Handel, compared with
-whom he was as yet but a composer of mediocrity. He returned to Vienna
-not very well pleased with his reception in England, and soon afterwards
-made his appearance once more in Italy, where he produced five other
-works, all of which were successful. Hitherto Gluck's style had been
-quite in accordance with the Italian taste, and the Italians did not
-think<a name="vol_1_page_272" id="vol_1_page_272"></a> of reproaching him with any want of melody. On the contrary, they
-applauded his works, as if they had been signed by one of their most
-esteemed masters. But if the Italians were satisfied with Gluck, Gluck
-was not satisfied with the Italians; and it was not until he had left
-Italy, that he discovered his true vein.</p>
-
-<p>Gluck was forty-six years of age when he brought out his <i>Alcestis</i>, the
-first work composed in the style which is now regarded as peculiarly his
-own. <i>Alcestis</i>, and <i>Orpheus</i>, by which it was followed, created a
-great sensation in Germany, and when the Chevalier Gluck composed a work
-"by command," in honour of the Emperor Joseph's marriage, it was played,
-not perhaps by the greatest artists in Germany, but certainly by the
-most distinguished, for the principal parts were distributed among four
-arch-duchesses and an arch-duke. Where are the dukes and duchesses now
-who could play, not with success, but without disastrous failure, in an
-opera by Gluck?</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GLUCK AT VIENNA.</div>
-
-<p>It so happened that at Vienna, attached to the French embassy, lived a
-certain M. du Rollet, who was in the habit of considering himself a
-poet. To him Gluck confided his project of visiting Paris, and composing
-for the French stage. Du Rollet not only encouraged the musician in his
-intentions, but even promised him a libretto of his own writing. The
-libretto was not good&mdash;indeed what <i>libretto</i> is?&mdash;except, perhaps, some
-of Scribe's <i>libretti</i> for the light operas of Auber. But it must be
-remembered that the <i>Opéra Comique</i> is only a development of the
-vaudeville;<a name="vol_1_page_273" id="vol_1_page_273"></a> and in the entire catalogue of serious operas, with the
-exception of Metastasio's, a few by Romani and Da Ponte's <i>Don Giovanni</i>
-(with a Mozart to interpret it), it is not easy to find any which, in a
-literary and poetical sense, are not absurd. However, Du Rollet
-arranged, or disarranged, Racine's <i>Iphigénie</i>, to suit the requirements
-of the lyric stage, and handed over "the book" to the Chevalier Gluck.</p>
-
-<p><i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i> was composed in less than a year; but to write an
-opera is one thing, to get it produced another. At that time the French
-Opera was a close borough, in the hands of half a dozen native
-composers, whose nationality was for the most part their only merit.
-These musicians were not in the habit of positively refusing all chance
-to foreign competitors; but they interposed all sorts of delays between
-the acceptance and the production of their works, and did their best
-generally to prevent their success. However, the Dauphiness Marie
-Antoinette, had undertaken to introduce the great German composer to
-Paris, and she smoothed the way for him so effectually, that soon after
-his arrival in the French capital, <i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i> was accepted,
-and actually put into rehearsal.</p>
-
-<p>Gluck now found a terrible and apparently insurmountable obstacle to his
-success in the ignorance and obstinacy of the orchestra. He was not the
-man to be satisfied with slovenly execution, and many and severe were
-the lessons he had to give the French musicians, in the course of almost
-as many rehearsals<a name="vol_1_page_274" id="vol_1_page_274"></a> as Meyerbeer requires in the present day, before he
-felt justified in announcing his work as ready for representation. The
-young Princess had requested the lieutenant of police to take the
-necessary precautions against disturbances; and she herself, accompanied
-by the Dauphin, the Count and Countess of Provence, the Duchesses of
-Chartres and of Bourbon, and the Princess de Lamballe, entered the
-theatre before the public were admitted. The ministers and all the
-Court, with the exception of the king (Louis XV.) and Madame Du Barry
-were present. Sophie Arnould was the Iphigenia, and is said to have been
-admirable in that character, though the charming Sophie seems to have
-owed most of her success to her acting rather than to her singing.</p>
-
-<p>The first night of <i>Iphigenia</i>, Larrivée, who took the part of
-Agamemnon, actually abstained from singing through his nose. This is
-mentioned by the critics and memorialists of the time as something
-incredible, and almost supernatural. It appears that Larrivée, in spite
-of his nasal twang, was considered a very fine singer. The public of the
-pit used to applaud him, but they would also say, when he had just
-finished one of his airs, "That nose has really a magnificent voice!"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">IPHIGENIA IN AULIS.</div>
-
-<p>The success of <i>Iphigenia</i> was prodigious. Marie Antoinette herself gave
-the signal of the applause, and it mattered little to the courtiers
-whether they understood Gluck's grand, simple music, or not.<a name="vol_1_page_275" id="vol_1_page_275"></a></p>
-
-<p>All they had to do, and all they did, was to follow the example of the
-Dauphiness.</p>
-
-<p>Never did poet, artist, or musician have a more enthusiastic patroness
-than Marie Antoinette. She not only encouraged Gluck herself, but
-visited with her severe displeasure all who ventured to treat him
-disrespectfully. And it must be remembered that in those days a <i>Grand
-Seigneur</i> paid a great artist, or a great writer, just what amount of
-respect he thought fit. Thus, one <i>Grand Seigneur</i> had Voltaire caned
-(and afterwards from pride or from cowardice refused his challenge),
-while another struck Beaumarchais, and, after insulting him in the court
-of justice over which he presided, summoned him to leave the bench and
-come outside, that he might assassinate him.</p>
-
-<p>The first person with whom Gluck came to an open rupture was the Prince
-d'Hennin, the "Prince of Dwarfs," as he was called. The chevalier, in
-spite of his despotic, unyielding nature, could not help giving way to
-the charming Sophie Arnould, who, with a caprice permitted to her alone,
-insisted on the rehearsals of <i>Orpheus</i> taking place in her own
-apartments. The orchestra was playing, and Sophie Arnould was singing,
-when suddenly the door opened, and in walked the Prince d'Hennin. This
-was not a grand rehearsal, and all the vocalists were seated.</p>
-
-<p>"I believe," said the <i>Grand Seigneur</i>, addressing Sophie Arnould in the
-middle of her air, "that it is the<a name="vol_1_page_276" id="vol_1_page_276"></a> custom in France to rise when any
-one enters the room, especially if it be a person of some
-consideration?"</p>
-
-<p>Gluck leaped from his seat with rage, rushed towards the intruder, and
-with his eyes flashing fire, said to him:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"The custom in Germany, sir, is to rise only for those whom we esteem."</p>
-
-<p>Then turning to Sophie, he added:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I perceive, Mademoiselle, that you are not mistress in your own house.
-I leave you, and shall never set foot here again."</p>
-
-<p>When the story was told to Marie Antoinette, she was indignant with the
-Prince, and compelled him to make amends to the chevalier for the insult
-offered to him. The Prince's pride must have suffered terribly; for he
-had to pay a visit to the composer, and to thank him for having assured
-him in the plainest terms, that he looked upon him with great contempt.</p>
-
-<p>This Prince d'Hennin was a favourite butt for the wit of the vivacious
-Count de Lauragais, who, as the reader, perhaps, remembers, was one of
-Sophie Arnould's earliest and most devoted admirers. One day when the
-interesting Sophie was unwell, the Count asked her physician whether it
-was not especially necessary to think of her spirits, and to keep away
-everything that might tend to have a depressing effect upon them.</p>
-
-<p>The doctor answered the Count's sagacious question in the affirmative.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE PRINCE D'HENNIN.</div>
-
-<p>"Above all," continued De Lauragais, "do you<a name="vol_1_page_277" id="vol_1_page_277"></a> not consider it of the
-greatest importance that the Prince d'Hennin should not be allowed to
-visit her?"</p>
-
-<p>The physician admitted that it would be as well she should not see the
-prince; but De Lauragais was not satisfied with this, and he at last
-persuaded the obliging doctor to put his opinion in the form of a direct
-recommendation. In other words, he made him write a prescription for
-Mdlle. Arnould, forbidding her to have any conversation with the Prince
-d'Hennin. This prescription he sent to the prince's house, with a letter
-calling his particular attention to it, and entreating him, for the sake
-of Mdlle. Arnould's health, not to forget the injunction it contained.
-The consequence was a duel, which, however, was attended with no bad
-results, for, in the evening, the insultor and the insulted met at
-Sophie Arnould's house.</p>
-
-<p>It now became the fashion at the Court to attend the rehearsals of
-<i>Orpheus</i>, which took place once more in the theatre. On these
-occasions, the doors were besieged long before the performance
-commenced; and numbers of persons were unable to gain admission. To see
-Gluck at a rehearsal was infinitely more interesting than to see him at
-one of the ordinary public representations. The composer had certain
-habits; and from these he would not depart for any one. Thus, on
-entering the orchestra, he would take his coat off to conduct at ease in
-his shirt sleeves. Then he would remove his wig, and replace it by a
-cotton night-cap of the remotest fashion. When the rehearsal was at an
-end,<a name="vol_1_page_278" id="vol_1_page_278"></a> he had no necessity to trouble himself about the articles of dress
-which he had laid aside, for there was a general contest between the
-dukes and princes of the Court as to who should hand them to him.
-<i>Orpheus</i> is said to have been quite as successful as <i>Iphigenia</i>. One
-thing, however, which sometimes makes me doubt the completeness of this
-success, in a musical point of view, is the recorded fact, that "<i>the
-ballet</i>, especially, was very fine." The <i>ballet</i> is certainly not the
-first thing we think of in <i>William Tell</i>, or even in <i>Robert</i>. It
-appears that Gluck himself objected positively to the introduction of
-dancing into the opera of <i>Orpheus</i>. He held, and with evident reason,
-that it would interfere with the seriousness and pathos of the general
-action, and would, in short, spoil the piece. He was overruled by the
-"<i>Diou</i> de la Danse." What could Gluck's opinion be worth in the eyes of
-Auguste or of Gaetan Vestris, who held that there were only three great
-men in Europe&mdash;Voltaire, Frederick of Prussia, and himself. No! the
-dancer was determined to have his "<i>Chacone</i>," and he was as obstinate,
-indeed, more obstinate, than Gluck himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Write me the music of a <i>chacone</i>, Monsieur Gluck," said the god of
-dancing.</p>
-
-<p>"A chacone!" exclaimed the indignant composer; "Do you think the Greeks,
-whose manners we are endeavouring to depict, knew what a chacone was?"</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GLUCK AND VESTRIS.</div>
-
-<p>"Did they not!" replied Vestris, astonished at the information; and in a
-tone of compassion, he added, "Then they are much to be pitied."<a name="vol_1_page_279" id="vol_1_page_279"></a></p>
-
-<p><i>Alcestis</i>, on its first production, did not meet with so much success
-as <i>Orpheus</i> and <i>Iphigenia</i>. The piece itself was singularly
-uninteresting; and this was made the pretext for a host of epigrams, of
-which the sting fell, not upon the author, but upon the composer.
-However, after a few representations, <i>Alcestis</i> began to attract the
-public quite as much as the two previous works had done. Gluck's
-detractors were discomfited, and the theatre was filled every evening
-with his admirers. At this juncture, the composer of <i>Alcestis</i> was
-thrown into great distress by the death of his favourite niece. He left
-Paris, and his enemies, who had been unable to vanquish, now resolved to
-replace him.</p>
-
-<p>I have said that Madame Du Barry did not honour the representation of
-Gluck's operas with her presence. It was, in fact, she who headed the
-opposition against him. She was mortified at not having some favourite
-musician of her own to patronize when the Dauphiness had hers, and now
-resolved to send to Italy for Piccinni, in the hope that when Gluck
-returned, he would find himself neglected for the already celebrated
-Italian composer. Baron de Breteuil, the French ambassador at Rome, was
-instructed to offer Piccinni an annual salary of two thousand crowns if
-he would go to Paris, and reside there. The Italian needed no pressing,
-for he was as anxious to visit the French capital as Gluck himself had
-been. Just then, however, Louis XV. died, by which the patroness of the
-German composer, from<a name="vol_1_page_280" id="vol_1_page_280"></a> Dauphiness, became Queen. Madame Du Barry's party
-hesitated about bringing over a composer to whom they fancied Marie
-Antoinette must be as hostile as they themselves were to Gluck. But the
-Marquis Caraccioli, the Neapolitan ambassador at the Court of France,
-had now taken the matter in hand, and from mere excess of patriotism,
-had determined that Piccinni should make his appearance in Paris to
-destroy the reputation of the German at a single blow. As for Marie
-Antoinette, she not only did not think of opposing the Italian, but,
-when he arrived, received him most graciously, and showed him every
-possible kindness. But before introducing Piccinni to our readers as the
-rival of Gluck in Paris, let us take a glance at his previous career in
-his native land.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NICOLAS PICCINNI.</div>
-
-<p>Nicolas Piccinni, who was not less than fifty years of age when he left
-Naples, for Paris, with the avowed purpose of outrivalling Gluck, was
-born at Bari, in the Neapolitan territory, in 1728. His father was a
-musician, and apparently an unsuccessful one, for he endeavoured to
-disgust his son with the art he had himself practised, and absolutely
-forbade him to touch any musical instrument. No doubt this injunction of
-the father produced just the contrary of the effect intended. The
-child's natural inclination for music became the more invincible the
-more it was repressed, and little Nicolas contrived, every day, to
-devote a few hours in secret to the study of the harpsichord, the<a name="vol_1_page_281" id="vol_1_page_281"></a> piano
-of that day. He knew nothing of music, but guided by his own instinct,
-learnt something of its mysteries simply by experimenting (for it was
-nothing more) on the instrument which his father had been imprudent
-enough, as he would have said himself, to leave within his reach.
-Gradually he learnt to play such airs as he happened to remember, and,
-probably without being aware himself of the process he was pursuing,
-studied the art of combining notes in a manner agreeable to the ear; in
-other words, he acquired some elementary notions of harmony. And still
-his father flattered himself that little Nicolas cared nothing for
-music, and that nothing could ever make him a musician.</p>
-
-<p>One day, old Piccinni had occasion to visit the Bishop of Bari. He took
-his son with him, but left the little boy in one room while he conversed
-on private business with His Eminence in another. Now it chanced that in
-the room where Nicolas was left there was a magnificent harpsichord, and
-the temptation was really too great for him. Harpsichords were not made
-merely to be looked at, he doubtless thought. He went to the instrument,
-examined it carefully, and struck a note. The tone was superb.</p>
-
-<p>Next he ventured upon a few notes in succession; and, then, how he
-longed to play an entire air!</p>
-
-<p>There was no help for it; he must, at all events, play a few bars with
-both hands. The harpsichord at home was execrable, and this one was
-admirable&mdash;<a name="vol_1_page_282" id="vol_1_page_282"></a>made by the Broadwood of harpsichord makers. He began, but,
-carried away by the melody, soon forgot where he was, and what he was
-doing.</p>
-
-<p>The Bishop, and especially Piccinni <i>père</i>, were thunderstruck. There
-was a roughness and poverty about the accompaniment which showed that
-the young performer was far from having completed his studies in
-harmony; but, at the same time, there was no mistaking the fire, the
-true emotion, which characterised his playing. The father thought of
-going into a violent passion, but the Bishop would not hear of such a
-thing.</p>
-
-<p>"Music is evidently the child's true vocation," said the worthy
-ecclesiastic; "He must be a musician, and one day, perhaps, will be a
-great composer."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PICCINNI AT NAPLES.</div>
-
-<p>The Bishop now would not let old Piccinni rest until he promised to send
-his son to the Conservatory of Music, directed by the celebrated Leo.
-The father was obliged to consent, and Nicolas was sent off to Naples.
-Here he was confided to the care of an inferior professor, who was by no
-means aware of the child's precocious talent. The latter was soon
-disgusted with the routine of the class, and conceived the daring
-project of composing a mass, being at the time scarcely acquainted even
-with the rudiments of composition. He was conscious of the audacity of
-the undertaking, and therefore confided it to no one; but, somehow or
-other, the news got abroad that little Nicolas had composed a grand
-mass, and, before long, Leo himself heard of it.<a name="vol_1_page_283" id="vol_1_page_283"></a></p>
-
-<p>Then the great professor sent for the little pupil, who arrived
-trembling from head to foot, thinking apparently that for a boy of his
-age to compose a mass was a species of crime.</p>
-
-<p>Leo was grave, but not so severe as the young composer had expected.</p>
-
-<p>"You have written a mass?" he commenced.</p>
-
-<p>"Excuse me, sir, I could not help it;" said the youthful Piccinni.</p>
-
-<p>"Let me see it?"</p>
-
-<p>Nicolas went to his room for the score, and brought it back, together
-with the orchestral parts all carefully copied out.</p>
-
-<p>After casting a rapid glance at the manuscript, Leo went into the
-concert-room, assembled an orchestra, and distributed the orchestral
-parts among the requisite number of executants.</p>
-
-<p>Little Nicolas was in a state of great trepidation, for he saw plainly
-that the professor was laughing at him. It was impossible to run away,
-or he would doubtless have made his escape. Leo advanced towards him,
-handed him the score, and with imperturbable gravity, requested him to
-take his place at the desk in front of the orchestra. Nicolas, with the
-courage of despair, took up his position, and gave the signal to the
-orchestra which the merciless professor had placed under his command.
-After his first emotion had passed away, Nicolas continued to beat time,
-fancying that, after all, what he had composed, though doubtless bad,
-was, perhaps,<a name="vol_1_page_284" id="vol_1_page_284"></a> not ridiculous. The mass was executed from beginning to
-end. As he approached the finale, all the young musician's fears
-returned. He looked at the professor, and saw that he did not seem to be
-in the slightest degree impressed by the performance. What <i>did</i> he,
-what <i>could</i> he think of such a production?</p>
-
-<p>"I pardon you this time," said the terrible <i>maestro</i>, when the last
-chord had been struck; "but if ever you do such a thing again I will
-punish you in such a manner that you will remember it as long as you
-live. Instead of studying the principles of your art, you give yourself
-up to all the wildness of your imagination, and when you have tutored
-your ill-regulated ideas into something like shape, you produce what you
-call a mass, and think, no doubt, that you have composed a masterpiece."</p>
-
-<p>Nicolas burst into tears, and then began to tell Leo how he had been
-annoyed by the dry and pedantic instruction of the sub-professor. Leo,
-who, with all his coldness of manner, had a heart, clasped the boy in
-his arms, told him not to be disheartened, but to persevere, for that he
-had real talent; and finally promised that from that moment he himself
-would superintend his studies.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PICCINNI AND DURANTE.</div>
-
-<p>Leo died, and was succeeded by Durante, who used to say of young
-Piccinni, "The others are my pupils, but this one is my son." Twelve
-years after his entrance into the Conservatory the most promising of its
-<i>alumni</i> left it and set about the composition of an opera. As Piccinni
-was introduced by<a name="vol_1_page_285" id="vol_1_page_285"></a> Prince Vintimille, the director of the theatre then
-in vogue was unable to refuse him a hearing; but he represented to His
-Highness the certainty of the young composer's work turning out a
-failure. Piccinni's patron was not wanting in generosity.</p>
-
-<p>"How much can you lose by his opera," he said to the manager, "supposing
-it should be a complete <i>fiasco</i>?"</p>
-
-<p>The manager named a sum equivalent to three hundred and twenty pounds.</p>
-
-<p>"There is the money, then," said the prince, handing him at the same
-time a purse. "If the <i>Donne Dispetose</i> (that was the name of Piccinni's
-opera) should prove a failure, you may keep the money, otherwise you can
-return it to me."</p>
-
-<p>Logroscino was the favorite Italian composer of that day, and great was
-the excitement when it was heard that the next new opera to be produced
-was not of his writing. Evidently, his friends had only one course open
-to them. They decided to hiss Logroscino's rival.</p>
-
-<p>But the Florentine public had reckoned without Piccinni's genius. They
-could not hiss a man whose music delighted them, and Piccinni's <i>Donne
-Dispetose</i> threw them into ecstacies. Those who had come to hoot
-remained to applaud. Piccinni's reputation had commenced, and it went on
-increasing until at last his was the most popular name in all musical
-Italy.</p>
-
-<p>Five years afterwards, Piccinni (who in the meanwhile<a name="vol_1_page_286" id="vol_1_page_286"></a> had produced two
-other operas) gave his celebrated <i>Cecchina</i>, otherwise <i>La Buona
-Figliuola</i>, at Rome. The success of this work, of which the libretto is
-founded on the story of <i>Pamela</i>, was almost unprecedented. It was
-played everywhere in Italy, even at the marionette theatres; and still
-there was not sufficient room for the public, who were all dying to see
-it. This little opera filled every playhouse in the Italian peninsula,
-and it had taken Piccinni ten days to write! The celebrated Tonelli,
-who, being an Italian, had naturally heard of its success, happened to
-pass through Rome when it was being played there. He was not by any
-means persuaded that the music was good because the public applauded it;
-but after hearing the melodious opera from beginning to end, he turned
-to his friends and said, in a tone of sincere conviction, "This Piccinni
-is a true inventor!"</p>
-
-<p>Of course the <i>Cecchina</i> was heard of in France. Indeed, it was the
-great reputation achieved by that opera which first rendered the
-Parisians anxious to hear Piccinni, and which inspired Madame Du Barry
-with the hope that in the Neapolitan composer she might find a
-successful rival to the great German musician patronised by Marie
-Antoinette.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GLUCK AND PICCINNI.</div>
-
-<p>Piccinni, after accepting the invitation to dispute the prize of
-popularity in Paris with Gluck, resolved to commence a new opera
-forthwith, and had no sooner reached the French capital than he asked
-one of the most distinguished authors of the day to furnish him with a
-<i>libretto</i>. Marmontel, to whom<a name="vol_1_page_287" id="vol_1_page_287"></a> the request was made, gave him his
-<i>Roland</i>, which was the Roland of Quinault cut down from five acts to
-three. Unfortunately, Piccinni did not understand a word of French.
-Marmontel was therefore obliged to write beneath each French word its
-Italian equivalent, which caused it to be said that he was not only
-Piccinni's poet, but also his dictionary.</p>
-
-<p>Gluck was in Germany when Piccinni arrived, and on hearing of the
-manœuvres of Madame du Barry and the Marquis Caraccioli to supplant
-him in the favour of the Parisian public, he fell into a violent
-passion, and wrote a furious letter on the subject, which was made
-public. Above all, he was enraged at the Academy having accepted from
-his adversary an opera on the subject of Roland, for he had agreed to
-compose an <i>Orlando</i> for them himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know that the Chevalier is coming back to us with an <i>Armida</i>
-and an <i>Orlando</i> in his portfolio?" said the Abbé Arnaud, one of Gluck's
-most fervent admirers.</p>
-
-<p>"But Piccinni is also at work at an <i>Orlando</i>?" replied one of the
-Piccinnists.</p>
-
-<p>"So much the better," returned the Abbé, "for then we shall have an
-<i>Orlando</i> and also an <i>Orlandino</i>."</p>
-
-<p>Marmontel heard of this <i>mot</i>, which caused him to address some
-unpleasant observations to the Abbé the first time he met him in
-society.</p>
-
-<p>But the Abbé was not to be silenced. One night, when Gluck's <i>Alceste</i>
-was being played, he happened to occupy the next seat to Marmontel.
-<i>Alceste</i><a name="vol_1_page_288" id="vol_1_page_288"></a> played by Mademoiselle Lesueur, has, at the end of the second
-act, to exclaim&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Il me déchire le cœur.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Ah, Mademoiselle</i>," said the Academician quite aloud, "<i>vous me
-déchirez les oreilles.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>"What a fortunate thing for you, Sir," said the Abbé, "if you could get
-new ones."</p>
-
-<p>Of course the two armies had their generals. Among those of the
-Piccinnists were some of the greatest literary men of the
-day&mdash;Marmontel, La Harpe, D'Alembert, &amp;c. The only writers on Gluck's
-side were Suard, and the Abbé Arnaud, for Rousseau, much as he admired
-Gluck, cannot be reckoned among his partisans. Suard, who wrote under a
-pseudonym, generally contrived to raise the laugh against his
-adversaries. The Abbé Arnaud, as we have seen, used to defend his
-composer in society, and constituted himself his champion wherever there
-appeared to be the least necessity, or even opportunity, of doing so.
-Volumes upon volumes were written on each side; but of course no one was
-converted.</p>
-
-<p>The Gluckists persisted in saying that Piccinni would never be able to
-compose anything better than concert music.</p>
-
-<p>The Piccinnists, on the other hand, denied that Gluck had the gift of
-melody, though they readily admitted that he had this advantage over his
-adversary&mdash;he made a great deal more noise.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GLUCK AND PICCINNI.</div>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Piccinni's<a name="vol_1_page_289" id="vol_1_page_289"></a> <i>Orlando</i>, or
-<i>Orlandino</i>, as the Abbé Arnaud called it, were not going on favourably.
-The orchestra, which had been subdued by the energetic Gluck, rebelled
-against Piccinni, who was quite in despair at the vast inferiority of
-the French to the Italian musicians.</p>
-
-<p>"Everything goes wrong," he said to Marmontel; "there is nothing to be
-done with them."</p>
-
-<p>Marmontel was then obliged to interfere himself. Profiting by Piccinni's
-forbearance, directors, singers, and musicians were in the habit of
-treating him with the coolest indifference. Once, when Marmontel went to
-rehearsal, he found that none of the principal singers were present, and
-that the opera was to be rehearsed with "doubles." The author of the
-<i>libretto</i> was furious, and said he would never suffer the work of the
-greatest musician in Italy to be left to the execution of "doubles."
-Upon this, Mademoiselle Bourgeois had the audacity to tell the
-Academician that, after all, he was but the double of Quinault, whose
-<i>Roland</i> (as we have seen) he had abridged. One of the chorus singers,
-too, explained, that for his part he was not double at all, and that it
-was a fortunate thing for M. Marmontel's shoulders that such was the
-case.</p>
-
-<p>At last, when all seemed ready, and the day had been fixed for the first
-representation, up came Vestris, the god of dancing, with a request for
-some <i>ballet</i> music. It was for the thin but fascinating Madeleine
-Guimard, who was not in the habit of being refused. Piccinni, without
-delay, set about the music of her<a name="vol_1_page_290" id="vol_1_page_290"></a> <i>pas</i>, and produced a gavot, which
-was considered one of the most charming things in the Opera.</p>
-
-<p>When Piccinni started for the theatre, the night of the first
-representation, he took leave of his family as if he had been going to
-execution. His wife and son wept abundantly, and all his friends were in
-a state of despair.</p>
-
-<p>"Come, my children," said Piccinni, at last; "this is unreasonable.
-Remember that we are not among savages. We are living with the politest
-and kindest nation in Europe. If they do not like me as a musician, they
-will, at all events, respect me as a man and a stranger."</p>
-
-<p>Piccinni's success was complete. It was impossible for the Gluckists to
-deny it. Accordingly they said that they had never disputed Piccinni's
-grace, nor his gift of melody, though his talent was spoiled by a
-certain softness and effeminacy, which was observable in all his
-productions.</p>
-
-<p>Marie Antoinette, whom Madame du Barry and her clique had looked upon as
-the natural enemy of Piccinni, because she was the avowed patroness of
-Gluck, astonished both the cabals by sending for the Italian composer
-and appointing him her singing-master. This was, doubtless, a great
-honour for Piccinni, though a very unprofitable one; for he was not only
-not paid for his lessons, but incurred considerable expense in going to
-and from the palace, to say nothing of the costly binding of the operas
-and other music, which he presented to the royal circle.<a name="vol_1_page_291" id="vol_1_page_291"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PICCINNI'S SUCCESS.</div>
-
-<p>Beaumarchais had found precisely the same disadvantages attaching to the
-post of Court music-master, when, in his youth, he gave lessons to the
-daughters of Louis XV.</p>
-
-<p>When Berton assumed the management of the Opera, he determined to make
-the rival masters friends, and invited them to a magnificent supper,
-where they were placed side by side. Gluck drank like a man and a
-German, and before the supper was finished, was on thoroughly
-confidential terms with his neighbour.</p>
-
-<p>"The French are very good people," said he to Piccinni, "but they make
-me laugh. They want us to write songs for them, and they can't sing."</p>
-
-<p>The reconciliation appeared to be quite sincere; but the fact was, the
-quarrel was not between two men, but between two parties. When the
-direction of the Opera passed from the hands of Berton into those of
-Devismes, a project of the latter, for making Piccinni and Gluck compose
-an opera, at the same time, on the same subject, brought their
-respective admirers once more into open collision. "Here," said Devismes
-to Piccinni, "is a libretto on the story of Iphigenia in Tauris. M.
-Gluck will treat the same subject; and the French public will then, for
-the first time, have the pleasure of hearing two operas founded upon the
-same incidents, and introducing the same characters, but composed by two
-masters of entirely different schools."</p>
-
-<p>"But," objected Piccinni, "if Gluck's opera is<a name="vol_1_page_292" id="vol_1_page_292"></a> played first, the public
-will think so much of it that they will not listen to mine."</p>
-
-<p>"To avoid that inconvenience," replied the director, "we will play yours
-first."</p>
-
-<p>"But Gluck will not permit it."</p>
-
-<p>"I give you my word of honour," said Devismes, "that your opera shall be
-put into rehearsal and brought out as soon as it is finished, and before
-Gluck's."</p>
-
-<p>Piccinni went home, and at once set to work.</p>
-
-<p>He had just finished his two first acts when he heard that Gluck had
-come back from Germany with his <i>Iphigenia in Tauris</i> completed.
-However, he had received the director's promise that his Iphigenia
-should be produced first, and, relying upon Devismes's word of honour,
-Piccinni merely resolved to finish his opera as quickly as possible, so
-that the management might not be inconvenienced by having to wait for
-it, now that Gluck's work, which was to come second, was ready for
-production.</p>
-
-<p>Piccinni had not quite completed his <i>Iphigenia</i>, when, to his horror,
-he heard that Gluck's was already in rehearsal! He rushed to Devismes,
-reminded him of his promise, reproached him with want of faith, but all
-to no purpose. The director of the Opera declared that he had received a
-"command" to produce Gluck's work immediately, and that he had nothing
-to do but to obey. He was very sorry, was in despair, &amp;c.; but it was
-absolutely necessary to play M. Gluck's opera first.<a name="vol_1_page_293" id="vol_1_page_293"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE TWO IPHIGENIAS.</div>
-
-<p>Piccinni felt that he was lost. He went to his friends, and told them
-the whole affair.</p>
-
-<p>"In the first place," said Guinguenée, the writer, "let me look at the
-poem?" The poem was not merely bad, it was ridiculous. The manager had
-taken advantage of Piccinni's ignorance of the French language to impose
-upon him a <i>libretto</i> full of absurdities and common-places, such as no
-sensible schoolboy would have put his name to. Guinguenée, at Piccinni's
-request, re-wrote the whole piece&mdash;greatly, of course, to the annoyance
-of the original author.</p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the rehearsals of Gluck's <i>Iphigenia</i> were continued.
-At the first of these, in the scene where <i>Orestes</i>, left alone in
-prison, throws himself on a bench saying "L<i>e calme rentre dans mon
-cœur</i>," the orchestra hesitated as if struck by the apparent
-contradiction in the accompaniment, which is still of an agitated
-character, though "Orestes" has declared that his heart is calm. "Go
-on!" exclaimed Gluck; "he lies! He has killed his mother!"</p>
-
-<p>The musicians of the Académie had a right, so many at a time, to find
-substitutes to take their places at rehearsals. Not one profited by this
-permission while <i>Iphigenia</i> was being brought out.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Iphigenia in Tauris</i> is known to be Gluck's masterpiece, and it is
-by that wonderful work and by <i>Orpheus</i> that most persons judge of his
-talent in the present day. Compared with the German's profound, serious,
-and admirably dramatic production,<a name="vol_1_page_294" id="vol_1_page_294"></a> Piccinni's <i>Iphigenia</i> stood but
-little chance. In the first place, it was inferior to it; in the second,
-the public were so delighted with Gluck's opera that they were not
-disposed to give even a fair trial to another written on the same
-subject. However, Piccinni's work was produced, and was listened to with
-attention. An air, sung by <i>Pylades</i> to <i>Orestes</i>, was especially
-admired, but on the whole the public seemed to be reserving their
-judgment until the second representation.</p>
-
-<p>The next evening came; but when the curtain drew up, Piccinni
-discovered, to his great alarm, that something had happened to
-Mademoiselle Laguerre, who was entrusted with the principal part.
-<i>Iphigenia</i> was unable to stand upright. She rolled first to one side,
-then to the other; hesitated, stammered, repeated the words, made eyes
-at the pit; in short, Mdlle. Laguerre was intoxicated!</p>
-
-<p>"This is not 'Iphigenia in Tauris,'" said Sophie Arnould; "this is
-'Iphigenia in Champagne.'"</p>
-
-<p>That night, the facetious heroine was sent, by order of the king, to
-sleep at For-l'Evèque, where she was detained two days. A little
-imprisonment appears to have done her good. The evening of her
-re-appearance, Mademoiselle Laguerre, with considerable tact, applied a
-couplet expressive of remorse to her own peculiar situation, and,
-moreover, sang divinely.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">IPHIGENIA IN CHAMPAGNE.</div>
-
-<p>While the Gluck and Piccinni disputes were at their height, a story is
-told of one amateur, doubtless not<a name="vol_1_page_295" id="vol_1_page_295"></a> without sympathizers, who retired in
-disgust to the country and sang the praises of the birds and their
-gratuitous performances in a poem, which ended as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">LĂ  n'est point d'art, d'ennui scientifique;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Piccinni, Gluck n'ont point noté les airs;<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Nature seule en dicta la musique,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">Et Marmontel n'en a pas fait les vers.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>The contest between Gluck and Piccinni (or rather between the Gluckists
-and Piccinnists) was brought to an end by the death of the former. An
-attempt was afterwards made to set up Sacchini against Piccinni; but
-Sacchini being, as regards the practice of his art, as much a Piccinnist
-as a Gluckist, this manœuvre could not be expected to have much
-success.</p>
-
-<p>The French revolution ruined Piccinni, who thereupon retired to Italy.
-Seven years afterwards he returned to France, and, having occasion to
-present a petition to Napoleon, was graciously received by the First
-Consul in the Palace of the Luxembourg.</p>
-
-<p>"Sit down," said Napoleon to Piccinni, who was standing; "a man of your
-merit stands in no one's presence."</p>
-
-<p>Piccinni now retired to Passy; but he was an old man, his health had
-forsaken him, and, in a few months, he died, and was buried in the
-cemetery of the suburb which he had chosen for his retreat.</p>
-
-<p>In the present day, Gluck appears to have vanquished Piccinni, because,
-at long intervals, one of<a name="vol_1_page_296" id="vol_1_page_296"></a> Gluck's grandly constructed operas is
-performed, whereas the music of his former rival is never heard at all.
-But this, by no means, proves that Piccinni's melodies were not
-charming, and that the connoisseurs of the eighteenth century were not
-right in applauding them. The works that endure are not those which
-contain the greatest number of beauties, but those of which the form is
-most perfect. Gluck was a composer of larger conceptions, and of more
-powerful genius than his Italian rival; and it may be said that he built
-up monuments of stone while Piccinni was laying out parterres of
-flowers. But if the flowers were beautiful while they lasted, what does
-it matter to the eighteenth century that they are dead now, when even
-the marble temples of Gluck are antiquated and moss-grown?</p>
-
-<p>I cannot take leave of the Gluck and Piccinni period without saying a
-few words about its principal dancers, foremost among whom stood
-Madeleine Guimard, the thin, the fascinating, the ever young, and the
-two Vestrises&mdash;Gaetan, the Julius of that Cæsar-like family, and Auguste
-its Augustus.</p>
-
-<p>One evening when Madeleine Guimard was dancing in <i>Les fĂŞtes de l'hymen
-et de l'amour</i>, a very heavy cloud fell from the theatrical heavens upon
-one of her beautiful arms, and broke it. A mass was said for
-Mademoiselle Guimard's broken arm in the church of Notre Dame.<a name="FNanchor_52_52" id="FNanchor_52_52"></a><a href="#Footnote_52_52" class="fnanchor">[52]</a><a name="vol_1_page_297" id="vol_1_page_297"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADELEINE GUIMARD.</div>
-
-<p>Houdon, the sculptor, moulded Mademoiselle Guimard's foot.</p>
-
-<p>Fragonard, the painter, decorated Mademoiselle Guimard's magnificent,
-luxuriously-furnished hotel. In his mural pictures he made a point of
-introducing the face and figure of the divinity of the place, until at
-last he fell in love with his model, and, presuming so far as to show
-signs of jealousy, was replaced by David&mdash;yes Louis David, the fierce
-and virtuous republican!</p>
-
-<p>David, the great painter of the republic and of the empire was, of
-course, at this time, but a very young man. He was, in fact, only a
-student, and Madeleine Guimard, finding that the decoration of her
-"Temple of Terpsichore" (as the <i>danseuse's</i> artistic and voluptuous
-palace was called) did not quite satisfy his aspirations, gave him the
-stipend he was to have received for covering her walls with fantastic
-designs, to continue his studies in the classical style according to his
-own ideas.</p>
-
-<p>This was charity of a really thoughtful and delicate kind. As an
-instance of simple bountiful generosity and kindheartedness, I may
-mention Madeleine Guimard's conduct during the severe winter of 1768,
-when she herself visited all the poor in her neighbourhood, and gave to
-each destitute family enough to live on for a year. Marmontel, deeply
-affected by this beneficence, addressed the celebrated epistle to her
-beginning&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0"><i>"Est il bien vrai, jeune et belle damnée," &amp;c.</i><br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p><a name="vol_1_page_298" id="vol_1_page_298"></a></p>
-
-<p>"Not yet Magdalen repentant, but already Magdalen charitable," exclaimed
-a preacher in allusion to Madeleine Guimard's good action, (which soon
-became known all over Paris, though the dancer herself had not said a
-word about it); and he added, "the hand which knows so well how to give
-alms will not be rejected by St. Peter when it knocks at the gate of
-Paradise."</p>
-
-<p>Madeleine Guimard, with all her powers of fascination, was not beautiful
-nor even pretty, and she was notoriously thin. Byron used to say of thin
-women, that if they were old, they reminded him of spiders, if young and
-pretty, of dried butterflies. Madeleine Guimard's theatrical friends, of
-course, compared her to a spider. Behind the scenes she was known as
-<i>L'araignée</i>. Another of her names was <i>La squelette des grâces</i>. Sophie
-Arnould, it will be remembered, called her "a little silk-worm," for the
-sake of the joke about "<i>la feuille</i>," and once, when she was dancing
-between two male dancers in a <i>pas de trois</i> representing two satyrs
-fighting for a nymph, an uncivil spectator said of the exhibition that
-it was like "two dogs fighting for a bone."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADELINE GUIMARD.</div>
-
-<p>Madeleine Guimard is said to have preserved her youth and beauty in a
-marvellous manner, besides which, she had such a perfect acquaintance
-with all the mysteries of the toilet, that by the arts of dress and
-adornment alone, she could have made herself look young when she was
-already beginning to grow old. Marie-Antoinette used to consult her
-about<a name="vol_1_page_299" id="vol_1_page_299"></a> her costume and the arrangement of her hair, and once when, for
-insubordination at the theatre, she had been ordered to For-l'Evèque,
-the <i>danseuse</i> is reported to have said to her maid, "never mind,
-Gothon, I have written to the Queen to tell her that I have discovered a
-style of <i>coiffure</i>; we shall be free before the evening."</p>
-
-<p>I have not space to describe Mademoiselle Guimard's private theatre,<a name="FNanchor_53_53" id="FNanchor_53_53"></a><a href="#Footnote_53_53" class="fnanchor">[53]</a>
-nor to speak of her <i>liaison</i> with the Prince de Soubise, nor of her
-elopement with a German prince, whom the Prince de Soubise pursued,
-wounding him and killing three of his servants, nor of her ultimate
-marriage with a humble "professor of graces" at the Conservatory of
-Paris. I must mention, however, that in her decadence Madeleine Guimard
-visited London (a dozen Princes de Soubise would have followed her with
-drawn swords if she had attempted to leave Paris during her prime); and
-that Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the author of the interesting "Musical
-Reminiscences," saw her dance at the King's Theatre in the year 1789.
-This was the year of the taking of the Bastille, when a Parisian artist
-might well have been glad to make a little tour abroad. The dancers who
-had appeared at the beginning of the season had been insufferably bad,
-and the manager was at last compelled to send to Paris for more and
-better performers.<a name="vol_1_page_300" id="vol_1_page_300"></a> Amongst them, says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "came the
-famous Mademoiselle Guimard, then near sixty years old, but still full
-of grace and gentility, and she had never possessed more." Madeleine
-Guimard had ceased to be the rage in Paris for nearly ten years, ("<i>Vers
-1780</i>," says M. A. Houssaye, in his "Galerie du Dix-huitième Siècle",
-<i>elle tomba peu Ă  peu dans l'oubli</i>"), but she was not sixty or even
-fifty years of age when she came to London. M. Castil Blaze, an
-excellent authority in such matters, tells us in his "<i>Histoire de
-l'Académie Royale de Musique</i>," that she was born in 1743.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE VESTRIS FAMILY.</div>
-
-<p>By way of contrast to Madeleine Guimard, I may call attention to
-Mademoiselle Théodore, a young, pretty and accomplished <i>danseuse</i>, who
-hesitated before she embraced a theatrical career, and actually
-consulted Jean Jacques Rousseau on the subject; who remained virtuous
-even on the boards of the Académie Royale; and who married Dauberval,
-the celebrated dancer, as any respectable <i>bourgeoise</i> (if Dauberval had
-not been a dancer) might have done. Perhaps some aspiring but timid and
-scrupulous Mademoiselle Théodore of the present day would like to know
-what Rousseau thought about the perils of the stage? He replied to the
-letter of the <i>danseuse</i> that he could give her no advice as to her
-conduct if she determined to join the Opera; that in his own quiet path
-he found it difficult to lead a pure<a name="vol_1_page_301" id="vol_1_page_301"></a> irreproachable life: how then
-could he guide her in one which was surrounded with dangers and
-temptations?</p>
-
-<p>Vestris, I mean Vestris the First, the founder of the family, was as
-celebrated as Mademoiselle Guimard for his youthfulness in old age. M.
-Castil Blaze, the historian of the French Opera, saw him fifty-two years
-after his <i>début</i> at the Académie, which took place in 1748, and
-declares that he danced with as much success as ever, going through the
-steps of the minuet "<i>avec autant de grâce que de noblesse</i>." Gaetan
-left the stage soon after the triumphant success of his son Auguste, but
-re-appeared and took part in certain special performances in 1795, 1799
-and 1800. On the occasion of the young Vestris's <i>début</i>, his father, in
-court dress, sword at side, and hat in hand, appeared with him on the
-stage. After a short but dignified address to the public on the
-importance of the art he professed, and the hopes he had formed of the
-inheritor of his name, he turned to Auguste and said, "Now, my son,
-exhibit your talent to the public! Your father is looking at you!"</p>
-
-<p>The Vestris family, which was very numerous, and very united, always
-went in a body to the opera when Auguste danced, and at other times made
-a point of stopping away. "Auguste is a better dancer than I am," the
-old Vestris would say; "he had Gaetan Vestris for his father, an
-advantage which nature refused me."<a name="vol_1_page_302" id="vol_1_page_302"></a></p>
-
-<p>"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "<i>le dieu de la danse</i> (a title
-which he had himself given him) touches the ground from time to time, he
-does so in order not to humiliate his comrades."</p>
-
-<p>This notion appears to have inspired Moore with the lines he addressed
-in London to a celebrated dancer.</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i5">"&mdash;&mdash; You'd swear<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">When her delicate feet in the dance twinkle round,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">That her steps are of light, that her home is the air,<br /></span>
-<span class="i0">And she only <i>par complaisance</i> touches the ground."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE VESTRIS FAMILY.</div>
-
-<p>The Vestrises (whose real name was <i>Vestri</i>) came from Florence. Gaetan,
-known as <i>le beau Vestris</i>, had three brothers, all dancers, and this
-illustrious family has had representatives for upwards of a century in
-the best theatres of Italy, France and England. The last celebrated
-dancer of the name who appeared in England, was Charles Vestris, whose
-wife was the sister of Ronzi di Begnis. Charles Vestris was Auguste's
-nephew. His father, Auguste's brother, was Stefano Vestris, a stage poet
-of no ability, and Mr. Ebers, in his "Seven Years of the King's
-Theatre,"<a name="FNanchor_54_54" id="FNanchor_54_54"></a><a href="#Footnote_54_54" class="fnanchor">[54]</a> tells us (giving us therein another proof of the excellent
-<i>esprit de famille</i> which always animated the Vestrises) that when
-Charles Vestris and his wife entered into their annual engagement, "the
-poet was invariably included in the agreement, at a rate of
-remuneration<a name="vol_1_page_303" id="vol_1_page_303"></a> for his services to which his consanguinity to those
-performers was his chief title."</p>
-
-<p>We can form some notion of Auguste Vestris's style from that of Perrot
-(now ballet-master at the St. Petersburgh Opera), who was his favourite
-pupil, and who is certainly by far the most graceful and expressive
-dancer that the opera goers of the present day have seen.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="c">END OF VOL. I.</p>
-
-<h1>HISTORY<br /><br />
-<small>OF</small><br /><br />
-<big>T H E &nbsp; O P E R A,</big></h1>
-
-<p class="eng">from its Origin in Italy to the present Time.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="cb">WITH ANECDOTES<br />
-OF THE MOST CELEBRATED COMPOSERS AND VOCALISTS OF EUROPE.<br />
-<br /><br />
-BY<br />
-<big><big>SUTHERLAND EDWARDS,</big></big><br />
-AUTHOR OF "RUSSIANS AT HOME," ETC.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="cb">"QUIS TAM DULCIS SONUS QUI MEAS COMPLET AURES?"<br />
-"WHAT IS ALL THIS NOISE ABOUT?"<br />&nbsp;<br />&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="cb">VOL. II.<br /><br />
-LONDON:<br />
-W<small>M</small>. H. ALLEN &amp; CO., 13, WATERLOO PLACE.<br />
-&mdash;&mdash;<br />
-1862.</p>
-
-<p class="c">[<i>The right of translation and reproduction is reserved.</i>]</p>
-
-<p class="c">LONDON: LEWIS AND SON, PRINTERS, SWAN BUILDINGS, (49) MOORGATE STREET.
-</p>
-
-<h2><a name="CONTENTS2" id="CONTENTS2"></a>CONTENTS.</h2>
-
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="2" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:60%;">
-<tr><td align="right" colspan="2"><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XI">CHAPTER XI.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>The Opera in England at the end of the Eighteenth and beginning
-of the Nineteenth Century</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_001">1</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XII">CHAPTER XII.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Opera in France after the departure of Gluck</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_034">34</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIII">CHAPTER XIII.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>The French Opera before and after the Revolution</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_046">46</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIV">CHAPTER XIV.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Opera in Italy, Germany and Russia, during and in connection
-with the Republican and Napoleonic Wars.&mdash;Paisiello, Paer, Cimarosa, Mozart.&mdash;The Marriage of Figaro.&mdash;Don Giovanni</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_086">86</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XV">CHAPTER XV.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Manners and Customs at the London Opera half a century
-since</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_121">121</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVI">CHAPTER XVI.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Rossini and his Period</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_140">140</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVII">CHAPTER XVII.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Opera in France under the Consulate, Empire and Restoration</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_178">178</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XVIII">XVIII.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Donizetti and Bellini</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_226">226</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#CHAPTER_XIX">XIX.</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td>Rossini&mdash;Spohr&mdash;Beethoven&mdash;Weber and Hoffmann</td><td align="center" valign="bottom"><a href="#vol_2_page_282">282</a></td></tr>
-
-<tr><td align="center" colspan="2"><a href="#INDEX">Index to Both Volumes</a></td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<p><a name="vol_2_page_001" id="vol_2_page_001"></a></p>
-
-<h1>HISTORY OF THE OPERA.</h1>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XI" id="CHAPTER_XI"></a>CHAPTER XI.</h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>THE OPERA IN ENGLAND AT THE END OF THE EIGHTEENTH AND BEGINNING OF
-THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">H<small>ITHERTO</small> I have been obliged to trace the origin and progress of the
-Opera in various parts of Europe. At present there is one Opera for all
-the world, that is to say, the same operatic works are performed every
-where, if not,</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"De Paris Ă  PĂ©kin, de Japon jusqu'Ă  Rome,"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p class="nind">at least, in a great many other equally distant cities, and which
-Boileau never heard of; as, for instance, from St. Petersburgh to
-Philadelphia, and from New Orleans to Melbourne. But for the French
-Revolution, and the Napoleonic wars, the universality of Opera would
-have been attained long since. The<a name="vol_2_page_002" id="vol_2_page_002"></a> directors of the French Opera, after
-producing the works of Gluck and Piccinni, found it impossible, as we
-shall see in the next chapter, to attract the public by means of the
-ancient <i>répertoire</i>, and were obliged to call in the modern Italian
-composers to their aid. An Italian troop was engaged to perform at the
-Académie Royale, alternately with the French company, and the best opera
-buffas of Piccinni, Traetta, Paisiello, and Anfossi were represented,
-first in Italian, and afterwards in French. Sacchini and Salieri were
-engaged to compose operas on French texts specially for the Académie. In
-1787, Salieri's <i>Tarare</i> (libretto by Beaumarchais),<a name="FNanchor_55_55" id="FNanchor_55_55"></a><a href="#Footnote_55_55" class="fnanchor">[55]</a> was brought out
-with immense success; the same year, the same theatre saw the production
-of Paisiello's <i>Il re Teodoro</i>, translated into French; and, also the
-same year, Paisiello's <i>Marchese di Tulipano</i> was played at Versailles,
-by a detachment from the Italian company engaged at our own King's
-Theatre.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA AT VERSAILLES.</div>
-
-<p>This is said to have been the first instance of an Italian troop
-performing alternately in London and in Paris. A proposition had been
-made under the Regency of Philip of Orleans, for the engagement of
-Handel's celebrated company;<a name="FNanchor_56_56" id="FNanchor_56_56"></a><a href="#Footnote_56_56" class="fnanchor">[56]</a> but, although the agreement was drawn
-up and signed, from various causes, and principally through the jealousy
-of the<a name="vol_2_page_003" id="vol_2_page_003"></a> "Academicians," it was never carried out. The London-Italian
-company of 1787 performed at Versailles, before the Court and a large
-number of aristocratic subscribers, many of whom had been solicited to
-support the enterprise by the queen herself. Storace, the <i>prima donna
-assoluta</i> of the King's Theatre, would not accompany the other singers
-to Paris. Madame Benini, however, the <i>altra prima donna</i> went, and
-delighted the French amateurs. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his interesting
-volume of "Musical Reminiscences," tells us that she "had a voice of
-exquisite sweetness, and a finished taste and neatness in her manner of
-singing; but that she had so little power, that she could not be heard
-to advantage in so large a theatre: her performance in a small one was
-perfect." Among the other vocalists who made the journey from London to
-Paris, were Mengozzi the tenor, who was Madame Benini's husband, and
-Morelli the bass. "The latter had a voice of great power, and good
-quality, and he was a very good actor. Having been running footman to
-Lord Cowper at Florence," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "he could not
-be a great musician." Benini, Mengozzi, and Morelli, again visited Paris
-in 1788, but did not make their appearance there in 1789, the year of
-the taking of the Bastille. The <i>répertoire</i> of these singers included
-operas by Paisiello, Cimarosa, Sarti, and Anfossi, and they were
-particularly successful in Paisiello's <i>Gli Schiavi per Amore</i>. When
-this opera was produced in London<a name="vol_2_page_004" id="vol_2_page_004"></a> in 1787 (with Storace, not Benini, in
-the principal female part), it was so much admired that it ran to the
-end of the season without any change. Another Italian company gave
-several series of performances in Paris between 1789 and 1792, and then
-for nine years France was without any Italian Opera at all.</p>
-
-<p>Storace was by birth and parentage, on her mother's side, English; but
-she went early to Italy, "and," says the author from whom I have just
-quoted, "was never heard in this country till her reputation as the
-first buffa of her time was fully established." Her husband was Fisher,
-a violinist (whose portrait has been painted by Reynolds); but she never
-bore his name, and the marriage was rapidly followed by a separation.
-Mrs. Storace settled entirely in England, and after quitting the King's
-Theatre accepted an engagement at Drury Lane. Here English Opera was
-raised to a pitch of excellence previously unknown, thanks to her
-singing, together with that of Mrs. Crouch, Mrs. Bland, Kelly, and
-Bannister. The musical director was Mrs. Storace's brother, Stephen
-Storace, the arranger of the pasticcios entitled the <i>Haunted Tower</i>,
-and the <i>Siege of Belgrade</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADAME MARA.</div>
-
-<p>Madame Mara made her first appearance at the King's Theatre the year
-before Storace's <i>début</i>. She had previously sung in London at the
-Pantheon Concerts, and at the second Handel Festival (1785), in
-Westminster Abbey. I have already spoken of<a name="vol_2_page_005" id="vol_2_page_005"></a> this vocalist's
-performances and adventures at the court of Frederick the Great, at
-Vienna, and at Paris, where her worshippers at the Concerts Spirituels
-formed themselves into the sect of "Maratistes," as opposed to that of
-the "Todistes," or believers in Madame Todi.<a name="FNanchor_57_57" id="FNanchor_57_57"></a><a href="#Footnote_57_57" class="fnanchor">[57]</a></p>
-
-<p>Lord Mount Edgcumbe, during a visit to Paris, heard Madame Mara at one
-of the Concerts Spirituels, in the old theatre of the Tuileries. She had
-just returned from the Handel Commemoration, and sang, among other
-things, "I know that my Redeemer liveth," which was announced in the
-bills as being "Musique de Handel, paroles de <i>Milton</i>." "The French,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "had not the taste to like it."</p>
-
-<p>The first opera in which Madame Mara appeared at the King's Theatre was
-<i>Didone</i>, a pasticcio, in which four songs of different characters, by
-Sacchini, Piccinni, and two other composers, were introduced. She
-afterwards sang with Miss Cecilia Davies (<i>L'Inglesina</i>) in Sacchini's
-<i>Perseo</i>.</p>
-
-<p>At this period Handel's operas were already so much out of fashion,
-though esteemed as highly as ever by musicians and by the more venerable
-of connoisseurs, that when <i>Giulio Cesare</i> was revived, with Mara and
-Rubinelli (both of whom sang the music incomparably well), in the
-principal parts, it<a name="vol_2_page_006" id="vol_2_page_006"></a> had no success with the general public; nor were
-any of Handel's operas afterwards performed at the King's Theatre.
-<i>Giulio Cesare</i>, in which many of the most favourite songs from Handel's
-other operas ("Verdi prati," "Dove sei," "Rendi sereno il ciglio," and
-others) were interpolated, answered the purpose for which it was
-produced, and attracted George III. two or three times to the theatre.
-Moreover (to quote Lord Mount Edgcumbe's words), "it filled the house,
-by attracting the exclusive lovers of the old style, who held cheap all
-other operatic performances."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE PANTHEON.</div>
-
-<p>In 1789 (the year in which the supposed sexagenarian, Madeleine Guimard,
-"still full of grace and gentility," made her appearance) the King's
-Theatre was burnt to the ground&mdash;not without a suspicion of its having
-been maliciously set on fire, which was increased by the suspected
-person soon after committing suicide. Arrangements were made for
-carrying on the Opera at the little theatre in the Haymarket, where Mara
-was engaged as the first woman in serious operas, and Storace in comic.
-The company afterwards moved to the Pantheon, "which," says Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "in its original state was the largest and most beautiful room
-in London, and a very model of fine architecture. It was the
-chef-d'Ĺ“uvre of Wyatt, who himself contrived and executed its
-transformation, taking care not to injure any part of the building, and
-so concealing the columns and closing its dome, that it might be easily<a name="vol_2_page_007" id="vol_2_page_007"></a>
-restored after its temporary purpose was answered, it being then in
-contemplation to erect an entirely new and magnificent opera-house
-elsewhere, a project which could never be realised. Mr. Wyatt, by this
-conversion, produced one of the prettiest, and by far the most genteel
-and comfortable theatres I ever saw, of a moderate size and excellent
-shape, and admirably adapted both for seeing and hearing. There the
-regular Opera was successfully carried on, with two very good companies
-and ballets. Pacchierotti, Mara, and Lazzarini, a very pleasing singer
-with a sweet tenor voice, being at the head of the serious; and
-Casentini, a pretty woman and genteel actress, with Lazzarini, for
-tenor, Morelli and Ciprani principal buffos, composing the comic. This
-was the first time that Pacchierotti<a name="FNanchor_58_58" id="FNanchor_58_58"></a><a href="#Footnote_58_58" class="fnanchor">[58]</a> had met with a good <i>prima
-donna</i> since Madame Lebrun, and his duettos with Mara were the most
-perfect pieces of execution I ever heard. The operas in which they
-performed together were Sacchini's <i>Rinaldo</i> and Bertoni's <i>Quinto
-Fabio</i> revived, and a charming new one by Sarti, called <i>Idalide</i>, or
-<i>La Vergine del Sole</i>. The best comic were La Molinara, and La bella
-Pescatrice, by Guglielmi. On the whole I never enjoyed the opera so much
-as at this theatre."</p>
-
-<p>The Pantheon enterprise, however, like most operatic speculations in
-England, did not pay, and at the end of the first season (1791) the
-manager had incurred debts to the amount of thirty thousand<a name="vol_2_page_008" id="vol_2_page_008"></a> pounds. In
-the meanwhile the King's Theatre had been rebuilt, but the proprietor,
-now that the Opera was established at the Pantheon, found himself unable
-to obtain a license for dramatic performances, and had to content
-himself with giving concerts at which the principal singer was the
-celebrated David. It was proposed that the new Opera house should take
-the debts of the Pantheon, and with them its operatic license, but the
-offer was not accepted, and in 1792 the Pantheon was destroyed by
-fire&mdash;in this case the result, clearly, of accident.</p>
-
-<p>At last the schism which had divided the musical world was put an end
-to, and an arrangement was made for opening the King's Theatre in the
-winter of 1793. There was not time to bring over a new company, but one
-was formed out of the singers already in London, with Mara at their head
-and with Kelly for the tenor.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MR. MARA.</div>
-
-<p>Mara was now beginning to decline in voice and in popularity. When she
-was no longer engaged at the Italian Opera, she sang at concerts and for
-a short time at Covent Garden, where she appeared as "Polly" in <i>The
-Beggars' Opera</i>. She afterwards sang with the Drury Lane company while
-they performed at the King's Theatre during the rebuilding of their own
-house, which had been pulled down to be succeeded by a much larger one.
-She appeared in an English serious opera, called <i>Dido</i>, "in which,"
-says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "she retained one song of her <i>Didone</i>, the
-brilliant <i>bravura</i>, <i>Son Regina<a name="vol_2_page_009" id="vol_2_page_009"></a></i>. It did not greatly succeed, though
-the music was good and well sung. This is not surprising," he adds, "the
-serious opera being ill suited to our stage, and our language to
-recitative. None ever succeeded but Dr. Arne's <i>Artaxerxes</i>, which was,
-at first, supported by some Italian singers, Tenducci being the original
-Arbaces." It is noticeable that in the aforesaid English <i>Dido</i> Kelly
-was the tenor, while Mrs. Crouch took the part of first man, which at
-this time in Italy was always given to a sopranist.</p>
-
-<p>Madame Mara's husband, the ex-violinist of the Berlin orchestra, appears
-never to have been a good musician, and always an idle drunkard. His
-wife at last got disgusted with his habits, and probably, also, with his
-performance on the violin,<a name="FNanchor_59_59" id="FNanchor_59_59"></a><a href="#Footnote_59_59" class="fnanchor">[59]</a> for she went off with a flute-player
-named Florio to Russia, where she lived for many years. When she was
-about seventy she re-appeared in England and gave a concert at the
-King's Theatre, but without any sort of success. Her wonderful powers
-were said to have returned, but when she sang her voice was generally
-compared to a penny trumpet. Madame Mara then returned to Moscow, where
-she suffered greatly by the fire of 1812. She afterwards resided at some
-town in the Baltic provinces, and died there at a very advanced age.</p>
-
-<p>The next great vocalist who visited England after<a name="vol_2_page_010" id="vol_2_page_010"></a> Mara's <i>début</i>, was
-Banti. She had commenced life as a street singer; but her fine voice
-having attracted the attention of De Vismes, the director of the
-Académie, he told her to come to him at the Opera, where the future
-<i>prima donna</i>, after hearing an air of Sacchini's three times, sang it
-perfectly from beginning to end. De Vismes at once engaged her; and soon
-afterwards she made her first appearance with the most brilliant
-success. Although Banti was now put under the best masters, she was of
-such an indolent, careless disposition, that she never could be got to
-learn even the first elements of music. Nevertheless, she was so happily
-endowed by nature, that it gave her no trouble to perfect herself in the
-most difficult parts; and whatever she sang, she rendered with the most
-charming expression imaginable. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, who does not
-mention the fact of her having sung at the French Opera, says that Banti
-was the most delightful singer he ever heard (though, when she appeared
-at the King's Theatre in 1799, she must have been forty-two years of
-age<a name="FNanchor_60_60" id="FNanchor_60_60"></a><a href="#Footnote_60_60" class="fnanchor">[60]</a>); and tells us that, "in her, genius supplied the place of
-science; and the most correct ear, with the most exquisite taste,
-enabled her to sing with more effect, more expression, and more apparent
-knowledge of her art, than many much better professors."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BANTI.</div>
-
-<p>It is said of Banti, that when she was singing in Paris, though she
-never made the slightest mistake<a name="vol_2_page_011" id="vol_2_page_011"></a> in concerted pieces, she sometimes
-executed her airs after a very strange fashion. For instance: in the
-<i>allegro</i> of a cavatina, after singing the principal motive, and the
-intermediary phrase or "second part," she would, in a fit of absence,
-re-commence the air from the very beginning; go on with it until the
-turning point at the end of the second part; again re-commence and
-continue this proceeding, until at last the conductor warned her that
-next time she had better think of terminating the piece. In the
-meanwhile the public, delighted with Banti's voice, is said to have been
-quite satisfied with this novel mode of performance.</p>
-
-<p>Banti made her <i>début</i> in England in Bianchi's <i>Semiramide</i>, in which
-she introduced an air from one of Guglielmi's oratorios, with a violin
-<i>obbligato</i> accompaniment, played first by Cramer, afterward by Viotti,
-Salomon, and Weichsell, the brother of Mrs. Billington. This song was of
-great length, and very fatiguing; but Banti was always encored in it,
-and never omitted to repeat it.</p>
-
-<p>At her benefit in the following year (1800) Banti performed in an opera,
-founded on the <i>Zenobia</i> of Metastasio, by Lord Mount Edgcumbe, the
-author of the interesting "Reminiscences," to which, in the course of
-the present chapter I shall frequently have to refer. The "first man's"
-part was allotted to Roselli, a sopranist, who, however, had to transfer
-it to Viganoni, a tenor. Roselli, whose voice was failing him, soon
-afterwards left the country; and no other male<a name="vol_2_page_012" id="vol_2_page_012"></a> soprano made his
-appearance at the King's Theatre until the arrival of Velluti, who sang
-twenty-five years afterwards in Meyerbeer's <i>Crociato</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Banti's favourite operas were Gluck's <i>Alceste</i>, in which she was called
-upon to repeat three of her airs every night; the <i>Iphigénie en
-Tauride</i>, by the same author; Paisiello's <i>Elfrida</i>, and <i>Nina</i> or <i>La
-Pazza per Amore</i>; Nasolini's<a name="FNanchor_61_61" id="FNanchor_61_61"></a><a href="#Footnote_61_61" class="fnanchor">[61]</a> <i>Mitridate</i>; and several operas by
-Bianchi, composed expressly for her.</p>
-
-<p>Before Banti's departure from England, she prevailed on Mrs. Billington
-to perform with her on the night of her benefit, leaving to the latter
-the privilege of assuming the principal character in any opera she might
-select. <i>Merope</i> was chosen. Mrs. Billington took the part of the
-heroine, and Banti that of "Polifonte," though written for a tenor
-voice. The curiosity to hear these two celebrated singers in the same
-piece was so great, that the theatre was filled with what we so often
-read of in the newspapers, but so seldom see in actual life,&mdash;"an
-overflowing audience;" many ladies being obliged, for want of better
-places, to find seats on the stage.</p>
-
-<p>Banti died at Bologna, in 1806, bequeathing her larynx (of extraordinary
-size) to the town, the municipality of which caused it to be duly
-preserved in a glass bottle. Poor woman! she had by time dissipated the
-whole of her fortune, and had nothing else to leave.<a name="vol_2_page_013" id="vol_2_page_013"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MRS. BILLINGTON.</div>
-
-<p>Mrs. Billington, Banti's contemporary, after singing not only in
-England, but at all the best theatres of Italy, left the stage in 1809.
-In 1794, while she was engaged at Naples, at the San Carlo, a violent
-eruption of Mount Vesuvius took place, which the Neapolitans attributed
-to the presence of an English heretic on their stage. Mrs. Billington's
-friends were even alarmed for her personal safety, when, fortunately,
-the eruption ceased, and the audience, relieved of their superstitious
-fears, applauded the admirable vocalist in all liberty and confidence.
-Mrs. Billington was an excellent musician, and before coming out as a
-singer had distinguished herself in early life (when Miss Weichsell) as
-a pianoforte player. She appears to have been but an indifferent
-actress, and, in her singing, to have owed her success less to her
-expression than to her "agility," which is said to have been marvellous.
-Her execution was distinguished by the utmost neatness and precision.
-Her voice was sweet and flexible, but not remarkable for fulness of
-tone, which formed the great beauty of Banti's singing. Mrs. Billington
-appeared with particular success in Bach's <i>Clemenza di Scipione</i>, in
-which the part of the heroine had been originally played in England by
-Miss Davies (<i>L'Inglesina</i>); Paisiello's <i>Elfrida</i>; Winter's <i>Armida</i>,
-and <i>Castore e Polluce</i>; and Mozart's <i>Clemenza di Tito</i>&mdash;the first of
-that master's works ever performed in England. At this time, neither the
-<i>Nozze di Figaro</i>, nor Mozart's other masterpiece, <i>Don Giovanni</i>
-(produced<a name="vol_2_page_014" id="vol_2_page_014"></a> at Prague in 1787), seem to have been at all known either in
-England or in France.</p>
-
-<p>After Banti's departure from England, and while Mrs. Billington was
-still at the King's Theatre, Grassini was engaged to sing alternately
-with the latter vocalist. She made her first appearance in <i>La Vergine
-del Sole</i> an opera by Mayer (the future preceptor of Donizetti), but in
-this work she succeeded more through her acting and her beauty than by
-her singing. Indeed, so equivocal was her reception, that on the
-occasion of her benefit, she felt it desirable to ask Mrs. Billington to
-appear with her. Mrs. Billington consented; and Winter composed an opera
-called <i>Il Ratto di Proserpina</i>, specially for the rival singers, Mrs.
-Billington taking the part of "Ceres," and Grassini that of
-"Proserpine." Now the tide of favour suddenly turned, and we are told
-that Grassini's performance gained all the applause; and that "her
-graceful figure, her fine expression of face, together with the sweet
-manner in which she sang several simple airs, stamped her at once the
-reigning favourite." Indeed, not only was Grassini rapturously applauded
-in public, but she was "taken up by the first society, <i>fĂŞted</i>,
-caressed, and introduced as a regular guest in most of the fashionable
-assemblies." "Of her <i>private</i> claims to that distinction," adds Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, "it is best to be silent; but her manners and exterior
-behaviour were proper and genteel."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BRAHAM.</div>
-
-<p>At this period 1804-5, the tenors at the King's<a name="vol_2_page_015" id="vol_2_page_015"></a> Theatre were Viganoni
-and Braham. Respecting the latter, who, in England, France and Italy, in
-English and in Italian operas, on the stage and in concert rooms, must
-have sung altogether for something like half a century, I must again
-quote the author of "Musical Reminiscences," who heard him in his prime.
-"All must acknowledge," he says, "that his voice is of the finest
-quality, of great power and occasional sweetness. It is equally certain
-that he has great knowledge of music, and <i>can</i> sing extremely well. It
-is therefore the more to be regretted that he should ever do otherwise;
-that he should ever quit the natural register of his voice by raising it
-to an unpleasant falsetto, or force it by too violent exertion; that he
-should depart from a good style, and correct taste, which he knows and
-can follow as well as any man, to adopt at times the over-florid and
-frittered Italian manner; at others, to fall into the coarseness and
-vulgarity of the English. The fact is, that he can be two distinct
-singers, according to the audience before whom he performs, and that to
-gain applause he condescends to sing as ill at the playhouse as he has
-done well at the Opera. His compositions have the same variety, and he
-can equally write a popular noisy song for the one, or its very
-opposite, for the other. A duetto of his, introduced into the opera of
-<i>Gli Orazj</i>, sung by himself and Grassini, had great beauty, and was in
-excellent taste. * * * * Braham has done material injury to English
-singing, by producing a host of imitators.<a name="vol_2_page_016" id="vol_2_page_016"></a> What is in itself not good,
-but may be endured from a fine performer, becomes insufferable in bad
-imitation. Catalani has done less mischief, only because her powers are
-<i>unique</i>, and her astonishing execution unattainable. Many men endeavour
-to rival Braham, no woman can aspire to being a Catalani."</p>
-
-<p>When both Grassini and Mrs. Billington retired, (1806), the place of
-both was supplied by the celebrated Catalani, the vocal queen of her
-time. She made her first appearance in Portogallo's <i>Semiramide</i>, (which
-is said to have been a very inferior opera to Bianchi's, on the same
-subject), and, among other works, had to perform in the <i>Clemenza di
-Tito</i>, of Mozart, whose music she is said to have disliked on the ground
-that it kept the singer too much under the control of the orchestra.
-Nevertheless, she introduced the <i>Nozze di Figaro</i> into England, and
-herself played the part of "Susanna" with admirable success.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CATALANI.</div>
-
-<p>"Her voice," says Ferrari (Jacques Godefroi, a pupil of Paisiello), "was
-sonorous, powerful, and full of charm and suavity. This organ, of so
-rare a beauty, might be compared for splendour to the voice of Banti;
-for expression, to that of Grassini; for sweet energy, to that of Pasta;
-uniting the delicious flexibility of Sontag to the three registers of
-Malibran. Madame Catalani had formed her style on that of Pacchierotti,
-Marchesi, Crescentini;<a name="FNanchor_62_62" id="FNanchor_62_62"></a><a href="#Footnote_62_62" class="fnanchor">[62]</a> her groups, roulades, triplets, and
-<i>mordenti</i>, were of admirable<a name="vol_2_page_017" id="vol_2_page_017"></a> perfection; her well articulated
-execution lost nothing of its purity in the most rapid and most
-difficult passages. She animated the singers, the chorus, the orchestra,
-even in the finales and concerted pieces. Her beautiful notes rose above
-and dominated the <i>ensemble</i> of the voices and instruments; nor could
-Beethoven, Rossini or any other musical Lucifer, have covered this
-divine voice with the tumult of the orchestra. Our <i>virtuosa</i> was not a
-profound musician; but, guided by what she did know, and by her
-practised ear, she could learn in a moment the most complicated pieces."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"Her firm, strong, brilliant, voluminous voice was of a most agreeable
-<i>timbre</i>," says Castil Blase; "it was an admirable soprano of prodigious
-compass, from <i>la</i> to the upper <i>sol</i>, marvellous in point of agility,
-and producing a sensation difficult to describe. Madame Catalani's
-manner of singing left something to desire in the noble, broad,
-sustained style. Mesdames Grassini and Barilli surpassed her on this
-point, but with regard to difficulties of execution and <i>brio</i>, Madame
-Catalani could ring out one of her favourite airs and exclaim, <i>Son
-Regina!</i> She was then without a rival. I never heard anything like it.
-She excelled in chromatic passages, ascending and descending, of extreme
-rapidity. Her execution, marvellous in audacity, made talents of the
-first order pale before it, and instrumentalists no longer dared figure
-by her side. When Tulou, however, presented himself, his flute<a name="vol_2_page_018" id="vol_2_page_018"></a> was
-applauded with enthusiasm after Madame Catalani's voice. The experiment
-was a dangerous one, and the victory was only the more brilliant for the
-adventurous young artist. There was no end to the compliments addressed
-to him on his success."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>On her way to London, in the summer of 1806, Catalani, whose reputation
-was then at its height, passed through Paris, and sang before the
-Emperor at St. Cloud. Napoleon gave her 5,000 francs for this
-performance, besides a pension of 1,200 francs, and the use of the
-Opera, with all expences paid, for two concerts, of which the receipts
-amounted to 49,000 francs. The French emperor, during his victorious
-career, had acquired the habit of carrying off singers as captives, and
-enrolling them, in spite of themselves, in his musical service. The same
-dictatorial system, however, failed when applied to Catalani.</p>
-
-<p>"Where are you going, that you wish to leave Paris?" said Napoleon.</p>
-
-<p>"To London, Sire," answered the singer.</p>
-
-<p>"You must remain in Paris," replied Napoleon, "you will be well paid and
-your talents will be better appreciated here. You will have a hundred
-thousand francs a year, and two months' leave of absence. That is
-settled. Adieu, Madame."</p>
-
-<p>Catalani went away without daring to say that she did not mean to break
-her engagement with the manager of the King's Theatre. In order to keep
-it she was obliged to embark secretly at Morlaix.<a name="vol_2_page_019" id="vol_2_page_019"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CATALANI.</div>
-
-<p>I have spoken of this celebrated vocalist's first appearance in London,
-and, having given an Italian and a French account of her singing, I may
-as well complete the description by quoting the remarks made by an
-Englishman, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, on her voice and style of execution.</p>
-
-<p>"It is well known," he says, "that her voice is of a most uncommon
-quality, and capable of exertions almost supernatural. Her throat seems
-endued (as has been remarked by medical men) with a power of expansion
-and muscular motion by no means usual, and when she throws out all her
-voice to the utmost, it has a volume and strength that are quite
-surprising, while its agility in divisions, running up and down the
-scale in semi-tones, and its compass in jumping over two octaves at
-once, are equally astonishing. It were to be wished she was less lavish
-in the display of these wonderful powers, and sought to please more than
-to surprise; but her taste is vicious, her excessive love of ornament
-spoiling every simple air, and her greatest delight (indeed her chief
-merit) being in songs of a bold and spirited character, where much is
-left to her discretion (or indiscretion) without being confined by
-accompaniment, but in which she can indulge in <i>ad libitum</i> passages
-with a luxuriance and redundancy no other singer ever possessed, or if
-possessing, ever practised, and which she carries to a fantastical
-excess. She is fond of singing variations on some known simple air, and
-latterly has pushed this taste to the very height of absurdity,<a name="vol_2_page_020" id="vol_2_page_020"></a> by
-singing, even without words, variations composed for the fiddle."</p>
-
-<p>Allusion is here doubtless made to the <i>air varié</i> by Pierre Rode, the
-violinist, which, from Catalani to Alboni and our own Louisa Pyne, has
-been such a favourite show-piece with all vocalists of brilliant
-executive powers, more especially in England. The vocal variations on
-Rode's air, however, were written in London, specially for Catalani, by
-Drouet the flute-player.</p>
-
-<p>Catalani returned to Paris in October, 1815, when there was no longer
-any chance of Napoleon reproaching her for her abrupt departure nine
-years before. She solicited and obtained the "privilege" of the Italian
-theatre; but here the celebrated system of her husband, M. Valabrèque
-(in which the best possible operatic company consisted only of <i>ma femme
-et trois ou quatre poupées</i>) quite broke down. Madame Catalani gave up
-the theatre, with the subvention of 160,000 francs allowed her by the
-government, in 1818, M. Valabrèque having previously enunciated in a
-pamphlet the reasons which led to this abandonment. Great expenses had
-been incurred in fitting up the theatre, and, moreover, the management
-had been forced to pay its rent. The pamphlet concluded with a paragraph
-which was scarcely civil on the part of a foreigner who had been most
-hospitably received, towards a nation situated as France was just then.
-It is sufficiently curious to be quoted.<a name="vol_2_page_021" id="vol_2_page_021"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">M. VALABREQUE.</div>
-
-<p>"Consider, moreover," said the discomforted director, or rather the
-discomforted husband of the directress, "that in the time when several
-provinces beyond the mountains belonged to France, twenty thousand
-Italians were constantly attracted to the capital and supplied numerous
-audiences for the Italian theatre; that, moreover, the artists who were
-chiefly remarked at the theatres of Milan, Florence, Venice and Genoa,
-could be engaged for Paris by order of the government, and that in such
-a case the administration was reimbursed for a portion of the extra
-engagements."</p>
-
-<p>Catalani had left the King's Theatre in 1813, two years before she
-assumed the management of the Italian Theatre of Paris. With some brief
-intervals she had been singing in London since 1806, and after quitting
-England, she was for many years without appearing on any stage, if we
-except the short period during which she directed the Théâtre Feydau.
-Her terms were so inordinate that managers were naturally afraid of
-them, and Catalani found it more to her advantage to travel about
-Europe, giving concerts at which she was the sole performer of
-importance, than to accept such an engagement as could be offered to her
-at a theatre. She gave several concerts of this kind in England, whither
-she returned twice after she had ceased to appear at the Opera. She is
-said to have obtained more success in England than in any other country,
-and least of all in Italy.<a name="vol_2_page_022" id="vol_2_page_022"></a></p>
-
-<p>When she appeared at the King's Theatre in 1824, and sang in Mayer's
-<i>Fanatico per la Musica</i>, the frequenters of the Opera, who remembered
-her performance in the same work eighteen years before, were surprised
-that so long an interval had produced so little change in the singer.
-The success of the first night was prodigious; but Mr. Ebers (in his
-"Seven Years of the King's Theatre"), tells us that "repetitions of this
-opera, again and again, diminished the audiences most perceptibly,
-though some new air was on each performance introduced, to display the
-power of the Catalani. * * * In this opera the sweet and soothing voice
-of Caradori was an agreeable relief to the bewildering force of the
-great wonder."</p>
-
-<p>In one season of four months in London, Madame Catalani, by her system
-of concerts, gained upwards of ten thousand pounds, and doubled that sum
-during a subsequent tour in the provinces, in Ireland and Scotland. She
-sang for the last time in public at Dublin, in 1828.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CATALANI'S AGREEMENT</div>
-
-<p>As to the sort of engagement she approved of, some notion may be formed
-from the following draft of a contract submitted by her to Mr. Ebers in
-1826:&mdash;&mdash;<a name="vol_2_page_023" id="vol_2_page_023"></a></p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p class="c">"<i>Conditions between Mr. Ebers and M. P. de Valabrèque.</i></p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"1. Every box and every admission shall be considered as belonging
-to the management. The free admissions shall be given with paper
-orders, and differently shaped from the paid tickets. Their number
-shall be limited. The manager, as well as Madame Catalani, shall
-each have a good box.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"2. Madame Catalani shall choose and direct the operas in which she
-is to sing; she shall likewise have the choice of the performers in
-them; she will have no orders to receive from any one; she will
-find all her own dresses.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"3. Madame Catalani shall have two benefits, to be divided with the
-manager; Madame Catalani's share shall be free: she will fix her
-own days.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"4. Madame Catalani and her husband shall have a right to
-superintend the receipts.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"5. Every six weeks Madame Catalani shall receive the payment of
-her share of the receipts, and of the subscription.<a name="vol_2_page_024" id="vol_2_page_024"></a></p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"6. Madame Catalani shall sing at no other place but the King's
-Theatre, during the season; in the concerts or oratorios, where she
-may sing, she will be entitled to no other share but that specified
-as under.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"7. During the season, Madame Catalani shall be at liberty to go to
-Bath, Oxford, or Cambridge.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"8. Madame Catalani shall not sing oftener than her health will
-allow her. She promises to contribute to the utmost of her power to
-the good of the theatre. On his side, Mr. Ebers engages to treat
-Madame Catalani with every possible care.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"9. This engagement, and these conditions, will be binding for this
-season, which will begin and end and continue during all the
-seasons that the theatre shall be under the management of Mr.
-Ebers, unless Madame Catalani's health, or state of her voice,
-should not allow her to continue.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CATALANI'S AGREEMENT</div>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"10. Madame Catalani, in return for the conditions above mentioned,
-shall receive the half part of the amount of all the receipts which
-shall be made in the course of the season, including the
-subscription to the boxes, the amount of those sold separately, the
-monies received at the doors of the theatre, and of the
-concert-room; in short, the said<a name="vol_2_page_025" id="vol_2_page_025"></a> half part of the general receipts
-of the theatre for the season.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"11. It is well understood that Madame Catalani's share shall be
-free from every kind of deduction, it being granted her in lieu of
-salary. It is likewise well understood, that every expense of the
-theatre during the season shall be Mr. Ebers'; such as the rent of
-the theatre, the performers' salaries, the tradespeople's bills; in
-short, every possible expense; and Madame Catalani shall be
-entirely exonerated from any one charge.</p>
-
-<p>"This engagement shall be translated into English, taking care that
-the conditions shall remain precisely as in the original, and shall
-be so worded as to stipulate that Madame Catalani, on receiving her
-share of the receipts of the theatre, shall in no ways whatever be
-considered as partner of the manager of the establishment.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"12. The present engagement being made with the full approbation of
-both parties, Mr. Ebers and M. Valabrèque pledge their word of
-honour to fulfil it in every one of its parts."</p></div>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>I must now add that Madame Catalani, by all accounts,<a name="vol_2_page_026" id="vol_2_page_026"></a> possessed an
-excellent disposition, that her private life was irreproachable, and
-that while gaining immense sums, she also gave immense sums away in
-charity. Indeed, the proceeds of her concerts, for the benefit of the
-poor and sick have been estimated at eighty thousand pounds, besides
-which she performed numerous acts of generosity towards individuals. Nor
-does she appear to have possessed that excessive and exclusive
-admiration for Madame Catalani's talent which was certainly entertained
-by her husband, M. Valabrèque. Otherwise there can be no truth in the
-well known story of her giving, by way of homage, the shawl which had
-just been presented to her by the Empress of Russia, to a Moscow
-gipsey&mdash;one of those singing <i>tsigankie</i> who execute with such
-originality and true expression their own characteristic melodies.</p>
-
-<p>After having delighted the world for thirty-five years, Madame Catalani
-retired to a charming villa near Florence. The invasion of the cholera
-made her leave this retreat and go to Paris; where, in 1849, in her
-seventieth year, she fell a victim to the very scourge she had hoped to
-avoid.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">CELEBRATED SINGERS.</div>
-
-<p>As for the husband, Valabrèque, he appears to have been mean, officious,
-conceited (of his wife's talent!) and generally stupid. M. Castil Blaze
-solemnly affirms, that when Madame Catalani was rehearsing at the
-Italian Opera of Paris an air which she was to sing in the evening to a
-pianoforte accompaniment,<a name="vol_2_page_027" id="vol_2_page_027"></a> she found the instrument too high, and told
-Valabrèque to see that it was lowered; upon which (declares M. Blase)
-Valabrèque called for a carpenter and caused the unfortunate piano's
-feet to be amputated!</p>
-
-<p>"Still too high?" cried Madame Catalani's husband, when he was accused
-in the evening of having neglected her orders. "Why, how much did you
-lower it, Charles?" addressing the carpenter.</p>
-
-<p>"Two inches, Sir," was the reply.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The historian of the above anecdote calls Tamburini, Lablache, and
-Tadolini, as well as Rossini and Berryer, the celebrated advocate, to
-witness that the mutilated instrument had afterward four knobs of wood
-glued to its legs by the same Charles who executed in so faithful a
-manner M. Valabrèque's absurd behest. It continued to wear these pattens
-until its existence was terminated in the fire of 1838&mdash;in which by the
-way, the composer of <i>William Tell</i>, who at that time nominally directed
-the theatre, and who had apartments on the third floor, would inevitably
-have perished had he not left Paris for Italy the day before!</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Before concluding this chapter, I will refer once more to the "Musical
-Reminiscences" of Lord<a name="vol_2_page_028" id="vol_2_page_028"></a> Mount Edgcumbe, whose opinions on singers seem
-to me more valuable than those he has expressed about contemporary
-composers, and who had frequent and constant opportunities of hearing
-the five great female vocalists engaged at the King's Theatre, between
-the years 1786 and 1814.</p>
-
-<p>"They may be divided," he says, "into two classes, of which Madame Mara
-and Mrs. Billington form the first; and they were in most respects so
-similar, that the same observations will apply equally to both. Both
-were excellent musicians, thoroughly skilled in their profession; both
-had voices of uncommon sweetness and agility, particularly suited to the
-bravura style, and executed to perfection and with good taste, every
-thing they sung. But neither was an Italian, and consequently both were
-deficient in recitative: neither had much feeling or theatrical talent,
-and they were absolutely null as actresses; therefore they were more
-calculated to give pleasure in the concert-room than on the stage.</p>
-
-<p>The other three, on the contrary, had great and distinguished dramatic
-talents, and seemed born for the theatrical profession. They were all
-likewise but indifferently skilled in music, supplying by genius what
-they wanted in science, and thereby producing the greatest and most
-striking effects on the stage: these are their points of resemblance.
-Their distinctive differences, I should say, were these: Grassini was
-all grace, Catalani all fire, Banti all feeling."<a name="vol_2_page_029" id="vol_2_page_029"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GUGLIELMI.</div>
-
-<p>The composers, in whose music the above singers chiefly excelled, were
-Gluck, Piccinni, Guglielmi, Cimarosa, and Paisiello. We have seen that
-"Susanna" in the <i>Nozze di Figaro</i>, was one of Catalani's favourite
-parts; but as yet Mozart's music was very little known in England, and
-it was not until 1817 that his <i>Don Giovanni</i> was produced at the King's
-Theatre.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>After Gluck and Piccinni, the most admired composers, and the natural
-successors of the two great rivals in point of time, were Cimarosa and
-Paisiello. Guglielmi was considerably their senior, and on returning to
-Naples in 1777, after having spent fifteen years away from his country,
-in Vienna, and in London, he found that his two younger competitors had
-quite supplanted him in public favour. His works, composed between the
-years 1755 and 1762, had become antiquated, and were no longer
-performed. All this, instead of discouraging the experienced musician
-(Guglielmi was then fifty years of age) only inspired him with fresh
-energy. He found, however, a determined and unscrupulous adversary in
-Paisiello, who filled the theatre with his partisans the night on which
-Guglielmi was to produce his <i>Serva innamorata</i>, and occasioned such a
-disturbance, that for some time it was impossible to attend to the
-music.<a name="vol_2_page_030" id="vol_2_page_030"></a></p>
-
-<p>The noise was especially great at the commencement of a certain
-quintett, on which, it was said, the success of the work depended.
-Guglielmi was celebrated for the ingenuity and beauty of his concerted
-pieces, but there did not seem to be much chance, as affairs stood on
-this particular evening, of his quintett being heard at all.
-Fortunately, while it was being executed, the door of the royal box
-opened, and the king appeared. Instantly the most profound silence
-reigned throughout the theatre, the piece was recommenced, and Guglielmi
-was saved. More than that, the enthusiasm of the audience was raised,
-and went on increasing to such a point, that at the end of the
-performance the composer was taken from his box, and carried home in
-triumph to his hotel.</p>
-
-<p>From this moment Paisiello, with all his jealousy, was obliged to
-discontinue his intrigues against a musician, whom Naples had once more
-adopted. Cimarosa had taken no part in the plot against Guglielmi; but
-he was by no means delighted with Guglielmi's success. Prince San
-Severo, who admired the works of all three, invited them to a
-magnificent banquet where he made them embrace one another, and swear
-eternal friendship.<a name="FNanchor_63_63" id="FNanchor_63_63"></a><a href="#Footnote_63_63" class="fnanchor">[63]</a> Let us hope that he was not the cause of either
-of them committing perjury.<a name="vol_2_page_031" id="vol_2_page_031"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FINALES.</div>
-
-<p>Paisiello seems to have been an intriguer all his life, and to have been
-constantly in dread of rivals; though he probably had less reason to
-fear them than any other composer of the period. However, at the age of
-seventy-five, when he had given up writing altogether, we find him, a
-few months before his death, getting up a cabal against the youthful
-Rossini, who was indeed destined to eclipse him, and to efface even the
-memory of his <i>Barbiere di Siviglia</i>, by his own admirable opera on the
-same subject. It is as if, painting on the same canvas, he had simply
-painted out the work of his predecessor.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Cimarosa, though he may have possessed a more dignified sense than
-Paisiello of what was due to himself, had less vanity. A story is told
-of a painter wishing to flatter the composer of <i>Il Matrimonio
-Segretto</i>, and saying that he looked upon him as superior to Mozart.</p>
-
-<p>"Superior to Mozart!" exclaimed Cimarosa. "What should you think, Sir,
-of a musician, who told you that you were a greater painter than
-Raphael?"</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Among the other composers who adorned the end of the eighteenth and the
-beginning of the nineteenth century, may be mentioned Sacchini, the<a name="vol_2_page_032" id="vol_2_page_032"></a>
-successor of Piccinni in Paris; Salieri, the envious rival of Mozart,
-and (in Paris) the successor of Gluck; Paer, in whose <i>Camilla</i> Rossini
-played the child's part at the age of seven (1799); Mayer, the future
-master of Donizetti; and Zingarelli, the future master of Bellini, one
-of whose operas was founded on the same <i>libretto</i> which afterwards
-served the pupil for his <i>Capuletti i Montecchi</i>.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Piccinni is not connected in any direct manner with the present day; but
-it is nevertheless to Piccinni that we owe the first idea of those
-magnificent finales which, more than half a century afterwards,
-contributed so much to the success of Rossini's operas, and of which the
-first complete specimens, including several movements with changes of
-key and of rhythm, occur in <i>La Cecchina ossia la Buona Figliuola</i>,
-produced at Rome in 1760.</p>
-
-<p>Logroscino, who sometimes passes as the inventor of these finales, and
-who lived a quarter of a century earlier, wrote them only on one theme.</p>
-
-<p>The composer who introduced dramatic finales into serious opera, was
-Paisiello.</p>
-
-<p>It may interest the reader to know, that the finale of <i>Don Giovanni</i>
-lasts fifteen minutes.</p>
-
-<p>That of the <i>Barber of Seville</i> lasts twenty-one minutes and a-half.</p>
-
-<p>That of <i>Otello</i> lasts twenty-four minutes.<a name="vol_2_page_033" id="vol_2_page_033"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FINALES.</div>
-
-<p>The quintett of <i>Gazza Ladra</i> lasts twenty-seven minutes.</p>
-
-<p>The finale of <i>Semiramide</i> lasts half an hour&mdash;or perhaps a minute or
-two less, if we allow for the increased velocity at which quick
-movements are "taken" by the conductors of the present day.<a name="vol_2_page_034" id="vol_2_page_034"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XII" id="CHAPTER_XII"></a>CHAPTER XII.<br /><br />
-<small>OPERA IN FRANCE, AFTER THE DEPARTURE OF GLUCK.</small></h2>
-
-<p class="nind">A <small>FEW</small> months before Gluck left Paris for the last time, an insurrection
-broke out at the Opera. The revolutionary spirit was abroad in Paris.
-The success of the American War of Independence, the tumultuous meetings
-of the French Parliament, the increasing resistance to authority which
-now manifested itself everywhere in France; all these stimulants to
-revolt seem to have taken effect on the singers and dancers of the
-Académie. The company resolved to carry on the theatre itself, for its
-own benefit, and the director, Devismes, was called upon to abdicate.
-The principal insurgents held what they called "Congress," at the house
-of Madeleine Guimard, and the God of Dancing, Auguste Vestris, declared
-loudly that he was the Washington of the affair.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADEMOISELLE GUIMARD.</div>
-
-<p>Every day some fresh act of insubordination was committed, and the
-chiefs of the plot had to be<a name="vol_2_page_035" id="vol_2_page_035"></a> forced to appear on the stage by the
-direct interference of the police.</p>
-
-<p>"The minister desires me to dance," said Mademoiselle Guimard on one of
-these occasions; "<i>eh bien qu'il y prenne garde, je pourrais bien le
-faire sauter</i>."</p>
-
-<p>The influential leader just named conducted the intrigue with great
-skill and discretion.</p>
-
-<p>"One thing, above all!" she said to her fellow conspirators; "no
-combined resignations,&mdash;that is what ruined the Parliament."</p>
-
-<p>To the minister, Amelot, the destroyer and reconstructor of the
-Parliament of Dijon, Sophie Arnould observed, in reference to his
-interference with the affairs of the Académie&mdash;-</p>
-
-<p>"You should remember, that it is easier to compose a parliament than to
-compose an opera."</p>
-
-<p>Auguste Vestris having spoken very insolently to Devismes, the latter
-said to him&mdash;-</p>
-
-<p>"Do you know, sir, to whom you are speaking?"</p>
-
-<p>"To whom? to the farmer of my talent," replied the dancer.</p>
-
-<p>Things were brought to a crisis by the <i>fĂŞtes</i> given to celebrate the
-birth of Marie Antoinette's first child, December, 1778. The city of
-Paris proposed to spend enormous sums in festivities and illuminations;
-but the king and queen benevolently suggested that, instead of being
-wasted in useless display, the money should be given away in marriage
-portions to a hundred deserving young girls; and their majesties<a name="vol_2_page_036" id="vol_2_page_036"></a> gave
-fifty thousand francs themselves for the same object. Losing sight of
-the Opera for the moment, I must relate, in as few words as possible, a
-charming little anecdote that is told of one of the applicants for a
-dowry. Lise was the name of this innocent and <i>naĂŻve</i> young person, who,
-on being asked some question respecting her lover, replied, that she had
-none; and that she thought the municipality provided everything! The
-municipality found the necessary admirer, and could have had no
-difficulty in doing so, if we may judge from the graceful bust of Lise,
-executed in marble by the celebrated sculptor, Houdon.</p>
-
-<p>The Académie, which at this time belonged to the city, determined to
-follow its example, and to give away at least one marriage portion.
-Twelve hundred francs were subscribed and placed in the hands of
-Mademoiselle Guimard, the treasurer elect. The nuptial banquet was to
-take place at the winter Vauxhall (<i>Gallicè</i> "Wauxhall"); and all Paris
-was in a state of eager excitement to be present at what promised to be
-a most brilliant and original entertainment. It was not allowed,
-however, to take place, the authorities choosing to look upon it as a
-parody of the <i>fĂŞte</i> given by the city.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AUGUSTE VESTRIS.</div>
-
-<p>The doors of the "Wauxhall" being closed to the subscribers,
-Mademoiselle Guimard invited them to meet at her palace, in the Chaussée
-d'Antin. The municipality again interfered; and in the middle of the
-banquet Vestris and Dauberval were arrested by<a name="vol_2_page_037" id="vol_2_page_037"></a> <i>lettres de cachet</i> and
-taken to For-l'Evèque, on the ground that they had refused to dance the
-Tuesday previous in the <i>divertissement</i> of <i>Armide</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Gaetan Vestris was present at the arrest of his son, and excited the
-mirth of the assembly by the pompous, though affectionate, manner in
-which he bade him farewell. After embracing him tenderly, he said&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Go, Augustus; go to prison. This is the grandest day of your life! Take
-my carriage, and ask for the room of my friend, the King of Poland; and
-live magnificently&mdash;charge everything to me."</p>
-
-<p>On another occasion, when Gaetan was not so well pleased with his
-Augustus, he said to him:</p>
-
-<p>"What! the Queen of France does her duty, by requesting you to dance
-before the King of Sweden, and you do not do yours? You shall no longer
-bear my name. I will have no misunderstanding between the house of
-Vestris and the house of Bourbon; they have hitherto always lived on
-good terms."</p>
-
-<p>For his refusal to dance, Augustus was this time sentenced to six
-months' imprisonment; but the opera goers were so eager for his
-re-appearance that he was set free long before the expiration of the
-appointed term.</p>
-
-<p>He made his <i>rentrée</i> amid the groans and hisses of the audience, who
-seemed determined to give him a lesson for his impertinence.</p>
-
-<p>Then Gaetan, magnificently attired, appeared on the stage, and addressed
-the public as follows:&mdash;<a name="vol_2_page_038" id="vol_2_page_038"></a></p>
-
-<p>"You wish my son to go down on his knees. I do not say that he does not
-deserve your displeasure; but remember, that the dancer whom you have so
-often applauded has not studied the <i>pose</i> you now require of him."</p>
-
-<p>"Let him speak; let him endeavour to justify himself," cried a voice
-from the pit.</p>
-
-<p>"He <i>shall</i> speak; he <i>shall</i> justify himself," replied the father. And,
-turning to his son, he added: "Dance, Auguste!"</p>
-
-<p>Auguste danced; and every one in the theatre applauded.</p>
-
-<p>The orchestra took no part in the operatic insurrection; and we have
-seen that the musicians were not invited to contribute anything to the
-dowry, offered by the Académie to virtue in love and in distress. De
-Vismes proposed to reward his instrumentalists by giving up to them a
-third of the receipts from some special representation of Gluck's
-<i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i>. The band rejected the offer, as not sufficiently
-liberal, and by refusing to play on the evening in question, made the
-performance a failure.</p>
-
-<p>The Academic revolt was at last put an end to, by the city of Paris
-cancelling de Vismes's lease, and taking upon itself the management of
-the theatre, de Vismes receiving a large sum in compensation, and the
-appointment of director at a fixed salary.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BEAUMARCHAIS AND GLUCK.</div>
-
-<p>Beaumarchais, while assisting the national revolution with the <i>Marriage
-of Figaro</i>, is known to have<a name="vol_2_page_039" id="vol_2_page_039"></a> aided in a more direct manner the
-revolution which was now imminent at the opera. It is said, that he was
-anxious to establish an operatic republic in the hope of being made
-president of it himself. He is known to have been a good musician. I
-have spoken of his having held the honourable, if not lucrative, post of
-music-master to the daughters of Louis XV. (by whom he was as well paid
-as was Piccinni by that monarch's successor);<a name="FNanchor_64_64" id="FNanchor_64_64"></a><a href="#Footnote_64_64" class="fnanchor">[64]</a> and a better proof of
-his talent is afforded, by his having composed all the music of his
-<i>Barber of Seville</i> and <i>Marriage of Figaro</i>, except the air of
-<i>Malbrook</i> in the latter comedy.</p>
-
-<p>Beaumarchais had been much impressed by the genius of Gluck. He met him
-one evening in the <i>foyer</i> of the Opera, and spoke to him so clearly and
-so well about music that the great composer said to him: "You must
-surely be M. de Beaumarchais." They agreed to write an opera together,
-and some years afterwards, when Gluck had left Paris for Vienna, the
-poet sent the composer the <i>libretto</i> of <i>Tarare</i>. Gluck wrote to say
-that he was delighted with the work, but that he was now too old to
-undertake the task of setting it to music, and would entrust it to his
-favourite pupil, Salieri.<a name="vol_2_page_040" id="vol_2_page_040"></a></p>
-
-<p>Gluck benefited French opera in two ways. He endowed the Académie with
-several master-pieces, and moreover, destroyed, or was the main
-instrument in destroying, its old <i>répertoire</i>, which after the works of
-Gluck and Piccinni was found intolerable. It was now no longer the
-fashion to exclude foreign composers from the first musical theatre in
-France, and Gluck and Piccinni were followed by Sacchini and Salieri.
-Strange to say, Sacchini, when he first made his appearance at the
-Académie with his <i>Olympiade</i>, was deprived of a hearing through the
-jealousy of Gluck, who, on being informed, at Vienna, that the work in
-question was in rehearsal, hurried to Paris and had influence enough to
-get it withdrawn. Worse than this, when the <i>Olympiade</i> was produced at
-the Comédie Italienne, with great success, Gluck and his partisans put a
-stop to the representation by enforcing one of the privileges of the
-Académie, which rendered it illegal for any other theatre to perform
-operas with choruses or with more than seven singers on the stage.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GLUCK.</div>
-
-<p>No work by Sacchini or Salieri was produced at the Académie until after
-the theatre in the Palais Royal was burnt down, in 1781. In this fire,
-which took place about eighteen months after Gluck had retired from
-Paris, and five months after the production of Piccinni's <i>Iphigenia in
-Tauris</i>, the old <i>répertoire</i> would seem to have been consumed, for no
-opera by Lulli was afterwards played in France,<a name="vol_2_page_041" id="vol_2_page_041"></a> and only one by
-Rameau,&mdash;<i>Castor and Pollux</i>, which, revived in 1791, was not favourably
-received.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>It was in June, 1781, after a representation of Gluck's <i>Orphée</i>, that
-the Académie Royale was burnt to the ground. <i>Coronis</i> (music by Rey,
-the conductor of the orchestra) was the last piece of the evening, and
-before it was finished, during the <i>divertissement</i>, one of the scenes
-caught fire. Dauberval, the principal dancer, had enough presence of
-mind to order the curtain down at once. The public wanted no more of
-<i>Coronis</i>, and went quietly away without calling for the conclusion of
-Rey's opera, and without having the least idea of what was taking place
-behind the curtain. In the meanwhile the fire had spread on the stage
-beyond the possibility of extinction. Singers, dancers, musicians, and
-scene-shifters, rushed in terror from the theatre, and about a dozen
-persons, who were unable to escape, perished in the conflagration.
-Madeleine Guimard was nearly burnt to death in her dressing-room, which
-was surrounded by flames. One of the carpenters, however, penetrated
-into her <i>loge</i>, wrapped her up in a counterpane (she was entirely
-undressed), and bore her triumphantly through the fire to a place of
-safety.</p>
-
-<p>"Save my child! save my child!" cried Rey, in despair; and as soon as he
-saw the score of <i>Coronis</i> out of danger he went away, giving the flames
-full permission to burn everything else. All the manuscripts were saved,
-thanks to the courageous exertions<a name="vol_2_page_042" id="vol_2_page_042"></a> of Lefebrvre, the librarian, who
-remained below in the music room even while the stage was burning, until
-the last sheet had been removed.</p>
-
-<p>"The Opera is burnt down," said a Parisian to a Parisian the next
-morning.</p>
-
-<p>"So much the better," was the reply. "It had been there such a time!"</p>
-
-<p>This remark was ingenious but not true, for the Académie Royale de
-Musique had only been standing eighteen years. It was burnt down before,
-in 1768, on which occasion Voltaire, in a letter to M. d'Argental, wrote
-as follows: "<i>on dit que ce spectacle Ă©tait si mauvais qu'il fallait tĂ´t
-ou tard que la vengeance divine éclatât</i>." The theatre destroyed by fire
-in 1763<a name="FNanchor_65_65" id="FNanchor_65_65"></a><a href="#Footnote_65_65" class="fnanchor">[65]</a> was in the Palais Royal, and it was reconstructed on the
-same spot. After the fire of 1781, the Porte St. Martin theatre was
-built, and the Opera was carried on there ten years, after which it was
-removed to the opera-house in the Rue Richelieu, which was pulled down
-after the assassination of the Duc de Berri. But we are advancing beyond
-the limits of the present chapter.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE NEW OPERA HOUSE.</div>
-
-<p>The new Opera House was built in eighty-six days. The members of the
-company received orders not to<a name="vol_2_page_043" id="vol_2_page_043"></a> leave Paris, and during the interval
-were paid their salaries regularly as if for performing. The work began
-on the 2nd of August, and was finished on the 27th of October. Lenoir,
-the architect, had told Marie Antoinette that the theatre could be
-completed in time for the first performance to take place on the 30th of
-October.</p>
-
-<p>"Say the 31st," replied the queen; "and if on that day I receive the key
-of my box, I promise you the Order of St. Michael in exchange."</p>
-
-<p>The key was sent to her majesty on the 26th, who not only decorated
-Lenoir with the <i>cordon</i> of St. Michael, but also conferred on him a
-pension of six thousand francs; and on the 27th the theatre was opened
-to the public.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>In 1784, Sacchini's <i>Chimène</i>, adapted from <i>Il Gran Cid</i>, an opera he
-had written for the King's Theatre in 1778, was produced at the Académie
-with great success. The principal part in this work was sustained by
-Huberti, a singer much admired by Piccinni, who wrote some airs in the
-<i>cantabile</i> style specially for her, and said that, without her, his
-opera of <i>Dido</i>, in which she played the principal part, was "without
-Dido." M. Castil Blaze tells us that she was the first true singer who
-appeared at the Académie. Grimm declares, that she sang like Todi and
-acted like Clairon. Finally, when Madame de Saint Huberti was performing
-at Strasburgh, in<a name="vol_2_page_044" id="vol_2_page_044"></a> 1787, a young officer of artillery, named Napoleon
-Bonaparte, addressed the following witty and complimentary verses to
-her:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Romains qui vous vantez d'une illustre origine<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Voyez d'où dépendait votre empire naissant:<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Didon n'eut pas de charme assez puissant<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Pour arrĂŞter la fuite oĂą son amant s'obstine;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Mais si l'autre Didon, ornement de ces lieux,<br /></span>
-<span class="i3">Eût été reine de Carthage,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Il eût, pour la servir, abandonné ces dieux,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Et votre beau pays serait encore sauvage."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>Sacchini's first opera, <i>Ĺ’dipe Ă  Colosse</i>, was not produced at the
-Académie until 1787, a few months after his death. It was now no
-question, of whether he was a worthy successor of Gluck or a formidable
-opponent to Piccinni. His opera was admired for itself, and the public
-applauded it with genuine enthusiasm.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SALIERI.</div>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, Salieri, the direct inheritor of Gluck's mantle (as
-far as that poetic garment could be transferred by the mere will of the
-original possessor) had brought out his <i>Danaides</i>&mdash;announced at first
-as the work of Gluck himself and composed under his auspices. Salieri
-had also set <i>Tarare</i> to music. "This is the first <i>libretto</i> of modern
-times," says M. Castil Blaze, "in which the author has ventured to join
-buffoonery to tragedy&mdash;a happy alliance, which permits the musician to
-vary his colours and display all the resources of genius and art." The
-routine-lovers of the French Académie, the pedants,<a name="vol_2_page_045" id="vol_2_page_045"></a> the blunderers,
-were indignant with the new work; and its author entrusted Figaro with
-the task of defending it.</p>
-
-<p>"Either you must write nothing interesting," said Figaro, "or fools will
-run you down."</p>
-
-<p>The same author then notices, as a remarkable coincidence, that
-"Beaumarchais and Da Ponte, at four hundred leagues distance from one
-another, invented, at the same time, the class of opera since known as
-"romantic." Beaumarchais's <i>Tarare</i> had been intended for Gluck; Da
-Ponte's <i>Don Giovanni</i>, as every one knows, found its true composer in
-Mozart.<a name="vol_2_page_046" id="vol_2_page_046"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIII" id="CHAPTER_XIII"></a>CHAPTER XIII.<br /><br />
-<small>THE FRENCH OPERA BEFORE AND AFTER THE REVOLUTION.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE OPERA DURING THE CONVENTION.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">A <small>COMPLETE</small> history of the French Opera would include something like a
-history of French society, if not of France generally. It would, at
-least, show the effect of the great political changes which the country
-has undergone, and would remind us here and there of her celebrated
-victories, and occasionally even of her reverses. Under the despotism,
-we have seen how a simple <i>lettre de cachet</i> sufficed to condemn an
-<i>abbé</i> with a good voice, or a young girl with a pretty face, to the
-Opera, just as a person obnoxious to the state or to any very
-influential personage was sent to the Bastille. During the Regency, half
-the audience at the Opera went there drunk; and almost until the period
-of the Revolution the <i>abbés</i>, the <i>mousquetaires</i>, and the <i>grands
-seigneurs</i>, quarrelled, fought, and behaved in many respects as if the
-theatre were, not their own private house, but their own particular
-tap-room. Music profited by the Revolution, in so far that the
-privileges of the Académie were abolished, and, as a natural
-consequence, a number<a name="vol_2_page_047" id="vol_2_page_047"></a> of new musical works produced at a variety of
-theatres which would otherwise never have seen the light; but the
-position of singers and dancers was by no means a pleasant one under the
-Convention, and the tyranny of the republican chiefs was far more
-oppressive, and of a more brutal kind, than any that had been exercised
-at the Académie in the days of the monarchy. The disobedient daughters,
-whose admirers got them "inscribed" on the books of the Opera so as to
-free them from parental control, would, under another system, have run
-away from home. No one, in practice, was injured very much by the
-regulation, scandalous and immoral as it undoubtedly was; for, before
-the name was put down, all the harm, in most cases, was already done.
-Sophie Arnould, it is true, is said to have been registered at the Opera
-without the consent of her mother, and, what seems very
-extraordinary&mdash;not at the suggestion of a lover; but Madame Arnould was
-quite reconciled to her daughter's being upon the stage before she
-eloped with the Count de Lauragais. To put the case briefly: the
-<i>académiciens</i> (and above all, the <i>académiciennes</i>) in the immoral
-atmosphere of the court, were fĂŞted, flattered, and grew rich, though,
-owing to their boundless extravagance, they often died poor: whereas,
-during the republic, they met with neither sympathy nor respect, and in
-the worst days of the Convention lived, in a more literal sense than
-would be readily imagined, almost beneath the shadow of the guillotine.<a name="vol_2_page_048" id="vol_2_page_048"></a></p>
-
-<p>In favour of the old French society, when it was at its very worst, that
-is to say, during the reign of Louis XV., it may be mentioned that the
-king's mistresses did not venture to brave general opinion, so far as to
-present themselves publicly at the Opera. Madame Dubarry announced more
-than once that she intended to visit the Académie, and went so far as to
-take boxes for herself and suite, but at the last moment her courage (if
-courage and not shamelessness be the proper word) failed her, and she
-stayed away. On the other hand, towards the end of this reign, the
-licentiousness of the court had become so great, that brevets,
-conferring the rights and privileges of married ladies on ladies
-unmarried, were introduced. Any young girl who held a "<i>brevet de dame</i>"
-could present herself at the Opera, which etiquette would otherwise have
-rendered impossible. "The number of these brevets," says <i>Bachaumont</i>,
-"increased prodigiously under Louis XVI., and very young persons have
-been known to obtain them. Freed thus from the modesty, simplicity, and
-retirement of the virginal state, they give themselves up with impunity
-to all sorts of scandals. * * * Such disorder has opened the eyes of the
-government; and this prince, the friend of decency and morality, has at
-last shown himself very particular on the subject. It is now only by the
-greatest favour that one of these brevets can be obtained."<a name="FNanchor_66_66" id="FNanchor_66_66"></a><a href="#Footnote_66_66" class="fnanchor">[66]</a><a name="vol_2_page_049" id="vol_2_page_049"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERATIC AND RELIGIOUS FETES.</div>
-
-<p>No <i>brevets</i> were required of the fishwomen and charcoal men of Paris,
-who, on certain fĂŞtes, such as the Sovereign's birth day, were always
-present at the gratuitous performances given at the Opera. On these
-occasions the balcony was always reserved for them, the <i>charbonniers</i>
-being placed on the king's side, the <i>poissardes</i> on the queen's. At the
-close of the representation the performers invited their favoured guests
-on to the stage, the orchestra played the airs from some popular ballet,
-and a grand ball took place, in which the <i>charbonniers</i> chose their
-partners from among the operatic <i>danseuses</i>, while the <i>poissardes</i>
-gave their hands to Vestris, Dauberval, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>During Passion week and Easter, the Opera was shut, but the great
-operatic vocalists could be heard elsewhere, either at the Jesuits'
-church or at the Abbaye of Longchamp, to which latter establishment it
-is generally imagined that the Parisian public used to be attracted by
-the singing of the nuns. What is far more extraordinary is, that the
-Parisians always laboured under that delusion themselves. "The
-Parisians," says M. Castil Blaze, in his "History of the Grand Opera,"
-"always such fine connoisseurs in music, never penetrated the mystery of
-this incognito. The railing and the green curtain, behind which the
-voices were concealed, sufficed to render the singers unrecognisable to
-the <i>dilettanti</i> who heard them constantly at the opera."<a name="vol_2_page_050" id="vol_2_page_050"></a></p>
-
-<p>Adjoining the Jesuits' church was a theatre, also belonging to the
-Jesuits, for which, between the years 1659 and 1761, eighty pieces of
-various kinds, including tragedies, operas and ballets, were written.
-Some of these productions were in Latin, some in French, some in Latin
-and French together. The <i>virtuosi</i> of the Académie used to perform in
-them and afterwards proceed to the church to sing motets. "This church
-is so much the church of the Opera," says Freneuse, "that those who do
-not go to one console themselves by attending vespers at the other,
-where they find the same thing at less cost." He adds, that "an actor
-newly engaged, would not think himself fully recognised unless asked to
-sing for the Jesuits." As for the actresses, "in their honor the price
-which would be given at the door of the opera is given for a chair in
-the church. People look out for Urgande, Arcabonne, Armide, and applaud
-them. (I have seen them applaud la Moreau and la Chérat, at the midnight
-mass.) These performances replace those which are suspended at the
-opera."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BEHIND THE SCENES.</div>
-
-<p>There would be no end to this chapter (and many persons would think it
-better not written) if I were to enter into details on the subject of
-the relations between the singers and dancers of the Académie, and the
-Grands Seigneurs of the period. I may observe, however, that the latter
-appear to have been far more generous, without being more vicious, and
-that they seem to have lived in better taste than<a name="vol_2_page_051" id="vol_2_page_051"></a> their modern
-imitators, who usually ruin themselves by means of race-horses, or, in
-France, on the Stock Exchange. The Count de Lauragais paid an immense
-sum to the directors of the Académie, to compensate them for abolishing
-the seats on the stage (probably impertinent visitors used to annoy him
-by staring at Sophie Arnould); the Duke de Bouillon spent nine hundred
-thousand livres on Mademoiselle la Guerre (Gluck's <i>Iphigénie</i>); the
-Prince de Soubise nearly as much on Mademoiselle Guimard&mdash;who at least
-gave a portion of it away in charity, and who, as we have seen, was an
-intelligent patroness of David, the painter.</p>
-
-<p>When the Prince de Guéméné became insolvent, the Prince de Soubise, his
-father-in-law, ceased to attend the Opera. There were three thousand
-creditors, and the debts amounted to forty million livres. The heads of
-the family felt called upon to make a sacrifice, and the Prince de
-Soubise was no longer in a position to give <i>petits soupers</i> to his
-<i>protégées</i> at the Académie. Under these circumstances, the "ladies of
-the <i>ballet</i>" assembled in the dressing-room of Mademoiselle Guimard,
-their chief, and prepared the following touching, and really very
-becoming letter, to their embarrassed patron:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>"Monseigneur,</p>
-
-<p>"Accustomed to see you amongst us at the representations at the
-Lyrical Theatre, we have observed with the most bitter regret that
-you not only tear<a name="vol_2_page_052" id="vol_2_page_052"></a> yourself away from the pleasures of the
-performance, but also that none of us are now invited to the little
-suppers you used so frequently to give, in which we had turn by
-turn the happiness of interesting you. Report has only too well
-informed us of the cause of your seclusion, and of your just grief.
-Hitherto we have feared to importune you, allowing sensibility to
-give way to respect. We should not dare, even now, to break
-silence, without the pressing motive to which our delicacy is
-unable any longer to resist.</p>
-
-<p>"We had flattered ourselves, Monseigneur, that the Prince de
-Guéméné's bankruptcy, to employ an expression which is re-echoed in
-the <i>foyers</i>, the clubs, the newspapers of France, and all Europe,
-would not be so considerable, so enormous, as was announced; and,
-above all, that the wise precautions taken by the King to assure
-the claimants the amount of their debts, and to avoid expenses and
-depredations more fatal even than the insolvency itself, would not
-disappoint the general expectation. But affairs are doubtless in
-such disorder, that there is now no hope. We judge of it by the
-generous sacrifices to which the heads of your illustrious house,
-following your example, have resigned themselves. We should think
-ourselves guilty of ingratitude, Monseigneur, if we were not to
-imitate you in seconding your humanity, and if we were not to
-return you the pensions which your munificence has lavished upon
-us. Apply these revenues, Monseigneur, to the consolation<a name="vol_2_page_053" id="vol_2_page_053"></a> of so
-many retired officers, so many poor men of letters, so many
-unfortunate servants whom M. le Prince de Guéméné drags into ruin
-with him.</p>
-
-<p>"As for us, we have other resources: and we shall have lost
-nothing, Monseigneur, if we preserve your esteem. We shall even
-have gained, if, by refusing your gifts now, we force our
-detractors to agree that we were not unworthy of them.</p>
-
-<p class="c">"We are,
-with profound respect,<br />
-"Monseigneur,<br />
-"Your most Serene Highness's very humble and<br />
-"devoted Servants,</p>
-<p class="r">"<span class="smcap">Guimard, Heinel</span>," &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>With twenty other names.</p></div>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GENEROSITY OF THE BALLET.</div>
-
-<p>Auguste Vestris spent and owed a great deal of money; the father
-honoured the engagements of the young dancer, but threatened him with
-imprisonment if he did not alter his conduct, and concluded by
-saying:&mdash;"Understand, Sir, that I will have no Guéméné in <i>my</i> family."</p>
-
-<p>Although ballet dancers were important persons in those days, they were
-as nothing compared to the institution to which they belonged. Figaro,
-in his celebrated soliloquy, observes, with reference to the great
-liberty of the press accorded by the government, that provided he does
-not speak of a great many very different things, among which the Opera
-is included, he is at liberty to publish whatever he likes "under the
-inspection of three or four censors."<a name="vol_2_page_054" id="vol_2_page_054"></a> Beaumarchais was more serious
-than would be generally supposed, in including the Opera among the
-subjects which a writer dared not touch upon, or, if so, only with the
-greatest respect. Rousseau tells us in more than one place, that it was
-considered dangerous to say anything against the Opera; and Mademoiselle
-Théodore (the interesting <i>danseuse</i> before-mentioned, who consulted the
-fantastic moralist on the conduct she ought to pursue as a member of the
-ballet), was actually imprisoned, and exiled from Paris for eighteen
-days, because she had ventured to ridicule the management of the
-Académie, in some letters addressed to a private friend. The author of
-the <i>Nouvelle HĂ©loise</i> should have warned her to be more careful.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA AND REVOLUTION.</div>
-
-<p>On the 12th July, 1789, the bills were torn down from the doors of the
-Opera. The Parisians were about to take the Bastille. Having taken it,
-they allowed the Académie to continue its performance, and it re-opened
-on the 21st of the same month. In Warsaw, during the "demonstrations" of
-last March, the Opera was closed. It remains closed now<a name="FNanchor_67_67" id="FNanchor_67_67"></a><a href="#Footnote_67_67" class="fnanchor">[67]</a> (end of
-November), and will re-open&mdash;neither Russians nor Poles can say when! No
-one tears the bills down, because no one thinks of putting them up; it
-being perfectly understood by the administration, (which is a department
-of the Government<a name="vol_2_page_055" id="vol_2_page_055"></a>), that the Warsaw public are not disposed at present
-for amusement of any kind.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>In 1789, the revolutionary spirit manifested itself among the company
-engaged at the French Opera. An anonymous letter&mdash;or rather a letter in
-the name of all the company, printed, but not signed&mdash;was addressed to
-the administration of the theatre. It pointed out a number of abuses,
-and bore this epigraph, strongly redolent of the period: "<i>Tu dors
-Brutus, et Rome est dans les fers!</i>"</p>
-
-<p>In 1790 the city of Paris assumed once more the management of the
-Académie, the artistic direction being entrusted to a committee composed
-of the chiefs of the various departments, and of the principal singers
-and dancers. One of the novelties produced was a "melodrama founded on
-passages from the Scriptures," called "The Taking of the Bastille,"
-written specially for Notre Dame, where it was performed for the first
-time, and where it was followed by a grand <i>Te Deum</i>. In this <i>Te Deum</i>
-few of the lovers of the Opera could have joined, for one of the first
-effects of the revolution was naturally to drive the best singers and
-dancers away from Paris. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that Mademoiselle
-Guimard was dancing in London in 1789. Madame Huberti, who was, by all
-accounts, the best singer the French had ever heard at the Académie,
-left Paris early in 1790.</p>
-
-<p>We know how injurious a distant war, a dissolution<a name="vol_2_page_056" id="vol_2_page_056"></a> of parliament, a
-death in the royal family are to the fortunes of an operatic season in
-London. Fancy what must have been the effect of the French revolution on
-the Académie after 1789! The subscription list for boxes showed, in a
-few years, a diminution of from 475,000 <i>livres</i> to 000,000! Some of the
-subscribers had gone into exile, more or less voluntary, some had been
-banished, others had been guillotined. M. Castil Blaze, from whose
-interesting works I have obtained a great number of particulars
-concerning the French Opera at the time of the revolution, tells us that
-the Queen used to pay 7,000 livres for her box. The Duke d'Orléans paid
-7,000 for his own private box, and joined the Duke de Choiseul and
-Necker in a subscription of 3,200 francs for another. The Princess de
-Lamballe and Madame de Genlis gave 3,600 francs for a "post chaise;"
-(there were other boxes, called "spittoons"&mdash;the <i>baignoires</i> of the
-present day&mdash;"cymbals," &amp;c.; names which they evidently owed to their
-position and form). On the other hand, there were 288 free admissions,
-of which, thirty-two were given to authors, and eight to newspapers&mdash;<i>La
-Gazette de France</i>, <i>Le Journal de Paris</i>, and <i>Le Mercure</i>. The
-remaining 248 were reserved for the HĂ´tel de Ville, the King's
-Household, the actors of the Comédie Française, and the singers and
-dancers of the Opera itself.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA AND REVOLUTION.</div>
-
-<p>The howling of the <i>ça ira</i> put an end for ever to the Concert
-Spirituel, where the Parisians for nearly<a name="vol_2_page_057" id="vol_2_page_057"></a> eighty years had been in the
-habit of hearing excellent instrumental soloists, and some of the best
-of the Italian singers, when there was as yet no Italian Opera in Paris.
-The last <i>concert spirituel</i> took place at the theatre of the Tuileries
-in 1791.</p>
-
-<p>Louis XVI. and his family fled from Paris on the 28th June, 1791. The
-next day, and before the king was brought back to the Tuileries, the
-title of the chief lyric theatre was changed, and from the "Académie
-<i>Royale</i>" became simply the "Opera." At the same time the custom was
-introduced of announcing the performers' names, which was evidently an
-advantage for the public, and which was also not without its benefit,
-for the inferior singers and dancers who, when they unexpectedly made
-their appearance to replace their betters, used often to get hissed in a
-manner which their own simple want of merit scarcely justified. "<i>Est ce
-que je savais qu'on lĂ cherait le Ponthieu?</i>" exclaimed an unhappy
-ticket-seller one evening, when an indignant amateur rushed out of the
-theatre and began to cane the recipient of his ill-spent money. We may
-fancy how Ponthieu himself must have been received inside the house.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MARIE ANTOINETTE.</div>
-
-<p>By an order of the Committee of Public Safety, dated the 16th of the
-September following, the title of the Opera was again changed to
-<i>Académie Royale de Musique</i>. This was intended as a compliment to the
-king, who had signed the Constitution on the 14th, and who was to go to
-the Opera six days<a name="vol_2_page_058" id="vol_2_page_058"></a> afterwards. On the 20th the royal visit took place.
-"<i>Castor and Pollux</i> was played," says M. Castil Blaze, "and not
-<i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>, as is asserted by some ill-informed historians,
-who even go so far as to pretend that the chorus <i>Chantons, célébrons
-notre reine</i> was, as on another occasion, hailed with transports of
-enthusiasm, and that the public called for it a second time. The house
-was well filled, but not crammed<a name="FNanchor_68_68" id="FNanchor_68_68"></a><a href="#Footnote_68_68" class="fnanchor">[68]</a> (<i>comble</i>), as is proved by the
-amount of the receipts&mdash;6,686 livres, 15 sous. The same opera of
-Rameau's, vamped by Candeille, had produced 6,857 livres on the 14th of
-the preceding June. The representation of <i>Castor and Pollux</i> in
-presence of the royal family took place on Tuesday the 20th September,
-and not on the 21st, the Wednesday, at that time, not being an opera
-night. On the 19th, Monday, the people had assisted at a <i>special
-performance</i> of the same work given, gratuitously, in honour of the
-Constitution. The Royalists were present in great numbers at the
-representation of the 20th September, and some lines which could be
-applied to the Queen were loudly applauded. Marie-Antoinette was
-delighted, and said to the ladies who accompanied her, "You see that the
-people is really good, and wishes only to love us." Encouraged by so
-flattering a reception, she determined to go the next<a name="vol_2_page_059" id="vol_2_page_059"></a> night to the
-Opéra Comique, but the king refused to accompany her. The piece
-performed was <i>Les Evénements imprévus</i>. In the duet of the second act,
-before singing the words "<i>Ah comme j'aime ma maitresse</i>" Madame Dugazon
-looked towards the Queen, when a number of voices cried out from the
-pit, <i>Plus de maitresse! Plus de maitre! Vive la liberté!</i> This cry was
-answered from the boxes with <i>Vive la reine! Vive le roi!</i> Sabres and
-sword-sticks were drawn, and a battle began.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FACTS AND COINCIDENCES.</div>
-
-<p>The Queen escaped from the theatre in the midst of the tumult. Cries of
-<i>Ă  bas la reine!</i> followed her to her carriage, which went off at a
-gallop, with mud and stones thrown after it. Marie Antoinette returned
-to the Tuileries in despair. On the first of October, fourteen days
-afterwards, the title of <i>Opéra National</i> was substituted for that of
-<i>Académie Royale de Musique</i>. The Constitution being signed, there was
-no longer any reason for being civil to Louis XVI. This was the third
-change of title in less than four months. The majority of the buffoons,
-(M. Castil Blaze still speaks), "who now write histories more or less
-Girondist, or romantic of the French Revolution, do not take the trouble
-to verify their facts and dates. I have told you simply that the
-dauphiness Marie Antoinette made her first appearance at the Opera on
-the 16th June, 1773, in company with her husband. Others, more ingenious
-no doubt, substitute the 21st January for the 16th June, in order to
-establish a sort of fatality by connecting days, months<a name="vol_2_page_060" id="vol_2_page_060"></a> and years. To
-prophecy after the event is only too easy, above all, if you take the
-liberty of advancing by five months, the day which it is desired to
-render fatal. These same buffoons, (says M. Castil Blaze), who now go to
-the Opera on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, sometimes on Sunday, think
-people have done the same for the last two centuries. As they have not
-the slightest suspicion that the evenings of performance at the Académie
-Royale were changed in 1817, we find them maundering, paddling,
-splashing about, and finally altering figures and days, in order to make
-the events of the last century accord with the dates of our own epoch.
-That is why we are told that the Royal Family went for the last time to
-this theatre on Wednesday, the 21st September, 1791, instead of Tuesday,
-the 20th. Indeed how is it possible to go to the Opera on a Tuesday?
-That is why it is stated with the most laughable aplomb, that on the
-21st October, 1793, <i>Roland</i> was performed, and on the 16th of October
-following, the <i>Siege of Thionville</i>, the <i>Offering to Liberty</i>, and the
-ballet of <i>Telemachus</i>. Each of these history-writing novelists fills or
-empties the house according to his political opinions; applauds the
-French people or deplores its blindness; but all the liberalism or
-sentiment manufactured by them is thrown away. Monday, the 21st of
-January, Wednesday the 16th of October, 1793, not being opera nights at
-that time, the Opera did not on those evenings throw open its doors to
-the public. On<a name="vol_2_page_061" id="vol_2_page_061"></a> Tuesday, the 22nd of January, the day after the death of
-Louie XVI., <i>Roland</i> was represented; the amount of the receipts, 492
-livres, 8 sous, proves that the house was empty. No free admissions were
-given then. On Tuesday, October the 15th, 1793, the eve of the execution
-of Marie Antoinette, the <i>Siege of Thionville</i>, the <i>Offering to
-Liberty</i>, <i>Telemachus</i>, in which "<i>la Citoyenne Perignon</i>" was to
-appear&mdash;a forced performance&mdash;only produced 3,251 livres. On Friday, the
-18th of October, the next day but one after this horrible catastrophe,
-<i>Armide</i> and the <i>Offering to Liberty</i>&mdash;a forced performance and
-something more&mdash;produced 2,641 livres, which would have filled about a
-third of the house."<a name="FNanchor_69_69" id="FNanchor_69_69"></a><a href="#Footnote_69_69" class="fnanchor">[69]</a></p>
-
-<p>The 10th August, 1792, was the last day of the French monarchy. On the
-Sunday previous, during the Vespers said at the Chapel of the Tuileries
-in presence of the king, the singers with one accord tripled the sound
-of their voices when they came to the following verse in the
-<i>Magnificat</i>: <i>Deposuit potentes de sede, et exaltavit humiles</i>.
-Indignant at their<a name="vol_2_page_062" id="vol_2_page_062"></a> audacity, the royalists thundered forth the <i>Domine
-salvum fac regem</i>, adding these words with increased energy and
-enthusiasm, <i>et reginam</i>! The greatest excitement and agitation
-prevailed in the Chapel during the rest of the service.</p>
-
-<p>To conclude the list of musical performances which have derived a gloomy
-celebrity from their connexion with the last days of Louis XVI., I may
-reproduce the programme issued by the directors of the Opéra National,
-on the first anniversary of his execution, 21st January, 1794.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-          <p class="c">IN BEHALF OF AND FOR THE PEOPLE,<br />
-                    <big>GRATIS</big>,<br />
-   In joyful commemoration of the Death of the Tyrant,<br />
-             <big>T H E &nbsp;  N A T I O N A L&nbsp;  O P E R A</big><br />
-  <small>WILL GIVE TO DAY, 6 PLUVIOSE, YEAR II., OF THE REPUBLIC,</small><br />
-            MILTIADES AT MARATHON,<br />
-           T H E &nbsp; S I E G E &nbsp; O F &nbsp; T H I O N V I L L E,<br />
-           THE OFFERING TO LIBERTY.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">REPUBLICAN CELEBRITIES.</div>
-
-<p>The Opera under the Republic was directed, until 1792, by four
-distinguished <i>sans culottes</i>&mdash;Henriot, Chaumette, Le Rouxand HĂ©bert,
-the last named of whom had once been check-taker at the Académie! The
-others know nothing whatever of operatic affairs. The management of the
-theatre was afterwards transferred to Francœur, one of the former
-directors,<a name="vol_2_page_063" id="vol_2_page_063"></a> associated with Cellérier, an architect; but the dethroned
-<i>impresarii</i>, accompanied by Danton and other republican amateurs,
-constantly made their appearance behind the scenes, and very frequently
-did the chief members of the company the honour of supping with them. In
-these cases the invitations, as under the ancient régime, proceeded, not
-from the artists, but from the artists' patrons; with this difference,
-however, that under the republic, the latter never paid the bill. There
-was no Duke de Bouillon now testifying his admiration of the vocal art
-to the tune of 900,000 francs;<a name="FNanchor_70_70" id="FNanchor_70_70"></a><a href="#Footnote_70_70" class="fnanchor">[70]</a> there was no Prince de Soubise, to
-receive from the united ballet letters of condolence, thanks, and
-proposed pecuniary assistance; and if there <i>had</i> been such an
-impossible phenomenon as a Count de Lauragais, what, I wonder, would he
-not have given to have been able to clear the <i>coulisses</i> of such
-abominable intruders as the before named republican chiefs? "The chiefs
-of the republic, one and indivisible," says M. Castil Blaze, "were very
-fond of moistening their throats. Henriot, Danton, HĂ©bert, Le Roux,
-Chaumette, had hardly taken a turn in the <i>coulisses</i> or in the <i>foyer</i>,
-before they said to such an actor or actress: We are going to your room,
-see that we are received properly." A superb collation was brought in.
-When the repast was finished and the bottles were empty, the national
-convention, the commune of Paris beat a retreat without<a name="vol_2_page_064" id="vol_2_page_064"></a> troubling
-itself about the expense. You think, perhaps, that the dancer or the
-singer paid for the representatives of the people? Not at all; honest
-Mangin, who kept the refreshment room of the theatre, knew perfectly
-well that the actors of the Opera were not paid, that they had no sort
-of money, not even a rag of an assignat; he made a sacrifice; from
-delicacy he did not ask from the artists what he would not have dared to
-claim from the sans culottes for fear of the guillotine."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Sometimes the executioner, who, as a public official, had a right to his
-entrées, made his appearance behind the scenes, and it is said that in a
-facetious mood, he would sometimes express his opinion about the
-"execution" of the music. So, I am told, the London hangman went one
-night to the pit of Her Majesty's Theatre to hear Jenny Lind, and on
-seeing the Swedish nightingale, exclaimed, breathless with admiration
-and excitement, "What a throat to scrag!"</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AGREEABLE CRITICS.</div>
-
-<p>Operatic kings and queens were suppressed by the republic. Not only were
-they forbidden to appear on the stage, but even their names were not to
-be pronounced behind the scenes, and the expressions <i>côté du roi</i>,
-<i>côté de la reine</i>, were changed into <i>côté jardin</i>, <i>côté cour</i>, which
-at the theatre of the Tuileries indicated respectively the left and
-right of the stage, from the stage point of view. At first all pieces in
-which kings and queens appeared, were prohibited,<a name="vol_2_page_065" id="vol_2_page_065"></a> but the dramas of
-<i>sans culottes</i> origin were so stupid and disgusting, that the republic
-was absolutely obliged to return to the old monarchical <i>répertoire</i>.
-The kings, however, were turned into chiefs; princes and dukes became
-representatives of the people; seigneurs subsided into mayors; and
-substitutes more or less synonymous, were found for such offensive words
-as crown, throne, sceptre, &amp;c. In a new republican version of a lyrical
-work represented at the Opera Comique, <i>le roi</i> in one well known line
-was replaced by <i>la loi</i>, and the vocalist had to declaim <i>La loi
-passait, et le tambour battait aux champs.</i> A certain voluble executant,
-however, is said to have preferred the following emendation: <i>Le pouvoir
-exécutif passait, et le tambour battait aux champs.</i></p>
-
-<p>The scenes of most of the new operas were laid in Italy, Prussia,
-Portugal,&mdash;anywhere but in France, where it would have been
-indispensable, from a political, and impossible from a poetical, point
-of view to make the lovers address one another as <i>citoyen</i>,
-<i>citoyenne</i>.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>On the 19th of June, 1793, the directors of the Opera having objected to
-give a gratuitous performance of <i>The Siege of Thionville</i>, the commune
-of Paris issued the following edict:</p>
-
-<p>"Considering that for a long time past the aristocracy has taken refuge
-in the administration of various theatres;<a name="vol_2_page_066" id="vol_2_page_066"></a></p>
-
-<p>"Considering that these gentlemen corrupt the public mind by the pieces
-they represent;</p>
-
-<p>"Considering that they exercise a fatal influence on the revolution;</p>
-
-<p>It is decreed that the <i>Siege of Thionville</i> shall be represented gratis
-and solely for the amusement of the <i>sans culottes</i>, who, to this moment
-have been the true defenders of liberty and supporters of democracy."</p>
-
-<p>Soon afterwards it was proposed to shut up the Opera, but HĂ©bert, the
-ferocious Hébert, better known as <i>le père Duchèsne</i>, undertook its
-defence on the ground that it procured subsistence for a number of
-families, and "caused the agreeable arts to flourish."</p>
-
-<p>It was thereupon resolved "that the Opera should be encouraged and
-defended against its enemies." At the same time the managers Cellérier
-and Francœur were arrested as <i>suspects</i>. Neither of them was
-executed.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE "MARATISTES" AGAIN.</div>
-
-<p>The Opera was now once more placed under the direction of a committee
-chosen from among the singers and dancers, who were selected this time,
-not by reason of their artistic merit, but solely with reference to
-their political principles. Lays, one of the chief managers, was a
-furious democrat, and on one occasion insisted on Mademoiselle Maillard
-(Gluck's "Armida!") appearing in a procession as the Goddess of Reason.<a name="vol_2_page_067" id="vol_2_page_067"></a></p>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Maillard having refused, Chaumette was appealed to. The
-arguments he employed were simple but convincing. "Well, <i>citoyenne</i>,"
-he said, "since you refuse to be a divinity, you must not be astonished
-if we treat you <i>as a mortal</i>." Fortunately for the poor prima donna,
-Mormoro, a member of the Commune of Paris, and a raging "Maratiste"
-(which has not quite the same meaning now as in the days of the
-"Todistes") claimed the obnoxious part for his unhappy wife. The
-beautiful Madame Mormoro was forced to appear in the streets of Paris in
-the light and airy costume of an antique Goddess, with the thermometer
-at twenty degrees below freezing point! "Reason" not unreasonably wept
-with annoyance throughout the ceremony.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>LĂ©onard Bourdon, called by those who knew him <i>LĂ©opard</i> Bourdon, used
-all his influence, as a distinguished member of the Mountain, to get a
-work he had prepared for the Opera produced. His piece was called the
-<i>Tomb of the Impostors</i>, or <i>the Inauguration of the Temple of Truth</i>.
-It was printed at the expense of the Republic, but never brought out. In
-the first scene the stage represents a church, built with human skulls.
-In the sanctuary there is to be a fountain of blood. A woman enters to
-confess, the priest behaves atrociously in the confessional, &amp;c., &amp;c.
-The scenes and incidents throughout the drama are all in the same style,
-and the<a name="vol_2_page_068" id="vol_2_page_068"></a> whole is dedicated in an uncomplimentary epistle to the Pope.
-LĂ©opard tormented the directors actors, and actresses, night and day, to
-produce his master-piece, and threatened, that if they were not quick
-about it, he would have a guillotine erected on the stage.</p>
-
-<p>This threat was not quite so vain as it might seem. A list of twenty-two
-persons engaged at the Opera (twenty-two&mdash;the fatal number during the
-Reign of Terror), had been already drawn up by HĂ©bert, as a sort of
-executioner's memorandum. When he was in a good humour he would show it
-to the singers and dancers, and say to them with easy familiarity; "I
-shall have to send you all to the guillotine some day. Two reasons have
-prevented me hitherto; in the first place you are not worth the trouble,
-in the second I want you for my amusement." These reasons were not
-considered quite satisfactory by the proscribed artists, and Beaupré, a
-comic dancer of great talent, contrived by various humorous stratagems
-(one of which, and doubtless the most readily forgiven, consisted in
-intoxicating HĂ©bert), to gain possession of the fatal list; but the day
-afterwards the republican <i>dilettante</i> was always sufficiently recovered
-from the effects of his excessive potations to draw up another one
-exactly like it.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DANGEROUS MELODIES.</div>
-
-<p>At the head of the catalogue of suspected ones figured the name of
-Lainez, whom the republicans<a name="vol_2_page_069" id="vol_2_page_069"></a> could not pardon for the energy and
-expression with which he had sung the air <i>Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine</i>, at the last performances of <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>; and that of
-Mademoiselle Maillard, whose crime has been already mentioned. At this
-period it was dangerous not only to sing the words, but even to hum or
-whistle the music of such airs as the aforesaid <i>Chantez, célébrez votre
-reine</i>, <i>O Richard o mon roi!</i> <i>Charmante Gabrielle</i>, and many others,
-among which may be mentioned <i>Pauvre Jacques</i>&mdash;an adaptation of Dibdin's
-<i>Poor Jack</i>, in which allusions had been discovered to the fate of Louis
-XVI. Indeed, to perform any kind of music might be fatal to the
-executant, and thus Mesdemoiselles de Saint LĂ©ger, two young ladies
-living in Arras, were executed for having played the piano the day that
-Valenciennes fell into the hands of the enemy.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Maillard, much as she detested the republicans, was forced,
-on one occasion, to sing a republican hymn. When Lainez complimented her
-on the warmth of her expression, the vigour of her execution, she
-replied, "I was burning with rage at having to sing to such monsters."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Vestris, the Prince de Guéméné of the Vestris family, he who had been
-accused by his father of wishing to produce a misunderstanding between
-the Vestrises and the Bourbons, had to dance in a <i>pas de trois</i> as a
-<i>sans culottes</i>, between two nuns!<a name="vol_2_page_070" id="vol_2_page_070"></a></p>
-
-<p>Sophie Arnould, accused (and not quite unreasonably), of aristocratic
-sympathies, pointed indignantly to a bust of Gluck in her room, and
-asked the intelligent agents of the Republic, if it was likely she would
-keep the bust of Marat were she not a true republican?</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The vocalists of a revolutionary turn of mind would have succeeded
-better if they had possessed more talent; but the Parisian public, even
-in 1793, was not prepared to accept correctness in politics as an excuse
-for inaccuracy in singing. Lefèvre, a sixth tenor, but a bloodthirsty
-republican, insisted on being promoted to first characters, and
-threatened those whom he wished to replace with denunciations and the
-guillotine, if they kept him in a subordinate position any longer.
-Lefèvre had his wish gratified in part, but not altogether. He appeared
-as <i>primo tenore</i>, but was violently hissed by his friends, the <i>sans
-culottes</i>. He then came out as first bass, and was hissed again. In his
-rage he attributed his <i>fiasco</i> to the machinations of the
-counter-revolution, and wanted the soldiers to come into the theatre,
-and fire upon the infamous accomplices of "Pitt and Coburg."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AN ATROCIOUS TENOR.</div>
-
-<p>This bad singer, and worse man, was one of the twelve chiefs of the
-National Guard of Paris, and on certain days had the command of the
-city. As his military rule was most oppressive, the Parisians<a name="vol_2_page_071" id="vol_2_page_071"></a> used to
-punish him for his tyranny as a soldier, by ridiculing his monstrous
-defects as a vocalist.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Though the Reign of Terror was a fearful time for artists and art, the
-number of playhouses in Paris increased enormously. There were
-sixty-three theatres open, and in spite of war, famine, and the
-guillotine, they were always full.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>In 1794, the opera was transferred to the Rue de la Loi (afterwards Rue
-de Richelieu), immediately opposite the National Library. With regard to
-this change of locality, let us hear what M. Castil Blaze has to say, in
-his own words.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"How was it that the opera was moved to a building exactly opposite the
-National Library, so precious and so combustible a repository of human
-knowledge? The two establishments were only separated by a street, very
-much too narrow: if the theatre caught fire, was it not sure to burn the
-library? That is what a great many persons still ask; this question has
-been re-produced a hundred times in our journals. Go back to the time
-when the house was built by Mademoiselle Montansier; read the <i>Moniteur
-Universel</i>, and you will see that it was precisely in order to expose
-this same library to the happy chances of a fire, that the great lyrical
-entertainment was transferred to its neighbourhood. The opera hung over
-it, and threatened it constantly. At<a name="vol_2_page_072" id="vol_2_page_072"></a> this time enlightenment abounded
-to such a point, that the judicious Henriot, convinced in his innermost
-conscience that all reading was henceforth useless, had made a motion to
-burn the library. To move the opera to the Rue Richelieu&mdash;the opera,
-which twice in eighteen years had been a prey to the flames&mdash;to place it
-exactly opposite our literary treasures, was to multiply to infinity the
-chances of their being burnt.'</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Mercier, in reference to the literary views of the Committee of Public
-Safety, writes in the <i>Nouveau Paris</i>, as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>"The language of Omar about the Koran was not more terrible than those
-uttered by the members of the committee of public safety when they
-expressed their intentions formally, as follows:&mdash;'Yes, we will burn all
-the libraries, for nothing will be needed but the history of the
-Revolution and its laws.'" If the motion of Henriot had been carried,
-David, the great Conventional painter was ready to propose that the same
-service should be rendered to the masterpieces in the Louvre, as to the
-literary wealth of the National Library. Republican subjects, according
-to David, were alone worthy of being represented.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE OPERA AND THE NATIONAL LIBRARY.</div>
-
-<p>At one of the sittings of the very council in which Henriot had already
-brought forward his motion for burning the Library, Mademoiselle
-Montansier was accused of having built the theatre in the Rue Richelieu
-with that very design. On the 14th of<a name="vol_2_page_073" id="vol_2_page_073"></a> November, 1793, Chaumette at the
-sitting of the Commune of Paris, said&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"I denounce the <i>Citoyenne</i> Montansier. The money of the Englishman<a name="FNanchor_71_71" id="FNanchor_71_71"></a><a href="#Footnote_71_71" class="fnanchor">[71]</a>
-has been largely employed in raising this edifice, and the former queen
-gave fifty thousand crowns towards it. I demand that this theatre be
-closed on account of the dangers which would result from its catching
-fire." Adopted.</p>
-
-<p>HĂ©bert. "I denounce <i>la demoiselle</i> Montansier, personally; I have
-information against her. She offered me a box at her new theatre to
-procure my silence. I demand that la Montansier be arrested as a
-suspicious person." Adopted.</p>
-
-<p>Chaumette. "I demand, moreover, that the actors, actresses and directors
-of the Parisian theatres be subjected to the censorship of the council."
-Adopted.</p>
-
-<p>After deciding that the theatre in the Rue de la Loi could not be kept
-open without imperilling the existence of the National Library, and
-after imprisoning Mademoiselle Montansier for having built it, the
-Commune of Paris deliberately opened it as an opera house! Mademoiselle
-Montansier was, nevertheless, still kept in prison, and remained there
-ten months, until after the death of Robespierre.</p>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Montansier's nocturnal assemblies in the Palais Royal were
-equally renowned before and after her arrest. Actors and actresses,
-gamblers, poets, representatives of the people, republican generals,<a name="vol_2_page_074" id="vol_2_page_074"></a>
-retired aristocrats, conspicuous <i>sans culottes</i>, and celebrities of all
-kinds congregated there. Art, pleasure, politics, the new opera, the
-last execution were alike discussed by Dugazon and Barras, le père
-Duchesne and the Duke de Lauzun, Robespierre and Mademoiselle Maillard,
-the Chevalier de Saint Georges and Danton, Martainville and the Marquis
-de Chanvelin, Lays and Marat, Volange and the Duke of Orleans. From the
-names just mentioned, it will be understood that some members of this
-interesting society were from time to time found wanting. Their absence
-was not much remarked, and fresh notorieties constantly came forward to
-fill the places of those claimed by the guillotine.</p>
-
-<p>After Mademoiselle Montansier's liberation from prison, Napoleon
-Bonaparte was introduced to her by Dugazon and Barras. His ambition had
-not yet been excited, and Barras&mdash;who may, nevertheless, have looked
-upon him as a possible rival, and one to be dreaded&mdash;wished to get up a
-marriage between him and the fashionable but now somewhat antiquated
-syren of the Palais Royal. Everything went on well for some time. Then a
-magnificent dinner was given with the view of bringing the affair to a
-conclusion; but Bonaparte was very reserved, and Barras now saw that his
-project was not likely to succeed. At a banquet given by Mademoiselle
-Montansier, to celebrate the success of the thirteenth Vendémiaire,
-Bonaparte proposed a toast in honour of his venerable "intended," and
-soon afterwards she married Neuville.<a name="vol_2_page_075" id="vol_2_page_075"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADEMOISELLE MONTANSIER.</div>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Montansier who had been shamefully cheated, indeed robbed,
-by the Convention, hoped to have her claims recognised by the Directory.
-Barras offered her one million, six hundred thousand francs. She refused
-it, the indemnity she demanded for the losses which she had sustained by
-the seizure of her theatre at the hands of the Convention amounting to
-seven millions. Napoleon, when first consul, caused the theatre to be
-estimated, when its value was fixed at one million three hundred
-thousand francs. After various delays, Mademoiselle Montansier received
-a partial recognition of her claim, accompanied by an order for payment,
-signed by the Emperor at Moscow.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Some readers have, probably, been unable to reconcile two facts
-mentioned above with respect to the Opera under the Convention:&mdash;1. That
-the performers were not paid; and 2. That the public attended the
-representations in immense numbers. The explanation is very simple. The
-money was stolen by the Commune of Paris. Gardel, the ballet-master,
-required fifty thousand francs for the production of a work composed by
-himself, on the subject of <i>William Tell</i>. Twice was the sum amassed
-from the receipts and professedly set apart for the unfortunate <i>William
-Tell</i>, and twice the money disappeared. It had been devoted to the
-requirements of patriots in real life.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Danton, HĂ©bert, Chaumette, Henriot, Robespierre,<a name="vol_2_page_076" id="vol_2_page_076"></a> all administrators of
-the Opera; Dubuisson, Fabre d'Eglantine, librettists writing for the
-Opera, and both republicans had been executed during the Reign of
-Terror. Chamfort, a republican, killed himself to avoid the same fate.</p>
-
-<p>Coquéau, architect, musician, and writer, the author of a number of
-musical articles produced during the Gluck and Piccinni contests, was
-guillotined in the year II. of the republic.</p>
-
-<p>The musician, Edelman, after bringing a number of persons to the
-scaffold, including his patron and benefactor, the Baron de Diétrich,
-arrived there himself in 1794, accompanied by his brother.</p>
-
-<p>In the same year Despréaux, leader of the first violins at the opera in
-1782, and member of the Revolutionary Tribunal in 1793, killed himself
-from remorse.</p>
-
-<p>Altogether, sixteen persons belonging to the opera in various ways
-killed themselves, or were executed in 1792, '93, and '94.</p>
-
-<p>After the fall of Robespierre, the royalists for a time ruled the
-theatres, and avenged themselves on all actors who had made themselves
-conspicuous as revolutionists. Trial, a comic tenor, who had made a very
-serious accusation against Mademoiselle Buret, of the Comédie Italienne,
-which led to her execution, was forced to sing the <i>RĂ©veil du Peuple</i> on
-his knees, amid the execrations of the audience. He sang it, but was
-thrown into such a state of agitation that he died from the effects.<a name="vol_2_page_077" id="vol_2_page_077"></a></p>
-
-<p>Lays, whose favourite part was that of "Oreste," in <i>Iphigénie en
-Tauride</i>, had, in the course of the opera, to declaim these verses:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"J'ai trahi l'amitié,<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">J'ai trahi la nature;<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Des plus noirs attentats<br /></span>
-<span class="i2">J'ai comblé la mesure."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>The audience of the Bordeaux theatre considered this confession so
-becoming in the mouth of the singer who had to utter it, that Lays took
-care not to give them an opportunity a second time of manifesting their
-views on the subject. Lays made his next appearance in <i>Ĺ’dipe Ă 
-Colone</i>. As in this opera he had to represent the virtuous Theseus, he
-felt sure that the public would not be able to confound him in any
-manner with the character he was supporting; but he had to submit to all
-sorts of insults during the performance, and at the fall of the curtain
-was compelled to begin the <i>RĂ©veil du Peuple</i>. After the third verse, he
-was told he was unworthy to sing such a song, and was driven from the
-stage.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADELEINE GUIMARD AGAIN.</div>
-
-<p>On the 23rd of January, 1796, Mademoiselle Guimard re-appeared at a
-performance given for the benefit of aged and retired artists. A number
-of veteran connoisseurs came forward on this occasion to see how the
-once charming Madeleine looked at the age of fifty-nine. After the
-ballet an old <i>habitué</i> of Louis the Fifteenth's time called for a
-coach, drove to his lodging, and on getting out, proceeded naturally to
-pay the driver the amount of his fare.<a name="vol_2_page_078" id="vol_2_page_078"></a></p>
-
-<p>"You are joking, my dear Count," said the coachman. "Whoever heard of
-Lauragais paying the Chevalier de Ferrière for taking him home in his
-carriage?"</p>
-
-<p>"What! is it you?" said the Count de Lauragais.</p>
-
-<p>"Myself!" replied the Chevalier.</p>
-
-<p>The two friends embraced, and the Chevalier de Ferrière then explained
-that, when all the royalists were concealing themselves or emigrating,
-he had determined to do both. He had assumed the great coat of his
-coachman, painted a number over the arms on his carriage, and emigrated
-as far as the Boulevard, where he found plenty of customers, and passed
-uninjured and unsuspected through the Reign of Terror.</p>
-
-<p>"Where do you live?" said the Count.</p>
-
-<p>"Rue des Tuileries," replied the Chevalier, "and my horses with me. The
-poor beasts have shared all my misfortunes."</p>
-
-<p>"Give me the whip and reins, and get inside," cried de Lauragais.</p>
-
-<p>"What for?" inquired the Chevalier.</p>
-
-<p>"To drive you home. It is an act which, as a gentleman, I insist on
-performing; a duty I owe to my old companion and friend. Your day's work
-is over. To-morrow morning we will go to Sophie's, who expects me to
-breakfast."</p>
-
-<p>"Where?"</p>
-
-<p>"At the Hotel d'Angivillier, a caravansary of painters and musicians,
-where Fouché has granted<a name="vol_2_page_079" id="vol_2_page_079"></a> her, on the part of the Republic, an apartment
-and a pension of two thousand four hundred francs&mdash;we should have said a
-hundred <i>louis</i> formerly. This is called a national reward for the
-eminent services rendered by the <i>citoyenne</i> Arnould to the country, and
-to the sovereign people at the Opera. The poor girl was greatly in need
-of it."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SOPHIE ARNOULD AGAIN.</div>
-
-<p>Fouché had once been desperately in love with Sophie Arnould, and now
-pitied her in her distress. Thanks to her influence with the minister,
-the Chevalier Ferrière obtained an order, authorizing him to return to
-France, though he had never left Paris, except occasionally to drive a
-fare to one of the suburbs.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The natural effect of Napoleon's campaigns in Italy was to create among
-the French army a taste for Italian music. The First Consul and many of
-his generals were passionately fond of it; and a hint from the Tuileries
-in 1801 was sufficient to induce Mademoiselle Montansier to engage an
-Italian company, which performed for the first time in Paris on the 1st
-of May in the same year. The enterprise, however, was not successful;
-and in 1803 the directress, who had been arrested before because money
-was owing to her, was put in prison for owing money.</p>
-
-<p>If, by taking his troops to Italy, Napoleon was the means of introducing
-a taste for Italian music among the French, he provided his country with
-Italian<a name="vol_2_page_080" id="vol_2_page_080"></a> singers in a far more direct manner. At Dresden, in 1806, he
-was delighted with the performance of Brizzi and Madame Paer in the
-opera of <i>Achille</i>, composed by the prima donna's husband.</p>
-
-<p>"You sing divinely, Madame Paer," said the emperor. What do they give
-you at this theatre?"</p>
-
-<p>"Fifteen thousand francs, Sire."</p>
-
-<p>"You shall receive thirty. M. Brizzi, you shall follow me on the same
-terms."</p>
-
-<p>"But we are engaged."</p>
-
-<p>"With me. You see the affair is quite settled. The Prince of Benevento
-will attend to the diplomatic part of it."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NAPOLEON AND PAER.</div>
-
-<p>Napoleon took away <i>Achille</i>, and everything belonging to it; music,
-composer, and the two principal singers. The engagement by which the
-emperor engaged Paer as composer of his chamber music, was drawn up by
-Talleyrand, and bore his signature, approved by Napoleon, and attested
-by Maret, the secretary of state. Paer, who had been four years at
-Dresden, and who, independently of his contract, was personally much
-attached to the king of Saxony, did all in his power to avoid entering
-into Napoleon's service. Perhaps, too, he was not pleased at the
-prospect of having to follow the emperor about from one battle-field to
-another, though by a special article in the engagement offered to him,
-he was guaranteed ten francs a post, and thirty-four francs a day for
-his travelling expenses. As Paer, in spite of the compliments, and the
-liberal<a name="vol_2_page_081" id="vol_2_page_081"></a> terms<a name="FNanchor_72_72" id="FNanchor_72_72"></a><a href="#Footnote_72_72" class="fnanchor">[72]</a> offered to him by Napoleon, continued to object,
-General Clarke told the emperor that he had an excellent plan for
-getting over all difficulties, and saving the maestro from any
-reproaches of ingratitude which the king of Saxony might otherwise
-address to him. This plan consisted in placing Paer in the hands of
-<i>gens d'armes</i>, and having him conducted from camp to camp wherever the
-emperor went. No violence, however, was done to the composer. The king
-of Saxony liberated him from his engagement at the Dresden opera, and,
-moreover, signified to him that he must either follow Napoleon, or quit
-Saxony immediately. It is said that Paer was ceded by a secret treaty
-between the two sovereigns, like a fortress, or rather like a province,
-as provinces were transferred before the idea of nationality was
-invented; that is to say, without the wishes of the inhabitants being in
-any way taken into account. The king of Saxony was only too glad that
-Napoleon took nothing from him but his singers and musicians.</p>
-
-<p>Brizzi, the tenor, Madame Paer, the prima donna, and her husband, the
-composer, were ordered to start at once for Warsaw. In the morning, the
-emperor would attend to military and state affairs, and perhaps preside
-at a battle, for fighting was now going on in the neighbourhood of the
-Polish capital. In<a name="vol_2_page_082" id="vol_2_page_082"></a> the evening, he had a concert at head quarters, the
-programme of which generally included several pieces by Paisiello.
-Napoleon was particularly fond of Paisiello's music, and Paer, who,
-besides being a composer, was a singer of high merit, knew a great deal
-of it by heart.</p>
-
-<p>Paisiello had been Napoleon's chapel-master since 1801, the emperor
-having sent for him to Naples after signing the Concordat with the Pope.
-On arriving in Paris, the cunning Italian, like an experienced courtier,
-was no sooner introduced to Napoleon than he addressed him as 'sire!'</p>
-
-<p>"'Sire,' what do you mean?" replied the first consul; "I am a general,
-and nothing more."</p>
-
-<p>"Well, General," continued the composer, "I have come to place myself at
-your majesty's orders."</p>
-
-<p>"I must really beg you," continued Napoleon, "not to address me in this
-manner."</p>
-
-<p>"Forgive me, General," answered Paisiello, "but I cannot give up the
-habit I have contracted in addressing sovereigns who, compared with you,
-seem but pigmies. However, I will not forget your commands, sire; and if
-I have been unfortunate enough to offend, I must throw myself upon your
-Majesty's indulgence."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">EXPRESSION IN MUSIC.</div>
-
-<p>Paisiello received ten thousand francs for the mass he wrote for
-Napoleon's coronation. Each of the masses for the imperial chapel
-brought him one thousand francs. Not much, certainly; but then it must
-be remembered that he produced as many as<a name="vol_2_page_083" id="vol_2_page_083"></a> fourteen in two years. They
-were for the most part made up of pieces of church music, which the
-maestro had written for Italy, and when this fruitful source failed him,
-he had recourse to his numerous serious and comic operas. Thus, an air
-from the <i>Nittetti</i> was made to do duty as a <i>Gloria</i>, another from the
-<i>Scuffiera</i> as an <i>Agnus Dei</i>. Music depends so much upon association
-that, doubtless, only those persons who had already heard these melodies
-on the stage, found them at all inappropriate in a church. Figaro's air
-in the <i>Barber of Seville</i> would certainly not sound well in a mass; but
-there are plenty of love songs, songs expressive of despair (if not of
-too violent a kind), songs, in short, of a sentimental and slightly
-passionate cast, which only require to be united to religious words to
-be at once and thereby endowed with a religious character. Gluck,
-himself, who is supposed by many to have believed that music was capable
-of conveying absolute, definite ideas, borrowed pieces from his old
-Italian operas to introduce into the scores he was writing, on entirely
-different subjects, for the Académie Royale of Paris. Thus, he has
-employed an air from his <i>Telemacco</i> in the introduction to the overture
-of <i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i>. The chorus in the latter work, <i>Que d'attraits
-que de majesté</i>, is founded on the air, <i>Al mio spirto</i>, in the same
-composer's <i>Clemenza di Tito</i>. The overture to Gluck's <i>Telemacco</i>
-became that of his <i>Armide</i>. Music serves admirably to heighten the
-effect of a dramatic situation, or to give force and intensity to the
-expression<a name="vol_2_page_084" id="vol_2_page_084"></a> of words; but the same music may often be allied with equal
-advantage to words of very different shades of meaning. Thus, the same
-melody will depict equally well the rage of a baffled conspirator, the
-jealousy of an injured and most respectable husband, and various other
-kinds of agitation; the grief of lovers about to part, the joy of lovers
-at meeting again, and other emotions of a tender nature; the despondency
-of a man firmly bent on suicide, the calm devotion of a pious woman
-entering a convent, and other feelings of a solemn class. The
-signification we discover in music also depends much upon the
-circumstances under which it is heard, and to some extent also on the
-mood we are in when hearing it.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">TWO PASTICCIOS.</div>
-
-<p>Under the republic, consulate, and empire, music did not flourish in
-France, and not even the imperial Spontini and Cherubini, in spite of
-the almost European reputation they for some time enjoyed, produced any
-works which will bear comparison with the masterpieces of their
-successors, Rossini, Auber, and Meyerbeer. During the dark artistic
-period which separates the fall of the monarchy from the restoration, a
-few interesting works were produced at the Opera Comique; but until
-Napoleon's advent to power, France neglected more than ever the music of
-Italy, and did worse than neglect that of Germany, for, in 1793, the
-directors of the Academy brought out a version of Mozart's <i>Marriage of
-Figaro</i>, in five acts, without recitative and with all the prose
-dialogue<a name="vol_2_page_085" id="vol_2_page_085"></a> of Beaumarchais introduced. In 1806, too, a <i>pasticcio</i> by
-Kalkbrenner, formed out of the music of Mozart's <i>Don Juan</i>, with
-improvements and additions by Kalkbrenner himself, was performed at the
-same theatre. Both these medleys met with the fate which might have been
-anticipated for them.<a name="vol_2_page_086" id="vol_2_page_086"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIV" id="CHAPTER_XIV"></a>CHAPTER XIV.</h2>
-
-<div class="blockhead"><p>OPERA IN ITALY, GERMANY AND RUSSIA, DURING AND IN CONNECTION WITH
-THE REPUBLICAN AND NAPOLEONIC WARS. PAISIELLO, PAER, CIMAROSA,
-MOZART. THE MARRIAGE OF FIGARO. DON GIOVANNI.</p></div>
-
-<p class="nind">N<small>OTHING</small> shows better the effect on art of the long continental wars at
-the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century than
-the fact that Mozart's two greatest works, written for Vienna and Prague
-immediately before the French Revolution, did not become known in
-England and France until about a quarter of a century after their
-production. Fortunate Austria, before the great break up of European
-territories and dynasties, possessed the two first musical capitals in
-Europe. Opera had already declined in Berlin, and its history, even
-under the direction of the flute-playing Frederic, possesses little
-interest for English readers after the departure or rather flight of
-Madame Mara. Italy was still the great nursery of music, but her maestri
-composed<a name="vol_2_page_087" id="vol_2_page_087"></a> their greatest works for foreign theatres, and many of them
-were attached to foreign courts. Thus, Paisiello wrote his <i>Barbiere di
-Siviglia</i> for St. Petersburgh, whither he had been invited by the
-Empress Catherine, and where he was succeeded by Cimarosa. Cimarosa,
-again, on his return from St. Petersburgh, wrote his masterpiece, <i>Il
-Matrimonio Segretto</i>, for the Emperor Leopold II., at Vienna. Of the
-Opera at Stockholm, we have heard nothing since the time of Queen
-Christina. The Dresden Opera, which, in the days of Handel, was the
-first in Europe, still maintained its pre-eminence at the beginning of
-the second half of the eighteenth century, when Rousseau published his
-"Musical Dictionary," and described at length the composition of its
-admirable orchestra. But the state and the resources of the kings of
-Saxony declined with the power of Poland, and the Dresden Opera, though,
-thanks to the taste which presided at the court, its performances were
-still excellent, had quite lost its peculiar celebrity long before
-Napoleon came, and carried away its last remaining glories in the shape
-of the composer, Paer, and Madame Paer and Brizzi, its two principal
-singers.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PAISIELLO IN RUSSIA.</div>
-
-<p>The first great musical work produced in Russia, Paisiello's <i>Barbiere
-di Siviglia</i>, was performed for the first time at St. Petersburgh, in
-1780. In this opera work, of which the success soon became European, the
-composer entered thoroughly into the spirit of all Beaumarchais's best
-scenes, so admirably adapted for musical illustration. Of the solos, the
-three most<a name="vol_2_page_088" id="vol_2_page_088"></a> admired were Almaviva's opening romance, Don Basil's <i>La
-Calomnia</i>, and the air for Don Bartholo; the other favourite pieces
-being a comic trio, in which La Jeunesse sneezes, and L'Eveillé yawns in
-the presence of the tutor (I need scarcely remark that the personages
-just named belong to Beaumarchais's comedy, and that they are not
-introduced in Rossini's opera), another trio, in which Rosina gives the
-letter to Figaro, a duet for the entry of the tenor in the assumed
-character of Don Alonzo, and a quintett, in which Don Basil is sent to
-bed, and in which the phrase <i>buona sera</i> is treated with great
-felicity.</p>
-
-<p>Pergolese rendered a still greater service to Russia than did Paisiello
-by writing one of his masterpieces for its capital, when he took the
-young Bortnianski with him from St. Petersburgh to Italy, and there
-educated the greatest religious composer that Russia, not by any means
-deficient in composers, has yet known.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.</div>
-
-<p>We have seen that Paisiello, some years after his return to Italy, was
-engaged by Napoleon as chapel-master, and that the services of Paer were
-soon afterwards claimed and secured by the emperor as composer of his
-chamber music. This was not the first time that Paer had been forced to
-alter his own private arrangements in consequence of the very despotic
-patronage accorded to music by the victorious leaders of the French
-army. In 1799 he was at Udine, where his wife was engaged as <i>prima
-donna</i>. Portogallo's <i>la Donna di genio volubile</i> was about to be<a name="vol_2_page_089" id="vol_2_page_089"></a>
-represented before a large number of the officers under the command of
-Bernadotte, when suddenly it appeared impossible to continue the
-performance owing to the very determined indisposition of the <i>primo
-basso</i>. This gentleman had gone to bed in the middle of the day
-disguised as an invalid. He declared himself seriously unwell in the
-afternoon, and in the evening sent a message to the theatre to excuse
-himself from appearing in Portogallo's opera. Paer and his wife
-understood what this meant. The performance was for Madame Paer's
-benefit; and Olivieri, the perfidious basso, from private pique, had
-determined, if possible, to prevent it taking place. Paer's spirit was
-roused by the attitude of the <i>primo buffo</i>, which was still that of a
-man confined to his bed; and he resolved to frustrate his infamous
-scheme, which, though simple, appeared certain of success, inasmuch as
-no other comic <i>basso</i> was to be found anywhere near Udine. The audience
-was impatient, Madame Paer in tears, the manager in despair, when Paer
-desired that the performance might begin; saying, that Providence would
-send them a basso who would at least know his part, and that in any case
-Madame Paer must get ready for the first scene. Madame Paer obeyed the
-marital injunction, but in a state of great trepidation; for she had no
-confidence in the capabilities of the promised basso, and was not by any
-means sure that he even existed. The curtain was about to rise, when the
-singer who was to have fallen from the clouds walked quietly on to the
-stage, perfectly<a name="vol_2_page_090" id="vol_2_page_090"></a> dressed for the part he was about to undertake, and
-without any sign of hesitation on his countenance. The <i>prima donna</i>
-uttered a cry of surprise, burst into a fit of laughter, and then rushed
-weeping into the arms of her husband,&mdash;for it was Paer himself who had
-undertaken to replace the treacherous Olivieri.</p>
-
-<p>"No," said Madame Paer; "this is impossible! It shall never be said that
-I allowed you, a great composer, who will one day be known throughout
-Europe, to act the buffoon. No! the performance must be stopped!"</p>
-
-<p>At this moment the final chords of the overture were heard. Poor Madame
-Paer resigned herself to her fate, and went weeping on to the stage to
-begin a comic duet with her husband, who seemed in excellent spirits,
-and commenced his part with so much <i>verve</i> and humour, that the
-audience rewarded his exertions with a storm of applause. Paer's gaiety
-soon communicated itself to his wife. If Paer was to perform at all, it
-was necessary that his performance should outshine that of all possible
-rivals, and especially that of the miscreant Olivieri, who was now
-laughing between his sheets at the success which he fancied must have
-already attended his masterly device. The <i>prima donna</i> had never sung
-so charmingly before, but the greatest triumph of the evening was gained
-by the new <i>basso</i>. Olivieri, who previously had been pronounced
-unapproachable in Portogallo's opera, was now looked upon as quite an
-inferior singer compared<a name="vol_2_page_091" id="vol_2_page_091"></a> to the <i>buffo caricato</i> who had so
-unexpectedly presented himself before the Udine public. Paer, in
-addition to his great, natural histrionic ability, knew every note of
-<i>la Donna</i>. Olivieri had studied only his own part. Paer, in directing
-the rehearsals, had made himself thoroughly acquainted with all of them,
-and gave a significance to some portions of the music which had never
-been expressed or apprehended by his now defeated, routed, utterly
-confounded rival.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A SINGER'S INDISPOSITION.</div>
-
-<p>At present comes the dark side of the picture. Olivieri, dangerously ill
-the night before, was perfectly well the next morning, and quite ready
-to resume his part in <i>la Donna di genio volubile</i>. Paer, on the other
-hand, was quite willing to give it up to him; but both reckoned without
-the military connoisseurs of Udine, and above all without Bernadotte,
-who arrived the day after Paer's great success, when all the officers of
-the staff were talking of nothing else. Olivieri was announced to appear
-in his old character; but when the bill was shown to the General, he
-declared that the original representative might go back to bed, for that
-the only buffo he would listen to was the illustrious Paer. In vain the
-director explained that the composer was not engaged as a singer, and
-that nothing but the sudden indisposition of Olivieri would have induced
-him to appear on the stage at all. Bernadotte swore he would have Paer,
-and no one else; and as the unfortunate <i>impresario</i> continued his
-objections, he was ordered into arrest, and informed that he should
-remain in prison until<a name="vol_2_page_092" id="vol_2_page_092"></a> the <i>maestro</i> Paer undertook once more the part
-of "Pippo" in Portogallo's opera.</p>
-
-<p>The General then sent a company of grenadiers to surround Paer's house;
-but the composer had heard of what had befallen the manager, and,
-foreseeing his own probable fate, if he remained openly in Udine, had
-concealed himself, and spread a report that he was in the country.
-Lancers and hussars were dispatched in search of him, but naturally
-without effect. In the supposed absence of Paer, the army was obliged to
-accept Olivieri; and when six or seven representations of the popular
-opera had taken place and the military public had become accustomed to
-Olivieri's performance of the part of "Pippo," Paer came forth from his
-hiding place and suffered no more from the warlike dilettanti-ism of
-Bernadotte.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADAME FODOR AND THE COW.</div>
-
-<p>There would be no end to my anecdotes if I were to attempt to give a
-complete list of all those in which musicians and singers have been made
-to figure in connection with all sorts of events during the last great
-continental war. The great vocalists, and many of the great composers of
-the day, continued to travel about from city to city, and from court to
-court, as though Europe were still in a state of profound peace.
-Sometimes, as happened once to Paer, and was nearly happening to him a
-second time, they were taken prisoners; or they found themselves shut up
-in a besieged town; and a great <i>cantatrice</i>, Madame Fodor, who chanced
-to be engaged at the Hamburg opera when Hamburg was invested, was
-actually the cause<a name="vol_2_page_093" id="vol_2_page_093"></a> of a <i>sortie</i> being made in her favour. On one
-occasion, while she was singing, the audience was disturbed by a cannon
-ball coming through the roof of the theatre and taking its place in the
-gallery; but the performances continued nevertheless, and the officers
-and soldiers of the garrison continued to be delighted with their
-favourite vocalist. Madame Fodor, however, on her side, was beginning to
-get tired of her position; not that she cared much about the bombardment
-which was renewed from time to time, but because the supply of milk had
-failed, cows and oxen having been alike slaughtered for the sustenance
-of the beleaguered garrison. Without milk, Madame Fodor was scarcely
-able to sing; at least, she had so accustomed herself to drink it every
-evening during the intervals of performance, that she found it
-inconvenient and painful to do without it. Hearing in what a painful
-situation their beloved vocalist found herself, the French army
-gallantly resolved to remedy it without delay. The next evening a
-<i>sortie</i> was effected, and a cow brought back in triumph. This cow was
-kept in the property and painting room in the theatre, above the stage,
-and was lowered like a drop scene, to be milked whenever Madame Fodor
-was thirsty. So, at least, says the operatic anecdote on the subject,
-though it would perhaps have been a more convenient proceeding to have
-sent some trustworthy person to perform the milking operation up stairs.
-In any case, the cow was kept carefully shut up and under guard.
-Otherwise the<a name="vol_2_page_094" id="vol_2_page_094"></a> animal's life would not have been safe, so great was the
-scarcity of provision in Hamburg at the time, and so great the general
-hunger for beef of any kind.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE D'ENTRAIGUES' MURDER.</div>
-
-<p>Madame Huberti, after flying from Paris during the Reign of Terror,
-married the Count d'Entraigues, and would seem to have terminated her
-operatic career happily and honourably; but she was destined some years
-afterwards to die a horrible death. The countess always wore the order
-of St. Michael, which had been given to her by the then unacknowledged
-Louis XVIII., in token of the services she had rendered to the royalist
-party, by enabling her husband to escape from prison and preserving his
-portfolio which contained a number of political papers of great
-importance. The Count afterwards entered the service of Russia, and was
-entrusted by the government with several confidential missions. Hitherto
-he had been working in the interest of the Bourbons against Napoleon;
-but when the French emperor and the emperor Alexander formed an
-alliance, after the battles of Eylau and Friedland, he seems to have
-thought that his connexion with Russia ought to terminate. However this
-may have been, he found means to obtain a copy of the secret articles
-contained in the treaty of Tilsit<a name="FNanchor_73_73" id="FNanchor_73_73"></a><a href="#Footnote_73_73" class="fnanchor">[73]</a> and hastened to London to
-communicate them to the English government.<a name="vol_2_page_095" id="vol_2_page_095"></a> For this service he is said
-to have received a pension, and he now established himself in England,
-where he appears to have had continual relations with the foreign
-office. The French police heard how the Count d'Entraigues was employed
-in London, and Fouché sent over two agents to watch him and intercept
-his letters. These emissaries employed an Italian refugee, to get
-acquainted with and bribe Lorenzo, the Count's servant, who allowed his
-compatriot to read and even to take copies of the despatches frequently
-entrusted to him by his master to take to Mr. Canning. He, moreover,
-gave him a number of the Count's letters to and from other persons. One
-evening a letter was brought to M. d'Entraigues which obliged him to go
-early the next morning from his residence at Barnes to London. Lorenzo
-had observed the seal of the foreign office on the envelope, and saw
-that his treachery would soon be discovered. Everything was ready for
-the journey, when he stabbed his master, who fell to the ground mortally
-wounded. The Countess was getting into the carriage. To prevent her
-charging him with her husband's death, the servant also stabbed her, and
-a few moments afterwards, in confusion and despair, blew his own brains
-out with a pistol which he in the first instance appears to have
-intended for M. d'Entraigues. This horrible affair occurred on the 22nd
-of July, 1812.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing fatal happened to Madame Colbran, though she was deeply mixed up
-with politics, her name being at one time quite a party word among the
-royalists<a name="vol_2_page_096" id="vol_2_page_096"></a> at Naples. Those who admired the king made a point of
-admiring his favourite singer. A gentleman from England asked a friend
-one night at the Naples theatre how he liked the vocalist in question.</p>
-
-<p>"Like her? I am a royalist," was the reply.</p>
-
-<p>When the revolutionists gained the upper hand, Madame Colbran was
-hissed; but the discomfiture of the popular party was always followed by
-renewed triumphs for the singer.</p>
-
-<p>Madame Colbran must not lead us on to her future husband, Rossini, whose
-epoch has not yet arrived. The mention of Paer's wife has already taken
-us far away from the composers in vogue at the end of the eighteenth
-century.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">IL MATRIMONIO SEGRETTO.</div>
-
-<p>Two of the three best comic operas ever produced, <i>Le Nozze di Figaro</i>
-and <i>Il Matrimonio Segretto</i> (I need scarcely name Rossini's <i>Il
-Barbiere di Siviglia</i> as the third), were written for Vienna within six
-years (1786-1792), and at the special request of emperors of Germany.
-Cimarosa was returning from St. Petersburgh when Leopold II., Joseph the
-Second's successor, detained him at Vienna, and invited him to compose
-something for his theatre. The <i>maestro</i> had not much time, but he did
-his best, and the result was, <i>Il Matrimonio Segretto</i>. The Emperor was
-delighted with the work, which seemed almost to have been improvised,
-and gave the composer twelve thousand francs, or, as some say, twelve
-thousand florins; in either case, a very liberal sum for the period when
-Cimarosa, Paisiello and Gughelmi<a name="vol_2_page_097" id="vol_2_page_097"></a> had mutually agreed, whatever more
-they might receive for their operas, never to take less than two
-thousand four hundred francs.</p>
-
-<p>The libretto of <i>Il Matrimonio Segretto</i>, by Bertatti, is imitated from
-that of a forgotten French operetta, <i>Sophie ou le Mariage Caché</i>, which
-is again founded on Garrick and Coleman's <i>Clandestine Marriage</i>. The
-Emperor Leopold was unable to be present at the first performance of
-Cimarosa's new work, but he heard of its enormous success, and
-determined not to miss a note at the second representation. He was in
-his box before the commencement of the overture, and listened to the
-performance throughout with the greatest attention, but without
-manifesting any opinion as to the merits of the music. As the Sovereign
-did not applaud, the brilliant audience who had assembled to hear <i>Il
-Matrimonio</i> a second time, were obliged, by court etiquette, to remain
-silent without giving the slightest expression to the delight the music
-afforded them. This icy reception was very different to the one obtained
-by the opera the night before, when the marks of approbation from all
-parts of the house had been of the most enthusiastic kind. However, when
-the piece was at an end, the Emperor rose and said aloud&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"Bravo, Cimarosa, bravissimo! The whole opera is admirable, delightful,
-enchanting. I did not applaud that I might not lose a single note of
-this masterpiece. You have heard it twice, and I must have the same
-pleasure before I go to bed. Singers and<a name="vol_2_page_098" id="vol_2_page_098"></a> musicians, pass into the next
-room! Cimarosa will come too, and will preside at the banquet prepared
-for you. When you have had sufficient rest we will begin again. I
-<i>encore</i> the whole opera, and, in the mean while, let us applaud it as
-it deserves." Leopold clapped his hands, and for some minutes the whole
-theatre resounded with plaudits. After the banquet, the entire opera was
-repeated.</p>
-
-<p>The only other example of such an occurrence as the above is to be found
-in the career of Terence, whose <i>Eunuchus</i> on its first production, was
-performed twice the same day, or, rather, once in the morning, and once
-in the evening.</p>
-
-<p>A similar amount of success obtained by Paer's <i>Laodicea</i> had quite an
-opposite result; for, as nearly the whole opera was encored, piece by
-piece, it was found impossible to conclude it the same evening, and the
-performance of the last act was postponed until the next night.</p>
-
-<p>Mozart's <i>Nozze di Figaro</i>, produced six years before the <i>Matrimonio
-Segretto</i>, was far less justly appreciated,&mdash;indeed, at Vienna, was not
-appreciated at all. This admirable work, so full of fresh spontaneous
-melody, and of rich, varied harmony was actually hissed by the Viennese!
-They even hissed <i>Non piu andrai</i>, which seems equally calculated to
-delight the educated and the most uneducated ear. Mozart has made
-allusion to this almost incredible instance of bad taste very happily
-and ingeniously in the supper scene of <i>Don Giovanni</i>.<a name="vol_2_page_099" id="vol_2_page_099"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MOZART AND JOSEPH II.</div>
-
-<p>Joseph II. cared only for Italian music, and never gave his entire
-approbation to anything Mozart produced, though the musicians of the
-period acknowledged him to be the greatest composer in Europe.</p>
-
-<p>"It is too fine for our ears," said the presumptuous Joseph, speaking to
-Mozart of the <i>Seraglio</i>. "Seriously, I think there are too many notes."</p>
-
-<p>"Precisely the proper number," replied the composer.</p>
-
-<p>The Emperor rewarded his frankness by giving him only fifty ducats for
-his opera.<a name="FNanchor_74_74" id="FNanchor_74_74"></a><a href="#Footnote_74_74" class="fnanchor">[74]</a></p>
-
-<p>Nevertheless, the <i>Seraglio</i> had caused the success of one of the
-emperor's favourite enterprises. It was the first work produced at the
-German Opera, established by Joseph II., at Vienna. Until that time,
-Italian opera predominated everywhere; indeed, German opera, that is to
-say, lyric dramas in the German language, set to music by German
-composers, and sung by German singers, could not be said to exist. There
-were a number of Italian musicians living at Vienna who were quite aware
-of Mozart's superiority, and hated him for it; the more so, as by taking
-such an important part in the establishment of the German Opera, he
-threatened to diminish the reputation of the Italian school. The
-<i>EntfĂĽhrung aus dem Serail</i> was the first blow to the supremacy of
-Italian opera. Der <i>Schauspieldirector</i> was the second, and when, after
-the production<a name="vol_2_page_100" id="vol_2_page_100"></a> of this latter work at the new German theatre of Vienna,
-Mozart proceeded to write the <i>Nozze di Figaro</i> for the Italians, he
-simply placed himself in the hands of his enemies. At the first
-representation, the two first acts of the <i>Nozze</i> were so shamefully
-executed, that the composer went in despair to the emperor to denounce
-the treachery of which he was being made the victim. Joseph had detected
-the conspiracy and was nearly as indignant as Mozart himself. He sent a
-severe message round to the stage, but the harm was now done, and the
-remainder of the opera was listened to very coldly. <i>Le Nozze di Figaro</i>
-failed at Vienna, and was not appreciated, did not even get a fair
-hearing, until it was produced some months afterwards at Prague. The
-Slavonians of Bohemia showed infinitely more good taste and intelligence
-than the Germans (led away and demoralized, however, by an Italian
-clique) at Vienna. At Prague, <i>le Nozze di Figaro</i> caused the greatest
-enthusiasm, and Mozart replied nobly to the sympathy and admiration of
-the Bohemians. "These good people," he said, "have avenged me. They know
-how to do me justice, I must write something to please them." He kept
-his word, and the year afterwards gave them the immortal <i>Don Giovanni</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MOZART AND SALIERI.</div>
-
-<p>At the head of the clique which had sworn eternal enmity to Mozart, was
-Salieri, a musician with a sort of Pontius Pilate reputation, owing his
-infamous celebrity to the fact that his name is now inseparably coupled
-with that of the sublime composer whom he<a name="vol_2_page_101" id="vol_2_page_101"></a> would have destroyed. Salieri
-(whom we have met with before in Paris as the would-be successor of
-Gluck) was the most learned of the Italian composers at that time
-residing in Vienna; and, therefore, must have felt the greatness of
-Mozart's genius more profoundly than any of the others. When <i>Don
-Giovanni</i>, after its success at Prague, was produced at Vienna, it was
-badly put on the stage, imperfectly rehearsed, and represented
-altogether in a very unsatisfactory manner. Nor, with improved execution
-did the audience show any disposition to appreciate its manifold
-beauties. Mozart's <i>Don Giovanni</i> was quite eclipsed by the <i>Assur</i> of
-his envious and malignant rival.</p>
-
-<p>"I will leave it to psychologists to determine," says M.
-Oulibicheff,<a name="FNanchor_75_75" id="FNanchor_75_75"></a><a href="#Footnote_75_75" class="fnanchor">[75]</a> "whether the day on which Salieri triumphed publicly
-over Mozart, was the happiest or the most painful of his life. He
-triumphed, indeed, thanks to the ignorance of the Viennese, to his own
-skill as a director, (which enabled him to render the work of his rival
-scarcely recognisable), and to the entire devotion of his subordinates.
-He must have been pleased; but Salieri was not only envious, he was also
-a great musician. He had read the score of <i>Don Giovanni</i>, and you know
-that the works one reads with the greatest attention are those of one's
-enemies. With what admiration and despair it must have filled the heart
-of an artist who was even more ambitious of true glory than of mere
-renown! What must he have felt in<a name="vol_2_page_102" id="vol_2_page_102"></a> his inmost soul! And what serpents
-must again have crawled and hissed in the wreath of laurel which was
-placed on his head! In spite of the fiasco of his opera, which he seems
-to have foreseen, and to which, at all events, he resigned himself with
-great calmness, Mozart, doubtless, more happy than his conqueror, added
-a few 'numbers,' each a masterpiece to his score. Four new pieces were
-written for it, at the request of the Viennese singers."</p>
-
-<p>M. Oulibicheff's compatriot Poushkin has written an admirable study on
-the subject presented above in a few suggestive phrases by Mozart's
-biographer. Unfortunately, it is impossible in these volumes to find a
-place for the Russian poet's "Mozart and Salieri."</p>
-
-<p>After the failure of <i>Don Giovanni</i> at Vienna, a number of persons were
-speaking of it in a room where Haydn and the principal connoisseurs of
-the place were assembled. Every one agreed in pronouncing it a most
-estimable work, but, also, every one had something to say against it. At
-last, Haydn, who, hitherto, had not spoken a word, was asked to give his
-opinion.</p>
-
-<p>"I do not feel myself in a position to decide this dispute," he
-answered. "All I know and can assure you of is that Mozart is the
-greatest composer of our time."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DON GIOVANNI.</div>
-
-<p>As Salieri's <i>Assur</i> completely eclipsed <i>Don Giovanni</i>, so, previously,
-did Martini's <i>Cosa Rara</i>, the <i>Nozze di Figaro</i>. Both these phenomena
-manifested<a name="vol_2_page_103" id="vol_2_page_103"></a> themselves at Vienna, and the reader has already been
-reminded that the fate of the <i>Nozze di Figaro</i> is alluded to in <i>Don
-Giovanni</i>. All the airs played by the hero's musicians in the supper
-scene are taken from the operas which were most in vogue when Mozart
-produced his great work; such as <i>La Cosa Rara</i>, <i>FrĂ  due Litiganti
-terzo gode</i>, and <i>I Pretendenti Burlati</i>. Leporello calls attention to
-the melodies as the orchestra on the stage plays them, and when, to
-terminate the series, the clarionets strike up <i>Non piu andrai</i>, he
-exclaims <i>Questo lo conosco pur troppo!</i> "I know this one only too
-well!" With the exception of <i>Non piu andrai</i>, which the Viennese could
-not tolerate the first time they heard it, none of the airs introduced
-in the <i>Don Giovanni</i> supper scene would be known in the present day,
-but for <i>Don Giovanni</i>.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p><i>Don Giovanni</i>, composed by Mozart to <i>Da Ponte's</i> libretto (which is
-founded on Molière's <i>Festin de Pierre</i>, which is imitated from Tirso di
-Molina's <i>El Burlador di Siviglia</i>, which seems to have had its origin
-in a very ancient legend<a name="FNanchor_76_76" id="FNanchor_76_76"></a><a href="#Footnote_76_76" class="fnanchor">[76]</a>), was produced at Prague, on the 4th of
-November, 1787. The subject had already been treated in a ballet, in
-four acts, for which Gluck wrote the music (produced at<a name="vol_2_page_104" id="vol_2_page_104"></a> Parma in 1758;
-and long before the production of Mozart's <i>Don Giovanni</i>, it had been
-dramatised in some shape or other in almost every country in Europe, and
-especially in Spain, Italy, and France, where several versions of the
-Italian <i>Il Convitato di Pietra</i> were being played, when Molière first
-brought out his so-called <i>Festin de Pierre</i>. The original cast of <i>Don
-Giovanni</i> at Prague was as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p><i>Donna Anna</i>, Teresa Saporiti.</p>
-<p><i>Elvira</i>, Catarina Micelli.</p>
-<p><i>Zerlina</i>, Madame Bondini (Catarina Saporiti).</p>
-<p><i>Don Giovanni</i>, Bassi (Luigi).</p>
-<p><i>Ottavio</i>, Baglioni (Antonio).</p>
-<p><i>Leporello</i>, Ponziani (Felice).</p>
-<p><i>Don Pedro</i>, Lolli (Guiseppe).</p>
-<p><i>Masetto</i>, the same.</p>
-
-<p>Righini, of Bologna, had produced his opera of <i>Don Giovanni, ossia il
-Convitato di Pietra</i>, at Prague, only eight years before, for which
-reason the title of <i>Il Dissoluto Punito</i> was given to Mozart's work. It
-was not until some years afterwards that it received the name by which
-it is now universally known.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DON GIOVANNI.</div>
-
-<p>Although the part of <i>Don Giovanni</i> was written for a baritone, tenors,
-such as Tacchinardi and Garcia, have often played it, and frequently
-with greater success than the majority of baritones have obtained. But
-no individual success of a favourite singer can compensate for the
-transpositions and changes that have to be effected in Mozart's
-masterpiece,<a name="vol_2_page_105" id="vol_2_page_105"></a> when the character of the hero is assigned to a vocalist
-who cannot execute the music which of right belongs to it. It has been
-said that Mozart wrote the part of <i>Don Giovanni</i> for a baritone,
-because it so happened that the baritone at the Prague theatre, Bassi,
-was the best singer of the company; but it is not to be imagined that
-the musical characterization of the personages in the most truly
-dramatic opera ever written, was the result of anything but the
-composer's well-considered design. "<i>Don Giovanni</i> was not intended for
-Vienna, but for Prague," Mozart is reported to have said. "The truth,
-however, is," he added, "that I wrote it for myself, and a few friends."
-Accordingly, the great composer was not thinking of Bassi at the time.
-It would be easy, moreover, to show, that though the most feminine of
-male voices may suit the ordinary <i>jeune premier</i>, or <i>premier
-amoureux</i>, there is nothing tenor-like in the temperament of a <i>Don
-Giovanni</i>; deceiving all women, defying all men, breaking all laws,
-human and divine, and an unbeliever in everything&mdash;even in the power of
-equestrian statues to get off their horses, and sit down to supper.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DON GIOVANNI.</div>
-
-<p>But, let us not consider whether or not <i>Fin ch' han dal vino</i> is
-improved by being sung (as tenor <i>Don Giovannis</i> sometimes sing it) a
-fourth higher than it was written by Mozart; or whether it is tolerable
-that the concerted pieces in which <i>Don Giovanni</i> takes part should be,
-not transposed (for that would be insufficient, or, rather, would
-increase the difficulties<a name="vol_2_page_106" id="vol_2_page_106"></a> of execution) but so altered, that in some
-passages the original design of the composer is entirely perverted. Let
-us simply repeat the maxim, on which it is impossible to lay too much
-stress, that the work of a great master should not be touched,
-re-touched, or in any manner interfered with, under any pretext. There
-is, absolutely, no excuse for managers mutilating <i>Don Giovanni</i>; not
-even the excuse that in its original form this inexhaustible opera does
-not "draw." It has already lived, and with full, unfailing life, for
-three-quarters of a century. It has survived all sorts of revolutions in
-taste, and especially in musical taste. There are now no Emperors of
-Germany. Prague has become a third-rate city. That German Opera, which
-Mozart originated with his <i>EntfĂĽhrung aus dem Serail</i>, has attained a
-grand development, and among its composers has numbered Beethoven,
-Weber, and the latter's follower, and occasional imitator, Meyerbeer.
-Rossini has appeared with his seductive melody, and his brilliant,
-sonorous orchestra. But justice is still&mdash;more than ever&mdash;done to
-Mozart. The verdict of Prague is maintained; and this year, as ten,
-twenty, forty years ago, if the manager of the Italian Opera of London,
-Paris, or St. Petersburgh, has had for some time past a series of empty
-houses, he takes an opera, seventy-four years of age, and which,
-according to all ordinary musical calculations, ought long since to have
-had, at least, one act in the grave, dresses it badly, puts it badly on
-the stage, with such scenery as would<a name="vol_2_page_107" id="vol_2_page_107"></a> be thought unworthy of Verdi, and
-hazardous for Meyerbeer, announces <i>Don Giovanni</i>, and every place in
-the theatre is taken!</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Although Mozart's genius was fully acknowledged by the greatest
-musicians, among his contemporaries (the reader already knows what Haydn
-said of him, and what Cimarosa replied when he was addressed as his
-superior), his music found an echo in the hearts of only a very small
-portion of the ordinary public. Admired at Prague, condemned at Vienna,
-unknown in the rest of Europe, it may be said, with only too much truth,
-that Mozart's master-pieces, speaking generally, met with no recognition
-until after his death; with no fitting recognition until long
-afterwards. From the slow, strong, oak-like growth of Mozart's fame, now
-flourishing, and still increasing every day, we may see, not for his
-name alone, but for his music, a continued celebrity and popularity,
-which will probably endure as long as our modern civilization. I have
-already spoken of the effects of the last general war in checking
-literary and artistic communication between the nations of Europe. This
-will, in part, account for Mozart's master-piece not having been
-performed at the Italian Opera of Paris until 1811, nor in London until
-after the peace, in 1817. In the Paris cast, the part of <i>Don Giovanni</i>
-was assigned to a tenor, Tacchinardi; and when the opera was revived at
-the same theatre (which was not until<a name="vol_2_page_108" id="vol_2_page_108"></a> nine years afterwards),
-Tacchinardi was replaced by Garcia.</p>
-
-<p>The first "Don Giovanni" who appeared in London, was the celebrated
-baritone, Ambrogetti. Among the other distinguished singers who have
-appeared as "Don Giovanni," with great success, may be mentioned
-Nourrit, the tenor; Lablache (in 1832), before he had identified himself
-with the part of "Leporello;" Tamburini, and I suppose I must now add,
-Mario; though this great artist has been seen and heard to more
-advantage in other characters. The last great "Don Giovanni" known to
-the present generation was Signor Tamburini. It is a remarkable fact,
-well worth the consideration of managers, who are inclined to take
-liberties with Mozart's master-piece, that when Garcia, the tenor,
-appeared in London as "Don Giovanni," after Ambrogetti, the baritone, he
-produced comparatively but little effect; though Garcia was one of the
-most accomplished musicians, and, probably, the very best singer of his
-day.</p>
-
-<p>Without going back again to the original cast, I may notice among the
-most celebrated Donna Annas, Madame Ronzi de Begnis, Mademoiselle
-Sontag, Madame Grisi, Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli, and Mademoiselle
-Titiens.</p>
-
-<p>Among the Zerlinas, Madame Fodor, Madame Malibran, Madame Persiani<a name="FNanchor_77_77" id="FNanchor_77_77"></a><a href="#Footnote_77_77" class="fnanchor">[77]</a>,
-and Madame Bosio.<a name="vol_2_page_109" id="vol_2_page_109"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DON GIOVANNI.</div>
-
-<p>Among the Don Ottavios, Rubini and Mario.</p>
-
-<p>Porto is said to have been particularly admirable as Masetto, and
-Angrisani and Angelini as the commandant.</p>
-
-<p>Certainly, no one living has heard a better Leporello than Lablache.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Ebers tells us, in his "Seven Years of the King's Theatre," that
-<i>Don Giovanni</i> was brought out by Mr. Ayrton in 1817, "in opposition to
-a vexatious cabal," and "in despite of difficulties of many kinds which
-would have deterred a less decided and persevering manager."
-Nevertheless, "it filled the boxes and benches of the theatre for the
-whole season, and restored to a flourishing condition the finances of
-the concern, which were in an almost exhausted state."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DIPLOMATISTS AND DANCERS.</div>
-
-<p>The war, so injurious to the Opera, had a still more disastrous effect
-on the ballet, a fact for which we have the authority of the manager and
-author from whom I have just quoted. "The procrastinated war," says Mr.
-Ebers, "which, until the treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, had kept England and
-France in hostilities, had rendered the importation of dancers from the
-latter country almost impracticable." Mr. Waters, Mr. Ebers'
-predecessor, had repeatedly endeavoured to prevail on French dancers to
-come to England, "either with the <i>congés</i>, if attainable, or by such
-clandestine<a name="vol_2_page_110" id="vol_2_page_110"></a> means as could be carried into effect." He failed; and we
-are told that his want of success in this respect was one cause of the
-disagreement between himself and the committee of the theatre, which led
-soon afterwards to his abandoning the management. Mr. Ebers, however,
-testifies from his own experience to the almost insuperable difficulty
-of inducing the directors of the French Opera to cede any of their
-principal performers even for a few weeks to the late enemies of their
-country. When the dancers were willing to accept the terms offered to
-them, it was impossible to obtain leave from the minister entrusted with
-the supreme direction of operatic affairs; if the minister was willing,
-then objections came from the ballet itself. It was necessary to secure
-the aid of the highest diplomatists, and the engagement of a few first
-dancers and <i>coryphées</i> was made as important an affair as the signing
-of a treaty of commerce. The special envoy, the Cobden of the affair,
-was Monsieur Boisgerard, an ex-officer in the French army under the
-Bourbons, and actually the second ballet-master of the King's Theatre;
-but all official correspondence connected with the negotiation had to be
-transmitted through the medium of the English ambassador at Paris to the
-Baron de la Ferté. Boisgerard arrived in Paris furnished with letters of
-introduction from the five noblemen who at that time formed a "committee
-of superintendence" to aid Mr. Ebers in the management of the King's
-Theatre, and directed all his attention and energy towards forming<a name="vol_2_page_111" id="vol_2_page_111"></a> an
-engagement with Bigottini and Noblet, the principal <i>danseuses</i>, and
-Albert, the <i>premier danseur</i> of the French Opera. In spite of his
-excellent recommendations, of the esteem in which he was himself held by
-his numerous friends in Paris, and of the interest of a dancer named
-Deshayes, who appears to have readily joined in the conspiracy, and who
-was afterwards rewarded for his aid with a lucrative engagement as first
-ballet-master at the London Opera House&mdash;in spite of all these
-advantages it was impossible, for some time, to obtain any concessions
-from the Académie. To begin with, Bigottini, Noblet and Albert refused
-point blank to leave Paris. M. Boisgerard, however, as a ballet-master
-and a man of the world, understood that this was intended only as an
-invitation for larger offers; and finally all three were engaged,
-conditionally on their <i>congés</i> being obtained from the directors of the
-theatre. Now the real difficulty began; now the influence of the five
-English noblemen was brought to bear; now despatches were interchanged
-between the British ambassador in Paris and the Baron de la Ferté,
-intendant of the royal theatres; now consultations took place between
-the said intendant and the Viscount de la Rochefoucault, aide-de-camp of
-the king, entrusted with the department of fine arts in the ministry of
-the king's household; and between the said artistic officer of the
-king's household and Duplanty, the administrator of the Royal Academy of
-Music, and of the Italian Opera. The result of all this negotiation<a name="vol_2_page_112" id="vol_2_page_112"></a>
-was, that the administration first hesitated and finally refused to
-allow Mademoiselle Bigottini to visit England on any terms; but, after
-considerable trouble, the French agents in the service of Mr. Ebers
-obtained permission for Albert and Noblet to accept engagements for two
-months,&mdash;it being further arranged that, at the expiration of that
-period, they should be replaced by Coulon and Fanny Bias. Albert was to
-receive fifty pounds for every night of performance, and twenty-five
-pounds for his travelling expenses. Noblet's terms were five hundred and
-fifty pounds for the two months, with twenty-five pounds for expenses.
-Coulon and Bias were each to receive the same terms as Noblet. Three
-other dancers, Montessu, Lacombe, and Mademoiselle de Varennes, were at
-the same time given over to Mr. Ebers for an entire season, and he was
-allowed to retain all his prisoners&mdash;that is to say, those members of
-the Académie, with Mademoiselle Mélanie at their head, whom previous
-managers had taken from the French prior to the friendly and pacific
-embassy of M. Boisgerard. An attempt was made to secure the services of
-Mademoiselle Elisa, but without avail. M. and Mademoiselle Paul entered
-into an agreement, but the administration refused to ratify it;
-otherwise, with a little encouragement, Mr. Ebers would probably have
-engaged the entire ballet of the Académie Royale.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADEMOISELLE NOBLET.</div>
-
-<p>Male dancers have, I am glad to think, never been much esteemed in
-England; and Albert, though successful enough, produced nothing like the
-same impression<a name="vol_2_page_113" id="vol_2_page_113"></a> in London which he was in the habit of causing in
-Paris. Mademoiselle Noblet's dancing, on the other hand, excited the
-greatest enthusiasm, and the subscribers made all possible exertions to
-obtain a prolongation of her <i>congé</i> when the time for her return to the
-Académie arrived. Noblet's performance in the ballet of <i>Nina</i> (of which
-the subject is identical with that of Paisiello's opera of the same
-name) is said to have been particularly admirable, especially for the
-great dramatic talent which she exhibited in pourtraying the heroine's
-melancholy madness. <i>Nina</i> was announced for Mademoiselle Noblet's
-benefit, on a night not approved by the Lord Chamberlain&mdash;either because
-it interfered with some of the court regulations, or for some other
-reason not explained. The secretary to the committee of the Opera was
-directed to address a letter to the Chamberlain, representing to him how
-inconvenient it would be to postpone the benefit, as the <i>congé</i> of the
-<i>bénéficiaire</i> was now on the point of expiring. Lord Hertford, with
-becoming politeness, wrote the following letter, which shows with what
-deep interest the graceful dancer inspired even those who knew her only
-by reputation. The letter was addressed to the Marquis of Ailesbury, one
-of the members of the operatic committee.</p>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p>"<span class="smcap">My dear Lord</span>,&mdash;I have this moment (eleven o'clock) received your
-letter, which I have sent to the Chamberlain's office to Mr. Mash;
-and as Mademoiselle Noblet is a very pretty woman as I am told,<a name="vol_2_page_114" id="vol_2_page_114"></a> I
-hope she will call there to assist in the solicitation which
-interests her so much. Not having been for many years at the opera,
-except for the single purpose of attending his majesty, I am no
-judge of the propriety of her request or the objections which may
-arise to the postponement of her benefit for one day at so short a
-notice. I hope the fair solicitress will be prepared with an answer
-on this part of the subject, as it is always my wish to accommodate
-you; and I remain most sincerely your very faithful servant,</p>
-
-<p class="r">"I<small>NGRAM</small> H<small>ERTFORD</small>."</p></div>
-
-<div class="blockquot"><p class="nind">"Manchester Square,</p>
-
-<p><i>April 29th, 1821</i>."</p>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Noblet's benefit having taken place, the subscribers,
-horrified at the notion that they had now, perhaps, seen her for
-the last time, determined, in spite of all obstacles, in spite even
-of the very explicit agreement between the director of the King's
-Theatre and the administration of the Académie Royale, that she
-should remain in London. The <i>danseuse</i> was willing enough to
-prolong her stay, but the authorities at the French Opera
-protested. The Academy of Music was not going to be deprived in
-this way of one of the greatest ornaments of its ballet, and the
-Count de Caraman, on behalf of the Academy, called on the committee
-to direct Mr. Ebers to send over to Paris, without delay, the
-performers whose <i>congés</i> were now at an end. The members of the
-committee replied that they had only power to interfere as regarded
-the choice of<a name="vol_2_page_115" id="vol_2_page_115"></a> operas and ballets, and that they had nothing to do
-with agreements between the manager and the performers. They added,
-"that they had certainly employed their influence with the English
-ambassador at Paris at the commencement of the season, to obtain
-the best artists from that city; but it appearing that the Academy
-was not disposed to grant <i>congés</i> for London, even to artists, for
-whose services the Academy had no occasion, the committee had
-determined not again to meddle in that branch of the management."
-</p></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">TERPSICHOREAN TREATY.</div>
-
-<p>The French now sent over an ambassador extraordinary, the Baron de
-la Ferté himself, to negotiate for the restoration of the
-deserters. It was decided, however, that they should be permitted
-to remain until the end of the season; and, moreover, that two
-first and two second dancers should be allowed annually to come to
-London, but only under the precise stipulations contained in the
-following treaty, which was signed between Mr. Ebers, on the one
-hand, and M. Duplantys on the part of Viscount de la Rochefoucault,
-on the other.</p>
-
-<p>"The administration of the Theatre of the Royal Academy of Music,
-wishing to facilitate to the administration of the theatre of
-London, the means of making known the French artists of the ballet
-without this advantage being prejudicial to the Opera of Paris;</p>
-
-<p>"Consents to grant to Mr. Ebers for each season, the first
-commencing on the 10th of January, and<a name="vol_2_page_116" id="vol_2_page_116"></a> ending the 20th of April,
-and the second ending the 1st of August, two first dancers, two
-<i>figurants</i>, and two <i>figurantes</i>; but in making this concession,
-the administration of the Royal Academy of Music reserves the right
-of only allowing those dancers to leave Paris to whom it may be
-convenient to grant a <i>congé</i>; this rule applies equally to the
-<i>figurants</i> and <i>figurantes</i>. None of them can leave the Paris
-theatre except by the formal permission of the authorities.</p>
-
-<p>"And in return for these concessions, Mr. Ebers promises to engage
-no dancer until he has first obtained the necessary authorization
-in accordance with his demand.</p>
-
-<p>"He engages not under any pretext to keep the principal dancers a
-longer time than has been agreed without a fresh permission, and
-above all, to make them no offers with the view of enticing them
-from their permanent engagements with the French authorities.</p>
-
-<p>"The present treaty is for the space of * * *.</p>
-
-<p>"In case of Mr. Ebers failing in one of the articles of the said
-treaty, the whole treaty becomes null and void."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BOISGERARD IN THE TEMPLE.</div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MARIA MERCANDOTTI.</div>
-
-<p>The prime mover in the diplomatic transactions which had the effect
-of securing Mademoiselle Noblet far the London Opera was, as I have
-said, the ballet master, Boisgerard, formerly an officer in the
-French army. In a chapter which is intended to show to some extent
-the effect on opera of the disturbed state of<a name="vol_2_page_117" id="vol_2_page_117"></a> Europe consequent on
-the French Revolution, it will, perhaps, not be out of place to
-relate a very daring exploit performed by the said M. Boisgerard,
-which was the cause of his adopting an operatic career. "This
-gentleman," says Mr. Ebers, in the account published by him of his
-administration of the King's Theatre from 1821 to 1828, "was a
-Frenchman of good extraction, and at the period of the French
-Revolution, was attached to the royal party. When Sir Sidney Smith
-was confined in the Temple, Boisgerard acted up to his principles
-by attempting, and with great personal risk, effecting the escape
-of that distinguished officer, whose friends were making every
-effort for his liberation. Having obtained an impression of the
-seal of the Directorial Government, he affixed it to an order,
-forged by himself, for the delivery of Sir Sidney Smith into his
-care. Accompanied by a friend, disguised like himself, in the
-uniform of an officer of the revolutionary army, he did not scruple
-personally to present the fictitious document to the keeper of the
-Temple, who, opening a small closet, took thence some original
-document, with the writing and seal of which, he carefully compared
-the forged order. Desiring the adventurers to wait a few minutes,
-he then withdrew, and locked the door after him. Giving themselves
-up for lost, the confederate determined to resist, sword in hand,
-any attempt made to secure them. The period which thus elapsed, may
-be imagined as one of the most horrible suspense to Boisgerard and
-his companion;<a name="vol_2_page_118" id="vol_2_page_118"></a> his own account of his feelings at the time was
-extremely interesting. Left alone, and in doubt whether each
-succeeding moment might not be attended by a discovery involving
-the safety of his life, the acuteness of his organs of sense was
-heightened to painfulness; the least noise thrilled through his
-brain, and the gloomy apartment in which he sat seemed filled with
-strange images. They preserved their self-possession, and, after
-the lapse of a few minutes, their anxiety was determined by the
-re-appearance of the gaoler, accompanied by his captive, who was
-delivered to Boisgerard. But here a new and unlooked for difficulty
-occurred; Sir Sidney Smith, not knowing Boisgerard, refused, for
-some time, to quit the prison; and considerable address was
-required on the part of his deliverers to overcome his scruples. At
-last, the precincts of the Temple were cleared; and, after going a
-short distance in a fiacre, then walking, then entering another
-carriage, and so on, adopting every means of baffling pursuit, the
-fugitives got to Havre, where Sir Sidney was put on board an
-English vessel. Boisgerard, on his return to Paris (for he quitted
-Sir Sidney at Havre) was a thousand times in dread of detection;
-tarrying at an <i>auberge</i>, he was asked whether he had heard the
-news of Sir Sidney's escape; the querist adding, that four persons
-had been arrested on suspicion of having been instrumental in it.
-However, he escaped all these dangers, and continued at Paris until
-his visit to England, which took place after the peace of Amiens. A
-pension<a name="vol_2_page_119" id="vol_2_page_119"></a> had been granted to Sir Sidney Smith for his meritorious
-services; and, on Boisgerard's arrival here, a reward of a similar
-nature was bestowed on him through the influence of Sir Sidney, who
-took every opportunity of testifying his gratitude."</p>
-
-<p>We have already seen that though the international character of the
-Opera must always be seriously interfered with by international
-wars, the intelligent military amateur may yet be able to turn his
-European campaigning to some operatic advantage. The French
-officers acquired a taste for Italian music in Italy. So an English
-officer serving in the Peninsula, imbibed a passion for Spanish
-dancing, to which was due the choregraphic existence of the
-celebrated Maria Mercandotti,&mdash;by all accounts one of the most
-beautiful girls and one of the most charming dancers that the world
-ever saw. This inestimable treasure was discovered by Lord Fife&mdash;a
-keen-eyed connoisseur, who when Maria was but a child, foretold the
-position she would one day occupy, if her mother would but allow
-her to join the dancing school of the French Academy. Madame
-Mercandotti brought her daughter to England when she was fifteen.
-The young Spaniard danced a bolero one night at the Opera, repeated
-it a few days afterwards at Brighton, before Queen Charlotte, and
-then set off to Paris, where she joined the Académie. After a very
-short period of study, she made her <i>début</i> with success, such as
-scarcely any dancer had obtained at the French Opera, since the
-time of La Camargo&mdash;herself, by the way, a Spaniard.<a name="vol_2_page_120" id="vol_2_page_120"></a></p>
-
-<p>Mademoiselle Mercandotti came to London, was received with the
-greatest enthusiasm, was the fashionable theme of one entire
-operatic season, had a number of poems, valuable presents, and
-offers of undying affection addressed to her, and ended by marrying
-Mr. Hughes Ball.</p>
-
-<p>The production of this <i>danseuse</i> appears to have seen the last
-direct result of that scattering of the amateurs of one nation
-among the artists of another, which was produced by the European
-convulsions of from 1789 to 1815.<a name="vol_2_page_121" id="vol_2_page_121"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XV" id="CHAPTER_XV"></a>CHAPTER XV.<br /><br />
-<small>MANNERS AND CUSTOMS AT THE LONDON OPERA, HALF A CENTURY SINCE.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A MANAGER IN THE BENCH.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">A <small>COMPLETE</small> History of the Opera would include a history of operatic
-music, a history of operatic dancing, a history of the chief operatic
-theatres, and a history of operatic society. I have made no attempt to
-treat the subject on such a grand scale; but though I shall have little
-to say about the principal lyrical theatres of Europe, or of the habits
-of opera-goers as a European class, there is one great musical dramatic
-establishment, to whose fortunes I must pay some special attention, and
-concerning whose audiences much may be said that will at least interest
-an English reader. After several divided reigns at the Lincoln's Inn
-Theatre, at Covent Garden, at the Pantheon, and at the King's Theatre,
-Italian Opera found itself, in 1793, established solely and majestically
-at the last of these houses, which I need hardly remind the reader was
-its first home in England. The management was now exercised by Mr.
-Taylor, the proprietor. This<a name="vol_2_page_122" id="vol_2_page_122"></a> gentleman, who was originally a banker's
-clerk, appears to have had no qualification for his more exalted
-position, beyond the somewhat questionable one of a taste for
-speculation. He is described as having had "all Sheridan's deficiency of
-financial arrangement, without that extraordinary man's resources."
-Nevertheless he was no bad hand at borrowing money. All the advances,
-however, made to him by his friends, to enable him to undertake the
-management of the Opera, are said to have been repaid. Mr. Ebers, his
-not unfriendly biographer, finds it difficult to account for this, and
-can only explain it by the excellent support the Opera received at the
-period. Mr. Taylor was what in the last century was called "a humorist."
-Not that he possessed much humour, but he was a queer, eccentric man,
-and given to practical jokes, which, in the present day, would not be
-thought amusing even by the friends of those injured by them. On one
-occasion, Taylor having been prevailed upon to invite a number of
-persons to breakfast, spread a report that he intended to set them down
-to empty plates. He, moreover, recommended each of the guests, in an
-anonymous letter, to turn the tables on the would-be ingenious Taylor,
-by taking to the <i>déjeuner</i> a supply of suitable provisions, so that the
-inhospitable inviter might be shamed and the invited enabled to feast in
-company, notwithstanding his machinations to the contrary. The manager
-enjoyed such a reputation for liberality that no one doubted the
-statement contained in the anonymous letter.<a name="vol_2_page_123" id="vol_2_page_123"></a></p>
-
-<p>Each of the guests sent or took in his carriage a certain quantity of
-eatables, and when all had arrived, the happy Taylor found his room
-filled with all the materials for a monster picnic. Breakfast <i>had</i> been
-prepared, the guests sat down to table, some amused, others disgusted at
-the hoax which had been practised upon them, and Taylor ordered the
-game, preserved meats, lobsters, champagne, &amp;c., into his own larder and
-wine cellar.</p>
-
-<p>Even while directing the affairs of the Opera, Taylor passed a
-considerable portion of his time in the King's Bench, or within its
-"rules."</p>
-
-<p>"How can you conduct the management of the King's Theatre," a friend
-asked him one day, "perpetually in durance as you are?"</p>
-
-<p>"My dear fellow," he replied, "how could I possibly conduct it if I were
-at liberty? I should be eaten up, sir&mdash;devoured. Here comes a
-dancer,&mdash;'Mr. Taylor, I want such a dress;' another, 'I want such and
-such ornaments.' One singer demands to sing in a part not allotted to
-him; another, to have an addition to his appointments. No, let me be
-shut up and they go to Masterson (Taylor's secretary); he, they are
-aware, cannot go beyond his line; but if they get at <i>me</i>&mdash;pshaw! no man
-at large can manage that theatre; and in faith," he added, "no man that
-undertakes it ought to go at large."</p>
-
-<p>Though Mr. Taylor lived within the "rules," the "rules" in no way
-governed him. He would frequently go away for days together into the
-country<a name="vol_2_page_124" id="vol_2_page_124"></a> and amuse himself with fishing, of which he appears to have
-been particularly fond. At one time, while living within the "rules," he
-inherited a large sum of money, which he took care not to devote to the
-payment of his debts. He preferred investing it in land, bought an
-estate in the country (with good fishing), and lived for some months the
-quiet, peaceable life of an ardent, enthusiastic angler, until at last
-the sheriffs broke in upon his repose and carried him back captive to
-prison.</p>
-
-<p>But the most extraordinary exploit performed by Taylor during the period
-of his supposed incarceration, was of a political nature. He went down
-to Hull at the time of an election and actually stood for the borough.
-He was not returned&mdash;or rather he was returned to prison.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE PANTHEON.</div>
-
-<p>One way and another Mr. Taylor seems to have made a great deal of money
-out of the Opera; and at one time he hit upon a plan which looked at
-first as if it had only to be pursued with boldness to increase his
-income to an indefinite amount. This simple expedient consisted in
-raising the price of the subscribers' boxes. For the one hundred and
-eighty pound boxes he charged three hundred pounds, and so in proportion
-with all the others. A meeting of subscribers having been held, at
-which, although the expensive Catalani was engaged, it was decided that
-the proposed augmentation was not justified by the rate of the receipts
-and disbursements, and this decision having been communicated to Taylor,
-he replied,<a name="vol_2_page_125" id="vol_2_page_125"></a> that if the subscribers resisted his just demands he would
-shut up their boxes. In consequence of this defiant conduct on the part
-of the manager, many of the subscribers withdrew from the theatre and
-prevailed upon Caldas, a Portuguese wine merchant, to re-open the
-Pantheon for the performance of concerts and all such music as could be
-executed without infringing the licence of the King's Theatre. The
-Pantheon speculation prospered at first, but the seceders from the
-King's Theatre missed their operas, and doubtless also their ballets. A
-sort of compromise was effected between them and Taylor, who persisted,
-however, in keeping up the price of his boxes; and the unfortunate
-Caldas, utterly deserted by those who had dragged him from his
-wine-cellars to expose him to the perils of musical speculation, became
-a bankrupt.</p>
-
-<p>Taylor was now in his turn brought to account. Waters, his partner in
-the proprietorship of the King's Theatre, had been proceeding against
-him in Chancery, and it was ordered that the partnership should be
-dissolved and the house sold. To the great annoyance of the public, the
-first step taken in the affair was to close the theatre,&mdash;the
-chancellor, who is said to have had no ear for music, having refused to
-appoint a manager.</p>
-
-<p>It was proposed by private friends that Taylor should cede his interest
-in the theatre to Waters; but it was difficult to bring them to any
-understanding on the subject, or even to arrange an interview<a name="vol_2_page_126" id="vol_2_page_126"></a> between
-them. Waters prided himself on the decorum of his conduct, while Taylor
-appears to have aimed at quite a contrary reputation. All business
-transactions, prior to Taylor's arrest, had been rendered nearly
-impossible between them; because one would attend to no affairs on
-Sunday, while the other, with a just fear of writs before him, objected
-to show himself in London on any other day. The sight of Waters,
-moreover, is said to have rendered Taylor "passionate and scurrilous;"
-and while the negociations were being carried on, through
-intermediaries, between himself and his partner, he entered into a
-treaty with the lessee of the Pantheon, with the view of opening it in
-opposition to the King's Theatre.</p>
-
-<p>Ultimately, the management of the theatre was confided, under certain
-restrictions, to Mr. Waters; but even now possession was not given up to
-him without a struggle.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">WITHIN THE "RULES."</div>
-
-<p>When Mr. Waters' people were refused admittance by Mr. Taylor's people,
-words led to blows. The adherents of the former partners, and actual
-enemies and rivals, fought valiantly on both sides, but luck had now
-turned against Taylor, and his party were defeated and ejected. That
-night, however, when the Watersites fancied themselves secure in their
-stronghold, the Taylorites attacked them; effected a breach in the stage
-door, stormed the passage, gained admittance to the stage, and finally
-drove their enemies out into the Haymarket. The unmusical chancellor,<a name="vol_2_page_127" id="vol_2_page_127"></a>
-whose opinion of the Opera could scarcely have been improved by the
-lawless proceeding of those connected with it, was again appealed to;
-and Waters established himself in the theatre by virtue of an order from
-the court.</p>
-
-<p>The series of battles at the King's Theatre terminated with the European
-war. Napoleon was at Elba, Mr. Taylor still in the Bench, when Mr.
-Waters opened the Opera, and, during the great season which followed the
-peace of 1814, gained seven thousand pounds.</p>
-
-<p>Taylor appears to have ended his days in prison; profiting freely by the
-"rules," and when at head quarters enjoying the society of Sir John and
-Lady Ladd. The trio seem, on the whole, to have led a very agreeable
-prison life (and, though strictly forbidden to wander from the jail
-beyond their appointed tether, appear in many respects to have been
-remarkably free.) Taylor's great natural animal spirits increased with
-the wine he consumed; and occasionally his behaviour was such as would
-certainly have shocked Waters. On one occasion, his elation is said to
-have carried him so beyond bounds, that Lady Ladd found it expedient to
-empty the tea-kettle over him.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MR. EBERS' MANAGEMENT.</div>
-
-<p>In 1816 the Opera, by direction of the Chancellor, (it was a fortunate
-thing that this time he did not order it to be pulled down,) was again
-put up for sale, and purchased out and out by Waters for seven thousand
-one hundred and fifty pounds. As the now<a name="vol_2_page_128" id="vol_2_page_128"></a> sole proprietor was unable to
-pay into court even the first instalment of the purchase money,<a name="FNanchor_78_78" id="FNanchor_78_78"></a><a href="#Footnote_78_78" class="fnanchor">[78]</a> he
-mortgaged the theatre, with a number of houses belonging to him, to
-Chambers the banker. Taylor, who had no longer any sort of connection
-with the Opera, at present amused himself by writing anonymous letters
-to Mr. Chambers, prophesying the ruin of Waters, and giving dismal but
-grotesque pictures of the manager's penniless and bailiff-persecuted
-position. Mr. Ebers, who was a great deal mixed up with operatic affairs
-before assuming the absolute direction of the Opera, also came in for
-his share of these epistles, which every one seems to have instantly
-recognised as the production of Taylor. "If Waters is with you at
-Brompton," he once wrote to Mr. Ebers, "for God's sake send him away
-instantly, for the bailiffs (alias bloodhounds) are out after him in all
-directions; and tell Chambers not to let him stay at Enfield, because
-that is a suspected place; and so is Lee's in York Street, Westminster,
-and Di Giovanni, in Smith Street, and Reed's in Flask Lane&mdash;both in
-Chelsea. It was reported he was seen in the lane near your house an
-evening or two ago, with his eye blacked, and in the great coat and hat
-of a Chelsea pensioner." At another time, Mr. Chambers was informed that
-Michael Kelly, the singer, was at an hotel at Brighton, on the point of
-death, and desirous while he yet lived to communicate something very<a name="vol_2_page_129" id="vol_2_page_129"></a>
-important respecting Waters. The holder of Waters' mortgage took a post
-chaise and four and hurried in great alarm to Brighton, where he found
-Michael Kelly sitting in his balcony, with a pine apple and a bottle of
-claret before him.</p>
-
-<p>Taylor's prophecies concerning Waters, after all, came true. His
-embarrassments increased year by year, and in 1820 an execution was put
-into the theatre at the suit of Chambers. Ten performances were yet due
-to the subscribers, when, on the evening of the 15th of August, bills
-were posted on the walls of the theatre, announcing that the Opera was
-closed. Mr. Waters did not join his former partner in the Bench, but
-retired to Calais.</p>
-
-<p>Mr. Ebers's management commenced in 1821. He formed an excellent
-company, of which several singers, still under engagement to Mr. Waters,
-formed part, and which included among the singers, Madame Camporese,
-Madame Vestris, Madame Ronzi de Begnis; and M. M. Ambrogetti, Angrisani,
-Begrez, and Curioni. The chief dancers (as already mentioned in the
-previous chapter), were Noblet, Fanny Bias, and Albert. The season was a
-short one, it was considered successful, though the manager but lost
-money by it. The selection of operas was admirable, and consisted of
-Paer's <i>Agnese</i>, Rossini's <i>Gazza Ladra</i>, <i>Tancredi</i> and <i>Turco</i> in
-<i>Italia</i>, with Mozart's <i>Clemenza di Tito</i>, <i>Don Giovanni</i>, and <i>Nozze
-di Figaro</i>. The manager's losses were already seven thousand pounds. By
-way of encouraging him,<a name="vol_2_page_130" id="vol_2_page_130"></a> Mr. Chambers increased his rent the following
-year from three thousand one hundred and eighty pounds to ten thousand.
-It is right to add, that in the meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up
-Waters's entire interest in the Opera for eighty thousand pounds.
-Altogether, by buying and selling the theatre, Waters had cleared no
-less than seventy-three thousand pounds. Not contented with this, he no
-sooner heard of the excellent terms on which Mr. Chambers had let the
-house, than he made an application (a fruitless one), to the
-ever-to-be-tormented Chancellor, to have the deed of sale declared
-invalid.</p>
-
-<p>During Mr. Ebers's management, from the beginning of 1821 to the end of
-1827, he lost money regularly every year; the smallest deficit in the
-budget of any one season being that of the last, when the manager
-thought himself fortunate to be minus only three thousand pounds (within
-a few sovereigns).</p>
-
-<p>After Mr. Ebers's retirement, the management of the Opera was undertaken
-by Messrs. Laporte and Laurent. Mr. Laporte was succeeded by Mr. Lumley,
-the history of whose management belongs to a much later period than that
-treated of in the present chapter.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.</div>
-
-<p>During the early part of the last century, the character of the London
-Opera House, as a fashionable place of entertainment, and in some other
-respects,<a name="vol_2_page_131" id="vol_2_page_131"></a> appears to have considerably changed. Before the fire in
-1789, the subscription to a box for fifty representations was at the
-rate of twenty guineas a seat. The charge for pit tickets was at this
-time ten shillings and sixpence; so that a subscriber who meant to be a
-true habitué, and visited the Opera every night, saved five guineas by
-becoming a subscriber. At this time, too, the theatre was differently
-constructed, and there were only thirty-six private boxes, eighteen
-arranged in three rows on each side of the house. "The boxes," says Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe, in his "Musical Reminiscences," "were then much larger
-and more commodious than they are now, and could contain with ease more
-than their allotted subscribers; far different from the miserable
-pigeon-holes of the present theatre, into which six persons can scarcely
-be squeezed, whom, in most situations, two-thirds can never see the
-stage. The front," continues Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "was then occupied by
-open public boxes, or <i>amphitheatre</i> (as it is called in French
-theatres), communicating with the pit. Both of these were filled,
-exclusively, with the highest classes of society; all, without
-exception, in full dress, then universally worn. The audiences thus
-assembled were considered as indisputably presenting a finer spectacle
-than any other theatre in Europe, and absolutely astonished the foreign
-performers, to whom such a sight was entirely new. At the end of the
-performance, the company of the pit and boxes repaired to<a name="vol_2_page_132" id="vol_2_page_132"></a> the
-coffee-room, which was then the best assembly in London; private ones
-being rarely given on opera nights; and all the first society was
-regularly to be seen there. Over the front box was the five shilling
-gallery; then resorted to by respectable persons not in full dress: and
-above that an upper gallery, to which the admission was three shillings.
-Subsequently the house was encircled with private boxes; yet still the
-prices remained the same, and the pit preserved its respectability, and
-even grandeur, till the old house was burnt down in 1789."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.</div>
-
-<p>When the Opera was rebuilt, the number of representations for the
-season, was increased to sixty, and the subscription was at the same
-time raised to thirty guineas, so that the admission to a box still did
-not exceed the price of a pit ticket. During the second year of
-Catalani's engagement, however, when she obtained a larger salary than
-had ever been paid to a singer before, the subscription for a whole box
-with accommodation for six persons, was raised from one hundred and
-eighty to three hundred guineas. This, it will, perhaps, be remembered,
-was to some extent a cunning device of Taylor's; at least, it was
-considered so at the time by the subscribers, though the expenses of the
-theatre had much increased, and the terms on which Catalani was engaged,
-were really enormous.<a name="FNanchor_79_79" id="FNanchor_79_79"></a><a href="#Footnote_79_79" class="fnanchor">[79]</a> Dr. Veron, in his interesting<a name="vol_2_page_133" id="vol_2_page_133"></a> memoirs (to
-which, by the way, I may refer all those who desire full particulars
-respecting the management of the French Opera during the commencement of
-the Meyerbeer period) tells us that, at the end of the continental war,
-the price of the <i>demi-tasse</i> in the cafés of Paris was raised from six
-to eight <i>sous</i>, and that it has never been lowered. So it is in
-taxation. An impost once established, unless the people absolutely
-refuse to pay it, is never taken off; and so it has been with the boxes
-at the London Opera House. The price of the best boxes once raised from
-one hundred and eighty to three hundred guineas, was never, to any
-considerable extent, diminished, and hence the custom arose of halving
-and sub-dividing the subscriptions, so that very few persons have now
-the sole ownership of a box. Hence, too, that of letting them for the
-night, and selling the tickets when the proprietor does not want them.
-This latter practice must have had the effect of lessening considerably
-the profits directly resulting from the high sums charged for the boxes.
-The price of admission to the pit being ten shillings and six-pence, the
-subscribers, through the librarians, and the librarians, who had
-themselves speculated in boxes, found it necessary in order to get rid
-of the box-tickets singly, to sell them at a reduced price. This
-explains why, for many years past, the ordinary<a name="vol_2_page_134" id="vol_2_page_134"></a> price of pit tickets at
-the libraries and at shops of all kinds in the vicinity of the Opera,
-has been only eight shillings and six-pence. No one but a foreigner or a
-countryman, inexperienced in the ways of London, would think of paying
-ten shillings and six-pence at the theatre for admission to the pit;
-indeed, it is a species of deception to continue that charge at all,
-though it certainly does happen once or twice in a great many years that
-the public profit by the establishment of a fixed official price for pit
-tickets. Thus, during the great popularity of Jenny Lind, the box
-tickets giving the right of entry to the pit, were sold for a guinea,
-and even thirty shillings, and thousands of persons were imbecile enough
-to purchase them, whereas, at the theatre itself, anyone could, as
-usual, go into the pit by paying ten shillings and six-pence.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE KING'S THEATRE IN 1789.</div>
-
-<p>"Formerly," to go back to Lord Mount Edgcumbe's interesting remarks on
-this subject, "every lady possessing an opera box, considered it as much
-her home as her house, and was as sure to be found there, few missing
-any of the performances. If prevented from going, the <i>loan</i> of her box
-and the gratuitous use of the tickets was a favour always cheerfully
-offered and thankfully received, as a matter of course, without any idea
-of payment. Then, too, it was a favour to ask gentlemen to belong to a
-box, when subscribing to one was actually advantageous. Now, no lady can
-propose to them to give her more than double the price of the admission
-at the door,<a name="vol_2_page_135" id="vol_2_page_135"></a> so that having paid so exorbitantly, every one is glad to
-be re-imbursed a part, at least, of the great expense which she must
-often support alone. Boxes and tickets, therefore, are no longer given;
-they are let for what can be got; for which traffic the circulating
-libraries afford an easy accommodation. Many, too, which are not taken
-for the season, are disposed of in the same manner, and are almost put
-up to auction. Their price varying from three to eight, or even ten
-guineas, according to the performance of the evening, and other
-accidental circumstances." From these causes the whole style of the
-opera house, as regards the audience, has become changed. "The pit has
-long ceased to be the resort of ladies of fashion, and, latterly, by the
-innovations introduced, is no longer agreeable to the former male
-frequenters of it." This state of things, however, has been altered, if
-not remedied, from the opera-goers' point of view, by the introduction
-of stalls where the manager compensates himself for the slightly reduced
-price of pit tickets, by charging exactly double what was paid for
-admission to the pit under the old system.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.</div>
-
-<p>On the whole, the Opera has become less aristocratic, less respectable,
-and far more expensive than of old. Those who, under the ancient system,
-paid ten shillings and six-pence to go to the pit, must now, to obtain
-the same amount of comfort, give a guinea for a stall, while "most
-improper company is sometimes to be seen even in the principal tiers;
-and<a name="vol_2_page_136" id="vol_2_page_136"></a> tickets bearing the names of ladies of the highest class have been
-presented by those of the lowest, such as used to be admitted only to
-the hindmost rows of the gallery." The last remark belongs to Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, but it is, at least, as true now as it was thirty years ago.
-Numbers of objectionable persons go to the Opera as to all other public
-places, and I do not think it would be fair to the respectable lovers of
-music who cannot afford to pay more than a few shillings for their
-evening's entertainment, that they should be all collected in the
-gallery. It would, moreover, be placing too much power in the hands of
-the operatic officials, who already show themselves sufficiently severe
-censors in the article of dress. I do not know whether it is chiefly a
-disgrace to the English public or to the English system of operatic
-management; but it certainly is disgraceful, that a check-taker at a
-theatre should be allowed to exercise any supervision, or make the
-slightest remark concerning the costume of a gentleman choosing to
-attend that theatre, and conforming generally in his conduct and by his
-appearance to the usages of decent society. It is not found necessary to
-enforce any regulation as to dress at other opera houses, not even in
-St. Petersburgh and Moscow, where, as the theatres are directed by the
-Imperial Government, one might expect to find a more despotic code of
-laws in force than in a country like England. When an Englishman goes to
-a morning or evening concert, he does<a name="vol_2_page_137" id="vol_2_page_137"></a> not present himself in the attire
-of a scavenger, and there is no reason for supposing that he would
-appear in any unbecoming garb, if liberty of dress were permitted to him
-at the Opera. The absurdity of the present system is that, whereas, a
-gentleman who has come to London only for a day or two, and does not
-happen to have a dress-coat in his portmanteau; who happens even to be
-dressed in exact accordance with the notions of the operatic
-check-takers, except as to his cravat, which we will suppose through the
-eccentricity of the wearer, to be black, with the smallest sprig, or
-spray, or spot of some colour on it; while such a one would be regarded
-as unworthy to enter the pit of the Opera, a waiter from an oyster-shop,
-in his inevitable black and white, reeking with the drippings of
-shell-fish, and the fumes of bad tobacco, or a drunken undertaker, fresh
-from a funeral, coming with the required number of shillings in his
-dirty hands, could not be refused admission. If the check-takers are
-empowered to inspect and decide as to the propriety of the cut and
-colour of clothes, why should they not also be allowed to examine the
-texture? On the same principle, too, the cleanliness of opera goers
-ought to be enquired into. No one, whose hair is not properly brushed,
-should be permitted to enter the stalls, and visitors to the pit should
-be compelled to show their nails.</p>
-
-<p>I will conclude this chapter with an extract from an epistle from a
-gentleman, who, during Mr. Ebers's management of the King's Theatre, was
-a victim to<a name="vol_2_page_138" id="vol_2_page_138"></a> the despotic (and, in the main, unnecessary) regulations of
-which I have been speaking. I cannot say I feel any sympathy for this
-particular sufferer; but his letter is amusing. "I was dressed," he
-says, in his protest forwarded to the manager the next morning, "in a
-<i>superfine blue coat</i>, with <i>gold buttons</i>, a white waistcoat,
-fashionable tight drab pantaloons, white silk stockings, and dress
-shoes; <i>all worn but once a few days before at a dress concert at the
-Crown and Anchor Tavern</i>!" The italics, and mark of admiration, are the
-property of the gentleman in the superfine blue coat, who next proceeds
-to express his natural indignation at the idea of the manager presuming
-to "enact sumptuary laws without the intervention of the legislature,"
-and threatens him with legal proceedings, and an appeal to British jury.
-"I have mixed," he continues, "too much in genteel society, not to know
-that black breeches, or pantaloons, with black silk stockings, is a very
-prevailing full dress; and why is it so? Because it is convenient and
-economical, <i>for you can wear a pair of white silk stockings but once
-without washing, and a pair of black is frequently worn for weeks
-without ablution</i>. P. S. I have no objection to submit an inspection of
-my dress of the evening in question to you, or any competent person you
-may appoint."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OPERA COSTUME IN 1861.</div>
-
-<p>If this gentleman, instead of being excluded, had been admitted into the
-theatre, the silent ridicule to which his costume would have exposed
-him, would have effectually prevented him from making his<a name="vol_2_page_139" id="vol_2_page_139"></a> appearance
-there in any such guise again. It might also have acted as a terrible
-warning to others inclined to sin in a similar manner.<a name="vol_2_page_140" id="vol_2_page_140"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVI" id="CHAPTER_XVI"></a>CHAPTER XVI<br /><br />
-<small>ROSSINI AND HIS PERIOD.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI.</div>
-
-<p class="nind">I<small>NNOVATORS</small> in art, whether corrupters or improvers, are always sure to
-meet with opposition from a certain number of persons who have formed
-their tastes in some particular style which has long been a source of
-delight to them, and to interfere with which is to shock all their
-artistic sympathies. How often have we seen poets of one generation not
-ignored, but condemned and vilified by the critics and even by the poets
-themselves of the generation preceding it. Musicians seem to suffer even
-more than poets from this injustice of those who having contracted a
-special and narrow admiration for the works of their own particular
-epoch, will see no merit in the productions of any newer school that may
-arrive. Byron, Shelley, Keats, Tennyson have one and all been attacked,
-and their poetic merit denied by those who in several instances had
-given excellent proofs of their ability to appreciate poetry. Almost
-every distinguished composer of the last fifty years has met with the
-same fate, not always at the hands of the ignorant public, for it is
-this ignorant public with its naĂŻve, uncritical admiration,<a name="vol_2_page_141" id="vol_2_page_141"></a> which has
-sometimes been the first to do justice to the critic-reviled poets and
-composers, but at those of musicians and of educated amateurs.
-Ignorance, prejudice, malice, are the causes too often assigned for the
-non-appreciation of the artist of to-day by the art-lover, partly of
-to-day, but above all of yesterday. It should be remembered however,
-that there is a conservatism in taste as in politics, and that both have
-their advantages, though the lovers of noise and of revolution may be
-unable to see them; that the extension of the suffrage, the excessive
-use of imagery, the special cultivation of brilliant orchestral effects,
-may, in the eyes of many, really seem injurious to the true interests of
-government, poetry and music; finally that as in old age we find men
-still keeping more or less to the costumes of their prime, and as the
-man who during the best days of his life has habituated himself to drink
-port, does not suddenly acquire a taste for claret, or <i>vice versâ</i>,&mdash;so
-those who had accustomed their musical stomachs to the soft strains of
-Paisiello and Cimarosa, <i>could not</i> enjoy the sparkling, stimulating
-music of Rossini. So afterwards to the Rossinians, Donizetti poured
-forth nothing but what was insipid and frivolous; Bellini was languid
-and lackadaisical; Meyerbeer with his restlessness and violence, his new
-instruments, his drum songs, trumpet songs, fencing and pistol songs,
-tinder-box music, skating scenes and panoramic effects, was a noisy
-<i>charlatan</i>; Verdi, with his abruptness, his occasional vulgarity and
-his general melodramatic style, a mere musical Fitzball.<a name="vol_2_page_142" id="vol_2_page_142"></a></p>
-
-<p>It most not be supposed, however, that I believe in the constant
-progress of art; that I look upon Meyerbeer as equal to Weber, or Weber
-as superior to Mozart. It is quite certain that Rossini has not been
-approached in facility, in richness of invention, in gaiety, in
-brilliancy, in constructiveness, or in true dramatic power by any of the
-Italian, French, or German theatrical composers who have succeeded him,
-though nearly all have imitated him one way or another: I will exclude
-Weber alone, an original genius, belonging entirely to Germany<a name="FNanchor_80_80" id="FNanchor_80_80"></a><a href="#Footnote_80_80" class="fnanchor">[80]</a> and
-to himself. It is, at least, quite certain that Rossini is by far the
-greatest of the series of Italian composers, which begins with himself
-and seems to have ended with Verdi; and yet, while neither Verdi nor
-Bellini, nor Donizetti, were at all justly appreciated in this country
-when they first made their appearance, Rossini was&mdash;not merely sneered
-at and pooh-poohed; he was for a long time condemned and abused every
-where, and on the production of some of his finest works was hissed and
-hooted in the theatres of his native land. But the human heart is not so
-black as it is sometimes painted, and the Italian audiences who whistled
-and screeched at the <i>Barber of Seville</i> did so chiefly because they did
-not like it. It was not the sort of music which had hitherto given them
-pleasure, and therefore they were not pleased.<a name="vol_2_page_143" id="vol_2_page_143"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI'S BIOGRAPHERS.</div>
-
-<p>Rossini had already composed several operas for various Italian theatres
-(among which may be particularly mentioned <i>L'Italiana in Algeri</i>,
-written for Venice in 1813, the composer having then just attained his
-majority) when the <i>Barbiere di Siviglia</i> was produced at Rome for the
-Carnival of 1816. The singers were Vitarelli, Boticelli, Zamboni, Garcia
-and Mesdames Giorgi-Righetti, and Rossi. A number of different versions
-of the circumstances which attended, preceded, and followed the
-representation of this opera, have been published, but the account
-furnished by Madame Giorgi-Righetti, who introduced the music of Rossini
-to the world, is the one most to be relied upon and which I shall adopt.
-I may first of all remind the reader that a very interesting life of
-Rossini, written with great <i>verve</i> and spirit, full of acute
-observations, but also full of misstatements and errors of all
-kinds,<a name="FNanchor_81_81" id="FNanchor_81_81"></a><a href="#Footnote_81_81" class="fnanchor">[81]</a> has been published by Stendhal, who was more than its
-translator, but not its author. Stendhal's "Vie de Rossini" is founded
-on a work by the Abbé Carpani. To what extent the ingenious author of
-the treatise <i>De l'Amour</i>, and of the admirable novel <i>La Charteuse de
-Parme</i>, is indebted to the Abbé, I cannot say; but if he borrowed from
-him his supposed facts, and his opinions as a musician, he owes him all
-the worst portion of his book. The brothers Escudier have also published
-a "Vie de<a name="vol_2_page_144" id="vol_2_page_144"></a> Rossini," which is chiefly valuable for the list of his
-works, and the dates of their production.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.</div>
-
-<p>To return to the <i>Barber of Seville</i>, of which the subject was
-librsuggested to Rossini by the author of the <i>libretto</i>, Sterbini.
-Sterbini proposed to arrange it for music in a new form; Rossini
-acquiesced, and the librettists went to work. The report was soon spread
-that Rossini was about to reset Paisiello's libretto. For this some
-accused Rossini of presumption, while others said that in taking
-Paisiello's subject he was behaving meanly and unjustly. This was
-absurd, for all Metastasio's lyrical dramas have been set to music by
-numbers of composers; but this fact was not likely to be taken into
-consideration by Rossini's enemies. Paisiello himself took part in the
-intrigues against the young composer, and wrote a letter from Naples,
-begging one of his friends at Rome to leave nothing undone that could
-contribute to the failure of the second <i>Barber</i>. When the night of
-representation, at the Argentina Theatre, arrived, Rossini's enemies
-were all at their posts, declaring openly what they hoped and intended
-should be the fate of the new opera. His friends, on the other hand,
-were not nearly so decided, remembering, as they did, the
-uncomplimentary manner in which Rossini's <i>Torvaldo</i> had been received
-only a short time before. The composer, says Madame Giorgi-Righetti "was
-weak enough to allow Garcia to sing beneath Rosina's balcony a Spanish
-melody of his own arrangement. Garcia maintained, that as<a name="vol_2_page_145" id="vol_2_page_145"></a> the scene was
-in Spain the Spanish melody would give the drama an appropriate local
-colour; but, unfortunately, the artist who reasoned so well, and who was
-such an excellent singer, forgot to tune his guitar before appearing on
-the stage as "Almaviva." He began the operation in the presence of the
-public. A string broke. The vocalist proceeded to replace it; but before
-he could do so, laughter and hisses were heard from all parts of the
-house. The Spanish air, when Garcia was at last ready to sing it, did
-not please the Italian audience, and the pit listened to it just enough
-to be able to give an ironical imitation of it afterwards.</p>
-
-<p>The introduction to Figaro's air seemed to be liked; but when Zamboni
-entered, with another guitar in his hand, a loud laugh was set up, and
-not a phrase of <i>Largo al factotum</i> was heard. When Rosina made her
-appearance in the balcony, the public were quite prepared to applaud
-Madame Giorgi-Righetti in an air which they thought they had a right to
-expect from her; but only hearing her utter a phrase which led to
-nothing, the expressions of disapprobation recommenced. The duet between
-"Almaviva" and "Figaro" was accompanied throughout with hissing and
-shouting. The fate of the work seemed now decided.</p>
-
-<p>At length Rosina came on, and sang the <i>cavatina</i> which had so long been
-looked for. Madame Giorgi-Righetti was young, had a fresh beautiful
-voice, and was a great favourite with the Roman public. Three<a name="vol_2_page_146" id="vol_2_page_146"></a> long
-rounds of applause followed the conclusion of her air, and gave some
-hope that the opera might yet be saved. Rossini, who was at the
-orchestral piano, bowed to the public, then turned towards the singer,
-and whispered "<i>oh natura</i>!"</p>
-
-<p>This happy moment did not last, and the hisses recommenced with the duet
-between Figaro and Rosina. The noise increased, and it was impossible to
-hear a note of the finale. When the curtain fell Rossini turned towards
-the public, shrugged his shoulders and clapped his hands. The audience
-were deeply offended by this openly-expressed contempt for their
-opinion, but they made no reply at the time.</p>
-
-<p>The vengeance was reserved for the second act, of which not a note
-passed the orchestra. The hubbub was so great, that nothing like it was
-ever heard at any theatre. Rossini in the meanwhile remained perfectly
-calm, and afterwards went home as composed as if the work, received in
-so insulting a manner, had been the production of some other musician.
-After changing their clothes, Madame Giorgi-Righetti, Garcia, Zamboni,
-and Botticelli, went to his house to console him in his misfortune. They
-found him fast asleep.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.</div>
-
-<p>The next day he wrote the delightful <i>cavatina, Ecco ridente il cielo</i>,
-to replace Garcia's unfortunate Spanish air. The melody of the new solo
-was borrowed from the opening chorus of <i>Aureliano in Palmira</i>, written
-by Rossini in 1814, for Milan, and produced without success; the said
-chorus having<a name="vol_2_page_147" id="vol_2_page_147"></a> itself figured before in the same composer's <i>Ciro</i> in
-<i>Babilonia</i>, also unfavourably received. Garcia read his <i>cavatina</i> as
-it was written, and sang it the same evening. Rossini, having now made
-the only alteration he thought necessary, went back to bed, and
-pretended to be ill, that he might not have to take his place in the
-evening at the piano.</p>
-
-<p>At the second performance, the Romans seemed disposed to listen to the
-work of which they had really heard nothing the night before. This was
-all that was needed to ensure the opera's triumphant success. Many of
-the pieces were applauded; but still no enthusiasm was exhibited. The
-music, however, pleased more and more with each succeeding
-representation, until at last the climax was reached, and <i>Il Barbiere</i>
-produced those transports of admiration among the Romans with which it
-was afterwards received in every town in Italy, and in due time
-throughout Europe. It must be added, that a great many connoisseurs at
-Rome were struck from the first moment with the innumerable beauties of
-Rossini's score, and went to his house to congratulate him on its
-excellence. As for Rossini, he was not at all surprised at the change
-which took place in public opinion. He was as certain of the success of
-his work the first night, when it was being hooted, as he was a week
-afterwards, when every one applauded it to the skies.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.</div>
-
-<p>In Paris, more than three years afterwards, with Garcia still playing
-the part of "Almaviva," and with<a name="vol_2_page_148" id="vol_2_page_148"></a> Madame Ronzi de Begnis as "Rosina,"
-<i>Il Barbiere</i> was not much better received than on its first production
-at Rome. It was less astonishing that it should fail before an audience
-of Parisians (at that time quite unacquainted with Rossini's style) than
-before a highly musical public like that of Rome. In each case, the work
-of Paisiello was made the excuse for condemning that of Rossini; but
-Rossini's <i>Barber</i> was not treated with indignity at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris. It was simply listened to very coldly. Every one was saying,
-that after Paisiello's opera it was nothing, that the two were not to be
-compared, &amp;c., when, fortunately, some one proposed that Paisiello's
-<i>Barber</i> should be revived. Paer, the director of the music, and who is
-said to have been rendered very uneasy by Rossini's Italian successes,
-thought that to crush Rossini by means of his predecessor, was no bad
-idea. The St. Petersburgh <i>Barber</i> of 1788 was brought out; but it was
-found that he had grown old and feeble; or, rather, the simplicity of
-the style was no longer admired, and the artists who had already lost
-the traditions of the school, were unable to sing the music with any
-effect. Rossini's <i>Barber</i> has now been before the world for nearly half
-a century, and we all know whether it is old-fashioned; whether the airs
-are tedious; whether the form of the concerted pieces, and of the grand
-finale, leaves anything to be desired; whether the instrumentation is
-poor; whether, in short, on any one point, any subsequent work of the
-same kind even by Rossini himself, has<a name="vol_2_page_149" id="vol_2_page_149"></a> surpassed, equalled, or even
-approached it. But the thirty years of Paisiello's Barber bore heavily
-upon the poor old man, and he was found sadly wanting in that gaiety and
-brilliancy which have given such celebrity to Rossini's hero, and after
-which Beaumarchais's sparkling epigrammatic dialogue appears almost
-dull.<a name="FNanchor_82_82" id="FNanchor_82_82"></a><a href="#Footnote_82_82" class="fnanchor">[82]</a> Paisiello's opera was a complete failure. And when Rossini's
-<i>Barbiere</i> was brought out again, every one was struck by the contrast.
-It profited by the very artifice which was to have destroyed it, and
-Rossini's enemies took care for the future not to establish comparisons
-between Rossini and Paisiello. Madame Ronzi de Begnis, too, had been
-replaced very advantageously by Madame Fodor. With two such admirable
-singers as Fodor and Garcia in the parts of "Rosina" and "Almaviva,"
-with Pellegrini as "Figaro," and Begnis as "Basil," the success<a name="vol_2_page_150" id="vol_2_page_150"></a> of the
-opera increased with each representation: and though certain musical
-<i>quid-nuncs</i> continued to shake their heads when Rossini's name was
-mentioned in a drawing-room, his reputation with the great body of the
-theatrical public was now fully established.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>tirana</i> composed by Garcia <i>Se il mio nome saper voi bramate</i>,
-which he appears to have abandoned after the unfavourable manner in
-which it was received at Rome, was afterwards re-introduced into the
-<i>Barber</i> by Rubini.</p>
-
-<p>The whole of the <i>Barber of Seville</i> was composed from beginning to end
-in a month. <i>Ecco ridente il cielo</i> (the air adapted from <i>Aureliano in
-Palmira</i>) was, as already mentioned, added after the first
-representation. The overture, moreover, had been previously written for
-<i>Aureliano in Palmira</i>, and (after the failure of that work) had been
-prefixed to <i>Elizabetta regina d'Inghilterra</i> which met with some
-success, thanks to the admirable singing of Mademoiselle Colbran, in the
-principal character.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Rossini took his failures very easily, and with the calm confidence of a
-man who knew he could do better things and that the public would
-appreciate them. When his <i>Sigismondo</i> was violently hissed at Venice he
-sent a letter to his mother with a picture of a large <i>fiasco</i>,
-(bottle). His <i>Torvaldo e Dorliska</i>, which was brought out soon
-afterwards, was also hissed, but not so much.<a name="vol_2_page_151" id="vol_2_page_151"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">THE BARBER OF SEVILLE.</div>
-
-<p>This time Rossini sent his mother a picture of a <i>fiaschetto</i> (little
-bottle).</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The motive of the <i>allegro</i> in the trio of the last act of (to return
-for a moment to) the <i>Barber of Seville</i>, is, as most of my readers are
-probably aware, simply an arrangement of the bass air sung by "Simon,"
-in <i>Haydn's Seasons</i>. The comic air, sung by "Berta," the duenna, is a
-Russian dance tune, which was very fashionable in Rome, in 1816. Rossini
-is said to have introduced it into the <i>Barber of Seville</i>, out of
-compliment to some Russian lady.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Rossini's first opera <i>la Pietra del Paragone</i>, was written when he was
-seventeen years of age, for the Scala at Milan, where it was produced in
-the autumn of 1812. He introduced the best pieces out of this work into
-the <i>Cenerentola</i>, which was brought out five years afterwards at Rome.
-Besides <i>la Pietra del Paragone</i>, he laid <i>il Turco in Italia</i>, and <i>la
-Gazzetta</i> under contribution to enrich the score of <i>Cinderella</i>. The
-air <i>Miei rampolli</i>, the duet <i>un Soave non so chè</i>, the drinking chorus
-and the burlesque proclamation of the baron belonged originally to <i>la
-Pietra del Paragone</i>; the <i>sestett</i>, the <i>stretta</i> of the finale, the
-duet <i>zitto, zitto</i>, to the <i>Turco in Italia</i>, (produced at Milan in
-1814), <i>Miei rampolli</i> had also been inserted in <i>la Gazzetta</i>.</p>
-
-<p>The principal female part in the <i>Cenerentola</i>, though written for a
-contralto, has generally, (like those of<a name="vol_2_page_152" id="vol_2_page_152"></a> Rosina and Isabella, and also
-written for contraltos), been sung by sopranos, such as Madame Fodor,
-Madame Cinti, Madame Sontag, &amp;c. When sung by Mademoiselle Alboni, these
-parts are executed in every respect in conformity with the composer's
-intentions.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.</div>
-
-<p>Rossini's first serious opera, or at least the first of those by which
-his name became known throughout Europe, was <i>Tancredi</i>, written for
-Venice in 1813, the year after <i>la Pietra del Paragone</i>. In this opera,
-we find indicated, if not fully carried out, all those admirable changes
-in the composition of the lyric drama which were imputed to him by his
-adversaries as so many artistic crimes. Lord Mount Edgcumbe, in his
-objections to Rossini's music, strange and almost inexplicable as they
-appear, yet only says in somewhat different language what is advanced by
-Rossini's admirers, in proof of his great merit. The connoisseur of a
-past epoch describes the changes introduced by Rossini into dramatic
-music, for an enemy, fairly enough; only he regards as detestable
-innovations what others have accepted as admirable reforms. It appeared
-to Rossini that the number of airs written for the so-called lyric
-dramas of his youth, delayed the action to a most wearisome extent. In
-<i>Tancredi</i>, concerted pieces in which the dramatic action is kept up,
-are introduced in situations where formerly there would have been only
-monologues. In <i>Tancredi</i> the bass has little to do, but more than in
-the operas of the old-school, where he was kept quite<a name="vol_2_page_153" id="vol_2_page_153"></a> in the back
-ground, the <i>ultima parte</i> being seldom heard except in <i>ensembles</i>. By
-degrees the bass was brought forward, until at last he became an
-indispensable and frequently the principal character in all tragic
-operas. In the old opera the number of characters was limited and
-choruses were seldom introduced. Think, then, how an amateur of the
-simple, quiet old school must have been shocked by a thoroughly
-Rossinian opera, such as <i>Semiramide</i>, with its brilliant, sonorous
-instrumentation, its prominent part for the bass or baritone, its long
-elaborate finale, and above all its military band on the stage! Mozart
-had already anticipated every resource that has since been adopted by
-Rossini, but to Rossini belongs, nevertheless, the merit of having
-brought the lyric drama to perfection on the Italian stage, and forty
-and even thirty years ago it was to Rossini that its supposed
-degradation was attributed.</p>
-
-<p>"So great a change," says Lord Mount Edgcumbe, "has taken place in the
-character of the (operatic) dramas, in the style of the music and its
-performance, that I cannot help enlarging on that subject before I
-proceed further. One of the most material alterations is, that the grand
-distinction between serious and comic operas is nearly at an end, the
-separation of the singers for their performance, entirely so.<a name="FNanchor_83_83" id="FNanchor_83_83"></a><a href="#Footnote_83_83" class="fnanchor">[83]</a> Not
-only do the same sing in both, but a new<a name="vol_2_page_154" id="vol_2_page_154"></a> species of drama has arisen, a
-kind of mongrel between them called <i>semi seria</i>, which bears the same
-analogy to the other two that that nondescript melodrama does to the
-legitimate tragedy and comedy of the English stage."</p>
-
-<p>And of which style specimens may be found in Shakespeare's plays and in
-Mozart's <i>Don Giovanni</i>! The union of the serious and the comic in the
-same lyric work was an innovation of Mozart's, like almost all the
-innovations attributed by Lord Mount Edgcumbe to Rossini. Indeed, nearly
-all the operatic reforms of the last three-quarters of a century that
-have endured, have had Mozart for their originator.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI'S INNOVATIONS.</div>
-
-<p>"The construction of these newly invented pieces," continues Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, "is essentially different from the old. The dialogue which
-used to be carried on in recitative, and which in Metastasio's operas,
-is often so beautiful and interesting, is now cut up (and rendered
-unintelligible, if it were worth listening to), into <i>pezzi concertati</i>,
-or long singing conversations, which present a tedious succession of
-unconnected, ever-changing motivos, having nothing to do with each
-other: and if a satisfactory air is for a moment introduced, which the
-ear would like to dwell upon, to hear modulated, varied and again
-returned to, it is broken off before it is well understood,<a name="vol_2_page_155" id="vol_2_page_155"></a> by a sudden
-transition into a totally different melody, time and key, and recurs no
-more; so that no impression can be made or recollection of it preserved.
-Single songs are almost exploded ... even the <i>prima donna</i> who would
-formerly have complained at having less than three or four airs allotted
-to her, is now satisfied with one trifling <i>cavatina</i> for a whole
-opera."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Lord Mount Edgcumbe has hitherto given a tolerably true account of the
-reforms introduced by Rossini into the operatic music of Italy; only,
-instead of calling Rossini's concerted pieces and finales, "a tedious
-succession of unconnected, ever-changing motivos," he ought to describe
-them as highly interesting, well connected and eminently dramatic. He
-goes on to condemn Rossini for his new distribution of characters, and
-especially for his employment of bass voices in chief parts "to the
-manifest injury of melody and total subversion of harmony, in which the
-lowest part is their peculiar province." Here, however, it occurs to
-Lord Mount Edgcumbe, and he thereupon expresses his surprise, "that the
-principal characters in two of Mozart's operas should have been written
-for basses."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>When the above curious, and in its way valuable, strictures on Rossini's
-music were penned, not only <i>Tancredi</i>, but also <i>Il Barbiere</i>,
-<i>Otello</i>, <i>La Cenerentola</i>, <i>Mosè in Egitto</i>, <i>La Gazza Ladra</i>, and
-other of his<a name="vol_2_page_156" id="vol_2_page_156"></a> works had been produced. <i>Il Barbiere</i> succeeded at once
-in England, and Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us that for many years after
-the first introduction of Rossini's works into England "so entirely did
-he engross the stage, that the operas of no other master were ever to be
-heard, with the exception of those of Mozart; and of his only <i>Don
-Giovanni</i> and <i>le Nozze di Figaro</i> were often repeated.... Every other
-composer, past and present, was totally put aside, and these two alone
-named or thought of." Rossini, then, if wrongly applauded, was at least
-applauded in good company. It appears from Mr. Ebers's "Seven years of
-the King's Theatre," that of all the operas produced from 1821 to 1828,
-nearly half were Rossini's, or in exact numbers fourteen out of
-thirty-four, but it must be remembered that the majority of these were
-constantly repeated, whereas most of the others were brought out only
-for a few nights and then laid aside. During the period in question the
-composer whose works, next to Rossini, were most often represented, was
-Mozart with <i>Don Giovanni</i>, <i>Le Nozze</i>, <i>La Clemenza di Tito</i>, and <i>Cosi
-fan Tutti</i>. The other operas included in the repertoire were by Paer,
-Mayer, Zingarelli, Spontini, (<i>la Vestale</i>), Mercadante, Meyerbeer, (<i>Il
-Crociato in Egitto</i>) &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">TANCREDI.</div>
-
-<p>Our consideration of the causes of Rossini's success, and want of
-success, has led us far away from the first representation of <i>Tancredi</i>
-at the theatre of La Fenice. Its success was so great, that each of<a name="vol_2_page_157" id="vol_2_page_157"></a> its
-melodies became for the Venetians a second "Carnival of Venice;" and
-even in the law courts, the judges are said to have been obliged to
-direct the ushers to stop the singing of <i>Di tanti palpiti</i>, and <i>Mi
-rivedrai te rivedrò</i>.</p>
-
-<p>"I thought after hearing my opera, that the Venetians would think me
-mad," said Rossini. "Not at all; I found they were much madder than I
-was." <i>Tancredi</i> was followed by <i>Aureliano</i>, produced at Milan in 1814,
-and, as has already been mentioned, without success. The introduction,
-however, containing the chorus from which Almaviva's <i>cavatina</i> was
-adapted, is said to have been one of Rossini's finest pieces. <i>Otello</i>,
-the second of Rossini's important serious operas, was produced in 1816
-at Naples (Del Fondo Theatre). The principal female part, as in the
-now-forgotten <i>Elizabetta</i>, and as in a great number of subsequent
-works, was written for Mademoiselle Colbran. The other parts were
-sustained by Benedetti, Nozzari, and the celebrated Davide.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>In <i>Otello</i>, Rossini continued the reforms which he had commenced in
-<i>Tancredi</i>. He made each dramatic scene one continued piece of music,
-used recitative but sparingly, and when he employed it, accompanied it
-for the first time in Italy, with the full band. The piano was now
-banished from the orchestra, forty-two years after it had been banished
-by Gluck from the orchestras of France.<a name="vol_2_page_158" id="vol_2_page_158"></a></p>
-
-<p>Davide, in the part of Otello," created the greatest enthusiasm. The
-following account of his performance is given by a French critic, M.
-Edouard Bertin, in a letter from Venice, dated 1823:&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OTELLO.</div>
-
-<p>"Davide excites among the <i>dilettanti</i> of this town an enthusiasm and
-delight which could scarcely be conceived without having been witnessed.
-He is a singer of the new school, full of mannerism, affectation, and
-display, abusing, like Martin, his magnificent voice with its prodigious
-compass (three octaves comprised between four B flats). He crushes the
-principal motive of an air beneath the luxuriance of his ornamentation,
-and which has no other merit than that of difficulty conquered. But he
-is also a singer full of warmth, <i>verve</i>, expression, energy, and
-musical sentiment; alone he can fill up and give life to a scene; it is
-impossible for another singer to carry away an audience as he does, and
-when he will only be simple, he is admirable; he is the Rossini of song.
-He is a great singer; the greatest I ever heard. Doubtless, the manner
-in which Garcia plays and sings the part of "Otello" is preferable,
-taking it altogether, to that of Davide. It is purer, more severe, more
-constantly dramatic; but with all his faults Davide produces more
-effect, a great deal more effect. There is something in him, I cannot
-say what, which, even when he is ridiculous, commands, enhances
-attention. He never leaves you cold; and when he does not move you, he
-astonishes you; in a word, before hearing him, I did not<a name="vol_2_page_159" id="vol_2_page_159"></a> know what the
-power of singing really was. The enthusiasm he excites is without
-limits. In fact, his faults are not faults for Italians, who in their
-<i>opera seria</i> do not employ what the French call the tragic style, and
-who scarcely understand us, when we tell them that a waltz or quadrille
-movement is out of place in the mouth of a Cæsar, an Assur, or an
-Otello. With them the essential thing is to please: they are only
-difficult on this point, and their indifference as to all the rest is
-really inconceivable: here is an example of it. Davide, considering
-apparently that the final duet of <i>Otello</i> did not sufficiently show off
-his voice, determined to substitute for it a duet from <i>Armida</i> (Amor
-possente nome), which is very pretty, but anything rather than severe.
-As it was impossible to kill Desdemona to such a tune, the Moor, after
-giving way to the most violent jealousy, sheathes his dagger, and begins
-in the most tender and graceful manner his duet with Desdemona, at the
-conclusion of which he takes her politely by the hand, and retires,
-amidst the applause and bravos of the public, who seem to think it quite
-natural that the piece should finish in this manner, or, rather, that it
-should not finish at all: for after this beautiful <i>dénouement</i>, the
-action is about as far advanced as it was in the first scene. We do not
-in France carry our love of music so far as to tolerate such absurdities
-as these, and perhaps we are right."</p>
-
-<p>Lord Byron saw <i>Otello</i> at Venice, soon after its first production. He
-speaks of it in one of his letters,<a name="vol_2_page_160" id="vol_2_page_160"></a> dated 1818, in which he condemns
-the libretto, but expresses his admiration of the music.</p>
-
-<p><i>La Gazza Ladra</i> was written for Milan, and brought out at the theatre
-of "La Scala," in 1817. Four years afterwards it was produced in London
-in the spring, and Paris in the autumn. The part of "Ninetta,"
-afterwards so favourite a character with Sontag, Malibran, and Grisi,
-was sung in 1821 by Madame Camporese in London, by Madame Fodor in
-Paris. Camporese's performance was of the greatest merit, and highly
-successful. Fodor's is said to have been perfection. The part of
-"Pippo," originally written for a contralto, used at one time to be sung
-at the English and French theatres by a baritone or bass. It was not
-until some years after <i>La Gazza Ladra</i> was produced, that a contralto
-(except for first parts), was considered an indispensable member of an
-opera company.</p>
-
-<p>Madame Fodor was not an Italian, but a Russian. She was married to a
-Frenchman, M. Mainvielle, and, before visiting Italy, and, until her
-<i>début</i>, had studied chiefly in Paris. Her Italian tour is said to have
-greatly improved her style, which, when she first appeared in London, in
-1816, left much to be desired. Camporese was of good birth, and was
-married to a member of the Guistiniani family. She cultivated singing in
-the first instance only as an accomplishment; but was obliged by
-circumstances to make it her profession. In Italy she sang only at
-concerts, and it was not until her arrival in England<a name="vol_2_page_161" id="vol_2_page_161"></a> that she appeared
-on the stage. She seems to have possessed very varied powers; appearing
-at one time as "Zerlina" to Ronzi's "Donna Anna;" at another, as "Donna
-Anna," to Fodor's "Zerlina."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LA GAZZA LADRA.</div>
-
-<p><i>La Gazza Ladra</i> is known to be founded on a French melo-drama, <i>La Pie
-Voleuse</i>, of which the capabilities for operatic "setting," were first
-discovered by Paer. Paer had seen Mademoiselle Jenny Vertpré in <i>La Pie
-Voleuse</i>. He bought the play, and sent it to his librettist in ordinary
-at Milan, with marginal notes, showing how it ought to be divided for
-musical purposes. The opera book intended by Paer for himself was
-offered to Rossini, and by him was made the groundwork of one of his
-most brilliant productions.</p>
-
-<p><i>La Gazza Ladra</i> marks another step in Rossini's progress as a composer,
-and accordingly we find Lord Mount Edgcumbe saying, soon after its
-production in England:&mdash;"Of all the operas of Rossini that have been
-performed here, that of <i>la Gazza Ladra</i> is most peculiarly liable to
-all the objections I have made to the new style of drama, of which it is
-the most striking example." The only opera of Rossini's which Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe seems really to have liked was <i>Aureliano in Palmira</i>, written
-in the composer's earliest style, and which failed.</p>
-
-<p>"Its finales," (Lord Mount Edgcumbe is speaking of <i>La Gazza Ladra</i>)
-"and many of its very numerous <i>pezzi concertati</i>, are uncommonly loud,
-and the lavish use made of the noisy instruments, appears, to my<a name="vol_2_page_162" id="vol_2_page_162"></a>
-judgment, singularly inappropriate to the subject; which, though it
-might have been rendered touching, is far from calling for such warlike
-accompaniments. Nothing can be more absurd than the manner in which this
-simple story is represented in the Italian piece, or than to be a young
-peasant servant girl, led to trial and execution, under a guard of
-soldiers, with military music." The quintett of <i>La Gazza Ladra</i>, is,
-indeed, open to a few objections from a dramatic point of view.
-"Ninetta" is afraid of compromising her father; but "Fernando" has
-already given himself up to the authorities, in order to save his
-daughter&mdash;in whose defence he does not say a word. An explanation seems
-necessary, but then the drama would be at an end. There would be no
-quintett, and we should lose one of Rossini's finest pieces. Would it be
-worth while to destroy this quintett, in order to make the opera end
-like the French melo-drama, and as the French operatic version of <i>La
-Gazza Ladra</i> also terminates?</p>
-
-<p>I have already spoken of <i>La Cenerentola</i>, produced in 1817 at Rome.
-This admirable work has of late years been much neglected. The last time
-it was heard in England at Her Majesty's Theatre, Madame Alboni played
-the principal part, and excited the greatest enthusiasm by her execution
-of the final air, <i>Non piu mesta</i> (the model of so many solos for the
-<i>prima donna</i>, introduced with or without reason, at the end of
-subsequent operas); but the cast was a very imperfect one, and the
-performance on the<a name="vol_2_page_163" id="vol_2_page_163"></a> whole (as usual, of late years, at this theatre)
-very unsatisfactory.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MOSE IN EGITTO.</div>
-
-<p><i>Mosè in Egitto</i> was produced at the San Carlo<a name="FNanchor_84_84" id="FNanchor_84_84"></a><a href="#Footnote_84_84" class="fnanchor">[84]</a> Theatre, at Naples,
-in 1818; the principal female part being written again for Mademoiselle
-Colbran. In this work, two leading parts, those of "Faraoni" and "Mosè,"
-were assigned to basses. The once proscribed, or, at least contemned
-basso, was, for the first time brought forward, and honoured with full
-recognition in an Italian <i>opera seria</i>. The story of the Red Sea, and
-of the chorus sung on its banks, has often been told; but I will repeat
-it in a few words, for the benefit of those readers who may not have met
-with it before. The Passage of the Red Sea was intended to be
-particularly grand; but, instead of producing the effect anticipated, it
-was received every night with laughter. The two first acts were always
-applauded; but the Red Sea was a decided obstacle to the success of the
-third. Tottola, the librettist, came to Rossini one morning, with a
-prayer for the Israelites, which he fancied, if the composer would set
-it to music, might save the conclusion of the opera. Rossini, who was in
-bed at the time, saw at once the importance of the suggestion, wrote on
-the spur of the moment, and in a few minutes, the magnificent <i>Del tuo
-stellato soglio</i>. It was performed the same evening, and excited
-transports of admiration. The scene of the Red Sea,<a name="vol_2_page_164" id="vol_2_page_164"></a> instead of being
-looked forward to as a source of hilarity, became now the chief
-"attraction" of the opera. The performance of the prayer produced a sort
-of frenzy among the audience, and a certain Neapolitan doctor, whose
-name has not transpired, told either Stendhal or the Abbé Carpani (on
-whose <i>Letters</i>, as before mentioned, Beyle's "Vie de Rossini par
-Stendhal" is founded), that the number of nervous indispositions among
-the ladies of Naples was increased in a remarkable manner by the change
-of key, from the minor to the major, in the last verse.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mosè</i> was brought out in London, as an oratorio, in the beginning of
-1822. Probably, dramatic action was absolutely necessary for its
-success; at all events, it failed as an oratorio. The same year it was
-produced as an opera at the King's Theatre; but with a complete
-transformation in the libretto, and under the title of <i>Pietro
-l'Eremita</i>. The opera attracted throughout the season, and no work of
-Rossini's was ever more successful on its first production in this
-country. The subscribers to the King's Theatre were in ecstacies with
-it, and one of the most distinguished supporters of the theatre, after
-assuring the manager that he deserved well of this country, offered to
-testify his gratitude by proposing him at White's!</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MOSE IN EGITTO.</div>
-
-<p>In the autumn of the same year <i>Mosè</i> was produced at the Italian Opera
-of Paris, and in 1827, a French version of it was brought out at the
-Académie. The<a name="vol_2_page_165" id="vol_2_page_165"></a> Red Sea appears to have been a source of trouble
-everywhere. At the Académie, forty-five thousand francs were sunk in it,
-and to so little effect, or rather with such bad effect, that the
-machinists' and decorators' waves had to be suppressed after the first
-evening. In London the Red Sea became merely a river. The river,
-however, failed quite as egregiously as the larger body of water, and
-had to be drained off before the second performance took place.</p>
-
-<p><i>Mosè</i> is quite long enough and sufficiently complete in its original
-form. Several pieces, however, out of other operas, by Rossini, were
-added to it in the London version of the work. In Paris, in accordance
-with the absurd custom (if it be not even a law) at the Académie, <i>Mosè</i>
-could not be represented without the introduction of a ballet. The
-necessary dance music was taken from <i>Ciro in Babilonia</i> and <i>Armida</i>,
-and the opera was further strengthened as it was thought (weakened as it
-turned out), by the introduction of a new air for Mademoiselle Cinti,
-and several new choruses.</p>
-
-<p>The <i>Mosè</i> of the Académie, with its four acts of music (one more than
-the original opera) was found far too long. It was admired, and for a
-little while applauded; but when it had once wearied the public, it was
-in vain that the directors reduced its dimensions. It became smaller and
-smaller, until it at last disappeared.</p>
-
-<p><i>Zelmira</i>, written originally for Vienna, and which<a name="vol_2_page_166" id="vol_2_page_166"></a> is said to have
-contained Madame Colbran Rossini's best part, was produced at Naples in
-1822. The composer and his favourite <i>prima donna</i> were married in the
-spring of the same year at Castelnaso, near Bologna.</p>
-
-<p>"The recitatives of <i>Zelmira</i>" says Carpani, in his <i>Le Rossinane ossia
-lettere musico-teatrali</i>, "are the best and most dramatic that the
-Italian school has produced; their eloquence is equal to that of the
-most beautiful airs, and the spectator, equally charmed and surprised,
-listens to them from one end to the other. These recitatives are
-sustained by the orchestra; <i>Otello</i>, <i>Mosè in Egitto</i>, are written
-after the same system, but I will not attribute to Rossini the honour of
-a discovery which belongs to our neighbours. Although the French Opera
-is still barbarous from a vocal point of view, there are some points
-about it which may be advantageously borrowed. The introduction of
-accompanied recitative is of the greatest importance for our <i>opera
-seria</i>, which, in the hands of the Mayers, Paers, the Rossinis, has at
-last become dramatic."</p>
-
-<p><i>Zelmira</i> was brought out in London in 1824, under the direction of
-Rossini himself, and with Madame Colbran Rossini in the principal part.
-The reception of the composer, when he made his appearance in the
-orchestra, was most enthusiastic, and at the end of the opera, he was
-called on to the stage, which, in England, was, then, quite a novel
-compliment.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI AND GEORGE IV.</div>
-
-<p>At the same time, all possible attention was paid to<a name="vol_2_page_167" id="vol_2_page_167"></a> Rossini, in
-private, by the most distinguished persons in the country. He was
-invited by George IV. to the Pavilion at Brighton, and the King gave
-orders that when his guest entered the music room, his private band
-should play the overture to the <i>Barber of Seville</i>. The overture being
-concluded, his Majesty asked Rossini what piece he would like to hear
-next. The composer named <i>God save the King</i>.</p>
-
-<p>The music of <i>Zelmira</i> was greatly admired by connoisseurs, but made no
-impression on the public, and though Madame Colbran-Rossini's
-performance is said to have been admirable, it must be remembered that
-she had already passed the zenith of her powers. Born in Madrid, in
-1785, she appears to have retired from the stage, as far as Italy was
-concerned, in 1823, after the production of <i>Semiramide</i>. At least, I
-find no account of her having sung anywhere after the season of 1824, in
-London, though her name appears in the list of the celebrated company
-assembled the same year by Barbaja, at Vienna. Mademoiselle Colbran
-figures among the sopranos with Mesdames Mainvielle-Fodor, FĂ©ron, Esther
-Mombelli,<a name="FNanchor_85_85" id="FNanchor_85_85"></a><a href="#Footnote_85_85" class="fnanchor">[85]</a> Dardanelli, Sontag, Unger, Giuditta, Grisi, and Grimbaun.
-The contraltos of this unrivalled <i>troupe</i> were Mesdames
-Cesare-Cantarelli and Eckerlin; the tenors, Davide, Nozzari, Donzelli,
-Rubini, and Cicimarra; the basses, Lablache, Bassi,<a name="vol_2_page_168" id="vol_2_page_168"></a> Ambroggi,
-Tamburini, and Bolticelli. Rossini had undertaken to write an opera
-entitled <i>Ugo rè d'Italia</i>, for the King's Theatre. The engagement had
-been made at the beginning of the season, in January, and the work was
-repeatedly announced for performance, when, at the end of May, it was
-said to be only half finished. He had, at this time, quarrelled with the
-management, and accepted the post of director at the Italian Opera of
-Paris. The end of <i>Ugo rè d'Italia</i> is said by Mr. Ebers to have been,
-that the score, as far as it was written, was deposited with Messrs.
-Ransom, the bankers. Messrs. Ransom, however, have informed me, that
-they never had a score of Rossini's in their possession.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>After Rossini's departure from London, his <i>Semiramide</i>, produced at
-Venice only the year before, was brought out with Madame Pasta, in the
-principal character. The part of "Semiramide" had been played at the
-<i>Fenice</i> Theatre, by Madame Colbran; it was the last Rossini wrote for
-his wife, and <i>Semiramide</i> was the last opera he composed for Italy.
-When we meet with Rossini again, it will be at the Académie Royale of
-Paris, as the composer of <i>the Siege of Corinth</i>, <i>Count Ory</i>, and
-<i>William Tell</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI'S SINGERS.</div>
-
-<p>The first great representative of "Semiramide" was Pasta, who has
-probably never been surpassed in that character. After performing it
-with admirable success in London, she resumed in it the year afterwards,
-1825, at the Italian Opera of Paris. Madame<a name="vol_2_page_169" id="vol_2_page_169"></a> Pasta had already gained
-great celebrity by her representation of "Tancredi" and of "Romeo," but
-in <i>Semiramide</i>, she seems, for the first time, to have exhibited her
-genius in all its fulness.<a name="FNanchor_86_86" id="FNanchor_86_86"></a><a href="#Footnote_86_86" class="fnanchor">[86]</a></p>
-
-<p>The original "Arsace" was Madame Mariani, the first great "Arsace,"
-Madame Pisaroni.</p>
-
-<p>Since the first production of <i>Semiramide</i>, thirty years ago, all the
-most distinguished sopranos and contraltos of the day have loved to
-appear in that admirable work.</p>
-
-<p>Among the "Semiramides," I may mention in particular Pasta, Grisi,
-Viardot-Garcia, and Cruvelli. Although not usually given to singers who
-particularly excel in the execution of light delicate music, the part of
-"Semiramide" was also sung with success by Madame Sontag (Paris, 1829),
-and Madame Bosio (St. Petersburgh, 1855).</p>
-
-<p>Among the "Arsaces," may be cited Pisaroni, Brambilla, and Alboni.</p>
-
-<p>Malibran, with her versatile comprehensive genius, appeared both as
-"Arsace" and as "Semiramide," and was equally fortunate in each of these
-very different impersonations.</p>
-
-<p>I will now say a few words respecting those of the singers just named,
-whose names are more especially associated with Rossini's earliest
-successes in England.<a name="vol_2_page_170" id="vol_2_page_170"></a></p>
-
-<p>Madame Pasta having appeared in Paris with success in 1816, was engaged
-with her husband, Signor Pasta (an unsuccessful tenor), for the
-following season at the King's Theatre. She made no great impression
-that year, and was quite eclipsed by Fodor and Camporese, who were
-members of the same company. The young singer, not discouraged, but
-convinced that she had much to learn, returned to Italy, where she
-studied unremittingly for four years. She reappeared at the Italian
-Opera of Paris in 1821, as "Desdemona," in Rossini's <i>Otello</i>, then for
-the first time produced in France. Her success was complete, but her
-performance does not appear to have excited that enthusiasm which was
-afterwards caused by her representation of "Medea," in Mayer's opera of
-that name. In <i>Medea</i>, however, Pasta was everything; in <i>Otello</i>, she
-had to share her triumph with Garcia, Bordogni, and Levasseur. From this
-time, the new tragic vocalist gained constantly in public estimation.
-<i>Medea</i> was laid aside; but Pasta gained fresh applause in every new
-part she undertook, and especially in <i>Tancredi</i> and <i>Semiramide</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PASTA.</div>
-
-<p>Pasta made her second appearance at the King's Theatre in 1824, in the
-character of "Desdemona." Her performance, from a histrionic as well as
-from a vocal point of view, was most admirable; and the habitués could
-scarcely persuade themselves that this was the singer who had come
-before them four years previously, and had gone away without leaving a
-regret behind. When Rossini's last Italian opera<a name="vol_2_page_171" id="vol_2_page_171"></a> was produced, the same
-season, the character of "Semiramide" was assigned to Madame Pasta, who
-now sang it for the first time. She had already represented the part of
-"Tancredi," and her three great Rossinian impersonations raised her
-reputation to the highest point. In London, Madame Pasta did not appear
-as "Medea" until 1826, when she already enjoyed the greatest celebrity.
-It was found at the King's Theatre, as at the Italian Opera of Paris,
-that Mayer's simple and frequently insipid music was not tolerable,
-after the brilliant dramatic compositions of Rossini; but Pasta's
-delineation of "Medea's" thirst for vengeance and despair, is said to
-have been sublime.</p>
-
-<p>A story is told of a distinguished critic persuading himself, that with
-such a power of pourtraying "Medea's" emotions, Madame Pasta must
-possess "Medea's" features; but for some such natural conformity he
-seems to have thought it impossible that she could at once, by
-intuition, enter profoundly and sympathetically into all "Medea's"
-inmost feelings. Much might be said in favour of the critic's theory; it
-is unnecessary to say a word in favour of a performance by which such a
-theory could be suggested. We are told, that the believer in the
-personal resemblance between Pasta and "Medea" was sent a journey of
-seventy miles to see a visionary portrait of "Medea," recovered from the
-ruins of Herculaneum. To rush off on such a journey with such an object,
-may not have been very reasonable; to cause the journey to be<a name="vol_2_page_172" id="vol_2_page_172"></a>
-undertaken, was perfectly silly. Probably, it was a joke of our friend
-Taylor's.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">PISARONI.</div>
-
-<p>Madame Pisaroni made her début in Italy in the year 1811, when she was
-eighteen years of age. She at first came out as a soprano, but two years
-afterwards, a severe illness having changed the nature of her voice, she
-appeared in all the most celebrated parts, written for the musicos or
-sopranists, who were now beginning to die out, and to be replaced by
-ladies with contralto voices. Madame Pisaroni was not only not
-beautiful, she was hideously ugly; I have seen her portrait, and am not
-exaggerating. Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells us, that another favourite
-contralto of the day Mariani (Rossini's original Arsace) was Pisaroni's
-rival "in voice, singing, and ugliness;" adding, that "in the two first
-qualities, she was certainly her inferior; though in the last it was
-difficult to know to which the preference should be given." But the
-anti-pathetic, revolting, almost insulting features of the great
-contralto, were forgotten as soon as she began to sing. As the hideous
-Wilkes boasted that he was "only a quarter of an hour behind the
-handsomest man in Europe," so Madame Pisaroni might have said, that she
-had only to deliver one phrase of music to place herself on a level with
-the most personally prepossessing vocalist of the day. This
-extraordinary singer on gaining a contralto, did not lose her original
-soprano voice. After her illness, she is<a name="vol_2_page_173" id="vol_2_page_173"></a> said to have possessed three
-octaves (between four C's), but her best notes were now in the contralto
-register. In airs, in concerted pieces, in recitative, she was equally
-admirable. To sustain a high note, and then dazzle the audience with a
-rapid descending scale of two octaves, was for her an easy means of
-triumph. Altogether, her execution seems never to have been surpassed.
-After making her début in Paris as "Arsace," Madame Pisaroni resumed
-that part in 1829, under great difficulties. The frightfully ugly
-"Arsace" had to appear side by side with a charmingly pretty
-"Semiramide,"&mdash;the soprano part of the opera being taken by Mademoiselle
-Sontag. But in the hour of danger the poor contralto was saved by her
-thoroughly beautiful singing, and Pisaroni and Sontag, who as a vocalist
-also left nothing to desire, were equally applauded. In London, Pisaroni
-appears to have confined herself intentionally to the representation of
-male characters, appearing as "Arsace," "Malcolm," in <i>La Donna del
-Lago</i>, and "Tancredi;" but in Paris she played the principal female part
-in <i>L'Italiana in Algeri</i>, and what is more, played it with wonderful
-success.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The great part of "Arsace" was also that in which Mademoiselle Brambilla
-made her début in England in the year 1827. Brambilla, who was a pupil
-of the conservatory of Milan, had never appeared on any stage; but
-though her acting is said to have been indifferent, her lovely voice,
-her already excellent<a name="vol_2_page_174" id="vol_2_page_174"></a> style, her youth and her great beauty, ensured
-her success.</p>
-
-<p>"She has the finest eyes, the sweetest voice, and the best disposition
-in the world," said a certain cardinal of the youthful Brambilla, "if
-she is discovered to possess any other merits, the safety of the
-Catholic Church will require her excommunication." After singing in
-London several years, and revisiting Italy, Brambilla was engaged in
-Paris, where she again chose the part of "Arsace," for her début.</p>
-
-<p>Many of our readers will probably remember that "Arsace" was also the
-character in which Mademoiselle Alboni made her first appearance in
-England, and on this side of the Alps. Until the opening night of the
-Royal Italian Opera, 1847, the English public had never heard of
-Mademoiselle Alboni; but she had only to sing the first phrase of her
-part, to call forth unanimous applause, and before the evening was at an
-end, she had quite established herself in the position which she has
-ever since held.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SONTAG.</div>
-
-<p>Sontag and Malibran both made their first appearance in England as
-"Rosina," in the <i>Barber of Seville</i>. Several points of similarity might
-be pointed out between the romantic careers of these two wonderfully
-successful and wonderfully unfortunate vocalists. Mademoiselle Garcia
-first appeared on the stage at Naples, when she was eight years old.
-Mademoiselle Sontag was in her sixth year when she came out at
-Frankfort. Each spent her childhood and youth in singing and acting, and
-each, after obtaining<a name="vol_2_page_175" id="vol_2_page_175"></a> a full measure of success, made an apparently
-brilliant marriage, and was thought to have quitted the stage. Both,
-however, re-appeared, one after a very short interval, the other, after
-a retirement of something like twenty years. The position of
-Mademoiselle Garcia's husband, M. Malibran, was as nothing, compared to
-that of Count Rossi, who married Mademoiselle Sontag; the former was a
-French merchant, established (not very firmly, as it afterwards
-appeared) at New York; the latter was the Sardinian Ambassador at the
-court of Vienna; but on the other hand, the Countess Rossi's end was far
-more tragic, or rather more miserable and horrible than that of Madame
-Malibran, itself sufficiently painful and heart-rending.</p>
-
-<p>Though Rosina appears to have been one of Mademoiselle Sontag's best, if
-not absolutely her best part, she also appeared to great advantage
-during her brief career in London and Paris, in two other Rossinian
-characters, "Desdemona" and "Semiramide." In her own country she was
-known as one of the most admirable representatives of "Agatha," in <i>Der
-FreischĂĽtz</i>, and she sang "Agatha's" great <i>scena</i> frequently, and
-always with immense success, at concerts, in London. She also appeared
-as "Donna Anna," in <i>Don Giovanni</i>, (from the pleasing, graceful
-character of her talent, one would have fancied the part of "Zerlina"
-better suited to her), but in Italian opera all her triumphs were gained
-in the works of Rossini.<a name="vol_2_page_176" id="vol_2_page_176"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MALIBRAN.</div>
-
-<p>When Marietta Garcia made her début in London, in the <i>Barber of
-Seville</i>, she was, seriously, only just beginning her career, and was at
-that time but seventeen years of age. She appeared the same year in
-Paris, as the heroine in <i>Torvaldo e Dorliska</i> (Rossini's
-"<i>fiaschetto</i>," now quite forgotten) and was then taken by her father on
-that disastrous American tour which ended with her marriage. Having
-crossed the Atlantic, Garcia converted his family into a complete opera
-company, of which he himself was the tenor and the excellent musical
-director (if there had only been a little more to direct). The daughter
-was the <i>prima donna</i>, the mother had to content herself with secondary
-parts, the son officiated as baritone and bass. In America, under a good
-master, but with strange subordinates, and a wretched <i>entourage</i>,
-Mademoiselle Garcia accustomed herself to represent operatic characters
-of every kind. One evening, when an uncultivated American orchestra was
-massacring Mozart's master-piece, Garcia, the "Don Giovanni" of the
-evening, became so indignant that he rushed, sword in hand, to the foot
-lights, and compelled the musicians to re-commence the finale to the
-first act, which they executed the second time with care, if not with
-skill. This was a severe school in which poor Marietta was being formed;
-but without it we should probably never have heard of her appearing one
-night as "Desdemona" or as "Arsace," the next as "Otello," or as
-"Semiramide;" nor of her gaining fresh laurels with equal certainty in
-the <i>Sonnambula</i><a name="vol_2_page_177" id="vol_2_page_177"></a></p>
-
-<p class="nind">and in <i>Norma</i>. But we have at present only to do with that period of
-operatic history, during which, Rossini's supremacy on the Italian stage
-was unquestioned. Towards 1830, we find two new composers appearing,
-who, if they, to some extent, displaced their great predecessor, at the
-same time followed in his steps. For some dozen years, Rossini had been
-the sole support, indeed, the very life of Italian opera. Naturally, his
-works were not without their fruit, and a great part of Donizetti's and
-Bellini's music may be said to belong to Rossini, inasmuch as Rossini
-was clearly Donizetti's and Bellini's progenitor.<a name="vol_2_page_178" id="vol_2_page_178"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVII" id="CHAPTER_XVII"></a>CHAPTER XVII.<br /><br />
-<small>OPERA IN FRANCE UNDER THE CONSULATE, EMPIRE, AND RESTORATION.</small></h2>
-
-<p class="nind">T<small>HE</small> History of the Opera, under the Consulate and the Empire, is perhaps
-more remarkable in connexion with political than with musical events.
-Few persons at present know much of Spontini's operas, though <i>la
-Vestale</i> in its day was celebrated in Paris, London and especially in
-Berlin; nor of Cherubini's, though the overtures to <i>Anacreon</i> and <i>les
-Abencerrages</i> are still heard from time to time at "classical" concerts;
-but every one remembers the plot to assassinate the First Consul which
-was to have been put into execution at the Opera, and the plot to
-destroy the Emperor, the Empress and all their retinue, which was to
-take effect just outside its doors. Then there is the appearance of the
-Emperor at the Opera, after his hasty arrival in Paris from Moscow, on
-the very night before his return to meet the Russians with the allies
-who had now joined them, at Bautzen and Lutzen&mdash;the same night by the
-way on which <i>les Abencerrages</i> was produced,<a name="vol_2_page_179" id="vol_2_page_179"></a> with no great success.
-Then again there is the evening of the 29th of March, 1814, when
-<i>Iphigénie en Aulide</i> was performed to an accompaniment of cannon which
-the Piccinnists, if they could only have heard it, would have declared
-very appropriate to Gluck's music; that of the 1st of April, when by
-desire, of the Russian emperor and the Prussian king, <i>la Vestale</i> was
-represented; and finally that of the 17th of May, 1814, when <i>Ĺ’dipe Ă 
-Colone</i> was played before Louis XVIII., who had that morning made his
-triumphal entry into Paris.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AN OPERATIC PLOT.</div>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>On the 10th of October, 1800, a band of republicans had sworn to
-assassinate the First Consul at the Opera. A new work was to be produced
-that evening composed by Porta to a libretto founded on Corneille's
-tragedy of <i>les Horaces</i>. The most striking scene in the piece, that in
-which the Horatii swear to conquer or perish, was to be the signal for
-action; all the lights were to be put out at the same moment, fireworks
-and grenades were to be thrown into the boxes, the pit and on to the
-stage; cries of "fire" and "murder" were to be raised from all parts of
-the house, and in the midst of the general confusion the First Consul
-was to be assassinated in his box. The leaders of the plot, to make
-certain of their cue, had contrived to be present at the rehearsal of
-the new opera, and everything was prepared for the next evening and the
-post of each conspirator duly assigned to him, when one of the number,
-conscience smitten<a name="vol_2_page_180" id="vol_2_page_180"></a> and unable to sleep during the night of the 9th,
-went at daybreak the next morning to the Prefect of Police and informed
-him of all the details of the plot.</p>
-
-<p>The conspiracy said Bonaparte, some twenty years afterwards at St.
-Helena, "was revealed by a captain in the line.<a name="FNanchor_87_87" id="FNanchor_87_87"></a><a href="#Footnote_87_87" class="fnanchor">[87]</a> What limit is
-there," he added, "to the combinations of folly and stupidity! This
-officer had a horror of me as Consul but adored me as general. He was
-anxious that I should be torn from my post, but he would have been very
-sorry that my life should be taken. I ought to be made prisoner, he
-said, in no way injured, and sent to the army to continue to defeat the
-enemies of France. The other conspirators laughed in his face, and when
-he saw them distribute daggers, and that they were going beyond his
-intentions, he proceeded at once to denounce the whole affair."</p>
-
-<p>Bonaparte, after the informer had been brought before him, suggested to
-the officers of his staff, the Prefect of Police and other functionaries
-whom he had assembled, that it would be as well not to let him appear at
-the Opera in the evening; but the general opinion was, that on the
-contrary, he should be forced to go, and ultimately it was decided that
-until the commencement of the performance everything should be allowed
-to take place as if the conspiracy had not been discovered.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AN OPERATIC PLOT.</div>
-
-<p>In the evening the First Consul went to the Opera, attended by a number
-of superior officers, all in plain<a name="vol_2_page_181" id="vol_2_page_181"></a> clothes. The first act passed off
-quietly enough&mdash;in all probability, far too quietly to please the
-composer, for some two hundred persons among the audience, including the
-conspirators, the police and the officers attached to Bonaparte's
-person, were thinking of anything but the music of <i>les Horaces</i>. It was
-necessary, however, to pay very particular attention to the music of the
-second act in which the scene of the oath occurred.</p>
-
-<p>The sentinels outside the Consul's box had received orders to let no one
-approach who had not the pass word, issued an hour before for the opera
-only; and as a certain number of conspirators had taken up their
-positions in the corridors, to extinguish the lights at the signal
-agreed upon, a certain number of Bonaparte's officers were sent also
-into the corridors to prevent the execution of this manœuvre. The
-scene of the oath was approaching, when a body of police went to the
-boxes in which the leaders of the plot were assembled, found them with
-fireworks and grenades in their hands, notified to them their arrest in
-the politest manner, cautioned them against creating the slightest
-disturbance, and led them so dexterously and quietly into captivity,
-that their disappearance from the theatre was not observed, or if so,
-was doubtless attributed to the badness of Porta's music. The officers
-in the corridors carried pistols, and at the proper moment seized the
-appointed lamp-extinguishers. Then the old Horatius came forward and
-exclaimed-<a name="vol_2_page_182" id="vol_2_page_182"></a>-</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"<i>Jurez donc devant moi, par le ciel qui m'Ă©coute.</i><br /></span>
-<span class="ist"><i>Que le dernier de vous sera mort ou vainqueur.</i>"<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>The orchestra "attacked" the introduction to the quartett. The fatal
-prelude must have sounded somewhat unmusical to the ear of the First
-Consul; but the conspirators were now all in custody and assembled in
-one of the vestibules on the ground floor.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LES MYSTERES D'ISIS.</div>
-
-<p>On the 24th of December, 1800, the day on which the "infernal machine"
-was directed against the First Consul on his way to the Opera, a French
-version of Haydn's <i>Creation</i> was to be executed. Indeed, the
-performance had already commenced, when, during the gentle <i>adagio</i> of
-the introduction, the dull report of an explosion, as if of a cannon,
-was heard, but without the audience being at all alarmed. Immediately
-afterwards the First Consul appeared in his box with Lannes, Lauriston,
-Berthier, and Duroc. Madame Bonaparte, as she was getting into her
-carriage, thought of some alteration to make in her dress, and returned
-to her apartments for a few minutes. But for this delay her carriage
-would have passed before the infernal machine at the moment of its
-explosion. Ten minutes afterwards she made her appearance at the Opera
-with her daughter, Mademoiselle Hortense Beauharnais, Madame Murat, and
-Colonel Rapp. The performance of the <i>Creation</i> continued as if nothing
-had happened; and the report, which had interfered so unexpectedly with
-the effect of the opening <i>adagio</i>,<a name="vol_2_page_183" id="vol_2_page_183"></a> was explained in various ways; the
-account generally received in the pit being, that a grocer going into
-his cellar with a candle, had set light to a barrel of gunpowder. Two
-houses were said to have been blown up. This was at the beginning of the
-first part of the <i>Creation</i>; at the end of the second, the number had
-probably increased to half a dozen.</p>
-
-<p>Under the consulate and the empire, the arts did not flourish greatly in
-France; not for want of direct encouragement on the part of the ruler,
-but rather because he at the same time encouraged far above everything
-else the art of war. Until the appearance of Spontini with <i>la Vestale</i>,
-the Académie, under Napoleon Bonaparte, whether known as Bonaparte or
-Napoleon, was chiefly supported by composers who composed without
-inventing, and who, with the exception of Cherubini, were either very
-feeble originators or mere plagiarists and spoliators. Even Mozart did
-not escape the French arrangers. His <i>Marriage of Figaro</i> had been
-brought out in 1798, with all the prose dialogue of Beaumarchais's
-comedy substituted for the recitative of the original opera. <i>Les
-Mystères d'Isis</i>, an adaptation, perversion, disarrangement of <i>Die
-Zauberflötte</i>, with several pieces suppressed, or replaced by fragments
-from the <i>Nozze di Figaro</i>, <i>Don Giovanni</i>, and Haydn's symphonies, was
-produced on the 23rd of August, 1801, under the auspices of Morel the
-librettist, and Lachnith the musician.</p>
-
-<p><i>Les</i> Misères <i>d'Isis</i> was the appropriate name given<a name="vol_2_page_184" id="vol_2_page_184"></a> to this sad
-medley by the musicians of the orchestra. Lachnith was far from being
-ashamed of what he had done. On the contrary, he gloried in it, and
-seemed somehow or other to have persuaded himself that the pieces which
-he had stolen from Mozart and Haydn were his own compositions. One
-evening, when he was present at the representation of <i>Les Mystères
-d'Isis</i>, he was affected to tears, and exclaimed, "No, I will compose no
-more! I could never go beyond this!"</p>
-
-<p><i>Don Giovanni</i>, in the hands of Kalkbrenner, fared no better than the
-<i>Zauberflötte</i> in those of Lachnith. It even fared worse; for
-Kalkbrenner did not content himself with spoiling the general effect of
-the work, by means of pieces introduced from Mozart's other operas, and
-from Haydn's symphonies: he mutilated it so as completely to alter its
-form, and further debased it by mixing with its pure gold the dross of
-his own vile music.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">KALKBRENNER'S DON GIOVANNI.</div>
-
-<p>In Kalkbrenner's <i>Don Giovanni</i>, the opera opened with a recitative,
-composed by Kalkbrenner himself. Next came Leporello's solo, followed by
-an interpolated romance, in the form of a serenade, which was sung by
-Don Juan, under Donna Anna's window. The struggle of Don Juan with Donna
-Anna, the entry of the commandant, his combat with Don Juan, the trio
-for the three men and all the rest of the introduction, was cut out. The
-duet of Donna Anna and Ottavio was placed at the end of the act, and as
-Don Juan had killed the commandant off the stage,<a name="vol_2_page_185" id="vol_2_page_185"></a> it was of course
-deprived of its marvellous recitative, which, to be duly effective, must
-be declaimed by Donna Anna over the body of her father. The whole of the
-opera was treated in the same style. The first act was made to end as it
-had begun, with a few phrases of recitative of Kalkbrenner's own
-production. The greater part of the action of Da Ponte's libretto was
-related in dialogue, so that the most dramatic portion of the music lost
-all its significance. The whole opera, in short, was disfigured, cut to
-pieces, destroyed, and further defiled by the musical weeds which the
-infamous Kalkbrenner introduced among its still majestic ruins. At this
-period the supreme direction of the Opera was in the hands of a jury,
-composed of certain members of the Institute of France. It seems never
-to have occurred to this learned body that there was any impropriety in
-the trio of masques being executed by three men, and in the two soprano
-parts being given to tenors,&mdash;by which arrangement the part of Ottavio,
-Mozart's tenor, instead of being the lowest in the harmony, was made the
-highest. The said trio was sung by three archers, of course to entirely
-new words! Let us pass on to another opera, which, if not comparable to
-<i>Don Giovanni</i>, was at least a magnificent work for France in 1807, and
-which had the advantage of being admirably executed under the careful
-direction of its composer.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Spontini had already produced <i>La Finta Filosofa</i>,<a name="vol_2_page_186" id="vol_2_page_186"></a> which, originally
-brought out at Naples, was afterwards performed at the Italian Theatre
-of Paris, without success; <i>La Petite Maison</i>, written for the Opéra
-Comique, and violently hissed; and <i>Milton</i> also composed for the Opéra
-Comique, and favourably received. When <i>La Vestale</i> was submitted to the
-jury of the Académie, it was refused unanimously on the ground of the
-extravagance of its style, and of the audacity of certain innovations in
-the score. Spontini appealed to the Empress Josephine, and it was owing
-to her influence, and through a direct order of the court that <i>La
-Vestale</i> was put upon the stage. The jury was inexorable, however, as
-regarded certain portions of the work, and the composer was obliged to
-submit it to the orchestral conductor, who injured it in several places,
-but without spoiling it. Spontini wished to give the part of the tenor
-to Nourrit; but Lainez protested, went to the superintendant of the
-imperial theatres, represented that he had been first tenor and first
-lover at the Opera for thirty years, and finally received full
-permission to make love to the Vestal of the Académie.</p>
-
-<p>The Emperor Napoleon had the principal pieces in <i>La Vestale</i> executed
-by his private band, nearly a year before the opera was brought out at
-the Académie. He had sufficient taste to admire the music, and predicted
-to Spontini the success it afterwards met with. He is said, in
-particular, to have praised the finale, the first dramatic finale
-written for the French Opera.<a name="vol_2_page_187" id="vol_2_page_187"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SPONTINI.</div>
-
-<p><i>La Vestale</i> was received by the public with enthusiasm. It is said to
-have been admirably executed, and we know that Spontini was difficult on
-this point, for we are told by Mr. Ebers that he objected to the
-performance of <i>La Vestale</i>, in London, on the ground "that the means of
-representation there were inadequate to do justice to his composition."
-This was twenty years after it was first brought out in Paris, when all
-Rossini's finest and most elaborately constructed operas (such as
-<i>Semiramide</i>, for instance), had been played in London, and in a manner
-which quite satisfied Rossini. Probably, however, it was in the
-spectacular department that Spontini expected the King's Theatre would
-break down. However that may have been, <i>La Vestale</i> was produced in
-London, and met with very little success. The part of "La Vestale" was
-given to a Madame Biagioli, who objected to it as not sufficiently good
-for her. From the accounts extant of this lady's powers, it is quite
-certain that Spontini, if he had heard her, would have considered her
-not nearly good enough for his music. It would, of course, have been far
-better for the composer, as for the manager and the public, if Spontini
-had consented to superintend the production of his work himself; but
-failing that, it was scandalous in defiance of his wishes to produce it
-at all. Unfortunately, this is a kind of scandal from which operatic
-managers in England have seldom shrunk.</p>
-
-<p>Spontini's <i>Fernand Cortez</i>, produced at the Académie<a name="vol_2_page_188" id="vol_2_page_188"></a> in 1809, met with
-less success than <i>La Vestale</i>. In both these works, the spectacular
-element played an important part, and in <i>Fernand Cortez</i>, it was found
-necessary to introduce a number of Franconi's horses. A journalist of
-the period proposed that the following inscription should be placed
-above the doors of the theatre:&mdash;<i>Içi on joue l'opéra à pied et à
-cheval</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Spontini, as special composer for the Académie of grand operas with
-hippic and panoramic effects, was the predecessor of M. M. Meyerbeer,
-and Halévy; and Heine, in his "Lutèce"<a name="FNanchor_88_88" id="FNanchor_88_88"></a><a href="#Footnote_88_88" class="fnanchor">[88]</a> has given us a very witty,
-and perhaps, in the main, truthful account of Spontini's animosity
-towards Meyerbeer, whom he is said to have always regarded as an
-intriguer and interloper. I may here, however, mention as a proof of the
-attractiveness of <i>La Vestale</i> from a purely musical point of view, that
-it was once represented with great success, not only without magnificent
-or appropriate scenery, but with the scenery belonging to another piece!
-This was on the 1st of April, 1814, the day after the entry of the
-Russian and Prussian troops into Paris. <i>Le Triomphe de Trajan</i> had been
-announced; the allied sovereigns, however, wished to hear <i>La Vestale</i>,
-and the performance was changed. But there was not time to prepare the
-scenery for Spontini's opera, and that of the said <i>Triomphe</i> was made
-to do duty for it.<a name="vol_2_page_189" id="vol_2_page_189"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A MURDER AT THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p><i>Le Triomphe de Trajan</i> was a work in which Napoleon's clemency to a
-treacherous or patriotic German prince was celebrated, and it has been
-said that the programme of the 1st of April was changed, because the
-allied sovereigns disliked the subject of the opera. But it was
-perfectly natural that they should wish to hear Spontini's master-piece,
-and that they should not particularly care to listen to a <i>pièce
-d'occasion</i>, set to music by a French composer of no name.</p>
-
-<p>I have said that Cherubini's <i>Abencerrages</i>, of which all but the
-overture is now forgotten, was produced in 1813, and that the emperor
-attended its first representation the night before his departure from
-Paris, to rejoin his troops, and if possible, check the advance of the
-victorious allies. No other work of importance was produced at the
-French Académie until Rossini's <i>Siège de Corinthe</i> was brought out in
-1825. This, the first work written by the great Italian master specially
-for the French Opera, was represented at the existing theatre in the Rue
-Lepelletier, the opera house in the Rue Richelieu having been pulled
-down in 1820.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A MURDER AT THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>In the year just mentioned, on the 13th of February, being the last
-Sunday of the Carnival, an unusually brilliant audience had assembled at
-the Académie Royale. <i>Le Rossignol</i>, an insipid, and fortunately, very
-brief production, was the opera; but the great attraction of the evening
-consisted in two ballets, <i>La Carnaval de Venise</i>, and <i>Les Noces<a name="vol_2_page_190" id="vol_2_page_190"></a> de
-Gamache</i>. The Duke and Duchess de Berri were present, and when <i>Le
-Carnaval de Venise</i>, <i>Le Rossignol</i>, and the first act of <i>Les Noces de
-Gamache</i>, had been performed, the duchess rose to leave the theatre. Her
-husband accompanied her to the carriage, and was taking leave of her,
-intending to return to the theatre for the last act of the ballet, when
-a man crept up to him, placed his left arm on the duke's left side,
-pulled him violently towards him, and as he held him in his grasp,
-thrust a dagger through his body. The dagger entered the duke's right
-side, and the pressure of the assassin's arm, and the force with which
-the blow was given, were so great, that the weapon went through the
-lungs, and pierced the heart, a blade of six inches inflicting a wound
-nine inches long. The news of the duke's assassination spread through
-the streets of Paris as if by electricity; and M. Alexandre Dumas, in
-his interesting Memoirs, tells us almost the same thing that Balzac says
-about it in one of his novels; that it was known at the farther end of
-Paris, before a man on horseback, despatched at the moment the blow was
-struck, could possibly have reached the spot. On the other hand, M.
-Castil Blaze shows us very plainly that the terrible occurrence was not
-known within the Opera; or, at least, only to a few officials, until
-after the conclusion of the performance, which went on as if nothing had
-happened. The duke was carried into the director's room, where he was
-attended by Blancheton, the surgeon of the Opera,<a name="vol_2_page_191" id="vol_2_page_191"></a> and at once bled in
-both arms. He, himself, drew the dagger from the wound, and observed at
-the same time that he felt it was mortal. The Count d'Artois, and the
-Duke and Duchess d'AngoulĂŞme arrived soon afterwards. There lay the
-unhappy prince, on a bed hastily arranged, and already inundated, soaked
-with blood, surrounded by his father, brother, sister, and wife, whose
-poignant anguish was from time to time alleviated by some faint ray of
-hope, destined, however, to be quickly dispelled.</p>
-
-<p>Five of the most celebrated doctors in Paris, with Dupuytren among the
-number, had been sent for; and as the patient was now nearly suffocating
-from internal hæmorrhage, the orifice of the wound was widened. This
-afforded some relief, and for a moment it was thought just possible that
-a recovery might be effected. Another moment, and it was evident that
-there was no hope. The duke asked to see his daughter, and embraced her
-several times; he also expressed a desire to see the king. Now the
-sacrament was administered to him, but, on the express condition exacted
-by the Archbishop of Paris, that the Opera House should afterwards be
-destroyed. Two other unacknowledged daughters of his youth were brought
-to the dying man's bedside, and received his blessing. He had already
-recommended them to the duchess's care.</p>
-
-<p>"Soon you will have no father," she said to them, "and I shall have
-three daughters."<a name="vol_2_page_192" id="vol_2_page_192"></a></p>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile the Spanish ballet was being continued, amidst the
-mirth and applause of the audience, who testified by their demeanour
-that it was Carnival time, and that the <i>jours gras</i> had already
-commenced. The house was crowded, and the boleros and sequidillas with
-which the Spaniards of the Parisian ballet astonished and dazzled Don
-Quixote and his faithful knight, threw boxes, pit, and gallery, into
-ecstasies of delight.</p>
-
-<p>Elsewhere, in the room next his victim, stood the assassin, interrogated
-by the ministers, Decazes and Pasquier, with the bloody dagger before
-them on the table. The murderer simply declared that he had no
-accomplices,<a name="FNanchor_89_89" id="FNanchor_89_89"></a><a href="#Footnote_89_89" class="fnanchor">[89]</a> and that he took all the responsibility of the crime on
-himself.</p>
-
-<p>At five in the morning, Louis XVIII. was by the side of his dying
-nephew. An attempt had been made, the making of which was little less
-than an insult to the king, to dissuade him from being present at the
-duke's last moments.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">A MURDER AT THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>"The sight of death does not terrify me," replied His Majesty, "and I
-have a duty to perform." After begging that his murderer might be
-forgiven, and entreating the duchess not to give way to despair,<a name="vol_2_page_193" id="vol_2_page_193"></a> the
-Duke de Berri breathed his last in the arms of the king, who closed his
-eyes at half-past six in the morning.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Opera was now to be heard no more in the Rue Richelieu. The holy
-sacrament had crossed the threshold of a profane building, and it was
-necessary that this profane building should be destroyed; indeed, a
-promise to that effect had been already given. All the theatres were
-closed for ten days, and the Opera, now homeless, did not re-commence
-its performances until upwards of two months afterwards, when it took
-possession for a time of the Théâtre Favart. In the August of the same
-year the erection of the theatre in the Rue Lepelletier was commenced.
-The present Théâtre de l'Opéra, (the absurd title of Académie having
-recently been abandoned), was intended when it was first built, to be
-but a temporary affair. Strangely enough it has lasted forty years,
-during which time it has seen solidly constructed opera-houses perish by
-fire in all parts of Europe. May the new opera-house about to be erected
-in Paris, under the auspices of Napoleon III., be equally fortunate.</p>
-
-<p>I am here reminded that both the Napoleons have proved themselves good
-and intelligent friends to the Opera. In the year eleven of the French
-republic, the First Consul and his two associates, the Minister of the
-French republic, the three Consuls, the Ministers of the interior and
-police, General Junot, the Secretary of State, and a few more officials
-occupied among<a name="vol_2_page_194" id="vol_2_page_194"></a> them as many as seventeen boxes at the opera, containing
-altogether ninety-four places. Bonaparte had a report drawn up from
-which it appeared that the value of these boxes to the administration,
-was sixty thousand four hundred francs per annum, including fifteen
-thousand francs for those kept at his own disposition. Thereupon he
-added to the report the following brief, but on the whole satisfactory
-remark.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>A datter du premier nivose toutes ces loges seront payées par ceux qui
-les occupent.</i>"</p>
-
-<p>The error in orthography is not the printers', but Napoleon Bonaparte's,
-and the document in which it occurs, is at present in the hands of M.
-Regnier of the Comédie Française.</p>
-
-<p>A month afterwards, Napoleon, or at least the consular trio of which he
-was the chief, assigned to the Opera a regular subsidy of 600,000 francs
-a year; he at the same time gave it a respectable name. Under the
-Convention it had been entitled "Théâtre de la République et des Arts;"
-the First Consul called it simply, "Théâtre des Arts," an appellation it
-had borne before.<a name="FNanchor_90_90" id="FNanchor_90_90"></a><a href="#Footnote_90_90" class="fnanchor">[90]</a></p>
-
-<p>Hardly had the new theatre in the Rue Lepelletier<a name="vol_2_page_195" id="vol_2_page_195"></a> opened its doors,
-when a singer of the highest class, a tenor of the most perfect kind,
-made his appearance. This was Adolphe Nourrit, a pupil of Garcia, who,
-on the 10th of September, 1821, made his first appearance with the
-greatest success as "Pylade" in <i>Iphigénie en Tauride</i>. It was not,
-however, until Auber's <i>Muette de Portici</i> was produced in 1828, that
-Nourrit had an opportunity of distinguishing himself in a new and
-important part.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.</div>
-
-<p><i>La Muette</i> was the first of those important works to which the French
-Opera owes its actual celebrity in Europe. <i>Le Siège de Corinthe</i>,
-translated and adapted from <i>Maometto II.</i>, with additions (including
-the admirable blessing of the flags) written specially for the Académie,
-had been brought out eighteen months before, but without much success.
-<i>Maometto II.</i> was not one of Rossini's best works, the drama on which
-it was constructed was essentially feeble and uninteresting, and the
-manner in which the whole was "arranged" for the French stage, was
-unsatisfactory in many respects. <i>Le Siège de Corinthe</i> was greatly
-applauded the first night, but it soon ceased to have any attraction for
-the public. Rossini had previously written <i>Il Viaggio a Reims</i> for the
-coronation of Charles X., and this work was re-produced at the Academy
-three years afterwards, with several important additions (such as the
-duet for "Isolier" and the "Count," the chorus of women, the
-unaccompanied quartett, the highly effective drinking chorus, and the
-beautiful trio of the last act), under the<a name="vol_2_page_196" id="vol_2_page_196"></a> title of <i>le Comte Ory</i>. In
-the meanwhile <i>La Muette</i> had been brought out, to be followed the year
-afterwards by <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, which was to be succeeded in its turn by
-Meyerbeer's <i>Robert le Diable</i>, <i>Les Huguenots</i> and <i>Le Prophète</i>,
-(works which belong specially to the Académie and with which its modern
-reputation is intimately associated), by Auber's <i>Gustave III.</i>,
-Donizetti's <i>la Favorite</i>, &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p><i>La Muette de Portici</i> had the great advantage of enabling the Académie
-to display all its resources at once. It was brought out with
-magnificent scenery and an excellent <i>corps de ballet</i>, with a <i>première
-danseuse</i>, Mademoiselle Noblet as the heroine, with the new tenor,
-Nourrit, in the important part of the hero, and with a well taught
-chorus capable of sustaining with due effect the prominent <i>rĂ´le</i>
-assigned to it. For in the year 1828 it was quite a novelty at the
-French Opera to see the chorus taking part in the general action of the
-drama.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LA MUETTE DE PORTICI.</div>
-
-<p>If we compare <i>La Muette</i> with the "Grand Operas" produced subsequently
-at the Académie, we find that it differs from them all in some important
-respects. In the former, instead of a <i>prima donna</i> we have a <i>prima
-ballerina</i> in the principal female part. Of course the concerted pieces
-suffer by this, or rather the number of concerted pieces is diminished,
-and to the same cause may, perhaps, be attributed the absence of finales
-in <i>La Muette</i>. It chiefly owed its success (which is still renewed from
-time to time whenever it is re-produced) to the intrinsic beauty of its
-melodies<a name="vol_2_page_197" id="vol_2_page_197"></a> and to the dramatic situations provided by the ingenious
-librettist, M. Scribe, and admirably taken advantage of by the composer.
-But the part of Fenella had also great attractions for those unmusical
-persons who are found in almost every audience in England and France,
-and for whom the chief interest in every opera consists in the
-skeleton-drama on which it is founded. To them the graceful Fenella with
-her expressive pantomime is no bad substitute for a singer whose words
-would be unintelligible to them, and whose singing, continued throughout
-the Opera, would perhaps fatigue their dull ears. These ballet-operas
-seem to have been very popular in France about the period when <i>La
-Muette</i> was produced, the other most celebrated example of the style
-being Auber's <i>Le Dieu et la Bayadère</i>. In the present day it would be
-considered that a <i>prima ballerina</i>, introduced as a principal character
-in an opera, would interfere too much with the combinations of the
-singing personages.</p>
-
-<p>I need say nothing about the charming music of <i>La Muette</i>, which is
-well known to every frequenter of the Opera, further than to mention,
-that the melody of the celebrated barcarole and chorus, "<i>Amis, amis le
-soleil va paraitre</i>" had already been heard in a work of Auber's, called
-<i>Emma</i>; and that the brilliant overture had previously served as an
-instrumental preface to <i>Le Maçon</i>.</p>
-
-<p><i>La Muette de Portici</i> was translated and played with great success in
-England. But shameful liberties<a name="vol_2_page_198" id="vol_2_page_198"></a> were taken with the piece; recitatives
-were omitted, songs were interpolated: and it was not until <i>Masaniello</i>
-was produced at the Royal Italian Opera that the English public had an
-opportunity of hearing Auber's great work without suppressions or
-additions.</p>
-
-<p>The greatest opera ever written for the Académie, and one of the three
-or four greatest operas ever produced, was now about to be brought out.
-<i>Guillaume Tell</i> was represented for the first time on the 3rd of
-August, 1829. It was not unsuccessful, or even coldly received the first
-night, as has often been stated; but the result of the first few
-representations was on the whole unsatisfactory. Musicians and
-connoisseurs were struck by the great beauties of the work from the very
-beginning; but some years passed before it was fully appreciated by the
-general public. The success of the music was certainly not assisted by
-the libretto&mdash;one of the most tedious and insipid ever put together; and
-it was not until Rossini's masterpiece had been cut down from five to
-three acts, that the Parisians, as a body, took any great interest in
-it.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GUILLAUME TELL.</div>
-
-<p><i>Guillaume Tell</i> is now played everywhere in the three act form. Some
-years ago a German doctor, who had paid four francs to hear <i>Der
-FreischĂĽtz</i> at the French Opera, proceeded against the directors for the
-recovery of his money, on the plea that it had been obtained from him on
-false pretences, the work advertised as <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> not being
-precisely the<a name="vol_2_page_199" id="vol_2_page_199"></a> <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i><a name="FNanchor_91_91" id="FNanchor_91_91"></a><a href="#Footnote_91_91" class="fnanchor">[91]</a> which Karl Maria von Weber composed.
-The doctor might amuse himself (the authorities permitting) by bringing
-an action against the managers of the Berlin theatre every time they
-produce Rossini's <i>Guillaume Tell</i>&mdash;which is often enough, and always in
-three acts.</p>
-
-<p>The original cast of <i>Guillaume Tell</i> included Nourrit, Levasseur,
-Dabadie, A. Dupont, Massol, and Madame Cinti-Damoreau. The singers and
-musicians of the Opera were enthusiastic in their admiration of the new
-work, and the morning after its production assembled on the terrace of
-the house where Rossini lived and performed a selection from it in his
-honour. One distinguished artist who took no part in this ceremony had,
-nevertheless, contributed in no small degree to the success of the
-opera. This was Mademoiselle Taglioni, whose <i>tyrolienne</i> danced to the
-music of the charming unaccompanied chorus, was of course understood and
-applauded by every one from the very first.</p>
-
-<p>After the first run of <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, the Opera returned to <i>La
-Muette de Portici</i>, and then for a time Auber's and Rossini's
-masterpieces were played alternate nights. On Wednesday, July 3rd, 1830,
-<i>La Muette de Portici</i> was performed, and with a certain political
-appropriateness;&mdash;for the "days of<a name="vol_2_page_200" id="vol_2_page_200"></a> July" were now at hand, and the
-insurrectionary spirit had already manifested itself in the streets of
-Paris. The fortunes of <i>La Muette de Portici</i> have been affected in
-various ways by the revolutionary character of the plot. Even in London
-it was more than once made a pretext for a "demonstration" by the
-radicals of William the Fourth's time. At most of the Italian theatres
-it has been either forbidden altogether or has had to be altered
-considerably before the authorities would allow it to be played. Strange
-as it may appear, in absolute Russia it has been represented times out
-of number in its original shape, under the title of <i>Fenella</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">FRENCH NATIONAL SONGS.</div>
-
-<p>We have seen that <i>Masaniello</i> was represented in Paris four days before
-the commencement of the outbreak which ended in the elder branch of the
-Bourbons being driven from the throne. On the 26th of July, <i>Guillaume
-Tell</i> was to have been represented, but the city was in such a state of
-agitation, in consequence of the issue of the <i>ordonnances</i>, signed at
-St. Cloud the day before, that the Opera was closed. On the 27th the
-fighting began and lasted until the 29th, when the Opera was re-opened.
-On the 4th of August, <i>La Muette de Portici</i> was performed, and created
-the greatest enthusiasm,&mdash;the public finding in almost every scene some
-reminder, and now and then a tolerably exact representation, of what had
-just taken place within a stone's throw of the theatre. <i>La Muette</i>,
-apart from its music, became now the great piece of the day; and the
-representations at<a name="vol_2_page_201" id="vol_2_page_201"></a> the Opera were rendered still more popular by
-Nourrit singing "<i>La Parisienne</i>" every evening. The melody of this
-temporary national song, like that of its predecessor (so infinitely
-superior to it), "<i>La Marseillaise</i>" (according to Castil Blaze), was
-borrowed from Germany. France, never wanting in national spirit, has yet
-no national air. It has four party songs, not one of which can be
-considered truly patriotic, and of which the only one that possesses any
-musical merit, disfigured as it has been by its French adapters, is of
-German origin.</p>
-
-<p>Nourrit is said to have delivered "<i>La Parisienne</i>" with wonderful
-vigour and animation, and to this and to Casimir Delavigne's verses (or
-rather to Delavigne's name, for the verses in themselves are not very
-remarkable) may be attributed the reputation which the French national
-song, No. 4,<a name="FNanchor_92_92" id="FNanchor_92_92"></a><a href="#Footnote_92_92" class="fnanchor">[92]</a> for some time enjoyed.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p><i>Guillaume Tell</i> is Rossini's last opera. To surpass that admirable work
-would have been difficult for its own composer, impossible for any one
-else; and Rossini appears to have resolved to terminate his artistic
-career when it had reached its climax. In carrying out this resolution,
-he has displayed a strength of character, of which it is almost
-impossible to find another instance. Many other reasons<a name="vol_2_page_202" id="vol_2_page_202"></a> have been given
-for Rossini's abstaining from composition during so many years, such as
-the coldness with which <i>Guillaume Tell</i> was received (when, as we have
-seen, its <i>immediate</i> reception by those whose opinion Rossini would
-chiefly have valued, was marked by the greatest enthusiasm), and the
-success of Meyerbeer's operas, though who would think of placing the
-most successful of Meyerbeer's works on a level with <i>Guillaume Tell</i>?</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Je reviendrai quand les juifs auront fini leur sabbat</i>," is a speech
-(somewhat uncharacteristic of the speaker, as it seems to me),
-attributed to Rossini by M. Castil Blaze; who, however, also mentions,
-that when <i>Robert le Diable</i> was produced, every journal in Paris said
-that it was the finest opera, <i>except Guillaume Tell</i>, that had been
-produced at the Académie for years. It appears certain, now, that
-Rossini simply made up his mind to abdicate at the height of his power.
-There were plenty of composers who could write works inferior to
-<i>Guillaume Tell</i>, and to them he left the kingdom of opera, to be
-divided as they might arrange it among themselves. He was succeeded by
-Meyerbeer at the Académie; by Donizetti and Bellini at the Italian
-opera-houses of all Europe.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Rossini had already found a follower, and, so to speak, an original
-imitator, in Auber, whose eminently Rossinian overture to <i>La Muette</i>,
-was heard at the Académie the year before <i>Guillaume Tell</i>.<a name="vol_2_page_203" id="vol_2_page_203"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI'S FOLLOWERS.</div>
-
-<p>I need scarcely remind the intelligent reader, that the composer of
-three master-pieces in such very different styles as <i>Il Barbiere</i>,
-<i>Semiramide</i>, and <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, might have a dozen followers, whose
-works, while all resembling in certain points those of their predecessor
-and master, should yet bear no great general resemblance to one another.
-All the composers who came immediately after Rossini, accepted, as a
-matter of course, those important changes which he had introduced in the
-treatment of the operatic drama, and to which he had now so accustomed
-the public, that a return to the style of the old Italian masters, would
-have been not merely injudicious, but intolerable. Thus, all the
-post-Rossinian composers adopted Rossini's manner of accompanying
-recitative with the full band; his substitution of dialogued pieces,
-written in measured music, with a prominent connecting part assigned to
-the orchestra, for the interminable dialogues in simple recitative,
-employed by the earlier Italian composers; his mode of constructing
-finales; and his new distribution of characters, by which basses and
-baritones become as eligible for first parts as tenors, while great
-importance is given to the chorus, which, in certain operas, according
-to the nature of the plot, becomes an important dramatic agent. I may
-repeat, by way of memorandum, what has before been observed, that nearly
-all these forms originated with Mozart, though it was reserved for
-Rossini to introduce and establish them on the Italian<a name="vol_2_page_204" id="vol_2_page_204"></a> stage. In short,
-with the exception of the very greatest masters of Germany, all the
-composers of the last thirty or forty years, have been to some, and
-often to a very great extent, influenced by Rossini. The general truth
-of this remark is not lessened by the fact, that HĂ©rold and Auber, and
-even Donizetti and Bellini (the last, especially, in the simplicity of
-his melodies), afterwards found distinctive styles; and that Meyerbeer,
-after <i>Il Crociato</i>, took Weber, rather than Rossini, for his model&mdash;the
-composer of <i>Robert</i> at the same time exhibiting a strongly marked
-individuality, which none of his adverse critics think of denying, and
-which is partly, no doubt, the cause of their adverse criticism.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI'S RETIREMENT.</div>
-
-<p>What will make it appear to some persons still more astonishing, that
-Rossini should have retired after producing <i>Guillaume Tell</i> is, that he
-had signed an agreement with the Académie, by which he engaged to write
-three grand operas for it in six years. In addition to his "author's
-rights," he was to receive ten thousand francs annually until the
-expiration of the sixth year, and the completion of the third opera. No.
-1 was <i>Guillaume Tell</i>. The librettos of Nos. 2 and 3 were <i>Gustave</i> and
-<i>Le Duc d'Albe</i>, both of which were returned by Rossini to M. Scribe,
-perhaps, with an explanation, but with none that has ever been made
-public. Rossini was at this time thirty-seven years of age, strong and
-vigorous enough to have outlived, not only his earliest, but his latest
-compositions, had<a name="vol_2_page_205" id="vol_2_page_205"></a> they not been the most remarkable dramatic works of
-this century. If Rossini had been a composer who produced with
-difficulty, his retirement would have been more easy to explain; but the
-difficulty with him must have been to avoid producing. The story is
-probably known to many readers of his writing a duet one morning, in
-bed, letting the music paper fall, and, rather than leave his warm
-sheets to pick it up, writing another duet, which was quite different
-from the first. A hundred similar anecdotes are told of the facility
-with which Rossini composed. Who knows but that he wished his career to
-be measured against those of so many other composers whose days were cut
-short, at about the age he had reached when he produced <i>Guillaume
-Tell</i>? A very improbable supposition, certainly, when we consider how
-little mysticism there is in the character of Rossini. However this may
-be, he ceased to write operas at about the age when many of his
-immediate predecessors and followers ceased to live.<a name="FNanchor_93_93" id="FNanchor_93_93"></a><a href="#Footnote_93_93" class="fnanchor">[93]</a></p>
-
-<p>And even Rossini had a narrow escape. About the critical period, when
-the composer of <i>Guillaume Tell</i> was a little more than half way between
-thirty and forty, the Italian Theatre of Paris was burnt to the ground.
-This, at first sight, appears to have nothing to do with the question;
-but Rossini lived in the theatre, and his apartments were near the
-roof.<a name="vol_2_page_206" id="vol_2_page_206"></a> He had started for Italy two days previously; had he remained in
-Paris, he certainly would have shared the fate of the other inmates who
-perished in the flames.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Meyerbeer is a composer who defies classification, or who, at least, may
-be classified in three different ways. As the author of the <i>Crociato</i>,
-he belongs to Italy, and the school of Rossini; <i>Robert le Diable</i>
-exhibits him as a composer chiefly of the German school, with a tendency
-to follow in the steps of Weber; but <i>Robert</i>, <i>les Huguenots</i>, <i>le
-Prophète</i>, <i>l'Etoile du Nord</i>, and, above all <i>Dinorah</i>, are also
-characteristic of the composer himself. The committee of the London
-International Exhibition has justly decided that Meyerbeer is a German
-composer, and there is no doubt about his having been born in Germany,
-and educated for some time under the same professor as Karl Maria Von
-Weber; but it is equally certain that he wrote those works to which he
-owes his great celebrity for the Académie Royale of Paris, and as we are
-just now dealing with the history of the French Opera, this, I think, is
-the proper place in which to introduce the most illustrious of living
-and working composers.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">REHEARSALS.</div>
-
-<p>"The composer of <i>Il Crociato in Egitto</i>, an amateur, is a native of
-Berlin, where his father, a Jew, who is since dead, was a banker of
-great riches. The father's name was Beer, Meyer being merely a Jewish
-prefix, which the son thought fit to incorporate with his surname. He
-was a companion of Weber, in his<a name="vol_2_page_207" id="vol_2_page_207"></a> musical studies. He had produced other
-operas which had been well received, but none of them was followed by or
-merited the success that attended <i>Il Crociato</i>." So far Mr. Ebers, who,
-in a few words, tells us a great deal of Meyerbeer's early career. The
-said <i>Crociato</i>, written for Venice, in 1824, was afterwards produced at
-the Italian Opera of Paris in 1825, six years before <i>Robert le Diable</i>
-was brought out at the Académie. In the summer of 1825, a few months
-before its production in Paris, it was modified in London, and Mr. Ebers
-informs us that the getting up of the opera, to which nine months were
-devoted at the Théâtre Italien, occupied at the King's Theatre only one.
-Such rapid feats are familiar enough to our operatic managers and
-musical conductors. But it must be remembered that a first performance
-in England is very often less perfect than a dress rehearsal in France;
-and, moreover, that between bringing out an original work (or an old
-work, in an original style), in Paris, and bringing out the same work
-afterwards, more or less conformably to the Parisian<a name="FNanchor_94_94" id="FNanchor_94_94"></a><a href="#Footnote_94_94" class="fnanchor">[94]</a> model, in
-London, there is the same difference as between composing a picture and
-merely copying one. No singers and musicians read better than those of
-the French Académie, and it is a terrible mistake to suppose that so
-much time is required at that theatre for the production of a grand
-opera on account of any difficulty in making the <i>artistes</i> acquainted
-with<a name="vol_2_page_208" id="vol_2_page_208"></a> their parts. <i>Guillaume Tell</i> was many months in rehearsal, but
-the orchestra played the overture at first sight in a manner which
-astonished and delighted Rossini. The great, and I may add, the
-inevitable fault of our system of management in England is that it is
-impossible to procure for a new opera a sufficient number of rehearsals
-before it is publicly produced. It is surprising how few "repetitions"
-suffice, but they would <i>not</i> suffice if the same perfection was thought
-necessary on the first night which is obtained at the Paris and Berlin
-Operas, and which, in London, in the case of very difficult, elaborate
-works, is not reached until after several representations.</p>
-
-<p>However, <i>Il Crociato</i> was brought out in London after a month's
-rehearsal. The manager left the musical direction almost entirely in the
-hands of Velluti, who had already superintended its production at
-Venice, and Florence, and who was engaged, as a matter of course, for
-the principal part written specially for him. The opera (of which the
-cast included, besides Velluti, Mademoiselle Garcia, Madame Caradori and
-Crivelli the tenor) was very successful, and was performed ten nights
-without intermission when the "run" was brought to a termination by the
-closing of the theatre. The following account of the music by Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe, shows the sort of impression it made upon the old amateurs of
-the period.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MEYERBEER'S CROCIATO.</div>
-
-<p>It was "quite of the new school, but not copied from its founder,
-Rossini; original, odd, flighty, and<a name="vol_2_page_209" id="vol_2_page_209"></a> it might even be termed
-<i>fantastic</i>, but at times beautiful; here and there most delightful
-melodies and harmonies occurred, but it was unequal, solos were as rare
-as in all the modern operas, but the numerous concerted pieces much
-shorter and far less noisy than Rossini's, consisting chiefly of duets
-and terzettos, with but few choruses and no overwhelming accompaniments.
-Indeed, Meyerbeer has rather gone into the contrary extreme, the
-instrumental parts being frequently so slight as to be almost meagre,
-while he has sought to produce new and striking effects from the voices
-alone."</p>
-
-<p>Before speaking of Meyerbeer's better known and more celebrated works, I
-must say a few words about Velluti, a singer of great powers, but of a
-peculiar kind ("<i>non vir sed Veluti</i>") who, as I have said before,
-played the principal part in <i>Il Crociato</i>. He was the last of his
-tribe, and living at a time when too much license was allowed to singers
-in the execution of the music entrusted to them, so disgusted Rossini by
-his extravagant style of ornamentation, that the composer resolved to
-write his airs in future in such elaborate detail, that to embellish
-them would be beyond the power of any singer. Be this how it may,
-Rossini did not like Velluti's singing, nor Velluti Rossini's
-music&mdash;which sufficiently proves that the last of the sopranists was not
-a musician of taste.<a name="FNanchor_95_95" id="FNanchor_95_95"></a><a href="#Footnote_95_95" class="fnanchor">[95]</a> Mr. Ebers tells us that "after making the<a name="vol_2_page_210" id="vol_2_page_210"></a> tour
-of the principal Italian and German theatres, Velluti arrived in Paris,
-where the musical taste was not prepared for him," and that, "Rossini
-being at this time engaged at Paris under his agreement to direct there,
-Velluti did not enter into his plans, and having made no engagement
-there, came over to England without any invitation, but strongly
-recommended by Lord Burghersh." The re-appearance of a musico in London
-when the race was thought to be extinct, caused a great sensation, and
-not altogether of an agreeable kind. However, the Opera was crowded the
-night of his <i>début</i>; to the old amateurs it recalled the days of
-Pacchierotti, to the young ones, it was simply a strange and unexpected
-novelty. Some are said to have come to the theatre expressly to oppose
-him, while others were there for the avowed purpose of supporting him,
-from a feeling that public opinion had dealt harshly with the
-unfortunate man. Velluti had already sung at concerts, where his
-reception was by no means favourable. Indeed, Lord Mount Edgcumbe tells
-us "that the scurrilous abuse lavished upon him before he was heard, was
-cruel and illiberal," and that "it was not till after long deliberation,
-much persuasion, and assurances of support that the manager ventured to
-engage him for the remainder of the season."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">VELLUTI.</div>
-
-<p>Velluti's demeanour on entering the stage was highly prepossessing. Mr.
-Ebers says that "it was at once graceful and dignified," and that "he
-was in look and action the son of chivalry he represented."<a name="vol_2_page_211" id="vol_2_page_211"></a></p>
-
-<p>He adds, that "his appearance was received with mingled applause and
-disapprobation; but that "the scanty symptoms of the latter were
-instantly overwhelmed." The effect produced on the audience by the first
-notes Velluti uttered was most peculiar. According to Mr. Ebers, "there
-was a something of a preternatural harshness about them, which jarred
-even more strongly on the imagination than on the ear;" though, as he
-proceeded, "the sweetness and flexibility of those of his tones which
-yet remained unimpaired by time, were fully perceived and felt." Lord
-Mount Edgcumbe informs us, that "the first note he uttered gave a shock
-of surprise, almost of disgust, to inexperienced ears;" though,
-afterwards, "his performance was listened to with great attention and
-applause throughout, with but few <i>audible</i> expressions of
-disapprobation speedily suppressed." The general effect of his
-performance is summed up in the following words:&mdash;"To the old he brought
-back some pleasing recollections; others, to whom his voice was new,
-became reconciled to it, and sensible of his merits; whilst many
-declared, to the last, his tones gave them more pain than pleasure."
-However, he drew crowded audiences, and no opera but Meyerbeer's
-<i>Crociato</i> was performed until the end of the season.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Some years after the production of <i>Il Crociato</i>, Meyerbeer had written
-an <i>opéra comique</i>, entitled <i>Robert le Diable</i>, which was to have been
-represented<a name="vol_2_page_212" id="vol_2_page_212"></a> at the Ventadour Theatre, specially devoted to that kind of
-performance. The company, however, at the "Théâtre de l'Opera Comique,"
-was not found competent to execute the difficult music of <i>Robert</i>, and
-the interesting libretto by M. M. Scribe and Delavigne, was altered and
-reduced, so as to suit the Académie. The celebrated "pruning knife" was
-brought out, and vigorously applied. What remained of the dialogue was
-adapted for recitative, and the character of "Raimbaud" was cut out in
-the fourth and fifth acts. With all these suppressions, the opera, as
-newly arranged, to be recited or sung from beginning to end, was still
-very long, and not particularly intelligible. However, the legend on
-which <i>Robert le Diable</i> is founded is well suited for musical
-illustration, and the plot, with a little attention and a careful study
-of the book, may be understood, in spite of the absence of "Raimbaud,"
-who, in the original piece, is said to have served materially to aid and
-explain the progress of the drama.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROBERT LE DIABLE.</div>
-
-<p>If <i>Robert le Diable</i> had been produced at the Opéra Comique, in the
-form in which it was originally conceived, the many points of
-resemblance it presents to <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> would have struck every one.
-Meyerbeer seems to have determined to write a romantic semi-fantastic
-legendary opera, like <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, and, in doing so, naturally
-followed in the footsteps of Weber. He certainly treats these legendary
-subjects with particular felicity, and I fancy there is more spontaneity
-in the music of<a name="vol_2_page_213" id="vol_2_page_213"></a> <i>Robert le Diable</i>, and <i>Dinorah</i>, than in any other
-that he has composed; but this does not alter the fact that such
-subjects were first treated in music, and in a thoroughly congenial
-manner, by Karl Maria von Weber. Without considering how far Meyerbeer,
-in <i>Robert le Diable</i>, has borrowed his instrumentation and harmonic
-combinations from Weber, there can be no doubt about its being a work of
-much the same class as <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>; and it would have been looked
-upon as quite of that class, had it been produced, like <i>Der
-FreischĂĽtz</i>, with spoken dialogue, and with the popular characters more
-in relief.</p>
-
-<p><i>Robert le Diable</i>, converted into a grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie, on the 21st of November, 1831. Dr. Véron, in his "Mémoires
-d'un Bourgeois de Paris," has given a most interesting account of all
-the circumstances which attended the rehearsals and first representation
-of this celebrated work. Dr. VĂ©ron had just undertaken the management of
-the Académie; and to have such an opera as <i>Robert le Diable</i>, with
-which to mark the commencement of his reign, was a piece of rare good
-fortune. The libretto, the music, the ballet, were all full of interest,
-and many of the airs had the advantage (in Paris) of being somewhat in
-the French style. The applause with which this, the best constructed of
-all M. Meyerbeer's works, was received, went on increasing from act to
-act; and, altogether,<a name="vol_2_page_214" id="vol_2_page_214"></a> the success it obtained was immense, and, in some
-respects, unprecedented.</p>
-
-<p>Nourrit played the part of "Robert," Madame Cinti Damoreau that of
-"Isabelle." Mademoiselle Dorus and Levasseur were the "Alice" and the
-"Bertram." In the <i>pas de cinq</i> of the second act, Noblet, Montessu, and
-Perrot appeared; and in the nuns' scene, the troop of resuscitated
-virgins was led by the graceful and seductive Taglioni. All the scenery
-was admirably painted, especially that of the moonlight <i>tableau</i> in the
-third act. The costumes were rich and brilliant, the <i>mise en scène</i>,
-generally, was remarkable for its completeness; in short, every one
-connected with the "getting up" of the opera from Habeneck, the musical
-conductor, to the property-men, gas-fitters and carpenters, whose names
-history has not preserved, did their utmost to ensure its success.</p>
-
-<p>In 1832, <i>Robert le Diable</i> was brought out at the King's Theatre, with
-the principal parts sustained, as in Paris, by Nourrit, Levasseur, and
-Madame Damoreau. The part of "Alice" appears to have been given to
-Mademoiselle de MĂ©ric. This opera met with no success at the King's
-Theatre, and was scarcely better received at Covent Garden, where an
-English version was performed, with such alterations in Meyerbeer's
-music as will easily be conceived by those who remember how the works of
-Rossini, and, indeed, all foreign composers, were treated at this time,
-on the English stage.<a name="vol_2_page_215" id="vol_2_page_215"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROBERT LE DIABLE.</div>
-
-<p>In 1832, and, indeed, many years afterwards, when <i>Robert</i> and <i>Les
-Huguenots</i> had been efficiently represented in London by German
-companies, Meyerbeer's music was still most severely handled by some of
-our best musical critics. At present there is perhaps an inclination to
-go to the other extreme; but, at all events, full justice has now been
-rendered to M. Meyerbeer's musical genius. Let us hear what Lord Mount
-Edgcumbe (whose opinion I do not regard as one of authority, but only as
-an interesting index to that of the connoisseurs of the old school), has
-to say of the first, and, on the whole, the most celebrated of
-Meyerbeer's operas. He entertains the greatest admiration for <i>Don
-Giovanni</i>, <i>Fidelio</i>, <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, and <i>Euryanthe</i>; but neither the
-subject, nor even the music of <i>Robert le Diable</i>, pleases him in the
-least. "Never," he says, "did I see a more disagreeable or disgusting
-performance. The sight of the resurrection of a whole convent of nuns,
-who rise from their graves, and begin dancing, like so many bacchants,
-is revolting; and a sacred service in a church, accompanied by an organ
-on the stage, not very decorous. Neither does the music of Meyerbeer
-compensate for a fable, which is a tissue of nonsense and improbability.
-Of course, I was not tempted to hear it again in its original form, and
-it did credit to the taste of the English public, that it was not
-endured at the Opera House, and was acted only a very few nights."<a name="vol_2_page_216" id="vol_2_page_216"></a></p>
-
-<p>Meyerbeer's second grand opera, <i>Les Huguenots</i>, was produced at the
-Académie Royale on the 26th of January, 1836, after twenty-eight full
-rehearsals, occasioning a delay which cost the composer a fine of thirty
-thousand francs. The expense of getting up the <i>Huguenots</i> (in scenery,
-dresses, properties, &amp;c.), amounted to one hundred and sixty thousand
-francs.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LES HUGUENOTS.</div>
-
-<p>In London, and I believe everywhere on the continent except in Paris,
-the most popular of M. Meyerbeer's three grand operas is <i>Les
-Huguenots</i>. At the Académie, <i>Robert le Diable</i> seems still to carry
-away the palm. Of late years, the admirable performance of Mario and
-Grisi, and of Titiens and Giuglini, in the duet of the fourth act, has
-had an immense effect in increasing the popularity of <i>Les Huguenots</i>
-with the English. This duet, the septett for male voices, the blessing
-of the daggers and the whole of the dramatic and animated scene of which
-it forms part, are certainly magnificent compositions; but the duet for
-"Raoul" and "Valentine" is the very soul of the work. At the theatres of
-Italy, the opera in question is generally "cut" with a free hand; and it
-is so long, that even after plentiful excisions an immense deal of
-music, and of fine music, still remains. But who would go to hear <i>Les
-Huguenots</i>, if the duet of the fourth act were omitted, or if the
-performance stopped at the end of act III.? On the other hand, the
-fourth act alone would always attract an audience; for, looked upon as a
-work by itself, it is by far the<a name="vol_2_page_217" id="vol_2_page_217"></a> most dramatic, the most moving of all
-M. Meyerbeer's compositions. The construction of this act is most
-creditable to the librettist; while the composer, in filling up, and
-giving musical life to the librettist's design, has shown the very
-highest genius. It ends with a scene for two personages, but the whole
-act is of one piece. While the daggers are being distributed, while the
-plans of the chief agents in the massacre are being developed in so
-striking and forcible a manner, the scene between the alarmed "Raoul"
-and the terrified "Valentine" is, throughout, anticipated; and equally
-necessary for the success of the duet, from a musical as well as from a
-dramatic point of view, is the massive concerted piece by which this
-duet is preceded. To a composer, incapable or less capable than M.
-Meyerbeer, of turning to advantage the admirable but difficult situation
-here presented, there would, of course, have been the risk of an
-anti-climax; there was the danger that, after a stageful of fanatical
-soldiers and monks, crying out at the top of their voices for blood, it
-would be impossible further to impress the audience by any known musical
-means. Meyerbeer, however, has had recourse to the expression of an
-entirely different kind of emotion, or rather a series of emotions, full
-of admirable variations and gradations; and everyone who has heard the
-great duet of <i>Les Huguenots</i> knows how wonderfully he has succeeded. It
-has been said that the idea of this scene originated with Nourrit. In
-any case, it was an idea which Scribe lost no time in profiting by, and
-the<a name="vol_2_page_218" id="vol_2_page_218"></a> question does not in any way affect the transcendent merit of the
-composer.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p><i>Le Prophète</i>, M. Meyerbeer's third grand opera, was produced at the
-Académie on the 16th of April, 1849, with Roger, Viardot-Garcia, and
-Castellan, in the principal characters. This opera, like <i>Les
-Huguenots</i>, has been performed with great success in London. The part of
-"Jean" has given the two great tenors of the Royal Italian Opera&mdash;Mario
-and Tamberlik&mdash;opportunities of displaying many of their highest
-qualities as dramatic singers. The magnificent Covent Garden orchestra
-achieves a triumph quite of its own, in the grand march of the
-coronation scene; and the opera enables the management to display all
-its immense resources in the scenic department.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GUSTAVE III.</div>
-
-<p>In passing from <i>Masaniello</i> to Rossini's <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, and from
-Rossini to Meyerbeer, we have lost sight too soon of the greatest
-composer France ever produced, and one who is ranked in all countries
-among the first composers of the century. I mean, of course, M. Auber,
-of whose works I should have more to say, if I had not determined, in
-this brief "History of the Opera" to pay but little attention to the
-French "Opéra Comique," which, with the exception of a very few examples
-(all by M. Auber)<a name="FNanchor_96_96" id="FNanchor_96_96"></a><a href="#Footnote_96_96" class="fnanchor">[96]</a> is not a <i>genre</i> that has been accepted anywhere
-out of France. In sketching, however, the history<a name="vol_2_page_219" id="vol_2_page_219"></a> of the Grand Opera,
-it would be impossible to omit <i>Gustave III.</i> <i>Gustave ou le Bal
-Masqué</i>, composed on one of the two librettos returned to M. Scribe by
-Rossini,<a name="FNanchor_97_97" id="FNanchor_97_97"></a><a href="#Footnote_97_97" class="fnanchor">[97]</a> was performed for the first time on the 27th of February,
-1833. This admirable work is not nearly so well known in England, or
-even in France, as it deserves to be. The government of Louis Philippe
-seems to have thought it imprudent to familiarize the Parisians with
-regicide, by exhibiting it to them three or four times a week on the
-stage, as the main incident of a very interesting drama; and after a
-certain number of representations, <i>Gustave</i>, which, taken altogether,
-is certainly Auber's masterpiece, was cut down to the ball-scene. In
-England, no one objected to the theatrical assassination of <i>Gustavus</i>;
-but unfortunately, also, no scruple was made about mutilating and
-murdering Auber's music. In short, the <i>Gustavus</i> of Auber was far more
-cruelly ill-treated in London than the Gustavus of Sweden at his own
-masqued ball. Mr. Gye ought to produce <i>Gustavus</i> at the Royal Italian
-Opera, where, for the first time in England, it would be worthily
-represented. The frequenters of this theatre have long been expecting
-it, though I am not aware that it has ever been officially promised.</p>
-
-<p>The original caste of <i>Gustave</i> included Nourrit, Levasseur, Massol,
-Dabadie, Dupont, Mademoiselle Falcon, Mademoiselle Dorus, and Madame
-Dabadie.<a name="vol_2_page_220" id="vol_2_page_220"></a> Nourrit, the original "Guillaume Tell," the original "Robert,"
-the original "Raoul," the original "Gustave," was then at the height of
-his fame; but he was destined to be challenged four years afterwards by
-a very formidable rival. He was the first, and the only first tenor at
-the Académie Royale de Musique, where he had been singing with a zeal
-and ardour equal to his genius for the last sixteen years, when the
-management engaged Duprez, to divide the principal parts with the
-vocalist already in office. After his long series of triumphs, Nourrit
-had no idea of sharing his laurels in this manner; nor was he at all
-sure that he was not about to be deprived of them altogether. "One of
-the two must succeed at the expense of the other," he declared; and
-knowing the attraction of novelty for the public, he was not at all sure
-that the unfortunate one would not be himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Duprez knows me," he said, "and comes to sing where I am. I do not know
-him, and naturally fear his approach." After thinking over the matter
-for a few days he resolved to leave the theatre. He chose for his last
-appearance the second act of <i>Armide</i>, in which "Renaud," the character
-assigned to the tenor, has to exclaim to the warrior, "Artemidore"&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Allez, allez remplir ma place,<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Aux lieux d'oĂą mon malheur me chasse," &amp;c.<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<p>To which "Artemidore" replies&mdash;</p>
-
-<div class="poem"><div class="stanza">
-<span class="i0">"Sans vous que peut on entreprendre?<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">Celui qui vous bannit ne pourra se défendre<br /></span>
-<span class="ist">De souhaiter votre retour."<br /></span>
-</div></div>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NOURRIT.</div>
-
-<p>The scene was very appropriate to the position of<a name="vol_2_page_221" id="vol_2_page_221"></a> the singer who was
-about to be succeeded by Duprez. The public felt this equally with
-Nourrit himself, and testified their sympathy for the departing Renaud,
-by the most enthusiastic applause.</p>
-
-<p>Nourrit took his farewell of the French public on the 1st of April,
-1837, and on the 17th of the same month Duprez made his <i>début</i> at the
-Académie, as "Arnold," in <i>William Tell</i>. The latter singer had already
-appeared at the Comédie Française, where, at the age of fifteen, he was
-entrusted with the soprano solos in the choruses of <i>Athalie</i>, and
-afterwards at the Odéon, where he played the parts of "Almaviva," in the
-<i>Barber of Seville</i>, and Ottavio," in <i>Don Juan</i>. He then visited Italy
-for a short time, returned to Paris, and was engaged at the Opéra
-Comique. Here his style was much admired, but his singing, on the whole,
-produced no great impression on the public. He once more crossed the
-Alps, studied assiduously, performed at various theatres in a great
-number of operas, and by incessant practice, and thanks also to the
-wonderful effect of the climate on his voice, attained the highest
-position on the Italian stage, and was the favourite tenor of Italy at a
-time when Rubini was singing every summer in London, and every winter in
-Paris. Before visiting Italy the second time, Duprez was a "light
-tenor," and was particularly remarkable for the "agility" of his
-execution. A long residence in a southern climate appears to have quite
-changed the nature of his voice; a transformation, however, which must<a name="vol_2_page_222" id="vol_2_page_222"></a>
-have been considerably aided by the nature of his studies. He returned
-to France a <i>tenore robusto</i>, an impressive, energetic singer, excelling
-in the declamatory style, and in many respects the greatest dramatic
-vocalist the French had ever heard. As an actor, however, he was not
-equal to Nourrit, whose demeanour as an operatic hero is said to have
-been perfection. <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, with Duprez, in the part of "Arnold,"
-commenced a new career, and Rossini's great work now obtained from the
-general public that applause which, on its first production, it had, for
-the most part, received only from connoisseurs.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">NOURRIT.</div>
-
-<p>In the meanwhile, Nourrit, after performing with great success at
-Marseilles, Toulouse, Lyons, and elsewhere, went to Italy, and was
-engaged first at Milan, and afterwards at Florence and Naples. At each
-city fresh triumphs awaited him, but an incident occurred at Naples
-which sorely troubled the equanimity of the failing singer, whose mind,
-as we have seen, had already been disturbed by painful presentiments.
-Nourrit, to be sure, was only "failing" in this sense, that he was
-losing confidence in his own powers, which, however, by all accounts,
-remained undiminished to the last. He was a well-educated and a highly
-accomplished man, and besides being an excellent musician, possessed
-considerable literary talent, and a thorough knowledge of dramatic
-effect.<a name="FNanchor_98_98" id="FNanchor_98_98"></a><a href="#Footnote_98_98" class="fnanchor">[98]</a> He had prepared two librettos, in which the<a name="vol_2_page_223" id="vol_2_page_223"></a> part adapted
-for the tenor would serve to exhibit his double talent as an actor and
-as a singer. One of these musical dramas was founded on Corneille's
-<i>Polyeucte</i>, and, in the hands of Donizetti, became <i>I Martiri</i>; but
-just when it was about to be produced, the Neapolitan censorship forbade
-its production on the ground of the unfitness of religious subjects for
-stage representation. Nourrit was much dejected at being thus prevented
-from appearing in a part composed specially for him at his own
-suggestion, and in which he felt sure he would be seen and heard to the
-greatest advantage. A deep melancholy, such as he had already suffered
-from at Marseilles, to an extent which alarmed all his friends, now
-settled upon him. He appeared, and was greatly applauded, in
-Mercadante's <i>Il Giuramento</i>, and in Bellini's <i>Norma</i>, but soon
-afterwards his despondency was increased, and assumed an irritated form,
-from a notion that the applause the Neapolitans bestowed upon him was
-ironical.</p>
-
-<p>Nothing could alter his conviction on this point, which at last had the
-effect of completely unsettling his mind&mdash;unless it be more correct to
-say that mental derangement was itself the cause of the unhappy
-delusion. Finally, after a performance given for the benefit of another
-singer, in which Nourrit took part, his malady increased to such an
-extent that on his return home he became delirious, threw himself out of
-a window, at five in the morning, and was picked up<a name="vol_2_page_224" id="vol_2_page_224"></a> in the street quite
-dead. This deplorable event occurred on the 8th of March, 1889.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>The late "Académie Royale de Musique," the Théatre Italien of Paris, and
-all the chief opera houses of Italy are connected inseparably with the
-history of Opera in England. All the great works written by Rossini and
-Meyerbeer for the Académie have since been represented in London; the
-same singers for nearly half a century past have for the most part sung
-alternately at the Italian operas of Paris and of London; finally, from
-Italy we have drawn the great majority of the works represented at our
-best musical theatres, and nearly all our finest singers.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">GERMAN OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>German opera, in the meanwhile, stands in a certain way apart. Germany,
-compared with Italy, has sent us very few great singers. We have never
-looked to Germany for a constant supply of operas, and, indeed, Germany
-has not produced altogether half a dozen thoroughly German operas (that
-is to say, founded on German libretti, and written for German singers
-and German audiences), which have ever become naturalized in this
-country, or, indeed, anywhere out of their native land. Moreover, the
-most celebrated of the said <i>thoroughly</i> German operas, such as
-<i>Fidelio</i> and <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, exercised no such influence on
-contemporary dramatic music as to give their composers a well-marked
-place in the operatic history of the present century, such as clearly
-belongs<a name="vol_2_page_225" id="vol_2_page_225"></a> to Rossini. Beethoven, with his one great masterpiece, stands
-quite alone, and in the same way, Weber, with his strongly marked
-individuality has nothing in common with his contemporaries; and, living
-at the same time as Rossini, neither affected, nor was affected, by the
-style of a composer whose influence all the composers of the Italian
-school experienced. Accordingly, and that I may not entangle too much
-the threads of my narrative, I will now, having followed Rossini to
-Paris, and given some account of his successors at the French Opera,
-proceed to speak of Donizetti and Bellini, who were followers of Rossini
-in every sense. Of Weber and Beethoven, who are not in any way
-associated with the Rossini school, and only through the accident of
-birth with the Rossini period, I must speak in a later chapter.<a name="vol_2_page_226" id="vol_2_page_226"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XVIII" id="CHAPTER_XVIII"></a>CHAPTER XVIII.<br /><br />
-<small>DONIZETTI AND BELLINI.</small></h2>
-
-<p class="nind">S<small>IGISMONDI</small>, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory, had a horror
-of Rossini's music, and took care that all his printed works in the
-library should be placed beyond the reach of the young and innocent
-pupils. He was determined to preserve them, as far as possible, from the
-corrupt but seductive influence of this composer's brilliant,
-extravagant, meretricious style. But Donizetti, who at this time was
-studying at Naples, had heard several of the proscribed operas, and was
-most anxious to examine, on the music paper, the causes of the effects
-which had so delighted his ear at the theatre. The desired scores were
-on the highest shelf of the library; and the careful, conscientious
-librarian had removed the ladder by means of which alone it seemed
-possible to get to them.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.</div>
-
-<p>Donizetti stood watching the shelves which held the operas of Rossini
-like a cat before a bird cage; but the ladder was locked up, and the key
-in safe<a name="vol_2_page_227" id="vol_2_page_227"></a> keeping in Sigismondi's pocket. Under a northern climate, the
-proper mode of action for Donizetti would have been to invite the jailor
-to a banquet, ply him with wine, and rob him of his keys as soon as he
-had reached a sufficiently advanced state of intoxication. Being in
-Italy, Donizetti should have made love to Sigismondi's daughter, and
-persuaded her to steal the keys from the old man during his mid-day
-<i>siesta</i>. Perhaps, however, Sigismondi was childless, or his family may
-have consisted only of sons; in any case, the young musician adopted
-neither of the schemes, by combining which the troubadour Blondel was
-enabled to release from captivity his adored Richard.<a name="FNanchor_99_99" id="FNanchor_99_99"></a><a href="#Footnote_99_99" class="fnanchor">[99]</a> He resorted to
-a means which, if not wonderfully ingenious, was at least to the point,
-and which promised to be successful. He climbed, monkey-like, or
-cat-like, not to abandon our former simile, to the top shelf, and had
-his claws on the <i>Barber of Seville</i>, when who should enter the library
-but Sigismondi.</p>
-
-<p>The old man was fairly shocked at this perversity on the part of Gaetan
-Donizetti, reputed the best behaved student of the Academy. His morals
-would be corrupted, his young blood poisoned!&mdash;but fortunately the
-librarian had arrived in time, and he might yet be saved.</p>
-
-<p>Donizetti sprang to the ground with his prey&mdash;the full score of the
-<i>Barber of Seville</i>&mdash;in his clutches. He was about to devour it, when a
-hand touched him<a name="vol_2_page_228" id="vol_2_page_228"></a> on the shoulder: he turned round, and before him stood
-the austere Sigismondi.</p>
-
-<p>The old librarian spoke to Gaetan as to a son; appealed to his sense of
-propriety, his honour, his conscience; and asked him, almost with tears
-in his eyes, how he could so far forget himself as to come secretly into
-the library to read forbidden books&mdash;and Rossini's above all? He pointed
-out the terrible effects of the course upon which the youthful Donizetti
-had so nearly entered; reminded him that one brass instrument led to
-another; and that when once he had given himself up to violent
-orchestration, there was no saying where he would stop.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.</div>
-
-<p>Donizetti could not or would not argue with the venerable and determined
-Sigismondi. At least, he did not oppose him; but he inquired whether, as
-a lesson in cacophony, it was not worth while just to look at Rossini's
-notorious productions. He reminded his stern adviser, that he had
-already studied good models under Mayer, Pilotti, and Mattei, and that
-it was natural he should now wish to complete his musical education, by
-learning what to avoid. He quoted the well known case of the Spartans
-and their Helots; inquired, with some emotion, whether the frightful
-example of Rossini was not sufficient to deter any well meaning
-composer, with a little strength of character, from following in his
-unholy path; and finally declared, with undisguised indignation, that
-Rossini ought to be made the object of a serious study, so that once for
-all his musical iniquities might<a name="vol_2_page_229" id="vol_2_page_229"></a> be exposed and his name rendered a
-bye-word among the lovers and cultivators of pure, unsophisticated art!</p>
-
-<p>"Come to my arms, Gaetano," cried Sigismondi, much moved. "I can refuse
-nothing to a young man like you, now that I know your excellent
-intentions. A musician, who is imbued with the true principles of his
-art, may look upon the picture of Rossini's depravity not only without
-danger, but with positive advantage. Some it might weaken and
-destroy;&mdash;<i>you</i> it can only fortify and uphold. Let us open these
-monstrous scores; their buffooneries may amuse us for an hour.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Il Barbiere di Siviglia!</i> I have not much to say about that,"
-commenced Sigismondi. "It is a trifle; besides, full justice was done to
-it at Rome. The notion of re-setting one of the master-pieces of the
-great Paisiello,&mdash;what audacity! No wonder it was hissed!"</p>
-
-<p>"Under Paisiello's direction," suggested Donizetti.</p>
-
-<p>"All a calumny, my young friend; pure calumny, I can assure you. There
-are so many Don Basilios in the musical world! Rossini's music was
-hissed because it was bad and because it recalled to the public
-Paisiello's, which was good." "But I have heard," rejoined Donizetti,
-"that at the second representation there was a great deal of applause,
-and that the enthusiasm of the audience at last reached such a point,
-that they honoured Rossini with a torch-light procession and conducted
-him home in triumph."<a name="vol_2_page_230" id="vol_2_page_230"></a></p>
-
-<p>"An invention of the newspapers," replied Sigismondi; "I believe there
-was a certain clique present prepared to support the composer through
-everything, but the public had already expressed its opinion. Never mind
-this musical burlesque, and let us take a glance at one of Rossini's
-serious operas."</p>
-
-<p>Donizetti wished for nothing better. This time he had no occasion to
-scale the shelf in his former feline style. The librarian produced the
-key of the mysterious closet in which the ladder was kept. The young
-musician ran up to the Rossini shelf like a lamp-lighter and brought
-down with him not one but half-a-dozen volumes.</p>
-
-<p>"Too many, too many," said Sigismondi, "one would have been quite
-enough. Well, let us open <i>Otello</i>."</p>
-
-<p>In the score which the old and young musician proposed to examine
-together, the three trombone parts, according to the Italian custom,
-were written on one and the same staff, thus 1Âş, 2Âş, 3Âş <i>tromboni</i>.
-Sigismondi began his lecture on the enormities of Rossini as displayed
-in <i>Otello</i> by reading the list of the instruments employed.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Flutes</i>, two flutes; well there is not much harm in that. No one will
-hear them; only, with diabolical perfidy, one of these modern flutists
-will be sure to take a <i>piccolo</i> and pierce all sensitive ears with his
-shrill whistling.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Hautboys</i>, two hautboys; also good. Here Rossini follows the old
-school. I say nothing against his two hautboys; indeed, I quite approve
-of them.<a name="vol_2_page_231" id="vol_2_page_231"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DONIZETTI AND ROSSINI.</div>
-
-<p>"<i>Clarionets!</i> a barbarous invention, which the <i>Tedeschi</i> might have
-kept them for themselves. They may be very good pipes for calling cows,
-but should be used for nothing else.</p>
-
-<p>"<i>Bassoons</i>; useless instruments, or nearly so. Our good masters
-employed them for strengthening the bass; but now the bassoon has
-acquired such importance, that solos are written for it. This is also a
-German innovation. Mozart would have done well to have left the bassoon
-in its original obscurity.</p>
-
-<p>"1st and 2nd <i>Horns</i>; very good. Horns and hautboys combine admirably. I
-say nothing against Rossini's horns.</p>
-
-<p>"3rd and 4th <i>Horns</i>! How many horns does the man want? <i>Quattro Corni,
-Corpo di Bacco!</i> The greatest of our composers have always been
-contented with two. Shades of Pergolese, of Leo, of Jomelli! How they
-must shudder at the bare mention of such a thing. Four horns! Are we at
-a hunting party? Four horns! Enough to blow us to perdition."</p>
-
-<p>The indignation and rage of the old musician went on increasing as he
-followed the gradual development of a <i>crescendo</i> until he arrived at
-the explosion of the <i>fortissimo</i>. Then Sigismondi uttered a cry of
-despair, struck the score violently with his fist, upset the table which
-the imprudent Donizetti had loaded with the nefarious productions of
-Rossini, raised his hands to heaven and rushed from the room,
-exclaiming, "a hundred and twenty-three trombones! A hundred and
-twenty-three trombones!"<a name="vol_2_page_232" id="vol_2_page_232"></a></p>
-
-<p>Donizetti followed the performer and endeavoured to explain the mistake.</p>
-
-<p>"Not 123 trombones, but 1st, 2nd, 3rd trombones," he gently observed.
-Sigismondi however, would not hear another word, and disappeared from
-the library crying "a hundred and twenty-three trombones," to the last.</p>
-
-<p>Donizetti came back, lifted up the table, placed the scores upon it and
-examined them in peace. He then, in his turn, concealed them so that he
-might be able another time to find them whenever he pleased without
-clambering up walls or intriguing to get possession of ladders.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ANNA BOLENA.</div>
-
-<p>The inquiring student of the Conservatory of Naples was born, in 1798,
-at Bergamo, and when he was seventeen years of age was put to study
-under Mayer, who, before the appearance of Rossini, shared with Paer the
-honour of being the most popular composer of the day. His first opera
-<i>Enrico di Borgogna</i> was produced at Venice in 1818, and obtained so
-much success that the composer was entrusted with another commission for
-the same city in the following year. After writing an opera for Mantua
-in 1819 <i>Il Falegname di Livonia</i>, Donizetti visited Rome, where his
-<i>Zoraide di Granata</i> procured him an exemption from the conscription and
-the honour of being carried in triumph and crowned at the Capitol.
-Hitherto he may be said to have owed his success chiefly to his skilful
-imitation of Rossini's style, and it was not until 1830, when <i>Anna
-Bolena</i> was produced at<a name="vol_2_page_233" id="vol_2_page_233"></a> Milan (and when, curiously enough, Rossini had
-just written his last opera), that he exhibited any striking signs of
-original talent. This work, which is generally regarded as Donizetti's
-master-piece, or at least was some time ago (for of late years no one
-has had an opportunity of hearing it), was composed for Pasta and
-Rubini, and was first represented for Pasta's benefit in 1831. It was in
-this opera that Lablache gained his first great triumph in London.</p>
-
-<p>Donizetti visited Paris in 1835, and there produced his <i>Marino
-Faliero</i>, which contains several spirited and characteristic pieces,
-such as the opening chorus of workmen in the Arsenal and the gondolier
-chorus at the commencement of the second act. The charming <i>Elisir
-d'Amore</i>, the most graceful, melodious, moreover the most
-characteristic, and in many respects the best of all Donizetti's works,
-was written for Milan in 1832. In this work Signor Mario made his
-re-appearance at the Italian Opera of Paris in 1839; he had previously
-sung for some time at the Académie Royale in <i>Robert</i> and other operas.</p>
-
-<p><i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>, Donizetti's most popular opera, containing some
-of the most beautiful melodies in the sentimental style that he has
-composed, and altogether his best finale, was produced at Naples in
-1835. The part of "Edgardo" was composed specially for Duprez, that of
-"Lucia" for Persiani.</p>
-
-<p>The pretty little opera or operetta entitled <i>Il Campanello di Notte</i>
-was written under very interesting<a name="vol_2_page_234" id="vol_2_page_234"></a> circumstances to save a little
-Neapolitan theatre from ruin. Donizetti heard that the establishment was
-in a failing condition, and that the performers were without money and
-in great distress. He sought them out, supplied their immediate wants,
-and one of the singers happening to say that if Donizetti would give
-them a new opera, their fortunes would be made: "As to that," replied
-the Maestro, "you shall have one within a week." To begin with, a
-libretto was necessary, but none was to be had. The composer, however,
-possessed considerable literary talent, and recollecting a vaudeville
-which he had seen some years before in Paris, called <i>La Sonnette de
-Nuit</i>, he took that for his subject, re-arranged it in an operatic form,
-and in nine days the libretto was written, the music composed, the parts
-learnt, the opera performed, and the theatre saved. It would have been
-difficult to have given a greater proof of generosity, and of fertility
-and versatility of talent. I may here mention that Donizetti designed,
-and wrote the words, as well as the music of the last act of the
-<i>Lucia</i>; that the last act of <i>La Favorite</i> was also an afterthought of
-his; and that he himself translated into Italian the libretti of Betly
-and <i>La Fille du Regiment</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">VICTOR HUGO AT THE OPERA.</div>
-
-<p>When <i>Lucrezia Borgia</i> (written for Milan in 1834) was produced in
-Paris, in 1840, Victor Hugo, the author of the admirable tragedy on
-which it is founded, contested the right of the Italian librettists, to
-borrow their plots from French dramas; maintaining<a name="vol_2_page_235" id="vol_2_page_235"></a> that the
-representation of such libretti in France constituted an infringement of
-the French dramatists' "<i>droits d'auteur</i>." He gained his action, and
-<i>Lucrezia Borgia</i> became, at the Italian Opera of Paris, <i>La Rinegata</i>,
-the Italians at the court of Pope Alexander the Sixth being
-metamorphosed into Turks. A French version of <i>Lucrezia Borgia</i> was
-prepared for the provinces, and entitled <i>Nizza di Grenada</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">AUTHORS' RIGHTS.</div>
-
-<p>A year or two afterwards, Verdi's <i>Hernani</i> experienced the same fate at
-the Théâtre Italien as <i>Lucrezia Borgia</i>. Then the original authors of
-<i>La Pie Voleuse</i>, <i>La Grace de Dieu</i>, &amp;c., followed Victor Hugo's
-example, and objected to the performance of <i>La Gazza Ladra</i> and <i>Linda
-di Chamouni</i>, &amp;c. Finally, an arrangement was made, and at present
-exists, by which Italian operas founded on French dramas may be
-performed in Paris on condition of an indemnity being paid to the French
-dramatists. Marsolier, the author of the Opéra Comique, entitled <i>Nina,
-ou la Folle par Amour</i>, set to music by Dalayrac, had applied for an
-injunction twenty-three years before, to prevent the representation of
-Paisiello's <i>Nina</i>, in Paris; but the Italian disappeared before the
-question was tried. The principle, however, of an author's right of
-property in a work, or any portion of a work, had been established
-nearly two centuries before. In a "privilege" granted to St. Amant in
-1653, for the publication of his <i>Moise Sauvé</i>, it is expressly
-forbidden to extract from that "epic poem" subjects for novels and
-plays. These cautions proved<a name="vol_2_page_236" id="vol_2_page_236"></a> unnecessary, as the work so strictly
-protected contained no available materials for plays, novels, or any
-other species of literary composition, including even "epic poems;" but
-<i>Moise Sauvé</i> has nevertheless been the salvation of several French
-authors whose property might otherwise have been trespassed upon to a
-considerable extent. Nevertheless, the principle of an author's sole,
-inalienable interest in the incidents he may have invented or combined,
-without reference to the new form in which they may be presented,
-cannot, as a matter of course, be entertained anywhere; but the system
-of "author's rights" so energetically fought for and conquered by
-Beaumarchais has a very wide application in France, and only the other
-day it was decided that the translators and arrangers of <i>Le Nozze di
-Figaro</i>, for the Théâtre Lyrique must share their receipts with the
-descendants and heirs of the author of <i>Le Mariage de Figaro</i>. It will
-appear monstrous to many persons in England who cannot conceive of
-property otherwise than of a material, palpable kind, that
-Beaumarchais's representatives should enjoy any interest in a work
-produced three-quarters of a century ago; but as his literary
-productions possess an actual, easily attainable value, it would be
-difficult to say who ought to profit by it, if not those who, under any
-system of laws, would benefit by whatever other possessions he might
-have left. It may be a slight advantage to society, in an almost
-inappreciable degree, that "author's rights" should cease after a
-certain period;<a name="vol_2_page_237" id="vol_2_page_237"></a> but, if so, the same principle ought to be applied to
-other forms of created value. The case was well put by M. de Vigny, in
-the "Revue des Deux Mondes," in advocating the claims of a
-grand-daughter, or great grand-daughter of Sedaine. He pointed out, that
-if the dramatist in question, who was originally an architect, had built
-a palace, and it had lasted until the present day, no one would have
-denied that it descended naturally to his heirs; and that as, instead of
-building in stone, he devoted himself to the construction of operas and
-plays, the results of his talent and industry ought equally to be
-regarded as the inalienable property of his descendants.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LA FAVORITE.</div>
-
-<p>But to return to <i>Lucrezia Borgia</i>, which, with <i>Lucia</i> and <i>La
-Favorite</i>, may be ranked amongst the most successful of Donizetti's
-productions. The favour with which <i>Lucrezia</i> is received by audiences
-of all kinds may be explained, in addition to the merit of much of the
-music, by the manner in which the principal parts are distributed, so
-that the cast, to be efficient, must always include four leading
-singers, each of whom has been well-provided for by the composer. It
-contains less recitative than any of Rossini's operas&mdash;a great
-advantage, from a popular point of view, it having been shown by
-experience that the public of the present day do not care for recitative
-(especially when they do not understand a word of it), but like to pass
-as quickly as possible from one musical piece to another. From an
-artistic point of view the shortness of Donizetti's recitatives<a name="vol_2_page_238" id="vol_2_page_238"></a> is not
-at all to be regretted, for the simple reason that he has never written
-any at all comparable to those of Rossini, whose dramatic genius he was
-far from possessing. The most striking situation in the drama, a
-thoroughly musical situation of which a great composer, or even an
-energetic, passionate, melo-dramatic composer, like Verdi, would have
-made a great deal, is quite lost in the hands of Donizetti. The
-<i>Brindisi</i> is undeniably pretty, and was never considered vulgar until
-it had been vulgarised. But Donizetti has shown no dramatic power in the
-general arrangement of the principal scene, and the manner in which the
-drinking song is interrupted by the funeral chorus, has rather a
-disagreeable, than a terrible or a solemn effect. The finale to the
-first act, or "prologue," is finely treated, but "Gennaro's" dying scene
-and song, is the most dramatic portion of the work, which it ought to
-terminate, but unfortunately does not. I think it might be shown that
-<i>Lucrezia</i> marks the distance about half way between the style of
-Rossini and that of Verdi. Not that it is so much inferior to the works
-of the former, or so much superior to those of the latter; but that
-among Donizetti's later operas, portions of <i>Maria di Rohan</i> (Vienna,
-1843), might almost have been written by the composer of <i>Rigoletto</i>;
-whereas, the resemblance for good or for bad, between these two
-musicians, of the decadence, is not nearly so remarkable, if we compare
-<i>Lucrezia Borgia</i> with one of Verdi's works. Still, in <i>Lucrezia</i> we
-already notice that but little space is accorded to<a name="vol_2_page_239" id="vol_2_page_239"></a> recitative, which
-in the <i>Trovatore</i> finds next to none; we meet with choruses written in
-the manner afterwards adopted by Verdi, and persisted in by him to the
-exclusion of all other modes; while as regards melody, we should
-certainly rather class the tenor's air in <i>I Lombardi</i> with that in
-<i>Lucrezia Borgia</i>, than the latter with any air ever composed by
-Rossini.</p>
-
-<p>When Donizetti revisited Paris in 1840, he produced in succession <i>I
-Martiri</i> (the work written for Nourrit and objected to by the Neapolitan
-censorship), <i>La Fille du Regiment</i>, written for the Opéra Comique, and
-<i>La Favorite</i>, composed in the first instance for the Théâtre de la
-Renaissance, but re-arranged for the Académie, when the brief existence
-of the Théâtre de la Renaissance had come to an end. As long as it
-lasted, this establishment, opened for the representation of foreign
-operas in the French language, owed its passing prosperity entirely to a
-French version of the <i>Lucia</i>.</p>
-
-<p>Jenny Lind, Sontag, Alboni, have all appeared in <i>La Figlia del
-Reggimento</i> with great success; but when this work was first produced in
-Paris, with Madame Thillon in the principal part, it was not received
-with any remarkable favour. It is full of smooth, melodious, and highly
-animated music, but is, perhaps, wanting in that piquancy of which the
-French are such great admirers, and which rendered the duet for the
-vivandières, in Meyerbeer's <i>Etoile du Nord</i>, so much to their taste.
-<i>L'Ange de Nigida</i>, converted into <i>La Favorite</i> (and founded in the
-first instance on a French drama, <i>Le Comte de Commingues</i>) was brought<a name="vol_2_page_240" id="vol_2_page_240"></a>
-out at the Académie, without any expense in scenery and "getting up,"
-and achieved a decided success. This was owing partly to the pretty
-choral airs at the commencement, partly to the baritone's cavatina
-(admirably sung by Barroilhet, who made his <i>début</i> in the part of
-"Alphonse"); but, above all, to the fourth act, with its beautiful
-melody for the tenor, and its highly dramatic scene for the tenor and
-soprano, including a final duet, which, if not essentially dramatic in
-itself, occurs at least in a most dramatic situation.</p>
-
-<p>The whole of the fourth act of <i>La Favorite</i>, except the cavatina, <i>Ange
-si pur</i>, which originally belonged to the Duc d'Albe, and the <i>andante</i>
-of the duet, which was added at the rehearsals, was written in three
-hours. Donizetti had been dining at the house of a friend, who was
-engaged in the evening to go to a party. On leaving the house, the host,
-after many apologies for absenting himself, intreated Donizetti to
-remain, and finish his coffee, which Donizetti, being inordinately fond
-of that stimulant, took care to do. He asked at the same time for some
-music paper, began his fourth act, and finding himself in the vein for
-composition, went on writing until he had completed it. He had just put
-the final stroke to the celebrated "<i>Viens dans une autre patrie</i>," when
-his friend returned, at one in the morning, and congratulated him on the
-excellent manner in which he had employed his time.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">L'ELISIR D'AMORE.</div>
-
-<p>After visiting Rome, Milan, and Vienna, for which<a name="vol_2_page_241" id="vol_2_page_241"></a> last city he wrote
-<i>Linda di Chamouni</i>, Donizetti returned to Paris, and in 1843 composed
-<i>Don Pasquale</i> for the Théâtre Italien, and <i>Don Sebastien</i> for the
-Académie. The lugubrious drama to which the music of <i>Don Sebastien</i> is
-wedded, proved fatal to its success. On the other hand, the brilliant
-gaiety of <i>Don Pasquale</i>, rendered doubly attractive by the admirable
-execution of Grisi, Mario, Tamburini, and Lablache, delighted all who
-heard it. The pure musical beauty of the serenade, and of the quartett,
-one of the finest pieces of concerted music Donizetti ever wrote, were
-even more admired than the lively animated dialogue-scenes, which are in
-Donizetti's very best style; and the two pieces just specified, as well
-as the baritone's cavatina, <i>Bella siccome un angelo</i>, aided the general
-success of the work, not only by their own intrinsic merit, but also by
-the contrast they present to the comic conversational music, and the
-buffo airs of the bass. The music of <i>Don Pasquale</i> is probably the
-cleverest Donizetti ever wrote; but it wants the <i>charm</i> which belongs
-to that of his <i>Elisir d'Amore</i>, around which a certain sentiment, a
-certain atmosphere of rustic poetry seems to hang, especially when we
-are listening to the music of "Nemorino" or "Norina." Even the comic
-portions in the <i>Elisir</i> are full of grace, as for instance, the
-admirable duet between "Norina" and "Dulcamara;" and the whole work
-possesses what is called "colour," that is to say, each character is
-well painted by the music, which, moreover, is always appropriate to
-the<a name="vol_2_page_242" id="vol_2_page_242"></a> general scene. To look for "colour," or for any kind of poetry in a
-modern drawing-room piece of intrigue, like <i>Don Pasquale</i>, with the
-notaries of real life, and with lovers in black coats, would be absurd.
-I may mention that the libretto of <i>Don Pasquale</i> is a re-arrangement of
-Pavesi's <i>Ser Marcantonio</i> (was "<i>Ser</i>" <i>Marcantonio</i> an Englishman?)
-produced in 1813.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DONIZETTI'S REPERTOIRE.</div>
-
-<p>In the same year that Donizetti brought out <i>Don Pasquale</i> in Paris, he
-produced <i>Maria di Rohan</i> at Vienna. The latter work contains an
-admirable part for the baritone, which has given Ronconi the opportunity
-of showing that he is not only an excellent buffo, but is also one of
-the finest tragic actors on the stage. The music of <i>Maria di Rohan</i> is
-highly dramatic: that is to say, very appropriate to the various
-personages, and to the great "situations" of the piece. In pourtraying
-the rage of the jealous husband, the composer exhibits all that
-earnestness and vigour for which Verdi has since been praised&mdash;somewhat
-sparingly, it is true, but praised nevertheless by his admirers. The
-contralto part, on the other hand, is treated with remarkable elegance,
-and contains more graceful melodies than Verdi is in the habit of
-composing. I do not say that Donizetti is in all respects superior to
-Verdi; indeed, it seems to me that he has not produced any one opera so
-thoroughly dramatic as <i>Rigoletto</i>; but as Donizetti and Verdi are
-sometimes contrasted, and as it was the fashion during Donizetti's
-lifetime, to speak of his music as<a name="vol_2_page_243" id="vol_2_page_243"></a> light and frivolous, I wish to
-remark that in one of his latest operas he wrote several scenes, which,
-if written by Verdi, would be said to be in that composer's best style.</p>
-
-<p>Donizetti's last opera, <i>Catarina Comaro</i>, was produced in Naples in the
-year 1844. This was his sixty-third dramatic work, counting those only
-which have been represented. There are still two operas of Donizetti's
-in existence, which the public have not heard. One, a piece in one act,
-composed for the Opéra Comique, and which is said every now and then to
-be on the point of being performed; the other, <i>Le Duc d'Albe</i>, which,
-as before-mentioned, was written for the Académie Royale, on one of the
-two libretti returned by Rossini to Scribe, after the composer of
-<i>William Tell</i> came to his mysterious resolution of retiring from
-operatic life.</p>
-
-<p>Of Donizetti's sixty-three operas, about two-thirds are quite unknown to
-England, and of the nine or ten which may still be said to keep the
-stage, the earliest produced, <i>Anna Bolena</i>, is the composer's
-thirty-second work. <i>Anna Bolena</i>, <i>L'Elisir d'Amore</i>, <i>Lucrezia
-Borgia</i>, <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>, and <i>Roberto Devereux</i>, are included
-between the numbers 31 and 52, while between the numbers 53 and 62, <i>La
-Fille du Regiment</i>, <i>La Favorite</i>, <i>Linda di Chamouni</i>, <i>Don Pasquale</i>,
-and <i>Maria di Rohan</i>, are found. The first five of Donizetti's most
-popular operas, were produced between the years 1830 and 1840; the last
-five between the years 1840 and 1844.<a name="vol_2_page_244" id="vol_2_page_244"></a> Donizetti appears, then, to have
-produced his best serious operas during the middle period of his
-career&mdash;unless it be considered that <i>La Favorite</i>, <i>Linda di Chamouni</i>,
-and <i>Maria di Rohan</i>, are superior to <i>Anna Bolena</i>, <i>Lucrezia Borgia</i>,
-and <i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>; and to the same epoch belongs <i>L'Elisir
-d'Amore</i>, which in my opinion is the freshest, most graceful, and most
-melodious of his comic operas, though some may prefer <i>La Fille du
-Regiment</i> or <i>Don Pasquale</i>, both full of spirit and animation.</p>
-
-<p>It is also tolerably clear, from an examination of Donizetti's works in
-the order in which they were produced, that during the last four or five
-years of his artistic life he produced more than his average number of
-operas, possessing such merit that they have taken their place in the
-repertoires of the principal opera houses of Europe. Donizetti had lost
-nothing either in fertility or in power, while he appeared in some
-respects to be modifying and improving his style. Thus, in the Swiss
-opera of <i>Linda di Chamouni</i> (Vienna, 1842), we find, especially in the
-music of the contralto part, a considerable amount of local colour&mdash;an
-important dramatic element which Donizetti had previously overlooked,
-or, at least, had not turned to any account; while <i>Maria di Rohan</i>
-contains the best dramatic music of a passionate kind that Donizetti has
-ever written.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DONIZETTI'S DEATH.</div>
-
-<p>In composing, Donizetti made no use of the pianoforte, and wrote, as may
-be imagined, with great rapidity, never stopping to make a correction,
-though<a name="vol_2_page_245" id="vol_2_page_245"></a> he is celebrated among the modern Italian composers for the
-accuracy of his style. Curiously enough, he never went to work without
-having a small ivory scraper by his side; and any one who has studied
-intellectual peculiarities will understand, that once wanting this
-instrument, he might have felt it necessary to scratch out notes and
-passages every minute. Mr. J. Wrey Mould, in his interesting "memoir,"
-tells us that this ivory scraper was given to Donizetti by his father
-when he consented, after a long and strenuous opposition, to his
-becoming a musician. An unfilial son might have looked upon the present
-as not conveying the highest possible compliment that could be paid him.
-The old gentleman, however, was quite right in impressing upon the
-bearer of his name, that having once resolved to be a composer, he had
-better make up his mind to produce as little rubbish as possible.</p>
-
-<p>The first signs of the dreadful malady to which Donizetti ultimately
-succumbed, manifested themselves during his last visit to Paris, in
-1845. Fits of absence of mind, followed by hallucinations and all the
-symptoms of mental derangement followed one another rapidly, and with
-increasing intensity. In January, 1846, it was found necessary to place
-the unfortunate composer in an asylum at Ivry, and in the autumn of
-1847, his medical advisers recommended as a final experiment, that he
-should be removed to Bergamo, in the hope that the air and scenes of his
-birth-place would have a favourable<a name="vol_2_page_246" id="vol_2_page_246"></a> influence in dispelling, or, at
-least, diminishing the profound melancholy to which he was now subject.
-During his journey, however, he was attacked by paralysis, and his
-illness assumed a desperate and incurable character.</p>
-
-<p>Donizetti was received at Bergamo by the Maestro Dolci, one of his
-dearest friends. Here paralysis again attacked him, and a few days
-afterwards, on the 8th of April, 1848, he expired, in his fifty-second
-year, having, during the twenty-seven years of his life, as a composer,
-written sixty-four operas; several masses and vesper services; and
-innumerable pieces of chamber music, including, besides arias,
-cavatinas, and vocal concerted pieces, a dozen quartetts for stringed
-instruments, a series of songs and duets, entitled <i>Les soirées du
-Pausilippe</i>, a cantata entitled <i>la Morte d'Ugolino</i>, &amp;c., &amp;c.</p>
-
-<p>Antoine, Donizetti's attendant at Ivry, became much attached to him, and
-followed him to Bergamo, whence he forwarded to M. Adolphe Adam, a
-letter describing his illustrious patient's last moments, and the public
-honours paid to his memory at the funeral.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DONIZETTI'S DEATH.</div>
-
-<p>"More than four thousand persons," he relates, "were present at the
-ceremony. The procession was composed of the numerous clergy of Bergamo;
-the most illustrious members of the community and its environs, and of
-the civic guard of the town and suburbs. The discharges of musketry,
-mingled with the light of three or four hundred large torches,
-presented<a name="vol_2_page_247" id="vol_2_page_247"></a> a fine effect&mdash;the whole was enhanced by the presence of
-three military bands, and the most propitious weather it was possible to
-behold. The service commenced at ten o'clock in the morning, and did not
-conclude until half-past two. The young gentlemen of Bergamo insisted on
-bearing the remains of their illustrious fellow-citizen, although the
-cemetery in which they finally rested lay at a distance of a
-league-and-a-half from the town. The road there was crowded along its
-whole length by people who came from the surrounding country to witness
-the procession&mdash;and, to give due praise to the inhabitants of Bergamo,
-never, hitherto, had such great honours been bestowed upon any member of
-that city."</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p>Bellini, who was Donizetti's contemporary, but who was born nine years
-after him, and died thirteen years before, was a native of Sicily. His
-father was an organist at Catania, and under him the future composer of
-<i>Norma</i> and <i>La Sonnambula</i>, took his first lessons in music. A Sicilian
-nobleman, struck by the signs of genius which young Bellini evinced at
-an early age, persuaded his father to send him to Naples, supporting his
-arguments with an offer to pay his expenses at the celebrated
-Conservatorio. Here one of Bellini's fellow pupils was Mercadante, the
-future composer of <i>Il Giuramento</i>, an opera which, in spite of the
-frequent attempts of the Italian singers to familiarize the English<a name="vol_2_page_248" id="vol_2_page_248"></a>
-public with its numerous beauties, has never been much liked in this
-country. I do not say that it has not been justly appreciated on the
-whole, but that the grace of some of the melodies, the acknowledged
-merit of the orchestration and the elegance and distinction which seem
-to me to characterize the composer's style generally, have not been
-accepted as compensating for his want of passion and of that spontaneity
-without which the expression of strong emotion of any kind is naturally
-impossible. Mercadante could never have written <i>Rigoletto</i>, but,
-probably, a composer of inferior natural gifts to Verdi might, with a
-taste for study and a determination to bring his talent to perfection,
-have produced a work of equal artistic merit to <i>Il Giuramento</i>. And
-here we must take leave of Mercadante, whose place in the history of the
-opera is not a considerable one, and who, to the majority of English
-amateurs, is known only by his <i>Bella adorata</i>, a melody of which Verdi
-has shown his estimation by borrowing it, diluting it, and re-arranging
-it with a new accompaniment for the tenor's song in <i>Luisa Miller</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RUBINI.</div>
-
-<p>I should think Mercadante must have written better exercises, and passed
-better examinations at the Conservatorio than his young friend Bellini,
-though the latter must have begun at an earlier age to compose operas.
-Bellini's first dramatic work was written and performed while he was
-still a student. Encouraged by its success, he next composed music to a
-libretto already "set" by Generali, and entitled<a name="vol_2_page_249" id="vol_2_page_249"></a> <i>Adelson e Salvino</i>.
-<i>Adelson</i> was represented before the illustrious Barbaja, who was at
-that time manager of the two most celebrated theatres in Italy, the St.
-Carlo at Naples, and La Scala at Milan,&mdash;as well as of the Italian opera
-at Vienna, to say nothing of some smaller operatic establishments also
-under his rule. The great impresario, struck by Bellini's promise,
-commissioned him to write an opera for Naples, and, in 1826, his <i>Bianca
-e Fernando</i> was produced at the St. Carlo. This work was so far
-successful, that it obtained a considerable amount of applause from the
-public, while it inspired Barbaja with so much confidence that he
-entrusted the young composer, now twenty years of age, with the libretto
-of <i>il Pirata</i>, to be composed for La Scala. The tenor part was written
-specially for Rubini, who retired into the country with Bellini, and
-studied, as they were produced, the simple, touching airs which he
-afterwards delivered on the stage with such admirable expression.</p>
-
-<p><i>Il Pirata</i> was received with enthusiasm by the audiences of La Scala,
-and the composer was requested to write another work for the same
-theatre. <i>La Straniera</i> was brought out at Milan in 1828, the principal
-parts being entrusted to Donzelli, Tamburini, and Madame Tosi. This,
-Bellini's third work, appears, on the whole, to have maintained, but
-scarcely to have advanced, his reputation. Nevertheless, when it was
-represented in London soon after its<a name="vol_2_page_250" id="vol_2_page_250"></a> original production, it was by no
-means so favourably received as <i>Il Pirato</i> had been.</p>
-
-<p>Bellini's <i>Zaira</i>, executed at Parma, in 1829, was a failure&mdash;soon,
-however, to be redeemed by his fifth work, <i>Il Capuletti ed i
-Montecchi</i>, which was written for Venice, and was received with all
-possible expressions of approbation. In London, the new operatic version
-of <i>Romeo and Juliet</i> was not particularly admired, and owed what
-success it obtained entirely to the acting and singing of Madame Pasta
-in the principal part. It may be mentioned that the libretto of
-Bellini's <i>I Montecchi</i> had already served his master, Zingarelli, for
-his opera of <i>Romeo e Julietta</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LA SONNAMBULA.</div>
-
-<p>The time had now arrived at which Bellini was to produce his
-master-pieces, <i>La Sonnambula</i> and <i>Norma</i>; the former of which was
-written for <i>La Scala</i>, in 1831, the latter, for the same theatre, in
-the year following. The success of <i>La Sonnambula</i> has been great
-everywhere, but nowhere so great as in England, where it has been
-performed in English and in Italian, oftener than any other two or
-perhaps three operas, while probably no songs, certainly no songs by a
-foreign composer, were ever sold in such large numbers as <i>All is lost</i>
-and <i>Do not mingle</i>. The libretto of <i>La Sonnambula</i>, by Romani, is one
-of the most interesting and touching, and one of the best suited for
-musical illustration in the whole <i>répertoire</i> of <i>libretti</i>. To the
-late M. Scribe, belongs the merit of having invented the charming story
-on which<a name="vol_2_page_251" id="vol_2_page_251"></a> Romani's and Bellini's opera is founded; and it is worthy of
-remark that he had already presented it in two different dramatic forms
-before any one was struck with its capabilities for musical treatment. A
-thoroughly, essentially, dramatic story can be presented on the stage in
-any and every form; with music, with dialogue, or with nothing but dumb
-action. Tried by this test, the plots of a great number of merely well
-written comedies would prove worthless; and so in substance they are. On
-the other hand, the vaudeville of <i>La Somnambula</i>, became, as
-re-arranged by M. Scribe, the ballet of <i>La Somnambule</i>, (one of the
-prettiest, by the way, from a choregraphic point of view ever produced);
-which, in the hands of Romani, became the libretto of an opera; which
-again, vulgarly treated, has been made into a burlesque; and, loftily
-treated, might be changed (I will not say elevated, for the operatic
-form is poetical enough), into a tragedy.</p>
-
-<p>The beauties of <i>La Sonnambula</i>, so full of pure melody and of emotional
-music, of the most simple and touching kind, can be appreciated by every
-one; by the most learned musician and the most untutored amateur, or
-rather let us say by any play-goer, who, not having been born deaf to
-the voice of music, hears an opera for the first time in his life. It
-was given, however, to an English critic, to listen to this opera, as
-natural and as unmistakably beautiful as a bed of wild flowers, through
-a special ear-trumpet of his own; and in number 197 of the most
-widely-circulated<a name="vol_2_page_252" id="vol_2_page_252"></a> of our literary journals, the following remarks on
-<i>La Sonnambula</i> appeared. With the exception of one or two pretty
-<i>motivi</i>, exquisitely given by Pasta and Rubini, the music is sometimes
-scarcely on a level with that of <i>Il Pirata</i>, and often sinks below it;
-there is a general thinness and want of effect in the instrumentation
-not calculated to make us overlook the other defects of this
-composition, which, in our humble judgment, are compensated by no
-redeeming beauties. Bellini has soared too high; there is nothing of
-grandeur, no touch of true pathos in the common place workings of his
-mind. He cannot reach the <i>Opera semi-seria</i>; he should confine his
-powers to the lowest walk of the musical drama, the one act <i>Opera
-buffa</i>."</p>
-
-<p>Equally ill fared <i>Norma</i> at the hands of another musical critic to
-whose "reminiscences" I have often had to refer, but who tells us that
-he did not hear the work in question himself. He speaks of it simply as
-a production of which the scene is laid in <i>Wales</i>, and adds that "it
-was not liked."</p>
-
-<p>Yet <i>Norma</i> has been a good deal liked since its first production at
-Milan, now nearly thirty years ago; and from Madame Pasta's first to
-Madame Grisi's last appearance in the principal part, no great singer
-with any pretension to tragic power has considered her claims fully
-recognised until she has succeeded in the part of the Druid priestess.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">I PURITANI.</div>
-
-<p><i>Beatrice di Tenda</i>, Bellini's next opera after <i>Norma</i>, cannot be
-reckoned among his best works. It was<a name="vol_2_page_253" id="vol_2_page_253"></a> written for Venice, in 1833, and
-was performed in England for the first time, in 1836. It met with no
-very great success in Italy or elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p>In 1834, Bellini went to Paris, having been requested to write an opera
-for the excellent Théâtre Italien of that capital. The company at the
-period in question, included Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini and Lablache, all
-of whom were provided with parts in the new work. <i>I Puritani</i>, was
-played for the first time in London, for Grisi's benefit, in 1835, and
-with precisely the same distribution of characters as in Paris. The
-"<i>Puritani</i> Season" is still remembered by old habitués, as one of the
-most brilliant of these latter days. Rubini's romance in the first act
-<i>A te o cara</i>, Grisi's <i>Polonaise</i>, <i>Son vergin vezzosa</i> and the grand
-duet for Tamburini and Lablache, produced the greatest enthusiasm in all
-our musical circles, and the last movement of the duet was treated by
-"arrangers" for the piano, in every possible form. This is the movement,
-(destined, too soon, to find favour in the eyes of omnibus conductors,
-and all the worst amateurs of the cornet), of which Rossini wrote from
-Paris to a friend at Milan; "I need not describe the duet for the two
-basses, you must have heard it where you are."</p>
-
-<p><i>I Puritani</i> was Bellini's last opera. The season after its production
-he retired to the house of a Mr. Lewis at Puteaux, and there, while
-studying his art with an ardour which never deserted him, was attacked
-by a fatal illness. "From his youth up," says<a name="vol_2_page_254" id="vol_2_page_254"></a> Mr. J. W. Mould, in his
-interesting "Memoir of Bellini;" "Vincenzo's eagerness in his art was
-such as to keep him at the piano day and night, till he was obliged
-forcibly to leave it. The ruling passion accompanied him through his
-short life, and by the assiduity with which he pursued it, brought on
-the dysentery, which closed his brilliant career, peopling his last
-hours with the figures of those to whom his works were so largely
-indebted for their success. During the moments of delirium which
-preceded his death, he was constantly speaking of Lablache, Tamburini
-and Grisi, and one of his last recognisable impressions was, that he was
-present at a brilliant representation of his last opera, at the Salle
-Favart. His earthly career closed on Wednesday, the 23rd of September,
-1835."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BELLINI'S DEATH.</div>
-
-<p>Thus died Bellini, in the twenty-ninth year of his age. Immediately
-after his death, and on the very eve of his interment, the Théâtre
-Italien re-opened with the <i>Puritani</i>. "The work," says the writer from
-whom I have just quoted, "was listened to throughout with a sad
-attention, betraying evidently how the general thoughts of both audience
-and artists were pre-occupied with the mournful fate of him so recently
-amongst them, now extended senseless, soulless, and mute, upon his
-funeral bier. The solemn and mournful chords which commence the opera,
-excited a sorrowful emotion in the breasts of both those who sang and
-those who heard. The feeling in which the orchestra and chorus
-participated, ex-tended<a name="vol_2_page_255" id="vol_2_page_255"></a> itself to the principal artists concerned, and
-the foremost amongst them displayed neither that vigour nor that
-neatness of execution which Paris was so accustomed to accept at their
-hands; Tamburini in particular, was so broken down by the death of the
-young friend, whose presence amongst them spurred the glorious quartett
-on the season before, to such unprecedented exertions, that his
-magnificent organ, superb vocalisation were often considerably at fault
-during the evening, and his interrupted accent, joined to the melancholy
-depicted on the countenances of Grisi, Rubini, and Lablache, sent those
-to their homes with an aching heart who had presented themselves to that
-evening's hearing of <i>I Puritani</i>, previously disposed, moreover, to
-attend the mournful ceremony of the morrow."</p>
-
-<p>A committee of Bellini's friends, including Rossini, Cherubini, Paer,
-and Carafa, undertook the general direction of the funeral of which the
-musical department was entrusted to M. Habeneck the <i>chef d'orchestre</i>
-of the Académie Royale. The expenses of the ceremony were defrayed by M.
-Panseron, of the Théâtre Italien. The most remarkable piece for the
-programme of the funeral music, was a lacrymosa for four voices, without
-accompaniment, in which the text of the Latin hymn was united to the
-beautiful melody (and of a thoroughly religious character), sung by the
-tenor in the third act of the <i>Puritani</i>. This lacrymosa was executed by
-Rubini, Ivanoff, Tamburini, and Lablache. The service was performed in
-the church of the Invalides,<a name="vol_2_page_256" id="vol_2_page_256"></a> and Bellini's remains were interred in the
-cemetery of Père la Chaise.</p>
-
-<p>Rossini had always shown the greatest affection for Bellini; and Rosario
-Bellini, a few weeks after his son's death, wrote a letter to the great
-composer, thanking him for the almost paternal kindness which he had
-shown to young Vincenzo during his lifetime, and for the honour he had
-paid to his memory when he was no more. After speaking of the grief and
-despair in which the loss of his beloved son had plunged him, the old
-man expressed himself as follows:&mdash;</p>
-
-<p>"You always encouraged the object of my eternal regret in his labours;
-you took him under your protection; you neglected nothing that could
-increase his glory and his welfare. After my son's death what have you
-not done to honour his memory and render it dear to posterity! I learnt
-this from the newspapers; and I am penetrated with gratitude for your
-excessive kindness, as well as for that of a number of distinguished
-artistes, which also I shall never forget. Pray, sir, be my interpreter,
-and tell these artistes that the father and family of Bellini, as well
-as our compatriots of Catana, will cherish an imperishable recollection
-of this generous conduct. I shall never cease to remember how much you
-did for my son; I shall make known everywhere, in the midst of my tears,
-what an affectionate heart belongs to the great Rossini; and how kind,
-hospitable, and full of feeling are the artistes of France."<a name="vol_2_page_257" id="vol_2_page_257"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BELLINI AND DONIZETTI.</div>
-
-<p>If we compare Bellini with Donizetti, we find that the latter was the
-more prolific of the two, judging simply by the number of works
-produced; inasmuch as Donizetti, at the age of twenty-eight, had already
-produced thirteen operas; whereas the number of Bellini's dramatic
-works, when he died in his twenty-ninth year, amounted only to nine. But
-of the baker's dozen thrown off by Donizetti at so early an age, not one
-made any impression on the public, or on musicians, such as was caused
-by <i>I Capuletti</i>, or <i>Il Pirata</i>, or <i>La Straniera</i>, to say nothing of
-<i>I Puritani</i>, which, in the opinion of many good judges, holds forth
-greater promise of dramatic excellence than is contained in any other of
-Bellini's works, including those masterpieces in two such different
-styles, <i>La Sonnambula</i> and <i>Norma</i>. When Donizetti had been composing
-for a dozen years, and had produced thirty one operas (<i>Anna Bolena</i> was
-his thirty-second), he had still written nothing which could be ranked
-on an equality with Bellini's second-rate works, such as <i>Il Pirata</i> and
-<i>I Capuletti</i>; and during the second half of Donizetti's operatic
-career, not one work of his in three met with the success which
-(<i>Beatrice</i> alone excepted) attended all Bellini's operas, as soon as
-Bellini had once passed that merely experimental period when, to fail,
-is, for a composer of real ability, to learn how not to fail a second
-time. I do not say that the composer of <i>Lucrezia</i>, <i>Lucia</i>, and <i>Elisir
-d'Amore</i> is so vastly inferior to the composer of <i>La Sonnambula</i> and
-<i>Norma</i>; but, simply, that Donizetti, during<a name="vol_2_page_258" id="vol_2_page_258"></a> the first dozen years of
-his artistic life, did not approach the excellence shown by the young
-Bellini during the nine years which made up the whole of his brief
-musical career. More than that, Donizetti never produced a musical
-tragedy equal to <i>Norma</i>, nor a musical pastoral equal to <i>La
-Sonnambula</i>; while, dramatic considerations apart, he cannot be compared
-to Bellini as an inventor of melody. Indeed, it would be difficult in
-the whole range of opera to name three works which contain so many
-simple, tender, touching airs, of a refined character, yet possessing
-all the elements of popularity (in short, airs whose beauty is
-universally appreciable) as <i>Norma</i>, <i>La Sonnambula</i>, and <i>I Puritani</i>.
-The simplicity of Bellini's melodies is one of their chief
-characteristics; and this was especially remarkable, at a time when
-Rossini's imitators were exaggerating the florid style of their model in
-every air they produced.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BELLINI'S SINGERS.</div>
-
-<p>Most of the great singers of the modern school,&mdash;indeed, all who have
-appeared since and including Madame Pasta, have gained their reputation
-chiefly in Bellini's and Donizetti's operas. They formed their style, it
-is true, by singing Rossini's music; but as the public will not listen
-for ever even to such operas as <i>Il Barbiere</i> and <i>Semiramide</i>, it was
-necessary to provide the new vocalists from time to time with new parts;
-and thus "Amina" and "Anna Bolena" were written for Pasta; "Elvino,"
-&amp;c., for Rubini; "Edgardo," in the <i>Lucia</i>, for Duprez; a<a name="vol_2_page_259" id="vol_2_page_259"></a> complete
-quartett of parts in <i>I Puritani</i>, for Grisi, Rubini, Tamburini, and
-Lablache. Since Donizetti's <i>Don Pasquale</i>, composed for Grisi, Mario
-(Rubini's successor), Tamburini, and Lablache, no work of any importance
-has been composed for the Italian Opera of Paris&mdash;nor of London either,
-I may add, in spite of Verdi's <i>I Masnadieri</i>, and Halévy's <i>La
-Tempesta</i>, both manufactured expressly for Her Majesty's Theatre.</p>
-
-<p>I have already spoken of Pasta's and Malibran's successes in Rossini's
-operas. The first part written for Pasta by Bellini was that of "Amina"
-in the <i>Sonnambula</i>; the second, that of "Norma." But though Pasta
-"created" these characters, she was destined to be surpassed in both of
-them by the former Marietta Garcia, now returned from America, and known
-everywhere as Malibran. This vocalist, by all accounts the most poetic
-and impassioned of all the great singers of her period, arrived in Italy
-just when <i>I Capuletti</i>, <i>La Sonnambula</i>, and <i>Norma</i>, were at the
-height of their popularity&mdash;thanks, in a great measure, to the admirable
-manner in which the part of the heroine in each of these works was
-represented by Pasta. Malibran appeared as "Amina," as "Norma," and also
-as "Romeo," in <i>I Capuletti</i>. She "interpreted" the characters (to
-borrow an expression, which is admissible, in this case, from the jargon
-of French musical critics) in her own manner, and very ingeniously
-brought into relief just those portions of the music of each which were
-not rendered prominent in<a name="vol_2_page_260" id="vol_2_page_260"></a> the Pasta versions. The new singer was
-applauded enthusiastically. The public were really grateful to her for
-bringing to light beauties which, but for her, would have remained in
-the shade. But it was also thought that Malibran feared her illustrious
-rival and predecessor too much, to attempt <i>her</i> readings. This was just
-the impression she wished to produce; and when she saw that the public
-had made up its mind on the subject, she changed her tactics, followed
-Pasta's interpretation, and beat her on her own ground. She excelled
-wherever Pasta had excelled, and proved herself on the whole superior to
-her. Finally, she played the parts of "Norma" and "Amina" in her first
-and second manner combined. This rendered her triumph decisive.</p>
-
-<p>Now Malibran commenced a triumphal progress through Italy. Wherever she
-sang, showers of bouquets and garlands fell at her feet; the horses were
-taken from her carriage on her leaving the theatre, and she was dragged
-home amid the shouts of an admiring crowd. These so-called
-"ovations"<a name="FNanchor_100_100" id="FNanchor_100_100"></a><a href="#Footnote_100_100" class="fnanchor">[100]</a> were renewed at every operatic city in Italy; and
-managers disputed, in a manner previously unexampled, the honour and
-profit of engaging the all-successful vocalist.<a name="vol_2_page_261" id="vol_2_page_261"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MALIBRAN.</div>
-
-<p>The director of the Trieste opera gave Malibran four thousand francs a
-night, and at the end of her engagement pressed her to accept a set of
-diamonds. Malibran refused, observing, that what she had already
-received was amply sufficient for her services, and more than she would
-ever have thought of asking for them, had not the terms been proposed by
-the director himself.</p>
-
-<p>"Accept my present all the same," replied the liberal <i>impresario</i>; "I
-can afford to offer you this little souvenir. It will remind you that I
-made an excellent thing out of your engagement, and it may, perhaps,
-help to induce you to come here again."</p>
-
-<p>"The actions of this fiery existence," says M. Castil Blaze, "would
-appear fabulous if we had not seen Marietta amongst us, fulfilling her
-engagements at the theatre, resisting all the fatigue of the rehearsals,
-of the representations, after galloping morning and evening in the Bois
-de Boulogne, so as to tire out two horses. She used to breakfast during
-the rehearsals on the stage. I said to her, one morning, at the
-theatre:&mdash;'<i>Marietta carissima, non morrai. Che farò, dunque? Nemica
-sorte! Creperai.</i>'</p>
-
-<p>"Her travels, her excursions, her studies, her performances might have
-filled the lives of two artists, and two very complete lives, moreover.
-She starts for Sinigaglia, during the heat of July, in man's clothes,
-takes her seat on the box of the carriage, drives the horses; scorched
-by the sun of Italy, covered with dust, she arrives, jumps into the
-sea,<a name="vol_2_page_262" id="vol_2_page_262"></a> swims like a dolphin, and then goes to her hotel to dress. At
-Brussels, she is applauded as a French Rosìna, delivering the prose of
-Beaumarchais as Mademoiselle Mars would have delivered it. She leaves
-Brussels for London, comes back to Paris, travels about in Brie, and
-returns to London, not like a courier, but like a dove on the wing. We
-all know what the life of a singer is in the capital of England, the
-life of a dramatic singer of the highest talent. After a rehearsal at
-the opera, she may have three or four matinée's to attend; and when the
-curtain falls, and she can escape from the theatre, there are soirées
-which last till day-break. Malibran kept all these engagements, and,
-moreover, gave Sunday to her friends; this day of absolute rest to all
-England, was to Marietta only another day of excitement."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MALIBRAN.</div>
-
-<p>Malibran spoke Spanish, Italian, French, English, and a little German,
-and acted and sang in the first four of these languages. In London, she
-appeared in an English version of <i>La Sonnambula</i> (1838), when her
-representation of the character of "Amina" created a general enthusiasm
-such as can scarcely have been equalled during the "Jenny Lind
-mania,"&mdash;perfect vocalist as was Jenny Lind. Malibran appears, however,
-to have been a more impassioned singer, and was certainly a finer
-actress than the Swedish Nightingale. "Never losing sight of the
-simplicity of the character," says a writer in describing her
-performance in <i>La Sonnambula</i>, "she gave irresistible grace and force
-to the pathetic passages<a name="vol_2_page_263" id="vol_2_page_263"></a> with which it abounds, and excited the feeling
-of the audience to as high pitch as can be perceived. Her sleep-walking
-scenes, in which the slightest amount of exaggeration or want of caution
-would have destroyed the whole effect, were played with exquisite
-discrimination; she sang the airs with refined taste and great power;
-her voice, which was remarkable, rather for its flexibility and
-sweetness than for its volume, was as pure as ever, and her style
-displayed that high cultivation and luxuriance which marked the school
-in which she was educated, and which is almost identified with the name
-she formerly bore."</p>
-
-<p>Drury Lane was the last theatre at which Madame Malibran sang; but the
-last notes she ever uttered were heard at Manchester, where she
-performed only in oratorios and at concerts. Before leaving London,
-Madame Malibran had a fall from her horse, and all the time she was
-singing at Manchester, she was suffering from its effects. She had
-struck her head, and the violence of the blow, together with the general
-shock to her nerves, without weakening any of her faculties, seemed to
-have produced that feverish excitement which gave such tragic poetry to
-her last performances. At first, she would take no precautions, though
-inflammation of the brain was to be feared, and, indeed, might be said
-to have already declared itself. She continued to sing, and never was
-her voice more pure and melodious, never was her execution more daring
-and dazzling, never before had she sung with such inspiration and with a
-passion<a name="vol_2_page_264" id="vol_2_page_264"></a> which communicated itself in so electric a manner to her
-audience. She was bled; not one of the doctors appears to have had
-sufficient strength of mind to enforce that absolute rest which everyone
-must have known was necessary for her existence, and she still went on
-singing. There were no signs of any loss of physical power, while her
-nervous force appeared to have increased. The last time she ever sang,
-she executed the duet from <i>Andronico</i>, with Madame Caradori, who, by a
-very natural sympathy, appeared herself to have received something of
-that almost supernatural fire which was burning within the breast of
-Malibran, and which was now fast consuming her. The public applauded
-with ecstacy, and as the general excitement increased, the marvellous
-vocalisation of the dying singer became almost miraculous. She
-improvised a final cadence, which was the climax of her triumph and of
-her life. The bravos of the audience were not at an end when she had
-already sunk exhausted into the arms of Madame Alessandri, who carried
-her, fainting, into the artist's room. She was removed immediately to
-the hotel. It was now impossible to save her, and so convinced of this
-was her husband, that almost before she had breathed her last, he was on
-his way to Paris, the better to secure every farthing of her property!</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RUBINI.</div>
-
-<p>Rubini, though he first gained his immense reputation by his mode of
-singing the airs of <i>Il Pirata</i>, <i>Anna Bolena</i>, and <i>La Sonnambula</i>,
-formed his style in<a name="vol_2_page_265" id="vol_2_page_265"></a> the first instance, on the operas of Rossini. This
-vocalist, however, sang and acted in a great many different capacities
-before he was recognised as the first of all first tenors. At the age of
-twelve Rubini made his début at the theatre of Romano, his native town,
-in a woman's part. This curious <i>prima donna</i> afterwards sat down at the
-door of the theatre, between two candles, and behind a plate, in which
-the admiring public deposited their offerings to the fair bénéficiare.
-She is said to have been perfectly satisfied with the receipts and with
-the praise accorded to her for her first performance. Rubini afterwards
-went to Bergamo, where he was engaged to play the violin in the
-orchestra between the acts of comedies, and to sing in the choruses
-during the operatic season. A drama was to be brought out in which a
-certain cavatina was introduced. The manager was in great trouble to
-find a singer to whom this air could be entrusted. Rubini was mentioned,
-the manager offered him a few shillings to sing it, the bargain was
-made, and the new vocalist was immensely applauded. This air was the
-production of Lamberti. Rubini kept it, and many years afterwards, when
-he was at the height of his reputation, was fond of singing it in memory
-of his first composer.</p>
-
-<p>In 1835, twenty-three years after Rubini's first engagement at Bergamo,
-the tenor of the Théâtre Italien of Paris was asked to intercede for a
-chorus-singer, who expected to be dismissed from the establishment. He
-told the unhappy man to write a<a name="vol_2_page_266" id="vol_2_page_266"></a> letter to the manager, and then gave it
-the irresistible weight of his recommendation by signing it "Rubini,
-<i>Ancien Choriste</i>."</p>
-
-<p>After leaving Bergamo, Rubini was engaged as second tenor in an operatic
-company of no great importance. He next joined a wandering troop, and
-among other feats he is said to have danced in a ballet somewhere in
-Piedmont, where, for his pains, he was violently hissed.</p>
-
-<p>In 1814, he was engaged at Pavia as tenor, where he received about
-thirty-six shillings a month. Sixteen years afterwards, Rubini and his
-wife were offered an engagement of six thousand pounds, and at last the
-services of Rubini alone were retained at the Italian Opera of St.
-Petersburgh, at the rate of twenty thousand pounds a year.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RUBINI.</div>
-
-<p>Rubini was such a great singer, and possessed such admirable powers of
-expression, especially in pathetic airs (it was well said of him,
-"<i>qu'il avait des larmes dans la voix</i>,") that he may be looked upon as,
-in some measure, the creator of the operatic style which succeeded that
-of the Rossinian period up to the production of <i>Semiramide</i>, the last
-of Rossini's works, written specially for Italy. The florid mode of
-vocalization had been carried to an excess when Rubini showed what
-effect he could produce by singing melodies of a simple emotional
-character, without depending at all on vocalization merely as such. It
-has already been mentioned that Bellini wrote <i>Il Pirato</i> with Rubini at
-his side, and it<a name="vol_2_page_267" id="vol_2_page_267"></a> is very remarkable that Donizetti never achieved any
-great success, and was never thought to have exhibited any style of his
-own until he produced <i>Anna Bolena</i>, in which the tenor part was
-composed expressly for Rubini. Every one who is acquainted with <i>Anna
-Bolena</i>, will understand how much Rossini's mode of singing the airs,
-<i>Ogni terra ove</i>, &amp;c., and <i>Vivi tu</i>, must have contributed to the
-immense favour with which it was received.</p>
-
-<p>Rubini will long be remembered as the tenor of the incomparable quartett
-for whom the <i>Puritani</i> was written, and who performed together in it
-for seven consecutive years in Paris and in London. Rubini disappeared
-from the West in 1841, and was replaced in the part of "Arturo," by
-Mario. Tamburini was the next to disappear, and then Lablache. Neither
-Riccardo nor Giorgio have since found thoroughly efficient
-representatives, and now we have lost with Grisi the original "Elvira,"
-without knowing precisely where another is to come from.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">RUBINI'S BROKEN CLAVICLE.</div>
-
-<p>Before taking leave of Rubini, I must mention a sort of duel he once had
-with a rebellious B flat, the history of which has been related at
-length by M. Castil Blaze, in the <i>Revue de Paris</i>. Pacini's <i>Talismano</i>
-had just been produced with great success at <i>la Scala</i>. Rubini made his
-entry in this opera with an accompanied recitative, which the public
-always applauded enthusiastically. One phrase in particular, which the
-singer commenced by attacking the high B flat without preparation, and,
-holding it for a<a name="vol_2_page_268" id="vol_2_page_268"></a> considerable period, excited their admiration to the
-highest point. Since Farinelli's celebrated trumpet song, no one note
-had ever obtained such a success as their wonderful B flat of Rubini's.
-The public of Milan went in crowds to hear it, and having heard it,
-never failed to encore it. <i>Un 'altra volta!</i> resounded through the
-house almost before the magic note itself had ceased to ring. The great
-singer had already distributed fourteen B flats among his admiring
-audiences, when, eager for the fifteenth and sixteenth, the Milanese
-thronged to their magnificent theatre to be present at the eighth
-performance of <i>Il Talismano</i>. The orchestra executed the brief prelude
-which announced the entry of the tenor. Rubini appeared, raised his eyes
-to heaven, extended his arms, planted himself firmly on his calves,
-inflated his breast, opened his mouth, and sought, by the usual means,
-to pronounce the wished-for B flat. But no B flat would come. <i>Os habet,
-et non clamabit.</i> Rubini was dumb; the public did their best to
-encourage the disconsolate singer, applauded him, cheered him, and gave
-him courage to attack the unhappy B flat a second time. On this
-occasion, Rubini was victorious. Determined to catch the fugitive note,
-which for a moment had escaped him, the singer brought all the muscular
-force of his immense lungs into play, struck the B flat, and threw it
-out among the audience with a vigour which surprised and delighted them.
-In the meanwhile, the tenor was by no means equally pleased with the
-triumph he had just gained. He<a name="vol_2_page_269" id="vol_2_page_269"></a> felt, that in exerting himself to the
-utmost, he had injured himself in a manner which might prove very
-serious. Something in the mechanism of his voice had given way. He had
-felt the fracture at the time. He had, indeed, conquered the B flat, but
-at what an expense; that of a broken clavicle!</p>
-
-<p>However, he continued his scene. He was wounded, but triumphant, and in
-his artistic elation he forgot the positive physical injury he had
-sustained. On leaving the stage he sent for the surgeon of the theatre,
-who, by inspecting and feeling Rubini's clavicle, convinced himself that
-it was indeed fractured. The bone had been unable to resist the tension
-of the singer's lungs. Rubini may have been said to have swelled his
-voice until it burst one of its natural barriers.</p>
-
-<p>"It seems to me," said the wounded tenor, "that a man can go on singing
-with a broken clavicle."</p>
-
-<p>"Certainly," replied the doctor, "you have just proved it."</p>
-
-<p>"How long would it take to mend it?" he enquired.</p>
-
-<p>"Two months, if you remained perfectly quiet during the whole time."</p>
-
-<p>"Two months! And I have only sung seven times. I should have to give up
-my engagement. Can a person live comfortably with a broken clavicle?"</p>
-
-<p>"Very comfortably indeed. If you take care not<a name="vol_2_page_270" id="vol_2_page_270"></a> to lift any weight you
-will experience no disagreeable effects."</p>
-
-<p>"Ah! there is my cue," exclaimed Rubini; "I shall go on singing."</p>
-
-<p>"Rubini went on singing," says M. Castil Blaze, "and I do not think any
-one who heard him in 1831 could tell that he was listening to a wounded
-singer&mdash;wounded gloriously on the field of battle. As a musical doctor I
-was allowed to touch his wound, and I remarked on the left side of the
-clavicle a solution of continuity, three or four lines<a name="FNanchor_101_101" id="FNanchor_101_101"></a><a href="#Footnote_101_101" class="fnanchor">[101]</a> in extent
-between the two parts of the fractured bone. I related the adventure in
-the <i>Revue de Paris</i>, and three hundred persons went to Rubini's house
-to touch the wound, and verify my statement."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">TAMBURINI.</div>
-
-<p>Two other vocalists are mentioned in the history of music, who not only
-injured themselves in singing, but actually died of their injuries.
-Fabris had shown himself an unsuccessful rival of the celebrated
-Guadagni, when his master, determined that he should gain a complete
-victory, composed expressly for him an air of the greatest difficulty,
-which the young singer was to execute at the San Carlo Theatre, at
-Naples. Fabris protested that he could not sing, or that if so, it would
-cost him his life; but he yielded to his master's iron will, attacked
-the impossible air, and died on the stage of hæmorrhage of the lungs. In
-the same manner, an air which the tenor Labitte<a name="vol_2_page_271" id="vol_2_page_271"></a> was endeavouring to
-execute at the Lion's theatre, in 1820, was the cause of his own
-execution.</p>
-
-<p>I have spoken of the versatility of talent displayed by Rubini in his
-youth. Tamburini and Lablache were equally expert singers in every
-style. In the year 1822 Tamburini was engaged at Palermo, where, on the
-last day of the carnival, the public attend, or used to attend, the
-Opera, with drums, trumpets, saucepans, shovels, and all kinds of
-musical and unmusical instruments&mdash;especially noisy ones. On this
-tumultuous evening, Tamburini, already a great favourite with the
-Palermitans, had to sing in Mercadante's <i>Elisa e Claudio</i>. The public
-received him with a salvo of their carnavalesque artillery, when
-Tamburini, finding that it was impossible to make himself heard in the
-ordinary way, determined to execute his part in falsetto; and, the
-better to amuse the public, commenced singing with the voice of a
-soprano sfogato. The astonished audience laid their instruments aside to
-listen to the novel and entirely unexpected accents of their <i>basso
-cantante</i>. Tamburini's falsetto was of wonderful purity, and in using it
-he displayed the same agility for which he was remarkable when employing
-his ordinary thoroughly masculine voice. The Palermitans were interested
-by this novel display of vocal power, and were, moreover, pleased at
-Tamburini's readiness and ingenuity in replying to their seemingly
-unanswerable charivari. But the poor <i>prima donna</i> was unable to enter
-into the joke at all. She even imagined that the turbulent<a name="vol_2_page_272" id="vol_2_page_272"></a>
-demonstrations with which she was received whenever she made her
-appearance, were intended to insult her, and long before the opera was
-at an end she refused to continue her part. The manager was in great
-alarm, for he knew that the public would not stand upon any ceremony
-that evening; and that, if the performance were interrupted by anything
-but their own noise, they would probably break everything in the
-theatre. Tamburini rushed to the <i>prima donna's</i> room. Madame Lipparini,
-the lady in question, had already left the theatre, but she had also
-left the costume of "Elisa" behind. The ingenious baritone threw off his
-coat, contrived, by stretching and splitting, to get on "Elisa's" satin
-dress, clapped her bonnet over his own wig, and thus equipped appeared
-on the stage, ready to take the part of the unhappy and now fugitive
-Lipparini. The audience applauded with one accord the entry of the
-strangest "Elisa" ever seen. Her dress came only half way down her legs,
-the sleeves did not extend anywhere near her wrists. The soprano, who at
-a moment's notice had replaced Madame Lipparini, had the largest hands
-and feet a <i>prima donna</i> was ever known to possess.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">TAMBURINI.</div>
-
-<p>The band had played the ritornello of "Elisa's" cavatina a dozen times,
-and the most turbulent among the assembly had actually got up from their
-seats, and were ready to scale the orchestra, and jump on the stage,
-when Tamburini rushed on in the costume above described. After
-curtseying to the audience, pressing one hand to his heart, and with<a name="vol_2_page_273" id="vol_2_page_273"></a>
-the other wiping away the tears of gratitude he was supposed to shed for
-the enthusiastic reception accorded to him, he commenced the cavatina,
-and went through it admirably; burlesquing it a little for the sake of
-the costume, but singing it, nevertheless, with marvellous expression,
-and displaying executive power far superior to any that Madame Lipparini
-herself could have shown. As long as there were only airs to sing,
-Tamburini got on easily enough. He devoted his soprano voice to "Elisa,"
-while the "Count" remained still a basso, the singer performing his
-ordinary part in his ordinary voice. But a duet for "Elisa" and the
-"Count" was approaching; and the excited amateurs, now oblivious of
-their drums, kettles, and kettle-drums, were speculating with anxious
-interest as to how Tamburini would manage to be soprano and
-basso-cantante in the same piece. The vocalist found no difficulty in
-executing the duet. He performed both parts&mdash;the bass replying to the
-soprano, and the soprano to the bass&mdash;with the most perfect precision.
-The double representative even made a point of passing from right to
-left and from left to right, according as he was the father-in-law or
-the daughter. This was the crowning success. The opera was now listened
-to with pleasure and delight to the very end; and it was not until the
-fall of the curtain that the audience re-commenced their charivari, by
-way of testifying their admiration for Tamburini, who was called upwards
-of a dozen times on to the stage. This was not all: they were<a name="vol_2_page_274" id="vol_2_page_274"></a> so
-grieved at the idea of losing him, that they entreated him to appear
-again in the ballet. He did so, and gained fresh applause by his
-performance in a <i>pas de quatre</i> with the Taglionis and Mademoiselle
-Rinaldini.</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LABLACHE.</div>
-
-<p>Lablache was scarcely seventeen years of age, and had just finished his
-studies at the Conservatorio of Naples when he was engaged as
-"Neapolitan buffo" at the little San Carlino theatre. Here two
-performances were given every day, one in the afternoon, the other in
-the evening, while the morning was devoted to rehearsals. Lablache
-supported the fatigue caused by this system without his voice suffering
-the slightest injury, though all the other members of the company were
-obliged to throw up their engagements before the year was out, and
-several of them never recovered their voices. He had been five months at
-San Carlino when he married Teresa Pinotti, daughter of an actor engaged
-at the theatre, and one of the greatest comedians of Italy. This union
-appears to have had a great effect on Lablache's fate. His wife saw what
-genius he possessed, and thought of all possible means to get him away
-from San Carlino, an establishment which she justly regarded as unworthy
-of him. Lablache, for his part, would have remained there all his life,
-playing the part of Neapolitan buffo, without thinking of the brilliant
-position within his reach. There was at that time a celebrated
-Neapolitan buffo, named Mililotti,<a name="vol_2_page_275" id="vol_2_page_275"></a> who, Madame Lablache thought, might
-advantageously replace her husband. She not only procured an engagement
-for Lablache's rival at the San Carlino theatre, but is even said to
-have packed the house the first night of his appearance (or
-re-appearance, for he was already known to the Neapolitans) so as to
-ensure him a favourable reception. Her intelligent love would,
-doubtless, have caused her to hiss her husband, had not Mililotti's
-success been sufficiently great to convince Lablache that he might as
-well seek his fortune elsewhere, and in a higher sphere. He had some
-hesitation, however, about singing in the Tuscan language, accustomed as
-he was to the Neapolitan jargon, but his wife determined him to make the
-change, and procured an engagement for him in Sicily. Arrived at
-Messina, however, he continued for some time to appear as Neapolitan
-buffo, a line for which he had always had a great predilection, and in
-which, spite of the forced success of Mililotti, he had no equal.</p>
-
-<p>Lablache will be generally remembered as a true basso; but, before
-appearing as "Bartolo" in the <i>Barber of Seville</i>, he for many years
-played the part of "Figaro." I have seen it stated that Lablache has
-played not only the bass and baritone, but also the tenor part in
-Rossini's great comic opera; but I do not believe that he ever appeared
-as "Count Almaviva." I have said that he performed bass parts (the
-Neapolitan buffo was always a bass), when he first made his <i>début</i>; and
-during<a name="vol_2_page_276" id="vol_2_page_276"></a> the last five-and-twenty years of his career, his
-voice&mdash;marvellously even and sound from one end to the other&mdash;had at the
-same time no extraordinary compass; but from G to E all his notes were
-full, clear, and sonorous, as the tones of a bronze bell. Indeed, this
-bell-like quality of the great basso's voice, is said on one occasion to
-have been the cause of considerable alarm to his wife, who, hearing its
-deep boom in the middle of the night, imagined, as she started from her
-slumbers, that the house was on fire. This was the period of the great
-popularity of <i>I Puritani</i>, when Grisi, accompanied by Lablache, was in
-the habit of singing the polacca three times a week at the opera, and
-about twice a day at morning concerts. Lablache, after executing his
-part of this charming and popular piece three times in nine hours, was
-so haunted by it, that he continued to ring out his sounding <i>staccato</i>
-accompaniment in his sleep. Fortunately, Madame Lablache succeeded in
-stopping this somnambulistic performance before the engines arrived.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">LABLACHE.</div>
-
-<p>Like all complete artists, like Malibran, like Ronconi, like Garrick,
-the great type of the class, Lablache was equally happy in serious and
-in comic parts. Though Malibran is chiefly remembered in England by her
-almost tragic rendering of the part of "Amina" in the <i>Sonnambula</i>, many
-persons who have heard her in all her <i>répertoire</i>, assure me that she
-exhibited the greatest talent in comic opera, or in such lively "half
-character" parts as "Norina" in<a name="vol_2_page_277" id="vol_2_page_277"></a> the <i>Elixir of Love</i>, and "Zerlina" in
-<i>Don Giovanni</i>. Lord Mount Edgcumbe declares, after speaking of her
-performance of "Semiramide" ("Semiramide" has also been mentioned as one
-of Malibran's best parts) that "in characters of less energy she is much
-better, and best of all in the comic opera. She even condescended," he
-adds, "to make herself a buffa caricata, and take the third and least
-important part in Cimarosa's <i>Matrimonio Segretto</i>, that of an old woman
-(the Mrs. Heidelberg of the <i>Clandestine Marriage</i>), generally acted by
-the lowest singer of the company. From an insignificant character she
-raised it to a prominent one, and very greatly added to the effect of
-that excellent opera." So of Lablache, Lord Mount Edgcumbe, after
-remarking that his voice was "not only of deeper compass than almost any
-ever heard, but, when he chose, absolutely stentorian," tells his
-readers that "he was a most excellent actor, especially in comic operas,
-in which he was (as I am told) as highly diverting as any of the most
-laughable comedians." Yet the character in which Lablache himself, and
-not Lablache's reputation, produced so favourable an impression on this
-writer&mdash;not very favourably impressed by any singers, or any music
-towards the close of his life&mdash;was "Assur" in <i>Semiramide!</i> Who that
-remembers Lablache as "Bartolo"&mdash;that remembers the prominence and the
-genuine humour which he gave to that slight and colourless part&mdash;can
-deny that he was one of the greatest of comic actors? And did he not
-communicate the same importance to the minor<a name="vol_2_page_278" id="vol_2_page_278"></a> character of "Oroveso" in
-<i>Norma</i>, in which nothing could be more tragic and impressive than his
-scene with the repentant dying priestess in the last act? What a
-picture, too, was his "Henry VIII." in <i>Anna Bolena</i>! A picture which
-Lablache himself composed from a careful study of the costume worn by
-the original, and for which nature had certainly supplied him in the
-first place with a most suitable form. Think, again, of his superb
-grandeur as "Maometto," of his touching dignity as "Desdemona's" father;
-then forget both these characters, and recollect how perfect, how unique
-a "Leporello" was this same Lablache. One of our best critics has taken
-objection to Lablache's version of this last-named part&mdash;though, of
-course, without objecting to his actual performance, which he as well,
-or better than any one else, knows to have been almost beyond praise.
-But it has been said that Lablache (and if Lablache, then all his
-predecessors in the same character) indulged in an unbecoming spirit of
-burlesque during the last scene of <i>Don Giovanni</i>, in which the statue
-seizes the hero with his strong hand, and takes him down a practicable
-trap-door to eternal torments. "Leporello," however, is a burlesque
-character, and a buffoon throughout; cowardly, superstitious, greedy,
-with all possible low qualities developed to a ludicrous extent, and
-thus presenting a fine dramatic contrast to his master, who possesses
-all the noble qualities, except faith&mdash;this one great flaw rendering all
-the use he makes of valour, generosity, and love of woman, an abuse.
-"Leporello"<a name="vol_2_page_279" id="vol_2_page_279"></a> is always thinking of the bad end which he is sure awaits
-him unless he quits the service of a master whom he is afraid to leave;
-always thinking, too, of maccaroni, money, and the wages which "Don
-Juan" certainly will not pay him, if he is taken to the infernal regions
-before his next quarter is due. "<i>Mes gages, mes gages</i>," cries the
-"Sganarelle" of Molière's comedy, and "Sganarelle" and "Leporello" are
-one and the same person. We may be sure that Molière and Lablache are
-right, and that Herr Formes, with his new reading of a good old part is
-wrong. At the same time it is natural and allowable that a singer who
-cannot be comic should be serious.</p>
-
-<p>In addition to his other great accomplishments, Lablache possessed that
-of being able to whistle in a style that many a piccolo player would
-have envied. He could whistle all Rode's variations as perfectly as
-Louisa Pyne sings them. As to the vibratory force of his full voice, it
-was such that to have allowed Lablache to sing in a green house might
-have been a dangerous experiment. Chéron, a celebrated French bass, is
-said to have been able to burst a tumbler into a thousand pieces, by
-sounding, within a fragile and doubtless sympathetic glass, some
-particular note. Equally interesting, in connexion with a glass, is a
-performance in which I have seen the veteran,<a name="FNanchor_102_102" id="FNanchor_102_102"></a><a href="#Footnote_102_102" class="fnanchor">[102]</a> but still almost
-juvenile basso, Signor Badiali, indulge.<a name="vol_2_page_280" id="vol_2_page_280"></a> The artist takes a glass of
-particularly good claret, drinks it, and, while in the act of
-swallowing, sings a scale. The first time his execution is not quite
-perfect. He repeats the performance with a full glass, a loud voice, and
-without missing a note or a drop. To convince his friends that there is
-no deception, he offers to go through this refreshing species of
-vocalization a third time; after which, if the supply of wine on the
-table happens to be limited, and the servants gone to bed, the audience
-generally declares itself satisfied.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">MADAME GRISI.</div>
-
-<p>Giulia Grisi, the last of the celebrated Puritani quartett, first
-distinguished herself by her performance of the part of "Adalgisa," in
-<i>Norma</i>, when that opera was produced at Milan, in 1832. Giulia or
-Giulietta Grisi, is the younger sister of Giuditta Grisi, also a singer,
-but to whom Giulietta was superior in all respects; and she is the elder
-sister of Carlotta Grisi, who, from an ordinary vocalist, became, under
-the tuition of Perrot, the most charming dancer of her time. When Madame
-Grisi first appeared, lord Mount Edgcumbe having ceased himself to
-attend the opera, tells us that she possessed "a handsome person, sweet,
-yet powerful voice, considerable execution, and still more expression;"
-that "she is an excellent singer, and excellent actress;" in short, is
-described to be as nearly perfect as possible, and is almost a greater
-favorite than even Pasta or Malibran. In his <i>Pencillings by the Way</i>,
-Mr. N. P. Willis writes, after seeing Grisi, who had then first appeared
-at the King's Theatre,<a name="vol_2_page_281" id="vol_2_page_281"></a> in the year 1833; "she is young, very pretty,
-and an admirable actress&mdash;three great advantages to a singer; her voice
-is under absolute command, and she manages it beautifully; but it wants
-the infusion of soul&mdash;the gushing uncontrollable passionate feeling of
-Malibran. You merely feel that Grisi is an accomplished artist, while
-Malibran melts all your criticism into love and admiration. I am easily
-moved by music, but I come away without much enthusiasm for the present
-passion of London." The impression conveyed by Mr. N. P. Willis is not
-precisely that which I received from hearing Grisi fourteen or fifteen
-years afterwards, and up to her last season. Of late years, at least,
-Madame Grisi has shown herself above all "a passionate singer," though
-as "accomplished artists" superior to her, if not in force at least in
-delicacy of expression, she has, from the time of Madame Sontag to that
-of Madame Bosio, had plenty of superiors. It seems to us, in the present
-day, that the "incontrollable passionate feeling of Grisi," is just what
-we admire her for in "Norma," beyond doubt her best character; but it is
-none the less interesting, or perhaps the more interesting for that very
-reason, to know what a man of taste in poetry and the drama, and who had
-heard all the best singers of his time, thought of Madame Grisi at a
-period when her most striking qualifications may have been different
-from what they are now. She was at all events a great singer and actress
-then, in 1833, and is a great actress and singer now, in 1861&mdash;the year
-of her final retirement from the stage.<a name="vol_2_page_282" id="vol_2_page_282"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="CHAPTER_XIX" id="CHAPTER_XIX"></a>CHAPTER XIX.<br /><br />
-<small>ROSSINI&mdash;SPOHR&mdash;BEETHOVEN&mdash;WEBER AND HOFFMANN.</small></h2>
-
-<div class="sidenote">ROSSINI.</div>
-
-<p>B<small>ELLINI</small> and Donizetti were contemporaries of Rossini; so were Paisiello
-and Cimarosa; so are M. Verdi and M. Meyerbeer; but Rossini has outlived
-most of them, and will certainly outlive them all. It is now forty-eight
-years since <i>Tancredi</i>, forty-five since <i>Otello</i>, and forty-five since
-<i>Il Barbiere di Siviglia</i> were written. With the exception of Cimarosa's
-<i>Matrimonio Segretto</i>, which at long intervals may still occasionally be
-heard, the works of Rossini's Italian predecessors have been thrown into
-utter obscurity by the light of his superior genius. Let us make all due
-allowances for such change of taste as must result in music, as in all
-things, from the natural changeableness of the human disposition; still
-no variation has taken place in the estimation in which Rossini's works
-are held. It was to be expected that a musician of equal genius, coming
-after Paisiello and his compeers, young and vigorous, when they were old
-and exhausted, would in time completely eclipse them, even in respect to
-those works which they<a name="vol_2_page_283" id="vol_2_page_283"></a> had written in their best days; but the
-remarkable thing is, that Rossini so re-modelled Italian opera, and gave
-to the world so many admirable examples of his own new style, that to
-opera-goers of the last thirty years he may be said to be the most
-ancient of those Italian composers who are not absolutely forgotten. At
-the same time, after hearing <i>William Tell</i>, it is impossible to deny
-that Rossini is also the most modern of operatic composers. That is to
-say, that since <i>William Tell</i> was produced, upwards of thirty years
-ago, the art of writing dramatic music has not advanced a step. Other
-composers have written admirable operas during Rossini's time; but if no
-Italian <i>opera seria</i>, produced prior to <i>Otello</i>, can be compared to
-<i>Otello</i>; if no opera, subsequent to <i>William Tell</i>, can be ranked on a
-level with <i>William Tell</i>; if rivals have arisen, and Rossini's operas
-of five-and-forty years ago still continue to be admired and applauded;
-above all, if a singer,<a name="FNanchor_103_103" id="FNanchor_103_103"></a><a href="#Footnote_103_103" class="fnanchor">[103]</a> the favourite heroine of a composer<a name="FNanchor_104_104" id="FNanchor_104_104"></a><a href="#Footnote_104_104" class="fnanchor">[104]</a>
-who is so boastfully modern that he fancies he belongs to the next age,
-and who is nothing if not an innovator; if even this ultra modern
-heroine appears, when she wishes really to distinguish herself in a
-Rossinian opera of 1813;<a name="FNanchor_105_105" id="FNanchor_105_105"></a><a href="#Footnote_105_105" class="fnanchor">[105]</a> then it follows that of our actual
-operatic period, and dating from the early part of the present century,
-Rossini is simply the Alpha and the Omega. Undoubtedly his works are
-full of beauty, gaiety, life, and of much poetry of a positive,
-passionate<a name="vol_2_page_284" id="vol_2_page_284"></a> kind, but they are wanting in spiritualism, or rather they
-do not possess spirituality, and exhibit none of the poetry of romance.
-It would be difficult to say precisely in what the "romantic"
-consists;&mdash;and I am here reminded that several French writers have
-spoken of Rossini as a composer of the "romantic school," simply (as I
-imagine) because his works attained great popularity in France at the
-same time as those of Victor Hugo and his followers, and because he gave
-the same extension to the opera which the cultivators and naturalisers
-in France of the Shakspearian drama gave, <i>after</i> Rossini, to their
-plays.<a name="FNanchor_106_106" id="FNanchor_106_106"></a><a href="#Footnote_106_106" class="fnanchor">[106]</a> I may safely say, however, that with the "romantic," as an
-element of poetry, we always associate somewhat of melancholy and
-vagueness, and of dreaminess, if not of actual mystery. A bright
-passionate love-song of Rossini's is no more "romantic" than is a
-magnificent summer's day under an Italian sky; but Schubert's well known
-<i>Serenade</i> is essentially "romantic;" and Schubert, as well as Hoffmann,
-(a composer of whom I shall afterwards have a few words to say), is
-decidedly of the same school as Weber, who is again of the same school,
-or rather of the same class, as Schubert and Beethoven, in so far that
-not one of the three ever visited Italy, or was influenced, further than
-was absolutely inevitable, by Italian composers.<a name="vol_2_page_285" id="vol_2_page_285"></a></p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">SPOHR.</div>
-
-<p>As a romantic composer Weber may almost be said to stand alone. As a
-thoroughly German composer he belongs to the same class as Beethoven and
-Spohr. Spohr, greatly as his symphonies and chamber compositions are
-admired, has yet never established himself in public favour as an
-operatic composer&mdash;at least not in England, nor indeed anywhere out of
-Germany. I may add, that in Germany itself, the land above all others of
-scientific music, the works which keep possession of the stage are, for
-the most part, those which the public also love to applaud in other
-countries. The truth is, that the success of an opera is seldom in
-proportion to its abstract musical merit, just as the success of a drama
-does not depend, or depends but very little, on the manner in which it
-is written. We have seen plays by Browning, Taylor (I mean the author of
-Philip Von Artevelde), Leigh Hunt, and other most distinguished writers,
-prove failures; while dramas and comedies put together by actors and
-playwrights have met with great success. This success is not to be
-undervalued; all I mean to say is, that it is not necessarily gained by
-the best writers in the drama, or by the best composers in the opera;
-though the best composers and the best writers ought to take care to
-achieve it in every department in which they present themselves. In the
-meanwhile, Spohr's dramatic works, with all their beauties, have never
-taken root in this country; while even Beethoven's <i>Fidelio</i>, one of the
-greatest of operas, does not occupy any clearly marked space in<a name="vol_2_page_286" id="vol_2_page_286"></a> the
-history of opera; nor is it as an operatic composer that Beethoven has
-gained his immense celebrity.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BEETHOVEN.</div>
-
-<p>All London opera-goers remember Mademoiselle Sophie Cruvelli's admirable
-performance in <i>Fidelio</i>; and like Mademoiselle Cruvelli (or Cruwel),
-all the great German singers who have visited England&mdash;with the single
-exception of Mademoiselle Titiens&mdash;have some time or other played the
-part of the heroine in Beethoven's famous dramatic work: but <i>Fidelio</i>
-has never been translated into English or French,&mdash;has never been played
-by any thoroughly Italian company, and admired, as it must always be by
-musicians&mdash;nor has ever excited any great enthusiasm among the English
-public, except when it has been executed by an entire company of
-Germans,&mdash;the only people who can do justice to its magnificent
-choruses. It is a work apart in more than one sense, and it has not had
-that perceptible influence on the works which have succeeded it, either
-in Germany or in other countries, that has been exercised by Weber's
-operas in Germany, and by Rossini's everywhere. For full particulars
-respecting Beethoven and his three styles, and <i>Fidelio</i> and its three
-overtures, the reader may be referred to the works published at St.
-Petersburgh by M. Lenz in 1852 (<i>Beethoven et ses trois styles</i>), at
-Coblentz, by Dr. Wegeler and Ferdinand Ries in 1838, and at Munster, by
-Schindler (that friend of Beethoven's, who, according to the malicious
-Heine, wrote "<i>Ami de Beethoven</i>" on his card), in 1845. Schindler's
-book is the sourse of nearly<a name="vol_2_page_287" id="vol_2_page_287"></a> all the biographical particulars since
-published respecting Beethoven; that of M. Lenz is chiefly remarkable
-for the inflated nonsense it contains in the shape of criticism. Thus
-Beethoven's third style is said to be "<i>un jugement porté sur le cosmos
-humain, et non plus une participation Ă  ses impressions</i>,"&mdash;words which,
-I confess, I do not know how to render into intelligible English. His
-symphonies in general are "events of universal history rather than
-musical productions of more or less merit." Those who have read M.
-Lenz's extravagant production, will remember that he attacks here and
-there M. Oulibicheff, author of the "Life of Mozart," published at
-Moscow in 1844. M. Oulibicheff replied in a work devoted specially to
-Beethoven (and to M. Lenz), published at St. Petersburgh in 1854;<a name="FNanchor_107_107" id="FNanchor_107_107"></a><a href="#Footnote_107_107" class="fnanchor">[107]</a>
-in which he is said by our best critics not to have done full justice to
-Beethoven, though he well maintains his assertion; an assertion which
-appears to me quite unassailable, that the composer of <i>Don Juan</i>
-combined all the merits of all the schools which had preceded him. I
-have already endeavoured, in more<a name="vol_2_page_288" id="vol_2_page_288"></a> than one place, to impress this truth
-upon such of my readers as might not be sufficiently sensible of it, and
-moreover, that all the important operatic reforms attributed to the
-successors of Mozart, and especially to Rossini, belong to Mozart
-himself, who from his eminence dominates equally over the present and
-the past.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">BORROWED THEMES.</div>
-
-<p>Karl Maria von Weber has had a very different influence on the opera
-from that exercised by Beethoven and Spohr; and so much of his method of
-operatic composition as could easily be imitated has found abundance of
-imitators. Thus Weber's plan of taking the principal melodies for his
-overtures from the operas which they are to precede, has been very
-generally followed; so also has his system of introducing national airs,
-more or less modified, when his great object is to give to his work a
-national colour.<a name="FNanchor_108_108" id="FNanchor_108_108"></a><a href="#Footnote_108_108" class="fnanchor">[108]</a> This process, which produces admirable results in
-the hands of a composer of intelligence and taste, becomes, when adopted
-by inferior musicians, simply a convenient mode of plagiarism. Without
-for one moment ranking Rossini, Bellini, or Donizetti in the latter
-class, I may nevertheless observe, that the cavatina of <i>La Gazza Ladra</i>
-is founded on an air sung by the peasants of Sicily; that the melody of
-the trio in the <i>Barber of Seville</i> (<i>Zitti, Zitti</i>), is Simon's air in
-the <i>Seasons</i>, note for note;<a name="vol_2_page_289" id="vol_2_page_289"></a> that <i>Di tanti palpiti</i> was originally a
-Roman Catholic hymn; that the music of <i>La Sonnambula</i> is full of
-reminiscences of the popular music of Sicily; and that Donizetti has
-also had recourse to national airs for the tunes of his choruses in <i>La
-Favorite</i>. In the above instances, which might easily be multiplied the
-composers seem to me rather to have suited their own personal
-convenience, than to have aimed at giving any particular "colour" to
-their works. However that may be, I feel obliged to them for my part for
-having brought to light beautiful melodies, which but for them might
-have remained in obscurity, as I also do to Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven,
-and Mendelssohn, for the admirable use they also have occasionally made
-of popular themes. It appears to me, however, (to speak now of operatic
-composers alone) that there is a great difference between borrowing an
-air from an oratorio, a collection of national music, or any other
-source, simply because it happens to be beautiful, and doing so because
-it is appropriate to a particular personage or scene. We may not blame,
-but we cannot praise Rossini for taking a melody of Haydn's for his
-<i>Zitti, Zitti</i>, instead of inventing one for himself; nor was there any
-particular merit, except that of civility, in giving "Berta," in the
-same opera, a Russian air to sing, which Rossini had heard at the house
-of a Russian lady residing at Rome, for whom he had a certain
-admiration. But the <i>Ranz des Vaches</i>, introduced with such admirable
-effect into <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, where it is marvellously embellished, and
-yet loses<a name="vol_2_page_290" id="vol_2_page_290"></a> nothing of its original character; this <i>Ranz des Vaches</i> at
-once transports us amongst the Swiss mountains. So Luther's hymn is in
-its proper place in the <i>Huguenots</i>;<a name="FNanchor_109_109" id="FNanchor_109_109"></a><a href="#Footnote_109_109" class="fnanchor">[109]</a> so is the Persian air, made
-the subject of a chorus of Persian beauties by the Russian composer
-Glinka, in his <i>Rouslan e Loudmila</i>; so also is the Arabian march (first
-published by Niebuhr in his "Travels in Arabia"), played behind the
-scenes by the guards of the seraglio in <i>Oberon</i>, and the old Spanish
-romance employed as the foundation to the overture of <i>Preciosa</i>.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">WEBER.</div>
-
-<p>Weber had a fondness not only for certain instrumental combinations and
-harmonic effects, but also for particular instruments, such as the
-clarionet and the horn, and particular chords (which caused Beethoven to
-say that Weber's <i>Euryanthe</i> was a collection of diminished sevenths).
-There are certain rhythms too, which, if Weber did not absolutely
-invent, he has employed so happily, and has shown such a marked liking
-for them (not only in his operas, but also in his pianoforte
-compositions, and other instrumental works), that they may almost be
-said to belong to him. With regard to the orchestral portion of his
-operas generally, I may remark that Weber, though too high-souled a poet
-to fall into the error of direct imitation of external noises,<a name="vol_2_page_291" id="vol_2_page_291"></a> has yet
-been able to suggest most charmingly and poetically, such vague natural
-sounds as the rustling of the leaves of the forest, and the murmuring of
-the waves of the sea. Finally, to speak of what defies analysis, but to
-assert what every one who has listened to Weber's music will I think
-admit, his music is full of that ideality and spirituality which in
-literature is regarded in the present day, if not as the absolute
-essence of poetry, at least, as one of its most essential elements. Read
-Weber's life, study his letters, listen again and again to his music,
-and you will find that he was a conscientious, dutiful, religious man,
-with a thoroughly musical organization, great imaginative powers,
-inexhaustible tenderness, and a deep, intuitive appreciation of all that
-is most beautiful in popular legends. He was an artist of the highest
-order, and with him art was truly a religion. He believed in its
-ennobling effect, and that it was to be used only for ennobling
-purposes. Thus, to have departed from the poetic exigencies of a subject
-to gratify the caprice of a singer, or to attain the momentary applause
-of the public would, to Weber, with the faith he held, have been a
-heresy and a crime.</p>
-
-<p>Weber has not precisely founded a school, but his influence is
-perceptible in some of the works of Mendelssohn, (as, for instance, in
-the overture to a <i>Midsummer Night's Dream</i>) and in many portions of
-Meyerbeer's operas, especially in the fantastic music of <i>Robert le
-Diable</i>, and in certain passages of <i>Dinorah</i>&mdash;a legend which Weber
-himself would have loved to treat. Meyerbeer is said to have borrowed<a name="vol_2_page_292" id="vol_2_page_292"></a>
-many of his instrumental combinations from Weber; but in speaking of the
-points of resemblance between the two composers, I was thinking not of
-details of style, but of the general influence of Weber's thought and
-manner. If Auber is indebted to Weber it is simply for the idea of
-making the overture out of the airs of an opera, and of colouring the
-melodic portion by the introduction of national airs. Only while Weber
-gives to his operas a becoming national or poetic colour throughout, the
-musical tints in M. Auber's dramatic works are often by no means in
-harmony. The Italian airs in <i>La Muette</i> are appropriate enough, and the
-whole of that work is in good keeping; but in the <i>Domino Noir</i>,
-charming opera as it is, no one can help noticing that Spanish songs,
-and songs essentially French, follow one another in the most abrupt
-manner. As nothing can be more Spanish than the second movement of
-"Angèle's" scene (in the third act) so nothing can be more French, more
-Parisian, more vaudevillistic than the first.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DER FREISCHĂśTZ.</div>
-
-<p>But to return to Weber and his operas. <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, decidedly the
-most important of all Weber's works, and which expresses in a more
-remarkable manner than any other of his dramatic productions the natural
-bent of his genius, was performed for the first time at Berlin in 1821.
-<i>Euryanthe</i> was produced at Vienna in 1823, and <i>Oberon</i> at London in
-1826. <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> is certainly the most perfect German opera that
-exists; not that it is a superior work to <i>Don Giovanni</i>, but that <i>Don
-Giovanni</i> is less a German than a universal opera; whereas <i>Der
-FreischĂĽtz</i><a name="vol_2_page_293" id="vol_2_page_293"></a> is essentially of Germany, by its subject, by the
-physiognomy of the personages introduced, and by the general character
-of the music. There is this resemblance, however, between <i>Don Giovanni</i>
-and <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>: that in each the composer had met with a libretto
-peculiarly suited to his genius&mdash;the librettist having first conceived
-the plan of the opera, and having long carried its germ in his mind.
-Lorenzo da Ponte, in his memoirs (of which an interesting account was
-published some years ago by M. Scudo, the accomplished critic of the
-<i>Revue des Deux Mondes</i>) states, that he had long thought of Don Juan as
-an admirable subject for an opera, of which he felt the poetic
-truthfulness only too well, from reflecting on his own career; and that
-he suggested it to Mozart, not only because he appreciated that
-composer's high dramatic genius, but also because he had studied his
-mental and moral nature; and saw, from his simplicity, his loftiness of
-character, and his reverential, religious disposition, that he would do
-full justice to the marvellous legend. Frederic Kind has also published
-a little volume ("Der FreischĂĽtz-Buch"), in which he explains how the
-circumstances of his life led him to meditate from an early age on such
-legends as that which Weber has treated in his master-piece. When Weber
-was introduced to Kind, he was known as the director of the Opera at
-Prague, and also, and above all, as the composer of numerous popular and
-patriotic choruses, which were sung by all Germany during the national
-war of 1813. He had not at this time produced any opera;<a name="vol_2_page_294" id="vol_2_page_294"></a> nor had Kind,
-a poet of some reputation, ever written the libretto of one. Kind was
-unwilling at first to attempt a style in which he did not feel at all
-sure of success. One day, however, taking up a book, he said to Weber:
-"There ought to be some thing here that would suit us, and especially
-you, who have already treated popular subjects." He at the same time
-handed to the musician a collection of legends, directing his attention
-in particular to Apel's FreischĂĽtz. Weber, who already knew the story,
-was delighted with the suggestion. "Divine! divine!" he exclaimed with
-enthusiasm; and the poet at once commenced his libretto.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DER FREISCHĂśTZ.</div>
-
-<p>No great work ever obtained a more complete and immediate triumph than
-<i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>; and within a few years of its production at Berlin it
-was translated and re-produced in all the principal capitals of Europe.
-It was played at London in English, at Paris in French, and at both
-cities in German. In London it became so popular, that at the height of
-its first success a gentleman, in advertising for a servant, is said to
-have found it necessary to stipulate that he should <i>not</i> be able to
-whistle the airs from <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>. In Paris, its fate was curious,
-and in some respects almost inexplicable. It was brought out in 1824 at
-the Odéon, in its original form, and was hissed. Whether the intelligent
-French audience objected to the undeniable improbability of the chief
-incidents in the drama, or whether the originality of the music offended
-their unprepared ears, or whatever may have been the cause, Weber's<a name="vol_2_page_295" id="vol_2_page_295"></a>
-master-piece was damned. Its translator, M. Castil Blaze, withdrew it,
-but determined to offer it to the critical public of the Odéon in
-another form. He did not hesitate to remodel <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, changing
-the order of the pieces, cutting out such beauties as the French thought
-laughable, interpolating here and there such compositions of his own as
-he thought would please them, and finally presenting them this
-remarkable medley (which, however, still consisted mainly of airs and
-choruses by Weber) nine days after the failure of <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>,
-under the title of <i>Robin des Bois</i>. The opera, as decomposed and
-recomposed by M. Castil Blaze, was so successful, that it was
-represented three hundred and fifty-seven times at the Odéon. Moreover,
-it had already been played sixty times at the Opéra Comique, when the
-French Dramatic Authors' Society interfered to prevent its further
-representation at that theatre, on the ground that it had not been
-specially written for it. M. Castil Blaze, in the version he has himself
-published of this curious affair, tells us, that his first version of
-<i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, in which his "respect for the work and the author had
-prevented him from making the least change" was "<i>sifflé</i>, <i>meurtri</i>,
-<i>bafoué</i>, <i>navré</i>, <i>moqué</i>, <i>conspué</i>, <i>turlupiné</i>, <i>hué</i>, <i>vilipendié</i>,
-<i>terrassé</i>, <i>déchiré</i>, <i>lacéré</i>, <i>cruellement enfoncé</i>, <i>jusqu'au
-troisiéme dessous</i>." This, and the after success of his modified
-version, justified him, he thinks, in depriving Weber's work of all its
-poetry, and reducing it to the level of the comprehension of a French
-musical audience in the year 1824.</p>
-
-<p>Strangely enough, when Berlioz's version of <i>Der<a name="vol_2_page_296" id="vol_2_page_296"></a> FreischĂĽtz</i> was
-produced at the Académie in 1841, it met with scarcely more success than
-had been obtained by <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> in its original musical form at
-the Odéon. The recitatives added by M. Berlioz, if not objectionable in
-themselves, are at least to be condemned in so far that they are not
-Weber's, that they prolong the music beyond Weber's intentions, and,
-above all, that they change the entire character of the work. I cannot
-think, after Meyerbeer's <i>Dinorah</i>, that recitative is an inappropriate
-language in the mouths of peasants. Recitative of an heroic character,
-would be so, no doubt; but not such as a composer of genius, or even of
-taste or talent, would write for them. Nevertheless, Weber conceived his
-master-piece as a species of melodrama, in which the personages were now
-to sing, now to speak, "through the music," (to adopt an expressive
-theatrical phrase), now to speak without any musical accompaniment at
-all. If, at a theatre devoted exclusively to the performance of grand
-opera, it is absolutely necessary to replace the spoken dialogue by
-recitative, then this dialogue should, at least, be so compressed as to
-reduce the amount of added recitative to a minimum quantity. <i>Der
-FreischĂĽtz</i>, however, will always be heard to the greatest advantage in
-the form in which it was originally produced. The pauses between the
-pieces of music have, it must be remembered, been all premeditated, and
-their effect taken into account by the composer.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">DER FREISCHĂśTZ.</div>
-
-<p>But the transformations of <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> are not yet at an end. Six
-years ago M. Castil Blaze re-arranged<a name="vol_2_page_297" id="vol_2_page_297"></a> his <i>Robin des Bois</i> once more,
-restored what he had previously cut out, cut out what he had himself
-added to Weber's music, and produced his version, No. 3 (which must have
-differed very little, if at all, from his unfortunate version, No. 1),
-at the Théâtre Lyrique.</p>
-
-<p>Every season, too, it is rumoured that <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> is to be
-produced at one of the Italian theatres of London, with Mademoiselle
-Titiens or Madame Csillag in the principal part. When managers are tired
-of tiring the public with perpetual variations between Verdi and
-Meyerbeer, (to whose monstrously long operas my sole but sufficient
-objection is, that there is too much of them, and&mdash;with the exception of
-the charming <i>Dinorah</i>&mdash;that they are stuffed full of ballets,
-processions, and other pretexts for unnecessary scenic display), then we
-shall assuredly have an opportunity of hearing once more in England the
-masterpiece of the chief of all the composers of the romantic and
-legendary school. In such a case, who will supply the necessary
-recitatives? Those of M. Berlioz have been tried, and found wanting. Mr.
-Costa's were not a whit more satisfactory. M. Alary, the mutilator of
-<i>Don Giovanni</i>, would surely not be encouraged to try his hand on
-Weber's masterpiece? Meyerbeer, between whose genius and that of Weber,
-considerable affinity exists, is, perhaps, the only composer of the
-present day whom it would be worth while to ask to write recitatives for
-<i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>. The additions would have to be made with great
-discretion, so as not to encumber the opera; but who<a name="vol_2_page_298" id="vol_2_page_298"></a> would venture to
-give a word of advice, if the work were undertaken by M. Meyerbeer?</p>
-
-<p>Weber's <i>Preciosa</i> was produced at Berlin in 1820, a year before <i>Der
-FreischĂĽtz</i>, which latter opera appears to have occupied its composer
-four years&mdash;undoubtedly the four years best spent of all his artistic
-life. The libretto of <i>Preciosa</i> is founded on Cervantes' <i>Gipsy of
-Madrid</i>, (of which M. Louis Viardot has published an excellent French
-translation); and here Weber, faithful to his system has given abundant
-"colour" to his work, in which the Spanish romance introduced into the
-overture, and the Gipsies' march are, with the waltz (which may be said
-to be in Weber's personal style), the most striking and characteristic
-pieces.</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">EURYANTHE.</div>
-
-<p><i>Euryanthe</i> was written for Vienna, where it was represented for the
-first time in 1823, the part of "Euryanthe" being filled by Mademoiselle
-Sontag, that of "Adolar," by Heitzinger. The libretto of this opera,
-composed by a lady, Madame Wilhelmine de Chézy is by no means
-interesting, and the dulness of the poem, though certainly not
-communicated to the music, has caused the latter to suffer from the mere
-fact of being attached to it. <i>Euryanthe</i> was received coldly by the
-public of Vienna, and was called by its wits&mdash;professors of the
-"<i>calembourg d'à-peu-près</i>"&mdash;<i>Ennuyante</i>. If such facetiousness as this
-was thought enlivening, it is easy to understand how Weber's music was
-considered the reverse. I have already mentioned Beethoven's remark
-about <i>Euryanthe</i> being "a collection of diminished sevenths." Weber was
-naturally<a name="vol_2_page_299" id="vol_2_page_299"></a> not enchanted with this observation; indeed it is said to
-have pained him exceedingly, and some days after the first production of
-<i>Euryanthe</i> he paid a visit to Beethoven, in order to submit the score
-to his judgment. Beethoven received him kindly, but said to him, with a
-certain roughness which was habitual to him: "You should have come to me
-before the representation, not afterwards...." Nevertheless," he added,
-"I advise you to treat <i>Euryanthe</i> as I did <i>Fidelio</i>; that is to say,
-cut out a third."</p>
-
-<p><i>Euryanthe</i>, however, soon met with the success it deserved, not only at
-Berlin, Dresden, and Leipzig, but at Vienna itself, where the part
-created by Mademoiselle Sontag was performed in 1825 by Madame
-Schrœder-Devrient, in a manner which excited general enthusiasm. The
-passionate duet between "Adolar" and "Euryanthe," in the second act, as
-sung by Heitzinger and Madame Schrœder, would alone have sufficed to
-attract the public of Vienna to Weber's opera, now that it was revived.</p>
-
-<p><i>Oberon</i>, Weber's last opera, was composed for Covent Garden Theatre, in
-1826. Some ingenious depreciators of English taste have discovered that
-Weber died from grief, caused by the coldness with which this work was
-received by the London public. With regard to this subject, I cannot do
-better than quote the excellent remarks of M. Scudo. After mentioning
-that <i>Oberon</i> was received with enthusiasm on its first production at
-Covent Garden&mdash;that it was "appreciated by those who were worthy of
-comprehending it"&mdash;and that an English musical journal, the<a name="vol_2_page_300" id="vol_2_page_300"></a>
-<i>Harmonicon</i>, "published a remarkable article, in which all the beauties
-of the score were brought out with great taste," he observes that "it is
-impossible to quote an instance of a great man in literature, or in the
-arts, whose merit was entirely overlooked by his contemporaries;" while,
-"as for the death of Weber, it may be explained by fatigue, by grief,
-without doubt, but, above all, by an organic disease, from which he had
-suffered for years." At the same time "the enthusiasm exhibited by the
-public, at the first representation of <i>Oberon</i>, did not keep at the
-same height at the following representations. The master-piece of the
-German composer experienced much the same fate as <i>William Tell</i> in
-Paris."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">OBERON.</div>
-
-<p>Weber himself, in a letter written to his wife, on the very night of the
-first performance, says:&mdash;"My dear Lina; thanks to God and to his all
-powerful will, I obtained this evening the greatest success in my life.
-The emotion produced in my breast by such a triumph, is more than I can
-describe. To God alone belongs the glory. When I entered the orchestra,
-the house, crammed to the roof, burst into a frenzy of applause. Hats
-and handkerchiefs were waved in the air. The overture had to be executed
-twice, as had also several of the pieces in the opera itself. The air
-which Braham sings in the first act was encored; so was Fatima's
-romance, and a quartett in the second act. The public even wished to
-hear the finale over again. In the third act, Fatima's ballad was
-re-demanded. At the end of the representation I was called on to the
-stage by the enthusiastic<a name="vol_2_page_301" id="vol_2_page_301"></a> acclamations of the public, an honour which
-no composer had ever before obtained in England. All went excellently,
-and every one around me was happy."</p>
-
-<p>In spite of the enthusiasm inspired by Weber's works in England, when
-they were first produced, and for some years afterwards, we have now but
-rarely an opportunity of hearing one of them. <i>Oberon</i>, it is true, was
-brought out at Her Majesty's Theatre at the end of last season, when,
-not being able to achieve miracles, it did not save the manager from
-bankruptcy; but the existence of Weber's other works seems to be
-forgotten by our directors, English as well as Italian, though from time
-to time a rumour goes about, which proves to be a rumour and nothing
-more, that <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> is to be performed by one of our Italian
-companies. In the meanwhile Weber has found an abundance of appreciation
-in France, where, at the ably and artistically-conducted Théâtre
-Lyrique, <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, <i>Oberon</i>, <i>Euryanthe</i> and <i>Preciosa</i> have all
-been brought out, and performed with remarkable success during the last
-few years.</p>
-
-<p>A composer, whose works present many points of analogy with those of
-Weber, and which therefore belong essentially to the German romantic
-school, is Hoffmann&mdash;far better known by his tales than by his
-<i>Miserere</i>, his <i>Requiem</i>, his airs and choruses for Werner's <i>Crusade
-of the Baltic</i>, or his operas of <i>Love and Jealousy</i>, the <i>Canon of
-Milan</i>, or <i>Undine</i>. This last production has always been regarded as
-his master-piece. Indeed, with <i>Undine</i>, Hoffmann obtained his one great
-musical success; and it is easy to<a name="vol_2_page_302" id="vol_2_page_302"></a> account for the marked favour with
-which that work was received in Germany. In the first place the
-fantastic nature of the subject was eminently suited to the peculiar
-genius of the composer. Then he possessed the advantage of having an
-excellent <i>libretto</i>, written by Lamotte-Fouqué, the author of the
-original tale; and, finally, the opera was admirably executed at the
-Royal Theatre of Berlin. Probably not one of my readers has heard
-Hoffmann's <i>Undine</i>, which was brought out in 1817, and I believe was
-never revived, though much of the music, for a time, enjoyed
-considerable popularity, and the composition, as a whole, was warmly and
-publicly praised by no less a personage than Karl Maria von Weber
-himself. On the other hand, <i>Undine</i>, and Hoffmann's music generally,
-have been condemned by Sir Walter Scott, who is reported not to have
-been able to distinguish one melody from another, though he had, of
-course, a profound admiration for Scotch ballads of all kinds. M. FĂ©tis,
-too, after informing us that Hoffmann "gave music lessons, painted
-enormous pictures, and wrote <i>licentious novels</i> (where are Hoffmann's
-licentious novels?) without succeeding in making himself remarked in any
-style," goes on to assure us, without ever having heard <i>Undine</i>, that
-although there were "certain parts" in which genius was evinced, yet
-"want of connexion, of conformity, of conception, and of plan, might be
-observed throughout;" and that "the judgment of the best critics was,
-that such a work could not be classed among those compositions which
-mark an epoch in art."</p>
-
-<div class="sidenote">HOFFMANN'S UNDINE.</div>
-
-<p>Weber had studied criticism less perhaps than<a name="vol_2_page_303" id="vol_2_page_303"></a> M. FĂ©tis; but he knew
-more about creativeness, and in an article on the opera of <i>Undine</i>, so
-far from complaining of any "want of connexion, of conformity, of
-conception, and of plan," the author of <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i> says: "This
-work seems really to have been composed at one inspiration, and I do not
-remember, after hearing it several times, that any passage ever recalled
-me for a single minute from the circle of magic images that the artist
-evoked in my soul. Yes, from the beginning to the end, the author
-sustains the interest so powerfully, by the musical development of his
-theme, that after but a single hearing one really seizes the <i>ensemble</i>
-of the work; and detail disappears in the <i>naïveté</i> and modesty of his
-art. With rare renunciation, such as can be appreciated only by him who
-knows what it costs to sacrifice the triumph of a momentary success, M.
-Hoffmann has disdained to enrich some pieces at the expense of others,
-which it is so easy to do by giving them an importance, which does not
-belong to them as members of the entire work. The composer always
-advances, visibly guided by this one aspiration&mdash;to be always truthful,
-and keep up the dramatic action without ceasing, instead of checking or
-fettering it in its rapid progress. Diverse and strongly marked as are
-the characters of the different personages, there is, nevertheless,
-something which surrounds them all; it is that fabulous life, full of
-phantoms, and those soft whisperings of terror, which belong so
-peculiarly to the fantastic. KĂĽhleborn is the character most strikingly
-put in relief, both by the choice of the melodies, and by the<a name="vol_2_page_304" id="vol_2_page_304"></a>
-instrumentation which, never leaving him, always announces his sinister
-approach.<a name="FNanchor_110_110" id="FNanchor_110_110"></a><a href="#Footnote_110_110" class="fnanchor">[110]</a> This is quite right, KĂĽhleborn appearing, if not as
-destiny itself, at least as its appointed instrument. After him comes
-<i>Undine</i>, the charming daughter of the waves, which, made sonorous, now
-murmur and break in harmonious roulades, now powerful and commanding,
-announce her power. The 'arietta' of the second act, treated with rare
-and subtle grace, seems to me a thorough success, and to render the
-character perfectly. 'Hildebrand,' so passionate, yet full of
-hesitation, and allowing himself to be carried away by each amorous
-desire, and the pious and simple priest, with his grave choral melody,
-are the next in importance. In the back-ground are Bertalda, the
-fisherman, and his wife, and the duke and duchess. The strains sung by
-the suite of the latter breathe a joyous, animated life, and are
-developed with admirable gaiety; thus forming a contrast with the sombre
-choruses of the spirits of the earth and water, which are full of harsh,
-strange progressions. The end of the opera, in which the composer
-displays, as if to crown his work, all his abundance of harmony in the
-double chorus in eight parts, appears to me grandly conceived and
-perfectly rendered. He has expressed the words&mdash;'good night to all the
-cares and to all the magnificence of the earth'&mdash;with true loftiness,
-and with a soft melancholy, which, in spite of the tragic conclusion of
-the piece, leaves behind a<a name="vol_2_page_305" id="vol_2_page_305"></a> delicious impression of calm and
-consolation. The overture and the final chorus which enclose the work
-here give one another the hand. The former, which evokes and opens the
-world of wonders, commences softly, goes on increasing, then bursts
-forth with passion; the latter is introduced without brusqueness, but
-mixes up with the action, and calms and satisfies it completely. The
-entire work is one of the most <i>spiritual</i> that these latter times have
-given us. It is the result of the most perfect and intimate
-comprehension of the subject, completed by a series of ideas profoundly
-reflected upon, and by the intelligent use of all the material resources
-of art; the whole rendered into a magnificent work by beautiful and
-admirably developed melodies."</p>
-
-<p>M. Berlioz has said of Hoffmann's music, adding, however, that he had
-not heard a note of it, that it was "<i>de la musique de littérateur</i>." M.
-FĂ©tis, having heard about as much of it, has said a great deal more;
-but, after what has been written concerning Hoffmann's principal opera
-by such a master and judge as Karl Maria von Weber, neither the opinion
-of M. FĂ©tis, nor of M. Berlioz, can be of any value on the subject. The
-merit of Hoffmann's music has probably been denied, because the world is
-not inclined to believe that the same man can be a great writer and also
-a great musician. Perhaps it is this perversity of human nature that
-makes us disposed to hold M. Berlioz in so little esteem as an author;
-and I have no doubt that there are many who would be equally unwilling
-to allow M. FĂ©tis any tolerable rank as a composer.<a name="vol_2_page_306" id="vol_2_page_306"></a></p>
-
-<h2><a name="INDEX" id="INDEX"></a>INDEX,<br /><br />
-<small>HISTORICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL.</small></h2>
-
-<p class="cb"><a href="#A">A</a>,
-<a href="#B">B</a>,
-<a href="#C">C</a>,
-<a href="#D">D</a>,
-<a href="#E">E</a>,
-<a href="#F">F</a>,
-<a href="#G">G</a>,
-<a href="#H">H</a>,
-<a href="#I">I</a>,
-<a href="#J">J</a>,
-<a href="#K">K</a>,
-<a href="#L">L</a>,
-<a href="#M">M</a>,
-<a href="#N">N</a>,
-<a href="#O">O</a>,
-<a href="#P">P</a>,
-<a href="#Q">Q</a>,
-<a href="#R">R</a>,
-<a href="#S">S</a>,
-<a href="#T">T</a>,
-<a href="#U">U</a>,
-<a href="#V">V</a>,
-<a href="#W">W</a>,
-<a href="#Z">Z</a></p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="nind">
-<span class="letra"><a name="A" id="A"></a>A.</span><br />
-Abbaye of Longchamp, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>.<br />
-Academiciens, of the Paris opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_047">47</a>.<br />
-Académie Royale de Musique, of Paris, numerous works produced at the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its institution, <a href="#vol_1_page_015">15</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its system of conscription, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">privileges of its members, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its state of morality, <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its absurd privileges, <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_087">87</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its chief singers, <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">operatic disturbances at the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_036">36-38</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destroyed by fire, <a href="#vol_2_page_041">41</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">management and proceedings of the, <a href="#vol_2_page_055">55</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">prices for private boxes, <a href="#vol_2_page_056">56</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effect of the French Revolution on the, <a href="#vol_2_page_056">56</a> <i>et seq</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its changes of name, <a href="#vol_2_page_057">57</a>, 194 note;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Opera National substituted, <a href="#vol_2_page_059">59</a>. (See O<small>PERA</small>).</span><br />
-Academy of Music (See <span class="smcap">Royal Academy of Music</span>).<br />
-"Actor's Remonstrance," a tract,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>.<br />
-Actresses, their prodigality under the French regency,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_083">83</a>.<br />
-Addison, Joseph, on the Italian Opera in England,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_053">53-58</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the justness of his views on operatic representations, <a href="#vol_1_page_062">62</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his satirical remarks on the French Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_066">66</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the Italian Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his critique on Nicolini and the lion, <a href="#vol_1_page_118">118-122</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his humorous critique on "Rinaldo" and the operatic sparrows, <a href="#vol_1_page_123">123-126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his unfavourable opinion of Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his critique on Milton, <a href="#vol_1_page_128">128</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_307" id="vol_2_page_307"></a></span><br />
-Aguiari, Lucrezia, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_188">188</a>.<br />
-Albert, the French dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_111">111</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Alboni, Madame, the Italian vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_162">162</a>.<br />
-Algarotti's work on the Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>.<br />
-<i>Almahide</i>, opera of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_117">117</a>.<br />
-<i>Ambleto</i>, opera of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_127">127</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_128">128</a>.<br />
-Ambrogetti, the celebrated baritone,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first performer
-of <i>Giovanni</i> in London,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Anna Bolena</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_232">232</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the author's master-piece, <a href="#vol_2_page_233">233</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Antiochus</i>, opera of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_127">127</a>.<br />
-Antoine de Baif, privileged to establish an Academy of Music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_015">15</a>.<br />
-Antony Ă  Wood, on the operatic drama,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_037">37</a>.<br />
-Arbuthnot, Dr., on the failure of Italian operas,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_148">148</a>.<br />
-Archilei, the celebrated singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>.<br />
-Arnauld, Abbé, his passionate exclamation,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_064">64</a>.<br />
-Arnaud, Abbe, an admirer of Gluck,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_287">287</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_288">288</a>.<br />
-Arnould, Sophie, the celebrated singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_226">226</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her talents, wit, and beauty, <a href="#vol_1_page_226">226-230</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#vol_1_page_231">231</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_035">35</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accused of aristocratic sympathies, <a href="#vol_2_page_070">70</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">pensioned by Fouché, <a href="#vol_2_page_079">79</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Arsinoe</i>, opera of, played by Mrs. Tofts,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_107">107</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critique on the play, <a href="#vol_1_page_108">108</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_109">109</a>.</span><br />
-Atto, the Italian tenor,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_183">183</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_184">184</a>.<br />
-Auber, his opera of <i>Masaniello</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the follower of Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Gustave III.</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_219">219</a>.</span><br />
-Authors, regulations for their admission to the opera of Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_080">80</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_308" id="vol_2_page_308"></a><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="B" id="B"></a>B.</span><br />
-B flat, of Rubini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_267">267</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_268">268</a>.<br />
-Badiali, Signor, his curious performance with a drinking glass,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_278">278</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_279">279</a>.<br />
-Balfe's libretti, founded on French pieces,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_214">214</a>.<br />
-Ball, Hughes, marries Mercandotti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_120">120</a>.<br />
-Ballet, introduction and progress of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_070">70</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lulli's great attention to the, <a href="#vol_1_page_072">72</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">propriety of its following the Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_251">251</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great attention paid to it by the Italians, <a href="#vol_1_page_251">251</a>.</span><br />
-Ballet d'Action, invented by the Duchess du Maine,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">soon afterwards imported into England, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">never naturalised in this country, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>.</span><br />
-Ballet-dancers, important persons in France previous to the Revolution,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_053">53</a>.<br />
-Ballets, origin of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_018">18</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the most brilliant part of the Open at Paris, <a href="#vol_1_page_258">258</a>.</span><br />
-Balon, the ballet-dancer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>.<br />
-Banti Mdlle., the celebrated vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_010">10</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_010">10-12</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Barber of Seville</i>, by Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_144">144</a> <i>et seq.</i><br />
-<i>Bardi</i>, G., Count of Vernio, musical assemblies of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>.<br />
-Baroni, the celebrated singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>.<br />
-Barwick, Ann, her arrest for creating a disturbance,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_105">105</a>.<br />
-Bassi, the baritone singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_105">105</a>.<br />
-Bastille, taking of the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_054">54</a>.<br />
-<i>Beatrice di Tenda</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_252">252</a>.<br />
-Beaujoyeux's <i>Ballet Comique de la Royne</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_071">71</a>.<br />
-Beaumarchais, the musical composer, his bon-mot on operatic music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_053">53</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">refuses letters of nobility, <a href="#vol_1_page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the court music-master, <a href="#vol_1_page_291">291</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music-master to the daughters of Louis XV.,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_039">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#vol_2_page_039">39</a>.</span><br />
-Beaupré, the comic dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_068">68</a>.<br />
-Beethoven, the German composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_221">221</a>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_285">285</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_286">286</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accepts fifty ducats in preference to the cross of some order,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Fidelio</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_286">286</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his three styles, <a href="#vol_2_page_286">286</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critiques on his works, <a href="#vol_2_page_286">286</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_287">287</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his advice to Weber, <a href="#vol_2_page_299">299</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_309" id="vol_2_page_309"></a></span><br />
-<i>Beggar's Opera</i>, the touchstone of English taste,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_148">148</a>.<br />
-Belissent, M. de, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_262">262</a>.<br />
-Bellini, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Sonnambula</i> grounded upon <i>Le Philtre</i> and <i>La Somnambule</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_247">247</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his various productions, <a href="#vol_2_page_249">249-253</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>I Puritani</i> his last opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_253">253</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_2_page_254">254</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sorrow caused thereby, <a href="#vol_2_page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from his father on his lamented death, <a href="#vol_2_page_256">256</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Donizetti, <a href="#vol_2_page_257">257</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his singers, <a href="#vol_2_page_259">259</a>.</span><br />
-Beneditti, Signor, performer at the Opera in 1720,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_159">159</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his capricious temper, <a href="#vol_1_page_160">160</a>.</span><br />
-Benini, Madame, <i>the altra prima donna</i>, goes to Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her exquisite voice, <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>.</span><br />
-Beranger, on the decline of the drama,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>.<br />
-Bergamo, theatre at,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_265">265</a>.<br />
-Berlioz's version of <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_296">296</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinion of Hoffmann's music, <a href="#vol_2_page_306">306</a>.</span><br />
-Bernacchi, Signor, the Italian singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>.<br />
-Bernadotte, at Udine,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_091">91</a>.<br />
-Bernard, S., the court banker of Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_092">92</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his munificence to actresses, <a href="#vol_1_page_092">92</a>.</span><br />
-Bernardi. (See S<small>ENESINO</small>.)<br />
-Bernier, the musical composer, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_085">85</a>.<br />
-Bernino, the scenic painter and decorator,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_179">179</a>.<br />
-Berri, duke de, assassinated,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_190">190</a>.<br />
-Bertatti's <i>Matrimonio Segretto</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_097">97</a>.<br />
-Bertin, E., the French critic,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_158">158</a>.<br />
-Bertoldi, Signora, the Italian singer and actress,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>.<br />
-Berton, manager of the Paris Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_291">291</a>.<br />
-<i>Bianca e Fernando</i> of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_249">249</a>.<br />
-Bias, the French dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Bigottini, the French dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_111">111</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Bilboquet, humorous anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_188">188</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_190">190</a>.<br />
-Billington, Mrs., the operatic singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_012">12</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her performance, <a href="#vol_2_page_013">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the first class of singers, <a href="#vol_2_page_028">28</a>.</span><br />
-Blaze, M. Castil, historian of the French Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_301">301</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the removal of the Opera near the National Library,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_071">71</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his published description of Mddle. Sallé's performances, <a href="#vol_2_page_093">93-96</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_099">99</a>;<a name="vol_2_page_310" id="vol_2_page_310"></a></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his adaptation of Weber's <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_297">297</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Bohemian Girl</i>, not original,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sources whence taken, <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>.</span><br />
-Boisgerard, M., ballet-master and negociator of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_110">110</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_111">111</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his daring exploit in liberating Sir Sidney Smith from the Temple,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_117">117</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_118">118</a>.</span><br />
-Bolton, Duke of, marries Miss Lavinia Fenton,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_138">138</a>.<br />
-Bonaparte, Napoleon, introduced to Mddle. Montansier,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_074">74</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">grants her an indemnity, <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">natural effect of his campaigns in Italy to create a taste for Italian music,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_079">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his prompt engagement and liberal offers to Madame Paer and M. Brizzi,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_080">80</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_081">81</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rewards Paisiello, <a href="#vol_2_page_082">82</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plots for assassinating, <a href="#vol_2_page_179">179</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a good friend to the Opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_193">193</a>.</span><br />
-Bontempi's account of Masocci's school of singing,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_184">184</a>.<br />
-Borrowed Themes,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_289">289</a>.<br />
-Bouillon, Duke de, his great expenditure,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_051">51</a>.<br />
-Bourdon, Leonard, the republican dramatist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_067">67</a>.<br />
-Braham, the distinguished operatic singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_014">14</a>.<br />
-Brambilla, Mdlle., biographical notices of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_173">173</a>.<br />
-Brevets, granted by the French court for admission to the Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_048">48</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">evils resulting therefrom, <a href="#vol_2_page_048">48</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not required of the fishwomen and charcoal-men of Paris, who were always present at the Opera on certain fetes, <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>.</span><br />
-Brizzi, M., the vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_080">80</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engaged by Bonaparte, <a href="#vol_2_page_080">80</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_081">81</a>.</span><br />
-Broschi, Carlo. (See F<small>ARINELLI</small>.)<br />
-Brydone's anecdote of Gabrielli, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_195">195</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_197">197</a>.<br />
-Bull, Dr. J., the national anthem attributed to,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_165">165</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_166">166</a>.<br />
-Buononcini, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_109">109</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first opera produced in 1720, <a href="#vol_1_page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Griselda</i> in 1722, <a href="#vol_1_page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his last opera of <i>Astyanax</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his piracy and disgrace, <a href="#vol_1_page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his continental career and death, <a href="#vol_1_page_147">147</a>.</span><br />
-Buret, Mddle., execution of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Burlington, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_153">153</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_311" id="vol_2_page_311"></a><br />
-Burney, Dr., at Vienna,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_198">198</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Berlin, <a href="#vol_1_page_199">199</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="C" id="C"></a>C.</span><br />
-Caccini, the Italian musician,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composer of the music to <i>Dafne</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>.</span><br />
-Caccini, Francesca, daughter of the composer Caccini,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>.<br />
-Caffarelli, the singer, biographical notices of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_191">191</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his quarrel with Metastasio, <a href="#vol_1_page_192">192</a>.</span><br />
-Caldus, his unfortunate speculation in the Pantheon,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_125">125</a>.<br />
-Calsabigi, the librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>.<br />
-Camargo, Mdlle., the celebrated French danseuse,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_089">89</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her exquisite skill, <a href="#vol_1_page_090">90</a>.</span><br />
-Cambert, his French opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_015">15</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">driven to London, <a href="#vol_1_page_016">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his arrival in London, <a href="#vol_1_page_028">28</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his favourable reception, <a href="#vol_1_page_028">28</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">English version of his <i>Ariadne</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_028">28</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death and character, <a href="#vol_1_page_028">28</a>.</span><br />
-Cambronne, General, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_017">17</a>, <i>note</i>.<br />
-<i>Camilla</i>, music of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_109">109</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critique on the opera of, <a href="#vol_1_page_109">109</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_110">110</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Campanello di Notte</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_233">233</a>.<br />
-Campion, Miss, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_139">139</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Duke of Devonshire's inscription to her memory,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_139">139</a>.</span><br />
-Campistron, one of Lulli's librettists,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_022">22</a>.<br />
-Camporese, Madame, the Italian vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_160">160</a>.<br />
-Campra, J., orchestral conductor of the Marseilles opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_087">87</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#vol_1_page_088">88</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Capuletti ed i Montecchi</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_250">250</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_257">257</a>.<br />
-Caradori, the vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_264">264</a>.<br />
-Carestini, the Italian singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_164">164</a>.<br />
-Carey, H., the national anthem attributed to,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_166">166</a>.<br />
-Carpentras school of music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>.<br />
-Catalani, the vocal queen of the age,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_016">16</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her extraordinary powers, <a href="#vol_2_page_017">17</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_019">19</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_018">18-20</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Napoleon's munificent offer to, <a href="#vol_2_page_018">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft of a contract between her and Mr. Ebers of the King's Theatre,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_023">23-25</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her retirement and death, <a href="#vol_2_page_026">26</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enormous sums paid to,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_132">132</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_312" id="vol_2_page_312"></a></span><br />
-<i>Caterina Comaro</i> of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_243">243</a>.<br />
-Catherine the Great of Russia, her interview with the vocalist Gabrielli,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_198">198</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduces the Italian Opera into St. Petersburgh, <a href="#vol_1_page_199">199</a>.</span><br />
-Cavaliere, Emilio del, a musician of Rome,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>.<br />
-Chambers, the banker, mortgagee of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_128">128</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_130">130</a>.<br />
-Chamfort, the republican, commits suicide,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Chantilly, Mdlle. (See F<small>AVART</small>).<br />
-Chapel-Masters, their strange readings,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_044">44</a>.<br />
-Chappell, W., on the origin of the national anthem,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_166">166</a>.<br />
-Charbonniers of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>.<br />
-Charles II., his patronage of operatic music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_033">33</a>.<br />
-Charles VI. of Germany, his musical taste,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_182">182</a>.<br />
-Charles VII. of Germany, a musician, and the great patron of the opera at Vienna,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_181">181</a>.<br />
-Charles Edward, the young Pretender, arrested at the Académie Musique, and expelled from France,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_234">234</a>.<br />
-Chasse, the, baritone singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223-5</a>.</span><br />
-Chaumette, the sanguinary republican,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_073">73</a>.<br />
-Cheron, the celebrated French bass,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_279">279</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the vibratory force of his voice, <a href="#vol_2_page_279">279</a>.</span><br />
-Cherubini's "Abencerrages,"
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_189">189</a>.<br />
-Chorus of opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_047">47</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French invention imported into England, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduction of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_180">180</a>.</span><br />
-Cimarosa, the operatic composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_029">29-31</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">invited to St. Petersburgh, <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Nozze di Figaro</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_096">96</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Matrimonio Segretto</i>
-produced at the request of Leopold II., <a href="#vol_2_page_096">96</a>.</span><br />
-Clayton, the musical composer, and author of <i>Arsinoe</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_108">108</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his spleen against Handel, <a href="#vol_1_page_129">129</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_132">132</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_133">133</a>.</span><br />
-Clement IX., the author of seven <i>libretti</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-Colasse, Lafontaine's composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_022">22</a>.<br />
-Colbran, Mdlle., the singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_095">95</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_096">96</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">married to Rossini, <a href="#vol_2_page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_167">167</a>.</span><br />
-Coleman, Mrs., the actress,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_030">30</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_031">31</a>.<br />
-Comic opera of France,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_236">236</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_237">237</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_313" id="vol_2_page_313"></a><br />
-Consulate, state of the French opera under the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_178">178</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">operatic plots under the, <a href="#vol_2_page_179">179</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_180">180</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the arts did not flourish under the, <a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>.</span><br />
-Convention, state of the opera under the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its receipts confiscated by the, <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its sanguinary proceedings, <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.</span><br />
-"Conversion of St. Paul," played in music at Rome,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-Copyright, Victor Hugo's claims to against the Italian librettists,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_234">234</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_235">235</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">principles of, <a href="#vol_2_page_235">235</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rights of authors, <a href="#vol_2_page_237">237</a>.</span><br />
-Coqueau, musician and writer, guillotined,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Corbetta, F., the musical teacher of Louis XIV.,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_075">75</a>.<br />
-Corsi, Giascomi,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>.<br />
-Costume, ludicrous dispute respecting,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_161">161</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_162">162</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of visitors to the London Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_136">136</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_137">137</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter respecting, <a href="#vol_2_page_138">138</a>.</span><br />
-Coulon, the French dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Country dances introduced into England,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">fondness for, <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>.</span><br />
-Covent Garden Theatre, performances at,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_101">101</a>.<br />
-"Credo," strange readings of the by two chapel masters,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_044">44</a>.<br />
-Crescentini, the singer, his capricious temper,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_161">161</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_162">162</a>.<br />
-<i>Crociato in Egitto</i>, of Meyerbeer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_206">206</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_207">207</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Edgcumbe's description of the music, <a href="#vol_2_page_208">208</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the principal part played by Velluti, <a href="#vol_2_page_209">209</a>.</span><br />
-Croix, Abbé de la,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86</a>.<br />
-Cromwell, his patronage of music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_032">32</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of, <a href="#vol_1_page_032">32</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_033">33</a>.</span><br />
-Cruvelli, Mdlle., her admirable performance in <i>Fidelio</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_286">286</a>.<br />
-Curiosity, wonderful instance of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_039">39</a>.<br />
-Cuzzoni, the vocalist, her exquisite qualifications,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_151">151</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_152">152</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">memoir of, <a href="#vol_1_page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her partizans, <a href="#vol_1_page_153">153</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">leaves England, <a href="#vol_1_page_154">154</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to London, <a href="#vol_1_page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her melancholy end, <a href="#vol_1_page_155">155</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="D" id="D"></a>D.</span><br />
-<i>Dafne</i>, the first complete opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">new music composed to the libretto of, <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Dame aux Camélias</i>, its representation prohibited,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_037">37</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_314" id="vol_2_page_314"></a><br />
-Dancer and the musician,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_088">88</a>.<br />
-Dancers of the French opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_296">296</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their position previous to the Revolution,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_053">53</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">diplomatic negociations for engaging, <a href="#vol_2_page_110">110</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_111">111</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engagements of in London, <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">further negociations about their return,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_115">115</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treaty respecting their future engagements,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_115">115</a>.</span><br />
-Dancing, at the French court,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_072">72</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">language of, <a href="#vol_1_page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the fourth part of the fine arts at the Paris Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_259">259</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(See B<small>ALLET</small>).</span><br />
-D'Antin, Duc, appointed manager of the French opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>.<br />
-Dauberval, the dancer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_300">300</a>.<br />
-Davenant, Sir Wm., opens a theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_030">30</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_036">36</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">actors engaged by him, <a href="#vol_1_page_030">30</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_031">31</a>.</span><br />
-David, the Conventional painter,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_072">72</a>.<br />
-Davide, the operatic actor of Venice,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_158">158</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enthusiasm excited by, <a href="#vol_2_page_159">159</a>.</span><br />
-Decorations of the stage,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_063">63</a>.<br />
-De Lauragais, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_277">277</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_278">278</a>.<br />
-Delany, Lady, her account of Anastasia Robinson afterwards Lady Peterborough,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_134">134-138</a>.<br />
-Delawar, Countess, patroness of the vocalist Faustina,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_153">153</a>.<br />
-D'Entraigues, Count, married to Madame Huberti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_094">94</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">murder of, <a href="#vol_2_page_095">95</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>, of Weber, represented at the French Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_198">198</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with <i>Robert le Diable</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarks on, <a href="#vol_2_page_291">291</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with <i>Don Giovanni</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_293">293</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its complete success, <a href="#vol_2_page_294">294</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remodelled by M. Blaze, and entitled <i>Robin des Bois</i>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_295">295</a>.</span><br />
-Deschamps, Mdlle., the French figurante,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_083">83</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her prodigality, <a href="#vol_1_page_083">83</a>.</span><br />
-Desmatins, Mdlle., the actress,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_024">24</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_025">25</a>.<br />
-Despreaux, the violinist, commits suicide,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-<i>Devin du Village</i>, of Rousseau,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_261">261</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music presumed to be the production of Granet,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_262">262</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_263">263</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_262">262</a>.</span><br />
-De Vismes, of the Paris Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_291">291</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_038">38</a>.</span><br />
-Devonshire, Wm., duke of, his inscription to the memory of Miss Campion,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_139">139</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_315" id="vol_2_page_315"></a><br />
-D'Hennin, Prince, his rupture with Gluck,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_275">275</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_276">276</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a favourite butt for witticism, <a href="#vol_1_page_276">276</a>.</span><br />
-Divertissements, propriety of their accompanying operatic performances,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_025">25</a>.<br />
-"Di tanti Palpiti," originally a Roman Catholic hymn,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_289">289</a>.<br />
-<i>Dinorah</i>, of Meyerbeer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_296">296</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_297">297</a>.<br />
-<i>Don Giovanni</i>, of Mozart,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_100">100-109</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its original cast at Prague, <a href="#vol_2_page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the performers of the character in London,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general cast of characters in the opera,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_109">109</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with <i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_293">293</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Don Pasquale</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_241">241</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">libretto of, <a href="#vol_2_page_242">242</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Don Sebastien</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_241">241</a>.<br />
-Donizetti, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_112">112</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Elizir d'Amore</i>, grounded upon <i>Le Philtre</i> and <i>La Somnambule</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_112">112</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Lucrezia</i>, founded on <i>Lucrece Borgia</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_226">226</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his early admiration of Rossini's works, <a href="#vol_2_page_230">230</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his various works, <a href="#vol_2_page_232">232</a> <i>et seq.</i>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_239">239</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his rapidity of composition, <a href="#vol_2_page_240">240</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his last opera, <i>Catarina Comaro</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_243">243</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the author of sixty-three operas, <a href="#vol_2_page_243">243</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critique on his works, <a href="#vol_2_page_243">243</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_244">244</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his illness and death, <a href="#vol_2_page_245">245</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_246">246</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his numerous compositions, <a href="#vol_2_page_246">246</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with Bellini, <a href="#vol_2_page_257">257</a>.</span><br />
-Drama, Beranger on the decline of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>.<br />
-Dramatic ballet. (See B<small>ALLET</small>).<br />
-Dresden, theatre of, the first opera in Europe, and the best vocalists engaged from them,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_172">172</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_173">173</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_080">80</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_081">81</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a>.</span><br />
-Dryden, his political opera of <i>Albion and Albanius</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_029">29</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his character of Grabut, <a href="#vol_1_page_029">29</a>.</span><br />
-Du Barry, Madame, her opposition to Gluck, and support of Piccinni,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_279">279</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_280">280</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">mistress of Louis XV.,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_048">48</a>.</span><br />
-Dubuisson, the librettist, guillotined,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>.<br />
-<i>Duc d'Albe</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_243">243</a>.<br />
-Duelling,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_107">107</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among women, <a href="#vol_1_page_225">225</a>, <i>et note</i>.</span><br />
-Dumenil, the tenor,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_024">24</a>.<br />
-Duparc, Eliz., the soprano singer, nicknamed "La Francesina,"
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_187">187</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_316" id="vol_2_page_316"></a><br />
-Dupre, the violinist, exchanges the violin for the ballet,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_088">88</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_089">89</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_091">91</a>.<br />
-Durastanti, Madame, the celebrated vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_158">158</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_159">159</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="E" id="E"></a>E.</span><br />
-Ebers, Mr., of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_022">22</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft of a contract between him and Madame Catalani, <a href="#vol_2_page_023">23-25</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is opinions on the state of the opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_109">109</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his negociation respecting the Paris dancers, <a href="#vol_2_page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">takes the management of the King's Theatre, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his selection of operas and singers, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his losses, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_130">130</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his retirement, <a href="#vol_2_page_130">130</a>.</span><br />
-Eclecticism, the present age of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_286">286</a>.<br />
-Edelman, the musician, executed,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Edgar, Sir John, his attack on a company of French actors,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_159">159</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_160">160</a>.<br />
-Eglantine, Fabre d', the librettist, guillotined,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-<i>Elisir d'Amore</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_233">233</a>.<br />
-Empire, state of the French opera under the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_178">178</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the arts did not flourish under the, <a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>.</span><br />
-England, Italian opera introduced into,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_104">104</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of the opera at the end of the eighteenth and beginning of the nineteenth century,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_001">1</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the chief opera houses of Paris
-and Italy inseparably connected with the history of opera in, <a href="#vol_2_page_224">224</a>.</span><br />
-English, the Italians have a genius for music superior to,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_056">56</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">have a genius for other performances of a much higher nature, <a href="#vol_1_page_056">56</a>.</span><br />
-English opera, account of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its failures, <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">services rendered by Handel to, <a href="#vol_1_page_215">215</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has no history, <a href="#vol_1_page_215">215</a>.</span><br />
-"Enraged Musicians," letters from,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_129">129</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_133">133</a>.<br />
-<i>Enrico di Borgogna</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_232">232</a>.<br />
-<i>Euridice</i>, opera of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>.<br />
-<i>Euryanthe</i> of Weber,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_292">292</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_298">298</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its great success,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_299">299</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="F" id="F"></a>F.</span><br />
-Fabri, Signor, the Italian singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>.<br />
-Fabris, death of, from overstrained singing,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_270">270</a>.<br />
-Farinelli, Carlo Boschi, the Italian singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_159">159</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the magic and commanding powers of his voice, <a href="#vol_1_page_164">164</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_185">185</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_186">186</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_188">188-191</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his single note, <a href="#vol_1_page_189">189</a>.</span><br />
-Farnesino, theatre at Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_177">177</a>.<br />
-Faustina, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. 150:<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her exquisite qualifications, <a href="#vol_1_page_151">151</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">memoir of, <a href="#vol_1_page_152">152</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her artizans, <a href="#vol_1_page_153">153</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to Italy, <a href="#vol_1_page_155">155</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">married to Hasse, the musical composer, <a href="#vol_1_page_155">155</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her successful career at the Dresden Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#vol_1_page_158">158</a>.</span><br />
-Faustina and Cuzzoni, disputes respecting,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_149">149</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their respective merits, <a href="#vol_1_page_150">150</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_151">151</a>.</span><br />
-Favart, his satirical description of the French Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>.<br />
-Favart, Madame, of the Opera Comique,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_231">231</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her love for Marshal Saxe, <a href="#vol_1_page_232">232</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_233">233</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Favorite</i>, by Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_239">239</a>.<br />
-Fel, Mdlle, a singer of the Academie,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>.<br />
-Female singers, the most celebrated,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>.<br />
-Fénélon, Chev. de, accidentally killed,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>.<br />
-Fenton, Lavinia, married to the Duke of Bolton,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_138">138</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her accomplishments, <a href="#vol_1_page_138">138</a>.</span><br />
-Ferri, Balthazar, the most distinguished singer of his day,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_174">174</a>.<br />
-Ferriere, Chev. de, anecdotes of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_077">77</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_078">78</a>.<br />
-Feuds, among musicians and actors,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_149">149</a> <i>et seq.</i><br />
-Fiddles, of the seventeenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_023">23</a>.<br />
-<i>Fidelio</i>, of Beethoven, <a href="#vol_1_page_286">286</a>.<br />
-<i>Fille du Regiment</i>, by Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_239">239</a>.<br />
-Finales, Piccinni the originator,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">time usually occupied by them,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_033">33</a>.</span><br />
-First Consul of France, plots for assassinating,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_179">179</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_182">182</a>.<br />
-Fodor, Madame, the celebrated cantatrice, ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_092">92</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of <a href="#vol_2_page_093">93</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_160">160</a>.</span><br />
-Fontenelle, author of "Thetis and
-Pelee," revisits the Academie,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_235">235</a>.<br />
-Forst, the singer, refuses letters of nobility,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_221">221</a>.<br />
-France, Italian Opera introduced into,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">but rejected, <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_011">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduction of the Opera into England, <a href="#vol_1_page_012">12</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French Opera not founded by Lulli, <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nobles of, invited to stage performances by Louis XIV., <a href="#vol_1_page_075">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">morality of the stage, <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her dramatic music dates from 1774, <a href="#vol_1_page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of the Opera in, abounds in excellent anecdotes, <a href="#vol_1_page_232">232</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of the Opera after the departure of Gluck,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_084">84</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">after the Revolution, <a href="#vol_2_page_046">46</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under the Consulate, the Empire, and the Restoration,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_178">178</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the arts did not flourish under the Consulate and the Empire,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has party songs, but no national air, <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>.</span><br />
-Frangipani, Cornelio, drama by,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_004">4</a>.<br />
-Frederick the Great introduces the Italian Opera into Berlin,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_199">199</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his favourite composers, <a href="#vol_1_page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">officiated as conductor of the orchestra, <a href="#vol_1_page_199">199</a>.</span><br />
-French actors, company of, in London, in 1720,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_159">159</a>.<br />
-French Court, ballets at the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_070">70</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_071">71</a>.<br />
-French Opera, Favart's satirical description of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">from the time of Lulli to the death of Rameau,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the various pieces produced at the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a> <i>et seq.</i></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(See F<small>RANCE</small>).</span><br />
-French Society at its very worst during the reign of Louis XVI.,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_048">48</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">operatic and religious fetes, <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>.</span><br />
-Fronsac, duke de, his depravity,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="G" id="G"></a>G.</span><br />
-Gabrielli, Catarina, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_188">188</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_195">195</a> <i>et seq.</i></span><br />
-Gabrielli, Francesca, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_188">188</a>.<br />
-Gagliano composes the music to the opera of <i>Dafne</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>.<br />
-Galileo, Vincent, inventor of recitative,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>.<br />
-Galuppi, musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_170">170</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_171">171</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musical director at the Russian Court, <a href="#vol_1_page_198">198</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_319" id="vol_2_page_319"></a></span><br />
-Garcia, the tenor performer of "Don Giovanni," in London,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#vol_2_page_144">144</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_145">145</a>.</span><br />
-Garcia, Mademoiselle, (See M<small>ALIBRAN</small>.)<br />
-Gardel, the ballet-master,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>.<br />
-Garrick, his opinion of Sophie Arnould at Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_227">227</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of French descent, 227 <i>note</i>.</span><br />
-<i>Gazza Ladra</i>, by Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_160">160</a>.<br />
-German Opera, the forms of, perfected by Keiser,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originated from Mozart,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_099">99</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its celebrated composers, <a href="#vol_2_page_106">106</a>.</span><br />
-Germans, music of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_268">268</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_269">269</a>.<br />
-Germany, Italian Opera introduced into,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her opera during the republican and Napoleonic wars,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_086">86</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">has sent us few singers as compared with Italy,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_224">224</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of her opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_225">225</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the land of scientific music, <a href="#vol_2_page_285">285</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Giovanni</i>, of Mozart,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>.<br />
-Glass, broken to pieces by the vibratory force of particular notes,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_279">279</a>.<br />
-Glinka, the Russian composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_290">290</a>.<br />
-Gluck, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_012">12</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works of, <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the estimation in which his works were held, <a href="#vol_1_page_181">181</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">merits of, as compared with Piccinni, <a href="#vol_1_page_267">267</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical and anecdotal notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_270">270</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Alcestis</i> and <i>Orpheus</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_272">272</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i>, acted at Paris with immense success, <a href="#vol_1_page_273">273</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of his <i>Orpheus</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_278">278</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Alcestis</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_279">279</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_1_page_295">295</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of the Opera in France after his departure,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_034">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#vol_2_page_039">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">benefitted French opera in different ways, <a href="#vol_2_page_040">40</a>.</span><br />
-Gluck and Piccinni, contests respecting, in Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_150">150</a>.<br />
-"God save the king," origin of the anthem,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_165">165</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_166">166</a>.<br />
-Goddess of Reason, personated by the actresses of the Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_067">67</a>.<br />
-Grabut, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_028">28</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_029">29</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Dryden's character of him, <a href="#vol_1_page_029">29</a>.</span><br />
-Grammont, count de, extract from his memoirs,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73</a>.<br />
-Granet, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_261">261</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of the music to Rousseau's <i>Devin du Village</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_262">262</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_1_page_265">265</a>.</span><br />
-Grassini, the singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_014">14</a>.<br />
-Greek Plays, first specimens of operas, <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-Greek Theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_240">240</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_241">241</a>.</span><br />
-Greeks, their language and accent,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_241">241</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their lyric style, 241:</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their music a real recitative, <a href="#vol_1_page_241">241</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">absurdities of their dramas, <a href="#vol_1_page_244">244</a>.</span><br />
-Grisi, Giulia, the accomplished vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_280">280</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_281">281</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her family connexions, <a href="#vol_2_page_280">280</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her vocal powers, <a href="#vol_2_page_281">281</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">"Norma" her best character, <a href="#vol_2_page_281">281</a>.</span><br />
-Grossi, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_188">188</a>.<br />
-Guadigni, the vocalist, biographical notices of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_194">194</a>.<br />
-Guéméné, prince de, his insolvency,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_051">51</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">feeling letter of the operatic vocalists to, <a href="#vol_2_page_051">51</a>.</span><br />
-Guglielmi, the operatic composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_029">29</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his success at Naples, <a href="#vol_2_page_030">30</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Guillaume Tell</i>, its first performance at the French Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_198">198</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">cut down from three to five acts, <a href="#vol_2_page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rossini's last opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>.</span><br />
-Guimard, Madeline, the celebrated danseuse,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_288">288</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_296">296</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accident to, <a href="#vol_1_page_296">296</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical and anecdotal notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_297">297</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_034">34</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_035">35</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her narrow escape from being burnt to death, <a href="#vol_2_page_041">41</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her reappearance at the Opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_077">77</a>.</span><br />
-Guinguenée, the French librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_293">293</a>.<br />
-<i>Gustave III.</i> of Auber,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_219">219</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="H" id="H"></a>H.</span><br />
-<i>Hamlet</i>, set to music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_127">127</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its absurdity, <a href="#vol_1_page_128">128</a>.</span><br />
-Handel, G. F., at Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, <a href="#vol_1_page_097">97</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_100">100-3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Pastor Fido</i> played at the Haymarket Theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great improvement of the Italian Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_108">108</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of his <i>Rinaldo</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his arrival in England, <a href="#vol_1_page_122">122</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings out his <i>Rinaldo and Armide</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_123">123</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Clayton's spleen against, <a href="#vol_1_page_129">129</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_132">132</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_133">133</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Italian operas under his direction, <a href="#vol_1_page_140">140</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his career as an operatic composer and director, <a href="#vol_1_page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">wrote his last opera, <i>Deidamia</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_141">141</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical account of, <a href="#vol_1_page_141">141</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his duel with Mattheson of the Hamburgh Theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Rinaldo</i>, <i>Pastor Fido</i>, and <i>Amadigi</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">direction of the Royal Academy of Music confided to him, <a href="#vol_1_page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first opera at the Royal Academy was <i>Radamisto</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his next opera, <i>Muzio Scevola</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his various operatic pieces played at the Royal Academy of Music, <a href="#vol_1_page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his services to English Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_215">215</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed to the management of the King's Theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">names of the Italian performers engaged by him, <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his rival Porpora, and the difficulties with which he had to contend, <a href="#vol_1_page_167">167</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abandons dramatic music after having written thirty-five Italian operas, <a href="#vol_1_page_168">168</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his operas now become obsolete, and unadapted to modern times, <a href="#vol_1_page_168">168</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of the operatic airs, which he introduced into his oratorios, <a href="#vol_1_page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">position of the Italian Opera under his presidency, <a href="#vol_1_page_170">170</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great musical genius, and the grandeur of his oratorios, <a href="#vol_1_page_172">172</a>.</span><br />
-Harmony, preferable to simple declamation,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_045">45</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_046">46</a>.<br />
-Hasse, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_155">155</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">marries the vocalist Faustina, <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed director of the Dresden Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_1_page_158">158</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a librettist, <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>.</span><br />
-Hauteroche, humour of exhausted,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_049">49</a>.<br />
-Haydn, his opinion of Mozart's work,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_102">102</a>.<br />
-Haymarket Theatre, Handel's <i>Pastor Fido</i> played at,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_102">102</a>.<br />
-HĂ©bert, the sanguinary republican,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_068">68</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_073">73</a>.<br />
-Heidegger, appointed manager of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "puff direct," <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>.</span><br />
-Henriot, the sanguinary republican,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_062">62</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_072">72</a>.<br />
-Hingston, the musician, patronised by Cromwell,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_032">32</a>.<br />
-Hoffman, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_301">301</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Undine</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_301">301-305</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Berlioz's opinion of his music, <a href="#vol_2_page_305">305</a>.</span><br />
-Huberti, Madame, the singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_043">43</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_094">94</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage and horrible death, <a href="#vol_2_page_094">94</a>.</span><br />
-Hugo, Victor, his dramas made the groundwork of Italian librettists,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his actions against them for violation of copyright,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_234">234</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_235">235</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Huguenots</i>, of Meyerbeer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_216">216</a>.<br />
-<i>Hydaspes</i>, opera of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_117">117</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Addison's critique on, <a href="#vol_1_page_118">118</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_119">119</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="I" id="I"></a>I.</span><br />
-<i>Il Pirato</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_249">249</a>.<br />
-Insanity, Steele's remarks on,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_111">111</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Interludes, banished from the operas,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_250">250</a>.<br />
-<i>Iphigenia in Aulis</i>, by Gluck,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_273">273</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its introduction on the Paris stage, and immense success, <a href="#vol_1_page_273">273</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_274">274</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Iphigenia in Tauris</i>, a rival opera, composed by Piccinni,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_291">291</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_292">292</a>.<br />
-Italian librettists, Victor Hugo's actions against for copyright,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_234">234</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_235">235</a>.<br />
-Italian opera, introduced into France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rejected by the French, <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_011">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduced into England, <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_011">11</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">into Germany, <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">into all parts of Europe, <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduced into England at the beginning of the eighteenth century, <a href="#vol_1_page_054">54</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Addison's critical remarks on, <a href="#vol_1_page_055">55-8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">attempts to engage the company of London at the French Academie, 26:</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">raised to excellence by Handel in London, <a href="#vol_1_page_103">103</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of its introduction into England, <a href="#vol_1_page_104">104</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Steele's hatred to, <a href="#vol_1_page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a complete failure in London, <a href="#vol_1_page_147">147-149</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its position under Handel, and subsequently, <a href="#vol_1_page_170">170</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">various operas produced, <a href="#vol_1_page_170">170</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">established at Berlin and St. Petersburgh, <a href="#vol_1_page_199">199</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited in Marcello's satire, "Teatro a la Modo," <a href="#vol_1_page_204">204-12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the company performing alternately in London and in Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_002">2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its position during the Republican and Napoleonic wars, <a href="#vol_2_page_086">86</a>.</span><br />
-Italian plays, of the earliest period, called by the general name of "Opera,"
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>.<br />
-Italian singers, establish themselves everywhere but in France,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_173">173</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">company of engaged by Mdlle. Montansier,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_079">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unsuccessful, <a href="#vol_2_page_079">79</a>.</span><br />
-Italians, their genius for music above that of the English,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_056">56</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_268">268</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_269">269</a>.</span><br />
-Italy, modern, earliest musical dramas of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="J" id="J"></a>J.</span><br />
-Jeliotte, the tenor singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>.<br />
-Jesuits' church at Paris, the great operatic vocalists engaged at the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their theatre near the, <a href="#vol_2_page_050">50</a>.</span><br />
-Jomelli, anecdote related by,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_044">44</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">director of the Stutgardt opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sets <i>Didone</i> to music, <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="K" id="K"></a>K.</span><br />
-Kalkbrenner, a pasticcio by, unsuccessful,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_085">85</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Don Giovanni</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_184">184</a>.</span><br />
-Keiser, the operatic composer;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of <i>Ismene and Basilius</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_141">141</a>.</span><br />
-Kelly, Michael, the singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_128">128</a>.<br />
-Kind, Frederick,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_293">293</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Weber's introduction to, <a href="#vol_2_page_293">293</a>.</span><br />
-King's Theatre, performances at, and assemblies,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_101">101</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opened under Heidegger, <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">celebrated vocalists at the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_004">4</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">destroyed by fire, <a href="#vol_2_page_006">6</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rebuilt and re-opened, <a href="#vol_2_page_008">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its negociations with the Parisian operatists, <a href="#vol_2_page_110">110</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_111">111</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Taylor the proprietor, <a href="#vol_2_page_121">121</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the theatre closed, <a href="#vol_2_page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels of the proprietors, <a href="#vol_2_page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-opened under Waters, <a href="#vol_2_page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">again closed, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Eber's management, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">selection of operas and singers for the, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">management of Messrs. Laporte and Laurent, <a href="#vol_2_page_130">130</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its position and character in 1789, <a href="#vol_2_page_131">131</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enormous prices paid for private boxes and admission, <a href="#vol_2_page_132">132</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_133">133</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">sale of the tickets at reduced prices, <a href="#vol_2_page_133">133</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_134">134</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">costume of visitors, <a href="#vol_2_page_136">136</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_137">137</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="L" id="L"></a>L.</span><br />
-Labitte, death of, from overstrained singing,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_270">270</a>.<br />
-Lablache, the basso singer, the "Leporello" of <i>Don Giovanni</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_109">109</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_274">274-278</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his versatile powers, <a href="#vol_2_page_277">277</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_278">278</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great whistling accomplishments, <a href="#vol_2_page_279">279</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his characters of "Bartolo" and "Figaro," <a href="#vol_2_page_275">275</a>.</span><br />
-Lachnick, the musician,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_184">184</a>.<br />
-Lacombe, the French dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-<i>La Cenerentola</i>, opera of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_162">162</a>.<br />
-La Fare, Marq. de, author of the <i>Panthée</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_085">85</a>.<br />
-Lafontaine, his want of success as a librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_021">21</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#vol_1_page_021">21</a>.</span><br />
-Lafontaine, Mdlle., the celebrated ballerina at the French Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_072">72</a>.<br />
-Laguerre, Mdlle., the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_281">281</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the actress,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_294">294</a>.</span><br />
-Lainez, the poet,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_027">27</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>.</span><br />
-"<i>La Marseillaise</i>," borrowed from Germany,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>.<br />
-Lamartine, M. de, his faultiness in history,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_061">61</a>, <i>note</i>.<br />
-Lamb, Charles, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_021">21</a>.<br />
-Laniere, musical composer and engraver,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_030">30</a>.<br />
-"<i>La Parisienne</i>," of Nourrit,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>.<br />
-Laporte and Laurent, Messieurs, managers of the London opera house,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_130">130</a>.<br />
-Larrivée, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_274">274</a>.<br />
-<i>La Straniera</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_249">249</a>.<br />
-Lauragais, Count de, anecdotes of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_229">229</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_230">230</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_077">77</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_078">78</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great expenditure,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_051">51</a>.</span><br />
-<i>La Vestale</i>, of Spontini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_186">186</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_187">187</a>.<br />
-Law, M., introduces wax into the candelabra of the French Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_084">84</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">breaking up of his financial schemes, <a href="#vol_1_page_084">84</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">favoured by the Duke of Orleans, <a href="#vol_1_page_084">84</a>.</span><br />
-Lays, a furious democrat, and chief manager of the French Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_066">66</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">treated with public indignation, <a href="#vol_2_page_077">77</a>.</span><br />
-Leclair, exchanges the ballet for the violin,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_088">88</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_089">89</a>.<br />
-Lefevre, the republican singer, hissed off the stage,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_070">70</a>.<br />
-Legal disputes among musicians,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_087">87</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_088">88</a>.<br />
-Legroscino, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>.<br />
-Lemaure, Mdlle., the actress,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_092">92</a>.<br />
-Lenoir, the architect of the Paris Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_043">43</a>.<br />
-Lenz, the biographer of Beethoven,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_287">287</a>.<br />
-Leopold I., Emperor of Germany, his devotedness to music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_174">174</a>.<br />
-Leopold II., of Germany, his liberality to Cimarosa,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_096">96</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his public approbation of <i>Il Matrimonio Segretto</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_097">97</a>.</span><br />
-Lettres de Cachet, issued, to command certain persons to join the Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Libretti of English writers,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the French, <a href="#vol_1_page_214">214</a>.</span><br />
-Librettists of the eighteenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a> <i>et seq.</i><br />
-Libretto, no opera intelligible without one,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_040">40</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the words should be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, <a href="#vol_1_page_041">41</a>.</span><br />
-Limeuil, Madame, death of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_023">23</a>.<br />
-Lincoln's Inn Theatre, under the direction of Porpora,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_164">164</a>.<br />
-Lind, Jenny, the hangman's admiration of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_064">64</a>.<br />
-<i>Linda di Chamouni</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_241">241</a>.<br />
-Lion, Nicolini's contest with the, at the Haymarket,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_118">118</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Addison's satirical critique on the, <a href="#vol_1_page_119">119-122</a>.</span><br />
-Lipparini, Madame, the <i>prima donna</i> at Palermo,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_271">271</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_272">272</a>.<br />
-Lise, Mddle., anecdote of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_036">36</a>.<br />
-Lock, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_028">28</a>.<br />
-London Opera, manners and customs of the, half a century ago,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_122">122</a> <i>et seq.</i><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(See <span class="smcap">King's Theatre</span>.)</span><br />
-Lorenzo da Ponte,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_293">293</a>.<br />
-Lotti, the Venetian composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_146">146</a>.<br />
-Louis XIV., a great actor,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in the habit of singing and dancing in the court ballets, <a href="#vol_1_page_074">74</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">retires from the stage, <a href="#vol_1_page_074">74</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">returns to it, <a href="#vol_1_page_075">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the various characters assumed by him, <a href="#vol_1_page_075">75</a>.</span><br />
-Louis XV., his heartless conduct at the theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his meanness to his daughter's music-masters,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_039">39</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">French society at the very worst during his reign, <a href="#vol_2_page_048">48</a>.</span><br />
-Louis XVI., his flight from Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_057">57</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, and state of the Opera at the time of, <a href="#vol_2_page_061">61</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Lucia di Lammermoor</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_233">233</a>.<br />
-<i>Lucrezia Borgia</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_234">234</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_237">237</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Victor Hugo's action against the author for breach of copyright, <a href="#vol_1_page_234">234</a>.</span><br />
-Lulli, French Opera not founded by,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his intrigues, <a href="#vol_1_page_016">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Cadmus and Hermione</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_016">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">originally a scullion in the service of Madame de Montpensier, <a href="#vol_1_page_016">16</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his disgrace, <a href="#vol_1_page_017">17</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his elevation by Louis XIV., <a href="#vol_1_page_017">17</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_018">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">intrusted with them music of the ballets, <a href="#vol_1_page_018">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a buffoon, <a href="#vol_1_page_018">18</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">various mistakes of, <a href="#vol_1_page_018">18</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his intemperate habits, <a href="#vol_1_page_024">24</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great attention to the ballet, <a href="#vol_1_page_072">72</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">tumult at the representation of his <i>Aloeste</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_085">85</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of French Opera dates from the time of, <a href="#vol_1_page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his singular death, <a href="#vol_1_page_217">217</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his operas, <a href="#vol_1_page_217">217</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_218">218</a>.</span><br />
-Lyric drama, remarks on the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_236">236</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_237">237</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's critique on, <a href="#vol_1_page_243">243</a>.</span><br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="M" id="M"></a>M.</span><br />
-<i>M. de Pourceaugnac</i>, performance of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_019">19</a>.<br />
-Machinery of the Opera at Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_255">255</a>.<br />
-Maillard, Mdlle., the <i>prima donna</i>, of the Paris Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_066">66</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">requested to personate the Goddess of Reason,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_067">67</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compelled to sing republican songs, <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">suspected by the republicans, <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>.</span><br />
-Mailly's <i>Akébar, Roi de Mogol</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_015">15</a>.<br />
-Maine, Duchess du, her passion for theatrical and musical performances,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her lotteries, <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>.</span><br />
-Malibran, Madame, the vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_174">174</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her triumphal progress through Italy, <a href="#vol_2_page_260">260</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_261">261</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristic anecdotes of, <a href="#vol_2_page_261">261-264</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her activity and great acquirements, <a href="#vol_2_page_262">262</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her death, <a href="#vol_2_page_264">264</a>.</span><br />
-Mara, Madame, the celebrated vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_200">200</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_200">200-3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">appointed <i>prima donna</i> of the Berlin theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_004">4</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her distinguished performances, <a href="#vol_2_page_005">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_005">5-9</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">among the first class of singers, <a href="#vol_2_page_028">28</a>.</span><br />
-Mara and Todi, Mesdames, quarrels between the admirers of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_150">150</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_203">203</a>.<br />
-Marcello's satire, <i>Teatro a la Modo</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_204">204-12</a>.<br />
-Margarita de l'Epine, the Italian vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_104">104</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Drury Lane, <a href="#vol_1_page_108">108</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Maria di Rohan</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_242">242</a>.<br />
-Marie Antoinette, the enthusiastic patroness of Gluck,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_275">275</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">patronizes Piccinni, <a href="#vol_1_page_290">290</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her visit to the Académie and Opera Comique,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_058">58</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_059">59</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">popular cries against, <a href="#vol_2_page_059">59</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">obliged to fly, <a href="#vol_2_page_059">59</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her execution, <a href="#vol_2_page_061">61</a>.</span><br />
-Mariette, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse, i, <a href="#vol_2_page_082">82</a>.<br />
-<i>Marino Faliero</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_233">233</a>.<br />
-Mario, the actor, in the character of the <i>Duke of Mantua</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_039">39</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a performer of <i>Don Giovanni</i> in London,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>.</span><br />
-Marmontel, the librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_287">287</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_289">289</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the admirer of Piccinni, <a href="#vol_1_page_289">289</a>.</span><br />
-Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mdlle. Petit,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>.<br />
-Marsolier, of the Opera Comique,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_235">235</a>.<br />
-Martinella, Catarina, the celebrated singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>.<br />
-Martini's <i>Cosa Rara</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_102">102</a>.<br />
-<i>Martiri</i>, of Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_239">239</a>.<br />
-<i>Masaniello</i>, market scene in,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_047">47</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">effects of its representation in Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_200">200</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Matrimonio Segretto</i>, comic opera of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_096">96-100</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its successful performance before Leopold II., <a href="#vol_2_page_097">97</a>.</span><br />
-Mattheson, the musical composer and conductor of the orchestra at the Hamburgh theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_141">141</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_142">142</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his duel with Handel, <a href="#vol_1_page_142">142</a>.</span><br />
-Maupin, Mdlle., the operatic actress,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_026">26</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Lola Montes of her day, <a href="#vol_1_page_026">26</a>.</span><br />
-Mayer, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>.<br />
-Mazarin, Cardinal, introduces Italian Opera into France,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">into Paris, <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>.</span><br />
-Maze, Mdlle., the danseuse, her melancholy suicide, &amp;c.,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_084">84</a>.<br />
-Mazocci's school of singing at Rome,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_184">184</a>.<br />
-Melun, Count de, his depravity,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Menestrier, on the origin of the Italian Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-Mengozzi, the tenor singer, visits Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-Mercadante, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_247">247</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_248">248</a>.<br />
-Mercandotti, Maria, the charming Spanish danseuse,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_119">119</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">married to Mr. Hughes Ball, <a href="#vol_2_page_120">120</a>.</span><br />
-Merighi, Signora, the Italian singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>.<br />
-Merulo, Claudio, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_004">4</a>.<br />
-Metastasio, the poet and librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_175">175</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his quarrel with Caffarelli,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_191">191</a>.</span><br />
-Meyerbeer, the successor of Rossini at the Académie,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_202">202</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a composer who defies classification, <a href="#vol_2_page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his different productions, <a href="#vol_2_page_206">206</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_206">206</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_207">207</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Robert le Diable</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_207">207</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_211">211</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Huguenots</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_216">216</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Prophete</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_218">218</a>.</span><br />
-Mililotti, the Neapolitan buffo,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_274">274</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_275">275</a>.<br />
-Mingotti, the celebrated vocalist of the Dresden opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her opinion of the London public, <a href="#vol_1_page_197">197</a>.</span><br />
-Minuet, introduced into England,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73</a>.<br />
-Moliere, the friend of Lulli,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_019">19</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his disagreement with him, <a href="#vol_1_page_020">20</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Amants Magnifiques</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>.</span><br />
-Montagu, Lady Wortley, her description of the Vienna theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_175">175</a>.<br />
-Montansier, Mdlle., <a href="#vol_1_page_071">71</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_072">72</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">denounced by the republicans for building a theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imprisoned, <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her nocturnal assemblies, <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Napoleon introduced to her, <a href="#vol_1_page_074">74</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her marriage, <a href="#vol_1_page_074">74</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">receives indemnity for her losses, <a href="#vol_1_page_075">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engaged by Napoleon to form an Italian operatic company, <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">is unsuccessful, <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>.</span><br />
-Montessu, the French dancer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Monteverde, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his improvements in orchestral music, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the score of his <i>Orfeo</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_023">23</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">produces his <i>Arianna</i> at Venice, <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great popularity, <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>.</span><br />
-Moreau, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_027">27</a>.<br />
-Morel, the librettist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>.<br />
-Morelli, the bass-singer, visits Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-Mormoro, Madame, personates the Goddess of Reason,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_067">67</a>.<br />
-<i>Mosé in Egitto</i>, by Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_163">163</a>.<br />
-Mount Edgcumbe, Lord, author of "Musical Reminiscences,"
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_299">299</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_300">300</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his notices of celebrated vocalists,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_005">5</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_006">6</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_008">8</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_011">11</a>, <i>et passim</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his description of the King's Theatre in 1789,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_131">131</a>.</span><br />
-Mouret, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>.<br />
-Mozart, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_012">12</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works of, <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">reception of his <i>Nozze di Figaro</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_098">98</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Seraglio</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_099">99</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founder of the German operatic school at Vienna, <a href="#vol_2_page_099">99</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Don Giovanni</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_100">100-109</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its original cast at Prague, <a href="#vol_2_page_104">104</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Salieri his great rival, <a href="#vol_2_page_101">101</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_102">102</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his genius fully acknowledged, but his music not at first appreciated, <a href="#vol_2_page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Musette de Portici</i>, the first important work to which the French Opera owes its celebrity, <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">translated and played with great success in England, <a href="#vol_2_page_197">197</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_198">198</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fortunes affected by the revolutionary character of the plot, <a href="#vol_2_page_200">200</a>.</span><br />
-Music of the operatic works of the sixteenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_004">4</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Woolfenbuttel school of, <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Carpentras school of, <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the drama, its importance, <a href="#vol_1_page_045">45</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_046">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the language of the masses, <a href="#vol_1_page_046">46</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its powerful effects in dramatic representations, <a href="#vol_1_page_047">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its powers as an art, <a href="#vol_1_page_059">59</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_060">60</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">capabilities of, <a href="#vol_1_page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marcello's satirical advice respecting, <a href="#vol_1_page_204">204-12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Greeks, <a href="#vol_1_page_241">241</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a real recitative, <a href="#vol_1_page_241">241</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an imitative art, <a href="#vol_1_page_245">245</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_248">248</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Italians and the Germans, <a href="#vol_1_page_268">268</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_269">269</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on expression in,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_083">83</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">did not flourish under the French Republic or Empire, <a href="#vol_2_page_084">84</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">different schools of, <a href="#vol_2_page_284">284</a>.</span><br />
-Musical composers, who adorned the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_031">31</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_032">32</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their peculiar characteristics, <a href="#vol_2_page_141">141</a>.</span><br />
-Musical compositions, different adaptations of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_083">83</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_084">84</a>.<br />
-Musical instruments of the seventeenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_023">23</a>.<br />
-Musical pieces, danger of performing under the Republican regime,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_067">67</a>.<br />
-Musical plays of the fifteenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>.<br />
-Musical valets of the seventeenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_023">23</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_024">24</a>.<br />
-Musician, his contest with the dancer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_088">88</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his task of imitation greater than that of the painter, <a href="#vol_1_page_249">249</a>.</span><br />
-Musicians of the French Opera, privileges of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of Italy, nicknames given to, <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86-8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the "three enraged" ones, <a href="#vol_1_page_129">129</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_133">133</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Muzio Scevola</i>, produced at the Royal Academy of Music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_145">145</a>.<br />
-<i>Mysteres d'Isis</i>, opera of the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="N" id="N"></a>N.</span><br />
-Napoleon, his munificent offers to Catalani,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_018">18</a>.<br />
-Napoleons, both of them good friends to the Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_193">193</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_194">194</a>.<br />
-Nasolini, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_012">12</a>.<br />
-National anthem, story respecting the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_165">165</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the origin of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_166">166</a>.</span><br />
-National styles,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_214">214</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_215">215</a>.<br />
-Nicknames given to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters of Italy,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_186">186-8</a>.<br />
-Nicolini, a great actor,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_061">61</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a sopranist, <a href="#vol_1_page_117">117</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Addison's critique on his combat with a lion at the Haymarket, <a href="#vol_1_page_118">118-122</a>.</span><br />
-Nobles of France, operatic actors,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_076">76</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">abuses arising from the system, <a href="#vol_1_page_076">76</a>.</span><br />
-Noblet, Mdlle., the French danseuse,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_111">111-13</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">negociations respecting her benefit, <a href="#vol_2_page_113">113</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_114">114</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Norma</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_250">250</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_252">252</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_257">257</a>.<br />
-Nose-pulling,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_106">106</a>.<br />
-Nourrit, Adolphe, the celebrated tenor, a performer of "Don Giovanni" in London,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes his appearance at Paris, <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>La Parisienne</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his professional engagements, <a href="#vol_2_page_221">221</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his melancholy death, <a href="#vol_2_page_223">223</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_224">224</a>.</span><br />
-Noverre, the celebrated ballet master,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>.<br />
-<i>Nozze de Figaro</i>, of Mozart,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_098">98-103</a>.<br />
-<i>Nuits de Sceaux</i>, or <i>Nuits Blanches</i>, of the Duchess du Maine,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="O" id="O"></a>O.</span><br />
-<i>Oberon</i> of Weber,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_299">299</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_301">301</a>.<br />
-Olivieri, primo basso at Udine,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_089">89</a>.<br />
-O<small>PERA</small>, history of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_001">1</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">meaning and character of, <a href="#vol_1_page_001">1</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Wagner's definition, <a href="#vol_1_page_001">1</a>, <i>et note</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the earliest Italian plays, called by the general name of, <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the title afterwards applied to lyrical dramas, <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">proceeds from the sacred musical plays of the sixteenth century, <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">first specimens of in the Greek plays, <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">operatic composers and singers, <a href="#vol_1_page_004">4-8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its success promoted by the musical genius of Monteverde, <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;<a name="vol_2_page_331" id="vol_2_page_331"></a></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">taken under the patronage of the most illustrious nobles, <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the most celebrated female singers connected with, <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Italian opera introduced into France under the auspices of Cardinal Mazarin, <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">into England at the commencement of the eighteenth century, <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_054">54</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">into Germany, <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">flourishing state of during the eighteenth century, <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of its introduction into France and England, <a href="#vol_1_page_012">12</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">not founded by Lulli, <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the first English opera ten years later than the first French one, <a href="#vol_1_page_031">31</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the leading actors, <a href="#vol_1_page_031">31</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the nature of and its merits as compared with other forms of the drama, <a href="#vol_1_page_036">36</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unintelligibility of, <a href="#vol_1_page_037">37</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">music in a dramatic form, <a href="#vol_1_page_038">38</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the words ought to be good, and yet need not of necessity be heard, <a href="#vol_1_page_041">41</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">unnaturalness of, <a href="#vol_1_page_045">45</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">chorus of, <a href="#vol_1_page_047">47</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Addison's articles on, <a href="#vol_1_page_053">53-58</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">and the drama, <a href="#vol_1_page_061">61</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Beranger on the decline of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Panard's remarks on the, <a href="#vol_1_page_067">67</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his song on what may be seen at the, <a href="#vol_1_page_067">67</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Louis XIV. and the nobles of France actors in, <a href="#vol_1_page_073">73-78</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">lettres de cachet issued, commanding certain persons to join the, <a href="#vol_1_page_076">76</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">privileges of singers, dancers, and musicians belonging to the, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of, under the regency of the Duke of Orleans, <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the scene of frequent disturbances, <a href="#vol_1_page_080">80</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">etiquette respecting the visits of young ladies to the, <a href="#vol_1_page_092">92</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_093">93</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">introduction of the Italian Opera into England, <a href="#vol_1_page_104">104</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Handel, <a href="#vol_1_page_140">140</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its position under Handel, and subsequently, <a href="#vol_1_page_170">170</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_171">171</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">general view of in Europe in the eighteenth century, until the appearance of Gluck, <a href="#vol_1_page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its appearance at Vienna, <a href="#vol_1_page_175">175</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_181">181</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its weak points during the eighteenth century exhibited in Marcello's celebrated satire "Teatro a la Modo," <a href="#vol_1_page_204">204-12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of French opera from Lulli to the death of Rameau, <a href="#vol_1_page_217">217</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of, in France, during the eighteenth century, abounds in excellent anecdotes, <a href="#vol_1_page_232">232</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">different kinds of, <a href="#vol_1_page_236">236</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's definition, and critical remarks on, <a href="#vol_1_page_239">239</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<a name="vol_2_page_332" id="vol_2_page_332"></a></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the Greeks, <a href="#vol_1_page_243">243</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">early periods of, <a href="#vol_1_page_245">245</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">subjects of, <a href="#vol_1_page_247">247</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's description of, at Paris, <a href="#vol_1_page_251">251</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ludicrous caricature of, <a href="#vol_1_page_252">252-260</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its monstrous scenery, machinery, and decorations, <a href="#vol_1_page_255">255</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">audience of the, <a href="#vol_1_page_257">257</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of, in England, at the end of the eighteenth century, and beginning of the nineteenth,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_001">1</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Versailles, <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">King's Theatre, <a href="#vol_2_page_004">4</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_005">5</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">notices of the most celebrated singers, <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3-33</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Pantheon enterprise, <a href="#vol_2_page_006">6</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_007">7</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of in France after the departure of Gluck, <a href="#vol_2_page_035">35</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Paris, frequently burnt down and rebuilt, <a href="#vol_2_page_042">42</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the "Romantic" school, <a href="#vol_1_page_045">45</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its condition before and after the Revolution, <a href="#vol_2_page_046">46</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">strange customs connected therewith, <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great singers of the, at the Jesuits' church and theatre at Paris, <a href="#vol_2_page_050">50</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">dangerous to write anything about in Paris previous to the Revolution, <a href="#vol_2_page_054">54</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its decline after the Revolution commenced, <a href="#vol_2_page_056">56</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the National Opera of Paris, <a href="#vol_2_page_062">62</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of, under the Republic of France, <a href="#vol_2_page_062">62</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of the, under the Convention, <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its receipts confiscated, and its artists guillotined, <a href="#vol_2_page_075">75</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">under Napoleon, <a href="#vol_2_page_079">79</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">state of in Italy, Germany, and Russia, during the Republican and Napoleonic wars, <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its difficulties arising from the continued wars, <a href="#vol_2_page_109">109</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">diplomatists and dancers, <a href="#vol_2_page_111">111</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Terpsichorean treaty, <a href="#vol_2_page_115">115</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">manners and customs of, half a century ago, <a href="#vol_2_page_121">121</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mr. Ebers's management in 1821, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the King's Theatre in 1789, <a href="#vol_2_page_131">131</a>, <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">costume of, in 1861, <a href="#vol_2_page_137">137</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rossini and his period, <a href="#vol_2_page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Barber of Seville</i>, and other operatic pieces, <a href="#vol_2_page_144">144-163</a>.</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">(See R<small>OSSINI</small>).</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madame Pasta, <a href="#vol_2_page_170">170</a>; Madame Pisaroni, <a href="#vol_2_page_172">172</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Madlle. Sontag, <a href="#vol_2_page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its position in France under the Consulate, Empire, and Restoration, <a href="#vol_2_page_178">178</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plots for assassinating the First Consul at the, <a href="#vol_2_page_179">179</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_182">182</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">assassination of the Duke de Berri at the, <a href="#vol_2_page_190">190</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its temporary suspension, <a href="#vol_2_page_193">193</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the Napoleons good friends to the, <a href="#vol_2_page_193">193</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_194">194</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the different pieces produced at Paris, <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_196">196</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rossini's <i>Guillaume Tell</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">rehearsals, <a href="#vol_2_page_207">207</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Nourrit, <a href="#vol_2_page_221">221</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the chief opera houses of Paris and Italy inseparably connected with the history of opera in England, <a href="#vol_2_page_224">224</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Donizetti and Bellini, <a href="#vol_2_page_226">226</a>, <i>et seq.</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_257">257</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author's rights, <a href="#vol_2_page_237">237</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">different schools of, <a href="#vol_2_page_284">284</a>.</span><br />
-Opera Comique, of France,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_236">236</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_237">237</a>.<br />
-Opera, French, Favart's satirical description of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_065">65</a>.<br />
-Opera National, substituted for that of the Academie Royale,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_059">59</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">programme issued by the directors, <a href="#vol_2_page_062">62</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">change of site, <a href="#vol_2_page_071">71</a>.</span><br />
-Opera singers, badly paid in the 17th century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_025">25</a>.<br />
-Operatic feuds,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_105">105</a>.<br />
-Operatic incongruity at Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_253">253</a>.<br />
-Opitz, translator of the opera of Dafne,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>.<br />
-Orchestra, instrumental music being deficient in the 17th century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Monteverde's improvements, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Orfeo</i>, of Monteverde, music of, produced at Rome in 1440,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>.<br />
-Orleans, duke of, state of the Opera under his regency,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his sincere love of music and literature, <a href="#vol_1_page_085">85</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Otello</i>, by Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_157">157</a>.<br />
-Oulibicheff, M., his notices of Mozart,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_101">101</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the biographer of Beethoven, <a href="#vol_2_page_287">287</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lenz's attack on, <a href="#vol_2_page_287">287</a>.</span><br />
-Oxenford's <i>Robin Hood</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_214">214</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="P" id="P"></a>P.</span><br />
-Pacchierotti, the celebrated male soprano,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_007">7</a>.<br />
-Pacini's <i>Talismano</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_267">267</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_268">268</a>.<br />
-Paer, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plays the part of basso, <a href="#vol_2_page_090">90</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_091">91</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of his Laodicea,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_098">98</a>.</span><br />
-Paer, Madame, the vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_080">80</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">engaged by Bonaparte, <a href="#vol_2_page_080">80</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_081">81</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_088">88</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of, <a href="#vol_2_page_089">89</a>.</span><br />
-Painters of Italy, nicknames given to,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_186">186-8</a>.<br />
-Paisiello, the operatic composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_002">2</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_029">29</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_030">30</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_031">31</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_082">82</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his interview with Bonaparte, <a href="#vol_2_page_082">82</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">liberally rewarded, <a href="#vol_2_page_082">82</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_083">83</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at St. Petersburgh, <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a>.</span><br />
-Panard, his satirical remarks on the Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_067">67</a>;<a name="vol_2_page_334" id="vol_2_page_334"></a><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">song on what he had seen at the Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_067">67</a>.</span><br />
-Pantheon of London converted to the use of the Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_006">6</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_007">7</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its company, <a href="#vol_2_page_007">7</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">burnt down, <a href="#vol_2_page_008">8</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opening of the, <a href="#vol_2_page_125">125</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">an unfortunate speculation, <a href="#vol_2_page_125">125</a>.</span><br />
-Paris, absurd regulations of the Theatres at,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_086">86</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_087">87</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Rousseau's descriptions of the Opera at, <a href="#vol_1_page_251">251</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_252">252-260</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">contests in, respecting the merits of Gluck and Piccinni, <a href="#vol_1_page_267">267</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its operatic company towards the end of the 18th century,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the opera burnt down at different times, <a href="#vol_2_page_042">42</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">National Library of, proposed to be burnt, <a href="#vol_2_page_071">71</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_072">72</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the various operatic pieces produced at, <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a> <i>et seq.</i></span><br />
-Parisian public manners and customs of the time of Louis XIV.,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_075">75</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the turbulent and dissipated habits, <a href="#vol_1_page_080">80</a>.</span><br />
-Pasta, Madame, the celebrated singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_168">168</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her representation of Rossini's <i>Semiramide</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_168">168</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_170">170</a>.</span><br />
-Pelissier, Mdlle., the prima donna of Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her prodigality, <a href="#vol_1_page_083">83</a>.</span><br />
-Pembroke, Countess of, the leader of a party against the vocalist Faustina,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_153">153</a>.<br />
-Pergolese, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_170">170</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Serva Padrona</i> hissed from the stage, <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at St. Petersburgh,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_088">88</a>.</span><br />
-Peri, the Italian musician,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">composer of the music to <i>Dafne</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>.</span><br />
-Perrin, French Operas of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_015">15</a>.<br />
-Peruzzi, Balthazar, his wonderful skill in scenic decoration,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_004">4</a>.<br />
-Peter the Great, his visit to the French Opera,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>.<br />
-Peterborough, lord, account of his marriage with Miss Anastasia Robinson,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_134">134-138</a>.<br />
-Petit, Mdlle., the Parisian danseuse,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>.<br />
-Petits Violins du Roi, a band formed by Lulli,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_017">17</a>.<br />
-Phillips, Ambrose, the plagiarist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_115">115</a>.<br />
-Piccinni, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">merits of, as compared with Gluck, <a href="#vol_1_page_267">267</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical and anecdotal notices of, <a href="#vol_1_page_280">280</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his natural genius for music, <a href="#vol_1_page_284">284</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">success of his <i>Donne Dispetose</i> and other operatic pieces, <a href="#vol_1_page_285">285</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<a name="vol_2_page_335" id="vol_2_page_335"></a></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his arrival at Paris, <a href="#vol_1_page_287">287</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his contests with the Gluckists, <a href="#vol_1_page_288">288</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Orlando</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_289">289</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his rival opera of <i>Iphigenia in Tauris</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_291">291</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_292">292</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ruined by the French Revolution, <a href="#vol_1_page_295">295</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_1_page_295">295</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the originator of the popular musical finales,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Pietra del Paragone</i>, of Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_151">151</a>.<br />
-Pinotti, Teresa, the celebrated comedian,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_274">274</a>.<br />
-Pisaroni, Madame, biographical notices of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_172">172</a>.<br />
-Pleasantries of the drama exploded,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_049">49</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their antiquity and harmlessness, <a href="#vol_1_page_049">49</a>.</span><br />
-Poissardes of Paris, present at the Opera on certain fetes,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_049">49</a>.<br />
-<i>Pomone</i>, the first French Opera heard in Paris,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_015">15</a>.<br />
-Ponceau, Seigneur de, (See C<small>HASSE</small>).<br />
-Porpora, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_044">44</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_100">100</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his perversion of the "Credo", <a href="#vol_1_page_044">44</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">director of the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_164">164</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">singers engaged by him, <a href="#vol_1_page_167">167</a>.</span><br />
-Porte St. Martin Theatre at Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_042">42</a>.<br />
-<i>Preciosa</i>, of Weber,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_298">298</a>.<br />
-Prevost, Mdlle. the ballet dancer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_078">78</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_089">89</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her jealousy of Mdlle. de Camargo, <a href="#vol_1_page_090">90</a>.</span><br />
-Prima donnas, Marcello's satirical instructions respecting,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_211">211</a>.<br />
-<i>Prophete</i>, of Meyerbeer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_218">218</a>.<br />
-Purcell, the writer of English operas,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>King Arthur</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_014">14</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his dramatic music, <a href="#vol_1_page_029">29</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his operatic compositions, <a href="#vol_1_page_033">33</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death, <a href="#vol_1_page_034">34</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his talents, <a href="#vol_1_page_034">34</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Pygmalion</i>, of Mdlle. Sallé, <a href="#vol_1_page_093">93</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_094">94</a>.<br />
-<i>Pyrrhus and Demetrius</i>, Scarlatti's opera of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_117">117</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="Q" id="Q"></a>Q.</span><br />
-Quantz, the celebrated flute player,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_151">151</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his account of the Faustina and Cuzzoni contests, <a href="#vol_1_page_151">151</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_153">153</a>.</span><br />
-Quin, James, the musician, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_032">32</a>.<br />
-Quinault, one of Lulli's librettists,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_022">22</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="R" id="R"></a>R.</span><br />
-Racine, merits of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_115">115</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_116">116</a>.<br />
-Rameau, J. P., the great French composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_013">13</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opinions of Dr. Burney and Grimm on his compositions, <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>;<a name="vol_2_page_336" id="vol_2_page_336"></a></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">memoirs of, <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letters of nobility granted to him, <a href="#vol_1_page_220">220</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his music, <a href="#vol_1_page_222">222</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his death and funeral, <a href="#vol_1_page_222">222</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_223">223</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Ranz des Vaches</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_289">289</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_290">290</a>.<br />
-Recitative, on the use of, in opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_296">296</a>.<br />
-Rehearsals at the French opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_207">207</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">in London, <a href="#vol_2_page_208">208</a>.</span><br />
-Reign of Terror, a fearful time for artists and art,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_071">71</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its numerous victims, <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_077">77</a>.</span><br />
-Republic of France, changes effected, in the Opera by the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_064">64</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_065">65</a>.<br />
-Republican celebrities, their direction of the Opera National,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_062">62</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_063">63</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_074">74</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">changes effected by, in operatic pieces, <a href="#vol_2_page_064">64</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_065">65</a>.</span><br />
-Revolution in France, state of the Opera at the period,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_034">34</a> <i>et seq.</i> <a href="#vol_2_page_055">55</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its effect on the Academie, <a href="#vol_2_page_056">56</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">musicians and singers who fell victims to its fury, <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>.</span><br />
-Rey, the musical composer, and conductor of the Paris orchestra,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_041">41</a>.<br />
-Righini, the operatic composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_104">104</a>.<br />
-<i>Rigoletto</i>, operatic music of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_047">47</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_048">48</a>.<br />
-<i>Rinaldo and Armida</i>, by Handel,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_123">123</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">operatic sparrows of, <a href="#vol_1_page_123">123-126</a>.</span><br />
-Rinuccini, Ottavio, the Italian poet,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of the libretto to <i>Dafne</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_007">7</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Robert le Diable</i>, of Meyerbeer, new version of a chorus in,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_042">42</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">remarks on,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_202">202</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_211">211</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">compared with <i>Der Freischutz</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brought out at the King's Theatre, <a href="#vol_2_page_214">214</a>.</span><br />
-Robespierre, fall of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-<i>Robin des Bois</i>, an adaptation of Weber's <i>Der Freischutz</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_295">295-297</a>.<br />
-Robinson, Anastasia, the celebrated vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_134">134</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">privately married to the Earl of Peterborough, <a href="#vol_1_page_134">134</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady Delany's account of, <a href="#vol_1_page_134">134-138</a>.</span><br />
-Robinson, Mr., father of Lady Peterborough,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_135">135</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">death of, <a href="#vol_1_page_136">136</a>.</span><br />
-Rochois, Martha le, the vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_025">25</a>.<br />
-"Romantic School" of the opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_284">284</a>.<br />
-Rossi, the Italian librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_128">128</a>.<br />
-Rossini, the operatic composer.
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_031">31</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">history of his period, <a href="#vol_2_page_140">140</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the greatest of Italian composers, <a href="#vol_2_page_142">142</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his biographers, <a href="#vol_2_page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Barber of Seville</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">historical anecdotes of, <a href="#vol_2_page_144">144</a> <i>et seq.</i>;></span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">comparison of, with Mozart and Beaumarchais, <a href="#vol_2_page_149">149</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Pietra del Paragone</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_151">151</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his innovations, <a href="#vol_2_page_153">153</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_155">155</a>; <i>Tancredi</i> and <i>Otello</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_156">156</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_157">157</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Gazza Ladra</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_160">160</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Mosé in Egitto</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_163">163</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">married to Mdlle. Colbran, <a href="#vol_2_page_166">166</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Semiramide</i> played by Madame Pasta and others, <a href="#vol_2_page_168">168</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_169">169</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Siege de Corinth</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_189">189</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Viaggio a Reims</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;"><i>Guillaume Tell</i> his last opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_201">201</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">succeeded by Meyerbeer at the Academie, <a href="#vol_2_page_202">202</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his followers, <a href="#vol_2_page_203">203</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_204">204</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his retirement, <a href="#vol_2_page_205">205</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Donizetti's early admiration of, <a href="#vol_2_page_226">226</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Sigismondi's horror of his works, and his adverse criticisms, <a href="#vol_2_page_228">228</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his musical genius and powers, <a href="#vol_2_page_282">282</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>William Tell</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_283">283</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the most modern of operatic composers, <a href="#vol_2_page_283">283</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the alpha and the omega of our operatic period, <a href="#vol_2_page_283">283</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Rouslan e Loudmila</i>, of Glinka,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_290">290</a>.<br />
-Rousseau, J. J., a critic and a composer of music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_238">238</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his "Dictionnaire de Musique," <a href="#vol_1_page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his definition of Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_239">239</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his critical dissertation on the Opera in France during the eighteenth century, <a href="#vol_1_page_239">239-250</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his opinions on dancing and the ballet, <a href="#vol_1_page_250">250</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">author of the <i>Devin du Village</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_261">261</a>,</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 2em;">but Granet the musical composer, <a href="#vol_1_page_262">262</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_263">263</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his advice to Mdlle. Theodore, <a href="#vol_1_page_300">300</a>.</span><br />
-Rousseau, Pierre, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_262">262</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">accuses Jean J. Rousseau of fraud, <a href="#vol_1_page_265">265</a>.</span><br />
-Royal Academy of Music formed in London,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_142">142</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">liberally patronized, <a href="#vol_1_page_143">143</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">confided to Handel, <a href="#vol_1_page_144">144</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the various operas produced at, <a href="#vol_1_page_144">144</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">involved in difficulties, <a href="#vol_1_page_145">145</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">finally closed, <a href="#vol_1_page_146">146</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a complete failure, <a href="#vol_1_page_147">147</a>.</span><br />
-Rubini, the celebrated tenor singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_249">249</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_264">264</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_265">265</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the fellow-student of Bellini, <a href="#vol_2_page_249">249</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_265">265</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_266">266</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great emoluments, <a href="#vol_2_page_266">266</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his B flat, <a href="#vol_2_page_267">267</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_268">268</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his broken clavicle, <a href="#vol_2_page_269">269</a>.</span><br />
-Rue Richelieu, opera in closed after the assassination of the Duc de Berri,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_193">193</a>.<br />
-Russia, opera in, during the republican and Napoleonic wars,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="S" id="S"></a>S.</span><br />
-Sacchini, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>;
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_002">2</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_031">31</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_040">40</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">works of, <a href="#vol_2_page_040">40</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Chimène</i> played at the Paris Opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_043">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Ĺ’dipe Ă  Colosse</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_044">44</a>.</span><br />
-Sacred musical plays of the fifteenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>.<br />
-<i>Saggio sopra l'Opera in musica</i>, of Algarotte,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_002">2</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">St. Evremond's comedy of <i>Les Operas</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_050">50</a>.</span><br />
-St. Leger, Mdlles. de, executed for playing the piano,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>.<br />
-St. Montant, M. de, a musical enthusiast,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_087">87</a>.<br />
-St. Petersburg, opera at,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_088">88</a>.<br />
-Salieri, the operatic composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_002">2</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_040">40</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_100">100</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">brings out his <i>Danaides</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_044">44</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the rival of Mozart, <a href="#vol_2_page_101">101</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Assur</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_101">101</a>,
-<a href="#vol_2_page_102">102</a>.</span><br />
-Sallé, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_091">91</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her proposed reforms in stage costume, <a href="#vol_1_page_091">91</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">noticed by Voltaire, Fontenelle, and others, <a href="#vol_1_page_092">92</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her first appearance in London, <a href="#vol_1_page_093">93</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her alterations in stage costume, <a href="#vol_1_page_093">93</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">performance of her <i>Pygmalion</i>, and her great success, <a href="#vol_1_page_098">98</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">enthusiasm at her benefit in London, <a href="#vol_1_page_098">98</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_099">99</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">announcement of her first arrival in England, <a href="#vol_1_page_101">101</a>.</span><br />
-Saxe, Marshal, the great favourite of the ladies,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_232">232</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_233">233</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his love for Madame Favart, <a href="#vol_1_page_233">233</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_234">234</a>.</span><br />
-Scarlatti's opera of <i>Pyrrhus and Demetrius</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_117">117</a>.<br />
-Scenery, the great attraction in operatic representations,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the art carried to great perfection at Rome, <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_004">4</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the opera of Paris, <a href="#vol_1_page_252">252</a>.</span><br />
-Schœlcher, M. Victor, biographer of Handel,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_097">97</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the origin of "God save the king," <a href="#vol_1_page_165">165</a>.</span><br />
-Schindler, the biographer of Beethoven,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_287">287</a>.<br />
-Schmaling, Mdlle. (See M<small>ARA</small>).<br />
-Schools, the different ones,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_284">284</a>.<br />
-Schrœder-Devrient, Madame, the vocalist,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_299">299</a>.<br />
-Schutz, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>.<br />
-Scribe, M., the librettist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_250">250</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his comic operas,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>.</span><br />
-Scudo, the critic,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_293">293</a>.<br />
-<i>Semiramide</i>, of Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_168">168</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">represented by Madame Pasta and others, <a href="#vol_2_page_168">168</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_169">169</a>.</span><br />
-Senesino, Signor, the sopranist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_158">158</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_159">159</a>;<a name="vol_2_page_339" id="vol_2_page_339"></a><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Handel, and joins the Lincoln's Inn Theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_164">164</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Serva Padrona</i>, opera of, hissed from the French stage,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_009">9</a>.<br />
-Servandoni, of the Tuileries theatre,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_063">63</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his scenic decorations, <a href="#vol_1_page_177">177</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_179">179</a>.</span><br />
-Shakspeare's dramas,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_061">61</a>.<br />
-<i>Siege de Corinthe</i>, produced at the French Opera,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a>.<br />
-<i>Siege of Thionville</i>, its gratuitous performance for the amusement of the <i>sans culottes</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_066">66</a>.<br />
-Sigismondi, the librarian of the Neapolitan Conservatory,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_226">226</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his pious horror of Rossini's works, and his adverse criticisms, <a href="#vol_2_page_228">228</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_229">229</a>.</span><br />
-Singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_008">8</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_182">182</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_183">183</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">their capricious tempers, <a href="#vol_1_page_161">161</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lord Mount Edgcumbe's "Reminiscences" of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_028">28</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">divided into two classes, <a href="#vol_2_page_028">28</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">exposed to the threats of the Republicans, <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>.</span><br />
-Singers of Italy, found in all parts of Europe,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_010">10</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_172">172</a> <i>et seq.</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">nicknames given to, <a href="#vol_1_page_186">186-8</a>.</span><br />
-Singers of the French Opera, privileges of the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_077">77</a>.<br />
-Singing in dramatic representations, its powerful effects,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_047">47</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorous satire on, <a href="#vol_1_page_050">50</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_051">51</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Mazocci's school of, <a href="#vol_1_page_184">184</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Marcello's satirical advice respecting, <a href="#vol_1_page_204">204-12</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">deaths caused by,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_270">270</a>.</span><br />
-Smith, J., the husband of Mrs. Tofts,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_111">111</a>.<br />
-Smith, Sir Sidney, his liberation from the French prison by Boisgerard,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_117">117</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_118">118</a>.<br />
-Sobriquets, applied to celebrated musicians, singers, and painters of Italy,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_186">186-8</a>.<br />
-Song, difficulty of writing to declamation in modern languages,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_240">240</a>.<br />
-Song of Solomon, considered the earliest opera on record,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_003">3</a>.<br />
-<i>Sonnambula</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_250">250</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_251">251</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_257">257</a>.<br />
-Sontag, Mdlle., biographical notices of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_174">174</a>.<br />
-Soubise, Prince de,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_299">299</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his great expenditure,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_051">51</a>.</span><br />
-Sounds, art of combining agreeably,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_239">239</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of a speaking voice, <a href="#vol_1_page_240">240</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_340" id="vol_2_page_340"></a></span><br />
-Sparrows, operatic, at the Haymarket,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_123">123-126</a>.<br />
-Spectator. (See A<small>DDISON</small>).<br />
-Spitting,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_107">107</a>.<br />
-Spohr, the celebrated German composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_285">285</a>.<br />
-Spontini, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_183">183</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Finta Filosofa</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_185">185</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>La Vestale</i>, and <i>Fernand Cortez</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_186">186</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_187">187</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his animosity towards Meyerbeer, <a href="#vol_2_page_188">188</a>.</span><br />
-Stage of France, its state of morality,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_081">81</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_082">82</a>.<br />
-Stage costume, Mdlles. Sallé's proposed reforms in,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_093">93</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her alterations in, <a href="#vol_1_page_093">93</a>.</span><br />
-Stage decoration,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_063">63</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_179">179</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_180">180</a>.<br />
-Stage plays, ordinances for the suppression of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_031">31</a>.<br />
-Steele, on insanity,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_111">111</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_112">112</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his hatred of the Italian Opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_113">113</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his chagrin at the success of Handel's <i>Rinaldo</i>, <a href="#vol_1_page_116">116</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his insults to operatic singers, <a href="#vol_1_page_117">117</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">on the operatic sparrows and chaffinches at the Haymarket, <a href="#vol_1_page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his unfavourable opinion of opera, <a href="#vol_1_page_126">126</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_127">127</a>.</span><br />
-Stockholm, opera at,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_087">87</a>.<br />
-Storace, Mrs., the prima donna of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_004">4</a>.</span><br />
-Storace, Stephen, musical director of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_004">4</a>.<br />
-Strada, Signora, the Italian singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_163">163</a>.<br />
-Stradella, the vocalist and operatic composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_183">183</a>.<br />
-Strozzi, Pietro,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_005">5</a>.<br />
-Stutgardt, magnificence of the theatres at,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>.<br />
-Styx, how to cross the,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_085">85</a>.<br />
-Subligny, Mdlle., the celebrated danseuse,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_092">92</a>.<br />
-Swift, his celebrated epigram on Buononcini and Handel,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_064">64</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="T" id="T"></a>T.</span><br />
-<i>Talismano</i>, of Pacini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_267">267</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_268">268</a>.<br />
-Talmont, princess de, letter from, <a href="#vol_2_page_235">235</a>.<br />
-Tamburini, the singer, performer of "Don Giovanni" in London,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_108">108</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_271">271-4</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his grotesque personation of the absent <i>prima donna</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_272">272-274</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his versatile powers, <a href="#vol_2_page_273">273</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Tancredi</i>, by Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_152">152</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_156">156</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_157">157</a>.<br />
-Taylor, Mr., proprietor and manager of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_121">121</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">humorous anecdotes of, <a href="#vol_2_page_122">122</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his quarrel with Mr. Waters, <a href="#vol_2_page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">driven from the theatre, <a href="#vol_2_page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">ends his days in prison, <a href="#vol_2_page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his anonymous letter respecting Waters, <a href="#vol_2_page_128">128</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Teatro a la Modo</i>, Marcello's satire of
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_204">204-12</a>.<br />
-Terence, the first production of his <i>Eunuchus</i>,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_090">90</a>.<br />
-Terpsichorean treaty,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_115">115</a>.<br />
-Theatre, at Stutgardt,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Venice, <a href="#vol_1_page_180">180</a>; at Vienna, <a href="#vol_1_page_181">181</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of the jesuits, at Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_050">50</a>.</span><br />
-Théâtre des Arts, of Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_194">194</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its frequent changes of name, <a href="#vol_2_page_194">194</a>, <i>n.</i></span><br />
-Théâtre d'Opéra, of Paris,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_193">193</a>.<br />
-Theatres in the open air,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_176">176</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_177">177</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">of immense size, <a href="#vol_1_page_177">177</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">scenic decorations of, <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_179">179</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">at Venice, <a href="#vol_1_page_180">180</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">number of in Paris during the Reign of Terror,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_071">71</a>.</span><br />
-Théodore, Mdlle., the accomplished danseuse,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_300">300</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">imprisoned,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_054">54</a>.</span><br />
-Thévanard, the operatic singer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_079">79</a>.<br />
-Thillon, Madame,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_239">239</a>.<br />
-Tintoretto, the musical composer, refuses the honour of knighthood,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_221">221</a>.<br />
-Tofts, Mrs. the vocalist, and rival of Margarita de l'Epine,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_105">105</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">letter from, <a href="#vol_1_page_105">105</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">plays "Arsinoe" at Drury Lane, <a href="#vol_1_page_107">107</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">her insanity, <a href="#vol_1_page_110">110</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_111">111</a>.</span><br />
-Tosi, Signor, his observations on Mesdames Faustina and Cuzzoni,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_151">151</a>.<br />
-Trial, the comic tenor, death of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_076">76</a>.<br />
-Tribou, the French harmonist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_083">83</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his versatile talents, <a href="#vol_1_page_083">83</a>.</span><br />
-<i>Triomphe de Trajan</i>, opera of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_189">189</a>.<br />
-Tuileries, the last <i>concert spirituel</i> at the theatre of the,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_057">57</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="U" id="U"></a>U.</span><br />
-<i>Undine</i>, of Hoffman,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_301">301-305</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="V" id="V"></a>V.</span><br />
-Valabrèque, M., the husband of Catalani,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_020">20</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">draft of a contract between him and Mr. Ebers, <a href="#vol_2_page_023">23-25</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdote of his stupidity, <a href="#vol_2_page_026">26</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_027">27</a>.</span><br />
-Valentini, Regina, the celebrated vocalist,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">married to Mingotti, <a href="#vol_1_page_156">156</a>.</span><br />
-Varennes, Mdlle., the French danseuse,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_112">112</a>.<br />
-Velluti, a tenor singer of great powers,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_209">209</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">played the principal part in <i>Il Crociato</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_209">209</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">biographical notices of, <a href="#vol_2_page_210">210</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his first debut and performance in London, <a href="#vol_2_page_211">211</a>.</span><br />
-Venice, the opera of, and its scenic decorations,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_180">180</a>.<br />
-Verdi, Signor, the musical composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_268">268</a>;
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_099">99</a>, <i>note</i>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Ernani</i> and <i>Rigoletto</i> founded on <i>Hernani</i>
-and <i>Le Roi s'amuse</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_213">213</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Ernani</i> prohibited the stage,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_235">235</a>.</span><br />
-Versailles, ballets at,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_070">70</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_071">71</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">the London Italian company perform at,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_003">3</a>.</span><br />
-Vestris, Gaetan, the dancer, anecdotes of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_278">278</a>;
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_037">37</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">founder of the family,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_301">301</a>.</span><br />
-Vestris, Auguste, son of Gaetan the dancer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_301">301</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">anecdotes of,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_035">35</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_037">37</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his extravagant expenditure, <a href="#vol_2_page_053">53</a>.</span><br />
-Vestris, the prince of Guéméné, compelled to dance as a sans culotte,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_069">69</a>.<br />
-Vestrises, biographical notices of the family,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_302">302</a>.<br />
-<i>Viaggio a Reims</i>, by Rossini, written for the coronation of Charles X.,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_195">195</a>.<br />
-Victor Hugo, his copyright action against Donizetti,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_284">284</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_285">285</a>.<br />
-Vienna, establishment of the Italian opera in,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_174">174</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its great writers and composers, <a href="#vol_1_page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">Lady Wortley Montagu's description of its magnificent theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_175">175</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">opera at, a first-rate musical theatre, <a href="#vol_1_page_181">181</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">great patronage of the imperial family, <a href="#vol_1_page_181">181</a>.</span><br />
-Viagnoni, the singer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_014">14</a>.<br />
-Violins of the seventeenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_023">23</a>.<br />
-Virtuosi of the seventeenth century,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_183">183</a>.<a name="vol_2_page_343" id="vol_2_page_343"></a><br />
-Vivien, the horn player,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_184">184</a>.<br />
-Vocalists of Paris, their generous letter to Prince de Guéméné,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_051">51</a>.<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">(See S<small>INGERS</small>.)</span><br />
-Voice, speaking, sounds of a,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_240">240</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="W" id="W"></a>W.</span><br />
-Wagner's definition of the word "Opera,"
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_001">1</a> <i>et note</i>.<br />
-Wallace, V., the eminent composer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_042">42</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">critique on a passage in his <i>Maritana</i>,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_042">42</a>, <a href="#vol_1_page_043">43</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Maritana</i> and <i>Lurline</i> founded on the French, <a href="#vol_1_page_214">214</a>.</span><br />
-Warsaw, the opera of closed,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_054">54</a>.<br />
-Warton, Dr. J., his character of the Duchess of Bolton,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_138">138</a>.<br />
-Waters, Mr., joint proprietor of the King's Theatre,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_109">109</a>, <a href="#vol_2_page_125">125</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">quarrels with Taylor, his partner, <a href="#vol_2_page_126">126</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">re-opens the Opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">makes a purchase of it, <a href="#vol_2_page_127">127</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his retirement, <a href="#vol_2_page_129">129</a>.</span><br />
-Weber, Karl Maria Von, a romantic composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_285">285</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">belongs to the same class as Beethoven and Spohr, <a href="#vol_2_page_285">285</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his influence on the Opera, <a href="#vol_2_page_288">288</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his fondness for particular instruments, <a href="#vol_2_page_290">290</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">characteristics of his music, <a href="#vol_2_page_291">291</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his resemblance to Meyerbeer, <a href="#vol_2_page_292">292</a>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Der Freischutz</i>, and its great success, <a href="#vol_2_page_292">292</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his various operas, <a href="#vol_2_page_298">298</a> <i>et seq.</i>;</span><br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">his <i>Oberon</i>, <a href="#vol_2_page_301">301</a>.</span><br />
-<i>William Tell</i>, of Rossini, no subsequent opera to be ranked with,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_283">283</a>.<br />
-Williams, Sir Charles, anecdote of,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_157">157</a>.<br />
-Wolfenbuttel school of music,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_006">6</a>.<br />
-Women, duelling among,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_225">225</a> <i>et note</i>.<br />
-Wurtemburg, Duke, brilliancy of his court,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_178">178</a>.<br />
-<br />
-<span class="letra"><a name="Z" id="Z"></a>Z.</span><br />
-<i>Zaira</i>, of Bellini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_250">250</a>.<br />
-<i>Zelmira</i>, of Rossini,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_165">165</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">its music, <a href="#vol_2_page_167">167</a>.</span><br />
-Zeno, Apostolo, the operatic writer,
-
-
-i. <a href="#vol_1_page_175">175</a>;<br />
-<span style="margin-left: 1em;">a librettist, <a href="#vol_1_page_212">212</a>.</span><br />
-Zingarelli, the musical composer,
-
-
-ii. <a href="#vol_2_page_032">32</a>.<br />
-</p>
-
-<p>&nbsp;</p>
-
-<p class="c">FINIS.</p>
-
-<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary=""
-style="border:2px dotted gray;padding:2%;">
-<tr><th align="center">The following typographical errors were corrected by the etext transcriber:</th></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><i>La Dame aux <span class="errata">Camelias</span></i> was to have been played=><i>La Dame aux Camélias</i> was to have been played</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">J'ai vu le <span class="errata">soliel</span> et la lune=>J'ai vu le soleil et la lune</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">of an Italian, who, <span class="errata">adandoning</span>=>of an Italian, who, abandoning</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">old newspapers <span class="errata">before before</span> me=>old newspapers before me</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">One</span> the contrary, it gives=>On the contrary, it gives</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">the banquet with the <span class="errata">apparation</span> of the murdered=>the banquet with the apparition of the murdered</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">DUCAL <span class="errata">CONNAISSEURS</span>=>DUCAL CONNOISSEURS</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">Hamburg</span> theatre, where operas had been <span class="errata">perfomed</span>=>Hamburgh theatre, where operas had been performed</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">WoffenbĂĽttel</span> caused the directors of the Hamburgh=>WolfenbĂĽttel caused the directors of the Hamburgh</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">retirement, operas by Galuppi, <span class="errata">Pergolesi</span>, Jomelli,=>retirement, operas by Galuppi, Pergolese, Jomelli,</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">Guingueneé</span>, at Piccinni's request=>Guinguenée, at Piccinni's request</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "<i>le <span class="errata">diou</span> de la danse</i>=>"If," said Gaetan, on another occasion, "<i>le dieu de la danse</i></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">works, had to perform in the <i><span class="errata">Clemenzo</span> di Tito</i>=>works, had to perform in the <i>Clemenza di Tito</i></td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Gluck <span class="errata">benefitted</span> French opera in two ways=>Gluck benefited French opera in two ways</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Bernadotte <span class="errata">wore</span> he would have Paer, and no one else=>Bernadotte swore he would have Paer, and no one else</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">by <span class="errata">lord</span> Fife&mdash;a keen-eyed connoisseur=>by Lord Fife&mdash;a keen-eyed connoisseur</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">For the one hundred and eighty pound <span class="errata">boxas</span>=>For the one hundred and eighty pound boxes</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up <span class="errata">Water's</span>=>meanwhile Mr. Chambers had bought up Waters's</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">prima</span> uomo=>primo uomo</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">Madeimoselle</span>=>Mademoiselle</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">Hadyn</span>=>Haydn</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">LA MUETTE DE <span class="errata">PARTICI</span>=>LA MUETTE DE PORTICI {2}</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">La Muette <span class="errata">di</span> Portici=>La Muette de Portici</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">threw himself out of window, at five in the morning=>threw himself out of <span class="errata">a</span> window, at five in the morning</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">the opera <span class="errata">perfomed</span>, and the theatre saved=>the opera performed, and the theatre saved</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">so that the <span class="errata">cast</span>, to be efficient=>so that the caste, to be efficient</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">The young gentlemen of <span class="errata">Burgamo</span>=>The young gentlemen of Bergamo</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">Il</span> Puritani=>I Puritani</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">general <span class="errata">enthusiam</span>=>general enthusiasm</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Schindler's book is the <span class="errata">course</span> of nearly=>Schindler's book is the sourse of nearly</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Berlioz's version of Der <span class="errata">Freischutz</span>=>Berlioz's version of Der FreischĂĽtz</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Dame aux <span class="errata">Camelias</span>=>Dame aux Camélias</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Der <span class="errata">Freischutz</span>, of Weber=>Der FreischĂĽtz, of Weber</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Mailly's <span class="errata">Akebar</span>=>Mailly's Akébar</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Marre, Abbé de la, defends <span class="errata">Mddlle</span>. Petit=>Marre, Abbé de la, defends Mdlle. Petit</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">Singers of the seventeenth and <span class="errata">eightteenth</span> centuries=>Singers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center"><span class="errata">Fenelon</span>, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.=>Fénélon, Chev. de, accidentally killed, i. 81.</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">of Cimarosa, <span class="errata">Paesiello</span>, Anfossi=>of Cimarosa, Paisiello, Anfossi</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">where are <span class="errata">Hoffman</span>'s licentious novels=>where are Hoffmann's licentious novels</td></tr>
-<tr><td align="center">his opinion of <span class="errata">Hoffman</span>'s music, 306.=>his opinion of Hoffmann's music, 306.</td></tr>
-</table>
-
-<div class="footnotes"><p class="cb">FOOTNOTES:</p>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_1_1" id="Footnote_1_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_1_1"><span class="label">[1]</span></a> Wagner calls the composer of an opera "the sculptor <i>or</i>
-upholsterer," (which is complimentary to sculptors,) and the writer of
-the words "the architect." I would rather say that the writer of the
-words produces a sketch, on which the composer paints a picture.
-</p><p>
-Since writing the above I find that the greatest of French poets
-describes an admirable <i>libretto</i> of his own as "<i>un canevas d'opéra
-plus ou moins bien disposé pour que l'œuvre musicale s'y superpose
-heureusement</i>;" and again, "<i>une trame qui ne demande pas mieux que de
-se dérober sous cette riche et éblouissante broderie qui s'appelle la
-musique</i>." (Preface to Victor Hugo's <i>Esmeralda</i>.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_2_2" id="Footnote_2_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_2_2"><span class="label">[2]</span></a> MĂ©nestrier, des representations en musique, anciennes et
-modernes, page 23.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_3_3" id="Footnote_3_3"></a><a href="#FNanchor_3_3"><span class="label">[3]</span></a> See Vol. II.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_4_4" id="Footnote_4_4"></a><a href="#FNanchor_4_4"><span class="label">[4]</span></a> Cambronne, by the way is said to have been very much
-annoyed at the invention of "<i>La garde meurt et ne se rend pas</i>;" and
-with reason, for he didn't die and he <i>did</i> surrender.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_5_5" id="Footnote_5_5"></a><a href="#FNanchor_5_5"><span class="label">[5]</span></a> "<i>The battle or defeat of the Swiss on the day of
-Marignan.</i>"</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_6_6" id="Footnote_6_6"></a><a href="#FNanchor_6_6"><span class="label">[6]</span></a> This was Heine's own joke.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_7_7" id="Footnote_7_7"></a><a href="#FNanchor_7_7"><span class="label">[7]</span></a> And this, Beaumarchais's.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_8_8" id="Footnote_8_8"></a><a href="#FNanchor_8_8"><span class="label">[8]</span></a> <i>La Dame aux Camélias</i> was to have been played at the St.
-James's Theatre last summer, with Madame Doche in the principal part;
-but its representation was forbidden by the licenser.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_9_9" id="Footnote_9_9"></a><a href="#FNanchor_9_9"><span class="label">[9]</span></a> <i>Spectator</i>, No. 18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_10_10" id="Footnote_10_10"></a><a href="#FNanchor_10_10"><span class="label">[10]</span></a> "Life of Handel," by Victor Schœlcher.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_11_11" id="Footnote_11_11"></a><a href="#FNanchor_11_11"><span class="label">[11]</span></a> I adhere to the custom of calling Margarita de l'Epine by
-her pretty Christian name, without any complimentary prefix, and of
-styling her probably more dignified competitor, Mrs. Tofts. Thus in
-later times it has been the fashion to say, Jenny Lind, and even Giulia
-Grisi, but not Theresa Titiens or Henrietta Sontag.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_12_12" id="Footnote_12_12"></a><a href="#FNanchor_12_12"><span class="label">[12]</span></a> <i>Spectator</i>, No. 261.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_13_13" id="Footnote_13_13"></a><a href="#FNanchor_13_13"><span class="label">[13]</span></a> Burnt down in 1789. The present edifice was erected from
-designs by Michael Novosielski, (who, to judge from his name, must have
-been a Russian or a Pole), in 1790. Altered and enlarged by Nash and
-Repton, in 1816&mdash;18.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_14_14" id="Footnote_14_14"></a><a href="#FNanchor_14_14"><span class="label">[14]</span></a> It is to be regretted, however, that in sneering at an
-Italian librettist who called Handel "The Orpheus of our age," Addison
-thought fit to speak of the great composer with neither politeness, nor
-wit, nor even accuracy, as "Mynheer."&mdash;<i>Spectator</i>, No. V.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_15_15" id="Footnote_15_15"></a><a href="#FNanchor_15_15"><span class="label">[15]</span></a> The same trenchant critics who attribute Addison's satire
-of the Opera to the failure of his <i>Rosamond</i>, explain Steele's attacks
-by his position as patentee of Drury Lane Theatre. Here, however, dates
-come to our assistance. The jocose paper on Mrs. Toft's insanity
-appeared in the <i>Tatler</i>, in 1709. The attacks of the unhappy Clayton on
-Handel (see following pages) were published under Steele's auspices in
-the <i>Spectator</i>, in 1711-12. Steele did not succeed Collier as manager
-or patentee of Drury Lane, together with Wilks, Doggett, and Cibber,
-until 1714.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_16_16" id="Footnote_16_16"></a><a href="#FNanchor_16_16"><span class="label">[16]</span></a> <i>Spectator</i>, 290.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_17_17" id="Footnote_17_17"></a><a href="#FNanchor_17_17"><span class="label">[17]</span></a> The Queen's gardeners.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_18_18" id="Footnote_18_18"></a><a href="#FNanchor_18_18"><span class="label">[18]</span></a> <i>Tatler</i>, No. 113.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_19_19" id="Footnote_19_19"></a><a href="#FNanchor_19_19"><span class="label">[19]</span></a> <i>Spectator</i>, No. 285.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_20_20" id="Footnote_20_20"></a><a href="#FNanchor_20_20"><span class="label">[20]</span></a> It is also known that both profited by the study of
-Scarlatti's works.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_21_21" id="Footnote_21_21"></a><a href="#FNanchor_21_21"><span class="label">[21]</span></a> See Chapter II.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_22_22" id="Footnote_22_22"></a><a href="#FNanchor_22_22"><span class="label">[22]</span></a> Quoted by Mr. Hogarth, in his Memoirs of the Opera.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_23_23" id="Footnote_23_23"></a><a href="#FNanchor_23_23"><span class="label">[23]</span></a> <i>The Theatre.</i> From Tuesday, March 8th, to Saturday March
-12th, 1720.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_24_24" id="Footnote_24_24"></a><a href="#FNanchor_24_24"><span class="label">[24]</span></a> See a letter of Dr. Harrington's (referred to by Mr.
-Chappell), in the <i>Monthly Magazine</i>, Vol. XI., page 386.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_25_25" id="Footnote_25_25"></a><a href="#FNanchor_25_25"><span class="label">[25]</span></a> "Memoirs of the Opera," Vol. I., page 371.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_26_26" id="Footnote_26_26"></a><a href="#FNanchor_26_26"><span class="label">[26]</span></a> The sopranists&mdash;a species of singers which ceased to be
-"formed" after Pope Clement XIV. sanctioned the introduction of female
-vocalists into the churches of Rome, and at the same time recommended
-theatrical directors to have women's parts in their operas performed by
-women. This was in 1769.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_27_27" id="Footnote_27_27"></a><a href="#FNanchor_27_27"><span class="label">[27]</span></a> The <i>Dictionnaire Musicale</i> was not published until some
-years afterwards.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_28_28" id="Footnote_28_28"></a><a href="#FNanchor_28_28"><span class="label">[28]</span></a> Le Vieux Neuf, par Edouard Fournier, t. ii., p. 293.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_29_29" id="Footnote_29_29"></a><a href="#FNanchor_29_29"><span class="label">[29]</span></a> See <i>Moliére Musicien</i>, by Castil Blaze; t. ii, p. 26.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_30_30" id="Footnote_30_30"></a><a href="#FNanchor_30_30"><span class="label">[30]</span></a> Choruses were introduced in the earliest Italian Operas,
-but they do not appear to have formed essential parts of the dramas
-represented.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_31_31" id="Footnote_31_31"></a><a href="#FNanchor_31_31"><span class="label">[31]</span></a> With the important exception, however, of <i>Don Giovanni</i>,
-written for, and performed for the first time, at Prague.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_32_32" id="Footnote_32_32"></a><a href="#FNanchor_32_32"><span class="label">[32]</span></a> Vocal agility, not gymnastics.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_33_33" id="Footnote_33_33"></a><a href="#FNanchor_33_33"><span class="label">[33]</span></a> Of Faustina and Cuzzoni, whose histories are so intimately
-connected with that of the Royal Academy of Music, I have spoken in the
-preceding chapter on "The Italian Opera under Handel."</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_34_34" id="Footnote_34_34"></a><a href="#FNanchor_34_34"><span class="label">[34]</span></a> The copious title of this work is given by M. Castil
-Blaze, in his "Histoire de l'Opéra Italien." I cannot obtain the book
-itself, but Mr. Hogarth, in his "Memoirs of the Opera," gives a very
-full account of it, from which I extract a few pages.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_35_35" id="Footnote_35_35"></a><a href="#FNanchor_35_35"><span class="label">[35]</span></a> F. Halévy, Origines de l'Opéra en France (in the volume
-entitled "Souvenirs et Portraits: Etudes sur les beaux Arts").</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_36_36" id="Footnote_36_36"></a><a href="#FNanchor_36_36"><span class="label">[36]</span></a> By M. Castil Blaze, "Histoire de l'Académie Royale de
-Musique," vol. i. p. 116.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_37_37" id="Footnote_37_37"></a><a href="#FNanchor_37_37"><span class="label">[37]</span></a> For a copy of his Mass, No. 2.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_38_38" id="Footnote_38_38"></a><a href="#FNanchor_38_38"><span class="label">[38]</span></a> It was precisely because persons joining the Opera did
-<i>not</i> thereby lose their nobility, that M. de Camargo consented to allow
-his daughter to appear there. See page 89 of this volume.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_39_39" id="Footnote_39_39"></a><a href="#FNanchor_39_39"><span class="label">[39]</span></a> Among other instances of duels between women may be cited
-a combat with daggers, which took place between the abbess of a convent
-at Venice, and a lady who claimed the admiration of the Abbé de
-Pomponne; a combat with swords between Marotte Beaupré and Catherine des
-Urlis, actresses at the Hotel de Bourgogne, where the duel took place,
-on the stage (came of quarrel unknown); and a combat on horseback, with
-pistols, about a greyhound, between two ladies whom the historian
-Robinet designates under the names of Mélinte and Prélamie, and in which
-MĂ©linte was wounded.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_40_40" id="Footnote_40_40"></a><a href="#FNanchor_40_40"><span class="label">[40]</span></a> Castil Blaze.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_41_41" id="Footnote_41_41"></a><a href="#FNanchor_41_41"><span class="label">[41]</span></a> It is not so generally known, by the way, as it should be,
-that Garrick was of French origin. The name of his father, who left
-France after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, settled in England
-and married an Englishwoman, was Carric. (See "the Eighth Commandment,"
-by Charles Reade.) On the other hand we must not forget that one of
-Molière's (Poquelin's) ancestors in the male line was an archer of the
-Scottish guard, and that Montaigne was of English descent.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_42_42" id="Footnote_42_42"></a><a href="#FNanchor_42_42"><span class="label">[42]</span></a> One of Mademoiselle Guimard's principal admirers was de
-Jarente, Titular Bishop of Orleans, who held "<i>la feuilles des
-bénéfices</i>," and frequently disposed of them in accordance with the
-suggestions of his young friend.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_43_43" id="Footnote_43_43"></a><a href="#FNanchor_43_43"><span class="label">[43]</span></a> French audiences owe something to the Count de Lauragais
-who, by paying an immense sum of money as compensation, procured the
-abolition of the seats on the stage. Previously, the <i>habitués</i> were in
-the habit of crowding the stage to such an extent, that an actor was
-sometimes obliged to request the public to open a way for him before he
-could make his entry.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_44_44" id="Footnote_44_44"></a><a href="#FNanchor_44_44"><span class="label">[44]</span></a> Compare this with the Duke of Wellington keeping foxhounds
-in the Peninsula, and observe the characteristic pastimes of English and
-French generals. So, in our House of Commons, there is always an
-adjournment over the Derby day; in France, nothing used to empty the
-Chamber of Deputies so much as a new opera; and during the last French
-republic, when a question affecting its very existence was about to be
-discussed, the Assemblée Nationale was quite deserted, from the anxiety
-of the members to be present at the first representation of the
-<i>Prophète</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_45_45" id="Footnote_45_45"></a><a href="#FNanchor_45_45"><span class="label">[45]</span></a> On this subject see <i>ante</i>, page 1.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_46_46" id="Footnote_46_46"></a><a href="#FNanchor_46_46"><span class="label">[46]</span></a> "Gods and devils," says Arteaga, "were banished from the
-stage as soon as poets discovered the art of making men speak with
-dignity."&mdash;<i>Rivoluzioni del teatro Italiano.</i></p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_47_47" id="Footnote_47_47"></a><a href="#FNanchor_47_47"><span class="label">[47]</span></a> Published by John Chapman, London.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_48_48" id="Footnote_48_48"></a><a href="#FNanchor_48_48"><span class="label">[48]</span></a> Addison gives some such description of the French Opera in
-No. 29 of the <i>Spectator</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_49_49" id="Footnote_49_49"></a><a href="#FNanchor_49_49"><span class="label">[49]</span></a> The origin of this absurd title has been already explained
-(page 15).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_50_50" id="Footnote_50_50"></a><a href="#FNanchor_50_50"><span class="label">[50]</span></a> <i>Molière Musicien</i>, par Castil Blaze, vol. II., p. 409.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_51_51" id="Footnote_51_51"></a><a href="#FNanchor_51_51"><span class="label">[51]</span></a> Gluck's name proves nothing to the contrary. The Slavonian
-languages are such unknown tongues, and so unpronounceable to the West
-of Europe that Slavonians have in numerous instances Latinised their
-names like Copernicus (a Pole), or Gallicised them like Chopin (also a
-Pole), or above all, have Germanised them like Guttenberg (a native of
-Kutna Gora in Bohemia), Schwarzenberg (from Tcherna Gora, the Black
-Mountain).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_52_52" id="Footnote_52_52"></a><a href="#FNanchor_52_52"><span class="label">[52]</span></a> We have a right to suppose that the priest did not exactly
-know for whose arm the mass was ordered.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_53_53" id="Footnote_53_53"></a><a href="#FNanchor_53_53"><span class="label">[53]</span></a> Of which, the best account I have met with is given in the
-memoirs of Fleury the actor.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_54_54" id="Footnote_54_54"></a><a href="#FNanchor_54_54"><span class="label">[54]</span></a> From 1821 to 1828.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_55_55" id="Footnote_55_55"></a><a href="#FNanchor_55_55"><span class="label">[55]</span></a> For an interesting account of the production of this work,
-see "Beaumarchais's Life and Times," by Louis de Loménie. See also the
-Preface to <i>Tarare</i>, in Beaumarchais's "Dramatic Works."</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_56_56" id="Footnote_56_56"></a><a href="#FNanchor_56_56"><span class="label">[56]</span></a> See vol I.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_57_57" id="Footnote_57_57"></a><a href="#FNanchor_57_57"><span class="label">[57]</span></a> <i>Question.</i> Quelle est la meilleure? <i>Answer.</i> C'est Mara.
-<i>Rejoinder.</i> C'est bientĂ´t dit (<i>bien Todi</i>).&mdash;(From a joke-book of the
-period).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_58_58" id="Footnote_58_58"></a><a href="#FNanchor_58_58"><span class="label">[58]</span></a> A celebrated male soprano, and one of the last of the
-tribe.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_59_59" id="Footnote_59_59"></a><a href="#FNanchor_59_59"><span class="label">[59]</span></a> Some writers speak of Mara as a violinist, others as a
-violoncellist.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_60_60" id="Footnote_60_60"></a><a href="#FNanchor_60_60"><span class="label">[60]</span></a> Banti was born at Crema, in 1757.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_61_61" id="Footnote_61_61"></a><a href="#FNanchor_61_61"><span class="label">[61]</span></a> Nasolini, a composer of great promise, died at a very
-early age.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_62_62" id="Footnote_62_62"></a><a href="#FNanchor_62_62"><span class="label">[62]</span></a> All three sopranists.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_63_63" id="Footnote_63_63"></a><a href="#FNanchor_63_63"><span class="label">[63]</span></a> It will be remembered that Berton, the director of the
-French Academy, entertained Gluck and Piccinni in a similar manner. (See
-vol. I.)</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_64_64" id="Footnote_64_64"></a><a href="#FNanchor_64_64"><span class="label">[64]</span></a> We sometimes hear complaints of the want of munificence
-shown by modern constitutional sovereigns, in their dealings with
-artists and musicians. At least, however, they pay them. Louis XV. and
-Louis XVI. not only did not pay their daughters' music-masters, but
-allowed the royal young ladies to sponge upon them for what music they
-required.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_65_65" id="Footnote_65_65"></a><a href="#FNanchor_65_65"><span class="label">[65]</span></a> In chronicling the material changes that have taken place
-at the French Opera, I must not forgot the story of the new curtain,
-displayed for the first time, in 1753, or rather the admirable
-inscription suggested for it by Diderot&mdash;<i>Hic Marsias Apollinem.</i>
-Pergolese's <i>Servante Maitresse</i> (<i>La Serva padrona</i>) had just been
-"<i>écorchée</i>" by the orchestra of the Académie.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_66_66" id="Footnote_66_66"></a><a href="#FNanchor_66_66"><span class="label">[66]</span></a> Mémoires Secrètes, vol. xxi., page 121.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_67_67" id="Footnote_67_67"></a><a href="#FNanchor_67_67"><span class="label">[67]</span></a> This prevented me, when I was in Warsaw, from hearing M.
-Moniuszko's Polish opera of <i>Halka</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_68_68" id="Footnote_68_68"></a><a href="#FNanchor_68_68"><span class="label">[68]</span></a> To say that a theatre is "full" in the present day, means
-very little. The play-bills and even the newspapers speak of "a full
-house" when it is half empty. If a theatre is tolerably full, it is said
-to be "crowded" or "crammed;" if quite full, "crammed to suffocation."
-And that even in the coldest weather!</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_69_69" id="Footnote_69_69"></a><a href="#FNanchor_69_69"><span class="label">[69]</span></a> M. de Lamartine before writing the <i>History of the
-Restoration</i>, did not even take the trouble to find out whether or not
-the Duke of Wellington led a cavalry charge at the Battle of Waterloo.
-The same author, in his <i>History of the Girondist</i>, gives an interesting
-picture of Charlotte Corday's house at Caen, considered as a ruin. Being
-at Caen some years ago, I had no trouble in finding Charlotte Corday's
-house, but looked in vain for the moss, the trickling water, &amp;c.,
-introduced by M. de Lamartine in his poetical, but somewhat too fanciful
-description. The house was "in good repair," as the auctioneers say, and
-persons who had lived a great many years in the same street assured me
-that they had never known it as a ruin.&mdash;S. E.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_70_70" id="Footnote_70_70"></a><a href="#FNanchor_70_70"><span class="label">[70]</span></a> There was a Marquis de Louvois, but he was employed as a
-scene-shifter.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_71_71" id="Footnote_71_71"></a><a href="#FNanchor_71_71"><span class="label">[71]</span></a> It was built chiefly with the money of Danton and
-SĂ©bastian Lacroix.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_72_72" id="Footnote_72_72"></a><a href="#FNanchor_72_72"><span class="label">[72]</span></a> Twenty-eight thousand francs a year, to which Napoleon
-always added twelve thousand in presents, with an annual <i>congé</i> of four
-months.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_73_73" id="Footnote_73_73"></a><a href="#FNanchor_73_73"><span class="label">[73]</span></a> According to M. Thiers, the pretended copies of the secret
-articles, sold to the English Government, were not genuine, and the
-money paid for them was "<i>mal gagné</i>."</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_74_74" id="Footnote_74_74"></a><a href="#FNanchor_74_74"><span class="label">[74]</span></a> Alexander II. gives Verdi an honorarium of 80,000 roubles
-for the opera he is now writing for St. Petersburg. The work, of course,
-remains Signor Verdi's property.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_75_75" id="Footnote_75_75"></a><a href="#FNanchor_75_75"><span class="label">[75]</span></a> Nouvelle Biographie de Mozart. Moscou, 1843.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_76_76" id="Footnote_76_76"></a><a href="#FNanchor_76_76"><span class="label">[76]</span></a> There are numerous analogies between the various Spanish
-legends of Don Juan, the Anglo-Saxon and German legends of Faust, and
-the Polish legend of Twardowski. It might be shown that they were all
-begotten by the legend of Theophilus of Syracuse, and that their latest
-descendant is <i>Punch</i> of London.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_77_77" id="Footnote_77_77"></a><a href="#FNanchor_77_77"><span class="label">[77]</span></a> Madame Alboni has appeared as Zerlina, and sings the music
-of this, as of every other part that she undertakes, to perfection; but
-she is not so intimately associated with the character as the other
-vocalists mentioned above.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_78_78" id="Footnote_78_78"></a><a href="#FNanchor_78_78"><span class="label">[78]</span></a> Waters appears to have spent nearly all the money he made
-during the seasons of 1814 and 1815, in improving the house.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_79_79" id="Footnote_79_79"></a><a href="#FNanchor_79_79"><span class="label">[79]</span></a> After receiving, the first year she sang in London, two
-thousand guineas, (five hundred more than was paid to Banti,) she
-declared that her price was ridiculously low, and that to retain her
-"<i>ci voglioni molte mila lira sterline</i>." She demanded and obtained five
-thousand.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_80_80" id="Footnote_80_80"></a><a href="#FNanchor_80_80"><span class="label">[80]</span></a> There is a scientific German mind and a romantic German
-mind, and I perhaps need scarcely say, that Weber's music appears to me
-thoroughly German, in the sense in which the legends and ballads of
-Germany belong thoroughly to that country.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_81_81" id="Footnote_81_81"></a><a href="#FNanchor_81_81"><span class="label">[81]</span></a> As for instance where <i>Semiramide</i> is described as an
-opera written in the German style!</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_82_82" id="Footnote_82_82"></a><a href="#FNanchor_82_82"><span class="label">[82]</span></a> It would be absurd to say that if Rossini had set the
-<i>Marriage of Figaro</i> to music, he would have produced a finer work than
-Mozart's masterpiece on the same subject; but Rossini's genius, by its
-comic side, is far more akin to that of Beaumarchais, than is Mozart's.
-Mozart has given a tender poetic character to many portions of his
-<i>Marriage of Figaro</i>, which the original comedy does not possess at all.
-In particular, he has so elevated the part of "Cherubino" by pure and
-beautiful melodies, as to have completely transformed it. It is surely
-no disparagement to Mozart, to say, that he took a higher view of life
-than Beaumarchais was capable of?
-</p><p>
-I may add, that, in comparing Rossini with Beaumarchais, it must always
-be remembered that the former possesses the highest dramatic talent of a
-serious, passionate kind&mdash;witness <i>Otello</i> and <i>William Tell</i>; whereas
-Beaumarchais's serious dramatic works, such as <i>La Mère Coupable</i>, <i>Les
-Deux Amis</i>, and <i>Eugénie</i> (the best of the three), are very inferior
-productions.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_83_83" id="Footnote_83_83"></a><a href="#FNanchor_83_83"><span class="label">[83]</span></a> The serious opera consisted of the following persons: the
-<i>primo uomo</i> (<i>soprano</i>), <i>prima donna</i>, and tenor; the <i>secondo uomo</i>
-(<i>soprano</i>), <i>seconda donna</i> and <i>ultima parte</i>, (bass). The company for
-the comic opera consisted of the <i>primo buffo</i> (tenor), <i>prima buffa</i>,
-<i>buffo caricato</i> (bass), <i>seconda buffa</i> and <i>ultima parte</i> (bass).
-There were also the <i>uomo serio</i> and <i>donna seria</i>, generally the second
-man and woman of the serious opera.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_84_84" id="Footnote_84_84"></a><a href="#FNanchor_84_84"><span class="label">[84]</span></a> The San Carlo, Benedetti Theatre, &amp;c., are named after the
-parishes in which they are built.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_85_85" id="Footnote_85_85"></a><a href="#FNanchor_85_85"><span class="label">[85]</span></a> Particularly celebrated for her performance of the
-brilliant part of the heroine in <i>La Cenerentola</i>, which, however, was
-not written for her.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_86_86" id="Footnote_86_86"></a><a href="#FNanchor_86_86"><span class="label">[86]</span></a> When Madame Pasta sang at concerts, after her retirement
-from the stage, her favourite air was still Tancredi's <i>Di tanti
-palpiti</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_87_87" id="Footnote_87_87"></a><a href="#FNanchor_87_87"><span class="label">[87]</span></a> Mémorial de Sainte Hélène.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_88_88" id="Footnote_88_88"></a><a href="#FNanchor_88_88"><span class="label">[88]</span></a> "Lutèce" par Henri Heine (a French version, by Heine
-himself, of his letters from Paris to the <i>Allgemeine Zeitung</i>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_89_89" id="Footnote_89_89"></a><a href="#FNanchor_89_89"><span class="label">[89]</span></a> He persisted in this declaration, in spite of his judges,
-who were not ashamed to resort to torture, in the hope of extracting a
-full confession from him. The thumb-screw and the rack were not, it is
-true, employed; but sentinels were stationed in the wretched man's cell,
-with orders not to allow him a moment's sleep, until he confessed.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_90_90" id="Footnote_90_90"></a><a href="#FNanchor_90_90"><span class="label">[90]</span></a> The Académie Royale became the Opéra National; the Opéra
-National, after its establishment in the abode of the former Théâtre
-National, became the Théâtre des Arts; and the Théâtre des Arts, the
-Théâtre de la République et des Arts. Napoleon's Théâtre des Arts became
-soon afterwards the Académie Impériale, the Académie Impériale the
-Académie Royale, the Académie Royale the Académie Nationale, the
-Académie Nationale once more the Académie Impériale, and the Académie
-Impériale simply the Théâtre de l'Opera, by far the best title that
-could be given to it.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_91_91" id="Footnote_91_91"></a><a href="#FNanchor_91_91"><span class="label">[91]</span></a> I was in Paris at the time, but, I forget the specific
-objections urged by the doctor against the <i>FreischĂĽtz</i> set before him
-at the "Académie Nationale," as the theatre was then called. Doubtless,
-however, he did not, among other changes, approve of added recitatives.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_92_92" id="Footnote_92_92"></a><a href="#FNanchor_92_92"><span class="label">[92]</span></a> No. 1.&mdash;<i>Vive Henri IV.</i> No. 2.&mdash;<i>La Marseillaise.</i> No.
-3.&mdash;<i>Partant pour la Syrie.</i> No. 4.&mdash;<i>La Parisienne.</i> No. 5.&mdash;<i>Partant
-pour la Syrie</i> (encored). No. 6.&mdash;?</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_93_93" id="Footnote_93_93"></a><a href="#FNanchor_93_93"><span class="label">[93]</span></a> Mozart, Cimarosa, Weber, HĂ©rold, Bellini, and
-Mendelssohn.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_94_94" id="Footnote_94_94"></a><a href="#FNanchor_94_94"><span class="label">[94]</span></a> In the case of <i>Il Crociato</i>, however, the model was an
-Italian one.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_95_95" id="Footnote_95_95"></a><a href="#FNanchor_95_95"><span class="label">[95]</span></a> Rossini's natural inability to sympathize with sopranists
-is one more great point in his favour.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_96_96" id="Footnote_96_96"></a><a href="#FNanchor_96_96"><span class="label">[96]</span></a> For instance: <i>Fra Diavolo</i> and <i>Les Diamans la
-Couronne</i>.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_97_97" id="Footnote_97_97"></a><a href="#FNanchor_97_97"><span class="label">[97]</span></a> The second, <i>Le Duc d'Albe</i>, was entrusted to Donizetti,
-who died without completing the score.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_98_98" id="Footnote_98_98"></a><a href="#FNanchor_98_98"><span class="label">[98]</span></a> Nourrit was the author of <i>la Sylphide</i>, one of the most
-interesting and best designed ballets ever produced; that is to say, he
-composed the libretto for which Taglioni arranged the groups and
-dances.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_99_99" id="Footnote_99_99"></a><a href="#FNanchor_99_99"><span class="label">[99]</span></a> See Raynouard's veracious "Histoire des Troubadours."</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_100_100" id="Footnote_100_100"></a><a href="#FNanchor_100_100"><span class="label">[100]</span></a> When are we to hear the last of the "ovations" which
-singers are said to receive when they obtain, or even do not obtain, any
-very triumphant success? A great many singers in the present day would
-be quite hurt if a journal were simply to record their "triumph." An
-"ovation" seems to them much more important; and it cannot be said that
-this misapprehension is entirely their fault.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_101_101" id="Footnote_101_101"></a><a href="#FNanchor_101_101"><span class="label">[101]</span></a> That is to say, a quarter or a third part of an inch.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_102_102" id="Footnote_102_102"></a><a href="#FNanchor_102_102"><span class="label">[102]</span></a> "What a pity I did not think of this city fifty years
-ago!" exclaimed Signor Badiali, when he made his first appearance in
-London, in 1859.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_103_103" id="Footnote_103_103"></a><a href="#FNanchor_103_103"><span class="label">[103]</span></a> Joanna Wagner.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_104_104" id="Footnote_104_104"></a><a href="#FNanchor_104_104"><span class="label">[104]</span></a> Richard Wagner.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_105_105" id="Footnote_105_105"></a><a href="#FNanchor_105_105"><span class="label">[105]</span></a> Tancredi.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_106_106" id="Footnote_106_106"></a><a href="#FNanchor_106_106"><span class="label">[106]</span></a> Once more, I may mention that the "romantic opera" (in
-the sense in which the French say "romantic drama,") was founded by Da
-Ponte and Mozart, the former furnishing the plan, the latter
-constructing the work&mdash;"The Opera of Operas."</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_107_107" id="Footnote_107_107"></a><a href="#FNanchor_107_107"><span class="label">[107]</span></a> The gist of M. Lenz's accusations against M. Oulibicheff
-amounts to this: that the latter, believing Mozart to have attained
-perfection in music, considered it impossible to go beyond him. "<i>Ou ce
-caractère d'universalité que Mozart imprime à quelques-un de ses plus
-grandes chefs-d'Ĺ“uvre</i>," says M. Oulibicheff. "<i>M'avait paru le
-progrès immense que la musique attendait pour se constituer
-définitivement,&mdash;pour se constituer, avais-je dit, et non pour ne plus
-avancer.</i>" According to M. Lenz, on the other hand, Mozart's
-master-pieces (after those which M. Lenz discovers among his latest
-compositions), are what preparatory studies are to a great work.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_108_108" id="Footnote_108_108"></a><a href="#FNanchor_108_108"><span class="label">[108]</span></a> New form of his overtures, national melodies,
-&amp;c.&mdash;(<i>Straker</i>). Love of traditions, melancholy, fanciful, spiritual;
-also popular.&mdash;(<i>Der FreischĂĽtz</i>).</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_109_109" id="Footnote_109_109"></a><a href="#FNanchor_109_109"><span class="label">[109]</span></a> I will not here enter into the question whether or not
-Meyerbeer desecrated this hymn by introducing it into an opera. Such was
-the opinion of Mendelssohn, who thought that but for Meyerbeer and the
-<i>Huguenots</i>, Luther's hymn might have been befittingly introduced in an
-oratorio which he intended to compose on the subject of the
-Reformation.</p></div>
-
-<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_110_110" id="Footnote_110_110"></a><a href="#FNanchor_110_110"><span class="label">[110]</span></a> Another proof that this device is not new in the hands of
-Herr Wagner.</p></div>
-
-</div>
-<hr class="full" />
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-<pre>
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